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

Synopsis:




Continuing our discussion from part eight, it is at this point in Book 4 Chapter 3 that Flavius Josephus again turns his attention back to that vile, wicked man and deceptive plotter, John of Gischala. As we learned earlier, Josephus absolutely hated the man, and blamed him and the Zealots for the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple compound. As you will also recall, Josephus also blamed the governor of Caesarea -- Gessius Florus -- for continually trying to stir up the Jews against the Romans.

But folks, this John of Gischala really takes the cake. He was clearly the worst of the worst, and slithered about like the serpent in the Garden of Eden with his smooth flatteries and platitudes, convincing even Ananus and other important men in the city that he was on their side. Meanwhile, John was actually sharing their plans against the Zealots with the rogues themselves. Of course, the men of the city strongly suspected what a snake John was, so they had him pledge an oath to them, which John gladly did in order to reduce their strong suspicion against him. Thus again, Josephus writes as follows:

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"Now it was John who, as we told you, ran away from Gischala, that was the occasion of all these being destroyed. He was a man of great craft, and bore about him in his soul a strong passion after tyranny, and at a distance was the adviser in these actions: and indeed at this time HE PRETENDED to be of the people's opinion, and went all about with Ananus, when he consulted the great men every day, and in the night time also when he went round the watch; but HE DIVULGED THEIR SECRETS TO THE ZEALOTS, and everything that the people deliberated about was by his means KNOWN TO THEIR ENEMIES, even before it had been well agreed upon by themselves. And by way of contrivance how he might not be brought into suspicion, HE CULTIVATED THE GREATEST FRIENDSHIP POSSIBLE WITH ANANUS, and with the chief of the people; yet did this over-doing of his turn against him, for he flattered them so extravagantly, that he was but the more suspected; and his constant attendance everywhere, even when he was not invited to be present, MADE HIM STRONGLY SUSPECTED OF BETRAYING THEIR SECRETS TO THE ENEMY; for they plainly perceived that they understood all the resolutions taken against them at their consultations. Nor was there any one whom they had so much reason to suspect of that discovery as this John; yet was it not easy to get quit of him, so potent was he grown by his wicked practices. He was also supported by many of those eminent men, who were to be consulted upon all considerable affairs; it was therefore thought reasonable to oblige him to give them assurance of his good-will upon oath: accordingly JOHN TOOK SUCH AN OATH READILY, that he would be on the people's side, and would not betray any of their counsels or practices to their enemies, and would assist them in overthrowing those that attacked them, and that both by his hand and his advice. So Ananus and his party believed his oath, and did now receive him to their consultations without farther suspicion; nay, so far did they believe him, that they sent him as their ambassador into the temple, to THE ZEALOTS, with proposals of accommodation; for they were very desirous to avoid the pollution of the temple as much as they possibly could, and that no one of their nation should be slain therein."

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However, as I said a minute ago, this two-faced deceiver then went back to the Zealots, and revealed Ananus' plans to the Zealots. As we saw earlier in this series, the wiser and more peaceful people in Jerusalem wanted to make peace with the Romans. You may recall that they even sent ambassadors to Governor Florus in Caesarea, in the hope that he would be able to send them help. But, of course, as we learned before, Florus absolutely ignored their request, because he wanted a war between the Romans and the Jews. So in his smooth speech to the insurrectionists in the temple, John tried to strike fear into the Zealots, by informing them that the people of Jerusalem wanted to send ambassadors to Vespasian, in order to seek peace with the Romans.

However, this was an absolute lie. John actually wanted to force the Zealots to seek outside help. Josephus refers to it as both "foreign assistance" and "providential assistance". But to infuriate the leaders of the Zealots even more, so that they would submit to his wicked plan, John then falsely accused Ananus of making some false and defamatory statements against Eleazer, the son of Simon, and against Zacharias, the son of Phalek, both of whom were of priestly families, and leaders of the Zealots. John was so lifted up in his pride, that he even told the Zealots that it was God's will that he had been chosen as an ambassador to them. And thus, after due consideration, the Zealots sent a letter to the Idumaeans -- or Edomites, who were the descendant of Esau -- requesting their assistance against the Jerusalemites. And so, as we move into Book 4 Chapter 4, we read the following:

