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The history of Jerusalem, viewed as the fulfilment of prophecy, furnishes evidence of the truth of Christianity which neither Jew nor infidel can reject without positive infatuation. At the same time, it also reveals to us the awful depravity of human nature. Let nations look upon Judea, let cities look upon Jerusalem, let individuals look upon the personal calamities of the Jews, and let all fear God and fly from transgression.  If, indeed, we would escape a destruction, of which that of Jerusalem was but a faint emblem, let us embrace proffered mercy, and “know the things that belong to our peace, before they are hid” FOREVER “from our eyes.”

 

PREFACE

FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS was born at Jerusalem thirty-seven years after CHRIST. He was of the order of the priesthood, and was an ornament of the sect of the Pharisees, to which he belonged. After the revolt of the Jews from the Romans, he was appointed a principal general of the Jewish army, and conducted the defense of Galilee with remarkable skill and courage. Being ultimately besieged in the fortified town of Jotapata, and having for a long time defended it, he was ultimately captured with the place by Vespasian, the Roman general. He was treated with kindness and respect, and continued in the Roman army until the close of the war, acting as interpreter between the Romans and Jews. After this, he went with Titus, the son and successor of Vespasian, to Rome, and wrote the history of the war. Haying been an eye witness of the scenes which he describes, he has given a most authentic account of the miseries as well as of the unparalleled crimes of his nation. Though a Jew, and by no means intending to favor Christianity, and though he suppresses most of what related to its Author, yet his history of facts shows the fulfilment of the predictions of Jesus of Nazareth, as well as those of Moses, to the very letter.

In the following pages some of the principal prophecies are selected from Moses and Jesus Christ, and placed at the head of each chapter, that the reader may more readily perceive their literal and precise accomplishment. In the Introduction a descriptive sketch of Palestine, together with a brief view of the previous history of Jerusalem, is given. At the conclusion of the abridgment, a few remarks are added, as well as an epitome of the modern history of Jerusalem. The work is intended chiefly for sabbath schools, but will be found suitable to persons of any age, should they choose to give it a perusal.

December 6, 1838.

D.S.

Introduction

Section 1

SKETCH OF PALESTINE

The history of no other country on earth affords so great an amount of interest and instruction as that of Palestine; and with no other are there connected so many important events as with that of Jerusalem. In Scripture Palestine is usually called Canaan. It derived its name from Canaan, the grandson of Noah, whose posterity settled the country after the flood. The inhabitants of the land gradually forsook the worship of Jehovah, and became sinners of the worst kind. They offered human victims on the altars of their idol gods, causing “their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Moloch.” God therefore promised their land to the Israelites, and to them he gave it after forbearing with the Canaanites till “the cup of their iniquities was full.”

Palestine was a country admirably situated.. It lay on the east of the Mediterranean Sea, formerly the great highway of nations, and on whose shores arts, sciences, and wealth were congregated. On the south, below the Mediterranean, was the fertile vale of Egypt. On the east lay the fertile plain between the Euphrates and Tigris; and still farther Media, Persia, India, and China. On the north was the vast empire of Syria, and the opulent territory of Asia Minor. No country could be better situated to become wealthy by commerce. In the days of David and Solomon the ships of the Mediterranean, and the rich caravans from India, poured their treasures into Palestine, until the country became surfeited with riches. The temple of Solomon contained more treasures than any other edifice the world ever saw; and the country generally abounded in wealth.

As its geographical position was admirable, so its internal aspect was delightful. It was beautifully diversified with hills and plains— hills now barren and gloomy, but once cultivated to their summits, and smiling in the variety of their produce. Plains over which the Bedouin Arab now roves to collect a scanty herbage for his cattle, once yielded an abundance, of which the inhabitants of a more northern clime can scarcely form an idea.

The description of Moses was both beautiful and accurate: “The Lord bringeth thee into a good land—a land of brooks, of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive and honey.” Rich in its soil, smiling in the sunshine of an almost perpetual summer, and abounding in scenery of the grandest as well as the most picturesque and beautiful kind, this happy country was indeed a land which the Lord had blessed.

But Mohammedan sloth and despotism, as the instruments employed to execute the curse of Heaven, have converted a great part of it into a waste of rock and desert. There are, however, still remaining spots of verdure sufficient to attest the accounts formerly given of it; and when properly cultivated its most rocky, and, to appearance, insuperably sterile parts are made to yield abundantly. Dr. Clarke gives us the following account of what he saw on the road from Naploitse to Jerusalem: “The road was rocky, mountainous, and full of loose stones, yet the cultivation was everywhere marvellous: it afforded one of the most striking pictures of human industry which it is possible to behold. The limestone rocks and stony valleys of Judea were entirely covered with plantations of figs, vines, and olive-trees: not a single spot seemed to be neglected. The hills, from their bases to their uppermost summits, were entirely covered with gardens; all of these were free from weeds, and in the highest state of agricultural perfection. Even the sides of the most barren mountains had been rendered fertile by being divided into terraces like steps, rising one above another, whereon soil had been accumulated with astonishing labor. Among the standing crops we noticed millet, cotton, linseed, (or flax,) and tobacco, and occasionally small fields of barley. A sight of this territory can alone convey any adequate idea of its surprising produce. It is truly the Eden of the east, rejoicing in the abundance of its wealth. Under a wise and beneficent government the produce of the Holy Land would exceed all calculation. Its perennial harvests, the salubrity of its air, its limpid springs, its rivers, lakes, and matchless plains, its hills and dales, all these, added to the serenity of its climate, prove this land to be indeed ‘a field which the Lord hath blessed. God hath given it of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine.’”

It should be remembered that eastern impressions of fertility differ from ours. To an oriental, plantations of figs, vines, and olives, with which the limestone rocks of Judea were once covered, would suggest the same associations of plenty and opulence that are called up to the mind of an American by rich tracts of arable land. The land of Canaan is spoken of as flowing with milk and honey, and it still answers to this description. For it contains extensive pasture lands of the richest quality; and the rocky country is covered with aromatic plants and flowers, yielding to the wild bees, which hive in the hollows of the rocks, abundance of honey. Mr. Buckingham says he scarcely ever sat down to a meal, or saw a table spread in Palestine, but that honey formed a part of the repast.

