Why Josephus Matters

The Jewish Roman historian and military commander Flavius Josephus was a prolific author, who wrote accounts of the First Roman-Jewish War alongside a larger history of Judaism. Born Yosef Ben Matityahu in the Roman province of Judea at Jerusalem, he was initially a general in the Jewish revolt before switching sides and serving the Roman military commander Vespasian. Yosef claimed that Jewish messianic prophecies predicted that Vespasian would become Emperor. And when Vespasian seized the throne, he patronized Yosef who took the name Flavius Josephus (after Vespasian’s clan name). Josephus is our single most important source for the history of Judea in the First Century AD (the time of Jesus), but his own bias and agenda require his works to be read with care. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will review Josephus’ works and will highlight some of the most important takeaways.

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