| BibleFacts |
Josephus Notes
by Ken Johnson Th.D.
|
On Church History |
The following are general notes from the writings of Joephus:
- Book 1
- Each day in creation is one real day.
- Men made up of body soul and spirit.
- The four rivers that run out of Eden are Ganges, Tigris, and Nile.
- God spared Cain because of his sacrifice, and cast him & wife over many
countries to the land of Nod.
- Cain invented weights & measures, robbery, rapine.
- Lamech had 77 kids by his 2 wives,
- Tubal was famous in martial performances.
- Naamah bot-lemech was skilful in divination. She knew Lemech woould be
punished for Cain’s murder.
- Abel was slain when Adam was 230.
- Adam predicted the earth would be destroyed by fire & flood, so Seth’s
people made 2 pillars & inscribed their inventions of astronomy on them so
future descendents would know the stone one remains in Sirid today.
- Fallen sons of God, the Greeks called giants.
- When Adam was 9l2 he delivers the government to Cainan. Then it went to
Methuselah then Lemech then Noah.
- Flood water was 15 cubits higher than the earth.
- Ararat mountain called bans.
- Do not doubt the life spans of the ancients. God gave them that for
studying the stars, the great year is completed in 600 yrs.
- Nimrod changed the government to tyranny, built a tower of brick & mortar
made of bitumen, the Sybil says when men were of one speech winds
destroyed the tower & their speech was made many. After the destruction of the
tower some priests took the vessels of Jupiter to Shinar. About this time some
passed over and inhabited the islands.
- Sarai was Abrams niece.
- After the death of Haran, Terah moved to Haran of Mesopotamia.
- Abram was famous for astrology in Egypt, and Damascus. He brought math and
astrology to Egypt.
- He dwelt in Haran; which was 7yrs. more ancient than Tanis.
- Then the Syrians conquered all Asia Minor and destroyed the giants.
- Abram dwelt near the oak called Ogyges not far from Hebron.
- 3 angles of god visited Abram. 1 to declare Sarah’s pregnancy and 2 two
destroy Sodom, by a thunder bolt and fire.
- Josephus saw the pillar of salt (Lot’s wife).
- Arabians are circumcised at13 years of age, patterned after Ishmael.
- The Jacob-Laban pillar is called Gilead.
- Jacob won the struggle with the angel, the angel said this is a sign of a
great blessing don’t fear Esau.
- BOOK 2
- Jacob was pleased with Joseph’s dream.
- The Egyptians are prohibited to meddle with feeding sheep.
- Joseph’s dad and
brothers were buried in Canaan but Joseph wasn’t taken out of Egypt until the
Exodus.
- One of the scribes told of a savior so the king had the babies killed
in Nile.
- By the time of the Exodus the 70 had become over 600,000.
- Abram was
the 7 generation of Moses.
- This savior would bring the Egyptians down low and raise the Israelites.
His posterity would have the priesthood until the end of the world.
- Thermuthis
took Moses for her own, the scribes foretold that he would bring down Egypt so
they tried to kill him, when the Ethiopians invaded they had Moses attack
because they knew he couldn’t be beat. Moses besieged the capital but it was
surrounded by a mote filled with poisoned snakes.
- So Moses took Ibes who
attacked the snakes, the kings daughter saw Moses and fell in love with him
and let the drawbridge down on the condition the he would marry her, so he
agreed.
- The Egyptians purposed to kill him again so he fled to Midian.
- The
burning bush was a thorn bush with green leaves & flowers, no man had ever
been there before because the place was divine, the rod that became a serpent
coiled it self and raised its head ready to strike, Gods name was never before
reviled.
- When Moses understood that the pharaoh he fled from was dead, he
asked leave of Reuel to go back to Egypt.
- Moses did not despise the magician’s craft.
- The plagues never happened to any other nation. (as bad)
- Not only was the water the color of blood but those who drank it had great
pains & bitter torment. But it was ok for the Hebrews.
- Frogs consumed the fruit and contaminated the water and produce. This
caused an ungrateful smell.
- The hail was not like the hail that comes down normally.
- During the darkness their breathing was hindered because of the thickness
of the air.
- They came to a place called baãlzephon (may not be spelled correctly) on
the Red Sea on the 3 day.
- The exodus was 1430 yrs. after they left Canaan and 215 after they came to
Egypt.
- They carried the bones of Joseph with them.
- They went the way the did so the philistines would not know they left
Egypt.
- Moses went first into the Red Sea.
- There were
thunders and lightings and thunderbolts and rains at that time, the next day
Moses gathered up all the weapons and armor of the Egyptians that he could
find.
- BOOK 3
- Manna was: in taste like honey. In body like bdellium. In isze like
coriander seed. In color like snow. Joshua Ben Nun was of Ephraim.
- They came to Mt. Sinai in
3 months time.
- On Mt. Sinai there was thunder lighting, thunderbolts, rain and
a tempest.
- The tabernacle had 2 pillars made of silver with brass bases.
