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

Synopsis:




Continuing our discussion from part three, while Cestius had opportunity at that time to penetrate the walls and thus put a quick end to the war, Josephus writes that the head of his calvary and certain other calvary officers -- who had been corrupted by Jew-hating Governor Florus -- persuaded him to do otherwise. It seems that the motivation here was that the men wanted to be able to kill even more Jews, because Florus had poisoned them with his own hatred.

At this point, some of the principal men of the city, as well as Ananus and Jonathan -- who became high priests -- tried to make peace with Cestius by inviting him into the city. But it didn't happen for several reasons. First of all, Cestius was very angry at the Jews. Second, he did not trust them. Aside from that, then something happened which made it impossible for them to carry out their mediation plan. The seditionists became aware of the plan, and threw Ananus and his party over the wall. They then began pelting them with stones, and thus drove them away. Thus Josephus writes in Book 2 Chapter 19 of "The Wars of the Jews":

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"In the meantime many of the principal men of the city were persuaded by Ananus, the son of Jonathan, and invited Cestius into the city, and were about to open the gates for him; but he overlooked this offer, partly out of his anger at the Jews, and partly because he did not thoroughly believe they were in earnest; whence it was that he delayed the matter so long, that THE SEDITIOUS perceived the treachery, and threw Ananus and those of his party down from the wall, and pelting them with stones, drove them into their houses;"

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For the next five days Cestius and his army tried to breach the wall, but it was to no avail. So he next tried to breach the temple on its northern side. By using a formation called a "Testudo" whereby they overlap their shields so that they can protect themselves, the Romans were finally able to get into a position where they could set fire to the temple gate. At this point, the seditionists were filled with great fear, believing that the city would be taken at any moment. As a result, many of them ran out of the city.

With the insurrectionists gone, the peaceful citizens in the city were encouraged and saw this as an opportunity to once again try to mediate with Cestius. Thus, they again prepared to open the gates. However, then Josephus informs his readers that something very unusual happened, which even he did not understand. For some reason, Cestius didn't perceive that the Jews wanted him to come in and make peace with them. So while Josephus was convinced that Cestius could have easily taken Jerusalem that day, and thus brought all of the fighting and killing to an end, Cestius chose not to do that. Instead, he retreated from the city with his army. Josephus describes it in this way:

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"Thus did the Romans make their attack against the wall for five days, but to no purpose; but on the next day, Cestius took a great many of his choicest men, and with them the archers, and attempted to break into the temple at the northern quarter of it: but the Jews beat them off from the cloisters, and repulsed them several times when they were gotten near to the wall, till at length the multitude of the darts cut them off, and made them retire; but the first rank of the Romans rested their shields upon the wall, and so did those that were behind them, and the like did those that were still more backward, and guarded themselves with what they call Testudo, [the back of] a tortoise, upon which the darts that were thrown fell, and slided off without doing them any harm; so the soldiers undermined the wall, without being themselves hurt, and got all things ready for setting fire to the gate of the temple.

And now it was that a horrible fear seized upon THE SEDITIOUS, insomuch, that many of them ran out of the city, as though it were to be taken immediately: but the people upon this took courage, and where the wicked part of the city gave ground, thither did they come, in order to set open the gates, and to admit Cestius as their benefactor, who, had he but continued the siege a little longer, had certainly taken the city; but it was, I suppose, owing to the aversion God had already at the city, and the sanctuary, that he was hindered from putting an end to the war that very day.

It then happened that Cestius was not conscious either how the besieged despaired of success, nor how courageous the people were for him; and so he recalled his soldiers from the place, and by despairing of any expectation of taking it without having received any disgrace, he retired from the city, WITHOUT ANY REASON IN THE WORLD."

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As you can see by the previous quote, Josephus arrived at the conclusion that it must have been through Divine Intervention that Cestius decided to not take the city that day, despite the fact that he could have done so. But it's the reason that Josephus gives which is so interesting. He says that due to God's own aversion to the city and the temple, He didn't want the war to end. Do you understand what Josephus means by that? In other words, God wanted the war to continue. He didn't want Cestius to make peace with the Jerusalemites.

