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

Synopsis:




Continuing our discussion from part twenty, after describing the various signs which God had begun giving to the Jews even before the war actually began, and the Prophet who had given them warning for over seven years, Josephus mentions certain ambiguous signs, one of which was that when the temple became four-square, the city would be taken. More specifically, he writes as follows in Book 6 Chapter 5:

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"Now, if any one consider these things, he will find that God takes care of mankind, and by all ways possible foreshows to our race what is for their preservation, but that men perish by those miseries which they madly and voluntarily bring upon themselves; for the Jews, by demolishing the tower of Antonia, had made their temple four-square, while at the same time they had it written in their sacred oracles, That 'then should their city be taken, as well as their holy house, when once their temple should become four-square.'"

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Please notice again how Josephus blames the seditious Jews for their own destruction through their foolish rebellion against Roman occupation. While I did find some verses in Ezekiel chapter forty where the Lord gave Ezekiel visions regarding the rebuilt temple in which the inner court was four-square and measured one hundred cubits on each side, I was not able to find any associated verses which stated that this would be a sign of Jerusalem's future conquest. Consider the following group of verses:

"And without the inner gate were the chambers of the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south: one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north. And he said unto me, This chamber, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the house. And the chamber whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, which come near to the LORD to minister unto him. SO HE MEASURED THE COURT, AN HUNDRED CUBITS LONG, AND AN HUNDRED CUBITS BROAD, FOURSQUARE; and the altar that was before the house [meaning the temple]."


Furthermore, the Prophet notes that the Lord gave him these visions fourteen years after Jerusalem had been smitten by the forces of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, at which time he and the other Jews had been in captivity for twenty-five years. This seems to indicate that Ezekiel was taken captive eleven years prior to Jerusalem and the temple's destruction in 587 BC. Consider the following Bible verses:

"In the FIVE AND TWENTIETH YEAR OF OUR CAPTIVITY, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, IN THE FOURTEENTH YEAR AFTER THAT THE CITY WAS SMITTEN, in the selfsame day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and brought me thither. In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south."


If you are confused, please recall that there were actually three Babylonian sieges against Jerusalem. It was during the third siege when the temple was destroyed. So given the time frame of the previous verses, I am given the impression that Ezekiel may have been taken captive at the same time as King Jehoiachin, his family and other royalty and servants. As you may likewise recall from part eighteen, Jehoiachin preferred to be taken as a captive to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar, rather than see Jerusalem and the temple destroyed. That did not happen until years later during the reign of Zedekiah.

At any rate, honestly speaking, I am really not sure which prophecy -- or "sacred oracles" -- Josephus was referring to when he wrote the above words. He is simply not being very clear about it. Perhaps he is referencing some other source outside of the Bible. As I mentioned earlier in this series, there are other Old Testament Prophets who foretold of the 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem, but none of them mention a word about the temple being four-square at the time that the city is taken. Consider these two sample verses:

"And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come SHALL DESTROY THE CITY AND THE SANCTUARY; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined."


"For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; AND THE CITY SHALL BE TAKEN, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city."


Aside from the four-square prophecy, Josephus also explains that one particular reason why the Jewish insurrectionists were quite confident with regard to waging their war against the Romans, was because they had become deceived by another prophecy, which they foolishly interpreted as promising them victory against the Romans' oppression. Thus Josephus writes as follows:

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"But now, what did the most elevate them in undertaking this war, was an ambiguous oracle that was found also in their sacred writings. How 'about that time one from their country should become governor of the habitable earth.' The Jews took this prediction to belong to themselves in particular, and many of the wise men were thereby deceived in their determination. Now, this oracle certainly denoted the government of Vespasian, who was appointed emperor in Judea. However, it is not possible for men to avoid fate, although they see it before-hand. But these men interpreted some of these signals according to their own pleasure, and some of them they utterly despised, until their madness was demonstrated, both by the taking of their city, and their destruction."

