Chapter 35: 

Daniel Chapter 11: Verse 15. 

Judea - Rome, Nero, Vespasian, and Titus (AD 54 to AD 70). 

This verse has in it an involved set of people, during an involved period of Roman history. This verse 15 in its first line, sets down the story with the "cart before the horse", as it were. Because, in doing so it gives us a "time" period in history to establish who we are talking about, when we unravel these words. The "cart before the horse" speaks its first line, which says. "SO THE KING OF THE NORTH SHALL COME AND CAST UP A MOUNT".

As I have already told you reader in verse 14, at the mention of the "South" we are dealing with Judea.

Here in verse 15 also, we are still dealing with the land of Judea in the South. With those words of, "cast up a mount", they give us the "season" of which date in history we must work with. That "mount" was "cast up" by the Romans around the main part of the city of Jerusalem. The Tower of Antonia, the Palace of Herod and the Temple Precincts. This "mount" was built during the siege of Jerusalem when the Jewish war was under the command of Vespasian and Titus, between 67 AD to 70 AD.

Verse 15 says, "the King of the North shall come". An emphatic statement which again we are dealing with a different "season" for Judea from the previous prophecy of verse 14, and a different Emperor of Rome, who will enter Judea personally. If we reflect reader upon the past verses, we saw in Daniel 11:13, Octavian, who became Caesar Augustus entering Judea in person. Verse 14 gave us the problems surrounding King Herod under Octavian's rule and the "vision" of Our Lord Jesus in the earth.

During Jesus's time on earth and of his growing up into manhood, the Emperor Tiberius was on the Roman throne.

Now, however in Daniel 11:15, it is the historical times of Nero, Vespasian and Titus, in a short period of time all affecting Judea itself, the Jew and the tribes of Israel within Europe and the Isles.

The King of the North from Rome, who entered Judea, written of in Verse 15 was Vespasian, also known as Flavius Vespasianus. He enters Judea almost a century later after Octavian Caesar Augustus-Vespasian being sent by the Emperor Nero as his veteran commander of legions, to put down the continual insurrections of the Jews. This same Vespasian had also served in putting down the problems with the British tribes. Indeed, this man had come into contact throughout his military life in the Roman world, with many an Israelite tribe apart from the Jew.

From London (Londinium) to Jerusalem, the Israelite tribes had fought the Romans this way and that, they move ever onward in that Roman world. These miles being trampled by foot, horse, or chariot, as if those many miles counted as nothing. Here in verse 15 Flavius Vespasian was entering Judea in 66 AD.

We must now peek into this picture of that ancient world and look at these controversial times, which will give us the "reason" for the Jewish War.

That mad-dog Emperor Nero, was on the throne of Rome from 54 AD to 68 AD. He was nearing the end of his reign when an open revolt occurred in Judea in 66 AD. For a condensed version of Judea in those times I will quote reader, from Carl Roebuck's book, "The World of Ancient Times". (Page 613) "THE ROMAN PURPOSE IN JUDEA WAS SIMILAR, (to Egypt) TO KEEP ORDER, BUT THERE THE PROBLEM WAS FAR MORE COMPLEX. THE JEWS WERE THEMSELVES DIVIDED ON RELIGIOUS ISSUES OF THEIR OWN FAITH, IN THEIR ATTITUDES TO HELLENISATION AND BY SOCIAL CONFLICT BETWEEN THE FARMERS AND SHEPHERDS AND THE RICH LANDOWNERS AND THE MERCHANTS OF THE CITIES. THE ROMANS WORKED WITH THE WEALTHY HELLENISING JEWS, SUPPORTING THAT ELEMENT IN THE SANHEDRIN AND FOR THE HIGH PRIESTHOOD. ACCORDINGLY, THE JEWS OF THE LOWER CLASS, HOSTILE TO THEIR OWN ADMINISTRATORS, AUTOMATICALLY TRANSFERRED THEIR HATRED TO THE ROMANS. IN JUDEA THE ROMANS HAD MADE OTHER CONCESSIONS TO JEWISH RELIGIOUS SCRUPLES, IN ADDITION TO ALLOWING THEIR TRADITIONAL ORGANISATION TO FUNCTION FREELY. THE COINAGE USED THERE DID NOT BEAR THE EMPEROR'S HEAD BECAUSE THE JEWS WERE ICONOCLASTIC, THE STANDARDS OF THE LEGIONS WERE BARE OF PAGAN INSIGNIA, AND THE JEWS WERE EXEMPTED FROM MILITARY SERVICE. ALSO, WHILE JUDEA WAS A PROCURATORIAL DISTRICT, THE SANHEDRIN ADMINISTERED JUSTICE. THE PROCURATOR, PONTIUS PILATE, MIGHT HAVE SAVED CHRIST FROM CRUCIFIXION AT THE TIME OF HIS TRIAL, BUT HE WOULD HAVE INCURRED THE CHARGE OF RELIGIOUS INTERFERENCE FROM THE JEWS. THE ROMANS THUS FOUND GREAT DIFFICULTY IN ADMINISTERING JUDEA AND ALTERNATED BETWEEN THE CLIENT KINGSHIP OF THE HERODS AND A PROCURATORIAL DISTRICT. THEY FINALLY SETTLED ON THE LATTER IN 44, BUT IN THE FOLLOWING YEARS DISORDER, INCREASED. JEWISH FANATICS TURNED TO RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL CLASHES, AND ROME WAS UNFORTUNATE IN IT'S CHOICE OF PROCURATORS. BY 64 THE TAXES FROM JUDEA HAD FALLEN INTO ARREARS, AND THE GOVERNOR CONFISCATED SEVENTEEN TALENTS FROM THE TEMPLE TO MAKE THEM UP. WHEN THE JEWS RIOTED, THE ROMAN SOLDIERS WERE ALLOWED TO PLUNDER IN REPRISAL. SUCH REPRISALS MERELY HAD THE EFFECT OF SPREADING REVOLT, AND NERO THEREFORE SENT IN AN ARMY UNDER VESPASIAN".

The revolt of the Jews had been simmering for a long time though. The sometimes-tolerant policy Rome showed Judea under Octavian and Tiberius, now changed under another mad dog Caligula, who had ordered that his own statue be erected in the Temple at Jerusalem. The Jews, including the sects of Pharisee, Sadducee, Essenes and Zealots, were up in arms with Roman interference. The Zealots were the greatest influence on the politics of the time and moved the people to armed might. But Caligula's death in Rome saved the Temple from the sacrilege of that statue. Claudius in 44 BC then became emperor and from then on conditions in Judea worsened, mainly because of incompetent procurators, who inflamed the Jews. Then came the first open Jewish revolt against Rome in 66 AD and Nero sent his best commander Vespasian into Judea, who led many legions into Egypt, Syria and Judea. Which in all was the greater part of the Roman army. Much of the rest of the legions were in Gaul, Spain, Britain and Germany.

