What awful preparation is here for the fulfilment of the remaining predictions, loaded as they are with vengeance and terror! The abomination of desolation is now firmly planted on holy ground. The Roman standards wave insultingly to the breeze. Their wall throws its arm around the doomed city,
1 Exod. xxxiv. 24.
and shuts in her crowded people to famine and pestilence, to fire and sword. This is the predicted day of vengeance, when all the fearful things which God hath written concerning this nation must be fulfilled in agony and blood; "for these be the days of vengeance, for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon the people."
CHAPTER VII
The Sufferings of the Besieged Jews.
"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time; no, nor ever shall be. . . . Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before." MATT. xxiv. 21, 23-25.
Christians of all nations are deeply interested in the fate and condition of the Jews. For the sacred Scriptures they are indebted, under God, to Jews,- Jews wrote them, Jews for ages preserved the Old Testament, and, for a time, Jews also not only were instrumentally the authors, but also the custodians of the New. This nation was God's peculiar people, and on its behalf He worked many wonders, and has still large purposes of grace in store for it. "Our Lord sprang out of Judah." Over the country of this people He trod many weary footsteps; in its villages and towns and capital, as well as in its "deserts" or pasture lands and sea-shores, He delivered His marvellous discourses and performed His mighty miracles. Here He "suffered for sin," and died "the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God," and it was from here that He rose to His throne. Although He was "of the seed of David according to the flesh," His countrymen, the Jews, were they who "crucified the Lord of glory." His compassionate prayer for them, "Father, forgive them," will not be forgotten. "A remnant" has already been saved; and "blindness in part is happened to Israel" only "until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved." Christians everywhere ought, therefore, to be deeply interested in the Jews. On account of their unfaithfulness, and of the cruel deed which they ruthlessly did, as they clamoured for the life of Him who had come to save, and exclaimed, "His blood be on us, and on our children!" their beloved Jerusalem was razed to its foundation. In the following pages it is attempted to depict the miseries which preceded and accompanied that solemn event. Josephus, himself a Jew, is the historical authority here relied upon, though not always formally quoted. In certain parts of his great work, Josephus betrays prejudice and exaggeration; but his alleged facts in respect to the ruin of his nation, and the overthrow and destruction of its capital city, are worthy of the utmost confidence. It was "beautiful for situation," and "the joy of the whole earth," and thither "the tribes went up" to worship in the earthly courts of "the King of kings;" but "the Lord hath done that which He had devised; He hath thrown down, and not pitied; He hath swallowed up Israel, He hath swallowed up alI his palaces; He hath destroyed his strongholds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation."
The miseries of which it is here intended to speak are those which preceded and accompanied the destruction of Jerusalem; and, sad as it is to have to allude to "miseries" in connection with the ancient and chosen people of God, the term is not too strong in connection with the facts of the case; for, in speaking of the sufferings endured by the Jews at this time, their own historian uses the very words of our Lord. He says: "For truly it happened to our city, of all them that came under the power of the Romans, that it was advanced to the greatest happiness, and afterwards sunk into the greatest misery; for if the calamities of all, from the beginning of the world, were to be compared to those of the Jews, in my opinion they would appear less. The multitude of those that therein perished exceeded all the destructions that either men or God ever brought upon the world." For "no city ever suffered such things, nor any generation, from the beginning of time, has ever been more fruitful in sickness."
To understand the force and justice of such language, as also the exact fulfilment of the fearful prediction, we must enter somewhat minutely into the facts, and consider them in detail. Over some of these facts, however, we must throw a veil; they are too horrid, as well as too shameless and abominable, to be repeated.
ROBBERS.
The miseries of the Jews arose mainly from two sources, "from themselves-from resolute and desperate robbers, from abandoned and cruel factions within the city, and from the Romans as a besieging army, without." It is the former which is here considered. To understand this part of the subject, it must be borne in mind that the city was infested with the most resolute and desperate robbers, who had gathered in from all parts of the country. The city was also divided into factions, led on by the most abandoned and cruel leaders. It was also visited by a most wasting and heart-rending famine.
And first we would speak of the robbers. " The captains of these troops of robbers, being satiated with rapine in the country, got together from all parts desperadoes like themselves, and they became a band of wickedness, and all crept together into Jerusalem, and joining to them those that were worse than themselves, omitted no kind of barbarity; for they did not measure their courage by their rapine and plundering only, but proceeded as far as murdering men, and this not in the night time or privately, or with regard to ordinary men; but openly, in the daytime, and began with the most eminent persons in the city. The first man they meddled with was Antipas, one of royal lineage, and the most potent man in the whole city, insomuch that the public treasures were committed to his care. Him they took and confined, as they did Levias and Sophas, both also of royal lineage, and many other principal men." Not thinking it safe to keep persons of such influence in custody, by reason of their numerous and powerful friends, "it was resolved to have them slain. Accordingly, they sent one John, the most bloodyminded of them all, to do that execution. Ten more went along with him into the prison, with their swords drawn, and so they cut the throats of these men that were in custody there." "This caused a terrible consternation among the people, and every one contented himself with taking care of his own safety, as they would do if the city had been taken in war."
Again: "Now the people had come to that degree of meanness and fear, and these robbers to that degree of madness, that these last took upon them to appoint high-priests. So, when they had disannulled the succession according to those families from which the high-priest used to be appointed, they ordained certain unknown and ignoble persons for that office, that they might have their assistance in their wicked undertakings; for such as obtained this highest of all honours, without any desert, were forced to comply with those who bestowed it upon them." "They also set the principal men at variance one with another, and thus gained the opportunity of doing what they pleased by the mutual quarrels of those who might have obstructed their measures; till, at length, they transferred their contumelious behaviour to God Himself, and came into the sanctuary (holy place) with polluted feet." "These men made the temple a stronghold for themselves:" "The sanctuary was now become a refuge and a shop of tyranny."
"And now," continues the same author, "when everyone was in indignation at the men seizing upon the sanctuary, at their rapine and murders, Ananus, the oldest of the high-priests, stood in the midst of them, and casting his eyes frequently at the temple with a flood of tears he said, "Certainly it had been good for me to die before I had seen the house of God full of so many abominations, or these sacred places filled with the feet of these blood-shedding villains." Then in a powerful and persuasive speech recapitulating the tyranny, the sacrilege, the treachery, the cruelty and abominations practised by the robbers, he urged the multitude to go at once against them. He admitted that it would be difficult to disperse them, "because of their multitude and their courage, but chiefly because they did not hope for pardons for their enormities."
A desperate and bloody battle ensued. "Their conflicts were conducted by their passions; and at the first they only cast stones at each other in the city and before the temple, and threw their javelins at a distance; but when either of them was too hard for the other, they made use of their swords, and great slaughter was made on both sides, and a vast number were wounded. As for the dead bodies of the people, their relatives carried them to their own houses; but when any robber was wounded, he went up into the temple and defiled that sacred floor with his blood."
"In these conflicts the robbers always sallied out of the temple (that is, the wall enclosing Mount Moriah), and were too hard for their enemies; but the populace grew very angry, and became more and more numerous, and reproached those that gave back (retreated), and those behind would not afford room to those that were going off, but forced them on again; till at length they made their whole body to turn against their adversaries; and the robbers were forced to retire again into the temple."
"As Ananus did not think fit to make any attack upon the holy gates, he purified six thousand men, and placed them as guards in the cloisters." "Thus shut in, they (the robbers) were in great perplexity; but, in a secret manner, they despatched two messengers to the Idumeans, imploring them to come immediately to their rescue."
In a short time a multitude of these desperate men crowded up before the walls. Ananus harangued them, and endeavoured to disperse them, but in vain. Whilst the Idumeans remained excluded from the city, a terrific storm arose. Taking advantage, of the consequent noise and confusion, the zealots, of whom we shall speak afterwards as factions, sawed open one of the temple gates, stole past the guards, and opened the gates of the upper city (Zion), when the hosts of the Idumeans rushed in, and crowded their way to the temple for the rescue of the robbers. This was done by crossing the bridge which connected Mount Zion with Moriah. The robbers being apprised of their approach, came boldly out of the inner temple (court of the Israelites), rushed upon the guards, and slew them. Immediately a fierce encounter took place. As there was neither any place for flight, nor any hope of preservation, they were driven one upon another in heaps, and a fearful slaughter took place, Ananus being put to death. There was no way of escape, and the murderers were hard upon them. They threw themselves headlong into the lower city (Acra), and underwent a miserable destruction. The outer temple (court of the Gentiles) was overflowed with blood, and that day saw 8,500 dead bodies; for the people were hopelessly given up to the violence and rapine of those evil men.
But the rage was not satiated by these slaughters. The robbers betook themselves to the city, and plundered every house; and as soon as they caught the citizens, slew them; and then, standing upon their dead bodies, in way of jest, upbraided them for their kindness to the people, and cast away their dead bodies without burial. "After this they fell upon the people, as upon a flock of profane animals, and mercilessly slew them. The nobleman and the youth first caught they, and bound them, and shut them up in prison; then they were so scourged and tortured that their bodies were not able to sustain their torments, till at length, and with difficulty, they had the favour to be slain. Those whom they caught in the daytime were slain in the night, and were carried out and thrown away, that there might be room for other prisoners. And the terror that was upon the people was so great, that no one had courage enough either openly to weep for the dead man that was related to him, or to bury him; and those that were shut up in their houses could only shed tears in secret, and durst not even groan without great caution, lest any of their enemies should hear them, for if they did, those who mourned for others soon underwent the same death," "There were twelve thousand of the better sort who perished in this manner,"
"These robbers having seized upon one of noble birth and courage, called Niger of Perea, they dragged him through the city. When he was drawn out of the gates, and despaired of life, he besought them to grant him a burial, which, when they insultingly denied him, he made this imprecation on them,-that they might undergo both famine and pestilence in this war; and, besides all this, might come to the mutual slaughter of one another; all which imprecations God confirmed against these impious men. Not long afterwards they tasted of their own madness in their mutual seditions one against another; for they were incapable of repenting of the wickedness of which they had been guilty. No gentle affection could touch their souls, nor could any pain affect their bodies, since they could still tear the dead bodies of the people as dogs do."
FACTIONS.
In connection with abandoned and cruel factions, seditions early made their appearance. Josephus says, "At the first this quarrelsome temper caught hold of private families, who could not agree among themselves. After which, those people that were the dearest to one another brake through all restraints, and everyone associated with those of his own opinions, and already began to stand in opposition to one another, so that sedition arose everywhere. But these seditions did not become such terrible scourges until the robbers became divided among themselves, and assumed the most hostile attitude. Then it was that misery unmixed, and terror without alleviation, began to be poured upon the wretched inhabitants of Jerusalem."
Terrible as were these scenes of living horror, still such were only the beginning of sorrows, only the pouring out of the first vial. These only introduce us to scenes of deeper confusion, and woe, and despair.
There were three treacherous factions: each had an unprincipled and cruel leader. Their names were Eleazar, the son of Simon; John of Gischala, the son of Levi; and Simon of Gerasa, the son of Gioras. Each of these played conspicuous parts in this fearful tragedy of real life. We notice them in their order.
Eleazar, the son of Simon, was the most plausible and insinuating. He broke off from John of Gischala, of whom he became jealous. He won over a band of two thousand four hundred men, among whom were many of the most powerful and desperate; They seized upon the inner court of the temple, i. e., court of the priests, wherein the altar stood, "and because they had plenty of provisions, they were of good courage; for there was great abundance of what had been consecrated to sacred uses, and they scrupled not in making use of it. His position was one of great strength, as this part of the temple stood upon higher ground than the outer courts, which were occupied by John." This, we are told, was the first time that the factions ventured to pollute the holy place. John, who had the control of the outer courts, allowed the people to come up to where the altar stood; and where the priests officiated, that they might present their sacrificial offerings, as it was on these offerings that he continued to sustain his men. At all other times the avenues were most strictly guarded.
