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

Synopsis:




Continuing our discussion from part six, as we have seen, one by one the cities of Galilee fell to the overpowering Romans. Those who would not submit to Roman authority were crushed, and burned to the ground. Many thousands of the seditionists were outright killed, while thousands of the women and young children were enslaved and taken into other Roman provinces. After describing the area surrounding the Sea of Galilee -- a.k.a. Gennesareth -- Josephus turns his attention again to his account regarding the insurrectionists/seditionists who managed to escape by fleeing in their boats onto the Sea of Galilee.

Once their own ships were ready, Vespasian then pursued the pirates onto the lake. However, in this way, the pirates found themselves in a very major predicament. Not only couldn't they return to land, but their weaker pirate vessels were simply no match for Vespasian' better-built powerful fleet. Thus, after a number of mid-water confrontations, those pirates who were not killed on the sea, were slain by the Romans who waited for them on the land when they tried to escape.

Before continuing our discussion, allow me to provide you with a better perspective of the war situation at that time. If you carefully study the map shown below, you will find most of the cities which have been mentioned thus far in this series. Not shown on this map are Samaria -- which was likewise known as Sebaste -- the coastal city of Joppa -- which was located a bit further down on the Mediterranean Coast, and Damascus -- which was located further to the north in Syria:

Caesarea
Caesarea Philippi
Gadara
Gischala
Japha (same as Japhia?)
Jotapata
Ptolemais
Scythopolis
Sepphoris
Taricheae (possibly Magdala)
Tiberias



Following the sea battle, Vespasian was undecided regarding what to do with the original inhabitants of Taricheae who had not engaged in sedition against the Romans, unlike the foreigners in their city who had tried to pressure them into fighting. To complicate the matter, he had already publicly given his word that no harm would come to them. However, his commanders were of another mind altogether, and so convinced him that it would be to his disadvantage to release them. In their minds, sooner or later the released people would again turn against the Romans, as the Jews so often did.

At this point, Josephus notes that what Vespasian decided to do next was the most barbarous thing he would do during the entire course of the war. Killing the people of Taricheae in their own city would surely inflame the surrounding country. Thus, he gave his soldiers permission to do as they please. A plan was devised whereby the prisoners would be allowed to leave the city -- as if they had truly been set free -- but they were only allowed to travel along the road to Tiberias. Once they arrived at Tiberias, they were shut in the city -- which was under Roman control -- and ordered to stand in the stadium.

At that point, Vespasian ordered that all of the old people and other people deemed to be useless, be slain. In all, they numbered 1,200 souls. Of the young, strong men, six thousand were sent to Nero to serve as laborers, while 30,400 others were sold into slavery. Vespasian also gave some of the men to King Herod Agrippa II, who eventually sold them as slaves as well. Regarding the rest of the multitude of people who lived to the east and south of the Sea of Galilee, Josephus described as "seditious persons and fugitives, who were of such shameful characters, that they preferred war before peace." Thus, Josephus writes as follows:

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"After this fight was over, Vespasian sat upon his tribunal at Taricheae, in order to distinguish the foreigners from the old inhabitants; for those foreigners appeared to have begun the war. So he deliberated with the other commanders, whether he ought to save those old inhabitants or not. And when those commanders alleged that the dismission of them would be to his own disadvantage, because, when they were once set at liberty, they would not be at rest, Mice they would be people destitute of proper habitations and would be able to compel such as they fled to, to fight against us, Vespasian acknowledged that they did not deserve to be saved, and that if they had leave given them to fly away, they would make use of it against those that gave them that leave. But still he considered with himself, after what manner they should be slain; for if he had them slain there, he suspected the people of the country would thereby become his enemies; for that to be sure they would never bear it, that so many that had been supplicants to him should be killed, and to offer violence to them, after he had given them assurances of their lives, he could not himself bear to do it. However, his friends were too hard for him, and pretended that nothing against the Jews could be any impiety, and that he ought to prefer what was profitable before what was fit to be done, where both could not be consistent. So he gave them an ambiguous liberty to do as they advised, and permitted the prisoners to go along no other road than that which led to Tiberias only. So they readily believed what they desired to be true, and went along securely, with their effects, the way which was allowed them, while the Romans seized upon all the road that led to Tiberias, that none of them might go out of it, and shut them up in the city. Then came Vespasian, and ordered them all to stand in the stadium, and commanded them to kill the old men together with the others that were useless, which were in number a thousand and two hundred. Out of the young men, he chose six thousand of the strongest, and sent them to Nero, to dig through the Isthmus, and sold the remainder for slaves, being thirty thousand and four hundred, besides such as he made a present of to Agrippa; for as to those that belonged to his kingdom, he gave him leave to do what he pleased with them: however, the king sold these also for slaves; but for the rest of the multitude, who were Trachonites, and Gaulonites, and of Hippos, and some of Gadara, the greatest part of them were seditious persons and fugitives, who were of such shameful characters, that they preferred war before peace."

