The Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus: A Biographical Investigation

origin of which is certain due to [the fact] that it also exists in the Talmud. 50 The insertion of
this narrative, which takes up sections 21b to 28, was to lead to minor corrections to the [143]
report in the War; in fact, whereas the War includes only a siege of Jerusalem by Aretas’
Arabian troops, the legend of Onias assumes that the bulk of the Jews are on the side of the
besiegers while the priests themselves are trapped within the city. Therefore it had to be
explained how this situation could arise: this purpose is served, for one, by the participial
construction in 19 (“after many had defected to Hyrcanus after the victory”), and above all by
the thought expressed in 20b: the Jewish people together with the Arabians are attacking
Aristobulus, while the priests alone remained with Aristobulus. Now, it appears that this
thought has first been inserted by Josephus himself, because it stands between the two
doublets: Aretas lays siege to the city [in] 20a and 21a. Therefore the legend that was
implanted with the help of this insertion was first introduced into the text by Josephus
himself.
While the siege is in progress, Scaurus suddenly appears on Jewish territory by order of
Pompey; Aristobulus and Hyrcanus both avail themselves of his presence in order to send
delegates to him with the request for help. Antiquities 29 - 30 takes this subject matter from War
127 - 128a. But then a divergence [between the two texts] occurs again; understanding it
becomes possible by means of the observation that the Antiquities has undergone an expansion;
because the original line of thought is given by the progression: ῾πισχνουμένου δὲ
Ἀριστοβούλου τετρακόσια δώσειν τάλαντα // λαβὼν τὰ χρήματα λύει τὴν πολιορκίαν (30a,
32b), this corresponds exactly to the War. But the view given as a result, [namely that]
Aristobulus could attain Scaurus’ approval only by bribery, can no longer suffice for
Josephus, who had become Antipater’s opponent. Scaurus was to have decided for Aristobulus
and against Antipater for practical reasons. Consequently, Josephus now strikes out the
thought expressed in War 128 that “a bribe has triumphed over justice” and instead of this he
states to the contrary in the insertion (31) that Hyrcanus has offered just as much as
Aristobulus, but that Aristobulus’ offering won the day because Scaurus had greater
confidence “in the wealth and high-mindedness of Aristobulus, and especially his goals that
were easier to achieve”, than in [144] the poverty, timidity and the more difficult task that
50 Derenbourg, Histoire de la Palestine depuis Cyrus jusqu'à Adrien, Paris, 1867, pages 112-113;
Wünsche, Der babylonische Talmud, vol. 1, 454 - 457.
126