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

Synopsis:




Continuing our discussion from part twenty-one, as we begin Book 6 Chapter 8 of "The Wars of the Jews", Titus and the Romans now control the temple compound, as well as the Lower City. Meanwhile, Simon bar Giora, John of Giscala and their bands of murderous Zealots, Sicarii, robbers and other thugs have escaped to the caverns below the city, from which they continue to plunder and kill, and set fires throughout the city. For his part, Titus next orders that new siege ramps be constructed on the west side of the Upper City -- where the royal palace is located -- which has yet to be taken. It proves to be a difficult task, because all of the trees have already been stripped as far out as twelve miles from the city.

At this point in our story, Josephus relates how Titus went back on his word. While Titus had declared that he would no longer accept any deserters from within the city, and would in fact have everyone slain due to the continued insolence of the Jews, an incident arose which from a strategic point of view seemed to be to his advantage changed his mind. As it turns out, a number of the Idumaean commanders who were in league with Simon and John decided to try to make peace with Titus. Realizing how much Simon and John depended on the Idumaeans, Titus agreed to their request.

However, once again, Simon bar Giora got wind of what was going on. Thus, he had the five Idumaean representatives who had just returned from speaking with Titus slain. To make matters worse, he had the Idumaean commanders imprisoned, and he placed more of his men on the walls so that no one else could escape from the city. Nevertheless, his efforts were to little avail, because many more people continued to escape out of the clutches of the insurrectionists, despite the fact that many of them were killed by the seditionists. And so, Josephus writes as follows:

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"It was at this time that the commanders of the Idumeans got together privately, and took counsel about surrendering up themselves to the Romans. Accordingly they sent five men to Titus, and entreated him to give them his right hand for their security. So Titus thinking that the tyrants would yield, if the Idumeans, upon whom a great part of the war depended, were once withdrawn from them, after some reluctancy and delay, complied with them, and gave them security for their lives, and sent the five men back. But as these Idumeans were preparing to march out, Simon perceived it, and immediately slew the five men that had gone to Titus, and took their commanders, and put them in prison, of whom the most violent was Jacob the son of Sosas, but as for the multitude of the Idumeans, who did not at all know what to do, now their commanders were taken from them, he had them watched, and secured the walls by a more numerous garrison. Yet could not that garrison resist those that were deserting, for although a great number of them were slain, yet were the deserters many more in number."

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At this point in his narration, Josephus mentions the fact that due to so many Jerusalemites being sold into slavery by the Romans, and because of the fact that there were so few buyers for the Jewish slaves, they were sold at a very cheap price. Furthermore, Josephus notes that Titus eventually let go free about forty thousand Jews to do as they pleased. He also mentions that by this time, the Romans were simply now tired of killing Jews. One interesting footnote states that this happening was in direct fulfillment of a warning which Moses had given to the Israelites thousands of years before. Consider the following Bible verses:

"If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD . . . And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you."


Notice that Moses specifically said "no man shall buy you". That is exactly what happened. As we have just seen, the Romans enslaved so many of the Jews, that there were not even enough buyers for them. Thus, even the Jews who were sold, were bought for a very cheap price. And so, Josephus describes the situation as follows:

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"These [the deserters] were all received by the Romans, because Titus himself grew negligent as to his former orders for killing them, and because the very soldiers grew weary of killing them, and because they hoped to get some money by sparing them; for they left only the populace, and sold the rest of the multitude, with their wives and children, and every one of them at a very low price; and that because such as were sold were very many, and the buyers were few; and although Titus had made proclamation before-hand, that no deserter should come alone by himself; that so they might bring out their families with them, yet did he receive such as these also. However, he set over them such as were to distinguish some from others, in order to see if any of them deserved to be punished. And indeed the number of those that were sold was immense; but of the populace about forty thousand were saved, whom Caesar let go whither every one of them pleased."

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After describing how one of the temple priests and the temple treasurer secured their freedom by handing over to Titus much of the temple priestly garments, precious stones, pure gold candlesticks, expensive spices, and other temple treasures, Josephus informs his readers that the siege ramps which were being constructed on the west side of the Upper City had now been completed. While some of the seditionists fled to the underground caverns, and others to the citadel, yet others remained and fought against the Romans after their engines of war had breached the western wall of the Upper City. Yet their endeavors were to no avail, and the Romans eventually overcame them and entered the Upper City.

