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

Synopsis:




Continuing our discussion from part eighteen, even though the evidence was right there in front of their faces, and all of the people on the wall could see that their countrymen were still alive, yet did the seditionists continue to contradict them, while at the same time, they prepared their engines of war to shoot arrows, javelins and stones by placing them on the temple gates. Josephus then describes how the interior of the temple itself looks like a burial ground, due to the vast number of dead bodies which lay within it.

As I have read all of these descriptions regarding how the dead and putrefying bodies lay everywhere by the thousands, it helps me to even more understand why God had to destroy Herod's temple. That holy ground where it stood simply had to be cleansed and purified by fire. I am reminded of what Eleazar the priest said to the Israelites after they had defeated the Midianites and taken a spoil. Consider also what one Angelic Messenger said to the other in the eighth chapter of the Book of Daniel. I am including a few other verses which reveal how God uses the symbolic fire of our trials to purify our faith:

"And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses; Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and IT SHALL BE CLEAN: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water."


"Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; THEN SHALL THE SANCTUARY BE CLEANSED."


"Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."


"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:"


"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent."


So remember again what Josephus said to the seditionists when he strongly rebuked them as they stood on top of the wall and mocked him and refused to surrender to the Romans:

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"It is God therefore, it is God himself who is bringing on this fire to purge that city and temple by means of the Romans, and is going to pluck up this city, which is full of your pollutions."

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After Josephus had made his own plea to the insurrectionists, and after the escaped Jerusalemites had likewise pleaded with them to surrender to the Romans, Titus himself was so grieved by what would soon happen to the Jerusalemites, and to their city and temple, that he too strongly reproached those wicked men and again informed them that it wasn't his desire to burn down their temple. He even asked the Jews to take their fight to somewhere else so that the temple would not be harmed or destroyed. Please note that in the following excerpt, Titus is referring to the partition wall and signs which the Romans had allowed the Jews to put up, which advised any foreigner that they were not allowed to proceed any further onto the temple grounds. Thus, Josephus writes as follows:

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"Now Titus was deeply affected with this state of things and reproached John and his party, and said to them, "Have not you, vile wretches that you are, by our permission put up this partition wall before your sanctuary? Have not you been allowed to put up the pillars thereto belonging, at due distances, and on it to engrave in Greek, and in your own letters this prohibition. That no foreigner should go beyond that wall? Have we not given you leave to kill such as go beyond it, though he were a Roman? And what do you do now, you pernicious villains? Why do you trample upon dead bodies in this temple? and why do you pollute this holy house with the blood of both foreigners and Jews themselves?

I appeal to the gods of my own country, and to every god that ever had any regard to this place; (for I do not suppose it to be now regarded by any of them); I also appeal to my own army, and to those Jews that are now with me, and even to you yourselves, that I do not force you to defile this your sanctuary; and if you will but change the place whereon you will fight, no Roman shall either come near your sanctuary, or offer any affront to it; nay, I will endeavour to preserve you your holy house, whether you will or no."

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Yet once again, despite the sincerity in Titus' words, John -- the "tyrant" in the excerpt below -- and the seditionists -- "the robbers" in the excerpt below -- doubted what they were being told, and viewed Titus' plea as a sign of his own weakness. For his part, Titus realized that continuing to try to bargain with the insurrectionists was pointless. Thus, he was even more determined to proceed with the war, as we read below:

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"As Josephus explained these things from the mouth of Caesar, both THE ROBBERS and THE TYRANT thought that these exhortations proceeded from Titus's fear, and not from his good will to them, and grew insolent upon it. But when Titus saw that these men were neither to be moved by commiseration towards themselves, nor had any concern upon them to have the holy house spared, he proceeded unwillingly to go on with the war again against them."

