The Jewish War (Oxford World's Classics)

“The Jewish War”, written in 78CE, offers a detailed account of a turbulent and calamitous period in Jewish history. The Roman-Jewish historian begins with the Hasmonaean Dynasty and the historic struggle between the Greeks and Jews, Josephus, himself, a descendent of the Hasmonaean lineage. Details of Greek Kings, Greek dominion over Israel, Jewish Kings and periods of Jewish triumph follow.Pompeii, the Roman general arrived on the scene in Israel in 63BCE, hastened in by rival brothers, and effectively ended the Hasmonaean Dynasty. Josephus’ account inevitably turns to the Roman Jewish wars lasting from 63BCE to 72CE. However, the Jewish revolts against Rome continued for more than another 60 years.Josephus’ account of the Jewish Roman wars begins with Augustus, and his rise as emperor of the Roman Empire. The Jews, staunch believers in their faith and the right to independence in their own land set them at odds with the hegemony of Roman rule.Josephus, born into a family of wealth and priesthood in 37CE, later became a general in the Jewish army. Josephus, commander of the Galilee (northern Israel), battles the Romans together with his Jewish brethren until the fateful day of his colorful capture, during the 60’s.Josephus’ work provides not only an account of Jewish history, and the wars with Rome and Hellenism but it is also a descriptive view into the era, rich with details for example, of the goings-on in King Herod’s court.Of the war between Rome and the Jews, Josephus describes the fall of the Jewish towns and cities, describes the calamity of slaughter in horrific detail, including burning and crucifixion.Josephus begins the narrative expressing love for his people but throughout his work, blames the zealots who fought Rome, excuses his own cowardice acts, praises the brutal Roman victories while endlessly deriding, belittling and demonizing the rebels with whom he once fought. The derision of his fellow Jews however, should be tempered with the knowledge that Josephus was a captive of the Romans, though freed by Vespasian, and Titus, who would read his works.

Following up on the other review, I also have the Kindle version, which I am reading on an Ipad, and I am not experiencing the same problems. I agree that the translation, introduction, and footnotes are more readable and helpful than the Penguin version, and while it's been a while since I read the Penguin version on my Kindle (which I did for a class that I taught and am repeating this year), I seem to recall that the text appeared to have been scanned in from the print version, and errors were not corrected (the font in Penguin paperbacks doesn't seem to be conducive to scanning--probably not a design consideration when the decision was made to use it many years ago). When I bought the Kindle version of this translation, I didn't realize that I already had the Penguin version--I consider that to be a fortunate oversight because buying this version was a great improvement.

I think it is rather sad to read this classic in the freely available Whiston translation from 18th century. It deserves extensive annotation, comparison with modern archeological research, plus language that is not obsolete. The Louis Feldman translation is of course superior to this one, but it also comes at truly prohibitive cost and it is not available electronically as far as I can see. So this translation is the way to go.I did not like everything about this book. The translator goes out of his way to use modern concepts and vernacular phrases in a way that is rather unnecessary. I mean, "higgledy-piggledy", really? The annotations are very helpful. Still, I needed to read several other books (Companion to Josephus, The building program of Herod the Great, and From the Maccabees to the Mishnah) before I could appreciate the circumstances of the events described in the book. You will also need a good map of Roman Levant.

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The print is a bit small to read comfortably. If I keep having issues, I’ll donate it to my library and purchase a copy with better font.

I had only ever been familiar with the Whiston translation. Was glad to see a this new translation and I found it much more enjoyable.

This is an exciting book that fills the gap of the Bible during the inter-testamental period as well as providing the historical background to the New Testament in addition to the key event of interest, which is the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in AD70 – the fulfilment of the Olivet Discourse in the Bible. I can see that people may find the details tedious but I love it. Josephus was a leader in the Jewish revolt. He was captured by the Romans and later served as a mediator in the siege of Jerusalem. It is interesting therefore to hear how the people of the period thought and reasoned. The tension between the Romans and the Jews and among different sects within the Jewish community is also valuable historical background to our understanding of the New Testament. Josephus would like to see himself as a historian but as the endnotes point out time and time again, he was prone to exaggeration and sometimes details were not as accurate.Nonetheless, it is very readable. It is an example for excellent descriptive writing. There are endless dramas, intrigues and rousing speeches that keep the suspense. The deployment of the language is spot on – I suspect a credit to the translator as much as to the author. However it cannot escape that this is a war drama. The scenes are brutal and there are atrocities that make you cringe. It is not for the faint-hearted. If you have vivid imagination, it is a movie in the genre of horror and violence and moral depravity. If it were not history, one would have scorned it as exaggeration. But since the event had happened and was of biblical significance, we read it not as entertainment but for reflection on human wickedness, God’s providence and judgement. Perhaps I should not be surprised but what happened there two millennia ago has been repeating and in some ways, I feel I was watching our current episode playing out in the book. It is a stark warning of our time. When a train is going down a precipice and gain momentum, does anyone have the strength to halt its track to destruction? There were many brave attempts to do exactly that, but all had failed. Is this the weight of history? Many passengers were reluctant participants in the train wreck but we trust that God is just and most important of all for us individually is that our conscience is clear and we are able to face God in His judgement seat. Moral dilemma of our time are getting increasingly personal.About this version, apart from the quality of translation as aforementioned, I also find the introduction helpful to give an evaluation of this work and how it has been preserved and received in different communities. It is also packed with helpful endnotes that, among other things, point out Josephus’ inaccuracy and cross reference internally to this work and also externally with other sources as well.

Important piece of history. Reading the first hand account, the words from a man living 2000 years ago (albeit in translation) is a great experience.