Early Biblical Prophesies of Destruction of Israel and Jerusalem
Posted: Saturday, March 12, 2011
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
All things preparatory to the formation of the nation of Israel. The promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob plus the providential guidance to lead them into captivity, and freedom again, are recorded in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. After Genesis, the Old Testament becomes almost entirely a book pertaining to the Jewish people, the Israelites. It records their escape from Egyptian captivity, the receiving of the Mosaical law from God, their wilderness wanderings and the taking of the promised land of Canaan.
Much of the Old Testament is consumed in the tumultuous lives of Israel, they were constantly disobeying God and receiving punishment from Him. He sent them Judges, to warn and lead them from sinful practices back to God and to peace again, then He gave them Kings, then prophets, all in an effort to keep them within his fold to furnish the lineage to the coming messiah. In His infinite wisdom and knowledge, God knew they would never live according to His covenant with them. And some of the prophecies, early on, proves that.
Jerusalem became their symbolic home, their entire existence was wrapped up in that city. It was where their most revered king, David, made his home and it was there where the temple was constructed for their worship and their pride. It represented their ties to God and it meant everything to them.
When the reader gets to chapter 28 of Deuteronomy, the fifth and final book of the Pentateuch written by Moses in 1451 B.C., he will find Moses speaking (for God) to the people of Israel, shortly before his own death. He begins repeating much of the blessing they are about to receive from God in the new land. Read the following few verses to see the tone.
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. (Deuteronomy 28:1-10 KJV)
And these blessings continue to be described until verse 15, where the blessings are shown to be only on condition that the Jews heed the commands of God. Let us read only a few verses starting with 15, and then we will skip to the prophetic part concerning Jerusalem.
But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. (Deuteronomy 28:15-19 KJV)
Now, the most important part, the foretelling of the Roman army laying siege against Jerusalem, encircling the city and keeping supplies from entering until they were literally starving to the point they would, and did, eat their own children.
The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young: And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.
And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee: So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave: So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.(Deuteronomy 28:49-55)
It would be wise for the reader to read the enter chapter 28, though these verses give the gist of the entire chapter. This very scenario occurred as this prophecy lays out, in A.D. 70, approximately 1521 years after the prophecy was written.
The Roman army laid siege on the city, and after starving the entire population to the point of being unable to fight back, slaughtered millions. The worst single slaughter ever recorded. The temple was totally destroyed, even to the moving of every stone of the foundation, some reportedly as large as a street car. All the Jewish records were totally destroyed to the extent that none can now give assurance of which tribe they sprang from.
There are many other prophecies in the Bible which also foretell of this event. In fact, Jesus only approximately 40 years told of it and warned those who would be his followers to flee the city the instant they detected the forming of the siege.
When Jesus had made the remark to his disciples that not one stone of the great temple would not be cast down and his disciples asked when these things would come to pass, here is part of what he told them.
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. (Matthew 28:15-22 KJV)
And the Saviour added this in verse 34 “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”
Thus the Mosaical dispensation ended and the Christian age began, which is referred to in the scripture as the last days. That does not mean, as many think, that the end of time is eminent but rather that there will be no further dispensations. The Patriarchal dispensation lasted for some twenty five hundred years, the Mosaical dispensation for some fifteen years and now the Christian dispensation has been in existence for approximately two thousand years.
This Article has been viewed 259 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Hi Joel. Nicely done. Now we are in the days of Jesus' return. With us getting closer to "this generation shall not pass away" As the Bible says, a generation is anywhere from 40 years to 100 years - we are in this time period now since Israel became a nation. Also with the tools and walls already being formed for the rebuilding of the temple, coupled with our political and physical state, we see that the time is drawing near. Especially as we see a one world mentality sweeping the nations. I believe we are getting closer to "the time of the gentiles being fulfilled". It's amazing when we look back in church history, many believed and taught the a lot of the events Jesus spoke of, were only "spiritual" but as we see the day getting closer and closer, we see that they are literal." I wouldn't be a bit surprised if The Anti-christ is alive and gearing up to take control. Jesus told us we are not in the dark - if we are watching, we can see that his return is close. And as Thessalonians says, many who continuously refuse to believe, will miss it, and actually start to believe the Lie. We see this happening now as well. These are exciting and scary times. Blessings dear brother!Thanks much for your comment, Teresa.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.