This series of articles is a summary of events that come from Josephus writings. His writings were translated into today’s English by Penguin Classics and is a fascinating read. It’s nearly all military in focus, so if you’re a fan of history and war in general, you’ll like this book.

The thoughts and opinions here were taken from the writings of Josephus. Instead of wading through the volumes of war books, I will summarize them for you here. You can read a wikipedia on Josephus by clicking here.

Josephus is a name you hear about often when topic of end times or Roman history come up. You may have heard his name given like this: “Josephus was a traitor to the Jews who surrendered himself to the Romans to save his own skin. He somehow convinced them to let him write history books for them.” Yet there’s so much more to the story. Read about him here, and I think you’ll have a new appreciation for the war of AD 70 and this man Josephus.

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This series of articles is a summary of events that come from Josephus writings. His writings were translated into today’s English by Penguin Classics and is a fascinating read. It’s nearly all military in focus, so if you’re a fan of history and war in general, you’ll like this book.

Josephus begins by discussing Antiochus Epiphanes who lived some 200 years before the war of AD 70. It is during this time that the a cycle of treatment would begin towards the Jews. It was a cycle of racism and abuse projected at the Jews where ever they lived and by whomever the reigning people were at the time. There were ongoing cycles of wars and battles (Mat 24:6)  being fought as many different peoples and races would take over control of the areas that the Jews lived in. As one group would take over, Jews would debate among themselves if they were going to be loyal followers or angry protesters of the new leadership. These debates turned into arguments. These arguments among Jews produced factions bent on overthrowing whomever was reigning over them at the time. As more and more factions emerged, each faction would throw their allegiance to whomever they believed deserved to be treated as King over them. With multiple factions of Jews living in multiple cities, throwing their support towards any hostile group that suited them at the time, arguments gave way to fights which turned into armed conflicts in and among the Jewish towns. (Matt 24:12) Each family was commonly divided into supporters of gangs and those that sought peace. Generations of Jews grew up in this environment. Factions eventually turned into mobs and mobs and gangs turned into small armies. These factions grew thirsty for power and as they grew in size, they began to steal and kill fellow Jews to support their causes. (Matt 24:12) They needed supplies to arm their gangs and they stopped at nothing to get it.

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With the rest of the territory conquered and most of its cities burned to the ground, nearly all the citizens of Jewish territories, both peace loving and gang member, made their way to Jerusalem over time. Eventually the city would be filled with average citizens, and remnants of defeated mobs, gangs and small armies of warrior Jews that the Romans had run out of the countryside. When the Zealots removed the high priests, they became the only authority left within Jerusalem, and their interests were only focused on self gain and remaining in power.

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Through one of the rival gangs taking refuge in one of the last cities not conquered by Romans or Zealots, rose to power a man named Simon. He’s described as a young hothead, lacking in craftiness but making up for it with anger, physical presence and a thirst for war. Simon’s gang would grow into an army made up of bandits, slaves and respectable citizens who considered him king. They raided all the villages they could find and those around the countryside began to fear him based on simply rumor alone. They would establish their own walled fortress and they made preparations to attack Jerusalem and the Zealots.

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Another faction from the Zealots would divide them from the other Zealots. This group would be led by Priest Eleazer who grew angry at the outrages of John and was jealous of having him as a leader. Eleazer (Matt 24:15) would eventually gain control of the Inner Court (who had earlier murdered a Roman Garrison of guards on the Sabbath) which was at an elevated position over John, who had greater numbers, but was positioned outside the Inner Court’s gates and at a military disadvantage by being at a lower elevation. He however was positioned on a higher elevation than Simon who could move about the city more freely. So while Simon launched attacks on John, John fought both Simon below and Eleazor above. John, having more numbers and weapons that Eleazor assaulted the Inner Court continuously with his big weapons and used his smaller weapons and higher position to fend off Simon.

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This part of the series is rated PG 13. Be warned.

By the end of this war, 1.1 million Jews will die. While that’s a very large number, you may be comparing it to the 6 million Jews that died in the Holocaust of WW2. The Jews from WW2 were killed in a variety of different countries. In this war, the count of the dead come from 1 city, Jerusalem. The population on a average day in AD 70 was only about 80-100,000. The population explosion was caused by the yearly seven day Feast of the Unleavened Bread which is the Jewish celebration of the exodus from Egypt. Most Jews traveled to Jerusalem for this event. Israel itself is no bigger than the state of California and with the city centrally located, it made for an easy trip. The other reason for the population explosion is because of the wars that went on around the country. Towns were being demolished by either the Romans or the bandits, so over time, there was literally no safe place to be except for the walled city of Jerusalem. So when the war on the city began, the population had swelled to include 90+% of all Jews in the entire nation.

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This part of the series is rated PG 13. Be warned.

At this the famine became more intense. Roof tops were covered with women and children too weak to stand, and the city streets were lined with old men already dead. Young men and boys haunted the city, swollen with hunger, roaming about in search of food at all hours of the day and night. They dropped where they were whenever hunger over took them. Burying the dead was a monumental task if you were allowed to do so at all by the gangs. Hunger left most people too weak to bury anyone and it is written that some fell over dead trying. Making it all worse, the bandits broke into the houses of the dead, stripped the bodies, stole all their belongings and left laughing. Those that were unable to move because of hunger were cut on with swords for sport and those that begged to be killed by the bandits were left to die on their own. People took to scouring the sewers for anything edible.

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