Revelation and the Destruction of Jerusalem
THE RELATIONSHIP OF REVELATION
TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM(1)
by
Stephen W. Kraner
General Objectives
1. To show significant evidence that Revelation was written prior to 70 A.D.
2. To show that Revelation may be understood to have had a first fulfillment at the fall of literal Israel as a nation in 70 A.D.
3. To disclose the relationship between the original fulfillment of Revelation in the destruction of literal Jerusalem (as a type), to the final fulfillment at the end of the world.
4. To show, if Revelation was written near 95 A.D., that the destruction of literal Jerusalem in 70 A.D. has a typical relationship to the destruction of apostate spiritual Jerusalem in the prophecies of Revelation.(2)
Introduction
This paper shall enumerate some significant reasons why Revelation should be understood to have as its basis: a relationship to the fall of literal Israel as a nation, and to the destruction of literal Jerusalem. At issue here are the following Biblical Hermeneutics:
A. Historical Context,
B. Original Meaning to those who first received the prophecy,
C. Original Fulfillment,
D. Faithfulness to Literal Interpretation for Typical (Original) Fulfillment.
E. Faithfulness in Interpretation to prior Biblical Prophetic Symbolism.
A Corollary Note:
This paper provides evidence for the support of a hermeneutic titled: Original Fulfillment. The hermeneutic, Original Fulfillment, examines a prophecy as to:
1. The relationship of the details of the prophecy to the Historical Context of authorship,
2. Whether an Original Fulfillment might have occurred near the date of authorship,
3. Whether that fulfillment was complete, or partial,
4. Whether there were subsequent fulfillments so that a typical basis can be established for an eschatological, anti-typical complete fulfillment.
Proposed Hermeneutic
for Historical Basis of Revelation:
As prophecies must be understood in the Historical Context of the date of authorship, so also it is true that Revelation can only be correctly interpreted from its historical context. As prophecies can only have a correct future interpretation when they are first examined whether the prophecy had an original, or multiple, prior fulfillments upon which to base the future fulfillment, so also can Revelation only be correctly interpreted by examining the possibility of Original Fulfillment, and if Original Fulfillment can be substantiated, then the subsequent application(s), or fulfillment(s), based upon the Original (typical) Fulfillment can be correctly made.
As substantiation that Revelation has a relationship to the destruction of Jerusalem, and is Revelation’s Historical Context, if not it’s Original Fulfillment, the following observations are submitted:
1. The problem of conflicting accounts as to when Revelation was written:
A. A majority of critics have drawn upon the reference by Irenaeus that Revelation was written during the reign of Domitian, during the last part of the first century, about 95 or 96 A.D. Irenaeus, whom, incidently, is the only source for this late dating of Revelation as all “other” sources are quoting him. See Chilton, The Days of Vengeance, page 3, 4 as attached at the end of this paper. Yet, Moses Stuart, in his Commentary on The Apocalypse, pages 282-284, notes that the German scholar, Guerike in his Introduction to the New Testament (1843), suggests that when Irenaeus says, ‘that the Apocalypse was seen not long ago, but almost in our generation, toward the end of Domitian’s reign,’ that the Greek formation of the word which has been understood to be Domitian, belongs to the name Domitius, and not to Domitian…” Stuart relating Guerike’s discovery continues, “Now Nero’s name was Domitius Nero, and not Domitianus, which is the name of the later emperor. It follows of course that Irenaeus himself has testified to the fact, that the Apocalypse was written in the time of Domitius Nero.”
Moses Stuart, page 283, footnote.
B. Also note that “other early Christian writers placed the writing of Revelation much earlier under Nero’s persecution.” See Chilton, page 4. Moses Stuart, in his Commentary on The Apocalypse, vol. 1, page 265, notes that Epiphanius “places John’s banishment and return under the reign of Claudius, when the Jews were banished from Rome…Again, speaking of John he says:…’who prophesied in the time of Claudius…the prophetic word according to the Apocalypse being disclosed.'” Whatever Epiphanius’ source, he places John’s banishment to Patmos in connection with the banishment of the Jews from Rome, 54 A.D. See Acts 18:2.
