Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Mark, Hebrew Matthew (which spawned the NT Matthew and Ebionite Matthew), Luke (which used everything in Greek that preceded it) and John.

Peter Kirby wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2024 4:55 pm I guess the point of the OP is that you find it inconsistent the way ben Zakkai and Josephus are honored in memory (by unnamed persons).

Yeah. There appears to be inconsistency in how they are remembered.

He wasn't a turncoat to his nation , is what I'm saying, anymore than ben Zakkai. And while he abandoned the Fourth Philosophy, he was affiliated with the Pharisees, and they had the predominant form of Judaism (continuing into Rabbinic Judaism). Josephus betrayed the Fourth Philosophy, but not Juda...

Not as bad as I've heard and thought. My estimation of him as only increased recently, as far as his efforts to preserve Judaism go.

I've heard the word used a lot in reference to Josephus (including on the forum), and I suppose the point of the thread is the same as Peskowitz's (linked to in the OP): If you haven't embodied notions of hybridity and the multicultural, if you tend to lean toward singular communities and away from ...

Josephus was also like Daniel, who served a pagan ruler and changed his name "while remaining true to the God of Israel": According to the Hebrew Bible, Daniel was a noble Jewish youth of Jerusalem taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, serving the king and his successors wi...

I don't see how Josephus is any different than Joseph. They both worked for and received favors from pagan rulers and were concerned with saving lives and having a family and lived to an old age and lived in (or were buried in) the Land of Israel. ... his jealous brothers sell him into slavery in Eg...

I prefer what Josephus did over what Jesus and (other) Fourth Philosophers did, which amounted to dying (on crosses, on Masada, etc., and some Fourth Philosophers killed other Jews who sought peaceful co-existence with Rome). I also received from Vespasian no small quantity of land, as a free gift, ...

I don't think Josephus was a turncoat to his nation (which is how I mean it) anymore than ben Zakkai. Each did what they had to do to save Judaism by disavowing Jewish messianism and proclaiming Vespasian king or governor of the habitable earth, and each benefited from it (Josephus got adopted, an a...

And while he was given an apartment in Rome, Josephus was also given land in Judea and lived there and had a family, like the OT tells Jews to do. That sounds like a better way of life than fighting against Rome or seeking to die like Jesus over the "Messiah" idea.