Of the 97,000 survivors, some were promptly executed; others were enslaved. Josephus says: “Those over seventeen were put in irons and sent to hard labour in Egypt, while great numbers were presented by Titus to the provinces to perish in the theatres by the sword or by wild beasts.” Even as this sorting out took place, 11,000 prisoners starved to death.

10. How have we previously explained Matthew 24:22?

¹⁰ In the past it was explained that the ‘flesh to be saved’ referred to Jews who survived the tribulation on Jerusalem in 70 C.E. The Christians had fled, so God could let the Romans bring a swift destruction. In other words, on account of the fact that the “chosen ones” were out of danger, the days of the tribulation could be cut short, allowing some Jewish “flesh” to be saved. It was felt that the surviving Jews foreshadowed those who would survive the great tribulation coming in our day.—Revelation 7:14.

11. Why does it seem that the explanation of Matthew 24:22 should be reconsidered?

¹¹ But is that explanation consonant with what happened in 70 C.E.? Jesus said that the human “flesh” was to be “saved” out of the tribulation. Would you use the word “saved” to describe the 97,000 survivors, in view of the fact that thousands of them soon died of starvation or were slaughtered in a theater? Josephus says about one theater, at Caesarea: “The number of those who perished in combats with wild beasts or in fighting each other or by being burnt alive exceeded 2,500.” Though they did not die in the siege, they were hardly “saved.” And would Jesus consider them as being similar to happy survivors of the coming “great tribulation”?