John of Gischala, the son of Levi, was the leader of the zealots, as they were called,-a faction who perpetrated all their wickedness in the name of religion. His character was that of a very cunning and very knavish person beyond the ordinary rate of men, and for wicked practices he had not his fellow anywhere. He was a ready liar, and very sharp in gaining credit for his faction. He was an hypocritical pretender to humanity; but, where he had hopes of gain, he spared not the shedding of blood. He was a man of great craft, and bore about him a strong passion after tyranny. At first he collected a band of four hundred men, chosen for their strength of constitution, their great courage of soul, and their great skill in martial affairs. This band was afterwards increased to six thousand men. Amid all the overturnings and dreadful carnage, - amid all the distress and destruction arising from famine and pIague, -he continued in his command through all the siege, until the Romans had completely subdued the city. When he began this course of wickedness he was poor, and for some time his wants were a great hindrance to his designs, and restrained him in his ambition after command. But forcing his way by the most bold and daring villanies, and being foremost in treachery, he gained many followers of a similar spirit. When thus sustained, wherever he led his troops he struck terror, and caused that the most abject and servile homage should be paid to him. Such was the terror of his name, that when he entered Jerusalem with his followers, the whole body of the people were in an uproar. But, by his artful harangues, he corrupted the young men and strongly enlisted them in his favour. During the conflicts which the people had with robbers, of which I have already spoken, this John, during the daytime, went with Ananus, the high-priest, and was in consultation with the men of the city as to the best plans of subduing the robbers; but every night he divulged to the robbers the secrets he had thus learned; so that everything which the people determined about was by his means known to the robbers. When he fell under suspicion, they called upon him to give them assurance of his fidelity upon oath. Accordingly he immediately took the oath that he would be on the people's side, and would not betray any of their counsels and practices, and would assist them in overthrowing the robbers by his hand and his advice. So they received him to their consultations without further suspicion, and sent him to the robbers with proposals for accommodation. Notwithstanding his oath he went into the temple, and by his speech inflamed the robbers still more against Ananus and the chief men, and thus made them strong in their work of desperate wickedness. Strange as it may appear, for such was the blindness and infatuation with which the people were smitten, this unprincipled and treacherous man steadily gained in influence. He seized upon every advantage until he could control the great body of desperate men who lived by the outrages they perpetrated.
At first John had possession of the whole city, and ruthlessly carried on his work of plunder and destruction. The inhabitants, driven to desperation by the violence and horrible outrages of John, invited Simon of Gerasa, who, with his twenty thousand followers, prowled around the city, to enter, thus hoping to keep John in check. John was now driven from the city into the outer enclosures of the temple (court of the Gentiles), where he was blockaded by the people. Simon had possession of Zion, or the upper city, as well as a considerable portion of Acra, or the lower town. His head-quarters was the strong tower of Phasaelis, which divided the upper from the lower city.
These fierce factions jealously watched one another. In their quarrels they very seldom made use of their weapons; yet they fought fiercely against the people, and contended which of them should bring home the greatest amount of plunder. And he who was utterly despoiled by Simon was sent back again to John; as also were those who had been already plundered by John, so that Simon got what remained of John's exactions. This is a most remarkable feature. Opposing factions usually contend with each other with invincible hatred, but in this case all the ordinary principles of human action are reversed. Whilst the factions, led by the most unprincipled and bloody leaders, cannot dwell together, and whilst they have continued quarrels, still they lend their united strength against the people, and make it a matter of ambitious rivalry which can inflict upon them the heaviest calamities. How plain it is that God thus permitted these terrible agencies, as instruments for executing upon the Jews the just punishment of their iniquities. So terrible was this scourge that the people thought that the tyranny and the sedition were far worse than the horrors of war.
I will notice only two illustrations of the violence of John. On one occasion, at the Passover, when Eleazar and his party, who had possession of the inner temple (court of the priests), had opened the gates, and admitted such of the people as were desirous to worship God in it, John made use of this festival as a cloak for his treacherous designs. He sent his men, with weapons concealed under their garments, professedly for the purpose of worship. As soon as they thus secured their entrance, they threw off their disguises, and appeared in their armour. This produced the greatest disorder. Terrified by this sudden and bold demonstration, the people whom Ananus had stationed to guard against John left their positions at the gates and leaped down from their battlements and fled away into the subterranean caverns of the temple. The people who stood trembling before the altar were rolled in heaps together, were trampled upon, were beaten with iron weapons without mercy, and great numbers were slaughtered. Having thus struck terror into every mind, John seized the inner temple with all its provisions and the warlike engines gathered there. This gave him the complete possession of the temple and its surroundings.
This is the second illustration: John permitted his followers to do all things that any of them desired to do. Their inclination to plunder was insatiable, as was their zeal in searching the houses of the rich; and the murdering of men, and the abusing of women, were sport to them. They devoured the spoils, together with the blood of those to whom they had belonged, and indulged themselves in the utmost wantonness without any disturbance till they were satiated. They fantastically decked their hair, and put on women's garments; they were besmeared over with ointments; and, that they might appear very comely, they had painting under their eyes. They not only imitated the ornaments of women, but were guilty of intolerable uncleanness; and here the veil must be drawn, for there were scenes which cannot be described: they were desperately wicked, and cruel beyond all parallel. Thus did they roll themselves up and down in the city, as in a brothel house, and defiled it with their speech and their behaviour. Nay, while their faces looked like the faces of women, they killed with their right hand; and when their walk was effeminate, they presently attacked men, became warriors, drew their swords from under their finely dyed cloaks, and ran everyone through whom they lighted upon. Such are samples of what this leader of a faction did with the pent-up inhabitants of Jerusalem. And John was only one of their tormentors.
Simon of Gerasa, the son of Gioras.- Josephus says of this man, who has already been spoken of, that he was "not so cunning indeed as John, but was superior in strength and bodily courage." He got together a number of persons who were fond of novelties, and betook himself to ravage. Nor did he only harass the rich men's houses, but tormented their bodies, and appeared openly to affect tyranny in his government. In the early part of his career he dwelt at Masada, and pillaged the surrounding country. There he became so formidable that many men of influence were corrupted by him, and numbers of the populace were obedient to him as to their king. Having overrun many places, he directed his way to Jerusalem, where he slaughtered multitudes of the people. He caught all who came out of the gates, and tormented and destroyed them. He cut off the hands of a great many, and sent them into the city. He thus affrighted his enemies, declaring that he had 'been appointed by God, and that he would break down the wall of Jerusalem, and inflict the like punishment upon all the citizens without sparing any age. "This Simon," adds the historian, "who was without the walls, was a greater terror than the Romans; as were also the zealots under John, who were inside the city; and between them they were the means of great distress to the people. For John at this time was executing all the bloody and abominable things of which we have already spoken. Yet Simon was the more bloody of the two."
So oppressive, however, was the wrath with which John afflicted the people, that in their desperation, and with the hope of curbing his insolent cruelties, they took counsel and determined to throw themselves upon Simon for protection. Accordingly they resolved to admit him. Thus, with the hope of escaping one tyrant, they madly introduced another. They sent Matthias, the high-priest, to beseech Simon to come in. In an arrogant manner he granted them their request, and marched his forces within the gates. Thus it was that God turned their counsel into foolishness, and caused that the remedy which they sought should prove far worse than the disease itself. For no sooner had he entered with his army, than he took care to secure his own authority, and regarded those who had invited him in as his chief enemies.
Having possession of Zion, or the upper city, as well as a great part of Acra, or the lower town, he exercised his authority in the most tyrannical and abusive manner. He attacked the city as if he were in league with the Romans. He burnt the houses, especially those that were filled with provisions, so that almost all the corn, which had been enough for years, was destroyed. Many of the places about the temple he also burned, and the temple itself was filled with dead bodies. The strong language of Josephus is: "And the blood of all sorts of dead carcases stood in lakes in the holy courts themselves."
The city was engaged in a war on all sides from these crowds of wicked men, whereby the great body of the people were torn in pieces. The aged men and women were in such distress, by their internal calamities, that they even wished for the Romans. The citizens were under terrible consternation. Nor had they any opportunity of taking counsel; neither were there any hopes of coming to an agreement; while none could flee away, and so escape. The leaders of the factions agreed in nothing but to kill those who were innocent. The noise also of those who were fighting was incessant both by day and by night. There was no opportunity for them to leave off their lamentations, for their calamities came perpetually one upon another. In their distress they had, however, to cease from outward wailing; for being constrained by their fear to conceal their inward passions, they were tormented without daring to open their lips even in groans. Nor was any regard paid by their relatives to those still alive. There was no care taken of the burial of those who were dead. The factions even trod upon the dead bodies as they lay heaped up; and, taking up a mad rage from these dead bodies, became the fiercer. They were still inventing, by some means or other, what was pernicious. And when they had resolved upon anything, they executed it without mercy,-omitting no method of torment or of barbarity.
I will not proceed in the recital of this man's wickedness. Recall what I have stated of John, and let it suffice to know that Simon was, if possible, more bloody, more treacherous, more unbridled, and more tyrannical. Truly may we exclaim with the prophet: "I have heard the voice. . . of the daughter of Zion. . . that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers."1 "A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that rendereth recompense to His enemies."2 How clearly do these passages depict the confusion and horrors which prevailed in Jerusalem, and even in the temple, during this siege by the Romans!
Of the fearful career of these factions Josephus remarks: "Neither did any other city ever suffer such miseries, nor did any age breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this from the beginning of the world. They confessed what was true, that they were the slaves, the scum, and the spurious and abortive offspring of our nation, while they overthrew the city themselves, and forced the Romans to gain a melancholy reputation by acting gloriously against them. They did almost draw that fire upon the temple which they seemed to think came too slowly; and, indeed, when they saw the holy place burning, they were neither troubled at it nor did they shed any tears on that account."
1 Jer. iv. 31.2 Isa. lxvi. 6.
What we have seen, terrible and cruel as it is, is only the beginning of sorrows. It yet remains to disclose what was endured from the operations of the famine, self-induced, and more terrible than is anywhere else recorded upon the page of history.
FALSE CHRISTS.
We have in part seen what the people suffered from the robbers, zealots, and fanatics among themselves. There yet remain three other scourges which filled up the bitter cup of their wretchedness. These were the false Christs or prophets, the visitation of famine, and miseries from the Romans.
False Christs and Prophets.- The prediction made by our Lord names three distinct appearances of false Christs or prophets. The first was one of the six signs which were to foretell the approach of the day of destruction. The second had reference to the false teachers who infested the primitive church, causing the apostasy of many. The third and last was during the siege, when famine and other calamities were upon them. The leaders of the zealots, who perpetrated all their crimes in the name of religion, and who were determined to reject all compromises with the enemy, made efficient use of the false prophets. The design of their appearance at this time was to prevent the moderate party from abandoning the defence of the city, and submitting to the Romans. Before Titus built his wall around the city, these deceivers led the people out into the wilderness as the place where wonders were to be wrought, and the deliverance from the Roman yoke was to be effected.
