Click or Tap Icons to Share! Thank you!

Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: Jun. 14, 2025
Update	: Jun. 14, 2025
Parts	: 25

Synopsis:




Continuing our discussion from part two, and moving into the beginning of "The War of the Jews" Book 2 Chapter 17, we are told that the Jews of Jerusalem took heed to Agrippa's sound advice. Thus, they began to rebuild the cloisters which then would reconnect the temple to Antonia Tower -- also known as Antonia Fortress, or the citadel -- and they likewise went about collecting the back tributes which were still owed to Rome. So for the time being, it appeared that King Agrippa had averted or at least delayed the war.

However, as we already know from the historical record, the situation was not as stable as it may have appeared to be in that moment. In fact, Josephus informs his readers that the king quickly found out that when it came to governor Florus' violence against the Jews of Jerusalem, they were still not so forgiving, and it was quite a different story. Thus, when Herod Agrippa again tried to persuade the people to continue obeying Florus until Emperor Nero could send someone else to replace him, the following is what then happened. Please note that the word "contumelies" refers to insolent or insulting language or treatment:

----- Begin Quote -----

". . . but they were hereby more provoked, and cast reproaches upon the king, and got him excluded out of the city; nay, some of THE SEDITIOUS had the impudence to throw stones at him. So when the king saw that the violence of THOSE THAT WERE FOR INNOVATIONS [meaning seditions] was not to be restrained, and being very angry at the contumelies he had received, he sent their rulers, together with their men of power, to Florus, to Caesarea, that he might appoint whom he thought fit to collect the tribute in the country, while he retired into his own kingdom."

----- End Quote -----

To me, this incident was the seventh instance where a very terrible mistake was made. As we have seen, the first six errors were made by Gessius Florus, as he pushed the Jews closer to war with the Romans. But in this case, it was the Jerusalemites who foolishly catapulted themselves towards an inevitable war with the Romans. King Herod had been very understanding, reasonable and passionate, and he had told them an unpopular truth which some of them did not want to hear. Nevertheless, he had been more their ally than their enemy.

Imagine if a certain person is on a bridge, and at a point where they are ready to jump off. But then another person sees them, and makes a serious attempt to prevent them from committing suicide. Wouldn't that person who offered them their assistance be considered a friend? Yet if that person jumps anyway, despite a heartfelt plea from the individual who came to assist him, can that second person be blamed?

This was the situation with Herod Agrippa and the people of Jerusalem. He tried to knock some sense into them. He told them that what they were planning was suicidal. They would all die, and their city and temple would be burned to the ground. Thus, by rejecting Herod's final counsel, casting stones at him, and throwing him out of the city, they made a very grievous mistake. In my mind, this incident makes it even clearer why the king chose to join forces with Titus, and warred against the city.

Imagine if you are the president of the United States, and a group of young Left-leaning radicals mocks and insults you, manhandles you, throws some rotten tomatoes at you, and even roughly throws you out of Washington, DC. Not only would you be angry as Herod Agrippa II was angry, but you would likely be having thoughts of revenge in your head as well, right? Thus, Herod went back to his own kingdom, and left all of those fools to their own destructive devices. He had tried to prevent the war and failed. No one could blame him for what happened next.

Incidentally, regarding Gessius Florus, due to the poor job he had done at preventing the war, in addition to the serious abuses of power he had committed at both Caesarea and in Jerusalem, in 66 AD, at the beginning of the First Jewish-Roman War, he was replaced as procurator by Marcus Antonius Julianus. Julianus was in fact the last person to hold the position of Procurator of Judea. Exactly how and when he was removed from his post is unknown. But what is know, is the fact that just like his predecessor, he was unable to prevent the war from breaking out.

Directly related to my article called "The Fall of Masada", in paragraph 2 of Chapter 17, Josephus informs us of the next big mistake the Jewish radicals made: they killed the Romans and took over the fortress of Masada, not realizing that it would eventually become their own death trap, as we see by this quote:

----- Begin Quote -----

"And at this time it was that some of those that PRINCIPALLY EXCITED THE PEOPLE TO GO TO WAR [meaning the seditionists], made an assault upon a certain fortress called Massada. They took it by treachery, and slew the Romans that were there, and put others of their own party to keep it."

