When viewed as a group, the parallels between these two passages and the satire they create seems too exact to have occurred by chance. The choices are either to agree with Eusebius, who writes:
It is fitting to add to these accounts the true prediction of our Savior in which he foretold these very events. His words are as follows: “Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day; For there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
… These things took place … in accordance with the prophecies of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who by divine power saw them beforehand as if they were already present …140
… or accept the idea that the same source produced both the New Testament and Wars of the Jews.
CHAPTER 10
The Authors of the New Testament
Josephus concludes Wars of the Jews with a series of passages that, I believe, lampoon the Apostle Paul as well as create a puzzle that identifies the inventors of Christianity. It struck me as logical for the authors to have concluded their work with a passage that identifies them—quite in keeping with the spirit of malicious playfulness that runs through their entire composition.
I present the first of these passages below. This passage describes a group of Sicarii who escape into Egypt. Once there, they find themselves rebuked by “Jews of reputation” who inform the Romans of their presence in Egypt. The Sicarii are captured and then tortured in an attempt to make them “confess that Caesar was their lord,” which they refuse to do. Their children also refuse to “name Caesar for their lord,” in spite of their also being tortured. Thus, the passage clearly presents an unsolved problem for Titus: how to make the rebellious Jews call him “Lord.”
WHEN Masada was thus taken, the general left a garrison in the fortress to keep it, and he himself went away to Cesarea;
for there were now no enemies left in the country, but it was all overthrown by so long a war. Yet did this war afford disturbances and dangerous disorders even in places very far remote from Judea;
for still it came to pass that many Jews were slain at Alexandria in Egypt;
for as many of the Sicarii as were able to fly thither, out of the seditious wars in Judea, were not content to have saved themselves, but must needs be undertaking to make new disturbances, and persuaded many of those that entertained them to assert their liberty, to esteem the Romans to be no better than themselves, and to look upon God as their only Lord and Master.
But when part of the Jews of reputation opposed them, they slew some of them, and with the others they were very pressing in their exhortations to revolt from the Romans;
but when the principal men of the senate saw what madness they were come to, they thought it no longer safe for themselves to overlook them. So they got all the Jews together to an assembly, and accused the madness of the Sicarii, and demonstrated that they had been the authors of all the evils that had come upon them.
They said also that “these men, now they were run away from Judea, having no sure hope of escaping, because as soon as ever they shall be known, they will be soon destroyed by the Romans, they come hither and fill us full of those calamities which belong to them, while we have not been partakers with them in any of their sins.”
Accordingly, they exhorted the multitude to have a care, lest they should be brought to destruction by their means, and to make their apology to the Romans for what had been done, by delivering these men up to them;
who being thus apprised of the greatness of the danger they were in, complied with what was proposed, and ran with great violence upon the Sicarii, and seized upon them;
and indeed six hundred of them were caught immediately: but as to all those that fled into Egypt and to the Egyptian Thebes, it was not long ere they were caught also, and brought back,
whose courage, or whether we ought to call it madness, or hardiness in their opinions, every body was amazed at.
For when all sorts of torments and vexations of their bodies that could be devised were made use of to them, they could not get any one of them to comply so far as to confess, or seem to confess, that Caesar was their lord; but they preserved their own opinion, in spite of all the distress they were brought to, as if they received these torments and the fire itself with bodies insensible of pain, and with a soul that in a manner rejoiced under them.
But what was most of all astonishing to the beholders was the courage of the children; for not one of these children was so far overcome by these torments, as to name Caesar for their lord. So far does the strength of the courage [of the soul] prevail over the weakness of the body.
Wars of the Jews, 7, 10, 1
The most basic deception of Christianity is that by replacing the Jewish “God” and “Son of God” with a “son of god” and a “god” who were in fact Roman emperors, it was possible to have the followers of their new religion “name Caesar for their lord” without their knowing it. The passage above explains why Titus invented Christianity. Even torture could not bring the Sicarii to call him “Lord.” Therefore, they had to be fooled into doing it.
