I've been pondering Hegesippus' statement that "immediately" after James was killed Vespasian began to "besiege" them (και ευθυς Ουεσπασιανος πολιορκει αυτους). I was able to make out the word for "immediately" (εὐθέως/eutheos), which seems to mean "right after," but Stanton and some definitions I've seen say that it can mean "soon" or "by and by" (I can't find Stanton's book that says this today -Google books is funny that way). And today I see that Hoogterp says that eutheos "is apparently more concerned with sequence of events, rather than with timing," and he gives some examples of this from the NT.
I'm having more trouble understanding "besieged," which appears to be this word (πολιορκει):This is indeed what is the case throughout the New Testament usage of this word. "Immediately," as is commonly understood by an English reader is an unfortunate translation at best.
https://books.google.com/books?id=e-m0A ... on&f=false
"And immediately Vespasian besieged them."
και ευθυς Ουεσπασιανος πολιορκει αυτους.
http://www.textexcavation.com/hegesippus.html
I was thinking perhaps it doesn't necessarily refer to the siege of Jerusalem but rather to the beginning of the 66-70 CE war because of the reference to Vespasian, but then Eusebius says in the following passages that:
Και δη απο μιας γνωμης τους παντας Συμεωνα τον του Κλωπα, ου και η του ευαγγελιου μνημονευει γραφη, του της αυτοθι παροικιας θρονου αξιον ειναι δοκιμασαι, ανεψιον, ως γε φασι, γεγονοτα του σωτηρος, τον γαρ ουν Κλωπαν αδελφον του Ιωσηφ υπαρχειν Ηγησιππος ιστορει.But let us go on with the rest. After the martyrdom of James and the conquest of Jerusalem which immediately followed, it is said that those of the apostles and disciples of the Lord that were still living came together from all directions with those that were related to the Lord according to the flesh, for the majority of them also were still alive, to take counsel as to who was worthy to succeed James.
I suppose that clears that up, and I'm assuming that the word Eusebius uses for "immediately" here is also eutheos, but I'm curious what Greek word he is using for "conquest." Is it the same one that Hegesippus uses for "besieged"?
Eusebius then goes on to say:
This is interesting because of the reference to "that parish," since the setting of the council to replace James as bishop is said above to be "after ... the conquest of Jerusalem ..."They all with one consent pronounced Symeon, the son of Clopas, of whom the gospel also makes mention; to be worthy of the episcopal throne of that parish. He was a cousin, as they say, of the savior. For Hegesippus records that Clopas was a brother of Joseph.
But later Eusebius says:
So here we have a reference to "certain cities," which may or may not include Jerusalem, and I would lean towards the latter given that a) the setting is Trajan's time, when the "church of Jerusalem" is elsewhere said to have been located outside of Jerusalem (e.g., Pella); b) the grandsons of Jude are said to have been farmers and owned land, which does not sound like Jerusalem; c) when they were released after being interrogated by Domitian, Hegesippus says that Domitian then "put a stop to the persecution of the Church [singular]. But when they were released they ruled the churches [plural] because they were witnesses and were also relatives of the Lord. And peace being established, they lived until the time of Trajan"; and d) I have the impression from other sources that Jerusalem did not have any Jewish residents between 70 CE and 135 CE, it seems that in this context "the Jerusalem Church" effectively means "the Jerusalem Church in exile," and this must be where Symeon was executed, i.e., somewhere outside of Jerusalem.It is reported that after the age of Nero and Domitian, under the emperor whose times we are now recording [Trajan], a persecution was stirred up against us in certain cities in consequence of a popular uprising. In this persecution we have understood that Symeon, the son of Clopas, who, as we have shown, was the second bishop of the church of Jerusalem, suffered martyrdom. Hegesippus, whose words we have already quoted in various places, is a witness to this fact also.