The Two-Hundred-Seventeenth (The End Revisited Part 6)

Shabbat shalom!  First things first this week: A correction needs to be made.  Last week, we talked about Josephus being holed up in a cave in Jerusalem when the Romans overran it, and that is not true.  He was actually holed up in a cave in Jotapata and was discovered by the Romans when they overran that city.  That occurred prior to the siege of Jerusalem, and actually, Josephus was involved in the Roman attempts to get the Jews to surrender in Jerusalem.  He was a liaison to the Jews, and was also trying to help the Romans understand what might convince them to surrender.

Now, on to this week’s study!  Let’s start with some more specificity regarding the statement made last week about the weight of certain objects being recorded by Josephus.  During the siege of Jerusalem, as stated last week, the Romans used catapults to launch giant boulders into the city.  As it turns out, these boulders were white and clearly visible by the Jews in the city as they flew through the air.  So much so, that the watchmen on the towers of the city saw them and warned people when the boulders were flying in so they could get out of the way and not get hurt or die (Josephus Wars 5:6:3).  

Here’s the interesting part: the boulders launched by the catapults were…the weight of (drumroll please!) a talent!  Does that ring any bells for you?  In John’s vision, he saw hailstones raining down from the sky, and they were the weight of a talent (Revelation 16:21).  I don’t think it’s coincidence that the boulders were white and the weight of a talent (which is between 75 and 100 pounds, by the way), and John saw what looked like hailstones (which are naturally white) that were the weight of a talent.  And Josephus probably would not have thought much of being so specific about describing these boulders except that the Romans attempted to adapt to the Jews’ seeing and warning about the impending destruction.

You see, once the Jews compensated and started warning others about the boulders they essentially became useless except to damage buildings and homes in the city.  As morbid as it is, if people aren’t dying from the weapons being used in a war, there’s a very low likelihood that anyone is going to give up and surrender.  So, the Romans started blackening the boulders.  As a result, the Jews could no longer easily see them coming and the boulders were destroying “many of them at one blow” (Josephus Wars 5:6:3).  And hence, it created a unique situation that caused Josephus to be very specific when including it in his writing.  I, personally, believe this was a part of the work of YHWH to enable us to line up the events of the siege of Jerusalem with the prophecy of John’s book of Revelation.

Another interesting “coincidence” is certain weather patterns recorded by Josephus.  There was a group of Jews called the Idumeans, and they were a ruthless bunch that were dedicated to fighting against the Romans.  The more rebellious Jews, the zealots, in Jerusalem had sent for the Idumeans to assist in fighting against the Romans in their capital city.  They were so bent on fighting, they sent 20,000 men to Jerusalem in battle gear (Josephus Wars 4:4:2).

Before we get to the weather in this situation, it’s worth noting that there are some that see these Idumeans as another fulfillment of John’s prophecy.  These 20,000 Idumeans were led by four commanders: John, Jacob, Simon and Phineas.  Some say this is a fulfillment of the sixth trumpet, where John prophesies of four messengers being released from the Euphrates River (Revelation 9:13-14).  They also state that the number of the army John saw, which is usually translated to 200 million, perfectly lines up with these 20,000 Idumeans because the Greek words are literally “two myriads of myriads” (Revelation 9:16) and a myriad is 10,000.  

I’m still on the fence about this being the fulfillment, but it is interesting to note that the army John saw was to kill a third of men (not necessarily of all mankind as some translations state) (Revelation 9:15) and the Idumeans that eventually made their way into Jerusalem went on a killing spree once inside (Josephus Wars 4:5:1-2).  They were held at the gate by those that were not on the side of the zealots that sent for the Idumeans (more on that later), which angered them.  So, once they got inside, they joined the zealots to take over the temple by killing the Jews who were guarding it.  That did not satiate them however, so they continued throughout the city, stealing from homes and killing everyone they saw.

The deaths of those in and around the temple due to the zealots and Idumeans were so great, Josephus recorded that the outer temple overflowed with blood.  Eight thousand five hundred bodies were there (Josephus Wars 4:5:1).  Another twelve thousand were killed in the rest of the city by this group (Josephus Wars 4:5:3).  It’s possible, that this is a fulfillment of the third of man being killed that John wrote about.  

Back to the Idumeans being held outside the city though, this is where we see the weather patterns that are eerily similar to that of Revelation.  There were two high priests that were trying to get the rest of the Jews to stop being so violent towards each other, and even to surrender.  Their names were Ananus and Jesus, and they both had a part in trying to keep the Idumeans from coming into the city (Josephus Wars 4:4:3,6)…which seem to hint of a certain two witnesses prophesied by John as well, don’t they? (Revelation 11:1-6)

During this keeping of the Idumeans out, after the high priest Jesus attempted to reason with them, Josephus states that there was a very violent storm that broke out (Josephus Wars 4:4:5).  It included very strong winds, lots of rain, lightning, “terrible thunderings,” and an earthquake that he describes as “amazing concussions and bellowings of the earth.”  It is not random that John also records “peals of thunder, and rumblings, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake” in Revelation (Revelation 8:1-6).  

This storm and its effects were so strong that both those in the city and the Idumeans considered it a sign from YHWH (Josephus Wars 4:4:6).  The Idumeans thought it was a sign that they were being judged for taking arms and bringing war upon the Jewish cities from the Romans, and those in the city, including the high priest Ananus, that were trying to keep the Idumeans out thought it was YHWH being their general and fighting for them.  They thought they had won on that front, however they were sorely mistaken.

In their killing spree, the Idumeans sought out those two high priests.  They killed both of them (Josephus Wars 4:5:2).  Along with the rest of those they killed, they left their bodies out in the city without burying them.  Josephus notes this as a clear difference from the usual Jewish custom of taking “so much care” in the burial of men.  Sounds a lot like the two witnesses whose bodies were left lying in the street (Revelation 11:8).

As you can probably see by what we’ve already covered, the Jews in Jerusalem were very divided.  In fact, even across the land of Israel Jewish cities differed in their view and action regarding the Jewish rebellion against the Roman Empire.  Some just wanted to stay out of it, some didn’t want to actively fight but also didn’t want to just do what the Romans said, and some actively fought against the Romans.  In Jerusalem, Josephus records that the city was divided into three factions (Josephus Wars 5:1:4).  

These three factions were led by Eleazar, John of Gischala and Simon (not our apostle of course!).  Do we see anything similar in Revelation?  Yes!  John records that the “great city” was split into three parts (Revelation 16:19).  What great city?  You might ask…Well, when you look at the context, it’s clear John is talking about Jerusalem.  Also, at the time in everyday writing, Jerusalem was referred to as a great city.

We’ll make some other key connections to the great city next week, but for now, identifying the connection between Jerusalem and the term “great city” will suffice.  First, you can find in the Old Testament that Jerusalem was referred to as “this great city” (Jeremiah 22:8).  Second, when you look at John’s use in Revelation, you find that the great city is where Yeshua was crucified (Revelation 11:8).  Obviously, that is Jerusalem.  We also see that he describes it as ruling over the “kings of the earth” (Revelation 17:18), and we found out last week that “earth” is referring to Israel.  Jerusalem, as the capital city of Israel, clearly ruled over the Jewish kings.  

We saw some clear descriptions by Josephus this week of events during Jerusalem’s siege that line up with things in Revelation.  It’s looking more and more like what happened from 66-70AD was a fulfillment of a lot of the events of Revelation, isn’t it?  We’ll continue next week with more about Jerusalem and how it relates to another city in Revelation!  

We hope you have a great week!  Shabbat Shalom!  

-Rob and Sara Gene