Josephus’Writtings
Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus
SBT’S Introduction Notes.-Appreciation for Jehovah's Part involving your happiness
compared to what Satan Has Proposed to Eve and then Adam
and then---Cain and Nimrod's Rhetoric.
Rhetoric.about
your happiness --depends on your
accomplishments—say Cain and Nimrod.
Remember
–you can not accomplish nothing—or Create
Nothing---only built things
out of that God has Created.. Psalms36-9.htm
Only
out of what Jehovah has created for you to work with. So praise Jehovah’s work
first.
Much commentary has been
written about Satan setting Eve then Adam free --
and all there offspring to be---- independent thinkers
from Jehovah—Council and Commandment
-but
this needs to be expended on. So Judge What God/god You Will Freely Obey. Compare.
|
|
Book I, Chapter 1-- from /library/antiquities-jews
The Constitution Of The World And The Disposition Of The Elements
1. In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth. But when the earth did not come into sight,
but was covered with thick darkness, and a wind moved upon its surface, God
commanded that there should be light: and when that was made, he considered the
whole mass, and separated the light and the darkness; and the name he gave to
one was Night, and the other he called Day: and he named the
beginning of light, and the time of rest, The Evening and The
Morning, and this was indeed the first day. But Moses said it was
one day; the cause of which I am able to give even now; but because I have
promised to give such reasons for all things in a treatise by itself, I shall
put off its exposition till that time. After this, on the second day, he placed
the heaven over the whole world, and separated it from the other parts, and he
determined it should stand by itself. He also placed a crystalline [firmament]
round it, and put it together in a manner agreeable to the earth, and fitted it
for giving moisture and rain, and for affording the advantage of dews. On the
third day he appointed the dry land to appear, with the sea itself round about
it; and on the very same day he made the plants and the seeds to spring out of
the earth. On the fourth day he adorned the heaven with the sun, the moon, and
the other stars, and appointed them their motions and courses, that the
vicissitudes of the seasons might be clearly signified. And on the fifth
day he produced the living creatures, both those that swim, and those that fly;
the former in the sea, the latter in the air: he also sorted them as to society
and mixture, for procreation, and that their kinds might increase and multiply.
On the sixth day he created the four-footed beasts, and made them male and
female: on the same day he also formed man. Accordingly Moses says, That in just six days the world, and all that is therein,
was made. And that the seventh day was a rest, and a release from the labor of
such operations; whence it is that we Celebrate a rest
from our labors on that day, and call it the Sabbath, which word denotes rest
in the Hebrew tongue.
2. Moreover, Moses, after the seventh day
was over(1) begins to talk philosophically; and
concerning the formation of man, says thus: That God took dust from the ground,
and formed man, and inserted in him a spirit and a soul.(2) This man was
called Adam, which in the Hebrew tongue signifies one that is red,
because he was formed out of red earth, compounded together; for of that kind
is virgin and true earth. God also presented the living creatures, when he had
made them, according to their kinds, both male and female, to Adam, who gave
them those names by which they are still called. But when he saw that Adam had
no female companion, no society, for there was no such created, and that he
wondered at the other animals which were male and female, he laid him asleep,
and took away one of his ribs, and out of it formed the woman; whereupon Adam
knew her when she was brought to him, and acknowledged that she was made out of
himself. Now a woman is called in the Hebrew tongue Issa; but the name
of this woman was Eve, which signifies the mother of all living.
