Luke 23:27-31 A great number of people followed Jesus on His way to execution, among them many women who mourned and lamented over Him. Jesus turned to them and said: Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, weep for yourselves and your children. For the days are coming when people will say: Happy are those who don’t have children to worry about. Because then all will call to the mountains “fall on us” and to the hills “hide us”.
For if these things are done when the wood is green, what will happen when the wood is dry? Reference: REB, NIV.
‘weep for yourselves’, For those in Jerusalem at that time, this warned them about the coming conquest and destruction by the Romans. But it is also a dual prophecy, as then the Christians were told to ‘take to the hills’ and they escaped to Pella, in the Northern Jordan valley. Luke 20:24
‘For if these things are done when the wood is green, what will happen when the wood is dry?’ A Jewish proverb. An English equivalent: ‘You ain’t seen nuthin yet!’ Green wood doesn’t burn well, dry wood does, so Jesus is saying: you can expect a lot worse carnage and violence to come in a later event.
‘fall on us and hide us’, This is paralleled by Revelation 6:15-17 and Isaiah 2:21, both in passages that vividly describe the Lord’s Day of vengeance and wrath. As Jesus quoted Isaiah 61:1-2a at the commencement of His ministry, what follows in verse 2b is the Day when He will destroy His enemies: those who attack Israel and all the ungodly peoples. Deuteronomy 32:34-35, Psalms 83, Isaiah 2:12-21, Isaiah 5:25, Isaiah 33:10-12, Isaiah 63:1-6, Isaiah 66:15-16, Ezekiel 20:46-47, Joel 1:15, Psalms 97:3-5, Malachi 4:1, Hebrews 10:27
Ref: logostelos.info
Nice summary and thanks.
A lot of history concerning Pella......
Pella
A city in the
Decapolis prominent in Roman times. The venue of the ancient city, mostly not excavated, is a major archaeological site in the Transjordan. The modern village is
Khirbet Fahil.
Christian Refuge
In early Christian tradition it was to Pella that Judeo-Christians from Jerusalem, known in Judea and Galilee as the
Nazarenes and outside the Jewish homeland as the
Church of God (Hebrew:
qehal'el; Greek:
ekklesia tou Theou), fled to escape the onslaught of the Roman army against Judea and Jerusalem during the First Jewish Revolt (CE 66-70).
Archaeologist Bargil Pixner argues that some of them returned to Jerusalem after CE 73 where they built a
small synagogue on Mount Zion (
Pixner 1990,
1991) near the remains of the House of the High Priest Caiaphas. This synagogue, now known as David’s Tomb, later became known as the
Church of the Apostles and, if authentic, it is the oldest building of the ancient Church still extant.
If indeed Pella, with a predominantly Greek population, pro-Roman alliances and loyalty, and an east of the Jordan river location, managed to remain out of harm's way during the First Jewish Revolt, then refugees would presumably be in the region. The Jerusalem Christians, known as the
Nazarenes, may have been part of such a contingent.
https://www.preteristarchive.com/Bibliography/1998_scott_flee-pella.html
A PROPOSED SCENARIO OF JERUSALEM CHRISTIAN ACTIONS AS THE ROMANS THREATENED THE CITY
Did the Jerusalem Christians flee to Pella just before the Romans destroyed their city? There is no way to know for sure. We can only deal in probabilities. If we accept as reliable the accounts of Eusebius and others, the issue is settled. If, as did Brandon, one begins by doubting those records and seeks reasons for supporting that skepticism, the answer to the question will most certainly be, "No," for when evidence is incomplete, selected and biased reading and interpretations of data can usually yield the desired conclusion.
Between these two are other options, including evaluating carefully both the primary sources and their critics. In addition, beyond the direct evidence there may be circumstantial, which although a bit oblique and supplementary, may be relevant. It is evidence of this type that we seek to add to the investigation of the Pella tradition.
Perhaps the situation and unfolding events were something like what follows. The Jerusalem Christian community was centered on the southwest hill of Jerusalem, now called Mt. Zion. In all probability it was here they had eaten the last passover meal with Jesus, were together when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, and may have constructed their own synagogue. This location, although containing such "up scale" residences as the palace of the high priest, the Christians probably shared it with others who were a bit out of the mainstream of Jerusalem life Jewish groups, such as the Essenes.
If indeed the Jerusalem Christians fled the city, we do not know whether they did so in mass, in small groups, or as individuals. Furthermore, the time of this exodus has been variously placed. Most likely(24) are following the Jewish victory over Cestius Gallus (A.D.66/67),(25) or in the period following the temporary withdrawal of Vespasian to await developments in Rome (A.D. 68/69).(26) The latter would seem more logical to me. They would have already seen Jerusalem "surrounded by armies" (cf.
Luke 21:20) and presumably been free to travel toward Jericho since the Tenth Legion had pretty much left the area and was already established on the Mount of Olives; in any case, at this point in time Roman military activities had been halted.
https://www.bible-history.com/geography/ancient-israel/pella.html
(Pehel): Khirbet. Fahil. Pella was the Canaanite Pehel, mentioned in early Egyptian inscriptions and the Amarna records. Pella was rebuilt by the Greeks under the Greek name Pella. It was one of the two oldest Greek settlements in eastern Palestine over the Jordan along with Dion. The Macedonian name suggests that this city was probably founded by Alexander's own soldiers. Josephus mentions that Pella was one the cities freed by Pompey which was also indicated on various coins. It was a city of Decapolis and after A.D. 70 became a center of the Christian community and refugees from Judea.
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