Judea Capta
Razing Yerushalayim (Elul, 70 CE)
Josephus, Jewish War 7:1-4/i.1
The holy city Jerusalem lay in ruins. Only the dead remained within her walls. Titus ordered his legions to begin a comprehensive and painstaking demolition project. Beginning with the Temple, they were to dismantle the whole city and leave no building standing. The soldiers combined the demolition project with treasure hunting. They recovered an abundance of gold and silver as they dismantled the buildings on the Temple Mount. They threw the enormous blocks from the Temple Mount architecture over the sides of the hill. Archaeologists working on the southwest corner of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem have uncovered a section of the debris at the base of the western wall, still lying where the Romans cast it down. Enormous Herodian blocks lie in heaps exactly in the place they fell when thrown down from above. This happened to fulfill our Master's words, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down" (Matthew 24:2).
Titus told his men to spare only the three towers of Herod's palace and the corresponding portion of the city's western wall. Titus wanted to use the wall and the impregnable towers as a garrison for the legion he intended on leaving stationed in Jerusalem. Moreover, he left the magnificent towers standing as a monument to his victory. The foundations of one of those towers (David's Citadel) can still be seen just inside Jerusalem's Jaffa Gate.
Aside from the section of wall adjoining the three towers, the Romans toppled all the walls and, at many points, even uprooted their foundations. "There was nothing left to indicate to those who came there that the place had ever been inhabited."
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Celebration (Elul, 70 CE)
Josephus, Jewish War 7:5-20/i.2-3
A few days after the fall of the Upper City, Titus erected a tribunal in the midst of his former encampment and summoned his legions around him. He addressed them with a victory speech, thanking them for their hard labors and prowess in battle, and magnifying on the greatness of Rome. He praised the legions for being the first to acclaim his father Vespasian as emperor, and he called forward by name every man who had distinguished himself in battle. As each man came forward, he commended him for his particular exploits and then awarded him with a promotion, various trophies, and a portion from the spoils of the city. Under thunderous applause, Titus stepped down from the tribunal and sacrificed ox after ox to the gods of the empire, offering up their sacred portions on a series of altars. The rest of the meat he distributed among the legions so that every man received an abundance.
The victory feast lasted for three days. In good Roman fashion as best as he could manage in the camp, Titus hosted Tiberius Alexander, King Agrippa, Queen Bernice, and other royalty and noblemen along with the principal commanders of the army. By then the romance between Titus and Bernice had developed and become a well-known, public matter. Although the queen was merely his mistress, she behaved in every manner as if she was already his wife. Everyone anticipated a splendid wedding in the near future. Her passion for Titus and the prospect of one day becoming the queen over the whole Roman Empire overruled any religious compunction she may have once felt.
Her brother's ambitions of ruling over all Judea had cooled. Very little remained of Judea to rule over. The palace that he once dreamed of occupying was now the garrison for the tenth legion-three towers in a field of rubble. Nevertheless, he placed his hopes on staying in good favor with Titus and Vespasian and the likely possibility that Bernice might become the next empress.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Arenas and Games (Elul-Tishrei, 70 CE)
Josephus, Jewish War 7:21-25/ii.I
After the celebrations, Titus dismissed the twelfth legion, but he left the tenth legion stationed at Jerusalem. He retained the fifth and the fifteenth as his personal escort. The two legions provided Titus and Bernice with an escort to Caesarea Maritima. They also transported the sizable quantity of treasures and spoils that Titus had taken from Jerusalem, including the fabulous treasures of the Holy Temple. Since the shipping season had already passed, they laid it all up in secure storage in Caesarea until it could be safely shipped to Rome. The winter season prevented Titus from sailing immediately for Rome, and it prevented him from shipping the slaves away, too. He would have to find some way to pass the time until the seas opened for safe navigation again.
He visited the internment camps where the captives from Jerusalem waited in misery. He selected prisoners to participate in a series of games and entertainments that he planned on hosting through the winter. Then he marched them, along with his legions, to Bernice's home at the palace of her brother in Caesarea Philippi.
