Notes on Josephus

1. The Life of Flavius Josephus
   1. Section 4, "And now I perceived that new movements were already begun, and that there were a great many with high hopes of a revolt from the Romans. I therefore tried to put a stop to these disorderly persons, and persuade them to change their minds ... with vehement exhortation, because I foresaw that the end of such a war would be most unfortunate to us. But I could not persuade them; for the madness of desperate men was quite too hard for me." This is an amazing statement which drew me into reading the Jewish War. Who were these men? And what was the character of their desperation? Josephus's description of "The Jewish War" did not disappoint me at all. It gives many answers like this with amazing details besides. This kind of statement, made by a well spoken man, nay, a great speaker, with the best education of his time, regarding his failure to accomplish what he was sent into Galilee to do, in the prime of his life, and can only be seen as a failure on his part to persuade his people to sobriety. This statement must have been so humbling to him, as it is to me. What can a people do when God is not ready to redeem them? Who can help them?
2. Antiquities
   1. Book 10 Chapter 11 Section 7 (276) "And indeed it so came to pass, that our nation suffered these things under Antiochus Epiphanes, according to Daniel's vision, and what he wrote many years before they came to pass." It is simply interesting to note how long ago folks had come to recognize the "Type" of fulfillment of prophecy he speaks of here regarding Daniel's prophecy. This recognition that Antiochus Epiphanes was a "Type" of fulfillment is not an idea that came about any later than the first century, indeed it may have been recognized even as Antiochus was completing his abomination, although I do not recall the Maccabees, or other sources, noting the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy, but in any case, it is certainly not a new idea.
   2. Book 10 Chapter 11 Section 7 (277-281): Wow! ... "All these things did this man leave in writing, as God had showed them to him, insomuch that such as read his prophecies, and see how they have been fulfilled, would wonder at the honor wherewith God honored Daniel; and may from there discover how the Epicureans are in error, who cast Providence out of human life, and do not believe that God takes care of the affairs of the world, nor that the universe is governed and continued in being by that blessed and immortal nature, but say that the world is carried along of its own accord, without a ruler and a curator; which, were it destitute of a guide to conduct it, as they imagine, it would be like ships without pilots, which we see drowned by the winds, or like chariots without drivers, which are overturned; so would the world be dashed to pieces by its being carried without a providence, and so perish, and come to nought. So that by the before mentioned predictions of Daniel, those men seem to me very much to err from the truth, who determine that God exercises no providence over human affairs; for if that were the case, that the world went on by mechanical necessity, we should not see that all things come to pass according to his prophecy. Now as to myself, I have so described these matters as I have found them and read them; but but if anyone is inclined to another opinion about them, let him enjoy his different sentiments without any blame from me." Wow! Just, wow! Ok, where can I start with this? Here is a fellow making an apology for Daniel's prophecy over 2000 years ago, and refuting the same arguments that people make against believers to this day. Nothing has changed with respect to these arguments, nor the basic apology for over 2000 years. The same arguments are made today by non-believers that "the world went on my mechanical necessity", and the same apology is made, "how then do all of these prophecies come to fulfillment?" and so God must be the guiding power.
3. The Jewish War
   1. Book 2 Chapter 21. Just a pivotal moment in history where we get to see how John of Gischala, who, i think, later becomes the leader of the Zealots, and claims Phannias as his high priest, how John of Gischala first becomes adversarial against Josephus. This account is quite gripping and shows how shrewd Josephus was. I would not want Josephus as my enemy. This may be the very memories of Josephus's experience which caused him to later remark in "The Life of Flavius Josephus" as we have noted before, "But I could not persuade them; for the madness of desperate men was quite too hard for me."
   2. Book 4 Chapter 3 Section 10 (184) Regarding Ananus the high priest, who Josephus later describes as "a venerable, and very just man." (4.5.2 319). In the speech made by Ananus, not long before the siege of Titus, Ananus states (184), "For truly, if we may suit our words to the things they represent, it is probable one may hereafter find the Romans to be the supporters of our laws, and those within ourselves the subverters of them." Whew! This statement, not to mention the rest of his speech, which is unnerving and deeply moving, especially in the light of the speech made by Agrippa (2.16.4,5) where the Romans are seen to be the conquerors of "the habitable earth" and that habitable earth is described by Agrippa and Ananus in no uncertain detail, is yet again one of those kinds of statements made by the high priests which chillingly comes true later on. Indeed, for the next 2000 years, in all of the gentile areas which had at the time of this statement been conquered by the Romans (Britain, Gaul, Germany, Asia Minor, Northern Africa, and Judea to name a few), the Torah was increasingly held up to be observed as the Law of the Almighty God, whereas the Jews immediately thereafter only found ways of subverting their own laws, especially at Yavneh, where we come to later find that they directly subvert the Law of God, and indeed even God's own direct words from heaven, with a simple majority ruling (See Baba Mezi'a 59b), "After the majority must one incline".