Josephus’ Jewish War was published c. 80 AD following Titus Flavius becoming Roman emperor, describing his Judean campaigns that crushed the Jewish uprising and destroyed their city, Jerusalem, together with its holy temple. This is known as the First Jewish Revolt (66-73 AD). The religious works of the canonical Gospels were written about the same time as Josephus’ Jewish War, but describe a prophet named Jesus and events that supposedly took place 40 years earlier (ending in 33 AD). Josephus went on to write more official Roman history books under Titus’ brother Domitian (reigned 81-96 AD), including Antiquities of the Jews and Life of Flavius Josephus.
Josephus’ Jewish War and the Gospels are so interwoven that the Flavian court historians must have authored both sets of literature? Therefore, Christianity was invented c.80 AD with the publication of Wars of the Jews (and the Gospels) - Jesus Christ representing an archetype role for prefiguring Titus and prophesying events fulfilled in his campaigns, so is merely a fictional character with stolen characteristics and attributes from past deities and prophets. This system is known as Typology, and here reveals the purpose and meaning behind the parallel system employed by its designers - linking both books - through a subtext, puzzle conundrums and interpretable satire among other symbolism and textual devices invisible from the surface narration. Analysis begins with 50 parallels occurring between Josephus and the Gospels – in sequence – containing patterns and matching elements that share some unique: verbatim/near-verbatim, concept, names, and/or location.
The gospels map to Josephus’ Jewish War when Jesus first begins his ministry and when Titus has his first major battle against the Jews at Jotapata; below is the chronology that leads up to this event followed by the first of many parallels I hope to cover in detail here – and in chronological order – as the discussion progresses.
Chronology
66 AD: Under emperor Nero and a series of Roman procurators – Felix, Festus, Albinus, and Florus - the Jews, in the eastern province of Judea, revolted against Roman domination by ravaging the country, setting villages on fire, killing Jonathan the high priest, and rioting at Caesarea over whether Jerusalem belonged to the Jews or Greco-Romans (JW 2.247-283). Under Florus, the Jews were suffering tyranny, and no fewer than 3 million denounced him as the bane of the country (JW 2.280). About 3,600 Jews were killed by Florus in a single day (JW 2.293-308). In Jerusalem more deaths were to follow when Florus attempted to access the temple and Antonia tower, but failed (JW 2.315-332).
May/June: Official beginning of the rebellion and war between the Jews and Romans (JW 2.284) “Some of the main promoters of the war attacked a fortress called Masada and took it by stealth, killing the Romans who were there. Eleazar, son of Ananias the high priest, persuaded those who officiated in the divine service to accept no gift or sacrifice from any foreigner. This was the true beginning of our war with the Romans, for they put an end to the sacrifice for them and for Caesar. It was then discussed by the high priests, leading Pharisees and other influential people about the repercussions for only allowing Jews alone to sacrifice or to worship in the temple - contrary to their ancestors' policy. However, the innovators of war would not heed this advice, so the influential tried to save themselves by sending envoys to Florus, king Agrippa and others. Agrippa grieved and sent 3,000 cavalry to the help of the citizens. Encouraged by this, the influential people, including the high priests seized the upper city, for the rebel party held the lower city and temple. For 7 days there was slaughter on both sides, but neither side would yield up the areas they had seized.� (JW 2.408-424)
During the Festival of Wood-carrying, the king’s men were forced from the upper city. The others then set fire to the houses, palaces and the records archive. The influential people and high priests escaped, some hiding in underground vaults. Others fled with the king's troops to the upper palace, shutting the gates behind them (JW 2.425-429). Antonia was attacked and set on fire (03-Sep) then they marched on the palace, where the king’s men had fled and divided into four groups to attack its walls (JW 2.430). Meanwhile a certain Manahem, son of Judas surnamed the Galilean, retreated to Masada with his company. There he gave out arms not only to his own people, but to other bandits. With these as his bodyguard he returned to Jerusalem in royal state to become leader of the revolt, and ordered the siege to continue (JW 2.433-437). Those inside eventually offered to surrender. This was granted only to the king's troops and their fellow nationals, who accordingly left. The Romans who were left retreated to the royal towers. Manahem and his party attacked the palace as the soldiers fled, killing as many as they could catch before they reached the towers, then they plundered what they had left behind and burned their camp (JW 2.437-440). Next day the high priest was caught where he was hiding in an aqueduct, and he and Hezekiah his brother were killed by the brigands. Then the rebels besieged