And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, &c.— There are three particulars denounced in this verse, and all of them were remarkably fulfilled. I. That they should fall by the edge of the sword; and the number of those who so fell was indeed very great. Of those who perished during the whole siege, there were 1,100,000; many were likewise slain at other times, and in other places, of every age, sex, and condition, the number of whom, according to Josephus, amounts to 1,357,666; which would appear almost incredible, if their own historian had not so particularly enumerated them. See on Matthew 24:28; Matthew 2. That they should be led away captive into all nations. Now considering the number of the slain, the number of the captives was very great; generally estimated, in the whole war, at 97,000. The tallest and handsomest young men Titus reserved for his triumph: of the rest, those above seventeen years of age were partly sent to the works in Egypt; but most of them were distributed through the Roman provinces, to be destroyed in their theatres by the sword, or by wild beasts. Those under seventeen were sold for slaves: of these captives, many underwent a hard fate; eleven thousand of them perished for want. Titus exhibited all sorts of shows and spectacles at Caesarea; and many of the captives were there destroyed, some being exposed to the wild beasts, and others compelled to fight in troops against one another. At Caesarea too, in honour of his brother's birth-day, 2500 Jews were slain; and a great number likewise at Berytus, in honour of his father's; the like was done in other cities of Syria. Those whom he reserved for his triumph were Simon and John, the generals of the captives, and seven hundred others of remarkable stature and beauty. Thus were the captive Jews miserably tormented, and distributed over the Roman provinces; and are they not still distressed, and in general despised over the face of the whole earth?—III. Our Lord foretels that Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, &c. And the accomplishment of this part of the prophesy, as indeed of every article of it, is wonderful: for, after the Jews were almost utterly destroyed by death and captivity, Vespasian commanded the whole land of Judea to be sold. "At that time," says Josephus, (Bell. lib. 7: ch. 26.) "Caesar wrote to Bassus, and to Liberius Maximus the procurator, to sell the whole land of the Jews; for he did not build any city there, but appropriated their country to himself, leaving there only eight hundred soldiers, and giving them a place to dwell in called Emmaus; thirty stadia from Jerusalem: and he imposed a tribute upon all the Jews wherever they lived, commanding every one of them to bring two drachms into the capitol, according as in former times they were wont to pay unto the temple of Jerusalem. And this was the state of the Jews at this time." Thus was Jerusalem in particular, with its territory, possessed by the Gentiles, becoming Vespasian's property, who sold it to such Gentiles as chose to settle there. That Jerusalem continued in this desolate state we learn from Dio; for he tells us, that the emperor Adrian rebuilt it, sent a colony there to inhabit it, and called it AElia; but he altered its situation, leaving out Zion and Bezetha, and enlarging it so, as to comprehend Calvary, where our Lord was crucified. Moreover, Eusebius informs us, that Adrian made a law, that no Jews should come into the region round Jerusalem, (Hist. Luke 21:6.) So that the Jews being banished, such a number of aliens came into Jerusalem, that it became a city and colony of the Romans. In later times, when Julian apostatized to heathenism, being sensible that the evident accomplishment of our Lord's prophesies concerning the Jewish nation made a strong impression upon the Gentiles, and was a principal means of their conversion, he resolved to deprive Christianity of this support, by bringing the Jews to occupy their own land, and by allowing them the exercise of their religion and a form of civil government. For this purpose, he resolved to rebuild Jerusalem, to people it with Jews, and to rear up the temple on its ancient foundations, because there only he knew they would offer prayers and sacrifices. In the prosecution of this design, he wrote to the community of the Jews a letter, which is still extant among his other works, inviting them to return to their native country; and for their encouragement, he says to them, among other things, "The holy city Jerusalem, which for many years ye have desired to see inhabited, I will rebuild by my own labour, and will inhabit it." And now the emperor, having made great preparations, began the execution of his scheme with rebuilding the temple; but his workmen were soon obliged to desist by an immediate and evident interposition of God. Take an account of this matter in the words of Ammianus Marcellinus, a heathen historian, and therefore an author of unsuspected credit, who says, (lib. 23.) "He resolved to build, at an immense expence, a certain lofty temple at Jerusalem; and gave it in charge to Alypius of Antioch, who had formerly governed inBritain, to hasten the work. When therefore Alypius, with great earnestness, applied himself to the execution of