Dispensationalism The Temple Destroyed By Josephus

An Account by Josephus of The Destruction of the Second Temple Josephus describes how the bandit John son of Levi escaped from the north, arrived in Jerusalem and created havoc there which resulted, finally, in the destruction of the Temple:  Only Gischala, a little town in the Galilee, was still not taken by the Romans. Most of the town were anxious for peace, but a powerful gang of bandits had infiltrated into their midst. These were incited and organized by John son of Levi, a man full of ambitions. Vespasian dispatched Titus with 1,000 horse, taken from the Tenth Legion. He himself returned to Caesarea with the other legions to rest in preparation for the struggle to take Jerusalem.  Titus rode up to Gischala and offered peace terms. He was sick of bloodshed and knew a battle would result in his men slaughtering the whole populace. The people wanted to accept, but the bandits kept everyone away from the walls so they could not reply. John notified Titus that they would accept his proposals, but Titus must wait one day since it was the Jewish Sabbath. Titus believed John and agreed.  That night John seized his chance, took his bodyguard and a large number of noncombatants and fled toward Jerusalem. He commanded "Every man for himself," and women and children were crushed in the flight.  When dawn came, Titus advanced to the wall. The people opened the gates to him. They told him of John's flight and begged to be spared. Titus sent a detachment of horseman after John, but they failed to overtake him, and he reached Jerusalem safely.  However, of those who fled with him, some 6,000 were killed and nearly 3,000 women and children were rounded up and brought back. Titus was frustrated at John's escape, but he did not take it out on the town. Thus the whole of Galilee was subdued.  On John's arrival, the whole populace of Jerusalem turned out, crying for news of events outside. Still hot and breathless the fugitives could not hide their stress, but they swaggered in their sorry plight, declaring they had not run from the Romans but had come to give them battle on favorable ground....  John himself, quite unconcerned for those he had left behind, went round urging them one and all to war by false hopes, making out that Roman power was feeble, exaggerating Jewish strength, and ridiculing the ignorance of those who were worried. Not even if they grew wings could the Romans ever get over the wall of Jerusalem, after being so severely mauled in their attacks on Galilean villages and wearing out their engines against flimsy walls.  With this nonsense he drew most of the young men into his net and whetted their appetite for wore, but of the sensible, older men there was not one but saw what was coming and mourned for the City as if it had already perished....

 Every town around the City was seething with turmoil and civil war. Faction reigned everywhere, the revolutionaries and jingoes with the boldness of youth silencing the old and sensible. They began, one and all, to plunder their neighbors, then forming themselves into companies they extended their brutality all over the country. These packs of rogues then infiltrated Jerusalem, a city without military command. Terror filled the people as if the City had been taken by storm.  The terrorists murdered their prisoners. The result was that the people became so cowed and abject, the terrorists so rabid, that they actually got control of the appointment of the highlevel priests....  Such impudence was more than the people could stand: one and all determined to bring tyranny to an end. Natural leaders like Gorion ben Joseph and Simeon ben Gamliel urged them to act now, punish the destroyers of freedom, and purge the Temple of sacrilege... So they joined in battle, the citizens against the bandits.  They started by pelting each other with stones and by hurling spears at long range. When either side retreated, the victors used their swords. The slaughter on both sides was frightful. The citizens' army gradually forced the terrorists back to the Temple, where they locked the gates.  But brigands from outside joined in the fight, and the citizens' army found itself attacked from two sides. Along with many others, the bandits murdered Gorion and took control of the City. The whole of the citizens' army was destroyed.  In the Roman camp all the generals treated the enemy's internal divisions as a godsend, and in their eagerness to march on the City begged Vespasian to lose no time. Vespasian noted that if he did march on the City at once, he would only reunite the enemy and turn their full strength against himself. Daily the Jews were being bled to death by dissension and civil war.  There was no peace in Jerusalem. There was a young hothead called Simon ben Gioras. He was less crafty than John, who was now master of the City, but superior in daring. Simon made up his mind to usurp supreme power.  In the Hill Country, he proclaimed liberty for slaves and rewards for the free, so collecting the scum of the whole district. Soon he was the object of dread in the outlying towns. It was obvious that he was training his army in readiness to attack Jerusalem.  Alarmed, the Zealots marched out in force against him. Simon struck back, and the terrorist fled back into the City....Simon captured the little town of Hebron, where he seized a vast amount of booty and large quantities of corn....  The Zealots retaliated by ambushing the passes and capturing Simon's wife and many of her servants.

