"Let us go up at once, and possess the land; for we are well able to overcome it," shouted Joshua and Caleb, after they spent 40 days spying out the Promised Land.
But the other ten spies gave a bad report, causing the Israelites to lose heart.
This sad day was Tisha B'Av - the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av.
As a result of their doubt, the Israelites wandered in the desert 40 years.
Tisha B'Av in the year 587 B.C. was the day the Babylonians destroyed Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, and carried the Tribe of Judah into captivity.
The Jews that returned from the Babylonian Captivity to Jerusalem built the Second Temple circa 516 B.C., which was expanded by King Herod circa 19 B.C.
Rome's destruction of the Jerusalem began in 66 A.D., when Roman Emperor Nero appointed General Vespasian to put down a revolt in Judea.
Soon after Nero's order, Rome experienced chaos with the year of four emperors.
Nero committed suicide in 68 A.D.
His successor, Galba, was assassinated within 8 months, in 69 A.D.
His successor, Otho, committed suicide within 2 months.
His successor, Vitellius, was executed within 8 months.
Vespasian was the next Emperor and his son, Titus, continued the conquest of Judea.
Titus surrounded Jerusalem and starved inhabitants for months.
Titus ordered Jewish deserters from Jerusalem to be crucified around the walls.
By the end of July, 70 A.D., the Roman Army broke through the walls.
The Second Temple was destroyed on Tisha B'Av, 70 A.D.
By September 8, 70 A.D., all of Jerusalem was completely conquered.
Historian Josephus recorded that over a million Jews were killed in the siege.
According to historian Eusebius, Romans hunted down and killed all descendants of the royal line of David.
The Jewish Temple was so completely destroyed that only the foundation stones of the retaining wall of the Temple Mount were left, which are the very bottom rows of the Wailing Wall.
Jewish Temple treasures were carried off to Rome, as shown on the Arch of Titus (completed in 81 A.D. by Titus' brother, Emperor Domitian.)
The treasures were used to finance the building of Rome's Colosseum.
The Colosseum was named after the nearby Colossus of Nero, a 100 foot high bronze statue, which after Nero's death, Emperor Vespasian renamed Colossus Solis after the Roman sun god Apollo.
This was similar to the 100 foot high bronze Colossus Statue of Rhodes depicting the Greek son god Helios.
France's gift of The Statue of Liberty-the New Colossus was modeled after it.
Emperor Vespasian caught a slight illness in 79 A.D. which led to severe diarrhea and death.
His last words were: "Oh dear! I think I'm becoming a god!"
His son, Titus, became the next Emperor.
According to the Josephus:
"Rufus was left general of the army by Titus ... The emperor commanded them to dig up the whole city and the Temple ... Thus those that digged it up laid all level, that it should never be inhabited, to be a witness to such as should come thither."
13th century Jewish philosopher, Maimonides, in Tract, Taanith, c. 4 (Talmudic Chronicles; Clarke's Commentaries):
"On that ninth day of the month Av, fatal for vengeance, the wicked Turnus Rufus, of the children of Edom, ploughed up the temple, and the places round about it, that the saying might be fulfilled, Zion shall be ploughed as a field ... The very foundations of the temple were digged up, according to the Roman custom."
Titus was Emperor for only two months when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. The volcanic eruption destroyed the Bay of Naples, including the cities of Herculaneum and the immoral resort city of Pompeii.
Thousands of Romans were buried alive under feet of volcanic ash.
Then, in the spring of 80 A.D., the city of Rome caught fire.
Flames burned out of control for three days and nights destroying much of Capitoline Hill, the Temple of Jupiter, Pantheon, and Pompey's Theater.
Then followed the worst outbreak of plague that Rome had yet endured.
In spite of all this, Titus insisted on dedicating the Colosseum to commemorate his victories in the Jewish wars.
For 100 days, thousands were killed in executions and gladiatorial fights, in addition to 5,000 animals.
Immediately following the games, Titus died in 81 A.D., having been in office just two years.
He is rumored to have been poisoned on orders of his brother, Domitian, who became the next emperor.
In 135 A.D., on the date Tisha B'Av, Roman Emperor Hadrian had another 500,000 Jews massacred at the final Battle of Betar during Bar Kokhba's revolt.
Emperor Hadrian believed the source of Jewish rebellion was their faith, so he executed Jewish scholars, prohibited the Torah and the Hebrew calendar, and burned the sacred scroll on the Temple Mount.
In his attempt to completely erase Jewish history from the land, Emperor Hadrian changed the name of Judea to "Syria Palaestina."
