War in Perea and Judea
Battle for the Temple (Kislev-Shevat, 67 CE)
Josephus, Jewish War 4:138-333/ii.4-v.3
The Zealots in Jerusalem were afraid that the city might be induced to surrender. They began to arrest prominent men whom they suspected of harboring Roman sympathies. They arrested and murdered aristocratic members of the Herodian family and took control of the Holy Sanctuary-the most secure position in the city-transforming it into a citadel and headquarters for their operations.
Rabbi Shim'on ben Gamliel and other prominent Pharisees protested the murders and the profaning of the Temple. Although the Pharisees and Sadducees had long been sworn enemies, they set aside their differences to stand against a common enemy. Chanan ben Chanan (Annas son of Annas) mustered the people of the city together and delivered a powerful speech, denouncing the Zealots for their murders and sacrileges. Casting his eyes up toward the Temple Mount, which the Zealots held like a fortress, Annas said with tears in his eyes, "It would have been better for me to die before I had seen the house of God full of so many abominations, those sacred places where men should not casually tread, trampled by the feet of these bloodshedding villains. Yet I, who have worn the vestments of the high priesthood and am called by that honorable title, yet live!"
The people of Jerusalem took up stones and began to fling them at the Zealots stationed around the Temple Mount. The Zealots retaliated with swords and javelins. The conflict escalated. Wounded Zealots fell back into the Temple's inner courts. The trapped Zealots dispatched a message to the Idumeans-Edomite Jews who lived in the Negev and south of Judea. They explained that Annas son of Annas had betrayed them, made an alliance with Rome to surrender the city, and now held them under siege within the Temple. They urged the Idumean Jews to send assistance at once.
The men of Idumea arrived with a strong fighting force, but the people of Jerusalem closed the city gates and did not admit them into the city. That insult inflamed the Idumean Jews. They called Annas and the Sadducees traitors and demanded admission into the city. Annas refused to open the gates.
That same night a terrible storm struck the city. Heavy wind-driven rain accompanied by flashing lightning and bellowing thunder that shook the earth sent all men seeking cover. The Idumean Jews outside the walls huddled under their shields. As the storm raged, Zealots crept out from the Temple and sawed through the bars of the city gate to admit the Idumeans.
While the storm continued to light the sky with thunderbolts, the Idumean warriors went up to the Temple Mount and attacked the guards in the colonnades. The Zealots poured out of the Temple's inner courts. The Levitical guards raised an alarm as their attackers came at them from two sides. The storm illumined scenes of the battle with strobe-like flashes. The sound of men's shouts and the clamor of weapons mixed with the roar of the wind and rolls of thunder. In terror at their advance, men trapped in the porticos leapt from the height of the Temple Mount to their deaths below. In the streets below, the people realized what was happening in the holy house. The daughters of Jerusalem took up a keening wail.
The storm cleared, the sound of battle fell silent, and the sun rose. The morning light revealed the Court of the Gentiles red with blood and littered with corpses.
The Idumeans did not stop with the liberation of the Temple Mount. They descended into the Upper City to seek out the priestly aristocracy, i.e., the Sadducees. They struck down anyone who resisted. They ransacked houses and struck the aristocratic priests down in the streets. They took turns standing on top of their dead bodies. They stripped their corpses naked and tossed them out of the city, warning the people not to accord them proper burial. "Those that not long before had worn the sacred vestments and had presided over the public worship, those esteemed honorable by all men who visited our city, were cast out naked and seen as food for dogs and wild beasts." That day, Annas and the Sadducees received the wrath they had stored up against themselves. These things happened to fulfill the prophecy spoken by Yeshua of Nazareth:
Behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood ... Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. (Matthew 23:34-36)
The Zealots implemented a state of martial law in the city. They positioned guards at all the exits and allowed no one to leave as they rounded up men culpable in the uprising against them. They made fresh arrests every day and placed men of Jerusalem into prison. If a man consented to join their cause and swear allegiance to their leaders, they allowed him to live. If a man did not consent, they scourged him and tormented him to try to change his mind. Men they arrested by day, they executed at night, and the men they arrested at night, they executed the next day.