We know that Christ, the true Messiah, did fulfil the ancient prophecies, and performed some of His remarkable miracles in the desert. He fed the multitude there upon the five loaves, and took up twelve baskets of fragments. There a great multitude came unto Him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and He healed them. After the wall around the city was built by Titus, these false prophets could no longer go out of the gates. Then, when Titus was plying his battering-rams, and the city was shaken with intestine commotions, then when the hearts of men were failing them, the historian says that "impostors and deceivers, under the pretence of inspiration, made the common people mad, promising that God would show them signs of liberty." He adds, "that the tyrannical zealots, who ruled the city, suborned many false prophets to declare that aid would be given to the people from heaven." Thus they either stimulated the multitude to greater desperation whilst fighting, or else they led them into the temple, affirming that there and then God would grant them singular deliverance.
It is stated that when the soldiers set fire to the cloisters of the outer court of the temple, six thousand women and children, and a mixed multitude, perished there. A false prophet was the occasion of their gathering and destruction. He had made a public proclamation in the city, that God commanded them to go up to the temple, and that there they should receive miraculous signs and deliverance. Thus, by means of these false prophets, who proclaimed that the people should wait for a miraculous deliverance from God, were the miseries multiplied, and the zealots enabled to keep the people under their tyrannical control.
From the appearance of these false Christs, and the readiness of the people to follow after them, it is plain that the Messiah was strongly expected at that very time. The Jews were then carefully studying and looking for the fulfilment of the remarkable prophecy of Daniel, to which reference has been made in a preceding chapter. We there saw that it found its perfect fulfilment and accurate completion in the very year that Christ was put to death as an atoning sacrifice, for it was written that "Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself." His was to be a vicarious sacrifice.
The appearing of false Christs at this time is demonstrative of the fact that the Jews then expected the true Christ. There cannot be a counterfeit unless there is something real which it professes to be. A counterfeit bank-note is evidence that there is a genuine one. Spurious coin is the surest testimony that there are true coins. So when we read of false Christs appearing at the period of the ending of the seventy weeks of Daniel's prophecy, we cannot escape the conviction that there was the true Christ who, according to the prediction, was to be cut off, but not for Himself. Our Lord did appear at the precise time predicted. He wrought supernatural works, not in the name of God, as did the prophets, but in His own name and by His own power. He was arraigned before Pilate, and though pronounced innocent, was given up to be crucified. He was publicly crucified, and was buried. He arose from the dead on the third day. No other Christ has come whom the Jews have recognized as fulfilling the predictions. The seventy weeks of Daniel, according to all Jewish calculations, have long since ended. But where else is the true Messiah promised by Daniel?
The learned among the modern Jews find themselves compelled either to give up their confidence in their prophetic Scriptures, or abandon the expectation of a personal Messiah. The former they cannot do without throwing suspicion upon all their sacred books. Hence they adopt the latter expedient, and deny that a personal Messiah was intended by Daniel and other prophets. But, to meet the predictions, they contend that a spiritual Messiah or influence was what the prophets foretold. This state or influence, not specially located as to time, they judge, saves the veracity of the prophets, and delivers themselves from looking for a personal Messiah.
FAMINE
The visitation of famine intensified all the sufferings of the people. Considering the exhaustless supply of water, furnished by the fountains and the rains of heaven, collected in vast reservoirs and cisterns, and the very abundant stores of provisions, it would seem that early and severe distress from famine could hardly have been expected. We were told that John and Simon "burned the houses filled with provisions, so that all the corn which had been stored up, and which had been enough for years, was destroyed." This destruction was the direct occasion of the terrible famine. Had there been an efficient government, which regulated with economy the use of their stores, and had the people been united and of one mind, it is not probable that the Romans could have subdued the city. But nothing can stand against the Divine purpose. Jerusalem was to be destroyed, and the Jews themselves are made the principal instruments in its ruin.
The historian says, "The madness of the seditions increased with the famine. For there was no corn which anywhere appeared publicly, but the robbers ran into and searched private houses. If they found any, they tormented the people because they had denied that they had any; and if they found none, they tormented them worse, because they supposed they had more carefully concealed it." Whenever they saw anyone whose appearance indicated that he had enough to eat, they watched him, and fell upon his home and there searched for food. So heavily did the famine begin to press upon the people, that many sold all they possessed for a single measure of wheat or barley. And when they had so done, they shut themselves up in the innermost rooms of their houses, and ate the corn they had husbanded. Some ate it without grinding it, by reason of the extremity of the want they were in. A table was nowhere laid for a distinct meal, but the bread was snatched out of the fire, half baked, and eaten hastily. The case was a miserable one, and presented a sight that might justly bring tears into the eyes of those who beheld it. While the more powerful had more than enough, the weaker were lamenting for want of it. Famine is hard for all. It is destructive of nothing so much as modesty. What was otherwise worthy of reverence was, in this case, despised, insomuch that "children pulled the morsels that their fathers were eating out of their very mouths; and, what was still more to be pitied, so did the mothers do as to their infants. And when those that were most dear were perishing under their hands, they were not ashamed to take from them the very last drop that might preserve their lives. And while they ate after this manner, yet were they not able to do so in secret, for the seditious everywhere came upon them immediately, and snatched away from them what they had gotten. When they saw any house shut up, this was to them a signal that the people within had some food; whereupon they broke open the doors, and ran in and took by force what they could lay their hands upon. The old men who held their food fast were beaten; and if the women hid what they had within their hand, their hair was torn for so doing. They lifted up children from the ground as they hung upon the morsels they had gotten, and shook them down upon the floor. But still they were more barbarously cruel to those that had prevented their coming in, and had actually swallowed down what they were going to seize upon, as if they had been unjustly defrauded of their rights. They also invented terrible methods of torments to discover where any food was."
The historian specifies some of the methods of torture, but they are such as cannot be described. Their cruelty is only one and the least objectionable of their deeds. Human nature recoils shuddering, and hurries away from the sight. In order to make them confess that they had but one loaf of bread, or a handful of meal, the Jews were forced to bear what it is a shame to record.
One of the most cruel features of this system of torture was, that the tormentors were not impelled by their own hunger; for they had enough, and revelIed in luxury. It was done to keep their madness in exercise, and as making preparation of provisions for themselves for following days. How plain that God had withdrawn all restraints, and had given them up to the full sway of their depraved hearts. "He gave them over to a reprobate mind." They were filled with "all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, . . . covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful."1 Such is the fruit of sin when restraints are taken off.
How plain that God was using this terrible instrumentality for hastening on these scenes of terror, and that all the solemn things written against that people were hastening on to be accomplished!
1 Rom. i. 29, 31.
The famine widened its progress and devoured the people by whole houses and families. The upper rooms were full of women and children that were dying; and the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged. The children also, and the young men, wandered .about the market-places like shadows, and fell down dead wherever their misery seized them. As for burying them, those that were sick themselves were not able to do it, and those that were hearty and well were deterred from doing it by the great multitude of those dead bodies. Nor were there any lamentations made under these calamities, neither were heard any mournful complaints; but the famine confounded all natural passions; for those who were just going to die looked upon those who were gone to their rest before them with dry eyes. A deep silence also, and a kind of deadly night, had seized upon the city. Thus was fulfilled the saying of the prophet Amos (viii. 3): "The songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence."
Of those who perished by famine in the city, the number was prodigious, and the miseries they underwent were unspeakable. In the space of two and a half months there were carried out of the gate 115,880 dead bodies! This number was reported to Titus by the officer who was appointed to pay the public stipend for carrying these bodies out, and so was obliged to number them. The rest were buried by their relatives, though all their burial was but this, to bring them away and cast them out of the city. In addition to the testimony of the officer, many of the eminent citizens told Titus that the entire number of the poor who were thrown out of the city was no fewer than 600,000! They told him further that when they were no longer able to carry out the dead bodies, they laid the corpses in heaps in very large houses, and shut them up therein.
The greatness of these numbers staggers us, until we recall the fact that just before the siege, in addition to the males required by the law to be present in Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover, vast multitudes of proselytes of the gate from all parts of Palestine and other countries, also large troops of the most turbulent and abandoned characters, who had been the terror of the country, swarmed into the city. Most of these designed only to be in the city a few days; but they were suddenly cooped up as in a prison by the besieging army of Titus.
In the progress of the famine the provisions were so far exhausted that even the robbers and the armed factions began severely to feel it. This but enraged them, and made them more brutal. If so much as the shadow of any kind of food did anywhere appear, a war was commenced presently, and the dearest friends fell fighting one with another about it, snatching from each other the most miserable supports of life. Nor would men believe that those who were dying had no food, but the robbers would search them, lest any should have food concealed in their bosoms and counterfeit dying. Nay, these robbers gasped for want, and ran about stumbling and staggering along like mad dogs, and reeling against the doors of the houses like drunken men. In their distress they rushed into the same houses two or three times a day. Their hunger was so intolerable that they ate things which the most sordid animals would not touch. They fed upon their girdles, shoes, and the covering of their shields. They searched the dung-hills of the cattle, and ate the carrion which they found there.
From very much more which Josephus has recorded I select only one case, which will illustrate how severe and frightful was this famine: There was a certain woman named Mary, eminent for her family and her wealth. She was by robbery reduced to the greatest extremity of want. It now became impossible for her to procure any food, so that the famine pierced into her very soul; and thus her passion was fired, and driven on by her terrible gnawing necessity, she snatched up her son, whom she was nursing, and said, " 0 thou miserable infant! for whom shall I preserve thee in this war, this famine, and this sedition? As to the war with the Romans, if they preserve our lives, we must be slaves. This famine also will destroy us, even before that slavery comes upon us. Yet are these seditious rogues more terrible than both the others. Come on: be thou my food, and be thou a fury to these seditious varlets and a byword to the world, which is all that is now wanting to complete the calamities of the Jews." As soon as she had said this she slew her son, and then roasted him, and ate one half of him, and kept the other half by her concealed. Upon this the seditious came in, and smelling this horrid food, they threatened that they would kill her immediately if she did not show them what food she had got ready. She replied that she had saved a very fine portion of it for them, and withal uncovered what was left of her son. Hereupon they were seized with a horror and amazement of mind, and stood astonished at the sight, when she said unto them, "This is mine own son, and what has been done was my own doing. Come, eat of this food, for I have eaten of it myself. Do not you pretend to be either more tender than a woman, or more compassionate than a mother. But if ye be so scrupulous, and do abominate this my sacrifice, as I have eaten the one half, let the rest be reserved for me also." The knowledge of this horrid transaction immediately spread all over the city, and filled all the miserable inhabitants with consternation and fearful apprehensions of the Divine wrath. So sore was this famine, that the living were very desirous to die, and esteemed those already dead as happy.
No wonder that the compassionate Saviour wept when He pronounced the doom of this guilty city. No wonder that, in the uttering of His prediction, He said, "Woe unto them who are with child, and to them that give suck in those days." No wonder that, when on His way to Calvary, He turned His thoughts away from His own death to the weeping train that followed Him, saying, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck."1No wonder that the whole city was horror-stricken, for the words of the prophet Jeremiah were fulfilled: "The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people."2 "These," said our Lord, "be the days of vengeance;" for all the accumulated predictions of terrible wrath were now to be realized. The words of every prophet were to be made true, and the veracity of God's threatenings was to be proved with fearful distinctness. Fifteen hundred years before Christ it was written, "The Lord shall bring against thee a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young:. . . and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst. . . . And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee. . . . The tender and delicate woman. . . shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, and toward her young one: . . . for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the
1 Luke xxiii. 28, 29.2 Lam. iv. 10.
siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates."1
Again, six hundred years before Christ it was predicted: "Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets."2 The records of authentic history show that all these things were, in the most literal manner, fulfilled in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem.
THE BESIEGERS.
Before the Roman armies under Titus appeared before Jerusalem its devoted inhabitants had become the prey of civil discord. Their ample resources were wasted by internal dissensions. But when Titus advanced, and pitched his camp near the northern wall, then the factions within the city were compelled to cease their contentions, and to unite their counsels, and forces for the common defence. To John was confided the defence of the tower of Antonia, and to Simon the defence of the outer or third wall, built around Bezetha.
