After days of fighting and enduring surprise attacks from the Jews, the Romans succeeded in breaching the third outer wall of Jerusalem on the seventh day of Iyar. After fierce fighting, they breached the second wall, as well, placing the newer outer section of Jerusalem in Roman hands. All houses were burned and preparations were made to attack the Old City. The Old City was protected in the North by the Antonia fortress adjacent to the Temple and Herod’s palace with its three towers in the northwest. 

Titus planned to gain entry to the Temple by first occupying the Antonia fortress. At the end of Iyar, he divided his camp into four groups and placed them around the wall. Four iron battering rams were set up, one of which was placed against the Antonia wall. 

 As the rampworks were nearing completion, the leader of the Zealots left the city at night with a small band of men. They approached the battering ram guarded by sleeping guards. Under the cover of night, they furtively dug a tunnel under the ramp supporting the battering ram. They placed boards coated with pitch and then ignited them. The flames spread to the battering ram. It collapsed with a tremendous crash, killing the guards.  

Confusion reigned in the Roman camp. Despondent, they complained, “How shall we continue to fight against Jerusalem? All our siege machinery have been burnt. These were the last four battering rams of the fifty we brought with us from Rome. Now we have just three left and two siege towers left.”

The Zealots overheard the Romans’ tone of despondency and secretly rejoiced that they had broken the morale of their enemy.

Titus was infuriated. He ordered his men to set up the remaining three battering rams in place of the one that was burnt.

While the Romans were reorganizing their camp, four young Jewish boys were siezed with patriotic feelings for G-d and His Holy Temple. They took their weapons and left the camp. Three thousand men were guarding the battering rams, while the generals were discussing future battle strategies. The four lads advanced on the Roman camp fearlessly. They approached the battering rams, attacked the guards, and chased other soldiers away. While two of the lads were fighting the guards, the other two set the battering rams on fire. All the while, the Romans were shooting at the boys from a distance. In the meantime, two generals of the Zealots came to the assistance of the boys. One remained to guard the gate, while the other two chased away the Romans from the battering rams. The four boys and the Zealots returned victorious to the city. They had succeeded in burning the last three Roman battering rams. The Romans suffered a terrible defeat — 10,500 Roman soldiers perished in battle.

Titus reorganized and decided to challenge the Jews head on. He led forty thousand of his soldiers toward Jerusalem, just an arrow’s shot away. Appealing to the Zealots’ sense of pride, they called to them, “ Are you cattle that remain inside the walls of your pen? If you are men, come out to fight us face to face!”

The Zealots heard this and asked their men, “Who volunteers to face these dogs for the honor of G-d and His Temple?” Immediately five hundered men volunteered. They pounced upon the Romans and killed eight thousand men and chased the rest away. Not a single Jew fell in battle. The Zealots returned to the city triumphant.

The Romans set up camp at a distance. The Zealots taunted them, “Come face us in battle. Come fight us like men. Are we dogs that you shoot at us from a distance? No, we are your masters. You ran from us like a slave runs from a master.”

Titus was infuriated. “How shameful it is to suffer defeat from a starving army! Woe unto you, Romans! You have conquered the entire land, save the city of Jerusalem, of which remains just one wall! The Jews have few weapons and fewer troops. And they are loners. There is no one to come to their aid. We have many weapons, troops, and all the nations on our side.”

Titus ordered his men to set up the last two siege towers they had brought with them from Rome, and at the same time gave orders to build more. During this time, the battlefield was quiet, giving the Romans a certain sense of security. They were boasting that not a single Jewish soldier would remain alive after the upcoming battle. 

As the new siege towers neared completion, the three leaders of the Zealots held a meeting. “In our last battle when the three battering rams were burned,” said one of the leaders, “you went out in battle to assist the four lads, proving yourselves as warriors, while I remained behind to guard the city’s gates. This time, you guard the city’s gates, and I will go out to battle with my warriors and we will prove ourselves to be mighty.” 

“Go,” responded the other two leaders, “and prove yourself, for G-d of the Temple will assist you. But do not be foolhardy, for if you are captured or killed, we will be humiliated.” 

