by Brian Godawa
Simcha moved quickly to the bridge mount. Dozens of legionaries were spilling out onto the bridge a hundred feet away and starting to cross.
Simcha took his sledgehammer and pounded at the stone edge where the bridge mount lay. It began to crumble.
The legionaries filled the drawbridge on their way to the wall. They were moving carefully, full shields up, prepared for confrontation. But they were not prepared for what happened next.
Simcha managed to dislodge a large chunk of stone at the edge of the wall. The weight of the soldiers on the bridge added more stress, and the stone just broke away, taking the wooden bridge down with it. The structure plummeted fifty feet to the ground with a crash. Legionaries slid to the bottom of the moat surrounding the wall.
The Jews around Simon and Aaron cheered.
The weight of the drawbridge pulled the tower forward, tipping it toward the wall. The creaking sound of wood cracking under the strain coupled with the screams of soldiers inside was silenced when the tower crashed into the wall.
Simon’s men cheered again.
But not Simon. He saw the other siege engine drop its bridge to the wall, the Jewish defenders meeting the Romans halfway across.
Forces clashed as the Jews sought to keep the invaders from setting foot behind the walls. Once they broke through, it would be near impossible to hold them back.
They had to hold them back.
Simon yelled, “Soldiers! Attack!” His company of men ran along the walls to reinforce their brothers.
But it was too late. The Romans had breached the wall. They were rushing in like a flood now, battling on the narrow wall top, pushing the Jews further back.
Simon could see the outer wall was lost.
He shouted, “Retreat to the second wall!” Aaron blew his war horn for retreat, and the men obeyed, dissolving away from the marauding Romans.
Simcha was not quick to retreat. He battered and pulverized Romans with his sledgehammer.
Simon yelled, at him, “Simcha! Enough! Retreat!”
The Jewish giant obeyed and slid down a ladder to the ground. He joined Simon and Aaron as they ran through the New City to the second wall.
The Romans chased the fleeing Jews. There were a couple hundred in the first wave of legionaries with more flowing in at the breach.
The Romans were several hundred yards behind. Their heavy armor weighed them down and slowed their pace.
By the time they made it to the gates of the second wall, the last of the Jewish warriors, Simcha, had made it through.
But it appeared that the gates would not be shut in time.
Despite their exhaustion, the legionaries took their opportunity to try to make it through and keep the gates open for their comrades.
But when they made it to the opening, the Jews suddenly poured boiling hot fenugreek down upon them from the walls, scalding them to death. Fenugreek was particularly odious because it was green gunk that stuck to clothes and bodies, burning through both fabric and skin.135
One of the Jews yelled out, “There’s your warm welcome!”136
A second wave of legionaries aligned themselves into testudo formation with shields overhead for protection as they approached the closing gate.
But another helpful trait of fenugreek was that it was slimy. So when the Romans reached the ground where the fenugreek had been poured out from above, the soldiers slipped and lost their footing. Shields went down as men fell to their butts on the ground. The testudo formation broke open, making the soldiers vulnerable to attack from above.
It was just the opening the Jewish archers needed to drown the century of legionaries in a wave of arrows.
Not one of them survived. Their bodies were so full of arrows, they looked like macabre human porcupines.
The gates were closed and barricaded.
The Jews on the wall laughed and insulted the arriving Romans, who found their fellow soldiers lying dead in their tracks.
Inside the wall, Simon turned to Aaron. “We can yield no more ground. We must hold the second wall or we fail the seige.”
Aaron responded, “We must end our civil war and unify with Gischala or we will all die.”
CHAPTER 35
Pella
Cassandra sat near the front of the audience in the converted temple of Jupiter. The city and church elders had convened the church council to finish examining the Ebionite beliefs that were causing division within the congregation.137 They usually adjudicated at the gates of the city, but because of the large number of citizens in attendance, several thousand, the size of the church building was more appropriate.
The Pella council had previously been interrupted by the arrival of the Roman cohort that had tried to kill them. But with their miraculous deliverance, the Christians sought to return to their duty to protect the flock from spiritual assault.
Cassandra agreed with Boaz that false teachers and their doctrines were as dangerous for the survival of the body of Christ as was the siege of Jerusalem. For what good would it do if the Church survived persecution but embraced lies and deception? A church without the true Gospel would not be a vessel of redemption but of damnation.
The apostle Peter had warned them all of this very thing in these last days.
There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
2 Peter 2:1-3
Boaz led the examination along with a dozen of other elders seated at the front of the congregation. Symeon, leader of the Ebionites, sat before the council as a court of law. His long, greasy white hair and unwashed, unkempt appearance reminded Cassandra of a madman. Which was deceptive because Symeon was no madman. He was diabolically cunning.
