Just so I understand. God destroyed Pompeii because he was angry at the Romans for sacking Jerusalem...why didn’t he just prevent the Romans from destroying Judea in the first place?
I was always taught this happened because the Jews had turned away from God which means the Romans were acting as tool of God’s vengeance. Why would he punish them for that?
Romans were kind of damned if they do, damned if they don’t.
To assume that God was angry about the destruction of Jerusalem denies his sovereignty. The prophets under the inspiration of God foretold of the destruction of Jerusalem. Christ, God himself, even stated that it would occur during the current generation. The destruction of Jerusalem was in God’s plan all along, as was the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, not the result of a temper tantrum over the loss of Jerusalem.
“why didn’t he just prevent the Romans from destroying Judea in the first place”
Well, he was also mad at the Jewish kingdom. And while (as do all things), the Roman sack fit His plans, His promise to punish people who harm Israel stands.
That said, the eruption seems a bit distant.
I would note that Nero attempted to put up a pagan statue of himself on the Temple Mount and was promptly struck dead before the effort could be completed.
That seems pretty direct.
Just because God uses the heathen to discipline his people does not mean he cannot judge the heathen. He is GOD, and His ways are not ours.
I understand your question, and why it seems confusing. Try to remember Scripture context. In the Hebrew Bible (The Tanakh, or the Old Testament) there are examples of God warning His People by His prophets of coming judgment if they do not repent and return to the ways of God and godliness, which God had detailed to them through Moses and others. When there was no national repentance, and when the leaders of the people continued to lead them astray from God (usually for selfish political or moral corruption reasons), then God would raise up a foreign army from a pagan nation to cause judgment and punishment of His People. Nevertheless, God would then bring a judgment upon those who attacked His People, IF the invading army rejoiced or gloated over their defeat of the Israelis, thinking that they (the attacking army) had now found more favor with the God of Israel — OR, that they and their god or gods were now more worthy to rule the Land of Israel or the Children of Israel — that is, more worthy of acclaim than God’s Chosen People. THEN, God would punish either that whole nation or that nation’s army. That happened to Assyria when they gloated over the destruction of Samaria and the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC. God later had Assyria destroyed by others for their punishment for having rejoiced in the slaughter of many innocents among the populace of the Northern Kingdom. (The North-South split had occurred after the death of Solomon.) So, I hope that explains that juxtaposition somewhat. God will use the enemies of His People to punish His People for great moral and spiritual lapses and any rejection of God’s right to have their obedience to Himself. The same might be said of any nation founded upon a declaration of fidelity to God, such as was done by America’s Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony with the Mayflower Compact (1620).