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Following these events, Titus stationed himself in the top of the tower of Antonia -- which the Romans had already taken -- while a long overnight battle continued between the Jews and the Romans. By morning, it appeared that the battle had been pretty much of a stalemate. Meanwhile over a period of seven days, the Romans had cleared parts of the foundations of the tower of Antonia in order to open a broad way to the temple. Having now come near to the first court -- referred to as the court of the Gentiles -- they began building siege ramps in order to proceed with the next stage of the war against the Jewish insurrectionists led by Simon bar Giora and John of Giscala. Consider this short excerpt:

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"In the meantime, the rest of the Roman army had, in seven days time, overthrown [some] foundations of the tower of Antonia, and had made a ready and broad way to the temple. Then did the legions come near the first court, and began to raise their banks."

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By the way, this particular court is in fact mentioned in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Revelation. Please notice how we are clearly told that the Gentiles -- meaning the Romans -- would trample the city of Jerusalem underfoot for a period of forty-two months. This equates to three and half Jewish years, which is precisely how long it took before the Romans destroyed the temple in 70 AD. In other words, as I mention in the twelve-part series called "Who is Babylon the Great?", as well as in other BBB articles, many of the events that are described in Revelation are in fact about this very same war we have been discussing. They are NOT some future events, as the misguided Futurist-leaning Christians would have you to believe. Consider these verses:

"And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months."


As the war continued to progress, and the fighting drew ever closer to the temple itself, the Jews became more distressed. Josephus notes that as a strategy to try to slow down the advance of the Romans, the insurrectionists set fire to one of the cloisters which was connected to the tower of Antonia. They also cut off part of it so as to create a breach between themselves and the Romans. It is interesting to note that the seditionists had done something similar in part two of this series when Governor Gessius Florus tried to gain access to the temple in order to steal its wealth. As I pointed out in part nine, 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.

But the main point to consider here is that Josephus mentions that it was this act of setting fire to the cloister that led to the beginning of the burning of the actual temple itself. In turn, two days later, the Romans set fire to the cloister which was joined to the one which the Jews had already set on fire. Most importantly, Josephus notes that even after the seditionists had succeeded in separating the tower of Antonia from the temple compound, and even though the fire continued to spread, the Jews did absolutely nothing to stop it, as we see by the following excerpt:

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"In the meantime, the Jews were so distressed by the fights they had been in, as the war advanced higher and higher, and creeping up to the holy house itself, that they, as it were, cut off those limbs of their body which were infected, in order to prevent the distemper's spreading farther; for they set the northwest cloister, which was joined to the tower of Antonia, on fire, and after that brake off about twenty cubits of that cloister, and thereby MADE A BEGINNING IN BURNING THE SANCTUARY: two days after which, or on the twenty-fourth day of the forenamed month [Panemus or Tamuz] the Romans set fire to the cloister that joined to the other, when the fire went fifteen cubits farther. The Jews in like manner cut off its roof; nor did they entirely leave off what they were about till the tower of Antonia was parted from the temple, even when it was in their power to have stopped the fire, nay, THEY LAY STILL WHILE THE TEMPLE WAS FIRST SET ON FIRE, and deemed this spreading of the fire to be for their own advantage."

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As we enter Book 6 Chapter 3 of "The Wars of the Jews", our writer describes how the seditionists set up a trap in which many of the Romans were burned to death. Josephus follows this account by describing how other cloisters were either burned down or destroyed by both the Romans and the Jews so as to gain some advantage in the ongoing battles. This is followed by yet another description regarding the severity of the ongoing famine which had gripped Jerusalem, as well as the barbarities which were committed by the seditionists due to their desperation to find food to consume.

Josephus explains that as real food disappeared, they began to eat articles of clothing, objects made out of leather, and anything else that they could possibly chew. Then, last of all, just as we have discussed before, he describes how a certain wealthy woman named Mary who had fled to Jerusalem, became so distressed by her situation, that she killed her own infant son, roasted him, ate half of him, and then she offered the other half to the seditionists when they came to bother her again.

