The Siege Of Jerusalem

Note: this was a talk I gave to a small afternoon congregation. I wouldn’t give it in our main morning service.

INTRODUCTION

We’re presently following the theme of discipleship, picking up some of the big things that are part of being a follower of Jesus. But it’s good to have some variety so from time to time we’ll have Something Completely Different! Today we’re going to look at a moment in Christian history. It’s the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. It’s a very gory story but it has some valuable lessons to teach us. We’re going to look first at what happened and then pick out some lessons we can learn.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Thirty years after Jesus’ death, tension between the Roman rulers and the Jews was high. Trouble had been brewing for many years. In 66 A.D., a Roman prefect attempted to seize money from the temple and the Jews revolted. They overcame the Roman garrison and took control of Jerusalem. The Romans acted to suppress the revolt but the Jews ambushed and defeated a Roman expeditionary force, killing 6,000 Roman soldiers.

The Roman general Vespasian was given the task of crushing the rebellion. Later he handed the task on to his son Titus. Titus brought 60,000 soldiers to Jerusalem and laid siege to it. As the siege was starting the majority of the Christians in Jerusalem fled. Titus cunningly put pressure on the food and water supply by allowing pilgrims to enter the city in order to celebrate Passover but not letting them out.

The Romans made several unsuccessful attacks and then decided to starve the Jews into surrender. They cut down all the trees in the area and built a five-mile-long barricade around Jerusalem. Many Jews fled to escape the city but the Romans crucified them to intimidate the population. According to one account they crucified up to 500 people a day. As the siege continued those inside the city carried the dead outside. The Romans appointed someone to count the number: it was 115,880.

A Jewish historian called Josephus had joined the Romans and was present during the siege. His description of the siege is full of horrors. Josephus reports that in total more than a million people died during the siege. Some historians doubt this number but Josephus says it is consistent with Nero’s population estimate and the fact that many Jews had come to Jerusalem for the Passover.

Eventually the Romans built an earth ramp up to the top of the walls and used battering rams to break down the walls, and took the city. They brought nearly 100,000 prisoners back to Rome and paraded them through the streets in a procession. They put some of the leaders to death but used most as slaves. In AD 82 they built a massive arch to honour Titus for his conquests. It still exists and is the inspiration for the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It has a nice carving on it of the Romans carrying the lampstand out of the temple.

LESSONS WE CAN LEARN

This isn’t a nice story. But it has lessons for us.

LESSON 1: GOD JUDGES IN THE PRESENT

As Christians we accept – I hope! – that one day there will be a Day of Judgment. That is some time in the future. But does God also judge in the present day?

According to a Greek writer, Titus refused to accept a wreath of victory, saying that the victory did not come through his own efforts BUT THAT HE HAD MERELY SERVED AS AN INSTRUMENT OF GOD'S WRATH. In other words, he felt that what happened to Jerusalem was God’s judgment.

Was Titus right? At one level, of course, the Romans had captured Jerusalem. But at a deeper level, could it have been God’s doing? Could this have been God’s judgment? Can we know…?

We CAN know because Jesus prophetically spoke about this event. Let’s look at what he said in two passages. The first is Luke 19:41-44:

‘And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will SET UP A BARRICADE round you and surround you and hem you in on every side and TEAR YOU DOWN TO THE GROUND, YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN WITHIN YOU. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”’

Jesus prophesied WHAT would happen correctly. We know that the Romans built a barricade around the city, killed men, women and children, and tore down the city’s walls. If you’re wondering how it is that there are city walls now, it is because they were partially rebuilt by the Ottomans.