The people of Caesarea Philippi welcomed Caesar Titus in grand style and saluted his victory with triumph celebrations and gala events that lasted for several weeks. Titus and Bernice appeared side-by-side at every public appearance, smiling and waving. Titus sponsored all sorts of games, shows, and spectacles to celebrate his triumph and his father's accession to the throne. He used Jewish captives to provide the entertainment. The crowds cheered as they watched Jews mauled to death by wild beasts and thrown against gladiators. Many of the captives became unwilling gladiators themselves, thrown into the arena against one another and forced to fight to the death. Somehow, King Agrippa and Queen Bernice found the butchery of their fellow countrymen acceptable. They raised no objections, and they showed their approval by attending the events and cheering along with everyone else. If Paul had been alive, he might have said they were "seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron" (I Timothy 4:2).
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Birthday Parties (Cheshvan, 70 CE)
Josephus, Jewish War 7:37-40/iii.1
When Titus and Bernice returned to Caesarea by the sea, his officers presented Simon son of Giora before them in heavy fetters. They had captured the Zealot leader when he emerged from a secret tunnel under Jerusalem seeking food. Titus was delighted to see the man in good health. He ordered his men to guard him carefully, protect him, and keep him from attempting suicide. They were to send him to Rome, along with John of Gischala, as soon as the shipping season opened and turn them both over to Vespasian for the celebratory triumph.
While in Caesarea by the sea, Titus ordered the city to celebrate the birthday of his younger brother Domitian. He had the wealth of Jerusalem and all its survivors to spend. The city declared a holiday on October 24 in honor of the young Caesar. Titus added to the festivities by sending more of his Jewish prisoners to their deaths in the arena and the circus. Josephus was present for the occasion. He says, "More than 2,500 were now slain from fighting wild beasts or from being burned alive or from fighting one another [as gladiators]. Though the Romans put them to death by every possible way, this seemed to them to be too light a punishment for the Jews."
As soon as the birthday party in Caesarea concluded, Titus and Bernice (and the two legions trailing them) hurried off to Berytus to celebrate Vespasian's birthday. On November 17, the whole city came out to honor the big holiday. Caesar's birthday party and all its associated solemnities lasted for several days. Titus spent his new wealth lavishly. He organized bigger, more magnificent shows and spectacles. Again, a great multitude of the captives from the Jewish War went to their deaths in the arenas, the theaters, and the circuses.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Fire in Anteyochya
Josephus, Jewish War 7:41-I11/iii.2-v.2
Further up the coast, in Syrian Antioch, the Jewish community once again faced great danger. The Jewish community in Antioch numbered in the tens of thousands. They had only narrowly survived the genocides that took place at the time of the outbreak of the war when Antiochus the apostate was agitating against them and the God-fearers of Antioch, accusing them of a plot to burn the city (Lesson - War in Galilee). In the fall of 70 CE, a fire did break out in the marketplace. The foursquare market burned along with the houses of public archives and records. The people of Antioch barely managed to extinguish the blaze before it spread to the rest of the city.
Antiochus the apostate blamed the Jewish community for setting the fire. He singled out some particular Jews as the authors of the plot. He surely implicated the believers, just as he had done at the outbreak of the Jewish Revolt.
The citizens of Antioch had no reason to suppose that Antiochus (a former Jew himself) might not be telling the truth. In any case, they were eager to turn against the Jews as the other cities in Syria had done. They rushed upon the accused men in a furious rage and demanded their immediate execution. The local Roman legate intervened, took the accused men into protective custody, and launched his own investigation. He quickly discovered that the accused were completely innocent of the charges and that the fire had been set by some debtors who hoped to escape their debts by burning the house of public records. By the time these things happened, Titus and Bernice had left Berytus and were on tour through all the major cities of Syria. In every place they went, they exhibited shows and made use of Jewish captives in the arenas. When the people of Antioch heard that Titus was approaching, they went out to meet him. Men, women, and children lined the road as he passed, shouting acclamations to him.
The citizens petitioned Titus for permission to eject the Jews from their city. He gave no reply, but he seemed to take the question into consideration. Some weeks later, a large multitude of Antioch's citizens gathered in the city's enormous amphitheater. They asked Titus to appear before them. He granted the request and addressed the crowd, but after his speech, the crowd began to petition him for permission to expel the Jews. Titus motioned for silence and replied, "To where would you expel them? Their own country, to which they would be obliged to go, is destroyed, and no other place will receive them." Not only did he refuse to allow the people of Antioch to expel the Jewish community, he refused to diminish the citizen-rights of the Jews in Antioch. The decision indicates Bernice's influence.
