By the first day of Tamuz (mid-July), the stench of death and pestilence filled the city. It was then that the zealots fully came to realize that there was no hope of victory, and so instead of surrendering, they resolved to inflict as much brutality on the Jews trapped within Jerusalem’s walls as they held out to the bitter end. This was the state to which Jerusalem was reduced. Jerusalem, once one of the most beautiful cities in the Roman Empire, was now reduced to a barren wasteland of death and destruction.
The Roman banks were once again finished. Although John of Gischala’s men once again attempted to sneak out and set them on fire, the Romans had set up guards to prevent it from happening. And once John’s men retreated from their failed attempt, the Romans proceeded to bring their siege engines forward. By nightfall, the wall at the Tower of Antonia finally gave way under the constant barrage of Roman battering rams. Yet as soon as the Romans made their way through, they found that John and his men had built another wall, albeit weaker. It would only be a matter of days until it was down.
Titus Prepares His Men to Take the Tower of Antonia
On the third day of Tamuz, Titus gave a speech to his Roman legions as they prepared their next assault. He told them plainly that taking the next wall would be dangerous, but that they should muster their courage because even if some of them would die, that it was a brave and glorious thing to die in battle. He told them that even though they had suffered a number of misfortunes at the hands of the madness of the Jewish zealots, that they all knew full well that the famine within the city, the sufferings, and the siege itself were evidence that God had indeed turned against the Jews in His anger. They indeed would be victorious, for after they took the Tower of Antonia, the city would be theirs for the taking, for they would have gained the high ground. And he then ended with these words:
“Pull up your courage, set about this work, encourage each other in this task, and with this bravery, you will soon break the hearts of your enemies, and perhaps such a glorious undertaking as this will be accomplished without bloodshed! The first person who mounts the wall, I will bestow on him many rewards. If he escapes with his life, he will be given command of others that are now his equals!”
Immediately, a Roman soldier named Sabinus, a Syrian by birth, stepped forward and cried out, “I readily surrender myself to you, O Titus! I will first ascend the wall!” Sabinus was a man of great courage but was actually one of the weaker men in the legion. Nevertheless, he volunteered to be the first to attempt to take the wall. And so, at noon that very day, he led eleven other soldiers up to the wall. Even though the zealots continuously shot at Sabinus and his men from the wall, he was indeed the first to reach the top of the wall. Immediately, the zealots turned to run away, but as he began to chase after them, he stumbled over a large stone. When the zealots saw this, they turned back and attacked him. Despite his best efforts to fight back, Sabinus died at the hands of the zealots.
Two days later, though, at the ninth hour of the night (3 am), twelve Roman soldiers managed to sneak in among the ruins of the wall into the Tower of Antonia. They cut the throats of the guards, took possession of the wall, then sounded the trumpet. The zealots retreated back to the Temple while Titus ordered his soldiers to put on their armor and ascend the wall and make a surprise assault on the Temple gates.
The battle raged, back and forth from the entrance to the Temple to the Tower of Antonia, from the ninth hour of night (3 am) to the seventh hour of the day (1 pm). The zealots were able to hold at the Temple gate, and the Romans had to eventually pull back. They had, though, successfully taken the Tower of Antonia. The most notable death in the battle for the Romans was that of Julian, a centurion from Bithynia. At one point in the battle, he slipped on the pavement and was attacked and killed by the zealots, who cut his throat.
The Initial Stand-Off
Over the next two weeks, Titus had his men dig up the foundations of Antonia and demolish it, so his army would be able to come through into the Temple precincts more easily. And by the 17th day of Tamuz (early August), the Roman soldiers had cleared away Antonia. The Jews within the Temple grounds were so afraid, that for the first time they refused to go out to the great altar and offer the daily sacrifice. It was then that Titus once against sent Josephus to make another appeal to the Jews to surrender so that the Temple could be spared and so that the daily sacrifices could be resumed.
Josephus’ appeals were met with only vile reproaches by John of Gischala, who claimed that he would never surrender the Temple because he was fighting for God Himself. Josephus then responded in the following manner:
“To be sure, you certainly have kept the city wonderfully pure for God’s sake! The Temple continues entirely unpolluted! No! You are not guilty of any impiety against God at all! You simply seek His assistance, after all, He is still receiving the daily sacrifice! You are such a vile wretch! If anyone deprived you of your daily food, you would consider him to be an enemy! And yet, now you claim to hope in God as your supporter in this war, even though you have deprived Him of His everlasting worship? You accuse the Romans of such sins, even though they are the ones imploring you to maintain the daily sacrifices! Who would believe it? Foreigners are correcting your impiety, while you, a Jew who was educated in our laws have become a greater enemy to both God and His people! John, just surrender! Repent, and the Romans will forgive you! Just look at what you have done! Both the city and the entire temple is filled with the dead bodies of your fellow countrymen! It is God Himself who is bringing this fire to purge the city and temple by means of the Romans! He will pluck up this city that is so full of your pollutions!”
While Josephus was making this speech, some Jews within the Temple managed to escape to the Romans—the high priests Joseph and Jesus, as well as some of the remaining sons of Matthias, who had been beheaded by Simon. Titus welcomed them and sent them to Gophna to let them recuperate, but the zealots had told the Jews that they had been slain by the Romans. After a few days, though, Titus brought them back from Gophna, and they went around the walls with Josephus, imploring the Jews to surrender. Amazingly, a few more Jews managed to escape the city and come to the Romans.
Titus himself then went out to make an appeal to John of Gischala: “Why do you continue to trample down the dead bodies in the Temple? Why do you continue to pollute this holy house with the blood of both foreigners and Jews? I am not forcing you to defile your sanctuary! Let’s agree to change the place where we fight, so that the temple isn’t further polluted! No Roman will enter it or come near your sanctuary!”
An Unsuccessful Surprise Attack
Yet unsurprisingly, John refused. And so, that night, at 3 am, the Roman commander Cerealis took thirty soldiers and attempted a surprise attack on the zealot guards at the entrance to the Temple. The guards, though, were not asleep, and soon another lengthy battle erupted right at the Temple gates—it lasted until the fifth hour of the day (11 am).
With Antonia now leveled, the Roman legions came into the outside court of the Temple precincts and began to raise the banks at the northwest corner of the inner Temple, the northern edifice between the two gates, the western cloister of the outer court, and against the northern cloister. And then, on the 24th day of Tamuz (early August), the Romans set fire to the northwest cloister that had been joined to Antonia. The zealots, though, cut off the roof and let the fire burn.
Even though death was certain for the zealots, they continued to revile and antagonize the Romans. It was at this time that one zealot named Jonathan came out to the high priest Jonathan’s monument and challenged the Romans. Pudens, a Roman horseman, came out to fight him, but as he made his way to Jonathan, he stumbled and fell on the pavement. Jonathan took the advantage, ran up and cut his throat. He then proceeded to dance upon the body of Pudens and taunt the Roman soldiers even more. He didn’t notice, though, that Priscus, a centurion, had readied his bow, and within a few short moments, had shot an arrow at Jonathan, piercing him through the throat. Jonathan collapsed and died upon the body of Pudens.
This is why you don’t go running in sandals. That’s a lot of people dying because they tripped!
Haha…..