The miseries that were within the city during the Roman siege of Jerusalem, Josephus reported that a heifer being led to the altar in the temple gave birth to a lamb; he reported that a bright light shined about the altar in the middle of the night and gave the appearance of daylight. The Works of Flavius Josephus War of the Jews Book 6 Chapter 5
A star resembling a sword, stood over the city, Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation, but, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them.
Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year. Thus also before the Jews' rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus, [Nisan,] and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskillful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes, as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it. The Works of Flavius Josephus War of the Jews Book 6 Chapter 5
At the same festival also, a heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple. The Works of Flavius Josephus War of the Jews Book 6 Chapter 5
Tacitus, a Roman historian, also says, "There were many prodigies presignifying their ruin which was not averted by all the sacrifices and vows of that people. Armies were seen fighting in the air with brandished weapons. A fire fell upon the Temple from the clouds. The doors of the Temple were suddenly opened. At the same time there was a loud voice saying that the gods were removing, which was accompanied with a sound as of a multitude going out. All which things were supposed, by some to portend great calamities."1
A gate to the inner court of the temple opened by itself ~ The Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner [court of the] temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. Now those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it; who then came up thither, and not without great difficulty was able to shut the gate again. This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies. So these publicly declared that the signal foreshowed the desolation that was coming upon them. The Works of Flavius Josephus War of the Jews Book 6 Chapter 5
The eastern gate, called in the Talmud Nicanor's, or the great gate, was made of Corinthian brass and was regarded as the principal gate on account of its greater height (being 50 cubits) and width (40 cubits) and from its being more richly decorated with precious metals. It is undoubtedly the "gate of the temple which is called Beautiful" (Acts 3:2)
Chariots of soldiers seen running in the sky ~ Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. The Works of Flavius Josephus War of the Jews Book 6 Chapter 5
The Desolate Nature Of
Jerusalem And All Of Judea That The Miseries Of The Jews Still Grew Worse.
Book
VI, Chapter I, Section 1 (Entire)
1. Thus did the miseries
of Jerusalem grow worse and worse every day, and the seditious were still
more irritated by the calamities they were under, even while the famine
preyed upon themselves, after it had preyed upon the people. And indeed the
multitude of carcases that lay in heaps one upon another was a horrible
sight, and produced a pestilential stench , which was a hinderance to those
that would make sallies out of the city, and fight the enemy: but as those
were to go in battle array, who had been already used to ten thousand
murders, and must tread upon those dead bodies as they marched along, so were
not they terrified, nor did they pity men as they marched over them: nor did
they deem this affront offered to the deceased to be any ill omen to
themselves; but as they had their right hands already polluted with the
murders of their own countrymen, and in that condition ran out to fight with
foreigners, they see to me to have cast a reproach upon God himself, as if he
were too slow in punishing them; for the war was not now gone on with as if
they had any hope of victory, for they gloried after a brutish manner in that
despair of deliverance they were already in.
And now the Romans, although
they were greatly distressed in getting together their materials, raised
their banks in on-and-twenty days, after they had cut down all the trees that
were in the country that adjoined to the city, and that for ninety furlongs
round about, as I have already related. And truly the very view itself of the
country was a melancholy thing; for those places which were before adorned
with trees and pleasant gardens were now become a desolate country every way,
and its trees were all cut down : nor could any foreigner that had formerly
seen Judea, and the most beautiful suburbs of the city, and now see it as a
desert, but lament and mourn sadly at so great a change: for the was had laid
all signs of beauty quite waste: nor, if any one that had known the place
before had come on a sudden to it now, would have known it again; but though
he were at the city itself, yet would he have inquired for it
notwithstanding.
WARNING this status gives very graphic in details as recorded in history on the judgement of unbelieving Israel.
The background leading up to the terrible famine within the city of Jerusalem. The historical setting around AD 30, Jesus had been arrested and led to Pilate, then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck Him with their hands. (John 1:1-3)
Pilate found no fault in Him. When the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him." The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God."
Pilate goes back an questions Jesus. But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate says do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?" Jesus answers "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin."
Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you let this Man go, (you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar)." vs. 12. The Jews used the threat of telling Caesar of Pilate let Jesus go. Pilate heard (that threat) and brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
It was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And Pilate said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" But the Jews cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!" (John 1-19) it is interesting to note Jesus said, "But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.' (Luke 19:14)
Jewish women wept as Jesus was led to the place of his crucifixion. There were women mourning his impending death. Jesus turning unto them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” (Luke 23:28), In Luke 21:23 Jesus says, "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and (wrath upon this people).
What does Jesus mean by these above verses? God speaks through the prophet. Notice the consequence was going to be the punishment of the iniquity of the (daughters of God’s people) and there was going to be cannibalism!
Lamentations 4:6 The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people Is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, Which was overthrown in a moment, With no hand to help her!
Lamentations 4: 9: 12 Those slain by the sword are better off Than those who die of hunger; For these pine away, Stricken for lack of the fruits of the field. The hands of the compassionate women Have cooked their own children; They became food for them In the destruction of the daughter of my people. The Lord has fulfilled His fury, He has poured out His fierce anger. He kindled a fire in Zion, And it has devoured its foundations. The kings of the earth, And all inhabitants of the world, Would not have believed That the adversary and the enemy Could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
Lamentations 4:9-10 Those slain by the sword are better off Than those who die of hunger; For these pine away, Stricken for lack of the fruits of the field. The
hands of the compassionate women Have cooked their own children; They
became food for them In the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Ezekiel 5:10 Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgment among you and all of you who remain I will scatter to all the winds.
Ezekiel 5:16-17 When I send against them the terrible arrows of famine, which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread. So I will send against you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”
First Century historical fulfillment.
One woman who had lost everything but her baby to blood-thirsty Jews, then killed her baby son, “and then roasted him, and ate the one half of him, and kept the other half by her concealed.” When the seditious men smelled “the horrid scent of this food, they threatened her, that they would cut her throat immediately if she did not show them what food she had gotten ready. She replied, that she had saved a very fine portion of it for them and uncovered what was left of her son. She said this is my own son and he was killed by my own doing. Come, eat of this food; I have eaten of it myself. The men left, trembling and frightened and the all the city came under distress when they heard about it. (Josephus pp. 443-444.)
The Destruction Of A Vast
Quantity Of Corn That Led To Famine During The Siege.
Book V, Chapter I, Section 4 (Entire)
4. And now there were three treacherous factions in the city, the one parted from the other. Eleazar and his party, that kept the sacred first-fruits, came against John in their cups. Those that were with John plundered the populace, and went out with zeal against Simon. This Simon had his supply of provisions from the city, in opposition to the seditious. When, therefore, John was assaulted on both sides, he made his men turn about, throwing his darts upon those citizens that came up against him, from the cloisters he had in his possession, while he opposed those that attacked him from the temple by engines of war; and if at any time he was freed from those that were above him, which happened frequently, from their being drunk and tired, he sallied out with a great number upon Simon and his party; and this he did always in such parts of the city as he could come at, till he set on fire those houses that were full of corn, and of all provisions.*
The same thing was done by Simon, when, upon the others' retreat, he attacked the city also; as if they had, on purpose done it to serve the Romans, by destroying what the city had laid up against the Siege, and by thus cutting off the nerves of their own power. Accordingly, it so came to pass, that all the places that were about the temple were burnt down, and were become an intermediate desert space, ready for fighting on both sides; and that almost all the corn was burnt, which would have been sufficient for a siege of many years. So they were taken by the means of famine, which it was impossible they should have been, unless they had thus prepared the way for it by this procedure.
The Sad Consequences [of The Famine]
Book V, Chapter X, Section 5 (Entire)
5. It is therefore impossible to go distinctly over every instance of these men's iniquity. I shall therefore speak my mind here at once briefly: - That neither did any other city ever suffer such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was, from the beginning of the world. Finally, they brought the Hebrew nation into contempt, that they might themselves appear comparatively less impious with regard to strangers. They confessed what was true, that they were the slaves, the scum, and the spurious and abortive offspring of our nation, while they overthrew the city themselves, and forced the Romans, whether they would or no, to gain a melancholy reputation, by acting gloriously against them, and did almost draw that fire upon the temple, which they seemed to think came too slowly; and indeed when they saw that temple burning from the upper city, they were neither troubled at it, nor did they shed any tears on that account, while yet these passions were discovered among the Romans themselves; which circumstances we shall speak of hereafter in their proper place, when we come to treat of such matters.
