Siege of Jerusalem (70)

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For other sieges laid upon the city of Jerusalem in history, see Siege of Jerusalem.
Siege of Jerusalem
Part of the First Jewish-Roman War

The sack of Jerusalem, from the inside wall of the Arch of Titus, Rome
Date March – September 70
Location Jerusalem, Judaea
Result Siege succeeds; Temple of Jerusalem destroyed and sacked.
Territorial
changes		 Jerusalem falls to Roman rule
Belligerents
Roman Empire Jews of Judea
Commanders
Titus Flavius Vespasianus Simon Bar-Giora
Yohanan mi-Gush Halav (John of Gischala)
Eleazar ben Simon
Strength
70,000 men 60,000 men, split among three factions
Casualties and losses
Unknown 60,000–1,100,000 (mass civilian casualties)

The Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD was a decisive event in the First Jewish-Roman War. It was followed by the fall of Masada in 73 AD. The Roman army, led by the future Emperor Titus, with Tiberius Julius Alexander as his second-in-command, besieged and conquered the city of Jerusalem, which had been occupied by its Jewish defenders in 66 AD. The city and its famous Temple were destroyed.

The destruction of the Temple is still mourned annually as the Jewish fast Tisha B'Av, and the Arch of Titus, depicting and celebrating the sack of Jerusalem and the Temple, still stands in Rome.

Contents

[edit] Siege

Map of Jerusalem in 70; the Temple is in yellow
v • d • e

Despite early successes in repelling the Roman sieges, the Zealots fought amongst themselves, lacking proper leadership. They lacked discipline, training, and preparation for the battles that were to follow.

Titus surrounded the city, with three legions (V Macedonica, XII Fulminata, XV Apollinaris) on the western side and a fourth (X Fretensis) on the Mount of Olives to the east. He put pressure on the food and water supplies of the inhabitants by allowing pilgrims to enter the city to celebrate Passover, and then refusing them egress. After Jewish sallies killed a number of Roman soldiers, Titus sent Josephus, a Jewish Historian, to negotiate with the defenders;. Titus was almost captured during this sudden attack, but escaped.

In mid-May Titus set to destroying the newly built Third Wall with a ram, breaching it as well as the Second Wall, and turning his attention to the Fortress of Antonia just north of the Temple Mount. The Romans were then drawn into street fighting with the Zealots, who were then ordered to retreat to the temple to avoid heavy losses. Josephus failed in another attempt at negotiations, and Jewish attacks prevented the construction of siege towers at the Fortress of Antonia. Food, water, and other provisions were dwindling inside the city, but small foraging parties managed to sneak supplies into the city, harrying Roman forces in the process. To put an end to the foragers, orders were issued to build a new wall, and siege tower construction was restarted as well.

Catapulta, by Edward Poynter (1868). Siege engines such as this would have been used by the Roman army during the attack.

After several failed attempts to breach or scale the walls of the Antonia Fortress, the Romans finally launched a secret attack, overwhelming sleeping Zealot guards and taking the Fortress. This was the second highest ground in the city, after the Temple Mount, and provided a perfect point from which to attack the Temple itself. Battering rams made little progress, but the fighting itself eventually set the walls on fire, when a Roman soldier threw a burning stick onto one of the Temple's walls. Destroying the Temple was not among Titus' goals, possibly due in large part to the massive expansions done by Herod the Great mere decades earlier. Most likely, Titus had wanted to seize it and transform it into a temple, dedicated to the Roman Emperor and to the Roman pantheon. But the flames spread quite quickly and were soon unquenchable. The Temple was destroyed on Tisha B'Av, at the end of August, and the flames spread into the residential sections of the city. The Roman legions quickly crushed the remaining Jewish resistance. Part of the remaining Jews escaped through hidden underground tunnels, while others made a final stand in the Upper City. This defense halted the Roman advance as they had to construct siege towers to assail the remaining Jews. The city was completely under Roman control by September 7 and the Romans continued to hunt down the Jews that had fled the city.

[edit] Destruction of Jerusalem

The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem, by David Roberts (1850).

Sulpicius Severus (363–420), referring in his Chronica to an earlier writing by Tacitus (56–117), claimed that Titus favored destroying the Jerusalem Temple to help uproot and demolish both the Jewish and Christian sects. Some scholars argue that this was not completely effective, and that the destruction of Jerusalem liberated the Christian church to fulfill its destiny as a universal religion offered to the whole world.[1] The account of Josephus, generally considered unreliable in this case, described Titus as moderate in his approach and, after conferring with others, ordering that the thousand-year-old (at that time) Temple be spared. (Solomon's Temple dated to the 10th century BC, though the physical structure was Herod's Temple, about 90 years old at the time.) According to Josephus, the Roman soldiers grew furious with Jewish attacks and tactics and, against Titus' orders, set fire to an apartment adjacent to the Temple, which soon spread all throughout.

