Page 84 - Biblical Backgrounds

believed to have moved to the capital of the victors, where they became patrons of the kings of that
city.

The Book of Lamentations says the same thing about Nebuchadnezzar II burning Jerusalem and its
temple in 586 B.C. (2 Kings 25:9). Yahweh, Himself, had become Judah’s enemy (Lam. 2:5) and
destroyed His own temple – His “tabernacle” and “place of assembly” (2:6). With Yahweh’s permission,
Judah’s enemy now “made a noise in the house of the Lord.” (2:7).

nd
Later in history, we will see Titus attack Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and destroy the 2 temple located in the
City of David. Jesus predicted this destruction in Matthew 24:2, claiming that “not one stone will be left
on another; everyone will be thrown down.”

rd
According to Eusebius, a 3 -century historian, “The hill called Zion and Jerusalem, the building there,
that is to say, the temple, has been utterly removed or shaken.” 115 This means destroyed or utterly
gone. As Christ prophesied, “Not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.”

Josephus (who was alive at the time of the destruction of the temple) said, “It was so thoroughly laid
even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make
those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited.” 116 Eleazer Ben Jair, the commander at
Masada, wrote, “It (Jerusalem) is now demolished to the very foundations, and hath nothing left, but
that monument of it preserved, I mean the camps of those Romans that hath destroyed it, which still
dwells upon its ruins.” 117

nd
Josephus described the destruction of the 2 Temple. He described how the Roman soldiers tore up the
foundation stones after the temple was burned to obtain the melted gold that had seeped between the
cracks on the floor. After the Romans burned the city and destroyed the temple, Jesus Christ’s
prediction of utter destruction was confirmed by Josephus. Not one stone was left on another.

Today, you can go to the “Temple Mount” in Jerusalem. The Jews worship at the Western Wall, which
they claim that it was the only wall left of the original temple. The large foundation stones have been
dated back to the time of the original temple. Perhaps those stones are not really from the ancient
temple. Either Jesus Christ’s prediction and all the witnesses of the events are incorrect, or the western
wall is NOT the ancient temple site in Jerusalem.

P1403#y1

The Babylonian Captivity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffm5zQEnxvY

Let’s Practice…

115 http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/eusebius_de_10_book8.htm
116 http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/jewishtemple.htm
117 http://www.netours.com/content/view/27/29/

82