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At this point in our story, we enter Book 4 Chapter 1 of "The Wars of the Jews". It is here where Josephus informs us that with the conquest of Taricheae, all of the insurrectionists who were in that region, and who had formerly fought against the Romans, gave themselves up. That is to say, except for the cities of Gamala and Gischala, and the rebels who had taken control of Mount Tabor. This area was in fact a part of King Herod Agrippa II's kingdom, Gamala being on the border of it, and on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. We are also told that prior to the beginning of the revolt against Rome, Agrippa had formed a league with Sogana and Seleucia, both of which were on the eastern edge of his kingdom.

However, due to the difficulty of accessing their city, the people of Gamala felt quite safe, and thus did not enter into a league with Agrippa. Their confidence in their security was also amplified by the fact that Josephus had also built a wall around the city, and implemented other means of fortifying the city. Furthermore, as a result of the strength of their city, many people had fled to it for safety, and the city was able to resist a siege by King Agrippa for seven months. However, one of their big weaknesses was the fact that they had fewer men of fighting age. Not only that, but they did not have a lot of water, or certain other necessities. It was then that Vespasian decided that it was time to take down Gamala.

To make a long story short, so that we don't become too bogged down in the details -- after all, this series would never end if I were to provide you with complex details of every single battle which was fought prior to the fall of Jerusalem itself -- the Romans did as they usually do by building earthworks, -- or banks -- so that they could reach the walls of the city. They also built their instruments of war -- such as battering rams and siege towers -- and thus began the siege against the city.

While the Romans suffered a major defeat at the beginning of the battle when some of the houses collapsed upon them due to the rather precarious structure of the city -- even Vespasian found himself and a small contingent of soldiers temporarily trapped within the city -- after Titus returned and entered the city with a small army of men, the tide of the war turned. Some of the people merely fled, while others starved to death. Tragically, upon realizing how futile the situation had become, Josephus writes that five thousand people of Gamala chose to throw down themselves and their wives and children into a deep precipice which surrounded the city. For their part, the Romans slew four thousand city inhabitants.

While the siege of Gamala was in progress, Vespasian also sent Placidus to deal with the seditionists who had taken control of Mount Tabor. Those Romans were likewise victorious when they tricked the rebels into exposing themselves on the plain that was situated just below the mountain. By the way, it might interest you to also know that according to church tradition at least, Mount Tabor corresponds to the Mount of Transfiguration which is mentioned in the Gospels. You can see its location on the previous map, to the southwest of the Sea of Galilee, and to the east of the city of Nazareth.

So as I said, one by one, the cities and villages of Galilee fell to the Romans. In the case of Gamala, it took a month from the time that it first revolted against Roman authority. Each victory brought the Romans closer to the siege against Jerusalem, which was obviously the ultimate war prize in the eyes of the Roman war machine. As we begin reading in Book 4 Chapter 2 of "The Wars of the Jews", Flavius Josephus writes that Gischala was the last Galilean city which yet remained to be conquered by the Romans. Furthermore, he explains how John of Gischala -- also spelled Giscala -- and his violent band of robbers controlled Gischala, as we see here:

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"Now no place of Galilee remained to be taken but the small city of Gischala, whose multitude yet were desirous of peace; for they were generally husbandmen, and always applied themselves to cultivate the fruits of the earth. However, there were a great number that belonged to A BAND OF ROBBERS, that were already corrupted, and had crept in among them, and some of the governing part of the citizens were sick of the same distemper. It was John the son of a certain man whose name was Levi, that drew them into this rebellion, and encouraged them in it. He was a cunning knave, and of a temper that could put on various shapes; very rash in expecting great things, and very sagacious in bringing about what he hoped for. It was known to everybody that he was fond of war, in order to thrust himself into authority; and THE SEDITIOUS PART OF THE PEOPLE of Gischala were under his management, by whose means the populace, who seemed ready to send ambassadors in order to a surrender, waited for the coming of the Romans in battle array."

