What caused the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD?

reddogs

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Here is something I came across...

"Two types of forces drove the start of the revolution: the practical and the religious. As described in the Causes of the War, the lack of a strong central authority in Rome under the incompetent Nero left Judaean society exposed to many dangers: crime and terrorism, exploitation by corrupt governors, and anti-Jewish violence in the surrounding multicultural cities.

In this environment, some of the wealthy and powerful of Jerusalem, particularly the younger generation, felt the situation required they take governance into their own hands, while the rest of the aristocracy preferred to maintain the status quo.
The same weakness of the central government was felt across the Roman Empire, causing several provinces to revolt. But Judaea also had another factor: the belief that there was a religious duty, indeed a destiny, to overthrow the occupying government and assist a king anointed by Heaven -- a Messiah -- in renewing a pious Jewish state.

This belief had been a cause of sporadic insurgency among the lower classes beginning with Judas the Galilean at the time of the registration of Quirinius in 6 CE. Descendants of this same founder took part in the opening phase of the revolution, one of whom, Menahem, took the role of the Messiah for himself."...http://www.josephus.org/warChronology1.htm#factions
 

HTacianas

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Here is something I came across...

"Two types of forces drove the start of the revolution: the practical and the religious. As described in the Causes of the War, the lack of a strong central authority in Rome under the incompetent Nero left Judaean society exposed to many dangers: crime and terrorism, exploitation by corrupt governors, and anti-Jewish violence in the surrounding multicultural cities.

In this environment, some of the wealthy and powerful of Jerusalem, particularly the younger generation, felt the situation required they take governance into their own hands, while the rest of the aristocracy preferred to maintain the status quo.
The same weakness of the central government was felt across the Roman Empire, causing several provinces to revolt. But Judaea also had another factor: the belief that there was a religious duty, indeed a destiny, to overthrow the occupying government and assist a king anointed by Heaven -- a Messiah -- in renewing a pious Jewish state.

This belief had been a cause of sporadic insurgency among the lower classes beginning with Judas the Galilean at the time of the registration of Quirinius in 6 CE. Descendants of this same founder took part in the opening phase of the revolution, one of whom, Menahem, took the role of the Messiah for himself."...http://www.josephus.org/warChronology1.htm#factions

In assigning it to purely secular reasons what you've posted above hits the high points.

My view is that it was the end of the old covenant. The old covenant required sacrifice in the temple, while the new covenant required a single sacrifice. That generation was the last to live under the old covenant. While some jews still offer sacrifices today it is only individually. The corporate sacrifices of Israel ended when the temple was permanently destroyed. No temple, no sacrifices.

That introduction to the Jewish War you posted above. If you've never read the Jewish War by Flavius Josephus, you should. You will find in it nearly the entire book of Revelation.
 
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JackRT

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The most important fact of life in Judea and Galilee at the time of Jesus was the fact that they were Roman provinces under occupation by detachments of the Roman army. This was not a relatively benign occupation such as occurred in West Germany following World War II. It was much more like the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe... a brutal military repression. At the same time, the Roman authorities exacted an outrageous level of taxation through the notorious system of "tax farming". In this system the rights to collect taxes were sold to the highest bidders. These "publicans" then proceeded to enrich themselves by setting exorbitant tax rates and by brutally enforcing their collection. People were known to be driven to suicide or even to selling their children into slavery as a result of the demands of the publicans.


Combine this oppression with the two thousand year struggle of the Jewish people for independence and freedom and you have an extremely volatile political climate. It was so volatile in fact that in the time period from one hundred years before Jesus, to one hundred years after him, the Jews rose in revolt an amazing sixty-two times. Interestingly enough all but one of these revolts originated in Galilee. Is it any wonder that the Roman authorities viewed any gathering of Galileans or any Galilean leader with great suspicion? Although quite a few of these revolts were small and localized, three of them evolved into full scale wars. The end result of all of this was the complete destruction of the Jewish nation and the great "Diaspora" of the Jewish people.
 
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ewq1938

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If you've never read the Jewish War by Flavius Josephus, you should. You will find in it nearly the entire book of Revelation.

In the Jewish war it's all about rebellion against Roman occupation and massive infighting between various Jewish groups and leaders. They were literally killing each other while the Roman's gathered around them. We don't see any of that in Rev. Rev speaks of Christians being targeted yet there's nothing like that in what Josephus wrote.

Josephus- Romans defeating Jewish rebellion. The Romans continue in domination of the area.
Revelation- A powerful multi-kingdom power led by the AC persecutes Christians and is defeated when Jesus returns.

The two writings do not match at all.
 
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reddogs

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In assigning it to purely secular reasons what you've posted above hits the high points.

My view is that it was the end of the old covenant. The old covenant required sacrifice in the temple, while the new covenant required a single sacrifice. That generation was the last to live under the old covenant. While some jews still offer sacrifices today it is only individually. The corporate sacrifices of Israel ended when the temple was permanently destroyed. No temple, no sacrifices.

That introduction to the Jewish War you posted above. If you've never read the Jewish War by Flavius Josephus, you should. You will find in it nearly the entire book of Revelation.

I find him very good reading with much explained as to the mindset of the people and how the coming holocaust was missed by them. The old covenant was fulfilled and the actual Lamb of God was before them, and yet they rejected what they had been waiting for.
 
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HTacianas

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In the Jewish war it's all about rebellion against Roman occupation and massive infighting between various Jewish groups and leaders. They were literally killing each other while the Roman's gathered around them. We don't see any of that in Rev. Rev speaks of Christians being targeted yet there's nothing like that in what Josephus wrote.

Josephus- Romans defeating Jewish rebellion. The Romans continue in domination of the area.
Revelation- A powerful multi-kingdom power led by the AC persecutes Christians and is defeated when Jesus returns.

The two writings do not match at all.

I didn't realize this was the Adventist forum. We can take it up in another thread if you like.
 
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