Commentary.
The historians of the day wrote extensively about famines of that day.
Secular historians such as Josephus wrote that famine fell upon the
entire city of Jerusalem. Now trapped inside the city of Jerusalem the
people of Israel destroyed their own food supply that would have been
sufficient for a siege of Roman for many years.
Josephus, the Jewish historian, describes it in his _The Wars_, books IV-VI. We summarize what he wrote: The Jews always proved to be the Most rebellious people in the Roman Empire. During the days of the apostles they were warned never again to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem or to fortify their city. But during the 60's of the first century, while Rome experienced internal troubles, the Jews rebuilt their walls and fortified the city. In the year 66 the Emperor Nero sent Gessius Florus and his legions to subdue the city. The Jews killed him and 5000 of his men. This angered Rome very much.
They sent Flavius Vespasianus with his legions to deal with the city. Vespasian and his troops moved on to Jerusalem. But Vespasian was recalled to Rome because he was elected Emperor. Titus, his son, took over as commander of Vespasian's men. At the time of the Passover in the year 70 about 1,000,000 Jews gathered in Jerusalem.
During the next five months Jerusalem was totally overcome and destroyed. They destroyed themselves. There were three parties in the city who were jealous of each other and did not trust each other. They destroyed each others' food supplies and homes. Thus the Jews were their own worst enemies.
Of course, we know that hundreds of thousands died from starvation during Titus’ final siege of Jerusalem. When the Romans decided to destroy Jerusalem in 70 AD, they first cut off all food supplies to the walled city and allowed no one to escape. They then waited for its inhabitants to starve to death before they entered the city and destroyed it and leveled it to the ground. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, over a million inhabitants died. Josepheus described in detail the seige and famine. "The famine confounded all natural passions; for those who were just going to die looked upon those who were gone to their rest before them with dry eyes and open mouths. A deep silence, also, and a kind of deadly night had seized upon the city. And every one of them died with their eyes fixed upon the Temple." (Josephesus, War of the Jews, 5.12.3)
All this occurred in Jesus’ contemporaries.
The sacrifice called "the Daily Sacrifice" had failed.
AND now Titus gave orders to his soldiers that were with him to dig up the foundations of the tower of Antonia, and make him a ready passage for his army to come up; while he himself had Josephus brought to him, (for he had been informed that on that very day, which was the seventeenth day (5) of Panemus, [Tamuz,] the sacrifice called "the Daily Sacrifice" had failed, and had not been offered to God, for want of men to offer it, and that the people were grievously troubled at it,) and commanded him to say the same things to John that he had said before, that if he had any malicious inclination for fighting, he might come out with as many of his men as he pleased, in order to fight, without the danger of destroying either his city or temple; but that he desired he would not defile the temple, nor thereby offend against God. That he might, if he pleased, offer the sacrifices which were now discontinuned by any of the Jews whom he should pitch upon. The Works of Flavius Josephus War of the Jews Book 6 Chapter 2
Scripture fulfillment
"And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And (the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary). The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the (end of the war) desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an (end to sacrifice and offering). And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate." (Daniel 9:26-27)
Interesting in this bit of history is the fact that a daily sacrifice was being made for Nero, the emperor. the daily sacrifice in the Jerusalem temple was offered twice daily to Caesar. It was instituted by Augustus and was appealed to by the Jews to demonstrate their loyalty to Rome when they refused to allow Caligula to put his statue ...in the temple precincts. "According to Josephus, the revolt, which began at Caesarea in 66, was provoked by Greeks sacrificing birds in front of a local synagogue. The Roman garrison did not intervene and the long-standing Greek and Jewish religious tensions took a downward spiral. In reaction, the son of Kohen Gadol (high priest) Eliezar ben Hanania ceased prayers and sacrifices for the Roman Emperor at the Temple." quote is from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Jewish-Roman_War
When this practice started, we are not told, but it speaks of the friendly relations between Rome and Israel up until the time the daily sacrifice was taken away. All came to pass as prophesied by Daniel. In the midst of the week the sacrifice and oblation would cease. According to history the the daily sacrifice actually cease sometime in July of 70 A.D. which was caused by both famine, and lack of men-power. Any effort to extend the seventieth week of Daniel beyond the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D results in a rejection of Matthew 24.
