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

Synopsis:




Continuing our discussion from part fifteen, as we continue reading in Book 1 Chapter 7, Josephus remarks how Pompey was amazed by the Jew's devout dedication to their religion. He notes that even though they were in the midst of battle with the Romans, they still observed the seventh day Sabbath, and the priests continued to perform their duties in the temple courtyard where the sacrificial altar was located. Josephus next reports that after three months, Pompey and the Romans breached one of the towers which was built on the perimeter wall. Thus, they were finally able to gain access to the temple compound itself.

Once the Romans had penetrated the temple courtyard, there was a very terrible slaughter. However, all of the killing and dying was NOT done by the Romans alone. While the Romans did in fact kill many Jews -- including the priests -- we're also informed that the greater part of them "were slain by their own countrymen, of the adverse faction." In case that is not clear to you, they were killed by Aristobulus' men! In addition, many Jews set fire to the buildings which were close to the perimeter wall, thus dying within them. Others, rather than die by a Roman sword, threw themselves over the deep precipices which surrounded the temple compound. In the end, Josephus reports that 12,000 Jews were killed in one fashion or another, as we see by the following excerpt:

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"Now, here it was that upon the many hardships which the Romans underwent, Pompey could not but admire not only at the other instances of the Jews' fortitude, but especially that they did not at all intermit their religious services, even when they were encompassed with darts on all sides; for, as if the city were in full peace, their daily sacrifices and purifications, and every branch of their religious worship was still performed to God with the utmost exactness. Nor indeed, when the temple was actually taken; and they were every day slain about the altar, did they leave off the instances of their divine worship that were appointed by their law; for IT WAS IN THE THIRD MONTH OF THE SIEGE before the Romans could even with great difficulty overthrow one of the towers and get into the temple. Now he that first of all ventured to get over the wall, was Faustus Cornelius, the son of Sylla; and next after him were two centurions. Furius and Fabius; and every one of these was followed by a cohort of his own, who encompassed the Jews on all sides, and slew them, some of them as they were running for shelter to the temple, and others as they, for a while, fought in their own defence.

And now did many of the priests, even when they saw their enemies assailing them with swords in their hands, without any disturbance, go on with their divine worship, and were slain while they were offering their drink-offerings, and burning their incense, as preferring the duties about their worship to God, before their own preservation. THE GREATEST PART OF THEM WERE SLAIN BY THEIR OWN COUNTRYMEN, OF THE ADVERSE FACTION, and an innumerable multitude threw themselves down precipices; nay, some there were who were so distracted among the insuperable difficulties they were under, that they set fire to the buildings that were near to the wall, and were burnt together with them. Now of the Jews were slain twelve thousand; but of the Romans very few were slain, but a great number were wounded."

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At this point in his tragic narration, Josephus makes a very interesting observation, and it is something which Titus and Pompey both realized. That is the fact that the temple was the very center of Jewish life. Everything revolved around it. That is why all Jews strived to visit Jerusalem once a year, during the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So the Romans understood how important it was for them to take the temple compound. By so doing, it would demoralize all the Jews. Of course, the idea of the Romans entering the temple itself would be a total affront to the Jews -- because for them to do so would pollute the temple -- thus making it ritually unclean -- just as we learned in part fifteen with regard to Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the Maccabean Revolt.

Yet that is precisely what Pompey and the Romans did, as we see by the following excerpt. However, Pompey did NOT kill the priests, or plunder the temple. Rather, he gave orders the very next day for the temple to be cleansed, and for the sacrificial services to be resumed. You see, by breaching the temple, and by giving this order to resume temple services, Pompey was sending a strong symbolic message. That is that Jerusalem was now under control of the Romans, and anything the Jews were allowed to do from that point forward was by the permission of Rome. In addition, Pompey restored John Hyrcanus -- a.k.a. Hyrcanus II -- as the high priest, as we learned in part fifteen of this series:

