Josephus – The Jew
Given that we know Josephus remained a devout Jew for the entire span of his life, we should take a quick look at the Jewish belief regarding the coming messiah. Judaism, whether pharisaic or orthodox, rejects the notion that the Christian’s Jesus was the Messiah/Christ. A prominent Jewish website enunciates the Jewish belief regarding the future arrival of the messiah, saying:
“Belief in the eventual coming of the ‘moshiach’ (messiah)… is part of the minimum requirements of Jewish belief. In the ‘Shemoneh Esrei’ prayer, recited three times daily, we pray for all of the elements of the coming of the moshiach: gathering of the exiles; restoration of the religious courts of justice; an end of wickedness, sin, and heresy; reward to the righteous; rebuilding of Jerusalem; restoration of the line of King David; and restoration of Temple service.”(1)
Furthermore, Judaism has certain scriptural requirements for the coming messiah which have yet to be fulfilled. What is the Messiah supposed to accomplish? The Hebrew Bible says that he will:
Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).
Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).
Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says; “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore.”(Isaiah 2:4)
Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one: “God will be King over all the world on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One”(Zechariah 14:9).
If an individual fails to fulfill even one of these conditions, he cannot be regarded as the Messiah. Because no one has ever fulfilled the Bible’s description of this fictitious future King, Jews still await, in vain, the coming of the Messiah – even though Josephus referred to the Roman Emperor Vespasian as the messiah. (2)
Now that we have established that Josephus’ beliefs prevented him from viewing the Christian Jesus as the messiah, let’s have a look at the two alleged references to Jesus in the ‘Antiquity of the Jews’, beginning with the most famous one found within what is known as the ‘Testamonium Flavianum’.
The Rev. Dr. Giles, of the Established Church of England, says:
“Those who are best acquainted with the character of Josephus, and the style of his writings, have no hesitation in condemning this passage as a forgery..(Christian Records, p. 30).” (9)
The Rev. S. Baring-Gould, in his Lost and Hostile Gospels, says:
“This passage is first quoted by Eusebius (fl . A.D. 315) in two places (Hist. Eccl., lib. i, c. xi; Demonst. Evang., lib. iii); but it was unknown to Justin Martyr (fl . A.D. 140), Clement of Alexandria (fl . A.D. 192), Tertullian (fl . A.D. 193), and Origen (fl . A.D. 230). Such a testimony would certainly have been produced by Justin in his apology or in his controversy with Trypho the Jew, had it existed in the copies of Josephus at his time. The silence of Origen is still more significant. Celsus, in his book against Christianity, introduces a Jew. Origen attacks the argument of Celsus and his Jew. He could not have failed to quote the words of Josephus, whose writings he knew, had the passage existed in the genuine text. He, indeed, distinctly affirms that Josephus did not believe in Christ (Contr. Cels. i).” (10)
“If we have to have a choice between being dead and pitied, and being alive with a bad image, we’d rather be alive and have the bad image.”
— Golda Meir
Zionism is the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.
“If Hamas put down their weapons, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons, there would be no Israel."
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