08 - Book III, Part 2
BOOK III. PART II. CHAPTER VII-XXI.
CHAPTER VII. THE PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST. It is fitting to add to these accounts the true prediction of our Saviour, in which He foretold these very events.
His words are as follows, Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. The historian, reckoning the whole number of the slain, says that eleven hundred thousand persons perished by famine and sword, and that the rest of the rioters and robbers, being betrayed by each other after the taking of the city, were slain.
But the tallest of the youths and those that were distinguished for beauty were preserved for the triumph. Of the rest of the multitude, those that were over seventeen years of age were sent as prisoners to labour in the works of Egypt, while still more were scattered through the provinces to meet their death in the theatres by the sword and by beasts. Those under seventeen years of age were carried away to be sold as slaves, and of these alone the number reached ninety thousand.
These things took place in this manner in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, in accordance with the prophecies of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who by divine power saw them beforehand as if they were already present, and wept and mourned according to the statement of the holy evangelists, who gave the very words which he uttered, when, as if addressing Jerusalem herself, he said, If thou hadst known, even thou, in this day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a rampart about thee, encompass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee and thy children even with the ground. And then, as if speaking concerning the people, he says, For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people, and they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations.
And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And again, when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. If anyone compares the words of our Saviour with the other accounts of the historian concerning the whole war, how can one fail to wonder, and to admit that the foreknowledge and the prophecy of our Saviour were truly divine and marvelously strange? Concerning those calamities, then, that befell the whole Jewish nation after the Saviour's passion, and after the words which the multitude of the Jews uttered, when they begged the release of the robber and murderer, but besought that the prince of life should be taken from their midst, it is not necessary to add anything to the account of the historian.
But it may be proper to mention also those events which exhibited the graciousness of that all-good providence, which held back their destruction full forty years after their crime against Christ. During which time many of the apostles and disciples, and James himself the first bishop there, the one who is called the brother of the Lord, were still alive, and dwelling in Jerusalem itself, remained the surest bulwark of the place. Divine providence thus still proved itself long-suffering toward them, in order to see whether by repentance for what they had done they might obtain pardon and salvation.
And in addition to such long-suffering, providence also furnished wonderful signs of the things which were about to happen to them, if they did not repent. Since these matters have been thought worthy of mention by the historian already cited, we cannot do better than to recount them for the benefit of the readers of this work. CHAPTER VIII.
THE SIGNS WHICH PRECEDED THE WAR Taking, then, the work of this author, read what he records in the sixth book of his history. His words are as follows. Thus were the miserable people won over at this time by the impostors and false prophets, but they did not give heed nor give credit to the visions and signs that foretold the approaching desolation.
On the contrary, as if struck by lightning, and as if possessing neither eyes nor understanding, they slighted the proclamations of God. At one time a star, in form like a sword, stood over the city, and a comet, which lasted for the whole year, and again before the revolt and before the disturbances that led to the war, when the people were gathered for the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth of the month Xanthicus, at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone about the altar and the temple that it seemed to be bright day, and this continued for half an hour. This seemed to the unskillful a good sign, but was interpreted by the sacred scribes as portending those events which very soon took place.
And at the same feast a cow, led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple. And the eastern gate of the inner temple, which was of bronze and very massive, and which at evening was closed with difficulty by twenty men, and rested upon iron-bound beams, and had bars sunk deep in the ground, was seen at the sixth hour of the night to open of itself. And not many days after the feast, on the twenty-first of the month Artemisium, a certain marvellous vision was seen which passes belief.
The prodigy might seem fabulous were it not related by those who saw it, and were not the calamities which followed deserving of such signs. For before the setting of the sun chariots and armed troops were seen throughout the whole region in mid-air, wheeling through the clouds and encircling the cities. And at the feast which is called Pentecost, when the priests entered the temple at night, as was their custom to perform the services, they said that at first they perceived a movement and a noise, and afterward a voice as of a great multitude saying, Let us go hence.
But what follows is still more terrible. For a certain Jesus, the son of Ananias, a common countryman, four years before the war, when the city was particularly prosperous and peaceful, came to the feast, at which it was customary for all to make tents at the temple to the honour of God, and suddenly began to cry out, A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the temple, a voice against bridegrooms and brides, a voice against all the people. Day and night he went through all the alleys crying thus.
But certain of the more distinguished citizens, vexed at the ominous cry, seized the man and beat him with many stripes. But without uttering a word in his own behalf, or saying anything in particular to those that were present, he continued to cry out in the same words as before. And the rulers, thinking, as was true, that the man was moved by a higher power, brought him before the Roman governor.
And then, though he was scourged to the bone, he neither made supplication nor shed tears. But changing his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, he answered each stroke with the words, Woe, woe unto Jerusalem. The same historian records another fact still more wonderful than this.
He says that a certain oracle was found in their sacred writings which declared that at that time a certain person should go forth from their country to rule the world. He himself understood that this was fulfilled in Vespasian. But Vespasian did not rule the whole world, but only that part of it which was subject to the Romans.
With better right could it be applied to Christ, to whom it was said by the Father, Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession. At that very time, indeed, the voice of his holy apostles went throughout all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. CHAPTER IX.
