Jennifer Abrams
October 9, 2006
His1010x Ancient Jewish History
Loren Spielman
Josephus Ant 18:261-309
The story described by Josephus in this passage recounts yet another test of the Jewish people’s commitment to their laws. Petronius is sent by Gaius, who is a leader under Caesar, to Judea on a mission to erect a statue of Gaius in the Temple: if possible with the consent of the Jews, or if necessary, by force.
In response to this decree, the Jews petition Petronius “not to use force to make them transgress and violate their ancestral code” (157). They even go so far as to beseech Petronius to kill them before assembling the statue so they would not have to go against the law. Here we see the extreme commitment of the Jewish people to their laws, so much that they are willing to give their lives. They are utterly sure that G-d will be with them because they have chosen to defend his decrees. From their defiant response, Petronius discovers it will not be a peaceful process to put the statue of Gaius up in the Temple.
As Petronius travels to survey the response in the North, the Jews neglect their fields and continuously offer themselves to be killed rather than transgress. The lack of harvesting leads to a great deal of banditry. Petronius is influenced by the universally negative response and writes a letter to Gaius to procrastinate the war, in hopes of changing his mind. Petronius gives a speech to the Jews to let them know about the letter and to try to pacify them. After this speech, G-d provids rain, which is extremely welcome in the midst of the severe drought, to show Petronius that G-d agrees with him. In his letter, Petronius outlines the detrimental effects of destroying the tens of thousands of Jews on the economy and after the speech, Petronius says it is a bad idea to fight against a people whose G-d was with them.
At the same time, Gaius’s friend, King Agrippa, whom he greatly looks up to, is visiting him. After providing him with many gifts, Gaius offers to grant any request of King Agrippa. The request King Agrippa makes is to abandon the mission to put the statue in the Temple. Because he had promised to grant the request, Gaius sends a letter to Petronius saying that if he already had erected the statue, he should leave it, but if he has not, he does not need to erect the statue.
Gaius receives the letter from Petronius and is upset because he thinks the Jews are challenging his authority. Gaius then writes to Petronius saying since Petronius is defying the decree on which he was sent, he should do whatever he wants; however, before this letter even reaches Petronius, another letter arrives announcing Gaius’s death.
In the end, the leaders and the people prefer Petronius to Gaius “since Gaius had vented his wrath against them without mercy” (177).
From this text, we can see the devotion of the Jewish people to their law and their G-d. They were even willing to incur death to avoid breaking the laws. Additionally, we see the societal value of mercy because of the support given to Petronius in his decisions to procrastinate and ultimately eliminate the extermination of the Jews because of their unwillingness to have a statue of a leader erected in their Temple.
Works Cited
Josephus. Jewish Antiquities XVIII. 18:261-309.
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3 comments:
I just wanted to clarify that the Gaius mentioned above is the emperor Gaius Julius Caesar (a.k.a. Caligula).
Note: This is not a response to Professor Spielman or the article to which I am responding. Although I can log in with my own name, I cannot make new posts apparently. Below is my assignment on IV Ezra.
Jonah Rank
October 16, 2006
His1010x Ancient Jewish History
Instructor- Loren Spielman
IV Ezra
Among the extracanonical series of apocryphal writings is the highly esoteric work known alternately as Apocalype of Ezra or IV Ezra. IV Ezra is a book replete with challenging theological questions as its author, (presumably) pseudonymously as Ezra the Scribe records his eschatological and allegorical conversations with God and divine messengers. The historicity and origin of the work and the theology of the content of the work each are highly compelling studies giving scholars much insight into early Judeo-Christian philosophy, literature, and more.
The origins of the book are not so clear. Although “Ezra” does claim to be writing thirty years after the destruction of the Temple, this is clearly written by somebody living after the destruction of the second Temple. The pseudonymous nature of this book is thus prominent to the modern scholar from the very opening of the work, where the author claims to be the prophet Ezra with the genealogy of Ezra the Scribe from the Prophetic book Ezra. Although canonical sources are full of inconsistencies, modern scholars note the many inaccuracies in IV Ezra’s attempts to legitimize itself in claiming to be Ezra the Scribe. The author records, for instance, inaccurate geographic information regarding Ezra’s own life.
Old manuscripts of the book exist – with variation or incompletely – in Latin, Syriac, Ethiopic, Georgian, Armenian, two differing independent and separate Arabic versions, and Greek fragments, and one Coptic fragment. Although it has not yet been traced to a definite original copy, it seems that the original text was Greek (as certain variants reflect highly probably “mistranslations” of Greek words), Aramaic (as much of the language seems to be of such nature), or Hebrew – though Hebrew is the least likely. But the one source of the work is nevertheless untraceable as it may be a combination of multiple works. The book is thought by many modern apocryphal scholars to have been compiled by one person as a series of five to seven different source documents based on differing theologies or experiences.
While IV Ezra does share a few similarities with what would later become associated with ideas of Rabbinic Judaism, IV Ezra evidently includes many ideas that are later accepted by Christianity while rejected by Rabbinic Judaism: most notably the notion of God having one mortal son.
IV Ezra is composed of a total of seven visions – each with various dialogues in which Ezra inquires about or laments eschatological and general life-related philosophical matters: why evil exists in the world, why are people not immediately killed for their sins, why cruel people gain political dominance over tamer people, why people don’t understand the afterlife, why people strive to understand the afterlife, and even why people strive to understand things that they can’t understand.