Think about this idea for a moment. If Cestius had peacefully taken Jerusalem that day as the peaceful citizens of the city had wanted, then all of the Old Testament prophecies which we find in the Book of Daniel and elsewhere, as well as in the New Testament chapters of Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 and in the Epistles, as well as in the Book of Revelation, would never have been fulfilled. John the Baptist, Jesus, Apostle Paul and others warned the Jews that God's wrath was coming. Jesus said that the temple would be destroyed. God wanted the Jews to totally experience His wrath for having rejected and slain His very own Son. So I agree with Josephus. Even though he and his army would suffer even more as a result of his odd decision, Cestius' choice was a result of Divine Intervention.

While Cestius' choice to retreat from Jerusalem was affected by Divine Intervention, nevertheless, from a purely military perspective, it was a grave mistake; because by retreating when it was fully within his power to have peacefully taken the city, he in fact placed his own army in even more danger. When the robbers -- meaning the seditionists, or Zealots and Sicarii -- realized that the Romans had unexpectedly left off from attacking the city, they pursued after them from behind, and they slew many of them. After spending the night at Mount Scopus, which was their camp, Cestius and his army continued their march. However, the seditionists continued to chase and attack them; not only from behind, but likewise from both of their flanks as well.

For the Romans, it was a major dilemma. For one thing, they did not dare to turn around and fight against the enemy who pursued them, because they imagined that it was an immense army. At the same time, neither did they attempt to fend off the Jews who attacked their flanks, because they were heavy with their arms, and they were afraid to break their ranks, because it would make them even more vulnerable. And so we read the following:

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"But when the robbers perceived this unexpected retreat of his, they resumed their courage, and ran after the hinder parts of his army, and destroyed a considerable number of both their horsemen and footmen: and now Cestius lay all night at the camp which was at Scopus, and as he went off farther next day, he thereby invited the enemy to follow him, who still fell upon the hindmost, and destroyed them; they also fell upon the flank on each side of the army, and threw darts upon them obliquely, nor durst those that were hindmost turn back upon those who wounded them behind, as imagining that the multitude of those that pursued them was immense; nor did they venture to drive away those that pressed upon them on each side, because they were heavy with their arms, and were afraid of breaking their ranks to pieces, and because they saw the Jews were light, and ready for making incursions upon them. And this was the reason why the Romans suffered greatly, without being able to revenge themselves upon their enemies; so they were galled all the way, and their ranks were put into disorder, and those that were thus put out of their ranks were slain;"

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Suffering a great loss to his army, Cestius Gallus remained for two day at their former camp at Gabao. However, on the third day, he realized that they could not stay any longer at their camp, because "he saw a still much greater number of enemies, and all the parts round about him full of Jews". In order to march more quickly to Beth-horon, Cestius then gave the order to leave behind anything which they could do without. This included killing some of their pack animals.

Yet the situation continued to grow even more dire for the Romans, because as they made their descent from Jerusalem, they had to pass through narrow passages, high ascents and low valleys and precipices. The topographical situation was so bad that they could neither flee, nor defend themselves. As a result, the Romans eventually broke down in despair.

Realizing the futility of the situation, Cestius determined that the only way in which some of his army could escape was by setting up a decoy to try to fool the Jewish seditionists. Thus, he chose four hundred of his bravest men to stay behind and to set up their Roman ensigns, so that the Jews would be led to believe that the whole Roman army was still there. In the meantime, Cestius silently marched away with the rest of his army during the night. In the morning, realizing how the Romans had deceived them, the Jews slew the four hundred men who had remained behind. Thus again in Book 2 Chapter 19 we read the following:

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"There it was that Cestius stayed two days, and was in great distress to know what he should do in these circumstances; but when, on the third day, he saw a still much greater number of enemies, and all the parts round about him full of Jews, he understood that his delay was to his own detriment, and that if he stayed any longer there, he should have still more enemies upon him.

