Destruction of Jerusalem
Destruction of Jerusalem (45minutes)
(To be presented as an epic story.)
Read Matthew 24:1-28
Jerusalem, 70 AD. The city, it's name meaning 'city built by the God of Peace' had been established 2100 years before by a mysterious man named Melchizedek. Melchizedek was both a king, and a priest, and as a priest he honoured the one true God.
1000 years later, King David made Jerusalem the capital city of his empire. Israel was united under this one king. He was the wealthiest and most powerful king in the entire region. His was succeeded by his son, Solomon, who added to the glory of this kingdom. He built the temple there- the center for Jewish worship. It was believed that the most high God actually dwelt in the temple, in the Holy of Holies.
For another 1000 years, Jerusalem would be subject to wars and insurrections, overun in turn by Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans. The city walls and Temple would be destroyed by war, its people deported. Then they would return, rebuild the city and it's temple. Its people would look with hope to the day a ruler, descended from David, predicted by the prophets and scribes, and anointed by God, would arise who would rule the whole world from Jerusalem. He would overthrow these foreign powers.
By 70 AD, Jerusalem had a population of 60,000. It was under the iron fist of the Romans, the greatest empire in history. Puppet kings were set up, since Jews were difficult to rule, and demanded that they live by their own rules. They spoke their own language, obeyed their own laws, worshiped their own God. The temple was one of the greatest structures in the world- known as one of the seven wonders. Jerusalem was the center of the world for all Jews. It was believed that when God separated the land from the sea, he did so by pulling up on the mountains upon which Jerusalem was built,and the rest of the world came up with it.
Jerusalem was the political, financial, spiritual and cultural capital for the Jews. To a modern day Catholic American, Jerusalem was the equivalent of New York, Washington DC, Hollywood and the Vatican, all rolled into one.
New sects were arising in Jerusalem. One, known as “The Way” or “Christians”, claimed that the Messiah had already come, and that the victory he had intended was not a political one. The Jewish hierarchy suppressed this sect. It undermined their very culture and reason for being.
Another one gaining momentum were the Zealots. Zealots hated the Romans, and all non Jews, or Gentiles. They felt that Jews alone were the chosen people, and that they should fight against foreign rulers with violence. Christians, who taught that all people of every race were welcomed by God, were perverting the faith. But the real enemy was the Romans, the foreign oppressors.
Strange signs had been seen in and around Jerusalem for some time. A comet flew over the city for several months, that looked like a sword. Heavy iron gates in the temple would suddenly swing open of their own accord, and require several men to close. There was a piece of scarlet thread which hung in the temple, which would turn white when the atoning sacrifice was made, indicating that God had accepted the sacrifice. It had ceased to do so for the past 40 years, since the time when the curtain which separated the holy of holies from the people had been torn in two by a great earthquake. Some took this to mean that God no longer dwelt in the temple. Christians pointed out that these things had taken place just at the moment that their Messiah, Jesus, had died.
Eleazar was a priest, the son of the High Priest. As such it was his job to offer sacrifices in the temple. Foreigners often offered sacrifices to God, because though they were not Jews, they respected the temple and the God it housed. However Eleazar had been influenced by the Zealots, and he refused to offer sacrifices for gentiles. So that when Caesar himself wished to offer a sacrifice in the temple, it was refused. This was considered a great affront to the Romans. Several high priests and other officials tried to persuade Eleazar to offer sacrifice, but he refused. He surrounded himself with like minded Jews, and formed a small army, which occupied the temple.
Around the same time, the Zealots managed to take Massada- a fortress on a high hill outside of Jerusalem. They killed the Romans who were there, and occupied it themselves. These two acts were construed as acts of war. The leaders of the Jews knew that Eleazar and his men must be put down- so they sent word to neighboring officials in Syria to send armies to fight Eleazar. They did send Syrian armies, who then warred against the Zealots throughout the country. The dead were piled up in all the cities in the country, but Eleazar and his men remained in the temple.