Continuing with the passage:
Now Lupus did then govern Alexandria, who presently sent Caesar word of this commotion;
who having in suspicion the restless temper of the Jews for innovation, and being afraid lest they should get together again, and persuade some others to join with them, gave orders to Lupus to demolish that Jewish temple which was in the region called Onion,
and was in Egypt, which was built and had its denomination from the occasion following:
Onias, the son of Simon, one of the Jewish high priests, fled from Antiochus the king of Syria, when he made war with the Jews, and came to Alexandria; and as Ptolemy received him very kindly, on account of hatred to Antiochus, he assured him, that if he would comply with his proposal, he would bring all the Jews to his assistance;
and when the king agreed to do it so far as he was able, he desired him to give him leave to build a temple some where in Egypt, and to worship God according to the customs of his own country;
for that the Jews would then be so much readier to fight against Antiochus, who had laid waste the temple at Jerusalem, and that they would then come to him with greater good-will; and that, by granting them liberty of conscience, very many of them would come over to him.141
The passage continues with a description of the “Jewish temple, which was in the region called Onion, and was in Egypt.” Josephus, in a digression, nonchalantly points out that the temple is the one envisioned 600 years previously by the prophet Isaiah. This is another example of Josephus’ manipulating Jewish prophecy to coincide with Titus’ campaign.
So Ptolemy complied with his proposals, and gave him a place one hundred and eighty furlongs distant from Memphis. That Nomos was called the Nomos of Helio polis,
where Onias built a fortress and a temple, not like to that at Jerusalem, but such as resembled a tower. He built it of large stones to the height of sixty cubits;
he made the structure of the altar in imitation of that in our own country, and in like manner adorned with gifts, excepting the make of the candlestick,
for he did not make a candlestick, but had a [single] lamp hammered out of a piece of gold, which illuminated the place with its rays, and which he hung by a chain of gold;
but the entire temple was encompassed with a wall of burnt brick, though it had gates of stone. The king also gave him a large country for a revenue in money, that both the priests might have a plentiful provision made for them, and that God might have great abundance of what things were necessary for his worship.
Yet did not Onias do this out of a sober disposition, but he had a mind to contend with the Jews at Jerusalem, and could not forget the indignation he had for being banished thence. Accordingly, he thought that by building this temple he should draw away a great nu
mber from them to himself.
There had been also a certain ancient prediction made by [a prophet] whose name was Isaiah, about six hundred years before that this temple should be built by a man that was a Jew in Egypt. And this is the history of the building of that temple.
Wars of the Jews, 7, 10, 3
The prophecy that Josephus is referring to is contained in Isaiah 19:18–25. Josephus is clearly intending that the “astute reader” understand that the events he described in the passage demonstrate that Isaiah’s prophecy had “come to pass.” In the passage above, Josephus describes a “city of destruction in the land of Egypt,” this being Alexandria, paralleling Isaiah’s prophecy. Josephus, again paralleling Isaiah, describes the temple as being “pillar” shaped. Further, the political conditions of the region at the time can clearly be seen as those that were envisioned by Isaiah’s prophecy, in that there was a “highway out of Egypt to Assyria.” Which is to say that Israel was now a “highway” between Assyria and Egypt, in that it had become a geographical link within the Roman Empire. This idea is especially clear when one considers that the three Roman legions that participated in the destruction of Jerusalem were the XV Apollinaris Legion from Alexandria (Egypt) and the V Macedonica and X Fretensis Legions from Syria.
So Josephus seems correct in his assertion that Isaiah’s prophecy has “come to pass,” with the events that he describes in the passage. The reader will notice, however, that Isaiah’s prophecy is also messianic. It states that the Lord shall send a “savior” who shall “smite” and “heal.” The passage also states that the “Lord” shall “be known to Egypt,” and that Israel shall be the “Lord’s inheritance.”
There cannot be any doubt about who Josephus indicates is the “savior” that Isaiah’s prophecy refers to. In fact, at this point in history, the only individual who could have been the savior foreseen by Isaiah’s prophecy is Titus. Only Titus could claim that he had Israel as an “inheritance” at this time.
Caesar (Titus) … gave order that all Judea should be exposed for sale;
for he did not found any city there but reserved the whole country for himself.142
Therefore, Josephus is disclosing that Titus is the Savior, or the Messiah, by his unspoken contention that Isaiah’s prophecy has come to pass. The prophecy of Isaiah, that Josephus uses to identify Titus as the Savior, is as follows:
In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.
In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord.
And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.
And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it.
And the Lord shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them.
In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:
Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.”