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Not only did John and his men control Gischala, but they even prevented the people of Gischala from surrendering to Titus and the Romans. According to Josephus, Titus realized that it would be easy for them to take the city, but Titus was quite concerned about the innocent dying with the guilty. Thus, he tried to reason with John and his men, who guarded the walls of the city. Regarding Titus, Josephus mentions in paragraph two that he "saw the wall full of those men that were of the corrupted party". In the middle of the bargaining that went on between Titus and John, Josephus points out how John would not allow the people to leave the city, as we see by these two excerpts:

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"Now Titus, as he rode up to Gischala, found it would be easy for him to take the city upon the first onset; but knew withal, that if he took it by force, the multitude would be destroyed by the soldiers without mercy. (Now he was already satiated with the shedding of blood, and pitied the major part, who would then perish without distinction, together with the guilty.) -- So he was rather desirous the city might be surrendered up to him on terms.

Now none of the populace durst not only make a reply, but durst not so much as get upon the wall, for it was all taken up by THE ROBBERS, who were also the guard at the gates, in order to prevent any of the rest from going out, in order to propose terms of submission, and from receiving any of the horsemen into the city."

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John, realizing that they could not win against the Romans, tries to bargain back with Titus by telling the Romans that they should respect the Jewish sabbath day. However, Josephus exposes John's trickery and reveals that John is only trying to buy time so that he can save his own life, because he had already formulated plans to flee from Gischala by night. And so, Josephus writes as follows:

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". . . for he [John] was afraid lest he should be quite deserted, if the city should be taken, and had his hopes of life in that night, and in his flight therein. Now this was the work of God, who therefore preserved this John, that he might bring on the destruction of Jerusalem;

Now, in the night time, when John saw that there was no Roman guard about the city, he seized the opportunity directly, and, taking with him not only the armed men that were about him, but a considerable number of those that had little to do, together with their families, he fled to Jerusalem. And indeed, though the man was making haste to get away, and was tormented with fears of being a captive, or of losing his life, yet did he prevail with himself to take out of the city along with him a multitude of women and children, as far as twenty furlongs; but there he left them as he proceeded farther on his journey,

. . . for he [Vespasian] saw there would be occasion for great pains about Jerusalem, which was not yet taken, because it was the royal city, and the principal city of the whole nation, and because those that had run away from the war in other places got altogether thither [meaning to Jerusalem]."

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As you can see, John of Gischala was such a lowlife, that he forced thousands of women and children to accompany him as he escaped from Gischala. However, once they reached a safe distance from Gischala, he abandoned them there, as he and his band of thugs continued their escape to Jerusalem. The following day, with John and the seditionists gone from the city, the people of Gischala opened the gates and welcomed in Titus and his army.

However, so angered was he by John's deception, that Titus pursued after them, but was not able to overtake them. But, sadly, the Romans did meet up with the women and children who had been forced to flee with John. Josephus writes that Titus slew six thousand of them, and brought back another three thousand of them to Gischala.

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"Now on the next day Titus came to the wall, to make the agreement, whereupon the people opened their gates to him, and came out to him, with their children and wives, and made acclamations of joy to him, as to one that had been their benefactor, and had delivered the city out of custody; they also informed him of John's flight, and besought him to spare them, and to come in, and bring the rest of THOSE THAT WERE FOR INNOVATIONS [meaning seditionists ] to punishment. But Titus, not so much regarding the supplications of the people, sent part of his horsemen to pursue after John, but they could not overtake him, for he was gotten to Jerusalem before: they also slew six thousand of the women and children who went out with him; but returned back and brought with them almost three thousand. However, Titus was greatly displeased that he had not been able to bring this John, who had deluded him, to punishment; yet he had captives enough, as well as THE CORRUPTED PART OF THE CITY [meaning the insurrectionists], to satisfy his anger, when it missed of John. So he entered the city in the midst of acclamations of joy; and when he had given orders to the soldiers to pull down a small part of the wall, as of a city taken in war, he repressed THOSE THAT HAD DISTURBED THE CITY [meaning the rebels], rather by threatenings than by executions; for he thought that many would accuse innocent persons, out of their animosities and quarrels, if he should attempt to distinguish those that were worthy of punishment from the rest; and that it was better to let a guilty person alone in his fears, than to destroy with him any one that did not deserve it, for that probably such an one might be taught prudence, by the fear of the punishment he had deserved, and have a shame upon him for his former offences, when he had been forgiven; but that the punishment of such as have been once put to death could never be retrieved. However, he placed a garrison in the city for its security, by which means he should restrain THOSE THAT WERE FOR INNOVATIONS [meaning the seditionists], and should leave those that were peaceably disposed in greater security. And thus was all Galilee taken, but this not till after it had cost the Romans much pains before it could be taken by them."

