Was Josephus Accurate? | Flavius Josephus Between the Lines | Prof. Steve Mason, Ph.D Historian

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Flavius Josephus (c. 37 – c. 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for The Jewish War, who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry.

He initially fought against the Romans during the First Jewish–Roman War as head of Jewish forces in Galilee, until surrendering in 67 CE to Roman forces led by Vespasian after the six-week siege of Yodfat. Josephus claimed the Jewish Messianic prophecies that initiated the First Jewish–Roman War made reference to Vespasian becoming Emperor of Rome. In response, Vespasian decided to keep Josephus as a slave and presumably interpreter. After Vespasian became Emperor in 69 CE, he granted Josephus his freedom, at which time Josephus assumed the emperor's family name of Flavius.

Flavius Josephus fully defected to the Roman side and was granted Roman citizenship. He became an advisor and friend of Vespasian's son Titus, serving as his translator when Titus led the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Since the siege proved ineffective at stopping the Jewish revolt, the city's pillaging and the looting and destruction of Herod's Temple (Second Temple) soon followed.

Josephus recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the first century CE and the First Jewish–Roman War (66–70 CE),[5] including the siege of Masada. His most important works were The Jewish War (c. 75) and Antiquities of the Jews (c. 94). The Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation. Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the world from a Jewish perspective for an ostensibly Greek and Roman audience. These works provide valuable insight into first century Judaism and the background of Early Christianity. Josephus's works are the chief source next to the Bible for the history and antiquity of ancient Palestine, and provide a significant and independent extra-Biblical account of such figures as Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, John the Baptist, James the Just, and possibly Jesus of Nazareth.

#SteveMason #FlaviusJosephus #Antiquities #Gnostic #GnosticInformant

[GnosticInformant]

Please Consider joining my Patreon to help fund my research and finding scholars to bring on. Any amount helps me. Thank you existing Patrons.

[scottduke]

This is a great interview, Neal. And you DO show a broad knowledge of ancient writings. Thanks for bringing us more of Dr. Steve Mason!

[joecaner]

I found Dr. Mason engaging and credible. I liked that he citing multiple version of the Josephus' reference to the "Christos" from various sources and traditions. It helps to get a glimpse at the difficulties involved piecing together a story from the fragmentary clues available and an appreciation of the uncertainties.

[yourchannel]

Dr Mason's humility and respect are admirable

[KevinHoganChannel]

1:00 (one hour) mark...Worth pondering the notion that Josephus writing preceded Paul writing. Neal this video is awesome. Because you are so familiar with the content you are an excellent interviewer of Steve Mason, who is clearly surprised that you (or anyone) knows as much as you do about Josephus in an interview setting. Speaks incredibly well of your work. This is a must watch.

[johnestes]

Interesting discussion of the allegations that Josephus was a Flavian fanboy and thought Vespasian was the messiah.

[djalals.moharrer]

What a highly rich talk about ancient history!wonderful and amazing!🤛👌👏

[pabloalvestegui]

OMG, I miss Dr. Mason's Historians' Workshop on MythVision Podcast. How awesome that he's on your channel now. I clicked as soon as I saw the thumbnail on my feed. Good work, Neal.

[warrensmith]

Many have noted the clear "parallels" between Josephus' account of saving a crucified man (Life, paragraph 75) and the Gospel accounts of Joseph of Arimathea, but there are actually two more "parallels" embedded in Josephus' account. First of all, Josephus' mention of the town of "Thecoa" creates a clear allusion to the Old Testament Woman from Tekoa (2 Samuel 14) who was portrayed as pretending to plead to King David for the life of her son, but was actually pleading for the life of David's son Absalom. A second "parallel" comes from Josephus' mention of someone named "Cerealins" and this name is obviously derived from "Cerealia" which was the name of a festival connected to the Goddess Ceres which took place every April and this offers a clear "parallel" to Easter and would serve as an allusion to a "resurrection". Think of all the "coincidences" this would require for all these connections to be accidental. If we can dismiss the role of coincidence, then it appears that Josephus was clandestinely admitting to creating a "tomb" that appeared "empty" of any involvement of Christians in the "Jewish" Revolt and the Gospel authors recognized this message and reinterpreted it to fit into their version of events. (Even if modern scholars refuse to accept these connections as deliberate, this level of skepticism should not be projected onto the Gnostics or others that devoted their lives to finding hidden knowledge.) This would mean that Josephus was entirely dishonest historian (at least when viewed only in a literal way) in regards to Christianity.