C. The record at the beginning of the Syriac version of Revelation states that it was written in Patmos, “whither John was sent by Nero Caesar.” See A Commentary on the Apocalypse, by Moses Stuart, 1845, vol. 1, page 267. If this is true, then, since Nero died June, 68 A.D., John would have written Revelation prior to the destruction of Jerusalem.
Note: The Syriac version is comparable to the Received Text.
- The Syriac version was the version used by the Sabbath-keeping African Christians, the Abyssinians, of the middle ages.
- The Syriac version was also the version used by 270,000 Sabbath-keeping Christians who were discovered in India in the 14th century by Portugese after they had rounded Cape Horn. These Christians are known as the Martoma Christians. See General History of the Sabbatarian Churches, by Mrs. Tamar Davis, pages 33-39.
- Historical record indicates that some of the Piedmont Waldensians’ forebearers were Christians who fled persecution from Asia minor, Syria and Turkey.
Thus we have evidence of a possible Syriac influence upon the “Italic” Scriptures of the Waldensian Sabbath-keeping Christians.
D. E.G.W.’s reference in her book, Acts of the Apostles, page 568, 569, of the time when Revelation was written, could simply be the use of the best historical evidence available to her in her day, and not necessarily a divinely inspired historical record.
“More than half a century had passed since the organization of the Christian church…
“John was…summoned to Rome to be tried for his faith…
“…But the more convincing his testimony, the deeper was the hatred of his opposers. The emperor Domitian was filled with rage. He could neither dispute the reasoning of Christ’s faithful advocate, nor match the power that attended his utterance of truth; yet he determined that he would silence his voice…
“Again the hand of persecution fell heavily upon the apostle. By the emperor’s decree John was banished to the isle of Patmos,…” E.G. White, The Acts of The Apostles, excerpted from pages 568-570.
I state this in part because, once Ellen White was taken to task about incorrectly stating how many rooms were in the Battle Creek Sanitarium. Her response was that she merely reported the quantity of rooms as reported in the Sanitarium’s own advertisement brochure! This is evidence that she used the information available to her.
As I note in my summary, I have no desire to argue whether Revelation was written before, or after, the destruction. The above evidence that Revelation may have been written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, is given solely for the purpose of aiding the body of evidence that there is a relationship between
Revelation and the destruction of Jerusalem through the possibility that Revelation was a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem. The fulfillment of that prophecy would become typical of a later fulfillment(s). If Revelation was written after the destruction of Jerusalem, Revelation drew upon the Old Testament prophesies fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem, and pointed the generation of Christians after the fall of Jerusalem to yet a future fulfillment. It is most interesting that Moses Stuart notes that Andreas, bishop in Cappadocia (probably near the commencement of the sixth century) remarks in his Greek Commentary on the Apocalypse on Rev. 6:12,
“‘there are not wanting those who apply this passage to the seige and destruction of Jerusalem by Titus;’…Again on Rev. 7:1 he says: ‘These things are referred by some to those sufferings which were inflicted by the Romans upon the Jews;’ but he gives his opinion again, that they may with more propriety be referred to the coming of Antichrist. And so (on Rev. 7:2) he also says: ‘Although these things happened in part to Jewish Christians, who escaped the evils inflicted on Jerusalem by the Romans, yet they more probably refer to Antichrist,’ ect.; in which there appears to be somewhat of inconsistency, or at least of adopting a DOUBLE MEANING.
“It is plain, then, from what Andreas says in these passages, that in his time there was one class of interpreters, who referred a part of the Apocalypse to the destruction of Jerusalem…” Moses Stuart continues by noting that Andreas’ successor, Arethas, makes some similar statements, and then Moses Stuart
summarizes, “Nothing is plainer, here, than that Arethas admitted a double sense of prophecy; and in accordance with this he might consistently find two fulfillments of a prediction, as he seems to have done.” See Moses Stuart, page 268.