This is the origin of the region being referred to as "Palestine."
Hadrian also changed the name of Jerusalem to "Aelia Capitolina," and banned Jews from entering on pain of death.
Eusebius wrote in his History of the Church, written around 313 A.D. (ser. II, vol. I, book IV, chapter VI):
"The Last Siege of the Jews Under Hadrian: The whole nation was prohibited from this time on by a decree, and by the commands of Hadrian, from ever going up to the country about Jerusalem.
For the emperor gave orders that they should not even see from a distance the land of their fathers. Such is the account of Aristo of Pella.
And thus, when the city had been emptied of the Jewish nation and had suffered the total destruction of its ancient inhabitants, it was colonized by a different race, and the Roman city which subsequently arose changed its name and was called Aelia, in honor of the emperor Aelius Hadrian."
Cassius Dio wrote in Roman History, written around 211 A.D. (69.12):
"At Jerusalem, Hadrian founded a city in place of the one which had been razed to the ground, naming it Aelia Capitolina, and on the site of the temple of the god he raised a new temple to Jupiter.
... This brought on a war of no slight importance nor of brief duration, for the Jews deemed it intolerable that foreign races should be settled in their city and foreign religious rites planted there."
Eusebius wrote in Demonstratio Evangelica (8.3; 405, circa 314 - 318 AD):
"Jerusalem ... is even now like a quarry, all the inhabitants of the city choosing stones from its ruins as they will for private as well as public buildings.
And it is sad for the eyes to see stones from the Temple itself, and from its ancient sanctuary and holy place, used for the building of idol temples, and of theatres for the populace."
Emperor Hadrian's reign saw the beginning of the end of Roman expansion.
Shortly after Hadrian, the Roman Empire transitioned to maintaining its borders, then began contracting.
Hadrian's Wall across the whole of Britain marked the Empire's furthest extent, except for the brief 20 year period of Antonine's Wall.
Around 165 A.D., the "Antonine Plague" broke out, which according to Roman historian Dio Cassius, killed 2,000 a day, devastating the Roman army, and leaving an estimated 5 million dead.
After Constantine became Emperor, for the next three centuries, Jews were allowed to enter Jerusalem once a year to pray at the Western Wall on Tisha B'Av.
Jerusalem was under the control of the Byzantine Empire till 614 A.D., when the Sassanid Persian Empire, together with a force of Jewish soldiers, gained control.
For a brief and turbulent period, 614-630 A.D., Jerusalem had autonomy, till it was retaken by the Byzantine Empire.
This also was short-lived, as in 638 A.D., the Islamic Caliph Umar captured Jerusalem.
In 691, Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ordered the Dome of the Rock mosque built on the site of the Second Jewish Temple which was destroyed by the Romans.
Over the following centuries, the Land of Israel was invaded or occupied many more times:
- 750 A.D. Abbasid Caliphate
- 909 A.D. Fatimid Caliphate
- 1071 A.D. Seljuk Turks
- 1099 A.D. Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
- 1187 A.D. Ayyubid Sultanate
- 1260 A.D. Mongolian Empire
- 1291 A.D. Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt
- 1517 A.D. Ottoman Sultanate
- 1660 A.D. Druze Dynasty
- 1799 A.D. French Napoleon
- 1844 A.D. Tanzimat Ottoman Empire
- 1864 A.D. Ottoman Vilayet of Syria
On Tisha B'Av in 1290 AD, Edward I of England issued the Edict of Expulsion, expelling all Jews from England.
In 1492, King Ferdinand ordered all Jews to leave Spain by Tisha B'Av.
For centuries, people across the world desired to pilgrimage to Jerusalem, including Abraham Lincoln.
The Library of Congress has a scrapbook with an account by Reverend N.W. Miner of Springfield, who officiated Lincoln's burial, in which are recalled President Lincoln's last words while at Ford's Theater with his wife:
"Mrs. Lincoln informed me that ... the very last moments of his conscious life were spent in conversation with her about his future plans ...
He said he wanted to visit the Holy Land and see those places hallowed by the footprints of the Saviour. He was saying there was no city he so much desired to see as Jerusalem."
Mark Twain, in his book Innocents Abroad, wrote of his 1867 trip to the Middle East, where he described Syria under the Ottoman Turkish Empire:
"Then we called at the tomb of Mahomet's children and at ... the mausoleum of the five thousand Christians who were massacred in Damascus in 1861 by the Turks.
They say those narrow streets ran blood for several days, and that men, women and children were butchered indiscriminately and left to rot by hundreds all through the Christian quarter; they say, further, that the stench was dreadful.