So, this verse 15 is dealing with the terrifying spectacle of the "Jewish War" of AD 66-70, which has gone down in history as almost unparalleled for its carnage and destruction; The like of which Our Lord Jesus had already warned many Jews in His day, of that pitiful picture of misery that was ahead.

Let us first read Our Lord's historical prediction for the city of Jerusalem itself and the prediction for the "holy seed" belonging to this House of Judah, (also called Jerusalem). We turn to Luke 19:41-44. "AND WHEN HE WAS COME NEAR, HE BEHELD THE CITY, AND WEPT OVER IT". (Not only the city itself Jerusalem and all the Jews therein).
Verse 42:- "SAYING, IF THOU HADST KNOWN, EVEN THOU, AT LEAST IN THIS THY DAY, THE THINGS WHICH BELONG UNTO THY PEACE! BUT NOW THEY ARE HID FROM THINE EYES".
Verse 43:- "FOR THE DAYS SHALL COME UPON THEE, THAT THINE ENEMIES SHALL CAST A TRENCH ABOUT THEE, AND COMPASS THEE ROUND, AND KEEP THEE IN ON EVERY SIDE".
Verse 44:- "AND SHALL LAY THEE EVEN WITH THE GROUND, AND THY CHILDREN WITHIN THEE; AND SHALL NOT LEAVE IN THEE ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER; BECAUSE THOU KNEWEST NOT THE TIME OF THY VISITATION".

Did you notice it reader? Jesus tells of Jerusalem being surrounded with a "Trench". This is a long narrow excavation of earth, or a deep ditch cut for the defence of the soldiers and to enable the besiegers of a city to approach it. It usually had a parapet and breastwork to accompany it, the parapet was a "wall" made from the earth dug out. So, the earth which was dug out for the huge trench around the city of Jerusalem was piled up as a "mount". This was to defend the soldiers and to keep in the Jews on every side within that area, as our Lord's prediction foretold.

The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus calls the "mount" a "Bank". Romans themselves called this "mount" or "bank" a "circumvallatio". Which sealed off a city hermetically, this hermetical sealing was a practice used in alchemy -or- an occult science. It was affected in alchemy by fusing together the edges of the mouth or aperture, as of a bottle or tube, so that no air, gas, or spirit can escape. But in this case of the Jewish war of its sealing, pertained to the Jewish city of bodies and spirits therein.

If we go back now to Flavius Josephus history of the "Wars of the Jews", we will have a picture as to what extent the Romans used this "mount" around Jerusalem. At that time in history Josephus himself had been a Commander of Jewish forces in Galilee and had been taken prisoner, spending the rest of the war in captivity. When this "mount" was finished it was the year 70 AD and Vespasian's son Titus, was in sole command of the Roman forces in the East and Judea, because Vespasian had returned to Rome claiming that throne as Emperor. Josephus's words as an eyewitness to this great tragedy, he says that shortly before the full moon in the spring of 70 AD, Titus was seen, with an enormous army relentlessly marching upon Jerusalem. The marching approaching columns with standards held high, the noise of the men carrying swords and shields filling the roads, highways and byways leading into the city, the likes of which Jerusalem had never seen before. The Jews were faced with the frightening spectacle of 800,000 men which contained the 5th, 10th, 12th and 15th legions, accompanied by cavalry, engineers and many other auxiliary troops.

If reader we make comparisons in history of the size of other armies during other theatres of war, we will read that Alexander the Great used 32,000 men to carve out his great empire. Julius Caesar used 25,000 men to conquer Gaul and on into Britain. Hannibal used 50,000 men when crossing the Alps to conquer the Romans. Yet! Here was Titus surrounding little Jerusalem with an overwhelming mass of men, with complete annihilation in mind or complete subjugation. Indeed, to witness that sight of this huge army in that day, one may say the very stones of Jerusalem must have cried out to God in fright!

To cap Jerusalem's plight, the Holy City was swarming with people because it was Passover, and pilgrims had come from far and wide to celebrate. Now the sorry stage was set for the carnage that was to come upon the Jew, as predicted by its greatest son, Our Lord Jesus Christ!

