The king of Yehudah at the time was Hizkiyahu ben Ahaz, known as among the most righteous kings that ever ruled in Yerushalayim. He devoutly observed the mitsvot and encouraged his constituents to do the same. Additionally, he once and for all eliminated the “bamot,” the small sanctuaries where sacrifices were offered, which were forbidden once the Bet HaMikdash was erected. (See Melachim II, 18.) Hashem’s Presence accompanied Hizkiyahu and granted him success throughout his reign. When Sanheriv, the king of Ashur, plundered Eretz Yisrael with his formidable army, the prophet Yeshayahu assured Hizkiyahu that Sanheriv will not capture Yerushalayim or even shoot a single arrow at the city. Indeed, as the Assyrian army besieged Yerushalayim, an angel came down at midnight and killed the entire army — all 185,000 of them!

Unfortunately, however, Hizkiyahu’s legacy did not continue after his death. His son, Menasheh, essentially reversed the righteous trend initiated by his father. He was an outright sinner, who built “bamot” (after his father had eliminated them), worshipped idols, and even placed an idolatrous image in the Bet HaMikdash. He constructed altars to all types of pagan gods, even in the Sanctuary of the Mikdash. His intent was clear and simple: to anger the Almighty. He went so far as to sleep with his own sister. She asked him, “Are there not enough beautiful women that are permitted for you?” to which he replied, “I do this specifically to arouse anger.” Out of the same malicious contempt for Hashem, he killed the prophet Yeshayahu.

On Menasheh’s account, Hashem’s decree of the destruction was finalized. The prophets reported the news of the Divine decree to the people: “Thus said Hashem, the God of Israel: I am going to bring such a disaster on Yerushalayim and Yehudah that both ears of everyone who hears about it will tingle… I will wipe Yerushalayim clean as one wipes a dish and turns it upside down. And I will cast off the remnant of My own people and deliver them into the hands of their enemies” (Melachim II 21). The situation deteriorated even further upon Menasheh’s death, as his wicked son, Amon, surpassed his father’s iniquity. He slept with his mother so as to deliberately anger Hashem.

After Amon, however, the spiritual tides among the people took a turn for the better. Amon’s son and heir to the throne, Yoshiyahu, was a devout, righteous man, who committed himself to reversing the pattern established by his father and grandfather. He ordered all the idolatrous altars removed and exerted whatever efforts he could into bringing the hearts of Benei Yisrael closer to their Father in heaven. Despite Yoshiyahu’s sincere efforts and noteworthy accomplishments as spiritual leader, Hashem did not revoke His decree of destruction. Sadly, although the public image of the people had improved, Benei Yisrael still worshipped idols in private; the repentance process was incomplete. In the thirteenth year of Yoshiyahu’s reign, the prophet Yirmiyahu began prophesying about the imminent destruction of the Bet HaMikdash and downfall of Malchut Yehudah.

Upon learning of the Temple’s ultimate destruction, Yoshiyahu quickly took action. He hid several precious and sacred articles, including the aron (ark), the container of “mann” that was prepared when Benei Yisrael were in the desert, the dish containing the special anointing oil, and Aharon’s staff that had blossomed in the wilderness as confirmation to his having been chosen as kohen gadol.

Yoshiyahu was tragically killed by the Egyptian army in the year 3316. Yirmiyahu composed a lamentation over the king’s death, in which he expressed his grief and anguish over the loss of a man to whom he referred as, “the breath of our nostrils, the savior of Hashem.”

Yoshiyahu’s son Yeho’achaz succeeded him. Unlike his righteous father, he betrayed Hashem and was consequently exiled three months later by Pharaoh to Egypt, where he remained until his death. The Egyptian king crowned Yeho’achaz’s brother, Yehoyakim, as successor. Already in his fourth year of rule, the political map of the region underwent a drastic change. A new king (Nevuchadnessar) ascended to the throne in Babylonia, and the Almighty granted him control and dominion over many nations throughout the area. Babylonia succeeded in overpowering the previous regional power, Egypt, and Eretz Yisrael thus came under Babylonian rule. 

Hashem then ordered Yirmiyahu to record all the prophecies regarding Benei Yisrael and Yerushalayim that he had received since the time of Yoshiyahu. Hashem hoped that Yirmiyahu’s reading of the prophecies to the people would arouse them to perform teshuvah and prevent the destruction. Tragically, however, this was not the case. Upon hearing of Yirmiyahu’s prophecy of calamity, King Yehoyakim ordered his immediate imprisonment. 

