מלכים ב, פרק כ״ה, פסוק א׳

The catastrophic fall of Jerusalem and the subsequent destruction of the Temple trace their immediate origins to a fatal political decision. When Zedekiah, the king of Judah, chose to rebel against the Babylonian empire, he set in motion a devastating military response [אברבנאל]. This tragic sequence of events began in the ninth year of Zedekiah's rule, a period corresponding to the seventeenth year of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar's reign [רד״ק, אברבנאל]. The precise date recorded for the start of this crisis—the tenth day of the tenth month—is remembered throughout history as the fast day of the Tenth of Tevet [ביאור שטיינזלץ].

The Babylonian military campaign commenced with the arrival of their forces and the establishment of an armed camp outside Jerusalem [מצודת ציון]. Interestingly, while the assault was launched under Nebuchadnezzar's banner, the Babylonian king himself likely did not stand at the front lines. Instead, he remained stationed at his command base in Riblah, dispatching his army to surround and besiege the Judean capital [ביאור שטיינזלץ].

Unable to quickly break through Jerusalem's formidable stone defenses, the invading army resorted to drawn-out siege tactics. They constructed specialized elevated structures and intermediate walls directly facing the city [מצודת דוד, רלב״ג, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. These massive siege towers, built primarily from wood [רד״ק, אברבנאל], functioned as an extensive military camp pressing against the capital [רש״י].

The strategic purpose of these towering wooden structures was multifaceted. By elevating their forces, the Babylonians could effectively tighten the noose around Jerusalem, completely cutting off any external supplies. From these high vantage points, soldiers could fire down into the city streets and safely set up heavy equipment designed to batter down the stone walls [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This was not merely an isolated tower but an enormous, continuous siege network encircling the entire capital. The scale of the construction was so immense that it appeared as though a complete wooden city had been erected around Jerusalem, built for the sole purpose of its destruction [אברבנאל].