Download War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple (No. 298)

Christian Churches of God
No. 298
War with Rome and the Fall of
the Temple
(Edition 1.0 20060902-20060902)
The prophet Daniel was given a vision of the Seventy Weeks of Years. The events of the last week
of years were a disaster for Judah and the Edomites. The prophecy can only be understood in
relation to the Temple. Christians have generally mistranslated Daniel 9:25-27 for their own ends.
The war with Rome and the behaviour of Judah over this time resulted in the dispersion of Judah
until the time of the end.
Christian Churches of God
PO Box 369,
WODEN
ACT 2606,
AUSTRALIA
E-mail: [email protected]
(Copyright © 2006 Wade Cox)
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War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
Introduction
The prophet Daniel deals with the Seventy
Weeks of Years that cover the period from the
command to build the Temple at Jerusalem to
its destruction in 70 CE. The history is covered
in the paper The Sign of Jonah and the History
of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 13).
Daniel 9:25-27 Know therefore and understand that
from the going forth of the word to restore and build
Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a
prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixtytwo weeks it shall be built again with squares and
moat, but in a troubled time. 26: And after the sixtytwo weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off, and
shall have nothing; and the people of the prince who
is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there
shall be war; desolations are decreed. 27: And he
shall make a strong covenant with many for one
week; and for half of the week he shall cause
sacrifice and offering to cease; and upon the wing of
abominations shall come one who makes desolate,
until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator."
(RSV)
We know that the first anointed one was
Nehemiah, governor of Judah, who constructed
the walls and furbished the Temple with Ezra
the scribe. That was in the reign of Artaxerxes
II. Ezra died in 323 BCE, the same year as
Alexander the Great, and the canon was
compiled and closed by 321.
The end of the next sixty-two weeks of years
saw another anointed one cut off and that was
James, Bishop of Jerusalem and the brother of
Jesus Christ. After the martyrdom of James in
Jerusalem, the Church was placed in the charge
of Simon (Simon Jose) the cousin of Jesus
Christ and son of Mary and Clophas. Mary was
the sister of Maryam (Mariam), the mother of
Christ. Clophas became bishop of Jerusalem
seemingly between the reign of James the
brother of Christ (d ca 64 CE) and the
assumption of Simon, son of Clophas and
cousin of Christ (see Hippolytus Appendix to
Origin of the Christian Church in Britain (No.
266)).
Simon took charge of the Church (after the
death of Clophas) and they fled to Pella, being
warned by the text of the prophet Daniel. The
Church was in dire straits and was generally
supported from the churches in Asia Minor.
The text in Daniel says that the prince who is to
come shall make a strong covenant with many
for the one week; and for half of the week he
shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease. He
goes on to say that upon the wing of
abominations shall come one who makes
desolate until the decreed end is poured out on
the desolator. The last sentence covers a great
deal of time and is not related to the Seventy
Weeks of Years, but rather until the system
referred to is destroyed.
The week of years referred to is from 62 to 69
CE and the final year is 70 CE.
The culmination was at the end of the 490 years
or Seventy Weeks of Years. Before the
Passover in 70 CE, reportedly on 1 Abib, the
Roman Army surrounded Jerusalem. This was
the New Year. It was also at the exact end of
the "Forty Years for Repentance" given to
Judah from the Passover of 30 CE.
The last week of years was the seven years
leading up to this day. In that time the Church
fled to Pella at the beginning of the week, after
the death of James (and probably that of
Clophas). In the middle of that week (or
sabbatical period), a whole series of problems
occurred for Judea. The two factions of the
Jews seized the City of David and the Temple
Mount, and began to wage war on each other
from those strongholds. Josephus records the
disasters. He says the Romans did no worse to
them than they did to themselves.
Emile Schürer (History of the Jewish People in
the Age of Jesus Christ, Vols. 1–3, T &T Clark,
Rev. ed. 1987) gives a detailed history and this
paper is based on the accounts of Schürer and
Josephus.
The procurator of Judea at the time was
Gessius Florus (64-66 CE). He was the most
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
base of the Roman procurators, and Josephus is
at a loss for words to describe the baseness of
his administration. Albinus was classed a
“righteous man” compared to him. Albinus had
conducted his infamous deeds in secret but
Florus paraded them in public, and not content
with the robbery of individuals, “he plundered
whole cities and ruined whole communities. As
long as the bandits were content to share the
spoil with him they could carry on without
hindrance” (Schürer, Vol. 1, p. 470, quoting
Josephus, Wars of the Jews (B. J.). ii. 14, 2; and
Antiq, xx 11, 1). Schürer considers the situation
was beyond endurance and it only needed one
spark and the explosion that followed was with
elemental force.
Florus had until then contented himself with
robbing the people, but in the middle of the
week of years Florus robbed the Temple
treasury in Jerusalem of seventeen talents. This
provoked an uproar. Some wits got the idea of
passing around baskets for donations to poor
Florus, and Florus decided to punish them for
their mockery. A great number of citizens,
including Roman knights of Jewish birth, were
seized at random, scourged and crucified.
Queen Berenice happened to be in Jerusalem at
the time and even she could not stop the
procurator and his soldiers. This act took place
on 16 Artemesius, or Iyyar of 66 CE.
This date is of significance to any Bible
student. 16 Iyyar (or Iyar) is the 16th day of the
Second month and is the day after which the
Second Passover has been taken, and the last
opportunity for repentance and Passover
protection in that year. The Passover is taken
from the Lord’s Supper on 14 Abib – or Iyyar
for the Second Passover – out of one’s gates
until the morning of the 15th, when after the
night of the Passover on 15 Iyyar, the faithful
repentant are allowed to return to their tents for
the remainder of the Holy Day and Feast of
Unleavened Bread. The 16th then commences at
evening that day (Deut. 16:5-7). God allowed
this period of the Second Passover for
repentance and then unleashed the dogs of war.
On the following day, Florus ordered the
citizens to greet two cohorts of troops on their
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way back from Caesarea. The troops were
greeted, but they ignored the citizens on Florus’
orders. The citizens began to shout abuse at
Florus whereon the soldiers began to massacre
the citizens. They got back inside the city but a
fierce street battle then ensued, and many were
massacred. The people succeeded in gaining the
Temple Mount and cut the connection to the
Antonia fortress. Florus withdrew to Caesarea
leaving a cohort in Jerusalem and left the city
leaders responsible for order.
Background to Agrippa and Berenice and
the duration of the War
Agrippa II was raised and educated in Rome.
Claudius granted him the kingdom of his uncle
Herod of Chalcis in the Lebanon ca 50 CE, and
the same charge of appointing the Temple High
Priests as his uncle had enjoyed. He probably
stayed in Rome and did not go to Lebanon until
after 52 CE, according to Schürer (ibid. p. 472).
In 53 CE, in return for surrendering the small
kingdom of Chalcis, he was granted the much
larger realm of the tetrarchy of Philip consisting
of Batanea, Trachonitis, and Gaulanitis, the
tetrarchy of Lysanius (Abila) as well as the
territory of Varus. After the death of Claudius
(d. 54), Nero enlarged this territory still further
by adding to it, important parts of Galilee and
Peraea, namely the cities of Tiberias and
Tarichea with their surrounding districts, and
the city of Julius with its fourteen neighbouring
villages (ibid. pp. 472-3).