JOSEPHUS AND THE WORKS WHICH HE HAS LEFT After all this it is fitting that we should know something in regard to the origin and of Josephus, who has contributed so much to the history in hand. He himself gives us information on this point in the following words. Josephus, the son of Mattathias, a priest of Jerusalem, who himself fought against the Romans in the beginning, and was compelled to be present at what happened afterward.
He was the most noted of all the Jews of that day, not only among his people, but also among the Romans, so that he was honored by the erection of a statue in Rome, and his works were deemed worthy of a place in the library. He wrote the whole of the Antiquities of the Jews in twenty books, and a history of the war with the Romans which took place in his time in seven books. He himself testifies that the latter work was not only written in Greek, but that it was also translated by himself into his native tongue.
He is worthy of credit here because of his truthfulness in other matters. There are extant also two other books of his which are worth reading. They treat of the Antiquity of the Jews, and in them he replies to Appion the Grammarian, who had at that time written a treatise against the Jews, and also to others who had attempted to vilify the hereditary institutions of the Jewish people.
In the first of these books he gives the number of the canonical books of the so-called Old Testament. Apparently drawing his information from ancient tradition, he shows what books were accepted without dispute among the Hebrews. His words are as follows.
Chapter 10 The Manner in Which Josephus Mentions the Divine Books We have not, therefore, a multitude of books disagreeing and conflicting with one another, but we have only twenty-two, which contain the record of all time and are justly held to be divine. Of these, five are by Moses, and contain the laws and the tradition respecting the origin of man, and continue the history down to his own death. This period embraces nearly three thousand years.
From the death of Moses to the death of Artaxerxes, who succeeded Xerxes as king of Persia, the prophets that followed Moses wrote the history of their own times in thirteen books. The other four books contain hymns to God and precepts for the regulation of the life of men. From the time of Artaxerxes to our own day, all the events have been recorded, but the accounts are not worthy of the same confidence that we repose in those which preceded them, because there has not been during this time an exact succession of prophets.
How much we are attached to our own writings is shown plainly by our treatment of them, for although so great a period has already passed by, no one has ventured either to add to or to take from them, but it is inbred in all Jews from their very birth to regard them as the teachings of God, and to abide by them, and, if necessary, cheerfully to die for them. These remarks of the historian I have thought might advantageously be introduced in this connection. Another work of no little merit has been produced by the same writer, On the Supremacy of Reason, which some have called Maccabeicum, because it contains an account of the struggles of those Hebrews who contended manfully for the true religion, as is related in the books called Maccabees.
And at the end of the twentieth book of his Antiquities, Josephus himself intimates that he had purposed to write a work in four books concerning God and His existence according to the traditional opinions of the Jews, and also concerning the laws, why it is that they permit some things while prohibiting others. And the same writer also mentions in his own works other books written by himself. In addition to these things, it is proper to quote also the words that are found at the close of his Antiquities, in confirmation of the testimony which we have drawn from his accounts.
In that place he attacks Justice of Tiberias, who, like himself, had attempted to write a history of contemporary events, on the ground that he had not written truthfully. Having brought many other accusations against the man, he continues in these words, I indeed was not afraid in respect to my writings as you were, but, on the contrary, I presented my books to the emperors themselves when the events were almost under men's eyes. For I was conscious that I had preserved the truth in my account, and hence was not disappointed in my expectation of obtaining their attestation.
And I presented my history also to many others, some of whom were present at the war, as, for instance, King Agrippa and some of his relatives. For the Emperor Titus desired so much that the knowledge of the events should be communicated to men by my history alone, that he endorsed the books with his own hand, and commanded that they should be published. And King Agrippa wrote sixty-two epistles testifying to the truthfulness of my account.
Of these epistles Josephus subjoins two. But this will suffice in regard to him. Let us now proceed with our history.
Chapter 11 Simeon Rules the Church of Jerusalem After James After the martyrdom of James and the conquest of Jerusalem which immediately followed, it is said that those of the apostles and disciples of the Lord that were still living came together from all directions with those that were related to the Lord according to the flesh, for the majority of them also were still alive, to take counsel as to who was worthy to succeed James. They all with one consent pronounced Simeon, the son of Clopas, of whom the gospel also makes mention, to be worthy of the episcopal throne of that parish. He was a cousin, as they say, of the Savior, for Hegesippus records that Clopas was a brother of Joseph.
Chapter 12 Vespasian Commands the Descendants of David to be Sought He also relates that Vespasian, after the conquest of Jerusalem, gave orders that all that belonged to the lineage of David should be sought out, in order that none of the royal race might be left among the Jews, and in consequence of this a most terrible persecution again hung over the Jews. Chapter 13 Anuncletus, the Second Bishop of Rome After Vespasian had reigned ten years, Titus, his son, succeeded him. In the second year of his reign Linus, who had been bishop of the Church of Rome for twelve years, delivered his office to Anuncletus, but Titus was succeeded by his brother Domitian after he had reigned two years and the same number of months.