Our Master predicted, "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death" (Mark 13:12). The people of Jerusalem cowered in terror. No man dared to lament for the dead lest that lamentation invite his own arrest, interrogation, and execution. "Only in the nighttime did they dare take up a little dust and throw it on the bodies of the dead."
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.
Trial of Zecharyah Ben Baruch
Josephus, Jewish War 4:334-344/V.4
As outrage over the murders grew, the Zealots attempted to set up their own Sanhedrin to give their purges the appearance of justice. They assembled seventy men from among the citizens of Jerusalem whom they considered loyal to their cause. The men they chose had no experience as legislators. They were not experts in the Torah, but they held the power of life and death in their hands.
The first case set before the new Sanhedrin consisted of charges against a prominent man named Zacharias son of Baruch, a wealthy man of Jerusalem. The Zealots accused him of involvement in a conspiracy to betray the city to the Romans. They alleged that Zacharias had communicated with General Vespasian. They offered no evidence of the charges except their own assurances of the man's guilt.
The court gave Zacharias the opportunity to defend himself. He refuted the allegations, and with only a few words, he demonstrated both his innocence and the spurious nature of the charges. Then he turned from the seventy legislators to face his accusers. Like Stephen before the Sanhedrin in Acts 7:51-53, Zacharias turned the tables on his accusers and charged them with their many impieties, murderous villainies, and transgressions of the Torah.
The so-called Sanhedrin voted. Even though the legislators had been handpicked by the Zealots, they chose to acquit the man. They could see that he was innocent and that his accusers had no real case against him.
The Zealots rose up in fury. Two of the Zealot leaders unsheathed their swords and ran the plaintiff through. They said, "You also have our verdict. We acquit you, too." Then they dragged his body into Solomon's Colonnade and threw it from that height into the valley below. The other Zealots struck the seventy legislators with the flats of their swords and drove them from the Temple. That was the last trial a Sanhedrin conducted in the city of Jerusalem.
The incident fulfills a word spoken by Yeshua in reference to the murder of Zechariah the son of Jehoiada in the Temple. During the last week before His suffering, our Master predicted that His generation would pay the price for the blood of all the prophets and righteous men: "From the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah ... whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation" (Matthew 23:35-36).
Most manuscripts of Matthew 23:35 add the words "son of Berechiah" to the name Zechariah. This may indicate that some early believers, responsible for copying the manuscript of Matthew, interpreted Yeshua's words about the murder of Zechariah in the Temple as a prophetic reference to the murder of Zacharias the son of Baruch in 68 CE. (Berechiah is the full name for Baruch.) Even though the Master certainly referred to the death of Zechariah son of Jehoiada (2 Chronicles 24:20-22, Cf. Luke II:51), His words took on a new prophetic fulfillment in the death of Zecharias son of Baruch. As the last case heard by an official Sanhedrin before the fall of the city, the prophetic interpretation carries extra weight. It is possible that Zacharias son of Baruch was a believer and that the apostolic community remembered him as the last believing martyr before the final judgment of Jerusalem.
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.
Tyranny of the Zealots
Josephus, Jewish War 4:345-409/V1.I-VI1.3
The Zealots continued their private war against the citizens of Jerusalem. They struck down Gurion, a member of Nicodemus' family. They concocted pretenses against their victims and slew them without even bothering to create artificial tribunals. They used the opportunity to kill men against whom they held grudges. They killed them if they coveted their property. "If a man avoided them, they suspected him of pride; if a man came boldly to them, they suspected him of harboring accusations against them. If a man came to them to ask a favor, they suspected him of treacherously plotting against them."
The Zealots kept the city under their martial law. They punished all crimes with death. They refused to allow anyone to leave lest he defect to the Romans. They struck down those they discovered escaping and left them unburied. Corpses lay along the roadways into the city. They refused to allow burial for any man they put to death.