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Ironically, while Josephus points out the error of his fellow Jews in misinterpreting said prophecy, I am convinced that he was just as deceived as they were, and that his interpretation was no better than what the Jewish seditionists believed. Once again, it is difficult to ascertain exactly which prophecy he was referring to. While I have been reading a Greek to English translation of Josephus' works, it is not in the Elizabethan style of the King James Version of the Bible. As such, I'm not able to match his words precisely with any specific verses in the KJV Bible. However, upon reading what few words he wrote, I received a strong impression that he may have been referring to the following prophecy regarding Jesus Christ:

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."


Now if I'm correct in my assumption that this is the prophecy Josephus was referring to, then in my opinion, it is a rather strong indication that while he had heard about Jesus Christ -- having been born seven years after Jesus' Crucifixion -- he apparently did not embrace Him as the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. That Josephus would even interpret the prophecy as referring to General Vespasian is rather strange, because it very clearly says "one from their country", which I assume to mean the country of the Jews, or Israel. In other words, the Jewish seditionists were convinced that a great Jewish leader would arise and become "governor of the habitable earth."

It is not feasible that the insurrectionists would have the same confidence of victory if "one from their country" is actually a reference to Italy and Vespasian. If nothing else, Josephus' interpretation is yet another strong indication of his strong bias in favor of the Romans -- and against his own rebellious Jewish countrymen -- which has been quite evident throughout his work. Let me remind my readers that history is always written by the victor. It is for that very reason that it will always be written so that it favors the victor, and paints them in a positive light, even if the picture that is painted is a major distortion of the actual truth.

Another observation I have made as I have studied his work is that Josephus is also quite self-aggrandizing, not only with regard to how he paints himself, but in how he describes both Vespasian and Titus as well. If we just take Josephus' words at face value, one is to believe that he, Vespasian and Titus were the most virtuous, fair, merciful, wise and patient of men, who only resorted to violence and war as a last resort. However, as many of us know, actions speak louder than words, and General Titus tortured a lot -- such as the thousands of crucifixions outside the walls of Jerusalem -- and he killed a lot as well.

The one big hesitation I have in accepting that Josephus may have been referring to Isaiah's prophecy is the fact that the prophecy quite clearly says "The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Being that Josephus was himself seemingly a devout Jew who mentions God throughout his work, I cannot imagine him applying those words to Vespasian. Can you?

Following these rather ambiguous and difficult-to-understand passages, as we begin reading Book 6 Chapter 6 of "The Wars of the Jews", Josephus continues his compelling narration by returning to the point where the Jewish seditionists have now fled into the city, the temple and surrounding buildings have been burned down, and the Romans have taken complete control of the Temple Mount. I found his next entry very interesting, because it confirms something I also discuss in the four-part series entitled "Abomination of Desolation: Explained!", and which I very briefly discussed in previous parts of this same series. Josephus writes as follows:

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"And now the Romans, upon the flight of THE SEDITIOUS into the city, and upon the burning of the holy house itself and of all the buildings round about it, brought their ensigns to the temple, and set them over against its eastern gate; and there did they offer sacrifices to them, and there did they make Titus 'Imperator' with the greatest acclamations of joy."

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Notice that Josephus describes how Titus and the Romans next brought their ensigns to the temple court and set them up by the East Gate. If you read the aforementioned series, you'll discover that these ensigns were actually Roman standards, on the top of which was a golden eagle. This was a great offense to the Jews because the eagle is an unclean bird according to the Levitical Law. It is in fact an abomination to them. To make matters worse, to celebrate their victory over the Jews, the Romans also began offering sacrifices to their ensigns on the Temple Mount, which is the holiest place to the Jews.

So while the Jewish seditionists had already greatly defiled and polluted the temple with their violence and bloodshed, the Romans did just as bad by setting up their standards and sacrificing to them. If you would like to learn more about this subject, consider reading the aforementioned series. As I explain in that series, there is even greater significance to what the Romans did. As it turns out, forty years earlier, while He was discussing the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, Jesus said that when the Romans set up their standards -- or ensigns -- it was time to immediately flee out of the city. The urgency of His warning is made clear in the following group of Bible verses:

"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened."