3. Moses says further, that God planted a
paradise in the east, flourishing with all sorts of trees; and that among them
was the tree of life, and another of knowledge, whereby was to be known what
was good and evil; and that when he brought Adam and his wife into this garden,
he commanded ;hem to take care of the plants. Now the
garden was watered by one river,(3) which ran
round about the whole earth, and was parted into four parts. And Phison, which
denotes a multitude, running into
4. God
therefore commanded that Adam and his wife should eat of all the rest of the
plants, but to abstain from the tree of knowledge; and foretold to them,
that if they touched it, it would prove their destruction. But while all the
living creatures had one language, (5) at that time the serpent, which then lived
together with Adam and his wife, shewed an envious
disposition, at his supposal of their living happily, and in obedience
to the commands of God; and imagining,
that when they disobeyed them, they would fall into calamities, he
persuaded the woman, out of a malicious intention,
to taste of the tree of knowledge, telling them, that in that tree was the
knowledge of good and evil; which knowledge, when they should obtain, they
would lead a happy life; nay, a life not inferior to that of a
god: by which means he overcame the woman, and persuaded her to despise
the command of God. Now when she had tasted of that tree, and was pleased with
its fruit, she persuaded Adam to make use of it also. Upon this they perceived
that they were become naked to one another; and being ashamed thus to appear
abroad, they invented somewhat to cover them; for the tree sharpened their
understanding; and they covered themselves with fig-leaves; and tying these
before them, out of modesty, they thought they were happier than they were
before, as they had discovered what they were in want of. But when God came
into the garden, Adam, who was wont before to come and converse with him, being
conscious of his wicked behavior, went out of the way. This behavior surprised
God; and he asked what was the cause of this his procedure; and why he, that
before delighted in that conversation, did now fly from it, and avoid it. When
he made no reply, as conscious to himself that he had transgressed the command
of God, God said, "I had before determined about you both, how you might
lead a happy life, without any affliction, and care, and vexation of soul; and
that all things which might contribute to your enjoyment and pleasure should
grow up by my providence, of their own accord, without your own labor and
pains-taking; which state of labor and pains-taking would soon bring on old
age, and death would not be at any remote distance: but now thou hast abused
this my good-will, and hast disobeyed my commands; for thy silence is not the
sign of thy virtue, but of thy evil conscience." However, Adam excused his
sin, and entreated God not to be angry at him, and laid the blame of what was
done upon his wife; and said that he was deceived by her, and thence became an
offender; while she again accused the serpent. But God allotted him punishment,
because he weakly submitted to the counsel of his wife; and said the ground
should not henceforth yield its fruits of its own accord, but that when it
should be harassed by their labor, it should bring forth some of its fruits,
and refuse to bring forth others. He also made Eve liable to the inconveniency
of breeding, and the sharp pains of bringing forth children; and this because
she persuaded Adam with the same arguments wherewith the serpent had persuaded
her, and had thereby brought him into a calamitous condition. He also deprived
the serpent of speech, out of indignation at his malicious disposition towards
Adam. Besides this, he inserted poison under his tongue, and made him an enemy
to men; and suggested to them, that they should direct their strokes against his
head, that being the place wherein lay his mischievous designs towards men, and
it being easiest to take vengeance on him, that way. And when he had deprived him of the use of his feet, he made him to go rolling all
along, and dragging himself upon the ground. And when God had appointed these
penalties for them, he removed Adam and Eve out of the garden into another
place.
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Josephus
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A fanciful representation of Flavius Josephus, in an engraving in William
Whiston's translation of his works
Josephus (37 – sometime after 100 AD),[1]
who became known, in his capacity as a Roman
citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus,[2] was a 1st-century
Jewish historian and
apologist of priestly and royal ancestry who survived and recorded the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70. His works give an
important insight into first-century Judaism.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Life
Josephus,
who introduced himself in Greek as "Iosepos
(Ιώσηπος), son of Matthias, an ethnic Hebrew, a priest
from Jerusalem",[3]
fought the Romans in the First Jewish-Roman War of 66-73 as a Jewish military
leader in Galilee.
After the Jewish garrison of Yodfat was taken under siege, the Romans invaded, killed
thousands, and the remaining survivors who had managed to elude the forces
committed suicide. However, in circumstances that are somewhat unclear,
Josephus and one of his soldiers surrendered to the Roman forces invading
Galilee in July 67. He
became a prisoner and provided the Romans with intelligence on the ongoing
revolt. The Roman forces were led by Flavius Vespasian and
his son Titus,
both subsequently Roman emperors. In 69, Josephus was released
(cf. War IV.622-629) and according to Josephus's own account, he appears
to have played some role as a negotiator with the defenders in the Siege of Jerusalem in 70.