To the people of Jerusalem, it seemed as if the Zealots had declared war against Rome and God both. They left the dead bodies to putrefy in the sun. They put to death anyone who dared to bury one of their victims. Josephus says, "He that granted the favor of a grave to another soon stood in need of a grave himself." In those days the words of the Master were fulfilled:
"I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left." ... And answering they said to Him, "Where, Master?" And He said to them, "Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered." (Luke 17:34-37)
Vespasian's advisors and commanders urged him to take advantage of the chaos and march against the city, "The gods are on our side! They have set our enemies against one another. We should hurry before they tire of fighting one another and unite against us."
Vespasian replied, "If we now attack the city, we will force our enemies to unite against us. The longer we wait, the fewer enemies we shall have, for they shall consume themselves in this sedition."
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.
Fall of Perea (Adar, 68 CE)
Josephus, Jewish War 4:413-439/vii.3-6
As the springtime drew near, Vespasian commenced his campaign. The rebels in Perea held the city of Gadara. Vespasian took the tenth legion from Scythopolis (Beth-shan) and marched them into Perea. At the sight of the approaching legion, the rebels abandoned the city and fled. Gadara surrendered immediately.
Roman cavalry caught up with the fleeing rebels and slaughtered the people of the area. Fugitives from the battle inspired a mass panic in the villages of Perea, and the Jews of Perea fled from their villages and towns with hopes of reaching Jericho. The cavalry pursued the refugees and assaulted them on the road. Roman soldiers spread along the Jordan Valley and hemmed in the Jews of Perea with their backs to the river. The Jordan was swollen from the winter rains, making escape impossible. The Romans advanced and drove them into the river. The corpses of the refugees floated down the Jordan and washed into the salty brine of the Dead Sea.
This slaughter happened just south of Pella where the Jewish believers had taken refuge inside the walls of that city. From their perspective in the city, it seemed as if the Master's words had come to pass:
Then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. (Matthew 24:21-22)
They prayed ardently for the coming of the Son of Man to cut the days of tribulation short. They looked for the sign of the Son of Man in the sky, and they listened for the sound of His shofar, but He did not come.
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.
Campaigns in Yehudah (Nisan-Sivan, 68 CE)
Josephus, Jewish War 4:440-490/viii.I-ix.I
Back in Caesarea, Vespasian received urgent news from Rome. The Roman governor of Gallia had revolted against Nero, amassed an army, and declared his allegiance to Servius Galba as the new emperor. The news alarmed Ves-pasian. He did not want to remain isolated in Judea while regime change was underway in Rome. He resolved to wrap up the war as quickly as possible. He secured and garrisoned Antipatris (where Paul once spent the night), Jamnia (Yavneh), and Lydda (where Peter healed a lame man).
He left the fifth legion at Emmaus to cut off the route to Jerusalem while the fifteenth assaulted the cities of Idumea and quickly subdued Idumean rebels. He swept through Samaria and secured all the cities of the Samari-tans. By the third day of Sivan, he arrived at Jericho. A great multitude of refugees fled from Jericho to hide themselves in the Judean wilderness. Those who did not flee fast enough died. Vespasian found the great city of Jericho abandoned. The general traveled south to see the legendary Dead Sea in which a man could not sink. To test the legend, he had his men tie the hands of captives behind their backs and throw them into the lake. It so happened that they popped up out of the water, just as the popular reports claimed.
Vespasian tightened the noose around Jerusalem until he had fortified all the places around the city. His forces went through the mountainous areas and the plains, compassing the city with armies, preparing for the final onslaught. This was what our Master had predicted when He said, "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near" (Luke 21:20).
Inside the walls, the Zealots amused themselves with looting, rape, and astonishing debaucheries. The people had no means to resist the revolu-tionaries. Some saw their homes plundered and their women violated, but no one could do anything against the Zealots.
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.
Nero Dead
Josephus, Jewish War 4:491/ix.2
Nero's popularity with Rome's upper class had been plummeting since the fire of Rome. The cost of rebuilding the city, compounded by the costs of his new golden palace and his constant spectacles, triumphs, arts festivals, and games, sent the finances of the Roman government spiraling out of control. To compensate, he introduced excessive tax policies, which further crippled the economy and disenfranchised his citizens. When he uncovered a plot against him among the Roman noblemen, he instituted a terrifying sweep of arrests. Anyone suspected of complicity in the conspiracy faced torture and execution. No one was immune. Public outrage smoldered.