Notwithstanding the horrible barbarities and infamous wickedness practised by these zealots and factions, still we cannot but admire their daring and determined valour in defending the city from the foreign foe. Step by step they disputed the progress of the enemy. Though often defeated, they returned with invincible courage to the breach, and with wonderful
1 Deut. xxviii. 49-57.2 Lam. ii. 20, 21.
skill and endurance they defied the utmost power of the emperor. Jerusalem was to them the city of God, endeared by associations patriotic and religious. Under these influences they fought, and fought desperately. In the darkest hour they not only had hope, but a confidence that God would, in some glorious manner, appear for their deliverance. This made them resolute in rejecting with scorn and contempt all the appeals of Titus to surrender, and thus end the war. Titus was urgent to save the city and the temple from destruction. Though baffled in all his efforts, he did not at once assault the walls: he proceeded slowly with the war. He had to defend himself, however, against the sudden and furious assaults of the Jews as they rushed out of the gates. Though driven back with the loss of many killed and more taken prisoners, still they were stubborn in their determination to reject all terms of surrender. To protect himself, and to cut off all possible supplies of provisions, Titus built the wall or trench around the city: he thus hoped that famine would compel the Jews to surrender. During these conflicts many prisoners were taken by the Romans. Upon these the soldiers practised the most shameful cruelties: they cut off the hands of a great many. This was done by the order of Titus, who then sent them back into Jerusalem, with the exhortation that they would now at length leave off, and not force him to destroy the city; but that they would surrender, and thus preserve their own lives and so fine a city as their own, and that temple which was their peculiar glory."
They tormented and crucified great multitudes. The prisoners were first whipped and then tormented with all sorts of tortures, and then they were crucified before the walls of the city. The main reason why Titus did not forbid this cruelty was that he hoped the Jews would yield at such sights out of fear, lest they might themselves be liable to the same cruel treatment. So the soldiers, out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one way and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest, and the multitude of sufferers at last became so great that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies.
They cut open the prisoners and deserters to search for gold. The historian says: "Yet did another plague seize upon them that were preserved, for there was found among the Syrian deserters a certain person who was caught gathering pieces of gold out of the excrement of the Jews, that he might swallow it. As soon as this became known to the Roman soldiers, they cut up those who came as suppliants and searched them. Nor,"continues the historian, "does it seem to me that any misery befell the Jews that was more terrible than this, since in one night about two thousand of these deserters were thus dissected. Titus forbade this upon the penalty of death; but the love of money was too great for their dread of punishment. This, therefore, which was forbidden, was ventured upon privately. The soldiers would go out and meet the deserters, and looking about to see that no Roman spied them, they dissected them, that thus they might rob them. In this manner a great many were destroyed."
PRACTICAL LESSONS.
There were many other forms of cruelty which were heaped upon the Jews by the Romans. It is not necessary to mention them in order to complete the evidence that they endured such tribulation as never had been witnessed up to that time. Nor does history record anything since which bears any comparison with it. Every candid mind must admit the truth of those Scriptures which foretold the things which have come to pass. These predictions enter into very great minuteness of detail, and tell of events quite improbable, and seemingly against all the acknowledged principles of human action. Yet they have all come to pass with perfect accuracy. Could any other than God, who knoweth the end from the beginning, reveal with such minute particularity the strange and terrible events which were to precede, and which happened in, the siege of Jerusalem? Not only did the prophets rest their claims for truth upon the actual fulfilment of their word, but God Himself does thus challenge the scrutiny of His creatures, saying, "Remember this, and show yourselves men: bring it again to mind. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure: calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth My counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I wiII also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it."1 When God declares what He will do, and His declaration comes to pass with all the minuteness of the prediction, - although this is accomplished through the agency of men, as they pursue their own chosen way, in the prosecution of their own plans,-we cannot escape the conviction that God is carrying out His own purposes, and that all the resources of power are perfectly at His command.
We may also know that every man is in the hands of God, and that as certainly as His word concerning things on the earth have been fulfilled, so certainly wiII all that He has spoken of the judgment, of heaven, and of hell, be fulfilled perfectly. Can any candid mind hesitate to receive and act upon what the Bible reveals on these subjects? Can it be safe for any man to refuse or to neglect to give earnest and immediate attention to the interest of the soul and of eternity? For eternity and the judgment are not so far off from any man as was the destruction of Jerusalem from the prophets who spake of its certain ruin. God now declares that without repentance for sin and faith in the Lord Jesus, no man can see the kingdom of God, but must be cast off, and made for ever to endure His wrath. The Lord Jesus speaks of the judgment, in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem, that all men may know of the certainty of a future day of reckoning.
1 Isa. xlvi. 8-II.
As nations have no existence beyond the grave, they are only accountable in this world, and must here be punished for their sins.
God is the governor of nations. He promised the Jews national blessings when obedient to his commands. But "if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you, according to your sins."1 It is the teaching of ll history that God gives to every nation the opportunity to redress their evil courses by the peaceful operation of their laws. If they persevere in their evil ways, He brings upon them the discipline of his providence, sending floods, famine, pestilence, fire, tornado, war. If they repent, he forgives and blesses them. If they harden themselves in iniquity, He "wipes them as a dish is wiped, and turneth them upside down." Knowing that God hates and will punish the sins of nations, it is not difficult to account for their disappearance from the face of the globe. The proud empire of Babylon; the strong empire of the Medes and Persians; the mighty empire of Greece; and the iron, all-conquering empire of Rome, are all gone- blotted out because they held on to their sins.
So also have great cities been utterly wiped out. Sodom and Gomorrah, Babylon and Nineveh, Tyre and Sidon, Pompeii and Herculaneum, and ancient Rome. The dug-up or standing ruins are to this day the monuments which proclaim the great truth that God governs among men. It was the sin of rejecting God that changed the Hebrew republic into a
1 Lev- xxvi. 21.
monarchy. "I gave them a king in my anger."1 It was sin that divided the Jewish people into two kingdoms. It was sin that blotted out the kingdom of Israel. It was sin that caused the divine anger to burn with devouring flame against the kingdom of Judah, and which destroyed their holy city and their nationality.
Sin is always and everywhere destructive. "The sting of death is sin." Sin will sting any man and any nation to death. As an illustration, the scriptures single out the desecration of the Sabbath, and charge to the account of this sin the calamities threatened. Not that this was the only sin of which they were guilty, but that, where this germinating sin prevailed, a fearful number of the worst crimes inevitably followed. For what can hold back the nation that has cast off the fear of God, and set at defiance his threatened judgments. And how can the nation that fears God and reverences his word and his holy day be a people given up to work iniquity.
The Sabbath is the great moral pulse of the nation.- To keep the Sabbath is a command binding upon corporations, states, and nations, equally as upon individuals. Obedience recognizes God's authority, promotes reverence, and secures the conscientious observance of every command. When the Sabbath is blotted out, as it was once in France, then the moral character is gone. To throw off the authority of God, to set at naught anyone of his commands, necessarily loosens the regard for every other command. Thus, under the dominion of selfish wickedness,
1 Hosea xiii. II, and 1 Samuel viii. 4-22.
the respect for the rights and the property of others, and every corrupt and debasing influence gains strength, and leads to outrage and ruin It is my firm conviction that, with us, the growing disregard of the Sabbath is the prolific cause of the demoralization which makes itself known in the frauds and gigantic schemes of plunder, in the violation of sacred trusts, and other ways, by which property is stolen from its legitimate owners. The making the Sabbath a day of pleasure, using it for travelling and business purposes, violates a command of God, hardens the conscience, and prepares the way for other crimes.
The history of the Jewish nation, as written on the sacred page, is instructive. When they esteemed "the Sabbath of the Lord as honorable and a delight," then they were a happy and prosperous nation. But when they "wearied of his Sabbath," then they fell off into idolatry, and all the forms of debasing iniquity which brought upon them the judgments of the Lord. It is the unvarying law of God, in his government of nations, to prosper them when they are obedient to his commands, and to punish, even unto utter extinction, when they will hold on to their wicked ways. This is not an arbitrary arrangement, but the necessary and inevitable connection between sin and ruin.
It is "righteousness that exalteth a nation, whilst sin is a reproach to any people." "For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish: yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted." " Happy is that people whose God is the Lord,"
CHAPTER VIII.
The Taking of the City.
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you. This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. MATT. xxiv. 29-34.
Before entering upon the taking and destruction of the city and the temple, it is important that we have a clear understanding of the meaning of this remarkable statement of our Lord, which forms the motto of this chapter. There are mainly three interpretations of this passage:
1. That it refers to the final judgment, and has no necessary application to the destruction of the city and temple.2. That it has reference only subordinately to the city, but mainly to the general judgment, the destruction of the city being only emblematic of the final judgment.3. That the language is primarily and emphatically applicable to the overthrow of the city the burning of the temple, the destruction of the civil polity of the Jews, and the closing up of the old dispensation.
It seems probable to my mind that the third is the true interpretation. As the subject of the Lord's discourse was the destruction of the city and the temple, with the dissolution of the civil nationality of the Jews, and as all the other circumstances of the prophecy refer to these events, it is in keeping with unity to apply this prediction to the same. The strong language of Christ, with its bold and commanding figures, is not more energetic than is usual in prophetic writings. When Isaiah foretold the ruin of Babylon, he employed very bold figurative language, saying, "For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine."1 Also, when predicting the overthrow of Idumea, the same prophet used similar language, saying, "And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment."2 When the prophet Ezekiel proclaimed the coming wrath for Egypt he uses this
1 Isa. xiii. 10.2 Isa. xxxiv. 4, 5.
bold imagery: "And when I shall put thee out I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God."1 Daniel, when speaking of the conquering power of the little horn, says, "And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them."2
These illustrations demonstrate that, in prophetic language, great earthly revolutions and commotions, such as the overthrow of a nation, or the signal judgments of God upon men, are represented by unexpected changes in the heavens, as the darkening of the sun and the moon, or the falling of the stars. Inspired authority, then, sustains this principle of interpretation. The prophet Joel, when speaking of the wonderful things which should precede and attend the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the consequent changes which should be wrought in the closing up of the Jewish dispensation and the inauguration of the Christian, uses this energetic language: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. . . .And I will show wonders in the heavens and in earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come."3 On the day of Pentecost the apostle
1 Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8.2 Dan. viii. 10.3 Joel ii. 28-31.
Peter declared that the scenes previously witnessed in Jerusalem, and on that day, were the fulfilment of that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Thus is justified the application of figurative commotions in the heavens to illustrate important events on earth. Our Saviour adopted the same bold and highly figurative style, it being the established language of prophecy. So when He would foreshadow the destruction of Jerusalem, He says, "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken."1
It is no valid objection to this view that the disciples said, "Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Because the disciples in their ignorance blended the destruction of the temple with the day of judgment, it does not follow that Christ in His prediction had other than a figurative and secondary reference to the last judgment. Their questions cannot be the rule of interpretation. It was quite natural for them to feel that the day of judgment would come whenever that massive temple should be destroyed. From their earliest childhood they imagined that the temple would stand to the end of time. They felt that the foundations of the universe must also be dissolved, if the massive structures of the temple were so upheaved that "not one stone should remain that was not thrown down." In the peculiar language of the prediction there are
1 Mark xiii. 24, 25.
several items which lead me to think that Christ does not refer primarily to the judgment. In Matt. xxiv. 29 it is written, "lmmediately after the tribulation of those days." In Mark xiii. 24, "But in those days, after that tribulation, shall the sun be darkened," etc. These, without some special interpretation, very naturally fix the reference to the besieging of Jerusalem by Titus, as the period when all the remaining predictions should be fulfilled. The page of history records no event but the destruction of Jerusalem, with the dissolution of the commonwealth and scattering of the Jewish nation, which at all meets the prediction. We seem compelled, then, by the laws of evidence, to fix upon that great event as the thing clearly intended by Christ.
