Bibliography
| Title: Josephus, Jeremiah, and Polybius Secondary Title: History and Theory Volume: 21 Pages: 366-381 Type: Journal Article Year: 1982 Abstract: "Josephus was to some extent a Jeremiah and to some extent a Polybius, with the Jeremiac element preponderant".
p. 380 -- 'From this partial analysis of the major themes of the Jewish War, I conclude that Josephus was to some extent a Jeremiah and to some extent a Polybius, with the Jeremianic element preponderating.'
-- posits 3 stages to the war: 1. crazed hoodlums recklessly revolted against invincible Rome. 2. Josephus and his fellow aristocrats entered the scene and cleaned up their act. 3. In the cave at Iotapata Josephus learned the truth of the situation: Jews were to be defeated and Vespasian was to rise. From then on, Josephus becomes Jeremiah. 'The revolutionaries were sinners who polluted God's temple by their presence. . . .'
p. 381 -- 'Ever since Second Isaiah had hailed Cyrus the Great as the inaugurator of the redemption promised by Jeremiah, many Jews followed a Jeremianic political tradition. God will redeem the Jews in his own way at his own time. Meanwhile let the Jews support their foreign overlords and maintain the peace. This was the policy followed under Persian, Ptolemaic, and Seleucid rule. After the Maccabean interlude the Jews acquiesced once again in foreign rule. Josephus and those other Jews opposed to the revolutionaries of 66-70 C.E. sought to adhere to this traditional policy.'
-- Pausanias reports inscription honouring Polybius: Greece wouldn't have fallen if she had obeyed Polybius in everything. 'The same can be said about Josephus: Judaea would not have fallen had she obeyed Josephus in everything'. Keywords: Hellenism, Hellenistic Judaism, Philo |