... All the Christians who could get away fled from the city, and the Mohammedans would not defile their hands by burying the 'infidel dogs.'
... The thirst for blood extended to the high lands of Hermon and Anti-Lebanon,
... and in a short time twenty-five thousand more Christians were massacred and their possessions laid waste ..."
Twain added:
"How they hate a Christian in Damascus! -- and pretty much all over Turkeydom as well. And how they will pay for it when Russia turns her guns upon them again!
It is soothing to the heart to abuse England and France for interposing to save the Ottoman Empire from the destruction it has so richly deserved for a thousand years ..."
Twain continued:
"It hurts my vanity to see these pagans refuse to eat of food that has been cooked for us; or to eat from a dish we have eaten from; or to drink from a goatskin which we have polluted with our Christian lips, except by filtering the water through a rag which they put over the mouth of it or through a sponge! ...
... These degraded Turks and Arabs ... When Russia is ready to war with them again, I hope England and France will not find it good breeding or good judgment to interfere."
Twain wrote in Innocents Abroad, chapter 42:
"If ever an oppressed race existed, it is this one we see fettered around us under the inhuman tyranny of the Ottoman Empire.
I wish Europe would let Russia annihilate Turkey a little--not much, but enough to make it difficult to find the place again without a divining-rod or a diving-bell."
Mark Twain wrote in Innocents Abroad, chapter 56:
"Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes.
Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies ... about whose borders nothing grows but weeds, and scattering tufts of cane, and that treacherous fruit that promises refreshment to parching lips, but turns to ashes at the touch."
In Innocents Abroad, chapter 53, Twain described the condition of Jerusalem under Ottoman Muslim rule:
"Palestine is desolate and unlovely ... Rags, wretchedness, poverty and dirt, those signs and symbols that indicate the presence of Moslem rule more surely than the crescent-flag itself, abound ...
Jerusalem is mournful, and dreary, and lifeless. I would not desire to live here ...
... The Moslems watch the Golden Gate with a jealous eye, and an anxious one, for they have an honored tradition that when it falls, Islamism will fall and with it the Ottoman Empire.
It did not grieve me any to notice that the old gate was getting a little shaky."
Twain wrote in Innocents Abroad, chapter 56:
"Renowned Jerusalem itself, the stateliest name in history, has lost all its ancient grandeur ... the wonderful temple which was the pride and the glory of Israel, is gone, and the Ottoman crescent is lifted above the spot where, on that most memorable day in the annals of the world, they reared the Holy Cross."
In 1917, during World War I, Britain issued the Balfour Declaration establishing the Jewish homeland.
The United Nations was created, in part, to protect Jews after the Nazi holocaust.
One of the first acts of the U.N. was to recognize the State of Israel, May 14, 1948, "a nation born in a day."
In 1967, after the Six Day War, Jerusalem was once again under Jewish control.
In 1973, Israel maintained its independence after the Yom Kippur War.
Jerusalem was reaffirmed as Israel's capital with "The Basic Law: Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel," passed in 1980.
Despite this, the U.N. Security Council threatened to divide Jerusalem and take a third of Israel to create a "Palestinian" State.
Just as the Roman Empire experienced disasters after it forced Jews from their land, some consider it more than a coincidence that certain disasters followed more recent attempts by the United States to force Jews to give up land.
On October 30, 1991, President George H.W. Bush signed the Oslo Accord pressuring Israel to give "land for peace."
The next day, "The Perfect Storm" hit New England causing damages over $100 million, including 30 foot waves demolishing the home of President George H.W. Bush at Kennebunkport, Maine.
On August 23, 1992, President George H.W. Bush pressured Israel with the Madrid "land for peace" agreement.
The same day, Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida causing $30 billion in damages, destroying over 180,000 homes.
On January 16, 1994, President Bill Clinton met in Geneva with Syria's President Hafez el-Assad to discuss Israel giving up the Golan Heights in exchange for peace.
Within 24 hours a 6.9 Earthquake devastated Southern California.
On January 21, 1998, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was snubbed at the White House when President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright refused to have lunch with him. The same day, the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal erupted.
On September 28, 1998, Secretary of State Albright detailed another "land for peace" agreement requiring Israel to surrender 13 percent of the West Bank and Gaza.
President Clinton met with Yasser Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, followed by Arafat telling the United Nations there would soon be a Palestinian State.
The same day, Hurricane Georges hit the Gulf Coast causing $1 billion in damages.
On October 15, 1998, Yassar Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu met in Maryland to discuss Israel giving up 13 percent of the West Bank and Gaza in exchange for "peace."
