During the forty years after the death of our Lord, every time their Roman masters gave them the chance, the Jews renewed their persecutions of the Christians. Thus we have seen that they put St. Stephen to death; that, until God called him to be an Apostle and a Saint, Saul had treated them with great cruelty for nearly six years; that Herod Agrippa had caused St. James the Greater to be beheaded and St. Peter to be imprisoned; and lastly, that when there was no Roman Governor in Jerusalem, Ananias, the High Priest, took the opportunity of beginning a fierce persecution, during which St. James the Less, Bishop of Jerusalem, was martyred.
But the Jews themselves had not been in peace. The Roman Emperor, Caligula, was not satisfied with being honoured as a ruler, he wanted to be worshipped as a god. He had statues of himself put up in the Pagan temples all over the Empire, and wished to erect one in the Jewish Temple also. But the Jews would not have it, and all through his reign they had so much to suffer in consequence, that they often left the Christians in peace.
Great troubles also befell the Jews in other parts of the world. In Palestine robbers wandered unpunished throughout the land. The Roman Governors all treated the people with the utmost cruelty. At last an awful day came when the punishment foretold by our Lord overtook the guilty nation. During seven years a poor countryman went about the streets of Jerusalem crying out, "Woe to Jerusalem, woe to the Temple!" He was scourged and ill treated, but all in vain: he still repeated his threatening wail. During the terrible days of the siege he redoubled his cries. One day, just before Jerusalem fell, he was heard to exclaim, "Woe to myself!" when a stone struck him and he fell dead. As the time of the destruction of Jerusalem drew near, mysterious signs and lights terrified the people.
According to Josephus, the Jewish historian, What led to this is how the end came about. The Jews in the siege. Jerusalem rose against their harsh Roman rulers, and massacred great numbers of soldiers. A terrible revenge was taken by the Romans, and the whole country was filled with warfare and blood. shed. An army marched towards Jerusalem, but was driven back. The Christians withdrew as our Lord had told them to do, when He said that when they should see "the abomination of desolation" foretold by Daniel, they should "flee to the mountains." They took refuge in Pella, a little town beyond the Jordan. A still larger army commanded by Vespasian and his son Titus was sent against Palestine, and gradually advanced on Jerusalem, capturing all cities on their route. Instead of uniting against their enemy, the Jews fought among themselves. For two years three various parties struggled for the mastery. They ravaged the country around Jerusalem, and inside the city pillaged and destroyed all they could lay hands on. Famine overtook the town just as the Romans, under Titus, arrived in great numbers to begin the siege.
Jerusalem stands on the summit of a tableland, separated by deep valleys from the hill country around. Titus pitched his tents on the slopes of the heights facing the city. The attack was made on three sides at once, and continued night and day. The Jews fought so desperately that the Romans were at first driven back. Titus offered terms of peace, which were rejected. He then drew his army so closely round the city that none could enter or leave it without being caught by the Romans. In doing this Titus unconsciously fulfilled exactly the words of our Lord, "And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army, then know that the desolation thereof is at hand" (Luke xxi. 20). To terrify them into submission, Titus ordered that all the Jews captured should be crucified outside the walls of the town. Hundreds at a time were thus put to death. Then he built a strong wall all round the place. Inside the city, the strife among the defenders went on. At the time when the siege began, the crowds who had assembled for the Pasch were still within the walls. All this multitude had nothing to eat. Anything that could serve as food, however disgusting, was eagerly devoured. Parents and children fought over the scraps they managed to secure. The most horrible thing of all was that a mother killed and ate her own child.
But in spite of all, the daily sacrifices in the Temple went on, until the Romans after nearly five months' siege succeeded in capturing the fort called Antonia, that overlooked the courts of the Temple. Thousands then took refuge in the Temple itself, and still fought bravely to defend it.
Titus gave orders that this glorious building should be spared, but a soldier threw into the interior a flaming brand, which at once set the whole on fire. Nothing could save the Temple, which was thus destroyed on the very anniversary of its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, nearly seven hundred years before. Jerusalem was now in the hands of the Romans. A terrible massacre followed. Men, women, and children were slain in thousands.
It is thought that altogether nearly a million persons perished during the siege. All who remained alive were sold as slaves. Gold and silver melted by the fierce heat of the flames were found in large quantities among the ruins. This, with all the spoil they could save, was carried off by the Romans.
The city was levelled to the ground as our Blessed Lord had foretold. The space occupied by the Temple was ploughed up, and then strewn with salt, that nothing might grow on it again. All that remained of the once splendid city was a small portion of a boundary wall with three fortresses. These were left to show what a mighty stronghold had been overthrown by Roman arms. The conqueror, Titus, went to Rome, and with his father, Vespasian, now Emperor, enjoyed a triumph. In the procession the Jewish leaders walked in chains, and immediately after were put to death. An arch was erected to record the conquest of Palestine. On it may still be seen cut in the stone the altar of shewbread and the seven-branched candlestick that Titus carried off. Even when the city was partially rebuilt, the Jews were forbidden to return to Jerusalem. The Christians, however, found their way back again. They kept up the memory of the sites of the holy places, and handed down to their descendants the traditions preserved to this day.
From that day to this the Jews have had no sovereign, no Temple, and no nation. They are found scattered through every land. Thus we see how point by point was fulfilled our Lord's prophecy about the destruction and desertion of Jerusalem, when He wept over the city and said, "For the days shall come upon thee: and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side; and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee, and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone" (St. Luke xix. 43–44).