De signis qime praecesserunt excidium
The Patience of God Before Judgment
God delayed the destruction of Jerusalem for forty years, using the apostolic ministry to call the people to repentance.
The recent catastrophe in Jerusalem. An old history—so called because its author is unknown and it covers ancient events—records that as the destruction of Jerusalem loomed, a lunar eclipse lasted for twelve consecutive nights, even in the most remote places. This perhaps signified the overthrow of Jewish faithlessness and superstitious error, which occurred most fittingly as Christ’s light dawned upon the world through the apostolic preaching. For it is written: 'The fool changes like the moon, but the wise man remains like the sun.' Many other things also happened as divine judgment loomed over the unbelievers; if I were to start recounting them one by one, just as they have been compiled by the authors, these alone would require their own time and leisure. Yet, I will briefly run through a few, following Josephus, because they serve to strengthen our faith and to beat back the stubborn faithlessness of the Jews. For the punishment of the wicked was deferred for forty continuous years after the crime was committed. During this time, all the Apostles—but especially James, who was called the brother of the Lord and was appointed bishop in Jerusalem—ceaselessly warned the people about the impiety they had committed and the deadly daring of their crime, in case they might be able to repent of what they had done, and in case they might be able to weep for their sin and extinguish the avenging flames of punishment with a flood of tears. For God was showing them through His patience that He was seeking their repentance, because God doesn't desire the death of the sinner as much as He desires that he turn back and live.✦
Signs and Wonders in the Heavens
A series of miraculous omens, celestial signs, and prophetic warnings were given to Jerusalem, yet the people remained blind to the coming ruin.
Yet the Divine Majesty still tried to soften the hardness of their hearts by signs and wonders given from heaven, showing them both terrors and a threatening hand rather than bringing them down; the reliability of the historians mentioned above will be sufficient for this, just as it is for the rest. Let’s read what Josephus himself recorded about these events in the sixth book of his histories. He says that certain vile men and deceivers, preaching falsehoods, persuaded the unhappy people not to believe the clear signs and indications of divine wrath and indignation, by which the destruction of both the city and the nation was openly foretold. But as if they were possessed and out of their minds, having neither eyes nor souls, they ignored everything announced from heaven. For a star, shining like a sword, was seen to hang over the city, and a comet also appeared to burn with deadly flames for an entire year. Moreover, even before the destruction and the war, when the people were gathering for the festival on the eighth day of the month of Xanthicus—which is April—at the ninth hour of the night, such a flash of light surrounded the altar and the temple that everyone thought it had become broad daylight, and it lasted for half an hour. To the unskilled and the ignorant, this seemed a good omen; but the experts in the law and all the upright teachers were not unaware of the deadly portent. During that same festival, a heifer brought for sacrifice, while standing at the altar, gave birth to a lamb right in the hands of the ministers. Furthermore, the gate of the inner hall, which faced east, was made of solid bronze and was of such immense weight that it could barely be closed by twenty men pushing with all their might; it was reinforced with iron bars and bolts, and held fast by heavy iron pins driven deep into the ground. Yet, at the sixth hour of the night on the twenty-first day of the month, it appeared to have opened of its own accord. And then, a few days after the festival had passed, on the twenty-first day of the month of Artemisios—which we call May—a miraculous sight appeared that was almost beyond belief. This would truly have been considered false, had the subsequent destruction of the wicked not confirmed what the eyes had seen. For near sunset, chariots and four-horse teams were seen throughout the region moving through the air, and companies of armed men were seen mingling with the clouds, and cities were surrounded by unexpected armies. On another festival day, called Pentecost, priests entering the temple at night to perform their customary duties first felt certain movements and heard noises, and then suddenly heard voices saying, "Let us leave this place, let us depart from these seats." To these things, another more terrible event is added; for a certain man named Jesus, the son of Ananias, a commoner and a rustic, began to cry out suddenly during the Feast of Tabernacles, four years before the war, while the city was still in peace and abundance: "A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice over Jerusalem and the temple, a voice over bridegrooms and brides, a voice over the people." And he went around through all the streets day and night, crying these things incessantly, until certain leading men of the people, moved by indignation at what they saw as an ominous prophecy, seized the man and beat him with many lashes. But he, not speaking a word for himself, nor even pleading with those who stood around him, repeated the same words with the same stubbornness and shouting. Then the leaders, understanding that the situation was, as it were, a divine movement within the man, brought him to the Roman judge, before whom he was scourged to the bone, yet he shed neither tears nor pleas. But he uttered the same cry miserably and with a certain wailing, repeating it with almost every lash, adding also this: "Woe, woe to Jerusalem."