The lofty palm-tree also flourished here. “The extensive importance of this tree,” says Dr. E. D. Clarke, “is one of the most curious subjects to which the traveler can turn his attention. A considerable part of the inhabitants of Egypt, of Arabia, and Persia subsist almost entirely upon its fruit. They boast of its medicinal virtues. Their camels feed upon the date stone. From the leaves they make couches, baskets, bags, mats, and brushes: from the branches, cages for their poultry and fences for their gardens; from fibers of the boughs, thread, ropes, rigging from the sap is prepared a spirituous liquor, and the body of the tree furnishes fuel.”

“The diligent natives,” says Gibbon, “celebrated either in prose or verse the three hundred and sixty uses to which the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the juice, and the fruit were skillfully applied.” Such was ancient Palestine, its situation, its climate, its soil, and productions. Its limits were not extensive, but such were its advantages of soil, and climate, and for commerce, that in the happiest periods of the Jewish nation it sustained an immense population.

Jerusalem, its capital, was situated a little south of the center of Palestine, about half way between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. It stood in the midst of a rocky region, surrounded with hills, and was itself built upon hills. The territory and places adjacent were well watered, having the fountains of Gihon and Siloam and the brook Kedron at the foot of its walls.

Besides these there were in its later days the waters of Ethan, which Pilate had conveyed through aqueducts into the city. It was celebrated for its extent, being, according to Strabo, sixty furlongs in length; for the strength of its walls and bulwarks; but above all, for its magnificent temple, and for the divine manifestations which it so richly enjoyed. Here flourished those singular and excellent men, the Hebrew prophets. Here they unveiled the future, predicting the fate of kingdoms, the rise and fall of empires, and the coming of the great Messiah.

Here also almost the entire nation congregated at their great religious celebrations; and finally, here the Savior of the world performed some of his most glorious miracles, uttered some of his most striking predictions, manifested some of his most tender sympathies, and finally accomplished the grand work of human redemption. No city was ever so highly exalted as Jerusalem; no city ever abused its privileges more wickedly, and none ever witnessed more fearful judgments or experienced more dreadful sufferings.

SECTION II.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JERUSALEM IMMEDIATELY BEFORE BESIEGED BY THE ROMANS

The account of the destruction of Jerusalem will he better understood if the reader have before him a brief history of its condition immediately before it was attacked by the Romans. About Sixty-three or four years before the birth of Christ a contest arose between two brothers, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus,about the succession of the crown. Both parties applied for assistance to the Romans, who had conquered the adjacent countries. Scaurus, the Roman general, being bribed by Aristobulus, placed him upon the throne.

Not long after, Pompey, then chief general of the Roman army, returned from the east to Syria, and both the brothers applied to him for protection, and pleaded their cause before him. Pompey considered this a favorable time for reducing Palestine under the power of the Romans. Without, therefore, deciding the points in dispute between the brothers, he marched his army into Judea, and besieged and took possession of Jerusalem. He appointed Hyrcanus high priest, but would not allow him to take the title of king. He, however, gave him the title of prince, with very limited authority.

Pompey did not take away the holy utensils or treasures of the temple, but he made Judea subject and tributary to the Romans. About nine years after this Crassus plundered the temple of every thing valuable belonging to it. Julius Caesar afterward confirmed Hyrcanus in his office, and granted additional privileges to the Jews; but about four years after his death, Antigonus, son of Aristobulus, assisted by the Parthians, and while Rome was in an unsettled state, deposed his uncle Hyrcanus, seized the government, and assumed the title of king.

Herod, by birth an Idumean, whose father, Antipater, as well as himself, had occupied posts of honor and trust under Hyrcanus, immediately set out for Rome, and prevailed upon the senate to appoint him king of Judea. Armed with this authority, he returned and began hostilities against Antigonus. In about three years he took Jerusalem, and put an end to the government of the Maccabees, or Hasmonians, which had continued about a hundred and thirty years. He sent Antigonus a prisoner to Rome, where he was put to death. Herod married Mariamne, who lived to be the only remaining member of the Maccabee family, and was finally put to death by his order.

He enlarged the kingdom of Judea, though he continued it tributary to the Romans. He also adorned and enriched the temple. But he abridged the civil power of high priesthood, and changed it from being hereditary and for life to an office granted and held at the pleasure of the monarch; and this sacred office was now often given to those who bid the highest for it, without any regard to merit. Herod oppressed and persecuted the Jews, whom he feared and hated, and they in return both feared and hated him. He was an inexorable tyrant even to his own children, three of whom he caused to be murdered.

At this time there was a general expectation of the appearance of the Messiah among the Jews, and from the prophecies which had been spread among the surrounding heathens an idea prevailed among them that some extraordinary conqueror or deliverer would soon appear in Judea. In the thirty-sixth year of Herod’s reign, and while Augustus was emperor at Rome, the Savior of the world was born in Bethlehem, according to the word of prophecy. Herod, misled by the opinion prevalent among the Jews, that the Messiah was to be a military prince, and judging from the inquiries of the “wise men,” who came from the east in quest of him, that he was already born, he sent to Bethlehem and slew the children under two years old. Thus he hoped he had destroyed one whom he considered as the rival of himself and family.

He was soon after smitten with a most loathsome and tormenting disease, and died a signal example of divine justice about a year and a quarter after the birth of the Savior, who, by the direction of an angel, had been carried to Egypt before the slaughter of the children took place. Herod made his will not long before, dividing the kingdom among his three sons, Archilaus, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip. This will was ratified by the emperor Augustus in its most material points.

Archilaus, who had retained the government of Judea, was a cruel tyrant, and after reigning ten years, upon a complaint of the Jews, was banished by Augustus to Vienne, in Gaul, where he died. After Augustus sent Publius Sulpitius Quirinus, who, according to the Greek way of writing that name, is called by St. Luke Cyrenius, to reduce the countries over which Archelaus had reigned to the form of a Roman province, Judea was made subordinate to the president of Syria, with Coponius, a Roman, for its governor, bearing the title of procurator.

