Eusebius' Account of Jesus' Return at Temple Destruction

The destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE is a significant event in both Jewish and Christian traditions, often viewed through different interpretive lenses. Flavius Josephus records that Jerusalem was taken in the second year of Vespasian's reign, marking the second time of its desolation, though it had been captured five times previously ^[4]. The first temple, built by Solomon, was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar ^{[7, 9]}. After the return from Babylonian captivity, the Second Temple was rebuilt under Zerubbabel and Jeshua ^{[2, 5]}.

In Christian thought, Jesus' prophecy regarding the Temple's destruction is central. Matthew records Jesus stating, "There shall not be left here one stone upon another which shall not be thrown down" ^[10]. This prophecy is also found in Mark and Luke ^[15]. Jesus also spoke of destroying the temple and raising it in three days, which John's Gospel interprets as referring to the temple of his body and his resurrection ^{[1, 3, 11]}. Origen, an early Christian theologian, notes how Jesus combined discourse on the temple with that on his own body ^[11].

Early Christian writers, such as Tertullian, connected the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple to divine wrath following Jesus' crucifixion ^{[12, 13]}. Tertullian specifically links the overthrow of the Jewish nation to the generation after Jesus' suffering ^[12]. Augustine of Hippo also discusses Jesus' prophecy of the Temple's destruction, noting its fulfillment ^[10].

Jewish tradition, as seen in Midrash Rabbah, laments the Temple's destruction, comparing it to a garden whose spring was removed and its greenery turned white, or to Adam being banished from the Garden of Eden ^[14]. This perspective emphasizes the profound loss and banishment experienced by the people.

The destruction of the Temple is also understood by some as a precursor to the "revelation of Christ" or the "second advent of Christ" ^[6]. The expectation of Christ's speedy return was founded on passages like Matthew 24:29-30, 34 ^[6]. Josephus himself, in a note within The Wars of the Jews, suggests that the desolate country of Judea "lies ready for its old inhabitants the Jews, at their future restoration" ^[8].