- The
table in the holy place was like those at Delphi.
- The 7 branch candlestick
(after the 7 planets) had knops lilies and bowls (70 in all after the 70
stations of the 7 planets)
- The breastplate was called Essen (Essenes?) known
to the Greeks as oracle. The 12 stones were each named after a tribe in order
of their birth. (the 70 were called decani) The 4 elements; red for fire,
purple for sea, linnen for earth, blue for air these were the color of the veil’s.
- The 12
stones are also symbolic of the zodiac.
- The Urim & Thuminim were on the
breastplate. If god was present the right shoulder, a Sard, would glow. If
they were to be victorious in battle the 12 stones would glow, but the one to
lead would glow the brightest. It left off shining after the Babylonian
captivity until the time of the Maccabees. It quit again 200 years before
Josephus wrote antiquities.
- He explains all the sacrifices and festivals.
- Moses made their trumpets 2 out of silver a little less than a cubit.
- They found in Hebron the posterity of the giants.
- BOOK 4
- Korah was of Moses family of the Levites and was older & richer & more
experienced and wished to rule in Moses place and to be high
priest in place of Aaron.
- So he raised a clamor against Moses (of which Dathan
& Abram were a part). All 250 were destroyed in the earthquake except Korah
who was in the tabernacle with Aaron offering sacrifices to see which would be
priest. A fire came down and consumed everything including Korah except Aaron.
- When Miriam died the high priest slew a red heifer, at the time of the Baalim
in numbers, Baalim lived by the Euphrates and was the greatest of all prophets
at that time.
- Chapter 8 describes the government and laws in which he says that what we
call a witch is some one who uses medicine as poisons to kill people.
And they are to be killed in the manner that they were going to kill (with
their poison).
- Moses composed a poem in hexameter verse that contained a prediction
of all things to happen. They had all come true, so far in Josephus time, but
there was more to come.
- Moses foretold what would happen to each of the 12 tribes. (Psalms)
- Moses died in the last month of the year, 1st of Adar.
- BOOK 5
- The Hebrews pitched camp 10 furlongs from Jericho. They cast lots for each
tribe. (For land)
- The long day of Joshua is in the18th psalm of Solomon and Sirach 6:4.
- Joshua was buried in Timnah. Eleazer’s monument and sculpture is
at Gabatha. The prophecy of Caiaphas is on pg.134.
-
- (About Jesus) Dan suffered in like manner as Benjamin. (Assyrian)
- Gideon
heard of the enemy’s dream of a barley cake. pg. 141
-
- Delilah was a harlot. Samson’s hair grew again before his death, and he is
buried in Sarasat.
- Samuel started prophesying at the age of 12 and all he
prophesies came to pass. The posterity of Eli retained the priest hood until
in the days of Solomon, the posterity of Eleazar resumed it.
- BOOK 6
- The divine power departed from Saul and removed to David. Saul’s demoniacal
attacks caused suffocations and choking.
- Michael really loved David.
- When Saul
slew Abimelech the priest and his family at Nob, this fulfilled what God had
told to Eli (Eli’s posterity destroyed).
- At that time the tabernacle and the
school of the prophets was at Nob.
- Samuel died, he ruled 12 years alone after
Eli and 18 more with Saul.
- The medium of Endor actually called up Samuel’s
spirit from Hades. She was a very good woman.
- Saul was beheaded and buried in Aroua. Saul ruled 18 yrs with Samuel & 2 yrs after Samuel’s death.
- BOOK 7
- 200 of the tribe of Issachar foreknew David’s being king by astronomy.
- In
Abraham’s time Jerusalem was called Salem, or solyma but melechizedek called
it hierosolyma.
- It was 515 yrs from the time of Joshua overcoming the
Canaanites to when David took Jerusalem.
- Michal had 5 kids but not by David.
- David wanted to build the temple as Moses had predicted it to be built.
- Joab’s
armor bearer was Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba.
- God told Nathan about David
killing Uriah in a dream.
- Absalom was in Jerusalem 4 yrs, not 40 as the kjv
says.
- Just as Nathan predicted, David’s son rose up in rebellion against him. Absalom’s daughter Tamar married Rehoboam and had Abijah.
- The angel slew
70,000 Israeli by a disease (some had great pains, some died instantly, while
others were blinded). Araunah the Jebusite (threshing floor) was a particular
friend of David so when he overthrew the city he did him no harm.
- About the
threshing floor, Abraham offered Isaac on that same place so David choose that
spot to build the temple. And the Lord confermed it by the prophets.
- David
never had sex with Abishag (he was to old).
- David ordered 24 courses of
priests only form the ages of 30 to 50.
- The mercy seat is called Gods chariot.
- When Solomon was appointed king, Zadok alone was appointed high priest. David
lived 70 yrs. And was buried in Jerusalem. 1300 yrs latter (Antiochus) his
grave was opened and the high priest, hyrcanus took money to Antiochus. Herod
did likewise.