2. All scholars admit that the letters to the seven churches of Revelation were originally written to seven literal churches. Many of those scholars will then make those seven churches to be typical of seven later periods of church history, but cannot apply the same principle to understanding Revelation’s references to the “holy city,” “wherein our Lord was crucified,” etc., as having an original reference to literal Jerusalem. This same concern extends to most of the balance of Revelation.
3. The reference in Revelation 2:9, and 3:9, to the synagogue of Satan, those who “say they are Jews, but are not, and do lie”, would have an original reference to literal Jews who refused to receive Yahushua [Jesus] as the Messiah, in contrast to the Christians’ faith which made them to be of Abraham’s seed. See Romans 2:28, 29; 9:6, 7 and Galatians 3:28, 29. An anti-typical fulfillment would be the contrast between those who professed Christianity, and those who were
true Christians, during the centuries of Roman Catholicism. Yet, Ellen White makes an “end-time” application in Word to the Little Flock, page 12,
“You think, that those who worship before the saint’s feet, (Rev. 3:9), will at last be saved. Here I must differ with you; for God shew me that this class were professed Adventists, who had fallen away, and ‘crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to open shame.’ And in the ‘hour of temptation,’
which is to come, to show out every one’s true character, they will know that they are forever lost; and overwhelmed with anguish of spirit, they will bow at the saint’s feet.”
4. Revelation 9:7-10, the fifth trumpet; since these verses are quoting Joel 1:4; 2:4-5, and since there was a plague of literal locusts, representative of those who attacked Jerusalem prior to the 70 year captivity of Israel, which was a partial Original Fulfillment of Joel in the Historical Context of authorship. Yahushua, through the pen of John, is making a second application of Joel (by quoting the prophecy). Since the Historical and Textual Context of the prophecy originally applied to literal Jerusalem (else why the call to assemble the priests to weep, and the promise that “in Jerusalem there will be those who escape”; Joel 2:17, 32), then the prophecy in Joel must apply first to an apostate literal Jerusalem. Revelation 9:7-10 would refer, originally, to apostate literal Jerusalem in John’s day, and would have an application to apostate spiritual Jerusalem at the end of time.
5. The 5 months prophecy of Revelation 9:10 probably has an original reference to 5 literal months of intense clashes with the Romans beginning in May of 66 A.D., prior to the first surrounding of Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles in 66 A.D. See Flavious Josephus, The Jewish War, ii.xiv.9-xix.9. Also, note that the final siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. lasted 5 months.
6. The sealing of the 144,000 would have an original reference to the sealing into the New Testament faith of 12,000 literal Israelites from each of the 12 literal tribes. Thus, the great multitude “of every nation” makes more sense. The “tribe of Judah” in Revelation 5:5, is commonly understood to be literal. Yet, Adventists make the same tribe to be spiritual only, in Revelation 7. Any anti-typical, or “end-time” application of this prophecy must faithfully deal with the contrast of those sealed from the “twelve tribes”, to those “of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues”.
7. Revelation 11:2; the original reference would be to: literal Jerusalem, the holy city, is trodden underfoot 42 literal months from 66-70 A.D.
8. Revelation 11:8; the original reference would be: the two witnesses lie dead in the “great city…where also our Lord was crucified”, i.e. literal Jerusalem. Ellen White makes an “anti-typical” application of this text in her book, The Great Controversy, page 271:
“‘Where also our Lord was crucified.’ This specification of the prophecy was also fulfilled by France [during the French Revolution]…In no country had the truth encountered more bitter and cruel opposition. In the persecution which France had visited upon the confessors of the gospel, she had crucified Christ in the person of His disciples.”
Yet, in the above quotation from Word to the Little Flock, Ellen White prophesies of an “end-time” event: a spiritual “city”, “Adventists, who had fallen away,” wherein our Lord is “crucified…afresh.” See also Selected Messages, vol. 3, pages 415, 416.
9. Revelation 12:6; the original reference was: the Christians of Jerusalem fled to the wilderness city of Pella for the 1260 literal days from 66-70 A.D.
