"The Jewish forces, pursuing after Cestius and his army, fell upon their rear with such fierceness as to threaten them with total destruction. It was with great difficulty that the Romans succeeded in making their retreat. The Jews escaped almost without loss, and with their spoils returned in triumph to Jerusalem. Yet this apparent success brought them only evil. It inspired them with that spirit of stubborn resistance to the Romans which speedily brought unutterable woe upon the doomed city. GC 31.1"
"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."
The EGW passage describes the Jews' pride and stubbornness after a military success, which led to their ultimate destruction. This aligns with the proverb about pride preceding a fall.
"O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return."
The EGW passage describes the Jews' stubborn resistance to correction, which is mirrored in Jeremiah 5:3. Both passages highlight a refusal to repent despite warnings.
invested at the time of the Passover, when millions of Jews were assembled within its walls. Their stores of provision, which if carefully preserved would have supplied the inhabitants for years, had previously been destroyed through the jealousy and revenge of the contending factions, and now all the horrors of starvation were experienced. A measure of wheat was sold for a talent. So fierce were the pangs of hunger that men would gnaw the leather of their belts and sandals and the covering of their shields. Great numbers of the people would steal out at night to gather wild plants growing outside the city walls, though many were seized and put to death with cruel torture, and often those who returned in safety were robbed of what they had gleaned at so great peril. The most inhuman tortures were inflicted by those in power, to force from the want-stricken people the last scanty supplies which they might have concealed. And these cruelties were not infrequently practiced by men who wer…
"And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:"
The EGW passage describes the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem, including starvation and cannibalism. This thematically parallels Deuteronomy 28:53, which prophesies that during a siege, people will eat their own children due to the extreme famine. Both passages depict the devastating consequences of disobedience and siege warfare.