A Roman by the name of Cestius laid siege to Jerusalem with several legions of soldiers. Eleazar and his men were terrified, and ran away- at which point the Jewish leaders prepared to open the gates and welcome in the Romans, to put an end to the war. However, for no apparent reason, Cestius suddenly ordered his men to retreat. As they did so, Eleazar and his men were emboldened. They began to pursue the Romans, killing those who were in the back of the retreat. Before long, Zealots from all over the country were joining in the fight, throwing the Roman ranks into dissorder, and killing several commanders. Cestius realized that the army of his enemies was growing even while his own was shrinking, and so he knew that he would have to flee from the whole region as quickly as possible. He and his men boarded boats on the lake of Galilee, in order to cross it and escape. But the zealots pursued them, and engaged them in battle on the lake.
However, here the Romans found that they had the advantage, both in numbers, and in weapons. There were many more Romans upon the water than there were Jews, and while the Jews threw stones at the Romans, the Romans had archers who fired arrows at the Jews. As the arrows flew further than the stones, The Jews were unable to even get close enough to make an attack. The Roman ships were also equipped with a long, sharp pole at the front. which was used to puncture and sink the Jewish boats. The Jews were left to swim for it- but on the shore, there were more Romans. Some of them attempted to swim towards the Roman ships, but the Romans would use their swords and cut off the heads or the hands of these.
In the end, the lake of Galilee was so full of blood that it was said that the water had turned to blood, and the shores were lined with shipwrecks and corpses, bloated and purifying in the sun. All, whether Roman or Jew, were punished by the stench.
In the end, Eleazars army had grown in numbers and in confidence. His army consisted now not only of religious zealots, but also of robbers and mercenaries, who took over the temple and the surrounding area. Lawlessness reigned, and there was no one who could stop it. And Rome considered itself to be at war.
It was the time of the passover, and Jews from all over were pouring into Jerusalem, such that the city now contained well over 2 Million people. A new army, men known as Idumeans, under the command of a man named Simon, came to Jerusalem in response to the leaders who had asked for assistance against Eleazar. However, upon arriving at Jerusalem with some 10,000 soldiers prepared for war, they were denied entrance to the city. And so they were forced to camp outside.
While in their tents, a massive thunderstorm arose. All night violent winds shook the city, with an onslaught of rain, ongoing lightning and thunder all through the night. There was also an earthquake, and it was thought that the thunderstorm itself was so powerful that it had caused the earthquake.
By this time, many in Jerusalem realized that war was coming, and wanted to get out before it would happen. However, the Zealots saw to it that all of the gates were guarded, so that no one could desert. The rich were able to bribe their way out of the city, but the poor were trapped. Should they try to leave, the zealots would kill them. Then, they would pile their bodies in the streets as a statement to those who would resist or would desert. Anyone who attempted to bury the dead would end up dead themselves. It should be noted that there were over 1 million people in the city who did not even live there. Between the extraordinary crowds and the number of dead, disease broke out in the city.
While Eleazar and his men continued to rule over the temple region, and Simon and his soldiers were camped outside the wall, yet a third army rose up within Jerusalem! This one was composed of Galileans, under the leadership of a man named John. These men took advantage of the lawlessness in the city, and began looting and robbing and taking whatever they wanted for themselves. In fact, they abandoned all scruples and morality, and began crossdressing, and committing homosexual acts all over the city. They would dress as women, and walk in effeminate fashion, and make advances on men, but suddenly draw swords and kill those who resisted them!
Those that fled from John found Simon outside the city walls, and he would kill them lest they defected to the Romans.
Eventually the people in Jerusalem invited Simon and his army to come into the city walls, and to fight against the armies of John and Eleazar. Simon managed to secure the upper and much of the lower city. John found himself fighting armies on two fronts. Eleazar and his men were above him, on the Temple Mount. Simon and his men were below. Of course, it is easier when using arrows and catapults to fight the people below, rather than above, therefore Eleazar had the same advantage over John as John had over Simon. However, John had powerful engines of war, such as catapults, which could fire rocks and arrows right over the walls of the temple and into its courtyards. Thus the priests in the temple who continued through all of this offering their sacrifices did so in danger of being struck down at the altar. And many were struck down, and mingled their blood with that of their sacrifices.