That therefore he might fly the faster, he gave orders to cast away what might hinder his army's march, so they killed the mules, and other creatures, excepting those that carried their darts, and machines, which they retained for their own use, and this principally because they were afraid lest the Jews should seize upon them. He then made his army march on as far as Beth-horon. Now the Jews did not so much press upon them when they were in large open places, but when they were penned up in their descent through narrow passages, then did some of them get before, and hindered them from getting out of them, and others of them thrust the hindermost down into the lower places, and the whole multitude extended themselves over against the neck of the passage, and covered the Roman army with their darts. In which circumstances, as the footmen knew not how to defend themselves, so the danger pressed the horsemen still more, for they were so pelted, that they could not march along the road in their ranks, and the ascents were so high, that the cavalry were not able to march against the enemy; the precipices also, and valleys into which they frequently fell, and tumbled down, were such on each side of them, that there were neither place for their flight, nor any contrivance could be thought of for their defence; till the distress they were at last in was so great, that they betook themselves to lamentations, and to such mournful cries, as men use in the utmost despair; the joyful acclamations of the Jews also, as they encouraged one another, echoed the sounds back again, these last composing a noise of those that at once rejoiced, and were in a rage. Indeed, things were come to such a pass, that the Jews had almost taken Cestius' entire army prisoners, had not the night come on, when the Romans fled to Beth-horon, and the Jews seized upon all the places round about them, and watched for their coming out [in the morning.]

And then it was that Cestius, despairing of obtaining room for a public march, contrived how he might best run away; and when he had selected four hundred of the most courageous of his soldiers, he placed them at the strongest of their fortifications, and gave order, that when they went up to the morning guard, they should erect their ensigns, that the Jews might be made to believe that the entire army was there still, while he himself took the rest of his forces with him, and marched, without any noise, thirty furlongs. But when the Jews perceived, in the morning, that the camp was empty, they ran upon those four hundred who had deluded them, and immediately threw their darts at them, and slew them, and they pursued after Cestius."

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Josephus then writes that Cestius' army eventually forsook even its weapons of war so that it could move faster, and thus escape from the pursuing Jewish insurrectionist army. As a result, the Romans got so far ahead of them, that the Zealots abandoned chasing them at Antipatris, and joyfully returned to Jerusalem. In the end, Josephus reports that a total of 5,300 Roman footmen and 380 horsemen were slain by the seditionists. This was a very humbling defeat for the Romans which occurred during the twelfth year of Nero's reign.

This victory by the insurrectionists resulted in two things happening. First, Josephus informs us that many important men of status fled from Jerusalem, because as I mentioned earlier, they saw the writing on the wall. In other words, they realized that the more that the seditionists waged war against the Romans, the more brutal Rome's vengeance upon them would eventually be. But again, this was all by God's own design, so that the "children of disobedience" -- that is to say, the unbelieving Jews -- would feel His wrath, as had been prophesied to occur.

The second thing which resulted from the Romans' humiliation is that Cestius sent word to Emperor Nero regarding what had occurred with the insurgents. However, to protect himself from negative repercussions, Cestius blamed Governor Florus for the war which had erupted. On a side note, something else which occurred is that upon hearing about the Romans' defeat, the people in Damascus silently slew 10,000 Jews who lived amongst them. Thus we read in Book 2 Chapter 20:

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"After this calamity had befallen Cestius, many of the most eminent of the Jews swam away from the city, as from a ship when it was going to sink; Costobarus, therefore, and Saul, who were brethren, together with Philip, the son of Jacimus, who was the commander of king Agrippa's forces, ran away from the city, and went to Cestius. But then how Antipas, who had been besieged with them in the king's palace, would not fly away with them, was afterwards slain by THE SEDITIOUS, we shall relate hereafter. However, Cestius sent Saul and his friends, at their own desire, to Achaia, to Nero, to inform him of the great distress they were in, and to lay the blame of their kindling the war upon Florus, as hoping to alleviate his own danger, by provoking his indignation against Florus.

In the meantime, the people of Damascus, when they were informed of the destruction of the Romans, set about the slaughter of those Jews that were among them; and as they had them already cooped up together in the place of public exercises, which they had done out of the suspicion they had of them, they thought they should meet with no difficulty in the attempt; yet did they distrust their own wives, who were almost all of them addicted to the Jewish religion; on which account it was, that their greatest concern was, how they might conceal these things from them; so they came upon the Jews, and cut their throats, as being in a narrow place, in number ten thousand, and all of them unarmed, and this in one hour's time, without anybody to disturb them."

