Cool Classical Quotes - The Lord and His Armies at the Siege of Jerusalem?

Two cornerstone historians of antiquity - Cornelius Tacitus and Titus Flavius Josephus (aka Yosef ben Matityahu) - record some fascinating supernatural events from before and during the Siege of Jerusalem (A.D. 70). Both lived in the 1st century A.D. and wrote shortly after the event (Tacitus in the early 100s, Josephus less than a decade after the event), making their joint testimony highly significant.

First, Tacitus:

Prodigies had occurred, which this nation, prone to superstition, but hating all religious rites, did not deem it lawful to expiate by offering and sacrifice. There had been seen hosts joining battle in the skies, the fiery gleam of arms, the temple illuminated by a sudden radiance from the clouds. The doors of the inner shrine were suddenly thrown open, and a voice of more than mortal tone was heard to cry that the Gods were departing. At the same instant there was a mighty stir as of departure. Some few put a fearful meaning on these events, but in most there was a firm persuasion, that in the ancient records of their priests was contained a prediction of how at this very time the East was to grow powerful, and rulers, coming from Judæa, were to acquire universal empire. These mysterious prophecies had pointed to Vespasian and Titus, but the common people, with the usual blindness of ambition, had interpreted these mighty destinies of themselves, and could not be brought even by disasters to believe the truth...

~ Publius Cornerlius Tacitus, Histories. Book V, Chapter 13. [I]

Josephus gives a fair bit more detail, corroborating and elaborating on certain facts Tacitus relates. I had to chop down the account to just the most relevant parts, but the full thing can be read at the citation afterwards:

Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation, but, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them. Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year. 

...

Besides these [odd happenings during the feast of unleavened bread], a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius, a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the temple,] as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, "Let us remove hence."

~ Titus Flavius Josephus, The War of the Jews. Book VI, Chapter 5, Section 3. [II]

Now, what are we to make of this? I for one take it as God's final act of ending the old 'temple order' and declaring the supremacy of Christ, using the Roman state as an instrument of judgement (just as He did the Babylonians). These heavenly armies witnessed in the sky commenced a sort of heavenly conquest, 'conquering' Jerusalem and preparing its occupation by the faithful, and Christ through them. 

I likewise lean towards (though am not yet fully convinced of) this being the fulfilment of Christ's statement, that some of the disciples would not taste death until they saw the Son of Man "coming in His kingdom" (Matt. 16:28). Did any of the disciples physically witness this event? Maybe, we can't be sure. Though I would wager that they most certainly at least heard of it, given how it reached the ears of someone as distant as Tacitus. In that sense, they did in fact 'see' the Son of Man in his kingdom.

But I am especially interested in a specific happening related by Josephus and corroborated by Tacitus.

Josephus:

Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the temple,] as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, "Let us remove hence."

Tacitus: 

The doors of the inner shrine were suddenly thrown open, and a voice of more than mortal tone was heard to cry that the Gods were departing. At the same instant there was a mighty stir as of departure.

This event is fascinating, and potentially key to understanding the state of Jerusalem post-Christ. It starts with the question "What were the voices?". Josephus states they were "of a great multitude", whilst Tacitus describes it as "a voice of more than mortal tone". They disagree on the number of voices, as well as whether they/it spoke in the third or first person. Perhaps Tacitus or his source(s) interpreted this 'multitude' of voices as just one grand voice, or Josephus/his sources interpreted one grand voice as that of many. And on the disagreement of person, it appears that Tacitus isn't giving a direct quote (although this is more or less determined by the interpretation of the translator; it's possible that he was), whilst Josephus is. Whereas Josephus gives the statement itself, Tacitus might just be describing the statement. Or, ignoring these sound reasons, the information just got corrupted over time, while preserving core facts.