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

"But now this John, as if his oath had been made to THE ZEALOTS, and for confirmation of his good-will to them, and not against them, went into the temple, and stood in the midst of them, and spake as follows: That "he had run many hazards on their accounts, and in order to let them know of everything that was secretly contrived against them by Ananus and his party; but that both he and they [meaning the Zealots] should be cast into the most imminent danger, unless some providential assistance were afforded them; for that Ananus made no longer delay, but had prevailed with the people to send ambassadors to Vespasian, to invite him to come presently and take the city;

Now by this crafty speech JOHN MADE THE ZEALOTS AFRAID: yet he durst not directly name what FOREIGN ASSISTANCE he meant, but in a covert way only intimated at the Idumeans. But now that he might particularly irritate the leaders of THE ZEALOTS, he calumniated Ananus, that he was about a piece of barbarity, and did in a special manner threaten them. These leaders were Eleazer the son of Simon, who seemed the most plausible man of them all, both in considering what was fit to be done, and in the execution of what he had determined upon, and Zacharias the son of Phalek, both of whom derived their families from the priests. Now, when these two men had heard, not only the common threatenings which belonged to them all, but those peculiarly levelled against themselves; and, besides, how Ananus and his party, in order to secure their own dominion, had invited the Romans to come to them, for THAT ALSO WAS PART OF JOHN'S LIE, they hesitated a great while what they should do, considering the shortness of the time by which they were straitened; because the people were prepared to attack them very soon, and because the suddenness of the plot laid against them had almost cut off all the hopes of getting any FOREIGN ASSISTANCE; for they might be under the height of their afflictions before any of their confederates could be informed of it. However, it was resolved to call in the Idumeans; so they wrote a short letter to this effect."

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In their letter -- because they had been deceived by John's lies -- the Zealots informed the Idumaeans that Ananus the high priest had betrayed the people of Jerusalem, and would soon hand over the city to the Romans. Furthermore, they stated that unless assistance arrived soon, they would fall under Ananus' power, and the city itself would fall under the power of the Romans. Of course, John's trick worked, and before long, the Idumaeans had spread the word regarding what was supposedly happening in Jerusalem, stirred up the people to fight for the city, and an army of twenty thousand men came to fight for Jerusalem.

As I mentioned earlier in this series, what is so interesting about all of these events, is the fact that even before the Romans actually arrived at Jerusalem's gates, those foolish Jews were already so divided amongst themselves, that they were in fact destroying themselves without any help from the Romans. As you can see, there was serious moral and spiritual decay everywhere, which was just rotting the nation from within. I am reminded of what Jesus had said decades before:

"And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?"


"And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end."


"But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub."


To continue, prior to the arrival of the 20,000-man Idumaean army, Ananus the high priest had somehow received word that they were coming. Thus, he ordered that the gates of the city be closed. Then, once the Idumaeans had arrived, Jesus -- who was "the eldest of the high priests next to Ananus" -- stood on the tower and gave a speech to the Idumaeans, in which he tried to convince them of the innocence of the Jerusalemites, and that there was no betrayal on their part to the Romans. However, the Idumaeans were not convinced. In fact, they were enraged because not only were the gates of the city not open to them, but because it was also requested that they put down their arms. Thus Josephus writes in the following manner:

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"Thus spoke Jesus, yet did not the multitude of the Idumeans give any attention to what he said, but were in a rage, because they did not meet with a ready entrance into the city. The generals also had indignation at the offer of laying down their arms, and looked upon it as equal to a captivity, to throw them away at any man's injunction whomsoever."

