The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from
the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation
whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce
countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor
show favour to the young.--Deut. xxviii. 49, 50.
And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
saying, if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy
day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are
hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that
thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee
round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even
with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall
not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest
not the time of thy visitation.--Luke xix. 41-44.
Judea was not conquered by the neighbouring Asiatic states, but by
the Roman, Europeans of a "fierce and warlike countenance," who knew
not the Jewish language, and regarded not "the persons of the old,
nor showed favour to the young." It will not be difficult to trace
the Roman soldiers in this eloquently descriptive character. No
nation excelled them in their military prowess, or in the rapidity
of their conquests. In comparatively a very short period of time,
they extended their empire over all the then civilised part of the
globe. The insignia of their legions was not more descriptive of
their valour, than of the unexampled rapidity of their movements.
The celebrated motto of Cæsar, "I came, I saw, I conquered," was
neither of a doubtful, or boasting, character. Their career was
indeed "as swift as the eagle flieth." No nation or people did
long withstand the fierceness of their attacks, or the persevering
energy of their generals. In their triumphs over their enemies, they
frequently displayed a ferocity happily unknown in modern warfare.
The most distinguished of their captives, without regard to age or
sex, were dragged in triumph, amidst the shouts of the conquerors,
and the insults of the rabble. Often, when exasperated by the
protracted defence of a brave people struggling for their existence,
instead of respecting such patriotic efforts, they inflicted the
most horrid barbarities upon the unresisting and unhappy objects of
their vengeance; and a slaughter, indiscriminating in its fury, and
dreadful in its results, marked the blood-stained progress of the
licentious soldiery, who "regarded not the person of the old, nor
showed favour to the young." History informs us, that the Romans,
under Titus and Vespasian, after a protracted siege, unparalleled
in horror, and sanguinary beyond example, at length became masters
of this once-favoured spot; and if we compare the predictions of
Christ with the events which occurred, and followed at the taking of
this devoted city, we shall be struck with the coincidence of the
declaration, and its awful fulfilment.
His foreknowledge of the dreadful calamities which should precede
and accompany the destruction of Jerusalem, caused our blessed
Saviour, when he beheld the city, to weep over it: and, surely, if
this once-favoured race had then known the day of its visitation,
the Lord would have turned from his fierce anger: but these things
"were hid from their eyes." Having rejected the Lord of Glory, they
were given over to judicial blindness, and the Lord brought upon
them "a nation from afar" to execute his vengeance. Jerusalem was
"trodden down by the Gentiles," and there was "great distress upon
the land, and wrath upon the people." The sword and the spear from
without, and famine and pestilence and civil discord within, were
indeed unto them "the beginning of sorrows." The predicted day
was now come, when their "enemies should cast a trench about them,
and compass them round, and keep them in on every side." Their
walls of strength, their beautiful palaces, and their magnificent
temple, were laid "even with the ground." Not "one stone was left
upon another" that was not thrown down; and all the princes and the
nobles, the ruler and the ruled, the priest and the people, and
"the children within thee," either "fell by the edge of the sword,"
or were "led away captive into all nations," for there was "great
distress in the land, and wrath upon the people."