Nero turned the arrests and executions to his financial advantage by seizing the assets of the so-called conspirators. Nero's henchman, Tigellinus, was instrumental in the gutting of the Roman aristocracy.
In 67 CE, the year that Paul died in Rome, Nero made the foolish decision to spend the year outside of Rome touring Greece. He attended the Pan-Hellenic games. At the Pythian, Nemean, Delphic, and Olympic games, he competed in chariot races and always won. The organizers of the games humored him by adding a lyre-playing category to the games. Not surpris-ingly, he always took first place in those competitions. He won the laurels for every event in which he participated.
When Nero heard about the rebellion of Vindex in Gaul, he returned to Rome. He organized an extravagant triumphal entry as if he was a victorious emperor returning from war. The people cheered obligingly, but rumors of revolt were everywhere. Vindex was in Gaul preaching "liberty from the tyrant" and "salvation for the whole human race." Nero laughed it off until he heard that five other provinces had joined Vindex's campaign, including his old friend Otho (former husband of his dead wife, Poppaea) and the venerable Servius Galba, the governor of the Spanish provinces. Galba's army had already declared him legate of the senate and the people of Rome.
Nero ordered a military reply, but other provinces quickly joined the revolt. Legions in various places cast their allegiance behind Galba. Tigel-linus sided with Galba. The Praetorian Guard and the senate joined and declared Nero an enemy of the state.
On the ninth of June, Nero woke up in his palace alone. He called for servants; none came. He called for the guards; none came. He wandered through the halls and corridors of the enormous golden palace, calling out for anyone. Everyone had fled.
He finally found four loyal freedmen who helped him escape the city. He fled in a plain tunic and dark cloak to avoid detection, but he did not take the time to fetch a pair of shoes. They traveled four miles to a villa outside the city. Nero instructed them to dig a grave for him and then tried to work up his nerve to commit suicide. As he heard horsemen from the city approaching, he told one of the freedmen to open his veins for him. He lamented, "What an artist dies with me!"
He was the last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. He left no heir of his own, and he had killed off the other legitimate heirs to the dynasty. Galba marched for Rome to take his throne.
Nero's death came three and a half years after he initiated the persecution against the believers, as it says: "There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him" (Revelation 13:5).
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.
Galba and Otho (Fall-Winter, 68-69 CE)
Josephus, Jewish War 4:49I-502/ix.2
Vespasian decided to defer his assault on Jerusalem until he found out if he was to be transferred back west. When he heard that Galba had become emperor, he sent Titus to salute the new Caesar on his behalf. King Agrippa wanted to flatter the new emperor as well. He set sail with Titus.
Events transpired quickly in Rome. Galba instituted unpopular austerity measures to restore the state finances. Legions stationed in Germany refused to take the oath of loyalty to Galba. They toppled his statues and took oaths of loyalty to their commander, Vitellius. At the same time, Nero's old friend Otho conspired with the Praetorian Guard and assassinated Galba. Otho took control of Rome on January 15 of 69 CE, but his rival for the title, General Vitellius, was already mobilizing the German legions to march against the capital.
Titus and Agrippa had gone as far as Corinth when they received the news that Galba was dead and Otho made emperor, but the situation sounded uncertain. They learned that the legions in Germany were claiming General Vitellius as the new emperor. Titus wavered, uncertain whether he should continue on to Rome or abort the mission and return to his father in Caesarea. He realized that, if he continued on to Rome, he would receive no thanks for courtesies originally intended for Galba, and the new emperor, whoever he might be, might take him hostage to ensure Vespasian's loyalty. On the other hand, he feared offending the new emperor. Yet another thought occurred to him. If the legions in Germany could swear their allegiance to their reprehensible general, Vitellius, why shouldn't the legions in Judea swear allegiance to Vespasian? Titus aborted the mission and sailed back to Caesarea.
King Agrippa also weighed the options, but he decided to continue on the journey and salute Otho.
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.