Those in the temple were given to drinking binges. When they would get drunk, this would free John enough to be able to focus his armies on Simon. On one such occasion John succeeded in burning the buildings that housed Simon's grain supplies. In retaliating, Simon burned Johns supplies. In the end, all of the grain storehouses, which were kept in the event of a famine or a siege, were destroyed. There had been enough food in the storehouses to feed the entire populace for several years. But now a severe famine set in.
In the meantime, the Romans had gathered no fewer than 10 legions of soldiers under the command of Titus, and laid siege to the city. No more food would come in. In fact, the Romans destroyed the surrounding forests and gardens to such an extent that to this day Jerusalem is surrounded by desert.
In time John succeeded in taking the temple, while Eleazars men hid in subteranean passages under the Temple. Many of Eleazars men joined Johns army, including Eleazar himself, giving John a combined army of 8000 men. Simon meanwhile had 15000 men. The two factions continued to war with each other in the city, while the Romans camped outside. The romans had set up their engines of war, and they began to hail down stones weighing as much as 100 pounds on the city.
As the famine grew deeper, the soldiers inside the city began to go mad. They would search a house for food, and if they found it, eat it, leaving the occupants of the house to starve. If they did not find it, they would torment the occupants on the assumption that they had hidden it exceptionally well. There was no difference now between the rich and the poor, except that the rich were more likely to have food, and thus more likely to have their homes torn apart in search of it. If people looked healthy, it was assumed that they had food somewhere hidden. Only those who were clearly starving were left alone. Eventually they realized that people might pretend that they were dying, in order to be left alone, and so these were searched as well.
After this had gone on for some time, in one home the soldiers could smell that some sort of meat had been cooked. They confronted the woman in the house about it, and she showed them where she hid the meat. She had already eaten half of it. She had killed and cooked her own infant.
In desperation even the soldiers in the city began eating their shoes and their loin cloths, their leather shields and their dung. Many tried to escape the city and find food. Those the Romans caught were crucified outside the city wall. There so many crucified that eventually the Romans ran out of crosses and room.
Some of the starving actually managed to escape from the city, and made their way to Arab and Syrian cities. There they were given food, but some ate so much from great hunger, while their stomachs had shrunk, that they literally burst open. Upon doing so, it was discovered that they had smuggled gold out of the city by swallowing it, in hopes and getting it out of their dung later. Once that was discovered, it was assumed that all of the Jews escaping the city contained gold, and so the Syrians and Arabs cut them open to find it. In one night about 2000 Jews were thus dissected.
Meanwhile, those inside the walls had begun to throw dead bodies outside the gates. It is reported that from one gate alone, 600,000 corpses were thrown out. There were so many dead everywhere that the stench prevented the Romans from invading the city.
Another strange sign appeared. At sunset one day, horsemen and chariots were seen racing around the sky over Jerusalem. A man claiming to be a prophet told the people that they must go to the temple where God was going to save them by a miracle. He turned out to be a false prophet. Several other false prophets arose, set up on purpose by the armies of John and Simon. They were set up in order to give the people hope, so that no one would try to escape, and to reaffirm the idea that one of the two men was the messiah.
In the end, the Romans did invade. They brought their ensigns, their flags, and the symbols of their country into the temple and offered sacrifices to them as idols. They utterly destroyed the city, burning down the temple, plundering all of the wealth, removing every stone and digging up the very foundations so that you wouldn't even know there had ever been a building where the temple had stood. Those that were not killed became slaves, or were sent to the provinces to be killed by gladiators or wild beasts in the stadiums. Even among the slaves, there were so many, and so few buyers, that they went for very cheap, and many of them were denied food from their captors and died of hunger afterall.
Thus the city of Jerusalem was destroyed, and a new era began.