Yirmiyahu asked his close student, Baruch Ben Neriya, to announce his prophecies in the Bet HaMikdash. In the fifth year of Yehoyakim’s reign, Baruch read from a scroll containing his mentor’s prophecies before a public gathering. The king sent an officer named Yehudi, to seize the scroll from Baruch. Yehudi brought the scroll back to the royal chamber and read the prophecies of destruction in the presence of the king. Upon hearing Yirmiyahu’s prophecy of the success of the enemy against Benei Yisrael, Yehoyakim became enraged. He grabbed the scroll and cast it into the fire. The prophet’s warning had no impact upon him whatsoever.

Hashem warned the king through the prophet that because he burned the scroll rather than humbly accepting Hashem’s Word, his kingship over Yehudah will never be established. Additionally, he will be killed by the enemy sword and not even merit a proper burial, and all the destruction of which Hashem had spoken through the prophets will befall the people of Yerushalayim.

Sure enough, several years later catastrophe began to unfold. Yehoyakim revolted against Nevuchadnessar, the powerful king of Babylonia, who then came to Eretz Yisrael and captured Yerushalayim. The Babylonians tied Yehoyakim in ropes to bring him to Babylonia. They dragged him by the ropes and he died a gruesome death, just as the prophet had warned.

But the tragedies were still not over. Yehoyakim’s son and successor, Yehoyachin, ruled in Yerushalayim for only three months. He, too, revolted against the Babylonian monarch, who promptly came and besieged the city in the year 3327. Yehoyachin left the city to surrender in peace, but Nevudnessar refused. He exiled the Judean king to Babylonia and imprisoned him. Besides King Yehoyachin, Nevuchadnessar also took with him the treasures of the Bet HaMikdash and royal palace, as well as the government officials, ten thousand nobleman, and all the Torah scholars. Among those exiled were Mordechai, Daniel, and Yehezkel. Only the lower class remained in Yerushalayim.

Sympathetic towards the underprivileged citizens remaining in the decimated city of Yerushalayim, Nevuchadnessar decided to crown a descendant of Yoshiyahu as king. Indeed, Yehoyachin’s uncle, Ssidkiyahu, a son of Yoshiyahu, had remained in Yerushalayim. Nevuchadnessar named him king, but first had him swear upon a Sefer Torah that he would remain loyal to the Babylonian Empire, unlike his father and nephew. Ssidkiyahu swore and pledged his fidelity to Nevuchadnessar. He was a righteous king, and took several measures to lead Benei Yisrael towards teshuvah. He freed Yirmiyahu from prison and sought to correct the mistakes of his predecessors. Unfortunately, however, the people quickly returned to their sinful past. Ssidkiyahu himself turned away from the Almighty and rebelled. Upon seeing the people’s iniquity, Hashem finalized His decree to destroy the Bet HaMikdash. It was because of Hashem’s final decree to destroy the Bet HaMikdash, which occurred during Ssidkiyahu’s reign, that he was named “Ssidkiyahu.” This word evolves from the Hebrew word for justice (“ssedek”), thus alluding to the fact that during his reign Hashem justified the destruction of the Bet HaMikdash.

In Ssidkiyahu’s ninth year in power (3336), Hashem put the idea into his head to revolt against the Babylonians. Nevuchadnessar responded by drafting his army and besieging the defiant city. Ssidkiyahu summoned aid and support from Egypt, and when Nevuchadnessar learned that Egypt had come to assist Benei Yisrael he headed back. Yirmiyahu, however, prophesied, “Behold, the Egyptian army that has come to assist you has returned to Egypt; the Kasdim [as the Babylonians were called] will come back, wage war against this city, and burn it down with fire.” 

Sure enough, just as the Egyptians left to assist Benei Yisrael in their campaign against Babylonia, Hashem cast upon the sea thousands of empty containers. The Egyptians saw the sea from afar and wondered why the surface of the water had become discolored. They concluded that what they saw were the bodies of their ancestors who were drowned by the ancestors of Benei Yisrael. They asked one another, “Their forefathers drowned our forefathers — and we are going to offer them assistance!?” They immediately retreated and headed back towards Egypt, at which point the Kasdim returned and besieged the beleaguered city of Yerushalayim. The siege continued until the eleventh year of Ssidkiyahu’s reign (3338).

Throughout this period, the people ignored Yirmiyahu’s prophecies and call for repentance. He warned, “So says Hashem: Whoever dwells in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague, while whoever surrenders to the Kasdim will live.” The corrupt royal officials called for Yirmiyahu’s execution, charging him with discouraging the people, particularly the armed forces. They cast Yirmiyahu into a well, but he was saved by a miracle: Hashem made the mud rise and the water sink beneath the muddy surface.