Two days later, tornadoes hit Texas leaving $1 billion in damages.
On December 12, 1998, President Clinton arrived in the Palestinian area to discuss Israel giving up "land for peace."
The same day, President Clinton was impeached.
On May 3, 1999, Yasser Arafat had scheduled a press conference to announce a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital.
The same day, one of the most powerful tornado storms to hit the United States whipped through Oklahoma and Kansas.
On June 8, 2001, President George W. Bush sent Secretary Tenet to Jerusalem with a proposal to exchange land for a "Roadmap to Peace."
The same day, tropical Storm Allison hit Texas causing $7 billion in damage and closing George Bush Airport for two days.
As part of a U.S. brokered "disengagement" deal, on Tisha B'Av, 2005, Jews began to be forcibly evacuated from Gaza.
Instead of "land of peace," when Hamas took over Gaza, they began digging more tunnels and firing thousands of rockets into Israel.
The last Jewish residents were dragged out on August 22, 2005. The very next day, a tropical depression in the Atlantic turned into Hurricane Katrina and headed straight for New Orleans, forcing tens of thousands to evacuate.
Property damage in New Orleans exceeded $81 billion. Nearly 2,000 people died. It was one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history.
Just two weeks after Jewish residents were forcibly removed from Gaza, followed by Hurricane Katrina, President Bush delivered a Day of Prayer and Remembrance address, September 8, 2005:
"Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst natural disasters in our Nation's history and has caused unimaginable devastation and heartbreak throughout the Gulf Coast Region ...
Communities ... decimated ... Lives ... lost ... Hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans are suffering great hardship."
Though not a call to repentance as past Presidents had proclaimed, President Bush did end his Day of Prayer and Remembrance with the words:
"To honor the memory of those who lost their lives, to provide comfort and strength to families of the victims ...
I call upon all Americans to pray to Almighty God and to perform acts of service ... Across our Nation, many selfless deeds reflect the promise of the Scripture:
'For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in.'"
The word "Islam" means submission to the will of Allah. A "Muslim" is one who has submitted to the will of Allah.
The Islamic concept of "peace" is when the world submits to will of Allah. In other words, to fundamental Islamists, "world peace" means "world Islam."
A moderate Muslim believes the world will submit to Allah later, maybe in the distant future, maybe at the end of the world, or maybe even figuratively.
An Islamist, or fundamentalist Muslim, believes the world should submit to Allah now, and they want to help make it happen.
The Islamist concept is -- when your enemy shows fear and weakness, that is Allah giving them to you -- it is an indicator Allah wants you to attack them.
When an enemy is forced to negotiate, especially to gain the release of hostages, it is a sign of weakness.
The Islamist concept of "treaty" is "hudna," which is -- when you are weak make treaties until you grow strong enough to disregard them."
British philosopher Thomas Hobbes wrote of this in Leviathan, 1651 (pt. 1, ch. 13):
"Force, and fraud, are in war the two cardinal virtues."
On December 6, 2017, President Donald J. Trump had the United States officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel:
"My announcement today marks the beginning of a new approach to conflict between Israel and the Palestinians ...
I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel ...
This is a long-overdue step to advance the peace process and to work towards a lasting agreement.
... Israel is a sovereign nation with the right like every other sovereign nation to determine its own capital ...
It was 70 years ago that the United States, under President Truman, recognized the State of Israel. Ever since then, Israel has made its capital in the city of Jerusalem — the capital the Jewish people established in ancient times ...
Today, Jerusalem is ... the heart of one of the most successful democracies in the world."
Numbers 24:9:
"Whoever blesses Israel will be blessed, And whoever curses Israel will be cursed." (Good News Translation)
Psalm 122:6:
"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee."
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Image Credits: Public Domain; Artist: Francesco Hayez (1791–1882); Solon; Date: 1867; Collection: Gallerie dell'Accademia; room 11; Accession number; 756 (Gallerie dell'Accademia); English: Venice, Accademia di Belle Arti, donated by the artist in 1868; https://www.gallerieaccademia.it/en/destruction-temple-jerusalem ; This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. You must also include a United States public domain tag to indicate why this work is in the public domain in the United States; Photograph: Taken on 9 May 2023; Author: Didier Descouens; The work of art itself is in the public domain; the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer; This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1928; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:(Venice)_La_distruzione_del_tempio_di_Gerusalemme_-Francesco_Hayez_-_gallerie_Accademia_Venice.jpg
Thank you for speaking and sharing historical truth, bringing to light what has really happened.
God will have the last Word! Thanks, Bill for the history lesson. 🙏🙏😇