The Olivet
Discourse—a lengthy discourse that Jesus presented to His disciples on the
Mount of Olives—is occasioned by a conversation between Jesus and His disciples
at the Jewish Temple.
Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up
to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone
here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:1-2, all
Scripture quotations from New International Version unless stated otherwise)
Jesus’ statement has been generally understood as a prediction of the destruction of the Jewish
Temple in AD 70 (Tasker, 223). That
destruction was the climax of the first Jewish-Roman War, which lasted from
about AD 66 to 73. Almost all of the
detailed information about that war comes from the works of Josephus (Josephus,
615-771 and Goldberg website). He may
not always be a reliable source, especially of analysis of motives, since he
was intimately involved in events himself.
He was a Jew who fought against the Romans until he was captured and
began to act as an ambassador to the Jews who tried to persuade them to
surrender. Nevertheless, he described
the war in great detail, and he probably mostly told a true story.
In this
article, I shall briefly describe the war.
I shall limit interpretative comments.
This article will be an important resource later when I discuss the
arguments of Preterism.
Several groups and individuals in Judea
agitated each other to the degree that war became inevitable. Florus was the procurator at Jerusalem. Josephus depicts him as a very dishonorable
man. For example, when he had been
appealed to by moderate leaders of the Jews, his response was to send his Roman
troops into a section of the city to kill and loot—3600 were killed. Later, he laid a trap for a group of moderate
Jews. They went out to conciliate a
group of soldiers. But a few radicals
hurled insults. Florus had given the
word that the Romans were to attack when that occurred, so many were
killed.
Judea was also the home of radical
Jews who were pushing for war against the Romans. They also were constantly fighting moderate
leaders who sought accommodation with the Romans. Moreover, the radicals were not unified and
did not hesitate to attack other radicals.
In addition, in the coastal city of
Caesarea, non-Jewish elements (“Greeks”) gained control and harassed the Jews. These conflicts between Jews and non-Jews
were intensifying throughout Galilee and into Syria and elsewhere. For example, 50,000 Jews were killed in
Alexandria, Egypt.
The Greeks in Caesarea precipitated
a crisis by surrounding the synagogue with buildings so that entrance was
difficult. One of them sacrificed birds
on an upside down pot near the synagogue entrance. This outraged the Jews on two counts: it was a pagan sacrifice near their worship
space, and it was similar to the Hebrew ritual cleansing of leprosy—implying
that the Jews were a leprous people. Later,
20,000 Jews were killed at Caesarea. This
sort of friction added to the push for rebellion by the radicals.
In August of 66, a group of
radicals overthrew the Roman garrison at Masada, a fort perched on a high
plateau near the Dead Sea. About the
same time, Eleazar, one of the radicals who had authority in the Temple, forced
the priests to cease making sacrifices on behalf of the Emperor (Nero). This insult demonstrated the determination of
the radicals to break with Rome.
In the days and weeks following, the
radicals fought with the moderates.
Eventually, they took over most of the city and burned the high priest’s
house. They also burned the records
office that contained records of debts—in hopes of attracting the poor to their
cause. About this time, Menahem (also
spelled Manahem) arrived with a following.
They were armed with Roman arms they had collected at Masada. Menahem tried to force his way into the
leadership at Jerusalem and to be declared a king. However, he was eventually killed.
Since Florus was unwilling or
incapable of controlling the situation, Cestius, the Roman official in Syria,
invaded Galilee and Judea with an army of 18,000. This was in mid-October, 66. He invaded the city, setting part of it on
fire. He made an attempt to attack the
Temple, where many of the radicals were stationed, but was unsuccessful. Although he probably had a good chance of
taking the city if he had stayed with the task, he withdrew his army. As he was retreating, he was attacked by
Jews, who killed about 6,000 Romans.
Cestius’ failure was a turning
point. Josephus believed it was ordained
by God (or by the gods, depending on his audience) so that things would turn
out as they did, to the advancement of Vespasian. Whiston, the translator of Josephus, has
another interpretation. He believes that
the arrival of Cestius and the Roman legions with their pagan ensigns was the “Abomination
of Desolation” of Matthew 24:15 that would signal to the Christians to flee
Jerusalem and head for the mountains. In
addition to these speculations, one definite interpretation was that of
Nero: he was not pleased. Because of this, he decided in January of 67
to send Vespasian to put down the Jewish revolt.
Vespasian’s campaign (along with
his son Titus) began in Galilee. This
first effort took most of 67. During
that campaign, they captured a Jewish officer by the name of Josephus. He had been appointed one of the regional
governors/generals by the radicals at Jerusalem. Later, Josephus would serve as a messenger to
the Jews in Jerusalem to try to persuade them to surrender. Eventually, he was freed and even adopted
into Vespasian’s family. This was partly
because he had early on predicted that Vespasian would become emperor.
In 68 and 69, the invasion spread
from Galilee into Judea. When Nero died,
the effort began to lag for a while. In
the year following Nero’s death, four different men were briefly emperor. Then, Vespasian began to gain support
throughout the eastern empire. His army finally
defeated Vitellius’ army in Italy, and Vespasian was the last man standing, now
the leader of the vast Roman Empire. At
the time he and Titus were in Alexandria, Egypt. Vespasian proceeded to Rome, and Titus led
troops back to Judea to complete the job there.
