00.1-Title and Preface

Title and Preface The Destruction of Jerusalem The Whole Being Intended to Illustrate the Fulfillment of the Predictions of Moses and the Messiah Rev. Daniel Smith (1840)

PREFACE

FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS was born at Jerusalem thirty-seven years after CHRIST. He was of the order of the priesthood, and was an ornament of the sect of the Pharisees, to which he belonged. After the revolt of the Jews from the Romans, he was appointed a principal general of the Jewish army, and conducted the defense of Galilee with remarkable skill and courage. Being ultimately besieged in the fortified town of Jotapata, and having for a long time defended it, he was ultimately captured with the place by Vespasian, the Roman general. He was treated with kindness and respect, and continued in the Roman army until the close of the war, acting as interpreter between the Romans and Jews. After this, he went with Titus, the son and successor of Vespasian, to Rome, and wrote the history of the war. Haying been an eye witness of the scenes which he describes, he has given a most authentic account of the miseries as well as of the unparalleled crimes of his nation. Though a Jew, and by no means intending to favor Christianity, and though he suppresses most of what related to its Author, yet his history of facts shows the fulfilment of the predictions of Jesus of Nazareth, as well as those of Moses, to the very letter. In the following pages some of the principal prophecies are selected from Moses and Jesus Christ, and placed at the head of each chapter, that the reader may more readily perceive their literal and precise accomplishment. In the Introduction a descriptive sketch of Palestine, together with a brief view of the previous history of Jerusalem, is given. At the conclusion of the abridgment, a few remarks are added, as well as an epitome of the modern history of Jerusalem. The work is intended chiefly for sabbath schools, but will be found suitable to persons of any age, should they choose to give it a perusal.

December 6, 1838.

D.S.