Josephus 37 – 100CE

I always seem to refer to Josephus as a Jewish/Roman historian and clearly he is a significant character in any piece of work which seeks to show links between the Old and New Testaments.

A look at his date might indicate why he is so important

The fact that he is an independent source of writing also make him of interest

His life

He was born a Jew. His father was of priestly defence and his mother claimed royal ancestry.

Clearly he was well educated and had important connections with those in power. In his mid twenties he travelled to negotiate with Emperor Nero for the release of 12 Jewish priests.

Upon the outbreak of the first Jewish War, Joephus was appointed the military governor of Galilee. Inevitably the Jewish fighters lost ground to the Romans. In July 67 CE he was trapped in a cave with 40 companions. Josephus suggested a method of collective suicide which the group accepted. Eventually Josephus and one other were lift alive and thehy surrendered to the Romans and became prisoners. By 69CE though Josephus was released and was able to act as a negotiator with the defenders during the siege of Jerusalem in

70 CE.

Josephus claimed that he was receiving divine revelations about the current state of affairs. His revelations also predicted that the Roman Vespasian would become emperor and when he did so, Josephus’ future seemed assured. His revelations also claimed that God was punishing the Jewish people and that God now favoured the Romans. His revelations also claimed that God had chosen him “to announce the things that are to come!”

While the Jews were not totally convinced by this and while for the remainder of his life he never managed to shake off the criticism that he had not committed suicide in the cave near Yodfat, Josephus seemed to go from strength to strength.

He married four times and was succeeded by his two sons from the fourth union.

Scholarly judgement

It seems that Josephus was a conceited, self-seeking changeling who grasped at opportunities when they presented themselves.

Until the beginning of the 19^th century the prevailing opinion about Josephus was that he was a self-seeking traitor.

Interest was revived in his partly because of the wealth of detail in his writings about social, domestic and national institutions around the time of the Fall of Jerusalem in CE 70. Some scholars explored Josephus’ associations with the Pharisees and even archaeologists claimed that information from Josephus enabled them to make important historical discoveries.

Why is Josephus so important to us?

He alerts geographers and historians to the details about Galilee in the period during and just before the First Jewish War.

He is a useful source of  information about the Zealots, Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, Agrippa I and Agrippa II, the imprisonment of John the Baptist and in some versions of his work James the brother of Jesus and Jesus himself.

He tells us about conditions in Jerusalem, describing carious groups, such as the Jewish High Priests, the Sadducees, Pharisees and Essenes.

By CE 70 Josephus had added the Roman name Flavius to his name Josephus and had become an advisor and friend of Vespasian’s son Titus, who led the siege of Jerusalem.

Josephus therefore was able to give a first-hand account of the destruction of the Herod’s Temple and the siege of Masada.

These events were recorded in two of his important works The Jewish War c 75 which recounts the revolt against Rome and a 21 volume work  Antiquities of the Jews c 94 which tells of the history of the world from the Jewish point of view.

The latter work is important because of the slant he places on the stories of the Old Testament and other legends of Jewish history. He outlines Jewish history beginning with the creation. He includes many ideas that form part of Islamic interpretation of Abraham, including the belief that Abraham taught science to the Egyptians.

He claims that Moses set up a priestly aristocracy, which like that of Rome, resisted the monarchy. Great figures of the Old Testament are presented as ideal philosophical leaders.

To think about

One small exercise is worth following up and that is to read the account given by Josephus of the death of John the Baptist. The easiest place to see this is by following this link – click here

Then compare it with St Mark’s Gospel 6:14-29.

Philo of Alexandria

On quite a number of occasions when discussing an Old Testament topic, such as the writings of an Old Testament prophet or a piece of wisdom literature, I find that quite a new twist to the scriptures we are used to has been added by a number of Greek influences. One of these is usually the treatment of the topic by Philo. He was such an important writer, but there is rarely time to give little more than a rapid nod to his work. Perhaps this post will do something to encourage interest in this amazing character.

Introduction

Let’s start with some dates. Birth of Philo probably around 20-10 BCE and he died just after 41CE

The guessing game with dates is not really a very good start, but despite the fact that Philo wrote a great deal, he tells us very little about himself.

His family have been described as “noble, honourable and wealthy.” He had two brothers and all of them received a good education. This means that they were taught Hellenistic culture, Roman culture, with a fair knowledge of Egyptian culture. Most of all he was well versed in the traditions of Judaism and Greek Philosophy. He was brought up and spent most of his life in the Egyptian city of Alexandria.

