agrippa ii

After Eleazar b. Ananias lawlessly put a stop to all Gentile sacrifices, the Moderates and pro-Roman citizens of Jerusalem pleaded with him to restore the sacrifices, but he refused. This division between the Moderates in the upper city and the Zealots in the Temple rapidly degenerated into armed conflict. Menahem overpowered the Roman garrison on Masada and brought all of its weaponry back to Jerusalem. The Zealots grew stronger by the day. The Greco-Syrian inhabitants of Palestine slaughtered their Jewish neighbors, and vice versa. Cestius Gallus and Agrippa II brought the Twelfth Legion to Judea to stop the rebellion, but ended up suffering staggering losses of men, equipment, supplies, and funds. This defeat of Cestius left Nero little choice but to send a huge force of over three legions to crush the rebellion. If you wish to have the free PDF written lesson outline for this podcast, simply email us to request it (preterist1@preterist.org). Be sure to mention the date of this podcast when you contact us.Support the show

We are continuing to build a chronology of the Zealot rebellion and their war with Rome. We pick up the historical narrative in May of AD 66 just after Gessius Florus had attempted to seize all the remaining temple gold. This action by Florus forced the Zealots to revolt. Josephus mentions several of the reasons why the Zealots broke with Rome at this particular time. One of the first things the new Zealot government did, was to mint their own coins. After Agrippa failed to persuade them to break off the rebellion, Eleazar coerced the priests to stop accepting all sacrifices from all Gentiles, including the daily sacrifices from Caesar. The Zealots also made it quite clear that they would no longer pay taxes and tribute to Rome. This was clearly an open declaration of war. If you wish to have the free PDF written lesson outline for this podcast, simply email us to request it (preterist1@preterist.org). Be sure to mention the date of this podcast when you contact us.Support the show