In 71, he arrived in Rome in
the entourage of Titus, becoming a Roman citizen and Flavian dynasty
client (hence he is often referred to as Flavius Josephus - see below). In
addition to Roman citizenship he was granted accommodation in conquered Judea,
and a decent, if not extravagant, pension. It was while in Rome, and under
Flavian patronage, that Josephus wrote all of his known works.
Although
he only ever calls himself "Josephus", he appears to have taken the
Roman nomen
Flavius and praenomen
Titus from his patrons.[4]
This was standard for new citizens.
Josephus's
first wife perished together with his parents in Jerusalem during the siege and
Vespasian arranged for him to marry a Jewish woman who had been captured by the
Romans. This woman left Josephus, and around 70, he married a Jewish
woman from Alexandria by whom he had three male children.
Only one, Flavius Hyrcanus, survived childhood. Josephus later divorced his
third wife and around 75,
married his fourth wife, a Jewish girl from Crete, from a distinguished family.
This last marriage produced two sons, Flavius Justus and Simonides Agrippa.
Josephus's
life is beset with ambiguity. For his critics, he never satisfactorily
explained his actions during the Jewish war — why he failed to commit suicide
in Galilee in 67 with some of his compatriots, and why, after his capture, he
cooperated with the Roman invaders. Historian E. Mary Smallwood wrote:
(Josephus) was conceited, not only about his own learning but also about
the opinions held of him as commander both by the Galileans and by the Romans;
he was guilty of shocking duplicity at Jotapata,
saving himself by sacrifice of his companions; he was too naive to see how he
stood condemned out of his own mouth for his conduct, and yet no words were too
harsh when he was blackening his opponents; and after landing, however
involuntarily, in the Roman camp, he turned his captivity to his own advantage,
and benefitted for the rest of his days from his change of side.[5]
However,
his critics ignore the fact that Simon
Bar Giora and John of Giscala, both extreme zealots and great
opponents of Josephus, who stayed in Jerusalem and led the war against Rome in
its final stage, in a moment of truth, preferred life over suicide and humbly
surrendered to the Romans. At any rate, those who have viewed Josephus as a
traitor and informer have questioned his credibility as a historian —
dismissing his works as Roman propaganda or as a personal apologetic,
aimed at rehabilitating his reputation in history. More recently, commentators
have reassessed previously-held views of Josephus. As P.J.
O'Rourke quipped,
Reason dictates we should hate this man. But it's hard to get angry at
Josephus. What, after all, did he do? A few soldiers were tricked into suicide.
Some demoralizing claptrap was shouted at a beleaguered army. A wife was
distressed... all of which pale by comparison to what the good men did. For it
was the loyal, the idealistic and the brave who did the real damage. The devout
and patriotic leaders of Jerusalem sacrificed tens of thousands of lives to the
cause of freedom. Vespasian and Titus sacrificed tens of thousands of more to
the cause of civil order. Even Agrippa II, the Roman client king of Judea who
did all he could to prevent the war, ended by supervising the destruction of
half a dozen of his cities and the sale of their inhabitants into slavery. How
much better for everyone if all the principal figures of the region had been
slithering filth like Josephus.[6]
Josephus
was unquestionably an important apologist in the Roman world for the Jewish
people and culture, particularly at a time of conflict and tension. He always
remained, in his own eyes, a loyal and law-observant Jew. He went out of his
way both to commend Judaism to educated gentiles, and to
insist on its compatibility with cultured Graeco-Roman
thought. He constantly contended for the antiquity of Jewish
culture, presenting its people as civilised, devout and philosophical.