The situation in Antioch demonstrated that the defeat of the Jews had not alleviated Gentile hatred for Jews. Titus wryly observed that, if the Jews left Antioch, no other nation would receive them.
That empire-wide anti-Jewish sentiment also affected the God-fearing Gentile disciples of Yeshua everywhere. Just as Jews were not welcome in any place, neither were Gentile believers who worshiped the Jewish God and kept the Jewish laws and customs. The Gentile believers faced the same animosity as the Jewish people, but unlike the Jews, they did not enjoy solidarity with the larger Jewish community. Jewish hatred and mistrust of non-Jews had risen in direct proportion to the rise in Gentile anti-Jewish sentiment. The Gentile believers found themselves in a difhicult position. Their fellow Gentile citizens hated them as Jews. The Jewish community hated them as Gentiles.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Return to Yehudah
Josephus, Jewish War 7:112-II5/V.2
Before leaving Antioch, Titus gave a gift to the city to commemorate his victory. He left statuary of cherubim, looted from the Temple, flanking the entrance to Antioch. Then Titus and Bernice headed south for Egypt. They stopped by the ruins of Jerusalem on the way to check in with the tenth legion. Mopping up operations still needed to be conducted to take the last rebel strongholds at Herodium outside Bethlehem and the Dead Sea fortresses of Macherus and Masada.
The demolition of Jerusalem was already complete. No Jews remained except for a few old men sitting on the ashes of the Temple with tears in their eyes and the many captive women that the legionaries had retained for their own personal use. Titus was pleased to learn that, during the course of the demolition project, the Romans had uncovered large quantities of silver and gold hidden away among the ruins. While under siege, the city's inhabitants had hidden their wealth in cellars and underground chambers. Every day the legion found new caches. The tenth legion turned the money over to Titus, and he arranged to have it sent to Rome.
Josephus observed that his previous property in Judea was no longer of any value and that the legion had requisitioned it. Titus offered him a new tract of the conquered land, but he also invited him to accompany him back to Rome. Josephus accepted the offer to leave Judea.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
The Jewish Cleopatra (Spring, 71 CE)
Josephus, Jewish War 7:II6-122/V.3
Titus and Bernice traveled with their legions over the desert and came quickly to Egypt. They attended the consecration ceremonies of the god Apis in Memphis. Titus wore a golden crown he had received from the Parthians in honor of his conquest. His appearance in Egypt, crowned like a king, surrounded by two legions, and in the company of the Jewish queen, alarmed the Romans. Rumors and gossip began to circulate. People speculated that he intended on revolting from Vespasian and that he had already declared himself king of the east. Inevitably, people began to compare him to Antony. That made Bernice his Cleopatra. Back in Rome, Vespasian heard about how Titus was gallivanting around Syria and Egypt with two legions on retainer and in the thrall of his Jewish queen. It smelled like trouble. Soon everyone was talking about Titus and his Jewish Cleopatra.
Titus realized that Bernice was the cause of the trouble. He sent her back to her brother. He promised to send for her later when things in Rome had quieted down. He also dismissed the two legions. He sent the fifth to Mysia and the fifteenth to Panonia. He and Josephus hastened to Italy to clear the air with his father. As soon as Titus arrived in Rome, he hurried to Vespasian, declaring, "I am here, father! I am here at last!" Vespasian received his son warmly, and he was glad to see Josephus again. He gave Josephus an apartment in his own home and bestowed upon him the gift of Roman citizenship-which explains how Yosef ben Mattityahu became Titus Flavius Josephus. Vespasian assigned him an annual salary, and Josephus began compiling notes for a history of the Jewish War.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Triumph in Roma (Spring, 71 CE)
Josephus, Jewish War 7:123-157/v.4-6
The people of Rome immediately made preparations for three great tri-umphs: one to celebrate Vespasian's victory over Vitellius, one to celebrate Domitian's victory in Germany, and one to celebrate Titus' victory in Judea. Vespasian was a conservative, and he did not care for all that pomp and wasteful spending. He ordered the senate to combine the three events into one large triumph.