At the time of the rebellion, Agrippa was in
Alexandria and hurried back to Jerusalem. His
sister, with whom he lived after the death of her
husband (his uncle of Chalcis), was a bigoted
and dissolute woman and mother of two. She
married King Polemon of Cilicia, requiring him
to submit to circumcision, but she soon
returned to her brother. She was in Jerusalem at
the time of the rebellion, as the result of a
Nazirite vow of all things (cf. Schürer, ibid. pp.
474-5).
Agrippa and Berenice were curious to see and
hear Paul (Acts 25:22 ff). His comment at Acts
26:28 indicates to Schürer that he was free from
fanaticism and any real involvement in
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religious questions. The significance was that
James was killed in Jerusalem and was a
witness to the Kingdom. We have it recorded
that Agrippa heard Paul in person. James was
killed ca 62 CE at the end of the 69 weeks of
years. Paul was beheaded in Rome in 66 CE.
Thus, after the martyrdom of two of God’s
witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in Rome, God
then dealt with the system.
Agrippa had gone to Egypt to pay respects to
the Prefect of Egypt, Tiberius Iulius Alexander.
Agrippa returned quickly and he and his sister
did all they could to avert the revolt. They sided
with the peace party and from then on they
were unswervingly on the Roman side, and lost
a number of cities as a result. He and his troops
were in the train of Cestius Gallus on the illfated expedition against Jerusalem. He was able
to recover his territory by 67 CE after the
Romans had recovered all of northern
Palestine.
Nero died on 9 June 68 CE. (We know that
both Paul, and later Peter were martyred in
Nero’s reign). Titus and Agrippa then went to
pay homage to the new Emperor Galba, but on
the way they received news of Galba’s murder
on 15 January 69 CE.
Titus returned to his father Vespasian, and
Agrippa went on to Rome. After the election of
Vespasian as emperor by the Egyptian and
Syrian Legions in July 69 CE he returned to pay
homage at the behest of Berenice, who was a
strong supporter of the Flavian party. From
then on Agrippa was in the continual company
of Titus to whom Vespasian had entrusted the
conduct of the war. After the fall of Jerusalem,
Titus sponsored magnificent games at
Agrippa’s capital, Caesarea Philippi. Agrippa’s
capital was the centre of Roman rejoicing at the
downfall of the Jewish people.
After the war, his lands were extended, and
Josephus notes that Arcea in Northern
Lebanon, which is north east of Tripolis, was in
the kingdom of Agrippa (B. J. vii, 5, 1, see fn.
37 to Schürer, Vol. 1, p. 478). Josephus did not
mention them in Wars (B.J. iii, 3, 5),
presumably because they had not as yet been
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
awarded to him, and Schürer holds this view
(ibid., p. 478).
After the war, in 75 CE, Agrippa and Berenice
arrived in Rome and there Berenice resumed
the affair she had started with Titus in
Palestine. The Jewish Queen lived with Titus
on the Palatine while Agrippa was favoured
with the rank of praetor. It was expected they
would be married, but reaction in Rome was so
strong that Titus was forced to send her away.
The Jubilee was in 77 CE. The destruction was
completed in Jerusalem in 70 CE and the
Romans had consolidated all power by the
Seventh Sabbath in 76 CE, before the Jubilee in
77 CE.
After the death of Vespasian, Berenice returned
to Rome on 23 June 79 CE, but Titus, as
emperor, ignored her. Schürer thinks she
returned to Palestine but little is known of her
after that time.
Agrippa’s reign of his extended dominion
lasted until 85 or 86 CE, when he was deprived
of the Jewish colonies. Josephus notes, when
he wrote Antiquities (xvii, 2, 2 (28)), that they
were no longer part of his dominion. He seems
to have reigned at least until the reign of
Domitian. Schürer considers he died ca 92/93
CE and that Photius is unreliable in his date of
100 CE (op. cit. p. 481). With no children, his
kingdom was incorporated into the province of
Syria on his death.
The War with Rome lasted from 66 CE to
about 74 CE, but the prophecies are concerned
with the destruction of the Temple and the
removal of the physical system, which ended in
70 CE.
The Conduct of the War
Agrippa had also made frequent use of the right
to appoint the High Priests, and deposed and
appointed High Priests until the outbreak of the
rebellion in 66 CE.
On his return from Alexandria for the rebellion
in 66 CE, Agrippa assembled the people in the
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
Xystus, which was an open square in front of
the Palace of the Hasmonaeans where he lived.
He tried to get the people to restore order and
submit to the hated Florus, but that was the last
straw. The people rejected him with scorn and
contempt and he returned to his kingdom.
The rebels also then occupied the Masada, the
famous fortress adjacent to the Salt Sea in the
south (now the Dead Sea).
The climate of rebellion was intense.
At the instigation of Eleazar the son of Ananias
the High Priest, the daily sacrifice to the
emperor was suspended and no more sacrifices
from Gentiles were accepted. This was a
reversal of the prayer made to God at the
inauguration of the Temple by Solomon, and in
effect, was a breach of the covenant
undertaking between Israel and God regarding
the Gentiles. This aspect is covered in the paper
Rule of the Kings: Part III: Solomon and the
Key of David (No. 282C) and was to have farreaching consequences.
The suspension of the sacrifice to the emperor
was tantamount to an open declaration of
rebellion against Rome. All the persuasion of
the leaders, chief priests and Pharisees failed.
The peace party, which consisted of the Chief
Priests,
Pharisaic
notables
and
the
Hasmonaeans, i.e. those related to the Herodian
House, saw they had failed. They resorted to
force and appealed to King Agrippa for
support. He sent a detachment of 3,000 cavalry
under Darius and Philippus, and with their aid
they gained control of the Upper City while the
Rebels retained control of the Temple Mount
and the Lower City. However, the king’s forces
were forced to evacuate the Upper City, and in
vengeance the rebels set fire to the palaces of
Ananias the High Priest, and of Agrippa and
Berenice. A few days later in Lous or Ab, i.e.
July/August, the rebels captured the Antonia
fortress and began to lay siege to the upper
palace of Herod where the troops of the peace
party had taken refuge.
Resistance was impossible and the forces of
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Agrippa were given safe conduct. The Roman
cohorts escaped to the three fortified towers of
Herod’s Palace (Hippicus, Phasael and
Mariamne). The rest of the palace was set
ablaze on 6 Gorpiaeus (Elul). On the following
day, the High Priest Ananias was seized in his
hiding place and murdered. The Roman cohort
in the three towers was forced to yield. The
troops were promised safe conduct. However,
when they laid down their arms, they were
butchered to the last man (Schürer, pp. 486487).
Jerusalem was thus victorious. In the other
cities of Judea and Galilee bloody battles took
place. Where the Jews prevailed they
slaughtered the Gentiles, and where the
Gentiles prevailed they slaughtered the Jews.
Josephus says the effects of the revolt in
Palestine extended as far as Alexandria (B.J. ii,
18, 1-8 (457-98); see also Schürer, p. 487).
