Farewell Flavius...

Josephus, or more accurately Joseph ben Matthias, was born the year Gaius (better known as Caligula) acceded to the throne of the Roman Empire, A.D. 37, and died sometime after A.D. 100. He was the son of a priestly family and through his Hasmonean mother could boast of royal blood. We can divide his life into two parts, each about thirty-three years in length: the first half could be described as the life of Joseph ben Matthias and Jewish priest, general, and rpisoner; the second half, with some reservations, as the life of Flavius Josephus the Roman citizen and author. In all fairness we must add that even the Roman Josephus was a Jew and was doubless writing to honor his ellow countrymen and to defen Judaism. He never regained the confidence of his own people, however, and even down to modern times has been looked upon as a renegade. This is a portion of the first paragraph of the Foreward in the book 'Josephus Complete Works'. I've heard people state 'according to Josephus' in many classes. I've been curious about him and the history he wrote. My parents own this book and I borrowed it to read before our trip to Israel. Silly me. The book is 770 pages of teeny, tiny print in 2 columns. I read some before going to Israel in September 2005. I took the book with me to read on the plane. Again, silly me, it is not a light book to tote around. Then when I came home I left my marker in place and for a few years just looked at it and thought 'someday I'll finish that'. Claude bought us a treadmill a couple of years ago and I needed something to read while I walked. I brought Josephus downstairs and kept it by the treadmill. I found I could read about 2 pages front and back (sometimes a little more) in my 30 minute walk on the treadmill. I knew I would eventually finish reading Josephus. Well, ladies and gentlemen, this afternoon was the day. I finished my reading of this very interesting book. It was well worth the time invested in reading it. I can't remember all of it or even a lot of it. But I totally enjoyed the history and was fascinated with the writing style. Josephus was there with Titus as the Roman army defeated and destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. It is believed by some that for his Antiquities of the Jews he may have actually used the records in a library collected by Nehemiah. If this is true, these would have been the most accurate records of the history of the Jewish people. When Claude and I toured Israel, we went to the top of Mt. Tabor where it is believed the Transfiguration of Christ took place. We went out on one of the terraces and you could see a wall below. Our Israeli tour guide told us this wall was built by Josephus when he was a general in the Jewish army defending his assigned area from the Romans. I enjoyed this book. I'm happy I waded through it. I wouldn't even mind reading it again sometime. Maybe when I'm in my 70's!!!