tion of God’s nature and has always attributed to Him behaviour appropri-
ate to His power, keeping his teaching concerning Him free of all the
grotesque mythology current among others” (A.J. 1.15). This forthright
challenge to discover for oneself the superiority of the Judean constitu-
tion fits precisely with what we know of the implied reader via Epaphrodi-
tus, with the paradigm of the LXX translation, and with Josephus’s repeated
claim that the Judean laws bring happiness to anyone who follows them.
He takes the offensive, here, by employing a polemical contrast (sygkrisis)
with all other traditions—including the native traditions of the implied
readers! He does not write, then, as a member of a beleaguered community
trying desperately to fend off slander. Rather, he expects a friendly Gentile
audience.
Josephus’s appeal to “taste and see” governs also the excursus on
Moses (A.J. 1.18–26). Josephus remarks that, whereas other legislators
have credited the gods with disgraceful human practices, and so have pro-
vided a poor example to the wicked, Moses’ noble conception of God car-
ries with it the encouragement of human virtue and the severe punishment
of human vice (1.22–23). Josephus therefore advocates Judean culture as
a practicable system for dealing with human behaviour; he is not merely
discussing antiquity. Again, Josephus entreats the reader to make a care-
ful examination of his work regarding this thesis of the superiority of
Judean culture (1.24). He then closes the extension of the preface with
the expectation that there will be those who wish to search out the reasons
for every aspect of the culture, though he cannot deal with those now
(1.25). Again, Josephus evidently expects an eager Gentile readership.
Body of Antiquitates judaicae
Space does not permit a proper treatment of the body of Antiquitates judaicae.
Fortunately, I can defer to the many studies of Josephus’s biblical para-
phrase (Books 1–11), which show that he has carefully rewritten his source
material to convey the themes of the preface (e.g., Attridge 1976; Franxman
1979; Feldman 1990; Begg 1993). What I would emphasize here, in distinc-
tion from the studies mentioned, is that the solicitous tone of the preface
is also sustained throughout the work. Josephus wants to show that the key
figures of Judean tradition represent the oldest, noblest, and most excellent
features of human civilization. Thus it was Abraham who first conceived of
God as one and taught the elements of science to the Egyptians (A.J.
1.154–168), Moses who laid down the best constitution ever known (3.223),
and Solomon who was the wisest philosopher-king in human history (8).
In his synthesis of the Midianite Balaam’s four prophecies concerning
Israel (cf. Num. 22–24; Feldman 1993b), Josephus takes the opportunity to
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