The power of life and death was now taken out of the hands of the Jews, and taxes from this time paid, not as before, to a prince of their own, but immediately to the Roman emperor. Justice was administered in the name and by the laws of Rome. Still, in what concerned their religion, their own laws, and the power of the high priest and Sanhedrin, or great council, were continued to them. Thus “the scepter” finally and for ever “departed from Judah” at the very time Jacob had foretold—the time when “Shiloh,” the Savior, “came.”

After Coponius, Ambivius Annius, Rufus Valerius, Gratus, and Pontius Pilate were successively procurators of Judea. This was the species of government to which Judea and Samaria were subject during the ministry of our Savior. Herod Antipas was still tetrarch of Galilee, and it was to him that Pilate sent our Savior. Some time after the removal of Pontius Pilate, Judea, and finally nearly all the countries, formerly governed hy Herod the Great, were given to Herod Agrippa, grandson of the former. Herod Agrippa is the same who put to death James, the brother of John, and imprisoned Peter. He died and left a son seventeen years old, called also Agrippa, but the Roman emperor, thinking him too young to govern his father’s extensive dominions, made Cuspus Fadus governor of Judea.

Fadus was soon succeeded by Tiberias, and he was followed by Alexander Cumanus, Felix, and Festus. But Claudius afterward conferred Trachonitus and Abilene, to which a part of Galilee was added, upon young Agrippa. This was the Agrippa before whom Paul afterward spoke at Caesarea. Several of the Roman governors severely oppressed and persecuted the Jews, and at length Florus, obtaining the government, excelled all his predecessors in his tyranny and insults.

The Jews in the meantime had become a nation of desperadoes. Jerusalem, the seat of their religion, and the place of their once solemn festivals, was filled with mobs, turbulence, and violence. Their once grave and dignified Sanhedrin, or great national council, now resembled the mob parliament of France in the time of the French revolution, where decency and order gave place to violence and tumult. They had imbrued their hands in the blood of the Savior; murdered Stephen without even so much as a mock trial, and, like infuriate fiends, seized every opportunity to butcher the followers of the Messiah. Thus the governor and the people were equally wicked.

Florus, indeed, became a public robber, and used his office and power for rapine and plunder. He not only oppressed the people with illegal and enormous taxes, but united with the desperadoes of the land, selling to all sorts of criminals their freedom, if they had but money or friends to purchase it. He thought it but a petty offence, indeed, says Josephus, to get money out of single persons, so he spoiled whole cities and ruined entire bodies of men at once, and did almost publicly proclaim all over the country that they had liberty given them to turn robbers, upon condition that they allowed him a share of the spoils. His enormities finally became so public, and so great, that, beginning to fear the Romans would punish him for his crimes, he determined to force the Jews into a rebellion to conceal his villainies.

An opportunity soon offered. The Jews at Caesarea had a synagogue built upon land belonging to a Greek. They had frequently endeavored to purchase the land, but the Greek not only refused to sell it, but continued to raise other buildings, such as mechanics’ shops, around the place. These left them so narrow an entrance that it was difficult to approach their place of worship. The Jews then gave to Florus a bribe of eight talents, for which he promised to put a stop to the erection of the buildings. But after getting the money, he left Caesarea, and allowed the work to go on.

On the following Sabbath, as the Jews were repairing to their place of worship, a man of Caesarea took at earthen vessel, and setting it near the entrance of the synagogue, sacrificed some birds upon it This was the ceremony performed at the cleansing of leprous persons (see Leviticus, chap. xiv) and intended to reproach the Jews, as though they were polluted with that loathsome disease. It was also an insult to their worship, and polluted their sanctuary. Being exceedingly enraged, the Jews and the populace of Caesarea came to blows, and the former, taking away their copies of the laws retired to a place belonging to them, called Narbata. They also sent a complaint to Florus, who, instead of giving them any redress, seized the messengers and put them in prison.

The Jews at Jerusalem felt themselves as deeply injured by the insult offered to their religion as those of Caesarea; but they kept quiet until Florus, determined to force the nation into a rebellion, sent and took seventeen talents from the temple, under pretense that they were wanted by Caesar. This so exasperated the people that they ran together to the temple in a tumultuous manner, calling on Caesar by name to deliver them from the tyranny of Florus.

To ridicule him, some of them took baskets and went about the streets begging small sums of money for him, as one who needed charity. Florus, instead of going to Caesarea to quell the disturbance there, immediately marched an army of horse and foot to Jerusalem. Here he committed a variety of flagrant acts, and finally ordered his soldiers to plunder the upper market place, and slay such as they should find. The soldiers slew and plundered, and Florus scourged and crucified, so that there were slain, men, women and children, about three thousand six hundred.

Bernice, the sister of Agrippa, being at this time in Jerusalem, besought Florus to spare the Jews; but she only endangered her own life by her interference. Agrippa came also to Jerusalem about this time, and endeavored to persuade the people to submit to Florus until Caesar should learn the state of affairs, and appoint another governor in his place. But Florus had so exasperated them, that Agrippa found himself unable to succeed He also learned that the Jews had neglected to pay the annual tribute exacted by the Romans, and therefore retired into his own kingdom. The flames of war were now fast kindling, and the leaders of the sedition began in earnest to prepare for it. In the following chapters I shall give some of the predictions concerning the destruction of the devoted city Jerusalem, and abridge the history of Josephus to show their fulfilment.

CHAPTER 1

"But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled.” —Jesus Christ, Luke 21:20-22; NASU

Florus had at length succeeded in kindling the spirit of revolt, and the Jews, after seeing numbers of their relations butchered, had attacked and killed the guards stationed in the castle of Antonia. The news of this brought Cestius from Syria with a large army. He encamped within a short distance of Jerusalem, and after remaining in his camp for three days, took possession of the suburbs, the Jews retreating into the inner part of the city and into the temple. Cestius seems to have been disposed to follow up his advantage, and to force the walls, but was diverted from the attempt by one of his principal officers, at the suggestion of Florus, who wished to lengthen out the war. The more considerate part of the people were, indeed, about to open the gates to him, when, without any sufficient reason whatever, he withdrew from the city, pursued and harassed by the Jews.