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So as I explained earlier, with the defeat of Gischala, all of Galilee was now under Roman control, and Vespasian, Titus and their army would continue their march towards Jerusalem itself. With the account regarding John of Gischala, what we also begin to see and understand is how such evil and violent men -- meaning the Zealots and Sicarii under John of Gischala -- would not only eventually end up in the city of Jerusalem prior to its fall, but they would also take over the temple compound itself as well and pollute it, and do all kinds of wicked things there. As we learned earlier in this series, in his writings, Josephus refers to the seditionists by a number of different words and phrase. One of them is "robbers". This word in fact has special significance in the prophecies of Daniel, as we see by the following verse:

"And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also THE ROBBERS OF THY PEOPLE shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall."


At this point in our discussion, we are going to backtrack a bit in time, change course, and review a few of the points we have already discussed. The reason why we are going to take this route, is because I am going to introduce you to another historian who has contributed to our understanding regarding the events which preceded the fall and great destruction of Jerusalem and the temple compound.

As we have seen, in 66 AD, the First Jewish-Roman War finally broke out when the stubborn Jews rebelled against their Roman rulers. This event was in direct fulfillment of the war which is clearly described for us in Daniel's prophecies, and which Jesus also prophesied in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. In addition to Jewish historian, governor and general Flavius Josephus, another important source of information who helps us to fill in the gaps -- being as information is so sparse in the pages of the Bible -- is the Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus.

Tacitus was born about twenty years after Josephus, and lived until about twenty years after Josephus' death as well. While Josephus eventually moved to Rome following the war, where he resided for some thirty years, to my knowledge, there is no clear indication that the two men ever actually met, or that Tacitus borrowed from any of the writings of Josephus. Not only that, but Tacitus was very biased against the Jews, so a meeting between him and Josephus was more than likely quite improbable anyway. In other words, Tacitus wrote completely independently from Josephus.

While Josephus wrote about Jewish history and the goings on within Israel, Tacitus detailed much of the goings on between the leadership of the Roman Empire. His works -- referred to as the "Annals" and the "Histories" -- while being published separately, were intended to form a single edition of thirty books. While the Histories was written prior to the Annals, the events which Tacitus describes in the Annals actually precede the events which he writes about in the Histories. Said events are a continuous narrative from the death of Emperor Augustus Caesar in 14 AD, to the death of Emperor Domitian in 96 AD.

These two works describe a number of the treacherous plots, murders and assassinations which occurred amongst the envious Roman royalty, as they each strived to gain increasing power. They were so corrupt, that even members of the same families would sometimes betray each other and murder each other. In his Histories, Tacitus details some of the various Roman war campaigns as well. To continue then, similar to the writings of Josephus, the first thirteen chapters of Book 5 of the Histories describe the beginning stages of the final siege against Jerusalem by General Titus in 70 AD.

As we have already discussed in earlier parts of this series, Roman general Vespasian was sent by Emperor Nero to quell the rebellion which broke out in Judaea. During the course of the first half of this seven-year war -- which I am convinced is represented by the seventieth week of the Prophet Daniel's "Seventy Weeks" prophecy -- as we have also already learned, Vespasian slowly subdued Israel, beginning in Galilee, until all that remained was Judaea and Jerusalem itself. In the Histories" chapter ten, similar to Josephus, Tacitus writes about these historic events in the following manner:

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". . . Vespasian was sent by Nero, and by help of his good fortune, his high reputation, and his excellent subordinates, succeeded within the space of two summers in occupying with his victorious army the whole of the level country and all the cities, except Jerusalem. The following year had been wholly taken up with civil strife, and had passed, as far as the Jews were concerned, in inaction. Peace having been established in Italy, foreign affairs were once more remembered. Our indignation was heightened by the circumstance that the Jews alone had not submitted. At the same time it was held to be more expedient, in reference to the possible results and contingencies of the new reign, that Titus should remain with the army."

