BIBLIOTHECA 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, by print, photoprint, microfilm or any other means without written permission from the publisher Leuven University Press/Presses Universitaires de Louvain Universitaire Pers Leuven Krakenstraat 3, B-3000 Leuven-Louvain (Belgium) © Uitgeverij Peeters, Bondgenotenlaan 153, B-3000 Leuven (Belgium) 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