[This circumstance was very remarkable. But it was doubtless providential. For the Christians, who were shut up in the city while his army was besieging it, remembering the words of their Master, uttered several years before, now took the opportunity to flee, and, as the early Christian writers inform us, escaped in a body from the impending calamities of the place. Josephus, who was not a Christian, is careful to say very little of Christ or his followers; but he tells us, “After this calamity, which had befallen Cestius, many of the most eminent Jews swam away from the city as from a ship that was going to sink.”]

When Nero, the Roman emperor, heard of the shameful and cowardly retreat of Cestius, he sent Vespasian, one of the most able of his generals, to take command of the forces in Syria, and carry on the war against the Jews. Vespasian sent his son Titus to Alexandria, in Egypt, to bring the fifth and tenth Roman legions which were there, proceeding himself to Syria. Titus, having brought up the two legions from Egypt, met his father at Ptolemais, in Palestine. These two legions, the most eminent of all, were joined with the fifteenth, which was already with Vespasian. Eighteen cohorts followed these, and there came also five cohorts from Caesarea, with one troop of horsemen from Syria.

There were also a considerable number of auxiliaries got together that came from the kings Antiochus, and Agrippa, and Sohemus, each of them contributing one thousand footmen who were archers, and a thousand horsemen. Malchus, also, the king of Arabia, sent a thousand horsemen and five thousand footmen, the greater part of whom were archers. The whole army, including the auxiliaries sent by the kings, amounted to sixty thousand besides the servants, who followed in vast numbers, and had been trained up in war with the rest, and therefore ought not to be distinguished from the fighting men; for serving both in peace and war they were inferior to none either in strength or skill.

One cannot but admire the precaution and skill of the Romans, for their military exercises differ not at all from the real use of arms; nor should we greatly err in calling their military exercises un-bloody battles, and their battles bloody exercises. Nor can their enemies surprise them with the suddenness of their incursions, for as soon as they have marched into an enemy’s land, they do not begin to fight till they have walled their camp about, and leveled their ground.

Their camp is four-square, and carpenters are ready in great numbers with their tools to erect their buildings. That which is within is set apart for tents, but the outward circumference resembles a wall, and is adorned with towers at equal distances. Between the towers stand the engines for throwing arrows and darts, and slinging stones, with all other engines that can annoy an enemy. They also erect four gates, one on each side, wide enough for the entrance of beasts, or making excursions. They divide the camp within into streets, and place the tents of the commanders in the middle, and in the midst of all the general’s own tent, rising like a temple; so that the whole appears like a city built suddenly, with its market and place for handicraft trades, and seats for the officers superior and inferior, where, if any difference arises, their causes are heard and determined.

When occasion requires, a trench six feet deep, and of the same width, is drawn around the whole. When they have thus secured themselves, they live together by companies with quietness and decency, supping and dining together. Their times for sleeping, watching, and rising are notified by the sound of trumpets. In the morning the soldiers go every one to their centurions, and these centurions to their tribunes to salute them, with whom all the superior officers go to the general of the army, who then gives them the watchword and orders to be carried to all under their command.

When they go out of their camp, the trumpet sounds, and all take down their tents: it sounds again, and the baggage is laid upon their mules. Then it sounds a third time, and a crier, standing at the general’s right hand, asks them thrice if they are ready. To which they reply in a loud voice, “We are ready.” This they do as filled with a kind of martial fury, lifting up their right hands at the same time. The Roman soldiers are, moreover, hardened for war by fear; for their laws inflict capital punishment not only for desertion from the ranks, but for slothfulness and inactivity. They also bestow great rewards on valiant soldiers.

The war was now prosecuted with vigor; one after another of the cities in possession of the Jews fell into the hands of the Romans, and after a most obstinate and bloody siege Jotapata, with Josephus, was taken by the Romans. The Jews had lost their most able general when Josephus was taken, and Vespasian soon overran the whole country and took all the principal cities, except Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 2

“But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: . . . The LORD will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me.” — Predictions of Moses, Deut. 28:15, 20; NASV)

GISCHALA was one of the last cities that surrendered to the army of Vespasian. It had been commanded by one John, a cunning knave, capable of assuming various shapes, very rash in expecting great things, and very sagacious in bringing about his plans. By deceiving Titus he had succeeded in escaping with a part of his troops to Jerusalem. Upon his entry into Jerusalem, thousands crowded about him and his followers, inquiring what miseries had happened abroad. Though they had entered the city out of breath from the haste of their flight, they began to talk pompously under their misfortunes, and said they had not fled from the Romans, but came to the city in order to fight them with less hazard.

John asserted that the affairs of the Romans were in a very weak condition, and extolled his own power. He jested at the idea of their being able to take Jerusalem. By these harangues he deluded many of the young men, and fired them for war. But there was not a man of years and discretion who did not foresee the impending miseries.

It must also be observed that sedition raged among those who came out of the country before it began in Jerusalem. There were disorders and civil wars in every city; and those that were quiet from the Romans turned their hands against each other. There were also bitter contests between those fond of war and those desjrous of peace. Quarrels at first began among private families, and those that were dearest to each other broke through all restraints, and every one, associating with those of his own opinions, was ready for strife with all who differed from him. The young men who were fond of innovation and for war were too hard for the aged and prudent. Many betook themselves to rapine, and formed bodies of plunderers, who proved a greater scourge than the Romans themselves.

The Roman garrisons which were stationed in the cities, through indolence and hatred of the Jews, did little or nothing to put a stop to these disorders, till the captains of these troops of robbers, being satiated with rapine in the country, stole into Jerusalem, a city now in anarchy, receiving all without distinction that belonged to their nation, as though they came out of kindness, and to render assistance. These men, besides helping to blow up the flames of discord, hastened the calamities of the city by devouring the provisions. There was, in short, abundance of robbers that came out of the country, and joining with those already there, they murdered openly some of the most eminent persons in the city. They even proceeded to imprison some men of the royal lineage, and fearing lest their friends should bring them to account for so flagrant an act, they sent and cut their throats in the prison.