On the big day, Josephus attended the parade as a witness to the spec-tacle. All the citizens of Rome came out for the event. Early in the morning, Vespasian and Titus emerged from the temple of Isis crowned with laurel and clothed in purple silks. The armies, the whole senate, and the principal men of the equestrian order awaited them. Vespasian and Titus took their seats on a great tribunal. The soldiers shouted their acclamations until Vespasian motioned for silence. Then he stood up, wrapped his cloak over his head, and made the traditional prayers to the gods. Titus did the same. Vespasian gave a short speech to the armies and then sent them away to enjoy a royal breakfast provided from his own purse, in keeping with the tradition.
Titus and Vespasian offered sacrifices to the gods at the Gate of Triumph, and then they sent the parade ahead of them through the gate and into the city. The parade route cut through all the city's large theaters and circuses so that the triumph could be more easily viewed by the multitudes. The parade displayed great quantities of silver, gold, and precious things. The exotic and costly treasures flowed through the streets of Rome like a river of wealth. Parade members carried rich tapestries and embroideries displaying the finest art of the east. They carried precious stones and gems, set in crowns of gold and other elaborate settings. The parade carried enormous idols of the gods cast in bronze, silver, and gold. Exotic animals moved along with the procession, adorned with purple garments and golden trappings. Then came the processions of captives. Rank after rank of strong young men cloaked in fine garments marched past. A year ago, many of these had been simple Judeans and Galileans swept up in a war against Rome. Now they marched in chains, over-awed and terrified beneath towering foreign gods and hundreds of thousands of cheering Romans. Simon son of Giora and John of Gischala went at the head of the captives. Simon had to run with his hands tied behind his back and a rope around his neck. Those who drew him along struck at him and tormented him the whole distance to the forum.
The most impressive feature of the triumph was the Roman version of "moving pictures." Enormous two, three, and even four-story displays depicting the various battles of the campaign rolled past the spectators. They looked like huge billboards. They sat precariously mounted on giant carts drawn by slaves and animals. Each moving scene sequentially depicted the course of the war: the countryside of Galilee and Judea, hosts of enemy armies, strong fortifications under siege, cities atop hills under attack, the Roman army pouring itself through city walls, scenes of slaughter and captivity, houses in collapse, the Temple in flames, and a whole countryside on fire. Atop each of these displays rode the commander of the city that had been taken.
Finally, they brought the Temple treasures through the city. Those holy vessels that the Torah forbids any man to gaze upon except the priests alone now passed in plain view of every slave and commoner among the Gentiles of Rome. The golden table of the bread of the Presence passed before them. All the sacred vessels of silver and gold were displayed. The silver trumpets of the priesthood went past. Slaves carried the great menorah of the Temple with its seven branches and seven lamps aloft. Last of all came the great Torah scroll of the Temple.
The disciples of Yeshua in Rome saw all of this as well. They watched in amazement as the Temple treasures passed before their eyes. They looked in dismay as the Torah itself passed before them, held aloft in the hands of the Romans.
Then came Caesar and his sons. Ivory and gold idols of the goddess Nike (Victory) preceded Emperor Vespasian and Titus. They walked along and received the cheers of their people. Young Domitian rode beside them on a fine war horse. In accordance with Roman custom, the procession came to a stop at the temple of Jupiter and waited for the good news that the general of the enemy army had been slain. A runner came from the forum and announced that Simon son of Giora had been executed. The people gave a great cheer, and the sacrifices to Zeus commenced. Several years later, after the death of Titus, his younger brother Domitian ordered the construction of a commemorative, triumphal arch in memory of his brother's achievements. The arch of Titus stood over the Via Sacra, just southeast of the Forum. The arch still stands today. Relief carvings on the arch depict a scene from the triumph: men in the parade carrying the seven-branched menorah and the priestly trumpets aloft.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Judea Capta Coins
In connection with the festive triumph, Vespasian issued the first series of Judea Capta coins. He melted down precious metals seized from Jerusalem and struck a new Roman coin commemorating the capture of Judea and the destruction of Jerusalem. The front of the coins pictured the head of Vespasian. The reverse side depicted a woman, symbolizing the Jewish people, seated beneath a palm tree. She is clearly mourning. Her covered head is bent and her left hand covers her eyes. The inscription says IUDEA CAPTA, i.e., "Judea Captured." The Flavian family issued new versions of the Judea Capta coins in silver and gold for the twenty-five years that they held power in Rome. Collectors of Roman coins have identified Judea Capta coins in every denomination and in forty-eight different variations. Several depict the goddess Nike prevailing over the mourning woman of Judea. The popular coins put Roman anti-Jewish sentiment right on the money. The coins clearly communicated that Jews are the defeated enemies of Rome.
