In the first century, what was the impetus for the rebellion of Jerusalem against Rome?

Question

What was the major impetus of the Great Revolt? I have heard that it was NOT unfair taxation, because I recently learned that the Fiscus Judaicus did not begin until the destruction of the 2nd Temple?

Answer 1

The Talmud and the Midrash say that the catastrophic war against Roman occupation, the death of more than a million Jews, and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple happened because of a strange local chain of events. It's long, so look it up: [Gittin 55b-56a and Lamentations Rabbah 4:3]

You ask: Is this a true story? Well, it can be corroborated in two ways.

1-First, the Jewish historian Josephus, who fought in that war, also says that the war began because the Jews did not accept the offering of the Emperor:

Eleazar, the son of Ananias the high-priest, a very bold youth, who was at that time governor of the temple, persuaded those that officiated in the divine service to receive no gift or sacrifice from any foreigner. And this was the true beginning of our war with the Romans; for they rejected the sacrifice [offered by] Cæsar… When many people … besought them not to reject the sacrifice, which it was customary for them to offer for their [Roman] rulers, they would not be prevailed upon. [Josephus, Wars II, 17:2]

2-Second, the Talmud says:

Hence the popular saying: “Because of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza the Temple was destroyed.”

The fact that it was a "popular saying" indicates that the story was believed true and widely known.

Answer 2

There are several theories offered besides the Wikipedia article. One such theory, Roman Provenance, is advocated by James S. Valliant and Warren Fahy in their book "Creating Christ". They analyzed the Roman coins as a source of Roman imperial propaganda and found that the imperial family of Flavii used early Christian symbols on their coins. The historical records also showed that in every country that Romans conquered they modified the local religions to make it more Roman and less local (they took this policy from the Greeks). One finds that development of Christianity coincided with the rebellion. Thus, on one hand we had reformers of the Jewish religion (zealots, sicarii, and some orthodox saducee circles) who pushed for messianic and apocalyptic prophesies (such as the so-called "Star" prophesy). On the other side we find a strong and powerful Roman adversary seeking to completely uproot Judaic tradition using the Herodian family and its circle. We can see support for this idea in the midrash Eleh Ezkera, where the Roman emperor seeks to uproot all the major rabbis whose opinions shaped the Rabbinic Oral Torah. Analysis of the New Testament also shows a strange mixture of certain leaders who appear as leaders of rebellion who at the same time spoke about peace with Romans with whom they fought.

Additionally, one should not neglect connection to the Parthian/Persian empire which had multiple wars with Romans lasting over 6 centuries, pretty much to the time of the Arab conquest, when neither Romans nor Persians had anyone to hold weapons. After the Roman Conquest, the Chashmonaim and rebel leaders sought the help of Persians. In part, apocalyptic teachings from the 2nd Temple are similar conceptually to those of Zoroastrianism. Persians did not want to have Romans in the Middle East and it was to their advantage to supply the Jewish rebels with weapons. For example, the Persian Adiabene kingdom was known as a helper of Jewish rebels.