The God away from his city: the fall of Jerusalem in 70 ce. Flavius Josephus’ view from Bellum Iudaicum

Once the first Jewish revolt (66-70 CE) was over, the kohen Yosef ben Matityahu – known since 71 CE in Flavian-era Rome as Titus Flavius Iosephus – wrote his first work entitled Bellum Iudaicum (75-79 CE) to provide the Jews and Romans with an exposition of the events he had experienced as a former general of Galilee. However, BJ is more than a military account. It is the last page of the sacred history of the ἔθνος τῶν Ἰουδαίων before the Temple was destroyed. The destruction – according to Josephus – was due to the ἀσέβεια of the rebel groups who generated στάσις and impurity. They desecrated the holy city and made themselves guilty of injustice and contaminatio in the eyes of God. For that reason, Jerusalem could no longer be his seat. God’s remoteness – in the form of divine punishment as χόλος τοῦ θεοῦ – is actually the highest form of justice. God turned away, and the Romans became the executors of his will.