The True Ruler of the Nations
While historians misinterpret ancient prophecies as referring to Roman emperors, they truly point to the universal reign of Christ.
The same historian continues with another event, even more miraculous, saying that a certain prophecy was found in the sacred scriptures which, at that same time, pointed to a man from their region who would rise to rule the entire world. The same historian suspects this prophecy referred to Vespasian. But Vespasian only ruled over nations that were already subject to the Roman Empire. Therefore, these prophecies more justly refer to Christ, to whom the Father said: 'Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession.' His message, through his apostles, went out into all the earth at that same time, and his words to the ends of the world.
Read the original Latin
lerosolimitanum nouissimum. Vetus ref ert historia (sic dicta quod est auctor eius incertus, et uetera referi;) quod imminente lerosolimorum excidio eclipsis lunae per duodecim noctes continuas etiam in remotissimis locis protracta est, forte significans ludaicae perfidiae et superstitiosi erroris euersionem, quae Christo per praedicationem apostolicam mundo illucescente rectissime contigit. Scriptum est enim: Stultus mutatur ut luna, sapiens uero cum sole permanet. Alia quoque quam plurima, diuino super incredulos imminente iudicio, acciderunt, quae si per singula, prout ab auctoribus digesta simt, coepero enarrare, uel sola haec proprium tempus desiderabunt et otium. Pauca tamen auctore losepho compendioso sermone percurram, eo quod ad roborandam fidem nostram proficiunt et ad retundendam obstinatam perfidiam ludeorum. Quadraginta namque post admissum piaculum continuis protracta annis impiorum pena differtur. In quibus et Apostoli omnes, praecipue tamen lacobus, qui dicebatur frater Domini, lerosolimis episcopus constitutus, a indesinenter populum commissae impietatis et feralis ausi de scelere commonebant, si forte possent, commissi penitudinem gerere; si possent, flere pro scelere et ultrices penarum flammas lacrimarum ubertate restinguere. Ostendebat namque eis Deus per suam patientiam quod ipsorum quaereret penitentiam; quia non uult tantum Deus mortem peccatoris quantum ut conuertatur et uiuat.
Mollire autem adhuc mentis eorum duritiam nitebatur diuina maiestas signis et prodigiis celitus datis terroresque simul et minacem dexteram ostendendo potius quam inferendo; de quibus supra dicti historiographi fides, ut in ceteris, etiam in hoc sufficiens erit. Relegamus ergo quid in sexto historiarum suarum libro de his ipse signauerit losephus. Sed infelicem, inquit, plebem teterrimi quidam homines et deceptores falsa uaticinantes suadebant ut euidentibus signis et indiciis iracundiae et indignationis diuinae non crederent, quibus aperte futurum et urbis et gentis praesagabatur excidium. Sed uelut afflati et amentes, et qui neque oculos neque animas in se haberent, spemebant omnia quae celitus nuntiabantur. Etenim stella praefulgens gladio per omnia similis imminere desuper ciuitati, et cometes praeterea exitialibus flammis ardere uisa est per totum annum. Sed et ante excidii tempus ac belli, cum populi ad diem festum conuenirent, octauo die mensis Xantichi, qui est Aprilis, noctis tempore, hora nona, tantus luminis falgor aram templumque circumdedit, ut putarent omnes diem clarissimum factum, et permansit spatio horae dimidiae. Quod imperitis quidem et ignaris prosperum uidebatur; sed legisperitos et probos quosque doctores non latuit exitiale portentum. In eadem quoque festiuitate uitula sacrificiis admota et aris assistens inter ipsas ministrorum manus enixa est agnam.
