And let's just say, he wasn't a fan.
Josephus minces no words. He tells us that the "wisest men" justly rebuked these notions, openly mocking the idea that gods could be young and beardless, or old and bearded. He scoffs at the notion of gods being tradesmen – a smith, a weaver – or warriors who actually fight with men! Imagine, the divine brawling amongst themselves, squabbling over mortals, even being wounded by them!
According to Josephus, the biggest offense was the sheer lasciviousness ascribed to the gods. Unbounded lust, rampant affairs… and not just between the goddesses and gods, but with mortals too! He asks, how could anyone take seriously the idea of a chief god, a "first father," who turns a blind eye to his own transgressions, allowing goddesses he's impregnated to be imprisoned or drowned? And even more, this all-powerful being is so bound by fate that he can't save his own children, and weeps openly at their deaths?
"These are fine things indeed!" Josephus sarcastically remarks.
He points out the absurdity of adulteries being so casually accepted, even envied, in heaven. He brings up the king of the gods himself, unable to control his lust, sneaking into the bedchamber of his wife. And it gets worse. Some gods are reduced to servants, building for a mere reward or tending flocks. Others are imprisoned like common criminals. Would any sane person, Josephus asks, not be provoked by such tales? Wouldn’t they rebuke the storytellers and condemn those foolish enough to believe them?
Josephus even highlights the darker side of these beliefs. He says that some have elevated timidity, fear, madness, fraud – all the vilest passions – into the very nature of gods. They've persuaded entire cities to offer sacrifices, forced to appease some gods as givers of good things and others as averters of evil. People try to bribe them with gifts, as if they were the vilest of men, only hoping to avoid some great misfortune.
It makes you think, doesn't it? What does it say about a society when its gods are portrayed as flawed, even morally bankrupt? What does it mean when people are driven by fear and bribery in their relationship with the divine? Josephus certainly found it appalling. He saw it as a sign of intellectual and moral bankruptcy. And while we might appreciate these myths as stories, it's worth remembering that not everyone saw them as harmless entertainment. For some, they were a dangerous reflection of humanity's own failings.