Eusebius
reports that a statue of Josephus was erected in Rome.[7]
[edit] Significance to
scholarship
The
works of Josephus provide crucial information about the First Jewish-Roman War.
They are also important literary source material for understanding the context
of the Dead Sea Scrolls and post-Second
Temple Judaism. Josephan scholarship in the 19th
and early 20th century became focused on Josephus' relationship
to the sect of the Pharisees. He was consistently portrayed as a member of the
sect, but nevertheless viewed as a villainous traitor to his own nation - a
view which became known as the classical concept of Josephus. In the mid 20th
century, this view was challenged by a new generation of scholars who
formulated the modern concept of Josephus, still considering him a Pharisee but
restoring his reputation in part as patriot and a historian of some standing.
Recent scholarship since 1990 has sought to move scholarly perceptions forward
by demonstrating that Josephus was not a Pharisee but an orthodox
Aristocrat-Priest who became part of the Temple establishment as a matter of
deference and not willing association (Cf. Steve Mason, Todd Beall, and Ernst
Gerlach).
Josephus
offers information about individuals, groups, customs and geographical places.
His writings provide a significant, extra-biblical account of the post-exilic
period of the Maccabees,
the Hasmonean
dynasty and the rise of Herod the Great. He makes references to the Sadducees,
Jewish High
Priests of the time, Pharisees and Essenes, the Herodian
Temple, Quirinius'
census and the Zealots,
and to such figures as Pontius Pilate, Herod
the Great, Agrippa I and Agrippa II,
John
the Baptist, James the brother of Jesus, and a disputed reference to Jesus. He is an
important source for studies of immediate post-Temple Judaism (and, thus, the
context of early Christianity).
A
careful reading of Josephus' writings allowed Ehud Netzer,
an archaeologist from Hebrew University, to confirm the location of Herod's
Tomb after a fruitless search of 35 years - on top of tunnels and water pools
at a flattened desert site, halfway up the hill to the Herodium, 12 kilometers
south of Jerusalem - exactly where it should be according to Josephus writings.
For
many years, the works of Josephus were printed only in an imperfect Latin
translation from the original Greek. It was only in 1544 that a version of the
Greek text was made available, edited by the Dutch humanist Arnoldus
Arlenius. This edition formed the basis of the 1732 English translation by William
Whiston which was enormously popular in the English speaking world and
which is currently available online for free download by Project
Gutenberg. Later editions of the Greek text include that of Benedikt
Niese, who made a detailed examination of all the available manuscripts,
mainly from France and Spain. This was the version used by H. St J. Thackeray
for the Loeb Classical Library edition widely used
today.
[edit] Works
[edit] List of works
- (c. 75) War
of the Jews, or Jewish
War, or Jewish Wars, or History of the Jewish War
(commonly abbreviated JW, BJ or War)
- (date unknown) Josephus's
Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades (spurious; adaptation of
"Against Plato, on the Cause of the Universe" by Hippolytus of Rome)
- (c. 94) Antiquities of the Jews, or Jewish Antiquities, or Antiquities
of the Jews/Jewish Archeology (frequently abbreviated AJ, AotJ or Ant.
or Antiq.)
- (c. 97) Flavius
Josephus Against Apion, or Against
Apion, or Contra Apionem, or Against
the Greeks, on the antiquity of the Jewish people (usually
abbreviated CA)
- (c. 99) The Life of Flavius Josephus,
or Autobiography of Flavius Josephus
(abbreviated Life or Vita)
[edit] The Jewish War
Greek Wikisource
has original text related to this article:
Main article: The Wars of the Jews
His
first work in Rome was an account of the Jewish War, addressed to certain
"upper barbarians" – usually thought to be the Jewish community in Mesopotamia
– in his "paternal tongue" (War I.3), arguably the Western Aramaic
language. He then wrote a seven-volume account in Greek
known to us as the Jewish War (Latin Bellum
Iudaicum). It starts with the period of the Maccabees and
concludes with accounts of the fall of Jerusalem,
the Roman victory celebrations in Rome, the mopping-up operations, Roman
military operations elsewhere in the Empire and the uprising in Cyrene.
