At the same time, Antiochus prepared a second expedition into Egypt, etc. Portents therefore sometimes foreshadow prosperous events, and at other times they prefigure adverse ones; but always in accordance with what the supreme Judge determines to be fitting for each matter and each time. Nor is it surprising that in the times of the Maccabees horsemen, wearing gilded robes, and armed troops were seen rushing through the air, and that the shining splendor of golden weapons foretold coming adversity and the disaster that was to fall upon the Jews, since before the destruction of Jerusalem, as we learn from Josephus (Book VII of the Jewish War, chapter 12), a star shining like a sword was seen threatening the forsaken city on every side, and moreover a comet appeared to burn with deadly flames for an entire year.
But before the time of the downfall and the war, when the people had gathered for the feast of Unleavened Bread, on the eighth day of the month of Xanthicus, which is April, during the night, at the ninth hour, so great a brightness of light surrounded the altar and the temple that all thought it had become broad daylight; and it lasted for the space of half an hour. This seemed to the unskilled and ignorant to be a good omen; but the experts in the Law and all worthy teachers were not unaware that it was a deadly portent. On the same feast as well, a heifer that had been brought up for sacrifice and was standing by, gave birth to a calf in the very hands of the attendants; and the gate of the inner sanctuary, which faced east, though covered with solid bronze of immense weight, and which could scarcely be shut by twenty men straining with all their might, and was secured besides with iron bars and bolts, and held fast by the dropping of bars into place high above, suddenly, at the sixth hour of the night, was seen to have opened of its own accord. And after the feast day had passed, after a few days, on the twenty-first day of the month of Artemisius, which we call May, a prodigious vision appeared, almost beyond belief, which would truly have been thought false, had not the destruction that followed these evils confirmed the testimony of the witnesses. For near sunset chariots and four-horsed cars were seen being driven through the air in every direction, and companies of armed men were seen moving through the clouds and surrounding the cities.
On another feast day, which is called Pentecost, when the priests entered the temple at night to carry out the customary ministries, they first sensed certain movements and noises. Then they hear subdued voices saying: “Let us depart from here.” Something even more terrifying is added: for a certain Jesus, the son of Ananias, a man of the common people and a rustic, four years before the war, while the city was still enjoying peace and abundance, on the feast day of Tabernacles suddenly began to cry out: “A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice over Jerusalem, and a voice over the temple, over bridegrooms and over brides, a voice over all this people.” And this, without ceasing day and night, going around all the streets, he shouted, until some leading men of the people, disturbed with anger as though by an ill-omened prophecy, seized the man and subjected him to many beatings; but he, speaking nothing on his own behalf, nor even begging mercy from those standing around, repeated those same cries again with equal stubbornness and shouting. Then the leaders, realizing, as was indeed the case, that the impulse moving the man was more divine, brought him to the Roman judge; and there, torn with scourges down to his very bones, he shed neither prayers nor tears, but uttering the same cry in a pitiful manner and with a kind of howling, he pronounced it almost word by word, adding also this: “Woe, woe to Jerusalem.” Therefore the wretched city suffered all these phenomena deservedly, because always, according to the testimony of the giver of the Law, it rebelled against the Lord, and, ungrateful for His favors, treated with mockery and killed the servants of the supreme householder who were sent to it by Him. And at last, by killing the very heir, they cast him outside the camp. Therefore the Lord Himself in the Gospel, rebuking the unbelieving city, says: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often have I wished to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not. Behold, your house will be left to you deserted” (Matt. 23:37). For this had long been foretold: in later times those most savage murderers received the fitting reward of their guilt, so that some were killed by famine, some perished by plague, and some, slain or taken captive, were led away by their enemies into the regions of the whole world; and therefore was fulfilled that saying of Jeremiah which he prophesied concerning that same people and city, saying: “Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and the greatness of servitude; she dwells among the nations and finds no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the narrow places. The roads of Zion mourn, because there are none who come to the solemn feast. All her gates are destroyed, her priests groan, her virgins are afflicted with filth, and she herself is oppressed with bitterness” (Lam. 1:3-4).
But before the time of the downfall and the war, when the people had gathered for the feast of Unleavened Bread, on the eighth day of the month of Xanthicus, which is April, during the night, at the ninth hour, so great a brightness of light surrounded the altar and the temple that all thought it had become broad daylight; and it lasted for the space of half an hour. This seemed to the unskilled and ignorant to be a good omen; but the experts in the Law and all worthy teachers were not unaware that it was a deadly portent. On the same feast as well, a heifer that had been brought up for sacrifice and was standing by, gave birth to a calf in the very hands of the attendants; and the gate of the inner sanctuary, which faced east, though covered with solid bronze of immense weight, and which could scarcely be shut by twenty men straining with all their might, and was secured besides with iron bars and bolts, and held fast by the dropping of bars into place high above, suddenly, at the sixth hour of the night, was seen to have opened of its own accord. And after the feast day had passed, after a few days, on the twenty-first day of the month of Artemisius, which we call May, a prodigious vision appeared, almost beyond belief, which would truly have been thought false, had not the destruction that followed these evils confirmed the testimony of the witnesses. For near sunset chariots and four-horsed cars were seen being driven through the air in every direction, and companies of armed men were seen moving through the clouds and surrounding the cities.
On another feast day, which is called Pentecost, when the priests entered the temple at night to carry out the customary ministries, they first sensed certain movements and noises. Then they hear subdued voices saying: “Let us depart from here.” Something even more terrifying is added: for a certain Jesus, the son of Ananias, a man of the common people and a rustic, four years before the war, while the city was still enjoying peace and abundance, on the feast day of Tabernacles suddenly began to cry out: “A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice over Jerusalem, and a voice over the temple, over bridegrooms and over brides, a voice over all this people.” And this, without ceasing day and night, going around all the streets, he shouted, until some leading men of the people, disturbed with anger as though by an ill-omened prophecy, seized the man and subjected him to many beatings; but he, speaking nothing on his own behalf, nor even begging mercy from those standing around, repeated those same cries again with equal stubbornness and shouting. Then the leaders, realizing, as was indeed the case, that the impulse moving the man was more divine, brought him to the Roman judge; and there, torn with scourges down to his very bones, he shed neither prayers nor tears, but uttering the same cry in a pitiful manner and with a kind of howling, he pronounced it almost word by word, adding also this: “Woe, woe to Jerusalem.” Therefore the wretched city suffered all these phenomena deservedly, because always, according to the testimony of the giver of the Law, it rebelled against the Lord, and, ungrateful for His favors, treated with mockery and killed the servants of the supreme householder who were sent to it by Him. And at last, by killing the very heir, they cast him outside the camp. Therefore the Lord Himself in the Gospel, rebuking the unbelieving city, says: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often have I wished to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not. Behold, your house will be left to you deserted” (Matt. 23:37). For this had long been foretold: in later times those most savage murderers received the fitting reward of their guilt, so that some were killed by famine, some perished by plague, and some, slain or taken captive, were led away by their enemies into the regions of the whole world; and therefore was fulfilled that saying of Jeremiah which he prophesied concerning that same people and city, saying: “Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and the greatness of servitude; she dwells among the nations and finds no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the narrow places. The roads of Zion mourn, because there are none who come to the solemn feast. All her gates are destroyed, her priests groan, her virgins are afflicted with filth, and she herself is oppressed with bitterness” (Lam. 1:3-4).
Source: Commentary on 2 Maccabees