Jerusalem Before the Fall

Jerusalem Before the Fall.

A picture of Jerusalem shortly before its final destruction can be drawn from the accounts of Josephus, Tacitus, and the New Testament. The varied character of its population must have been quite evident, made up, as it was, of different parties of Jews, notably Zealots and Hellenists, on the one hand, and of Romans on the other. At the time of the great festivals, the city and its surroundings must have been filled with Jews from other towns and villages, and even from the farthest portions of the Diaspora ("Ant." xvii. 9, § 3). Josephus says that at one time 2,565,000 offered the Passover sacrifice ("B. J." vi. 9, § 3; comp. Johnxii. 20; Acts ii. 5-11; and "Z. D. P. V." iv. 211), and that at the similar festival in the time of Florus 3,000,000 were present ("B. J." ii. 14, § 3)—as evident an exaggeration as the Talmudic reckoning of 12,000,000 (see Chwolson, "Das Letzte Passamahl Christi," p. 48), though Tacitus ("Hist." v. 13) states that the number of the besieged was 600,000. According to Josephus ("B. J." v. 6, § 1) there were 10,000 soldiers in Jerusalem at the time of the final rebellion in addition to 5,000 Idu-means. The Roman procurator had his court in the Pretorium (Mark xv. 16 et seq.). It seems likely that this was part of the Antonia, where the Roman garrison was situated (Acts xxi. 34) and where the procurator's judgment-seat is said to have been (Matt. xxvii. 19).

Jerusalem