The Destruction of Jerusalem.
By Mrs. M. E. Steward
When the Israelites were led as a nation out of Egypt, and were walled in from all other peoples by the ceremonial law, their divine leader, through Moses, plainly set before them the rewards of obedience and the consequences of disobedience. The Lord said (Deut. 28) that after they had suffered many other calamities, he would “smite” them “with madness and blindness and astonishment of heart.” Verse 28. We have seen that just prior to the coming of Titus, the Jews became fearfully wicked, warring among themselves, led on by tyrannical men, one of whom was a Levite. The women were as bad as the men. God had left them to “blindness” and “madness” (representing a dreadful deception), and they had incited the people to desperate revolt, which ended in the most intense suffering at the very “sight” of which they were “mad.” Verse 34. (“Crazed” is more nearly the original idea.) The Saviour had said, “For the days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; . . . because thou knowest not the time of thy visitation.” Luke 19:43, 44. In Rev. 3:17 we read of another class who are “blind.” They are also destitute of all that would make life valuable or desirable. From the words, “And knowest not,” we infer that it must be a spiritual condition which is here represented. Judging from the fate of the “blind” Jews, what may we expect for the “poor” Laodiceans! Moses declared (Deut. 28:49), “The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far.” Most of the soldiers comprising Titus’ army came from Britain, France, and Spain, then the farthest parts of the earth; and “Vespasian and Adrian left Britain for the scene of contest.”—Jamieson. “As swift as the eagle flieth.” As the eagle is the king of birds, so the Romans held at this time universal dominion. Their ensign was an eagle. “A nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand.” This prophecy could not have referred to the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, for the Babylonian was a dialect of the Hebrew, but the Latin, spoken by the Romans, was a language entirely unlike that of the Jews. “A nation of fierce countenance.” This represented a stern, severe character, such as that of the Romans, which, as we have seen, did not “regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young.” Verse 50. “He shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed.” Verse 51. Such is the natural consequence of invasion. Verse 52: “And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustest, throughout all thy land.” Not only were the massive walls of Jerusalem thrown down, but the enemy took all the strong-holds in Judea. “And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body.” Verse 53. “Perhaps the histories of all other nations on earth together do not contain so many well-authenticated instances of this most horrid effect of desperate hunger as are found in that of the Jews.”—Scott. Sickness was threatened. This also is the natural consequence of a long siege, and of scarcity of provisions. Verse 68: “And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships; . . . and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.” Multitudes were sent to Egypt, as well as to other countries, to be sold as slaves; so many that though they went at the lowest price, purchasers could not be found for them all, and thousands were left to perish of want. All down through their history to the final dispersion of the Jews, the Lord sent entreaties and threats and warnings, predicting coming evil, by his “servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.” Within a few162years of the destruction of Jerusalem, the most remarkable signs began to be witnessed. Josephus says, “There was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet that continued a whole year.” Before the rebellion in Jerusalem began, during a feast of tabernacles, which was the most joyous of all their feasts, at the ninth hour of the night [about three o’clock in the morning—the very hour the Romans chose more than once for important attacks on the devoted city], a light bright as day shone round the altar and the holy house, lasting half an hour. The unlearned thought this a favorable omen, but the scribes believed differently. The great eastern gate of the inner court, the most sacred and important of all the gates of the courts; so heavy that it was difficult for twenty men to shut it, having bolts fastened very deep in the floor; about midnight opened of its own accord. It was with great labor shut again. The ignorant believed this was a sign of God’s opening to them the gate of happiness, but those better instructed interpreted it as showing that “the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies.” They publicly proclaimed this. A few days after this feast, chariots and soldiers in bright armor were seen fighting in the clouds, besieging cities, and the temple was lighted with sudden flashes of fire from the clouds. At the feast of Pentecost, when the priests were going by night into the inner court to perform their ministrations, they felt a quaking and a great movement, as though people were departing, and heard a loud noise, after which they heard voices as of a multitude saying, “Let us remove hence.” Four years before the war began, when the city was enjoying “great peace and prosperity,” in the midst of the feast of tabernacles, one Jesus, the son of Ananus, of the common people, and a husbandman, suddenly began his fearful cry: “A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house; a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against the whole people!” Everywhere through the lanes of the city this was his wild and melancholy cry, by day and by night. The authorities, indignant at him, arrested him, and beat him very severely. He did not remonstrate with them; never referred to himself or to them (a worthy example for those who are doing the Lord’s work), but continued his lamentations. The rulers took him to the Roman procurator, where he was whipped “till his bones were laid bare;” yet he shed no tears; he did not speak of himself, but at every stroke of the whip his cry was, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!” He made no reply when questioned by Albinus, the procurator, as to his name, whence he came, or the reason of his strange conduct, but went on as before, till Albinus released him as insane. This cry was loudest at the festivals. For four years and five months he ceased not, never tiring or growing hoarse; neither retaliating upon those who abused him, or thanking those who fed him, till one day, during the siege, as he was going his rounds on the wall, after exclaiming with his utmost strength, “Woe, woe to the city again, and to the people, and to the holy house!” he added, for the first and last time, “Woe, woe to myself also!” when a stone from an engine hit him and killed him instantly. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. But the “blind” cannot see. They ignored all the predictions and signs of impending destruction. Yet Jerusalem and her temple, “the most beautiful structure that was ever built,” perished; while her unfaithful children proved the wrath of Him who had in former years wrought so wonderfully for their prosperity. So “sure” is the word of prophecy. Dear reader, if the retrospect has been painful, it is to be hoped that it will not be entirely unprofitable. We learn from the timely escape of every one of God’s humble, believing ones, that “the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly.” “Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” 1 Pet. 4:19. The history also teaches us that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” If he wrote “bitter things” against the Jewish church, apostatized, how will it be with the fallen Christian church? The intensity of their suffering was measured by the degree of divine light and favor which they had abused or neglected; then how much more fearful must be the punishment of the professed people of God who enjoy the much greater light and privileges of to-day! Even the miseries of Jerusalem can bear but a faint comparison to that awful time when the seven angels pour out the last plagues on the earth. Rev. 16. Poor sinner and lukewarm professor! you will want a shelter in that day from “the judgment and fiery indignation that shall devour the adversaries.” Then “to-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” A little longer Jesus pleads with the very same yearning love that he had for Jerusalem when he looked upon her for the last time before his crucifixion. A keen sense of ingratitude and unrequited love, with a view of her dreadful doom in the near future, shook his frame with sobs and tears! A little while the Holy Spirit lingers to help you! God himself is regarding you with a beseeching tenderness that can best be measured by the gift of his dearly beloved Son. He has called to you in every way,—by blessings; no doubt by trials; by his judgments that are abroad in the land; by all the promises of good and threatenings of evil (the receiver of each will find that the half was not told him); by prophecy fulfilling all around us, and the signs of the soon-coming most fearful day of Judgment. Days and years he has patiently borne, constantly working for the good of one who always forgot him. Oh! the love of God! And still he pleads, “Why will ye die?”