Josephus' "Wars of the Jews" Book V chapter XII pages 802-3&4. (Condensed)- "AND NOW DID TITUS CONSULT WITH HIS COMMANDERS WHAT WAS TO BE DONE. ---AND SO TO LEAVE THE ENEMY TO THE FAMINE, AND THIS WITHOUT DIRECT FIGHTING WITH THEM. ---HOWEVER, TITUS DID NOT THINK IT FIT FOR SO GREAT AN ARMY TO BE ENTIRELY IDLE, AND THAT YET IT WAS IN VAIN TO FIGHT WITH THOSE THAT WOULD BE DESTROYED ONE BY ANOTHER. ---THAT THEREFORE HIS OPINION WAS, THAT IF THEY AIMED AT QUICKNESS JOINED WITH SECURITY, THEY MUST BUILD A WALL ROUND ABOUT THE WHOLE CITY; WHICH WAS, HE THOUGHT, THE ONLY WAY TO PREVENT THE JEWS FROM COMING OUT ANY WAY, AND THAT THEN THEY WOULD EITHER ENTIRELY DESPAIR OF SAVING THE CITY, AND SO WOULD SURRENDER IT UP TO HIM, OR BE STILL THE MORE EASILY CONQUERED WHEN THE FAMINE HAD FURTHER WEAKENED THEM, ---BUT THAT IF ANYONE SHOULD THINK SUCH A WORK TO BE TOO GREAT, AND NOT TO BE FINISHED WITHOUT MUCH DIFFICULTY, HE OUGHT TO CONSIDER THAT IT IS NOT FIT FOR ROMANS TO UNDERTAKE ANY SMALL WORK, AND THAT NONE BUT GOD HIMSELF COULD WITH EASE ACCOMPLISH ANY GREAT THING WHATSOEVER. ---SO TITUS GAVE THAT THE ARMY SHOULD BE DISTRIBUTED TO THEIR SEVERAL SHARES OF THIS WORD; AND INDEED THERE NOW CAME UPON THE SOLDIERS A CERTAIN DIVINE FURY, SO THAT THEY DID NOT ONLY PART THE WHOLE WALL THAT WAS TO BE BUILT AMONG THEM, NOR DID ONLY ONE LEGION STRIVE WITH ANOTHER, BUT THE LESSER DIVISIONS OF THE ARMY DID THE SAME; IN SO MUCH THAT EACH SOLDIER WAS AMBITIOUS TO PLEASE HIS DECURION, EACH DECURION HIS CENTURION, EACH CENTURION HIS TRIBUNE, AND THE AMBITION OF THE TRIBUNES WAS TO PLEASE THEIR SUPERIOR COMMANDERS, WHILE CAESAR (Titus) HIMSELF TOOK NOTICE OF AND REWARDED THE LIKE CONTENTION IN THOSE COMMANDERS. ---TITUS BEGAN THE WALL FROM THE CAMP OF THE ASSYRIANS, WHERE HIS OWN CAMP WAS PITCHED, ---NOW THE LENGTH OF THIS WALL WAS FORTY FURLONGS, ONE ONLY ABATED. NOW AT THIS WALL WITHOUT WERE ERECTED THIRTEEN PLACES TO KEEP GARRISON IN, WHOSE CIRCUMFERENCES, PUT TOGETHER, AMOUNTED TO TEN FURLONGS, THE WHOLE WAS COMPLETED IN THREE DAYS; SO THAT WHAT WOULD NATURALLY HAVE REQUIRED SOME MONTHS WAS DONE IN SO SHORT AN INTERVAL AS IS INCREDIBLE. WHEN TITUS HAD THEREFORE ENCOMPASSED THE CITY WITH THIS WALL, AND PUT GARRISONS INTO PROPER PLACES, HE WENT ROUND THE WALL, AT THE FIRST WATCH OF THE NIGHT, AND OBSERVED HOW THE GUARD WAS KEPT, ---SO ALL HOPE OF ESCAPING WAS NOW CUT OFF FROM THE JEWS, TOGETHER WITH THEIR LIBERTY OF GOING OUT OF THE CITY. THEN DID THE FAMINE WIDEN IT'S PROGRESS, AND DEVOURED THE PEOPLE BY WHOLE HOUSES AND FAMILIES; THE UPPER ROOMS WERE FULL OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN THAT WERE DYING BY FAMINE, AND THE LANES OF THE CITY WERE FULL OF THE DEAD BODIES OF THE AGED; THE CHILDREN ALSO AND YOUNG MEN WANDERED ABOUT THE MARKET- PLACES LIKE SHADOWS, ALL SWELLED WITH THE FAMINE, AND FELL DOWN DEAD, WHERESOEVER THEIR MISERY SEIZED THEM. AS FOR BURYING THEM, THOSE HEARTY AND WELL WERE DETERRED FROM DOING IT BY THE GREAT MULTITUDE OF THOSE DEAD BODIES, AND BY THE UNCERTAINTY THERE WAS HOW SOON THEY SHOULD DIE THEMSELVES; FOR MANY DIED AS THEY WERE BURYING OTHERS, AND MANY WENT TO THEIR COFFINS BEFORE THAT FATAL HOUR WAS COME. NOR WAS THERE ANY LAMENTATIONS MADE UNDER THESE CALAMITIES, NOR WERE HEARD ANY MOURNFUL COMPLAINTS; BUT THE FAMINE CONFOUNDED ALL NATURAL PASSIONS; FOR THOSE WHO WERE JUST GOING TO DIE LOOKED UPON THOSE THAT WERE GONE TO REST BEFORE THEM WITH DRY EYES AND OPEN MOUTHS. A DEEP SILENCE ALSO, AND A KIND OF DEADLY NIGHT, HAD SEIZED UPON THE CITY; WHILE YET THE ROBBERS WERE STILL MORE TERRIBLE THAN THESE MISERIES THEMSELVES; FOR THEY BRAKE OPEN THOSE HOUSES WHICH WERE NO OTHER THAN GRAVES OF DEAD BODIES, AND PLUNDERED THEM OF WHAT THEY HAD; AND CARRYING OFF THE COVERINGS OF THEIR BODIES, WENT OUT LAUGHING, AND TRIED THE POINTS OF THEIR SWORDS IN THEIR DEAD BODIES; AND IN ORDER TO PROVE WHAT METAL THEY WERE MADE OF, THEY THRUST SOME OF THOSE THROUGH THAT STILL LAY ALIVE UPON THE GROUND; BUT FOR THOSE THAT ENTREATED THEM TO LEND THEM THEIR RIGHT HAND AND THEIR SWORD TO DESPATCH THEM, THEY WERE TOO PROUD TO GRANT THEIR REQUESTS, AND LEFT THEM TO BE CONSUMED BY FAMINE. NOW EVERYONE OF THESE DIED WITH THEIR EYES FIXED UPON THE TEMPLE AND LEFT THE SEDITIOUS ALIVE BEHIND THEM. NOW THE SEDITIOUS AT FIRST GAVE ORDERS THAT THE DEAD SHOULD BE BURIED OUT OF THE PUBLIC TREASURY, AS NOT ENDURING THE STENCH OF THEIR DEAD BODIES. BUT AFTERWARDS, WHEN THEY COULD NOT DO THAT, THEY HAD THEM CAST DOWN FROM THE WALLS INTO THE VALLEYS BENEATH. - -HOWEVER, WHEN TITUS, IN GOING HIS ROUNDS ALONG THOSE VALLEYS, SAW THEM FULL OF DEAD BODIES, AND THE THICK PUTREFACTION RUNNING ABOUT THEM, HE GAVE A GROAN; AND, SPREADING OUT HIS HANDS TO HEAVEN, CALLED GOD TO WITNESS THAT THIS WAS NOT HIS DOING; AND SUCH WAS THE SAD CASE OF THE CITY ITSELF. BUT THE ROMANS WERE VERY JOYFUL, SINCE NONE OF THE SEDITIOUS COULD MAKE SALLIES OUT OF THE CITY, BECAUSE THEY WERE THEMSELVES DISCONSOLATE, AND THE FAMINE ALREADY TOUCHED THEM ALSO. THESE ROMANS BESIDES HAD GREAT PLENTY OF CORN AND OTHER NECESSARIES OUT OF SYRIA, AND OUT OF THE NEIGHBOURING PROVINCES".

Josephus tells us the terrible story of the siege of Jerusalem in many chapters, before this great "mount", or "banks" of earth, were built. He tells how Titus feeling sure Jerusalem would surrender called off an attack and formed a grand spectacle of a parade of his forces, with his legionnaires putting on battledress with coats of mail and their helmets, polishing them until they shone. The cavalry decked out their horses with the richest ornaments and themselves in full regalia. With great fanfare, of trumpets the great army marched past Titus receiving their pay and ample rations in full view of all. This parade went on for 4 days, from early morning until dusk, the sound of their tramping feet echoing around them.