The Counter Attack
After a long delay reportedly in preparation,
Cestius Gallus, governor of Syria, moved in to
Judea to put down the revolt.
The force consisted of the 12th Legion and two
thousand picked men of other legions, six
cohorts and four alae of cavalry together with a
large number of auxiliaries supplied under
obligation by friendly kings, including Agrippa.
Gallus’ force moved from Alexandria by way
of Ptolemais, Caesarea, Antipatris, and Lydda.
They arrived at Lydda at the Feast of
Tabernacles in Tishri. They marched from there
to Jerusalem via Beth Horon, and arrived at
Gibeon, fifty stadia from Jerusalem (ibid.).
The Jews attacked the camp at Beth Horon and
the Romans were in great danger but eventually
repulsed the Jews.
Gallus then moved closer to Jerusalem and
camped on Mt. Scopus, some seven stadia from
Jerusalem, on 26 Tishri. Four days later, on 30
Tishri (Hyperberetaeus), he occupied the
northerly suburb of Bezetha without resistance,
and set it on fire.
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He then attacked the Temple Mount but failed
and so he withdrew. Josephus cannot explain
why he did so. He was probably underequipped and under-manned for the siege.
He retreated, and in a gorge near Beth Horon,
the Jews surrounded him completely and
attacked him so vehemently they routed the
force. In order to escape with the nucleus of his
force to Antioch, he was forced to leave his war
equipment behind to be later used by the Jews.
Preparation for the major Roman assault
The victors returned to Jerusalem on 8 Dius, or
Marcheshvan.
The peace party now capitulated entirely and
joined the rebels. The methodical preparation
began for the inevitable Roman counter-attack.
The popular assembly in the Temple elected
Joseph ben Gorion and the High Priest Ananus
to command the defence of Jerusalem.
Jesus ben Sapphias and Eleazar ben Ananias
(both of High Priestly lineage) were sent to
Idumea to command its defence. Almost every
one of the eleven toparchies, or areas into
which Judaea was divided, received its own
commander. Josephus ben Matthias, the future
historian, was appointed to command Galilee.
This was a difficult command, as the Roman
attack would undoubtedly arrive there first with
the full brunt of the Roman army against illtrained citizens. The command reflected the
prominent position of Josephus in the
aristocratic society of Judea. Although not
trained for it, he set about the task with
enthusiasm.
He appointed the government in Galilee along
the pattern of the Sanhedrin, with a council of
seventy to deal with serious legal matters and
capital cases.
A council of seven was appointed in every
town for lesser disputes.
He was to destroy the Palace of Tiberias, but
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
the rebels had already achieved that task. He
fortified all the major towns of Galilee making
them more or less defensible. The towns were
Jotapata, Tarichea, Tiberias, Sepphoris,
Gischala, Mt. Tabor, and Gamala in Gaulanitis
and many smaller places. He called up 100,000
men and trained them on the Roman model.
Josephus’ steady and solid preparation for the
war was opposed by John of Gischala, a
vehement anti-Roman, in Galilee.
Josephus was not fully committed to total
opposition, and in Tarichea, where Josephus
was quartered there was a serious riot after
Josephus was discovered to have reclaimed
booty from youths of the village of Dabaritta,
who had taken it from an official of Agrippa.
Resentment and mistrust of Josephus rose to
open insurrection. Josephus’ life was
threatened and only by cunning and selfhumiliation was he able to avert the danger.
Later in Tiberias he was forced to flee
murderers sent to kill him by John of Gischala.
In the end, John of Gischala had Josephus’
appointment revoked, and a force of 2,500
under four dignitaries was sent to Galilee for
this purpose. However, Josephus succeeded in
having the decree rescinded and the four
emissaries recalled. When they refused to
comply he had them arrested and sent home.
The inhabitants of Tiberias, who continued to
rebel, were put down by force. The city
defected a few days later in favour of Agrippa
and the Romans, and was again subdued by a
ruse. According to Josephus, the city was of
mixed population and some supported the
revolt and others supported Agrippa and the
Romans (B. J. ii, 21, 8-10 and Vita 32-34; 6668).
Jerusalem used the intervening period to train
the young men in the use of weapons and to
build weapons and amass supplies to withstand
the siege. By Passover 67 CE the city was set to
suffer their second and more serious assault.
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
Second Roman Offensive of 67 CE
Nero was in Achaea when news of the defeat of
Cestius Gallus reached him. He transferred
command of suppressing the Jewish revolt to
the experienced Vespasian. The defeated Gallus
died shortly afterwards.
Provision for the campaign was made during
the winter.
Vespasian marched to Antioch and marshalled
his army there, and sent his son Titus to
Alexandria to bring him the 15th Legion
stationed there.
As soon as possible, at the end of the winter, he
marched to Ptolemais where he meant to await
Titus, but before Titus arrived emissaries from
Sepphoris in Galilee arrived and requested a
Roman garrison. Vespasian immediately
marched 6,000 troops under Placidus to
garrison Sepphoris. Without striking a blow the
Romans took over one of the most important
and heavily fortified places in Galilee.
With the arrival of Titus, the army now at
Vespasian’s command consisted of three
complete legions: the 5th, 10th and 15th Legions;
twenty-three auxiliary cohorts, six alae of
cavalry, and the auxiliaries provided by Kings
Agrippa, Antiochus of Commagene, Soaemus
of Emesa, and Malchis II of Nabataea, in all
some 60,000 men.
Vespasian set out from Ptolemais and camped
at the border of Galilee.
The Jewish troops under Josephus had
encamped at Garis, 20 stadia from Sepphoris to
await the Romans (Vita 71 (395)).
The courage of the Jewish troops failed even
before the Romans had appeared, and they
scattered. The lowlands of Galilee fell to the
Romans without a sword being struck.
Josephus was forced to retreat to Tiberias.
Vespasian now simply had to defeat the
fortresses piecemeal.
Page 7
Josephus sent word to Jerusalem for an army of
equal quality to the Romans. The plea was too
late.
The main part of Josephus’ force occupied
Jotapata. Josephus said the Romans had to
build the road to get the cavalry across, which
they did from 17 to 21 Iyyar. Josephus
allegedly arrived there on 21 Artemesius (Iyyar)
of 67 CE. (This time was at the end of the
Second Passover period of what would have
been the section of Unleavened Bread).
Vespasian reached the city on the evening of
the next day. Josephus says the siege lasted 47
days (B.J. iii, 7, 33 and 8, 9 and ended on 1
Panemus (B.J. iii, 7, 36).
Josephus is quite clear that the city fell on 1
Panemus. He is also quite clear that the siege
was 47 days. He also states that the road works
were undertaken four days before his arrival on
21 Iyyar. Thus, the Roman advance guard for
the siege must have arrived at 14 Iyyar or in
time for the Second Passover again. Once the
road was constructed the siege engines could be
moved forward with Vespasian's main body.
The significance of using the Second Passover
in Iyyar for both major operations should not be
lost on the Bible student. God is allowing this
situation to occur to deal with Judah.
The city of Jotapata was taken on the New
Moon of Tammuz in 67 CE. It had been a
walled city in Israel since the days of Joshua
(cf. Mishnah, Arak. 9:6).