According to Josephus' perspective, this final Roman victory over the insurrectionists was given to them by God, because he was convinced that there was no way that the Romans could have easily breached the three remaining towers with their engines of war. However, by this time, the Jews had lost all hope, and realized the futility of their situation. And so, they came down from the towers of their own accord and fled into the underground caverns. So again, Josephus believed that this was an Act of God, and thus he writes as follows:

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"And here one may chiefly reflect on the power of God exercised upon these wicked wretches, and on the good fortune of the Romans; for these tyrants did now wholly deprive themselves of the security they had in their own power, and came down from those very towers of their own accord, wherein they could have never been taken by force, nor indeed by any other way than by famine. And thus did the Romans, when they had taken such great pains about weaker walls, get by good fortune what they could never have gotten by their engines; for three of these towers were too strong for all mechanical engines whatsoever, concerning which we have treated above.

So they [the seditionists] now left these towers of themselves, or rather they were ejected out of them by God himself, and fled immediately to that valley which was under Siloam, where they again recovered themselves out of the dread they were in for a while, and ran violently against that part of the Roman wall which lay on that side; but as their courage was too much depressed to make their attacks with sufficient force, and their power was now broken with fear and affliction, they were repulsed by the guards, and dispersing themselves at distances from each other, went down into the subterranean caverns."

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Josephus next writes that while the Romans were joyful over their victory, even they were perplexed by how easy it had been for them to gain control of the final wall, the towers, and thus ultimately, the Upper City. However, as they began to penetrate deeper into the Upper City, plundering, killing without mercy those whom they encountered, and burning down houses as they proceeded, they were horrified by what they found. As we have discussed before, many homes were filled with the dead bodies of those who had been victims of the terrible famine which had gripped the city. So disgusting was the sight that the Romans didn't touch anything. Maybe this was one reason why they decided to just burn down the whole city. It needed to be purified. Josephus writes as follows:

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"So the Romans being now become masters of the walls, both placed their engines upon the towers, and made joyful acclamations for the victory they had gained, as having found the end of this war much lighter than its beginning; for when they had gotten upon the last wall, without any bloodshed, they could hardly believe what they found to be true; but seeing nobody to oppose them, they stood in doubt what such an unusual solitude could mean.

But when they [the Romans] went in numbers into the lanes of the city, with their swords drawn, they slew those whom they overtook without mercy, and set fire to the houses whither the Jews were fled, and burnt every soul in them, and laid waste a great many of the rest; and when they were come to the houses to plunder them, they found in them entire families of dead men, and the upper rooms full of dead corpses, that is, of such as died by the famine; they then stood in a horror at this sight, and went out without touching anything. But although they had this commiseration for such as were destroyed in that manner, yet had they not the same for those that were still alive, but they ran every one through whom they met with, and obstructed the very lanes with their dead bodies, and made the whole city run down with blood, to such a degree indeed that the fire of many of the houses was quenched with these men's blood. And truly so it happened, that though the slayers left off at the evening, yet did the fire greatly prevail in the night; and as all was burning, came that eighth day of the month Gorpieus [Elul,] upon Jerusalem, a city that had been liable to so many miseries during this siege, that, had it always enjoyed as much happiness from its first foundation, it would certainly have been the envy of the world. Nor did it on any other account so much deserve these sore misfortunes, as by producing such a generation of men as were the occasion of this its overthrow."

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As you can see by his final words above, as far as Josephus was concerned, the city of Jerusalem deserved what came upon it by the hands of the Romans, due to the generation of evil men who had taken control of the city, meaning the Zealots, Sicarii, robbers and murderers, who had not only committed so much bloody violence, but who had also totally defiled and polluted the temple itself with their violence, killing and other ungodly deeds. Let us not forget that those wicked men also removed the real priesthood and installed their own false priests. They likewise dressed in women's clothing in order to deceive their enemies. More importantly, they had blasphemed against God's Laws, and they had mocked His holy Prophets. Yet their full end was not quite yet.

