From Wikipedia

The Kingdom Of David
Episode Three

The End Of Days

In 63 BC, Roman General Pompey ended Judea’s 100 years of independence when he marched through the county. He was amazed to find that the defenders of the city retreated not to a fortress, but to their holy sanctuary, the Temple. He was equally amazed when they refused to interrupt their religious observances to offer resistance when he entered their Temple.

To Rome, Judea was but a small piece on the road to a larger prize, easy access to bountiful Egypt. To the Jews, Judea was the Promised Land given to them by God to own.

Even worse for the Jews was that it pitted one Jew against the other - should they revolt or not. Soon their spiritual debates broke out into physical animosity between the various groups.

On one side were the Temple High Priests and their allies, who formed the most wealthy class within Judaism. The Temple to them was the political and economic heart of Jerusalem. Each year pilgrims flooded its markets to find food and lodging. They spent freely to buy the very best sacrificial animals as animal sacrifices was their only permitted way of worshiping God. Since the High Priests were the only ones allowed to mediate between the average Jew and God, they had an enormous economic stake in maintaining social order through the status quo of Roman rule.

Civil War

Other groups within Judaism felt that the High Priests were traitors. They believed that if they wagged a just war against their occupiers, as related in Biblical stories, they would have God’s protection.

To help them rule Judea, the Romans chose an Arab prince named Herod, who was known for his boundless ambition and extreme cruelty. To many Jews, crowning a king not descended from David was blasphemous. Herod and Rome felt it necessary to launch a series of unmerciful attacks against the various antagonistic Jewish groups to make an example of them so that law and order could be maintained.

To counteract his reputation for cruelty, Herod commissioned an extensive renovation of the Temple. Soon, even Gentiles were making pilgrimages to Jerusalem to see this marvel of the ancient world and make sacrifices. But the rebels within the Jewish community were not impressed.

The Essenes

The Essenes didn’t believe Jews should fight the Romans. Their belief was that God had allowed a Roman occupation because the Biblical prophecy of the End of Days was at hand. Their solution was to withdraw from civilization and to live as perfect a life as possible by forsaking worldly possessions and sexual relations. They spent most of their time copying religious texts and hiding them in caves near Qumran. Their legacy is the Dead Sea scrolls.

When Herod died in 4 BC, chaos erupted as rebels attacked the traitorous upper class Jews. To the Romans, they were brigands, but to many Jews they were seen as Robin Hoods. Their aim of ending Roman rule was misguided as all they accomplished was social anarchy.

Hillel

Hillel and the Pharisees believed whoever was the worldly master of Judea didn’t matter. What mattered was how one lived their life according to their covenant with God. Furthermore, they didn’t believe one had to be a member of the priesthood to communicate with God, just study His word in the Bible.

When challenged to sum the Torah up "while standing on one foot", Hillel replied “What is hateful to you, do not do to your friend. The rest is the explanation; go and learn.”

Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus, who was influenced by Hillel according to the documentary, went a few steps further by preaching “turn the other cheek” and to make the world a better place. He also was influenced by the Biblical End of Days prophecies.

To Rome He was just one more rabble rousing messiah. To His followers, His talk of a Heavenly Kingdom was a reference to an afterlife and was not a part of this world.

The Zealots

In 52 AD a new group of zealots, the Sicarii, began committing political assassinations. Anyone who collaborated with the Roman authorities was worthy of death.

The people of Jerusalem were deeply divided until the Roman governor attacked the Temple in 67 AD. It was a miscalculated move as all Judeans within Jerusalem united and forced the Roman garrison to flee the city.

A disciple of Hillel, Yochanan ben Zakai, was one of the most passionate voices for peace. He preached that it didn’t matter who ruled Judea, what mattered was who ruled an individual's heart.

But many Jews weren’t ready to make peace with a foreign occupier. Giddy over their success at evicting the Roman garrison, the Zealots openly declared war on Rome. Convinced that they were mad, other groups decided to physically challenge them. House-to-house combat that lasted a week resulted in the city of Jerusalem being severely damaged by fire and looting. The conflict quickly spread throughout Judea. Romans, Greeks and Syrians attacked the Jews, the Jews made reprisals against them as well as each other. Anarchy had replaced social order.

The Siege of Jerusalem

Rome had to act and General Vespasian was dispatched with three legions of 60,000 soldiers to the troubled area. The Jewish countryside fled to the walls of Jerusalem upon seeing the advancing Roman army. The historian Josephus estimated that 100,000 were trapped inside the city walls where anarchy reigned. Six rebel groups vied with one another, destroying their entire food supply. The zealots threatened death to anyone who wished to leave the city. If one did manage to escape, they faced the Roman army and their mercenaries who would either eviscerate them, looking for swallowed gold or jewels, or crucify them. The hills around Jerusalem were deforested due to the number of crosses being erected for crucifixion.

Only the bodies of the dead were allowed by the Zealots to leave the city. Feigning death, Jochanan ben Zakai, with help from his disciples, was able to escape the city laying on a cart amongst a pile of rotting meat.

Destruction of the Temple

In 70 AD, after a four month siege, the Romans broke through the city walls. After heavy house-to-house combat, the Roman army surrounded the Temple and destroyed it.

According to Rabbi Perry Netter, “The Temple was the center of economic life of the Jewish people. It’s as if the Federal Reserve was housed in the Temple. It was the center of the judicial life, the Supreme Court was housed in the temple. It was the center of the religious life as if the high priest was the chief rabbi centered in that building.”

When the temple was destroyed, there was no other branch of government left for the Jews. Without the temple, their future looked bleak indeed.