Table Of ContentBIBLIOTHECA EPHEMERIDUM THEOLOGICARUM LOVANIENSIUM
CVIII
JOSEPHUS' ACCOUNT
OF THE EARLY DIVIDED MONARCHY
(AI 8,212-420)
REWRITING THE BIBLE
BY
CHRISTOPHER BEGG
LEUVEN UITGEVERIJ PEETERS
UNIVERSITY PRESS LEUVEN
1993
JOSEPHUS' ACCOUNT OF THE EARLY DIVIDED MONARCHY
BIBLIOTHECA EPHEMERIDUM THEOLOGICARUM LOVANIENSIUM
CVIII
JOSEPHUS' ACCOUNT
OF THE EARLY DIVIDED MONARCHY
(A J 8,212-420)
REWRITING THE BIBLE
BY
CHRISTOPHER BEGG
LEUVEN UITGEVERIJ PEETERS
UNIVERSITY PRESS LEUVEN
1993
CIP KONINKLIJKE BIBLIOTHEEK ALBERT I, BRUSSEL
ISBN 90 6186 536 0 (Leuven University Press)
D/1993/1869/12
ISBN 90-6831-506-4 (Uitgeverij Peeters)
D. 1993/0602/58
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form,
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FOREWORD
To the memory of my mother,
Joan Vessa Begg (1920-1962)
Duty and pleasure do not invariably coincide. In terminating this
project it is, however, a pleasant duty to cite the many persons who,
directly or indirectly, have assisted me in carrying it through to
completion.
I am conscious in first place of the great debt of gratitude I owe to
my past and present Ordinaries, William Wakefield Cardinal Baum and
James Cardinal Hickey. It has been their sustained support which
enabled me to pursue my scholarly interests through the years.
I am likewise deeply aware at this moment of all I have received from
the various communities with which I have been or am associated. Of
these, I am especially grateful to my family, my father and step-mother,
George and Catherine Begg, in particular, for their generous financial
backing and unfailing interest in the progress of my work. Equally
deserving of recognition in this context is my brother Joseph W. Begg,
who with enormous patience and perseverance inducted me into the
world of the word processor; without Joe's help I could never have
completed this work. On this occasion I have as well warm memories of
the staff and students of the American College, Leuven, Belgium, which
offered me a "a home away from home" during my Sabbatical, 1989-
1990. Another European Zuhause has been provided for me through
the years by my dear friends, Ida and Edna Fecker of Sigmaringen,
Germany, who so often overwhelmed me with their kindness. Still
another cherished community for me during the last decade has been
the parish family of St. Joseph's Church, Washington D.C., where I
have the privilege of serving as weekend assistant.
Colleagues and library personnel on both sides of the Atlantic have
also had a substantial hand in the realization of this project. Space
considerations do not allow me to name them individually, but I do
wish, at least, to express a word of collective gratitude to the professors
of the Faculty of Theology, Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, my
revered alma mater, to the members of the Department of Theology,
the Catholic University of America, Washington D.C., where I have
taught since 1982 and to the library staffs in both Leuven and Washing
ton. I am likewise deeply grateful to Prof. Louis Feldman, the world's
premier Josephus scholar, who has displayed such wonderful courtesy
and helpfulness in responding to a beginner's queries.
VIII FOREWORD
Finally, these acknowledgements would not be complete without
mention of two long-time, loyal priest friends, Rev. Michael Murray
and Msgr. Paul Langsfeld. Their solicitude, humor and availability
have given me the impetus to persevere.
I pray God's blessing on all the above persons who, in their varied
ways, have been the channels of his goodness to me.
Washington D.C., October, 1992 Christopher BEGG
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The text and translation of Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, Book 8, §§ 212-420,
are used by the permission of the publishers and the Loeb Classical Library
from H. St. John THACKERAY and Ralph MARCUS (trans.), Josephus, Vol. V,
Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1967.