The first assault was repulsed. The Romans
then commenced the siege. Josephus describes
the siege in great detail in Wars of the Jews.
In the end, despite the use of cunning in
sending people out in animal skins to bring in
supplies at night, and the use of boiling oil and
fenugreek to make the siege engines and
bridges slippery and get under the soldiers
armour, and the constant brave resistance, the
city fell. The bold sorties in this siege even saw
Vespasian himself wounded. The city was
betrayed by a deserter, who revealed the true
state of fatigue to the Romans. The morning
watch could barely stay awake. Titus and a
Page 8
small force entered by stealth in the morning
watch and slaughtered the guards and the city
could not repulse the attackers when inside.
The men were killed and many hid in caves.
They were slaughtered by the Romans or took
their own lives. Josephus records that he
survived, allegedly by drawing the lot to be the
last man in his cave to suicide, and then
surrendered. He acted as a prophet and it was
confirmed by other witnesses that he had
indeed foretold the length of the siege.
Josephus foretold that Vespasian would assume
the throne, and he was therefore treated more
leniently.
The Romans killed all the men except a few
captives and saved alive only a few children
and some women as slaves. They levelled the
city. Josephus was left alive to record the
events. The city was rediscovered in 1847 by E.
G. Schultz at Jefat due north of Sepphoris.
On 4 Panemus, Vespasian marched to Caesarea
by way of Ptolemais where he allowed the army
to rest while he went to Agrippa at Caesarea
Philippi. They had festivities there for twenty
days. Titus was then ordered to bring the
legions from Caesarea Maritima and they
marched on Tiberias. The city surrendered and
was treated leniently for the sake of Agrippa.
They marched on Tarichea. A bold stoke by
Titus took that city at the beginning of
Gorpiaeus or Elul.
New Moons and the Second Passover form
significant time events in this war. God is
speaking to Judah and they are not listening.
Thus, in Galilee, only Gischala and Mt. Tabor
(Itabyrion) now remained to the rebels who also
held the important and strongly fortified
Gamala in Gaulanitis.
The Romans attacked Gamala next, and at first
they appeared successful and entered the city.
However, the counter-attacks were so
determined and so dreadful that the Romans
withdrew with very heavy losses, and it took all
Vespasian’s authority to restore order and
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
morale (Schürer, ibid., p. 495).
On 23 Tishri (Hyperberetaeus), Gamala finally
fell. Mt Tabor had also been taken by a
detachment sent there during the siege at
Gamala.
Titus was sent to Gischala with a detachment of
1,000 cavalry. The city surrendered to Titus on
the second day. John and his Zealots had
escaped the night before and fled to Jerusalem.
Vespasian took the army into winter quarters.
He and the 5th and 15th Legions camped at
Caesarea. The 10th was stationed at
Scythopolis.
Thus, by winter of 67 CE, all of northern
Palestine was in the hands of the Romans.
The Civil War of 67 CE
The leaders of the rebels had been at first
instance the leaders that had been half-hearted
or part of the peace party. The fierce
nationalists, called Zealots, blamed them for
the disastrous first year of the war. They were
accused of not pressing the war vigorously
enough. That comment appears justified.
The Zealots then began to seize control and get
rid of the former leaders. They would not
voluntarily relinquish authority and so the
bloody civil war commenced in the winter of
67-68 CE.
John of Gischala was leader of the Zealots. He
escaped from Titus and went with his troop to
Jerusalem in about the beginning of November.
He rallied the young men and stimulated them
to greater action. The militant Zealot refugees
from the north were pouring in to Jerusalem as
well as volunteers from elsewhere. The Zealots
soon had control of Jerusalem.
Their first move was to get rid of all suspect
Roman sympathisers. A number of the most
prominent, including Antipas of the Herodian
House, were locked up and murdered in prison.
Another High Priest was chosen by lot as the
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
previous ones all belonged to the aristocratic
party. This was to be a great blow to the
Sadducees, and eventually saw the rise of the
post-Temple rabbinical system from the
Pharisees.
The High Priest chosen was Phannias, from
Apthia (also Phanni, Phanasus, Pinhas).
Josephus says he had not the least
understanding of the High Priestly office, but
he was a man of the people and that was the
main thing (B. J. iv, 3, 6-8).
The authorities in Jerusalem, Gorion ben
Joseph, Simon ben Gamaliel the Pharisee, and
the two High Priests, Ananus ben Ananus and
Jesus ben Gamaliel tried to rid themselves of
the Zealots by force. As they were in the
minority they were forced into the inner
forecourt of the Temple and, since no one
wanted to storm the sacred gates, they were
locked in.
The Zealots sent messages to the warlike
Idumeans. These sons of Esau had been
defeated by John Hyrcanus and converted to
Judaism some two and a half centuries before.
A large percentage of Judaea was Idumaean, as
were the Hasmonaeans themselves.
The Idumeans appeared before the walls of
Jerusalem but they were not let in. That night, a
fierce storm was used as cover by the Zealots to
open the gates and the combined force
immediately began robbing and murdering in
the city. The establishment was too weak to
resist and a reign of terror began. The Zealots
directed their murders at the establishment,
declaring them to be pro-Roman. The High
Priests Ananus and Jesus were murdered.
They even staged the farce of a formal trial to
give credibility to the murders, but the court
summoned for the trial acquitted the accused
Zacharias ben Baruch, and so the Zealots
simply killed him with the statement: “We have
our vote too” (Schürer, ibid., p. 497-498).
The Idumeans by now realised that the socalled treachery was only implicating lawabiding citizens. They then withdrew.
Page 9
The Zealots continued the reign of terror with
even less restraint. They killed Gorion and the
part of the well-to-do, and the authorities were
so intimidated that there was no longer
resistance. John of Gischala was a tyrant in
Jerusalem.
Protection of the Church at Pella
The Church had been warned of this trauma
through Daniel. Before the war, and after the
death of James, under Simon cousin of Christ it
had fled to Pella long before the Passover of 66
CE.
Eusebius records from Josephus (HE III, V-VI)
the dreadful details of the actions of the people
in the city. The Church had been spared the
horror of the Zealots and the dreadful famine
that destroyed the city and its moral structure.
The Roman generals considered that Jerusalem
should be attacked immediately. With the
fighting going on in the city they considered it
could be taken with ease.
Vespasian considered that it was wiser to let
the city give full vent to its internal hostilities,
and allow it to exhaust itself.
God had given Jerusalem 40 years under the
Sign of Jonah, and they were going to get every
day of the time allotted to them (see the paper
The Sign of Jonah and the History of the
Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 13)).
They could have repented and God would have
saved them, even up until the last minute.
Instead, Vespasian turned his attention to
Peraea, which was where Pella was located.
The area was Gentile but had anti-Roman
elements especially in the city of Gadara.
Gadara had requested a garrison of Roman
troops as protection against these elements.
Vespasian marched a force there from Caesarea
even before spring had arrived. He arrived there
on 4 Dystrus, or Adar of 68 CE and occupied
Page 10
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
the city. He then returned to Caesarea.
