A 40-DAY JOURNEY WITH THE KING: Lenten reflections from Mark’s Gospel (33)
We have already seen that Jesus quoted the
words of Jeremiah as he “cleansed” the Temple (Mk. 11.17=Jer. 7.11). Now, Jesus imitates Jeremiah yet again; as he
walks out of the Temple courts, he predicts the destruction of the national
shrine within “one generation” (Mk. 13.1-2, 30; cf. Jer. 7.1-4, 13-15, 29). Somewhat unlike Jeremiah, Jesus did not
“live” to see the fulfillment of his prophecies against Jerusalem[1];
indeed, Jesus died as a sign of that judgment that would materialize within
“one generation”. However, history
demonstrates that Jesus’ prophecies against the Temple did indeed come true,
sometimes in eery detail.
Pontius Pilate’s tenure as governor of Judaea
came to an end in AD 37 (about 7 years after he had Jesus crucified), as a
result of having been suspended from office.[2] His successors were not much more effective
than he had been. Gessius Florus,
governor from 64-66, was hopelessly corrupt and provoked the Jews to revolt in
the hope that a quick military victory would regain him favour with the Roman
legate of Syria and thus ensure his retention of his post as governor. When war broke out, the Jews quickly captured
the Antonia Fortress next to the Temple and massacred the garrison after they
had surrendered their weapons. Once word
spread that the revolt was on, the Roman garrison at Masada was also
slaughtered.[3]
Once Jerusalem was secured by the rebels,
the High Priests took command of the plans for the future of the conflict,
dispatching three representatives to manage the campaign against Rome in
Galilee. One of these priests who was
sent North was a 30-year-old named Josephus, who would eventually become a
Roman collaborator and protégé of the imperial family and historian of The
Jewish War. In the spring of 67,
Nero entrusted the Judaean campaign to Titus Flavius Vespasian, a 57-year-old
veteran of the conquest of Britain. He
assembled an army of 60,000 men and marched on Galilee. Vespasian eventually defeated Josephus’ force
following a siege of the city of Yodefat.
Upon surrendering, Josephus predicted that Vespasian would soon become
emperor of Rome. His life was spared,
though he was kept in custody until the Galilean campaign was completed.[4]
In his The Jewish War, Josephus
uses language that echoes that of Jeremiah: “I cannot help but think that it
was because God had doomed this city to destruction, as a polluted city, and
was resolved to purge his sanctuary by fire…”
In AD 68, Nero died, and Rome descended into chaos as three emperors
came and went within a year. In 69,
Vespasian’s troops acclaimed him as emperor, and he made for Rome, leaving his
son Titus in charge of the siege of Jerusalem.
Jospehus’ fortunes rose along with Vespasian’s. He was freed, invested with Roman civil
rights, and given the name Flavius.
Josephus accompanied the three Roman legions tasked with the conquest of
the Jewish capital. During the siege,
Josephus would serve as translator and emissary in vain attempts to convince
the defenders to surrender and thus avoid annihilation. The Tenth Legion set up camp on the Mount of
Olives, and were immediately engaged by a sortie of Jewish rebels from within
the city. The Jews would constantly
harass the Roman attackers during the first months of the siege.[5]
Though the Temple liturgy had continued
throughout the five months of the siege, after the wall of the Antonia fortress
collapsed, allowing the Romans to enter the Temple area, the supply of
sacrificial lambs ran out and Temple worship ground to a halt (as it had done,
briefly, during Jesus’ “cleansing” action).
Once the fighting reached the Temple courts, the fire that would consume
the Temple was (inadvertently) set – says Josephus – on August 30, the same day
that Solomon’s Temple had been razed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. (as
Jeremiah had predicted during “a generation” =40 years). The systematic destruction of Jerusalem would
continue until September 26.[6] Like Jeremiah before him, Jesus had been
proved, albeit tragically, to have been right.
Yahweh had, for a third time since the conquest of the Land under
Joshua, allowed his sanctuary – the place where he had chosen to put his name –
to be destroyed (cf. 1 Sam. 4-5; 2 Kings 25).
The fact that none of the New Testament
documents mention the destruction of Jerusalem (as a past event) has baffled
scholars for a long time; perhaps the easiest answer is the right one – perhaps
the entire NT was written before the year AD 70…[7]
[1] According to the
interpretation that I adopt, the events of AD 70 were the sign that the Son of
Man, i.e., Jesus, had indeed been exalted to the right hand of the Ancient of
Days (cf. Dn. 7.13-14, Mk. 13.26 & pars.).
Jesus was certainly “alive” in the interim, as Saul of Tarsus (among
others) could testify! Cf. Ac. 9.
[2] Byfield, Ted, ed. The Christians: Their First Two Thousand
Years, First Volume: The Veil is Torn, AD 30 – AD 70, Christian History
Project, Edmonton: Canada, 2003, p. 15.
[3] Ibid.,
pp. 242-47. Masada would not be
recaptured until AD 73, when the 960 defenders committed mass suicide rather
than surrender to Titus’ legionaries.
[4] Ibid, pp.
248-52.
[5] Ibid., pp.
254-58.
[6] Ibid., pp.
271-74.
[7] Some scholars have had
the courage to publish this theory (e.g. J.A.T. Robinson), although it is
incredibly unpopular. The scholarly
consensus concerning the dating of the NT documents is that they were all (except
for Paul’s letters; he died c. 65) written between the years 70 – 120.
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