it wiped out everybody but those who obeyed Jesus' command to flee Jerusalem:
all other Jewish sects were wiped out of history (Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots)
- Christians who fled to Pella --> modern Christianity
- Johannan ben Zakkai who fled to Vespasian and acknowledged him his Messiah --> modern Rabbinical Judaism
That is not historically true about modern Rabbinical Judaism. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai moved the Sanhedrin to Yavne. Some scholars believe the so-called Council of Yavne met there. The Sanhedrin left Yavne for Usha in 80 CE and returned in 116 CE.
The Bar Kochba rebellion that officially ended Israel as a territorial government under Rome was in 135 AD.
Since then, there has always been a Hebrew presence in the Land. Even during one of the Crusades, 20,000 Jews were rounded up and put in the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem and burned alive while the crusaders marched around singing "Christ We Adore Thee".
The Essenes were never "wiped out". Those that have studied extensively the Dead Sea Scrolls have seen that Essene theology closely mirrored future Christian theology. Including a pre-trib form of removal of the righteous before the final calamities come upon the earth. Over 100 years before Yeshua (Jesus) walked the earth. Now that is a shocker. Dr. Ken Johnson who has made a lifetime of studying their writings has determined that it is more probable that the Essenes merged with Christianity. The Essenes despised the Rabbinical Judaism of Jerusalem and despised the Pharisees and Sadducees. They adhered to a more Biblical modeled faith. John the Baptist did most of his work within the district that the Essenes lived in. There was a high probability that JB was associated with them to quite an extent.
The main center of "modern" Christianity was established in Damascus, not Pella. With the more gnostic (Hellenized) form of Christianity headquartered in Alexandria. Those two became the major centers of Christianity and in many ways opposed each other. The Alexandrian school eventually led to the theology that developed into the Amillenial centered
RCC. Alexandria birthed Origen based theology that dismissed a more conservative, literal interpretation of scripture and birthed modern allegorical interpretation. Augustine fully established this later and it has become the predominate exegesis standard.
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