Josephus had acted as a mediator for the Romans and, when negotiations failed, witnessed the siege and aftermath. He wrote:

Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done), [Titus] Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as they were of the greatest eminence; that is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and Mariamne; and so much of the wall enclosed the city on the west side. This wall was spared, in order to afford a camp for such as were to lie in garrison [in the Upper City], as were the towers [the three forts] also spared, in order to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city it was, and how well fortified, which the Roman valor had subdued; but for all the rest of the wall [surrounding Jerusalem], it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it [Jerusalem] had ever been inhabited. This was the end which Jerusalem came to by the madness of those that were for innovations; a city otherwise of great magnificence, and of mighty fame among all mankind.[2]
And truly, the very view itself was a melancholy thing; for those places which were adorned with trees and pleasant gardens, were now become desolate country every way, and its trees were all cut down. Nor could any foreigner that had formerly seen Judaea and the most beautiful suburbs of the city, and now saw it as a desert, but lament and mourn sadly at so great a change. For the war had laid all signs of beauty quite waste. Nor had anyone who had known the place before, had come on a sudden to it now, would he have known it again. But though he [a foreigner] were at the city itself, yet would he have inquired for it.[3]

Josephus claims that 1,100,000 people were killed during the siege, of which a majority were Jewish.[4] 97,000 were captured and enslaved, including Simon Bar Giora and John of Gischala.[4] Many fled to areas around the Mediterranean. Titus reportedly refused to accept a wreath of victory, as there is "no merit in vanquishing people forsaken by their own God".[5]

[edit] Theological perceptions

The Jewish Amoraim attributed the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem as punishment from God for the "baseless hatred" that pervaded Jewish society at the time.[6]

In Christian theology, depending upon an individual's theological perspective, this particular act in history is viewed as either a complete fulfillment of many prophecies spoken by Christ in the gospel record, known as Preterism, or it is viewed as fulfillment of one specific prophecy of Christ regarding the destruction of the Temple, but does not deal with the end of the age, known as Premillennialism. These two particular theological viewpoints, Preterism and Premillennialism, are diametrically opposed to one another, yet both take their meaning from the same set of passages found within the Bible.

Preterism (preter from the Latin meaning past) essentially takes the position that the biblical prophecies, specifically those found in the book of Revelation, were all fulfilled in the past. With minor variation, those who espouse this viewpoint generally agree that when Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70, it was an act of God's judgment and fulfilled the prophecies that Christ spoke of in His Olivet Discourse recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21.

Preterists also believe this event signaled the Second Coming of the Messiah as well, spiritually. A definition of Preterism can be found in the Bible Knowledge Commentary, Volume 2 which states that the Preterist view

"regards Revelation as a symbolic picture of early church conflicts which have been fulfilled. This view denies the future predictive quality of most of the book of Revelation. In varying degrees this view combines the allegorical and symbolic interpretation with the concept that Revelation does not deal with specific future events." [7]

The Preterist holds to the belief that not only did God judge Israel at this point in time for their rejection of the Messiah, but that He also completely and finally broke from them and their rebellious ways. As part and parcel of this view then, it is the Church which has come to replace Israel as the chosen people. This view is also referred to as Replacement Theology (The church replaces Israel and is now the benefactor of Israel's promises.) and has also given rise to Reconstructionism, which is the belief that a form of theology which claims that civilization must collapse in order for Christians to be able to take control of the world and its institutions.

Premillennialism on the other hand is the theological position which believes that while the destruction of Jerusalem was an act of God's judgment, God did not sever ties with Israel, but has simply stopped dealing with them directly for a time (cf. Romans chapters 9–11). For the Premillennialist, while it is true that a number of things occurred during the destruction of Jerusalem which fulfilled Christ's words—religious deception, Jewish people running to the hills, desecration of the Temple, and appearance of false messiahs—it is understood by their understanding that the apostles had asked a number of questions of Jesus to explain the timetable for two specific events: 1) the destruction of the Temple and 2) His return at the end of this age (Matthew 24:3). The destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple then in A.D. 70 is the [late] fulfillment of only one of those questions responded to by Christ (although it also relates to other prophecies, e.g., Daniel 9:26).

Premillennialists believe that Christ spoke of the events that would occur soon, but also spoke of events that would usher in the end of the age. Since, as the Premillennialist espouses, the end of the age did not occur in A.D. 70, then the prophetic significance of the destruction of Jerusalem was limited to that time period.

The major difference in the way in which Preterists and Premillennialists arrive at their theological viewpoints is due to the particular hermeneutic (way of interpreting Scripture) utilized in the study of biblical passages; the former primarily using an allegorical or symbolic hermeneutic, with the latter using a literal or constructivist hermeneutic.

[edit] In later art

The war in Judaea, particularly the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, have inspired writers and artists through the centuries. The bas-relief in the Arch of Titus has been influential in establishing the Menorah as the most dramatic symbol of the looting of the Second Temple.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Cawthorne, Nigel. History's Greatest Battles: Masterstrokes of War. pp. 31–37. ISBN 1-84193-290-6. 
  1. ^ Noll, Mark (3001). "Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity." Intervarsity Press.
  2. ^ Flavius Josephus. The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem. Containing The Interval Of About Three Years. From The Taking Of Jerusalem By Titus To The Sedition At Cyrene. Book VII. Chapter 1.1
  3. ^ Flavius Josephus. The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem. BOOK VI. Containing The Interval Of About One Month. From The Great Extremity To Which The Jews Were Reduced To The Taking Of Jerusalem By Titus.. Book VI. Chapter 1.1
  4. ^ a b Josephus, The Wars of the Jews VI.9.3
  5. ^ Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana 6.29
  6. ^ Yoma, 9b
  7. ^ Walvoord, John F., Zuck, Roy B., Editors, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Volume 2, New Testament, Cook Communications Ministries, 2004, page 926

[edit] External links

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