Karcz (2004) describes the poem (Zolai, 1937; Margalioth, 1941) as lamenting
an earthquake that caused a widespread destruction and extensive casualties in Tiberias
and a catastrophic flooding in the plain of Sharon"
noting that,
although the Sharon Valley currently exclusively refers to the
coastal plain of Israel, Eusebius in the 4th century CE used the term Sharon Valley to refer to
a part of Jordan and Yizrael Valleys between Mt.Tabor and Tiberias (Weitz, 1939; Brawer, 1940)
.
Karcz (2004) further noted that wrath could refer to an earthquake; something common in Byzantine
Chronicles (e.g. Malalas).
Karcz (2004) added the following saga of exegesis and exploration
of Ra'ash shvi'it which commemorates an ancient day of fasting on
the 23rd of Shvat (17/18 January in 749 CE):
The poem repeatedly
refers to a fast in memory of this earthquake,
observed on the 23rd of Shvat. Zolai (1937) was
unable to decide if the title of the poem refers to
a seventh shock in course of the same earthquake swarm,
or to a seventh earthquake in a series of events preserved
in some extinct tradition. In his opinion, however, the form and style
dated the poem to 10th-12th century, a period
during which Tiberias was damaged only in
1033/1034 A.D. and in 1202 A.D. Since in [the] end [of the]
11th century, the Jewish community in Tiberias
was too small for its misfortunes to trigger a nationwide day of fasting, he concluded that the
fast of 23rd of Shevat commemorated the earthquake that in 1033/1034 hit Tiberias, Jerusalem,
Ramle and other towns and villages. This date
was rejected by Margalioth (1941), who argued
that the fast of 23rd Shvat was mentioned already by Pinneas the Poet,
who in a 10th century text was mentioned amongst «ancient» authors and
that the poem includes a veiled reference to Moslem rulers. He assumed therefore
that the earthquake should be backdated and
placed between the Arab conquest (about mid 7th century) and the beginning of 9th century, a
period he regarded as consistent with the literary form and style of the poem. Having found
no evidence that successive earthquakes that hit
the Holy Land were counted in numerical order,
he read the title of the poem as «Earthquake of
the Seventh (feminine)» rather than «Seventh
(masculine) Earthquake». The «Seventh» (feminine) stands for a sabbatical (fallow) year and
Margalioth indicated that in the above time
range only the earthquakes of 712/713 A.D. and
747/748 A.D. occurred in a sabbatical year.
Having found no details about the former he
dismissed it as unimportant and dated the earthquake to 23rd Shvat (28 January), 748 A.D. in
agreement with two late Arab chronicles of
Mukaddasi (d.14th century) and Ibn Tagri Birdi
(d.15th century) who transmit news of an earthquake in AH 130 (747/748 A.D.). Twenty years
later, Margalioth (1960) found a reference to the
23rd Shvat fast in a 10th-11th century book of
prayers found in the Cairo Genizza depository