the towers. Eleazar's group attacked Manahem's group, who at first resisted but then fled. Most were hunted and killed, but a few escaped to Masada, including Eleazar, son of Jairus, a relative of Manahem, who later played the tyrant in Masada. Manahem went into hiding, but was taken alive, tortured in public and finally killed, as well as captains under him (JW 2.441-448). The soldiers under the Roman general, Metilius, offered to surrender their weapons to Eleazar just to spare their lives. Three men were sent to give them the guarantee of their pledge, but then treachery ensued and the soldiers were cruelly butchered except for Metillus for he promised to turn Jew and be circumcised. The city was full of sadness and every sensible person in it was troubled. The very same day the people of Caesarea killed the Jews living among them, so that within an hour more than 20,000 Jews were killed, and all of Caesarea was emptied of its Jewish population, and Florus caught any who fled (JW 2.449-457).
The whole province was in turmoil, and full of atrocities. Villages and towns were ravaged as Jews fought non-Jews, with a similar number of deaths on each side (JW 2.458-465). The people of Scythopolis caused the Jews to fight each other (Life 24-27), where 13,000 Jews were killed in that city alone. Nearly every town and city was affected with several thousand deaths, except for Antioch, Sidon, Apamea and Gerasa. In Alexandria (Egypt) 50,000 Jews lay dead in heaps after the area had to be restrained by Tiberius Alexander and 2 Roman legions assisted by Libyan soldiers. Then Alexander ordered the Romans to retreat, but with some difficulty (JW 2.466-498).
In response to the unrest in Judaea, Cestius Gallus, the legate of Syria, assembled the Syrian legion XII Fulminata, reinforced with units of III Gallica, IIII Scythica and VI Ferrata, plus auxiliaries and allies, a total of 30,000 soldiers, in order to restore order in the neighbouring province (Wikipedia; JW 2.499-512). He first dealt with Galilee (JW 2.499-512), and seeing no further signs of revolt (20-28 Sep) ascended on Bethoron – fifty furlongs from Jerusalem. When they saw the war approaching, the Jews abandoned there festival (Feast of Tents) and took to arms. They attacked the Romans with such force that they broke through their ranks, slaughtering through the middle of them. Cestius and his whole army was nearly in danger. Five hundred and fifteen Romans were killed, while the Jews lost only twenty-two (JW 2.513-520). When the front of their army was cut off, the Jews retreated to the city, but as they were ascending up Bethoron Simon, son of Giora, still attacked the Romans from the rear and spread panic in the rearguard of their army and took many of the pack animals. But now Cestius took his whole force and put the Jews to flight and pursued them as far as Jerusalem, arriving there 16-Nov (JW 2.521-532). He attacked the city in vain then gave up and retreated. The brigands noticed his surprising retreat and pursued the rear of his army and killed many of their cavalry and infantry. Cestius stayed all night at the camp of Scopus. He tried to move away farther the next day, but the enemy in pursuit continued harrying and killing his rearguard. The Romans barely made it to their former camp at Gabao with heavy losses and several important leaders killed. Cestius stayed there for two days, was at a loss to know what to do, and on the third day saw still a greater number of the enemy and the whole area full of Jews. To escape faster, he ordered them to jettison anything that could slow the army's march; and then marched as far as Bethoron. Cestius planned how best to escape. He chose four hundred of his bravest soldiers and placed them on the rooftops to make the Jews believe that the entire army was still there, while he took the rest of his forces and marched thirty furlongs in silence (JW 2.533-551). In the morning (25 Nov), when the Jews saw that the camp was empty, they immediately overcame the four hundred who had tricked them and killed them, and went in pursuit of Cestius. However, he had already spent most of the night on the move and marched still quicker during the day. They went on pursuing the Romans as far as Antipatris, and unable to overtake them, turned back and took the machines and despoiled the corpses and gathered up the loot left behind and returned to their capital, running and singing. While they had lost only a few, they had killed five thousand, three hundred infantry and three hundred and eighty cavalry, on the Roman side. (JW 2.552-555)
The Jews appointed their own government and minted their own coins. Josephus was given Galilee and Gamala (JW 2.562-584) and built defences at many settlements. John of Gischala, son of Levi - cunning and devious - gathered a band of 400 and ransacked all of Galilee creating fear of war. Becoming wealthy from thievery and oil export, he tried to get rid of Josephus and ruin his career, spreading rumours, and even attempted to have him assassinated. Four cities rebelled from him immediately, but he recovered them without war. Simon son of Gioras gathered many men in favour of revolt and went on to ravage the territory and showed the beginnings of his tyranny. (JW 2.590-594).