The Roman church continued the tradition in statuary depictions adorning churches. The lady Ecclesia (Church) took the place of the goddess Nike. She is typically depicted wearing a crown and carrying a cross. She stands in triumph over the woman Synagoga (Synagogue), a blindfolded woman with a crown slipping from her head and the tables of the Law dropping from her hands.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Temple of Peace and Colosseum
Josephus, Jewish War 7:158-162/v.7
To further commemorate his victory over Judea and the God of the Jews, Vespasian spent some of the captured wealth of Jerusalem on the construction of a new forum he called the Temple of Peace. He built the Temple of Peace near the Forum of Augustus and the Forum of Caesar facing the Velian Hill. He filled it with statues and idols and works of art collected from all over the empire, making it a museum of Roman conquests. He placed all the furnishings taken from Jerusalem's Temple as the crowning items of the collection. He did not place the Temple curtains and Torah scroll in the Temple of Peace. He used those to adorn the royal palace, but the veil from the holy of holies seems to have been on display. In the Talmud, Rabbi Eliezer ben Yosi says, "I saw the veil in Rome and there were upon it the drops of blood both of bullock and the he-goat from Yom Kippur."
Vespasian used most of the wealth taken from Judea to pay off the enormous debts incurred by the fire of Rome, Nero's mismanagement and excesses, and the disastrous civil wars of 69 cE. He used captives from Galilee for mines in Egypt, a canal project in Seleucia, and building projects in Rome. Titus and Vespasian decided to use the excess proceeds from the seizure of the Temple to build something on an epic scale, something that would survive them. They used Jewish money and Jewish slaves to construct the largest amphitheater ever built. They placed it in the center of the city. It stood on the site of the artificial lake that Nero had created for his Golden Palace. Vespasian drained the lake and filled it in. It took eight years to build and could seat fifty thousand spectators at once. The original name of the structure, Amphitheatrum Flavium, derives from Vespasian's family name: Flavius.
The colossal bronze statue of Nero (the image of the Beast), which had originally stood in front of his Golden Palace, now stood nearby the amphitheater. Hadrian later moved the colossus closer, so people began to refer to the amphitheater as the Colossus theater, i.e., the Colosseum.
A reconstructed dedicatory inscription from the Colosseum says, "The Emperor Titus Caesar Vespasian Augustus ordered the new amphitheater to be made from the proceeds of the sale of the booty." Originally, roofing covered the entire structure. It was the first indoor stadium. The Colosseum still stands in Rome today as the most recognizable icon of the imperial city.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Fiscus Judaicus
At the same time that Jewish slaves were working on laying the foundations for the Colosseum, Vespasian had to finance the rebuilding of the temple of Jupiter (Zeus) in Rome which had burned to the ground during the civil war with Vitellius. Vespasian decided to make the Jews pay for the rebuilding of Zeus' temple. He imposed a poll tax called Fiscus Judaicus (Jewish Tax) on every Jew in the empire. He modeled the tax on the half-shekel (two denarii) tax that the Jewish people used to collect and send to Jerusalem annually to finance the Temple and the year's sacrifices. Vespasian instituted the new tax, ostensibly, to punish the Jews for the expenses the empire incurred during the Jewish War. The proceeds went directly to the restoration of the temple of Zeus.
Unlike the half-shekel tax, which was incumbent only upon adult Jewish males between the ages of twenty and fifty, every Jewish man, woman, and child needed to pay the two-denarii Fiscus Judaicus annually. The punitive tax devastated the poor. Families with a dozen children and elderly parents and grandparents might have been responsible for more than thirty denarii, a month's worth of wages, in addition to all the regular Roman taxes they had to pay. (Vespasian was criticized for his tax policies in general. He even taxed the use of urinals.)
The Fiscus Judaicus humiliated the Jews throughout the empire. The thought of paying the annual Temple tax to the abominable temple of Zeus struck them as scandalous and offensive.