----- End Quote -----

Please read the aforementioned article to learn the details regarding exactly how that tragic story came about. As you can see, the snowball was rushing down the hill, but there was nobody to stop it. Herod tried but failed. The common people didn't want war, but they were not in control. The seditionists -- Zealots and Sicarii -- wanted war, as did Gessius Florus. Titus did not really want war either, but the growing rebellion had to be put down. And then another grave mistake was made by the Jews.

From the perspective of Flavius Josephus, what occurred next was "the true beginning of our war with the Romans." He then explains that Eleazar, who was the son of the high priest -- that being Ananias -- and also the governor of the temple, "persuaded those that officiated in the divine service", to stop receiving gifts and sacrifices from foreigners. Doing so would create a huge problem, because it likewise meant no longer receiving any gifts and sacrifices from Caesar either.

While the high priests tried to persuade Eleazar and his faction -- which seemed to have support from the innovators, that is, from the seditionists -- not to make such a foolish decision, nevertheless, Eleazar stood firm. Josephus informs his readers that realizing the seriousness of the situation, the high priests, the Pharisees and other "men of power" got together to decide how to proceed. They then gathered all of the people in front of the gate of the inner temple in order to try to convince the seditionists to not move forward with their plan. Josephus writes as follows:

----- Begin Quote -----

"Accordingly they determined to try what they could do with THE SEDITIOUS by words, and assembled the people before the brazen gate, which was that gate of the inner temple [court of the priests] which looked toward the sun rising. And, in the first place, they showed the great indignation they had at this ATTEMPT FOR A REVOLT, and for their bringing SO GREAT A WAR upon their country: after which they confuted their pretence as unjustifiable, and told them. That "their forefathers had adorned their temple in great part with donations bestowed on them by foreigners, and had always received what had been presented to them from foreign nations."

----- End Quote -----

The high priests and company then explained to the people that to stop receiving donations and sacrifices from Caesar would "irritate the Romans to take arms against them, and invited them to make war upon them." Sadly, despite their strong argument, the innovators -- meaning the seditionists -- refused to listen to such words of wisdom. Instead, they went about preparing for their war against the Romans. Out of desperation, the men in authority then wrote to Gessius Florus, and to King Agrippa, in the hope that they would offer them their assistance, and prevent the seditionists -- or innovators -- from starting a war with Rome.

----- Begin Quote -----

"But still not one of THE INNOVATORS would hearken to what was said; nay, those that ministered about the temple would not attend their divine service, but were PREPARING MATTERS FOR BEGINNING THE WAR. So the men of power perceiving that THE SEDITION WAS TOO HARD FOR THEM TO SUBDUE, and that the danger which would arise from the Romans, would come upon them first of all, endeavoured to save themselves, and sent ambassadors, some to Florus, the chief of which was Simon the son of Ananias; and others to Agrippa,"

----- End Quote -----

Not surprisingly, governor Florus totally ignored their plea for help. In fact, we are told that wicked Florus was quite pleased with this news, because it was exactly what he had wanted to happen all along. In other words, war against the Romans, so that they could smash the Jews once and for all. In contrast, as I mentioned earlier, Herod Agrippa realized that his fate -- and his power and wealth -- was directly related to whatever would happen to the Jews. Thus, he sent them an army of three thousand horsemen, as Josephus records with the following words:

----- Begin Quote -----

"Now this terrible message was good news to Florus; and because his design was to have a war kindled he gave the ambassadors no answer at all. But Agrippa was equally solicitous for those that were revolting, and for those against whom the war was to be made, and was desirous to preserve the Jews for the Romans, and the temple and metropolis for the Jews; he was also sensible that it was not for his own advantage that the disturbances should proceed; so he sent three thousand horsemen to the assistance of the people out of Auranitis, and Batanea, and Trachonitis, and these under Darius the master of his horse, and Philip the son of Jacimus, the general of his army."

