3. A LEAFLET ON THE FATE OF JERUSALEM.

In Rev. xi. 1-13 we can recognise a leaflet which is quite similar to the little Apocalypse in Mt. xxiv., and belongs to the last years before August 70 A.D., when the Temple at Jerusalem was destroyed by the Imperial Prince, Titus. We learn from xi. 1 f. that the heathen might tread upon the outer fore-court of the Temple and the rest of the holy city of Jerusalem, but might not touch “the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.” Often enough two, and even three, hostile parties had struggled for months without result inside the walls of Jerusalem. Just before Easter of the year 70 one of the three parties was in possession of the Temple with the inner fore-court, the other of the rest of the Temple hill, the third of the rest of the city. The author was therefore entirely justified by the events of the time in his expectation, even if in the end he was baffled by the destruction of the Temple.

He cannot, of course, have been a Christian if Jesus supposed prophecy, “there shall not be left here one stone upon another” (Mk. xiii. 2), was well known. And Jesus may very well have uttered such a prophecy, even if we refuse to credit him with omniscience. By simply exercising human powers of reflection, it was not difficult to foresee the fall of the Temple. But since this prophecy may also have been ascribed to Jesus subsequently, it is still possible that it was a Christian who gave expression to the contrary prophecy in his leaflet (Rev. xi. 1-13).