First Jewish Revolt (A.D. 66-73)
Palestine was under Greek control and rule until the middle of the first century B.C., after which it changed hands into Roman rule. The Roman era began with Pompey's invasion into Judea in 64/63 B.C. which resulted in Aristobulus, the Jews' High Priest at that time, being carried off in a Roman triumphal procession as a result of General Pompey's military victory. A general period of peace in Jerusalem resulted. Herod became the ruler of Judea in 40 B.C. and implemented a magnificent reconstruction of the Temple in 20/19 B.C.1 Herod's Temple is referred to as the Second Temple. Roman dominance would continue all the way through the fall of the Second Temple (and beyond).
By the time of the second revolt, it had been nearly two centuries since the first Jewish revolt. The tension mounted between Rome and the Jews, primarily over their intervention in the religious affairs. Unlike the Maccabean revolt, this revolt lacked a united front. There was infighting that led to the deaths of their own. There was a messianic mood among many who believed that the Messiah would come and deliver them from Roman oppression. But in order for that to happen, they thought they would have to help things along. Once they began the uprising, God would miraculously intervene on their behalf (e.g. the Zealots).2 Cohen summarizes the event well:
The two wars also had very different beginnings and conclusions. The war of 66-74 was sparked not by profanation of the temple and a religious persecution, but by the administrative incompetence of the Roman procurators, by the fighting between Jews and pagans in the cities of Palestine and Syria, and by the action of some Jewish hotheads who suspended the temple sacrifice on behalf of the emperor. The two wars also had very different outcomes. The rebellion of the Macccabees prevented Judaism from becoming just another local variation of Syrian Hellenism, and thereby saved it from extinction. The war of 66-74 removed the institutional foundations of Judaism, brought tremendous destruction upon the land of Israel and its inhabitants, and endangered the status of the Jews throughout the Roman empire; it threatened the very survival of Judaism.3
Under Roman General Titus, Jerusalem was besieged and Jerusalem was conquered and the Temple was leveled. It was a tragic day for the Jews.
To understand how this developed even further, click here:
Second Jewish Revolt Against Rome--Bar Kokhbah (A.D.132-135).
Notes
1 Bruce Chilton, Phillip W. Comfort, and Michael O. Wise, "Temple, Jewish," in Dictionary of New Testament Background, eds. Craig A. Evans and Stanley Porter, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000): 1168.
2Shaye J. D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987):31.
3Ibid., 31-32.
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