Yet! All this achieved nothing because the Jews spat defiance from the walls of Jerusalem, upon the Romans. Titus then sent Flavius Josephus himself to the walls to speak to his own countrymen, begging them to lay down their weapons and surrender, so that Jerusalem may be saved and the people spared. Josephus pleaded with them and reminded them of their history and of the glorious temple. He also called them - "obdurate creatures more unfeeling than these very stones," - all the pleading failed. So, the battle was continued anew from the second wall around Jerusalem against the tower of Antonia. The Romans pressing forward with all their experience, with battering rams and siege warfare. When darkness had fallen around the Roman camp, they were invaded with swarms of dark figures creeping from their hiding places and secret passageways from the walls, the half-starved ghostly Jews looking for food, or trying to get away. Titus ordered reprisals to be made against any caught outside the walls, they were to be crucified. Gradually a whole forest of crosses sprang up outside the city, when 500 Jews were nailed to them each day, until only the lack of wood halted this fearful practice.

The Romans had come into a green and flourishing countryside, where the trees grew in abundance giving cover from the heat of the day. Gone were the vineyards, the fig and olive trees and market gardens, the Mount of Olives was now bear of its shading trees. The unbearable stench of rotting flesh hung over the desolate countryside; the corpses piled in their thousands below the walls of the city. Josephus lamented of this desolation and said, "no stranger who had seen Judaea of old and the lovely suburbs of its capital and now this devastation, could have restrained his tears and lamentations at the hideous change. The war had turned all that beauty into a wilderness and no man who knew these places of old and suddenly saw them again, could possibly have recognised them".

In August AD 70 with great columns of smoke billowing over the city, the rage of soldiers burning and looting, the deafening noise of men in battle. The torches were flung through the temple windows into the rooms panelled with wood and they burned fiercely. Titus entered the Holy Place to see it for himself, but after he had left the soldiers put it to the torch also, without his consent.

So, the Roman banners were erected in the sacred precincts of the temple, and they sacrificed before them, according to the Roman way. Titus now ordered the whole city and the temple to be razed to the ground. Left standing were the towers of Phasael, Hippicus, and Mariamne, and part of the city wall on the West Side. These places were to provide for a garrison of soldiers that were to be left behind, namely the "Tenth Legion", who remained there for 6 long years.

According to Tacitus the Roman historian, there were 600,000 people in the city of Jerusalem. Josephus gives the number of prisoners as 97,000 not counting those who were crucified or ripped open. He adds that within a period of three months 115,800 corpses were taken out of one of the city gates alone and there were many gates. When all this carnage and destruction was over, Titus, in the year 71 AD paraded his great victory over Jerusalem in a gigantic triumphal procession through Rome, which was shared with his father Vespasian. Among the 700 Jewish prisoners who were in chains, also went the pure gold trophies of the seven-branched candlesticks and the table of shewbread, from the Temple at Jerusalem. These articles finding a new home in the Temple of Peace in Rome. -To this day a picture of those same articles can be seen on the great arch of Titus erected in Rome to commemorate this campaign.- (A good, condensed version of this War of the Jews can be read, reader, in Dr. Werner Keller's Book called, "The Bible as History". Which same summing up are contents of dead and prisoners, I have used for this last paragraph).

Let us now go back once more to Daniel 11:15, and continue its unravelling. “SO THE KING OF THE NORTH SHALL COME, (Vespasian) AND CAST UP A MOUNT,- (Titus his son and a commander, had the mount built around Jerusalem). AND TAKE THE MOST FENCED CITIES; AND THE ARMS OF THE SOUTH SHALL NOT WITHSTAND".

We shall now deal with this sentence which include the fenced cities and the southern arms unable to cope with this war.

Again, I will quote from a condensed version of many chapters of the historian Josephus's, "Wars of the Jews", which tell us how these fenced cities fell to Vespasian and his Roman commanders. A fenced city is not just a city surrounded with railing -or- barbed wire fence, which we today readily think of, a fenced city can also be guarded and protected by a wall, hedge, ditch, bank, mountains, etc; in other words it's an enclosed area which is defended from attack.

To unravel this part of verse 15, we now go back to "the horse before the cart" so to speak. To the Roman General Vespasian who is the focal point of this prophecy, because, through him much happened in the Roman world at that time. We begin with a condensed story of taking the "fenced cities" of Judea and the "south".

From Josephus' Book III, page 711 etc; he says:- After Nero sent his most experienced General Vespasian to quell the trouble in the Middle East, Vespasian entered Syria and Judea, where there had already been a great slaughter of the Jews around the city of Ascalon, whose people were friendly to the Romans. Vespasian marched with his army from Antioch to Ptolemais, where he was met by King Agrippa with all his forces waiting to greet him.

The largest city of Galilee named Sepphoris, whose people wanted peace, also met Vespasian and the Romans, very kindly, knowing also that the power of the Romans was too great for them.

Flavius Josephus, as Commander of the Jewish forces in Galilee and his men, had attacked Sepphoris in an attempt to breach the walls but had failed in their attempt. Meanwhile, Titus, had also arrived with his army into Alexandria -sailing from Achaia,- who hurried to Ptolemais to his father. So, combining a very great force of men including the 5th, 10th and 15th legions. There occurred fighting in the city of Jotapata in Galilee, whereupon Vespasian marched his army and camped upon the borders of Galilee, having to restrain his soldiers eager to make war on the Jews. Firstly, he marched to the city of Gadara and took it without much trouble, because of the lack of fighting men of the Jews within the city. The Romans, bearing a terrible hatred for the Jews had no mercy on young or old within Gadara. They set fire to the city itself and went out to the villas on the outskirts and small towns around about Gadara, killing and taking the inhabitants as slaves.

Josephus himself had gone to the city of Jotapata to raise the spirits of the Jews and help them fight. However, a deserter from that city went to Vespasian and told him of this occurrence, so the next day Vespasian and his whole army marched on Jotapata. It was a very strong city with great walls, (fences) with almost all of it built on a precipice, whose sides were immensely steep and very deep, encompassed around with mountains (fences). So, Vespasian could only overcome it by the great siege engines. His soldiers cut down all the trees on the mountains for materials to build them, making 160 siege engines in all. They gathered immense heaps of stones for missiles and made hurdles, -or- frameworks of branches, to protect themselves from the darts the Jews threw down upon them from the walls. The Romans suffered greatly from the great stones, darts and missiles that the Jews showered upon them, which in turn made Vespasian realise how disadvantaged they were beneath the walls. Instead, he decided that his army would sit back and wait for the city to die of thirst, because it was high summer and Jotapata's water needs were in short supply.

