Jerusalem in Revolt

Herod's Kingdom (shown above) is split into three divisions to three of his sons, powers were much more limited than when under Herod. As Herod was the last to be called King, his three sons Archelaus, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip ruled respectively. All three eventually were sent into exile by the ROmans and the Herodian rulers were gradually replaced by Roman procurators. With all the shortcomings of the rulers their ineffective leadership, Roman's inexperienced government led to the rise of Jewish nationalism. Growing internal Jewish conflict resulted in the steady decline of law and order, 66 CE marked Jewish militant in open revolt against Rome. In symbol of their revolt against Rome. the Jewish minted their own coins as a way to declare their independence. 

Unfortunately the revolt came to an end in 67 CE with the guidance of Vespasian who wiped out the Jewish forces. Accordingly Vespasian became Emperor and left the revolt to son Titus. 

73 CE the Temple is destroyed. 

In times such as these cognitive dissonance strikes again. Vespasian instituted special tax on Jews as an incentive to renounce faith or support Rome and make it stronger. Therefore Judaism rooted itself in spiritual matters, they did not need a physical temple or place to practice Judaism just like Christianity. 

Masada

Rome made jewish captives build a ramp to Masada. 132 BCE marks the three year Bar-Kokhba revolt.Emperor Hadrian punished Jews bloodily, and rebuilt Jerusalem as a roman city. In response to the destruction of the Temple and conversion to ROman ways, synagogues were on the rise. 

Roman Jerusalem

Herodian Temple Mount

Roman Rule began in Palestine around 63 BCE. Pompey besieged Jerusalem and annexed it for Rome. Rome backed Herod as the King of Judea through Parthian invasion. From here the rise of Herod the Great starts, 37 BCE Herod gets Jerusalem from Parthians after siege. Herod now walks a thin line between pleasing the Jews and Romans. He is known as a "client king", meaning he wanted to please everyone on both sides. Herod the Great ultimately ruled from 37 to 4 BCE, and through this time was known to be extremely paranoid and impulsive. He murdered masses of people, even his own sons. In light of that Herod conducted many epic building projects. Among them lie the Herodian Temple Mount, 15 football fields long, with retaining walls 80 ft. tall, and stones thats were 40 plus ft weighing 100 tons.

Herod the Great although a good king constructively and economically got a bad wrap from the Jews who essentially hated him. Working both sides of the field did not fly with the Jews.

Good Herod: offered relief during famine, inanimate objects on coins, employed Jews through his building projects. Bad Herod: killed his own sons, family forcibly judaized , half worked for the jews and half for romans.

Hellenistic Jerusalem/Hasmonean Jerusalem

Alexander the Great coin

The persians for the first time in history started to use gold, silver, and bronze coins as currency and propaganda, hence Alexander the Great on a coin. 336-323 BCE, Alexander the Great defeats conquers everything including PAlestine. In 333 BCE, alexander the GReat also defeats King Darius at the Battle of Issus, followed by his death in 323 BCE. With all of his vast land his kingdom divides into the Ptolemies (Egyptains), and the Seleucids (Syrians). In short the Ptolemies captured Jeruslaem in 320 BCE, but then were beat by Antiochus III in 201 BCE. He advocated Hellenism and to "speak greek". 

The Hellenization of Jerusalem took place between 201-164 BCE. Every aspect of JEwish life was affected in that it conflicted with hellenizaton. The joining of the two is evident in Jewish funerary inscriptions which were done in Greek or In jewish homes were mosaics of Greek stories and characters.  The zodiac symbols were even assimilated into Jewish place of worship. Greeks basically took over in every way and turned the temple into a temple for Zeus! Some Jews welcomed it and other didn't and caused a REVOLT!

As the conservative Jews rebelled it was dubbed the Maccabean Revolt due to its leader Judas Maccabeus. They were finally successful by 165 BCE, and regained control of Jerusalem and the temple. The sacrificial system was resumed and in celebration they lit a candle which they had enough oil for one and by a miracle of God it lasted eight days to which established Hanukkah. Leaders descendants of "hasmon" restored the Golden Age! Hasmonean Rulers increasingly became hellenized to which they assumed office of high priest and King. They forcibly judaized surrounding regions. This caused a resurgence in Jerusalem's size and became a major urban center again. To conclude the Roman's came along and conquered by 63 BCE, this marks the end of Jewish self rule.

Persian Jerusalem

Cyrus' Cylinder

Persian Jerusalem includes the building of the second temple, 539-70 BCE. 

King Cyrus, ruler of the Persians, conquered the Babylonians, while the Judians were in exile. During this time of non-Davidic Kings, it was important to the "temporary" kings to portray themselves as liberators and not conquers. With all the change in JErusalem there consisted of three camps in Jerusalem. 1. The Jews who stayed in Jerusalem that had no skills and were poor. 2. The Jews who wanted to go back to Jerusalem. 3. Jews that wanted to stay in Babylon. This conflict between these groups made Jewish people turn against fellow Jewish. 

Biblically speaking there has to be a rationale for the break of David's Promise. In Isaiah, it states that King Cyrus was a foreign king that was anointed but was NOT a son of David. With this confusing time came the introduction of an evil counterpart as part of a rationalization for what was taking place. Satan begins to take blame for all BAD! Cyrus interpretation for his ruling was that God told him to take over...

Eventually a THIRD Temple was rebuilt between 520-515 BCE under Darius 1. Even with the temple rebuilt Judaism while in exile adapted ways to keep their faith even with the absence of the temple, through laws and holidays. Therefore was the temple even necessary? Poverty took over Jerusalem in this period and its population was small, but luckily a high priest comes and takes control and changes the understandings of Jerusalem since the first temple.