Why was the Second Temple destroyed?
The destruction of the Second Temple was, without a doubt, the most injurious event in all of Jewish history. Two thousands years later, its consequences are still with us to this day. Even though today Jews can once again live in their own Land, without our Temple we are still not whole. Not only was the center of Jewish life obliterated, but the outrage was accompanied by its own “holocaust” where millions of our people lost their lives, were enslaved and exiled:
It is estimated that as many as one million Jews died in the Great Revolt against Rome. When people today speak of the almost two-thousand-year span of Jewish homelessness and exile, they are dating it from the failure of the revolt and the destruction of the Temple. Indeed, the Great Revolt of 66-70, followed some sixty years later by the Bar Kokhba revolt, were the greatest calamities in Jewish history prior to the Holocaust. In addition to the more than one million Jews killed, these failed rebellions led to the total loss of Jewish political authority in Israel until 1948. This loss in itself exacerbated the magnitude of later Jewish catastrophes, since it precluded Israel from being used as a refuge for the large numbers of Jews fleeing persecutions elsewhere. (Source: JewishVirtualLibrary.org)
Our sages have long agonized about the reasons G-d would allow such an event to befall our people. What was the cause of such a harsh punishment? Our sages have taught (Talmud, Yoma 9b) that the first Temple was destroyed because of following three things: sexual immorality, widespread murder and idolatry. The second Temple, however, the sages taught, was destroyed because of one singular reason: baseless hatred (sinat chinam). Gemora teaches that such a severe judgment was meted out despite the fact that Jews at the time occupied themselves with Torah, observed mitzvot and practiced charity. People would hate one another without a cause, slander their fellow Jews for having differing beliefs, hypocritically accuse each other of violating halachic standards, and be uncharitable to those from other Jewish sects who may not have been living up to their specific customs:
In the times of the second Bais HaMikdosh, the “murderers” of the time did not feel that what they were doing was wrong. They did not consider their murderous actions as transgressions. Rather, they viewed them as appropriate, and even a “mitzvah!” And why was that the case? When these people saw their brethren committing various transgressions, they said to themselves “These people are Sadducees; these people are apostates who deny the validity of the Torah and the supremacy of G-d. These people are rebellious and must die, as they legally deserve such!” Were these “righteous” murderers correct? No. (Rabbi Yehudah Prero, A Hate Worse Than Death)
It is said that the Messiah would come “in a generation that is totally innocent or totally guilty”. Yeshua called the generation of his day a “wicked and adulterous generation” (Mattityahu/Matthew 12:39). It was said of him that he was sent to save his people from their sins. We are also told that he too became a target of that same baseless hatred that the sages taught was prevalent at the time:
If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their scriptures: ‘They hated me without a cause.” (Yochanan/John 15:24-25)’
It is precisely in that environment of baseless hatred by a sinful generation that Messiah was rejected by the corrupt Rome-appointed Jerusalem leadership who were in charge of the Temple at that time. Yeshua foresaw what would happen to Jerusalem and to his beloved Beit Hamikdah within its walls:
As Yeshua drew near to the city of Jerusalem he wept over it saying “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side and level you and your children to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation [punishment]. (Luke 19: 41-44)
While Yeshua foretold the destruction of the Temple, he was certainly not the first prophet to make such a prediction or to give the reasons for it. Prophet Micah wrote the following prophecy concerning Jerusalem (notice the depiction of the corrupt leadership):
Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the L-RD and say, “Is not the L-RD among us? No disaster will come upon us. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.” (Micah 3:11-12)
Gene:
Beautifully written. Very moving. The connection to Yeshua’s saying in John 15 about being hated without cause nearly made me fall out of my chair.
This could be developed further into a short ethical booklet dealing with baseless hatred, rivarly, following Messiah in redemptive love as an alternative, etc.
Sorry. I think like a publisher. But if you had a mind to write such a booklet, I’d publish it.
Derek Leman
Mount Olive Press, don’t ya know
Well said, Gene.
Poignant and instructive.
Instructive because we in this generation will also see our cherished institutions destroyed in the judgment that our sins have invited. Though everyone is going to heaven, judgment is upon us. The Lord Jesus offers refuge in His kingdom just as He offered such in the 1st Century. How many will accept it…and how many will choose instead to cling to those institutions (whether they be church, country, or something else) and not to the Almighty?
Seek the secret place of His presence and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).
“Sorry. I think like a publisher. But if you had a mind to write such a booklet, I’d publish it.”
Thanks, Derek. I suppose that’s something for me to think about – thanks for the offer!
Great post!
“The destruction of the Second Temple was, without a doubt, the most injurious event in all of Jewish history.”
I’ve given this a lot of thought in the past. I believe that the destruction of the Temple in 70AD was an important event for all the world (most directly it affected the Jews). Although it was not fully realized at the time by the nations, the destruction of the second Temple would set in motion many, many things. Think of the destruction of the Temple in relation to Christianity and Islam alone (a lot to consider).