 Her capture, however, moved Simon to fury. He came to the walls of Jerusalem and vented his rage upon everyone he met. Meanwhile inside the City, the bandits had sunk to even lower depths.  Their passion for looting was insatiable. The murdered men and violated women for sport. Through sheer boredom they shamelessly gave themselves up to effeminate practices, adorning their hair and putting on women's clothing, steeping themselves in scent.  They wallowed in slime. Those who fled John had a more murderous reception from Simon. Thus for those who wished to desert to the Romans every way of escape was cut off.  But John's forces turned against him. They joined battle and wiped out many Zealots, chasing the rest into the Royal Palace. They called in Simon ben Gioras, hoping for aid; they saddled themselves with one tyrant the more.  Simon launched violent attacks on John's men. John retaliated with quick-loaders, catapults, and stone-throwers. Many people who came to make sacrifices were slaughtered; both sides admitted those who wished to make offerings.  The plotters against the City were now divided into three: Eleazar and his party, who held the Temple Mount and had the sacred first fruits in their hands, made John the main target. John and his men plundered the citizens and made direct attacks against Simon. Simon in his struggle depended on the support of the remaining citizens.  John, in his sallies, made sure to burn the houses that were stocked with grain and supplies of every kind. When he withdrew, Simon followed his example. The result was that a huge number of the buildings in the City were burned and almost all the grain — enough to support them through many years of siege — went up in flames. In the end, it was hunger that defeated them.  The entire City was the battleground for these plotters and their scum, and everyone prayed for the Romans to come, which would free them from the miseries. The bandits murdered all who were for peace with the Romans or were suspected of intending to desert.  Titus ordered the troops from Caesarea to proceed to Jerusalem. He himself came from the Galilee. He ordered the Fifth to meet him via Emmaus and the Tenth to go up via Jericho. Thus he arrived at the head of three legions...At daybreak he set out for Look-Out Hill (Mount Scopus).  Within the City the warring factions now for the first time put an end to their suicidal strife in view of war suddenly descending on them. Seeing the Romans building three separate fortified camps, they seized their weapons and made a sudden sortie against the Tenth Legion. They tore across the ravine with blood-curdling yells and fell upon the enemy at work on their fortifications.

 The Romans, never imagining that the Jews would dare to sally out, were surprised and thrown into disorder. Leaving their tasks some promptly retreated; many ran to their weapons but were struck down before they could turn to face the enemy. The number of Jews was steadily increasing as their early successes encouraged other men.  It is likely that the situation of the whole legion would have been precarious had not Titus at once gone to the rescue. He and his troops fell on the Jews from the flank and routed them, driving them back over the ravine. Titus lined up the reinforcements he had brought and sent the legion to resume their fortification on the ridge.  This enraged the Jews, and a mass of fresh men sprang into the open with such ferocity that it was like the charge of a herd of buffalo. Indeed, not one of the Romans awaited the impact, but as if struck by an artillery barrage they broke ranks, turned, and fled up the hillside leaving Titus with a handful of men halfway up the slope. He stood his ground against the charge and drove them back.  Meanwhile those who were constructing the camp above, seeing the men in flight, were again filled with panic and terror, and the whole legion scattered. Seeing Titus still fighting, shame turned them back, and they succeeded in pushing the Jews back into the valley. Thus, it was Caesar himself who twice saved the whole legion from destruction and enabled them to camp in safety.  In the ensuing days, the Romans made their preparations to attack the walls. The partisans within the City, meanwhile, continued to strive against one another. Simon controlled the walls while John and his company were barricaded in the Upper City. Eleazar and his men were stuck within the Temple's fortress, and none of the groups trusted the others enough to work together. Thus the Romans prepared their ramps, platforms, and works.  Titus posted his artillery nearer to prevent the Jews from keeping the Rams away, and ordered the battering to begin. From three sides a frightful din suddenly resounded round the City, a shout went up from those within, and the partisans were as terrified as the rest. Realizing their common danger, they agreed to a common defense. Simon announced that everyone was free to proceed from the Temple to the wall, and John gave his permission though suspicious of Simon.  Manning the wall, they flung firebrands by the hundred against the engines and showered weapons continuously on the men shoving the Batterers. The bolder spirits sprang forward in tight groups and tore the screens over the engines and falling on the crews, slaughtered them. The walls remained undamaged.  Suddenly the Jews poured out en masse by a hidden gate near the Tower of Hippicus. A furious battle was joined around the engines.

