Prophecy: When Messiah Comes, Israel Will Have False Teachers
The Jews who had believed in Jesus as their Messiah, evacuated Jerusalem after its first siege in 66 AD, and ahead of the final Roman siege in 70 AD. Just as Jesus had predicted, there was a massive slaughter of those who remained in Jerusalem and did not believe the words of Jesus.
The Roman army general, Titus, who later became the Emperor, came with his second in command, Tiberius Julius Alexander. Titus brought his army to the western side of Jerusalem. Three legions of soldier came from 5th Macedonica, 12th Fulminata, and 15th Apollinaris. On the east side of Jerusalem, Titus brought 10th Fretenis, near the Mount of Olives.
The strategy was simple; cut off the food and water supplies to Jerusalem and starve the people into submission.
Many people died of starvation during this siege of Titus, as the food supplies of the Jews inside the city of Jerusalem were depleted. Some people resorted to eating the flesh of their dead in order to survive. This was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 11:9 “Let those that are left eat each other’s flesh.”
During Passover, Titus allowed the pilgrims to enter the city to celebrate Passover, but then refused to allow them to depart. A few attacks by the Jews on the Roman soldiers killed some of Titus men. In an insightful move by Titus, he dispatched his men to bring the Jewish historian “Josephus” to the city to try and reason with the Jews to surrender peacefully. Instead the Jews put an arrow into Josephus, viewing him as a traitor for seeking the surrender of Jerusalem to the Romans.