"But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days."


"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people."


The expediency of the situation is rather clear. Jesus said to not even go back into your house to gather your personal belongings. Not even a stitch of clothing! Just get out of town fast! The Lord even says that if you are a Jew who is thinking about entering the city -- such as to celebrate the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for example -- just don't do it! Why not? Because the Lord says that there would be GREAT TRIBULATION, and affliction, such as they had never experienced before.

As we have seen, that is exactly what happened once the war against the Jews had begun, and even more so once Jerusalem was placed under siege, and afterwards when the Romans had managed to breach the three walls surrounding the city, and entered the temple compound itself. It wasn't just the death at Roman hands. It was likewise the famine, the disease, and ruthlessness, betrayal and violence of the seditionists too. Yet still, there's a very specific reason why Jesus mentioned the raising of the Roman ensigns in the temple compound, and Josephus tells us exactly what it was, as I will now explain to you.

Upon escaping from the temple compound and fleeing into the city itself, the insurrectionists realized that there was no longer any manner of escape for them. The city was surrounded by a siege wall. The three protective walls of Jerusalem had been breached. The Romans were now inside the temple compound itself. Their beloved temple was gone. The famine was slowly killing everyone. What could Simon bar Giora, John of Giscala and the Zealots, Sicarii, thugs, robbers and killers who had followed them even do? Thus, they decided to parley with the Romans. With the Romans positioned on one side in the temple compound, and the seditionists on the other side in the Upper City, and separated by a bridge which connected the two areas together, the two opposing sides met. Josephus describes the situation as follows:

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"But as for THE TYRANTS themselves, and those that were with them, when they found that they were encompassed on every side, and, as it were, walled round, without any method of escaping, they desired to treat with Titus by word of mouth. Accordingly, such was the kindness of his nature, and his desire of preserving the city from destruction, and was joined to the advice of his friends, who now thought THE ROBBERS were come to a temper, that he placed himself on the western side of the outer [court of the] temple; for there were gates on that side above the Xystus, and a bridge that connected the upper city to the temple. This bridge it was that lay between the tyrants and Caesar, and parted them; while the multitude stood on each side, those of the Jewish nation about Simon and John, with great hopes of pardon, and the Romans about Caesar, in great expectation how Titus would receive their supplication. So Titus charged his soldiers to restrain their rage, and to let their darts alone, and appointed an interpreter between them, which was a sign that he was the conqueror, and first began the discourse,"

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At this point, Titus gave a long speech in which he repeatedly reminded the seditionists of how very merciful and patient the Romans had been with them. He reminded them of how the Romans had basically allowed them to run their own affairs as long as they remained submitted to Rome. He also reminded them of how many times since the war had begun, the Romans had given them ample opportunity to peacefully surrender. Yet on every single occasion, the Romans had been rebuffed by the haughty, insolent Jews. Yet despite their continual arrogance, Titus stated that he was STILL willing to forgive them, if they would simply lay down their arms, and thus save themselves, what was left of the city as well.

Considering the situation, and the fact that they were now out of options, one would think that by this time, the seditionists would have come to their senses and surrendered right then and there. No such thing. Apparently, they still thought that they were in a position to be able to bargain with Titus. Thus, not only did the insurrectionists refuse Titus' offer of peace, but they petitioned him that he would allow them to take their wives and children and go out to the desert, leaving Jerusalem to the Romans. As Josephus explains below, the Jews' arrogance not only infuriated Titus, but it resulted in him making a very important decision, which is directly tied to Jesus' warning. Consider the following excerpt:

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

"To that offer of Titus they made this reply, That 'they could not accept of it, because they had sworn never to do so, but they desired they might have leave to go through the wall that had been made about them, with their wives and children; for that they would go into the desert, and leave the city to him.' At this Titus had great indignation, that when they were in the case of men already taken captives, they should pretend to make their own terms with him, as if they had been conquerors. So he ordered this proclamation to be made to them, That 'they should no more come out to him as deserters, nor hope for any further security; for that HE WOULD HENCEFORTH SPARE NOBODY, but fight them with his whole army; and that they must save themselves as well as they could; for that he would from henceforth treat them according to the laws of war.' So he gave orders to the soldiers both to burn and to plunder the city; who did nothing indeed that day; but on the next day they set fire to the repository of the archives, to Acra, to the council-house; and to the place called Ophlas; at which time the fire proceeded as far as the palace of Queen Helena, which was in the middle of Acra: the lanes also were burnt down, as were also those houses that were full of the dead bodies of such as were destroyed by famine."

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Up until this point, Titus had restrained his army for the most part. As I mentioned earlier in this series, with Roman control of the temple compound, and the destruction of the temple itself, the Jews were greatly demoralized. It was as if their soul had been ripped right out of them. So this in itself was a great victory for the Romans, which is why they celebrated and declared Titus Imperator. However, with this latest rebuff by the stubborn Jews, Titus had enough of their insolence. Thus, he pulled out the stops and told his men to burn down and plunder the rest of the city, which they began to do the following day.

But the most important thing I want you to see here is Titus' change in attitude. As you will recall, up until this point, he was willing to forgive any defectors who managed to escape the eye of Simeon bar Giora, John of Giscala, and their evil men, and flee from the city. However, not anymore. Everyone -- defector or not -- was now fair game and would be killed. As Josephus clearly wrote "for that he would henceforth spare nobody". In other words, if they had not made it out of the city by then, it was too late for them. Roman mercy was over. Everyone would be slain and the time for clemency was over.

My friends, I am convinced that this is why Jesus gave such an urgent warning to His followers. I believe that this was the specific incident that He was referring to. He knew in advance that once those Roman standards went up, no one would be able to escape out of Jerusalem, because General Titus would have a change of heart after that fateful parley occurred between the two sides. That is why the Lord said to get out of town with just the clothes on your back! Your time to escape has run out! Amazing, isn't it?

Returning to Book 6 Chapter 6 of "The Wars of the Jews", you'll notice that in the previous excerpt, in addition to sacrificing to their abominable idols, the Romans declared Titus "Imperator", or emperor. At first, I was really taken back by this, because his father, Vespasian, was still the ruling emperor in Rome. However, as I dug deeper into this subject, I discovered that this was an honorary title that was likewise given to Roman generals after a great military victory. The Wikipedia website describes this Roman custom in the following manner:

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"During the later Roman Republic and during the late Republican civil wars, imperator mainly was the honorific title assumed by certain military commanders. After an especially great victory, an army's troops in the field would proclaim their commander imperator, an acclamation necessary for a general to apply to the Senate for a triumph. After being acclaimed imperator, the victorious general had a right to use the title after his name until the time of his triumph, where he would relinquish the title as well as his imperium.

After the reign of Tiberius, the act of being proclaimed imperator was transformed into the act of imperial accession. In fact, if a general was acclaimed by his troops as imperator, it would be tantamount to a declaration of rebellion against the ruling emperor. At first the term continued to be used in the Republican sense as a victory title, but attached to the de facto monarch and head of state, rather than the commander of the military. The title then followed the emperor's name along with the number of times he was acclaimed as such, for example IMP V ("imperator five times"). In time it became the title of the de facto monarch, pronounced upon (and synonymous with) their assumption."

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

In a way, what Titus' soldiers did by declaring him Imperator was actually quite prophetic, because as I mentioned earlier in this series, following his father's ten-year reign, Titus did in fact become the next emperor of Rome, even though it was for a rather short period of barely even two years, quite possibly due to the wicked machinations of his own brother, Domitian.