Titus proposed to these that they should give him their advice what should be done about the holy house. Now some of these thought it would be the best way to act according to the rules of war, [and demolish it,] because the Jews would never leave off rebelling while that house was standing; at which house it was that they used to get all together. Others of them were of opinion, that in case the Jews would leave it, and none of them would lay their arms up in it, he might save it; but that in case they got upon it, and fought any more, he might burn it; because it must then be looked upon not as a holy house, but as a citadel; and that the impiety of burning it would then belong to those that forced this to be done, and not to them.
But Titus said, that "although the Jews should get upon that holy house, and fight us thence, yet ought we not to revenge ourselves on things that are inanimate, instead of the men themselves;" and that he was not in any case for burning down so vast a work as that was, because this would be a mischief to the Romans themselves, as it would be an ornament to their government while it continued. So Fronto, and Alexander, and Cerealis grew bold upon that declaration, and agreed to the opinion of Titus. Then was this assembly dissolved, when Titus had given orders to the commanders that the rest of their forces should lie still; but that they should make use of such as were most courageous in this attack. So he commanded that the chosen men that were taken out of the cohorts should make their way through the ruins, and quench the fire.
4. Now it is true that on this day the Jews were so weary, and under such consternation, that they refrained from any attacks. But on the next day they gathered their whole force together, and ran upon those that guarded the outward court of the temple very boldly, through the east gate, and this about the second hour of the day. These guards received that their attack with great bravery, and by covering themselves with their shields before, as if it were with a wall, they drew their squadron close together; yet was it evident that they could not abide there very long, but would be overborne by the multitude of those that sallied out upon them, and by the heat of their passion. However, Caesar seeing, from the tower of Antonia, that this squadron was likely to give way, he sent some chosen horsemen to support them. Hereupon the Jews found themselves not able to sustain their onset, and upon the slaughter of those in the forefront, many of the rest were put to flight. But as the Romans were going off, the Jews turned upon them, and fought them; and as those Romans came back upon them, they retreated again, until about the fifth hour of the day they were overborne, and shut themselves up in the inner [court of the] temple.
So Titus retired into the tower of Antonia, and resolved to storm the temple the next day, early in the morning, with his whole army, and to encamp round about the holy house. (But as for that house, God had, for certain, long ago doomed it to the fire); and now that fatal day was come, according to the revolution of ages; long ago doomed it to the fire; and now that fatal day was come, according to the revolution of ages; it was the tenth day of the month Lous, [Ab,] upon which it was formerly burnt by the king of Babylon; although these flames took their rise from the Jews themselves, and were occasioned by them; for upon Titus's retiring, the seditious lay still for a little while, and then attacked the Romans again, when those that guarded the holy house fought with those that quenched the fire that was burning the inner [court of the] temple; but these Romans put the Jews to flight, and proceeded as far as the holy house itself.
At which time one of the soldiers, without staying for any orders, and without any concern or dread upon him at so great an undertaking, and being hurried on by a certain divine fury, snatched somewhat out of the materials that were on fire, and being lifted up by another soldier, he set fire to a golden window, through which there was a passage to the rooms that were round about the holy house, on the north side of it. As the flames went upward, the Jews made a great clamor, such as so mighty an affliction required, and ran together to prevent it; and now they spared not their lives any longer, nor suffered any thing to restrain their force, since that holy house was perishing, for whose sake it was that they kept such a guard about it.
6. And now a certain person came running to Titus, and told him of this fire, as he was resting himself in his tent after the last battle; whereupon he rose up in great haste, and, as he was, ran to the holy house, in order to have a stop put to the fire; after him followed all his commanders, and after them followed the several legions, in great astonishment; so there was a great clamor and tumult raised, as was natural upon the disorderly motion of so great an army.
Then did Caesar, both by calling to the soldiers that were fighting, with a loud voice, and by giving a signal to them with his right hand, order them to quench the fire. But they did not hear what he said, though he spake so loud, having their ears already dimmed by a greater noise another way; nor did they attend to the signal he made with his hand neither, as still some of them were distracted with fighting, and others with passion.
