The Flavii took everything from Josephus: family, wealth, freedom and name. Then they gave him a new name, freed him from slavery like any of their household members and gave him what they themselves wanted to give. Josephus is simply their puppet on strings, despised by both Jews and Romans.Josephus pulled no punches, diplomatically of course,* in criticizing Roman governors leading up to the revolt, and even called out Titus on his decision to burn (or allow to burn) down the temple, or offering his right hand to guarantee safety to refugees from a besieged town, then slaughtering them because rebels were probably sneaking out with them.Rome, by defeating the Jews in 70 CE, generated the myth of the Jewish martyrs and created a leadership void that it had to fill. The Herodians became a thing of the past, as did the Temple.
The imperial court must have had a few volunteers with new ideas, and those who suited Rome the best were chosen.
Both Josephus and the rabbis of Yavneh review the holy books, write a lot, and try to fit Judaism into the realities of the empire. Each in their own way.
These are two offers of pro-Roman Judaism. Both sides have the task of drawing the Jewish community away from nationalist Jewish messianism.
The Christians are another offer generated directly from Josephus and continue his pro-Roman approach, which can be seen in the invented narratives about Jesus and Paul.
Sometimes you have to sow something new and you don't know what you'll reap.
Josephus says "God has punished his people for unfaithfulness to his established order by revolting, and now must suffer subjugation like they did in Babylon."
Christians were saying "God has punished Judeans for rejecting Jesus as national leader, who would have led in an era of peace, and pushed revolt. We gentiles who formerly associated with the Judean God, were shown to represent the "real" children of God."
*Hasn't anyone read Scott's Domination and the Arts of Resistance?
DCH
Statistics: Posted by JarekS — Thu Dec 26, 2024 12:52 pm