JOSEPHUS

The Essential Works


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An Illustrated Condensation

of

Jewish Antiquities
and
The Jewish War

by

PAUL L. MAIER

Next to the Bible in importance, the works of Jewish historian Flavius Josephus are the most authoritative ancient source for illuminating the people, places, and events recorded in the Old and New Testaments. Born in Jerusalem only four years after Jesus� crucifixion, Josephus was an eyewitness to much of what he reported in the first century A.D. But he also painted a much broader canvas, undertaking in his two greatest works, Jewish Antiquities and The Jewish War, a colorful panorama extending from the creation to the fall of Jerusalem in AD. 70.

Many people use Josephus without even knowing it. What, for example, was the name of Herodias�s daughter whose dancing led to the beheading of John the Baptist? Salome, of course, and yet the girl is not named in the Gospels but by Josephus, who also furnishes additional details about John the Baptist as well as James, the half-brother of Jesus. Besides his two famous references to Jesus, Josephus provides a court history of the four generations of Herods who populate the Gospels and also supplies fascinating details on the Roman governors and conquerors.

Sadly, however, most modem readers find Josephus� works much too voluminous and difficult to follow and the most common translation of them too archaic. Paul L. Maier solved both of these problems with his earlier translation, Josephus: The Essential Writings, which was also a careful condensation that surrendered no important passage from the Jewish historian.

Paul Maier�s earlier work has now been updated and illustrated with full-color documentary photographs as well as expanded with maps, drawings, and charts. This new Josephus: The Essential Works provides a fresh, exciting reading experience for anyone interested in the biblical era�whether a professional, lay person, or student.

Dr. Paul L. Maier�s award-winning translation and condensation, Josephus: The Essential Writings, has now been expanded and enhanced. As the primary source of additional information about events in the Old and New Testaments, Jewish Antiquities and The Jewish War by Josephus take on a brilliant new dimension with full-color photographs of many of the places and artifacts cited in these works. In addition to Dr. Maier�s eminently readable and engaging text, this updated edition now includes insightful discussions on the historical and chronological issues raised by Josephus. Key features of this new edition are:

Thoroughly indexed and keyed to the Loeb Classical Library�s numbering of the Greek text of Josephus, Dr. Maier has created the new standard resource for readers of first-century Judeo-Roman history.

Some of the reviews of Dr. Maier�s translation include:

Dr. Paul L. Maier is Professor of Ancient History at Western Michigan University and the author of numerous books dealing with the rise of Christianity and the Roman Empire. Awarded his doctorate summa cum laude at the University of Basel, Dr. Maier was named �Professor of the Year� as one of America�s twenty-five finest educators by the Washington-based Council for Advancement and Support of Education (1984). He has explored many of the sites portrayed by Josephus and lectures widely across the country. Two of his earlier works are Pontius Pilate and The Flames of Rome.

Jesus (A18:63) � AD33

At this time there was a wise man called Jesus, and his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous. Many people among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive. Accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have reported wonders. And the tribe of the Christians, so named after him, has not disappeared to this day.

Herod Antipas (A18:106) � AD34

Herod�s brother, Philip, died at this time, a moderate ruler who dispensed justice on an itinerant basis. Since he died childless, Tiberius annexed his territory to the province of Syria. Herod himself now quarreled with Aretas [IV], king of Petra, whose daughter he had married. But Herod had since fallen in love with Herodias, wife of his half-brother [also named] Herod, and he promised to marry her and dismiss Aretas� daughter. However, she heard about the agreement, and asked Herod for permission to visit Machaerus. From there she hurried on to her father in Arabia, and told him of Herod�s plans. This and a boundary dispute led Aretas to attack Herod, whose whole army was destroyed. (AD36) Herod wrote about this to Tiberius, who was furious, 36 and ordered Vitellius, governor of Syria, to declare war on Aretas.

John the Baptist � AD36

Now, to some of the Jews the destruction of Herod�s army seemed to come from God as a very just recompense, a punishment for what he did to John who was called the Baptist. For Herod had executed him, though he was a good man and had exhorted the Jews to exercise virtue, both in practicing justice toward one another and in piety toward God, and, so doing, to join in baptism. For thus, it seemed to him, would baptismal washing be acceptable, if it were used not to gain pardon for whatever sins they committed, but as a purification of the body, implying that the soul was already thoroughly cleansed by righteous conduct. When others also joined the crowds about him� for they were deeply stirred at hearing his words�Herod grew alarmed: such great influence over the people could lead to an uprising, for they seemed ready to do anything John might advise. Accordingly, Herod decided that it would be much better to strike first and get rid of him before any insurrection might develop, than to get himself into trouble and be sorry not to have acted once a rebellion had begun. And so, due to Herod�s suspicions, John was brought in chains to Machaerus, the fortress that we have previously mentioned, and there put to death. But the Jews believed that the destruction which overtook Herod�s army came as vengeance against Herod [for executing John], God wishing to do him harm.

Vitellius, meanwhile, prepared for war against Aretas and was planning to march two legions through Judea. But he rerouted their course after Jewish leaders appealed that he not bring military standards bearing images on their soil. He and Herod the tetrarch, however, offered sacrifice in Jerusalem, where they received the news of Tiberius� death. This caused Vitellius to call off his war with Aretas, and he returned to Antioch.

