📜 135 AD – The Destruction of the Jewish Nation

⚔️ Background: What Led to 135 AD?

After the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, the Hebrew nation was broken but not destroyed. Many still lived in Judea, kept Torah, and hoped for restoration.

But Rome wasn’t finished.

• Hadrian became emperor in 117 AD.
• He intensified persecution of Torah observance and banned circumcision — a direct assault on Yhwh’s covenant.

Aelia Capitolina:

• Hadrian renamed Jerusalem after the Roman gods and declared it a pagan city.
• A temple to Jupiter was built over the ruins of the Hebrew Temple.

🔥 The Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–135 AD)

• Led by Shimon Bar Kokhba, a military leader backed by Rabbi Akiva, who falsely declared him the Messiah.
• Tens of thousands of Hebrews joined the fight to reclaim their land and worship.
• Rome responded with total war.
• ⛓️ Roman General Julius Severus was sent from Britain — the most ruthless Roman commander of the time.

🩸 135 AD: National Collapse

• Bethar, the last stronghold, fell in 135 AD.
• Bar Kokhba was killed. His name became a curse.
• Hundreds of thousands of Hebrew men, women, and children were slaughtered.
• Jerusalem was erased.
• Renamed Aelia Capitolina.
• Jews were banned from entering it — even to mourn.
• A statue of Jupiter stood where the Temple once was.
• The land was renamed Palestina, after Israel’s ancient enemies — the Philistines.

📚 What the Scriptures Had Warned

This was not the end of a religion.
It was the judgment of a nation that broke covenant.

• “And Yhwh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other…” — Deuteronomy 28:64
• “He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.” — Jeremiah 31:10
• “For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince… afterward they shall return and seek Yhwh their God…” — Hosea 3:4–5

🧬 The Nation Didn’t Die — It Was Scattered

• The covenant was never canceled.
• But from 135 AD onward, the nation of Israel ceased to exist as a people in their land.
• Torah was banned.
• Scrolls were burned.
• Circumcision outlawed.
• Hebrew spoken in secret.
• The faithful fled across Africa, Asia, and the East.

🔄 Restoration Was Always Part of the Plan

• The scattering was judgment.
• The return will be righteousness, obedience, and justice — not religion.