10. Revelation 12:16; the phrase, “the earth”, refers to the land of Israel. In contrast, “the sea”, refers to the nations beyond the borders of Israel. The Old Testament source for this imagery comes from Isaiah 57:20, “The wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up refuse and mud.”
The phrases, “the earth” and “they that dwell on the earth/land”, are mentioned twelve times in Revelation. These phrases, with their contexts, can be best understood as having a literal original application to literal Israel. The phrase, “they that dwell on the land”, is used in the Greek Old Testament in the prophetic sense that an idolatrous Israel is about to be driven from the land, just as the idolatrous, pagan, Canaanites were driven from the land before Israel. (See Jer. 1:4; 10:18; Ezek. 7:7; 36:17; Hos. 4:1, 3; Joel 1:2, 14; 2:1; Zeph. 1:8; Num. 32:17; 33:52, 55; Josh. 7:9; 9:24.) Subsequent applications are then based upon “the land of Israel” as typical of the territory of professed spiritual Israel, the Christian church. This probably primarily covers the the actual land owned by the church, and may extend to cover whole nations where the majority of the nation professes Christendom. Supporting logic for this concept is: The kingdom was taken away from literal Israel and given to the gentiles. Deuteronomic-covenantal judgement fell on literal Israel for their rejection of the covenant’s Messiah, and
His law, in that they “taught for doctrines, the commandments of men,” thus refusing to hear, unto obedience, “Him that spake on earth.” When gentile professed Christendom rejects either the Messiah or His law, “teaching for doctrine, the commandments of men,” Covenantal Judgement shall likewise fall on those “who refuse to hear Him that speaketh from heaven.” See Hebrews 12:25. THUS, REVELATION IS A DESCRIPTION OF THE EVENTS RELATING TO DEUTERONOMIC-COVENANTAL JUDGEMENT, whether on apostate literal Israel, or apostate spiritual Israel.
11. Revelation 12:15-16; would have as its original application, the persecution of Christians by the dragon, Pagan Rome, with the land of Israel, “the earth,” bearing the brunt of that “flood”, thus enabling the woman, the true church, to be helped.
12. Revelation 13:2, 11; the leopard-like beast from the “sea” and the lamb-like beast from the “earth/land”. The leopard-like beast represents the four kingdoms of Daniel 7: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. These kingdoms “rise up out of the sea” of the nations beyond the “coastlands” of the “land” of the nation of Israel. The lamb-like beast, in contrast, “comes up out of the earth/land” of Israel. In its original application this prophecy would represent either apostate literal Israel with her Zealots who sought for nationalism, or the lamb-like beast may represent the Judiazers who seemed to control the head of the work at Jerusalem to the degree that James and the elders talked Paul into compromising his stand on the ceremonial law, to offer an animal sacrifice. See Acts 21:18-26, and Judy Justice’s work on this subject. This subject needs more scholarly attention. Nevertheless, the lamb-like beast represents a kingdom which looks like the kingdom of the Lamb of God. According to the prophecy the lamb-like beast must arise, in its original application, from the literal “land of Israel.”
Note: So that I am not misunderstood, the End-time application of this prophecy would be the historic leopard-like beast of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome with its little horn, the Papacy. The End-time application of the lamb-like beast would be apostate Protestantism, especially an apostate Protestant America, which arises out of the anti-typical “land” (territory) of professed spiritual Israel, i.e. both Catholicism and Protestantism. Thus, the end result is the same conviction which historic Adventism has held, that the lamb-like beast symbolizes apostate Protestant America. This interpretation is founded on solid Biblical symbolism rather than the partially sustainable interpretation that “since ‘the waters which thou sawest are nations, multitudes, …’, then the “earth” must be a previously uninhabited, or non-previously-kingdomed land, and therefore the New World of the Americas.”
- Revelation 13:14, 15; image of/to the beast. Four times in classical liturature, prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, Nero was referred to as “the Beast.” Furthermore, Nero sought to place an image of himself in the Temple of Jerusalem.
