Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary 

A.D.

 55 and they would have been unwilling to add an extra month in the spring of 

A.D.

 56, during the war 

and the Sabbatical year. So, if we reconstruct the Jewish calendar of this time period, as it ought to have been 

arranged, the month the Temple burned down would have been Av (if the leap years had been arranged 

correctly. But, as the above analysis of Josephus' eyewitness account shows, the calendar was not arranged 

according to custom and tradition (due to the war). Thus the Temple actually burned down in the month of 

Elul. 

    Rabbinic tradition holds that the Temple burned in the month of Av because a proper reconstruction of the 

calendar, in accord with the usual way the calendar would be arranged, would call that month Av. Another 

reason is that the month in which the Temple burned, the Macedonian month of Loos, is usually equivalent to 

the Jewish month of Av. Also, the First Temple of Jerusalem was burned down in the month of Av (2 Kings 

25:8; Jer 52:12).

1125

 The parallel between those two events is given greater emphasis by considering the month 

of the burning of the Second Temple to be the same month, the month of Av.

1126

 One can truly say that the 

Temple burned down in the month of Av, because that is the way the calendar should have been arranged. 

However, the month in which the Temple burned down was most likely observed as the month of Elul. 

The Sabbatical Year 

    Every seventh year in the Jewish calendar is a Sabbatical year, a year like the seventh day, a Sabbath like 

year. There are two prevalent theories about which years were Sabbatical years, one proposed by Ben Zion 

Wacholder, the other proposed by Benedict Zuckermann and Donald Blosser. These two competing theories 

differ from one another by only one year. Wacholder has the Sabbatical years as one year later than 

Zuckermann/Blosser. 

    My revised chronology places the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem in 

A.D.

 56, a Sabbatical 

year (

A.D.

 55/56) according to Wacholder. The usual chronology places the destruction of the Temple 14 

years later, in 

A.D.

 70, which was also a Sabbatical year (per Wacholder), or the year after a Sabbatical year 

(per Zuckermann). 

    Ancient Rabbinical tradition holds that the first and second Temples of Jerusalem were destroyed on the 

same month and day, Av 9.

1127

 Sacred Scripture states that the First Temple was destroyed on the tenth day of 

the fifth month (Jer 52:12), which is Av 10. Josephus gives the date for the destruction of the Second Temple 

as also the tenth day of the fifth month:  and now that fatal day was come, according to the revolution of ages; 

it was the tenth day of the month Loos, upon which it was formerly burnt by the king of Babylon . 

1128

 The 

month of Loos is the fifth month (Xanthicus, Artemisius, Daisios, Panemus, Loos ), though in a leap year 

the month of Artemisius is repeated. Josephus is able to correlate the timing of the destruction of the First and 

Second Temples by not counting the leap month of second Artemisius (which would make Loos the sixth 

month in a leap year). Thus the destruction of each Temple occurred in the fifth calendar month. 

    The apparent disagreement, as to whether the Second Temple was burnt on Loos 9 or 10, is resolved by the 

detailed description given by Josephus of the burning of the Temple. He explains that the fire started on Loos 

8, beginning with the gates to the Temple.

1129

 On the next day, Loos 9, though the Roman soldiers had been 

setting on fire the buildings around the Sanctuary of the Temple, such as the cloisters, Titus commanded his 

soldiers to put out the fire.

1130

 Then, on Loos 10, a soldier set a window leading to the Sanctuary of the Temple 

(the  holy house ) on fire and it spread to the Sanctuary. Titus then sent soldiers to stop the fire and went into 

the Sanctuary himself to order the soldiers to put out the fire, but they would not all follow his orders. The 

Temple then burnt to the ground.

1131

 The Temple fire started on Loos 8 at the gates, spread on Loos 9 to the 

outer buildings of the Temple, and reached the Sanctuary of the Temple on Loos 10. That is why Rabbinical 

tradition counts the Temple as burning down on Loos 9, but Josephus counts the day as Loos 10. Of course, 

the Rabbinical tradition is that Loos coincided with the Jewish month of Av, whereas this revised chronology 

shows that Loos coincided with Elul. 

    Rabbinical tradition also states that Loos 9, the day the Temple burned down, was  immediately after the 

Sabbath,  and  immediately after the Sabbatical year. 

1132

 The description given by Josephus fits this idea that 

Loos 8 was the Sabbath (Sat.). The Romans completed building the works they used to assault the Temple 

walls:  two of the legions had completed their banks on the eighth day of the month Loos. 

1133

 Earlier in this 

same work, Josephus explains that the Jews would not make an attack on the Sabbath, but they would repel an 

224