If it was culture you were after Alexandria was the place to be. The city was founded in 331BCE by Alexander the Great. Under the Ptolemies (who took over after Alexander’s death) the city flourished as a centre of culture and learning and less than 100 years after it was founded it had the largest library in the world. During the Roman period two of the five divisions in the city housed Jews who read, understood and converted their scriptures into Greek.

Library or Alexandria

Philo is roughly a contemporary of Jesus, yet he never mentions him. Jesus of course was not a philosopher or a writer. The fame and influence of Jesus (except for those who encountered him) did not really come until the Pauline writings were established and the gospels written. By that time Philo was dead.

Why Philo is important for Old Testament Study

Philo’s interpretation of the Old Testament is quite distinctive. He mainly wrote about the books of the Torah, although from time to time he made references to the prophets and other Jewish literature.

Philo used philosophical allegory to harmonize Jewish scriptures with Greek philosophy. The use of allegory had become very fashionable in both Egyptian and Israelite culture. We see examples of it in the New Testament and it is claimed that many rabbis also embraced the style.  In particular Philo favoured Stoic philosophy.

Philo based his doctrines on the Hebrew Bible which he regarded as the source of all truth. Moses was the real medium of revelation. Words spoken by God, such as the ten commandments were the ultimate source of truth, but he felt that everything written in the first five books of the Bible had a divine origin.

Events in the Pentateuch are given an allegorical twist and even specific characters actually represent aspects of human experience. Adam represents the mind, Eve the senses and Noah represents tranquillity according to Philo.

Logos

One of the highly charged words in Greek philosophy is Logos. Logos among early Greek philosophers was the single unifying principle in a universe where most elements seemed to be in a constant state of change or flux. Heraclitus 532 – 475 BCE believed that the world was governed by a divine Logos, but everything else was constantly changing.

It was the Stoics after Zeno of Citium 332 – 265 BCE who produced a systematic exposition of the doctrine of the Logos. It is the key to their interpretation of life, both in the realms of nature and of duty.

Philo wrote that God created and governed the world through mediators. Logos was the chief among them, the next to God, demiurge of the world. But Logos was immaterial, an adequate image of God, his shadow, his firstborn.

In other words for Philo Logos is a unifying principle. It’s what makes the sun come up and go down. It is right reason an infallible law and the source of other laws.

There are very distinct links between what Philo says about the Logos and what wisdom literature, especially the book of Proverbs has to say about the personified feature of wisdom.

Popularity?

Philo’s writings made him popular in the city of Alexandria among the Jewish community. He became a champion of their right and was involved in a delegation to the Emperor Caligula in 38 CE which carried a petition describing the sufferings of the Alexandrian Jews and asking for the emperor to secure their rights.

We know that he visited the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem at least once, but I would suspect that his writings, if they were known would have been less popular among the rabbis there.

His writings had a profound influence on many of the early Christians. Christianity flourished in Alexandria as well as Judaism. Quotations from Philo may be found among the writings of Clement of Alexandria and Origen. Justin Martyr and even Tertullian mention Philo and some would claim that he was a major contributor towards the development of philosophical and theological foundations of Christianity. It is also worth remembering the beginning of the fourth gospel which explores the concept of the Logos and its relationship with God.  

Thoughts

Philo made radical changes to the meaning of Old Testament stories. Is that sort of thing really acceptable?

To what extent do we apply 20^th century thinking and standards to the New Testament stories of Jesus?

Do we have speculative theologians today and if so how do we treat them?

A way in to the Book of Proverbs

Traditionally it has been suggested that Solomon wrote the Book of Proverbs. But did he?

Many people will be familiar with the phrase “The proverbs of Solomon.”

What seems very clear is that Solomon was a wise man. He is clearly depicted as such in the account of his reign in the Book of Kings.

29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33 He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish.  1 Kings 4:29-33

That’s quite impressive – but the question remains – did Solomon write the Book of Proverbs?