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During the night, a terrible storm raged. As a result, Ananus the high priest made a rather bad mistake when he decided to give the guards who watched over the cloisters leave so that they could sleep. The cloisters were primarily colonnades or porticos. That is to say, structures with columns that formed a covered walkway. These cloisters were integral parts of the temple complex. They served a variety of purposes, such as providing shade, supporting the outer walls of the temple, and being used for public gatherings and activities. As for the Zealots, after some debate, they decided that under the cover of the noise of the raging storm, they would use the saws that were within the temple to cut the bars on the city gates, and thus let in the Idumaeans. And so, Josephus writes as follows:

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

"They also supposed that Ananus would be everywhere, and visit the guards every hour; which indeed was done upon other nights, but was omitted that night, not by reason of any slothfulness of Ananus, but by the overbearing appointment of fate, that so both he might himself perish, and the multitude, of the guards might perish with him; for truly as the night was far gone, and the storm very terrible, Ananus gave the guards in the cloisters leave to go to sleep; while it came into the heads of the Zealots to make use of the saws belonging to the temple, and to cut the bars of the gates to pieces. The noise of the wind, and that not inferior sound of the thunder, did here also conspire with their designs, that the noise of the saws was not heard by the others."

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As we begin Book 4 Chapter 5 of "The Wars of the Jews", we see that this is exactly what they did. The Idumaeans were let into the city, upon which they joined the rest of the Zealots in the inner court of the temple. Now at this point in his narration, Josephus explains that had they wanted to, the Idumaeans could have easily taken Jerusalem. But rather than do that, together with the freed Zealots, they first began killing the sleeping guards. But because of the great rage they felt, both from having to endure the storm, and because of the way they had been treated by the people of Jerusalem, they went on a terrible killing spree.

Josephus reports that by daybreak, there were 8,500 dead bodies in the outer court of the temple. However, being a very violent people, the Idumaeans were not satisfied with that slaughter alone. Thus, they began running throughout the city, plundering and murdering as they went. But that is not all. Eventually they caught and killed both Ananus the high priest, and Jesus the high priest, who had spoken to the Idumaeans from atop the tower. So wicked were the Idumaeans, that they didn't even allow the bodies of the bodies of the two high priests to be buried in the proper Jewish manner.

As he had done earlier in his writings, Josephus once again viewed the death of these two high priests as a clear sign that "it was because God had doomed the city to destruction, as a polluted city, and was resolved to purge this sanctuary by fire." And he was right. As we discussed in earlier parts of this series, there were certain events which could have been prevents, but which in fact were allowed by God, and even pushed by God, because Jerusalem was already a city under judgment, and God was going to punish them by way of the Romans. Thus, Josephus writes as follows:

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"And now the outer temple was all of it overflowed with blood; and that day, as it came on they saw eight thousand, five hundred dead bodies there.

But the rage of the Idumeans was not satiated by these slaughters; but they now betook themselves to the city, and plundered every house, and slew every one they met; and for the other multitude they esteemed it needless to go on with killing them, but they sought for the high priests, and the generality went with the greatest zeal against them; and as soon as they caught them they slew them, and then standing upon their dead bodies, in way of jest, upbraided Ananus with his kindness to the people, and Jesus with his speech made to them from the wall. Nay, they proceeded to that degree of impiety, as to cast away their dead bodies without burial, although the Jews used to take so much care of the burial of men, that they took down those that were condemned and crucified and buried them before the going down of the sun. I would not mistake if I said, that THE DEATH OF ANANUS WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CITY, and that from this very day may be dated the overthrow of her wall, and the ruin of her affairs, whereon they saw their high priest, and the procurer of their preservation, slain in the midst of their city.

. . . I cannot but think, that IT WAS BECAUSE GOD HAD DOOMED THE CITY TO DESTRUCTION, AS A POLLUTED CITY, AND WAS RESOLVED TO PURGE THIS SANCTUARY BY FIRE, THAT HE CUT OFF THESE THEIR GREAT DEFENDERS AND WELL-WISHERS, while those that a little before had worn the sacred garments, and had presided over the public worship, and had been esteemed venerable by those that dwelt on the whole habitable earth when they came into our city, were cast out naked, and seen to be the food of dogs and wild beasts."

