דברי הימים ב, פרק כ״ט, פסוק י״ז

The massive undertaking of purifying the Temple and restoring its daily service required extensive time and careful preparation. Years of severe neglect and profound impurity had left the sacred site in a dismal state, demanding a comprehensive sixteen-day restoration process.

The restoration was divided into two distinct eight-day phases. Work began on the first day of the first month, Nisan. During the initial eight days, the primary focus was on sanctifying the Levites [ביאור שטיינזלץ] and cleansing the sacred vessels [מלבי"ם]. The length of this first phase was dictated by a severe form of ritual impurity caused by exposure to a human corpse. This level of contamination requires a strict purification process, including the sprinkling of special waters on the third and seventh days. This specific impurity was present because the skull of Araunah had been discovered buried directly beneath the altar [מלבי"ם].

By the eighth day, the workers reached the entrance hall of God's Temple and turned their attention to the main sanctuary itself. This second phase also required eight full days to complete. There are different explanations for why this stage took so long. One approach suggests that the previous king, Ahaz, had painted idolatrous figures across all the walls of the sanctuary. It took eight full days simply to scrape away and destroy every trace of these idols [רש"י]. Another perspective explains that the timeline was driven by the status of the priests. After spending the first week cleansing the sacred vessels from corpse impurity, the priests contracted impurity during the process and needed an additional eight days to purify themselves before continuing [מלבי"ם].

Finally, on the sixteenth day of Nisan, the workers completed their task, having thoroughly purified every section of the Temple and its surrounding courtyard [מצודת דוד].