The Jewish War (Part 1 of 4)

Prelude to the Jewish War

Introduction

The war which erupted between the Jews and the Romans in A.D. 66, and lasted for seven bitter and destructive years, is famous in history, partly because with it began the long night of Jewish dispersion, which did not end until May 1948, and partly because of the vivid detail in which Josephus (Josephs Ben Maturity in Hebrew) has narrated it. His account of the seven years of fighting, as detailed in The Wars of the Jews, runs to more than 65,000 words, some 126 pages in The Works of Josephus.1

It is really a piece of propaganda for the Romans. It was not to be expected of a Jew to call an account of a war in which his people were so badly beaten and so cruelly treated, The Jewish War, which could only be interpreted as war against the Jews. The purpose of the account was to show once and for all how foolish it was for anyone to think that they could oppose the unconquerable might of Rome. The first battle, as usually happens, did go in favor of the protesters against the rule of Rome; but, in the war of attrition which followed, Roman superiority in men and arms eventually won.

The work of Josephus was inspired by Titus, conqueror of Jerusalem, and King Herod Agrippa II, great-grandson of Herod the Great and also the ruler before whom the Apostle Paul appeared (Acts 25:23-26:32). Titus signed the order for publication, and Agrippa wrote Josephus sixty-two letters on the subject matter of the book.2

In his research Josephus had access to the Emperor Vespasian’s memoirs and to the official archives of the Roman state. These were deposited in the Capitol, which, after escaping the great fire of A.D. 64, was burned during the disturbances which followed Nero’s death. To replace the originals Vespasian had the whole empire ransacked for copies, which were engraved on 3,000 bronze tablets. This is why Josephus was able to quote so many official sources in his works. He ends his account of the siege of Jerusalem: “Yet hath not its great antiquity, nor its vast riches, nor the diffusion of its nation over all the habitable world, nor the greatness of the veneration paid to it on a religious account, been sufficient to preserve it from being destroyed. And thus ended the siege of Jerusalem”.3

Victory at Beth-Horon

Perpetually resenting the limitations on the sovereign authority of the Law by a foreign power, and with the hope of the coming of Messiah to excite them,4 the Jews were awkward provincial subjects. Nor was Rome fortunate in her choice of those men by whom the Jewish nation was governed from A.D. 6 to A.D. 66, except for the brief reign of Herod Agrippa I (41-44).

Offence was often given through obtuseness and obstinacy, as when Pontiffs Pilate at first insisted on bringing his troops into Jerusalem with their standards, on which were images of the emperor, which were sure to offend the Jews, and only refrained from doing so with bad grace. Other actions were perhaps excusable, though tactless, as when Pilate proposed to appropriate a portion of the temple funds for the wholly laudable purpose of bringing water in an aqueduct from a source south of Bethlehem to the city, and indeed the temple. A riot followed this alleged sacrilege, which Pilate silenced by intimidation and violence, resulting in a number of deaths.

Pilate appears as a weak and nervous character, who on occasion showed an ill-seasoned obstinacy. This is borne out by the Gospel narratives, and to a further extent by incidents recorded by secular historians. An example is the bloody dispersion of a crowd of credulous and ignorant peasants, excited by one who claimed to be a prophet, at Mount Grimmer, which incident was the main cause of Pilate’s removal from office. The rule of Pilate is typical of the rule of the Roman procurators, and it led to continuous troubles between Jews and Romans. Nevertheless the strict impartiality of Roman justice and consideration for the religious susceptibilities of the Jews is evident in the execution by Procurator Adventitious Commands (48-52) of a Roman soldier who, in a search in a village, had wantonly torn up a scroll of the Law.

Sadly, these years were also a time favour­able to the emergence of the worst elements among the Jewish people. Jerusalem had a fore­taste of the civil strife which was eventually to prove more pernicious than the assaults of Rome when Eleazar, governor of the temple, and Menahem, son of rebel leader, Judas of Gamala, fought each other in the streets, and desecrated the temple in their internecine strife. The party of Menahem killed the high priest Ananias, though Menahem himself was killed.

At this point (November 66) Cestius Gallus, legate of Syria, moved with two legions of aux­iliaries from his headquarters at Antioch in Syria to deal with a situation which the procurator of Judea could no longer control. The latter’s name was Gussies Florus, who believed in putting down the slightest disturbance with the utmost severity. He was the man chiefly responsible for precipitating the war between Rome and Israel.

Justices Callus mustered his forces at Ptole­mais, where he was joined by Herod Agrippa II with 3,000 foot and horse. They proceeded to Caesarea, from whence a flying column surprised Joppa, burning the town. Moving forward to Lydda, Gallus penetrated the pass of Beth-horon to the upland plain by Gibeon, where he pitched camp. The legate moved his assault forces to Mount Scopus and attacked the city of Jerusa­lem on its most vulnerable side, the north. Here the suburb of Bezetha, not yet fully enclosed by the wall of the city (which had been begun by Herod Agrippa I but had been discontinued by the order of Claudius) was destroyed, and the Romans proceeded to mine the wall of the temple precinct. At this time influential men in Jerusalem would have admitted the Romans. Adequate contact with Gallus was lacking ow­ing to strict security, and the legate on his part had apparently no suspicion of the uncertainty in which the defenders found themselves. Josephus maintains that a resolute assault would have reduced the city, but this great opportunity passed when Cestius Gallus ordered the withdrawal of his troops.’5

This move will remain one of the unsolved mysteries of history, humanly speaking. Possi­bly the legate, whose main interest was the secu­rity of the whole province of Syria, had satisfied himself on his march through the land to Jerusa­lem that the situation was well in hand, and the trouble localised in the city, remote among the mountains, where the conflicting parties were cancelling each other out. In any case, he with­drew his assault forces to Mount Scopus, then to Gibeon, which he abandoned after two days.

But the Jews, despite their hatreds, united to harass the Roman withdrawal. While the Romans were still in the pass before it came out to the coastal plain, the Jews set on them, and retreat became a rout.6 In this pass, rich in memories for the Jews, Joshua broke an Amorite confederacy (Josh. 10:1-15), Saul pursued the Philistines (1 Sam. 14:31), and Judas the Maccabee and his band of patriots several times harassed Syrian forces. The unexpectedness of this victory fanned the flame of fanaticism in Jerusalem. This general sortie from Jerusalem may have been the juncture at which the Christian community in the city, who would be suspected of moderation, profited from a relaxation of security to flee the city (knowing of Luke 21:21).

  1. The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged New Updated Edition, Henderson, first published 1987, fifth edition 1991. All quotations from the works of Josephus in this series are taken from this edition.
  2. The Life of Flavus Josephus
  3. The Wars of the Jews, Book 6, chapter 10.1.
  4. In his Jerusalem Illustrated History Atlas (London, 1977) Martin Gilbert shows twenty-two towns from which false Messiahs appeared from AD. 400 to A.D. 1740 (p. 33).
  5. Wars, 2.19.7.
  6. Wars, 2.19.8-9.