Finally, they grew so bold and blasphemous that they disannulled the succession of the high priests, and appointed certain unknown and ignoble persons to that office, that they might obtain the influence of the office to aid them in the commission of their crimes. They also contrived to excite the principal men against each other, that no one might be left to obstruct their measures. Finally, transferring their crimes against men to the most contumelious conduct toward God himself, they defiled the temple and entered the sanctuary with polluted feet.

The multitude were now about to rise against them. They were persuaded to do so by Annus, the most ancient of the high priests. He was a very prudent man, and might, perhaps, have saved the city, could he have escaped the hands of the murderers. These men had now converted the holy temple into a strong hold, and the sanctuary had become a shop of tyranny.

To see how far their power extended, and how much the people would bear, they sent for one of the pontifical tribes, and set up the high priest’s office to be disposed of by lot. The lot fell upon one Phannias, so much of a rustic that he scarcely knew what the high priesthood was; yet this man was brought from the country and adorned with a counterfeit face or mask. The sacred garments were put upon him, and he was taught the course he must pursue. This shocking piece of wickedness was sport to some, but it occasioned the other priests, who saw their law made a jest, sorely to lament the desecration of such a sacred dignity.

The people, enraged at this most insolent procedure, now came together. But they seemed afraid to attack the zealots, as they called themselves. But Annus, standing in the midst of them and casting his eyes, filled with tears, toward the temple, addressed them in a most affecting manner, urging them to attack and disperse these murderous and blasphemous men. An attack was accordingly made, and a most bloody conflict ensued; and after great slaughter on both sides, the zealots were driven into the temple which was polluted with their blood.

Fleeing into the inner court, they shut the gates. Annus, deeming it unlawful to introduce the multitude into the inner court before they were purified, chose out six thousand men by lot, whom he placed as a guard in the cloisters. Matters were also arranged for a succession of guards, one after the other, every one being obliged to take his course.

Now John, who, as before related, fled from Gischala to Jerusalem, was one of the chief causes of all these difficulties. He was a crafty villain, with a strong passion for tyranny, and pretending to be opposed to the zealots, and to side with the people, he went about with Annus every day when he went to consult the chief men. But no sooner had he gained possession of their secrets than he went and made them known to the seditious. He informed the zealots that Annus was determined on their destruction, and that to secure his own power he and his party were intending to open the gates to Vespasian. He therefore hinted that they had better send for the Idumeans to come to their assistance (these were the descend ants of Esau, and had been so reduced by the Maccabees that they had consented to embrace the religion of the Jews, and had been incorpo rated with them).

The leaders of the zealots were Eleazar. the son of Simon, the most plausible man of them all, and Zacharias, the son of Phalek, both of whom were of the families of the priests. After hearing from John that Annus intended opening the gates to the Romans, they wrote a letter to the Idumeans to this effect: that “Annus had imposed on the people, and was betraying their metropolis to the Romans; that they themselves had revolted from the rest, and were in custody in the temple on account of the preservation of liberty; that there was but a short time left wherein they might hope for deliverance; and that unless the Idumeans would come immediately to their assistance, they should themselves be in the power of Annus, and the city would be in the power of the Romans.”

Now they very well judged that the Idumeans would comply with their desires, for they were ever a tumultuous and disorderly people, ready to make haste to battle as though it were a feast. The rulers of the Idumeans ran about the nation like madmen, making proclamation that the people should assemble for war. Twenty thousand of them were immediately in battle array, and under four commanders named John, Jacob, Cathlas, and Phineas, were before the walls of Jerusalem.

The message to the Idumeans was unknown to Annus, but perceiving the approach of the army he ordered the gates to be shut and the walls to be guarded. When they were assembled under the walls, Jesus, the eldest high priest next to, Annus, stood upon the tower over against them, and addressing them, gave a true account of the state of things in the city.

The Idumeans paid no attention to the address of Jesus, but were greatly enraged because they were excluded from the city. But Simon, one of their generals, after quieting the noise and tumult among his own people, stood where the high priest could hear him and re plied as follows: “I can no longer wonder that the patrons of liberty are under custody in the temple, since there are those that shut the gates of our common city against their own nation; at the same time they are prepared to admit the Romans into it, nay, perhaps are disposed to crown the gates with garlands at their coming, while they speak to the Idumeans from their towers, and enjoin them to throw down their arms, which they have taken up for the preservation of liberty. And while they will not in- trust the guarding of our metropolis to their kindred, they do themselves condemn a whole nation after an ignominious manner, and have now walled up that city from their own nation which used to be open even to all foreigners that came to worship there. But here we will abide before the walls in our armor, until either the Romans grow weary in waiting for you, or you become friends to liberty and repent of what you have done against it.”

When Simon finished his speech the Idumeans set up a loud acclamation; but Jesus went away sorrowful at discovering them to be against all moderate counsel, and at seeing the city besieged on both sides. Many of the Idumeans were also enraged at the zealots when they found they received no support from them, and would have returned but for the shame of coming and doing nothing. So they lay all night before the wall, though in a very bad encampment.

There broke out, also in the night a prodigious storm. It came with the utmost violence, attended by strong winds, the largest showers of rain, continued lightnings, terrible thunderings, and amazing concussions and bellowings of the earth. Both the Idumeans and citizens thought God was angry with the former for taking arms against the metropolis. Annus and his party thought God had acted as a general for them, and that they had conquered without fighting. But their opinions were not well founded; for the Idumeans fenced one another by uniting their bodies into one band, thereby keeping themselves warm, and connecting their shields over their heads they were not much injured by the rain.