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As for the insurrectionists, upon returning to Jerusalem, we are told that they began preparations for the war which they knew was fast approaching. Part of their efforts included weeding out the traitors, convincing more people to join in the insurrection, and appointing many generals and governors over different parts of the nation. Joseph the son of Gorion and Ananus the high priest were chosen as governors of the city. Likewise, Josephus -- the very author of these accounts -- was made a governor over the Galilee region.

While Eleazar -- who was the son of Simon was not appointed to any of the aforementioned positions due to his known greed and tyrannical temper, nevertheless, Josephus writes that the people did submit themselves to his authority. As you'll see later in this series, Eleazar in fact became a leader of one of the three main factions within Jerusalem before the final Roman assault began. Not only were the seditionists now in complete charge of the city, but they polluted the temple even further by turning it into their war planning center, which is yet another reason why God was even more intent on punishing them. Thus, again, we see Josephus reporting as follows in Book 2 Chapter 20:

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"But as to those who had pursued after Cestius, when they were returned back to Jerusalem, they overbore some of those that favoured the Romans by violence, and some they persuaded [by entreaties] to join with them, and got together in great numbers in the temple, and appointed a great many generals for the war; Joseph also the son of Gorion, and Ananus the high priest, were chosen as governors of all affairs within the city, and with a particular charge to repair the walls of the city; for they did not ordain Eleazar the son of Simon to that office, although he had gotten into his possession the prey they had taken from the Romans, and the money they had taken from Cestius, together with a great part of the public treasures, because they saw he was of a tyrannical temper, and that his followers were, in their behaviour, like guards about him. However, the want they were in of Eleazar's money, and the subtle tricks used by him, brought all so about, that the people were circumvented, and submitted themselves to his authority in all public affairs."

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As we continue reading in Chapter 20, Josephus explains how he both politically and militarily organized the Galileans. He also describes how he fortified the Galilee by building defensive walls and fortresses everywhere in preparation for the Roman onslaught which he realized was fast approaching. Furthermore, he writes that he created an army of more than 100,000 young men, which he organized after the manner of the Romans themselves. Josephus stressed the importance of maintaining moral character while engaging in war, unlike the Zealots and Sicarii who repeatedly engaged in murder, rape and pillage.

Moving into Book 2 Chapter 21, Josephus turns his attention to John of Gischala, who would later become a core leader in Jerusalem. Josephus describes him as a cunning, knavish and wicked man who was a liar, deceiver, thief and murderer. As time passed, John built up his own private band of hundreds of men. However, his ambitions were restrained due to his lack of money. Thus, he convinced Josephus to let him build the walls around Gischala. Through the dishonest sale of oil, John enriched himself, and then he engaged in all manner of wicked plots in order to take down Josephus, with the goal of becoming the new leader of Galilee. Thus Josephus writes the following. I have added some words in brackets for the sake of clarification:

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"And, as he [John] supposed, that if he could once overthrow Josephus, he should himself obtain the government of Galilee, so he gave orders to THE ROBBERS that were under his command, to be more zealous in their THIEVISH EXPEDITIONS, that by the rise of many that desired innovations [meaning seditions] in the country, he might either catch their general [Josephus] in his snares, as he came to the country's assistance, and then kill him; or if he [meaning Josephus] should overlook THE ROBBERS, he [John] might accuse him [meaning Josephus] for his negligence to the people of the country. He [John] also spread abroad a report far and near, that Josephus was delivering up the administration of affairs to the Romans: and many such plots did he lay, in order to ruin him."

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At that time, a great conspiracy was raised against Josephus due to certain money which was in his possession, which had been stolen from Ptolemy, who was the steward of King Agrippa and Bernice. After the plot was discovered, and the stolen money given to Josephus -- who was staying at Taricheae -- for safe keeping, a great multitude of 100,000 men came to confront Josephus. Through crafty and wise words, Josephus managed to neutralize the rebellion, as well as yet another one which followed it. Thus John of Gischala grew even more envious of Josephus, and so he hatched yet another devious plot against him involving the people of Tiberias. In that instance, Josephus was in fact forced to flee for his life by escaping to the Sea of Galilee when some of John's men tried to murder him.