Vespasian left a detachment of 3,000 infantry
and 500 cavalry under Placidus, and that
completed the subjugation of Peraea as far as
Machaerus. This had the effect of ensuring that
the Church was left in peace and saw none of
the dreadful exterminations that took place in
Judaea, Galilee and Idumea.
Events forced Vespasian to again move into
Judaea when a Simon Bar-Giora (son of the
proselyte) who behaved in a very similar way to
John of Gischala – fiercely intolerant and a
Zealot – began to assemble a band of followers
in the cease-fire. He and his followers then
began to roam southern Palestine, robbing and
looting wherever they went.
When the spring was fully under way,
Vespasian again set off from Caesarea. His
objective was to subjugate the entire
countryside so that Jerusalem was the last
bastion and when destroyed, all resistance
would go with it.
Like locusts, they destroyed everything in their
path. After making a surprise attack on Hebron,
they made away with a valuable haul of plunder
(Schürer, ibid., p. 499 cf. B. J. iv, 9, 3-8).
He occupied Antipatris, captured Lydda and
Jamnia. He posted the 5th Legion outside of
Emmaeus. He then made incursions throughout
Idumaea. Turning northwards, by way of
Emmaeus, he marched through Samaria to
Neapolis (Shechem) via Corea. He arrived in
Corea on 2 Sivan (Daisius) and then went on to
Jericho. He garrisoned Jericho and Adida. He
completely destroyed Gerasa with a detachment
under Lucius Annius.
Vespasian was forced to act. On 5 Daisius, or
Sivan 69 CE, after a full year of rest, he set off
again from Caesarea. He subjugated the
districts of Gophna and Acrabata and the towns
of Bethel and Ephraim. He approached
Jerusalem while his tribune Cerealis conquered
and destroyed Hebron, after they resisted. With
the exception of Jerusalem, and the three
fortresses of Herodium, Masada and
Machaerus, all Palestine was subject to Rome
(ibid., pp. 499-500).
Two Tyrants in Jerusalem
Judea was completely subjugated. Vespasian
could now turn his attention on Jerusalem (cf.
Schürer, ibid., pp. 498-499). He turned back to
Caesarea and started preparations, but the death
of Nero on 9 June 68 CE forced a complete
revision of plans. The whole empire might be
in chaos and so he had to turn his attention
there. In that way God dealt with the situation,
forcing Judah to evaluate itself for the complete
period of forty years.
Vespasian waited for news, and in the winter of
68/9 CE news came that Galba had been
proclaimed emperor. He sent his son Titus to
Rome to pay homage to the new emperor and
await commands. However, Titus only reached
as far as Corinth when he was informed of
Galba’s assassination on 15 January 69 CE.
Titus then returned to his father in Caesarea.
Vespasian continued to play a waiting game.
Second Occupation of Judaea
Jerusalem had grown very tired of John of
Gischala, and in Simon Bar-Giora they saw a
means of ridding themselves of John. Thus,
even before Vespasian had subjugated the
south, Simon turned to Jerusalem and was
invited in to Jerusalem on the suggestion of the
High Priest, Matthias. He entered Jerusalem in
Xanthicus, or Nisan of 69 CE.
Instead of being freed of the tyranny of John,
they now had two tyrants who both saw anyone
with money as a common enemy.
The Divided Empire
God again acted to give Jerusalem its full
period of time and give Judah an opportunity to
be spared.
On Vespasian's return to Caesarea, news
reached him that the legions in the West had
proclaimed Vitellius as emperor. The legions in
the East decided that they would rather have
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
Vespasian than the gourmandising Vitellius.
On 1 July 69 CE, Vespasian was proclaimed
emperor in Egypt. A few days later the
Palestinian and Syrian Legions followed suit.
Before mid-July he was recognised as emperor
throughout the East.
Vespasian was then forced to consolidate his
power and had to leave the rebellious Jews
until later. The time was to be in accordance
with God’s purpose and His calendar.
Vespasian received embassies at Berytus and
then went to Antioch. From there he sent
Mucianus overland to Rome with an army and
he went to Alexandria. Whilst there he received
word that he had triumphed in Rome and
Vitellius had been murdered on 20 December
69 CE.
He stayed in Alexandria until the beginning of
summer 70 CE, but sent Titus with an army to
Palestine to finish the Jewish war.
Jerusalem and the Tyrants
In the year’s interim the situation in Jerusalem
had actually become worse, if that was
possible.
Instead of two parties of Tyrants there were
now three. Eleazar, Simon’s son, had split off
from John’s party of Zealots. The city was now
split into three sections. Simon dominated the
Upper City and a large part of the Lower City.
John dominated the Temple Mount, and
Eleazar the inner forecourt of the Temple. The
three were in continuous conflict and the whole
city was a ceaseless battlefield.
Rather than allow the prospect of each one
gaining access to the food supplies at the
expense of the other, they set on fire the
enormous stores of grain in Jerusalem and
plunged the city into starvation. They made
sure that the city could not survive the coming
Roman siege out of a mindless, petty
internecine conflict.
They deserved to be put to the sword each and
Page 11
every one of them, and that sword was soon to
descend on them in the form of Titus and his
army.
The Fall of Jerusalem
The army under Titus was comprised of four
legions. Apart from Vespasian’s 5th, 10th and
15th Legions, he also had the 12th Legion,
which had been the legion in Syria under
Cestius that started the first siege.
Commanders of Vespasian’s Legions were:
Sextus Vettulenus Cerealis 5th Legion
A. Larcius Lepidus Sulpicianus 10th Legion
M. Tittius Frugi 15th Legion
Commander of the 12th is unknown.
The former procurator of Judaea, Tiberius
Iulius Alexander, assisted Titus.
He gave orders for the remainder of the army to
meet him at Jerusalem and he and the main
body set out from Caesarea. The 5th went by
Emmaus and the 10th went by way of Jericho.
As well as the entire force of allied auxiliaries,
which had been strengthened, Titus had with
him 2,000 men from Egypt and 3,000 drawn
from the army on the Euphrates.
Schürer says Titus reached the walls of
Jerusalem a few days before Passover 70 CE
(ibid., p. 502); other authorities say on 1 Abib
70 CE. That accords with the time-frame. It is
of no real consequence if it was 1 or 13 Abib.
The Passover was the judgment of God.
Titus had gone ahead with a cavalry force of
600 and came under serious threat of capture by
the Jews, and only his own bravery saved him.
The fanatical bravery of the Jews was well
respected by the Romans. The 10th Legion
arrived and set up camp on the Mount of
Olives. In the process it was attacked with such
ferocity that it almost suffered total defeat. The
personal intervention of Titus saw it stand its
ground and it fought off the attack.
The internal fighting continued unabated in the
city. With the Romans at the gates, another
Page 12
massacre took place at Passover 70 CE in
Jerusalem. Eleazar’s men opened the gates of
the Temple forecourt to worshippers for the
Passover. John of Gischala’s men used this
opportunity to smuggle in arms and killed
Eleazar’s men and took over the entire Temple
Mount. This action returned the status quo to
the two parties of John and Simon.