Baruch heard what had happened to the prophet and immediately reported the news to the king. Ssidkiyahu ordered Yirmiyahu’s release from the pit and detention in prison. Yirmiyahu remained a prisoner until the Babylonians breached the city, at which point Nevuzaradan, the commander-in-chief of Nevuchadnessar’s army, released the prophet from prison at the command of Nevuchadnessar, who ordered Nevuzaradan to ensure Yirmiyahu’s safety. 

At one point during Yirmiyahu’s stay in prison, Ssidkiyahu sent him a message asking for Hashem’s word. Yirmiyahu replied that if the king surrenders to Babylonia, his life and that of his family will be spared and the city will not be destroyed. If, however, he resists Babylonian rule, then Hashem will hand the city over to the Kasdim and they will burn it to the ground. Ssidkiyahu stubbornly refused to heed the prophet’s warning.

The Kasdim besieged the city for three years but could not break through, since the divinely ordained time for the destruction had not yet arrived. Afraid of suffering the same devastation wrought upon the Assyrian king, Sanheriv, during his siege of Jerusalem, Nevuchadnessar ordered Nevuzaradan to lead the battle against the Jewish capital in his stead. Nevuchadnessar sent his commander-in-chief three hundred donkeys loaded with iron axes to help break through the city wall. Much to the general’s astonishment, however, almost all of them broke as he tried to batter the very first gate! Frustrated and distraught, Nevuzaradan decided to give up and turn back. But a heavenly voice urged him on, informing him that the time has come for the Temple to be destroyed. On the ninth of Tammuz, Nevuzaradan took the last remaining ax and broke through the city wall. Ten days later, on the seventeenth of Tammuz, the Jews inside the city had no more animals to bring for the daily “tamid” offering in the Mikdash. (This is one of the reasons why we observe the seventeenth of Tammuz as a fast day.) Without korbanot, they had no means by which to achieve atonement for their sins. On this same day, Nevuzaradan breached the inner wall of the city, and from that day on the enemies stormed the city and killed scores of Jews. The Jews had been starved as a result of the siege and had no strength to defend themselves. It was at this point that all of Yirmiyahu’s prophecies, which Benei Yisrael continually ignored, saw fulfillment. Those who were not murdered were exiled to Babylonia in chains, amidst utter shame and humiliation.

When Ssidkiyahu saw that the city fell into enemy hands, he fled with his ten sons through a special underground tunnel that led from his palace to Yericho. But the Almighty ordered a deer to walk with them on the outside of the tunnel. The Kasdim followed the deer until the tunnel’s end, at which point Ssidkiyahu came above ground right into enemy hands. The Kasdim brought Ssidkiyahu to Nevuchadnessar, who sharply scolded the Jewish king for rebelling against his authority in violation of his oath. Nevuchadnessar sentenced Ssidkiyahu and his sons to death. 

“Kill me first,” pleaded Ssidkiyahu, “so that I may not see the death of my children!”

His sons, however, turned to the Babylonian king and begged, “Please, kill us first so that we do not witness the death of our father!” Nevuchadnessar heeded their plea and killed them before their father’s eyes. As if this wasn’t enough, he proceeded to blind Ssidkiyahu. Ssidkiyahu was then sent to Babylonia and imprisoned, remaining in jail the rest of his life. “Let all people come and see,” he would cry, “that Yirmiyahu the prophet prophesied that I will go to Babylonia and die there, yet I will never see it with eyes; alas, it has come true!” 

Hashem then ordered Yirmiyahu to purchase a field from his Uncle Hanamel, symbolizing Benei Yisrael’s eventual return to their land. Yirmiyahu thought that perhaps this signified the cancellation of Hashem’s decree against Yerushalayim. However, just as he left the city, an angel descended from the heavens and placed his feet on the city walls, breaking them. He called out and declared, “May the enemies come and enter the home, for its owner is not here. Come, loot the city and destroy it! Enter the vineyard whose watchman has deserted it, come, cut down its branches! However, in case you would pride yourselves with the credit for the destruction, you should know that you capture a captured city, you kill a dead population, and you burn a burnt Sanctuary!” 

