The second destruction was after all the Bible had been written, therefore it is not recorded there. But there is a very good record of it in the writings of Flavius Josephus.
Josephus was a Jew who was carried out of Jerusalem in a coffin, while it was under siege by Titus' Roman Army, therefore the Jews considered him a traitor, however, if he had remained in Jerusalem as the others did, we would not have his very detailed and very conscienciously written history of that time period.
Even though the Jews do not recognize Josephus, their history of that time very closely parallels his on most events. The history by Josephus is well accepted and highly acclaimed by the rest of the world.
I will relate to you the significant events that
have to do with our discussion of the Great Tribulation. As you read through
this, notice how it lines up with the prophecies of Jesus on the Mount
of Olives (Luke 21).
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Because many people have never heard of the events which occurred in Jerusalem between A.D. 66 and A.D. 73, it is essential to include here some history of that period.
The actual destruction of Jerusalem, which began in the spring of A.D. 70, was the culmination of years of conflict and provocation between the Jews and Romans.1
Jerusalem first fell to Roman control in 63 B.C., and remained under Roman domination until four years before its destruction. The Jews seized control of the city in A.D. 66. About May of that year, the Jews attacked the Romans that were at Masada, and slew them. Then Eleazar, the son of Ananias the High Priest, persuaded the officiating priests to receive no gift or sacrifice for any foreigner. This eventually led to the refusal of Caesar's sacrifice, and ultimately started the war.2
Eleazar's men killed a group of Roman soldiers on the Sabbath day. The people of Cesarea killed the Jews among them on the same day and hour when the soldiers were slain. In one hour, twenty thousand Jews lay dead.
At Alexandria, Tiberius Alexander sent two Roman Legions plus five thousand other soldiers to destroy the seditious Jews. These soldiers rushed violently into the Delta, and destroyed unmercifully, catching Jews in open fields as well as some in their homes. No mercy was shown, regardless of age. They slaughtered until the place overflowed with blood, and fifty thousand lay dead upon heaps.
Cestius Gallus took part of his forces and marched
into Zebulon of Galilee, finding it deserted by its men, the multitude
having fled to the mountains, they plundered the city.3
Cestius also besieged Jerusalem in A.D. 66, and then retreated without
apparent cause.4 He was severely attacked in
his retreat and suffered great casualties.
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Was the presence of the Roman army of Cestius Gallus actually the "abomination of desolation"? The Roman army was considered an abomination by the Jews, because of the Roman's ensigns and images which they worshipped and to which they sacrificed.
Where is the holy place in which the abomination of desolation was to appear? Was it the temple proper? This is what many believe, but Ezekiel 43:12 indicates differently. "This is the law of the house; upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be holy. Behold this is the law of the house." Ezekiel 43:12. [emphasis mine].
So the mere presence of the Roman army in the "holy city" was an abomination, standing where it ought not.
If we read only Matthew and Mark, we have difficulty fully comprehending the reference to the "abomination of desolation," but let us now look at Luke's account of these same prophecies and we will see why the Christians believed this to be what Jesus had foretold: "And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people." Luke 21:20-23.
Notice again, that this prophecy is not for the whole world, but for those in Judea only. Actually, the siege of the city under Cestius Gallus did not materialize into the destruction of the city. That was to come later, but it served the Christians well, in that it afforded them time to escape before the actual desolation came.
This vengeance which Jesus prophesied had to come upon the Jews in order to fulfill the Scriptures. There was to be distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. "This people" refers to the Jews, who both killed Jesus and the prophets (1 Thessalonians 2:15), and said, "His blood be on us, and on our children." Matthew 27:25. The desolation was not intended to ensnare the Christians, for they had the words of Jesus warning them to flee when certain events began to occur.
Eusebius, in his history, reports that an oracle of the Lord directed them to flee from Jerusalem. They fled across the Jordan river to Pella. It is said by Eusebius that not one Christian was killed in the destruction of Jerusalem.5 By A.D. 69, the Jerusalem church was gone entirely,6 gathered out of the tribulation by the Lord's word.
Although the A.D. 66 attack by Cestius Gallus was not the destruction of Jerusalem, it did signal the beginning of what is called the "great tribulation." There followed, continuous attacks of Jews upon Romans, and Romans upon Jews.
The people of Damascus slew the Jews that lived with them. A short time later, Vespasian was sent into Syria by Nero to make war with the Jews there. He slew ten thousand Jews and two Jewish generals, John and Silas.
Vespasian took Gadara, Jotapata, Joppa, and Taricheae, and helped his son Titus in taking Gamala. Great was the slaughter of the Jews by Vespasian.
Titus then took Gischala and John of Gischala fled
to Jerusalem. As there was preparation for war with Rome, there were, inside,
various factions fighting each other.
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The Zealots who had sent for the Idumeans, slew a great many more of the citizens, themselves.7 Vespasian persuaded the Romans to not proceed in the war at that time.
At one point, Vespasian made preparation for the siege of Jerusalem, but because of Nero's suicide, he changed his mind. All these events, and many more, too numerous to recount here, occurred prior to the actual destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. So the Jews, not only in Jerusalem, but throughout the land, had suffered great loss of life.