But the zealots were much concerned for the Idumeans, and endeavored to contrive some plan for assisting them. The more rash party were for falling upon the guards and rushing to the gates to admit them, but the more prudent were opposed to so rash a measure, as they supposed Annus would be visiting the guards every hour; which, indeed, was done upon other nights, but was omitted that night. For, as the night was far gone, and the storm very terrible, Annus gave the guards in the cloisters liberty to go to sleep. The zealots now thought of making use of the saws which were in the temple, with which they cut the bars of the gates to pieces. The noise of the wind, united with that of the thunder, prevented their being discovered.

The Idumeans were thus let into the city, and entering the temple they attacked and slew the sleeping guards. The zealots also rushed out of the inner court, and joined them in the work of slaughter. But as those now awakened made a cry, .the whole multitude arose, and seizing their arms fought bravely until learning they had the Idumeans as well as the zealots to contend with, their, courage forsook them, and they gave themselves up to lamentation. Some few of the younger men, however, covering themselves with their armor, valiantly defended the old men. Others gave a signal to those in the, city of the situation they were in, but these were seized with consternation; and instead of coming to their assistance, only returned the terrible echo of wailing and lamentation.

The women also mingled the voice of their sorrows with the general wail, while the Idumeans and zealots raised the fiendish shout of triumph, and all mingled with the howlings of the storm. The Idumeans spared nobody. Being naturally a most barbarous and bloody nation, and having been distressed by the tempest, they were infuriated against those who had shut their gates against them, and went on slaying indiscriminately. They even ran those through with their swords who supplicated for mercy and desired them to remember the relation there was between them, and to have regard to their common temple.

The citizens were driven together in heaps, and butchered without butchering and plundering all who came in their way. Weary at length with indiscriminate slaughter, they sought for the high priests, and when they had murdered them they stood upon their dead bodies, and in ridicule upbraided Annus with his kindness to the people, and Jesus with his speech made to them from the tower. In the morning the light presented the horrid spectacle of eight thousand five hundred dead bodies lying in the outer temple weltering in their own blood.

I should not mistake, says Josephus, if I said that the death of Annus was the beginning of the destruction of the city; and that from this very day may be dated the overthrow of her wall and the ruin of her affairs. He was a very venerable and very just man, and besides the grandeur of his nobility and the honor which he possessed, he had been a lover of a kind of parity even with regard to the meanest of the people. He was, indeed, a prodigious lover of liberty, and an admirer of a free government; and did ever prefer the public welfare before his own advantage, and preferred peace above all things. He was thoroughly sensible that the Romans were not to be conquered. He also foresaw that unless the Jews came to terms, they would be destroyed. In a word, if Annus had lived they certainly would have come to an agreement.

Jesus was also united with him, and though his inferior, he was superior to the rest; and I cannot but think it was because God had doomed this city to destruction as a polluted city, and was determined to purge his sanctuary by fire, that he cut off these their great defenders, and allowed them who a little before had worn the sacred garments, presided over public worship, and been esteemed venerable by those who dwelt upon the whole habitable earth when they came into our- city, to be cast out naked as food for dogs and wild beasts. I cannot but imagine that virtue herself groaned over these men, and lamented that here she was so terribly conquered by wickedness.

After Anus and Jesus were slain, the zealots and Idumeans fell upon the people as upon a herd of profane animals, and cut their throats. But the noblemen and youth they bound and shut up in prison, in hopes they should bring them over to their party; yet they did not succeed: these men preferring death to being enrolled among such wicked wretches. But their refusal brought upon them the most terrible tortures; for they were scourged and tormented till death released them from their tormentors. Those whom they caught in the day time were slain at night, and thrown out to empty the prisons for new victims. So great was the terror that none dare bury their murdered friends, or scarcely weep for them, lest they should share the same fate. Only in the night they ventured to cast a little dust. upon the bodies of the slain. Of the most respectable inhabitants twelve thousand thus perished.

Weary of killing in this way, the Idumeans and zealots set up a sort of mock tribunal. Wishing to slay Zacharias, the son of Baruch, a lover of virtue and a man of wealth, they called together seventy of the principal men of the populace, and constituting them a council of judges, they brought Zacharias before them on a charge of wishing to betray the city to the Romans. Not a shadow of evidence was brought to support the charge; but when the judges acquitted him a couple of the zealots fell upon him and slew him in the midst of the temple, and cast his body over the wall. Moreover, they abused the judges, striking them with the backs of their swords; and thrusting them out of the temple they spared their lives only that, dispersing among the people, they might become messengers to let them know that they were all regarded as slaves.

About this time the Idumeans, touched with a little remorse at the abominations they had committed, and being told by one of the zealots that the report that Annus and his party had intended to deliver up the city to the Romans was false, concluded to depart. Before they went they set about two thousand of the populace at liberty, who had been confined in prison, and these persons immediately left the city and joined themselves to one Simon, of whom we shall speak hereafter. After this the Idumeans, to the great surprise of all parties, returned home.

Upon their departure the courage of the people revived for a while, and they attempted again to oppose the zealots. But the latter grew more insolent than ever, and still thirsting for blood, particularly that of the most valiant men, and men of good families, the one sort they destroyed out of envy, and the other out of fear. Supposing their security depended on leaving no potent men alive, they slew among others Gorion, a person of eminent dignity, and also Niger of Perea, a man of great valor in the war with the Romans, who, as he was drawn through the middle of the city, cried out and showed the scars he had received in their defense. When he saw they were determined on imbruing their hands in his blood, he besought a them to grant him a burial, but they threatened beforehand not to grant him a grave.

Now when they were slaying him he uttered this imprecation upon them: that “they might suffer both famine and pestilence in this war, and come to the mutual slaughter of one another;” all of which was most fearfully confirmed. After the death of Niger they seemed no longer to stand in any fear, and went on entirely reckless in their work of blood. If any one did not come near them they slew him as a proud man; if any one came with boldness they esteemed him a condemner of their authority; and if any came as aiming to oblige them, he was supposed to have some plot against them, while the only punishment for any sort of alleged crime, great or small, was death.

While sedition was thus raging in the city, the officers in Vespasian’s army were very earnest to march against the city; but Vespasian replied, “If they now attacked the city, those who were at present consuming each other would unite to oppose the Roman army; whereas, the true policy was to let them alone, while God seemed to be acting as the general of the Romans in giving up the Jews to them without any pains of their own.”

