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

Synopsis:




Continuing our discussion from part twenty-two, as you can see, Josephus writes that the Romans' destruction of the perimeter walls was so thorough -- in fact, right down to the very foundation -- that if someone were to pass by the site at some future date, they would not even realize that the place had once been inhabited. Furthermore, he notes once again that these tragic events occurred as a direct result of the madness of the seditionists themselves. As I mention in related articles, the thoroughness of the Romans in removing the extremely large and heavy stone blocks was in direct fulfillment of the Lord's own prophetic words four decades earlier, who Himself was confirming what the Prophet Daniel had written centuries earlier regarding how the city would be destroyed. Let me share those verses with you once again:

"And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, THERE SHALL NOT BE LEFT HERE ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER, THAT SHALL NOT BE THROWN DOWN."


"‭And‭ as he‭ went‭‭ out of‭ the temple‭, one‭ of his‭ disciples‭ saith‭‭ unto him‭, Master‭, see‭ what manner‭ of stones‭ and‭ what‭ buildings‭ ‭are here‭!‭ ‭And‭ Jesus‭ answering‭‭ said‭‭ unto him‭, Seest thou‭‭ these‭ great‭ buildings‭? THERE SHALL‭‭ NOT‭ BE LEFT‭‭ ONE STONE‭ UPON‭ ANOTHER‭, THAT‭ SHALL‭‭ NOT‭ BE THROWN DOWN‭‭.‭"


"For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, AND SHALL LAY THEE EVEN WITH THE GROUND, and thy children within thee; and THEY SHALL NOT LEAVE IN THEE ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation."


"And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which THERE SHALL NOT BE LEFT ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER, THAT SHALL NOT BE THROWN DOWN."


"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, YOUR HOUSE IS LEFT UNTO YOU DESOLATE. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, THERE SHALL NOT BE LEFT HERE ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER, THAT SHALL NOT BE THROWN DOWN."


"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, YOUR HOUSE IS LEFT UNTO YOU DESOLATE: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."


To put this feat into perspective for you, according to the Wikipedia website, with regard to the blocks in the Western Wall, it states that most of the blocks weighed between two and eight U.S. tons each. However, other blocks weighed even more, with one rather extraordinary block north of Wilson's Arch measuring 44.5 feet long, 11.0 feet high, 5.9 to 8.2 feet deep, and weighing between 280 and 330 U.S. tons!

Now if you find those figures mind-boggling, consider that with regard to the stone blocks which were used to build the temple itself, some measured 40 feet long, 11 feet wide, and 16.5 feet high. They could weigh several hundred tons, and some of them reached as much as 570 to 630 tons in weight! The largest block that was ever quarried is 64 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 18 feet high. Its weight is estimated to be approximately 1,650 U.S. tons! My, friends, now imagine the ancient Romans disassembling the temple and the surrounding walls which were constructed of limestone blocks so huge. Yet they were able to accomplish it in precise fulfillment of the Lord's words. That just blows my mind!

Josephus then describes how having completed the war, Titus wanted to commend his troops, and reward those soldiers who had shown particular bravery and valor. Thus, after giving his men a speech, lists of the bravest men were presented to him, and various gifts made of gold and silver, as well as clothing from the spoils and other things, were given to his men. Titus also gave out promotions to the most valiant of his soldiers. This was followed by feasts and sacrifices to their Roman gods. After three days of feasting with his top commanders, Titus gave orders to assign some of his legions to other areas, while leaving the tenth legion to guard over Jerusalem itself.

As for himself, accompanied by two of his legions, Titus left Jerusalem and went up to Caesarea on the coast, taking with him all of his spoils of war, as well as the Jewish captives. There he left them while they waited for the Winter to pass so that they could sail on to Italy. In the meantime, Titus marched up to Caesarea Philippi at the foot of Mount Hermon where he exhibited shows in which many of the Jewish captives where thrown to wild beasts, or forced to kill each other in gladiatorial fights. It was while he was there that he was informed that Simon bar Giora had finally been caught. It is at this point in his narration that Josephus explains the specific details regarding how Simon was actually captured, or perhaps better said, how he surrendered himself.

