Way Behind: Jewish War 1.1-186

Way behind, but I've read the first 186 of War 1.

Mostly boring--so and so attacked so and so. Then so and so attacked so and so. Josephus is also often wrong in his reconstruction, at least when you compare him to 1 Maccabees, which is almost 200 years earlier. Mostly on the Maccabees.

Of interest are his comments on Judah the Essene (1.78-80), on the Pharisees (1.110-12), and on Pompey's entrance into the Holy of Holies (1.152).

Mention of soul (1.84) and he supports Paul's Arabia as the Nabatean kingdom with Petra as capital.

Schedule for Jewish War Book 1

Feb. 1: 1-34
Feb. 2: 35-68
Feb. 3: 69-102
Feb. 4: 103-36
Feb. 5: 137-70
Feb. 6: 171-204
Feb. 7: 205-38
Feb. 8: 239-72
Feb. 9: 273-306
Feb. 10: 307-340
Feb. 11: 341-74
Feb. 12: 375-408
Feb. 13: 409-42
Feb. 14: 443-76
Feb. 15: 477-510
Feb. 16: 511-44
Feb. 17: 545-78
Feb. 18: 579-612
Feb. 19: 613-46
Feb. 20: 647-73

Apion Book 2 finished... (2.181-296)

... and only a week behind. :-)

This last section largely deals with the excellence of the Law in comparison with other races, especially the Greeks. Here are some interesting bits:

• God is the beginning, middle, and end of all things (2.190).
• Again, Hebrews watch, Josephus speaks of the temple and its operations as if they were still going on (2.193ff).
• Josephus understands the Law to imply monogamy and sex only for procreation (2.199).
• Interesting interpolation on women I discuss elsewhere (2.201).
• Stuff on soul (2.202-3)
• Prophecy background to 2 Peter 1 (2.218).
• Josephus' view of resurrection (2.218).
• Allegorical defense of the ancient myths (2.255).
• God permeates the universe (2.284)
• Everything in the universe is under the eye and direction of God (2.294).

Now on to the Jewish War.

Apion 2.79-175

Almost a week behind, but hope to finish Apion this weekend.

Interesting and strange rumors about Jewish practices--like kidnapping and sacrificing a Greek (95).

Interesting description of the temple holiness layers (103-5).

Interesting comments on sin:
"to those who believe that their lives are under the eye of God all sin is intolerable" (160).

"our leader [Moses] made the Law the standard and rule, that we might live under it as under a father and master, and be guilty of no sin through wilfulness or ignorance" (174).

The word theocracy is used at 165 in description of Mosaic rule.

God is the One, uncreated, immutable God, whose being itself is beyond knowledge, inscrutable (167).

Godliness for Moses, according to Josephus, is not one virtue but the virtue of which other virtues are only a part (e.g., justice, temperance, etc.) 170.

Apion 2.1-78

Some great stuff! I keep hitting myself for not reading straight through Josephus before. It really enhances so much that I think every PhD in New Testament, even many MAs, should read through significant portions. Alas...

Apion 2 begins with a dedication of the second volume to Epaphroditus that is really similar to the introduction to Acts. "Through the first book, my most honored Epaproditus..." Presumably this was conventional dedication to one's patron.

In the second volume, we finally meet Apion, who led the opposite delegation to Philo to Rome under Caligula after the pogrom of AD38. He wrote a book on Egypt much like Manetho's and dependant on Manetho's.

Good description of Alexandria and where the Jews primarily lived in the city. He mentions a stele in Alexandria that recorded the rights given the Jews by Julius Caesar (37). Josephus is not completely to be trusted. For example, when Claudius in the early 40s issued a verdict on whether the Jews were citizens of Alexandria, he answered that they never really were. Obviously, both Philo and Josephus disagreed.

The Greek text is missing for a significant portion, starting at 52. Fun to see the Greek switch to Latin till 114.

Allusion to the crisis of 3 Maccabees, although there are significant questions about when and if this persecution took place. Josephus also backdates the Jewish position to Alexander, when it seems more likely that Ptolemy 1 Soter settled many Jews there against their will. Ptolemy II Philadelphus seems to have been more favorable.

Mention of primary sources like letters from Caesar are interesting (61).

A significant text for Hebrews scholarship is 2.77, where Josephus speaks of temple practice as if it were still currently taking place. In reality of course, the temple had been destroyed for almost 30 years by the time Josephus was writing. The present tense of Hebrews in relation to the offering of sacrifices is thus no argument for a pre-70 date for the sermon.

Apion 1 finished

Behind, but still in the neighborhood. Finished Contra Apionem Book 1 tonight. Some interesting things in the rest of Book 1 were:

• description of the temple from Hecataeus of Abdera (late 300s BC; Ap. 1.197-99)
• fun story of Ptolemy (I think) marching toward Egypt but his army stops because of an omen--a bird. A Jew gets tired of waiting and shoots down the bird with an arrow to the horror of all. Then he suggests that if the bird could tell the future, it would have known better than to hang around a Jew with a bow (1.201-4).
• description of sabbath observance and worship from someone named Agatharchides (1.209)
• famous depiction of exodus by the Egyptian Manetho, where the Jews were mostly a leper colony (1.229)
• Josephus swears "by Zeus" in 255!

The schedule for book two is:

Jan. 23: 2.1-34
Jan. 24: 2.35-68
Jan. 25: 2.69-102
Jan. 26: 2.102-36
Jan. 27: 2.137-70
Jan. 28: 2:171-204
Jan. 29: 2.205-38
Jan. 30: 2.239-72
Jan. 31: 2.273-96

Circumcision

Some interesting tidbits in Apion 1 today. Josephus is trying to demonstrate that the Jewish race is older than the Greeks. He has extensive quotes from the Egyptian Manetho, from Tyrian and Babylonian historians, then from Greeks themselves, Herodotus, allegedly Pythagoras. He has material on Hiram of Tyre and Solomon sending each other riddles with bets attached, mentions the founding of Carthage and the hanging gardens of Babylon.

Two points of interest come near the end of my reading today in 1.167-71. Here he mentions the Corban oath mentioned in Matthew, where you cannot use something you have dedicated to the Lord for any purpose other than what you dedicate it for. The second is the mention that the Egyptians circumcised first and that the surrounding nations took circumcision from either them or the Arabians.

Manetho also seemed to equate the Jews with the Hyksos.