Josephus by then having to ration the water to the people within. However, the siege of Jotapata continued with renewed fighting, the Romans gaining victory at times through the use of their Arabian archers and Syrian slingers, with the continuing of the awesome siege engines, from which the Jews suffered greatly. Josephus tells us what terrible instruments these engines really were; Apart from their noise there was also the clamour of the stones and darts, as they crashed here and there within the city and the screams of the victims as they were slain. He says the force of these engines were so mighty, that a man standing near Josephus had his head carried away from off his body and flung three furlongs away. (A furlong is an eighth part of a mile). Also, a woman who was with child coming out of her house, had her stomach so violently struck, that the unborn infant was carried to half a furlong. So great was the force of these missiles from the siege engines.

During this terrible fighting at Jotapata, Vespasian sent out Trajan, the Commander of the 10th legion with 1,000 horsemen and 2,000 footmen, to the city of Japha, which lay near Jotapata, to take that city also. Titus, the son of Vespasian also joined Trajan, with 500 horsemen and 1,000 footmen and between them they took Japha though these Galileans opposed the Romans and fought well. Once over the walls and fighting in the narrow streets, the Romans cut the throats of the young and old alike outside in the streets and within the houses also, leaving no males alive at all. The women and infants were carried away as slaves into captivity. Those that were slain numbered 15,000 and the captives 2,130 persons.

The Samaritans also, who had assembled themselves on the mountain called Gerizim, to get away from the miseries of the fighting in the fenced cities, were overcome. Vespasian sent his commander Cerealis of the 5th legion with 6,000 horsemen and 3,000 footmen to the Samaritans and eventually fell upon them and killed them all, which were 11,600 people.

As for the prevailing siege of Jotapata it eventually fell. Not from Roman energies of fighting but through a Jewish deserter from the city, who went to Vespasian and told him of the terrible plight of the people within. He told them when to strike at the Jews, "which was best before dawn when they were all sleepy". Vespasian was suspicious of him, because he knew from experience how faithful the Jews were to each other. Nevertheless, took his advice and went quietly over the wall at the hour told to him. Titus himself was first over the wall, followed by a tribune and a few of the 15th legion, they cut the throats of the men on watch and went into the sleeping city. More and more men came over the wall and entered the city, taking the garrison within. The sleeping people were unaware of what was happening, a heavy mist helping to shroud the enemy from detection.

Now the whole Roman army were within the walls and through anger of that long siege their eyes pitied no one, the soldiers were after Jewish blood! Many people were forced over the steep precipice, others were killed as they fell from the citadel. Many Jews getting together in parts of the city to kill their own selves rather than fall into Roman hands. The Romans slew the multitude openly and with the days that followed they searched underground caverns and secret places, killing those of all ages except women and infants who they took as captives, which were 1200 in all. The slain in the city numbered 40,000 people, Vespasian giving orders to finish the job completely, by burning down the fortifications and demolishing the city. Josephus himself was taken prisoner as a great prize for the Romans, being the General of Galilee. Jotapata was taken in the 13th year of the reign of the Emperor Nero.

The city of Joppa was taken twice by the Romans.

-Within the kingdom of Agrippa were the cities of Tiberius and Trachene, the first city was delivered up to Vespasian and the second taken by force. The Romans eventually received all the fortresses and the cities of Galilee, except the city of Gamala which once more was taken only after a long and harrowing siege. The small city of Gischala, though filled with robbers who terrified the Jewish people within, nevertheless surrendered to Titus.

Vespasian, after securing a great part of Judea now prepared for the siege of Jerusalem. But, after Nero's death he put off his preparations and waited for news as to whom the Empire would be transferred. Upon hearing that Galba had been made Emperor, Titus had been sent by Vespasian to salute him and ask direction concerning the Jewish war. But, before Titus reached Galba in Rome the Emperor had been slain, and Otho took over the reins of government and public affairs.

Titus sailed back to Syria to see his father Vespasian, knowing also at that time the affairs of Rome were in a turmoil.

Otho after being made Emperor, lost his crown to Vitellius after 3 months on that shaky Roman throne.

While the uncertainties went on in Rome, Vespasian marched again, this time into the Judean mountainous country and took towns and small cities, such as Bethel, Ephraim, etc; One of Vespasian's Commanders named Cerealis, went into Upper Idumea and laid it waste. Afterwards, Cerealis and his forces went into the ancient city of Hebron and slew all the young men and burned down the city. All the "fortified places" that remained untaken were Herodium, Masada and Machaerus, their turn was to come however later.

This then, is the gruesome picture of the taking of the Jewish "fenced cities", when the arms -or- defensive walls, weapons, or fortified protection of the "south lands" was useless against the Romans.

The prophecies from Daniel and Our Lord, which foretold this tragedy, were carried out to the full. No Jewish man's hand was strong enough to withhold its consummation. Because Daniel's prophetic words were, "and the arms of the south shall not withstand".

There was no strength in Judah's land, because the hand of God was against them. Their necks had been an iron sinew unable to bend before their God, so they were left to their own devices and were terribly punished. Yet! God saved their generations to come through the infants that had been taken with their mothers into captivity and those Jews who escaped, or who made peace with the Romans.

We come now to the last line of verse 15, which reads. "NEITHER HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE, NEITHER SHALL THERE BE ANY STRENGTH TO WITHSTAND". This line of simple words is a summing up all these times and situations and hid a terrible carnage of a nation of people that were "chosen", yet! Under punishment at that given time in history.

Who were these "chosen people"? Is now the question. To be "chosen" is to be a selected person or number of persons. They to be distinguished by preference, or eminent by choice. This "select preference" was conferred on the Hebrew nation, because of the faith and obedience to God by Abraham. It was then reaffirmed in Isaac and made assured through Jacob the fleshly man and Israel the spiritual man. Whose "division" was housed in one body, that of Jacob! From Jacob/Israel came the 12 tribes of Israel, forming a nation apart from other nations of the world. They themselves, were then divided into 2 nations, called the House of Judah, (Taking possession of the line of fleshly Jacob) and the House of Israel, (taking possession of the spiritual lineage of Israel), which was then bestowed upon Joseph. These 2 nations were then divided again, into 2 special remnants of people, called the "daughter of Jerusalem" (out of Judah-Jacob) and the "daughter of Zion" (out of Joseph's children whose King was the Christ).