14. Revelation 13:18; 666. An original application could be the fact that Nero Caesar’s name adds up to 666, as the name of the man who is the figure-head of Rome, the dragon. See Chilton, page 351, attached. This does not destroy the fulfillment which Vicarius Filii Dei is of this prophecy as the title/name of the figure-head of the Papacy, the little horn of the same pagan Rome.
15. Revelation 14:8; I am unsure whether an original application of this prophecy applies to Rome, or to apostate Jerusalem, or both. If the original application applies to Rome, the announcement that Babylon/Rome is fallen may be because Rome permitted herself to be incited to persecution of the Christians by the Jews. It is extremely significant that there was great upheaval, including civil war, in Rome during the events of the destruction of Jerusalem between 66 and 70 A.D. There is historical record of this Jewish/Roman relationship beyond the account in the book of Acts.
16. Revelation 14:20; 1600 furlongs. David Chilton, in his book, Days of Vengeance, page 376, notes that 1600 furlongs is the length of literal Israel, as measured by Rome during the time of the apostles. The point here is that a specific length is mentioned and must be understood FIRST as being a literal length and its literal length must have a literal place of origin. In the End-Time application, 1600 furlongs becomes symbolic of the whole realm of spiritual Babylon, or apostate spiritual Jerusalem.
17. Revelation 14:20; “without the city”. The Textual Context of the chapter defines the “city” to be Babylon. Since the literal city of Babylon had long since been destroyed, the use of the word, “Babylon”, becomes symbolic. As noted in “15.” above, the question is: Symbolic of what, Rome, apostate Jerusalem, or
both?
18. Revelation 16:3; the 2nd plague, “the sea”. The sea here may again be symbolic of “nations, multitudes, people and tongues”, as well as applying to the oceans turning to blood. But, an alternate interpretation is that according to Jewish writings, a relationship was made of the temple to the whole land of Israel. In this association of Temple imagery to the geography of the land of Israel, the lake, Tarichaeae, was equated to the “Sea,” the Laver of the Temple. It is significant that during the Jewish war, 66-70 A.D., that the lake of Tarichaeae was the scene of a tremendous blood bath. Jews had receded onto the sea in boats to avoid capture from recent battles. The Romans followed them and, during the night, slaughtered them in such quantities that the next morning the sea was red with blood and swollen with the bloated bodies of the dead from shore to shore. See the account by Josephus as noted by Chilton in Days of Vengeance, page 399, attached at the end of this paper.
19. Revelation 16:12; the kings of the east. In a true sense, Yahushua, and He in His people, are “the light of the world” and the glory of God shines on a fallen world as the sun, “the day-star” arising from the east. An original application may be to Vespasian and Titus who became kings of the Roman empire having had their origin in the Eastern portion of the empire. If the term “Babylon” refers to Rome, then the drying up of the river Euphrates may refer to the loss of support for the government in Rome by the “nations, multitudes, peoples, and tongues”. In A.D. 68, 69, there was civil war in Rome. This prepared the way for Vespasian to become Emperor. Josephus notes that Jewish, or Christian sages were predicting that a new Emperor would arise from the east. See the attached account at the end of this paper.
20. Revelation 16:19; city divided into three parts. It is extremely significant that Jerusalem had three distinct divisions of its inhabitants at the time of its fall. Each of these three factions warred, within Jerusalem, for the control of the Temple. This infighting took so many lives of the Levites and Priests so that exactly three and one half years after Vespasian commenced the war with the Jews, the “daily sacrifice” ceased to be offered for want of Priests and Levites to stand their posts and to perform their simultaneous duties. This was a “taking way of the daily” mentioned in Daniel.
21. Revelation 16:21; 7th plague, hail the weight of one talent accompanied with blaspheme. The stone missiles which the Roman catapults hurled at Jerusalem were white, having the appearance of hail, and weighed one talent! These one talent stones were hurled either individually or as a “cloud” by way of catapult nets. Upon seeing the “cloud” of white stones, weighing one talent, the watchmen upon the walls would cry out, in blaspheme of the Christian prediction that the Savior would return upon the clouds, “The Son is coming.” See the attached account at the end of this paper.
