The End Of The Temple

The End Of The Temple

When Titus Flavius Vespasianus was born on December 30, A.D. 39, no one suspected that he would one day fulfill prophecies of Jesus.

TITUS’S FATHER, Vespasian, achieved fame as a leader of the Roman legions in Britain in A.D. 43. Because of his father’s achievements Titus was educated first in the palace of Emperor Claudius and then of Nero, becoming best friends with Claudius’s son Britannicus. When Nero later poisoned Britannicus, Titus was present and drank some of the poisoned drink, becoming critically ill himself.

Having narrowly survived the Roman court, Titus served with distinction in the Roman army in Germany and Britain.

Back in Rome in A.D. 66 and part of Nero’s entourage, Vespasian committed the outrage of falling asleep in front of the emperor. He was dismissed from Nero’s court for being boorish and retreated to a small town to wait for the inevitable death sentence for offending the emperor.

However, to Vespasian’s great surprise and relief, a revolt broke out in Judea and he was made commander of the Roman legions in Palestine sent to crush the revolt. In a very unusual move, Titus was put in command of one of his father’s three legions. Not only was Titus too young for such a responsibility, but it was unprecedented for a son to command a legion in his father’s army.

Titus played a prominent role in the Roman conquest of Galilee. Then in A.D. 68 Nero committed suicide with his secretary’s assistance. Because Titus had proven to be an able diplomat, his father sent him to Rome to pay his respects to Galba, the new emperor, but more important, to ascertain his family’s standing with the new regime. However, by the time Titus had reached Corinth, he received news of Galba’s assassination. He then openly advocated that his father take the throne himself. Titus returned to Judea and began to drum up support in Judea, Egypt, and Syria for his father’s bid for the throne. Galba was succeeded by Otho and then Vitellius in quick succession, but on July 1, A.D. 69, Vespasian was proclaimed emperor by the Roman legions in Egypt and soon after that by the legions in Syria and Judea.

Titus replaced his father as supreme commander of the Roman legions in Judea. With virtually the whole country subdued except for Jerusalem, Titus advanced there with his troops, arriving just prior to the Feast of Passover in A.D. 70 with the latest siege equipment. In spite of the advancing Roman armies, historian Josephus reported that 1.1 million Jews crowded into the city for the feast. However, all the Christians in Jerusalem, heeding the words of Jesus recorded in Luke 21:20-21, fled the city and went to the city of Pella on the other side of the Jordan River.

Titus had sixty thousand soldiers. The Jews had twenty-five thousand fighters within the city, but they were divided into factions that fought with one another. The great masses of people caught in the siege were helpless pawns. Within the city, starvation reigned. One mother even ate her own child.

Once the Romans had breached the city walls, fighting progressed from house to house. Titus intended to spare the temple, but a soldier threw a firebrand into it, and the whole edifice was soon in flames. Titus hurried to the temple, shouting to his troops to extinguish the fire, but no one listened. The temple burned to the ground, leaving only smoldering ruins. The Roman soldiers then sacrificed to their gods in the Holy Place. When the conquest was complete, the walls of the city were leveled.

All this happened just as Jesus had predicted thirty-seven years earlier. A foreign army came and surrounded Jerusalem (Luke 21:20), then burned it (Matthew 22:7) and completely destroyed the temple (Matthew 24:2).

Titus succeeded his father as emperor in A.D. 79, but died two years later. He was immediately deified.

Reflection

Jesus taught that the reason God would destroy Jerusalem was that the Jews killed their Messiah (Matthew 21:33–22:7). Do you believe that? Why or why not?

The king became furious. He sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their city.

Matthew 22:7