 The Jews were gaining the advantage through sheer desperation, the works were catching fire and were in danger of being completely destroyed, engines and all. Titus came charging up and saved the works from the flames. The Romans, encouraged, drove the Jews back into the City. John, the brigand leader, was struck by an arrow and died instantly. One of the Jews was taken alive. Titus ordered him to be crucified before the walls hoping to terrify the defenders.  Despite brave resistance, the Romans succeeded in battering through the first wall. At great expense in life, they proceeded against the second wall. Once again, the Jews swept down and desperately tried to burn the engines.  The Romans were forced to retreat. Even after breaching the second wall, they could not advance forward. After four days of fighting, Titus overcame the defenses at the second wall, destroyed it, and began to plan the assault on the third wall.  Titus then paused in his attack and offered surrender terms to the populace. Any who wished to flee to the countryside were free to do so. Many wanted to accept, but the brigands kept the populace at bay. Anyone who afforded even a shadow of suspicion of wanting to surrender was promptly put to death.  As the famine grew worse, the frenzy of the partisans increased with it. Many wealthy people secretly exchanged their possessions for one measure of corn. While the strong had more than enough, the weak were in desperate straits.  Wives robbed their husbands, children their fathers, and — most horrible of all — mothers their babes, snatching the food out of their very mouths. Everywhere the partisans were ready to swoop even on such pickings. They bet old men who held on to their crusts; they tore the hair of women who hid what was in their hands. And still no one was permitted to leave the City on pain of death.  The Romans breached the third wall, the populace fled to the Temple Mount, and terrible fighting ensued. The Romans took the Antonia fortress and turned toward the Temple itself. Neither side gave an inch. All the time the shouts from the Antonia (where Titus and his generals watched the conflict) changed with the fortunes of their men.  At every advance they were loudly cheered, at every retreat they were urged to stand fast. At last, after battling from before dawn to nearly midday, they broke off the fight without either side having really budged the other.  Meanwhile the rest of the Roman army had, in one week, laid Antonia flat and engineered a wide road to the Temple. Advancing near to the first rampart the legions now set to work on four platforms.  The progress cost them much toil and sweat, as they had to fetch the timber eleven or twelve miles. Sometimes they suffered losses through Jewish stratagems, as their crushing

superiority made them over-confident just when despair of survival made the Jews more daring than ever.  For example, the Jews filled part of the western colonnade which was between the beams, and the roof under them, with dry materials along with bitumen and pitch, and then retreated from that place. Some rash Romans, seeing their flight, gave chase and hoisted ladders to the colonnade. As soon as the colonnade was full, the Jews set it on fire. When they perceived themselves surrounded by flames, some of the Romans threw themselves down into the City and broke their limbs to pieces. The rest perished in the flames.  Finally two of the legions had completed their banks on the eighth of Av. Titus gave orders that the battering rams should be brought, and aimed at the western side of the inner temple. Before these were brought, the strongest of all the other engines had battered the wall for six days and had made no impression because of the enormous size of the stone. Other Romans had indeed undermined the foundations of the northern gate, and after a world of pains removed the outermost stones, yet the gate's double structure, upheld by the inner stones, stood undamaged; till the workmen, despairing of all such attempts by engines and crows, brought their ladders to the colonnades.  The Jews did not interfere until they had gotten on the ladders. Then they fell upon them, and fought with them; some of them they thrust down, and threw them backwards headlong; others of them they met and killed; they also beat many of those that went down the ladders again, and killed them with their swords before they could bring their shields to protect them. Many of the ladders were toppled while they were full of armed men; a great slaughter was made by the Jews The Jews succeeded at destroying the engines and those that had gone up the ladders, while the rest, panicked, retreated.  The soldiers succeeded in setting fire to the gates, and the silver that was over them quickly carried the flames to the wood that was under it. The fire spread to the colonnades. The Jews, seeing this, became despondent. The next day, however, Titus commanded part of his army to put out the fire and make a road for an easier ascent of the legions. Titus invited opinions by his generals on the question of the Sanctuary. Some insisted that they should enforce the law of war, [and demolish it,] because the Jews would never stop rebelling while the Temple was standing; it was a dangerous rallying point. Others thought that if the Jews would leave it, and no armed man was allowed up there, it should be spared.  All that day the Jews were so weary, and under such consternation, that they refrained from any attacks. On the next, however, at about 8 am, they gathered their whole force together and boldly stormed out against those that guarded the outward court of the Temple. The guards received their attack with great braver and drew their squadron close together; yet was it evident that they could not defend for long. Caesar seeing from the tower of Antonia that this squadron was in trouble, some top horsemen to support them. The Jews broke before their onset and many were forced to retreat. But as the Romans relaxed, the Jews turned upon them and attacked; as the Romans countered, they retreated again, until at about 11 am, they were forced to retreat again into the inner [court of the] Temple.

