Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus:Flavian Signature Edition

by Atwill, Joseph

  Luke 8:26-29

  Luke then describes a “legion” of demons inside the infected man.

  Jesus asked him, saying, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion," because many demons had entered him.

  Luke 8:30

  Keeping a precise dual sequence, in his version of the story Josephus also identifies the size of the rebel force that had “left” John and ravaged the countryside as being a “legion”; that is to say it was a group larger than a “gang of thieves” but smaller than an army. Once again, the reader should note how transparent the parallel would be if Josephus had simply chosen to call the group a legion of thieves.

  … yet were these men that now got together, and joined in the conspiracy by parties, too small for an army, and too many for a gang of thieves …

  Wars of the Jews, 4, 7, 408

  7) Demons infect another group

  Luke then states that the “demons” that left the man infected another group.

  And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.

  Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them.

  Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine.

  Luke 8:31-33

  Josephus then describes how the “demons” that left John had “filled the countryside” and infected another group.

  And now Vespasian sent Placidus against those that had fled from Gadara, with five hundred horsemen, and three thousand footmen, while he returned himself to Cesarea, with the rest of the army.

  But as soon as these fugitives saw the horsemen that pursued them just upon their backs, and before they came to a close fight, they ran together to a certain village, which was called Bethennabris,

  where finding a great multitude of young men, and arming them, partly by their own consent, partly by force, they rashly and suddenly assaulted Placidus and the troops that were with him.

  Wars of the Jews, 4, 8, 419-421

  8) The herd ran violently

  Luke next describes how the herd ran.

  … and the herd ran violently …

  Luke 8:33

  Josephus next describes how the group ran.

  … and, like the wildest of wild beasts, they rushed upon the point of others' swords; so some of them were destroyed …

  Wars of the Jews, 4, 8, 425

  9) The herd drowned

  Luke next describes that the herd drowned.

  … down the steep place into the lake and drowned.

  Luke 8:33

  Josephus next describes that the “herd” drowned.

  They then extended themselves a very great way along the banks of the river, and sustained the darts that were thrown at them, as well as the attacks of the horsemen, who beat many of them, and pushed them into the current.

  Wars of the Jews, 4, 8, 434

  To digress, the reason that different Gospels refer to the location of the demoniac as Gadara and Geresa – and that one version has one and others two demoniacs – is that the demoniac tale “foresees” both rebel leaders, John – who battled the Romans around Gadara – and “Simon”, called “Simon of Geresa” (Wars of the Jews, 4, 9, 503). The different demoniac stories were not, as is often suggested, garbled traditions, but rather were written intertextually, which is to say that all the details within the parallel stories add to the information the authors wished to communicate.

  10) Identification of the son of the living god

  Luke then goes on to describe Jesus’ identification as the son of the living god. Obviously this event foresaw the “ascension” of Vespasian to Caesar and god, and to Titus as the “son of god”.

  “Who do the crowds say that I am?"

  So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some [say] Elijah; and others [say] that one of the old prophets has risen again."

  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God."

  Luke 9:18-20

  (In Matthew: “the son of the living God”)

  … he (Vespasian) had not arrived at the government without Divine Providence, but a righteous kind of fate had brought the empire under his power.

  Wars of the Jews, 4, 10, 622

  Josephus recorded in another passage that Vespasian’s ascension has been the fulfillment of the Jews’ messianic prophecies.

  … what did the most to induce the Jews to start this war was an ambiguous oracle that was also found in their sacred writings, how, “about that time, one from their country should become governor of the habitable earth.”

  The Jews took this prediction to belong to themselves in particular, and many of the wise men were thereby deceived in their determination. Now this oracle certainly denoted the dynasty of Vespasian, who was appointed emperor in Judea.

  Wars of the Jews 6, 5, 312-313

  The Roman authors Suetonius and Tacitus also gave the same interpretation of the prophecy.

  There had spread over all the Orient an old and established belief, that it was fated for men coming from Judea to rule the world. This prediction, referring to the emperor of Rome - as afterwards appeared from the event - the people of Judea took to themselves.

  Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, 4.5

  The majority [of the Jews] were convinced that the ancient scriptures of their priests alluded to the present as the very time when the Orient would triumph and from Judea would go forth men destined to rule the world. This mysterious prophecy really referred to Vespasian and Titus, but the common people, true to the selfish ambitions of mankind, thought that this exalted destiny was reserved for them, and not even their calamities opened their eyes to the truth.

  Tacitus, Histories 5.13

  What is often overlooked is that by claiming the mantle of Christ for themselves, the Flavians were creating a “Christian” religion. Thus, when considering the numerous Flavian family connections to early Roman Christianity, the possibility that early Flavian Christianity was the basis for today’s Roman Christianity is a logical one.

  11) Binding and loosening

  Next there is an obvious parallel concerning “binding and loosening”. Many scholars have commented upon the similarities but none attempted to place the tales into the dual storylines, of course. In Matthew it is in the same passage and follows the identification of the son of the living god in Luke 9:18-20 above.

  So they said, "Some [say] John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

  Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

  Then Jesus answered and said …

  … "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

  Matt 16:14-19

  "O father, it is but just that the scandal [of a prisoner] should be taken off Josephus, together with his iron chain. For if we do not barely loose his bonds, but cut them to pieces, he will be like a man that had never been bound at all."