----- End Quote -----

Once Herod Agrippa's army had arrived, Josephus writes that the various factions battled it out for the next seven days, but neither side could prevail against the other. The men of power, high priests and the rest of the people who desired peace, took control of the Upper City, which was known as Mount Zion. Meanwhile, the seditionists controlled both the Lower City and the temple. So both Herod's soldiers, and Eleazar and his faction, were trying to regain control of the temple from those who had profaned it. Thus, Josephus writes as follows:

----- Begin Quote -----

"Upon this the men of power, with the high priests, as also all the part of the multitude that were desirous of peace, took courage, and seized upon the upper city [Mount Sion;] for THE SEDITIOUS PART had the lower city and the temple in their power: so they made use of stones and slings perpetually against one another, and threw darts continually on both sides; and sometimes it happened that they made incursions by troops, and fought it out hand to hand, while THE SEDITIOUS were superior in boldness, but the king's soldiers in skill. These last strove chiefly to gain the temple, and to drive those out of it who profaned it; as did THE SEDITIOUS, with Eleazar, besides what they had already, labour to gain the upper city. Thus were there perpetual slaughters on both sides for seven days' time; but neither side would yield up the parts they had seized on."

----- End Quote -----

Josephus then explains that the following day was a festival when everyone would bring firewood so as to keep the altar fire burning continually. Herod's soldiers were also in the crowd of people. However, what was not known to everyone was that the murderous Sicarii had also mixed in with the crowd. The end result was that Herod's soldiers were driven out of the Upper City. But this is not all. The seditionists then burned the house of Ananias the high priest, as well as the palaces of Agrippa and Bernice. In short, by this time they were totally out of control.

Furthermore, in order to induce more of the poor people to join the insurrection, the seditionists went to the archives and proceeded to quickly burn all of the contracts between the debtors and the creditors, so that the poor people were no longer under obligation to pay their debts. Thus Josephus writes as follows:

----- Begin Quote -----

"And when they had joined to themselves many of the SICARII, who crowded in among the weaker people (that was the name for such ROBBERS as had under their bosoms swords called Sica) they grew bolder, and carried their undertaking farther; insomuch, that the king's soldiers were overpowered by their multitude and boldness, and so they gave way, and were driven out of the upper city by force. The others then set fire to the house of Ananias the high priest, and to the palaces of Agrippa and Bernice: after which they carried the fire to the place where the archives were reposited, and made haste to burn the contracts belonging to their creditors, and thereby to dissolve their obligations for paying their debts, and this was done in order to gain the multitude of those who had been debtors, and that they might persuade the poorest sort to join in their insurrection with safety, against the more wealthy; so the keepers of the records fled away, and the rest set fire to them."

----- End Quote -----

Continuing in Book 2 Chapter 17, Josephus next explains that some of the "men of power" and the high priests took refuge in the vaults which were located beneath the compound, while others -- including Ananias the high priest -- fled with the king's remaining soldiers to the Upper Palace. The following day, the seditionists -- meaning the Zealots and Sicarii -- attacked Antonia Fortress. After two days, they were able to kill the Roman garrison which was stationed there, and they set the citadel on fire. Afterward, the multitude of robbers marched to the Upper Palace where the battle seemed to turn into a stalemate, as we see by the following excerpt:

----- Begin Quote -----

"But on the next day, which was the fifteenth of the month Lous, [Ab,] they made an assault upon Antonia, and besieged the garrison which was in it two days, and then took the garrison, and slew them, and set the citadel on fire; after which they marched to the palace, whither the king's soldiers were fled, and parted themselves into four bodies, and made an attack upon the walls. As for those that were within it, no one had the courage to sally out, because those that assaulted them were so numerous, but they distributed themselves into the breast-works and turrets, and shot at the besiegers, whereby many of the ROBBERS fell under the walls; nor did they cease to fight one with another either by night or by day, while THE SEDITIOUS supposed that those within would grow weary for want of food, and those within supposed the others would do the like by the tediousness of the siege."

----- End Quote -----

While all of this was occurring, a Galilean by the name of Manahem took some of his best men with him and broke into King Herod's armory at Masada. Not only did he arm his own men, but he armed the robbers as well. After that, he went back to Jerusalem where he became the leader of the sedition.

