Page 120 - Satan in the Sanctuary

122 Satan in the Sanctuary

amend what hath been done amiss, even at the last ex-
tremity. Thou has an instance (example) before thee in
Jeconiah, the king of the Jews, if thou hast a mind to
save the city, who, when the king of Babylon made war
against him, did, of his own accord, go out of this city
before it was taken, and did undergo a voluntary capitivity
with his family, that the sanctuary might not be delivered
up to the enemy, and that he might not see the house of
10
God set on fire;
And after all, John might become some sort of national
hero:

On which account he is celebrated among all the Jews, in
their sacred memorials, and his memory is become im-
mortal, and will be conveyed fresh down to our posterity
through all ages.
This, John, is an excellent example in such a time of
11
danger.
This Romanesque expediency apparently did not im-
press the Jewish general. We might say, considering Jose-
phus' friendly relations with the enemy, that the passage
smacks of war propaganda. Perhaps the Romans were
counting on the influence of Josephus to calm the rebel-
lion and save the Temple, but the negotiator seems only
to have saved himself.

MORE TEMPLES
Now the Romans thought the Jews were utterly sub-
dued, and for the most part they were. Josephus sailed
back to Rome with Titus after the devastation of Jerusalem
and marched in a triumphal procession that exhibited
Jewish captives and artifacts. He ended up with an apart-
ment in the royal palace, supplied by his old friend Ves-