67 AD: Vespasian was selected by Nero as the only one capable of dealing with the Jewish revolt. Vespasian sent his son Titus from Achaia, where he had been in Nero's company, to Alexandria, to bring back from there the fifth and tenth legions, while he himself, after crossing the Hellespont, marched overland into Syria, where he gathered the Roman forces (JW 3.1-8; JW 3.64-69). The Jews, after their unexpected victory against the Romans, marched on Ascalon - always hostile to the Jews - as their first assault. The fight went on until the evening, when 10,000 men of the Jews' side lay dead, including 2/3 generals - due mainly to the superior cavalry of the Romans. A few Romans were also wounded in this battle. After resting for too short a while for their wounds to fully heal, they gathered their forces and attacked to Ascalon more furiously and in much greater numbers - into a second destruction - up to 8,000 killed (JW 3.9-28). Vespasian mustered his forces in the capital of Syria, Antioch, in April. Along with king Agrippa, who was waiting for his arrival with all his forces, he marched on to Ptolemais - met by the people of Sepphoris - the only ones in favour of peace who swore allegience to Cestius Gallus - now they also welcomed the general himself. (JW 3.29-63) Vespasian stayed some time in Ptolemais with his son Titus, putting his army in order, while Placidus was hunting through Galilee and killing many whom he caught. He assaulted Jotapata, but the Romans were put to flight, though only seven were killed. Vespasian was impatient to attack Galilee, so he set off from Ptolemais with his army, encamping at the border. Josephus fled to Tiberias then Jotapata. Vespasian reached the city of Gadara and took it at the first assault, as it lacked any significant number of warriors. Vespasian arrived at Jotapata (22-May) after sending Placidus with a thousand to surround the city and prevent Josephus from secretly escaping (JW 3.110-148).
On the first day of battle outside the ramparts 13 Romans had been killed compared to 17 Jews, but with many more wounded. The battle carried on in this fashion for 5 days, the Romans undaunted by the difficulties of taking the city. Vespasian decided to lay siege. Josephus responded by raising the city walls higher each day and fitting them with several towers and strong battlements, baffling the Romans. Vespasian decided to let them starve out - short of water. Josephus consulted with the influential people about a means of escape. His departure would be the city's ruin, since no one would dare oppose the enemy once the man they trusted had left. He decided to stay, gave a speech to his people, before racing to the Roman camp itself and pulling it to pieces. Vespasian saw the Romans troubled by these raids and proceeded to deploy a battering ram. Josephus managed to delay it's effectiveness and burn the Roman's equipment and progress. Several brave individuals went up against the Romans. Vespasian was struck with an arrow in his foot and wounded a little, causing alarm among the Romans. Out of concern for his father Titus came first of all and the others were distressed due to their esteem for their general and the anxiety of his son. But the father soon calmed the son's fear and the army's distress and roused them to fight the Jews more ardently. The majority of those who fought so hard for Jotapata fell with honour, and most of them were wounded, as the wall, after being ceaselessly battered, finally yielded (JW 3.149-269). The Romans ascended the walls (21-Jun), but were thrown down and burnt with hot oil from Josephus' clever invention. Vespasian called off those soldiers who had been badly mauled, of whom not a few had died and even more were wounded, while no more than six of the Jotapatans were killed, but more than three hundred were carried off wounded (JW 3.270-282). Vespasian comforted his army after what happened and he ordered them to raise the ramparts still higher and to build three towers, each fifty feet high, covered on all sides with plates of iron, held firm by their weight and not easy to set on fire. The battle raged on (JW 3.283-288).
