Category: Jewish History

Josephus – Antiquities of the Jews

Posted on by Pastor David Cox

Josephus’ studies of Jewish culture. “Now I have undertaken the present work, as thinking it will appear to all the Greeks worthy of their study; for it will contain all our antiquities, and the constitution of our government, as interpreted out of the Hebrew Scriptures.” Josephan scholar, Louis Feldman, highlights several of the misconceptions about the Jewish people that were being circulated in Josephus’ time. In particular, the Jews were thought to lack great historical figures and a credible history of their people. They were also accused of harboring hostility toward non-Jews, and were thought to be generally lacking in loyalty, respect for authority, and charity.[4] With these harsh accusations against the Jews fluttering about the Roman empire, Josephus, formerly Joseph ben Matthias, set out to provide a Hellenized version of the Jewish history.

Carroll – Between the Testaments

Posted on by Pastor David Cox

Between the Testaments was written by famed Southern Baptist preacher, B.H. Carroll. Carroll guides the reader through the history between the Old Testament and the New Testament. At the conclusion of each chapter there are a set of study questions for the Bible student to digest and answer.

Bellett, J.G. – Strength from God from Ezra Nehemiah & Esther

Posted on by Pastor David Cox

Bellett-Strength from God: Meditations for our Time from Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. These are devotional type meditations on these people and their ministries and places in Christian History.

Josephus – Against Apion

Posted on by Pastor David Cox

This is a brief two chapter work by Jewish historian Flavius Josephus on his arguments against Apion. Against Apion was a polemical work written by Flavius Josephus as a defense of Judaism as a classical religion and philosophy, stressing its antiquity against what he perceived as more recent traditions of the Greeks.

Josephus {Jewish}- The Life of Josephus

Posted on by Pastor David Cox

Also called the “Life of Flavius Josephus”, is an autobiographical text written by Josephus in approximately 94-99 CE – possibly as an appendix to his Antiquities of the Jews (cf. Life 430) – where the author for the most part re-visits the events of the War, apparently in response to allegations made against him by Justus of Tiberias (cf. Life 336).