The number 420 is linked in the Bible to the 420 talents of gold from Ophir (1 Kings 9:28), and in Jewish tradition to the Second Temple, which according to the Talmud stood for 420 years.
In the Bible, the number 420 appears in connection with King Solomon's wealth: his servants brought 420 talents of gold from Ophir and delivered it to Jerusalem (1 Kings 9:28). The gold was used to complete and adorn the temple and the king's palace, and the amount highlights both God's blessing upon Solomon and the grandeur of the temple. In the Babylonian Talmud (Yoma 9a), the number 420 is linked to the Second Temple (Bayit Sheni), which, according to rabbinic chronology, stood for 420 years before being destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The number therefore carries deep symbolic meaning in Jewish tradition as an expression of both God's grace and the people's exile. The Second Temple represents a period of partial restoration, but also spiritual incompleteness, since tradition teaches that certain divine elements were lacking compared to the First Temple. According to the Talmud (Yoma 21b), the Second Temple lacked five things that were present in the First: the Ark of the Covenant, the holy fire, the Shekhinah (God's presence), the Holy Spirit (ruach ha-kodesh), and the Urim ve-Tummim. The rabbinic chronology attributing 420 years to the Second Temple differs from modern historical chronology, which dates the period from approximately 516 BCE to 70 CE, that is, about 586 years. This discrepancy has been the subject of extensive discussion in Jewish scholarly tradition. In 2 Chronicles 8:18, the amount of gold from Ophir is given as 450 talents, while 1 Kings 9:28 states 420. The difference has led to various textual-critical and harmonizing explanations over the centuries.*