The Star of Balaam and the Prophecy of Josephus Concerning Vespasian

Chapter 16 The Star of Balaam and the Prophecy of Josephus concerning Vespasian

Craig A. Evans

Josephus is well known for prophesying Vespasian’s elevation to emperor of the Roman Empire and for speaking of an “ambiguous oracle” that Jewish interpreters—his countrymen—misunderstood. The relationship of the prophecy to the oracle is debated and the identification of the Old Testament text that underlay the oracle is also debated. In what follows I will consider (I) Josephus’s prophecy concerning Vespasian, as he gives it in book 6 of Judaean War; (II) Jewish and Christian understand- ing of Num 24:17, the prophetic text that I believe lies behind Josephus’s prophecy; and (III) the widespread oracle or rumor of an oracle relating to the rise of a ruler from the East.

1 Josephus’s Prophecy concerning Vespasian

At the outset of the Jewish rebellion against Roman authority (66–73 CE), which resulted in the capture of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish temple, Josephus was placed in command of the Jewish forces in Galilee. The Roman legions under Vespasian and his son Titus quickly overpowered the re- sistance. Josephus himself was captured. Brought before Vespasian, Josephus uttered his well-known prophecy:

You imagine, Vespasian, that in the person of Josephus you have taken a mere captive; but I come to you as a messenger of greater destinies [ἐγὼ δὲ ἄγγελος ἥκω σοι μειζόνων]…. You will be Caesar, Vespasian, you will be emperor, you and your son here. Bind me then yet more securely in chains and keep me for yourself; for you, Caesar, are master not of me only, but of land and sea and the whole human race. For myself, I ask to be punished by stricter custody, if I have dared to trifle with the words of God.1 J.W. 3.400–402

1 Translation adapted from Henry St. J. Thackeray, Josephus II: The Jewish War Books I–III, LCL 203 (London: Heinemann; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1927), 689.

Josephus admits that at first Vespasian attached little credence to this prophecy, but gradually he began to believe it,

for God was already rousing in him thoughts of empire and by other to- kens [δι᾿ ἑτέρων σημείων] foreshadowing the throne. He found, moreover, that Josephus proved a veracious prophet in other matters … Vespasian, having privately questioned the prisoners on these statements and found them true, then began to credit those concerning himself.2 3.404–407

Vespasian was finally convinced that Josephus truly spoke as a prophet. His life spared, Josephus became acquainted with Titus and eventually became his advisor. Years later, Josephus wrote his account of the Jewish rebellion against Rome. In this account he describes a number of omens that preceded the war:

So it was when a star, resembling a sword, stood over the city [ὑπὲρ τὴν πόλιν ἄστρον ἔστη ῥομφαίᾳ παραπλήσιον], and a comet [κομήτης] which continued for a year. So again when, before the revolt and the commo- tion that led to war, at the time when the people were assembling for the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth of the month Xanthicus, at the ninth hour of the night, so brilliant a light shone round the altar and the sanctuary that it seemed to be broad daylight; and this continued for half an hour. By the inexperienced this was regarded as a good omen, but by the sacred scribes it was a once interpreted in accordance the events that followed.3 J.W. 6.289–291

Josephus then describes a series of strange events: a cow that gave birth to a lamb in the temple precincts; the massive eastern gate of the temple precincts that somehow opened itself; at sunset “in all parts of the country” chariots and troops seen in the air “hurtling through the clouds and encompassing the cit- ies”; and a loud chorus shouting, “We are departing hence” (6.292–300). Shortly thereafter Josephus says:

But what more than all else incited them to the war was an ambiguous oracle [χρησμὸς ἀμφίβολος], likewise found in their sacred scriptures, to

2 Thackeray, Josephus II, 689, 691. 3 Translation adapted from Henry St. John Thackeray, Josephus III: The Jewish War Books IV– VII, LCL 210 (London: Heinemann; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1928), 461.