History of First Century Israel.
The three and a half year Roman invasion of Judea (66-70AD) began thirty-five years after Jesus' crufucixion. In 1260 days four Roman legions totally obliterated a nation with 2000 years of Hebrew culture and high Jewish civilization. In the wake of the forty-two month war there was no biblical Israel, no nation, no population, no king, no capital, no city, no government, no army, no economy, no commerce, no Mosaic temple, no priesthood, no sacrifice, no redemption, no salvation, and therefore no hope. In just under four years the 1000 year reign of King David's Jerusalem disappeared with 1,100,000 people killed by the swords of Titus and Vespasian, 1,000,000 died of starvation or disease, 1,000,000 scattered to the four winds in a wild diaspora, and a further 97,000 taken captive at the very end. The Mosaic covenant never offered another sacrifice. Jerusalem was 'trample underfoot 'underfoot', the land dug up, salted, and sold. The biblical world we read of in the testament disappeared in a 1260-day eyeblink. '911' shocked the US with 3,000 dead and a fright to the nation, but the continuity of its occupation. By contrast Israel lost her entire national population and homeland, leaving no nation at all. The story of the war that ended a civilization begins from Jesus' prophecy of the end of the age.
Prophecy.
In Matthew 24:1-3 Jesus stands outside the bustling Jerusalem temple then standing. His disciples point out the gigantic stones to Him. In forty years it would be just rubble - but impossible to conceive then in AD 30. Jesus makes the following statement with calm eyes and a voice flat with perfect certainty:
"See all these things? Verily I say unto you there shall not be one stone left upon another that shall not be thrown
down."
The disciples stare up at the towering edifice in disbelief. It is rock-solid as heaven and earth. It has stood for 1000 years. High Jewish theocratic-civilization with all its stable institutions of government, priesthood and sacrifice is at its height. The disciples are dumbfounded, but seek a sign of Jesus. They ask:
"What is the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
They then connect three things; the end of the Mosaic temple + the end of the Mosaic age + the Messianic sign, Jesus' coming in clouds, This relation between end of temple + end of Mosaic age + coming in clouds is the most compelling evidence of Jesus’ Messiahship. This 'Messianic' sign (coming in clouds) links Jesus to the modern Jewish wedding ‘mazel tof ‘ tradition, (where the blessing glass is trampled underfoot and smashed) in the strangest way. You may have seen or heard of this tradition. Its very common. Jews smash the blessing glass to represent the loss of the Jewish temple at the end of the Mosaic age. (AD 70)
The Traditional Wedding Toast Parallel.
The tradition is further explained by the Jewish writer Moshe Howard in The Jewish Magazine. Feb 2009. (accessed 30 Sept 2010) He writes: "The Talmud cites two sources for the tradition of breaking a glass at a wedding. However, we should note that in the beginning it was not broken by the groom, but by the father of the groom. Later in time, it developed to become that the glass the blessings were made over was smashed on a nearby wall, some communities even had a special stone [rock] in the shape of a lion (bold added] upon which to smash that glass.
"Some give the reason for the incorporating the smashing of the glass into the wedding ceremony as a remembrance of the Temple, basing it on a verse in Psalm 137:6 "If I forget you Jerusalem...if I do not bring Jerusalem to mind at the height of my joy…" (End of quote)
The parallels.
The article makes these points. There were two traditions:
Early Wedding Tradition #1.
. The father of the bridegroom broke the glass not the bridegroom
. The blessing glass was smashed against a lion-like rock
Later Wedding Tradition #2.
. The bridegroom himself broke the glass
. The blessing glass was trampled underfoot and not on the rock
. Talmudic tradition says that the right to smash the blessing-glass was transferred to the Son
. The tradition relates the smashing of the glass to the temple .... "somehow."
The "somehow" Explained from the Hebrew Prophets.
How does the wedding relate to God?
. In the Old Testament Jehovah was the bridegroom. -
. In the Old Testament Mosaic Israel was the bride. -
. Jehovah said He would 'divorce His bride Israel. -
. The Old Testament blessing was located in the temple -
How does the wedding relate to Jesus? He claimed to be God's son.
. In the New Testament Jesus is the bridegroom. -
. In the New Testament 'spiritual Israel' was the bride. - ie. those washed by the blood of Jesus
. Jesus said He would marry His bride Israel. -
. In the New Testament blessing was located 'in Christ' - ie. Jesus IS the temple!
How does the smashing of the wedding glass relate to the first century wars of the Jews?
. The Old Covenant blessing was in the temple -
. The Mosaic Law was in the Mosaic temple -
. The Mosaic tremple was destroyed in AD 70
. Jesus is both Father and bridegroom. He points to a new covenant. (Jn 14:9; Jn 3:29; Mt 26:28)
. The glass was first broken by the Father against a Rock in the shape of a lion.
. Jesus is both the Lion of Judah and Rock. (Rev 5:5; Rom 9:33) .... hmm. accidental? Read further.
. .