As you will recall from the end of part twenty-one, once the Romans had broken through the western wall of the Upper City and taken it over, John of Giscala and Simon bar Giora took their bands of violent men and escaped into the caverns and tunnels that were underneath the city. For his part, besides taking enough provisions to last them for a long time, Simon had also included experienced stonecutters in his group. As Josephus relates it, as long as they traveled along tunnels which had been previously dug out, they didn't encounter any problems.

However, once they tried to dig a new tunnel so as to escape from the Romans, they encountered difficulty and made very little progress. To make matters worse, their slow progress also resulted in their provisions running dangerously low. In a final desperate effort to try to save himself, Simon put on a disguise, hoping to elude the Romans, and then he arose from the ground right where the temple had formerly stood. While the Romans were at first astonished to see him, not knowing yet who he was, his true identity was eventually revealed, he was placed in bonds, and word of his capture was sent to Titus. Josephus describes these events in the following manner:

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

"Now, so far as had been digged of old, they went onward along it without disturbance; but where they met with solid earth, they dug a mine under ground, and this, in hopes that they should be able to proceed as far as to rise from under ground, in a safe place, and by that means escape. But when they came to make the experiment, they were disappointed of their hope; for the miners could make but small progress, and that with difficulty also; insomuch that their provisions, though they distributed them by measure, began to fail them. And now Simon, thinking he might be able to astonish and elude the Romans, put on a white frock, and buttoned upon him a purple cloak, and appeared out of the ground in the place where the temple had formerly been. At the first, indeed, those that saw him were greatly astonished, and they stood still where they were; but afterward they came nearer to him, and asked him who he was?

Now Simon would not tell them, but bid them call for their captain; and when they ran to call him, Terentius Rufus, who was left to command the army there, came to Simon, and learned of him the whole truth, and kept him in bonds, and let Caesar know that he was taken.

Thus did God bring this man to be punished for what bitter and savage tyranny he had exercised against his countrymen, by those who were his worst enemies: and this while he was not subdued by violence, but voluntarily delivered himself up to them to be punished, and that on the very same account that he had laid false accusations against many Jews, as if they were falling away to the Romans, and had barbarously slain them; for wicked actions do not escape the divine anger, nor is justice too weak to punish offenders, but in time overtakes those that transgress its laws, and inflicts its punishments upon the wicked in a manner so much more severe, as they expected to escape it on account of their not being punished immediately.

Simon was made sensible of this by falling under the indignation of the Romans. This rise of his out of the ground did also occasion the discovery of a great number of others of THE SEDITIOUS at that time, who had hidden themselves under ground. But for Simon, he was brought to Caesar in bonds, when he was come back to that Caesarea which was on the sea side; who gave orders that he should be kept against that triumph which he was to celebrate at Rome upon this occasion."

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Following Titus' return to Caesarea and the capture of Simon bar Giora, we're informed in the next three chapters of Book 7 that in honor of his brother's and his father's birthdays, Titus continued to have his shows in which many thousands of the captured Jews were thrown to the wild beasts, forced to fight against other to the death, and also burned. Later on, Titus likewise went into the Roman province of Syria where he continued to use the captured Jews to entertain people in various cities in the same wicked way. After that Josephus describes other events, such as several difficulties which befell the Jews of Antioch, Vespasian's joyous arrival in Rome as the new emperor, and a revolt by the Germans, which was put down by Domitian, who was Vespasian's younger son.

Eventually, Titus traveled to Alexandria, Egypt, whereupon he took a ship to Italy. Regarding the two legions he had with him, they were ordered to return to the cities where they had been stationed prior to the war against the Jews. Concerning the Jewish captives, Titus chose seven hundred of the most handsome of them to participate in his triumph march in Rome. Among the captives were John of Giscala and Simon bar Giora. As had occurred previously with his father, Titus was joyously received by all of the citizens of Rome. But what excited them the most was when Vespasian joined both of his sons -- Titus and Domitian -- in the triumph march.