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"But there was nothing that affected the nation so much, in the calamities they were then under, as that their holy place, which had been hitherto seen by none, should be laid open to strangers; for Pompey, and those that were about him, went into the temple itself, whither it was not lawful for any to enter but the high priest, and saw what was reposited therein, the candlestick with its lamps, and the table, and the pouring vessels, and the censers, all made entirely of gold, as also, a great quantity of spices heaped together, with two thousand talents of sacred money. Yet did not he touch that money, nor any thing else that was there reposited; but he commanded the ministers about the temple, the very next day after he had taken it, to cleanse it, and to perform their accustomed sacrifices. MOREOVER, HE MADE HYRCANUS HIGH PRIEST, as one that not only in other respects had showed great alacrity, on his side, during the siege, but as he had been the means of hindering the multitude that was in the country from fighting for Aristobulus, which they were otherwise very ready to have done; by which means he acted the part of a good general, and reconciled the people to him more by benevolence than by terror."

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After this, Josephus goes into specific details concerning everything that General Pompey did to secure Israel under the control of the Romans both politically and militarily, once Jerusalem had been taken. Eventually, Pompey returned to Rome, taking with him both Aristobulus and his children as captives. Josephus also describes some of the ongoing battles which were fought by those Jews who continued to resist the Roman occupation. This in fact included battles which were led by both Aristobulus and his son, Alexander, both of whom had escaped from the Romans at different times.

While Alexander was hoping to retake Jerusalem from John Hyrcanus and rebuild the walls which Pompey had destroyed, he was eventually defeated by Roman general Gabinius at Alexandrium. Concerning Aristobulus, he and his army were eventually forced to retreat to Macherus, where they were defeated. Aristobulus was sent back to Rome, where he was again imprisoned.

I mentioned a moment ago how Pompey had secured Israel in both a political and military manner. You may recall from part fifteen how I mentioned that Marcus Aemilius Scaurus was appointed as proquaestor -- administrator -- in the Roman province of Syria by Roman general Pompey. He was eventually succeeded by Gabinius. Following the 63 BC fall of Jerusalem, not only did the Romans rebuild many of the cities of Israel, but we are told that Gabinius -- under orders from Pompey -- set up a new kind of governmental administration in Israel.

Judea became another Roman province. Whereas before, under the Hasmonean Dynasty, the leaders of Judea were often both king and high priest, the position of king was eliminated, and when John Hyrcanus -- Hyrcanus II -- was restored to his former position, he was only made the temple high priest, but not the actual king of Judea. The political arm of the local government was now to be run by an aristocracy comprised of Jewish noblemen. Gabinius also divided up Israel into five distinct political regions, as we see by the following excerpt from Book 1 Chapter 8:

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"After this Gabinius brought Hyrcanus to Jerusalem, and committed the care of the temple to him; but ordained the other political government to be by an aristocracy. He also parted the whole nation into five conventions, assigning one portion to Jerusalem, another to Gadara, that another should belong to Amathus, a fourth to Jericho, and to the fifth division was allotted Sepphoris, a city of Galilee. So the people were glad to be thus freed from monarchical government, and were governed for the future by an aristocracy."

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What you may find very interesting is the fact that with our discussion regarding how General Pompey laid siege to Jerusalem and conquered it in 63 BC, we have actually now come full circle. How so? Well, consider what I wrote in the very first two sentences when I began this series:

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

As I point out in various other articles such as "Abomination of Desolation: Explained!", "Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?" and "The Fall of Masada", the First Century AD was a very difficult and tumultuous time for the Jews and the land of Israel. In fact, since the Roman general Pompey had captured Jerusalem in 63 BC, the country was under Roman occupation, and was ruled by Rome-appointed puppet kings, who were the Herodian dynasty.