 Titus retired to the tower of Antonia, intending to storm the temple the next day, early in the morning, with his whole army....  However, upon Titus's retiring, the partisans waited for a while and then attacked the Romans again, while the guardians of the Sanctuary tried to put out the fire that was burning the inner [court of the] temple.  The Romans put the Jews to flight, and proceeded to the Sanctuary itself. One the soldiers, without waiting for any orders, snatched up a blazing piece of wood and, climbing on another soldier's back, hurled the brand through a gold window which gave access to the chambers around the Sanctuary. As the flames shot into the air, the Jews sent up such a cry that matched the calamity and dashed to the rescue, with no thought for their own safety.  A runner brought the news to Titus, who was resting after the last battle. He leaped up and raced to the Sanctuary, where he tried to extinguish the flames. He ordered his soldiers to quench the fire, but they did not hear what he said.  The partisans were in no condition to help. The slain were everywhere; the majority of the people were weak and without weapons, and had their throats cut wherever they were caught. Around the altar lay dead bodies heaped one upon another. The steps leading to it poured a river of blood.  Titus could not restrain his soldiers' fury, and the fire continued to grow. He went into the Holy of Holies of the Temple with his commanders, and saw it and its contents, which were far superior to the descriptions he had heard.  Since the flames had not yet reached the Sanctuary itself, but were still consuming the rooms surrounding it, He hoped that the Temple itself might be saved. He ran and tried to persuade his soldiers to quench the fire, but they hated the Jews so much that they ignored his order. While Caesar ran trying to restrain the soldiers, one of them threw a firebrand into the Temple, and flames immediately burst out from within....  The day of this tragedy was the same month and day which as already observed as the day when the First Temple was burnt by the Babylonians.  Now the number of years that passed from its first foundation, which was laid by King Solomon, till its destruction, which happened in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, equaled one thousand one hundred and thirty years, seven months and fifteen days; From the second building of it, which was done by Haggai, in the second year of Cyrus the king (of Persia), till its destruction under Vespasian, there were six hundred and thirty-nine years and forty-five days.

 While the Temple was on fire, every thing was plundered that came to hand, and ten thousand of those that were caught were slain; no pity was shown for age, but children, old men, secular and priests were all slain in the same manner.  The flames could be seen from a great distance and made an echo, together with the groans of those that were slain; and because Jerusalem was high, and the works at the temple were very great, one would have thought the whole city had been on fire.  Nor can one imagine any thing more terrible than this noise; for there was at once a shout of the Roman legions, who were marching all together, and screaming of the partisans, who were now surrounded with fire and sword.  The remaining populace was beaten back against the enemy and under a great outcry with sad moans at the calamity they were under. The masses in the City joined in this outcry with those that were upon the hill.  Yet more terrible than the din were the sights that met the eye. The Temple Mount, enveloped in flames from top to bottom, appeared to be boiling up from its very roots; yet the sea of flame was nothing to the ocean of blood. Nowhere could the ground be seen between the corpses, and the soldiers climbed over heaps of bodies as they chased the fugitives....  When Titus entered he was astounded by the strength of the city, and especially by the towers which the party chiefs in their mad folly had abandoned. All the prisoners taken from beginning to end of the war totaled 97,000. Those who perished in the long siege: 1,100,000.