After describing in considerable detail the triumph march, the feasts and festivities which followed, the short speech that was given by Vespasian, the extravagant parade floats, and the prayers and sacrifices which were made to the Roman gods, last of all, in Book 7 Chapter 5 of "The Wars of the Jews", Josephus describes the last part of the show where he informs us of the fate of Simon bar Giora in the following manner:

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

"Now the last part of this pompous show was at the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, whither when they were come, they stood still: for it was the Romans' ancient custom to stay till somebody brought the news, that the general of the enemy was slain. This general was Simon, the son of Gioras, who had then been led in this triumph among the captives; a rope had also been put upon his head, and he had been drawn into a proper place in the forum, and had withal been tormented by those that drew him along; and the law of the Romans required, that malefactors condemned to die. should be slain there. Accordingly when it was related that there was an end of him, and all the people had set up a shout for joy, they then began to offer those sacrifices which they had consecrated in the prayers used in such solemnities, which when they had finished, they went away to the palace. And as for some of the spectators, the emperors entertained them at their own feast; and for all the rest there were noble preparations made for their feasting at home: for this was a festival day to the city of Rome, as celebrated for the victory obtained by their army over their enemies, for the end that was now put to their civil miseries, and for the commencement of their hopes of future prosperity and happiness."

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

Regarding the fate of John of Giscala, other than what we already learned about it in part twenty-two, it appears that Josephus makes no further mention of him in "The Wars of the Jews", as far I know. In fact, I searched in Josephus' other major work -- "Antiquities of the Jews" -- and I was unable to find John mentioned there either. So all we can deduce is that as Josephus already informed us, due to their lack of food in the caverns underneath the city, John was forced to eventually beg for peace with Titus. However, John's belated plea for peace was simply brushed aside by Titus, and he was taken captive instead. We must assume then that once Titus returned to Rome for his extravagant triumph march, while Simon was publicly executed during the parade, for a reason which remains unknown to me, John was spared and eventually condemned to "perpetual imprisonment", as we learned before. Perhaps there is some other source which explains why Titus chose to spare John, but I haven't found it yet, if it even truly exists.

With these last events, we have now covered the full story concerning the fall of Jerusalem to General Titus and his Roman legions in 70 AD, as related by Jewish general and historian, Flavius Josephus, in his work "The Wars of the Jews" -- also known as "The Jewish War" -- and as related as well to a considerably lesser degree by Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus in his "The Histories". Today, this extremely violent, terrible war is commonly referred to as the First Jewish-Roman War.

As I mentioned in part twenty of this same series, while the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD marked the end of the major part of the seven-year First Jewish-Roman War, nevertheless, some mop-up exercises continued for another three and a half years until 73 AD. This was due to the simple fact that there were still certain stubborn pockets of Jewish resistance, such as the famous fortress located at Masada, which I also discuss in the companion article entitled "The Fall of Masada". I highly encourage you to read it, as your time permits. It is only one part in length.

Of course, there is so much more that I could share with you regarding the specifics of these very tragic historic events. But, to be honest, this series has already grown quite long. In fact, it is the longest series I've ever written to date. Not only that, but I imagine that if I were to add any more information to it, some of you would probably find it very tedious to read, if you haven't done so already. If you have made it this far, I salute you. Lastly, being an old man now myself, it takes a lot out of me -- and a lot of time -- to sit here at my desk and write such long series. You may find it interesting to know that I actually began this series back in 2011, and it has taken me until today -- Jun. 14, 2025 -- to finally complete it.

So, while I have not covered every single detail concerning the war, I have covered the major players -- meaning Titus, Vespasian, Simon bar Giora, John of Giscala, Gessius Florus and King Herod Agrippa II -- including Josephus himself. I have also discussed most of the major battles which led to the final fall of Jerusalem. We have seen what motivated each side in the war, and how their different decisions had an effect on the final outcome of the war. Personally, as tragic as this event was, at the same time, just studying about it and writing about it has been a very fascinating experience. I learned so much from doing so. I hope that you have or will too.