Chapter 14 Abilius, the Second Bishop of Alexandria In the fourth year of Domitian, Anianus, the first bishop of the parish of Alexandria, died after holding office twenty-two years, and was succeeded by Abilius, the second bishop. Chapter 15 Clement, the Third Bishop of Rome In the twelfth year of the same reign, Clement succeeded Anuncletus, after the latter had been bishop of the Church of Rome for twelve years. The Apostle, in his epistle to the Philippians, informs us that this Clement was his fellow worker.
His words are as follows, With Clement and the rest of my fellow labourers, whose names are in the Book of Life. Chapter 16 The Epistle of Clement There is extant an epistle of this Clement which is acknowledged to be genuine, and is of considerable length and of remarkable merit. He wrote it in the name of the Church of Rome to the Church of Corinth when a sedition had arisen in the latter church.
We know that this epistle also has been publicly used in a great many churches both in former times and in our own. And of the fact that a sedition did take place in the Church of Corinth at the time referred to, Hegesippus is a trustworthy witness. Chapter 17 The Persecution Under Domitian Domitian, having shown great cruelty toward many, and having unjustly put to death no small number of well-born and notable men at Rome, and having without cause exiled and confiscated the property of a great many other illustrious men, finally became a successor of Nero in his hatred and enmity toward God.
He was, in fact, the second that stirred up a persecution against us, although his father Vespasian had undertaken nothing prejudicial to us. Chapter 18 The Apostle John and the Apocalypse It is said that in this persecution the Apostle and Evangelist John, who was still alive, was condemned to dwell on the island of Patmos in consequence of his testimony to the divine word. Irenaeus, in the fifth book of his work Against Heresies, where he discusses the number of the name of Antichrist which is given in the Apocalypse of John, speaks as follows concerning him.
If it were necessary for his name to be proclaimed openly at the present time, it would have been declared by him who saw the revelation, for it was seen not long ago, but almost in our own generation, at the end of the reign of Domitian. To such a degree, indeed, did the teaching of our faith flourish at that time that even those writers who were far from our religion did not hesitate to mention in their histories the persecution and the martyrdoms which took place during it. And they, indeed, accurately indicated the time, for they recorded that in the fifteenth year of Domitian, Flavia Domitilla, daughter of a sister of Flavius Clement, who at that time was one of the consuls of Rome, was exiled with many others to the island of Pontia in consequence of testimony borne to Christ.
Chapter 19. Domitian commands the descendants of David to be slain. But when this same Domitian had commanded that the descendants of David should be slain, an ancient tradition says that some of the heretics brought accusation against the descendants of Jude, said to have been a brother of the Savior according to the flesh, on the ground that they were of the lineage of David and were related to Christ himself.
Hegesippus relates these facts in the following words. Chapter 20. The relatives of our Savior.
Of the family of the Lord there were still living the grandchildren of Jude, who is said to have been the Lord's brother according to the flesh. Information was given that they belonged to the family of David, and they were brought to the Emperor Domitian by the Evocatists, for Domitian feared the coming of Christ as Herod also had feared it. And he asked them if they were descendants of David, and they confessed that they were.
Then he asked them how much property they had, or how much money they owned. And both of them answered that they had only nine thousand denarii, half of which belonged to each of them. And this property did not consist of silver, but of a piece of land which contained only thirty-nine acres, and from which they raised their taxes and supported themselves by their own labor.
Then they showed their hands, exhibiting the hardness of their bodies and the callousness produced upon their hands by continuous toil, as evidence of their own labor. And when they were asked concerning Christ and his kingdom, of what sort it was, and where and when it was to appear, they answered that it was not a temporal nor an earthly kingdom, but a heavenly and angelic one, which would appear at the end of the world, when he should come in glory to judge the quick and the dead, and to give unto everyone according to his works. Upon hearing this, Domitian did not pass judgment against them, but despising them as of no account, he let them go, and by a decree put a stop to the persecution of the church.
But when they were released, they ruled the churches because they were witnesses, and were also relatives of the Lord. And peace being established, they lived until the time of Trajan. These things are related by Hegesippus.
Tertullian also has mentioned Domitian in the following words. Domitian also, who possessed a share of Nero's cruelty, attempted once to do the same thing that the latter did. But because he had, I suppose, some intelligence, he very soon ceased, and even recalled those whom he had banished.
But after Domitian had reigned fifteen years, and Nerva had succeeded to the empire, the Roman Senate, according to the writers that record the history of those days, voted that Domitian's honors should be cancelled, and that those who had been unjustly banished should return to their homes and have their property restored to them. It was at this time that the Apostle John returned from his banishment in the island, and took up his abode at Ephesus, according to an ancient Christian tradition. Chapter 21 SIRDON BECOMES THE THIRD RULER OF THE CHURCH OF ALEXANDRIA After Nerva had reigned a little more than a year, he was succeeded by Trajan.
It was during the first year of his reign that Abelius, who had ruled the church of Alexandria for thirteen years, was succeeded by Sirdon. He was the third that presided over that church after Anianus, who was the first. At that time Clement still ruled the church of Rome, being also the third that held the episcopate there after Paul and Peter.
Linus was the first, and after him came Anicletus.