11

When Eleazar discovered Amal had gone missing he was beside himself with rage. In the end he suspected she had been kidnapped by his enemies. But which ones? While the Zealots were a powerful nationalist group, they weren’t the only one. There were a number of Zealot groups, each loyal to its own leader. But now wasn’t the time to concern himself about a woman. The taking of Masada meant he had to make a move or be out of the game.

Without explanation he had bundled his family out of their house in the fashionable part of the Upper City and moved them to a property in the Lower City, ordering them on pain of death to stay indoors.

His next move was to mobilise his followers and put them on the streets as a citizen army, which the populace could either join or risk being accused of favouring the enemy. Thousands of Zealots answered the call to arms, pouring into the crowded streets. Under the orders of men appointed as his officers, they headed for the Temple chanting “Death to the Romans” and, ominously, “Death to the chief priests who have betrayed us”.

As mobs of armed men charged through the streets, citizens were knocked aside and the contents of shopkeepers’ stalls sent flying in all directions. Shouts and curses filled the air.

Picking up reinforcements on the way, the Zealots’ forces swept through the Jerusalem like water from a breached dam. Tens of thousands of men surged irresistibly through the warren of streets latticing the Lower City, the noise of their coming a continuous rumble that grew in volume with every passing minute. From the tops of both the Temple and the Antonia, it seemed as if the whole of the Lower City had somehow attained a life of its own.

The High Priest and the chief priests stared in disbelief at the river of people advancing relentlessly towards the Temple. The Roman soldiers on the walls, with more experience in such matters, retreated into the Antonia fortress at a dead run slamming the gates shut.

As trumpeters sounded the alarm, hundreds of soldiers inside the fortress quickly took up their stations on its walls. Metilius hurriedly pulled on his armour, shouting for his officers to attend him.

Slower to react, the High Priest Ananus nevertheless quickly realised that his own position was untenable. He had twenty thousand Levites, Temple policemen, available to defend the Temple and, of course, the people. The hundreds of thousands of pilgrims inside or camped just outside the city, would spring to the Temple’s defence without question. But they had to be mobilised.

In the meantime the Temple was a trap. Bottled up, they could not appeal to the faithful for help. The High Priest turned to one of the priests who had joined him on the Temple walls. “We must flee to the Upper City. There we can appeal to the pilgrims and the peace loving responsible citizens of the Holy City”. The clutch of priests surrounding Ananus stared mesmerised at the advancing wall of nationalists. An unpleasant sound filled the air. Ananus frowned. It was like the bellowing of stampeding cattle. It was, he suddenly realised, coming from the densely packed mob advancing remorselessly towards the Temple.

Rapidly he dispensed orders. There was no time to take anything. “Surely”, he reasoned “the advancing mobs are Jews. They will stop short of violating the very house of God”.

“Then” asked Zacharius one of the chief priests, “why do we need to flee? They are all Jews; they will respect our office. Surely we are safer here then if we run”.

“Whoever they are”, snapped the High Priest, “they are the enemies of Rome. If we stay and collaborate with them, we are as guilty of treason as they are. The Romans will be as merciless with us as with them”.

“Now go, summon the Temple guards, send messages to the authorities in the Upper City, send messages to Agrippa, but do it speedily and when your duties are complete, make your way to the Upper City”.

As the chief priests ran to carry out the High Priest’s instructions, the priest Zacharias asked “What of the Roman garrison? Surely they will defend the city. Will they not send messages to the procurator in Caesarea, and to the Legate who is on his way to Antioch?”

The High Priest shrugged. “You can see the Romans are manning the walls of the Antonia. For the moment they are spectators. In less than an hour they will be completely surrounded by half a million Jews whose passions, already inflamed, will kill anything or anybody that stands in their way, including”, he added grimly “us.”

“The Temple governor; I haven’t seen him all day. I hope he is safe”. Zacharius’ voice was filled with concern.

“Go” said the High Priest abruptly, the thought of the whereabouts of the Temple governor had also suddenly occurred to him - and with that thought a sudden suspicion. Recently Eleazor had been absent from many Temple duties. He had been seen in the company of known Zealots. When Ananus had casually questioned him, he had been evasive.

