THE SABBATH in the WRITINGS of JOSEPHUS by HEROLD

THE SABBATH IN THE WRITINGS OF JOSEPHUS

HEROLD WEISS Saint Mary's College,Notre Dame, IN

In reference to the Sabbath, modern scholarship has tended to tap Josephus' writings with one of two questions in mind. In the first place his works provide a rather impressive string of imperial, provincial, and municipal decrees granting the Jews significant religious privileges, including non-interference with their Sabbath observances.' The evidence Josephus marshals to sustain his apologetic effort is judged today quite trustworthy.' That Jews could observe the Sabbath according to their religious laws within the Roman empire is a historical datum standing on rather solid ground. It must be admitted, however, that the above- mentioned edicts were re-issued or appealed to with some frequency, and this testifies to the unwillingness of some among whom the Jews lived to gracefully recognize the privileges granted by the empire.3

1 For a convenient listing of all of the edicts protecting the civil and religious rights of Jews, see J. Juster, Lesjuifs dans l'empireromain: leur condition juridique, économique et sociale (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1914) I, 132-152, and C. Saulnier, "Lois romaines sur les juifs selon FlaviusJosèphe", RB 87 (1981) 161-198. R. Goldenberg, "The Jewish Sabbath in the Roman World up to the Time of Constantine the Great", ANRW(Berlin, 1979; II 19.1) 416-418, gives a list of those which explicitlymention the Sabbath: the decree of Dolabella to the Ephesians and surrounding cities issued in 43 BCE,Ant. 14. 226-227; the letter of the magistrates of Laodicea agreeing to the decree of Gaius Rabirius, Ant. 14. 242; the letter of Publius Servilius Galba to the magistrates of Miletus reaffirming a previous decree being ignored by the magistrates,Ant. 14. 244-246;the decree of Hali- carnasus professing adherence to what obtains at Rome, Ant. 14. 256-258; the decree of Ephesus which states that the matter is of importance to Rome, Ant. 14. 262-264; the decree of Augustus Caesar, Ant. 16. 162-163;the letter of Agrippa to the Ephesians, Ant. 16. 167-168. To these should be added a letter of King Demetrius to Jonathan, Ant. 13. 52. 2 When questions of actual wording are not at issue, one must agree with the judg- ment in E. Schürer, G. Vermes and F. Millar, The Historyof theJewish Peoplein the Age of Jesus Christ(Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1973) I. 53, n. 19, that "no one today doubts the essential authenticity" of Josephus' evidence on this matter. 3 As M. Grant, TheJews in the RomanWorld (New York: Scribner, 1973) 33, 60, 76, 364

Secondly, Josephus reports that in times of war adversaries of the Jews took tactical advantage of their Sabbath observance. Furthermore, pagan authors scoffed at the Jews because on account of their super- stitious strict adherence to their Law, they had lost their freedom. This charge concerned Sabbath practices directly. On this question, however, the evidence in Josephus is inconsistent. Thus, his claim that Jews had a widely accepted policy on Sabbath fighting stands on much softer ground. Josephus' reports of Jews not fighting or fighting on the Sabbath have been interpreted differently by recent scholars. Max Radin dis- misses the reports as untenable in light of previous biblical accounts of Jews engaged in warfare. The Bible does not say that during times of war hostilities ceased on the Sabbath. In the post-Exilic period, to our knowledge, no policy to this effect was developed. We know, however, that Jews were well-thought-of mercenaries in foreign armies. Accord- ingly, Josephus' reports are not credible.4 Alger F. Johns, on the other hand, gives full credence to some of Josephus' reports and postulates that Jerusalem was attacked on a Sabbath at the time of Nabuchad- nezzar on account of an already existing non-fighting policy of the Jews.' Sidney Hoenig, for his part, argues that the apparently contra- dictory reports in Josephus can be understood in terms of the historical development of Halacha.' Robert Goldenberg explains that there was no universal policy without making direct reference to Josephus' reports. According to him, on this matter Jews acted differently during different times in different regions.' The two issues mentioned above are not the only ones about the Sabbath that interested josephus.' After all, both as a polemicist and

points out, local populations no doubt resisted the granting of special privileges to the Jews among them. See T. Rajak, 'Jewish Rights in the Greek Cities under Roman Rule" in W.S. Green (ed.), Approachesto AncientJudaism, 5: Judaism and its Graeco-Roman Context(Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1985) 19-36. 4 M. Radin, The JewsAmong the Greeksand Romans(Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1915) 179-181. 5 A.F. Johns, "The Military Strategy of Sabbath Attacks on the Jews", VT 13 (1963) 482-486. 6 S. Hoenig, TheGreat Sanhedrin: A Studyof the Origin,Development, Composition and Function of theBet ha-Gadolduring the SecondJewish Commonwealth(Philadelphia: Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning, 1953) 93-98. 7 R. Goldenberg, " The Jewish Sabbath", 420. 8 Scholars have also studied Josephusfor evidence that facilitatesthe dating of events in Jewish history. In this connection different conclusions have been drawn about the usefulnessof the calendar of Sabbatical years drawn from the works of Josephus. This