Josephus's Jerusalem

Flavius Josephus was a contemporary of the Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul, living between 37 and 100 AD. He wrote two multi-volume works: Antiquities of the Jews and the Jewish War. These works are of immense value to anyone studying the history of the Jewish people. Here, I have just a sample of what he wrote about the priests:

“The Romans, upon the flight of the seditious into the city, and upon the burning of the holy house itself, and of all the buildings round about it, brought their ensigns to the temple and set them over against its eastern gate; and there did they offer sacrifices to them, and there did they make Titus imperator, with the greatest acclamations of joy. All the soldiers had such vast quantities of the spoils which they had gotten by plunder that in Syria, a pound weight of gold was sold for half its former value. The priests kept themselves still upon the wall of the holy house. . . . On the fifth day afterward, the priests that were pinned with the famine came down, and when they were brought to Titus by the guards, they begged for their lives, but he replied that the time of pardon was over as to them; . . . [and] that priests should perish with the house itself to which they belonged. So, he ordered them to be put to death” (War 6:316–322).

Josephus claimed over one million Jews were killed at this time, while 70,000 were taken as captives to Rome to work in the construction of the Colosseum. Even if he had exaggerated the numbers, historians agree that it was a horrible war, leaving Jerusalem desolate until the 20th century when the Hebrews had a nation once again.  

The Lord Jesus predicted these events. He said to the disciples,

“When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by soldiers, then you know its desolation was near. Then, those in Judea will flee into the mountains, those in the middle of the city will escape to the fields, and those in the fields will not enter the city because those will be days of vengeance, fulfilling what has been written [against Jerusalem]. Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days because great distress would come to the land and unmentionable wrath to the people. They will fall to the swords’ edges and be taken as captives. Nations will fill the land and trample upon Jerusalem” (Luke 21:20–24).

As the Lord prophesied, every word came true within forty years of his prophesy. The disciples wanted to know when the temple would be destroyed, and the Lord gave them a realistic answer—it would be destroyed in their lifetime.

Although it was a horrible time for the Hebrews, it had one side benefit—the gospel spread to the nations. Believing Jews and apostles scattered in every direction and established churches. They did more ministry than Jesus and Paul. Gospel reached as far as Ethiopia, Europe, and India. Sadly, it cost the Hebrews their lives and freedom.

Church history has repeatedly shown that persecution, wars, and suffering have a way of fostering the growth of Christians and churches. In recent history, the state of Odissa in India experienced that. While the people persecuted the Christians, they ran to the forests, only to emerge years later stronger and in larger numbers. God has his way of preserving his people.