As we enter Book 6 Chapter 9 of "The Wars of the Jews", the night has passed, and Titus has now made his entrance into the Upper City. After admiring the strength of those three towers which the Jewish seditionists had abandoned, Titus ordered that they be left standing as a war monument to his victory over the Jews. As for the Jews who were still alive in the city, he ordered that only those who bore arms and who still opposed them should be slain. Likewise, the sick and the elderly were killed as well. Those people who the insurrectionists had imprisoned were also freed.

The Jews who were not immediately killed were then driven into the temple compound where it could be determined who was guilty of sedition, and who was not. Josephus mentions that the robbers and the seditionists were killed, while the young and handsome men were reserved for the triumph march which would later occur in Rome. As for the rest, those who were under seventeen years of age were enslaved and sent to the Egyptian mines, while the rest were sent by Titus into the Roman provinces where they would be destroyed in the Roman theatres by both the sword, as well as by wild beasts.

Please remember again the warning which Moses had given to the Israelites many years earlier. He had specifically said "And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt AGAIN with ships" if they were to disobey the Lord. Well, it is rather obvious that God kept His word. Following this, Josephus provides us with an account of the casualties of the war. He begins by stating that while waiting to be determined whether or not they were guilty or innocent, 11,000 of the Jews perished from starvation, either because they refused to take food, or because the Roman guards refused to give them any food out of their hatred for the Jews.

As I explained near the end of part thirteen, Josephus also states in this chapter that 97,000 Jews were taken prisoner during the entirety of the war, enslaved, and carried off to other Roman provinces. Furthermore, he specifically states that 1,100,000 people perished during the Jerusalem siege. As we also learned in part thirteen, Josephus now explains that the reason why this number was so high is because the siege occurred precisely during the time of the Jews' Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover when multitudes of Jews from around the Mediterranean Sea region made their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Thus, being the shrewd tactician that he obviously was, when Titus began the siege, he would not allow those Jewish worshippers to leave the city again. Consider the following excerpts from Chapter 9:

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"And now, since his soldiers were already quite tired with killing men, and yet there appeared to be a vast multitude still remaining alive, Caesar gave orders that they should kill none but those that were in arms, and opposed them, but should take the rest live. But, together with those whom they had orders to slay, they slew the aged and the infirm; but for those that were in their flourishing age, and who might be useful to them, they drove them together into the temple, and shut them up within the walls of the court of the women; over which Caesar set one of his freed men, as also Fronto, one of his own friends, which last was to determine every one's fate, according to his merits. So this Fronto slew all those that had been SEDITIOUS, and ROBBERS, who were impeached one by another; but of the young men he chose out the tallest and most beautiful, and reserved them for the triumph; and as for the rest of the multitude that were about seventeen years old, he put them into bonds, and sent them to the Egyptian mines. Titus also sent a great number into the provinces, as a present to them, that they might be destroyed upon the theatres, by the sword, and by the wild beasts; but those that were under seventeen years of age were sold for slaves. Now during the days wherein Fronto was distinguishing these men, there perished for want of food, eleven thousand; some of whom did not taste any food, through the hatred their guards bore to them, and others would not take any when it was given them. The multitude also was so very great, that they were in want even of corn for their sustenance.

Now the number of those that were carried captive during this whole war was collected to be ninety-seven thousand; as was the number of those who perished during the whole siege eleven hundred thousand, the greater part of whom were indeed of the same nation, [with the citizens of Jerusalem,] but not belonging to the city itself: for they were come up from all the country to the feast of unleavened bread, and were on a sudden shut up by an army, which at the very first, occasioned so great a straitness among them, that there came a pestilential destruction upon them, and soon afterwards such a famine, as destroyed them more suddenly.

Now this vast multitude is indeed collected out of remote places, but the entire nation was now shut up by fate, as in prison, and the Roman army encompassed the city when it was crowded with inhabitants. Accordingly the multitude of those that therein perished, exceeded all the destructions that either men or God ever brought upon the world; for, to speak only of what was publicly known, the Romans slew some of them, some they carried captives, and others they made a search for under ground, and when they found where they were, they broke up the ground and slew all they met with."