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As we likewise covered in earlier parts of this series, upon landing with his forces -- meaning the fifteenth legion -- on the extreme northern coast at Ptolemais -- which, as we saw earlier, was a city in the Roman-controlled Syrian province of Phoenicia -- we read that Vespasian was joined by his son Titus, who arrived from the city of Alexandria, Egypt with the fifth and the tenth legions. They were likewise joined by other of their local allies, including King Herod Agrippa II, King Antiochus, King Sohemus, and Malchus, the King of Arabia. As we learned in part three, Sohemus was a Syrian priest king of the Emesan kingdom, while Antiochus seems to be referring to Antiochus IV of Commagene.

Not to be too repetitive, after subduing northern Israel and the coastal areas, they proceeded to march towards Jerusalem. It was at this time that the Roman Senate chose Vespasian to be the next emperor, following the murder of Vitellius during the "Year of the Four Emperors". When Tacitus writes that the "following year had been wholly taken up with civil strife" in the previous excerpt, he is referring to the short-lived civil war which occurred following Nero's suicide, during the "Year of the Four Emperors". I discuss this subject more at length in the article entitled "Ten Horns, Ten Toes and Ten Kings".

While some of my readers may be surprised to learn that King Herod Agrippa II lent his forces to the Romans, as we learned in part one of this series, while the kings of the Herodian dynasty -- there were seven of them -- were really Edomites who had converted to the Jewish religion, in every other way, they were much more Romans. Thus, similar to his predecessors going back to Herod the Great decades earlier, Herod Agrippa II was a puppet king who had been installed by Rome. He was groomed for the position during the reign of Emperor Claudius, and he was the seventh and final king in the Herodian dynasty.

As I amply explained to you in part two, the simple fact of the matter is that Agrippa II fully understood the truth of the situation. He knew that the Jews did not stand a chance against their far superior Roman oppressors. Thus, while he tried his best to talk some sense into the Jerusalemites, once he realized that they were foolishly bent on their own destruction, he did what any wise, prudent and self-serving king would do: he chose to join forces with the Romans, and thus preserve his own Galilean kingdom from destruction.

Among his duties as Rome's proxy, Agrippa II was responsible for appointing the high priest in the Jewish temple. In fact, he spent great sums of money in order to beautify the temple. However, what caused him to fall out of favor with the Jews was the way in which he capriciously appointed and dismissed the high priests, according to his own political ambitions. Following the destruction of Jerusalem, we are told that like a rat that flees from a sinking ship, Agrippa II returned to Rome with his sister Berenice, where he lived out the rest of his days in comfort and affluence, serving as a praetor. He was also an associate of Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.

On a side note, it is also believed that he may have been the very Herod Agrippa before whom the Apostle Paul appeared and testified in Acts chapter twenty-six. This is supported by the fact that in the following group of verses, we see that he is accompanied by his sister, Bernice, who is known to historians as Berenice. Regarding Berenice, it is also said that Titus carried on a controversial relationship with her before he became emperor:

"And after certain days king Agrippa and Bernice came unto Caesarea to salute Festus . . . Then Agrippa said unto Festus, I would also hear the man myself. To morrow, said he, thou shalt hear him. And on the morrow, when Agrippa was come, and Bernice, with great pomp, and was entered into the place of hearing, with the chief captains, and principal men of the city, at Festus' commandment Paul was brought forth. And Festus said, King Agrippa, and all men which are here present with us, ye see this man, about whom all the multitude of the Jews have dealt with me, both at Jerusalem, and also here, crying that he ought not to live any longer. But when I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, and that he himself hath appealed to Augustus, I have determined to send him. Of whom I have no certain thing to write unto my lord. Wherefore I have brought him forth before you, and specially before thee, O king Agrippa, that, after examination had, I might have somewhat to write. For it seemeth to me unreasonable to send a prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes laid against him. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself . . . Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds. And when he had thus spoken, the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them: And when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds. Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar."


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

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