Schürer gives a description of the city in
Volume 1 on page 503 and using also Josephus
(B. J. v 4) as follows:
“To understand the siege which now followed, it is
necessary to possess a general idea of the layout of
the city. [B. J. v 4] Jerusalem lay on two hills, a
higher western one, and a smaller one to the east,
divided by a deep ravine running from north to
south, the so-called Tyropoeon. On the larger
western hill stood the upper city, on the smaller
eastern hill, the lower city. The latter was also called
the ‘Acra’ because it was here that the fortress of
Jerusalem built by Antiochus Epiphanes had
formerly stood. [c.f. Schürer pp. 154-5] North of the
Acra lay the site of the Temple, the extent of which
had been considerably enlarged by Herod the Great.
Adjoining the Temple area on its northern side was
the Antonia fortress. The Temple site was
surrounded on all four sides by a strong wall and
thus constituted a small fort in its own right. The
upper and lower cities were enclosed by a common
wall which joined the western wall of the Temple
area, then ran westward, swept around the upper and
lower cities in a great southern curve, and finally
came to an end at the south-eastern corner of the
Temple site. Furthermore, the upper city must have
been separated from the lower city by a wall running
from north to south along the Tyropoeon. For Titus,
when already in possession of the lower city, still
had to direct his battering rams against the wall of
the upper city. On the west, south and east, the outer
wall stood on high precipices; only to the north was
the ground reasonably level. Here, there was a
second wall forming a northerly curve and enclosing
the older suburb; and then, in a still wider northerly
sweep, a third wall begun by Agrippa I and only
completed during the revolt when necessity
demanded it. This third wall enclosed the so-called
New City or suburb of Bezetha.93 [The reader will
recall Bezetha was burnt by the Romans earlier in
the first action of Cestius. cf Schürer p. 488] As the
city’s layout itself demanded, Titus directed his
offensive against the northern side, hence against the
outermost third, or from the standpoint of the
attackers, first wall. It was only then, as the battering
rams began their work at some three points, that the
internal fighting ended and both parties, those of
John of Gischala and Simon Bar-Giora, joined
forces. In one of their attacks they fought with such
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
success that it was due only to the intervention of
Titus (who himself shot down twelve of the enemy)
that the machines were saved. [B. J. v 6, 2-5] After
fifteen days’ work, one of the powerful battering
rams knocked a hole in the wall, the Romans broke
in, and on 7 Artemisius (Iyyar, April/May) obtained
a control of the first wall. [cf. Josephus B. J. v,7,2] ”
Five days after the capture of the first wall, the
second wall gave way to the Roman battering
ram. Titus moved in with select force but was
repulsed by the Jews.
Four days later he took it again and this time
held it permanently. Again we have 12 and 16
Iyyar as decisive dates around the Second
Passover sequence.
Titus’ next step was to throw up two ramparts
against the city and two against the Antonia.
Each of the four legions was tasked to build
one of the ramparts. Simon Bar-Giora
commanded defence of the Upper City and
John of Gischala commanded the Antonia (B. J.
v 9,2).
The Romans then tasked Josephus with calling
on the city to surrender, with no result.
Food was short and the poor who went
searching for food were captured and crucified
in full view of the city. Some were mutilated
and driven back into the city (B. J. v 10, 2-5).
The Romans completed the ramparts on 29
Iyyar 70 CE.
The Jews, under John and Simon, had been
biding their time until the ramparts were
finished before demolishing them.
John had dug a tunnel under the ramparts
against the Antonia and then set fire to the
posts at the opportune time. The result was that
the tunnel collapsed and the ramparts fell into
the blaze and were destroyed. Two days later
Simon Bar-Giora fired and destroyed the
ramparts against the Upper City (B. J. v 11, 46).
Titus then ringed the city with a continuous
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
stone wall before he started on new ramparts.
This was to cut off the city from all re-supply
and starve it into submission. It was completed
in the amazing time of three days and continual
armed guard prevented any escape (B. J. v 12,
1-32)
The horrors of starvation descended on the city
as God had foretold (Lev. 26:29; Deut. 28:29;
Jer. 19:9; Ezek. 5:10) and as historically
recorded (2Kgs. 6:28-29; Lam. 2:20; 4:10; Bar.
2:3). Maria of Beth-Ezob is one of those
recorded as devouring her own child (B. J. vi 3,
4; Euseb. HE iii, 6; & Jerome ad Joel 1:9 ff
(CCL lxxvi, p. 170; cf. Schürer fn. 102, p. 504).
The sacred oil and wine from the “Chamber of
the House of Oil” situated in the southwest
corner of the Court of the Women was then
forced to be used for profane purposes.
Josephus criticises this act but it is perfectly
understandable (B. J. v 13, 6).
In twenty-one days new ramparts had been built
and this time four were constructed against the
Antonia. The timber this time had to be carried
some 90 stadia (4.5 hrs journey) to the site as
the area had been denuded.
John of Gischala attacked them on 1 Panemus
or the New Moon of Tammuz but the attack
failed due to a lack of vigour in the execution
and the Romans being doubly vigilant (B. J. vi
1, 1-3).
The Jews withdrew and the battering rams
began. At first this was without success but the
wall later collapsed of its own accord, being so
badly damaged. However, John of Gischala had
already erected a second wall behind the
section that was damaged and it was thus very
difficult to scale.
On 3 Panemus (Tammuz) Titus exhorted the
troops to action, and a Syrian soldier named
Sabinus and eleven comrades scaled the wall
but Sabinus and three comrades fell (B. J. vi, 1,
3-6). On 5 Panemus, between twenty and thirty
soldiers scaled the wall at night and killed the
first sentries. Titus pressed on quickly after
them and drove the Jews back to the Temple
Page 13
zone.
The Romans were driven back again but they
captured the Antonia and immediately set about
razing it to the ground (B. J. vi 1, 7-8).
The Jews had been able to maintain the daily
morning and evening sacrifice even though they
ceased sacrifice for Gentiles in 66 CE at the
start of the revolt.
On the 17th day of the Fourth month, Panemus
or Tammuz, there were not enough men to
continue the sacrifice and, coupled with the
shortages of the famine, the sacrifice was
suspended. Despite an attempt to revive it in
the Bar Kochba revolt, it has never been
effectively reintroduced.
God removed the sacrifice and the physical
Temple, as it was fulfilled in Messiah and the
Church. The process of ritually killing animals
will be recommenced in Jerusalem after the
Messiah restores Jerusalem, and the Temple is
reconstructed in accordance with the Key of
David (see also the paper Commentary on
Zechariah (No. 021K)).
Josephus was ordered to make a further plea for
surrender, which bore no result.
A further night’s assault on the Temple failed
and Titus was left with no choice but to make
an all-out assault.
The Temple was a well-constructed virtual fort,
which was basically a square with colonnaded
thick walls. The inner forecourt was also
surrounded by thick walls, and formed a second
line of defence after the outer court had fallen.
Titus commenced by constructing four ramparts
on the outer walls. This time the materials had
to be brought over 100 stadia from Jerusalem.
The Jews were not idle in the work. They
stacked the western colonnade on the wall with
combustible material and made it appear to be
deserted. The Romans climbed the colonnade.
