REL 464 - The Inter-Testamental Era
Course Notes
The Jewish Revolts
The Roman occupation of Palestine provoked rising resentment in the Jews, leading to the First Jewish Revolt, and in 70 AD Jesus' prophecy of the destruction of the Temple, Matth. 24:1-2, was fulfilled.
The Roman general Vespasian began the siege of Jerusalem, but was recalled to Rome to become Emperor when Nero died.
Vespasian left his son Titus in charge of the siege, which lasted for about three years, during which time many of the inhabitants died from starvation. On taking the city, the soldiers threw down all the stones from the Temple, into the Tyropoeon Valley which used to run beside the Western wall of the Temple. There is no longer a valley there, though some of it has been excavated to reveal the Herodian foundation walls which retained the dirt and rock upon which the Temple courts and buildings were built.
During the Siege of Jerusalem Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai realized that the Jews could not win, and that the Romans would wipe out not only the inhabitants, but also the whole Jewish culture if everyone stayed in Jerusalem.
In order to escape from Jerusalem, he pretended to be dead, and arranged for his disciples to carry his "corpse" out of the city - with his scrolls packed into the coffin with him. The Romans allowed the funeral procession to leave, and, once clear of the city, Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai revealed himself to the Roman commander, Vespasian, and asked to be allowed to go in peace with his students, to study in the north of the country. The Romans allowed him to do this, and he and his school eventually settled in Jamnia, also called Yavneh, where Jewish culture was preserved for future generations.
This was the time of the Jewish general Josephus (his Romanized name) - who also realized that he was on the losing side, so deserted his Jewish soldiers, and went over to Vespasian's side. After the revolt was put down, Josephus settled down as a Roman citizen, and wrote accounts of Jewish history and culture for the Romans. In these accounts he mentions Jesus - early evidence for Jesus' life and His reputation among non-Christians as a prophet and wonder-worker.
The northern part of Israel - the region of the Galilee - had a more ethnically and religiously mixed population, and did not fight so strongly against the Romans. So pockets of Jewish culture survived, particularly in the region of Tiberias, where Jewish scholarship was preserved.
One exception was the town of Gamla, in the Golan, which Josephus had led against the Romans. After Josephus defected to the Romans, the people of Gamla continued to resist, until the town was captured and destroyed.
Even after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, a group of Zealots took refuge in the caves in the Judean wilderness by the Dead Sea, and in Masada, the fortress palace which had been built by Herod the Great on top of a mountain overlooking the Dead Sea.
In 73 AD, after a 3-year siege, the Romans, under Flavius Silva, were about to break into Masada. The Zealots decided that they would kill their own families and then themselves, rather than fall into the hands of the Romans. Two women and a group of children hid when it was time to be killed, and later told the Romans what had happened : this was recorded by Josephus as part of his account of the Jewish Wars.
In recent excavations at Masada, Yigael Yadin found pieces of pottery, with inscriptions, which are thought to mark who would be the men chosen to kill their compatriots and then themselves.
When the Romans finally broke into the fortress, they found that the Jews had set all the stores of food and weapons on fire, and then killed themselves.
In 122 AD the decision by the Emperor Hadrian to build a Roman town, Aelia Capitolina, on the site of Jerusalem, sparked the Second Jewish Revolt, led by Simon bar Kochba. The name "bar Kochbar" means "Son of a Star" - Simon bar Kochbar set himself up as a Messiah, and tried to fulfil some of the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament - it may be that he changed his name, in accordance with Balaam's prophecy in Numbers 9:7. Because of the prophecy of Malachi 4:5, bar Kochbar declared that his friend Rabbi Akiva was the prophet Elijah who had come to prepare the way for bar Kochbar. The Romans eventually captured Rabbi Akiva and tortured him to death.
Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