Then in the spring of A.D. 70, Titus, heir to the
throne of Rome, went to take a look at Jerusalem. He was surrounded there
by such a large group of Judean citizens that he barely escaped with his
life.
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A short time later, eighty thousand men with battering rams surrounded Jerusalem. "And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh." Luke 21:20.
Right before the Passover festival, large numbers
of men came into Jerusalem to defend it. Jesus had said "Let not them that
are in the countries enter therein." Luke 21:21c. The walls were more strongly
fortified, as Titus formed his huge army all around Jerusalem. Then he
sent word to the inhabitants to surrender, demanding submission, taxes
and recognition of Roman rule. Titus desired to spare the destruction of
the temple and the city, but the Jews refused all negotiations, swearing
to defend their city with their lives. As the Roman army attacked, the
first encounter was successful for the Jews, as they caught the 10th Legion
by surprise on the Mount of Olives.
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During the Passover of A.D. 70, Titus came with his battering rams, but the Jews quickly destroyed them. The Jews fought the Romans with their own weapons. They also threw stones upon them and poured boiling oil on their heads from the walls. But the Romans repaired the rams and finally forced the Jews back and took the outer wall. They also seized the nearby town of Bezetha.
After fighting for seventeen days, the Romans reached the Antonine Tower and the Jews at last realized that it would be a fight to the death.
The army of Titus crucified five hundred prisoners
in one day. They also cut off the hands of some of the Jews and sent them
back into the city to instill fear in the people.
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It is said that the building of the siege wall, forts, and platform for their rams, necessitated the clearing of woodlands over sixty square miles, leaving it as a desert.8
The siege wall was an exact fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus, "For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another: because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." Luke 19:43-44. 9
As we have seen, that enemy, Rome, did throw a bank up before them. They did encircle the entire city with a wall, hemming them in on all sides, so that no one could go in or out of the city. And we will see, as we continue, that they did level them to the ground, they and their children within, and did not leave one stone upon another that was not thrown down (Luke 21:24).
The destruction was so complete, that a man named Turnus (Terentius) Rufus actually plowed up the land on which the temple had stood,10 so completely that it appeared as though it had never been inhabited.
According to the book JERUSALEM, by Kathleen M.
Kenyon,11 page 185, "The final structures were
regularly planned houses, beneath which was a well-built drain, a layout
that culminated in the period of Herod Agrippa." "In the destruction of
these buildings, walls were razed, paving stones torn up, and the drain
clogged with material firmly dated to the last part of the century by the
pottery. In the drain were human skulls and other bones, washed down from
the ruined city higher up the slope." Continuing on page 186, . . . "with
the drains and retaining walls which controlled the forces of nature, was
destroyed, the central valley reverted to its natural function. Torrents
of water from winter rains swept down the valley. The stratification of
Site N showed how these torrents had churned up the debris resulting from
the destruction by Titus." This may explain the reference in Daniel 9:26
to a flood related to the second destruction of Jerusalem.
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After twenty-one days, the wall surrounding Antonine
Tower fell to the battering rams, but the Jews had built a second wall
behind it.
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The famine was so intense in Jerusalem that money was worthless and could not purchase food. ('He then said to me, "Son of man, I will cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair, for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin. Ezekiel 4:16-17, NIV.)
The High Priest's wife Martha roamed the streets looking for a mere morsel of food. A woman, Miriam, actually killed, roasted and devoured her own child which was still of nursing age, a gruesome sight. ("Therefore in your midst fathers will eat their children, and children will eat their fathers." "A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword." "I will send famine and wild beasts against you and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you and I will bring the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken." Ezekiel 5:10,12&17, NIV.) Was not this "great tribulation?"
"For these be the days of vengeance, that all things
which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child,
and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress
in the land, and wrath upon this people. 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." Luke 21:22-23.
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There were many people hiding out in the Sanctuary, and those who could not stand the thought of living without their beloved temple threw themselves into the burning mass. Many others hid in the inner court. They had been promised by the smooth words of the false prophets, the priests (Matthew 24:11), that God would save them by a miracle at the very moment of destruction. Of course, that did not happen.
The Romans slew about six thousand on the spot. The temple was totally burned, and only smoldering rubble remained along with the western wall. Those priests who did escape to the wall went without food for days, and finally had to surrender, and Titus ordered them killed. He said, "Priests must fall with their Temple."
The Roman standard was raised in the ruins, and they sacrificed to their pagan gods in the Holy Place.
Speaking of A.D. 70, Eusebius said: "at last the
abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophets was implanted in the
very temple of God...."13
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Flavius Josephus in WARS OF THE JEWS, chapter VII, section 7, states that the Romans themselves never took the Jews for their enemies until they revolted from them in A.D. 66. Regarding their state of affairs, he wrote, "however, the circumstances we are now in, ought to be an inducement to us to bear such calamity courageously, since it is by the will of God, and by necessity that we are to die: for it now appears that God hath made such a decree against the whole Jewish nation, that we are to be deprived of this life which (He knew) we would not make a due use of;"
Even Titus, who conquered the Jews, stated that
God had fought with his army and given the Jews over to him.15
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