Back to Day 057 – Matthew 24 – Destruction of Jerusalem – 70_A.D. – Part 2 of 3
Before we started our 365 day read and pray through the Bible discipline over 3 months ago, I was reading : “The Works of Josephus” by Flavius Josephus. “Josephus” (called by his last name like me, lol) lived from 37 C.E. to around 100 C.E. and is one of the most renowned Jewish historians of all time. So , he wrote of the times around Jesus and the complete destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Josephus was a Jewish general that was captured by the Romans in 67 A.D., three years prior to the final siege and destruction of the 2nd temple – “Herod’s temple”.
Josephus claimed to have a divine revelation that triggered a public prediction on his part that Vespasian would become emperor. A prediction that was realized soon thereafter. It worked for Josephus as it is a good way to carry favor with the new emperor. Just prior to the siege, Josephus acted as a negotiator between the Romans and the besieged Jews. So, Josephus was taken back to Rome by Titus, the commanding Roman general and son of Vespasian, where he spent the rest of his life. Ok, that is a summarized two paragraph version of his biography.
Vespasian wrote that he couldn’t be objective as a Jew recounting the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. I expect I would have completed the 800+ book had I not started the 365 day plan. The works included in this book are: “The Antiquities of the Jews” and “The Wars of the Jews.”
At the bottom, of this post I am going to include the following links:
- a graphic and article on the 1st Temple – Solomon’s temple , and
- A graphic and article written by Justin Taylor on 07/13/2010.
For those of you in the Jeremiah saturday study, the 1st temple was what Jeremiah saw. And it was destroyed by the Babylonians very soon after the writing of the Book of Jeremiah in 587 B.C.E., along with the exile to Babylon for many Jews. Jeremiah ended his life in Egypt where at least one account I read speculated that he was martyred. ( I can’t speak to the cause of his death)
Now , let’s get started with the destruction of Jerusalem and the 2nd temple in 70 A.D. My direct quotes will come from either 1) The aforementioned: “The Works of Josephus” (reference shown as “*J with page # references), or, 2) “The Gospel of Matthew” -Volume 2 by William Barclay (reference show as *B with page 3 references). If I have comments within the quotes, I will put it in parenthesis with : (Jimmy:……..) I really don’t know how I am going to summarize from my notes and memory right now.
From the siege of Jerusalem, Josephus writes of 1,100,000 Jewish deaths with 70,000 captured. I have seen death estimates as low as 300,000. Josephus notes that the siege occured over Passover where Jews from the diaspora as far as Babylon would flock into Jerusalem. For a step back of Jewish demographics across the last two millenium: in 70 a.d. , the global population was around 8 million / around the early 13th century , it was down to 2 million (I believe I have seen lower estimates) / Today: over 16 million before WWII and the Holocaust and back up to around 14 million today, with the largest number , made up mostly in Israel and the U.S. , call it roughly 6 million each.
So in terms of the relative magnitude of the slaughter, 70 A.D. Jerusalem would be very similar to The Killing Fields in Cambodia.
*B – pgs 307 – 308: “A deep silence , also, and a kind of deadly night had seized upon the city… And every one of them died with their eyes fixed upon the Temple. Josephus tells a dreadful story of a woman who in those days actually killed and roasted and ate her suckling child . (*J “War of the Jews – Book #6 Chapter 3.4) He tells us that even the Romans, when they had taken the city and were going through it to pluncer, were so stricken with horror at the sights they saw that they could not but stay their hands. When the Romans were come to the houses to plunder them, they found in them entire families of dead men, and the upper rooms full of dead corpses… They then stood on a horror of this sight, and went out without touching anything.”
Now, check this out. I was just casually reading Josephus’ “The Antiquities of the Jews” when suddenly this passage from Book 18 Chapter 3.63 just about blew me out of my chair: “Now , there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was doer of wonderful works – a teacher of such mean as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was (the) Christ; (64) and, when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross (Jimmy: referenced “b” boot note reads: A.D. 33, April 3) , those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct to this day.”
Josephus was a Pharisee but nowhere in recorded history is there nary a suggestion that he converted to Christianity. As you would expect, this passage has attracted attention, it has even been given a name; “Testimonium”. It was generally accepted up to recent modern history, where now it is discounted or highly questioned as to its authenticity. I read one quick passing reference from one source that reported that Eusebius was suspected in a forgery with no elaboration. Eusebius was the bishop of Caesarea Martina around the early 300s A.D.
How then shall we live from this point in America where we have turned our back on God? I would submit that the time we should seek repentence for God and pray for our country is long overdue. God is sovereign and he blesses and punishes all nations, not just the covenant nation of Israel. The biblical evidence is overwhelming. There is no time like now: And note – All day Saturday, September 26th – A National and Global Day of Prayer and Repentence live from the National Mall in D.C. and from your living room by signing up for a free simulcast. For information and sign up, go to: thereturn.org The sign up for the simulcast from the top menu bar is /Event Details/Simulcast/click on Simulcast sign up.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15: 58
Here are the three links I noted on the temples:
587 bce 1st temple destroyed – short 10 minute video:
Justin Taylor – July 13, 2010 – 2nd temple – Destroyed 70 A.D. (click on above)
Below – Josephus account vs. contemporary scholars – click on below:
Soli Deo Gloria! Pray for prayer!