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mans. He fays he did what lay in his power to prevent it, though in

vain.

*

Soon after the beginning of the war, in the year of Chrift 66 (when he must have been himself about thirty years of age), he was fent from Jerufalem, to command in Galilee; where, having ordered matters as well as he could, and made the best preparations for war by fortifying the cities, in cafe of an attack from the Romans, he was at length fhut up in the city of Jotapata; which, after a vigorous defence, and a fiege of feven and forty days, was taken by Vefpafiant, on the first day of July, in the 13th year of Nero, and the 67th of our Lord.

When that city was taken, by Vefpafian's order, strict search was made for Jofephus. For, iff that general was once taken, he reckoned that the greatest part of the war would be over. However, he had hid himself in a deep cavern, the opening of which was not eafily difcerned above ground. Here he met with forty perfons of eminence, who had concealed themfelves, and had with them provifions enough for feveral days. On the third day the Roman foldiers feized a woman, that had been with them. She made a difcovery of the place where they were. Whereupon Vefpafian fent two tribunes, inviting him to come up, with affurances that his life should be preferved. Jofephus, however, refused. Vefpafian therefore fent a third tribune, named Nicanor, well known to Jofephus, with the like affurances. Jofephus, after some hefitation, was then willing to furrender himself: but the men who were with him, exclaimed against it, and were for killing him and themfelves, rather than come alive into the hands of the Romans. Hereupon he made a long speech to them, fhewing, that it was not lawful for men to kill themselves, and that it was rather a proof of pufillanimity than courage; but all without effect. He then propofed an expedient, which was, that they fhould caft lots, two by two, who fhould die first. He who had the fecond lot fhould kill the firft; and the next, him; and fo on; and the last should kill himself. It happened that Jofephus and another were preferved to the last lot. When all the reft were killed, he without much difficulty perfuaded that other perfon to yield up himfelf to the Romans. So they two escaped with their § lives.

This has been judged to be a remarkable providence, by which Jofephus was preferved to write the hiftory of which we are now able to make fo good use.

When ** Jofephus had furrendered, Vefpafian gave strict orders that he should be kept carefully, as if he had intended to fend him to Nero. Jofephus then prefented a requeft, that he might speak to Vefpafian in private; which was granted. When all were difmiffed,

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miffed, except Titus, and two friends, he fpoke to Vefpafian after this manner : "You think, Vefpafian, that you have in Jofe"phus a mere prifoner. But I am come to you as a meffenger of "great tidings. Had I not been fent to you by God, I know "what the law of the Jews is, and how it becomes a general to die. "Do you intend to fend me to Nero? Are they, who are to fucceed "Nero before you, to continue? You, Vefpafian, will be Cæfar: (6 you will be emperor. So will likewise this your fon. Bind me "therefore ftill faster, and reserve me for yourself. For you are "Lord not of me only, but of the earth, and the fea, and all man"kind. And I for punishment deferve a clofer confinement, if I "speak falfehood to you in the name of God." Vefpafian, as he fays, at first paid little regard to all this. But afterwards his expectations of empire were raifed. "Befides," as he goes on to fay, " he found Jofephus to have spoken truth upon other occafions. For "when one of his friends, who were permitted to be prefent at that "interview, faid, it appeared ftrange to him, that Jofephus fhould "not have foretold to the people of Jotapata, the event of the fiege, nor have foreseen his own captivity, if all he now faid was "not invention to fave his own life; Jofephus answered, that he "had foretold to the people of Jotapata, that the place would be "taken upon the forty-feventh day of the fiege, and that himfelf "fhould be taken alive by the Romans. Vefpafian having privately inquired of the prifoners concerning these predictions, found the "truth of them."

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All these things I have inferted here, for fhewing the character of this writer; though the prolixity of my narration be thereby increased.

It is very likely that he often thought of Jofeph in Egypt, and of Daniel at Babylon; and was in hopes of making a like figure at the court of Rome. But I fuppofe, it may be no difparagemet to Jofephus, to fay, that he was not equal to them in wisdom, or in virtue and integrity. And the circumstances of things were much altered. The promised Meffiah was come; and the Jewish people were no longer entitled to fuch special regard as had been fhewn them in times paft. Nor was it then a day of favour and mercy for them, but the day of the Lord's vengeance against them, as Jofephus

De B. J. 1. 3. c. 8. § 9.

That is, that a Jewish general should make away with himself, rather than be taken prifoner alive by heathen people. We know not of any fuch law in the books of the Old Teftament. And it feems to be a manifeft contradiction to what he fays in the speech before referred to.

Jofephus's addrefs to Vefpafian is very precife and formal, predicting things then future. Pombly, this fpeech was improved afterwards, and at the time of writing this hiftory made more clear and exprefs, and more agreeable to the event, than when first spoken.

