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

by Atwill, Joseph

  Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year.

  Thus also before the Jews’ rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus [Nisan], and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which lasted for half an hour.

  This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskillful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes, as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it.

  At the same festival also, a heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple.

  Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner [court of the] temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night.

  Now those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it; who then came up thither, and not without great difficulty was able to shut the gate again.

  This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies.

  So these publicly declared that the signal foreshowed the desolation that was coming upon them. Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius [Iyar],

  a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it,

  and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen

  running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the] temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise,

  and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, “Let us remove hence.”

  At this point in the passage Josephus begins his description of the character I refer to as the woe-saying Jesus.

  But, what is still more terrible, there was one Jesus, the son of Ananus, a plebeian and a husbandman, who, four years before the war began, and at a time when the city was in very great peace and prosperity, came to that feast whereon it is our custom for everyone to make tabernacles to God in the temple,

  began on a sudden to cry aloud, “A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against this whole people!” This was his cry, as he went about by day and by night, in all the lanes of the city.

  However, certain of the most eminent among the populace had great indignation at this dire cry of his, and took up the man, and gave him a great number of severe stripes; yet did not he either say anything for himself, or anything peculiar to those that chastised him, but still went on with the same words which he cried before.

  Hereupon our rulers, supposing, as the case proved to be, that this was a sort of divine fury in the man, brought him to the Roman procurator,

  where he was whipped till his bones were laid bare; yet he did not make any supplication for himself, nor shed any tears, but turning his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, at every stroke of the whip his answer was, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!”

  And when Albinus (for he was then our procurator) asked him who he was, and whence he came, and why he uttered such words; he made no manner of reply to what he said, but still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till Albinus took him to be a madman, and dismissed him.

  Now, during all the time that passed before the war began, this man did not go near any of the citizens, nor was seen by them while he said so; but he every day uttered these lamentable words, as if it were his premeditated vow, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!”

  Nor did he give ill words to any of those that beat him every day, nor good words to those that gave him food; but this was his reply to all men, and indeed no other than a melancholy presage of what was to come.

  This cry of his was loudest at the festivals; and he continued this ditty for seven years and five months, without growing hoarse, or being tired therewith, until the

  very time that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our siege, when it ceased;

  for as he was going round upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force, “Woe, woe to the city again, and to the people, and to the holy house!” And just as he added at the last, “Woe, woe to myself also!” there came a stone out of one of the engines, and smote him, and killed him immediately; and as he was uttering the very same presages he gave up the ghost.

  Now if any one consider these things, he will find that God takes care of mankind, and by all ways possible foreshows to our race what is for their preservation; but that men perish by those miseries which they madly and voluntarily bring upon themselves;

  for the Jews, by demolishing the tower of Antonia, had made their temple four-square, while at the same time they had it written in their sacred oracles, “That then should their city be taken, as well as their holy house, when once their temple should become four-square.”

  But now, what did the most elevate them in undertaking 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 government of Vespasian, who was appointed emperor in Judea.

  However, it is not possible for men to avoid fate, although they see it beforehand.

  But these men interpreted some of these signals according to their own pleasure, and some of them they utterly despised, until their madness was demonstrated, both by the taking of their city and their own destruction.128

  In Matthew 23 and 24 Jesus expresses what has been called his eschatological, or doomsday, vision. In fact, the entire passage appears to be nothing other than a “prophecy” of events and details that have occurred during Titus’ destruction of Jerusalem, all of which can be found in Josephus’ passage above, which describes that event. The related New Testament passages follow – the passage contains, as Jesus himself describes them, the signs that will indicate that the “Son of Man” has come to destroy Jerusalem.

  Jesus had left the Temple and was going on His way, when His disciples came and called His attention to the Temple buildings.

  ”You see all these?” He replied; “in solemn truth I tell you that there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be pulled down.”

  Afterwards He was on the Mount of Olives and was seated there when the disciples came to Him, apart from the others, and said, “Tell us when this will be; and what will be the sign of your Coming and of the Close of the Age?”

  “Take care that no one misleads you,” answered Jesus;

  “for many will come assuming my name and saying ‘I am the Christ;’ and they will mislead many.

  “And before long you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Do not be alarmed, for such things must be; but the End is not yet.

  “For nation will rise in arms against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places;

  “but all these miseries
are but like the early pains of childbirth.

  “That time they will deliver you up to punishment and will put you to death; and you will be objects of hatred to all the nations because you are called by my name.

  “Then and they will betray one another and hate one another.

  “Many false prophets will rise up and lead multitudes astray;

  “and because of the prevalent disregard of God’s law, the love of the great majority will grow cold;

  “but those who stand firm to the End shall be saved.

  “And this Good News of the Kingdom shall be proclaimed throughout the whole world to set the evidence before all the Gentiles; and then the End will come.

  “When you have seen (to use the language of the Prophet Daniel) the ‘Abomination of Desolation,’ standing in the Holy Place—let the reader observe those words—

  “then let those who are in Judea escape to the hills;

  “let him who is on the roof not go down to fetch what is in his house;

  “nor let him who is outside the city stay to pick up his outer garment.

  “And alas for the women who at that time are with child or have infants!

  “But pray that your flight may not be in winter, nor on the Sabbath;

  “for then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world and assuredly never will be again.

  “And if those days had not been cut short, no one would escape; but for the sake of God’s own People those days will be cut short.

  “If at that time any one should say to you, ‘See, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Here!’ give no credence to it.