Sed et ianua interioris edis, quae respiciebat ad orientem, cum esset ere solido induta, ac perinde immensi ponderis, quae uix uiginti uiris summo conatu impellentibus clauderetur, ferreis quoque uectibus et seris munita ac pessulis in altum demissis teneretur obstricta, repente hora noctis sexta, prima et uicesima die mensis, apparuit sponte patefacta, Sed et transacto die festo post aliquot dies prima et uigesima die mensis Arthemesii, qui apud nos Maius uocatur, prodigiosus appaniit uisus et fidem pene excedens. Quod uere falsum putaretur nisi oculorum fidem confirmasset malonim consecuta pemicies. Etenim prope solis occasum uisi sunt currus et quadrigae in omni regione per aerem et armatorum cohort s misceri nubibus et urbes circumdari agminibus improuisis. In alio item die festo, qui Pentecostes appellatur, noctu sacerdotes ingressi templum ad ministeria ex more complenda, primo quidem motus quosdam strepitusque senserunt, tum deinde uoces subitas audiimt dicentes: Migremus hinc, migremus ex sedibus istis. Additur his etiam aliud terribilius; etenim quidam Ananiae filius lesus nomine, uir plebeius a et rusticus, et ante quartum beUi annum, cum ciuitas in pace et abundantia perduraret, in die festo tabemaculorum repente clamare coepit: Vox ab oriente, uox ab occidente, uox a quattuor uentis, uox super lerosolimam et templum, uox super sponsos et sponsas, uox super populum: et indesinenter die noctuque per omnes plat as circumiens haec clamabat; usque quo quidam primores ex populo uiri, uelut infausti praesagii indignatione commoti, correptum hominem multis uerberibus afficiimt. At ille nequaquam pro se aliquid loquens, sed nec eos quidem qui circumsteterant deprecans, easdem uoces pari obstinatione et clamore repetebat. Tum principes intelligentes, ut res erat, numinis esse in uiro motus, perducunt eum ad iudicem Romanorum, apud quem flagris ad ossa usque laniatus neque preces neque lacrimas fudit. Sed eandem uocem miserabiliter et cum quodam eiulatu emittens per singula pene uerbera proferebat, addens etiam hoc: Ve ue lerosolimis.
Prosequitur et aliud idem historiographus maiore gestum miraculo, dicens oraculum quoddam in sacris litteris repertum, quod per idem tempus uirum designaret ex eorum regione processurum, qui totius orbis potiretur imperio. Cuius oraculi praesagium idem historiographus Vespasianum declarare suspicatur. Sed Vespasianus non aliis quam illis solis gentibus quae Romano imperio uidec bantur subditae dominatus est. Vnde iustius ad Christum haec responsa referuntur, ad quem dixit Pater: Pete a me, et dabo tibi gentes hereditatem tuam et possessionem tuam terminos terrae: et cuius per idem tempus per apostolos suos in omnem terram exiuit sonus et in fines orbis terrae uerba eorum.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ezek.33.11 — Say to them, 'As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'
Policraticus companion
Study the argument weekly; pray the tradition daily
Pair the outline with the Chosen Portion app, which serves short daily portions from the same royal devotional tradition — free on iOS.
John of Salisbury argued that rulers must keep the law of God before their eyes daily; Chosen Portion gives modern readers that same daily discipline in five minutes a morning.
- 8 weeks, one book per week, with the 3-4 key chapters flagged in each
- Discussion questions usable for a reading group from week one
- A daily 5-minute companion portion in the app alongside your weekly study