If one looks carefully at the book its natural divisions based on the style of the literature look rather like this

1:1 – 7                   Introduction to the book as a whole 1:8 – 9:18              “The Proverbs of Solomon son of David.” 10:1 – 22:16        “The proverbs of Solomon.” 22:17 – 24:22      “The sayings of the wise.” 24:23 – 24:34      “More sayings of the wise men.” 25:1 –  29:             “Solomon’s proverbs as in Hezekiah’s days.” 30:1-33                 “Sayings of Agur son of Jakeh from Massa.” 31:1-9                    “Sayings of Lemuel king of Massa.” 31:10-31               A poem about a capable wife.

As R N Whybray said in his commentary on Proverbs – “There is little to be gained from attempting to read the book straight the way through without a break.”

That is true there is no story and one section doesn’t lead naturally in to the next.

First I would recommend dipping in to chapters 10 – 22. It is full of short pithy sayings full of good ideas, common sense, acute observations and advice on how to get on in life – with friends, neighbours, your boss, even the king and sometimes God. The majority of sayings though are not religious. These chapters read like a compendium of wise words – they are a collection of Folk Wisdom. I am certain that sayings like these would have been in existence in the days of Solomon. Doubtless he would have known many of them and we cannot rule out the possibility that the heading of this section “The Proverbs of Solomon” is correct.

There is quite a short section in 24:23 – 24:34 It doesn’t really follow on the preceding verses for reason I will go on to in a minute. The heading declares “These also are sayings of the wise. They are a bit different and a bit longer than those found in chapters 10 – 22.

I always relish the was verses 33 and 34 roll off the tongue

                A little sleep, a little slumber

                A little folding of the hands to rest

                And poverty will come upon you like a robber

                And want like an armed man.

Chapters 25 – 29 also strike me as very old. Here the heading makes quite a specific suggestion about the age of the sayings. “…proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied.”

These I find a little more sophisticated that the sayings in chapters 10-22. More than 200 years elapsed between the reigns of Solomon and Hezekiah. As we know from our own age literary styles would develop over such a period of time.

This one always amuses me every time I read it

                He who meddles in a quarrel not his own

                Is like a man who takes a passing dog by the ears

Chapters 22:17 – 24:22 form a remarkable section. What makes them peculiar and interesting is that they form a block of 30 sayings. Old Testament scholars think that the author of this part of the book of Proverbs had read and was impressed by a group of 30 Egyptian sayings called the Sayings of Amenemopet. The two sets of sayings are remarkably similar, sometimes even in form and content. The Egyptian sayings were discovered on a papyrus roll by Sir Ernest Wallis Budge during his first visit to Egypt. The sayings were written in hieratic script and the roll was secured by the British Museum. Dating of the writing is difficult suggestions have ranged from 1000 BCE to around 600 BCE.

You can view this Click Here

But a succinct precis of it and about it may be found at by clicking here

In chapters 30 – 31 there are four appendices to the book the sayings of Agur son of Jakeh from Massa – some numerical sayings – sayings of Lemuel (or in fact sayings of Lemuel’s mum) and poem about a capable wife. These are quite fascinating sections. One could spend a long time speculating about who Agur might have been and indeed the location of Massa, if indeed it is a place. I enjoy the numerical sayings in 30:15 – 33. They remind me of riddles formed in a similar way. The book ends with contributions displaying the wisdom of two quite different women.

I think there are very interesting undertones about wise women in the book as a whole (Hence the title of my coming talk to NCCL called “Find the Lady”

There is very strong feminine theme in chapters 1-9 of the book of Proverbs. It is at this point that I part company with friends who suggest that the whole of the book of Proverbs was overseen by King Solomon. Chapters 1 – 9 were written, I believe, by a much later author. The structure, language and concepts are very sophisticated and highly developed. It is heavily worked material, possibly passing through possibly three stages of development. I think it is based around 10 sets of instructions. Each of these is developed and subsequently brought in to the sphere of Israelite religion. The climax is found in chapters 8 and 9 the Lady Wisdom is described as an aspect of God’s creative nature.

Wisdom says

“The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,     before his deeds of old; 23 I was formed long ages ago,     at the very beginning, when the world came to be…   30 Then I was there like a master workman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day,     rejoicing always in his presence…”

A Task

Consider for a moment what “wisdom – or to be wise “ can mean

How many synonyms could you list for the word?

Read Proverbs 1:1-7 – how many words/phrases in those verses depict an aspect or an attitude of wisdom.

It is more obvious in Hebrew than in English – and sometimes the English translator uses the same word more than once.

It is like playing the BBC panel game “Just a minute” – avoiding repetition, hesitation or deviation.