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT ESTABLISHING THE RELATIONSHIP
OF REVELATION TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.
In addition to the 21 points listed above which show an intimate relationship between the destruction of Jerusalem and Revelation, please note that the “little eschatology” which Yahushua gave in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, establishes a relationship between the destruction of Jerusalem and the second coming of Yahushua. In answer to the disciples questions:–When shall these things be? (not one stone of the temple left upon another), What are the signs of the end of the age?, and What are the signs of Yahushua’ return?–Yahushua blended His answer. Commenting on this blend, E.G. White has written:
“The Saviour’s prophecy concerning the visitation of judgements upon Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow.” E.G. White, The Great Controversy, page 36.
“The ruin of Jerusalem was a symbol of the final ruin that shall overwhelm the world. The prophecies that received a partial fulfillment in the overthrow of Jerusalem have a more direct application to the last days.” E.G. White, Thought From the Mount of Blessing, page 120.
It is the opinion of the author that, if written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, Revelation did not receive a perfect/complete fulfillment in the destruction of Jerusalem. Similarly, if written after the destruction of Jerusalem (but having a relationship thereto), the historical fulfillment, i.e. 1260 years, also did not receive a perfect/complete fulfillment. Therefore, the hermeneutic applies that when a prophecy does not receive a complete fulfillment, a re-fulfillment must be expected.
There is a principle in mathematic logic that, if a=b, and b=c, then a=c.
1. Let a = the relationship of final events to the prophecies of the overthrow of Jerusalem, including Yahushua’ prophecies of the same, as noted by E.G. White above.
2. Let b = the prophecies of Revelation with its references to the events of the fall of Literal Israel and the destruction of Jerusalem.
3. Let c = the pre-advent events/signs of the second coming of Yahushua.
Since, a, final events have a relationship to the destruction of Jerusalem, and since b, Revelation has a relationship to the destruction of Jerusalem, then a = c, because of its relationship to the destruction of Jerusalem, Revelation must have a relationship to c, the pre-second advent events/signs of Yahushua coming.
And, the converse is also true, final events prior to the second coming of Yahushua have a relationship to the destruction of Jerusalem.
The apostle Paul alerts the church of the relationship of judgement against literal Israel, who heard God speak to them on earth, to judgement for those who profess to hear Him speak to them from heaven:
“See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:” Hebrews 12:25.
“11 Now all these things happened unto them [Literal Israel] for ensamples [Greek: tupos, types]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends [Note that “ends is plural, there is to be more than one “end”] of the world are come.” 1Corinthians 10:11.
SUMMARY
Though I lean toward the concept that Revelation was written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, I will not argue with those who believe that it was written afterward.
If Revelation was written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, then Revelation has its original application to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the fulfillment of judgement against literal Israel, “who refused to hear Him who spake on earth”, becomes typical of the judgement against professed spiritual Israel who “turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven”. These judgement prophecies apply to an apostate church whether she be the Papacy of the middle ages, or the whole of professed christiandom just prior to the second coming of Yahushua.
If Revelation was written 25 years after the destruction of Jerusalem in 95 A.D., then the data presented in this paper shows that Yahushua, through the pen of John, intended that those “things which must shortly come to pass”-Revelation 1:1, were to be understood by that which had come to pass only 25 years earlier, when Jerusalem was destroyed. Revelation becomes a record, in symbols, of the destruction of Jerusalem, and calls upon the reader to understand those “things
which must shortly come to pass” in the light of the judgements against literal Israel who had rejected her messiah.
The net result, of either of the above two positions, is that the principles and prophecies recorded in Revelation still speak their warning and hope to the inhabitants of earth, and to Christ’s church.
What cannot denied is that there is a relationship between Revelation and the destruction of Jerusalem! Furthermore, Revelation cannot be fully understood apart from its original historic context/application! Which, by the way, is a cardinal rule for prophetic interpretation: a. What was the historical context when the prophecy was given?, and b. What did the prophecy mean to those to whom it was given?, or Did those to whom the prophecy was given realize a fulfillment?.