In confirmation of this view, the Saviour introduces an illustration from the fig-tree to show that the time was near, saying, "When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: so ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors."1 The context tells what things, viz. the six signs which were to precede and the miseries which were to attend the siege. The meaning appears to be this, that, as surely as the putting forth of leaves by the tree renders it certain that the summer is close by, so certainly when the forewarning signs have passed, and when the siege and the attendant miseries have arrived, then know that the time of the destruction of the city, of the temple,
1 Mark xiii. 28, 29.
and the Jewish polity is nigh, even at the very door. Then the Lord adds: "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be done." The language is not till a part of these things, but until "all these things."1
The things, then, included in the bold language of the prediction were to be realized and perfectly fulfilled within the lifetime of a single generation as generally understood.
History distinctly mentions that John and Philip were alive after the destruction. The prophet Amos spake of the destruction of the Jewish city and polity, saying, " And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day."2 So when our Saviour speaks of the sun, and moon, and stars, as darkened, shaken, and fallen,-of the Son of man coming in clouds, and all the tribes of the earth mourning,-He uses the approved prophetic style, and tells that the destruction of Jerusalem should be so remarkable a demonstration of the Divine vengeance, and that such sorrows should attend upon it, as to spread general mourning and lamentation. So when
1 I am aware that some contend that the words "this generation" mean either the Jewish nation or the human race. This seems strained, and not in keeping with the usual meaning of the phrase.2 Amos viii. 9, 10.
He speaks of sending His angels, with a great sound of a trumpet, to gather His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost parts of the earth, He gives the joyful assurance that, after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish dispensation, all restrictions shall be taken away, and that a free and full gospel, through the instrumentality of His ministers, under the new dispensation, caIled the "angels of the churches," shall be published over the whole earth. Thus, by the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon the preaching of the gospel, the commission of the Lord, "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem," will be accomplished,-and thus a glorious church of His elect will be gathered out of all nations.
When Titus had collected and arranged his forces, he proceeded to within three miles and three quarters of the city, where he encamped at a place called the Valley of Thorns. Having selected six hundred choice horsemen he proceeded to survey the city, with the hope that the Jews would surrender; for he had heard that the citizens were desirous of peace, being sorely oppressed with the robbers. "So long as he rode along the straight road, which led to the wall of the city, nohody appeared out of the gates; but when he went out of that road, and declined towards the tower of Psephinus, and led the band of horsemen obliquely, an immense number of the Jews leaped out suddenly through the gate, and intercepted his horse, and cut him and a few others off from the main body of his horsemen. By surprising personal courage he cut his way through the masses; and though several of his men were killed, and many darts thrown at him, still, shielded by the providence of God, he escaped unhurt, notwithstanding he had on neither his head-piece nor his breastplate."
Titus now divided his army into three portions. He stationed two legions in a fortified camp at the north, at a place called Scopus,1 less than a mile from the city. The fifth legion was stationed half a mile from them. The tenth legion he stationed on the Mount of Olives,-on the east side, about three quarters of a mile from the city.
Seeing these determined preparations, the factions within the city were now compelled to cease their strifes, and unite for the common defence. They immediately put on their armour, and ran out upon the tenth legion, who were fortifying their camp, and fell upon them with eagerness. The Romans, having laid aside their arms in order to perform their work, were taken at disadvantage and in different parties, and were consequently thrown into great confusion. The success of this onset drew larger numbers from the city, who so pressed upon the tenth legion that they were put to flight. Titus now ordered that the space between Scopus and the wall of the city should be levelled.
In four days they finished the work, cutting down the hedges and the trees, filling up the hollow places,
1 Wars, b. v., C. 2, § 3.
and demolishing the rocky precipices, thus making a level place suitable for an encampment. Titus with the strongest part of his army encamped over against the wall on the north and western quarter, near the tower of Psephinus. Another portion fortified itself near the tower of Hippicus; whilst the tenth legion stilI continued on the Mount of Olives.
Titus, in company with a few chosen men, made another survey of the walls, to fix upon the points of attack. In the valleys the walls were inaccessible for the engines. The first, or old wall around Zion, appeared too strong to be shaken. The place he finally fixed upon was where there was a gap, the first fortification being lower than the second, and not joined to it, the builders neglecting to build the wall strong where the new city was not much inhabited.
Before making the attack he determined again to propose terms of peace. In company with Josephus and Nicanor, he approached near the wall. Instead of listening to proposals, they hurled darts at the messengers, and severely wounded Nicanor in his left shoulder. This so incensed Titus, that he gave orders to set fire to the suburbs, also to bring forward timber to raise the banks or platforms, and to set the engines against the wall. This they did with great despatch, but not without serious annoyance from the Jews, who made frequent sallies both by night and by day, and did much injury to the Romans. The banks, however, were prepared, and the engines, seventy-five feet high, placed thereon, and brought to the wall. For awhile they plied their battering-rams without any serious hindrance from the Jews. Suddenly the Jews sallied forth, through an obscure gate at the tower of Hippicus, for the purpose of burning the engines and destroying the banks; and, with the courage of desperation, they went up to the very fortifications of the Romans. The conflict was fearful, -the Romans were driven back, and fire was applied to the engines and the banks. But as fresh legions, led on by Titus in person, came up, the Jews were forced to retreat within their walls. On the fifteenth day the Romans, by the incessant application of their battering-rams, succeeded in making a breach in the wall of the city at Bezetha. The troops immediately mounted this breach, and poured into the narrow and crowded streets. They were attacked from the roofs and side alleys with such fury, that with considerable loss they were compelled to retreat without the wall. It was some days before Titus could regain what he had thus lost, and again enter the streets of Bezetha. When he did return, the Jews fled from the outer wall, and entrenched themselves within the second one, which enclosed Acra. There being no armed force to resist, the gates were thrown open, when the army entered and demolished the wall and a large portion of the city.
Titus, having now removed his camp within the city, immediately commenced his attacks upon the second wall around Acra. The Jews divided themselves into several bodies, and in the most courageous manner defended this wall. John and his troops occupied the tower of Antonia and the northern cloisters of the temple. Simon, to whom was committed the defence of the wall, placed himself near the tower of Hippicus. The Jews made many violent sallies from the walls, and with the most determined boldness attacked the Romans. "Nor did either side grow weary, but all day long there were attacks and fightings on the wall, and perpetual sallies from the gates. And the night had much ado to part them, when they began to fight in the morning. The night was passed without sleep on both sides, and was more uneasy than the day to them. The one was afraid lest the wall should be taken, and the other lest the Jews should make sallies upon their camps. Both sides lay in their armour, and were ready at the first appearance of light to go to the battle."
This continued for several days. But when the engines were doing great execution upon the middle tower of the northern part of the wall, around Acra, and a breach was wellnigh effected, a portion of the Jews, under the guidance of one Castor,1 by a remarkable stratagem, diverted the attention of Titus, and thus gained considerable time, for those within the city to repair the breach, or rather to throw up stronger defences at this place. When Titus perceived how he had been deceived, he renewed the attack with greater vigour, and causing the engines to work more strongly, the fort was breached and
1 Wars, b. v., c. 7, § 4.
the wall taken, but not until Castor had set fire to the tower, when it gave way. The Jews were worn out by their unremitted exertions. One night, as they lay in their armour in troubled sleep, they were aroused by the stirring notes of the trumpet, when the Romans poured through the breach. "A terrific conflict took place-friend and foe were indiscriminately hewed down in the darkness." The Jews were compelled to abandon Acra, and retreat within the shelter of the temple court.
This victory took place on the fifth day after the taking of the first wall. This gave Titus an entrance into Acra, or the lower city. He entered with a thousand of his picked troops. He did not demolish this second wall, nor did he widen the breach or destroy this part of the city, as he was unwilling to cause any more ruin than was absolutely necessary. By a sudden, violent, and desperate assault, the Jews succeeded in driving the Romans out of Acra, or the lower city, and -thus regained entire possession of the second wall. This success wonderfully animated and encouraged them, for they supposed that Titus would not venture again within the second wall, having been driven out with such a fearful sacrifice of his troops. They piled up the dead bodies of the Romans in the breach which had been made. But the Romans returned with increased numbers. For three days. the Jews defended this wall with the most unflinching fortitude and determined bravery. But on the fourth day they could not support themselves against the vehement assaults of Titus. They were compelled to fly, and take refuge again in the temple and in Zion, or the upper city. Thus Titus regained possession of this second wall, which he immediately and entirely destroyed. He put garrisons in the towers on the south part of the city, and then devised his plan for the assault on the third wall.
Having gained the control of Acra, or the lower city, he decided not to proceed immediately, but to relax the siege a little, to allow the citizens time for consideration, supposing that his successes and demonstrations of power would decide them to surrender. To impress their minds the more deeply, he had his whole army drawn up in battle array in the face of the enemy, and for four days publicly distributed subsistence money among them. The historian adds, "The whole old wall and the north side of the temple was full of spectators; nor was there any part of the city which was not covered over with their multitudes, nay, a very great consternation seized upon the hardest of the Jews themselves, when they saw all the army in the same place, together with the fineness of their arms, and the good order of their men. And I cannot but think that the seditious would have changed their minds at that sight, unless the crimes they had committed against the people had been so horrid that they despaired of forgiveness from the Romans; but as they believed death with torments must be their punishment if they did not go on in the defence of the city, they thought it much better to die in the war."1
1 Wars, b. v., c. 9, § I.
This interval lasted four days. "But on the fifth, when no signs of peace came from the Jews, Titus divided his legions, and began to raise banks both at the tower of Antonia and at John's monument. His design was to take Zion, or the upper city, at that monument, and the temple at the tower of Antonia; for if the temple were not taken it would be dangerous to keep the city itself. So, at each of these parts, he raised his banks, each legion raising one." The conflict at these two points was exceedingly sanguinary, and for a time proved too much for the Romans. The determination of Titus to conquer became more settled and firm. Before proceeding to more extreme measures, he sent Josephus again to exhort the people to surrender. The Jews only ridiculed his exhortation, and by throwing stones and darts defied the utmost power of the Romans. Josephus was struck on the head with a missile, and carried to the camp insensible. At this time many of the people endeavoured to escape from the city, but they were either killed by the seditious, or destroyed by the Roman soldiers for the sake of the gold which they had swallowed.
In order to bring the battering-rams and other engines to bear upon the walls, it became necessary, by means of timber and other materials, to erect new banks. For the wall on the brow of Zion was on a precipice thirty feet high, whilst a deep trench defended the tower of Antonia. For seventeen days they were employed in raising these banks. There were now four great mounds. One at the tower of Antonia. raised by the fifth legion. Another, cast up by the twelfth legion, at the distance of about thirty feet from the first. The third, erected by the tenth legion, was on the north quarter of the old wall. The fourth, built by the fifteenth legion, was about thirty feet from the third. On all these banks immensely powerful battering-rams were placed.
John, who had possession of Antonia, carefully watched the operations of Titus, and was busy in excavating from within the wall at Antonia, so as to undermine and destroy the foundations upon which the engines of the Romans rested. Having supported the excavated ground, under the engines, with beams laid across, he brought in the most combustible materials, which he set on fire. So that while the Romans were working the engines, the materials beneath were burning, until the beams were burnt through, when the. engines suddenly fell into the mine, and with many men were destroyed. This happened just as the Romans were in hopes of forcing the wall, and it very much cooled their ardour.
