How many times has Jerusalem been destroyed?

Jerusalem was taken from the Jebusites and the city burnt, Judges 1:8; but the Jebusites were not all driven out, for some were found dwelling in a part of Jerusalem called the fort, when David began to reign over the whole of the tribes. This stronghold was taken, and Jerusalem became the royal city; but the great interest that attaches to it arises from its being the city of Jehovah's election on the one hand, and the place of Jehovah's temple, where mercy rejoiced over judgement. See ZION and MORIAH. In Solomon's reign it was greatly enriched, and the temple built. At the division of the kingdom it was the chief city of Judah. It was plundered several times, and in B.C. 588 the temple and city were destroyed by the king of Babylon. In B.C. 536, after 70 years (from B.C. 606, when the first captivity took place, Jer. 25:11-12; Jer. 29:10), Cyrus made a declaration that God had charged him to build Him a house at Jerusalem, and the captives were allowed to return for the purpose. In B.C. 455 the commission to build the city was given to Nehemiah. It existed, under many vicissitudes, until the time of the Lord, when it was part of the Roman empire. Owing to the rebellion of the Jews it was destroyed by the Romans, A.D. 70.

Its ruins had a long rest, but in A.D. 136 the city was rebuilt by Hadrian and called Ælia Capitolina. A temple to the Capitoline Jupiter was erected on the site of the temple. Jews were forbidden, on pain of death, to enter the city, but in the fourth century they were admitted once a year. Constantine after his conversion destroyed the heathen temples in the city. In A.D. 614 Jerusalem was taken and pillaged by the Persians. In 628 it was re-taken by Heraclius. Afterwards it fell into the hands of the Turks. In 1099 it was captured by the Crusaders, but was re-taken by Saladin. In 1219 it was ceded to the Christians, but was subsequently captured by Kharezmian hordes. In 1277 it was nominally annexed to the kingdom of Sicily. In 1517 it passed under the sway of the Ottoman Sultan, and became a part of the Turkish empire. It has already sustained about thirty sieges, and although in the hands of the Jews now its desolations are not yet over!

Now to what event does this Psalm refer? Till the days of Nebuchadnezzar the Temple, built by Solomon, was in existence. To no event before the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans can reference here have been made. Twice has the Temple been destroyed — first by the Chaldeans, centuries before Christ; and the second time by the Romans, some years after the Crucifixion, but on the same day of the year, it is said, on which the Chaldeans set fire to it. Between these two epochs the House, though desecrated, was never burnt, for in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes the doors of the Temple only were burnt. The House, however, was not. So 1 Macc. 3:45 and 2 Macc. 1:8, 8:33, to which some would refer, cannot really be cited as fulfilling Ps. 74:7. It was not in the interest of Antiochus to destroy it. His purpose was to profane it. This he did.

Divine judgment, which had threatened so long, had finally fallen upon Jerusalem. It was executed by the divinely chosen instrument, Nebuchadnezzar. Three times he came against Jerusalem. In 606 B.C. he appeared the first time. This is the visitation mentioned here. In 598 he came again and carried away more captives, including Ezekiel. In 587 he burned the city and the temple.

The rejected Messiah pronounces sentence: most solemn to hear for believing Jews who justly regarded the temple as the great external or public witness of the one true God and His worship on earth. It had been destroyed before, after reigning sons of David apostasized and made it the seat of Gentile idols. But had not there been a gracious return (not of Israel, it is true, but) of a Jewish remnant from Babylon to rebuild the city and temple and to await Messiah? Alas! now, He whom they believed to be the anointed Son of David doomed it to another demolition which should not linger, when not the first (Babylon) but the last Gentile world-power (Rome) should execute it. Its destruction was not because of idols, but because the Jews were first to refuse and then by Gentiles, crucify their own Jehovah-Messiah. These were two impeachments which Isaiah so long ago had predicted against the chosen people (vv. 40-48 and 49-57).

Verses 1-9. The Word of God comes true; the prophecy of Jeremiah is vindicated! The mighty army of Nebuchadnezzar returned to the city; for many months the siege goes on under indescribable suffering. How horrible it must have been! Then the city fell and the victors rushed in; the work of slaughter and burning began. According to Jewish tradition it was on the ninth day of the month Ab. On the same date in the year 70 of our era, the city was destroyed again and the temple burned, announced some forty years before by one greater than Jeremiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Ever since, Jerusalem has been trodden down by the Gentiles and is so still. The prophetic Word tells us of a final great tribulation which will sweep over the land, and the restored, unbelieving nation, and once more armies will gather before the city.

