{"id":16937,"date":"2008-12-02T20:46:00","date_gmt":"2008-12-03T02:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=16937"},"modified":"2019-12-19T20:49:13","modified_gmt":"2019-12-20T02:49:13","slug":"who-was-flavius-josephus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-was-flavius-josephus\/","title":{"rendered":"Who was Flavius Josephus?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

I am wondering about something: Often I hear about a historian, named Flavius Josephus. His writings are referred to many times, but I am wondering just how reliable is his writings? Do you believe this resource to be as useful as others seem to? How can we be sure he wrote about things correctly? What is your opinion?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

Titus Flavius Josephus was born in A.D. 37 and died about A.D. 100. He was a Jew by birth from the tribe of Levi and of the priestly division, having the name Joseph when he was born, but later became a Roman citizen and took on a Roman name. He was a historian and wrote about Jewish history for the Romans. His works give us insight into Jewish beliefs during the first century, but what is notable is that Josephus was in Jerusalem when it was destroyed in A.D. 70. Having survived the destruction, he left us a first-hand account of what happened.<\/p>\n

Flavius Vespasian was the Emperor when Jerusalem was destroyed and Titus, Flavius’ son, was the commander in charge of its destruction. Thus you can see where “Titus Flavius Josephus” came from. Josephus was a commander during the Jewish wars and was captured. He was taken to Rome where he became a Roman citizen and was allowed to return to Judea and was given a pension in return for his recording the history of the Jews for Flavius.<\/p>\n

Josephus is about as accurate as any other historian.<\/p>\n

“Josephus includes information about individuals, groups, customs and geographical places. His writings provide a significant, extra-Biblical account of the post-Exilic period of the Maccabees, the Hasmonean dynasty, and the rise of Herod the Great. He makes references to the Sadducees, Jewish High Priests of the time, Pharisees and Essenes, the Herodian Temple, Quirinius’ census and the Zealots, and to such figures as Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, Agrippa I and Agrippa II, John the Baptist, James the brother of Jesus, and a disputed reference to Jesus. He is an important source for studies of immediate post-Temple Judaism (and, thus, the context of early Christianity).” [Wikipedia<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: I am wondering about something: Often I hear about a historian, named Flavius Josephus. His writings are referred to many times, but I am wondering just how reliable is his writings? Do you believe this resource to be as useful as others seem to? How can we be sure he wrote about things correctly?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[279],"class_list":["post-16937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-history"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":69084,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jewish-sects-zealots-and-herodians\/","url_meta":{"origin":16937,"position":0},"title":"Jewish Sects: Zealots and Herodians","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Fred A. Shewmaker via Truth Magazine, XVI: 14, pp. 6-8 February 10, 1972 Josephus referred to the Zealots as \"the fourth sect of Jewish philosophy,\" as we noticed in the first article of this series, \"Some Terms Considered.\" In that article, we classified the Zealots as a political party.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69093,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jewish-sects-essenes\/","url_meta":{"origin":16937,"position":1},"title":"Jewish Sects: Essenes","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Fred A. Shewmaker Origin, Name, and Organization via Truth Magazine, XVI: 12, pp. 6-7 January 27, 1972 There is no record in the Bible that the Essenes ever existed. Their importance as far as Christians are concerned can probably be easily gauged by this fact. Certain scholars have speculated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12928,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-canon-of-the-old-testament-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":16937,"position":2},"title":"The Canon of the Old Testament – Part 1","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Deuteronomy 31:9-13 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As the last few years of a presidency winds down, people begin to discuss the legacy of the current President. How will the future remember him? What will historians say about him? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So what makes a President great? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Is greatest determined by the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27770,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-evidence-is-there-that-paul-was-recognized-by-the-other-disciples-or-that-christ-existed\/","url_meta":{"origin":16937,"position":3},"title":"What evidence is there that Paul was recognized by the other disciples or that Christ existed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Nice essay, a bit misleading but well written. We know of the arguments that Arius and Alexander had we know the outcome. We know of the Creeds (both of them) the exclusion of words from the aforementioned Creeds and the revisions thereof. How then, sir, can you make the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27641,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-was-jesus-born\/","url_meta":{"origin":16937,"position":4},"title":"When was Jesus born?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have known Bible scholars to teach that Jesus was born in the Spring or maybe the month of April!? What say ye? Answer: The day of Jesus' birth gives rise to endless speculations. Instead of picking a day based on some obscure philosophical argument, let's list out the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25883,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-the-apocrypha-books-accepted-as-canon-before-the-council-of-trent\/","url_meta":{"origin":16937,"position":5},"title":"Were the Apocrypha books accepted as canon before the Council of Trent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Again I question your dates. You say that the Catholic Church added the \"Apocryphal\" books to the Bible in 1546 AD. I'm assuming you are talking about the Council of Trent, the Church's response to the Reformation. You are correct in saying that the Church affirmed that the \"Apocryphal\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}