A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem

by Ben Witherington III

Overview

It's AD 70. And amidst smoke, clamor, and terror, Jerusalem is falling to the Romans, its temple being destroyed. As Jews and Christians try to escape the city, we travel with some of them through an imagined week of flight and faith. A scribe makes his way into Galilee in search of records of Jesus' life and teachings. A company of women, responding to a prophecy, travels the route to a new life in Pella. We see friends reunited, join a worship gathering of Jesus followers, and discover treasured manuscripts. In this imaginative and entertaining narrative, New Testament scholar Ben Witherington leads us behind the veil of centuries to see and experience the historical and social realities of this epochal event. Allowing the light of what we do know to conjure possible events, A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem is a fun and informative journey into the wrinkles and folds of a lost story.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780830851737
Publisher:	InterVarsity Press
Publication date:	08/22/2017
Series:	A Week in the Life Series
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Ben Witherington III (PhD, University of Durham) is a prominent evangelical scholar and Jean R. Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. Witherington has written over forty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. His other works include The Indelible Image, Women and the Genesis of Christianity, The Gospel Code, A Week in the Life of Corinth and commentaries on the entire New Testament. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications and is a frequent contributor to Patheos and Beliefnet. Witherington is an elected member of the prestigious Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. He is a John Wesley Fellow for Life, a research fellow at Cambridge University and a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Society of Biblical Literature, Society for the Study of the New Testament and the Institute for Biblical Research. He previously taught at institutions like Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. An ordained pastor in the United Methodist Church and a popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings around the world. He has led numerous study tours through the lands of the Bible and is known for bringing the text to life through incisive historical and cultural analysis. Along with many interviews on radio and television networks across the country, Witherington has been seen in programs such as 60 Minutes, 20/20, Dateline and the Peter Jennings ABC special Jesus and Paul—The Word and the Witness.

Table of Contents

1 Where There's Smoke 7

2 Miryam of Pella 18

3 The Daughters of Jerusalem 30

4 Sorrow and Woe 35

5 A Tale of Lentils and Lentels 39

6 Levi's Flight 44

7 Respite in Jericho 53

8 Prophecy and Interpretation 60

9 Visitors in Worship 67

10 The Parting of the Ways 81

11 Julius Reports Back 87

12 The Travels and Travails of Torah 90

13 The End of Levi 96

14 Uncertain Paths 100

15 The House of the Fisherman 106

16 Another Journey Begins 112

17 Of Spices and Snakes 118

18 The Secrets of Bethsaida 129

19 The Remains of the Week 139

20 Prayers and Providence 145

21 Old Scrolls and New Scrolls 150

22 Family Reunion 155

Image Credits and Permissions 159

What People are Saying About This

Craig A. Evans

"Three very important things happened in the first century AD: Jesus died on a Roman cross, Jesus was resurrected, and the city and temple of Jerusalem were captured and destroyed by the Romans. These three events, which took place within one generation, changed the world. The first two events have been discussed endlessly and have been dramatized in literature, theater, and cinema. But the third event, the fall of Jerusalem, has received very little attention. This is why I welcome Ben Witherington's imaginative but historically and culturally well-informed drama of what a week in the fall of Jerusalem might have been like. It's a fun read but also very informative and instructive."

Joel Willitts

"Ben Witherington's A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem invites readers to imagine what life would have been like for Jewish believers in Yeshua in the turbulent days of the First Jewish Revolt, a gripping story with which many are unfamiliar. While telling a good story and weaving it around familiar characters of the New Testament, Witherington also informs readers about many historical and cultural elements of the Jewish and Roman worlds of the late first century. Witherington's narrative of historical fiction engages the reader's imagination, bringing them into an experience of the life of early Jewish Yeshua-followers in the wake of the trauma of AD 70."

Darrell Bock

"With skill and drama, Ben Witherington takes us through what the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 might have been like—fascinating, to say the least, and instructive as well."

Editorial Reviews

"Three very important things happened in the first century AD: Jesus died on a Roman cross, Jesus was resurrected, and the city and temple of Jerusalem were captured and destroyed by the Romans. These three events, which took place within one generation, changed the world. The first two events have been discussed endlessly and have been dramatized in literature, theater, and cinema. But the third event, the fall of Jerusalem, has received very little attention. This is why I welcome Ben Witherington's imaginative but historically and culturally well-informed drama of what a week in the fall of Jerusalem might have been like. It's a fun read but also very informative and instructive."

Craig A. Evans

"With skill and drama, Ben Witherington takes us through what the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 might have been like—fascinating, to say the least, and instructive as well."

Darrell Bock

"Ben Witherington's A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem invites readers to imagine what life would have been like for Jewish believers in Yeshua in the turbulent days of the First Jewish Revolt, a gripping story with which many are unfamiliar. While telling a good story and weaving it around familiar characters of the New Testament, Witherington also informs readers about many historical and cultural elements of the Jewish and Roman worlds of the late first century. Witherington's narrative of historical fiction engages the reader's imagination, bringing them into an experience of the life of early Jewish Yeshua-followers in the wake of the trauma of AD 70."

Joel Willitts

"Ben Witherington's A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem invites readers to imagine what life would have been like for Jewish believers in Yeshua in the turbulent days of the First Jewish Revolt, a gripping story with which many are unfamiliar. While telling a good story and weaving it around familiar characters of the New Testament, Witherington also informs readers about many historical and cultural elements of the Jewish and Roman worlds of the late first century. Witherington's narrative of historical fiction engages the reader's imagination, bringing them into an experience of the life of early Jewish Yeshua-followers in the wake of the trauma of AD 70."

--Joel Willitts, professor of biblical and theological studies, North Park University, Chicago

From the Publisher