New Book: The Fall of Jerusalem

Something significant happened in Judea almost 40 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. It was biblical in every way you could think: an epic, prophetic judgment of God’s covenant people, Israel, for the rejection of the Messiah and persecution of His Church. Preceded by signs and wonders. An abomination in the Holy of Holies that proved it was empty. The Second Temple was destroyed. The people scattered.

The saga was more than one event. It was a procession of events that matched Daniel’s prophecy in chapter 9 and Jesus’ prophetic warning in Matthew 24. And it taught us something about the nature of prophecy, too. It showed us that prophecy was as much about patterns as it was about predictions. As Dr. Chuck Missler famously stated: “To the non-Jewish mind, prophecy is prediction. To the Jewish mind, prophecy is pattern.”

Of course, eschatologists have debated its meaning concerning the history and future of Scripture’s narrative. I have my own opinion, and I’ll share that soon on BLK SHP Bible Talk on YouTube. This post is just about the history of the event.

The original history was recorded from two perspectives. Tacitus wrote from the Roman political perspective as a Roman Senator. And Flavius Josephus wrote from the Jewish perspective as a Jewish military officer, Pharisee, and priest. Both are valuable, but it’s Josephus’ epic history called The Jewish War that gives us the most detail.

The book is big, about 130,000 words. You can get the full copy on Amazon. This is the one I have in my library.

It’s long and difficult to read. So I made a much shorter version (about 10,000 words) and easier to read, but still staying true to the voice of Josephus (as translated in English). I call it a distillation because it takes the full content of the book and boils it down to its core essence without losing its original voice and purpose. You can get the distillation on Amazon if you want the ebook or the paperback. You can also download the PDF and print it yourself for free.