Page 118 - Satan in the Sanctuary

120 Satan in the Sanctuary

And it might well have been a feather in his political
cap to subdue the Jews while keeping that lovely "orna-
ment" intact; how satisfying it would have been to report
back to Rome, "Jews defeated—Roman headquarters now
billeted in Temple sanctuary." The former commander
of Titus' troops became emperor, after all, and Titus was
his heir.
But the Temple burned. The devastation was complete.
Josephus puts the blame on an anonymous Roman
soldier:

These Romans put the Jews to flight [where?] and pro-
ceeded as far as the holy house itself. At which time one
of the soldiers, without staying for any orders, and with-
out any concern or dread upon him at so great an under-
taking, and being hurried on by a certain divine fury,
snatched somewhat out of the materials that were on fire,
and being lifted up by another soldier, he set fire to a
golden window, through which there was a passage to the
rooms that were round about the holy house ... on the
7
north side of it.
We can wonder about the accuracy of Josephus' war
correspondence, but he could have seen it all with Titus
from the vantage point of the Antonia Fortress, which
overlooked the Temple site. He was normally to be found
behind the lines of the winning side, rather than in the
heat of the battle.
Nevertheless the Temple was gone, not to be replaced
by the Jews to date. From that moment the Jews became
what they were until 1948—an entire race of people with
no home address. They still have no central shrine. We
can appreciate their current wish to rebuild the Jerusalem
Temple.
Josephus thought that the destruction of the Temple