(To be presented as an epic story.)
Read Matthew 24:1-28
Jerusalem, 70 AD. The city, it's name meaning 'city built by the God of Peace' had been established 2100 years before by a mysterious man named Melchizedek. Melchizedek was both a king, and a priest, and as a priest he honoured the one true God.
1000 years later, King David made Jerusalem the capital city of his empire. Israel was united under this one king. He was the wealthiest and most powerful king in the entire region. His was succeeded by his son, Solomon, who added to the glory of this kingdom. He built the temple there- the center for Jewish worship. It was believed that the most high God actually dwelt in the temple, in the Holy of Holies.
For another 1000 years, Jerusalem would be subject to wars and insurrections, overun in turn by Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans. The city walls and Temple would be destroyed by war, its people deported. Then they would return, rebuild the city and it's temple. Its people would look with hope to the day a ruler, descended from David, predicted by the prophets and scribes, and anointed by God, would arise who would rule the whole world from Jerusalem. He would overthrow these foreign powers.
By 70 AD, Jerusalem had a population of 60,000. It was under the iron fist of the Romans, the greatest empire in history. Puppet kings were set up, since Jews were difficult to rule, and demanded that they live by their own rules. They spoke their own language, obeyed their own laws, worshiped their own God. The temple was one of the greatest structures in the world- known as one of the seven wonders. Jerusalem was the center of the world for all Jews. It was believed that when God separated the land from the sea, he did so by pulling up on the mountains upon which Jerusalem was built,and the rest of the world came up with it.
Jerusalem was the political, financial, spiritual and cultural capital for the Jews. To a modern day Catholic American, Jerusalem was the equivalent of New York, Washington DC, Hollywood and the Vatican, all rolled into one.
New sects were arising in Jerusalem. One, known as “The Way” or “Christians”, claimed that the Messiah had already come, and that the victory he had intended was not a political one. The Jewish hierarchy suppressed this sect. It undermined their very culture and reason for being.
Another one gaining momentum were the Zealots. Zealots hated the Romans, and all non Jews, or Gentiles. They felt that Jews alone were the chosen people, and that they should fight against foreign rulers with violence. Christians, who taught that all people of every race were welcomed by God, were perverting the faith. But the real enemy was the Romans, the foreign oppressors.
Strange signs had been seen in and around Jerusalem for some time. A comet flew over the city for several months, that looked like a sword. Heavy iron gates in the temple would suddenly swing open of their own accord, and require several men to close. There was a piece of scarlet thread which hung in the temple, which would turn white when the atoning sacrifice was made, indicating that God had accepted the sacrifice. It had ceased to do so for the past 40 years, since the time when the curtain which separated the holy of holies from the people had been torn in two by a great earthquake. Some took this to mean that God no longer dwelt in the temple. Christians pointed out that these things had taken place just at the moment that their Messiah, Jesus, had died.
Eleazar was a priest, the son of the High Priest. As such it was his job to offer sacrifices in the temple. Foreigners often offered sacrifices to God, because though they were not Jews, they respected the temple and the God it housed. However Eleazar had been influenced by the Zealots, and he refused to offer sacrifices for gentiles. So that when Caesar himself wished to offer a sacrifice in the temple, it was refused. This was considered a great affront to the Romans. Several high priests and other officials tried to persuade Eleazar to offer sacrifice, but he refused. He surrounded himself with like minded Jews, and formed a small army, which occupied the temple.
Around the same time, the Zealots managed to take Massada- a fortress on a high hill outside of Jerusalem. They killed the Romans who were there, and occupied it themselves. These two acts were construed as acts of war. The leaders of the Jews knew that Eleazar and his men must be put down- so they sent word to neighboring officials in Syria to send armies to fight Eleazar. They did send Syrian armies, who then warred against the Zealots throughout the country. The dead were piled up in all the cities in the country, but Eleazar and his men remained in the temple.
