Notes On Josephus Book 4

Book 4
Shutt, 20.
Book IV. From the capture of Gamala to the approach of Titus against Jerusalem.
Mason, 19.
From Vespasian’s appointment to the fall of Josephus’s northern command—except Gamala,
Tabor, and Gischala (spring to late autumn, 67 C.E.). The narrative slows dramatically, after a
survey of the terrifying Roman forces and a digression on the (alleged) invincibility of the
legions, to highlight the few weeks of Josephus’s brilliant defense before his surrender. Apart
from his leadership, the war in Galilee is a non-event following Sepphoris’s pre-emptive
capitulation and the scattering of potential fighters. So the Galilean war is over with Josephus’s
drawn-out surrender at Iotapata (Yodefat). As a favor to Agrippa II, however, Vespasian and
Titus confront his newly restive city of Tiberias, and militants who flee from there to Tarichea.
Eyal Regev, “Josephus, the Temple, and the Jewish War” in Flavius Josephus: Interpretation and
History (SJSJ 146, Brill.), 280f.
At a certain stage during their reign, the Zealots nominated a court of seventy lay judges at the
temple (War 4.36).
Josephus states that the temple became the rebels’ fortress, “the headquarters of their Tyranny”
(War 4.151).
Gurion and Simon son of Gamliel assemble the people and urge them “to purge the sanctuary of
its bloodstained polluters” (War 4.159).
Annaus’ major aim is to urge the adherents of the peace party to act against the Zealots,
demonstrated by his call: “Will you wait for the Romans to succor our holy places?” (War 4.173).
He mourns the abominations committed in the temple, since its unapproachable and hallowed
places are crowded with murderers (War 4.163). The central role of the temple in this speech is
also stressed by its context: indigna- tion towards the Zealots’ occupation of the Sanctuary, and
by Josephus portrayal of Annaus as gazing on the temple during his speech (Ibid. 162). Josephus
also adds that Annaus was speaking as a high priest (Ibid. 164). Annuas seals his speech declaring
that he is willing to die for the sake of “God and the Sanctuary” (War 4.191).
The Zealots who were wounded in the clashes in the city climbed up to the temple, staining the
sacred pavement with their blood, hence their blood de led the sanctuary (War 4.201).
The high priest Annaus son of Annaus decided not to attack the Zealots in the temple, because,
among other things, his troops were ‘without previous purification’ (mē proēgneukos), and must
have been purified before entering it (War 4.204–205).
In his speech, the high priest Jesus son of Gamliel condemns the Zealots for polluting the
hallowed ground with their impiety, being intoxicated in the sanctuary, and expending the spoils
of their slaughtered victims upon their insatiable bellies (War 4.241–242).
Josephus gives a hint concerning the Zealot temple ideology when he mentions the Idumaeans’
aim to protect “the house of God” (War 4.281).
Mason, “Essenes and Lurking Spartans in Josephus’ Judean War,” (Making History: Josephus and
Historical Method. SJSJ 110. Brill), 237. Josephus reflects that he tried hard to “measure off ”
(συµµετρέω) the beginning and ending sections of the War, symmetrically, and analysis of the
War shows that he did just that. The central panel or fulcrum is occupied by the fateful murder of
Ananus and Jesus (4.326–365; cf. 7.267), which marked the beginning of the tyranny,
irredeemable stasis, and catastrophe.
Mason, “Essenes and Lurking Spartans in Josephus’ Judean War,” (Making History: Josephus and
Historical Method. SJSJ 110. Brill), 245. Later in the War he claims that the Zealots “polluted the
Deity” when they left corpses unburied beneath the sun (War 4.382–383; cf. 3.377; 4.317).
Regev. Later on, in another crucial step towards the completion of the so-called coup d’état in
Jerusalem, a er the death of the high priests Annaus son of Annaus and Jesus son of Gamliel, the
historian explains that God desired to purge the sanctuary by re, due to its pollutions (War
4.323). A bit later he mentions a mysterious prophecy that “the sanctuary will be burnt to the
ground by right of war whensoever it should be visited by sedition and native hands should be
the first to defile God’s sacred precincts” (War 4.388).

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