The tax applied not only to natural-born Jews but also to converts. It also affected God-fearers. In the eyes of the Roman government, the God-fearing Gentile believers were also Jews. They practiced Judaism, worshiped the Jewish God, and kept Jewish laws and customs. The Romans had little interest in differentiating between one who had undergone a legal conversion and one who merely practiced Jewish things as a Gentile. Vespasian's son Domitian made this policy part of the tax code by expanding the levy to apply also to Gentiles who "lived like Jews" by observing Jewish laws, i.e., the God-fearers.
Gentile believers who wanted to avoid being penalized by the Fiscus Judaicus had to convince the authorities that they were not Jewish. The tax created a serious financial motivation for distancing oneself from Judaism and the Jewish people. A Gentile Christian who wanted to avoid the Jewish tax had to conceal Sabbath observances, avoid attending synagogue services, and keep dietary regulations discreet. In most cases, it was more expedient to abandon those things altogether. The apostles never required the God-fearers to keep the telltale signs of Jewishness such as circumcision and Sabbath observance. The God-fearing believers had no overriding compulsion convicting them to retain such marks of Jewish identity and suffer the punitive tax. Moreover, they could find justification for avoiding such "works of the Law" by misapplying some of Paul's epistles.
Long after the temple of Zeus had been restored, Rome continued to collect the Fiscus Judaicus. They found that it served as a strong deterrent against Jewish tendencies and Judaizing. It also caused many Jews to conceal their Jewish identity from the authorities. The Jewish tax outlived all the Flavian emperors. It was still collected in the third century. The Holy Roman Emperors revived the tax in the Middle Ages, and they collected it from the Jewish community every year on Christmas day.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
The House of David
Josephus, Jewish War 7:407-455/x.I-xi.4
Josephus became a close advisor to Vespasian regarding Jewish affairs. Vespasian turned to Josephus for insight into the revolutionary spirit that still stirred among the Jews. Josephus explained that the problem stemmed from the expectation of a coming redeemer and savior. He explained, "The thing that inspires them to undertake war against Rome is an ambiguous prophecy that is found in their sacred writings, how, at about this time, one from their country will become the ruler over the habitable earth." Josephus explained that the Jews expected this ruler to rise up from the house of David. He said, "The Jews think that this prediction applies to themselves alone, and many of their sages have been deceived in their interpretation of the prophecy. Now, this oracle has certainly been fulfilled already. It referred to you, O Vespasian. For you were first appointed emperor in Judea."
With words like these, Josephus assured Vespasian of his own personal loyalty, and he alerted him to the danger posed by the house of David and the messianic movement. He assured Vespasian that the emperor himself was the redeemer predicted by the ancient messianic prophecies. Josephus' flattery placed the Roman emperor into the role of antichrist.
Vespasian trusted the prophetic insights of Josephus because they had proven to come true in the past. He decided that, so long as descendants of the house of David remained at large, he would never have an end of Jewish uprisings. The Jewish believer Hegesippus transmitted a tradition that Vespasian ordered the arrest and execution of all Jews with Davidic ancestry:
[Hegesippus] also relates that, after the conquest of Jerusalem, Vespasian gave orders that everyone who belonged to the line of David should be sought out, in order that no survivor of the royal dynasty might be left among the Jews. In consequence of this, a most terrible persecution again hung over the Jews. (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.12.1)
This forgotten chapter of persecution brought terror to the whole Jewish world. Suddenly the Roman government wanted to know about their ances-try. Proud Davidic families went to their deaths. Survival required concealing Davidic blood.
The hunt for the sons of David also endangered the believers. Although Vespasian never specifically singled out the disciples of Yeshua for persecu-tion, their loyalty to "the son of David" made them an obvious target for the Roman authorities hunting down the house of David. The campaign against Davidians directly affected the Desposyni-the Master's kinsmen and relatives-because of their Davidic ancestry.
News about the hunt for the sons of David must have come to Pella. Simeon the son of Clopas did not have the option of concealing his Davidic ancestry. As the leader of the Master's disciples and the cousin of Yeshua, he was already too well-known to hide his connection to the royal house. Not that he would have done so in any case. The old man had a reputation for fearless confidence in God and defiance toward Rome. The LORD protected him, and he out-lived the whole Flavian house.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.