Destruction of Jerusalem
23
sins, wrath had been denounced against Jerusalem, and her stubborn
unbelief rendered her doom certain.
The Lord had declared by the prophet Micah: “Hear this, I pray
you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel,
that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with
blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward,
and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine
for money; yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord
among us? none evil can come upon us.” [
Micah 3:9-11
.]
These words faithfully described the corrupt and self-righteous in-
habitants of Jerusalem. While claiming to rigidly observe the precepts
of God’s law, they were transgressing all its principles. They hated
Christ because his purity and holiness revealed their iniquity; and they
accused him of being the cause of all the troubles which had come
upon them in consequence of their sins. Though they knew him to be
sinless, they had declared that his death was necessary to their safety
as a nation. “If we let him thus alone,” said the Jewish leaders, “all
men will believe on him; and the Romans shall come and take away
both our place and nation.” [
John 11:48
.] If Christ were sacrificed, they
might once more become a strong, united people. Thus they reasoned,
and they concurred in the decision of their high priest, that it would be
better for one man to die than for the whole nation to perish.
Thus the Jewish leaders had “built up Zion with blood, and
Jerusalem with iniquity.” And yet, while they slew their Saviour be-
cause he reproved their sins, such was their self-righteousness that
they regarded themselves as God’s favored people, and expected the
Lord to deliver them from their enemies. “Therefore,” continued the
prophet, “shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem
shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places
[28]
of the forest.” [
Micah 3:12
.]
For forty years after the doom of Jerusalem had been pronounced
by Christ himself, the Lord delayed his judgments upon the city and the
nation. Wonderful was the long-suffering of God toward the rejecters
of his gospel and the murderers of his Son. The parable of the unfruitful
tree represented God’s dealings with the Jewish nation. The command
had gone forth, “Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?” [
Luke
13:7
.] but divine mercy had spared it yet a little longer. There were
still many among the Jews who were ignorant of the character and the