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In other words, while the main focus of this series has been to explain exactly how Jerusalem fell to the Romans under General Titus's command in 70 AD, we never really addressed how Israel actually became occupied by the Romans to begin with. Many Christians know that Israel was a Roman-occupied nation during the time of Christ. They likewise know that the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple compound in 70 AD. But beyond that, a lot fewer Christians understand how the situation arrived at that point in the first place. But now, with our discussion of Pompey's siege, we see how and why it all began. That is also why -- as we read earlier -- while he was rebuking the Jerusalemites, Josephus very pointedly said the following to them:

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"Indeed what can it be that hath stirred up an army of the Romans against our nation? Is it not the impiety of the inhabitants? WHENCE DID OUR SERVITUDE COMMENCE? Was it not derived from the seditions that were among our forefathers, WHEN THE MADNESS OF ARISTOBULUS AND HYRCANUS, and our mutual quarrels, brought POMPEY upon this city, and when God reduced those under subjection to the Romans, who were unworthy of the liberty they had enjoyed."

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So to reiterate one of my key points, Israel first came under Roman occupation due to this family feud -- and civil war -- which erupted between the two Hasmonean brothers, Aristobulus and Hyrcanus. Furthermore, it was still under occupation by the Romans during the time of Christ decades later, and still again during the final assault against Jerusalem in 70 AD. In short, as long as the Jews submitted to Roman authority, and paid tribute to Rome -- just as other subdued nations did -- the Romans pretty much left them alone to live their lives, and to practice their religion, as they pleased. This is what Pax Romana was all about: Conquer, but then let them live in peace. As we have seen, it was only when the Jews foolishly chose to rebel against Roman authority, that trouble began, and the First Jewish-Roman War broke out in 66 AD.

At this point in our story, we return to 70 AD where Titus and the Romans have now broken through the outer two walls of Jerusalem, and Josephus is trying to talk some sense into the insurrectionists who are inside the city, before it is too late and they are utterly destroyed. Thus, as we return to Book 5 Chapter 9 of "The Wars of the Jews", Josephus is still trying to convince the seditionists to surrender to Titus. He provides them with even more examples to demonstrate to them how it was futile to continue their resistance. He begins with Antigonus, who was the final Hasmonean king and priest before Pompey took the city 133 years earlier. Josephus reminds them how on each occasion, God had been with their enemies in order to chastise them for their sins.

Furthermore, Josephus very bluntly informs them that their sins are worse than those which had been committed during the time when Pompey conquered Jerusalem. Likewise, he tells them that their sins are worse than those which had been committed by the Jews during the time when King Nebuchadnezzar took the city and destroyed the temple as well over 650 years earlier. After offering his lengthy supplication to the seditionists inside the city, Josephus concluded his speech as follows:

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

"However, there is place left for your preservation, if you be willing to accept of it; and God is easily reconciled to those that confess their faults, and repent of them. O hard hearted wretches as you are! cast away all your arms, and take pity of your country already going to ruin, return from your wicked ways, and have regard to the excellency of that city you are going to betray, to that excellent temple with the donations of so many countries in it. Who could hear to be the first that should set that temple on fire? who could be willing that these things should be no more? and what is there that can better deserve to be preserved? O insensible creatures, and more stupid than are the stones themselves! And if you cannot look at these things with discerning eyes, yet however, have pity upon your families, and set before every one of your eyes, your children, and wives, and parents, which will be gradually consumed either by famine or by war. I am sensible that this danger will extend to my mother, and wife, and to that family of mine which hath been by no means ignoble, and indeed to one that hath been very eminent in old time; and perhaps you may imagine that it is on their account only that I give you this advice: if that be all, kill them; nay, take my own blood as a reward, if it may but procure your preservation: for I am ready to die, in case you will but return to a sound mind after my death."

