I just finished reading The World of Joesphus by G.A. Williamson. Josephus was a first century historian who wrote extensively about Jewish life at the time our New Testament was written.
As I read through the story of the “War of the Jews” and the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome in AD 70, I was struck with how brutal war has always been. We read in the news about the 10,000s of Iraqi citizens who were killed during the time our troops fought there. That disturbs us, and it should. The taking of one non-combatant life causes us consternation.
However, when Jerusalem was besieged and demolished in AD 70, 1.1 million non-combatant citizens were killed. And this is in addition to 100,000s of citizens killed in Judea while Roman armies were advancing towards Jerusalem.
I remember reading Biblical commentaries saying that when Jesus mentioned fleeing the destruction of Jerusalem in Mark 13, he was predicting the catastrophic events of AD 70. However, no Biblical commentary comes close to recounting the horrors of that war.
And yes, historians also say that many Christian Jews did flee the Roman wrath, and saved their lives.
While the book is not easy reading, Josephus does provide much helpful material to the Bible student. This book (there may be better ones) reduces Josephus’ 30+ volumes into one 300 page book.