Together with the account in his Life of some of the same events, it
also provides the reader with an overview of Josephus' own part in the events
since his return to Jerusalem from a brief visit to Rome in the early 60s (Life 13-17).
Rome
cannot have been an easy place for a Jew in the wake of the suppression of the
Jewish revolt. Josephus would have witnessed the marches of Titus' triumphant
legions leading their Jewish captives, and carrying trophies of despoiled
treasure from the Temple in Jerusalem. He would have experienced
the popular presentation of the Jews as a bellicose and misanthropic people.
It was
against this background that Josephus wrote his War, and although often
dismissed as pro-Roman propaganda (perhaps hardly surprising given where his
patronage was coming from), he claims to be writing to counter anti-Judean
accounts. He disputes the claim that the Jews serve a defeated god and are
naturally hostile to Roman civilization. Rather, he blames the Jewish War on
what he calls "unrepresentative and over-zealous fanatics"
among the Jews, who led the masses away from their natural aristocratic leaders
(like him), with disastrous results. He also blames some of the governors of
Judea, but these he presents as atypical Romans: corrupt and incompetent
administrators. Thus, according to Josephus, the traditional Jew was, should
be, and can be, a loyal and peace-loving citizen. Jews can, and historically
have, accepted Rome's hegemony precisely because of their faith that God
himself gives empires their power.
[edit] Jewish Antiquities
The
next literary work by Josephus is his twenty-one volume Antiquities of the Jews, completed in the
last year of the emperor Flavius Domitian (between 1.9.93 and 14.3.94, cf. AJ
X.267). He claims that interested persons have pressed him to give a fuller account
of the Jewish culture and constitution. Here, in expounding Jewish history, law
and custom, he is entering into many philosophical debates current in Rome at
that time. Again he offers an apologia for the antiquity and universal
significance of the Jewish people.
Beginning
with the story of Creation, he outlines Jewish history. Abraham taught science to the Egyptians,
who in turn taught the Greeks. Moses set up a senatorial priestly aristocracy, which like that
of Rome resisted monarchy. The great figures of the biblical stories are
presented as ideal philosopher-leaders. There is again an autobiographical
appendix defending Josephus' own conduct at the end of the war when he
cooperated with the Roman forces.
[edit] Against Apion
Josephus'
Against
Apion is a final two-volume defence of Judaism as classical religion and philosophy,
stressing its antiquity against what Josephus claimed was the relatively more
recent traditions of the Greeks. Some anti-Judean allegations ascribed by
Josephus to the Greek writer Apion, and myths accredited to Manetho are also
exposed.
[edit] Literature about
Josephus
- The Josephus Trilogy, a novel by Lion Feuchtwanger
- Der jüdische Krieg (Josephus), 1932
- Die Söhne (The Jews of Rome), 1935
- Der Tag wird kommen (The day will come, Josephus
and the Emperor), 1942
- Flavius Josephus Eyewitness to Rome's
first-century conquest of Judea, Mireille Hadas-lebel , Macmillan 1993, Simon and Schuster 2001
[edit] See also
- Josephus on Jesus
- Josippon
- Josephus problem - a mathematical problem
named after Josephus.
[edit] References
- The Works of Josephus, Complete and
Unabridged New Updated Edition Translated by William Whiston, A.M., Peabody, MA: Hendrickson
Publishers, Inc., 1987. ISBN
0-913573-86-8 (Hardcover). ISBN
1-56563-167-6 (Paperback).
- O'Rourke, P.J. Give War a Chance.
Vintage, 1993.
- Per Bilde. Flavius Josephus
between Jerusalem and Rome: his Life, his Works and their Importance.
Sheffield, 1998.
- Shaye J.D. Cohen. "Josephus in
Galilee and Rome. His Vita and development as a historian." Columbia
Studies in the Classical tradition 8 (1979 Leiden).