The insurrectionists were horrified by what she had done, and the news of her actions soon spread not only throughout the city, but to the ears of Titus himself. For his part, we are told that he excused himself before God, because he had given the Jews ample opportunities to desist in their seditions and to make peace with the Romans. Instead, as Josephus writes, the Jews had chosen sedition rather than concord. Instead of peace, they chose to go to war. Rather than choosing satiety and abundance, they had chosen famine. Furthermore, they had begun with their own hands to burn down the temple, which the Romans had tried to preserve. As a result, Josephus quotes Titus as saying that "they deserved to eat such food as this was." He concludes by saying that such a city should not be left upon the earth where people do such things. Consider the following excerpt:

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"This sad instance was quickly told to the Romans, some of which could not believe it, and others pitied the distress which the Jews were under: but there were many of them who were hereby induced to a more bitter hatred than ordinary against our nation. But for Caesar, he excused himself before God as to this matter, and said, that 'he had proposed peace and liberty to the Jews, as well as an oblivion of all their former insolent practices: but that they, instead of concord, had chosen sedition; instead of peace, war; and before satiety and abundance, a famine. That they had begun with their own hands to burn down that temple, which we have preserved hitherto; and that therefore they deserved to eat such food as this was. That, however, this horrid action of eating an own child ought to be covered with the overthrow of their very country itself, and men ought not to leave such a city upon the habitable earth, to be seen by the sun, wherein mothers are thus fed,'"

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As we enter Book 6 Chapter 4 of "The Wars of the Jews", we are informed that the four new siege ramps have finally been completed, as Titus had earlier determined to do after the original ramps had been destroyed by the seditionists. After bringing in their best battering rams, even after six days of constantly pounding the wall near the western side of the inner temple, the Romans were still not able to penetrate the wall due to its strong construction. Josephus describes the situation thusly:

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"And now two of the legions had completed their banks on the eighth day of the month Lous, [Ab]. Whereupon Titus gave orders that the battering rams should be brought, and set over the western edifice of the inner temple; for before these were brought, the firmest of all the other engines had battered the wall for six days together without ceasing, without making any impression upon it; but the vast largeness and strong connexion of the stones was superior to that engine, and to the other battering rams also. Other Romans did indeed undermine the foundations of the northern gate, and after a world of pains removed the outermost stones, yet was the gate still upheld by the inner stones, and stood still unhurt;"

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Unable to penetrate the wall, the Romans tried to enter the inner temple grounds by way of the cloisters. Thus, ladders were mounted, but the Jews kept beating them back. At last, Titus realized that trying to save the temple was costing too many of the lives of his soldiers. And so, he ordered that the gates of the temple compounds be set on fire, as we see by the following short excerpt:

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"But when Titus perceived that his endeavours to spare a foreign temple turned to the damage of his soldiers and made them be killed, he gave orders to set the gates on fire,"

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We are next informed by Josephus that having set fire to the temple gates, the heat caused the silver that was over the gates to melt, upon which it caused the rest of the wood to suddenly burst into flames, after which the fire spread to the cloisters themselves. After letting the fire burn for two days -- thus burning more cloisters in the process -- we are told that Titus ordered that the fire be put out, and that a road be made so that his legions could more easily march up. He then called together his six primary commanders and other men in important positions, in order to seek their counsel regarding what they should do with the temple itself.

Some held to the opinion that the temple should be destroyed, as otherwise, the Jews would never desist in their fighting as long as the temple was still standing. Others suggested that maybe the temple could still be saved if the Jews could be convinced to leave it, but if not, then it should simply be demolished. The reasoning was that if the Jews continued to use the temple as their base of operations where all their weapons were stored, then the temple should no longer be seen as a holy house, but rather as a citadel, or fortress. Thus, the blame for the destruction of the temple would be on the insurrectionists themselves, and not on the Romans.