But as for the legions that came running thither, neither any persuasions nor any threatenings could restrain their violence, but each one's own passion was his commander at this time; and as they were crowding into the temple together, many of them were trampled on by one another, while a great number fell among the ruins of the cloisters, which were still hot and smoking, and were destroyed in the same miserable way with those whom they had conquered; and when they were come near the holy house, they made as if they did not so much as hear Caesar's orders to the contrary; but they encouraged those that were before them to set it on fire.
As for the seditious, they were in too great distress already to afford their assistance [towards quenching the fire]; they were every where slain, and every where beaten; and as for a great part of the people, they were weak and without arms, and had their throats cut wherever they were caught. Now round about the altar lay dead bodies heaped one upon another, as at the steps going up to it ran a great quantity of their blood, whither also the dead bodies that were slain above [on the altar] fell down.
7. And now, since Caesar was no way (able to restrain the enthusiastic fury of the soldiers, and the fire) proceeded on more and more, he went into the holy place of the temple, with his commanders, and saw it, with what was in it, which he ...found to be far superior to what the relations of foreigners contained, and not inferior to what we ourselves boasted of and believed about it. But as the flame had not as yet reached to its inward parts, but was still consuming the rooms that were about the holy house, and (Titus supposing what the fact was, that the house itself might yet he saved, he came in haste and endeavored to persuade the soldiers to quench the fire), and gave order to Liberalius the centurion, and one of those spearmen that were about him, to beat the soldiers that were refractory with their staves, and to restrain them; yet were their passions too hard for the regards they had for Caesar, and the dread they had of him who forbade them, as was their hatred of the Jews, and a certain vehement inclination to fight them, too hard for them also
Moreover, the hope of plunder induced many to go on, as having this opinion, that all the places within were full of money, and as seeing that all round about it was made of gold. And besides, one of those that went into the place prevented Caesar, when he ran so hastily out to restrain the soldiers, and threw the fire upon the hinges of the gate, in the dark; whereby the flame burst out from within the holy house itself immediately, when the commanders retired, and Caesar with them, and when nobody any longer forbade those that were without to set fire to it. And thus was the holy house burnt down, without Caesar's approbation.
8. Now although any one would justly lament the destruction of such a work as this was, since it was the most admirable of all the works that we have seen or heard of, both for its curious structure and its magnitude, and also for the vast wealth bestowed upon it, as well as for the glorious reputation it had for its holiness; yet might such a one comfort himself with this thought, that it was fate that decreed it so to be, which is inevitable, both as to living creatures, and as to works and places also. However, one cannot but wonder at the accuracy of this period thereto relating; for the same month and day were now observed, as I said before, wherein the holy house was burnt formerly by the Babylonians. Now the number of years that passed from its first foundation, which was laid by king Solomon, till this its destruction, which happened in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, are collected to be one thousand one hundred and thirty, besides seven months and fifteen days; and from the second building of it, which was done by Haggai, in the second year of Cyrus the king, till its destruction under Vespasian, there were six hundred and thirty-nine years and forty-five days. (The Works of Flavius Josephus War of the Jews Book 6 Chapter 4)
Commentary
The temple was one of the seven great wonders of the ancient world! (A large part of Herod’s rebuilding of the Temple was completed before his death in 4 BC, however, many do not know that the work of rebuilding still continued for almost 68 years after his death. The work was not entirely finished until 63 AD, which was only 7 years before it’s destruction in A.D. 70!)
First the Jews themselves set fire to the court of the temple, and afterwards the Romans. Fire consumed the buildings and the temple went up.
The Roman soldiers were acting against the orders, of Titus and set the Temple of fire. In a wild frenzy they rushed in and set the Temple on fire. WHY? It was not within God’s will that one stone be left upon another of the Temple that represented the old Mosaic, system. (Matthew 24:1)
This whole time God was building a temple, a spiritual tabernacle to dwell in that was not made with hands. 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
The apostle James recognized God was rebuild the tabernacle of David, and that it would include Gentiles, Acts 15:13-18 (NKJV) 13 And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, “Men and brethren, listen to me:14 Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: 16 ‘After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; 17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the LORD who does all these things.’18 “Known to God from eternity are all His works.”
Paul tell us that Christ is the chief cornerstone of that Temple. Ephesians. 2:19-22 (NKJV) 19 “Now, therefore, you (Gentiles) are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
After the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, the Sadducees disappear - no temple meant no sacrifices, no place therefore for a priestly class; total national humiliation.