So, no matter where they went or "who" they became mixed up within other nations, they still constitute the chosen people! Let us reader turn to a few verses for proof. From the very beginning God chose Abraham to give him land and "chose" his seed as a special people for ever. (Genesis 13:14-18).

In Deuteronomy 14:1,2 we see reader, the confirmation of Abraham's seed.
Verse 2:- "FOR THOU ART AN HOLY PEOPLE UNTO THE LORD THY GOD, AND THE LORD HATH "CHOSEN THEE" TO BE A PECULIAR PEOPLE UNTO HIMSELF, ABOVE ALL NATIONS THAT ARE UPON THE EARTH". Those same "chosen people" we see again in 1 Kings 3:8

In 1 Chronicles 16:13-36, within the prayer that King David offered up to God we see the "chosen people" of God, now "separated" in the scheme of things. That special seed of people is gradually sifted through the mesh of life. Note...
Verse 13:- "O YE OF ISRAEL HIS SERVANT, YE CHILDREN OF JACOB, HIS "CHOSEN ONES". We know that the nation of "chosen people" Israel, became 2 nations called the Northern and Southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah. (Or Judea).

Jeremiah 33:24-26 now calls them 2 families who the Lord hath chosen.
Verse 24:- "CONSIDEREST THOU NOT WHAT THIS PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN SAYING, THE TWO FAMILIES WHICH THE LORD HATH CHOSEN, HE HATH EVEN CAST THEM OFF? THUS THEY HAVE DESPISED MY PEOPLE, THAT THEY SHOULD BE NO MORE A NATION BEFORE THEM".

Those 2 nations of 2 families inherit God's promises in 2 different ways, because they were separated and punished in 2 different ways. Those 2 nations of "chosen people" will be brought back out of the world in 2 ways.

The whole Bible is full of this 2-way story. But man's churches are blinded in the seeing or understanding of it!

Let us read of that "chosen seed" in one little verse. Psalm 53:6. "OH THAT THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL (Jesus the Saviour is our salvation) WERE COME OUT OF ZION! (Zionism is "not" of the Jew, it is of "Israel" in the Gentiles Zion has a King Jesus who is their salvation! Zion was also the city of David and was once "separate and chosen" over Jerusalem), WHEN GOD BRINGETH BACK THE CAPTIVITY OF "HIS PEOPLE", (The captives of the chosen people of 2 nations are in the world scattered and peeled, even into the 21st century. David speaks of the time of bringing them back "after" the coming of the Saviour). JACOB SHALL REJOICE, (Or Jacob is the Jew in the land of Israel today and still scattered in other nations. The Jew will experience with gladness to a high degree, the "truth" of the Law of their God, when "all" is revealed.) AND ISRAEL SHALL BE GLAD". (Or the other nation of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, whose King is Jesus the Christ, born of the Jew, will understand many things when "all" is revealed. Such as who they are and why they were "chosen" and why they became lost in the first place). All through the Bible the "chosen people" are seen fully, but there is a gradual Narrowing down through the centuries of these same people; The "chosen people" were to spill over into the Gentiles, unidentifiable as Israelites. But some took with them the "Light", as followers of Jesus Christ. Both Jew and Gentile of the whole nation of Israel, walked with the Messiah and died because of Him in the Roman arenas and persecution of all sorts!

When Paul and Peter travelled through the Greco/Roman world to find converts to be Christian, they went out firstly to find the "lost sheep" of the House of Israel. Thus, to bring them back to God as his "chosen seed" or a "peculiar people". I know reader this is a complex state of affairs for one to grasp easily. Especially when the minds of men have through habit of wrong teachings over the centuries, have built within themselves an uncross-able barrier to obtain another teaching. Look at it this way reader, the God that made promises to Abraham concerning a "chosen people" is exactly the same God today, as he was then! His promises were set down as "Law" to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and these Laws "cannot" be altered only fulfilled! The people that "He" chose then, were punished, yet! They had to be "redeemed”, and it was performed through every word that was ever uttered on this subject in the Book by God. Which took many, many, paths and all "had" to be worked out correctly, with line upon line up, until man's history was finished in our day and age.

God cast off "both" nations of Israel, scattered them and peeled their outer skin, so confusion reigned with them instead. As it does with us all to this day! Nevertheless, God's Book tells one continually that "both" nations will be restored as a whole chosen nation again. One nation coming from the Jew, the other out of the Gentile and both made manifest in their flesh!

The Redeemer, Jesus, was called also the "Light of the Gentiles" and for a reason. Let us read a few quick verses to show reader that the "Light," Jesus, "had" to rest in the Gentiles, so Jesus could gather his lost "chosen people" called the House of Israel and for them to finish their long punishment in secular history amongst those Gentiles. We read of the Light in Luke 2:32,34, when Mary took Jesus into the temple, it was said of Him. "A LIGHT TO LIGHTEN THE GENTILES AND THE GLORY OF THY PEOPLE ISRAEL. (Or- someone held in High regard for the Christian Israelites. ("He" was never held in high regard with the Jew).
Verse 34:- "AND SIMEON BLESSED THEM AND SAID UNTO MARY HIS MOTHER, BEHOLD, THIS CHILD IS SET FOR THE FALL (Or- crucifixion and death), AND RISING AGAIN (Or- over coming death) OF MANY IN ISRAEL; (Eventually for both the Jew and Gentile) AND FOR A SIGN WHICH SHALL BE SPOKEN AGAINST";

To follow Christ is a sign of derision in many. If we go to the Old Testament and Isaiah, he will explain much more. Isaiah's marvellous chapters tell one "all" you ever need to know of the truth of these 2 nations and where to find Zion, -who are Israelites in the Gentile nations,- and by what "sign" you will know them. Their "sign" is of Zion whose "Redeemer" is called Jesus who was a Jew, out of the nation of Judah. One can only "redeem" that which was once a possession, so then the people are of "His" earthly flesh and blood! Let us pick out a few verses in Isaiah 49:6. "AND HE SAID, IT IS A LIGHT THING (Or- means of knowing) THAT THOU SHOULDEST BE MY SERVANT, (Or- one who is held in subjection) TO RAISE UP THE TRIBES OF JACOB, (To awaken and lift up, the Jew of the House of Judah) AND TO RESTORE THE PRESERVED OF ISRAEL; (Or- the 2nd family of Israel thus to make them strong again after a period of weakness, of a people who had been saved from injury and destruction. These people had been guarded by God and kept in safety in ages past out of Israel. I WILL ALSO GIVE THEE FOR A LIGHT TO THE GENTILES, THAT THOU MAYEST BY MY SALVATION UNTO THE END OF THE EARTH". (Or- that "One" who was within the "whole" nation of Israel, both Jacob/Israel, became their "servant". He was called Jesus whose "flesh" was of a Jew, whose "spirit" rested on Israel within the Gentile. He restored or redeemed the people whom God marked as His own preserved in history, unknown to the machinations of men.

