Bibliography
| Title: Genesis and the Jewish Antiquities of Flavius Josephus Secondary Title: Biblica et Orientalia 35 Pages: VIII, 304 Type: Book Year: 1979 Abstract: "Der Verf. Hat den Text in 34 Abschnitte eingeteilt, die sich aufgrund der Untersuchung in drei Gruppen gliedern: "The first will contain those positions of the JA's Genesis narrative which stand out owing to the various means whereby in their retelling, Jos. noticeably expand the form in which we find them in the MT. Next will come the group which is memorable because of the compression. Shortening or omissions which they underwent at Jos.' hands. Finally we must again look at those segments ... In which Jos.' version neither noticeably expands nor contracts the original but strikes a balance in the retelling whereby the differences between Jos. and the MT are more subtle and subcutaneous". Zur ersten Gruppe gehören 10, zur zweiten 12 und zur dritten ebenfalls 12 Abschnitte".
"Franxman is the first to have analysed any sizeable portion of Josephus' Antiquities and compared it with its biblical sources, Philo, the Targums, the Pseudepigrapha, and the Midrashim. He has on the whole carefully noted changes in detail (especially stylistic ones), and his conclusions seem well substantiated. But he has missed many changes made by Josephus and has not answered the gnawing questions of why Josephus claims not to have modified the biblical account when he was manifestly done so, why he exhibits such variety in his treatment of the Bible, and why he so often deviates from known exegetical traditions. Most of the article gibes examples of Points that Franxman has missed for the first part of Genesis". - D.J.H.
"Prepared as a doctoral dissertation under the direction of G. Vermes and accepted by Oxford University in 1975, this study seeks to determine with respect to Jewish Antiquities 1:27-2:200 what in the book of Genesis Josephus has retold and how he reshaped what he retold. The investigation is presented according to his outline: proto-history (Gen 1:1-12:9), Abraham (Gen 12:10-25:10), Jacob (Gen 25:11-35:29), and Joseph (Gen 36:1-50:26). Franxman distinguishes between the episodes in which Josephus noticeably expanded the biblical account (e.g. Ant. 1:67-88, 109-121), shortened it (e.g. Ant. 1:27-33, 169-185), and struck an even balance (e.g. Ant. 1:34-40, 41-51). The study justifies to some extent Josephus' claims that he followed Genesis quite closely, and indicates that his alterations may represent exegetical traditions much better thought out than has heretofore been supposed".
"This study, based on an Oxford doctoral dissertation prepared under Vermes's supervision, analyses in depth Josephus's extensive rewriting of the Genesis-narrative in his Antiquities, Books I-II. Franxman's aims are to discover the methods employed by Josephus in expanding and clarifying the biblical story, and to estimate the degree of his originality by comparing him with other early Jewish exegetical sources - pseudepigraphic, midrashic and Talmudic. As one of the few datable texts, the Antiquities is of fundamental importance to the student of early Jewish Bible interpretation. Franxman's valuable monograph will enable us to use Josephus with greater confidence and precision. If any criticism may be voiced then it must be that Franxman does not always appear to be au courant with the secondary literature of his subject. For example, he makes no mention of Hoelscher's essay Drei Erdkarten (1949) which is of basic importance for the exegetical history of Gen. 10". - P. S. Alexander Keywords: Antiquities |