For his part, Titus told those present that they should not seek revenge on the temple itself, but rather on the Jews themselves who were in rebellion against them. Furthermore, he was opposed to burning the temple, because he felt that such an act would reflect poorly on the Roman government. On the other hand, he felt that allowing such a magnificent structure to remain standing would be to the government's advantage. With those words exchanged, the meeting was then dismissed. Josephus describes the meeting as follows:

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"Titus proposed to these, that they should give him their advice what should be done about the holy house. Now some of these thought, 'It would be the best way to act according to the rules of war, [and demolish it,] because the Jews would never leave off rebelling while that house was standing, at which house it was that they used to get all together.' Others of them were of opinion, That 'in case the Jews would leave it, and none of them would lay their arms up in it, he might save it; but that in case they got upon it, and fought any more, he might burn it; because it must then be looked upon not as an holy house, but as a citadel, and that the impiety of burning it would then belong to those that forced this to be done, and not to them.' But Titus said, That 'although the Jews should get upon that holy house, and fight us thence, yet ought we not to revenge ourselves on things that are inanimate, instead of the men themselves; and that he was not in any case for burning down so vast a work as that was, because this would be a mischief to the Romans themselves, as it would be an ornament to their government while it continued.' So Fronto, and Alexander, and Cerealis grew bold upon that declaration, and agreed to the opinion of Titus. Then was this assembly dissolved, when Titus had given orders to the commanders that the rest of their forces should lie still, but that they should make use of such as were most courageous in this attack. So he commanded that the chosen men that were taken out of the cohorts should make their way through the ruins, and quench the fire."

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Following yet another sally by the insurrectionists who still remained based in the inner temple court, Titus decided that the following day, he would storm the temple compound with his entire arm, and encamp around the temple itself. However, Josephus remarks that this would not be so, because just as King Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed Solomon's temple so many years earlier in 587 BC on the tenth day of the month of Ab, God had already marked this very same day as His chosen day when Herod's temple would be destroyed as well. Thus, after Titus had retired to his tent for the night, the situation quickly unraveled. Josephus describes the situation leading up to this momentous event:

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"So Titus retired into the tower of Antonia, and resolved to storm the temple the next day, early in the morning, with his whole army, and to encamp round about the holy house. But as for that house, God had, for certain, long ago doomed it to the fire; and now that fatal day was come, according to the revolution of ages, it was the tenth day of the month Lous, [Ab], upon which it was formerly burnt by the king of Babylon; although these flames took their rise from the Jews themselves, and were occasioned by them:"

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While the Jewish insurrectionists lay still for a while in the inner temple court after having been driven back by the Romans, they eventually sallied out again and renewed their attack. It was at this point that the terrible fate of the temple finally came to pass. As the Jews fought against the Romans who were trying to put out the fire that was still burning in the inner temple court as Titus had ordered them to do, they were driven back. Their retreat in fact allowed the Romans to reach the temple itself. And then it happened. Even though he had not been ordered to do so by Titus, with the help of a fellow soldier, a certain Roman soldier was lifted up and was able to set fire to one of the golden windows, and thus the temple itself was set on fire, as we see by the following excerpt from Book 6 Chapter 4 of "The Wars of the Jews":

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". . . for upon Titus's retiring, the seditious lay still for a little while, and then attacked the Romans again, when those that guarded the holy house, fought with those that quenched the fire that was burning the inner [court of the] temple; but these Romans put the Jews to flight, and proceeded as far as the holy house itself. At which time one of the soldiers, without staying for any orders, and without any concern or dread upon him at so great an undertaking, and being hurried only by a certain divine fury, snatched somewhat out of the materials that were on fire, and being lifted up by another soldier, he set fire to a golden window, through which there was a passage to the rooms that were round about the holy house, on the north side of it."

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Of course, upon seeing the flames, the Jews totally freaked out and ran together in order to try to put out the flames, without any regard whatsoever for the safety of their own lives. Word of the fire soon reached the ears of Titus who was still resting in his tent, who upon receiving the news, hastily rushed to the temple so as to order that the fire be immediately put out. However, upon arriving there, the scene was just total chaos as the Jewish insurrectionists and the Romans fought against each other.