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As we discussed earlier, please notice again that Josephus very specifically says "the multitude of those that therein perished, exceeded all the destructions that either men or God ever brought upon the world." Josephus' words sound very similar to what Jesus himself prophesied in the Gospel of Matthew four decades earlier regarding great tribulation eventually to come upon the Jews. Let me share those verses with you again:

"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 elects sake those days shall be shortened."


Regarding what the Romans found once they began to go down into the caverns where the remaining seditionists had fled, Josephus writes that they discovered the bodies of about two thousand Jews who, similar to what would later happen at the fortress of Masada as well, had either taken their own lives, or had been intentionally killed by their Jewish countrymen. Despite the horrific sight, and the nauseating stench of the rotting bodies, Josephus writes that while some of the Romans immediately left the caverns, others trampled upon the piles of bodies in order to get the treasures which lay among them. He describes the scene as follows:

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"There were also found slain there above two thousand persons, partly by their own hands, and partly by one another, but chiefly destroyed by the famine; but then, the ill savour of the dead bodies was most offensive to those that lighted upon them, insomuch that some were obliged to get away immediately, while others were so greedy of gain, that they would go in among the dead bodies that lay on heaps, and tread upon them; for a great deal of treasure was found in these caverns, and the hope of gain made every way of getting it to be esteemed lawful."

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Concerning the fate of John of Giscala and Simon bar Giora, Josephus briefly mentions that due to the lack of food in the caverns for himself and his men, John was forced to beg for peace with Titus. However, John's rather late plea for peace was rejected by General Titus, and he was eventually condemned to "perpetual imprisonment". As for Simon, we are informed that due to the dire situation in which he and his men found themselves, he finally surrendered to the Romans. But Titus didn't have him killed immediately. Rather, Simon was sent to Rome for the triumph march, and was then later executed. Josephus also notes that the Romans set fire to the rest of the city, and tore down all of the walls, as we see by the following excerpt from Chapter 9:

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"As for John, he wanted [lacked] food together with his brethren, in these caverns, and begged that the Romans would now give him their right hand for his security, which he had often proudly rejected before: but for Simon, he struggled hard with the distress he was in, till he was forced to surrender himself, as we shall relate hereafter; so he was reserved for the triumph, and to be then slain: as was John condemned to perpetual imprisonment. And now the Romans set fire to the extreme parts of the city, and burnt them down, and entirely demolished its walls."

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As we enter Book 6 Chapter 10 -- which is the final chapter in Book 6 -- we discover that it is a very short chapter in which Josephus offers a brief history of the different times in which the city was either captured and/or destroyed. He likewise mentions how Jerusalem was founded by Melchizedek, who built the first temple there, and was the first priest in it. But what surprised me is that Josephus claims that Melchizedek was a Canaanite, whereas I have always assumed that he was Jesus in an earlier human form. At any rate, I find it interesting that Josephus begins the chapter with "And thus was Jerusalem taken," and ends the chapter with "And thus ended the siege of Jerusalem", as we see by this excerpt:

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"And thus was Jerusalem taken, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, on the eighth day of the month Gorpieus, [Elul.] It had been taken five times before, though this was the second time of its desolation; for Shishak, the king of Egypt, and after him, Antiochus, and after him, Pompey, and after him, Sosias and Herod, took the city, but still preserved it; but before all these, the king of Babylon conquered it, and made it desolate, one thousand four hundred and sixty-eight years and six months after it was built. But he who first built it was a potent man among the Canaanites, and is in our tongue called Melchisedek,] The Righteous king, for such he really was; on which account he was [there] the first priest of God, and first built a temple [there,] and called the city Jerusalem, which was formerly called Salem. However, David, the king of the Jews, ejected the Canaanites, and settled his own people therein. It was demolished entirely by the Babylonians, four hundred and seventy-seven years and six months after him. And from king David, who was the first of the Jews who reigned therein, to this destruction under Titus, were one thousand one hundred and seventy-nine years; but from its first building, till this last destruction, were two thousand one hundred seventy-seven years; yet hath not its great antiquity, nor its vast riches, nor the diffusion of its nation over all the habitable earth, nor the greatness of the veneration paid to it on a religious account, been sufficient to preserve it from being destroyed. And thus ended the siege of Jerusalem."