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Sadly, despite Josephus' lengthy speech which was filled with both pleas and rebukes, the hardhearted seditionists refused to back down. But as for the common people, many desired to flee from the miserable conditions within the city. Thus, not only did they sell their possessions so that they would have a way to survive upon their escape, but they even swallowed pieces of gold so that the seditionists would not find them on their bodies. Josephus notes that Titus did allow them to escape to the country. But as for Simon bar Giora and John of Giscala who were the leaders of the two remaining factions, once again they began slitting the throats of anyone who fell under the suspicion of trying to desert to the Romans. But Josephus notes that the real reason was that they wanted to steal the wealth of the rich people who were trying to flee the city. Thus, as we begin Book 5 Chapter 10, Josephus writes as follows:

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

"As Josephus was speaking thus with a loud voice, THE SEDITIOUS WOULD NEITHER YIELD to what he said, nor did they deem it safe for them to alter their conduct; but as for the people, they had a great inclination to desert to the Romans; accordingly some of them sold what they had, and even the most precious things that had been laid up as treasures by them, for a very small matter, and swallowed down pieces of gold, that they might not be found out by the robbers; and when they had escaped to the Romans, went to stool, and had wherewithal to provide plentifully for themselves, for Titus let a great number of them go away into the country, whither they pleased. And the main reasons why they were so ready to desert were these, that now they should be freed from those miseries which they had endured in that city, and yet should not be in slavery to the Romans: however, John and Simon, with their factions, did more carefully watch these men's going out, than they did the coming in of the Romans; and, if any one did but afford the least shadow of suspicion of such an intention, HIS THROAT WAS CUT IMMEDIATELY.

But as for the richer sort, it proved all one to them whether they stayed in the city, or attempted to get out of it; for they were equally destroyed in both cases; for every such person was put to death under this pretence, that they were going to desert, BUT IN REALITY THAT THE ROBBERS MIGHT GET WHAT THEY HAD."

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To make the situation within the city even worse, with each passing day, the severity of the famine continued to grow, which made the seditionists even more desperate. As you may recall from earlier in this series, due to the fires which had erupted due to the continuous infighting between the different factions, and the onslaughts of the Jews' enemies without, the supply of stored corn was already dwindling. Thus, besides killing people in order to obtain their gold and other wealth, the insurrectionists also began to kill anyone who had food. In the following excerpt taken from Book 5 Chapter 10, Josephus describes to what extremes the seditionists went in order to secure food. In a word, they spared no one:

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

"The madness of THE SEDITIOUS did also increase together with their famine, and both those miseries were every day inflamed more and more; for there was no corn which anywhere appeared publicly, but THE ROBBERS came running into, and searched men's private houses; and then, if they found any, they tormented them, because they had denied they had any, and if they found none, they tormented them worse, because they supposed they had more carefully concealed it. The indication they made use of whether they had any or not, was taken from the bodies of these miserable wretches; which, if they were in good case, they supposed they were in no want at all of food; but if they were wasted away they walked off without searching any farther; nor did they think it proper to kill such as these, because they saw they would very soon die of themselves for want of food. Many there were indeed who sold what they had for one measure; it was of wheat, if they were of the richer sort, but of barley if they were poorer. When these had so done, they shut themselves up in the inmost rooms of their houses, and eat the corn they had gotten; some did it without grinding it, by reason of the extremity of the want they were in, and others baked bread of it, according as necessity and fear dictated to them; a table was nowhere laid for a distinct meal, but they snatched the bread out of the fire, half-baked, and eat it very hastily.

It was now a miserable case, and a sight that would justly bring tears into our eyes, how men stood as to their food, while the more powerful had more than enough, and the weaker were lamenting [for want of it.] But the famine was too hard for all other passions, and it is destructive to nothing so much as to modesty; for what was otherwise worthy of reverence was in this case despised; insomuch that children pulled the very morsels that their fathers were eating out of their very mouths, and what was still more to be pitied, so did the mothers do as to their infants; and when those that were most dear were perishing under their hands, they were not ashamed to take from them the very last drops that might preserve their lives: and while they eat after this manner, yet were they not concealed in so doing; but THE SEDITIOUS everywhere came upon them immediately, and snatched away from them what they had gotten from others; for when they saw any house shut up, this was to them a signal that the people within had gotten some food; whereupon they broke open the doors, and ran in, and took pieces of what they were eating almost up out of their very throats, and this by force: the old men, who held their food fast, were beaten, and if the women hid what they had within their hands, their hair was torn for so doing; nor was there any commiseration shown either to the aged or to the infants, but they lifted up children from the ground, as they hung upon the morsels they had gotten, and shook them down upon the floor. But still were they more barbarously cruel to those that had prevented their coming in, and had actually swallowed down what they were going to seize upon, as if they had been unjustly defrauded of their right. They also invented terrible methods of torments to discover where any food was, and they were these: to stop up the passages of the privy parts of the miserable wretches, and to drive sharp stakes up their fundaments; and a man was forced to bear what it is terrible even to hear, in order to make him confess that he had but one loaf of bread, or that he might discover an handful of barley meal that was concealed; and this was done when these tormentors were not themselves hungry; for the thing had been less barbarous had necessity forced them to it, but this was done to keep their madness in exercise, and as making preparation of provisions for themselves for the following days."

