Nutshell for Shabbat Chanukah II
I Kings 7:40-50.
This haftorah is read on Chanukah because it mentions the menorahs that King Solomon crafted for the Holy Temple.
The haftorah begins with a description of the copper vessels, utensils and decorative adornments that King Hiram of Tyre fashioned for the Holy Temple. The latter part of the haftorah discusses the holy vessels which King Solomon built himself. All were made of gold and they include the altar, the showbread table, and ten menorahs.
The above is the nutshell of the special haftorah read on the second Shabbat of Chanukah, in years when Chanukah begins and ends on Shabbat. In other years, we would read the following text:
I Kings 3:15-4:1.
This week's haftorah opens with the words "And Solomon awoke, and behold it was a dream," echoing this week's Torah portion which opens with Pharaoh's dreams.
Though not included in the haftorah, in this dream G‑d granted King Solomon his legendary wisdom. The haftorah relates a famous episode that made all of Israel aware of their new monarch's keen intellect.
Two harlots approach King Solomon to adjudicate their dispute. They lived together in the same house, and each had given birth to an infant three days apart. One night, one of the infants was accidentally crushed to death by her mother, and one woman accused the other of switching infants in order to have a live baby. Each woman claimed that the live child is theirs and the deceased child was the other's. King Solomon asks that a sword be brought and orders that the child be cut in half with each woman receiving one half. At this point, the mother of the living child exhorts the king to give the child to the other woman so that he may live, while the other woman says, "Let it be neither mine nor yours, divide!" The king ruled: "Give her the living child, and by no means slay him: she is his mother!"
Read: The Haftarah in Hebrew & English
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Learn: Haftarah Companion
To the Haftarah Hanukkah:
Zechariah 1:12 relates that the seventy years have ended. That time span ended on the date that Haggai was told to 'consider' (Haggai 2:10, 15, 18) and it started on the date that Ezekiel was told to 'mark' (Ezekiel 24:1-2). According to II Chronicles 36:21, the seventy years period should begin and end with a Sabbatical year-- "To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years." History, Harmony, The Exile & Return by Faulstich p. 140
Exile ended on Kislev 24 or the Eve of Hanukkah several years later.
When did Ezra first come to Jerusalem?
According to Jewish tradition, since the building of the Temple was paused, the beginning of the construction of Zerubabel was not the actual end of the 70 years.
Instead, the 70 years ended only when Darius restarted the construction. Here is Rashi to Ezra 4:24: "And from the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia, until the second year of Darius were eighteen years, which completed the seventy years from the destruction of Jerusalem. For from the destruction of the Temple, when Zedekiah was exiled, until the first year of Cyrus, were fifty-two years, as is explained in Seder Olam (ch. 29). There were then eighteen years from the first year of Cyrus until the second year of Darius, totaling a complete seventy years, and in the second year of Darius they commenced to build the Temple until they completed it."
Thank you very much for publishing and responding.
I think we are both talking about Haggai 2.18-19 as being the end of 70 Year Exile and Kislev 24. "-from the twenty-fourth [day] of the ninth [month]- from the day that the Temple of the Lord was founded, pay attention." See Rashi
My late friend, Gene,Faulstich, has this date separated from Ezekiel 24.1-2 date by exactly 70 years in Gregorian dating.--December 21. 590 to December 11, 520=25,556 days. This equals 69 solar years(365.25 days) plus 354 days(12 lunar months) p. 140
Page 137 addresses Artaxerxes (Darius) of Ezra 4.7-23. Ezra 4.7-8, 11, 23, as reflecting 521-19. Ezra 6.14 is 519
Ezra 7.1, 7.7, 8.1 is 514
Nehemiah 2.1 is 501.
Nehemiah 5.14, 13.6 is 489
Page 135 Identifying Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes of Ezra 4.6
Gene has Esther marrying Darius the Mede of Daniel. Ahasuerus is a Median throne title.
The only Solstice holiday mentioned in New Testament is Hanukkah.
Antiochus celebrating what Solstice Day?