Three Major Jewish Rebellions

The destruction of the First Temple of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (586 BC) and the subsequent

After their exile, around fifty-thousand Jews returned to Jerusalem which was now called Judaea. The leader of Judea, the Persian King Cyrus, allowed the Jews to return and to build another place of worship (Fisher 251). The second temple was built in 515 BCE and according to the text Living Religions, became “the central symbol to a scattered Jewish nation” (Fisher). The temple became a place where the Torah was formed and where the religion prospered. However, Jewish prosperity was not going to last. After four centuries of Roman rule, that was domineering and dreadful, a group of Jews decided to rebel against their oppressors. This led to Jews being slaughtered by the Romans and to the second Temple being destroyed. All that is left of the Temple are foundation stones which are referred to as the Western Wall. The temple has never been rebuilt and the Western Wall has become a place for prayer and remembrance for Jews all over the world. Jewish people look at the Western Wall as a representation of the hardships and oppression that their religion and people have endured. According to the article, Mystical Secret of the Western Wall:

In 588 B.C a horrible act was started by the Babylonian Empire. The Babylonian captivity had started and was exiling the Hebrews from their land. This was a very hard time for the Jews. The exile had brought a significant amount of change to how Judaism was practiced. Before they got exiled by the Babylonians their life revolved around the temple in Jerusalem, which the Babylonians have destroyed. The Hebrews believed that this was an act of god like when they were slaves in Egypt and then freed. They believed that they have to still keep their beliefs till god saves them again. Since they didn’t have a temple to go to where they made animal sacrifices they shifted their minds to the religious side. This is what led to the rise of

The Second Temple Period as it related to the Jewish people was noticeable by the reconstruction of the Temple in 538 BCE. This took place when the Jewish begun to enlarge this took place nearly six hundred years, as of the late sixth century BCE to 70 CE when the Jerusalem temple was ruined by the Romans. During this phase, Jews lived under foreign rule, during Judaism early development. First to have rule was the Persians this begin in 538-332 BCE. After which came the Hellenistic Kingdoms which were created after Alexander the Great’s capture from 332-63 BCE and concluded with the Romans from 63 BCE to 70 CE and beyond. This era also saw the development of the Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots and Essenes sects. Within this

Biblically, Jews in the City of Rome showed unpredictable tensions and riots against the civil government. “Roman Emperor, Claudius made an edict to expel the Jews from the City of Rome. Right after Claudius was assassinated, many Christian Jews moved back to Rome” (Maier, 1988, pg.355). Meanwhile, there were tensions in Judea. A growing compassion toward Zealots in Judea happened which encouraged the Roman Jews to rebel against the civil government.

The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 c.e. was a pivotal moment in Jewish history (Molloy,

The large number of Romans accept religions of the Easts. Spread in to Mediterranean allowed Romans to contact with Jews. Jews in Palestine were therefore permitted to train Judaism until they rebel; the temple was then damaged by the Romans in 70 AD. As long as Pax Romana made possible St. Paul’s movements, it was not completely promoting to the spread of the Gospel message about Christ. The increased travel throughout the period allowed Roman Citizens to discover about many unknown religions, creating within some people a philosophical hunger and religious discontent that many resolved those issues by converting to Christianity. Also, the politics on that time (involving the worship of the emperor), and the closed nature of Christian worship, led to charges of treason and cannibalism against the Christians. The relatively easy travel allowed St. Paul to moralize throughout the Mediterranean and permit these terrible charges about Christians to lengthen throughout the empire, fueling the extreme dislike of Christians during later

The three Emperors during the Jewish revolt in 66-70 CE were Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. They wanted to destroy the Jewish civilization. When Titus destroyed the temple and came back to Rome, Vespasian made the Jews attend and watch as the leaders of the rebellion were executed. The Jews continued to thrive in Rome despite being persecuted. Later the Jews use the Arch of Titus as their own symbol, the Jewish states symbol is the Menorah pictured on the Arch of Titus.

Josephus was a first century author who recorded Jewish-Roman history. He was born Jewish, and even fought against the Romans in the first Jewish-Roman war. But after being captured and later freed by the Roman emperor, Joseph was given Roman citizenship. Josephus’ seven-book collection of The Jewish War was written around 75AD. The Jewish War covers Jewish history from the time Jerusalem was captured, to the first war between Jewish and Roman people; the same war he fought in as a Roman citizen against his previous people, the Jews.

Jewish relations with Rome where difficult during that time. Many Jews felt oppressed by the Romans due to heavy taxation and religious restraints. The pressures of outside influences led the Jews to feel that they were losing touch with their religious ways and having religion dictated to them in a way that that was not aligned with preserving their Mosaic laws. Jewish began to long for their ethnic identity (denHollander, 2013). When the Jewish people finally revolted against Rome the Romans overtook Jerusalem and destroyed their temple. Temple of Yahweh held great significance for those of Jewish faith. Essentially this destroyed the early church giving those of Jewish faith no where to practice their religion or offer sacrifices for atonement.

During the reign of King Seleucus IV, he allowed the Jews to worship in their temples, and also allow them to keep their traditions. In 164BCE, a revolt erupted when Seleucus IV brother, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, succeeded the throne. Antiochus IV Epiphanes ordered a repeal of the Jews rights in religious freedom. Some people took it upon themselves to bring false idols to worship, along with prostitution into the temple. When it came to Sabbath and other traditional festivities they were outlawed due to the overturned agreement. At the same time, some Jews were extremist they would seek justice for any Jewish believers who violated their religions bylaws. Royal officials burned anything that represented Jewish practices, and were order to execute

“The Jewish people rebelled in 166 BCE. They were led by the heroic Judah the Maccabee, of the Hasmonean family, the Jews were successful in militarily repelling Greek rule. They entered the Temple and purified it, and found the miraculous jug of oil. Legend tells that it had only been enough oil to light the Menorah for one night, and lasted eight nights” (Stand for Israel). Eight nights went back to the celebration of the Hanukkah for the Jewish culture.

The Second Temple period (538 BCE-70 CE) was a turbulent time in the history of Judaism. The Babylonian exiles returned to Jerusalem with hope (Isaiah 40-44) and promises of blessings (Hag. 2:5). However, Alexander’s conquest of the Persian empire (334-330 BCE) and the following Diadochi wars (323-281 BCE) introduced disruption that culminated with forced conversion to Hellenism by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (167 BCE), including temple rededication and mandated participation in the Hellenistic cult. The High Priest, Jason, who bribed his way into the office held by Onais III in 175 BCE, began Hellenizing Judea when Menelaus supplanted him (who furthered Hellenist efforts).

Years ago, I remember a Drash performed by a member of a minyan (I have previously discussed here: Add the Link) named Gene who discussed what caused the destruction of the Temple. Within history, the Temple’s destruction came during the Seize of Jerusalem with fighting between Jewish residents and the Roman soldiers such as found in typical warfare. The losers of conflict often see the destruction of what they consider

The split between Judaism and Christianity took place in the first centuries of the common era which attributed to the event like Bar Kochba revolt. The Bar Kokhba revolt, was a rebellion of the Jews of Judea Province, led by Simon bar Kokhba, against the Roman Empire. In 132, the Emperor Hadrian, a Roman emperor threatened to rebuild Jerusalem as a pagan city dedicated to Jupiter, called Aelia Capitolina. Some of the leading sages of the Sanhedrin supported a rebellion led by Simon bar Kokhba. Until this period, a number of Christians were still part of the Jewish community. However, they did not support or take part in the revolt. Because they had no wish to fight and they could not support a second messiah in addition to Jesus. Christians