Jewish War 1:187-430

Well, I'm almost a month behind, but I have been reading. The portion I've read since the last post covers a period of about fifty years, from the time of Pompey's engagement to the establishment of Herod the Great.

We hear of brigands in Galilee during this period (e.g., 1.204, 304). There is the story about them hiding in caves and a father tossing his family and himself down (1.313), I remember mention of a cliff face in Israel just off the Sea of Galilee in reference to this.

There is the mention of a law indicating that a person cannot be put to death without a trial (1.209), interesting in the light of Stephen's stoning. Lots of death.

The material is fun if you remember Julius Caesar from history. On these pages we see Pompey, Julius Caesar, Cassius, Marc Antony, Cleopatra, and of course Augustus. Herod sided with Antony, but is fully accepted by Augustus after Antony bites the dust.

Herod repeatedly confirms that Arabia includes the area just to the east of Damascus. Petra, for example, is in Arabia (1.267). He interestingly refers repeatedly to Fate, destiny, and the like.

I was a little surprised to find reference to "Herodians" in 1.319. I thought I had read somewhere that they were only mentioned in the gospels (e.g., Mark 12:13--slightly different spelling). A speech in 373ff is of possible interest in comparison with the speeches of Acts.

378 mentions the universal law of mankind. 401ff talks of Herod's refurbishment of the temple, which began around 20BC. He built his palace, built cities, made a harbor. Basically, spent an aweful lot of money.