CHAPTER III.
PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE DESTRUCTION OF
JERUSALEM
The commonwealth of Israel, from its establishment to its
dissolution, subsisted for more than fifteen hundred year.
In delivering their law, Moses assumed more than the authority
of a human legislator, and asserted that he was invested with a
divine commission ; and in enjoining obedience to it, after
having conducted them to the borders of Canaan, he promises many
blessings to accompany their compliance with the law, and
denounces grievous judgments that would overtake them for the
breach of it. The history of the Jews in each succeeding
age attests the truth of the last prophetic warning of the first
of their rulers ; but too lengthened a detail would be requisite
for its elucidation. Happily, it contains predictions
applicable to more recent events which admit not of any
ambiguous interpretation, and refer to historical facts that
admit no cavil. He who founded their government foretold,
notwithstanding the intervention of so many ages, the manner of
its overthrow. While they were wandering in the
wilderness, without a city and without a home, he
threatened them with the destruction of their cities and the
devastation of their country. While they viewed for the
first time the land of Palestine, and when victorious and
triumphant they were about to possess it, he represented the
scene of desolation that it would exhibit to their vanquished
and enslaved posterity on their last departure from it.
Ere they themselves had entered it as enemies, he described
those enemies b whom their descendents were to be subjugated and
dispossessed, though they were to arise from a very distant
region, and although they did not appear till after a millenary
and a half of years : -- "The Lord shall bring a nation against
thee from far -- from the end of the earth -- as swift as the
eagle flieth -- a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand,
-- a nation of firece countenance, which shall not regard the
person of the old, nor show favour to the young. And he
shall eat the fruit of thy cattle and the fruit of thy land
until thou be destroyed, which also shall not leave thee either
corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of
thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee ; and they shall besiege
thee in all thy gates, until thy high-fenced walls come down
wherein thou trustest throughout all thy land." (Deut. xxvii,
29, &c.)
Each particular of this prophecy, though it be only
introductory to others, has met its full completion. The
remote situation of the Romans, the rapidity of their march, the
very emblem of their arms, their unknown language and warlike
appearance, the indiscriminate cruelty and unsparing pillage
which they exercised towards the persons and the property of the
Jews, could scarcely have been represented in more descriptive
terms. (See Jackson, Poole, Patrick, Whiston, Bishop Newton,
&c.) Vespasian, Adrian, and Julius Severus removed with
part of their armies from Britain to Palestine, -- the extreme
points of the Roman world. The eagle was the standard of
their armies, and the utmost activity and expedition were
displayed in the reduction of Judea. They were a nation of
fierce countenance, -- a race distinct from the effeminate
Asiatic troops. At Gadara and Gamala, throughout many
parts of the Roman empire, and in repeated instances is
Jerusalem itself, the slaughter of the Jews was indiscriminate,
without distinction of age or sex. The inhabitants were
enslaved and banished, all their possessions confiscated, and
the kingdom of Israel, humbled at first into a province of the
Roman empire, became at last the private property of the
emperor. Throughout all the land of Judea every city was
besieged and taken, and their high and fenced walls were razed
from the foundation. But the prophet particularizes
incidents the most shocking to humanity, which mark the utmost
possible extremity of want and wretchedness, the last act to
which famine could prompt despair, and the last subject of a
prediction that could have been uttered by man : -- "And thou
shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and
of thy daughters, in the siege and in the straitness wherewith
thin enemies shall distress thee ; so that the man that is
tender among you and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward
his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the
remnant of his children which he shall leave ; so that he will
not give to anyof them of the flesh of his children whom he
shall eat, because he hath nothing left him in the siege and in
the straitness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in
all thy gates. The tender and delicate woman among
you which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon
the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be
evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and
toward her daughter, and toward her young one, and toward her
children which she shall bear ; for she shall eat them for want
of all things, secretly, in the siege and straitness wherewith
thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates." (Deut. xxviii,
58, &c.)