Shim’on Bar Giora (Nisan, 69 CE)
Josephus, Jewish War 4:503-584/ix
Vespasian decided not to make any advances against Jerusalem while the fate of Rome hung in the balance. While the Roman armies waited, a Zealot warlord named Simon the son of Giora grew more and more powerful. He avoided the Roman army, preferring to make war against Idumean Jews and other Zealots. He lived like a bandit, pillaged the countryside, and drew an army consisting of ruffians, rogues, and bandits.
His army used guerrilla warfare tactics to subdue the land. The Jewish people began to look to him as the strongest leader in the revolt, and his army grew quickly to tens of thousands.
The Zealots holding Jerusalem feared him. He made no secret of his hopes to take Jerusalem. The Zealots sent out a force from Jerusalem to attack Simon, but Simon's men beat them back.
They sent out raiding parties to ambush Simon's men and harass him. On one occasion, they captured his wife and several of her servants in one of their raids. They brought her back to Jerusalem to hold as a bargaining piece against Simon. The bargain did not work.
Simon son of Giora led his bandits to the walls of Jerusalem. The citizens of Jerusalem opened the gates to him and welcomed him as their savior and liberator from the Zealots holding the Temple Mount. As Simon's army entered Jerusalem, the Zealots withdrew to the Temple. Simon and his men took the city and began an assault on the Temple Mount. The Zealots easily repelled Simon's forces from the heavily fortified Temple Mount. They shot missiles and arrows from the tops of the porticoes and dropped stones on soldiers below. They had catapults, quick-loaders, and ballistas mounted on towers at the corners of the Temple Mount. Simon's men fell back. The conflict stalemated with the Zealots holding the Temple Mount and Simon's men holding the 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.
Civil War In Roma (Nisan, 69 CE)
Josephus, Jewish War 4:545-549/ix.9
While the Zealot factions fought against each other in the holy city of Jerusalem, two factions of Romans fought against each other in Italy. The whole world watched in amazement as Roman legions marched against Roman legions. The empire seemed to be tearing itself apart.
General Vitellius took control of Rome in April of 69 CE. The senate reluctantly declared him emperor. Vitellius was a Neronian that Roman historians remember as sluggardly, self-indulgent, gluttonous, and obese. He had no endearing qualities with which to win Roman loyalty. Other generals in the Roman army resented him. He arrived at Rome at the head of a partying troop of soldiers and unleashed them on the city. His foreign troops ransacked Roman homes, inciting riots and massacres. While his troops had their way with the city, Vitellius followed Nero's example by plunging headlong into dissipation and debauchery. He established a series of feasts, banquets, and triumphal parades that quickly added to the enormous imperial debt. When moneylenders demanded payment, Vitellius ordered them tortured and executed. He conducted a series of assassinations to eliminate potential rivals. The people of Rome hated their new master.
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.
A Story From the Talmud: The Famine Begins
b.Gittin 56a
Our Master said, "If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand" (Mark 3:25). The civil war inside Jerusalem's walls split into three parties. Simon son of Giora ruled the city. The Zealot bandit John of Gischala held the outer courts of the Temple Mount (Court of the Gentiles). A Zealot faction under Eleazar son of Simon took control of the Temple itself and sealed themselves inside the inner courts. The three factions made war on each other.
Simon son of Giora's men attacked the Temple Mount to try to dislodge John of Gischala's men.
John's men sent raids into the city against Simon's men.
At the same time, they fought against Eleazar's men for control of the Temple.
During the course of the daily skirmishes, John's men set fire to the warehouses of grain controlled by Simon. According to the Talmud, the granaries had been financed by Nicodemus (Nakdimon ben Gurion) in preparation for the war, and they would have sufficed to feed the population for an extended siege.
A story from the Talmud tells of a wealthy Sadducean woman named Martha from the house of Boethius who sent her servant out to the market saying, "Go buy me some fine flour." By the time he reached the marketplace, the merchants had no fine flour left. He walked back to her mansion and said, "The fine flour is gone, but there is white flour." She said, "Go buy me some white flour." By the time he reached the marketplace the white flour was gone. He came and told her, "The white flour is gone, but there is dark flour." She said to him, "Go buy me some dark flour." By the time he reached the marketplace, even the dark flour was gone. He returned and said to her, "The dark flour is gone, but there is barley flour." She said, "Go buy me some barley flour." By the time he reached the marketplace, even the barley flour was gone.