All of Symeon’s followers came, a thousand of them. But they were only allowed a few hundred seats in the court. The rest stood outside with the overflow into the surrounding temple grounds. Cassandra was worried. The false doctrine of the Ebionites threatened the very survival of the church. They were a growing vocal minority that sought to take over the congregation if their numbers reached a majority.
Prayer and proper assembly procedure had all been followed. Boaz was now engaging the first question of Symeon. Boaz kept it simple and clear.
“In our previous assembly, we already addressed the issue of the divine person of Jesus. I remind this council that the Ebionites do not confess the Son of Man as being Yahweh in the flesh. They affirm only that he was merely a man, adopted by the Father to be Messiah.
“Our apostolic confession is affirmed in the opening of the apostle John’s Gospel: ‘In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God and the Logos was God. And the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.’”138
Logos was the Greek word that philosophers used to describe the divine Reason or underlying order of the cosmos. Christians subverted it with the transformed meaning of the message, wisdom, and action of God dwelling in them like a tabernacle.
The Ebionites did not like the Gospel of John. They had their own scripture they called the Gospel of the Hebrews that countered it.
Symeon responded, “We Ebionites do believe in Jesus as Messiah, even if we may have minor disagreement over the nature of his person. But we do believe.”
Boaz moved the examination forward. “Is it true, Symeon, that you promote Torah observance as a requirement for inclusion in the Body of Christ?”
Symeon said, “Only for Jews, not Gentiles.”
“Defend your doctrine.”
Symeon paused. He stood up and paced around, mimicking the great philosopher Apollonius of Tyana. He had performed this same exact theatrical act last time the
y’d begun the council. Cassandra considered him to be a demagogue and an unoriginal one at that.
“We believe that Torah is obedience to Yahweh. God himself said that his statutes were forever, ‘an eternal covenant for generations.’139 Now, we readily accept Gentile believers into the ekklesia through faith.” Ekklesia was the Greek word that meant congregation of the Lord, or church, under both old and new covenants.140
“But surely the arrival of Jesus as Messiah does not eradicate the Jewish identity as God’s chosen people. We simply see two promises to two people, one to the Jews and one to the Gentiles. After all, the new covenant that the prophet Jeremiah foretold was to be made with the houses of Israel and Judah. We don’t stop being Jews when we believe in Jesus. Did not Jesus himself say that not one jot or tittle of Torah would pass away until heaven and earth passed away? Yes, we heartily affirm with Jesus that Torah is still binding on Jewish believers in Messiah.”141
Boaz quieted the murmuring of the crowd. Then he announced, “The question of Torah has been an ongoing issue of difficulty in the congregation of the Lord ever since the apostles first proclaimed the Gospel. We struggled with this in Jerusalem before the flight to Pella. So the elders have decided to call as prosecutor someone who is uniquely qualified to address this problem: Cassandra Maccabaeus.”
The crowd murmured with scandal. Symeon and the Ebionites were particularly loud and disagreeable. Though God had included females in baptismal rites, prophecy, and other spiritual gifts in the ekklesia for the past forty years, some still thought they should not be allowed public recognition. Boaz saw no problem with it.
He said, “Cassandra traveled and ministered with the apostle Paul, who wrote and taught extensively on the issue of Torah. She comes to us with expert testimony.”
Symeon blurted out, “Women are not to exercise authority over men! It is unnatural!”142
Boaz replied, “Cassandra is not exercising authority. The elders have examined her and found her worthy to testify. She is submitted to our authority.”
Cassandra walked up to the front. She saw the sour look on Symeon’s face. She had expected it. It made her feel good. She had to be careful not to let her pride rise up. Or her anger. She had learned her lesson a few years back when this had all started. She had lashed out in self-righteous condemnation of her fellow Jews. They had martyred her parents, and she had been happy to see God’s judgment coming upon them. But the Holy Spirit had broken her, changed her heart. And now she wanted to save as many as possible from the wrath to come.
Heretics and false teachers, however, were a scourge. The apostle Peter had written of them as blasphemers, like irrational animals born to be caught and destroyed. Accursed children following the way of Balaam. Waterless springs and mists driven by the storm, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.143 False prophets and teachers had to be stopped and cut off before their poison corrupted the body of Christ.
In contrast with her past incivility, Cassandra tried to speak firmly yet graciously to the elders and crowd. “Symeon speaks of the need to maintain Torah. Yet he also claims to believe in the inclusion of Gentiles into the ekklesia. This is the problem that the apostle Paul wrote about. How can you include Gentiles into the body, but continue to engage in rituals that exclude Gentiles from the body? It is a contradiction. The very essence of Torah holiness, whether it is diet, sabbaths, or circumcision, is separation from the Gentiles. But Paul the apostle wrote that Jesus has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two.144 There are not two promises to two peoples. There is one promise to one people of faith, both Jew and Gentile.