Many persons now deserted to the Romans every day, although it was quite difficult to get out of the city, as the zealots guarded the passes, and slew those whom they found attempting to escape. Yet the rich purchased their flight by money, while the poor were voted traitors and put to death. All along the roads vast numbers of dead bodies lay in heaps, which induced many who had been zealous for deserting to choose rather to die in the city in hopes of burial.

But the zealots at last determined to bestow burial neither on those who perished in the city, nor those who lay along the streets, so they left the dead bodies to putrefy under the Sun; and the same punishment was inflicted on those who buried any as on those who deserted. If any one, therefore, granted a grave to another, he would presently need one himself. To say all in one word, no other gentle passion was so entirely lost among them as mercy, for the greatest objects of pity did most of all irritate them. The terror was, indeed, so great that the survivors envied the dead, and those under torture in the prisons wished themselves in the place of those who lay unburied. These men, therefore, trampled on all the laws of men, and laughed at the laws of God. They

ridiculed the predictions of the prophets, although those very predictions were then being fulfilled.

CHAPTER 3

"But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: . . . Your carcasses will be food to all birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. The LORD will smite you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scab and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. The LORD will smite you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart; and you will grope at noon, as the blind man gropes in darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways; but you shall only be oppressed and robbed continually, with none to save you.” — The Predictions of Moses, Duet. 28:15, 26-29; NASU

AT this time John (of Gischala) began to rise in arrogance, and thinking it beneath him to stand on an equality with the other seditious leaders, he united to himself the very wickedest of all parties, and breaking off from the rest of the faction, set up for himself. Some submitted to him through fear, some were enticed by his cunning, and others thought they should be more safe if all were joined under one leader, instead of so many. His activity was great, his guards numerous; and he was evidently aiming at monarchy. Yet he had a large party of antagonists, who dreaded his arriving at supreme power. So the sedition was divided into two parts: John reigned in opposition to his adversaries, and both parties fought against the people, contending who should bring home the greatest spoil.

Thus the city struggled with war, tyranny, and sedition; and war seemed the least evil of the three. Many of the people, indeed, ran away to the Romans and obtained that protection from their enemies which was denied them by their own countrymen. And now there arose still another war in Jerusalem. There was one Simon, a son of Giora, who rose to power by joining himself with a band of robbers, of whom he became the leader. His power becoming quite formidable, many of the populace united with him, and obeyed him as a king. Marching suddenly with a considerable force into Idumea, he took the city of Hebron, where he found considerable booty. After this, he succeeded in overrunning all Idumea. His forces increasing, he finally commanded an army of forty thousand, and such was his hatred to the Idumeans that he almost depopulated their country.

This success of Simon excited the anger of the zealots; but being afraid to fight him openly, they set ambushes to watch for him in the passes of the mountains. These men, lying in wait, seized the wife of Simon with her attendants, and came back rejoicing, as though they had taken Simon himself, supposing he would lay down his arms and make supplication to them for her.

But Simon, being in a great fury at the capture of his beloved wife, came like a wild beast to the walls of Jerusalem. He seized upon the poor unarmed people who went out to gather herbs and sticks; these he tormented and slew. He also cut off the hands of numbers and sent them into the city to astonish his enemies, and induce the people to take up arms against those who had seized his wife. He sent word into the city that unless his wife was restored he would break down the wall, and spare neither innocent nor guilty. These threats so affrighted them that they sent back his wife.

Simon, having now recovered his wife, he turned to complete the work of desolation in Idumea; and driving the people before him, he compelled many of them to take refuge in Jerusalem. Thither he followed them, and encompassed the city with his army of robbers.

Now this Simon, who was without the wall, became a greater terror to the people than the Romans themselves, and the zealots within were worse than both the others put together. John’s party in the mean time, who were chiefly Galileans, became the most desperate set of wretches on the face of the earth. Arraying themselves in the apparel of women, they went out and fell unexpectedly upon the people; and drawing out their instruments of death from under their finely died cloaks, they ran every body through whom they pleased. Every resource for the wretched inhabitants was now cut off: they were hunted down by John within the walls, and their only hope, that of flying to the Romans, was cut off by Simon, who butchered them as soon as they ventured without the walls.

The Idumeans, envying the power and hating the cruelty of John, now separated from him, and attempted to destroy him. They slew many of the zealots, and drove them into the temple, and plundered John’s effects, which he had obtained by his enormities. But the zealots, who had been dispersed over the city, came together into the temple to John, who had now become so furious it was feared he would set fire to the city. So the people, with the high priest, assembled to consult together what should be done.

But God overruled their counsel, so that the remedy they devised turned out worse than the disease itself. For, in order to overthrow John, they determined to admit Simon, and sent Matthias, the high priest, to invite him to come in. Accordingly, he, in an arrogant manner, granted them his lordly protection, and came into the city to deliver it from the zealots. The people received him with joyful acclamations as a deliverer; but after he had taken care to secure his own authority, he looked upon those who invited him in as no less his enemies than those against whom they invited him to come.

Thus did Simon and his party get possession of Jerusalem in the third year of the war, while John and his zealots beheld his entry with despair. Simon now ordered an assault to be made upon the temple. His troops were also assisted by the people. But John’s party defended themselves from the cloisters and battlements, and threw arrows down upon their assailants, among whom they made considerable slaughter. They had also erected four very large towers, from which they fought with much advantage. The assault of Simon became more faint, though from his superior numbers it was still kept up.

About this time the government of the Roman empire became very unsettled. Nero had been deposed and slain; Galba succeeded him for a very short time, and was in his turn succeeded by Otho. Otho was soon deprived of the empire by Vitellius, whose vices, extravagance, and gluttony rendering him odious to the Roman people, the army in Judea proclaimed Vespasian emperor. The legions in Alexandria confirming the act of those in Judea, Vespasian, after presenting Josephus with his liberty, left the army under the command of Titus, and went to Rome to attend to the administration of the government. Josephus still continued with the Roman army, acting as interpreter between Titus and the Jews.