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Following the death of Ananus and Jesus, Josephus reports that the Zealots and the Idumaeans continued their killing spree, so that another 12,000 Jerusalemites were tortured and killed. They also had a mock trial for an eminent and rich man of the city named Zacharias. Thus, according to Jewish custom, they chose seventy fake judges -- just as Moses had also chosen seventy elders in the Old Testament -- in the belief that the judges would find Zacharias guilty. However, the judges refused to bend to their wicked will, especially because there was no proof that he was guilty of the charges which had been brought against him. However, Zecharias was eventually killed anyway by the Zealots, and the seventy men were beaten, and then sent into the city as a warning to others to not resist the insurrectionists. And so, Josephus writes as follows:

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

"Now the seventy judges brought in their verdict, that the person accused was not guilty, as choosing rather to die themselves with him, than to have his death laid at their doors; hereupon there arose a great clamour of the Zealots upon his acquittal, and they all had indignation at the judges, for not understanding that the authority that was given them was but in jest. So two of the boldest of them fell upon Zacharias in the middle of the temple, and slew him; and as he fell down dead they bantered him, and said, "Thou hast also our verdict, and this will prove a more sure acquittal to thee than the other." They also threw him down from the temple immediately into the valley beneath it. Moreover, they struck the judges with the backs of their swords, by way of abuse, and thrust them out of the court of the temple, and spared their lives with no other design than that, when they were dispersed among the people in the city, they might become their messengers, to let them know they were no better than slaves."

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Josephus then writes that by this time, the Idumaeans had a change of heart upon realizing all of the wickedness which had been done, and knowing that zero evidence had ever been presented which proved that the high priests were committing any form of treachery, with the intention of turning over the city to the Romans. The Zealots persuaded the Idumaeans that they should leave the city, because the blame for all of the violence would be placed on them. In fact, they also lied to them, and told them that the Romans were not coming at that time, and that even if they did come, the walls of the city were strong enough to keep them out. Thus, after releasing about two thousand prisoners, the Idumaeans left Jerusalem and went home.

As for the Zealots, they were happy that the Idumaeans had left Jerusalem, because in that way they could continue with their wickedness without having to worry about protests from the Idumaeans. And thus, they began killing even more of the prominent men of the city, and any other valiant men in the city who might possibly fight against them. They looked for any "justifiable" reason to kill people. Thus, as we begin reading Book 4 Chapter 6, Josephus describes the situation as follows:

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

"The Idumeans complied with these persuasions, and in the first place they set those that were in the prisons at liberty, being about two thousand of the populace, who thereupon fled away immediately to Simon, one whom we shall speak of presently. After which these Idumeans retired from Jerusalem, and went home, which departure of theirs was a great surprise to both parties; for the people not knowing of their repentance, pulled up their courage for a while, as eased of so many of their enemies, while the Zealots grew more insolent, not as deserted by their confederates, but as freed from such men as might hinder their designs, and put some stop to their wickedness. Accordingly they made no longer any delay, nor took any deliberation in their enormous practices, but made use of the shortest methods for all their executions, and what they had once resolved upon, they put in practice sooner than any one could imagine. But their thirst was chiefly after the blood of valiant men, and men of good families; the one sort of which they destroyed out of envy, the other out of fear; for they thought their whole security lay in leaving no potent men alive,"

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This then was the state of Jerusalem when Titus and his Roman legions arrived there to begin their deadly siege against the city. As we have discussed previously, this siege, which would ultimately result in Jerusalem and the temple being destroyed in the middle of the war in 70 AD, would lead to the death of over one million Jews, both as a direct result of the actual fighting itself, and also from famine, pestilence, betrayal by fellow Jews, and from Roman crucifixion. At this point in his narration, Josephus against turns his attention to Vespasian and the Romans.

As we continue in Book 4 Chapter 6, Josephus explains how the Romans viewed the violent infighting amongst the Jews as being to their advantage. In fact, Vespasian's commanders were very eager to march to Jerusalem, and begin the assault against the city, fearing that if they did not act quickly, the Jews might once again unite, thus making it harder for them to conquer the city. However, Vespasian advised them that it was better to wait until the infighting amongst the Jews had taken its toll.

