9,687 related texts · Page 29 of 202
And his response? A powerful and passionate defense of the Jewish people, a work we know as Against Apion. Now, the title Against Apion is a bit misleading, at least for this first...
Josephus begins by expressing his astonishment at those who insist on relying solely on Greek sources when seeking information about the most ancient events. Why, he asks, should w...
He’s wading into a historical debate, and it's more tangled than you might think. Josephus brings up Berosus, a Babylonian priest and historian, who wrote a Chaldean History. Beros...
It's not just about finding one source and calling it a day. It's a puzzle, drawing together different accounts, comparing notes, and seeing where they align. And sometimes, the mo...
Apion, see, had a laundry list of complaints against the Jews. Josephus, in his work Against Apion, takes each one head-on. And in this particular section, Apion throws a few zinge...
It’s a question worth asking, because the answer might surprise you. : those who create systems of order, who value living under laws, they're often seen as better, more virtuous p...
It’s a charge that’s been leveled against the Jewish people for centuries. Even Josephus, way back in the first century C.E., tackled this very criticism in his work, Against Apion...
Josephus, a fascinating figure from the first century – a Jewish historian who lived through the Roman conquest of Judea – grappled with this very question in his writings. In his ...
Josephus, in his work Against Apion, gives us a glimpse into the Jewish understanding of this concept, and it’s surprisingly profound. Josephus argues that there should be one cent...
Maybe we should look back, way back, to some ancient wisdom. Flavius Josephus, a first-century Romano-Jewish scholar, in his work Against Apion, gives us a glimpse into the values ...
It’s a question that sits at the heart of Jewish identity, and one that Josephus, the first-century Romano-Jewish historian, grapples with in his work, Against Apion. He's essentia...
And in the ancient world, it was no different. Flavius Josephus, the first-century Romano-Jewish scholar and historian, knew this all too well. In his work, Against Apion, he passi...
The ark landed in Armenia, and according to Josephus, the locals were still showing off pieces of it in the first century CE. He calls the site Apobaterion (αποβατηριον)—"The Place...
Nimrod wanted revenge on God. That's how Josephus frames the Tower of Babel—not as a confused construction project, but as one man's deliberate act of defiance against the Creator ...
Everyone in Mesopotamia worshipped the stars. The sun, the moon, the constellations—they were the gods of Chaldea, and no one questioned it. No one except Abraham. According to Jos...
Moses struck a rock and a river came pouring out. Not a trickle, not a seep—a full river, bursting from dry stone in the middle of the desert, clear and sweet enough to make an ent...
A father's rash vow cost him the only thing he loved. Jephthah, the illegitimate son of Gilead, was thrown out by his own half-brothers for being born to a foreign woman. He fled t...
David never went to war without consulting God first. According to Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews, this was the defining principle of his military career—and when the Philisti...
Winning the war was the easy part. David's real challenge began the moment Absalom was dead—because a kingdom that had just rebelled against its king does not simply welcome him ho...
A prophet named Jadon traveled from Jerusalem to Bethel to deliver one of the most dramatic prophecies in Israelite history—and was killed on the way home because he stopped for di...
Jehoram, king of Jerusalem, started his reign by murdering all his brothers. Then he married Athaliah, daughter of Ahab, and she taught him to worship foreign gods. It went downhil...
A one-year-old baby survived a massacre that wiped out the entire royal family of Judah. Athaliah, daughter of the infamous Ahab, heard that her brother Joram, her son Ahaziah, and...
The story of Esther begins with a drunken king and a queen who said no. King Artaxerxes of Persia hosted a lavish feast—180 days of celebration for his court, then seven more days ...
Alexander the Great conquered most of the known world by age thirty, but Josephus tells a story about the one city he did not need to take by force. When Alexander marched on Jerus...
The Tobiads were a Jewish family who became the most powerful tax collectors in the Ptolemaic Empire—and nearly destroyed Judea in the process. Josephus tells the story of Joseph b...
After Judas Maccabeus fell in battle, everything he had fought for nearly collapsed. Josephus opens Book XIII of his Antiquities with a bleak picture: the lawless and the disloyal ...
The Seleucid Empire was tearing itself apart, and Jonathan knew exactly how to exploit it. Josephus records that after Alexander Balas overthrew Demetrius I and claimed the Syrian ...
After defeating the rebellion, Alexander Jannaeus returned to Jerusalem and made his enemies pay in the most horrifying way possible. Josephus records the scene: Alexander captured...
The real power behind the Jewish throne in the first century BCE was not a Jew at all. Antipater, an Idumean whose family had converted to Judaism only a generation or two earlier,...
Herod had the throne, but the Hasmonean family still haunted him. His wife Mariamne was a Hasmonean princess. Her mother Alexandra was relentless in promoting Hasmonean claims. And...
Mariamne was everything Herod wanted and everything he feared. A Hasmonean princess of extraordinary beauty, she gave him legitimate connection to the dynasty he had overthrown. Jo...
Herod tore down the Second Temple and rebuilt it from scratch. Not because it was falling apart. Because it wasn't grand enough for him. According to Josephus in Antiquities XV, He...
Two Torah scholars convinced their students to tear a golden eagle off the Temple gate in broad daylight. Herod burned them alive for it. According to Josephus in Antiquities XVII,...
Herod died the way he lived: in agony, surrounded by plots, and trying to control what happened after he was gone. His body was rotting while he was still inside it. According to J...
A queen from Mesopotamia converted to Judaism, moved to Jerusalem, and saved the city from famine. Her name was Helena of Adiabene, and she was one of the most remarkable converts ...
The holiday of Sukkot, as we know, is based on the biblical verse, "You shall live in booths seven days" (Leviticus 23:42). We build these temporary dwellings, the sukkot (plural o...
We all know the story: he led the Israelites out of Egypt, received the Torah on Mount Sinai, and brought his people to the edge of the Promised Land. But then… he just disappears ...
The apocalyptic wars of Gog and Magog have ravaged the earth, leaving behind a landscape scarred by conflict and despair. But even in the darkest of times, hope flickers. Because f...
Baal HaSulam, in his introduction to the Zohar, points out a fundamental truth: we are all different. Our desires, our needs, our very thoughts, and even the way we educate ourselv...
And let me tell you, these journeys are not for the faint of heart. The stakes are incredibly high. The text we're looking at today deals with the consequences of disrespecting som...
Let me tell you, some of the old Jewish mystical texts go there – and then some. Today, we're diving into a particularly vivid passage from Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati...
The Maggid Meisharim, a fascinating text attributed to the great Kabbalist, Rabbi Joseph Karo (the same Joseph Karo who compiled the Shulchan Aruch, the Code of Jewish Law!), purpo...
Our guide on this journey is Da'at (Knowledge) Tevunot, a Kabbalistic text that delves into the depths of knowledge and wisdom. And our focus? A single, resonant line spoken by the...
And its answer is surprisingly simple, yet profoundly deep. According to this wisdom tradition, the first, most fundamental axiom – the unbreakable rule – is that absolutely everyt...
It all starts with unity. Specifically, the absolute, unparalleled oneness of Eyn Sof. Now, what is Eyn Sof? The term translates roughly to "without end," or "infinite." Think of i...
The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a Kabbalistic text, dives deep into this very question. It tells us that we must believe, with unwavering faith, that the Supreme Emanator—blessed be H...
And wrestling with that feeling – the interplay between our will and something greater – is at the heart of some pretty profound Jewish mystical thought. to Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah...
When we talk about God, about HaShem, the Name, we're talking about ultimate unity. But what does that even mean? The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a profound work of Jewish thought, di...