“Eleazar, the son of Simon, who made the first separation of the zealots from the people, and made them retire into the temple, appeared very angry at John’s insolent attempts, which he made every day upon the people; for this man never left off murdering: but the truth was, that he could not bear to submit to a tyrant who set up after him. So, being desirous of gaining the entire power and dominion to himself, he revolted from John, and took to his assistance Judas the son of Chelcias, and Simon the son of Ezron, who were among the men of greatest power. There was also with him Hezekiah, the son of Chobar, a person of eminence.

“Each of these was followed by a great many of the zealots; these seized upon the inner court of the temple, and laid their arms upon the holy gates, and over the holy front of that court (this appears to be the first time that the zealots ventured to pollute this most sacred court of the temple). And because they had plenty of provisions, they were of good courage; for there was a great abundance of what was consecrated to sacred uses, and they scrupled not the making use of them; yet were they afraid on account of their small number, and when they had laid up their arms there, they did not stir from the place they were in. Now, as to John, what advantage he had above Eleazar in the multitude of his followers, the like disadvantage he had in the situation he was in, since he had his enemies over his head; and as he could not make any assault upon them without some terror, so was his anger too great to let him be at rest; nay, although he suffered more mischief from Eleazar and his party than he could inflict upon them, yet would he not leave off assaulting them, insomuch that there were continual sallies made one against another, as well as darts thrown at one another, and the temple was defiled everywhere with murders.

“But now the tyrant Simon, the son of Gioras, whom the people had invited in, out of the hopes they had of his assistance in the great distress they were in, having in his power he upper city, and a great part of the lower, did now make more vehement assaults upon John and his party, because they were fought against from above also; yet was he beneath their situation, when he attacked them, as they were beneath the attacks of the others above them. Whereby it came to pass, that John did both receive and inflict great damage, and that easily, as he was fought against on both sides; and the same advantage that Eleazar and his party had over him, since he was beneath them, the same advantage had he, by his higher situation, over Simon. On which account he easily repelled the attacks that were made from beneath by the weapons thrown from their hands only; but was obliged to repel those that threw their darts from the temple above him by his engines of war; for he had such engines as threw darts, and javelins, and stones, and that in no small number, by which he did not only defend himself from such as fought against him, but slew moreover many of the priests as they were about their sacred ministrations. For, notwithstanding these men were mad with all sorts of impiety, yet did they still admit those that desired to offer their sacrifices, although they took care to search the people of their own country beforehand, and both suspected and watched them; while they were not so much afraid of strangers, who, although they had gotten leave of them, how cruel soever they were, to come into that court, were yet often destroyed by this sedition; for those darts that were thrown by the engines came with that force that they went over all the buildings, and reached as far as the altar, and the temple itself, and fell upon the priests, and those that were about the sacred offices; insomuch that many persons who came thither with great zeal from the ends of the earth, to offer sacrifices at this celebrated place, which was esteemed holy by all mankind, fell down before their own sacrifices themselves, and sprinkled that altar which was venerable among all men, both Greeks and barbarians, with their own blood; till the dead bodies of strangers were mingled together with those of their own country, and those of profane persons with those of the priests, and the blood of all sorts of dead carcasses stood in lakes in the holy courts themselves. And now, ‘O most wretched city, what misery so great as this didst thou suffer from the Romans, when they came to purify thee from thy intestine hatred? for thou couldst be no longer a place fit for God, nor couldst thou long continue in being, after thou hadst been a sepulchre for the bodies of thy own people, and hadst made the holy house itself a burying place in this civil war of thine. Yet mayest thou again grow better, if perchance thou wilt hereafter appease the anger of that God who is the author of thy destruction.’ But I must restrain myself from these passions by the rules of history, since this is not a proper time for domestic lamentations, but for historical narrations I therefore return to the operations that follow in this sedition.

“And now there were three treacherous factions in tho city, the one parted from the other. Eleazar and his party, that kept the sacred first-fruits, came against John. Those that were with John plundered the populace, and went out with zeal against Simon. This Simon had his supply of provisions from the city in opposition to the seditious. When, therefore, John was assaulted on both sides, he made his men turn about, throwing his darts upon those citizens that came up against him from the cloisters he had in his possession, while he opposed those that attacked him from the temple by his engines of war. And if at any time he was freed from those that were above him, which happened frequently, from their being drunk and tired, he sallied out with a great number upon Simon and his party; and this he did always in such parts of the city as he could come at, till he set on fire those houses that were full of corn, and of all other provisions.¹ The same thing was done by Simon, when, upon the other’s retreat, he attacked the city also; as if they had on purpose done it to serve the Romans, by destroying what the city had laid up against the siege, and by thus cutting off the nerves of their own power. Accordingly, it so came to pass, that all the places that were about the temple were burned down, and were become an intermediate desert space, ready for fighting on both sides of it; and that almost all that corn was burned which would have been sufficient for a siege of many years. So they were taken by means of the famine, which it was impossible they should have been unless they had thus prepared the way for it by this procedure.

“And now, as the city was engaged in a war on all sides, from these treacherous crowds of wicked men, the people of the city between them were like a great body torn in pieces. The aged men and the women were in such distress by their internal calamities that they wished for the Romans, and earnestly hoped for an external war, in order to their delivery from their domestic miseries. The citizens themselves were under a terrible consternation and fear; nor had they any opportunity of taking counsel, and of changing their conduct; nor were there any hopes of coming to an agreement with their enemies; nor could such as had a mind flee away; for guards were set at all places, and the heads of the robbers, although they were seditious one against another in other respects, yet did they agree in killing those that were for peace with the Romans, or were suspected of an inclination to desert to them, as their common enemies. They agreed in nothing but this, to kill those that were innocent. The noise also of those that were fighting was incessant both by day and by night; but the lamentations of those that mourned exceeded the other; nor was there ever any occasion for them to leave off their lamentations, because their calamities came perpetually, one upon another, although the deep consternation they were in prevented their outward wailing; but being constrained by their fear to conceal their pa