John Henry Arthur Hart

“ The Jewish War (Περὶ τοῦ Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου) , the oldest of Josephus’ extant writings, was written towards the end of Vespasian’s reign (69–79) . The Aramaic original has not been preserved; but the Greek version was prepared by Josephus himself in conjunction with competent Greek scholars. Its purpose in all probability was, in the first instance, to exhibit to the Babylonian Jews the overwhelming power of Rome and so to deter them from repeating the futile revolt of the Jews of Palestine. ”

“ The work contains accounts of John the Baptist and Jesus, which may account for the fact that Josephus’ writings were rescued from oblivion by the Christians. But the description of Jesus as “a wise man, if indeed one should call him a man,” can hardly be genuine, and the assertion “this was the Christ” is equally doubtful, unless it be assumed that the Greek word Christos had become technical in the sense of false-Christ or false-prophet among non-Christian Jews. ”

“ Being a Pharisee, he sometimes introduces traditions of the Elders, which are either inferences from, or embroideries of, the biblical narrative. Sometimes, also, he gives proof of some knowledge of Hebrew and supplements his scriptural authorities, which include 1 Esdras, from general Greek histories. For the later period he uses the Greek Esther, with its additions, 1 Maccabees, Polybius, Strabo and Nicolaus of Damascus. ”