If that is not enough, then consider Josephus' description of the Baaras root which he claimed had the ability to drive out "demons" (Wars Book 7, Chapter 6, paragraph 3). According to Josephus, this root could kill with lightning anyone attempting to harvest it, however, it could be safely harvested by tying a "dog" to it so that the dog dies instead. (This account alone should raise serious doubts about the literal meanings of anything Josephus says.) The "driving out demons" can be viewed again as an allusion to Christ while the "dog" serves the role of a "scapegoat". [Plato's Cratylus offers an indication as to the true meaning of "demons" when Socrates remarks “And therefore I have the most entire conviction that he (Hesiod) called them demons, because they were daemones (knowing or wise), and in our older Attic dialect the word itself occurs.] Then in the very next paragraph (paragraph 4), Josephus describes how a man named "Eleazar" escapes crucifixion in a manner that clearly parallels Jesus Barabbas, while "strangers that were in the lower part of the city" were betrayed to the Romans which again suggests a scapegoat.

By accepting the notion that Josephus employed a form of Kabbalah to hide Christian involvement in the Jewish Revolt, all sorts of new connections can be made and ultimately, it would be possible to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the Gospels are entirely allegorical and that a real world Christ never existed. (Josephus actually allegorically admits to the use of "Kabbalah" and he may actually be the one responsible for the invention of the term.) But alas, secular scholars have been conditioned to dismiss allegory as something unworthy of serious consideration.

[robertherring]

Really cool! Thanks. Dr Mason is really cool. And looks and sounds (minus accent) a lot like my uncle with last name Mason. Wonder if they are distantly related?

[phillipcmiller]

Comparing Josephus’ data to the data of other ancient historians to check on his accuracy is to assume another historian must be correct. Why assume Josephus was the one who was wrong? Why not the other guy?

[SOLDOUTTOLOVE]

Ron Wyatt had a discovery of what appeared to be “Noah’s Ark” which was in the mount Ararat region. It’s an interesting discovery and the locals have sanctioned the area off (from my understanding)

[EasternRomeOrthodoxy]

Don't talk about Josephus if you know nothing about it. He DID saw it and his history is accurate

[marcosunt]

Why Josephus gets roman emperor family surname (Flavius) ?

[djfrank]

If someone like Eusebius was going to insert the TF, I’m sure they would be smart enough know where it would be the least conspicuous. Hence after a section that already discusses Pilot.

[bobbyokeefe]

"You're making it hostage to all these conditions"don't want to be a smart ass, but isn't that what Historicists like him kinda do, after all it's mostly assumptions and speculation, outside of that late small passage in Josephus(interpolation or not)there is no way to reconstruct a secular Jesus as there is nothing before that, it always resorts to, "there had to be a guy"or"why would they be worshiping a guy who never was"type of mentality, which are conditions and not facts.

[halporter]

Vespasian in Alexandria controls the Egyptian grain trade to Rome. No small thing.

[GoogleUserOne]

I can’t anymore. Why do you invite guests and just talk all over them?

[emilmandru.cumamdescoperit]

I don't know why Steve doesn't mention Ralph's theories? Is he afraid that Ralph knows more ?!

[andrewisjesus]

54:00
Basically the reason we know that Josephus was only partially interpolated was because of scholarly consensus which mostly comes from people who are either liberal Christian apologist or fundamentalist. Richard carrier has so much more credibility within me now after hearing these types of bulshit explanations. What he literally says is that we're basing it on the probability of what he might have said. There is no reason whatsoever to believe that that paragraph was in there before.
It comes out of nowhere and then is never mentioned again
When this happens in the Old Testament, this is what we refer to as the redactor. Why you with these supposed Scholars not also recognize this in other text. It makes you happy question much of their other conclusions