Two days after this, Simon made an attempt to destroy the other banks on the north side of Zion, for the Romans had begun to make the wall shake. They ran out suddenly, with lighted torches, and violently rushing through those who were working the engines, set these machines on fire. Although assaulted on every side with darts and swords, yet did they not give way, but caught hold of the machines. When the Romans saw the flames, multitudes hurried from the camp to save their engines. Then the Jews fought with those who endeavoured to quench the fires. When the Romans endeavoured to pull the battering-rams out of the fire, the Jews caught hold of them through the flames, and held them fast, although the iron upon them became red hot. The flames extended also to the banks. Many more rushed out from the city, and the Jews becoming still more bold1 drove back the Romans, pursuing them to the very fortifications of their camp, and there fought most desperately. This assault was concluded by Titus, with a body of troops, attacking the Jews in the rear. They immediately wheeled about, and attacked the new enemy. Here the conflict was terrific and bloody. The Jews were driven into the city, but the Romans lost their banks and battering-rams.
The Romans spent twenty-one days in reconstructing new mounds, when they again brought forward their engines. Those in the city felt that unless they could succeed in burning these also, it would be impossible longer to resist. The Romans felt that if these were destroyed it would be exceedingly difficult to construct others, as materials had become very scarce, owing to the fact that the trees2 about the city had already been cut down within the distance of a hundred furlongs, in order to make the former banks. This historical fact, that Titus had thus stripped the trees for a circuit of more than twelve miles, disproves the superstitious legend that the trees now standing in the so-called garden
I Wars, b. v., c. II, § 5.2 Wars, b. vi., C. I, § I.
of Gethsemane are the same which witnessed the agony of our Lord. We cannot suppose that Titus felt any particular regard for that spot, or that in his great want of timber he spared the trees which then stood there.
The attack on Antonia was renewed, and the conflict continued with the utmost desperation on both sides. The engines were worked with wonderful power. The resistance and strategies of the Jews were perplexing and distressing to the army of Titus. The wall by night was so shaken by the battering-rams, in the place where John had undermined it for the purpose of burning the banks, as already stated, that it gave way and fell suddenly. This encouraged the Romans. But the Jews felt confident, as the tower of Antonia still stood. The Romans pressed on through this breach; but they found another wall within, which John had built up to protect the spot, weakened by his own excavations. This, however, was more easily thrown down than the other. Titus encouraged his soldiers to advance, and take the tower of Antonia, saying, "If we go up to this tower of Antonia, we gain the city." The attack was renewed on the third day, and continued for fourteen days, when it was carried by the following bold stratagem.1 Twelve of the Roman guards upon the banks called to them the standard-bearer of the fifth legion and two others of a troop of horsemen and one trumpeter. These went, without noise, about the ninth hour of the night (i.e., about three o'clock
1 Wars, b. vi., c. 1, § 7.
in the morning), through the ruins to the tower of Antonia; and when they had killed the first guards of the place, as they were asleep, they got possession of the wall, and ordered the trumpeter to sound his trumpet. Upon this the rest of the Jewish guards fled, before anybody could see how many had entered, for they imagined that the number of the enemy must be great. Titus, hearing the signal trumpet, crowded forward his men, and entered through the breach. John and Simon rallied their forces, and attacked the Romans with the most determined courage and zeal; "for they esteemed themselves entirely ruined if once the Romans got into the temple, as did the Romans look upon the same thing as the beginning of their entire conquest. A terrible battle was fought at the very entrance of the temple," and great slaughter was made on both sides. The contending forces had alternate success and defeat. "At length the Jews' violent zeal was too much for the Romans' skill, and the battle already inclined entirely that way; for the fight had lasted from the ninth hour of the night (i.e., 3 a.m.), till the seventh hour of the day (i.e., 1 p.m.); that is, ten full hours." Here occurred one of the most extraordinary displays of valour of the whole siege. "For there was one Julian, a centurion, famed for his skill in arms, bodily strength, and courage of soul, seeing the Romans giving ground and in a sad condition, leaped out, and of himself alone put the Jews to flight, when they were already conquerors, and made them retire as far as the corner of the inner court of the temple. From him the multitude fled away in crowds, supposing that neither his strength nor his violent attacks were those of a mere man. He rushed through the midst of them, killing those whom he caught. As he ran he slipped upon the bloody pavement of the court, and fell upon his back. Immediately the Jews surrounded him, striking at him with their spears and swords. For a considerable time he defended himself with his shield, but being overpowered by the multitude, he cut his own throat and died." The Jews caught up his dead body, bore it with them as a trophy, put the Romans to flight, driving them from the temple area, and shut them up in the tower of Antonia, which they had gained by stratagem, and at a vast expense of time, and labour, and life.
Titus now gave orders to his soldiers to make a breach in the foundations of Antonia, except such portions as were needed for the garrison, and to make a ready passage for his army to come up. While these orders were being executed, he learned that on the seventeenth day of the month Panemus the daily sacrifice had failed to be offered to God for want of men to offer it, and that the people were grievously troubled at it. Seizing upon this incident, he determined to make still another effort to end the war. He accordingly sent Josephus with this message to John, "that if he had any malicious inclination for fighting, he might come out, with as many of his men as he pleased, in order to fight, without the danger of destroying either his city or temple; but that he desired that he would not defile the temple, nor thereby offend against God. That he might, if he pleased, offer the sacrifices, which were now discontinued, by any of the Jews whom he should pitch upon." Certainly there was generosity in this offer; it also shows how his heart was set upon preserving the temple, which stood before him in all the magnificence of its splendour.
This ceasing of the daily sacrifice is an item in the fulfilling of prophecy. This 17th day of Panemus (A. D. 70) is a most significant day, for it marks the closing years of the prediction of Daniel: "And He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease."1 "In the midst," that is, half way in the week. This prophecy was uttered 606 years before the Roman siege caused the daily sacrifice to cease. From the month of February A.D. 66, when Vespasian took the command and entered upon this war, to the seventeenth of Panemus A.D. 70, was just three and a half years. Half a week is three and a half days, and in prophetic calculation a day counts for a year, which makes three and a half years. How unerringly accurate are the movements of Providence to guard, to complete, and to register the uttered words of prophecy!
Retributive justice is an essential element in the govermnent of God.- This principle is frequently and with great prominence illustrated in the inspired
1 Dan. ix. 27.
page. It was by deceit that Jacob obtained the birthright; in after life he was often and soreJy deceived by Laban, and by his own children. When the thumbs and great toes of Adonibezek were cut off, he acknowledged the justice of his punishment because threescore and ten kings had thus been treated by him. Haman erected a gallows fifty cubits high, that Mordecai might be hung thereon, but it was upon this same gallows that Haman, in retribution, was himself hung. "His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate."1 It is as true in the moral as in the natural world that, "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap;" hence they who sow to the wind must reap the whirlwind.
Jerusalem is also an illustration. The Jews had not only shed the blood of Christ, but said; "His blood be upon us, and upon our children." Retributive justice gave them blood until it stood in pools in the temple enclosures. They desired a robber and a murderer, and retributive justice gave them robbers and murderers until they loathed life, and their souls were in the deepest anguish. They took our Lord and scourged Him, and in various ways tormented Him. So the Roman soldiers first whipped and then tormented the Jewish prisoners. When our Lord hung upon the cross they passed by, wagging their heads, and railing on Him. The Roman soldiers "nailed those they caught to the crosses by way of jest."
1 Psa. vii. 16.
Retributive justice, though sometimes slow, is always certain. When the Divine forbearance no longer holds it back, then it comes with no stinted measure. For the soldiers, out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, "nailed those they caught, one after one way and another after another, to the crosses by way of jest, when the multitude was so great that room was wanting for the crosses and crosses wanting for the bodies."
It is impossible for us in this connection to forget that the same principle of retributive justice is stili in operation. We may not crucify Christ as did the Jews, but we may by our own sins" crucify Him afresh, and put Him to an open shame." We may draw down upon ourselves the Divine displeasure by our neglect and rejection of His dear Son. We may slight His mercy, and turn a deaf ear to His words of warning and of invitation. If so, we must prepare for a retribution upon our sins like that which punished the guilty of the ancient world. Nay, rather, "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."1
1 Heb. x. 29-31.
CHAPTER IX.
The Temple Destroyed
"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled... Heaven and shall earth pass away: but My words shall not pass away." LUKE xxi. 24, 33.
Titus, by the most indomitable exertions, had gained possession of Bezetha, which he destroyed, had also subdued Acra, and levelled its walls, had forced his way up, through the breach, into the tower of Antonia, which he partially demolished. He was driven back with great slaughter when he advanced to the taking of the temple. It was in the enclosures of Antonia that we left him making preparations for another assault upon the temple. Before making this last attack he sent Josephus again to speak to the people, and persuade them to submit, so as to end the war, and thus save their beautiful house and the remaining portion of the city. Josephus carried to John the permission for the Jews to offer undisturbed the daily sacrifice, which had been suspended. Speaking in the Hebrew language, he urged upon the people a variety of considerations why they should, without any further shedding of blood, submit, and throw themselves upon the clemency of Titus, and thus save the temple from the fire just ready to seize upon it. His manner was very earnest and sorrowful, speaking with groans and sobs which interrupted his words. This moved the people; but John cast reproaches and imprecations upon Josephus, and defied the power of the Romans, because this was God's city, and He would take care of it.
John and his followers became the more exasperated at this speech of Josephus, and endeavoured to get him into their power. Some of the principal men, with the high-priests, fled from the city, and were kindly received by Titus. Next he caused Josephus, in company with a large force, to march round the walls, and show themselves to the people. This induced numbers to desert to the Romans. These also joined their entreaties that the Romans should be admitted, or at least that the Jews should depart from the temple, and thus save the holy house. But all in vain, for the seditious "set their engines for throwing darts and javelins and stones at due distances from one another, insomuch that all the space round about, within the temple and the holy house itself became a citadel."
Having failed to make any arrangement with the Jews, Titus prepared his forces for an attack upon the temple, which he prosecuted with spirit and determination. As he could not bring all his army into action, the place being so narrow, he chose thirty soldiers of the most valiant out of every hundred, and committing one thousand to each tribune, he ordered them to attack the guards of the temple about the ninth hour of the night (i. e., 3 a.m.). They did not find the guards asleep, as they hoped, but were compelled to fight with them hand to hand, as with shoutings and great violence they rushed upon them. Those in the temple ran to the help of the guards. By reason of the darkness there was great confusion, and many of the Jews were slain by mistake by their own friends. The fight continued from 3 a.m. until 11 a.m. in the same place where it began, for neither party could say that they had made the other retire, so neither could claim the victory.
For the next seven days the Roman army was employed in throwing down some of the walls of Antonia, that a ready and a broad way might be made to the temple, that thus a much larger force might be brought into action. When this was accomplished, then the legions came near the first court (court of the Gentiles), and began to raise their banks. One bank was stationed at the north-west (corner of the inner temple, that is, of the court of Israel); another was at the northern edifice, which was between the two gates. Of the other two, one was at the western cloister of the outer Court (i. e., of the Gentiles), the other against its northern cloister. The Romans did not plant these engines without great pains and difficulties, as they were obliged to bring all their materials from a great distance. They were continually assailed by the Jews, who, as they noticed these preparations, became more bold and desperate. So great was the pressure of the famine, that the seditious suddenly hurried out of the city, and assaulted the Roman guards on the Mount of Olives, with the hope of forcing the wall that was built about them, and thus escape to the open country. The conflict was desperate, the Romans feeling that it would be an unpardonable shame to allow them to escape, now that they were taken in a kind of net; and the Jews seeing this to be their only hope. They were at last driven back with fearful loss of life.