Among other prefages of Vefpafian's empire, Suetonius has mentioned this of Jofephus: "Et unus ex nobilibus captivis Jofephus, cum conjiceretur in vincula, conftantantiffime "affeveravit, fore, ut ab eodem brevi folveretur, verum jam imperatore." Sueton. Vefpaf. cap. 5.

Jofephus has feveral times spoken of his having had prophetic dreams, and of his ability to interpret dreams that were ambiguous. Vid. De B. J. 1. 3. viii. 3. et 9. et de Vit. §. 42.

fephus himself faw. And they were entering into a long captivity, of which they have not yet feen the end, after a period of almoft feventeen hundred years, though they are ftill wonderfully pre

ferved.

Jofephus was ftill a prifoner. But when Vefpafian had been proclaimed emperor, he ordered his iron chain to be cut * afunder. When Vefpafian went to Rome, Jofephus continued to be with Titus, and was present at the fiege of Jerufalem, and faw the ruin of his city and country.

After the war was over, when Titus went to Rome, he went with him. And Vefpafian allotted him an apartment in the fame house in which he himfelf had lived before he came to the empire. He alfo made him a citizen of Rome, and gave him an annual penfion, and continued to fhew him great refpect as long as he lived. His fon Titus, who fucceeded him, fhewed him the like regard. And afterwards Domitian, and his wife Domitia, did him many kind + offices.

Jofephus, however, does not deny, that he had many enemies. But the emperors in whofe time he lived, protected him. Indeed, it is very likely that the Jews fhould have little regard for a man who was with the Romans in their camp during the fiege of their city. He particularly fays, that upon the first tidings of the taking cf Jotapata, the people of Jerufalem made great and public lamentations for him, fuppofing that he had been killed in the fiege; but when they heard that he had efcaped, and was with the Romans, and was well ufed by them, they loaded him with all manner of reproaches, not excepting treachery itfelf. Nor do we find, that || the Jewish people ever had any great respect for his writings: though they have been much efteemed, and often quoted by Chriftian and ** other writers in early and later times.

Of them + we are now to take fome notice.

The firft is the Hiftory of the Jewish War," and the taking of Jerufalem, in feven books. In which work he goes back to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes, and the Maccabees. In the preface he fays, that he firft wrote it in the language of his own country, for the fake of fuch as lived in Parthia, Babylonia, Arabia, and other parts, and afterwards published it in Greek for the benefit of others; which is what we have. It is generally fuppofed to have been published by him in the 75th year of Chrift, and the 38th year of his own age. He profeffeth to have writ with great §§ fidelity; and for the truth of his history

De B. J. 1. 4. cap. x. § 7.
De B. J. 1. 3. cap. ix. § 7.

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Quamvis enim ejus fcripta apud Judæos in nullo pretio fuerint.... Gentiles tamen pariter et Chriftiani Jofephum, licet Judæum, ejufque opera, magni æftimarunt. Ittig. Proleg. pag. 88. ap. Havercamp.

** Jofephus is quoted by Porphyry, not in his books against the Chriftians, but elsewhere. See the teftimonies prefixed to the works of Jofephus.

++ Particular accounts of them are to be feen in Cave, Hift. Lit. Fabric. Bib. Gr. 1. 4. cap. 6. Tom. 3. p. 228. &c. Tillemont, La Ruine des Juifs, art. 79. &c. Hift. des Emp. Tom. i. ‡‡ De B. J. L. i. in Pro. § 2. §§ in Pr. § 5. &c. et l. 7. cap. ult. fin.

* then

history appeals to Vefpafian, and Titus, and King Agrippa, living. Het prefented it to Vefpafian and Titus; which laft not only defired the publication of it, but with his own hand figned the book that should be reckoned authentic.

2. The Jewish Antiquities," in twenty books, or the hiftory of the Jews from the creation of the world to the twelfth year of Nero, in which the war began. This work was finished by him § in the 56th year of his own life, in the third year of the reign of Domitian, and the year of Chrift 93.

3. To this work is fubjoined, as a part of it, or an appendix to it, "His Life," written by himself fome while afterwards.

4. After the feveral above-mentioned works, he published another work in two books, entitled "Of the Antiquity of the Jews, against Apion" being a vindication of the Jewish people against the calumnies of that Egyptian author.

66

5. To Jofephus likewife is generally afcribed a book, entitled, "A "Discourse of the Maccabees." But, as || Cave fays, there is good reafon to doubt of its genuinenefs. And ** Mr. Whifton, who made an English tranflation of all the above-named works of this writer, declined to tranflate this, and would not publish it among

the reft.

