January 3 - Tumbling Down

January 3 – Tumbling Down

After Herod the great died, his son Herod Archelaus came into power. Now remember, the Jewish leaders were there only by order of Rome. They were allowed to reign because Rome wanted to keep the Jews quiet and happy. When, Archelaus came into power, he was awful! The people asked Rome for help, so a series of governors was sent to try to keep peace. Pontius Pilate, then Felix, Festus and Gustavius Florus.

In 50 AD, as the Jews were celebrating Passover, a Roman guard lifted his robe, bent over, turning his backside to the Jews and made a terribly indecent noise. A riot ensued killing as many as 30,000 men and women. (Jones, 1999)

In 64 AD, Florus was the new ruler for Judea. During the next two years, he not only insulted the Jews, but seized silver from the temple whenever he didn’t receive enough in taxes. Finally, the leaders demanded that he stop. His response was to send soldiers into the Jerusalem marketplace to slaughter the Jews. By the end of the day, 3600 were dead.

Nero grew weary of the troublemakers in Judea and appointed General Vespasian to regain Galilee and Judea. He began his campaign, but just as he was ready to attack Jerusalem, he returned to Rome because Nero had committed suicide. He became emperor and sent an army led by his son, Titus to besiege Jerusalem. Factions of Jews fought internally over strategies to defend the city. People began to die from starvation. The Jews fought as the Romans destroyed the outer wall, then the second wall and finally the third wall.

Titus tried to preserve the temple, but the soldiers destroyed it in their fury. A band of Zealots had re-taken Masada much earlier from the Romans and stayed there for three years, but the Romans built a seige ramp, invaded the mountain and discovered that the Zealots had all committed suicide rather than be captured.

This marked the end of the Jewish state.

Christians had remembered Jesus’ warning in Luke 21:20-24 and had fled to the hills when the armies approached. The Jews also excluded all fringe groups from their synagogues. At this point the division between the church and the synagogue was complete. The Christians were on their own when facing Roman persecution. They would never be aligned with Judaism again.