The famine grew severe. The people searched the city for food. The wealthy of Jerusalem had plenty of silver and gold, but they could not eat it. When Martha was about to die, she brought out all her gold and silver and threw it in the street, asking, "What good does any of this do for me?"
When Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai heard about this, he said, "Now I know why the prophet says [in Ezekiel 7:19], 'They will fling their silver into the streets and their gold will become an abhorrent thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their appetite nor can they fill their stomachs."
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.
A Story From the Talmud: The Escape of Yochanan Ben Zakkai
b.Gittin 56a-b; Lamentations Rabbah 39
The Pharisees and sages connected with the school of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai knew that the war would end in disaster. Like the disciples of Yeshua, they had foreseen the inevitable end. When Vespasian's forces drew near to Jerusalem, the rabbis associated with Yochanan ben Zakkai despaired and said to the Zealots, "Let us go out to the Romans and make peace with them." The Zealots replied, "On the contrary, let us go out and fight against them."
The rabbis said, "You will not succeed."
It so happened that Ben Battiah, a leader of the Sicarii Zealots, was the son of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai's sister. The people called him Abba Sikra, that is, "Father Sicarii."
When Yochanan ben Zakkai heard that Abba Sikra set fire to the grain supplies, he cried out, "Woe!"
Abba Sikra heard about it and demanded, "Why did you cry out 'Woe!' when I burned the granaries?"
Yochanan ben Zakkai covered for himself, "I did not say Woe!' I said, 'Woe!'
A few days later Ben Zakkai observed people in the market boiling straw and drinking the broth. He said to himself, "Can people who boil straw and drink its broth withstand the armies of Vespasian? I must leave the city."
He sent a message to Abba Sikra, saying, "Come visit me privately." The old sage asked his young revolutionary nephew, "How long are you Zealots going to carry on like this? You will kill the people with starvation."
Abba Sikra replied, "What can I do about it? If I say one word to them, they will kill me, too."
Ben Zakkai said, "At least devise some plan to help me escape from the city."
Abba Sikra said, "We have agreed that no one will leave except for corpses."
Ben Zakkai replied, "Get me out as a corpse then."
They concocted an escape plan. Abba Sikra said, "Feign illness, and let everyone come to inquire about your health. Bring some putrid smelling thing and put it in your bed so that they will think you are already dead. Let your most-trusted disciples place you on a bier and carry you out for burial."
Ben Zakkai agreed to the ruse. His disciples Rabbi Yehoshua ben Cha-naniah and Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus carried their teacher's bier to the city gate. The Zealots guarding the gate suspected mischief, and one of them was about to thrust his lance through the bier to make sure that the old rabbi was really dead, but Eliezer protested, "Shall they say, 'They have pierced their master?'"
The Zealots wanted to throw the bier to the ground, but Rabbi Joshua protested, "Shall they say, 'They have thrown down their master?'"
The Zealots finally opened the gate, and Joshua and Eliezer carried their master out. Clear of the city, they fled to the Romans.
Ben Zakkai appeared before Vespasian and saluted him, saying, "Peace unto you, O King, peace unto you, O King."
Vespasian replied, "You deserve to die twice. First because you call me a king and 1 am not a king. Secondly because if you really think 1 am a king, why did you not surrender yourself earlier?"
Ben Zakkai replied, "As for your saying that you are not a king, in truth you must be a king, because if you were not a king Jerusalem would not be delivered into your hand, for it is written, [in Isaiah 10:34], 'Lebanon will fall by the mighty one? 'Mighty one' means a king ... 'Lebanon' means the Temple, as it says in the Torah [in Deuteronomy 3:25], That good mountain and Lebanon' As for why I did not surrender earlier, the bandits inside the city did not allow me to leave."
Vespasian expressed skepticism, but just then, a messenger came, saying, "Rise up. The emperor [Otho] is dead, and the prominent men of Rome have chosen you as head."