The works of Jofephus, notwithstanding many things in them liable to exception, which may be obferved by careful and impartial readers, are very valuable. In his larger work, the "Jewish Anti"quities," he confirms the truth of the hiftory of the Old Teftament. And, as in several of the last books of that work he has brought down the Jewish history from the ceafing of prophecy among them to the twelfth of Nero, he has let us know the ftate of affairs in Judea during the time of the evangelical hiftory. And he had before done the like in the first two books of the " Jewish War." What he has therein faid of Herod, and his fons, of the Roman governors in Judea, the Jewish fects, and their principles, the manners of the Jewish people, and likewife concerning the Samaritans, greatly confirms and illuftrates the hiftory of our Evangelifts: as merly fhewn in the first part of this work, the Credibility of the "Gofpel-hiftory;" the defign of which was to confirm the facts occafionally mentioned in the New Teftament by paflages of ancient ††

authors.

was for

We are now to confider, whether there is any thing in the works of this Jewish author more directly confirming the principal facts of the New Teftament: particularly, whether he affords any evidences

* In Vit. cap. 65. Adv. Ap. 1. i. c. 9.

† Αλλ' αυλοῖς απέδωκα τοῖς αυτοκράτορσι τὰ βιβλία. Vit. § 65. Conf. Adv. Ap. ut fupr. ὥςε χαράξας τῇ ἑαυλᾶ χειρὶ τὰ βιβλία δημοσιεύσεσθαι προσέταξεν. Vit. § 65. Ant. 1. 20. cap. ult. fin.

of

"Nihilominus an genuinum fit Josephi opus, jufta eft dubitandi ratio." Cav. H. L. de Jofepho, p. 35.

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** See his note at the end of his tranflation of Jofephus.

++"Quam in multis capitibus Evangeliftarum narrationi fuffragetur Jofephus, erudite "nuper demonftravit Nathanael Lardnerus in opere Anglice edito, de Fide Hiftoriæ Evan"gelica." Lond. 1727, 8vo. 2 vols. J. A. Fabric. Lux Evangelii, p. 16. not. (a).

of the fulfilment of our Lord's predictions concerning the destruction of the temple and city of Jerufalem, and the great calamities coming upon the Jewish people; and whether he has faid any thing of John the Baptift, our Lord's fore-runner, or of our Lord himfelf, or of any of his Apoftles.

I fhall begin with the first article. For it is very likely, that in his "Hiftory of the Jewish War," we fhould find many things giving credit to the fulfilment of our Lord's predictions concerning the Jewish people.

II. STATE OF JUDEA IN OUR SAVIOUR'S TIME, AND BEFORE.

Judea was first brought into fubjection to the Romans by Pompey, who, after a fiege of three months, took Jerufalem in the year 63, before the Christian æra, about the time of our * Midfummer. Jofephus always dates † the lofs of their liberty at that time. The fame is faid by Tacitus.

But though the Jewish people then became subject to the Romans, and it may be faid, that from that time forward the rod of Heaven hung over them; they enjoyed many privileges, and the freedom of their worship, under the mild government of those masters: as appears both from Jofephus, and from the hiftorical books of the New Teftament.

When Pompey became mafter of Jerufalem, he § and fome of his officers entered into the temple, and the moft holy places of it; but he took nothing away. There were then in it the table, the candleftick, with its lamps, the pouring veffels, and the cenfers, all of gold, and great quantities of fpices, and two thousand talents in money; all which he left untouched. And the day after he gave orders, that they who had the charge of the temple fhould cleanfe it, and perform the accustomed facrifices. And he reftored the priesthood to Hyr

canus.

It was

And that after this the Jewish people were, fometimes at least, in a flourishing condition, appears from many confiderations. during this period, that | Herod repaired the temple. Excepting the cloud of glory with which the first temple had been favoured, that erected by Herod may be reckoned to have been equal to it in the fplendor and magnificence of the building, and in rich and coftly prefents, and other ornaments.

When the Jewish people, after their return from the Babylonish captivity, laid the foundation of the new houfe," many of the Priests, "the Levites, and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, 66 wept with a loud voice." Ezr. iii. 12. But God encouraged them

by

See Prideaux, in the year before Chrift 63, p. 439. And Jofeph. Antiq. 1. 14. cap. iv. 4. De B. J. 1. i. cap. viì. § 6.

† Τότε το πάθος τοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις αἴτιοι καλέςεσαν Ὑρκανὸς καὶ Αριςοτέλος προς αλλήλες τασιάζοντες. Τήν τε γὰρ ἐλευθερίαν ἀπεβάλομεν, καὶ ὑπήκοοι Ρωμαίων κατέςημεν. Antig. l. 14. iv. 5. And come pare what Agrippa fays to the Jews at Jerufalem. D. B. J. 1. 2. cap. xvi. 4. p. 187. "Romanorum primus Cn. Pompeius Judæos domuit, templumque jure victoriæ in"greffus eft." Tacit. H. E. 5. c. 9.

De B. J. 1. 1. cap. vii. 6. Conf. Antiq. 1. 14. cap. iv.

Vid. Antiq. 1. 15. cap. xi. De B. J. 1. 1. cap. xxi. et 1. 5. cap. v.

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