  Wars of the Jews, 4, 10, 628-629

  12) He who does not follow with us, but casts out demons

  Luke then describes a dispute amongst the followers of the Christ followed by Jesus telling them to let anyone “casting” out demons do so because “he who is not against us is on our side”.

  Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest.

  And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, and said to them,

  "Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all will be great."

  Now John answered and said, "Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us."

  But Jesus
said to him, "Do not forbid [him,] for he who is not against us is on our side."

  Luke 9:46-50

  Josephus describes a dispute that broke out between the rebel leaders. Notice that the names of the individuals having the dispute were Simon, John and Lazarus – names of Jesus’ followers. From the Flavian perspective, though these rebels did “not follow with us”, as they were killing one another, they were casting out “demons”.

  And now there were three treacherous factions in the city, the one parted from the other. Eleazar and his party, that kept the sacred first-fruits, came against John in their cups. Those that were with John plundered the populace, and went out with zeal against Simon. This Simon had his supply of provisions from the city, in opposition to the seditious.

  When, therefore, John was assaulted on both sides, he made his men turn about, throwing his darts upon those citizens that came up against him, from the cloisters he had in his possession, while he opposed those that attacked him from the temple by his engines of war.

  And if at any time he was freed from those that were above him, which happened frequently, from their being drunk and tired, he sallied out with a great number upon Simon and his party;

  And this he did always in such parts of the city as he could come at, till he set on fire those houses that were full of corn, and of all other provisions. The same thing was done by Simon, when, upon the other’s retreat, he attacked the city also; as if they had, on purpose, done it to serve the Romans, by destroying what the city had laid up against the siege, and by thus cutting off the nerves of their own power.

  Wars of the Jews, 5, 1, 21-24

  ON THE ROAD TO JERUSALEM

  13) On to Jerusalem – the messengers are sent ahead

  At the end of his Galilean campaign, Luke recorded that Jesus marched out of Galilee towards Jerusalem. When read in the perspective of this analysis, Luke’s words are chilling and their meaning transparent.

  Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face.

  Luke 9:51

  Josephus, keeping in sequence, recorded that Titus then marched on to Jerusalem and, like his typological forerunner, he sent out “messengers” – his legions – before him.

  Titus, when he had gotten together part of his forces about him, and had ordered the rest to meet him at Jerusalem, marched out of Cesarea.

  Wars of the Jews, 5, 1, 40

  14) Don’t bury your dead or look back

  Luke then presents a story about a follower who is scolded by Jesus for wanting to “bury his dead” and is told not to “look back” but forward to the kingdom of God.

  Then He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."

  Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God."

  And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go [and] bid them farewell who are at my house."

  But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

  Luke 9:59-62

  This passage in Luke links to Josephus’ description of the Twelfth Legion. The Legion had been beaten by the Jews in the war’s first battle. Josephus wrote that the Legion:

  … marched now with greater alacrity to avenge themselves on the Jews as remembering what they had formerly suffered …

  Wars of the Jews, 5, 1, 41

  In other words, the Legion was not to worry about “burying its dead” but to focus on “following” Titus to vengeance. In Luke 9 Jesus states that he will be “followed”. Josephus recorded that:

  “Titus … went in the front of the army …

  Wars of the Jews, 5, 1, 50

  To digress, once the correct interpretive framework is understood, Luke’s concluding passage to Jesus’ Galilean ministry becomes so obvious, as to almost not require comment. The passage depicts Titus sending his legions to Jerusalem, his destruction of Galilee, and the hidden identity of the God and his father – Vespasian.

  After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.

  Then He said to them, "The harvest truly [is] great, but the laborers [are] few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

  “Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.

  “Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road.

  “But whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house.'

  “And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you.

  “And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house.

  “Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you.

  “And heal the sick there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'

  “But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say,

  'The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.'

  “But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.

  “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

  “But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.

  “And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades.

  “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me."

  Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."

  And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

  “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

  “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."

  In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from [the] wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.

  All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and [the one] to whom the Son wills to reveal [Him].”

  Luke 10:1-22

  15) The good Samaritan

  The next story in Luke – 10:25-37 – is that of the Good Samaritan. In the story, the man who had been attacked by bandits symbolizes the Twelfth Legion, that had been left “half dead” by the Jewish “bandits” on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho at the start of the war. In Josephus’ description of the battle, he used the same Greek word Luke used to describe the “robbers”, to depict the rebels that stole the Legions’ belongings – “lestes” (Wars of the Jews, 2, 19, 554). The Gospels’ story of the “Good Samaritan” typologically parallels Titus marching in from Samaria and refurbishing the legion that had been “stripped” by the robbers “lestes”.

  Now Titus, according to the Roman usage, went in the front of the army after a decent manner, and marched (with the Twelve Legion) through Samaria to Gophna, a city that had been formerly taken by his father, and was then garrisoned by Roman soldiers;

  and when he had lodged there one night, he marched on in the morning …

  Wars of the Jews, 5, 2, 50-51

  Josephus’ passage also notes how well provisioned the Legion was, “the ser
vants of every Legion came after these, and before these last their baggage”. Thus, Luke’s parable envisions Titus restoring the Legion that had been left “half dead” and “stripped” of its belongings on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, its mules and provisions.