It was December, 69.
In the meantime, the radicals of
Jerusalem split into three factions who fought bitterly with one another. They would continue fighting until the walls
of Jerusalem were about to fall down and necessity would unite them against the
Romans.
By May 1, 70, four Roman legions
(about 5,500 men each) were encamped near Jerusalem. By May 25, they had broken through the “third
wall” on the northwest and three legions were encamped within the suburbs of
Jerusalem. A fourth legion was to the
east on Mount Olives. By June 4, they
had broken down the “second wall” on the north.
They were in a section of the city directly west of the Temple.
(The Temple complex included a very
large set of courtyards, apartments, and other buildings as well as the Temple
itself.)
Part of the Roman strategy was to
terrorize the residents in hopes that they would surrender. One way they did this was to crucify Jews
that they captured. During part of their
siege they were crucifying 500 people a day.
This only intensified Jewish determination.
The Romans erected siege works at
various points, not always with good outcomes.
Jews managed to undermine one and set fire to the supporting
timbers. This resulted in many Roman
deaths. The Romans responded by building
an earthen ridge that surrounded the whole city. This confined city residents who tried to
slip out and forage for food. Many were
captured. Others were simply trying to
slip out of the city for good. Some of
these had swallowed gold coins as a way of “taking it with them.” Romans slit many of them open searching for
gold.
One important target of the Romans
was the Fortress Antonia, a tower on the northwest corner of the grounds of the
Temple. By July 24, the Antonia wall had
been broken down, but another had been built behind it. Eventually, the Romans scaled that wall and
drove the Jews deep into the Temple complex.
As things grew more desperate, the radicals ordered the daily sacrifices
to cease on August 5, 70.
Titus now focused on the western
wall of the outer Temple court. On
August 27, he tried to scale it, but had little success. So, he ordered its gates burned. However, in a council of war the next day, he
gave orders to preserve the Temple itself.
The next day, August 29, there was a pitched battle in the vast
courtyard. The Jews were forced back
into the Temple. At the same time,
throughout the area, fires were burning.
A Roman grabbed a firebrand and threw it into the chambers that bordered
the Temple along the north side. Now the
Temple itself was in danger of being burned.
Titus managed to get into the Temple and see its magnificence. He ordered the fire extinguished. However, a soldier took a brand and set fire
to the interior. The Temple was lost,
August 29, 70.
Josephus relates two horrors of
this time. He tells of a group of
desperate men who entered a woman’s residence.
They smelled something cooking and demanded she give them her food. She then presented to them her half-eaten
baby. The men left in shock. This story spread throughout the city and
through the Roman army. Josephus also
tells of a “false prophet,” ironically named Jesus, who urged many people to go
to the Temple mount where they would be saved.
These people ended up in chambers along the west side of the area. The chambers were put to the torch and 6,000,
mostly women and children, died.
As the Temple was burning and the
Jews were definitely routed in that area, the jubilant Romans brought their
ensigns, with eagles and signs of their particular legions into the area and
sacrificed to them. The Roman soldiers
were said to honor their ensigns above all other gods.
The Roman army continued its
conquest. By September 26, the entire
city was in Roman hands and much of it was on fire. Eventually the walls as well as the Temple
were totally destroyed. A few towers
were left standing. About 1,000,000 Jews
had died, and 97,000 had been taken prisoner.
Many had been sold into slavery.
Romans looted a great deal of gold.
It was said that they were carrying so much gold that the price of gold
was cut in half in the area.
After the collapse of Jerusalem,
there was some mopping up action. The
final chapter of the First Jewish War (from the Roman standpoint) was
Masada. It had remained in Jewish hands
and had been a base of operations. The
Romans finally attacked in 73. The Jews
carried out a suicide pact, so when the Romans broke through, they found all of
them dead except two women and four children.
Thus ended the attempt of the Jewish radicals to throw off the Roman
yoke.
One more comment from Josephus
needs to be included. Josephus tells of
a set of “signs” or omens that he believes were warnings of the terrible
destruction that was to come. The
following is a list of those signs (He is vague as to when these occurred, but
he implies they took place a few years before the conflict.):
a.
A star resembling a sword stood over the city
b.
A comet that stood for a year
c.
During the feast of unleavened bread, one night,
a bright light shone around the altar and Temple for ½ hour
d.
A heifer gave birth just before it was
sacrificed in the Temple
e.
The eastern gate of the inner court (extremely
heavy—it normally took 20 men to swing it) opened on its own
f.
Chariots and troops of soldiers were seen in the
sky
g.
Priests heard voices from the Temple saying, “Let
us remove hence.”
h.
A prophet named Jesus cried out: “A voice from the east, a voice from the
west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy
house…a voice against this whole people!”
This account
from Josephus—along with other features of this war—requires extensive discussion,
because they relate directly to the Preterist interpretation. I shall delay making my comments until I have completed analysis of Matthew 24 and 25.
References:
Goldberg, G. J. A Chronology of the First Jewish Revolt
against Rome according to Josephus.
Tasker, R. V. G. The Gospel According to Matthew. Vol. 1
of Tyndale New Testament
Commentaries. General Ed. R. V. G. Tasker, Grand
Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ.
Co., 1961.
Whiston, William, trans. The
Works of Josephus, by Flavius Josephus.
N. p.: Hendrickson
Publ.,
1987.
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