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This terrible situation reminds of what I have written before in other articles concerning how the famine in Jerusalem grew so bad during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem more than 650 years earlier, that women were cooking and eating their very own children. In the Lamentations of Jeremiah, we read the following two verses:

"They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field. The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people."


As I was reading the previous paragraphs in "The War of the Jews", something Josephus wrote immediately popped out at me, because I instantly recognized it as yet another fulfilled prophecy which is found in the sixth chapter of amazing Book of Revelation. Please note that Josephus wrote as follows:

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

"Many there were indeed who sold what they had for one measure; it was of wheat, if they were of the richer sort, but of barley if they were poorer."

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

As you may possibly recall, in part thirteen of this series, I told you that I am convinced that the prophecy concerning the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was fulfilled during the 70 AD siege of Jerusalem. Keeping in mind what Josephus said in the above short excerpt, let me share with you again what John wrote regarding the Black Horseman:

"And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine."


My friends, as I have shared before, I am totally convinced that when God pronounces a prophecy in the Scriptures, it's always specific to one particular event. I don't embrace the modern, man-made doctrine and erroneous belief which claims that each of the Bible prophecies has multiple fulfillments. God's Word is very precise in its meaning. While we humans may not always understand them immediately, the Lord is NOT ambiguous when He declares a prophecy regarding some future event. Having said that, the way that what Josephus wrote perfectly matches what John wrote in the Book of Revelation is simply mind-boggling. They fit together like a hand in a glove.

If you doubt that this is so, consider how Josephus mentions both wheat and barley -- just like John -- and he says that the rich people sold their possessions in order to purchase a measure of wheat, while the poor people were so poor that if they sold their possessions, they could only afford to buy a measure of barley. Why was this? Because a measure of wheat was worth a lot more than a measure of barley. John in fact says in the sixth chapter of Revelation that wheat was worth three times more than barley. Barley was cheaper to buy than the wheat, so the poor bought the barley, while rich people purchased the wheat.

After discussing the famine which had taken hold of the city, Josephus continues his narration by further describing the extreme barbarity of the two factions which were led by Simon bar Giora and John of Giscala. He writes that they were the most wicked men since the beginning of the world. He likewise writes that when they watched the temple burn from the Upper City, they were not fazed in the least. In fact, Josephus writes that the Romans themselves felt more pity regarding the destruction of the temple than the seditionists did. Consider the following excerpt:

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

"It is therefore impossible to go distinctly over every instance of these men's iniquity. I shall therefore speak my mind here at once briefly, that neither did any other city ever suffer such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was, from the beginning of the world. Finally, they brought the Hebrew nation into contempt, that they might themselves appear comparatively less impious with regard to strangers. They confessed what was true, that they were the slaves, the scum, and the spurious and abortive offspring of our nation, while they overthrew the city themselves, and forced the Romans, whether they would or not, to gain a melancholy reputation, by acting gloriously against them, and did almost draw that fire upon the temple, which they seemed to think came too slowly; and indeed, when they saw that temple burning from the upper city, they were neither troubled at it, nor did they shed any tears on that account, while yet these passions were discovered among the Romans themselves. Which circumstances we shall speak of hereafter in their proper place, when we come to treat of such matters."

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

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

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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