Dear ghostofachance,
Both that the Christians of Jerusalem left the city and that the
Romans besieged and destroyed Jerusalem not much later are historical
facts.
According to Luke 19,43-44, Jesus predicted after his triumphal entry
in Jerusalem:
"The days will come upon you when your enemies build an embankment
against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will
dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls."
And in Luke 21,20, there is another warning by Jesus:
"When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that its
desolation is near."
The early Christians of Jerusalem did not flee the city immediately.
However, the did not forget this foreboding, too.
After 64 AD, tensions in Roman-occupied Judaea - the country was under
direct Roman rule then - were growing, ending in an eruption of
rebellion in 66 AD. In that year, the Roman procurator Gessius Florus
attempted to confiscate parts of the Temple's treasure, reportedly as
funding for public buildings. This enraged many pious Jews in Judaea,
a fast-spreading uprising against the Romans and their adherers was
the result. The Roman garrisons are destroyed, a legion under the
governor of Roman Syria, Cestius Gallus, is defeated. This was the
beginning of the First Jewish War.
It took some time before Rome, under emperor Nero, ws able to react in
an adequate military way. The growing and highly highly visible danger
of war, however, had alerted the Christians in Jerusalem. The entire
Christian community of estimatedly 20,000 people, or at least a lare
share of them, left Jerusalem short time before the outbreak of combat
operations. They fled to Pella Dekapolis, a non-Jewish and pro-Roman
city south of the Golan Heights. These were, of course, those among
the Christians of Jerusalem woho did not regard themselves Jewish
anymore, as many others still did. Among others, early Christian
author Eusebius of Caesarea recorded this.
In May 70 AD, a Roman siege army under Titus appeared before
Jerusalem. The city was surrounded, then the heavy siege machines
began destroying the fortification walls. Finally, the walls broke,
the Roman legions took Jerusalem by assault, killed many inhabitants -
combatants and civilians - and also burned down the Temple. This is
recorded by Roman-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who was
eye-witness of the Roman campaign in the First Jewish War.
Sources:
The NIV Study Bible, published by Zondervan, 1995. ISBN 0-310-92588-6
Das Zeitalter der Bibel, by Roberta L. Harris. Published by
Bechtermünz Verlag, 1998. ISBN 3-8289-0662-1
Die Geschichte der judenchristlichen Gemeinde in Jerusalem, by
Matthias Kreplin, 2000 (in German!)
http://home.t-online.de/home/Matthias.Kreplin/NT-Grundwissen/GeJudchr.htm
Evangelische Gemeinde Judenburg: Jakobus und die Judenchristen (in
German!)
http://evangelisch.ainet.at/christentum_2000_1_txt.htm
Das Christentum, die Anfänge, by Tolos (in German!)
http://www.tolos.de/christ3.htm
Atemzug.de: Eusebius von Cäsarea (Acrobat Reader File, in German!)
http://www.atemzug.de/Antike_Schriften/Eusebius.pdf
Evangelisch-Reformierte Gemeinde in Österreich: Offenbarung, die was
brachte (in German!)
Gute Nachrichten: Das kommende "Greuelbild der Verwüstung" (in German,
Google Cache!)
://www.google.de/search?q=cache:uOikmq9UQ3gC:www.gutenachrichten.org/DATENBANK/ARTIKEL/HTML/01-01-01.htm+jesus+prophezeiung+jerusalem+r%C3%B6mer+titus&hl=de&ie=UTF-8
Search terms used:
"jüdische krieg" jerusalem christen titus:
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22j%C3%BCdische+krieg%22+jerusalem+christen+titus&meta=
jakobus christen jerusalem pella:
://www.google.de/search?q=jakobus+christen+jerusalem+pella&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=de&meta=
jesus prophezeiung jerusalem römer titus:
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=jesus+prophezeiung+jerusalem+r%C3%B6mer+titus&spell=1
Hope this answers your question!
Regards,
Scriptor
http://www.reformiert.at/predigten/mayer/08_mt_24_1-28.htm |
