posted on Jun, 18 2004 @ 03:37 PM
Hello Mynaeris:
REF YOUR QUOTE from the TESTIMONIUM FLAVIUM of Jospehus (AD 90)
"Josephus mentions Jesus in Antiquities, Book 18, chapter 3, paragraph 3 (this paragraph is so phenomenal, that scholars now debate the authenticity
of some of the more �favorable� portions of this text): "
Here is some background on that curiously wrought section of his Antiquities, whose Greek syntax, grammar, outlook, vocabulary or overall writing
style does NOT match the rest of the book (clue #1)
REF: the Socalled Testimonium Flavium of Josephus.
It is clear that the present text of the Antiquities of the Jews from which this quote was taken has been doctored over by later Christians in the
middle ages in the copying process:
But even with all the Interpolations, one can STILL see a vestige of the original Josephus underneath, and what sections the "additions" are simply
by examining the interruptive grammar and syntax of those pesky Christian copyists.
Here is what the Christianized (doctored) Christian text of Jospehus says today on the page:
�Now there came about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful deeds, a teacher of such men as
receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the
suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to
them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of
Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.�
Here IN CAPS are some of the OBVIOUS CHRISTIAN INTERPOLATIONS from the Christian Scibes who later handled Josephu's Greek Text: Notice if you remove
them, the syntax of the Greek runs much more smoothly (i.e. they are "foreign"interruptions to the original text of the Flavium)
IF ONE COULD EVEN CALL HIM A MAN...
WHO RECEIVED THE TRUTH...
HE WAS THE CHRIST...
HE APPEARED AGAIN TO THEM ALIVE ON THE THIRD DAY ...
AS THE DIVINE PROPHETS HAD FORETOLD...
THESE AND TEN THOUSAND OTHER WONDERFUL THINGS ABOUT HIM...
Here is AN APPROXIMATE RECONSTRUCTION of what the text original Text would have originally read (i.e. without the added Christian INTERPOLATIONS.
There are various versions of Josphus on record in different copies of the MSS floating around over the past 2000 years which have different versions
of THESE INTERPOLATIONS in the Testimonium Flavium section (so named, because the historian "Josephus, although a Jew by birth" changed his name to
Flavius Josephus after the ruliung house of the Caesars who later supported him, i.e. after he turn-coated to the Roman side during the Jewish War in
70 AD).
These differences/variations in the MSS between the texts (some Greek, some Latin, some Russian, some Coptic etc.) only occur in the "added
sections" (capital letters above) which means those sections were not part of the original text.
HERE IS A PLAUSABLE RECONSTRUCTION (as you must know, Josephus was NOT a Christian and elsewhere visciously derides any Messianic pretenders in his
writings)
"Around this time arose a man named [Yeshua], a Rabbi [teacher]who surrounded himself with people who were eager for miracles. He gathered into his
following both Judaeans and Greek God-fearers, who held him to be the Christ. When Pilate, and the instigation of many of the highest ranking people
among us, condemned him to the cross [i.e. the punishment for armed sedition], those who followed him with devotion from the beginning still cherished
his memory, claiming many miraculous deeds had been worked by his hand, and that Tribe of Christians, as they are called, has not died out completely
even unto this day."
Notice how the cleaned up version tallies a little more with the kind of historian's tone when we compare it with say the writings of Cornelius
Tacitus, a Roman historian, senator, consul and governor of the province of Asia.
Concerning "Iesous" and his followers, Tacitus wrote,
"Nero�punished with every refinement the notoriously depraved Christians (as they were popularly called). Their originator, Christ, had been executed
in Tiberius' reign by the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate. But in spite of this temporary setback, the deadly superstition had broken out afresh,
not only in Judea (where this mischief had started) but even in Rome"
(The Annals of Imperial Rome, XV, 44).
In another place, Josephus commented on the trial of James, and identified Him as �the brother of Jesus, the so-called Christ� (20.9.1).
So you are right about Josephus writing about "Jeeezuzz" but what he wrote originally was different from what the Catholic Copyists put down on
paper in his name.