482 Early Church History 2: The Jewish-Roman War and Jewish-Christian Relations

This is part 2 of the Early Church History class.

Before the great revolution of 66 in which the Jewish nation declared independence from the Roman empire, no fewer than five micro-revolution occurred between 4 BC and 58 AD. In the years that led up to the first Jewish-Roman war (66-73), incompetent Roman governors repeatedly and egregiously antagonized the Jewish populous until there was no turning back. After the war that destroyed the temple that Herod had renovated, Christians and Jews began parting ways. This episode will briefly cover the three Jewish-Roman wars and how Christians and Jews gradually began to separate.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ9ExalbABs&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2lk3B0I7Pa77hfwKJm1SRI&index=2

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—— Notes ——

Flavius Josephus (AD 37-100)

• primary source for first-century Jewish history
• Antiquities of the Jews
• The Jewish War

Revolutionary Movements

• Athronges (4 BC)
• Judah the Galilean (AD 6)
• The Samaritan Prophet (AD 36)
• Theudas (AD 45)
• The Egyptian Prophet (AD 58).

Four Types of Judaism

• Pharisees
• Sadducees
• Essenes
• Fourth Philosophy
• Sicarii

The First Jewish-Roman War (66-73)

• Began in 12th year of Nero’s rule
• anti-taxation protests
• Roman governor, Gessius Florus, plundered the temple
• rebellion took Antonia fortress, forcing King Agrippa II and his government to retreat from the city
• Nero sent Vespasian with four legions
• In 69 Vespasian went to Rome to become emperor, leaving his son, Titus, to conquer Jerusalem
• Titus breached the city in 70
• He plundered and burned the temple, leaving for Rome in 71 at the head of a Roman triumph
• The last holdouts fell at Masada in 73

Christians Fled from Jerusalem

• Jesus warned his followers to flee “when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies” (Luke 21.2-24)
• Eusebius (AD 324) and Epiphanius (AD 375) both mention the desertion of Christians from Jerusalem

Exclusion of Christians from Synagogue

• Berkat haMinim = blessing the heretics
• actually a curse upon Christians whom the Jews called “Nazarenes”
• late first century or early second century
• In AD 160, Justin Martyr mentions the curse in the synagogues

Rabbinic Judaism