In the first three visions, Ezra, speaking with the angel Uriel, recalls the destruction of the Temple. The fourth vision is Ezra’s allegorical understanding that the mourning for this Temple will account for the redemption of Zion. Ezra then sees in his fifth vision an eagle with twelve wings, eight little wings, and three heads (whom scholars identify as the three Flavian emperors who help date this work to circa 100 CE) – only to be destroyed by a lion, a messianic symbol to Ezra. In the next vision, Ezra foresees another victory over evil nations. In the last vision, Ezra receives 94 books: the 24 canonical books and 70 esoteric apocalyptic books (presumably not all that different from IV Ezra) and prepares for heaven.
SOURCES CITED:
“Ezra, Apocalypse of.” Encyclopaedia Judaica: CD-ROM Edition. CD-ROM. Jerusalem: Keter, 1997.
Spielman, Loren. http://www.ezarchive.com/lospielman/AlbumSpace/572LZUL2RG/4+Ezra.pdf. 2006. Ancient Jewish History. October 16, 2006 http://www.ezarchive.com/lospielman/AlbumSpace/572LZUL2RG/4+Ezra.pdf.
Note: This is also unrelated to Jen's article, but I, like Jonah can't post anything but comments. Maybe it's a mac thing. Here's my paper.
Emily Watkins
Ancient Jewish History
Written Assignment #2
October 23, 2006
Josephus – Jewish War II.284-308
In this section of Jewish War, Josephus describes the beginning of the Great Jewish Revolt that ended in the destruction of the Second Temple. Josephus tells a story of a relatively insignificant event and then shows how it grew into a much larger conflict. Although there are many other factors that contributed to the outbreak of the revolt, Josephus focuses on this one.
The story begins in 66 A.D. with a feud between the Jewish and Roman inhabitants of Caesarea. The Jews had offered to pay a significantly inflated price to buy a plot of land next to their synagogue, which was cramped into, “a narrow and extremely awkward passage” (Jewish War II.286). The owner of the land, however, in an attempt to insult the Jews, proceeded to build on the land. Outraged, some of the Jewish youths protested and attempted to stop the construction. In a more civilized effort, the Jewish notables offered to pay Gessius Florus, the Roman procurator of Judea, eight talents of silver to stop the building project. Florus agreed to the deal, but as soon as he received his pay, he fled Caesarea, essentially doing nothing to ensure that construction.
The following morning, which happened to be Shabbat, a “mischief-maker” (II.289) began sacrificing birds on the abandoned plot of land, using an upside down pot as an altar. This outraged the Jews. Though some were in favor of contacting the authorities, others were eager to fight. The Jews, however, were unaware that the Greek Caesareans stood readily armed and waiting, for they had sent the “mischief-maker” off to sacrifice the birds as a trick to lure the Jews into battle. When the authorities finally arrived the fighting had already broken out. Josephus points out that the riot could not be stopped because the authorities could not hold back the violent Caesareans. The fighting ended when the Jews picked up their Torah scroll and fled to Narbata, a nearby Jewish district. When the Jewish leaders complained to Florus and asked him to bring justice to the Caesareans, Florus responded by having them arrested for removing the Torah scroll away from Caesarea.
Troubles continued when news of this conflict reached Jerusalem. Though the Jerusalemites initially contained their anger, Florus proceeded to “fan the flames of war” (II.293) by extracting money from the temple treasury. Jerusalem’s citizens reacted by rushing to the temple and begging Caesar to “liberate them from the tyranny of Florus” (II.295). Florus then threatens the Jews with his army and demands that they bring forth the culprits who insulted him in asking for his removal. Terrified, the Jews beg for forgiveness, but do not single out the few offenders among them. This only further enrages Florus. He orders his bloodthirsty troops to raid the Jerusalem market, the Agora, and kill everyone they see. Josephus reports that 3,600 innocent people were murdered by the Romans’ cruelty. Those who were captured were later crucified.
We can learn a few things about Josephus from this short passage. Firstly, Josephus’s pro-Jewish bias is very evident. He portrays the non-Jewish Caesareans as the aggressors and initiators of the conflict. It would be historically difficult if not impossible to determine whether or not the “mischief maker” who sacrificed birds outside the synagogue was sent by the Caesareans to stir up trouble or if there ever was a “mischief-maker” in the first place. Although he favors the Jews above the Romans in this story, he also clearly values Roman culture and citizenship for he says, “Florus…nail[ed] to the cross men of equestrian rank, men who, if Jews y birth, were at least invested with that Roman dignity.” (II.308) These words clearly imply that though this particular Roman leader may be corrupt and wicked, the rest of Roman culture is virtuous. Though this story generally has a Jewish bias, Josephus’s portrayal of Gessius Florus may not be so exaggerated. Florus served only 2 years as procurator before he was removed by Marcus Antionius Julianus, which suggests that he was too brutal even for the Romans. This passage sheds light on both the beginning of the Great Revolt and Josephus’s personal partialities.
Works Sited:
-Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews (ed. William Whiston, A.M.): http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin//ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148&lay out=&loc=2.284
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gessius_Florus
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