No commentator, nor careful reader of Scripture and of Jewish
history, could fail to to observe the repeated instances of the
fulfillment of this striking and awful prediction. When
Samaria, then the capital of Israel, was besieged by all the
host of the King of Syria, the most loathsome substitute for
food was of great price, and an ass's head was sold for eighty
pieces of silver. (2 Kings vi. 4) When Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, the
famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the
people of the land. And Josephus relates the direful
calamities of the Jews in their last siege, before they ceased
to have a city. The famine was too powerful for all other
passions ; for what was otherwise reverenced was in this case
despised. Children snatched the food out of the very
mouths of their fathers ; and even mothers, overcoming the tenderest feelings of nature, took from their perishing infants
the last morsels that could sustain their lives. In every
house where there was the least shadow of food a contest arose ;
and the nearest relatives struggled with each other for the
miserable means of subsistence. (Joseph. de Bello, 1, 6, 3
§ 4) He adds a
most revolting detail. While in all these cases the eye of
man was thus evil towards his brother in the siege and in the straitness wherewith their enemies distressed them, -- the
unparalleled inhuman compact between the two women of Samaria ;
the bitter lamentations of Jeremiah over the miseries of the
siege which he witnessed, -- "The hands of the pitiful women
have sodden their own children, they were their meat in the
destruction of the daughter of my people ; " and the harrowing
recital by Josephus of the noble lady killing with her own hands
and eating secretly her own suckling (the discovery of which
struck even the whole suffering city with horror), which are all
recorded as facts, without the least allusion to the prediction,
-- to faithfully realized to the very letter the dread
denunciations of the prophet. When any well-authenticated
facts of so singular and appalling a nature were predicted for
ages, they could not possibly have been revealed but by
inspiration from that Omniscience which alone can foresee the
termination of the iniquities of nations.
Moses and the other prophets foretold also that the Jews
would be left few in number -- that they would be slain before
their enemies -- that their cities would be laid waste -- that
they would be destroyed and brought to naught -- plucked from
off the land -- sold for slaves -- and that none would buy them
-- that their high places were to be desolate -- and their boned
to be scattered around their altars -- that Jerusalem was to be
encamped round about -- to be besieged with a mount -- to have
forts raised against it -- to be ploughed over as a field, and
to become heaps ; -- that the end was to come upon it, and that
the Lord would judge them according to their ways, and
recompense them for all their abominations ; the sword without,
and the pestilence and the famine within ; -- "he that is in the
field shall die with the sword, and he that is in the city,
famine and pestilence shall devour him." (Lev. xxvi 30, &c.,
Duet. xxviii 62 &c., Isa. xxix,3., Ezek. vi.5., Micah iii.12.,
Jer. xxvi 18., Ezek vii. 7-9-15.)
These predictions relative to the siege and destruction of
Jerusalem, which are recorded in the Pentateuch and in the
subsequent prophecies, accord with the minute prophetic
narrative which Jesus gave of the same sad event. Any
adequate delineation of it alone would far surpass the limits of
this treatise. But the subject has been fully and
frequently illustrated, and the prediction harmonizes so
completely with the unimpeachable testimony of impartial
historians, that is is merely necessary, for the elucidation of
its truth, to compare the prophetic description with the
historical facts.
"The particular parts of the whole
discourse have been admirably illustrated by many
learned commentators. Christian writers have always,
with great reason, represented Josephus's History of the
Jewish War, as the best commentary on this chapter, (Matt.
xxiv.) and many have justly remarked it, as a
wonderful instance of the care of Providence for the
Christian church, that he, an eye witness, and in these
things of so great credit, should (especially in such an
extraordinary manner) be preserved, to transmit to us a
collection of important facts, which so exactly
illustrate this noble prophecy in almost every
circumstance." Doddridge's Family Expositor, vol ii. p. 373;
Besides frequent allusions in his discourses and parables
(Matt. xxi. 18, 19-33; xxii. 1-7; xxv. 14-33; Mark xi. 12-20,
&c., Luke xiii. 6-9; xiv. 17-26; xx. 9-19; xxiii 27-33), the
predictions of Christ concerning Jerusalem are recorded at
length by three of the Evangelists. They are omitted by
the Apostle John, in whose writings alone, from the age to which
he lived, their insertion would have been suspicious. They
were delivered to the disciples of Christ in answers to those
direct questions which they put, in their surprise and alarm, at
his declaration of the fate of the temple, "When shall these
things be? When shall be the sign of them, and of the end
of the world?" The reply embraces all the subjects of the
query, and is equally circumstantial and distinct. The
death of Christ happened thirty-seven years previous to the
destruction of Jerusalem. By the unanimous testimony of
antiquity, the three gospels were published, and at least two of
the Evangelists were dead, several years before that event.
