Ancient Israel after the Crucifixion

Most Christians do not know much about the history of Israel in the decades following the crucifixion of JESUS. People do know that European Jews immigrated to Palestine and founded the modern state of Israel in 1948, but often don’t know exactly how the Jews lost their homeland in ancient times. Although it is not recounted in the BIBLE or rarely mentioned in churches, the information is readily available; most everything mentioned in this post can be found on Wikipedia. I pursued this study mostly out of curiosity. Given that I was curious, I assumed that others might be interested in reading an overview of this history all in one go.

Historians generally believe JESUS was born around the year 4 BC and was crucified around 30 AD. At that time, Israel was part of the Roman empire. The Romans didn’t conquer Israel. They were invited in as allies and gradually took political control, enforcing Roman civil law. The Romans allowed the Jews to enforce their own religious laws – up to a point. This is why the Pharisees had to appeal to the Romans to carry out the death sentence against JESUS; they did not have authority under Roman law to do it themselves.

In 70 AD, about 40 years after the Jews delivered up JESUS the MESSIAH to be crucified, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. (In the BIBLE, the number 40 symbolizes testing, probation, and judgement.)

Why did the Romans destroy Jerusalem?

Three Jewish-Roman Wars resulted in the total destruction of ancient Jerusalem and the annihilation of much of the ancient world’s ethnic Jewish population. The three wars/rebellions are known to history as the Great Revolt, Kito’s War, and Bar Kokhba’s Revolt.

The 1st Jewish War (The Great Revolt) – 66 AD - 73AD

In 66AD, various Judean factions rebelled against the Roman empire due to religious differences and economic persecution via taxation. The rebels essentially forced the Romans to go to war with them.

Eight years before Jerusalem was destroyed, a man named Yeshua ben Hananiah began to prophesy in Jerusalem, crying out a warning in the streets: “…a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the sanctuary, a voice against the bridegroom and the bride, a voice against all the people." His warning of woe was rejected by the religious hierarchy and they tried to silence him. Even though Yeshua (the same name as Joshua/Jesus) was beaten, once almost to death, to get him to shut up – he never complained and did not relent. He continued to go through the streets proclaiming his message of woe until he was killed by the Romans during the siege that he prophesied. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, there were other prophetic signs that the city was doomed to destruction, but they were generally misinterpreted or even interpreted as blessings.

Josephus wrote extensively on the “First Jewish War”. He presents it as a time of utter madness when Jewish political and religious factions were fighting amongst themselves even while the Roman army advanced on Jerusalem. They were still fighting and killing each other while simultaneously fighting the Romans as they breached the city walls. Josephus indicates that the Jews themselves set the fire that eventually destroyed the Temple. (See JEWISH WAR, Chapters 5 and 6)

As the Roman army marched towards Jerusalem to put down the rebellion, they created a wave of refugees who sought refuge in Jerusalem. Between 350,000 and 1 million people were in Jerusalem when the Romans besieged it, many of whom were pilgrims who had come to celebrate the Passover. Josephus says that more than a million were killed and 100,000 were enslaved. (Note that there were a lot less people in ancient times than there are now – so these were comparatively huge numbers.) The Temple was looted and destroyed, with the proceeds going towards building the famous Colosseum in Rome – using enslaved Jews as labor. Jerusalem was totally destroyed. Although Jews remained the majority population in surrounding areas, many of the survivors fled to various Jewish communities around the Roman empire.

People in antiquity, including non-jews and non-christians understood that the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews was not coincidence. Sometime after 73 AD, Mara Bar Serapien, a Syrian stoic philosopher, wrote the following; (he was writing to his son about the persecution of wise men):

"… What advantage did the Athenians gain from murdering Socrates? Famine and plague came upon them as a punishment for their crime. What advantage did the men of Samos gain from burning Pythagoras? In a moment their land was covered with sand. What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise king? (meaning JESUS) It was just after that, their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged these three wise men: the Athenians died of hunger; the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea, and the Jews, desolate and driven from their own kingdom, live in complete dispersion. But Socrates is not dead, because of Plato; neither is Pythagoras, because of the statue of Juno; nor is the wise king, because of the "new law" he laid down."