“May G-d protect me,” said the first leader, “and may the merit of my father, Onias, the High Priest, stand me in good stead. Please, G-d overlook my sins at this time. There will be other occasions to punish me.”

He immediately proceeded to choose one hundred of his best men and led them in battle against the Romans that very night, before the morning dawned. The Roman camp consisted of five thousand soldiers and one hundered fifty carpenters and iron workers. They were warming themselves around huge bonfires. The Zealots pounced upon the Romans suddenly, catching them unaware, and caused massive destruction. In the confusion, many Romans ran into the fire and were burned alive. The Zealots destroyed all the siege machinery, including the battering rams, the towers, the weights, the rings, ropes and chains. They captured the carpenters and then burnt them all in the bonfire. They took whatever souvenirs from the battle they could carry, such as the burned siege machinery and the heads of the burned carpenters, and marched back to Jerusalem triumphant. 

At daybreak, Titus saw smoke rising in the distance. As it became light, he saw that the siege machinery was burned and his men killed. The stench of human flesh in the air was unmistakable. He and his camp ran to see what had happened. He was appalled at what he found. The extent of his losses was overwhelming, and he was beginning to lose heart.

He consulted with the seasoned generals of the nations who had come to his assistance from all over the Roman Empire. He told them of the might of the Jewish people and how they defeated the huge Roman armies time after time, destroying all the Roman war machinery.

“Did you ever hear of four men defeating 10,500 trained warriors?” asked Titus. “My men were unable to capture or defeat these few men. The four men were fighting hand to hand with ten thousand soldiers and cutting them down as if they were harvesting cucumbers.” 

The seasoned generals were astounded.

Titus continued, “We can not allow this to continue. We must not be humiliated before the nations of the world!”

The generals answered, “The Romans are tired of war. We are fresh. Let the Roman soldiers rest while we battle the Jews. They won’t be able to stand up against our huge army.”

The Roman officers said to Titus: “Don’t allow them to proceed as they suggest. They will just make things worse for us. The Jews will defeat them as well and add to our humiliation. We know their strategies and can’t stand up to them—one of them chases one thousand of our men. How will they, who have no experience with them, fare?”

The seasoned generals disagreed. “No. We will fight them and defeat them!” they insisted. They pressured Titus until he gave them permission to attack the Jews. 

Titus rationalized. “Perhaps the nations with their huge armies will defeat the Jews. They will unleash the full force of their fury against the Jews, for they do not know the Jews’ power. Our men, on the other hand, can no longer fight against the Jews in this way, for they fight with fear in their hearts.”

Seventy thousand men prepared for war against the Jews: 10,000 Macedonians, 20,000 Britons, 5,000 Armenians, 10,000 African troops, 10,000 Begonians, 5,000 Arabs, and 10,000 Persians. They attacked the Jews from the plain facing the grave of Yohanan, the High Priest. They raised siege ladders in order to climb the walls.

Said one Zealot general to the other, “Shall I confront these uncircumcised ones?”

“Not alone,” replied the other. “There are too many of them for you to fight alone.” 

“Indeed,” agreed the first general. “Let two of us fight against them.”

“Go,” said a third general. “And may G-d of the Temple make you victorious. Let Him not judge you harshly at this time.”

The two generals of the Zealots and 1,500 of their men left the city and approached the huge army. They battled the entire day, from morning to night, that ninth day of Tevet, the tenth month of Titus’ battle against Jerusalem. The Jews emerged victorious — they killed 57,500 men and captured 3,000 officers alive, while the remaining soldiers fled. Seven Jewish soldiers fell in battle, and their brethren brought the bodies to the city for burial. The Zealots returned to Jerusalem with songs of praise to G-d on their lips, while the nations returned to their camp utterly humiliated.

Titus reproached them. “You got as you deserved for not heeding Roman advice. Now you too have been humiliated.” 

To add to the humiliation, the three thousand prisoners of war returned to camp the next morning, each with an eye and a hand missing.

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The information in this chapter was drawn primarily from Josephus, Chapters 86-88.