Either way, this event is critical depending on how it is interpreted. Is it the Triune God? Tacitus would disagree, since he interprets it as the "gods". Though perhaps this is just his interpretation of what the voices are, assuming he isn't giving a quote. However, this would not jam with a strong point of the gospel accounts that God had left the temple and promised to destroy it. And this is why I actually agree with Tacitus' interpretation; there were gods - plural - inhabiting and subsequently abandoning the temple. This fits perfectly with understanding the heavenly armies as those of God; He was finishing his conquest of the old order, and the false deities who took it over between then and Christ's death were being driven out. And it makes sense that false deities would be occupying the temple after Yahweh had abandoned it; it's free real estate, and keeping the Jews confident in what was actually rebellion to Yahweh was an added bonus. That is, until Christ yeeted them out the front door and razed it to the ground.

Do you readers agree? Disagree? Give some comments below, or any posts this was shared through.

~~~

I - Tacitus - Latin text:

Evenerant prodigia, quae neque hostiis neque votis piare fas habet gens superstitioni obnoxia, religionibus adversa. visae per caelum concurrere acies, rutilantia arma et subito nubium igne conlucere templum. apertae repente delubri fores et audita maior humana vox excedere deos; simul ingens motus excedentium. quae pauci in metum trahebant: pluribus persuasio inerat antiquis sacerdotum litteris contineri eo ipso tempore fore ut valesceret Oriens profectique Iudaea rerum potirentur. quae ambages Vespasianum ac Titum praedixerat, sed vulgus more humanae cupidinis sibi tantam fatorum magnitudinem interpretati ne adversis quidem ad vera mutabantur.

Link to Latin text:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0079%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D13

Link to translation:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0080%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D13

II - Josephus - Greek text:

Τὸν γοῦν ἄθλιον δῆμον οἱ μὲν ἀπατεῶνες καὶ καταψευδόμενοι τοῦ θεοῦ τηνικαῦτα παρέπειθον, τοῖς δ᾽ ἐναργέσι καὶ προσημαίνουσι τὴν μέλλουσαν ἐρημίαν τέρασιν οὔτε προσεῖχον οὔτ᾽ ἐπίστευον, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἐμβεβροντημένοι καὶ μήτε ὄμματα μήτε ψυχὴν ἔχοντες τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ κηρυγμάτων παρήκουσαν, τοῦτο μὲν ὅτε ὑπὲρ τὴν πόλιν ἄστρον ἔστη ῥομφαίᾳ παραπλήσιον καὶ παρατείνας ἐπ᾽ ἐνιαυτὸν κομήτης, 

...

μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἑορτὴν οὐ πολλαῖς ἡμέραις ὕστερον, μιᾷ καὶ εἰκάδι Ἀρτεμισίου μηνός, φάσμα τι δαιμόνιον ὤφθη μεῖζον πίστεως: τερατεία δὲ ἂν ἔδοξεν οἶμαι τὸ ῥηθησόμενον, εἰ μὴ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς θεασαμένοις ἱστόρητο καὶ τὰ ἐπακολουθήσαντα πάθη τῶν σημείων ἦν ἄξια: πρὸ γὰρ ἡλίου δύσεως ὤφθη μετέωρα περὶ πᾶσαν τὴν χώραν ἅρματα καὶ φάλαγγες ἔνοπλοι διᾴττουσαι τῶν νεφῶν καὶ κυκλούμεναι τὰς πόλεις. κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἑορτήν, ἣ πεντηκοστὴ καλεῖται, νύκτωρ οἱ ἱερεῖς παρελθόντες εἰς τὸ ἔνδον ἱερόν, ὥσπερ αὐτοῖς ἔθος πρὸς τὰς λειτουργίας, πρῶτον μὲν κινήσεως ἔφασαν ἀντιλαβέσθαι καὶ κτύπου, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα φωνῆς ἀθρόας “μεταβαίνομεν ἐντεῦθεν.”

Link to Greek text:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=J.+BJ+6.5.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0147

Link to translation:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D6%3Awhiston+chapter%3D5%3Awhiston+section%3D3