As we begin reading Book 6 Chapter 7, being as it was a very strong structure, and with their time almost running out, the seditionists fled into the royal palace which was located in the Upper City. Tragically, in order to take control of the palace, they killed over eight thousand Jerusalemites who had holed up there, plundering them of their possessions in the process. Josephus then mentions that the following day, the Romans drove the robbers -- meaning the seditionists -- out of the Lower City. However, no plunder was to be taken by the Romans, because the insurrectionists had already carried all of their belongs to the Upper City when they escaped to it.

Josephus next writes that so wicked were those men, that even though so many people had already been killed; even though the temple itself had been burned down; and even though the city was in the process of burning; yet they remained insolent, and even put a smile on their faces. Despite all of this, Josephus still begged them to abandon their insanity, and to submit to the Romans, in order to spare what remained of the city. But to the contrary, they again mocked Josephus. Worse yet, being as they were no longer strong enough to even fight against the Romans, those vile men went into the city and slew as many of the potential deserters as they found.

Josephus then once again describes the horror of seeing dead bodies piled up everywhere throughout the city. Some had been the victims of the famine itself, while others had been slain by the seditionists themselves. Thus, Josephus writes as follows:

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"Accordingly, as the people were now slain, the holy house was burnt down, and the city was on fire, there was nothing farther left for the enemy to do. Yet did not Josephus grow weary, even in this utmost extremity, to beg of them to spare what was left of the city; he spoke largely to them about their barbarity and impiety, and gave them his advice in order to their escape; though he gained nothing thereby more than to be laughed at by them; and as they could not think of surrendering themselves up, because of the oath they had taken, nor were strong enough to fight with the Romans any longer upon the square, as being surrounded on all sides, and a kind of prisoners already, yet were they so accustomed to kill people, that they could not restrain their right hands from acting accordingly. So they dispersed themselves before the city, and laid themselves in ambush among its ruins, to catch those that attempted to desert to the Romans; accordingly many such deserters were caught by them and were all slain; for these were too weak by reason of their want of food to fly away from them; so their dead bodies were thrown to the dogs.

Now every other sort of death was thought more tolerable than THE FAMINE, insomuch that, though the Jews despaired now of mercy, yet would they fly to the Romans, and would themselves, even of their own accord, fall among the MURDEROUS REBELS also. Nor was there any place in the city that had no dead bodies in it; but what was entirely covered with those that were killed either by THE FAMINE, or THE REBELLION; and all was full of the dead bodies of such as had perished, either by that SEDITION or by that FAMINE."

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

In one last vain effort to try to save themselves, Josephus next writes that the seditionists and robbers, led by their two tyrants, Simon bar Giora and John of Giscala, fled into the many caverns which were below the city. Their thinking was that if they could manage to hide out there long enough, until the rest of the city had burned down, resulting in the Romans finally leaving Jerusalem, they might manage to still survive and escape. From these same underground lairs, they continued to set new fires throughout the city, and likewise plundered and killed people, particularly those who still had food. Josephus notes that the situation was now so dire, that the seditionists began to fight amongst themselves over the plunder they had acquired. Thus he writes as follows:

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

"So now the last hope which supported THE TYRANTS, and that CREW OF ROBBERS which were with them, was in the caves and caverns under ground; whither, if they would once fly, they did not expect to be searched out, but endeavoured, that after the whole city should be destroyed, and the Romans gone away, they might come out again, and escape from them. This was no better than a dream of theirs; for they were not able to lie hid either from God or from the Romans. However, they depended on these underground subterfuges, and set more places on fire than did the Romans themselves, and those that fled out of their houses thus set on fire, into the ditches, they killed without mercy, and pillaged them also; and if they discovered food belonging to any one, they seized upon it and swallowed it down, together with their blood also; nay, they were now come to fight one with another about their plunder; and I cannot but think, that, had not their destruction prevented it, their barbarity would have made them taste even of the dead bodies themselves."

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

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

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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