controlled by impulse and blind rage . They became satanic in their cruelty . In the family and in the nation , among the highest and the lowest classes alike , there was suspicion , envy , hatred , strife , rebellion , murder . There was no safety anywhere . Friends and kindred betrayed one another . Parents slew their children , and children their parents . The rulers of the people had no power to rule themselves .
Uncontrolled passions made them tyrants . The Jews had accepted false testimony to condemn the innocent Son of God . Now false accusations made their own lives uncertain . By their actions they had long been saying : " Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us ." Isaiah 30:11 . Now their desire was granted . The fear of God no longer disturbed them . Satan was at the head of the nation , and the highest civil and religious authorities were under his sway . The leaders of the opposing factions at times united to plunder and torture their wretched victims , and again they fell upon each other ' s forces and slaughtered without mercy . Even the sanctity of the temple could not restrain their horrible ferocity . The worshipers were stricken down before the altar , and the sanctuary was polluted with the bodies of the slain . Yet in their blind and blasphemous presumption the instigators of this hellish work publicly declared that they had no fear that Jerusalem would be destroyed , for it was God ' s own city . To establish their power more firmly , they bribed false prophets to proclaim , even while Roman legions were besieging the temple , that the people were to wait for deliverance from God . To the last , multitudes held fast to the belief that the Most High would interpose for the defeat of their adversaries . But Israel had spurned the divine protection , and now she had no defense . Unhappy Jerusalem ! rent by internal dissensions , the blood of her children slain by one another ' s hands crimsoning her streets , while alien armies beat down her fortifications and slew her men of war !
All the predictions given by Christ concerning the destruction of Jerusalem were fulfilled to the letter . The Jews experienced the truth of His words of warning : " With what measure ye mete , it shall be measured to you again ." Matthew 7:2 . Signs and wonders appeared , foreboding disaster and doom . In the midst of the night an unnatural light shone over the temple and the altar . Upon the clouds at sunset were pictured chariots and men of war gathering for battle . The priests ministering by night in the sanctuary were terrified by mysterious sounds ; the earth trembled , and a multitude of voices were heard crying : " Let us depart hence ." The great eastern gate , which was so heavy that it could hardly be shut by a score of men , and which was secured by immense bars of iron fastened deep in the pavement of solid stone , opened at midnight , without visible agency . --Milman, The History of the Jews , book 13 .
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