ASSIGNMENT
Read Books 4-5 (Penguin Classics pgs. 233-336)
Refer to the timeline of events to keep track of them.
STUDY QUESTIONS
Book 4
- Chap. 1 (PC 233-239): How did Vespasian take Gamala? How many were killed by the Romans and how many died by suicide?
- Chap. 2, sec. 3 (PC 241): What reason does Josephus give for John's escape from Gischala to Jerusalem?
- Chap. 3, sec. 6 (PC 245): Given this passage, what might be another possible explanation for the phrase "abomination of desolation" in Matthew 24:15?
- Chap. 3, sec. 13-14 (PC 251-252): What role did John play in the strife within the City?
- Chap. 4, sec. 5 (PC 257): What does Josephus say about the storm and earthquake the night the Idumeans camped outside the City?
- Chap. 5, sec. 2 (PC 260): What does Josephus say is the significance of the murder of Ananus during the battle within the City? Why does he think this? (Consider chap. 3, sec. 6 (PC 245) for further enlightenment.)
- Chap. 6, sec. 2 (PC 264): Why did Vespasian keep his army from invading the City during this time of terrible internal dissension?
- Chap. 9, sec. 2 and 9; chaps. 10 and 11 (PC 270, 273-274, 277, 280-286): What course of events made Vespasian Emperor of the Roman Empire? Who takes over the management of the war against Jerusalem?
Book 5
- Chap. 1 (PC 287-290): What are conditions like inside Jerusalem at this point?
- Chap. 2, sec. 2 (PC 291-292): How does Titus conduct himself when surrounded by Jewish warriors?
- Chap. 2, sec. 3; Chap. 3, sec. 5 (PC 292, 297): Which legions made its camp on the Mount of Olives?
- Chap. 4 (PC 298-301): What does Josephus focus most upon his "Description of Jerusalem"?
- Chap. 5 (PC 301-306): How would the Temple probably first appear to someone approaching the city for the first time?
- Chap. 10, sec. 1 (PC 323): What was the response of the seditious to Josephus's speech? What was the response of the common people? (note the similarities between this speech and that of Agrippa in Bk. 2, chap. 16, sec. 4 (PC 156-162))
- Chap. 10 (PC 323-325): What were conditions like in the City by this point in the siege?
- Chap. 10, sec. 5 (PC 325): How does Josephus contrast the Jews and the Romans here?
- Chap. 11, sec. 1-2 (PC 325-326): Why did Titus allow his soldiers to crucify the captured escapees from the City? How did the seditious leaders inside twist the spectacle to their own advantage?
- Chap. 13, sec. 1 (PC 332): How does the episode of Simon and Matthias illustrate the evils inside the City?
- Chap. 13, sec. 3 (PC 333): What effect did Josephus's wounding and recovery have upon the seditious (the partisans) and the commons in the City?
- Chap. 13, sec. 6 (PC 335): What is Josephus's commnet on the wickedness of John and his fellow criminals' behavior compared to Sodom?
- What was the cause of all the evil and horrible conditions inside the City? (part of the answer is in the beginning of Ananus's speech back i nBk. 4, chap. 3, sec. 10 (PC 246), but there is more to the answer.
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