IT HAS largely escaped the notice of Christians at the present time that such a history exists as that of Flavius Josephus. And further, the few, who do know of its existence, are largely unaware how very providential it is, that such a history, written by a Jew, living in Palestine at the time when the incidents of our Lord's life were largely known, is available. Later on Josephus was an eye-witness of the horrors that marked the siege of Jerusalem under Vespasian, the Roman general, and the destruction of the Temple by Titus, and has written an account of these terrible happenings in great detail.
The reason why Josephus' History is so remarkable is that when men call in question the incidents of the Gospels, the Christian has an answer in that here is a secular history, that in many ways corroborates what the Gospels say. For it is a strange thing that unregenerate men will readily receive the testimony of secular writers as to facts of history, and yet call in question the statements of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul. Does this not show a bias in the wrong direction?
Of course the Christian needs no confirmation, of the story of the birth, wonderful life, atoning death and triumphant resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, as narrated in the Scriptures. He does not need Josephus, or any secular historian, to confirm him in his belief in the inspired Word of God, but such historians are weapons in the Christian's hands when meeting doubts cast on the Word of God, and become effective in closing the mouth of the doubter. It is these considerations that lead us to believe that God's overruling hand is seen in the writings of Josephus, uninspired as they are in the sense that the Scriptures are inspired.
Of course one would not expect a secular writer, and a Jew at that, to take much notice of the impact of Christianity on the Jewish nation and the pagan world. If he had been a Christian writer how differently he would have approached these subjects.
Josephus was a very voluminous writer, and went into masses of details in his history. The copy lying before us numbers 854 pages, and was published in 1843. The writings of Josephus were largely bought by Christians a couple of generations ago, simply because they dealt with Palestine, the land of the Bible. We fear his works are to-day out of print, and only second-hand copies here and there available.
The writings of Josephus that come within the compass of this pamphlet are two:-
1. THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. This covers the history of the Jews from the creation of the world, till the twelfth year of the reign of the Emperor Nero, comprising 523 pages.
2. THE WARS OF THE JEWS. This covers a period between the capture of Jerusalem in B.C. 170 by Antiochus Epiphanes, and its siege under the Roman General, Vespasian, and the destruction of the Temple under his son, Titus, A.D. 70, comprising 232 pages.
As to Josephus the reliability of his history is well attested. The historian, Scaliger, described as "perhaps the most learned person, and the most competent judge," wrote:- " Josephus is the most diligent and the greatest lover of truth of all writers; nor are we afraid to affirm of him, that it is more safe to believe him, not only as to the affairs of the Jews, but as to those that are foreign to them, than all the Greek and Latin writers; and this, because his fidelity and his compass of learning are everywhere conspicuous."—De Emendatione Temporum, p. 17.
This is great praise, especially coming from such a source. The Emperor Titus likewise bore testimony to the accuracy of his Wars of the Jews, and ordered a copy to be placed in the Public Library of Rome, signing it with his own hand, as an authentic memorial of the times.
Josephus wrote The Wars of the Jews at Rome in the Syro-Chaldaic language for the use of his fellow-countrymen. Afterward he translated it into Greek for the benefit of Western Jews, Greeks and. Romans. Years after, about A.D. 93, he wrote The Antiquities of the Jews.
The date of his death is not known. The last record of him was after the siege of Jerusalem, when living in retirement in Rome. He was then in his 56th or 57th year.
Let us now give a few particulars as to Josephus himself. He sprang from a distinguished sacerdotal family. Not only so, he belonged to the first of the twenty-four courses into which this family was divided. He further belonged to the chief family of the first course. Moreover on his mother's side he was of royal blood, for the family of Asamoneus, from which she was descended, united for generations the dual position of the high priesthood with that of kingship.
He was born in the first year of the reign of the Roman Emperor, Caius. When only fourteen years of age the high priests and principal men of Jerusalem would seek his opinion about the accurate understanding of knotty points of the law, so great was his understanding at that tender age.. When sixteen he made exhaustive inquiries as to the tenets of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. At the age of nineteen he decided to throw in his lot with the Pharisees. When in his twenty-sixth year he took a journey to Rome. For trivial reasons certain priests of his acquaintance were put in bonds, and sent to Rome to appear before Caesar. For these Josephus sought deliverance. Hence his journey to Rome. -
The ship in which he sailed with six hundred on. board foundered at sea. Eighty of them, Josephus among them, swimming all night, were rescued by a ship from Cyrene. Landing in Italy he was fortunate in becoming acquainted with Aliturius, a play actor, who stood high in Nero's favor, though a Jew. Through his good offices he was introduced to the Empress Poppea. Through her influence he gained the deliverance of the priests, in whose cause he had undertaken the journey to Rome. Receiving many presents from Poppea he returned to Palestine.
His early life displays a man of great force of character. His career shows him to have been possessed of great personal courage, a true patriot, a resourceful general, and a wise statesman. As a true friend of his nation he energetically warned his fellow countrymen against going to extremes in their opposition to the great Roman power, which he knew was too strong for them successfully to oppose. In this way he was in danger of being considered pro-Roman, and therefore anti-Jewish, and became suspect in consequence. He had to moderate his activities accordingly, and take a middle course.