The Greek text of this edition is reprinted on pp. 287-326. The critical
apparatus is not included there; variant readings are discussed in the course of
my commentary.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 1
I. The Split (AJ 8,212-224) 7
II. Jeroboam's Initiatives (AJ 8,225-229) 30
III. Bethel Confrontation (AJ 8,230-245) 41
IV. Rehoboam's Reign (AJ 8,246-264) 64
V. Abijah's Death (AJ 8,265-273) 86
VI. Jeroboam vs. Abijah (AJ 8,274-286) 97
VII. Baasha's Coup (AJ 8,287-289) 113
VIII. Asa's Victory (A J 8,290-297) 117
IX. Baasha vs. Asa (AJ 8,298-306) 129
X. North/South Contrast (AJ 8,307-315) 140
XI. Ahab Introduced (A J 8,316-318) 151
XII. Elijah's Initial Ministry (A/8,319-327) 156
XIII. Elijah on Carmel (AJ 8,328-346) 166
XIV. Elijah at Sinai (A J 8,347-354) 189
XV. Naboth's Murder (AJ 8,355-362) 199
XVI. Ahab's Syrian Wars (A J 8,363-392) 211
XVII. Jehoshaphat's Early Reign (AJ 8,393-397) 236
XVIII. Ahab's Death (AJ 8,398-420) 243
Conclusions 270
Jewish Antiquities 8,212-420 (Greek Text) 287
Bibliography 327
INDEXES
Abbreviations 339
Modern Authors 343
Josephan Passages 346
Biblical References 368
Other Ancient Writings 376
INTRODUCTION
My purpose in this study is a modest and limited one. I wish to
examine in some detail a segment of Josephus' Antiquitates Judaicae
(hereafter AJ), i.e. his account of the early divided monarchy from the
breakup of the nation following Solomon's death through the demise of
Ahab in the second half of Book 8 (§§ 212-420)x. I chose this passage
for investigation first of all because it constitutes a rather well-delimited
sequence within A J as a whole. The preceding first half of Book 8 (§§ 1-
211) is a self-contained account of the reign of Solomon2. It is true that
1. For the text and translation of Josephus' writings I base myself primarily on:
H.ST.J. THACKERAY, R. MARCUS, A. WIKGREN, L.H. FELDMAN, Josephus (LCL), Cam
bridge, MA - London, 1926-1965 (for AJ 8,212-420, see Vol. V, pp. 685-797 where the
translation and notes are by Marcus [hereafter Mar]). For purposes of comparison I have
likewise consulted the following editions and/or translations of Josephus: J. HUDSON and
S. HAVERCAMPUS, Flavii Josephi Opera Omnia, Amsterdam, 1726 (hereafter Hud); G. DIN-
DORF, Flavii Josephi Opera, Paris, 1845-1847 (hereafter DO; I. BEKKER, Flavii Josephi
Opera Omnia, Leipzig, 1855-1856 (hereafter Bk); B. NIESE, Flavii Josephi Opera. Editio
maior, Berlin, 1885-1895 (hereafter N); idem, Flavii Josephi Opera. Editio minor, Berlin,
1888-1895 (hereafter N*); S.A. NABER, Flavii Josephi Opera Omnia, Leipzig, 1888-1896
(hereafter Na); T. REINACH (ed.), CEuvres completes de Flavius Josephe, Paris, 1900-1932
(translation of and notes on AJ 8,212-420 by J. WEILL [hereafter W] are found in Vol. II,
1926, pp. 204-245); A. SCHALIT (trans.), Joseph ben Mattijjahu Kadmoniot ha-jehudim,
Jerusalem, 1944-1963 (hereafter Sc); E. NODET, Flavius Josephe, Antiquites Juives, Paris,
1990-.
The extant witnesses for our segment of AJ consist in first place of seven medieval
codices (hereafter designated collectively as codd), i.e.:
R Regius Parisinus (14th century)
O Oxoniensis (15th century)
M Marcianus (Venetus) (13th century)
S Vindobonensis (11th century)
P Parisinus Gr. 1419 (11th century)
L Laurentianus (14th century)
V Vaticanus (13th-14th centuries)
In addition, the following witnesses (excerpts, translation, printed edition) are also
available for A J 8,212-420:
Exc Excerpta Peiresciana (10th century)
E Epitome (10th-l 1th centuries)
Zon Zonaras' Chronicon (12th century)
Lat Latin translation (original, 6th century)
Ed.pr. Editio princeps (Basel, 1544)
For an up-to-date discussion concerning groupings and characteristics of these witnesses,
see E. NODET, Le texte des Antiquites de Josephe (1.1-10), in RB 94 (1987) 323-375; idem,
Flavius Josephe I, pp. xiii-xxii.
2. On this segment, see L.H. FELDMAN, Josephus as an Apologist to the Greco-Roman
World: His Portrait of Solomon, in E. SCHUSSLER FIORENZA (ed.), Aspects of Religious
Propaganda in Judaism and Early Christianity, Notre Dame, 1976, pp. 69-98; H.E. FABER
