Bibliography
| Title: Josephus' Portrait of Jeroboam Secondary Title: AUSS Volume: 31 Pages: 29-51 Type: Journal Article Year: 1993 Abstract: "The "attention in this essay is directed toward Josephus' depiction and characterization of Jeroboam, but first a survey of rabbinic tought concerning (...) three monarchs (Jeroboam I, Ahab, and Manasseh), plus an overview of Josephus' portrayal of them, will be apropos. Such an introduction will establish the frame of reference that is useful in describing and assessing the further details of Josephus' treatment of Jeroboam" (29). Here the following aspects are considered: the negative qualities of Jeroboam, Jeroboam and democracy, Jeroboam as ancestor of the regvolutionaries of Josephus' day, intermarriage and assimilation as well as the dramatic build-up".
"Different from the Rabbis, who show an ambivalence regarding the figure of Jeroboam, Josephus is unequivocally critical of him, particularly because he was the first to transgress the laws with regard to the sacrifices and because he had begun the process of leading the people astray, especially in refusing to allow his people to make the pilgrimage to the temple of Jerusalem. Jeroboam emerges as an earlier version of the revolutionaries of Josephus' own day. Jeroboam's major sin is that he set up his own alternative to the temple, named his own priests and even made himself high priest. It is striking that the language which Josephus uses in describing Jeroboam's sedition is similar to that which he employs to describe the archrevolutionary of his own day, his great rival, John of Gischala". Keywords: Antiquities |