Thus defeated in their attempt to escape, and seeing the enemy advancing higher and higher, and creeping up to the holy house itself, in their desperation they set fire to the north-west cloister, which was joined to the tower of Antonia, and thus broke off thirty feet of that cloister, and thereby made a beginning in burning the sanctuary. Two days after this, on the twenty-fourth of Panemus, the Romans set fire to the cloister that joined to the other, when the fire went twenty-two and a half feet farther. Nor was the work of destruction in this quarter ended until the tower of Antonia was parted from the temple, even though it was in the power of the Jews to have stopped the fire.
When two of the legions had completed their banks, Titus gave orders that the battering-rams should be brought and set over against the western edifice of the inner temple; for before these were brought, the most powerful of all the other engines had battered the wall for six days together without ceasing, without making any impression upon it; the largeness of the stones and strong masonry of the walls was superior to the powers of the engines. Others undermined the foundation of the northern gate, and after a world of pains removed the outermost stones; yet was the gate upheld by the inner stones, and stood still unhurt. The soldiers now brought their ladders to the walls to scale the place; but the Jews fell upon them, threw them back headlong, and got possession of the engines and destroyed them.
Next the Jews filled a portion of the western cloister, in the court of the Gentiles, with bitumen and pitch and dry materials, and retired, as though driven back by the soldiers; these, following hard after the retreating Jews, brought forth their ladders and mounted to the cloisters; but suddenly the flames burst out everywhere, when the utmost consternation ensued. Many of the soldiers threw themselves into the city below; others slew themselves with their own swords; and many, very many more, perished in the flames. Titus, perceiving that his endeavours to spare the temple turned to the damage of his soldiers, that the walls of the inner temple were too strong for the battering-rams, and that the foundations of the gates could not be undermined, gave the order to set them on fire, which being done, the flames spread and seized upon the cloisters. Though this fire continued for two days, the soldiers were not able to burn all the cloisters which were round about the inner temple.
Titus the next day ordered the soldiers to quench the fire, whilst he called a council of his generals to decide what should be done with the holy house. Some were for demolishing it; others would preserve it if the Jews would surrender, if not then to burn it. But Titus said "that he was not, in any case, for burning down so vast a work as that was,-it would be an ornament to the Roman empire; and that it should be spared, even though the Jews should fight from it." But the historian adds, "God had for certain long ago doomed it to the fire, and now that fatal day had come."
The consultation having ended, "Titus retired into the tower of Antonia, resolved to storm the temple the next day early in the morning." The more effectually to succeed, he determined to bring his whole army and encamp round about the holy house. When Titus thus retired, the seditious for a little while lay still; then suddenly they attacked the Romans who were quenching the fire, which had reached and was burning the inner court of the temple. But the Jews "were put to flight, and the Romans proceeded as far as the holy house itself; at which time one of the soldiers, without staying for any orders, and without any concern or dread upon him at so great an undertaking, and being hurried on by a certain divine fury, snatched somewhat out of the materials that were on fire, and being lifted up by another soldier, he set fire to a golden window, through which there was a passage to the rooms that were round about the holy house on the north side of it."
It will be remembered that the interior of the temple was richly furnished with the choicest woods, that the floors were of cedar, covered with fir; consequently the flames spread with great rapidity. "As the flames went upward, the Jews made a great clamour, . . . and ran together to prevent it; and now they spared not their lives any longer, nor suffered anything to restrain their force, since the holy house was perishing." A messenger ran to the tent of Titus, who was resting himself after the last battIe, and told him, "whereupon he rose up in great haste, and as he was ran to the holy house in order to have a stop put to the fire. After him followed all his commanders and several legions. Then, both by calling with a loud voice to the soldiers, who were fighting, and by giving a signal to them with his right hand, he ordered them to quench the fire. But they did not hear what he said, having their ears dinned by the greater noise another way; nor did they attend to the signal he made with his hand. But as for the legions that came running thither, neither any persuasions nor any threatenings could restrain their violence; but each one's own passion was his commander at this time; and as they were crowding into the temple, many of them were trampled to death, whilst a great number fell among the ruins of the cloisters, which were still hot and smoking, and were destroyed; and those who came near the holy house made as if they did not hear Titus' orders, but encouraged those who were before them to set it on fire. As for the seditious, they were in too great distress to afford their assistance to quench the fire, and they were everywhere beaten or slain. The mass of the people, who were weak and without arms, had their throats cut wherever they were caught. Now round about the altar lay dead bodies heaped one upon another, and at the steps going up to it ran a great quantity of their blood."1
As Titus was unable to restrain the mad fury of the soldiers, and as the fire spread yet more and more, he went, with his commanders, into the holy of holies, and saw what was in it, viz., the golden censer, the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, and the tables of the covenant, and over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat.2 The sight he found to be far superior to what he had previously heard. "As the flames had not yet reached to its inward parts, but was consuming the rooms about the holy house, supposing that the house itself might yet be saved, he came up in haste, and endeavoured to persuade the soldiers to quench the fire. He ordered the refractory to be beaten and restrained; yet were their passions too fierce for their regard for Titus, or their dread for those who forbade them. The hope of plunder induced many to go on, as having this opinion that all the places within were full of money, and as seeing that all round about it was made of gold." One of those who went into the place prevented Titus, when he ran out so hastily to restrain the soldiers, and threw the fire upon the hinges of the gate in the dark;
1 Wars, b. vi., c. 4. § 6.2 Heb. ix. 4, 5.
whereby the flames immediately burst out from within the holy house itself. When Titus and his commanders retired, nobody any longer forbade those that were without to set fire to it. Thus was the holy house burnt down against the will of Titus. "The flame was carried a long way, and together with the groans of the dying made an echo reverberating from the surrounding mountains." "Because the hill was high, and the works at the temple were very great, one would have thought that the whole city had been on fire."
The Romans, judging that it was in vain to spare what was about the holy house, burnt all these places, as also the remains of the cloisters and the gates, also the treasury chamber, in which there was an immense quantity of money, garments, and precious goods. Thus total and thorough was the destruction by fire. Josephus tells us that the "number of years that passed from its first foundation, which was laid by King Solomon, till this its destruction, which happened in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, August 15, A.D. 73, are eleven hundred and thirty years, seven months, and fifteen days. And from the second building, by Haggai, in the second year of Cyrus, till its destruction by Titus, were six hundred and thirty-nine years and forty-five days. It is a singular coincidence that the first temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar on the same day of the month, August 15th, just six hundred and sixty-one years previously.
How signal the overruling providence of God! How marked the destruction! It was accomplished notwithstanding the strong desires of the Jews and their enemies to preserve it, The decree had gone forth, therefore all human counsels and efforts availed nothing. No lightning-bolt of heaven struck it; no quaking of the earth shook down its towering turrets and massive walls, or upturned its deep-laid and adamantine foundations. Yet was the work of destruction fully accomplished. The Jews themselves, and Titus through his soldiers, were the instruments employed for carrying out all that the prophets had written, and all that Jesus Christ had spoken concerning the overthrow and utter ruin of the city and the temple. Well may we adopt the language of the Lamentations (iv. 11): "The Lord hath accomplished His fury; He hath poured out His fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof."
The new city, Bezetha, the lower city Acra, and the temple on Moriah being in utter ruin, the only remaining portion of Jerusalem was Mount Zion, the upper city, or the city of David. This was connected with the temple by a bridge already described, which spanned the Tyropoeon valley. Before proceeding against Zion, Titus made one more attempt to end the war by inducing the Jews to surrender. Standing upon the bridge, he, through an interpreter, addressed the people who were under the command of Simon and John. He closed his speech thus: "If you will throw down your arms, and deliver up your bodies to me, I grant you your lives, and I will act like a mild master of a family: what cannot be healed shall be punished, and the rest I will preserve for my own use." The only reply was to require that they, with their wives and children, might go through the wall he had made about them into the desert, and leave the city to him. Titus was indignant that those whom he had conquered should make their own terms as if they were the conquerors. He told them "that they should no more come out to him as deserters, nor hope for any further security; for that he would henceforth spare nobody, but fight them with his whole army; and that they must save themselves as well as they could, for that he would from henceforth treat them according to the laws of war."
Now when Titus perceived that Zion, or the upper city, was so steep that it could not be taken without raising banks against it, he distributed the work among his army. The carriage of the materials was difficult, since all the trees within a distance of twelve miles had been cut down to make the former banks. The banks of the four legions, however, were raised on the west side of the city, over against the royal palace. The banks erected by the other troops were at the Xystus, an immense open place on the extreme east, surrounded by a covered colonnade, where the people often assembled, and from whence they reached the bridge. Whilst these preparations were advancing, the commanders of the Idumeans, whom the people had formerly received into the city to defend them against the seditious, surrendered themselves. They were received as prisoners by Titus, and were sold into slavery by his soldiers.
In eighteen days the banks were finished, and the battering-rams brought against the wall. Despairing of saving the city, many of the Jews fled from the wall, and took refuge in the citadel; whilst others went down into the subterranean vaults. Still a great many defended themselves against those who brought the engines. The numbers of the Romans prevailed. As soon as a part of the wall was battered down, and certain of the towers yielded, a great terror fell upon the Jews; and, before the Romans got over the breach they had made, they betook themselves to flight.
Thus becoming master of the wall, Titus placed his ensigns upon the towers, and made joyful acclamation for the victory they had gained, as having found the end of the war much lighter than its beginning. For when they had possession of the last wall without any bloodshed, they could hardly believe what they found to be true. Seeing nobody to oppose them, they stood in doubt as to what it meant. But when they went in numbers into the lanes of the city, with their swords drawn, they slew those whom they overtook without mercy, and set fire to the houses whither the Jews were fled, and burnt every soul in them. And when they entered the houses to plunder them, they found in them entire families of dead men, and the upper rooms full of corpses of those who died by famine.
" When Titus saw the solid altitude and the largeness of the several stones, and the exactness of their joints, as also how great was their breadth, and how extensive their length, he said, "We have certainly had God for our assistant in this war, and it was no other than God who ejected the Jews out of these fortifications, for what could the hands of man, or any machines, do towards overthrowing these towers?' "1He gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city, leaving the towers of Phasaelis, Hippicus, and Mariamne, and so much of the wall as enclosed the city on the west side. This wall was spared to afford an encampment for those who were to remain in garrison, and the towers to demonstrate to posterity what kind of a city it was, and how well fortified, which the Roman valour had subdued. All the rest of the wall was so thoroughly laid even with the ground that there was left nothing to make those who came thither believe it had ever been inhabited. "This," adds the historian, "was the end to which Jerusalem came,- a city of great magnificence and of mighty fame among all mankind."
The gold and silver which adorned the temple, and that which was deposited in the treasury, were melted by the conflagration, and ran down amid the ruins. It was the opinion, also, that the Jews had secreted in vaults and caverns, or buried in the earth, large amounts of the precious metals and stones; accordingly the soldiers dug up the ruins, and thoroughly searched every spot. Thus it was that the very foundations of the temple and surrounding cloisters
1 Wars, b. vi., c. 9, § I.
were upturned, and the immense stones thrown down.