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Please note that while in the previous excerpt Josephus says that Jerusalem was held captive five times by foreigners, in his "Antiquities of the Jews", Book 12 Chapter 1, Section 1, he corrects himself by mentioning that Ptolemy I -- a.k.a. Ptolemy I Soter, who was the founder the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt following the death of Alexander the Great -- likewise captured the city. This would have occurred centuries after Shishak had taken Jerusalem, as well as centuries after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had also conquered the city, and a number of decades before Antiochus IV Epiphanes would again conquer the city for the fourth time, as we discussed in part fifteen of this same series. In other words, in order, the conquerors of Jerusalem would be as follows:

Shishak	Egyptian
Nebuchadnezzar	Babylonian
Ptolemy I	Greek/Macedonian
Antiochus IV Epiphanes	Greek/Macedonian
Pompey	Roman
Titus	Roman

Following is the actual excerpt as found in Book 12 Chapter 1, Section 1 of "Antiquities of the Jews" where Josephus mentions Ptolemy's conquest of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day:

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"Now when Alexander, king of Macedon [meaning Alexander the Great], had put an end to the dominion of the Persians, and had settled the affairs in Judea after the forementioned manner, he ended his life. And as his government fell among many, Antigonus obtained Asia, Seleucus Babylon; and of the other nations which were there, Lysimachus governed the Hellespont, and Cassander possessed Macedonia; as did Ptolemy the son of Lagus seize upon Egypt. And while these princes ambitiously strove one against another, every one for his own principality, it came to pass that there were continual wars, and those lasting wars too; and the cities were sufferers, and lost a great many of their inhabitants in these times of distress, insomuch that all Syria, by the means of Ptolemy the son of Lagus, underwent the reverse of that denomination of Savior, which he then had. He also seized upon Jerusalem, and for that end made use of deceit and treachery; for as he came into the city on a sabbath day, as if he would offer sacrifices, he, without any trouble, gained the city, while the Jews did not oppose him, for they did not suspect him to be their enemy; and he gained it thus, because they were free from suspicion of him, and because on that day they were at rest and quietness; and when he had gained it, he ruled over it in a cruel manner."

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Going back four chapters to Book 6 Chapter 4 of "The Wars of the Jews", Josephus likewise offers different time frames for the purpose of comparison. One of the more interesting points he makes is that both Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar and Roman general Titus destroyed the temple on the very same day, as we see by the following excerpt:

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

"However, one cannot but wonder at the accuracy of this period thereto relating; for the same month and day were now observed, as I said before, wherein the holy house was burnt formerly by the Babylonians. Now the number of years that passed from its first foundation, which was laid by king Solomon, till this its destruction, which happened in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, are collected to be one thousand one hundred and thirty, besides seven months and fifteen days; and from the second building of it which was done by Haggai, in the second year of Cyrus the king, till its destruction under Vespasian, there were six hundred thirty-nine years and forty- five days."

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

As we enter Book 7 Chapter 1, with Jerusalem now completely under Roman control, Titus gives orders that the entire city -- including the remains of the temple itself -- be torn down and totally demolished, except for the aforementioned three towers, and the western wall of the city as well, which would serve as an encampment for the Romans. The three towers would serve as both a reflection of the former magnificence of the city, as well as serve as a monument of the Romans' victory over the Jews. Thus, Josephus writes as follows:

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

"Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury, (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other such work to be done,) Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as were of the greatest eminency, that is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and Mariamne, and so much of the wall as inclosed the city on the west side. This wall was spared, in order to afford a camp for such as were to lie in garrison, as were the towers also spared, in order to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city it was, and how well fortified, which the Roman valour had subdued; but for all the rest of the wall, it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited. This was the end which Jerusalem came to by the madness of THOSE THAT WERE FOR INNOVATIONS [meaning the seditionists]; a city otherwise of great magnificence, and of mighty fame among all mankind."

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

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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