Emotions were extremely high. The noise of the raging battle drowned out Titus' voice. His soldiers were so distracted by the battle itself that they apparently did not see his hand signal ordering them to put out the flames. Some were driven by their passion to destroy the enemy. When the Roman legions arrived behind Titus, they were likewise overwhelmed by the chaotic situation, and Titus was unable to refrain them from their violence against the Jews. So blinded were they by such rage that some were killed by their own lack of carefulness. Others seemed to purposely ignore Titus' orders to put out the fire, and in fact encouraged the soldiers in front of them to set the temple on fire.

Unable to restrain the fury of his soldiers, Josephus writes that Titus entered the temple itself where he observed its magnificence for a moment. Being as the fire was burning the rooms which surrounded the temple, and had not yet reached the inner parts of the temple itself, Titus still retained hope that the holy house could be saved from the raging fire. Thus, he again gave orders to some of his men to put out the flames. In fact, he gave command that those stubborn soldiers who were disobeying his orders be beaten with staves. And yet despite this, his men did not take heed to his orders. Others were driven by the belief that the temple rooms were filled with money. Eventually, Titus and his commanders retired, and his soldiers were left to their devices, so that the temple was burned to the ground.

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"And now a certain person came running to Titus, and told him of this fire, as he was resting himself in his tent, after the last battle: whereupon he rose up in great haste, and, as he was, ran to the holy house in order to have a stop put to the fire, after him followed all his commanders, and after them followed the several legions in great astonishment: so there was a great clamour and tumult raised, as was natural upon the disorderly motion of so great an army. Then did Caesar, both by calling to the soldiers that were fighting, with a loud voice, and by giving a signal to them with his right hand, order them to quench the fire. But they did not hear what he said, though he spake so loud, having their ears already dinned by a great noise another way: nor did they attend to the signal he made with his hand neither, as still some of them were distracted with fighting, and others with passion. But as for the legions that came running thither, neither any persuasions, nor any threatenings could restrain their violence, but each one's own passion was his commander at this time; and as they were crowding into the temple together, many of them were trampled on by one another, while a great number fell among the ruins of the cloisters, which were still hot, and smoking, and were destroyed in the same miserable way with those whom they had conquered: and when they were come near the holy house, they made as if they did not so much as hear Caesar's orders to the contrary, but they encouraged those that were before them to set it on fire. As for THE SEDITIOUS, they were in too great distress already to afford their assistance [towards quenching the fire:] they were everywhere slain, and everywhere beaten; and as for a great part of the people, they were weak and without arms, and had their throats cut wherever they were caught. Now, round about the altar lay dead bodies heaped upon one another, as at the steps going up to it ran a great quantity of their blood, whether also the dead bodies that were slain above [on the altar] fell down.

And now, since Caesar was no way able to restrain the enthusiastic fury of the soldiers, and the fire proceeded on more and more, he went into the holy place of the temple, with his commanders, and saw it, with what was in it, which he found to be far superior to what the relations of foreigners contained, and not inferior to what we ourselves boasted of, and believed about it. But as the flame had not as yet reached to its inward parts, but was still consuming the rooms that were about the holy house, and Titus supposing what the fact was, that the house itself might yet be saved, he came in haste and endeavoured to persuade the soldiers to quench the fire, and gave order to Liberalius the centurion, and one of those spearmen that were about him, to beat the soldiers that were refractory with their staves, and to restrain them; yet were their passions too hard for the regards they had for Caesar, and the dread they had of him who forbade them, as was their hatred of the Jews, and a certain vehement inclination to fight them, too hard for them also. Moreover, the hope of plunder induced many to go on, as having this opinion, that all the places within were full of money, and as seeing that all round about it was made of gold. And besides, one of those that went into the place prevented [went before] Caesar, when he ran so hastily out to restrain the soldiers, and threw the fire upon the hinges of the gate, in the dark; whereby the flame burst out from within the holy house itself immediately when the commanders retired, and Caesar with them, and when nobody any longer forbade those that were without to set fire to it. And thus was the holy house burnt down, without Caesar's approbation."

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

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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