Staring across the rooftops the High Priest had a sudden premonition. He closed his eyes, his faced screwed up as though in pain. He groaned deeply. Eleazar was one of them. He knew it with absolute certainty. And he was coming to kill him. The same ruthless burning ambition that had taken him to the post of the High Priest was present in Eleazar. Ananus prayed and, for the first time in years, it was more than just ritual.

The High Priest raised his arms aloft, tears coursing down his cheeks. “Hear me O God of Israel. Let me be your instrument of vengeance, for I will destroy him without mercy”. With a final glance of pure hatred at the advancing mob, Ananus left the walls. He knew that only chaos lay ahead. If the Jews were to survive as a nation, the Romans must be made to see that it was the nationalists who were the rebels, not only against Rome but in starting a civil war against their own people.

What followed was a week-long bloodbath. Eleazar and his followers over-ran the Temple but were careful not to violate it. To do so would have caused the thousands of civilians who had taken up arms and joined their ranks to have turned on them, for they were religious men who revered the Temple. Their quarrel was with Rome and any Jew who supported it.

Day after day, Eleazar’s men fought to enter the Upper City, which was defended bravely.

Ananus’ makeshift pilgrim army had answered the call to arms, manning the barricades hastily thrown up, blocking the streets leading into the Upper City. More of the faithful were stationed on every rooftop. Using crowbars they prised stone blocks free, hurling them with devastating effect onto the heads of their attackers who were packed tightly between the high walls of the buildings approaching the Temple.

King Agrippa sent two thousand troops, supported by cavalry, with Darius in command. This encouraged Ananus to send out sorties in company strength which fought hand to hand with the nationalists, with neither side gaining an advantage.

On the eighth day of the battle, Menahem sent a message to Eleazar. He was outside the city with twenty thousand supporters, many of them well armed from the contents of Herod’s armoury at Masada. In addition he had gathered up a citizen army of another ninety thousand men and armed them with whatever came to hand. He was offering to enter the city and form an alliance with Eleazar’s Zealots. Eleazar, confident that he could retain control, agreed to this and together they launched an all-out attack. Pouring men into the Upper City from all directions in overwhelming numbers, Eleazar and Menahem eventually fought their way onto the rooftops.

Ananus and Agrippa’s men were now severely outnumbered. Also, their men were tired, having no fresh reserves to call upon. Slowly but inevitably they began to retreat, contesting every building, every metre of street. This hand to hand combat was savage. Men hacked at each other as though demented. The streets were literally running with blood. Dead and dying men, horribly mutilated from axe and sword, lay in the streets. Others lay slaughtered in doorways. The dead and dying piled against the street walls, the pavements carpeted with bodies. As the frustration of Roman oppression found release, Jew killed Jew with mindless ferocity.

Gradually, by sheer weight of numbers, the defenders of the Upper City were driven out. Darius’ horsemen, unable to find room to manoeuvre in the increasingly choked streets, suffered terrible losses, as the Jews attacked the horses’ legs with iron bars, bringing them and their riders down to be quickly slaughtered.

Carrying containers of oil, a band of Sicarii selected by Menahem, broke into the records’ office and proceeded to burn it. He wanted this done to destroy the money lenders’ contracts, thus making it impossible for them to recover their debts. This popular move was designed by Menahem to enlist an army of impoverished debtors to his cause.

The Upper City was Jerusalem’s most fashionable residential area. Here were located the houses of the city’s richest and most influential citizens. All the chief priests and members of the Sanhedrin lived there, as did the city’s councillors, judges and wealthy merchants.

As the insurgents crowded into the Upper City, they were reinforced with thousands of ordinary citizens who were fighting alongside them. Many saw an opportunity to become rich. Looting became widespread. Soon the streets were filled with men staggering out of houses laden down with stolen goods.

Terrified merchants, who had locked themselves in their homes, were tortured to reveal hidden stores of gold and precious stones. Murder became commonplace. For a time the entire fighting force was completely out of control. Wives and daughters were violated in front of their husbands and fathers. Make-shift carts were piled high as the new owners attempted to get away with their prizes, only to be attacked by their comrades!