It is written in the Jewish Talmud that Terentius Rufus, whom Titus left in command, did with a ploughshare tear up the foundations of the temple. And Eleazar, in his address to the Jews besieged in the fortress of Masada, said, " And where is now that great city, the metropolis of the Jewish nation, which was fortified by so many walls round about, which had so many fortresses and large towers to defend it, and which had so many ten thousands of men to fight for it? Where is this city that was believed to have God Himself inhabiting therein? It was demolished to the very foundations. And I cannot but wish that we had all died before we had seen that holy city demolished by the hands of our enemies, or the foundations of our holy temple dug up after so profane a manner." Eusebius also says that Jerusalem "was ploughed-up by the Romans, and that he saw it in ruins." Thus it was that the prediction of Micah, made more than seven hundred years before Christ, found its fulfilment: "Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest."1 To this fatal end was Jerusalem reduced after a siege of about five months, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, and thirty-eight years after the crucifixion of our Lord. Such was the end of this city and the Jewish polity. The sceptre had de-
1 Micah iii. 12.
parted,-the daily sacrifices had ceased,-the day of vengeance had come, and in its mighty ruins it stands forth the monumental proof that "heaven and earth shall pass away" before one jot or tittle of all that God hath spoken shall fail.
It was further predicted by the Lord Jesus: "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled."
Shall fall by the sword.- The facts already narrated prove the exact fulfilment of these words. The historian says, "The very soldiers grew weary of killing." He records the slain in twenty-four places during the seven years' war as amounting to 249,690, which, added to those who perished in Jerusalem by famine, pestilence, and sword, makes the whole number 1,337,490. This is independent of the unascertained numbers who perished in vaults and sewers, in caves, woods, and wildernesses, and those who were sent to the theatres to be destroyed by wild beasts. The number, 1,100,000 slain, assigned to Jerusalem seems incredible, did we not recollect the vast concourse which, at the commencement of the siege, had assembled to the passover from Judea, Galilee, Samaria, Perea, Idumea, and other regions. Josephus does not arbitrarily assume that more than two and a half million persons were then in the city; but from the calculation of the lambs consumed at the passover, and of ten persons to each lamb, reaches his estimate of the population then collected. Well might Josephus say that the destruction at Jerusalem exceeded all the destructions which God or man had ever brought upon the world.
Led away into captivity into all nations. - The number of Jews taken prisoners was 97,000. Some of the youngest, tallest, and handsomest were carried to Rome to adorn the triumph of Titus. Those under seventeen years were sold for slaves. So also the men of distinction and consideration, with their wives and children, were sold at a very low price, because the numbers were great and the buyers were few. About 40,000 of the lower orders, for whom no price could be had, Titus let go whither any of them pleased. Many were distributed to the several cities of Syria, and were destroyed in their theatres by the sword and by wild beasts. Multitudes were sent to labour in the Egyptian mines, and into all the provinces of the Roman empire. The emperor, to make his own triumph at Rome the more imposing, in addition to the display of immense treasures, and the sacred utensils taken from the temple, reserved seven hundred captives of great stature and beauty, also the captains and generals, and particularly Simon and John, who were the principal leaders of the factions. Simon was led among the captives, with a rope around his neck, tormented by those who drew him along to the Forum, where, being further tormented, he was slain." 1
To commemorate this victory of Titus, the Roman senate, after his death, erected a magnificent tri-
1 Wars, b. vii., c. 5, § 6.
triumphal arch, which to this day stands on the highest point of the Via Sacra, not far from the Colosseum. The two carved tablets are the best known of all Roman remains. One represents Titus on a triumphal car; the other the Jewish captives, the golden table, the seven-branched golden candlestick, silver trumpets, and other spoils from the temple. Whilst the Colosseum, the temples, the Forum, and the palace of the Caesars are in ruins, this arch stands. When dilapidated by the "tooth of time" and the wars of centuries it has been repaired, and thus by a careful Providence perpetuated to the present time.
Trodden down of the Gentiles.- We have already seen how entire was the possession of Jerusalem by the Romans. The emperor gave orders to the procurator of Judea that all Judea should be exposed for sale, for he did not intend to found any city there. Such was the impoverished condition of the Jews, that they were unable to purchase any of the land. Thus it all fell into the ownership of the Gentiles; for what was unsold the emperor claimed as still belonging to the crown by conquest. Though some poor buildings were erected, yet for fifty years no attempt was made to restore the city. A.D. 131, the emperor AElius Adrianus determined to rebuild it. He changed the location by leaving out Moriah, Zion, and Bezetha. This new city he called AElia, in his own honour. He ordered the marble statue of a hog to be set up over the gate facing towards Bethlehem. He erected a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus. These acts so incensed the Jews, who had multiplied and increased in power, that they broke out into open rebellion, and made a desperate effort to recover the city. At first they were successful, but it was speedily besieged and taken and consumed. The rebellion extended through the land, but was put down with a great loss of life on the side of the Jews.
The emperor now proceeded to rebuild the city, and passed an edict forbidding any Jew, upon the penalty of death, either to enter it, or even so much as to look upon it from a distance.
In A.D. 323 Constantine, the first Christian emperor, restored the ancient name, and by his munificence, and that of his mother Helena, Jerusalem was enlarged and adorned with churches and stately edifices. About this time the Jews made another attempt to recover the city, that they might rebuild the temple. They failed; and the emperor, "having caused their ears to be cut off, and their bodies branded as rebels, dispersed them over all the provinces of the empire as fugitives and slaves."
About A. D. 358, the Emperor Julian, nephew of Constantine, but an apostate from the Christian faith, relaxed the edicts against the Jews. Perceiving that the accomplishment of the prophecy concerning Jerusalem and the Jewish nation was a strong argument in favour of Christianity, he avowed his determination to defeat the prophecy by bringing the Jews to occupy their own land, to the exercise of their religion, and their form of civil government. He resolved to restore the city, to people it with Jews, and to rear the temple with the greatest magnificence, on its ancient foundations. Having assigned immense funds for this purpose, he immediately commenced, and employed great numbers of workmen to clear the foundations of the temple. The workmen went resolutely to work, but "terrible balls of fire bursting forth, near the foundation, with frequent explosions, burning the workmen, rendered the place inaccessible. The fire continually driving them away, the work ceased." This strange fact is fully authenticated by several reliable authorities.1 For three hundred years the stones of the temple had lain quiet; the storms of three centuries drenched and bleached them, but no noise was heard, no fire shot forth,-all reposed in the deep solitude of majestic ruin, until the enemy of God came, proudly boastful that he would defeat the prophecy; then the voice of God was heard in the fire.
Early in the seventh century, A.D. 614, the city was taken by storm by Chrosroes, king of Persia. He plundered it, and inflicted many cruelties upon the inhabitants. In about a year it was recovered by the Emperor Heraclius, who banished all the Jews, forbidding them to come within three miles of the
1 "Ammianus Marcellinus, an heathen; Zemuch David, a Jew, who confessed that Julian was (Divinitus impeditus) hindered by God in this attempt; Nazianzen and Chrysostom among the Greeks; St. Ambrose and Rufinus among the Latins, who flourished at the very time when this was done:" all confirm the statement. The History of the Jews, just published in New York by the Jewish Publication Society, p. 279, admits the fact of bursting forth of flames from the ruins, the death of several workmen, and ceasing of the work.
city. In the year 636 Omar, a Mussulman caliph, the third in succession from Mohammed, after a siege of four months, took the city. Then Jerusalem passed into the hands of the Saracens.
During the next two centuries the country was frequently convulsed by the struggles between rival chiefs. The caliph of Egypt, taking advantage of the divisions of the Turks, obtained possession of the city. The Fatimite caliphs again retook and kept possession of Jerusalem until the arrival of the Crusaders, A.D. 1099, who, after a siege of forty days, took it by storm. These Gentile Christians kept possession of it for eighty-eight years. In 1187 the famous Sultan Saladdin wrested it from their hands; and from that day to the present, with only a few slight interruptions, it has remained in their possession,-literally trodden down of the Gentiles. In the hands of the Gentiles it must remain until their fulness be come in.
We have now gone over all the details of this wonderful prophecy. We have traced no fanciful analogies, -we have adduced no fanciful interpretations, -we have relied upon no merely probable evidence; but have demonstrated, by undoubted facts from authentic history, the perfect and minute fulfilment of every prediction. And wherefore is all this? The answer is thus recorded: "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name."1
1 John xx. 31.
Every word concerning Jerusalem has stood immovable. The mightiest earthly powers united to save the doomed temple; yet the flames mocked their puny efforts. Again, the mightiest earthly powers, stimulated by the most determined hatred, strove to rebuild that temple, when the fire of the Lord beat them back. The honour and the veracity and the omnipotence of God are pledged to sustain and accomplish His word. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but no word of God can possibly fail. Here is joy - fulness of joy - to the man whose confidence is in God. But here is sadness and despair to all the enemies of God. God has written it in His Book, He has charged His ministers to speak it in the hearing of all men, "He that believeth shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned." This is a decree as firm as that which called for the destruction of Jerusalem. History will yet record the fulfilment concerning each human being. It will be read either amid the glories of the upper world, or amid the agonies of the pit; for God is true.
It is the glory of the Divine government that God accomplishes His purposes through the agency of men who are carrying out their own chosen plans. The Roman emperor-ambitious of conquest-chose to subjugate Judea. Titus arranged all the plans of the siege, the assaults, and the victories. The robbers and the leaders of the factions chose for themselves their methods of plunder and tyranny. For who so free as the men whom God has given up, and who work iniquity with greediness? It is a principle of the Divine government to execute judgments in the way of man's chosen wickedness. The apostle Paul tells us that the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their prophets, and have persecuted us, "have filled up their sins, and wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." But in what manner? The facts are instructive. Briefly recall them. It was at the passover that Christ was crucified. It was at the passover that Titus built a wall around the city, and shut them in to death. They preferred a robber who was seditious and a murderer to Christ. It was by robbers and the seditious and murderers that their lives were made bitter unto death. They rejected the true Messiah; and false Christs led them on to destruction. They sold and bought Christ, and carried Him away bound; so they were sold for money, and carried away by force. They put Christ, the King of the Jews, to death, lest the Romans should come and take their place and their nation. The Romans did come and take their place and their nation. They crucified Christ before the walls, -they were crucified there in great numbers. Every actor in this strangely diversified drama acted freely. The Jews, the robbers, the murderers, the seditious, and the Romans; all did as they chose and planned. Yet were they the Divine instrumentalities by which the predicted destruction was accomplished. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain;" "but for the elect's sake these days shall be shortened."
That sin was the cause of the destruction of Jerusalem is certain, for thus saith the Lord: "And the people shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and they shall have none to bury them, . . . for I will pour their wickedness upon them." Again: "For who shall have pity upon thee, 0 Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest? Thou hast forsaken me, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out My hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting. . . . Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in Mine anger, which shall burn upon you."1 Scenes such as the sun never saw before, nor the curtains of midnight ever shrouded,-scenes such as the earth shall never witness again, were enacted in Jerusalem.
These are the evidences of the ruinous power of sin. Beginning at the time when David took the city, and following its history through Absalom's rebellion, its taking by Nebuchadnezzar, its destruction by Titus, its conquest by the Saracens, the Franks, and the Turks, to the present hour, we find there is no other spot on the globe against which the wrath of Heaven has so terribly and continuously burned, no spot so struck and scathed by the lightnings of Heaven. The old world by one flood was drowned. Sodom and Gomorrah filled up
1 Jer. xv. 5, 6, 13, 14.
the cup of their iniquity, and one rain of fire and brimstone swallowed them up. But Jerusalem for succeeding centuries has been the great standing monument of Divine judgments. Its inhabitants enjoyed long intervals of unprecedented mercies, thus proving that their sin was subdued by neither love nor vengeance. What must be the character of sin when the benevolent God is forced thus to deal with men; when the loving Saviour with tears pronounced the doom of the sacred city: "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" Oh, it was sin that forced such an heart of tenderness to speak the doom of Jerusalem.
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