At this point in time, Josephus was very concerned about a civil war breaking out as a result of the actions of John of Gischala. While Josephus was able to quiet his own soldiers so that they would not take action against John and his men, people of the neighboring country grew quite angry when they learned of the plot against Josephus. Thus, an army of tens of thousands of armed men then marched against John and his fellow plotters. Yet once again, Josephus writes that he was able to restrain their fury. However, he did issue a public warning that anyone who would not abandon within five days would suffer serious consequences. As a result, we are told that three thousand men abandoned John and surrendered to Josephus, as we see by the following excerpt:

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"But now the soldiers he [Josephus] had with him took up their arms immediately, and marched against the plotters: but Josephus was afraid lest a civil war should be raised by the envy of a few men, and bring the city to ruin; so he sent some of his party to tell them, that they should do no more than provide for their own safety, that they should not kill anybody, nor accuse any for the occasion they had afforded [of a disorder.] Accordingly these men obeyed his orders, and were quiet; but the people of the neighbouring country, when they were informed of this plot, and of the plotter, they got together in great multitudes to oppose John. But he prevented their attempt, and fled away to Gischala, his native city, while the Galileans came running out of their several cities to Josephus; and as they were now become many ten thousands of armed men, they cried out that they were come against John, the common plotter against their interest, and would at the same time burn him, and that city which had received him. Hereupon Josephus told them that he took their good-will to him kindly, but still he restrained their fury, and intended to subdue his enemies by prudent conduct, rather than by slaying them; so he excepted those of every city which had joined in this revolt with John, by name, who had readily been showed him by these that came from every city, and caused public proclamation to be made, that he would seize upon the effects of those that did not forsake John within five days' time, and would burn both their houses and their families with fire. Whereupon three thousand of John's party left him immediately, who came to Josephus, and threw their arms down at his feet."

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Yet despite all of this, John of Gischala would not just give up. But, you see, my friends, he couldn't, because he had an important role to play later, which would ultimately lead to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple compound in 70 AD. Realizing his mistakes, John decided that instead of trying to defeat Josephus through open violence, he would do so via a more secret and treacherous way. He would try to undermine him by turning the people of Jerusalem against him, by writing to them, and telling them that not only did Josephus have too much power, but that he would soon arrive there as a tyrant.

While the people of Jerusalem generally ignored these lies, nevertheless, there were certain high-ranking noblemen and rulers who out envy towards Josephus, sent John some money so that he could gather mercenary soldiers to fight against Josephus. But that is not all they did. They also sent 2,500 armed men and four smooth-talking dignitaries to try to turn the Galileans against Josephus. The order given was that if Josephus could not be convinced to go to Jerusalem to give an account for himself, then he was to be treated as an enemy. Thus, Josephus writes as follows:

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"John then betook himself, together with his two thousand Syrian runagates [runaway; fugitive or deserter], from open attempts, to more secret ways of treachery. Accordingly he privately sent messengers to Jerusalem, to accuse Josephus, as having too great power, and to let them know that he would soon come, as a tyrant, to their metropolis, unless they prevented him. This accusation the people were aware of beforehand, but had no regard to it However, some of the grandees [noblemen], out of envy, and some of the rulers also, sent money to John privately, that he might be able to get together mercenary soldiers, in order to fight Josephus; they also made a decree of themselves, and this for recalling him from his government, yet did they not think that decree sufficient; so they sent withal two thousand five hundred armed men, and four persons of the highest rank amongst them: Joazar the son of Nomicus, and Ananias the son of Sadduk, as also Simon and Judas, the sons of Jonathan, all very able men in speaking, that these persons might withdraw the good-will of the people from Josephus. These had it in charge if he would voluntarily come away, they should permit him to [come and] give an account of his conduct, but if he obstinately insisted upon his continuing in his government, they should treat him as an enemy."

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

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