Vespasian was amazed that Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai seemed to have known this news even before he himself did. He said to the old rabbi, "I will give you one request."
Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai asked for permission to establish an academy for the surviving sages in the city of Yavneh (Jamnia). Vespasian granted the boon. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Yochanan ben Zakkai gathered the remaining sages and scholars at lavneh and began a new Sanhedrin-the beginning of post-Temple Judaism.
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 Prophecy Fulfilled (Tammuz, 69 CE)
Josephus, Jewish War 4:585-621/x.I-6
The thought of taking power for himself had never left Vespasian's mind since Josephus had first made the prediction at Jotapata. He could not stomach the thought of taking an oath of allegiance to Vitellius. He set aside his campaigns against the Jews and returned to Caesarea where Titus was already preparing the ground for his father's accession.
The legions in Caesarea surrounded their commander, swore allegiance to him, and urged him to take command of the empire. Vespasian accepted their nomination after the short, obligatory period of feigned reluctance.
Titus worked closely with Queen Bernice to ensure his father's success. Bernice sent a secret message to Rome, telling her brother Agrippa to return at once. She could not wait for his arrival. She had to act without him. She set to work using the wealth and political power of the Herodian name to smooth the way for Vespasian's ascent to power. The historian Tacitus noted that her political connections helped seal the region for Vespasian: "Queen Bernice too, who was then in the prime of youth and beauty, and who had charmed even the old Vespasian by the splendor of her presence, promoted his cause with equal zeal." She won the loyalty of the local monarchs in Syria.
Queen Bernice also seems to have been instrumental in securing the loyalty of her former brother-in-law, Tiberius Alexander, the governor of Alexandria. She knew that if Vespasian could control Alexandria, Egypt, he could control Rome's food supply. Tiberius Alexander swore allegiance to Vespasian at once and induced the two legions under his power to do the same.
By the middle of July, the whole of Syria had joined the alliance. Vespa-sian, Titus, and Bernice arranged a summit meeting in Berytus (Beirut). They arrived with the picked troops of Vespasian's army. Bernice summoned the local kings and client monarchs. Mucianus came from Antioch with legates and tribunes and all the most distinguished centurions and soldiers. All the provinces of Asia Minor were represented. King Agrippa arrived from Rome. The city of Berytus became, for a few brief months, the temporary capital of the new imperial regime.
The heads of state laid out their strategy for war. They sent messengers to the far-flung legions and dispatched ambassadors calling on the provinces to pledge loyalty to Vespasian. The emperor appointed new governors for provinces that did not quickly declare their loyalty. Everything fell into place quickly. It seemed to Vespasian that the gods had handed him the empire:
He believed that he had received the government from the gods, for it seemed that a righteous kind of fate had brought the empire under his power. He recalled the many signs (for there had been many in many places) that foretold he should obtain the government. (Josephus, Jewish War 4:622-623/X.7)
Vespasian summoned the prisoner Josephus into his presence. Still chained to a Roman soldier, Josephus stood before the commanders, kings, and nobles that had assembled together at Berytus. Vespasian introduced the prisoner and told about the valor and ingenuity Josephus displayed during the defense of Jotapata, and how he had predicted-even while Nero still lived-how Vespasian would be made emperor. He said, "It is a disgraceful thing that this man who predicted my coming to imperial power and served as a voice for the gods to me should remain as a captive or a prisoner."
Titus rose from his place beside the queen and said, "O father, it is surely just that the stigma should be removed from Josephus, together with his iron chain. We should not merely loose his bonds, but we should cut them to pieces, so that he will be like a man that had never been bound at all." That was the Roman custom to signify the exoneration of an innocent man who had been wrongly incarcerated. Vespasian agreed. They summoned a soldier who cut the chain to pieces. Josephus was a free man.
Vespasian's forces entered Rome in December, and a fierce battle swept through the city's streets. Vespasian's men found Vitellius hiding in Nero's palace. They dragged him through the streets and publicly stabbed him to death. Vitellius had reigned only eight months. The senate acknowledged Vespasian as emperor on December 21, 69 CE.
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.