Sources

John “John 2:19 (Geneva1599) — Iesus answered, and said vnto them, Destroy this Temple, and in three daies I will raise it vp againe.”
Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Temple, the Second — After the return from captivity, under Zerubbabel (q.v.) and the high priest Jeshua, arrangements were almost immediately made to reorganize the long-desolated kingdom. The body of pilgrims, forming a band of 42,360, including children, having completed the long and dreary journey of some four months, from the banks of the Euphrates to Jerusalem, were animated in all their proceeding by a strong religious impulse, and therefore one of their first cares was to restore their ancient worship by rebuilding the temple. On the invitation of Zerubbabel,”
Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Resurrection of Christ — One of the cardinal facts and doctrines of the gospel. If Christ be not risen, our faith is vain (1 Cor. 15:14). The whole of the New Testament revelation rests on this as an historical fact. On the day of Pentecost Peter argued the necessity of Christ's resurrection from the prediction in Ps. 16 (Acts 2:24-28). In his own discourses, also, our Lord clearly intimates his resurrection (Matt. 20:19; Mark 9:9; 14:28; Luke 18:33; John 2:19-22). The evangelists give circumstantial accounts of the facts connected with that event, and the apostles, ”
Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, CHAPTER 10, section 1: . That Whereas The City Of Jerusalem Had Been Five Times Taken Formerly, This Was The Second Time Of Its Desolation. A Brief Account Of Its History. 1. And thus was Jerusalem taken, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, on the eighth day of the month Gorpeius [Elul]. It had been taken five 34 times before, though this was the second time of its desolation; for Shishak, the king of Egypt, and after him Antiochus, and after him Pompey, and after them Sosius and Herod, took the city, but still preserved it; but before all thes”
Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Ezra, Book of — This book is the record of events occurring at the close of the Babylonian exile. It was at one time included in Nehemiah, the Jews regarding them as one volume. The two are still distinguished in the Vulgate version as I. and II. Esdras. It consists of two principal divisions: (1.) The history of the first return of exiles, in the first year of Cyrus (B.C. 536), till the completion and dedication of the new temple, in the sixth year of Darius Hystapes (B.C. 515), ch. 1-6. From the close of the sixth to the opening of the seventh chapter there is a bl”
Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Revelation of Christ — The second advent of Christ. Three different Greek words are used by the apostles to express this, (1) apokalupsis (1 Cor. 1;7; 2 Thess. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:7, 13); (2) parousia (Matt. 24:3, 27; 1 Thess. 2:19; James 5:7, 8); (3) epiphaneia (1 Tim. 6:14; 2 Tim. 1:10; 4:1-8; Titus 2:13). There existed among Christians a wide expectation, founded on Matt. 24:29, 30, 34, of the speedy return of Christ. (See [533]MILLENNIUM.)”
Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Against Apion, Introduction, section 51: exception, but is sometimes to be rendered "very ancient" only, as is the case in the like superlative degrees of other words also. [14] This number in Josephus, that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple in the eighteenth year of his reign, is a mistake in the nicety of chronology; for it was in the nineteenth. The true number here for the year of Darius, in which the second temple was finished, whether the second with our present copies, or the sixth with that of Syncellus, or the tenth with that of Eusebius, is very uncertain; so we h”
Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, CHAPTER 11, section 5: also may hence learn the true notion Josephus had of demons and demoniacs, exactly like that of the Jews and Christians in the New Testament, and the first four centuries. See Antiq. B. I. ch. 8. sect. 2; B. XI, ch. 2. sect. 3.] 12 (return) [ It is very remarkable that Titus did not people this now desolate country of Judea, but ordered it to be all sold; nor indeed is it properly peopled at this day, but lies ready for its old inhabitants the Jews, at their future restoration. See Literal Accomplishment of Prophecies, p. 77.] 13 (”
Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 15, section 8: relating, Isaiah 23.; Jeremiah 25:22; 27:3; 47:4; Ezekiel 26., 27., 28.: that seventy years after that destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, this city was in some measure revived and rebuilt, Isaiah 23:17, 18, but that, as the prophet Ezekiel had foretold, chap. 26:3-5, 14; 27: 34, the sea arose higher than before, till at last it over flowed, not only the neck of land, but the main island or peninsula itself, and destroyed that old and famous city for ever: that, however, there still remained an adjoining smaller island, once connecte”
Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 6: Augustine — Homilies on the Gospels — CHAP. LXXVI.--OF THE HARMONY IN RESPECT OF THE ORDER OF NARRATION SUBSISTING BETWEEN MATTHEW AND THE OTHER TWO EVANGELISTS IN THE ACCOUNTS GIVEN OF THE OCCASION ON WHICH HE FORETOLD THE DESTRUCTION OF: 146. Matthew proceeds with his history in the following terms: "And Jesus went out and departed from the temple; and His disciples came to Him for to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another which shall not be thrown down."(”
Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 9: Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Origen's Commentaries — 21. WHAT THE SON WAS RAISED UP BY THE FATHER. THE CHARGE BROUGHT AGAINST JESUS AT HIS TRIAL WAS BASED ON THE INCIDENT NOW BEFORE US. (part 1): What I have said is not allen to the passage now engaging us, dealing as it does with the temple and those cast out from it, of which the Saviour says, "The zeal of thy house shall devour Me;" and with the Jews who asked that a sign should be showed them, and the Saviour's answer to them, in which He combines the discourse on the temple with that on His own body, and says, "Destroy this te”
Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 4: Tertullian IV, Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen — CHAP. XXII.: But, according to Celsus, "the Christians, making certain additional statements to those of the Jews, assert that the Son of God has been already sent on account of the sins of the Jews; and that the Jews hating chastised Jesus, and given him gall to drink, have brought upon themselves the divine wrath." And any one who likes may convict this statement of falsehood, if it be not the case that the whole Jewish nation was overthrown within one single generation after Jesus had undergone these sufferings at their hands. Fo”
Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 3: Tertullian — CHAP. VIII.--OF THE TIMES OF CHRIST'S BIRTH AND PASSION, AND OF JERUSALEM'S DESTRUCTION. (part 2): shall convert, and shall be built into height and entrenchment, and the times shall be renewed: and after these lxii hebdomads shall the anointing be exterminated, and shall not be; and the city and the holy place shall he exterminate together with the Leader, who is making His advent; and they shall be cut short as in a deluge, until (the) end of a war, which shall be cut short unto ruin. And he shall confirm a testament in many. In one hebdomad and the half of the hebdom”
Midrash Rabbah (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Midrash Rabbah, Eichah Rabbah 2:10: “He stripped His shrine like a garden; He destroyed His place of assembly. The Lord caused festival and Shabbat to be forgotten in Zion and He scorned king and priest in His furious wrath” (Lamentations 2:6). “He stripped His shrine [ suko ] like a garden.” Rabbi Ḥama ben Rabbi Ḥanina said: Like a garden whose spring was removed and its greenery turned white. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: Like Adam the first man, just as it says: “He banished the man…” (Genesis 3:24). 92 Just as Adam was banished from the Garden of Eden, Israel was banished from the Temple ”
Mark (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Mark 12 (introduction): CHRIST'S PROPHECY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM, AND WARNINGS SUGGESTED BY IT TO PREPARE FOR HIS SECOND COMING. ( = Mat. 24:1-51; Luke 21:5-36). (Mark 13:1-37) And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him--The other Evangelists are less definite. "As some spake," says Luke (Luk 21:5); "His disciples came to Him," says Matthew (Mat 24:2). Doubtless it was the speech of one, the mouthpiece, likely, of others. Master--Teacher. see what manner of stones and what buildings are here--wondering probably, how so massi”

Ask Your Own Question