----- Begin Quote -----

"In the meantime one Manahem, the son of Judas, that was called the Galilean, (who was a very cunning sophister, and had formerly reproached the Jews under Cyrenius, that after God they were subject to the Romans,) took some of the men of note with him, and retired to Massada, where he broke open king Herod's armoury, and gave arms not only to his own people, but to other ROBBERS also. These he made use of for a guard, and returned in the state of a king to Jerusalem; he became the LEADER OF THE SEDITION, and gave orders for continuing the siege,"

----- End Quote -----

Meanwhile, back at the palace, being as they were besieged by such a great multitude of seditionists, Agrippa's men realized the futility of the situation. Thus, they came to an agreement with the seditionists and were allowed to go free. However, said agreement was not made with the Roman soldiers who still remained within the palace. Thus, those soldiers then fled to the royal towers. However, Manahem's men caught up with and killed many of them, Furthermore, the high priest, Ananias, was found hiding in an aqueduct and was then killed. Manahem -- the self-appointed leader of the seditionists -- became such a cruel tyrant as a result of his victories, that Eleazar -- the son of Ananias -- and his party decided that Manahem simply had to be eliminated. And so, Josephus writes as follows:

----- Begin Quote -----

"Now the overthrow of the places of strength, and the death of the high priest Ananias, so puffed up Manahem, that he became barbarously cruel, and as he thought he had no antagonists to dispute the management of affairs with him, he was no better than an insupportable tyrant; but Eleazar and his party, when words had passed between them, how "It was not proper when they revolted from the Romans, out of the desire of liberty, to betray that liberty to any of their own people, and to bear a lord, who, though he should be guilty of no violence, was yet meaner than themselves; as also, that in case they were obliged to set some one over their public affairs, it was fitter they should give that privilege to any one rather than to him," they made an assault upon him in the temple; for he went up thither to worship in a pompous manner, and adorned with royal garments, and had his followers with him in their armour. But Eleazar and his party fell violently upon him, as did also the rest of the people, and taking up stones to attack him withal, they threw them at the sophister, and thought, that if he were once ruined, the entire sedition would fall to the ground. Now Manahem and his party made resistance for a while, but when they perceived that the whole multitude were falling upon them, they fled which way every one was able, those that were caught were slain, and those that hid themselves were searched for. A few there were of them who privately escaped to Masada, among whom was Eleazar, the son of Jairus, who was of kin to Manahem, and acted the part of a tyrant at Masada afterward: as for Manahem himself, he ran away to the place called Ophla, and there lay skulking in private; but they took him alive, and drew him out before them all; they then tortured him with many sorts of torments, and after all slew him, as they did by those that were captains under him also, and particularly by the principal instrument of his tyranny, whose name was Apsalom."

----- End Quote -----

After this, the Roman general, Metilius, strived to make a peace treaty with Eleazar and his men, even agreeing to lay down their arms if the Jews would spare their lives. But as they were walking away after laying down their arms, Eleazar and his men attacked them and killed them all, except for Metilius, who agreed to convert to Judaism. But all of this killing of Romans by the Jewish insurrectionists only served to convince the moderate men in the city that it was in fact the prelude to their own destruction, because Rome would most certainly take vengeance against them. Thus, Josephus writes:

----- Begin Quote -----

"This loss to the Romans was but light, there being no more than a few slain out of an immense army; but still it appeared to be A PRELUDE TO THE JEWS' OWN DESTRUCTION, while men made public lamentation when they saw that such occasions were afforded for a war as were incurable; that the city was all over polluted with such abominations, from which it was but REASONABLE TO EXPECT SOME VENGEANCE, even though they should escape vengeance from the Romans; so that the city was filled with sadness, and every one of the moderate men in it were under great disturbance, as LIKELY THEMSELVES TO UNDERGO PUNISHMENT FOR THE WICKEDNESS OF THE SEDITIOUS;"

----- End Quote -----

As we enter Book 2 Chapter 18, Josephus informs his readers that at the same time the seditionists were killing Romans in Jerusalem, wicked governor Florus killed twenty thousand Jews in Caesarea. This murderous act so enraged the entire Jewish nation, that they went on a major killing spree all over the country, plundering and burning down villages, and even attacking the Syrians in the north. In describing the terrible slaughter which occurred on both sides, Josephus writes as follows:

----- Begin Quote -----

"It was then common to see cities filled with dead bodies, still lying unburied, and those of old men, mixed with infants, all dead, and scattered about together; women also lay amongst them, without any covering for their nakedness; you might then see the whole province full of inexpressible calamities, while the dread of still more barbarous practices which were threatened, were everywhere greater than what had been already perpetrated."