When they were on the top the Jews set fire to
it. The Romans were unable to escape and died
Page 14
in the flames (B. J. vi 3, 1-2).
The ramparts were finished on 8 Ab or Lous.
The rams were brought forward and the siege
work began. The walls were too thick and Titus
was forced to fire the gates to gain access to the
Outer Court. One might ask why he did not try
that first.
By 9 Ab the gates were completely burned.
Josephus alleges that Titus held a council of
War and it was decided to spare the Temple
itself (B. J. vi 4, 3).
On 10 Ab the Jews made two counter-attacks
from the Inner Forecourt of the Temple.
In repulsing the second attack, one of the
Roman soldiers who had been busy quelling the
fire in the colonnade threw a brand into the
Temple proper.
Josephus alleges that Titus, when informed,
rushed with the commanders and troops to try
and save the Temple. In the mêlée his
commands were ignored and the fire took hold.
He reportedly wanted to save the Temple but
the enraged soldiers not only ignored his
commands, they also threw in new firebrands.
Titus was just able to inspect the interior before
it was destroyed (B. J. vi 4, 6-7).
Josephus gives the date of the destruction of the
Temple at 10 Ab (B. J. vi 4, 5). However, the
rabbinical traditions date the destruction at the
beginning of the 9 Ab (m Taan. 4:6) in the
evening (b Taan. 29a) at the end of the Sabbath
day.
The truth is, more probably, that Josephus
wanted to whitewash Titus of the act of
barbarism. Sulpicius Severus (Chron, ii 30, 67) gives an alternative view and Orosius (vii 9,
5-6) also ascribes the destruction to Titus,
while Schürer notes that W. Weber upholds this
view.
Schürer notes that Valeton has criticised the
false view of Josephus in failing to record the
details of the War Council’s express decision to
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
occupy the Temple and take it by force and thus
destroy it if necessary. Valeton claimed that a
direction of Vespasian had been issued but the
council would have then been superfluous.
The Roman ensigns were brought
Temple and placed against the East
soldiers offered sacrifice to them.
records that Titus was proclaimed
after the great sacrifice.
in to the
Gate. The
Josephus
Imperator
The chambers in the walls of the Temple
housed the priests. They were forced to come
down out of hiding through thirst and were all
put to death.
Titus spoke with the Jews who enraged him by
trying to dictate terms, and he ordered the
destruction of Jerusalem. The Romans set fire
to the archives and the Acra, to the council
house and the Ophlas.
The aristocracy pleaded with him again and he
allowed some to be taken to Rome as security
(B. J. vi. 6, 1-3).
Josephus records the intense barbarity of the
Jewish rebels in the city at this time. The
Zealots had fled to the Upper City. The city had
been plundered and the spoils taken to the
Upper City and the Romans were annoyed that
the plunder was concentrated there.
The Zealots, too weak to fight the Romans, lay
in hiding and slaughtered everyone that sought
to escape to the Romans. There was nowhere in
the city that was not littered with the corpses of
those who died from the famine or the
slaughter. They tried to hide in the caverns
under the city and they set more places on fire
than did the Romans themselves. The people
who fled out of the houses from the fires, were
killed by the Zealots without mercy. They
swallowed food taken with their blood and
fought over the plunder. Josephus says that he
thinks that, if they had not been destroyed, they
would have eaten the dead bodies themselves
(B. J. vi 7, 1-3).
On 20 Ab Titus gave orders for the raising of
siege banks against the Upper City of Mt. Zion.
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
The four legions erected their banks on the
West side of the city against the Royal Palace.
The auxiliaries and their levies erected from the
Xystus to the bridge and the tower that Simon
had fortified against John.
An attempt by the Idumeans to defect was
agreed on by Titus, but Simon intercepted the
five emissaries on their return and they were
killed and the leaders put in custody. However,
the deserters continued to grow.
They deserted with their families. The price of
slaves was so low they had little value as the
captives were so many and the buyers were so
few. The priest Jesus son of Thebuthus
obtained security from Caesar, and with
Phineas the treasurer delivered up a deal of the
treasure of the Temple including candlesticks
of gold as well as cloth of purple and scarlet for
the veils and other expensive items. However,
they were given the same pardon as those who
deserted empty handed (B. J. vi 8, 1-3). The
gold taken in plunder was so great that it halved
the value of gold in Syria after the siege.
The siege banks were finished on the Seventh
day of Elul or Gorpieus in eighteen days. Many
had deserted and hid. The tyrants and the force
that resisted the Romans collapsed through
weakness and terror, and they left the towers
that were themselves too strong to be overcome
by siege engines.
Josephus considers that God Himself ejected
them out of the towers after all they had done in
the city. They fled immediately to the valley
that was under Siloam. They counter-attacked
the Romans but were weak and were repulsed
by the guards.
The Romans then went into the city killing and
burning everyone in it. Their plunder was
hampered by the fact that the upper rooms of
the houses were stacked with the bodies of the
dead through famine. The city was burning as 8
Elul commenced and was completely in Roman
hands (B. J. vi, 8, 4-5).
The survivors were either executed, or sent to
Page 15
the mines or they were reserved for gladiatorial
combat.
The mines were in Egypt and thus the promise
of God to send them back into Egypt for breach
of His covenant was fulfilled. The handsomest
and strongest of the men were selected for the
triumph. John of Gischala was driven by
hunger from the caves and was spared with life
imprisonment. Simon Bar-Goria, arrested some
time later, was kept for the triumph.
As we observed at the beginning, only the three
towers of Herod’s palace (Hippicus, Phasael
and Mariamne) and one part of the wall was
left standing.
Titus celebrated with rewards for valour,
sacrifices and festive banquets.
The Sequel to the War from 71 to 74 CE
Titus left the 10th Legion to garrison Jerusalem.
He marched the rest of the army to Caesarea
Maritima, where the booty and the prisoners
were deposited in safe custody.
Titus then went to Caesarea Philippi, seat of
Agrippa, where some of the prisoners were
forced to fight wild animals, or take part in
gladiatorial games. He returned to Maritima
and celebrated his brother Domitian’s birthday
(24 October) with more games and on 17
November at Berytus he celebrated his father
Vespasian’s birthday in like manner.
The Jewish prisoners were forced to kill each
other in gladiatorial combat in cities over the
entire march to Antioch. They then marched to
Zeugma on the Euphrates and back to Antioch.
They then returned to Egypt and discharged the
legions at Alexandria (Schürer, Vol. I, p. 509).
Seven hundred choice prisoners and Simon and
John were reserved for the triumph. Although
they had been granted a triumph each,
Vespasian, Domitian and Titus shared the one
triumph in 71 CE. Simon, in accordance with
ancient custom, was carried from the triumph
to prison and then executed.
Page 16
Among the prizes of war carried in the triumph,
the two golden objects from the Temple formed
the major prizes (in the eyes of the Jews at
least). These were the Table of the Shewbread
and the Seven-branched lampstand (B.J. vii
5,5).
Vespasian placed it in the Temple of the
Goddess of Peace (Pax) which he had rebuilt
but which was later burned down under
Commodus (Herodian i 14, 2, cf. Schürer, p.
510, fn. 132).