- Louis Feldman. "Flavius Josephus
revisited. The man, his writings, and his significance." Aufstieg
und Niedergang der Römischen Welt 21.2 (1984).
[edit] Footnotes
1.
^ Louis
H. Feldman, Steve Mason (1999). Flavius Josephus. Brill
Academic Publishers.
2.
^ Josephus refers to
himself in his Greek works as Jōsēpos Matthiou pais
(Josephus the son of Matthais). Although Josephus also spoke Aramaic
and most probably also Hebrew, no extant sources record his name in these
languages. However, his Hebrew/Aramaic name has gone down in Jewish history as יוסף
בן מתתיהו (Yosef ben
Matityahu) and thus he is commonly known in Israel today.
3.
^ Jewish War I.3
4.
^ Attested by the third
century Church theologian Origen (Comm. Matt. 10.17).
5.
^ Josephus, Flavius, The
Jewish War, tr. G.A. Williamson, introduction by E. Mary Smallwood. New
York, Penguin, 1981, p. 24
6.
^ O'Rourke 104.
7.
^ Hist. eccl. 3.9.2
[edit] External links
Wikisource
has original text related to this article:
Wikiquote
has a collection of quotations related to:
- Resources
> Second Temple and Talmudic Era > Flavius Josephus The Jewish
History Resource Center - Project of the Dinur Center for Research in
Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- The Works of
Flavius Josephus Translated by William Whiston
- Works by Josephus
at Project Gutenberg
- Flavius Josephus, Judaea
and Rome: A Question of Context
- Scholarship on Josephus at York
University
- Flavius Josephus
at livius.org
- Josephus
Flavius at Jewish Virtual Library
- Josephus at
Early Jewish Writings
- The Flavius Josephus Home Page at
Josephus.org
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus"
Categories: Roman era historians | Ancient Jewish Roman history
| Jewish historians | Roman era Jews | Flavii
| 37 births | 100 deaths
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The New American Standard Bible |
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Book of
1 Peter |
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Chapter
4 -
Read Chapter - Click for Chapter Audio |
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4:3 - [In Context|Original Greek]
1 Therefore, since Christ R188 has suffered F66 in the flesh, arm R189 yourselves also with the same
purpose, because he R190 who has suffered F66 in the flesh has ceased from
sin, 2 so R191 as to live the R192 rest of the time in the flesh
no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will R193 of God. 3 For the R194 time already past is sufficient
{for} {you} to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having F67 R195 pursued a course of sensuality,
lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable F68 idolatries. Holy Bible: Easy-to-Read Version 4:3 - [In Context] In the past you wasted too much time doing the
things that the non-believers like to do. You were doing sexual sins. You
were doing the evil things you wanted. You were becoming drunk, having wild
and wasteful parties, having drunken parties, and doing wrong by worshiping
idols (false gods). 4:3 - [In Context] International
Standard Version For you spent enough time in the past doing what
the Gentiles like to do, living in sensuality, sinful desires, drunkenness,
wild celebrations, drinking parties, and detestable idolatry. R73 3 Why, enough time has
elapsed for the desires of the nations to be resolved [in you]. But they’ve
gone their own immoral ways, following their desires, drinking too much wine,
partying, getting drunk, and breaking [God’s] laws by worshiping idols. 4 And
because you don’t go along with them and follow them into the same deadly
course down into the sewer, they slander you. 5 But they’ll have to answer to
the One who is ready to judge both the
living and the dead. 6 This is why we are preaching the good news to those who
are dead; so they can be judged as fleshly men, then come to life by
the Breath of God.
http://www.2001translation.com/FIRST_PETER.htm
NWT 4-3 For
the time that has passed by is sufficient for YOU to have worked out the will of the nations when YOU proceeded in deeds of
loose conduct, lusts, excesses with wine, revelries, drinking matches, and
illegal idolatries. |
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