Chapter One
The city was silently bloating in the hot sun, rotting like the thousands
of bodies that lay where they had fallen in street battles. An
oppressive, hot wind blew from the southeast, carrying with it the
putrefying stench of decay. And outside the city walls, Death itself
waited in the persons of Titus, son of Vespasian, and sixty thousand
legionnaires who were anxious to gut the city of God.
Even before the Romans crossed the Valley of Thorns and
camped on the Mount of Olives, warring factions within Jerusalem's
city walls had prepared the way for her destruction.
Jewish robbers, who now fled like rats before the Roman
legions, had recently fallen upon Jerusalem and murdered her
prominent citizens, taking over the holy temple. Casting lots for
the priesthood, they turned a house of prayer into a marketplace
of tyranny.
Fast behind the robbers came rebels and zealots. Directed by
rival leaders—John, Simon, and Eleazar—the warring factions
raged within the three walls. Swollen with power and pride, they
sliced Jerusalem into bloody pieces.
Breaking the Sabbath and the laws of God, Eleazar ... read full excerpt from: A Voice in the Wind ebook
