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This comprehensive collection from the legendary Jewish historian takes you right into the action, setting up the historical relevance of first-century events, leaving behind substantial evidence for the authenticity of the biblical record.
Most importantly, you'll meet the historical Jesus and view Christ's life in a light you've never seen before.When you own Josephus: The Complete Works, you possess some of the very best history has to offer.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The begining of the beginning of the Middle East conflict.,
By A Customer
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This review is from: Josephus Complete Works (Hardcover)
This is a great book, a must read. A lot of reviewers are Christians who value this book for providing the historical background to the New Testament, since Josephus lived very close to that time period. Yes, definitely, this book has value for that purpose. Much of the book is a re-telling of the history of the Jews, stuff from the Old Testament/Tanakh, which Josephus knew well from his origins as a Pharisee. In my view, though, the book is most important for a reason only briefly mentioned by other reviewers - the book answers a central question that has always struck me whenever I read about the modern history of the Jewish people and the re-establishment of the State of Israel - how did it come to pass that the Jews lost their homeland in Palestine in the first place? Few modern Jewish historians ever go back that far and write about this subject. In this book, Flavius Josephus gives a detailed and grisly eyewitness account of the destruction of Jerusalem and the slaughter of over 1.3 million Jews (he provides the number of dead in this book), and later enslavement of tens of thousands of the survivors, by the Romans in 70 A.D. This all came about as a result of the unyielding Jewish rebellion against Roman rule. It was this destruction of Jerusalem, and the Great Temple, that directly led to the Jewish Diaspora. (The Wailing Wall, or Western Wall, is all that's left today of the Temple). Which was what caused the Jews to be dispersed all over Europe. Which eventually led to the Holocaust. Which led to the Zionist movement (initially only a fringe movement with few converts willing to move back to Palestine) succeeding in finding the converts and refugees willing to return to the heartland of their faith. The rapid flood of Jews into Palestine and the war that resulted from the re-establishment of the State of Israel all led to the displacement of the then current inhabitants, the Arab Palestinians. Which of course brings us to where we are today..... Few Jews seem to care much for Josephus, and certainly he gives them good reason to be thought of as a traitor. After all, he did start out as one of the leaders of the Jewish rebellion against the Romans, and ended up as a Roman collaborator in the destruction of Jerusalem. After initial success fighting against the Romans, Josephus became trapped in one of the rebelling towns. When his fellow rebels could not be dissuaded to surrender, he proposed that they all commit suicide by drawing lots and having each man in sequence kill the one before him. Josephus managed to be the last one in line, and then, being the last one alive, didn't follow through with his own suicide. After being captured by the forces of the Roman general Vespasian, Josephus then managed to save himself by making a prediction that Vespasian would become emperor. I found it interesting that Vespasian, who was no fool, clearly thought that Josephus was just sucking up to him and did not release him right away. Instead, Vespasian kept Josephus imprisoned until, miraculously, Josephus's prediction came true (after Nero's suicide and a civil war with a succession of three other Roman generals claiming the throne, Vespasian emerged victorious as the new emperor). No, Josephus was not a really admirable sort of fellow. And as his account is one of the few that describes the destruction of Jerusalem (and of many other mass killings of Jews during this time, including the story of what happened at Masada), it is easy to see why Jews would not want to re-visit this part of their history. In his description of the siege of Jerusalem, there are plenty of details of the internecine hatred that existed between the Jews and the various other peoples of the Middle East, even back then. A lot of these other people took advantage of this siege to get their revenge against the Jews stuck in Jerusalem. Yes, read this book, and you will come to understand that the origins of the Middle East conflict of today goes back some 2,000 years, back to the time that Jerusalam was destroyed and the Jewish people dispersed. This book tells how all of that happened, and how it all started.
33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A definate must for your Biblical library,
This review is from: Josephus Complete Works (Hardcover)
Without repeating what most of the other reviewers said, I do recommend this book to anyone interested in Biblical history. Josephus had access to materials long since lost, which helps shed great light on things. He himself often refers to other documents that are unknown. Take a little caution - Josephus was a Pharisee. Jesus continually condemned the Pharisee's of placing man-made tradition above the word of God. Josephus depends on a lot of tradition as well as historical documents. This edition was translated by William Whiston, who lived in the 17th century. The translator often adds footnotes, which are sometimes confusing. The translator also renders speech into that mode often referred to as "King James English", which makes the dialogue sometimes hard to follow.
31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
good,
By
This review is from: Josephus Complete Works (Hardcover)
This was is a very good deal. Not only is it hardcover but it includes all of Josephus' works and for a very good price. It is a definate necessity for anyone interested in New Testament history.
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