With the insurgents’ attention diverted, many of the leading citizens and chief priests escaped into the city’s sewers. A chief priest, Ananias, and a handful of senior priests, judges and city councillors, escaped with the aid of Agrippa’s forces back to the Upper palace.

With the gates of Agrippa’s palace safely closed behind them, the survivors collapsed exhausted. Even though he was on the point of exhaustion, Ananias demanded an immediate audience with the king. Dirty and dishevelled, his normally beautifully coifed beard an unkempt brush, he knelt trembling with shock in front of Agrippa, who out of pity helped him to his feet and conducted him to a chair.

Before Ananias could speak Agrippa said “Wine” and handed the Priest a goblet with his own hand. Gratefully Ananias drank deeply his bloodshot eyes blinking unfocused over the vessel’s rim.

Ananias spoke first, his voice bitter. “My own son has betrayed me, betrayed his people, and betrayed his God”.

Agrippa said gently. “God is above betrayal. We must all answer for our own actions to Him. Leave Eleazar to God and consider the people. God’s chosen people. What will become of them?”

Ananias stared into space, his dirt streaked face haggard with the strain of what had transpired. “He foretold this”. It was barely a whisper. Agrippa remained silent. “And his brother Jesus – could he have been right?” The High Priest bowed his head, he was a broken man.

“Jesus the one they call the Christ?” Agrippa asked, incredulous that the high priest could even entertain such a thought.

Ananias pulled on his wine and held the cup out for a refill. He smiled though there was no mirth in it. “I have seen dozens of men who claim to be the Messiah. We are still waiting. This Jesus was no different, but his prophecy of the destruction of the Holy City will bolster his image”.

“But the man is dead; he is of no consequence. His brother James might have threatened the teaching of the Temple but he is gone too. It is over”.

“Maybe, but there is another brother, Simon, and he has a child, a baby named Joshua”.

Agrippa stared thoughtfully at Ananias. The man should have been concerned with the civil war that had engulfed his people and not the relatives of some obscure carpenter’s son his predecessor had crucified. The King, determined to take control of the situation, said “The nationalists have stopped fighting to celebrate their gains. We must take advantage of this lull to escape the city”.

Ananias ignored this, saying more to himself than to Agrippa “Why do the people listen to these false Messiahs? They see what happens to them. We crucified Jesus. We crushed James. Could we have done these things to the true Messiah? No. God would have intervened to save His chosen one”.

Agrippa shifted uneasily in his chair. “True” he mused, “the one they call Jesus is dead, but strangely his followers grew in numbers every day. Paul...” The word popped out of him without thinking.

“What about Paul?” grated Ananias.

“He came before me and Berenice for questioning before he was sent to Herod, who sent him to Caesar”.

“You should have killed him when you had the chance”.

“Nero did that, so his blood is not on my hands”.

“What about this Simon, the other brother?”

Agrippa stood up and paced the room. “An unusual man, he owns the largest shipping fleet in the world. He has the contract to provide Rome with grain from Egypt”.

“A Jew”, Ananias was incredulous, “has such wealth, such power?”

“A Jew, yes, but also a citizen of Rome and married to the granddaughter of Augustus”.

“Is this Simon a Christian or a Jew?”

“A Jew I think. What does it matter? Our immediate concern is to manage a safe retreat from this place, to my kingdom”.

“I must stay”, said Ananias. “My duty is to the Temple”.

“You will die. Eleazar must be planning to take over the office of High Priest of all Israel”.

Ananias groaned and tore at his beard. “The Romans will surely destroy my people, so what does it matter whether I continue to live for a few more days”.

“You can mediate with Rome on behalf of your people. Expose the nationalists, make them carry the blame. Offer up the life of your son Eleazar in payment for his crimes. Better still, kill him if you get the chance. Rome would accept such a gesture as clear proof of your loyalty”.

For the first time hope flickered in the High Priest’s breast. Nobody knew what lay ahead. God might yet deliver the traitorous Eleazar into his hands. “I will send his head to Caesar in a jar of honey”.

Agrippa nodded. “Come, you must rest and I have much to plan. I need to see my captains”.