The destruction of the Jewish temple was not only emotionally and psychologically traumatizing to every Jew. It was also an existential crisis. With the demolition of the temple came the complete destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. A development that was not only incomprehensible to Judaism but absolutely unacceptable to the Jewish mind. However, the prophet Daniel had indeed predicted this awful occurrence…“And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.” Daniel 9:26 (NKJV). The Saviour foresaw this catastrophe and warned the Christian believers to expect and prepare for it. “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), ‘then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.'” Matthew 24:15-17. (NKJV).
Herod’s Temple was destroyed because of the stubbornness, recalcitrance, and bloody-mindedness of the Jewish leaders. Judean warriors fought the Roman soldiers fiercely and even threatened them with complete defeat. When they were presented with an opportunity to do so. Sallying forth from the gates of Jerusalem to attack their enemies, the Jewish warriors inflicted heavy military losses upon their assailants. The fact that Roman legionnaires were ordered to withdraw from the siege when it was opportune to attack is inexplicable. But this pause in the immediate pursuit of military hostilities. Gave the Christians who had been holed up in the city the opportunity for which they had long waited to escape. “After the Romans under Cestius had surrounded the city, they unexpectedly abandoned the siege when everything seemed favorable for an immediate attack. The besieged, despairing of successful resistance, were on the point of surrender when the Roman general withdrew his forces without the least apparent reason. But God’s merciful providence was directing events for the good of His own people…the Jews, sallying from Jerusalem, pursued after his retiring army; and while both forces were thus fully engaged, the Christians had an opportunity to leave the city… thus the Christians throughout the land were able to make their escape unmolested. Without delay, they fled to a place of safety—the city of Pella, in the land of Perea, beyond Jordan.” The Great Controversy, by Ellen G. White p. 30.
Destroying the Jewish temple was an act that was strange even to the Roman General and commanders. However, uncontrollable events and the hostility of the Jewish fighters made such an act inevitable. “Terrible were the calamities that fell upon Jerusalem when the siege was resumed by Titus. The city was invested at the time of the Passover when millions of Jews were assembled within its walls. Their stores of provision, which if carefully preserved would have supplied the inhabitants for years, had previously been destroyed through the jealousy and revenge of the contending factions, and now all the horrors of starvation were experienced. Thousands perished from famine and pestilence. Natural affection seemed to have been destroyed. Husbands robbed their wives, and wives their husbands. Children would be seen snatching the food from the mouths of their aged parents.” The Great Controversy by Ellen G. White. p. 31.
All the horrors of cannibalism were practiced during the siege. Since parents killed and ate their children to relieve their own pangs of hunger. To force the inhabitants of the city to surrender. Thousands of Jews were captured by the Roman army and put to death just to induce the inhabitants of Jerusalem to come forth and cease all of their acts of war. The Roman leaders endeavored to strike terror to the Jews and thus cause them to surrender. Those prisoners who resisted when taken, were scourged, tortured, and crucified before the wall of the city. Hundreds were daily put to death in this manner, and the dreadful work continued until, along the Valley of Jehoshaphat and at Calvary, crosses were erected in so great numbers that there was scarcely room to move among them. So terribly was visited that awful imprecation uttered before the judgment seat of Pilate: “His blood be on us, and on our children.” Matthew 27:25. Ibid, p.32.
Following the breach of the city’s walls. The Roman general pleaded with the Jews taking refuge within the temple to come out so that the destruction and desecration of that holy place could be avoided. His pleas fell upon deaf ears. “The blind obstinacy of the Jewish leaders, and the detestable crimes perpetrated within the besieged city, excited the horror and indignation of the Romans…Titus found it impossible to check the rage of the soldiery…A soldier, unperceived, thrust a lighted torch between the hinges of the door: the whole building was in flames in an instant. The blinding smoke and fire forced the officers to retreat, and the noble edifice was left to its fate…It was an appalling spectacle to the Roman—what was it to the Jew? The whole summit of the hill which commanded the city, blazed like a volcano. One after another the buildings fell in, with a tremendous crash, and were swallowed up in the fiery abyss. The slaughter within was even more dreadful than the spectacle from without. Men and women, old and young, insurgents and priests, those who fought and those who entreated mercy, were hewn down in indiscriminate carnage. The number of the slain exceeded that of the slayers. The legionaries had to clamber over heaps of dead to carry on the work of extermination.” Ibid p. 35.
The Jews rejected The Saviour on the day of their opportunity. That decision doomed them, their children, their nation, and their temple to destruction. The temple was constructed by divine decree. To represent Christ. He had been prefigured in all the ceremonies and services of the sanctuary for centuries. Now that He had come and fulfilled all the things prophesied about Him in all the temple rites. That edifice was no longer relevant. Consequently, it was destroyed by divine decree because Judaism as a religion was no longer relevant. The era of a new divinely inspired theology had arrived. Henceforth,
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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