Destruction of Jerusalem (AD 70)

Background

The Temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt by the Jews who returned from the Babylonian exile. Commonly called the Second Temple, it was greatly expanded under Herod the Great. In the first century, Judea was under Roman rule. Harsh rule by Roman governors, heavy taxation, and mounting religious conflict fueled anti-Roman sentiment, and armed resistance movements such as the Zealots became active. In AD 66, events such as the governor Florus's seizure of money from the Temple treasury sparked an uprising in Jerusalem, marking the beginning of the First Jewish–Roman War (the Jewish War).

Course of Events

• 66: Cestius Gallus, the governor of Syria, led a Roman army against Jerusalem but withdrew.
• 67: Emperor Nero sent the general Vespasian, who subdued Galilee and other northern regions. During this campaign Josephus, a Jewish commander, surrendered to the Romans. He later wrote The Jewish War, the principal account of the conflict.
• 69: After a Roman civil war, Vespasian became emperor, and his son Titus took over the Judean campaign.
• 70: Titus besieged Jerusalem around the time of Passover. Rival factions within the city fought one another, and famine grew severe as the siege dragged on. After breaching the walls one by one, the Roman army burned the Temple in the summer and then destroyed most of the city. Jewish tradition commemorates the destruction of the Temple on the Ninth of Av, which is observed as a fast day.
• 73 or 74: The war ended with the fall of Masada, the last rebel stronghold.

Josephus wrote that 1.1 million people died during the siege. Scholars generally regard this figure as exaggerated.

Consequences and Influence

• With the cessation of Temple sacrifice, the system centered on Old Testament sacrifice and the office of the high priest collapsed. The Sadducees, whose power was based in the Temple, disappeared from history. In their place, rabbis who carried on the tradition of the Pharisees rebuilt Judaism around the study of the Law and the synagogue; their center is reported to have been Jamnia (Yavneh).
• To commemorate the victory, Rome erected the Arch of Titus in Rome. The arch bears reliefs depicting Temple furnishings, including the lampstand, being carried away.
• Part of the western retaining wall surrounding the Temple site survives today as the Western Wall (also known as the Wailing Wall).
• The fourth-century church historian Eusebius records a tradition that the Christians of Jerusalem fled before the war to Pella, east of the Jordan River. During this period the early church and Judaism gradually became distinct from each other.
• Later, under Emperor Hadrian, Jerusalem was refounded as the Roman city of Aelia Capitolina. After the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135), Jews are reported to have been barred from entering the city.

Assessment

Christians have traditionally read this event in light of the words of Jesus Christ foretelling the destruction of the Temple. The relevant passages are Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 19:41–44, and Luke 21:20–24.

Interpreters differ on how much of this prophecy was fulfilled in the events of AD 70.

• The preterist interpretation holds that most of the prophecies in Matthew 24 were fulfilled in AD 70.
• The futurist interpretation, especially dispensationalism, regards the events of AD 70 as a partial fulfillment. It interprets such elements as "the abomination of desolation" in Matthew 24:15 as events yet to take place in the last days.
• Many interpreters acknowledge both aspects.

This question is bound up with broader discussions of eschatology.

In biblical studies, the event also serves as a reference point for dating the New Testament writings. Some scholars, citing the specificity of the Gospels' predictions of the Temple's destruction, conclude that those Gospels were written after AD 70. Others regard these as genuine prophecies of Jesus and argue for earlier dates of composition. This issue is also related to the Synoptic problem. In addition, the fact that Hebrews treats Temple sacrifice as a present reality without mentioning the Temple's destruction is sometimes cited as evidence for the date of that epistle.