Copies of the gospels were disseminated so extensively and
rapidly, that any deceit must have been instantaneously detected
by the powerful, and numerous, and watchful enemies of the
Cross. And the eveidence of the prior publicity of the
gospels was so strong, that it remained unchallendged by Julian,
by Prophyry, or by Celsus. The authenticity of the
prophecy thus rests on sure grounds, and the facts in which it
received its accomplishment are incontestable. Josephus
was one of the most distinguished generals in the commencement
of the Jewish war; he was an eyewitness of the facts which he
records; he appeals to Vespasian and to Titus for the truth of
his history ; it receive the singular attestation of the
subscription of the latter to its accuracy ; it was published
while the facts were recent and norotious ; and the extreme
carefulness with which he avoids the mention of the name of
Crhist, in the history of the Jewish war, is not less remarkable
than the great precision with which he describes the events that
verify his predictions. Not a few of the transactions are
also related by Tacitus, Philostratus, and Dion Cassius.
The different prophecies of Christ respecting Jerusalem may
be considered into a single view :
"And Jesus went out and departed from the temple ; and his
disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the
temple. (Matt. xxiv. Mark xiii. Luke xxi.) And Jesus
said unto them, See ye not all these things ; verily I say unto
you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that
shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount of
Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us
when shall these things be : and what shall be the sign of thy
coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered
and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you, for many
shall come in my name saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive
many. And the time draws near; and ye shall hear of wars,
and rumors of wars, -- or commotions : these things must first
come to pass, but the end is not yet. Nation shall
rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and great
earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and
pestilences, and fearful sights, and great signs shall there be
from heaven. All these things are the beginning of
sorrows. But, before all these things, shall they lay
their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to
the synagogues and in prisons, being brought before kings and
rulers for my name's sake. And many shall be offended.
Ye shall be betrayed both by parents and brethren, and kinsfolk
and friends ; and some of you shall they cause to be put to
death, and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.
But there shall not a hair of your head perish. And many
false prophets will arise and will deceive many ; and, because
iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
And the gospel must first be published among the nations, and
then shall the end come. When ye, therefore, shall see
Jerusalem encompassed with armies, and the abomination of
desolation stand in the holy place, and where it ought not, then
let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let him
which is in the midst of it depart out. Let him which is
on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter
therein to take any thing out of his house. Neither let
him that is in the field turn back again for to take up his
garment, for these are the days of vengeance. But wo unto
them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those
days ; for there will be great distress in the land, and wrath
upon this people -- and they shall fall by the edge of the sword
and shall be led captive into all nations. There shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the
beginning of the world to this time - no, nor ever shall be, --
and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the
time of the Gentiles be fulfilled. This generation shall
not pass away till all these things be done.
"Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees -- fill ye up the measure
of your fathers. Behold I send unto you prophets, and wise
men, and scribes, and some of them ye will scourge in your
synagogues, and persecute from city to city. All
these things shall be done in this generation. O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and
stonest them that are sent unto you, how often I would have
gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold,
your house is left unto you desolate ; for I say unto you, Ye
shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he
that cometh in the name of the Lord." (Matt. xxiii. 34)
"When he came near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy
day, the things which belong to thy peace ; but now they are hid
from thine eyes. (Luke xix. 41). 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 ; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another,
because thou knowest not the time of thy visitation."
These prophecies from the Old Testament and from the New
repel the charge of ambiguity. They are equally copious
and clear. History attests the truth of each and all of
them ; and a recapitulation of them forms an enumeration of the
facts. False Christs appeared. Simon Magus
boasted that he was some great one. -- Dositheus, the Samaritan,
pretended that he was the lawgiver prophesied of Moses. --
Theudas, promising the performance of a miracle, persuaded a
great multitude to follow him to Jordan, and deceived many.
(Josephus. Ant. xx. 5, 1; Jos. xx. 7, 5) The country
was filled with impostors and deceivers, who induced the people
to follow them into the wilderness ; -- their credulity became
the punishment of their previous skepticism, and, in one
instance, the tumult was so great that the soldiers took two
hundred prisoners, and slew twice that number. There
were wars and rumours of wars; nation rose against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom. The Jews resisted
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