Isaiah 19:18-25
The “highway out of Egypt” that Josephus is alluding to by conjuring up Isaiah’s vision, is a “fulfillment” of another New Testament prophecy, the “highway for the Lord.” This highway is foreseen by John the Baptist, who quotes another passage from Isaiah:
The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for the Lord.
Isaiah 40:3
Though John the Baptist’s statement regarding making a “highway for the Lord” has always been seen as envisioning Jesus, the passage from Isaiah that John is quoting from indicates that the “highway” will exist only after the “warfare has ended.” Therefore, the “Lord” that John is predicting could only be Titus.
“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.
“Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the Lord’s hand Double for all her sins.”
The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for the Lord.
Isaiah 40:1–3
Josephus’ narration then moves on and, in a sequence parallel to one in the New Testament, introduces a Paul, “Paulinus,” at the same point that the New Testament introduces its Paul. This Paul, like his counterpart in the New Testament, has an impact on Judaism. Josephus states that he made the Jewish temple “entirely inaccessible.” I regard the passage describing “Paulinus” as an obvious spoof on the Apostle Paul.
And now Lupus, the governor of Alexandria, upon the receipt of Caesar’s letter, came to the temple, and carried out of it some of the donations dedicated thereto, and shut up the temple itself.
And as Lupus died a little afterward, Paulinus succeeded him. This man left none of those donations there, and threatened the priests severely if they did not bring them all out; nor did he permit any who were desirous of worshipping God there so much as to come near the whole sacred place;
but when he had shut up the gates, he made it entirely inaccessible, insomuch that there remained no longer the least footsteps of any Divine worship that had been in that place.
Now the duration of the time from the building of this temple till it was shut up again was three hundred and forty-three years.
Wars of the Jews, 7, 10, 433-436
The spoof of Paul is interesting in that it brings up the question of when the different pieces of the New Testament were written. While it is possible that there were earlier versions of the New Testament, at some point the four Gospels were unified into their present satiric whole. Someone with editorial control manipulated the New Testament and Wars of the Jews into alignment with one another. In this sense, all of the four Gospels must have been written at the same time.
Another question this analysis raises is, who maintained control over the finished product? The authors, having placed veiled revelations as to the religion’s real origin in the four Gospels, had to devise some method to assure that these revelations would not be edited out by later redactors. For example, if one of the statements of fact in the different versions of Jesus’ resurrections were changed or omitted, then the combined story would lose its logic. And the same problem would exist for the other half of this satirical system, the works of Josephus.
Josephus concludes Wars of the Jews with the strange tale of a “Jonathan,” one of the Sicarii, and a “Catullus,” a Roman governor who makes a false accusation against Josephus, as well as a “Bernice” and an “Alexander,” for starting Jonathan’s “innovation.” “Innovation” is the word Josephus uses to describe the religious sect of the Sicarii because it was a new version, or “innovation” of Judaism. In effect, the three were falsely accused of making someone create a new Judaic sect.
Jonathan was clearly a messianic individual who, like Jesus, prevailed with the poor by showing them “signs and apparitions.” Because Jonathan was the name of one of the five sons of Matthias Maccabee, this is another example of the connection that Josephus draws between that family and the Sicarii. There is also a satiric logic to Josephus’ dealing with “Jonathan” at this point in Wars of the Jews. As he has already “dealt” with the other four sons of Matthias Maccabee—Eleazar, Simon, Judas, and John—he now concludes his work with the destructi
on of the last one, Jonathan.
BOOK 7, CHAPTER 11 - CONCERNING JONATHAN, ONE OF THE SICARII, THAT STIRRED UP A SEDITION IN CYRENE, AND WAS A FALSE ACCUSER [OF THE INNOCENT].
AND now did the madness of the Sicarii, like a disease, reach as far as the cities of Cyrene;
for one Jonathan, a vile person, and by trade a weaver, came thither and prevailed with no small number of the poorer sort to give ear to him; he also led them into the desert, upon promising them that he would show them signs and apparitions.
And as for the other Jews of Cyrene, he concealed his knavery from them, and put tricks upon them; but those of the greatest dignity among them informed Catullus, the governor of the Libyan Pentapolis, of his march into the desert, and of the preparations he had made for it.
Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus:Flavian Signature Edition Page 31