Schürer considers that Geiseric took them to
Africa after the Vandals sacked Rome in 455
CE, and then they were transported to
Constantinople by Belisarius after he destroyed
the Vandal empire in 534 CE (ibid.).
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
fortress was completely isolated now with
Masada in the south as the only other rebel
stronghold and so it may have been a prudent
decision (B. J. vii 6, 1-4).
Lucilius Bassus died over the campaign and it
was left to his successor Flavius Silva to reduce
Masada.
The Masada (lit. mountain stronghold) was
reduced after a long campaign. The siege works
of 73 CE are still evident (see plates). It could
only be approached from this one direction (see
also Strabo xvi 2, 44 and Schürer ibid., fn.
137).
The Masada had been held since the very
beginning of the War when the Sicarii under
Eleazar son of Yair, who was a descendent of
Judas the Galilean, fortified it.
Subduing the remainder of Palestine
Palestine was not as yet completely subdued
even though Jerusalem and the north had been
virtually destroyed.
The fortresses of Herodium, Machaerus and the
now famous Masada were still in rebel hands.
Lucilius Bassus, the governor of Palestine, was
assigned with the task of their reduction.
Josephus indicates that the siege and defeat of
Herodium was accomplished without much
difficulty (B. J. vii 6, 1). Machaerus took longer
but it surrendered also before the final attack
took place. Machaerus was situated on the
southern border of Peraea next to Nabataean
territory. It is the present day Khirbet el
Mukawer. Originally fortified by Alexander
Jannaeus, it was demolished by Gabinus
(Antiq., xiv 5, 4). It was refortified by Herod
the Great (B. J. vii 6, 2 cf. also Schürer 1, p.
511, fn. 135, re Pliny NH v 16 and its
importance).
A young man named Eleazar distinguished
himself in the defence but was captured. The
Romans threatened to crucify him in full view
of the fortress and the fortress decided to
surrender. That was a strange reaction, but the
The side facing the Salt Sea is precipitous and
cannot be approached by siege weapons. Only
in one place at the ramp could a battering ram
be employed, and the defenders had already
anticipated the breach and erected a mound of
wood and earth, which was of such elasticity
that the ram was ineffective against it (Schürer,
ibid.).
The Romans managed to reduce this obstacle
by fire.
Eleazar saw that the Romans would inevitably
overcome them. He advised them in a speech
that the entire garrison kill their own families
and then themselves (cf. B. J. vii, 8, 6).
This was done and the Romans entered the
dead mountain stronghold to find the entire
garrison of men, women and children dead.
There was no butchery left for them to do.
Josephus records that the mass suicide of
Masada occurred on 15 Xanthicus, or Abib of
74 CE. Thus, on the First Holy Day of the
Passover the entire garrison took their own
lives.
The symbolism is absolute. Instead of the
Death Angel passing over Judah on this
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
Passover in 15 Nisan they had rejected Christ
and the Sacrifice. The people were given forty
years to repent. They did not do so and the last
half of the last weeks of years saw the war
begin. By 70 CE the north had been reduced.
By 10 Ab the Temple had been destroyed. By
Passover 74 CE the entire resistance in Judaea
had been quelled and the nation was in
dispersion.
What was inexcusable was that the nations
round about took the occasion of the revolt to
allege grievances against the Jews and then
began to slaughter Jews everywhere. In
Damascus, the Syrians began the slaughter, but
there was not one Syrian city that did not slay
its Jewish inhabitants. Damascus slit the throats
of eighteen thousand Jewish men, women and
children. Egypt slew over sixty thousand Jews
(B. J. vii, 8, 7).
Jews were tortured to death by fire and rack.
Some were fed to wild beasts but saved alive,
only half eaten, and then fed to the beasts a
second time to afford more sport and derision
to the crowds (B. J. ibid.). In this way they were
further dehumanised. God has specific direction
concerning these acts, and Zechariah covers the
prophecies among others (see the paper
Commentary on Zechariah (No. 021K)).
After the fall of the Masada there was still a
place of sacrifice operating and that was in
Leontopolis. Vespasian ordered it closed in 71
CE but resistance still occurred into 74 CE
there at Alexandria and also in Cyrene. Schürer
quotes Josephus (B. J. vii 10, 1-3) stating that
the disturbances in Alexandria led to the
closure of the Temple at Leontopolis, which
had been built by the High Priest Onias IV ca
160 CE, fulfilling Isaiah 19:18-23. Josephus
says that the Temple was in operation there for
three hundred and forty three years (B. J. vii,
10, 4). He says that Lupus, governor of
Alexandria, went there on Caesar’s orders and
removed some of the donations there, and shut
it up. The duration of the Temple, according to
Josephus, places the construction of the Temple
at some 270-272 BCE. That date is before
Onias IV. Thus there must have been some
basis for the existence of a Temple there before
Page 17
Onias IV went there, or Josephus is entirely in
error.
The Sicarii had fled to Alexandria and, not
content with having raised Palestine to
insurrection, incited revolt in Alexandria and
killed the Jewish leaders that opposed them.
The object of their refusal was that they were
required to name Caesar as Lord when only
God was the Lord. The Alexandrians turned on
them, as did the Thebans turn on those who had
escaped to Thebes and handed them over to
torture. Josephus records how stoically the
adults and most amazingly the children endured
the torture without confessing Caesar as Lord
(B. J. vii 10, 1).
The Sicarii, under a man named Jonathan, also
stirred up revolts in Cyrene among the poor and
credulous. Catallus the governor of the Libyan
Pentapolis heard of the inducement of the poor
to march into the desert under Jonathan to see
the signs and wonders he promised them.
Catallus sent a body of troops, both cavalry and
foot, and intercepted them. They slaughtered a
great many of the unarmed civilians. Jonathan
escaped but was recaptured after an extensive
search. He then blamed the rich Jews for his
actions and Catallus was able then to plunder
the Jewish populace. He had the Sicarii falsely
accuse wealthy Jews, and three thousand of
them were killed and their property added to
Caesar’s revenues. To avoid retribution for
these crimes he then had Jonathan and the
Sicarii give false witness against the wealthy
Jews both at Alexandria and at Rome, so that
he extended the persecution to Jews in the most
prominent cities of the Mediterranean (B. J. vii,
11, 2-3).
Catallus went to Rome, taking Jonathan and his
followers with him – all bound. He hoped to
cover the crime but Vespasian conducted an
inquiry into the matter and acquitted the Jews
accused by Catallus and Jonathan. Jonathan
was then tortured and burnt alive. Vespasian
did not discipline Catallus, but Catallus fell ill
and died miserably shortly thereafter, disturbed
in both body and mind. His entrails were
corrupted and extruded from his body and he
died (B. J. vii, 11, 3-4). Josephus holds this to
Page 18
be an example of divine providence punishing
wicked men.
The Jewish Wars thus ended in disaster for
Judah, and the nation was dispersed. Every
attempt to restore the nation and the physical
Temple was thwarted. The Church was also
persecuted but from this time existed in the
wilderness for two thousand years.
War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple
The restoration and conversion of Judah is
underway and this period of the Last Days will
see the restoration of the system under Messiah
at Jerusalem.
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