. Scripture says YHWH transferred authority to His Son. (Mtt 28:18). Coincidence? More-
. David - in Hebrew scripture - foretold the rejection of the Rock-Messiah. (Ps 118:22)
. Jesus the Son of David -in scripture -foretold His own rejection as the Rock-Messiah. (Mtt21:42)
. But YHWH was the OT Rock from whom all blessings flowed. (Duet 32:4)
. YHWH as bridegroom was to marry the OT bride Jerusalem to establish a new covenant. (Jer 31:32)
. The OT bride crucified the bridegroom because He proposed a new covenant in new wineskins. (Mtt 9:14ff)
. These OT parallels suggest that, circumstantially: Jesus was the Lion, Rock-Messiah, Son of the Father
and Bridegroom, who was killed because He suggested an alternative, new covenant. In this endeavor He
shared the same fate as every other prophet ever sent under the old covenant. (Mtt 23:34ff; Lk 13:33ff; Rev
18:24-19:2. In OT Israel, the job description of 'Prophet' never came with a pension plan.)
How do these parallels find meaning in the Mosaic Temple before AD 70?
Consider that YHWH's marriage-contract was with Israel in the Jerusalem temple. This means the entire national basis of redemption and geo-governance was substantively centralized in the Jerusalem temple. Why? (1) Because Israel's sacrificial redemption took place within the temple system. And (2) because the legal basis of governance -judgment by Mosaic Law- resided in the sacerdotal authority of the temple priesthood in Jerusalem. This means Israel's entire redemptive and geo-political governance were founded in one single centralised place; the Jerusalem temple. (cf. 1 Kgs 8:1-9:5, At the dedication of the temple Solomon articulated the priveleges of Israel's faithfulness, and in 1 Kgs 9:6-9 he spelled out the... 'oops'... fine print divorce clause.)
Let us continue to apply this fact to the modern 'Mazel Tof' wedding tradition.
. The story goes on that the OT bride crucified the Son. (Mtt 26-27)
. But it also says the Son prophesied (in 30 AD) the 'Holy-bridal City' would be trampled underfoot in 42
months... in detail 'level to the ground'. (Mttt 24:1-3; Lk 21:24; Rev 11:1-2)
. The story ends when Jerusalem was trampled underfoot by four Roman legions in 42 months (from 661/2 AD
to 70 AD) 'level to the ground.' (Evidence found in history: Wars 7:1:1)
. To that generation Jesus signalled His three day interment as 'The sign of Jonah.' (Mt 13:39)
. After three days interrment He rose ...despite a guard against the fact. (Mtt 27:62-63)
. To that generation He gave His Messianic sign as a 'coming in clouds of heaven with power'; Mt 24:30;
Mt 26:64; Mk 13:26; Mk 14:6; Lk 21:27; Rev 10:1; 11:12; 14:14; 14:14; 14:15; 14:16 - always an OT term for
YHWH's divine judgment in scripture.
. Both Kings Solomon and Jesus foretold a divine judgment on Israel's temple, which was duly recorded in
history (1 Kgs 9:6-9; Lk 21:24-32: Wars 7:8:375ff)
. Before the face of that C.1st generation and God's high priest Jesus swore on oath He would return on
clouds (Mt 26:64) and that the high priest Ananias would see it. And it came to pass. (Josephus 7:5:2).
The reasoning for a first century divine judgment by the Messiah is thus:
1 . Israel's national covenant was entirely centered in one place, the Jerusalem temple. 1 Kgs 8-9
2. Jesus foretold three things in (Mt 24:1-3 )
a. the end of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70 and
b. the termination of the age / national covenant. AD 70
c. His coming in clouds at the same time.
3. Therefore Jesus signaled His Presence (parousia) at the end of the temple and the end
of the Mosaic age forty years hence...before it was trampled underfoot as a glass. This prophetic
pronouncement signified His claim to Messiahship. What happened in consequence forty years later
after His death?
Background of Judaism.
Before AD 70 Judaism was an: earthly, fleshly, local, temporal, and incomplete system without its Messiah. Jesus’ Messianic credentials are simply; Mtt 24:1-3, 34; 26:64 - His prediction of what came to pass in His own generation: the end of the 1000 year-old covenantal temple, and the end the Jewish age (aioonos) in 70AD. This fulfillment demonstrated to all ages a new order: heavenly, spiritual, universal, eternal, and international fulfilment, as the scripture says - "And in you all families of earth shall be blessed." (Gen 12:3) This was revealed at the marriage feast between the Lamb and His bride, New Jerusalem. (Rev 18:24- 22.) But to those who deny Jesus’ Messiahship I submit a wedding parallel tainted with irony.
The Consequences of AD 70 for Ancient and Modern Israel.
'Biblical' Israel ceased to exist in AD 70 as both Solomon and jesus foretold. An entire ancient civilization disappeared from history in 1260 days. The basis of its civilization was in: language, culture, cosmology, redemptive means, geo-political governance. Israel held a 2000 year mandate to the land. It found stability in the land it had occupied for 1000 years. In this time it held conditional privilege and exclusivity. (I Kings 8-9) These were trampled underfoot in 42 months according to jesus' prophecy. This complete destruction made the continued practice of Mosaic obedience impossible. It is still impossible after the passing of a further 2000 years. It is impossible today.