There is one final topic I would like to discuss with you. As you may recall, in part twenty of this series, I shared with you some very unusual signs which began to occur even before the war had actually begun. Among the signs which Josephus described, he stated that before the setting of the Sun had occurred, "chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities." What I find particularly amazing concerning this description is the fact that similar to what Josephus has written, in Book 5 Chapter 13 of "The Histories", Roman historian Tacitus also includes the following mind-boggling short account. Please read this slowly and carefully, and try to understand exactly what Tacitus appears to be writing about here:

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"Prodigies [omens] had occurred, which this nation, prone to superstition, but hating all religious rites, did not deem it lawful to expiate by offering and sacrifice. There had been seen hosts joining battle in the skies, the fiery gleam of arms, the temple illuminated by a sudden radiance from the clouds. The doors of the inner shrine were suddenly thrown open, and a voice of more than mortal tone was heard to cry that the Gods were departing. At the same instant there was a mighty stir as of departure. Some few put a fearful meaning on these events, but in most there was a firm persuasion, that in the ancient records of their priests was contained a prediction of how at this very time the East was to grow powerful, and rulers, coming from Judaea, were to acquire universal empire. These mysterious prophecies had pointed to Vespasian and Titus, but the common people, with the usual blindness of ambition, had interpreted these mighty destinies of themselves, and could not be brought even by disasters to believe the truth."

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

Aside from how similar Tacitus' words are to what Josephus also wrote, what is particularly amazing regarding Tacitus' account is the fact that he was a pagan Roman. He was not Jewish, and he most certainly was not a Christian. In fact, based on his writings, he very much hated the Jews. So the fact that he would even write something such as the above, would seem to indicate that whatever was actually seen was very profound. Furthermore, even though Tacitus was not a Jewish or Christian believer, nevertheless, he still felt that the strange signs were important enough to include in his historical accounts.

However, because in his own mind Tacitus could not accept what the signs appeared to be, he claimed that they were merely superstitions, and that the prophecies were really referring to the exploits of Vespasian and his son, Titus. As you may recall, ironically, Josephus came to the very same erroneous conclusions, because neither did he seem to believe in the prophecies regarding the coming Jewish Messiah, and the eventual return of Christ to the Earth.

But what do YOU think dear reader? Think for a moment about what both men wrote. Somebody very mighty arrived with an army -- or host -- and there were battles in the skies. Even the fiery gleam of their weapons could be seen, and then the Jewish temple was suddenly illuminated by a bright light that came from the clouds. At that moment, the doors of the inner shrine -- meaning the temple -- were thrown open, and Tacitus writes that "a voice of more than mortal tone" -- meaning it was NOT human -- cried out "that the Gods were departing". He then says that "there was a mighty stir as of departure." In other words, my friends, that celestial army, led by that mighty warrior, departed and returned from whence they came.

My dear friends, do I really need to spell it out for you? Is it not rather evident? Those are Tacitus' words, and not just my own. Thus, I encourage you to prayerfully choose what you want to believe. For my personal perspective concerning what both historians wrote, I invite you read my seven-part series entitled "Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?" and other related articles which can be found here on the BBB Bible website.

Please note that in the remaining two parts of this series, I will be sharing with you an outline -- with references -- for Books 4 through 6 of Josephus' "The Wars of the Jews". This outline contains a lot of details which you'll no doubt find very interesting, if you take the time to examine it. Some of the details it includes may not be found in this series. In addition to this, if you click on the "Non-BBB Articles" link which is found in the links table that is located near the bottom of most pages of the BBB Bible website, you will find a link near the top of the new webpage which says "Josephus / Roman Historians". If you click on that link as well, you will discover that I have uploaded a variety of PDF files which are directly related to this series. These currently include the following:

Josephus: List of Jewish High Priests
The Life of Flavius Josephus Autobiography
Flavius Josephus Complete Works: Volume 1
Flavius Josephus Complete Works: Volume 2
Flavius Josephus Complete Works: Volume 3
Flavius Josephus Complete Works: Volume 4
Flavius Josephus The Antiquities of the Jews: Part 1
Flavius Josephus The Antiquities of the Jews: Part 2
Publius Cornelius Tacitus: The Histories - Book 5
Pliny the Younger: Letter to Emperor Trajan
C. Suetonius Tranquillus: The Lives of the Twelve Caesars

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

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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