On the seventh of Av, the enemies stormed the Sanctuary of the Bet HaMikdash. They ate and reveled with the utmost irreverence in the sacred site. They continued doing so for the next two days. On the ninth of Av, the Almighty thought to Himself, as it were, “So long as I remain in the Bet HaMikdash the enemies have no power to destroy it. I will therefore turn away from the Mikdash and vow not to concern Myself therewith until the time for the final redemption has arrived.” At that moment, the Almighty pulled back His “right hand” that protected the Mikdash, as the pasuk states, “He pulled back His right hand from the enemy.” Sure enough, towards sundown on the ninth of Av the enemies set fire to the Mikdash. It burned throughout the night and the following day. As it started burning, the Bet HaMikdash began rising up and away from the fire towards the sky. However, as the pasuk states, “As in a press Hashem has trodden the maiden, Yehuda” (Eichah 1:15) — Hashem trampled the Mikdash, as it were, sending it back down into the fire.

The angels in the heavens observed the destruction and cried, “Look at the wicked, arrogant man who prides himself over having burned the Almighty’s Sanctuary!” Hashem immediately ordered four angels carrying torches to go to the four corners of the Mikdash and set it ablaze, thus precluding the possibility of Nevuzaradan’s crediting himself with the destruction.

The kohen gadol watched as the Mikdash went up in flames. He took the keys to the Mikdash gates and cast them up to the heavens. The enemies then captured him and slaughtered him right near the altar, where the kohanim would offer the korbanot. The young kohanim, too, threw the keys to the gates up to the sky. “We did not earn the merit of serving as loyal, trustworthy keepers of the Mikdash,” they confessed. “We must therefore surrender the keys placed under our charge.” The image of a hand thrust forth from the heavens and took hold of the keys, as the young kohanim cast themselves into the flames. The other kohanim and Levi’im took the trumpets and musical instruments from the Mikdash and likewise jumped into the raging fire.

The Kasdim burned down not only the Mikdash itself, but also the royal palace and all the Batei Kenesset. They looted the Mikdash and took the accessories of the Bet HaMikdash back with them to Babylonia. After the prisoners were taken into exile, the only ones left in Yerushalayim were the poorest, lower-class citizens who stayed behind to till the land.

As Nevuzaradan watched the Mikdash burn, he felt a strong sense of pride over his most recent military feat. But yet another heavenly voice descended and dismissed any notion of attributing the city’s fall to Nevuzaradan’s prowess: “You killed a dead population, you burned a burnt Sanctuary, and you ground already-ground, fine flour!” 

Upon his return to Yerushalayim, Yirmiyahu looked up and saw the smoke rising from the Bet HaMikdash. He optimistically thought to himself, perhaps Benei Yisrael have repented and they now offer incense, which has produced this thick cloud of smoke… He stood on top of the city wall and saw that the Mikdash had turned to rubble. He began crying and shouting, “In which direction have the sinners gone? In which direction have gone those who have been lost?” He searched the roads and found one path drenched with blood. He looked down at the ground and saw the footprints of the small children that had gone into exile; he leaned down to the ground and kissed them. When he caught up to the captives he embraced and kissed them, and joined them in weeping. He said, “My brothers, all this happened to you because you did not heed my prophecies…” He then saw a group of young men bound in chains, making their way to exile. Yirmiyahu went and joined them, only to be removed from them by Nevuzaradan. A little further, he saw a group of the elderly tied in chains. Once again, he approached them until the Babylonian general forcefully pulled him away.

“You are a murderer,” said Nevuzaradan to Yirmiyahu. “I have been ordered by the Babylonian king to watch over you. If you do not let me obey my orders, he will have me killed!” 

Yirmiyahu accompanied the exiles until they were near Babylonia. Nevuzaradan then gave the prophet the option of continuing along to Babylonia under guaranteed protection or turning back to Eretz Yisrael. The Almighty told Yirmiyahu that if he joins the exiles then Hashem will remain in Eretz Yisrael with the remaining Jews; if Yirmiyahu opts to stay, then Hashem will join the exiles in Babylonia. Yirmiyahu decided that since he can not do much for the exiles in Babylonia, he should return to Yerushalayim while the Almighty accompanies them to the foreign land.

When the exiles saw Yirmiyahu departing they broke out in bitter and frantic crying. They shouted, “Our father, Yirmiyahu! This is it — you are leaving us?!” This is to what the pasuk refers when it says, “On the rivers of Babylonia, there we sat and cried…” 

The prophet replied, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses to the fact that were you to have cried even once while you were still in Ssiyon, you would not have gone into exile.” Yirmiyahu departed, and as he walked he cried bitterly, “Woe unto you, the precious nation!”