The Bible continually separates the roles of these 2 families of the nation Israel. Isaiah's verses, step by step give one the "whole" story of these "chosen" people in our day and age.

I, personally moan within me at the knowing of these things and wish with all my heart I could explain every word and every detail within these glorious chapters of Isaiah to you; But I cannot because time and space will not allow me. Otherwise, these sentences of explanations will sound like the ramblings of a mad woman to you at present! Those explanations will also lose sight of the subject in hand! -It must suffice then to show you reader in 2 verses of Isaiah the "chosen seed" of God in the earth today, out of the 2 families, or 2 nations of Israel. Isaiah 52:1-3
Verse 1:- "AWAKE, AWAKE, PUT ON THY STRENGTH, O ZION; PUT ON THY BEAUTIFUL GARMENTS, O JERUSALEM, THE HOLY CITY; FOR HENCE FORTH THERE SHALL NO MORE COME INTO THEE THE UNCIRCUMCISED AND THE UNCLEAN".
Verse 2:- "SHAKE THYSELF FROM THE DUST; ARISE, AND SIT DOWN, O JERUSALEM; LOOSE THYSELF FROM THE BANDS OF THY NECK. O CAPTIVE DAUGHTER OF ZION".
Verse 3:- "FOR THUS SAITH THE LORD, YE HAVE SOLD YOURSELVES FOR NOUGHT, AND YE SHALL BE "REDEEMED" WITH OUT MONEY". (Or- Jesus the "sign" gave His life, for to buy back these 2 families, especially Zion of whom "He" is Lord)".

Now then, let us go back to our unravelling of Daniel 11:15 and the subject of the "chosen people", remembering the last sentence, which reads, "NEITHER HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE, NEITHER SHALL THERE BE ANY STRENGTH TO WITHSTAND". This sentence is a "summing up" of the whole situation of both houses of Israel, who were under the Romans and Nero, Vespasian and Titus during these pitiful historical times.

Though the Jew of the House of Judah within the Holy Land of Palestine, were a "chosen race" of people and verse 15 is their history; That verse also points to other "chosen people" in the Roman onslaught, because "twice" the verse says there will not be any ability to "withstand". Which means to oppose the Romans or resist in strength and make a stand against them will fail. Under that Emperor Nero fell the "chosen sons of God" the apostles of our Lord, namely Paul and Peter especially and many of the baptised Christians Jew and Gentile, who indeed were a "chosen people" of that day. Many of the Christians in the city of Rome itself, would have been there from other parts of the Roman world purposefully to hear these great orators of the "word", namely Paul and Peter. During the so-called "rational years" of Nero's reign, the apostle Paul was brought before him in AD 63-64 by Paul's own appeal, as a Roman citizen. (Acts 25 and 26). It seems on the face of it, or without any other information on this subject, Saint Paul was freed of all charges laid against him he seemed to be under house arrest, because he continued with his evangelical work within the Roman world. It took only the following year in 64 BC, that the great fire of Rome was lit, and the Christians became the scapegoat for Nero's madness, blaming them for the fire. Most certainly Saint Paul would have been "ear marked" in this madman Nero's mind, having already been before him as a Christian answering for his beliefs the year previously.

Many books tell of the savagery towards the followers of Christ in 64 AD to 68 AD brought about primarily by that maniac Nero. So, one can only assume that the great "chosen" men of God, - who Daniel calls amongst the "chosen people", -Paul and Peter also fell during these years. Legend has it however that Saint Peter was crucified in Rome, which indeed would have fulfilled the correct death for the hated role of this dog Jew, in Roman eyes. Saint Paul being a Jew, nevertheless, was a Roman citizen, therefore could not be crucified. So, for him poor soul, something else would have been thought of!

Paul was undoubtedly kept in chains as 2Timothy 1:16,17 states. Tradition has it he was beheaded on the "Ostian way".

Let us read from 2 excerpts from books for these times. When these wonderful "chosen people" of God, went to their deaths, rather than bow to the Roman "fleshly" men. Carl Roebuck's book, "The World of Ancient Times," gives us good condensed feelings of the peoples of those times.- Page 680 - "BECAUSE CHRISTIANITY WAS AT FIRST REGARDED AS A SCHISMATIC SECT OF JUDAISM AND ORIGINATED IN THE EAST, CONSERVATIVE, UPPER CLASS ROMAN SOCIETY CONDEMNED IT AUTOMATICALLY AND SHOWED NO INTEREST IN IT'S IDEAS. WE HAVE ALREADY NOTICED THE REMARKS OF TACITUS IN CONNECTION WITH NERO'S ATTEMPT TO FASTEN GUILT ON THE CHRISTIANS OF ROME FOR THE FIRE OF 64. THE CHRISTIANS WERE "MEN HATED FOR THEIR ABOMINATIONS - A MOST MISCHIEVOUS SUPERSTITION". PLINY HAD THE CURIOSITY TO INVESTIGATE THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE CHRISTIANS IN BITHYNIA AND FOUND THEY DISAVOWED CRIME, ADULTERY, PERJURY, ATE ORDINARY FOOD, AND GOT UP BEFORE SUNRISE TO SING HYMNS TO THEIR GOD. YET SOCIAL PREJUDICE HAD RESULTED IN THE CHRISTIANS BEING REGARDED AS HOSTILE TO THE STATE AND OPEN TO PERSECUTION. THE GOVERNMENTS POLICY IN THAT RESPECT REMAINED THAT OF TRAJAN WELL INTO THE THIRD CENTURY - CHRISTIANS WERE TO BE TOLERATED, UNLESS SPECIFIC CHARGED WERE BROUGHT AGAINST THEM AS INDIVIDUALS BEFORE THE MAGISTRATES. THEIR GUILT WAS DETERMINED BY REFUSAL TO WORSHIP THE GODS OF THE STATE. AS IT WERE WITH JUDAISM, THE PREJUDICE AGAINST CHRISTIANS SEEMS TO HAVE ARISEN FROM THEIR RELIGIOUS EXCLUSIVENESS IN A SOCIETY TO WHICH THIS IDEA WAS FOREIGN. THE CHRISTIANS MET IN SMALL GROUPS IN PRIVATE HOUSES AND DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN CIVIC RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THEIR COMMUNITIES. IMAGINATION ALWAYS READY TO SUPPLY SUCH DETAILS, PICTURED THE SECRET MEETINGS AS ORGIES OF VICE AND CANNIBALISTIC FEASTS, EVIDENTLY A MISINTERPRETATION OF THE EUCHARIST. THE CHRISTIANS OF THE FIRST CENTURY EXPECTED THAT THE PRESENT WORLD ORDER WOULD END SPEEDILY AND AWAITED THE IMMINENT RETURN OF CHRIST. ACCORDINGLY THEY WERE NOT PARTICULARLY CONCERNED WITH ORDINARY VALUES OF SOCIETY BUT LEVELLED DISTINCTIONS OF PROPERTY AND OF STATUS AND REGARDED MARRIAGE AS UNIMPORTANT CHRISTIANS, OF COURSE, COULD SCARCELY HOLD CIVIC OFFICE AND SERVE IN THE ARMY WHERE RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES TO WORSHIP THE ROMAN GODS AND THE EMPEROR WERE REQUIRED. BECAUSE CHRISTIANS WERE DIFFERENT, SOCIETY REJECTED THEM AND BECAUSE FAILURE TO JOIN IN THE STATE RELIGION WAS DISLOYALTY, THEY WERE REGARDED AS HOSTILE TO THE STATE".

