The Jewish War Series (Part 8: The Revolutionaries in Jerusalem)

Upon coming to Jerusalem, John of Gischala attempted to rally the populace to engage the Roman army in battle. He had seen the difficulty the Roman soldiers had when they attempted to take some of the more fortified cities in Galilee—and he was convinced that Jerusalem was big enough and vastly more fortified than any city in Galilee. And so, mostly by appealing to the young men of Jerusalem, John clamored for war, and claimed that it was outside the city gates of Jerusalem that the Roman legions would meet their doom.

The Precarious State of Jerusalem
Now, a few things must be said regarding the state of Jerusalem at that time. After the initial revolt and riots in Jerusalem in AD 66, and particularly after the attempt of the zealot leader Menahem (the grandson of Judas the Galilean) to declare himself king after killing the high priest, and then his subsequent assassination by Eleazar the priest, the people of Jerusalem decided it would be best to establish a provisional government led by the temple priesthood to help restore stability and to prepare for the inevitable Roman backlash.

Even though the traditional temple leaders had originally opposed Eleazar’s decision to cease all foreign sacrifices in the temple, even though they opposed the rioting, and even though they were the initial targets of many of the zealots’ attacks, the simple fact was that chaos was reigning in the city, and the temple leaders were the only ones who had any experience at administration. And so, there was established a very tenuous alliance between the temple leaders, the more zealous lower priesthood, and of course, the zealots themselves.

They had to come together in order to prepare not only Jerusalem, but indeed the entire region, for war with Rome. That was precisely why Josephus had initially been sent to Galilee: to secure it and to make preparations for war. In all practicality, it was very possible, indeed probable, that the provisional government of temple leaders had sent Josephus to Galilee to not only build up Galilee’s fortifications, but also actually subdue the zealot elements in the region. The hope being that if Vespasian came into Galilee to find Josephus had secured the region, that perhaps Vespasian would offer terms to the Jews, and the apparently inevitable war could be avoided.

Obviously, Josephus’ efforts to subdue the more revolutionary elements in Galilee failed, and obviously Vespasian had shown he was in no mood to negotiate terms. The Roman legions would eventually make their way to Jerusalem…and they would destroy it.

Needless to say, the feelings of the populace were varied, and tensions between the Jews themselves ran high. Many who wanted no part in the revolt to begin with hoped to willingly surrender Jerusalem to Vespasian and simply throw themselves at his mercy. Others who were more revolutionary-minded threw their support behind the zealots and were declaring that since they had the Temple, that God was with them and Rome would be defeated.

It was into this cauldron of dissension that John of Gischala poured his war rhetoric in order to stir up discord and dissension until it came to a boil. The more and more zealots from the countryside fell back and poured into Jerusalem, the less and less control the provisional government had on the city—in all actuality, they probably never had much control in the first place.

Jerusalem Starts to Come to a Boil
As Vespasian was securing his hold throughout Galilee, thousands of Jewish revolutionaries in addition to John of Gischala and his men made their way to Jerusalem. They were hardened fighters who were infuriated in their hatred for both Rome and Josephus, whom they deemed a traitor, and hungry for revenge on anyone who even appeared to side with Rome. Therefore, when they arrived in Jerusalem to find the provisional government calling for calm and trying to clamp down on the growing calls for vengeance, these revolutionaries from the countryside saw the provisional government as Roman sympathizers.

From the zealots’ perspective, Roman sympathizers had to be brutally and swiftly dealt with. And so, the zealot groups stormed the temple complex and made it their stronghold—the symbolic center of the resistance. They then conspired together to round up and imprison a number of the more influential men in the city, most notably two men named Antipas and Levias, who were both of royal lineage. And then, with those men confined in prison, the zealots then sent John ben-Dorcas in, and he promptly cut their throats.

The zealots also forced the established temple priesthood and the aristocratic, priestly families out of the temple grounds. For far too many years, the Jewish aristocracy had been able to maintain control of the temple through the power of Rome. Now, they would argue that they had to deal with Rome in order to save the temple and maintain a certain amount of autonomy for the Jewish people.

In the current environment of mounting revolution, the zealots saw things a different way: the aristocracy had dealt with Rome, and therefore were complicit in the oppression of the Jewish people. The zealots decided to take the temple for themselves in the name of the revolution. Once they had secured their hold on the temple, they then chose a man name Phannias, an uneducated country yokel from the country to be the high priest. Along with him, the zealots elevated many of the lower priests who shared their revolutionary zeal to the ranks of higher authority.

Thus, the temple of Jerusalem was transformed into the focal point for national revolution. What was originally built to be a house of prayer for all nations had become the epicenter of hatred for all nations.

Some of the Jews there, upon seeing the transpiring events, couldn’t help but recall the actions of a certain messianic claimant from Nazareth about 40 years prior who had come into the temple, overturned tables, and declared, “It is written: ‘My House shall be called a house of prayer for all nations!’ But you have made it a den of revolutionaries!”

(Note: Most translations have Jesus saying in Mark 11:17, “a den of robbers.” The Greek word lestai, though, more specifically is a reference to revolutionary bandits and highway men.)