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Prophet of the Second Exile (Part 1)

Sometimes people wonder if we as believers should fast to commemorate the destruction of the Temple. I think that we most certainly should, because our master mourned about the destruction of the Temple when it hadn't even happened yet.

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation." (Luke 19:41-44)

The Torah and the Prophets and Jewish tradition agree that the destruction of the First Temple occurred because of a number of sins, including idolatry, failure to observe Sabbatical years and Sabbaths and tithes, among others. But at the time of the Second Temple, people were very scrupulous in observing these commandments. Why, then, was the Second Temple destroyed?

I once read an e-mail that was sent to a friend of mine from an Orthodox Jewish person who refused to sell him some study materials because my friend was a believer. It was painful to read his accusations against our master, because he misunderstood Yeshua's words. He claimed that when Yeshua said, "the Kingdom of Heaven is near," he was prophesying that the redemption and the messianic age was about to begin. What began, rather, was the greatest destruction and exile in Jewish history. Therefore, he claimed, Yeshua was a false prophet. He also misinterpreted one of our master Yeshua's most often misunderstood passages, in which he said, "I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." This man seemed to think that Yeshua was saying, "I have come to begin a new religion that will persecute the Jewish people though violent crusades."

But what did he mean by these things? When he said, "Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," he prefaced that by the important injunction: "Repent!" If he were coming as a prophet of blessing, he would not have needed to beg the people to repent. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, meaning that God's Kingship, his justice, is about to be revealed, and a day of reckoning will soon occur. On account of this, he pleads with the people to repent, because if they do not repent they will see destruction.

Likewise, when our master Yeshua said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34), his message was that the destruction of Jerusalem was imminent. The Hebrew word for sword (cherev, חרב) is often used as a metaphor for violence in general. Our master Yeshua's words echo the message of Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 4:10 (NASB):

Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Surely You have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'You will have peace'; whereas a sword touches the throat."

Jeremiah 12:12

Upon all the bare heights in the desert destroyers have come, for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the land to the other; no flesh has peace.

Jeremiah 14:13-14:

Then I said: "Ah, Lord GOD, behold, the prophets say to them, 'You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.'" And the LORD said to me: "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds."

One of the most haunting and vivid prophecies of Jerusalem's destruction occurred in the book of Luke 23.

Yeshua's hands were bound like a criminal as he was dragged by Roman soldiers through the crowded streets of Jerusalem. Behind him, the Romans had conscribed an innocent Jew by the name of Shimon who had endured a treacherous sea journey to Jerusalem for Passover. Because he was a Jew who happened to be standing there, they forced him to carry the heavy log that they would use to torture the Master to death. Women were weeping and following Yeshua. He turned his bruised and disfigured face to them and said,

Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, "Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!" Then they will begin to say to the mountains, "Fall on us," and to the hills, "Cover us." For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry? (Luke 23:28-31)

What did he mean, "for if they do these things when the wood (or tree) is green, what will happen when it is dry?" Jeremiah, echoing the words of the Psalms, explains that a righteous man is like a tree planted by streams of water. If Yeshua is a green tree, a righteous man, and yet the Romans destroyed him, how much more that will be the case for the unrighteous inhabitants of Jerusalem!

The Destruction of the Temple: A Good Thing?

Traditional Christian theology tends to point to the destruction of the Temple as a good thing. They see it as God's way of saying, "There's no need for that anymore. We're under a new, better system now." The Temple was destroyed because there is a new Temple now. The veil was torn because there is a new way to access God and now the Temple is obsolete. Jerusalem was destroyed because there is no longer a need for a holy city. The Heavenly Jerusalem is what counts now, not any city on earth. The people were exiled because there was no longer any sanctity to the land of Israel. The new Promised Land is not a place on earth, but it is our eternal paradise in heaven after we die. The Jewish people were dismantled and scattered because God is done dealing with the Jewish people, and now He has moved on the Gentiles.

But those views fail to take into account what the destruction truly entailed. It was not just a simple transition from one era to another. It was a holocaust. It is clear that to our master, the destruction of Jerusalem was a horrible and tragic event.

When he foresaw the city's destruction, he was not happy about it. He was overcome with grief.

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation." (Luke 19:41-44)

When we think about Jerusalem's destruction, shouldn't we be overcome with that same grief that our master felt?

About the Author: Aaron Eby writes for messiah magazine and other FFOZ publications. He is also the author of the forthcoming Siddur, as well as the recently published Hebrew lesson DVD.