  “For there will rise up false Christs and false prophets, displaying wonderful signs and prodigies, so as to deceive, were it possible, even God’s own People.

  “Remember, I have forewarned you.

  “If therefore they should say to you, ‘See, He is in the Desert!’ do not go out there: or ‘See, He is indoors in the room!’ do not believe it.

  “For just as the lightning flashes in the east and is seen to the very west, so will be the Coming of the Son of Man.

  “Wherever the dead body is, there will the eagles flock together.

  “But immediately after those times of distress the sun will be darkened, the moon will not shed her light, the stars will fall from the firmament, and the forces which control the heavens will be disordered and disturbed.

  “Then will appear the Sign of the Son of Man in the sky; and then will all the nations of the earth lament, when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with great power and glory.

  “And He will send out His angels and they will gather together his elect, from the four winds, and from one end of heaven to the other.

  “Now learn from the fig-tree the lesson it teaches. As soon as its branches have now become soft and it is bursting into leaf, you all know that summer is near.

  “So you also, when you see all these signs, may be sure that He is near—at your very door.

  “I tell you in solemn truth that the present generation will certainly not pass away without all these things having first taken place.

  “Earth and sky will pass away, but it is certain that my words will not pass away.

  “But as to that day and the exact time no one knows—not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

  “For as it was in the time of Noah, so it will be at the Coming of the Son of Man.

  “At that time, before the Deluge, men were busy eating and drinking, taking wives or giving them, up to the very day when Noah entered the Ark,

  “nor did they realize any danger till the Deluge came and swept them all away; so will it be at the Coming of the Son of Man.

  “Then will two men be in the open country: one will be taken away, and one left behind.

  “Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken away, and one left behind.

  “Be on the alert therefore, for you do not know the day on which your Lord is coming.

  “But of this be assured, that if the master of the house had known the hour at which the robber was coming, he would have kept awake, and not have allowed his house to be broken into.

  “Therefore, you also must be ready; for it is at a time when you do not expect Him that the Son of Man will come.”129

  I have divided my analysis of the passages above into several parts. I shall first focus upon the parallels between Josephus’ woe-saying Jesus and the New Testament’s Jesus. There are numerous parallels between the eschatological Jesus of Matthew 23 and 24 and the tragicomic Jesus described in the passage from Josephus, whom I refer to as the woe-saying Jesus. I believe that the work of Josephus intentionally creates a lampoon of the New Testament’s Jesus by having the woe-saying Jesus share his words, phrases, ideas, and experiences—and, obviously, by means of their shared name. They are parallel in one other important way. Each gives a list of “signs” that foretell Jerusalem’s impending doom. These lists include a number of identical phrases and concepts.

  For example, the Jesus of the New Testament states:

  For just as the lightning flashes in the east and is seen to the very west, so will be the Coming of the Son of Man.

  And He will send out His angels and they will gather together his elect, from the four winds, and from one end of heaven to the other.

  Matthew 24:27, 31

  Then will the Kingdom of the Heavens be found to be like ten bridesmaids who took their torches and went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride.

  Matthew 25:1

  The woe-saying Jesus also speaks of “east” and “west,” “the four winds,” and “bridesmaids,” and “bridegrooms.” Notice that the language is used in the same sequence in both works:

  … began on a sudden to cry aloud, “A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against

  the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against this whole people!”

  Wars of the Jews, 6, 5, 301

  The woe-saying Jesus clearly predicts the destruction of the temple when he says “a voice against the holy house.” The New Testament Jesus makes the same prediction.

  His disciples came and called His attention to the Temple buildings.

  “You see all these?” He replied; “in solemn truth I tell you that there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be pulled down.”

  Matthew 24:1-2

  The New Testament Jesus uses the word “woe” eight times during his speech in Matthew 23. The Jesus in Josephus’ passage, above, who seemingly lampoons the New Testament Jesus, also constantly repeats the word “woe.”

  Woe to you, blind guides …

  Matthew 23:16

  And from the passage in Josephus:

  Woe, woe to the city again, and to the people, and to the holy house!

  Wars of the Jews, 6, 5, 309

  Both Jesuses are using the word “woe” to describe the disasters that will come to the inhabitants of Jerusalem when the “Son” returns. The New Testament Jesus foresees this disaster occurring with the return of a “Son of God,” while Josephus’ woe-saying Jesus also foresees this occurring with the coming of a “son of god,” this one being Titus.

  It needs to be pointed out that Matthew 23 and 24 simply divide one speech, so that the parallels between these chapters and Josephus’ description of the signs that preceded the destruction of the temple, should be taken as unified.

  The lampoon is made even clearer when Josephus records that the woe-saying Jesus has a passion experience very similar to that of the Jesus in the New Testament. Like the New Testament Jesus, the woe-saying Jesus is taken by “eminent Jews” to the Roman procurator, where he is whipped until his bones are laid bare. Like the New Testament Jesus he is described as a man with “divine” fury.

  Josephus links his woe-saying Jesus to the Jesus in the New Testament in yet another way, by t
he date of his death. Josephus enables the reader to calculate this date by stating that the time when the woe-saying Jesus began his wailing was “four years before the war began” and that he continues “without growing hoarse” for “seven years and five months.”

  As noted by Eisenman, these dates indicate that the woe-saying Jesus died on Passover in 70 C.E.130 This is a precise 40-year “generation” from the beginning of the ministry of the New Testament’s Jesus—who predicted that his prophecies would be fulfilled within 40 years. Jesus ben Ananus is another wry fulfillment of the New Testament Jesus’ prophecy.