What We Can Learn from Josephus

Feb. 24 2015

The ancient Jewish historian Josephus is best known today for his Jewish Wars, which chronicles the great revolt against Roman rule in Judea (in which Josephus himself participated). But, Jacob Feeley points out, he has won the attention neither of experts on ancient Judaism nor of historians of ancient Rome:

Indeed, outside his usual haunts, Josephus appears rather like a strange guest at a dinner party, politely acknowledged with smiles or nods, but rarely approached. This is in part understandable. That Josephus wrote in Greek, an extremely difficult language which takes years if not decades to master, may deter students of Jewish studies in particular. Josephus, moreover, does not speak as readily to the immediate concerns of contemporary Jewry.

When scholars do pay attention to Josephus, Feeley continues, they focus on the Jewish Wars at the expense of his other, equally important and quite fascinating works devoted to explaining Jews and Judaism to a Greek-speaking and largely Gentile audience:

The Jewish Antiquities, completed around 90 CE, is a narrative account of the history of the Jews from creation up until the Roman conquest of Judea. It includes substantial expansions to the Hebrew Bible that only a handful of scholars have investigated. How many are familiar with Josephus’ extended tale of how Moses was picked by Pharaoh to lead a joint army of Egyptians and Hebrews against the Ethiopians, who had previously invaded Egypt, and how Moses also married the Ethiopian princess after successfully defeating the Ethiopians—all well before he liberated the enslaved Israelites? Or his assertion that Abraham was versed in Chaldean science? Or that Solomon was skilled in magical healing rites?

Read more at Ancient Jew Review

More about: Ancient Israel, History & Ideas, Josephus, Judaic Studies, Judean Revolt, Moses

Egypt Is Trapped by the Gaza Dilemma It Helped to Create

Feb. 14 2025

Recent satellite imagery has shown a buildup of Egyptian tanks near the Israeli border, in violation of Egypt-Israel agreements going back to the 1970s. It’s possible Cairo wants to prevent Palestinians from entering the Sinai from Gaza, or perhaps it wants to send a message to the U.S. that it will take all measures necessary to keep that from happening. But there is also a chance, however small, that it could be preparing for something more dangerous. David Wurmser examines President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi’s predicament:

Egypt’s abysmal behavior in allowing its common border with Gaza to be used for the dangerous smuggling of weapons, money, and materiel to Hamas built the problem that exploded on October 7. Hamas could arm only to the level that Egypt enabled it. Once exposed, rather than help Israel fix the problem it enabled, Egypt manufactured tensions with Israel to divert attention from its own culpability.

Now that the Trump administration is threatening to remove the population of Gaza, President Sisi is reaping the consequences of a problem he and his predecessors helped to sow. That, writes Wurmser, leaves him with a dilemma:

On one hand, Egypt fears for its regime’s survival if it accepts Trump’s plan. It would position Cairo as a participant in a second disaster, or nakba. It knows from its own history; King Farouk was overthrown in 1952 in part for his failure to prevent the first nakba in 1948. Any leader who fails to stop a second nakba, let alone participates in it, risks losing legitimacy and being seen as weak. The perception of buckling on the Palestine issue also resulted in the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s assassination in 1981. President Sisi risks being seen by his own population as too weak to stand up to Israel or the United States, as not upholding his manliness.

In a worst-case scenario, Wurmser argues, Sisi might decide that he’d rather fight a disastrous war with Israel and blow up his relationship with Washington than display that kind of weakness.

Read more at The Editors

More about: Egypt, Gaza War 2023