“Jesus has made Torah obsolete. And what is Torah? It is the heavens and earth of Yahweh’s old covenant. The temple in Jerusalem is the earthly incarnation of that old covenant heavens and earth. So when Symeon quotes Jesus that not one jot or tittle will pass away from Torah until heaven and earth pass away, he is correct. The new heavens and earth of Isaiah have arrived in the new covenant of Christ’s blood. And it will be consummated at Christ’s parousia with the earthly destruction of the temple, which is the passing away of the old covenant heavens and earth.145
“This is why the writer of Hebrews tells us not to turn back to the shadows of Torah and temple that looked forward to Messiah, the reality. Jesus Christ is greater than the angels, greater than Moses and Aaron, than the temple itself.146 In Christ, God’s eternal covenant of perpetual statutes is fulfilled forever. Torah is abolished for us, fulfilled in him.147”
Symeon was allowed to respond. He spoke to the elders up front, taking pains to avoid looking at Cassandra. “We Ebionites anticipate that Jesus is coming to the temple in Jerusalem, but not to destroy it. Rather as our new high priest, he will rebuild an eschatological temple, establish a new priesthood, and reinstitute the sacrifices as Ezekiel prophesied.”
Cassandra was not going to let him get away with that. She said, “Jesus is building the eschatological temple right now. The body of Christ all over the world is the new temple without land or boundaries. We are living stones in that spiritual temple. Paul wrote that Gentiles are no longer strangers and aliens but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. The Shekinah glory has left the earthly temple and now resides in us because we are the new dwelling place for God’s Spirit.148
“It is blasphemy to claim that Jesus would reinstitute sacrifices in an earthly temple after he paid the price with his eternal sacrifice in the heavenly temple. It would be a denial of the once for all sacrifice of Christ. A denial of the Gospel itself.”
“Elders, if I may,” said Symeon. “This woman continues to quote the apostle Paul. But we Ebionites do not acknowledge Paul’s writing as God-breathed precisely because he rejects Torah.”
The crowd went wild. Cassandra knew that this would not go well for the Ebionites.
Symeon went on, “Even if we ignored Torah, the promise of God goes back further in history to our father Abraham. And it is there where the eternal covenant is made to Abraham and his seed, his offspring. If I may quote the Scripture, ‘Behold, my covenant is with you, Abraham, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant. And I will give to you and to your seed after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.’”149
“Now, it seems to me that God’s covenant with Abraham and his seed is an everlasting one rooted in circumcision. A covenant where he promises not only that we will number as the stars of heaven, but that we shall possess this Land forever. God will not reject his people, will he? I think not. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
Cassandra immediately thought, Good. I’ve got him now. He’s denied justification by faith. She turned to the elders and prepared to make her final argument—to cut off the head of the snake.
CHAPTER 36
Jerusalem
Simon, Aaron, and Simcha entered the Antonia fortress, cautiously looking around. The middle of the fort was a large open courtyard with four seventy-five-feet-tall towers on each corner. The walls themselves were sixty feet in height, and they shielded a series of rooms all about the palatial structure. The fort was on the northwestern corner of the temple mount, so it would most likely be the focus of attack for the Romans to get to the temple. Since Gischala controlled the entire temple complex, the Antonia was his to defend.150
Simon had risked this meeting on Gischala’s turf because the time had arrived for putting aside their personal grievances. They had to stop this civil war. They had to unite against Titus or th
ey would fall beneath the trampling feet and iron jaws of Rome.151
Or at least that is what Simon wanted Gischala to think. Simon wanted to somehow find a way to kill Titus, and the Zealot might help make that goal possible. The slaughter of the Essene community by the Roman general had felt like the massacre of Simon’s own family. That group of naïve idealistic monks had changed his life. Young Aaron beside him had taught Simon to see the world differently. But Titus had so completely destroyed the community of Qumran that everything they believed in was gone, burned up in the wreckage of the Dead Sea village.
Simon still thought he could avoid the rest of the war. Even at this late time, it was not impossible to escape back out into the wilderness. He had planned to run to Masada, a truly impregnable fortress where he could withstand any enemy siege. But that was for later. For now, he had to gain Gischala’s trust. Because the only other person Simon was more intent upon killing than Titus was Gischala. He was still plotting a way to catch Gischala unaware and get his final revenge upon the creature for everything he had done to Simon, to the only woman Simon had ever truly loved, and to the temple that Simon had once believed in.
Aaron alerted Simon to the arrival of Gischala walking toward them all alone, a gesture of good faith—backed up by corridors of soldiers surrounding the courtyard around them.
Gischala approached Simon and his two companions with open arms, trying to gauge their intent. The young monk he knew about, but the huge bodyguard must be a new addition. Gischala stared up at the six-foot-tall brute bulging with muscles and said, “Well, a call for a truce is just in time, considering my chances of surviving this one.”
Simcha grinned.
Simon did not appear in a mood for humor. He said, “We must put aside our differences and unite immediately. If the Romans take the temple, you know what they will do to it. Abomination and desolation.”