The Mosaic temple - with its sacrificial propitiation, exclusive access to God, and covenantal right to occupy the land - all disappeared precisely as Jesus prophesied in AD 30. The Jews had no land since AD 70. The Rock-Messiah rejected by that mad, insane generation, was the stone that fell upon them. This may be known by the words of King David.
The stone the builders rejected became the chief corner stone. Lk 20:17. King David. Ps 118:22
Everyone who falls on that stone shall be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will
scatter like dust. Lk 20:18. King Jesus, Son of David.
In AD 70 biblical Israel disappeared forever. The stability of the nation was centralized in one spot; held together by a single thread. Its blessings were fragile as a glass, as delicate as a spider’s web, as unstable as a sea. The stability of its entire heavens was particularized one location, its royal capital, Jerusalem. The royal Capital was in turn conditional upon obedience to the terms of the covenant-temple. The equation then follows: No righteous obedience, therefore no covenant, no covenant therefore no temple, no temple therefore no capital, no capital therefore no blessing of land, no blessing of land therefore no nation. This was not recent news. One thousand years before Jesus King Solomon warned:
But if you and your sons turn away and do not keep my commandments, then I will:
. cut off Israel from the land
. this house I will cast out of my sight
. and a heap of ruins. 1 Kgs 9:6-9
Before AD 70 the estimated population of israel was 3,000,000 persons. During the 66 1/2 - 70 AD war an estimated 1,000,000 persons died of starvation and disease in Jerusalem. To this was added a further 1,100,000 deaths by the sword. A further 1,000,000 people (est.) were scattered to the four winds of the earth in the diaspora, and the remaining 97,000 were sold as slaves in Egypt. (Wars 6:9.) It was 'The Day After' -civilisation had fled; nothing remained.
After 70AD the land of Israel was empty of all life; animal, human, vegetative. No beast, person, or tree remained. It was uninhabited, and uninhabitable, stripped, burnt, scorched bare from north to south, loughed up, then salted so nothing would grow.. Worse abasement was to come to Judea. The land of Israel - the birthright of Jews - then suffered the ignobility of being given away ... sold. About that time Caesar sent a letter to Bassus and to Liberia Maximus , and gave order that all Judea should be exposed to sale. (Wars 7:6:6) From a high thriving 2000 year civilization to a desolate uninhabited wastedland took
Conclusion.
In this one-time act of justice in AD 70, the God of Nature, YHWH (Jehovah the Lord) signified to all nations, for all times, and to all people of all ages, that a new spiritual way, a New Jerusalem, a new order, an : heavenly, spiritual, universal, complete, permanent and eternal blessing for all nations, had begun. The death of the old earthly, marriage feast of the Lamb, at the demise of the local, earthly, and temporal system signified the arrival of a higher order of consciousness. This is the higher order of the spirit above geography and earthly place, a time and "an hour…
when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father..for God is spirit and those who
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." Jn 4:21-24
This higher order was revealed at the divorce of the Old Testament bride. (Rev 18:24- 22) In the mazel tof blessing the bridegroom smashes the glass of blessing. This recalls the temple when the Mosaic blessing was trampled underfoot. This recalls a Talmudic chain of interrelated ideas in which: the father of the bridegroom smashed the glass on the Lion-Rock, and later passed the right to trample the glass to the son-bridegroom, whom David also called the Rock, who was foretold to be rejected by the Bride, who in fact rejected Jesus the Son, who claimed to be the Rock, based on the miraculous authority of the Father, who was acknowledged to be the bridegroom by a legitimate prophet (John Baptist) and foretold a change to a new spiritual covenant, a heavenly Jerusalem, the circumstances of His rejection by the Jews, His imminent death, the manner of His death, His period of burial, the period until His rising, and most importantly, the three essential events forty years after His death to which His second coming was intrinsically related: the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, the end of the blessings of the Mosaic age (Mtt 24:1-3) and a marriage to the Heavenly City with eternal foundations which our father Abraham sought by faith; New Jerusalem in AD 70. (Heb 11:10; Rev 21-22)
The burning question is this: How does a man dead for forty years orchestrate events forty years after His death??? And how does His 'coming in clouds' forty years later signal the 42 month trampling of that fragile system of blood sacrifice centralized in the old temple? In AD 30 He predicted the events of AD 70 saying;:
And the Gentiles will tread underfoot the Holy City in 42 months.
Lk 21:22; Revelation of Jesus Christ. 11:2
The trampled temple prophecy was and remains the sign of His second coming forty years after the prophesy, forty years after His death, and evidence of His divine Messianic-relation to the Father beyond earthly time and circumstance. This is what is recalled at each Jewish wedding. Psalm 137:6, "If I forget you Jerusalem...if I do not bring Jerusalem to mind at the height of my joy…"
All this was foretold by a carpenter from Nazareth who lives forevermore, and whose claim to Messiahship is recalled in the Jewish wedding tradition of smashing a glass underfoot - the end of its time, end of it temple, and the end of biblical priority, AD 70. Jew and Gentile must now repent and believe the message of Jesus the Christ, the new temple.
-ooOOoo-