A Roman by the name of Cestius laid siege to Jerusalem with several legions of soldiers. Eleazar and his men were terrified, and ran away- at which point the Jewish leaders prepared to open the gates and welcome in the Romans, to put an end to the war. However, for no apparent reason, Cestius suddenly ordered his men to retreat. As they did so, Eleazar and his men were emboldened. They began to pursue the Romans, killing those who were in the back of the retreat. Before long, Zealots from all over the country were joining in the fight, throwing the Roman ranks into dissorder, and killing several commanders. Cestius realized that the army of his enemies was growing even while his own was shrinking, and so he knew that he would have to flee from the whole region as quickly as possible. He and his men boarded boats on the lake of Galilee, in order to cross it and escape. But the zealots pursued them, and engaged them in battle on the lake.
However, here the Romans found that they had the advantage, both in numbers, and in weapons. There were many more Romans upon the water than there were Jews, and while the Jews threw stones at the Romans, the Romans had archers who fired arrows at the Jews. As the arrows flew further than the stones, The Jews were unable to even get close enough to make an attack. The Roman ships were also equipped with a long, sharp pole at the front. which was used to puncture and sink the Jewish boats. The Jews were left to swim for it- but on the shore, there were more Romans. Some of them attempted to swim towards the Roman ships, but the Romans would use their swords and cut off the heads or the hands of these.
In the end, the lake of Galilee was so full of blood that it was said that the water had turned to blood, and the shores were lined with shipwrecks and corpses, bloated and purifying in the sun. All, whether Roman or Jew, were punished by the stench.
In the end, Eleazars army had grown in numbers and in confidence. His army consisted now not only of religious zealots, but also of robbers and mercenaries, who took over the temple and the surrounding area. Lawlessness reigned, and there was no one who could stop it. And Rome considered itself to be at war.
It was the time of the passover, and Jews from all over were pouring into Jerusalem, such that the city now contained well over 2 Million people. A new army, men known as Idumeans, under the command of a man named Simon, came to Jerusalem in response to the leaders who had asked for assistance against Eleazar. However, upon arriving at Jerusalem with some 10,000 soldiers prepared for war, they were denied entrance to the city. And so they were forced to camp outside.
While in their tents, a massive thunderstorm arose. All night violent winds shook the city, with an onslaught of rain, ongoing lightning and thunder all through the night. There was also an earthquake, and it was thought that the thunderstorm itself was so powerful that it had caused the earthquake.
By this time, many in Jerusalem realized that war was coming, and wanted to get out before it would happen. However, the Zealots saw to it that all of the gates were guarded, so that no one could desert. The rich were able to bribe their way out of the city, but the poor were trapped. Should they try to leave, the zealots would kill them. Then, they would pile their bodies in the streets as a statement to those who would resist or would desert. Anyone who attempted to bury the dead would end up dead themselves. It should be noted that there were over 1 million people in the city who did not even live there. Between the extraordinary crowds and the number of dead, disease broke out in the city.
While Eleazar and his men continued to rule over the temple region, and Simon and his soldiers were camped outside the wall, yet a third army rose up within Jerusalem! This one was composed of Galileans, under the leadership of a man named John. These men took advantage of the lawlessness in the city, and began looting and robbing and taking whatever they wanted for themselves. In fact, they abandoned all scruples and morality, and began crossdressing, and committing homosexual acts all over the city. They would dress as women, and walk in effeminate fashion, and make advances on men, but suddenly draw swords and kill those who resisted them!
Those that fled from John found Simon outside the city walls, and he would kill them lest they defected to the Romans.
Eventually the people in Jerusalem invited Simon and his army to come into the city walls, and to fight against the armies of John and Eleazar. Simon managed to secure the upper and much of the lower city. John found himself fighting armies on two fronts. Eleazar and his men were above him, on the Temple Mount. Simon and his men were below. Of course, it is easier when using arrows and catapults to fight the people below, rather than above, therefore Eleazar had the same advantage over John as John had over Simon. However, John had powerful engines of war, such as catapults, which could fire rocks and arrows right over the walls of the temple and into its courtyards. Thus the priests in the temple who continued through all of this offering their sacrifices did so in danger of being struck down at the altar. And many were struck down, and mingled their blood with that of their sacrifices.