The Second Jewish War - Kito's War (115–117 CE) (Also known as the "Rebellion of the Exile")

Kito's war was named for the Roman general credited with ending the rebellion. The Second Jewish War began with an unplanned insurrection by Jews in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) and soon spread to other Roman cities with large Jewish populations. The rebellion stemmed from bitterness over the destruction of Jerusalem, continuing civil mistreatment, and various religious provocations. Jewish rebels in Cyrene (Libya, N. Africa) formed an army and after attacking their enemies there, marched on Alexandria, Egypt. They killed an estimated 220,000 Greeks and Romans. The rebellion spread to Cyprus (Turkey) where another 240,000 were killed. The Jewish casualties were not recorded by history other than to suggest that after the insurrection was put down, the world’s Jewish population was greatly reduced. The devastation was so severe that the Romans had to repopulate some of the affected areas so they would not be completely abandoned. (Note that not a lot of specific historical information about these incidents survives.)

The 3rd Jewish War - Bar Kokhba’s Revolt (132–136 CE) 

Bar Kokhba’s revolt ultimately caused the Jews to be banned from Jerusalem and the city to be wiped off the map; to be resettled as a secular Roman colony called Aelia Capitolina. Again the revolt was the result of perceived religious provocations by the Romans (and no doubt the continuing desire for nationalistic political freedom). The Jewish leader was a self-styled messiah called Bar Kokhba (Meaning "Son of a Star" – in reference to a messianic prophecy in Numbers 24:17). Note that he was exactly the type of worldly military messiah that the Jews were looking for in 30 AD, instead of JESUS.

Jews from all over the Roman world joined Bar Kokhba’s army – as many as 400,000 men. After early defeats, the Romans deployed at least one third of their army (from all over the Roman world) against Bar Kokhba’s forces. The Romans record that they killed more than half a million Jews in the area of Judea/Jerusalem - with many more dying of starvation and disease. Modern historians have classed the destruction of Judea during the Bar Kokhba rebellion as a genocide – with the majority of the population of Judea either having been killed, exiled or enslaved. The Romans tried to destroy the practice of Judaism in the area; killing religious scholars, burning sacred scrolls, and desecrating temples. For hundreds of years, Jews were forbidden to enter Jerusalem except one day per year, the fast day of Tisha B'Av. (Note that ethnic Jews retained a significant presence in other areas of greater Israel, especially Galilee.)

These three revolts resulted in a severe reduction in the world’s ancient Jewish population – with as many as several million having been killed in the space of 70 years. Bar Kokhba’s revolt culminated in the total destruction of Jerusalem, and the removal of any significant Jewish presence from Judea (the area of Jerusalem) for hundreds of years.

The Lesson to be Learned

What does this have to do with us today – particularly Christians in America? Did GOD destroy the Judeans for rejecting JESUS, as most modern people probably think?

I would argue that it isn’t that simple. Like the people who reject JESUS in every era, the Judeans destroyed themselves by rejecting GOD’s gift of spiritual salvation. GOD provides protection to those who obey, but when people are in willful sin, GOD removes HIS protection over them as a lesson; hoping that tribulation will drive the offender back to righteousness. the Jews rejected spiritual reconciliation with GOD, in favor of seeking worldly political dominion (rebellion). The end result was their annihilation.

In Exodus 17:8-16, as in many other places in the BIBLE, GOD helps Israel to defeat their enemies. However, once Israel rebelled in unbelief and refused to go into the promised land, GOD removed HIS protection. When the people realized their folly, they tried to obey - after they had already been judged and sentenced to wander 40 years in the wilderness. When they tried to go into the promised land anyway, they were immediately defeated by the Amalekites and the Canaanites because GOD did not help them. Num 14:39-45

We can see this same dynamic in the three Jewish wars. The Jews rejected GOD’s offer of reconciliation (JESUS) and they were not in GOD’s will, so they had lost their protection. When the Jews decided to fight for their worldly kingdom anyway, they were soundly defeated and again sentenced to wander in the wilderness. In the end, the ancient Jews rejected the lesson but we can learn from it.

When you read the history, especially Josephus, it is apparent that frustrated nationalism (worldliness) was the reason that the (non-Christian) Israelites rebelled against the Roman empire. The Judeans were willing to die for their worldly patriotic nationalism, based on their race pride as the chosen people. They were willing to burn it all down for the chance to have their worldly political kingdom. They basically forced the Romans to destroy them. Mat 24:1-14

You may recognize the obvious parallels to the nativist right-wing political evangelical church in today’s America. To everyone’s amazement, the right-wing evangelical church continues to support an obvious anti-christ figure in Donald Trump. Like the ancient Jews they are doubling down in their attempt to preserve their worldly status under the system of nativist white supremacy. They are blindly refusing to repent while the rich men of the earth who have indoctrinated them with so much hatred, laugh all the way to the bank.

People continue to be fooled – both on the right and the left. Your savior is not politics. The enemy of your enemy is not your friend.