Jesus� Brother James (A20:197-200 W2:272) � AD64

Having such a character, Ananus thought that with Festus dead and Albinus still on the way he would have the proper opportunity. Convening the judges of the Sanhedrin, he brought before them the brother of Jesus who was called the Christ, whose name was James, and certain others. He accused them of having transgressed the law and delivered them up to be stoned. But those of the city residents who were deemed the most fair-minded and who were strict in observing the law were offended at this. Accordingly, they secretly contacted the king [Agrippa II], urging him to order Ananus to desist from any more such actions, for he had not been justified in what he had already done. Some of them even went to meet Albinus, who was on his way from Alexandria, and informed him that Ananus had no authority to convene the Sanhedrin without his consent. Convinced by these words, Albinus wrote in anger to Ananus, threatening him with punishment. And King Agrippa, because of this, deposed him from the high priesthood, in which he had ruled for three months, and replaced him with Jesus, the son of Damnaeus.

Later, Agrippa appointed Jesus, son of Gamaliel, as successor to Jesus, son of Damnaeus. These two high priests feuded as a result, and their partisans hurled stones at each other, typical of the lawless confusion in the city. When Albinus heard that Gessius Florus was coming to replace him, he cleared the prisons by executing those who deserved death. But he released�for a bribe�those guilty of lesser offenses, thus infesting the land with brigands. He also stole private property, burdened the nation with excessive taxes, and committed every sort of villainy.

Just now, too, the temple was finally completed, leaving 18,000 workers unemployed, although they did pave Jerusalem with white stone.

Josephus on Jesus

For Christians, books 18 through 20 of the Antiquities are far and away the most important sections in all of Josephus� writings, since they provide a rich background for the entire New Testament era. Happily, they are also the most authoritative chapters in the Antiquities since at long last Joseph us is either an eyewitness or direct contemporary of the events he is reporting. His paragraphs on John the Baptist show Jesus� forerunner from a fresh vantage point, while his portrayal of crucial events in the career of Pontius Pilate help explain that governor�s pressured performance at the trial of Jesus. In the case of Jesus� brother James, he even provides crucial addenda to the New Testament, which does not tell us how James died. Josephus does!

His two celebrated references to Jesus�Antiquities A18:63 and A20:200�have provoked an enormous quantity of scholarly literature. They constitute the largest block of first-century evidence for Jesus outside of biblical or Christian sources, and may well be the reason that the vast works of Joseph us survived manuscript transmission across the centuries almost intact when other great works, like those of Nicolas of Damascus, were totally lost. But are the Jesus references authentic?

Scholars fall into three main camps on the first and longer paragraph on Jesus (A18:63) which occurs amid events during Pilate�s administration:

  1. it is entirely authentic;
  2. it is entirely a Christian forgery; or
  3. it contains Christian interpolations in what was Joseph us� authentic material about Jesus.

The first option, held by very few, would seem hopeless: no Jew could have claimed Jesus as the Messiah who rose from the dead without converting to Christianity, and Joseph us did not convert. The second position, popular in late nineteenth-century skeptical scholarship, has some minor current support. A large majority of scholars today, however, share the third position (favored in these pages), particularly in view of the newly-discovered Agapian text which shows no signs of interpolation.

Josephus must have mentioned Jesus in authentic core material at A18:63 since this passage is present in all Greek manuscripts of Josephus, and the Agapian version accords well with his vocabulary and grammar elsewhere. Moreover, Jesus is portrayed as a �wise man� [sophos aner], a phrase not used by Christians but employed by Josephus for such Old Testament figures as David and Solomon. Furthermore, his claim that Jesus won over �many of the Greeks� is not substantiated in the New Testament, and thus hardly a Christian interpolation but rather something that Josephus would have noted in his own day. Finally, the fact that the second reference to Jesus at A20:200 merely calls him the Christos without further explanation implies that a previous fuller identification had already taken place.

Josephus� second reference to Jesus in connection with the death of his half-brother James (A20:200) shows no tampering whatever and is present in all Josephus manuscripts. Had there been Christian interpolation, more material would doubtless have been presented than this brief, passing notice. James would likely have been wreathed in laudatory language and styled �the brother of the Lord,� as the New Testament defines him, rather than, as Josephus, �the brother of Jesus.� Nor could the New Testament have served as Josephus� source since it provides no detail on James� death. For Josephus to further define Jesus as the one �who was called the Christos� was both credible and necessary in view of the twenty other Jesuses he cites in his works. In fact, the very high priest who succeeded Ananus, who instigated the death of James, was Jesus, son of Damnaeus. Accordingly, most scholars concur with ranking Josephus authority.

Louis H. Feldman in his notation in the Loeb edition of Josephus:

�...few have doubted the genuineness of this passage [A20:200] on James� (Louis H. Feldman, tr., Josephus, IX [Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965] p496).

The weight of evidence, then, strongly suggests that Josephus mentioned Jesus in both passages.

He did so in a manner totally congruent with the New Testament portrait of Jesus, and his description, from the vantage point of a non-Christian, seems remarkably fair, particularly in view of his known proclivity of roasting false messiahs as the sorts who misled the people and brought on the Romans.

Gary: In service of my risen Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Maranatha!

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