Those in the temple were given to drinking binges. When they would get drunk, this would free John enough to be able to focus his armies on Simon. On one such occasion John succeeded in burning the buildings that housed Simon's grain supplies. In retaliating, Simon burned Johns supplies. In the end, all of the grain storehouses, which were kept in the event of a famine or a siege, were destroyed. There had been enough food in the storehouses to feed the entire populace for several years. But now a severe famine set in.
In the meantime, the Romans had gathered no fewer than 10 legions of soldiers under the command of Titus, and laid siege to the city. No more food would come in. In fact, the Romans destroyed the surrounding forests and gardens to such an extent that to this day Jerusalem is surrounded by desert.
In time John succeeded in taking the temple, while Eleazars men hid in subteranean passages under the Temple. Many of Eleazars men joined Johns army, including Eleazar himself, giving John a combined army of 8000 men. Simon meanwhile had 15000 men. The two factions continued to war with each other in the city, while the Romans camped outside. The romans had set up their engines of war, and they began to hail down stones weighing as much as 100 pounds on the city.
As the famine grew deeper, the soldiers inside the city began to go mad. They would search a house for food, and if they found it, eat it, leaving the occupants of the house to starve. If they did not find it, they would torment the occupants on the assumption that they had hidden it exceptionally well. There was no difference now between the rich and the poor, except that the rich were more likely to have food, and thus more likely to have their homes torn apart in search of it. If people looked healthy, it was assumed that they had food somewhere hidden. Only those who were clearly starving were left alone. Eventually they realized that people might pretend that they were dying, in order to be left alone, and so these were searched as well.
After this had gone on for some time, in one home the soldiers could smell that some sort of meat had been cooked. They confronted the woman in the house about it, and she showed them where she hid the meat. She had already eaten half of it. She had killed and cooked her own infant.
In desperation even the soldiers in the city began eating their shoes and their loin cloths, their leather shields and their dung. Many tried to escape the city and find food. Those the Romans caught were crucified outside the city wall. There so many crucified that eventually the Romans ran out of crosses and room.
Some of the starving actually managed to escape from the city, and made their way to Arab and Syrian cities. There they were given food, but some ate so much from great hunger, while their stomachs had shrunk, that they literally burst open. Upon doing so, it was discovered that they had smuggled gold out of the city by swallowing it, in hopes and getting it out of their dung later. Once that was discovered, it was assumed that all of the Jews escaping the city contained gold, and so the Syrians and Arabs cut them open to find it. In one night about 2000 Jews were thus dissected.
Meanwhile, those inside the walls had begun to throw dead bodies outside the gates. It is reported that from one gate alone, 600,000 corpses were thrown out. There were so many dead everywhere that the stench prevented the Romans from invading the city.
Another strange sign appeared. At sunset one day, horsemen and chariots were seen racing around the sky over Jerusalem. A man claiming to be a prophet told the people that they must go to the temple where God was going to save them by a miracle. He turned out to be a false prophet. Several other false prophets arose, set up on purpose by the armies of John and Simon. They were set up in order to give the people hope, so that no one would try to escape, and to reaffirm the idea that one of the two men was the messiah.
In the end, the Romans did invade. They brought their ensigns, their flags, and the symbols of their country into the temple and offered sacrifices to them as idols. They utterly destroyed the city, burning down the temple, plundering all of the wealth, removing every stone and digging up the very foundations so that you wouldn't even know there had ever been a building where the temple had stood. Those that were not killed became slaves, or were sent to the provinces to be killed by gladiators or wild beasts in the stadiums. Even among the slaves, there were so many, and so few buyers, that they went for very cheap, and many of them were denied food from their captors and died of hunger afterall.
Thus the city of Jerusalem was destroyed, and a new era began.
posted by Peter van Kampen at 9:10 AM
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