this business, and the governor of the provinceaffirmed him init,terribleballsoffire,burstingforthnear the foundations, with frequent explosions, and divers times burning the workmen, rendered the place inaccessible; and thus the fire continually driving them away, the work ceased." This fact is attested likewise by Zemuth David, a Jew, who honestly confesses that Julian was hindered by God in this attempt. It is also attested by Nazianzen and Chrysostome among the Greeks; by Ambrose and Ruffin among the Latins, who lived at the very time when the thing happened; by Theodoret and Sozomen of the orthodox persuasion; by Philostorgius, an Arian, in the extracts of his history made by Photicis, lib. 7: Numbers 9 and by Socrates, a favourer of the Novatians, who wrote his history within the space of fifty years after the thing happened, and while the eye-witnesses thereof were yet alive. I shall only relate the testimonies of Sozomen and Chrysostome. The former, in his Ecclesiastical History, lib. 5. 100: 22 says, "This wonder is believed, and freely spoken of by all; nor is it denied by any: or if it should seem incredible to any, let them believe those who have heard it from the mouths of the eye-witnesses, who are yet alive: let them likewise believe the Jews and the Gentiles, who have left the work unfinished; or, to speak more properly, who have not been able to begin it." Chrysostome, advers. Judaeos, speaking of the same subject, says, "And now, if you go to Jerusalem, you will see the foundations lying stillbare; and if you inquire the cause of this, [namely, in Jerusalem, the scene of the miracle] you will hear no other than that which I have mentioned; and of this all we Christians are witnesses, the thing being done not long since, and in our own time." Orat. 2. Thus while Jews and heathens, under the direction of a Roman emperor, united their whole force to baffle our Lord's prediction, they did but still more conspicuously accomplish his saying, that Jerusalem should be trodden of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles should be fulfilled. How exactly this passage of the prophesy has been fulfilled, we learn also from Benjamin of Tudela, a celebrated Spanish Jew of the twelfth century, who travelled into all parts to visit those of his own nation, and to learn an exact state of their affairs. In his Itinerary he tells us, that in Jerusalem he found only two hundred Jews. Sandys says, that the Holy Land "is for the most part inhabited now by Moors and Arabians, those possessing the vallies, and these the mountains. Turks there be few; but many Greeks, with other Christians, of all sects and nations, such as impute to the place an adherent holiness. Here be also some Jews; yet inherit they no part of the land; but in their own country do live as aliens." Travels, b. 3: p. 114. 7th edit. The divinity of our Lord's prediction still more clearly appears, if to the above we add the fact known throughout all Europe and Asia at this day; namely, that the Jews are still exiles from their own country, and have continued to be so ever since Titus dispersed them. In former times, the Jews, after being led away captive, were re-established: why then should this captivity have lasted now so long? Why should the effects of Titus's fury be indelible? God decreed that it should be so. "Jerusalem is to be trodden of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled;" and no power in the universe can frustrate his decree. For this reason likewise, though the Jews are at present, and have been through the whole period of their dispersion, vastly more numerous than they ever were in the most happy times of their commonwealth, none of the cities which they have made to recover their own country, have proved successful. Moreover, while every dispersed people mentioned in history has been swallowed up of the nations among whom they were dispersed, without leaving the smallest trace of their ever having existed, the Jews continue, after so many ages, a distinct people, in their dispersion. The universal contempt into which they are fallen, one should think, ought to have made them conceal whatever served to distinguish them, and have prompted them to mix with the rest of mankind: but in fact it has not done so. The Jews, in all countries, by openly separating from the nations who rule them, subject themselves to hatred and derision; nay, in several places, they have exposed themselves to death, by bearing about with them the outward marks of theirdescent.Bythisunexampledconstancy have preserved themselves everywhere a distinct people. But of this constancy, can any better account be given than that it is the means by which God verifies the prediction of his Son? He has declared, that when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, the Jews shall be converted; and, therefore, through the whole course of their dispersion, they continue a distinct people. If the hand of Providence be not visible in these things, I cannot tell where it is to be found. See Newton on the Prophesies*.
* The reader will, I am sure, excuse my entering so largely and repeatedly into this subject, when he considers that it affords us one of the most striking external evidences of the truth of Christianity.