We turn now to Zondervan's Pictorial Dictionary, page 581. "IN AD 64 A LARGE PART OF ROME WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE. WHETHER OR NOT NERO ACTUALLY ORDERED THE BURNING OF THE CITY IS VERY CONTROVERSIAL. HOWEVER, JUSTLY OR NOT, THE FINGER OF SUSPICION WAS POINTED IN NERO'S DIRECTION. A SCAPEGOAT WAS PROVIDED IN THE CHRISTIANS. TACITUS, WHO CERTAINLY CANNOT BE ACCUSED OF BEING CALLED A CHRISTIAN, BEARS TESTIMONY AS TO THE SEVERITY OF THE SUFFERINGS INFLICTED UPON THEM. "THEIR DEATH WAS MADE A MATTER OF SPORT; THEY WERE COVERED IN WILD BEASTS SKIN AND TORN TO PIECES BY DOGS; OR WERE FASTENED TO CROSSES AND SET ON FIRE IN ORDER TO SERVE AS TORCHES BY NIGHT. --NERO HAD OFFERED HIS GARDENS FOR THE SPECTACLE AND GAVE AN EXHIBITION IN HIS CIRCUS, MINGLING WITH THE CROWD IN THE GUISE OF A CHARIOTEER OR MOUNTED ON HIS CHARIOT. HENCE,--THERE AROSE A FEELING OF PITY, BECAUSE IT WAS FELT THAT THEY WERE BEING SACRIFICED NOT FOR THE COMMON GOOD, BUT TO GRATIFY THE SAVAGERY OF ONE MAN". (TACITUS, ANNALS XV, 44).

So, the severity of the Christians deaths in their hundreds, even turned the stomachs of hardened Romans. It seems then that during the early years of the Christians, -many being the "chosen people"- they were blamed and punished for all sorts of disasters to the Roman Empire. If there were plagues, economic disorders, or even barbarian invasions into their lands, the Christian was the scapegoat for the Romans to vent their emotions on. It was Nero in AD 64, who officially put the first Christians to death, by order of the government. The Christians inside Rome itself when officially tried by the government, involved only a trial before a city prefect. History also says these persecutions did not take place outside Rome. Christians were also refused access to burial places, so they buried their dead in graves belonging to the poor outside the city in underground vaults called Catacombs.

It "must" be said in passing, that the lineage of the "chosen people" of Israel, straight from Abraham within the Gentile Christians, also had the other lineages of Christians who were classed as "strangers", or "adopted" into their sphere, to join Israel, as one family under Christ Jesus.

The prophets have told us time and time again, "why" the 2 nations of Israel would go into other nations of the world and how they will come out again identified as 2 houses of "one" nation.

In Amos chapter 9 verse 8, God speaks to the House of Jacob -(Or- Judah the Jew) saying, He will not utterly destroy them. Verse 9 God is sifting the 10 tribes of the House of Israel among all nations.

-This is the reason "why" Jesus is preached and taught to "all nations", because both the houses of Israel are within them, especially to the Gentiles in the West. The promises of a "chosen people" made to Abraham so long ago under the Law, as Scripture says. It cannot be undone only fulfilled! So, Abraham's fleshly children of the whole 12 tribes of Israel -sinned and were punished. Nevertheless, they must be "redeemed" or "regathered" again, to fulfil that same Law. This time however they will be regathered through the "spirit of the Law", whose teacher is Jesus. Whose lesser teachers of the spirit were the apostles, and those teachers went out into the Roman world to find Abraham's children first and foremost. Gathering also converted "other" nations with them. Paul taught in Galatians 4:4-6.
Verse 4:- "BUT WHEN THE FULNESS OF TIME WAS COME, GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON, MADE OF A WOMAN, MADE UNDER THE LAW". (Or- under the Law of the flesh, Jesus was born a Jew out of Judah of the woman Mary and the practices of the Law of the Jew were performed upon Him, as God's Law commanded).
Verse 5:- "TO REDEEM THEM THAT WERE UNDER THE LAW, (Or- according to the Mosaic laws of Redeeming. Something or someone had paid a price for to buy them back. -He, Jesus was under the Law of Leviticus 25. -So, these children that are redeemed are natural Israelites first). THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE ADOPTION OF SONS". (Or- to receive these children not just by right of birth because he is a Hebrew, but because God "chooses " His children by a course of conduct on their part).
Verse 6:- "AND BECAUSE YE ARE SONS, (Whether natural, or adopted, as other nations amongst the Christians were). GOD HATH SENT FORTH THE SPIRIT OF HIS SON INTO YOUR HEARTS, CRYING ABBA, FATHER". (Or- The holy seed of Israel, or other adopted people can only answer Christ's "call" from the inner-man, of the spirit. It is as verse 6 says, these children making great sounds of weeping and lamentations, within their hearts having full knowledge who God is, that of their "Father" of old and who "they" are! Namely Israelites.

This subject is an extremely deep one and needs more understanding on the subject. This reader is a "resume" of the "chosen people" of both Jew and Gentile, who were under the era of Vespasian, Titus and Nero and why Daniel 11:15 said, there would be "no strength to withstand" the onslaught of 3 powerful men at that period of tortuous secular and biblical history!