There’s only one other event in history that I consider to even come remotely close to the destruction of the temple in terms of historical impact (of these we see direct impacts on today—and continuing) and that is the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand by the Serbians. Out of this we see the direct cause of WW1, result of communism in Russia (setting up the Cold War), treaty of Versailles, a nearly direct cause for WW2 (predicted immediately following the signing of the treaty of Versailles), rise of the Nazi party, Holocaust, Cold War and creation of Israel (by way of half century of Zionist movement efforts in Europe). What I find interesting is that the events caused by the destruction of the second Temple percolated over ~2000 years, but the events following WW1 happened in rapid succession (about 40 years).
Good stuff, Gene.
Continuing the theme of Yochanan:
“They will ban you from the synagogue; in fact, the time will come when anyone who kills you will think he is serving God! They will do these things because they have understood neither the Father nor me.” (Yochanan 16:2, 3)
“It is precisely in that environment of baseless hatred by a sinful generation that Messiah was rejected by the corrupt Rome-appointed Jerusalem leadership who were in charge of the Temple at that time. Yeshua foresaw what would happen to Jerusalem and to his beloved Beit Hamikdah within its walls”
On a sidenote (based on the quote from above — and on a very basic level), I always find it interesting how many high priests were cycled through during this era. We were discussing it at an Aish/Torah Association meeting one shabbos morning and the number compared to the earlier years are quite significant.
Also, as Derek stated, your reference to Yochanan 15:24-25 is eye opening to say the least! What a test for the people. It reminds me of a similar example in regards to how G-d dealt with the issue Sodom and Gomorrah:
“So Hashem said: “Because the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and because their sin has been very grave, I will descend and see if they act in accordance with its outcry which as come to me — then desctruction! and if not, I will know.”
(Bereishis 18:20-21, Stone Ed.)
Ibn Ezra states that “the outcry” is in regards to the Sodomite rebellion against G-d or the outcry caused by it’s violence against the innocent. While Onkelos continues in regards to the statement “and if not, I will know” that if they do not persist in their evil ways, but repent I (G-d) will know what to do — He will punish them, but not destroy them.
Awesome post Gene!
“Also, as Derek stated, your reference to Yochanan 15:24-25 is eye opening to say the least! ”
What’s even more eye opening [or should be for many folks] is how much of the Oral Torah and other writings of our Sages mirror Yeshua’s own statements and his world/faith views.
I agree. A friend and I were talking about some references even in the Zohar that sounded extremely familiar!
For example, in the synopsis of Behar 14
(The secret of the servant and the secret of the son):
“We learn that one should be in the grade of the servant in order to perform the many kinds of works required; one would then be called, like Malchut, ‘master of the whole earth’. The grade of the son is where one strives to know his Father’s secrets and all the mysteries of his house, and he then has power over everything; no one can ever stop him from entering his Father’s presence at any time. In order to be both a servant and a son, one must undertake the service of prayer – such a one restores the entire secret of the Faith.”
Again, not only does this mirror Israel, but sounds much like Yeshua himself.
I wonder if you know just how literally the Rabbis meant the interpretation of how sinat chinam led to the second destruction.
They tell us that in the days of Roman oppression, a man gave a feast – maybe for his daughter’s wedding, I don’t know. This man had a friend named Kamtza and an enemy named Bar Kamtza. When he sent out his invitations, the delivery person got confused and gave Kamtza’s invitation to Bar Kamtza by mistake.
Bar Kamtza was overjoyed, thinking that his enemy had had a change of heart and that there could be peace between them, but when he arrived at the feast, the host got very angry and told him to leave immediately.
Bar Kamtza said “Please don’t embarrass me in front of everyone. I’ll pay you for my meal, just let me stay.” But his host wouldn’t permit it.
Bam Kamtza said “Please don’t do this. I’ll pay for the whole feast, just don’t humiliate me.” But the host insisted that he leave.
The host was an important man, and had a lot of religious leaders there – the Sanhedrin itself, if I’m not mistaken, and certainly a great many wise and influential men. These leaders, however, conferred among themselves while this dispute was in progress and decided not to intervene, relying on the Talmudic injunction that one ought not to rebuke someone in the course of a sin if one knows that the rebuke will be ignored. This injunction is intended to prevent the one being rebuked from committing the additional sin of getting angry at the rebuker. The leaders apparently thought that their rebuke would do no good, and only lead the host into additional sin.
What they forgot was that there were other people involved, not just the host. Bar Kamtza saw that the leadership refused to intervene and concluded that the whole religious structure was hypocritical. So he left the feast, went the city gates and opened them to the Roman army.
You see that the host’s sinat chinam, in the face of an opportunity to practice a good many virtues, did literally bring about the Second Temple’s downfall.
David, yes, I know this traditional story quite well. But thank you for sharing it here for the readers. The story teaches a powerful lesson and gives us a good midrashic background for the calamitous events. Of course the sages also tell us that baseless hatred was quite prevalent and ongoing in Israel at the time and they compare it with as prevalent but different sins that caused the destruction of the First Temple (Talmud, Yoma 9b). Which makes sense since G-d would not have allowed for Jerusalem to be destroyed just because of a singular dispute between a few folks.