Addenda:
The following studies are the cited documentation referred to in the body of the above text.
The Sea Became As Blood:
The Bloody Battle on the Lake Gennesareth.
“8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;” Revelation 8:8.
These words were fulfilled during the War with the Jews as recorded by Josephus in the following quotation:
“CHAPTER 10
HOW TARICHEAE WAS TAKEN. A DESCRIPTION OF THE RIVER JORDAN, AND OF THE COUNTRY OF GENNESARETH.
1. AND now Vespasian pitched his camp between this city and Taricheae, but fortified his camp more strongly, as suspecting that he should be forced to stay there, and have a long war; for all the innovators had gotten together at Taricheae, as relying upon the strength of the city, and on the lake that lay by it. This lake is called by the people of the country the Lake of Gennesareth. The city itself is situated like Tiberias, at the bottom of a mountain, and on those sides which are not washed by the sea, had been strongly fortified by Josephus, though not so strongly as Tiberias; for the wall of Tiberias had been built at the beginning of the Jews’ revolt, when he had great plenty of money, and great power, but Tarichese partook only the remains of that liberality, Yet had they a great number of ships gotten ready upon the lake, that, in case they were beaten at land, they might retire to them; and they were so fitted up, that they might undertake a Sea-fight also. But as the Romans were building a wall about their camp, Jesu and his party were neither affrighted at their number, nor at the good order they were in, but made a sally upon them; and at the very first onset the builders of the wall were dispersed; and these pulled what little they had before built to pieces; but as soon as they saw the armed men getting together, and before they had suffered any thing themselves, they retired to their own men. But then the Romans pursued them, and drove them into their ships, where they launched out as far as might give them the opportunity of reaching the Romans with what they threw at them, and then cast anchor, and brought their ships close, as in a line of battle, and thence fought the enemy from the sea, who were themselves at land…
9. But now, when the vessels were gotten ready, Vespasian put upon ship-board as many of his forces as he thought sufficient to be too hard for those that were upon the lake, and set sail after them. Now these which were driven into the lake could neither fly to the land, where all was in their enemies’ hand, and in war
against them; nor could they fight upon the level by sea, for their ships were small and fitted only for piracy; they were too weak to fight with Vespasian’s vessels, and the mariners that were in them were so few, that they were afraid to come near the Romans, who attacked them in great numbers. However, as they sailed round about the vessels, and sometimes as they came near them, they threw stones at the Romans when they were a good way off, or came closer and fought them; yet did they receive the greatest harm themselves in both cases. As for the stones they threw at the Romans, they only made a sound one after another, for they threw them against such as were in their armor, while the Roman darts could reach the Jews themselves; and when they ventured to come near the Romans, they became sufferers themselves before they could do any harm to the ether, and were drowned, they and their ships together. As for those that endeavored to come to an actual fight, the Romans ran many of them through with their long poles. Sometimes the Romans leaped into their ships, with swords in their hands, and slew them; but when some of them met the vessels, the Romans caught them by the middle, and destroyed at once their ships and themselves who were taken in them. And for such as were drowning in the sea, if they lifted their heads up above the water, they were either killed by darts, or caught by the vessels; but if, in the desperate case they were in, they attempted to swim to their enemies, the Romans cut off either their heads or their hands; and indeed they were destroyed after various manners every where, till the rest being put to flight, were forced to get upon the land, while the vessels encompassed them about [on the sea]: but as many of these were repulsed when they were getting ashore, they were killed by the darts upon the lake; and the Romans leaped out of their vessels, and destroyed a great many more upon the land: one might then see the lake all bloody, and full of dead bodies, for not one of them escaped. And a terrible stink, and a very sad sight there was on the following days over that country; for as for the shores, they were full of shipwrecks, and of dead bodies all swelled; and as the dead bodies were inflamed by the sun, and putrefied, they corrupted the air, insomuch that the misery was not only the object of commiseration to the Jews, but to those that hated them, and had been the authors of that misery. This was the upshot of the sea-fight. The number of the slain,
including those that were killed in the city before, was six thousand and five hundred.” Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, William Whiston, translator, Book Three, pages 1547, 1552-1554.