Zedekiah tried to escape with his men of war, but is captured. Cruelly his boys are slaughtered in his sight--the last thing his eyes beheld, for immediately after his eyes were put out. Bound with chains he is led to Babylon. All the houses of Jerusalem go up in flames; the walls are demolished and the remnant of the people are carried away prisoners (52:4-16). The poorest are permitted to remain and were treated mercifully. God remembers the poor and they are spared. For all we know, these poor people, who had nothing, were the godly, those who wept over the conditions and who cried to God for help. Their prayer, the prayer of the needy, was answered.

Three years later, Judah revolted and Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem. In B.C. 599 the king and many captives, with the treasures of the temple, were taken to Babylon: this is called 'the great captivity.' In B.C. 588 Nebuchadnezzar again besieged Jerusalem, burnt the temple, and destroyed the city. He also took Tyre, B.C. 573, after a siege of thirteen years, for which "he had no wages, nor his army" (the inhabitants having escaped with their riches by sea); but God rewarded him with the spoils of Egypt, which he conquered. 2 Kings 24, 2 Kings 25; 2 Chr. 36; Ezek. 29:18-20.

Let it be observed that siege is laid by the Assyrian with all the nations who own him as leader against Jerusalem, and that the siege is partially successful, for half the city is taken. Nothing like this has ever been since Zechariah's day: still less does anything in history resemble what follows, as we shall see presently. It was not so when Ptolemy Soter took the city about B.C. 320, nor when Antiochus the Great took it B.C. 203, nor again B.C. 199, when Scopus the Egyptian general took it once more, nor the following year when it yielded to Antiochus, nor even when it was pillaged B.C. 170 by Antiochus Epiphanes, nor two years later under the frightful efforts of his army under Apollonius to destroy the city and the people, nor after that when his emissary Athenaeus profaned the sanctuary, and set up heathenism, with the utmost scorn to the law, which was followed by the exploits of the Maccabees, the issue being under Simon that the foreigner was expelled B.C. 142, and Acra demolished, as is commonly known. Under John Hyrcanus, the Syrian king Antiochus Sidetes was obliged to abandon the siege. Passing over internal or family disputes which have no possible resemblance, and the intervention of Aretas, it is impossible to identify with the prophecy Pompey's capture of the temple B.C. 63, nor Crassus' plunder of the city B.C. 54, nor the Parthian surprise B.C. 40. Herod's siege was more similar perhaps, but essentially distinct, as we shall see by and by. Neither its final destruction by Titus, nor the move of Bar-Cochba under Hadrian, calls for lengthened remarks, as they are obviously different. Nothing since bears the smallest likeness to the prophecy.

When the Roman power came into the ascendant, Israel and Judah were not saved. Pompey captured Jerusalem; and afterwards Titus not only captured but destroyed the city, and the Jews were scattered again.

The chief priests and the Pharisees took counsel to put Jesus to death because said they, "If we let Him thus alone … the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation." To get rid of Him they pretended loyalty to the Roman Caesar, but their hypocrisy recoiled upon their guilty heads and the very thing that they feared happened to them thirty-six years after they had expressed that fear. Titus reduced the city and its temple to ashes and the foundations of the sacred edifice were ploughed up by the Roman soldiers. Thus, without knowing what they did, literally fulfilling the Lord's own words, that "not one stone should be left upon another that should not be thrown down." The aged and infirm of those left alive in the city were killed, the children under seventeen were sold as slaves, and the rest were sent, some to the mines in Egypt, some to grace the triumph of Titus at Rome, and others scattered to various parts of the Empire. But it was not until the reign of Hadrian A.D. 135 that the people who had regathered in the ruined city were finally dispersed. For two years the insurgent Jews held out against the Romans, fighting with the courage of despair. But worn out by famine and disease they were compelled to yield. Their historians say that the Romans "waded to their horses' bridles in blood, which flowed with the fury of a mountain torrent"; 580,000 are said to have fallen by the sword, while the number of victims from other causes was countless. Hadrian determined to obliterate Jerusalem as a city, the ruins that Titus had left were razed to the ground, and again was the ploughshare passed over "as a sign of perpetual desolation," according to the desolator, but fulfilling the prophecy of Micah uttered nine centuries before, "Therefore shall Zion for your sake be a ploughed field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest (Mic. 3:12).

During Jehoiachin's short reign a second attack took place in 597 BC during which 10,000 people were led captive and brought to Babylon. Under Zedekiah's reign, finally, Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in 586 BC and the remaining people carried off to Babylon. Jeremiah's prophecy was thus fulfilled (2 Chron. 36:21).