After hearing Vespasian's words, the commanders agreed with him. In fact, Josephus then explains how many of the peaceful Jews were fleeing away from the Zealots. However, trying to flee was not without its dangers, because the Zealots stood guard at every passage that led out of the city. As a result, any person who was caught trying to escape was killed, in the Zealots' belief that they were going over to the Romans. As if that was not enough, Josephus writes that the Zealots then became so barbaric, that they even refused to allow any of the dead bodies to be buried, so that they putrified in the Sun, as we see by the following excerpts:

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

"And indeed many there were of the Jews that deserted every day, and fled away from THE ZEALOTS, although their flight was very difficult, since they had guarded every passage out of the city, and slew every one that was caught at them, as taking it for granted they were going over to the Romans;

Along all the roads also vast numbers of dead bodies lay on heaps, and even many of those that were so zealous in deserting, at length chose rather to perish within the city; for the hopes of burial made death in their own city appear of the two less terrible to them. But these ZEALOTS came at last to that degree of barbarity, as NOT TO BESTOW A BURIAL EITHER ON THOSE SLAIN IN THE CITY, OR ON THOSE THAT LAY ALONG THE ROADS; but as if they had made an agreement to cancel both the laws of their country and the laws of nature, and at the same time that they defiled men with their wicked actions, they would pollute the Divinity itself also, THEY LEFT THE DEAD BODIES TO PUTREFY UNDER THE SUN: and the same punishment was allotted to such as buried any, as to those that deserted, which was no other than death;"

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Josephus next writes that the Zealots became so wicked, that not only did they trampled on the laws of men, but they also laughed at the Laws of God as well. Furthermore, he writes that they ridiculed the writings of the Prophets themselves, who had foretold of how these wicked men would pollute the temple, and of how the temple would eventually be burned to the ground. Josephus appears to be making a direct reference to the prophecies of Daniel. He concludes Chapter 6 by saying that the Zealots in fact became the instruments of their own prophesied destruction. Consider the following excerpt:

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

"These men, therefore, trampled upon all the laws of men, and laughed at the laws of God: and for the oracles of the prophets, they ridiculed them as the tricks of jugglers; yet did these prophets foretell many things concerning [the rewards of] virtue, and [punishments of] vice, which when these Zealots violated, they occasioned the fulfilling of those very prophecies belonging to their own country: for there was a certain ancient oracle of those men, That "the city should then be taken and the sanctuary burnt, by right of war, when a sedition should invade the Jews, and their own hand should pollute the temple of God." Now while those Zealots did not [quite] disbelieve these predictions, they made themselves the instruments of their accomplishment."

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As we begin Book 4 Chapter 7, Josephus then writes that John of Gischala, believing himself to be better and more worthy than others, and simply because he was not in agreement with the others, broke away from his own faction, and formed his own party consisting of the most wicked men of all. Some of the people submitted to him out of fear, while others joined him out of their goodwill towards him. But as far as Josephus was concerned, John was quickly becoming a tyrant. In this way, the sedition became divided into two parts, with John being the head over one of them.

To complicate the situation even further, Josephus writes that there were those in the opposing camp who were not only envious of John, but who were very concerned that John was acquiring too much power, and would soon become unstoppable. Thus, they began turning against him, not wanting to have to subject themselves to one who had formerly been their own equal. And so, Josephus writes as follows:


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

"By this time John was beginning to tyrannize, and thought it beneath him to accept of barely the same honours that others had; and joining to himself by degrees a party of the wickedest of them all, he broke off from the rest of the faction. This was brought about by his still disagreeing with the opinions of others, and giving out injunctions of his own, in a very imperious manner, so that it was evident he was setting up a monarchial power. Now some submitted to him out of their fear of him, and others out of their good-will to him, for he was a shrewd man to entice men to him, both by deluding them and putting cheats upon them.

His activity was so great, and that both in action and in counsel, that he had not a few guards about him; yet was there a great party of his antagonists that left him; among whom envy at him weighed a great deal, while they thought it a very heavy thing to be in subjection to one that was formerly their equal. But the main reason that moved men against him was the dread of monarchy, for they could not hope easily to put an end to his power, if he had once obtained it;

So the sedition was divided into two parts, and John reigned in opposition to his adversaries over one of them;"

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

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

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