The Seventh Plague and the Destruction of Jerusalem:
“…and men blasphemed God
because of the weight of hail.”
“21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, [every stone] about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.” Revelation 16:21.
These words had a fulfillment relative to the destruction of Jerusalem:
“3. …The engines, that all the legions had ready prepared for them, were admirably contrived; but still more extraordinary ones belonged to the tenth legion: those that threw darts and those that threw stones were more forcible and larger than the rest, by which they not only repelled the excursions of the Jews, but drove those away that were upon the walls also. Now the stones that were cast were of the weight of a talent, and were carried two furlongs and further. The blow they gave was no way to be sustained, not only by those that stood first in the way, but by those that were beyond them for a great space. As for the Jews,
they at first watched the coming of the stone, for it was of a white color, and could therefore not only be perceived by the great noise it made, but could be seen also before it came by its brightness; accordingly the watchmen that sat upon the towers gave them notice when the engine was let go, and the stone came from it, and cried out aloud, in their own country language, THE STONE [Hebrew: “Bar = Son”] COMETH so those that were in its way stood off, and threw themselves down upon the ground; by which means, and by their thus guarding themselves, the stone fell down and did them no harm. But the Romans contrived how to prevent that by blacking the stone, who then could aim at them with success, when the stone was not discerned beforehand, as it had been till then; and so they destroyed many of them at one blow. Yet did not the Jews, under all this distress, permit the Romans to raise their banks in quiet; but they shrewdly and boldly exerted themselves, and repelled them both by night and by day.” Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, William Whiston, translator, Book Five, Chapter 6, pages 1660-1661.
Stones, weighing a talent, fell out of the sky upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Seeing them come, the watchmen cried, “The Son [the stone] is Coming.” Of this plague, Stuart Russell writes:
“It could not but be well known to the Jews that the great hope and faith of the Christians was the speedy coming of the Son. It was about this very time, according to Hegesippus, that St. James, the brother of our Lord, publicly testified in the temple that ‘the Son of Man was about to come in the clouds of
heaven,’ and then sealed his testimony with his blood. It seems highly probable that the Jews, in their defiant and desperate blasphemy, when they saw the white mass hurtling through the air, raised the ribald cry, ‘The Son is coming,’ in mockery of the Christian hope of the Parousia, to which they might trace a ludicrous resemblance in the strange appearance of the missile.” J. Stuart Russell, The Parousia: A Critical Inquiry into the New Testament Doctrine of Our Lord’s Second Coming, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, [1887] 1983.
Whether the cry, “The BAR (Son/Stone) is coming,” was intentional mockery or not, when one understands the Jewish own writings about the care that one should take regarding the words that come out of their mouth, I believe that these words were prophesied of in Revelation 16:21 as being considered
“blasphemy” by Heaven.
The “blackening” of the white stones is the equivalent of “anti-radar detection measures.”
Where I split with the Preterist view of this Scripture is that I believe that the perfect fulfillment will be literal hail! Yet, this might be in result of a “nuclear winter” caused by modern missiles.
1. *Copyright 1990 by Stephen W. Kraner. Revised and expanded, 2002. Copyright 2002 by Stephen W. Kraner. Duplication rights released subject to royalty considerations to be determined between the individual copying any portion of this document and the Sovereign of Heaven and Earth.
2. **Apostate spiritual Israel is to be understood as apostate Christendom. The apostle Paul warned that “in the latter times some shall depart from the faith.” 1 Timothy 4:1. Paul further has warned that the coming of Yahushua ha’Messhiach “shall not come, except there come a falling away first, that the man of sin be revealed…” 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Paul continues to warn that this “man of sin would sit in the “temple of God.” Paul identifies the temple of God to be the Church. See 2 Corinthians 6:16; 1 Corinthians 3:16.
