2 Ne 6: 10 the day cometh that they shall be smitten and afflicted

It was not long after the Jews had hardened their hearts and stiffened their necks against the Holy One of Israel that severe destructions came upon them. This came because of their wickedness. That the Lord knew of impending destructions awaiting this wicked generation is seen in his comment to the weeping daughters of Jerusalem on the weary path to Golgotha, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children (Lu 23:28). He also taught that the temple would be destroyed, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down (Matt 24:2). Both of these prophecies had reference to the first Abomination of Desolation, or destruction of Jerusalem, which occurred at the hands of the Romans in 70 AD. This was the beginning of a long history of afflictions that the house of Israel was to suffer.

Josephus is the fundamental historian of the Roman capture of Jerusalem. He records that the Roman soldiers would capture about 500 Jews a day, then crucify them all, “So the soldiers, out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest; when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies.” (Josephus, the Wars of the Jews, Book V, Chap. XI, v. 1) He describes a terrible famine:

“Then did the famine widen its 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…many died as they were burying others…while yet robbers were still more terrible than these miseries were themselves; for they brake open those houses which were no other than graves of dead bodies and plundered them…in order to prove what mettle they were made of, they thrust some of those through that still lay alive upon the ground…

“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.” (Josephus, the Wars of the Jews, Book V, Chap. XII, v.3-4)

Josephus, as an eyewitness to many of these atrocities, described them in gruesome detail. He records that many starving Jews deserted to the Syrians and Arabians for protection. However, some Jews had made a practice swallowing as much gold as possible prior to deserting. Josephus explains their terrible fate:

“Yet did another plague seize upon those that were thus preserved; for there was found among the Syrian deserters a certain person who was caught gathering pieces of gold out of the excrements of the Jews’ bellies; for the deserters used to swallow such pieces of gold….when this contrivance was discovered in one instance, the fame of it filled their several camps, that the deserters came to them full of gold. So the multitude of the Arabians, with the Syrians, cut up those that came as supplicants, and searched their bellies. Nor does it seem to me that any misery befell the Jews that was more terrible than this, since in one night about two thousand of these deserters were thus dissected.” (Josephus, the Wars of the Jews, Book V, Chap. XIII, v.4)

Josephus tallied the destruction suffered in this great war, “Now the number of those that were carried captive during this whole war was collected to be ninety-seven thousand; as was the number of those that perished during the whole siege, eleven hundred thousand.” (Josephus, the Wars of the Jews, Book VI, Chap. IX, v.3) This great destruction brought the following conclusion from Josephus, “in reality it was God who condemned the whole nation, and turned every course that was taken for their preservation to their destruction.” (Josephus, the Wars of the Jews, Book V, Chap. XIII, v.5) Such was just the beginning of sorrows for the Jews. They have been scattered and afflicted ever since. As Jacob wrote, they shall be scattered, and smitten, and hated (v. 11).