----- End Quote -----

As we go deeper into Chapter 18, Josephus describes even more bloody violence between Jews and foreigners, each one killing the other by the thousands. In fact, hatred against the Jews even spread outside of Israel to Alexandria, Egypt, which had in fact been a safe haven for the Jews until that time under Alexander the Great and his successors. Yet the hatred against the Jews grew so strong there, that Josephus reports that the Romans killed 50,000 Jews in Alexandria.

As a result of the widespread violence being perpetrated by the Jews, the governing powers were finally forced to take action. Thus, Cestius Gallus -- the president of Syria -- as well as Sohaemus -- a Syrian who was the priest king of the Emesan kingdom -- Herod Agrippa II, Antiochus -- assumed to be Antiochus IV of Commagene -- gather their armies to fight against the Jews, as we read in the following excerpt:

----- Begin Quote -----

"And this was the miserable calamity which at this time befell the Jews at Alexandria. Hereupon Cestius thought fit no longer to lie still, while the Jews were everywhere up in arms, so he took out of Antioch the twelfth legion entire, and out of each of the rest he selected two thousand, with six cohorts of footmen, and four troops of horsemen, besides those auxiliaries which were sent by the kings; of which Antiochus sent two thousand horsemen, and three thousand footmen, with as many archers; and Agrippa sent the same number of footmen, and one thousand horsemen; Sohemus also followed with four thousand, a third part whereof were horsemen, but most part were archers, and thus did he march to Ptolemais. There were also great numbers of auxiliaries gathered together from the [free] cities, who indeed had not the same skill in martial affairs but made up in their alacrity, and in their hatred to the Jews what they wanted in skill. There came also along with Cestius, Agrippa himself, both as a guide in his march of the country, and a director what was fit to be done;"

----- End Quote -----

So thus they went fighting, killing, plundering and burning down cities throughout Israel as they attempted to put down the ongoing rebellion of the seditious Jews. But eventually, Cestius Gallus turned his attention to Jerusalem itself, and encamped his whole army on Mount Scopus. Also known as Mount Lookout or Lookout Mountain, this particular peak is located on the northeastern side of Jerusalem, and in fact offers the best vantage point for viewing -- or spying -- on Jerusalem. It is on this same ridge that the Mount of Olives is located as well.

After waiting for several days to see if the Jerusalemites would yield, on the fourth day, Cestius finally entered the city with his army. While the regular people of Jerusalem desired peace, the real problem was that the seditionists -- meaning the Zealots and the Sicarii -- had control over them. As for the insurrectionists, Josephus informs us that being afraid of the Roman army, they withdrew from the outskirts of the city, and retreated into both the inner part of the city and the temple. After entering the city, the Romans set fire to the new part of the city, and to the timber market, after which they entered the Upper City, where they pitched camp by the Royal Palace. Josephus describes these events in Book 2 Chapter 19 of "The Wars of the Jews", as we see here:

----- Begin Quote -----

"And on the fourth day, which was the thirtieth of the month Hyperbereteus [Tisri,] when he had put his army in array, he brought it into the city. Now for the people, they were kept under by THE SEDITIOUS; but THE SEDITIOUS themselves were greatly affrighted at the good order of the Romans, and retired from the suburbs, and retreated into the inner part of the city, and into the temple. But when Cestius was come into the city, he set the part called Bezetha, which is called Cenopolis, [or the new city,] on fire; as he did also to the timber market: after which he came into the upper city, and pitched his camp over against the royal palace;"

----- End Quote -----

Please go to part four for the continuation of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

Click or Tap Icons to Share! Thank you!

---

---

Please avail yourself of other areas of the BBB Bible website. There are many treasures for you to discover.