25-Jun: Fall of Japha: About this time Vespasian sent Trajan, commander of the tenth legion, off with a thousand cavalry and two thousand infantry, against a city called Jaffa, near Jotapata. 12,000 of them were killed in-between their double walls. Reserving its capture for the general, he sent messengers to Vespasian, asking him to send his son Titus to complete the victory. Trajan and Titus worked jointly to take the city by siege. 15,000 fell with 2,130 captives.
27-Jun: Fall of Gerizim: Vespasian sent Cerealius, commander of the fifth legion, to deal with the Samaritans at the holy mountain of Gerizim. Not persuaded by his pledge, he attacked them and killed all 11,600 of them.
01-Jul: Fall of Jotapata: weakened and with few men left in the city, the Romans marched silently to the wall surrounding Jotapata - the Roman earthworks were now higher - Titus himself was first up on it, with one of his tribunes, Domitius Sabinus and a few of the fifteenth legion. They cut the throats of the sentries and entered the city very quietly. After these came Cerealius the tribune and Placidus, leading their men. The Romans spared nobody and showed no mercy, but drove the people down the precipice from the citadel, killing them as they went. Many elite and lesser men committed suicide in the outskirts of the city. 40,000 Jews were killed - few on the Roman side - and Vespasian ordered the city to be entirely demolished.
Physician heal thyself (Luke 4:16-30 vs. JW 3.323-331)
Location: “Nazareth� vs. Jotapata. The existence of a town called “Nazareth� was not known in the first century. In the fourth century, Flavius Constantine built a church next to the ancient Judean town of Japha (near Jotapata), at a site proclaimed by his mother Helena as having been shown to her in a vision as being the “Nazareth� described in the Gospels. Note: Jesus also mentions Capernaum, which is coming in the next parallel after this.
Concept: Once the verbatim link is considered, which forms a concept in itself (driving people down a cliff), “Physician, heal yourself� then begins to stand out as some kind of slogan for “kill themselves with their own hands� – but this is far from clear at first glance. To confirm the concept - and indeed the parallel - we need to look up the verse that Jesus is referring to about “Elijah and the widow�:
“Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Get up, go to Zarephath that belongs to Sidon and stay there. Look, I have commanded a woman who is a widow to provide for you there.� So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow woman gathering wood. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup and let me drink.� As she went to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.� But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I don’t have anything baked—only a handful of flour in the jar and a bit of oil in the jug. Just now, I am gathering a couple of sticks in order to go prepare it for myself and my son so we can eat it and die.� (1 Kings 17:8-12)
Typology: so what have we learnt from this first example? In the gospels Jesus was about to be driven over the edge of the citadel, but in the historical narrative of Josephus it’s the Romans who are driving the Jewish people out of their own city!
Satire: Jesus is teaching his disciples about a widow who killed herself and her son as a dark anti-Semitic reminder of the Roman victory at Japha and Jotapata, where the Jews committed suicide after many were driven over a cliff by the Romans.
Information: The authors require us to sometimes look up verses in other books of the bible in order to understand the joke. Jesus’ words make more sense when harmonized with Josephus in this, the first of many parallels - occurring in sequence - for at least 50 stories in the Gospels and real life events in the Jewish War.
