The man writing history for Rome confirmed the walls fell exactly as Joshua said.
Flavius Josephus occupies a unique position in the historical study of the biblical period. A Jewish general who surrendered to Rome during the revolt of 66-70 AD, defected and spent the rest of his life writing Jewish history under Roman patronage, Josephus had every professional reason to present a rational, credible, Rome-friendly account of his people's history. He was not a Christian. He had no theological investment in the miracles of the Hebrew Bible being historically accurate. His audience was Roman and Greek.
In his Jewish Antiquities, written around 93 AD, Josephus covers the story of Jericho from the Book of Joshua.
He records that when the priests blew the trumpets on the seventh day, the walls of Jericho fell down of themselves. He does not rationalise. He does not explain. He records the tradition that the walls fell spontaneously — of themselves — which is the language of miraculous causation.
He also records that Rahab's house was preserved and that she and her family were saved, consistent with the Joshua account of the scarlet cord and the protection of Rahab's household.
Josephus had access to historical sources and oral traditions that no longer exist. He was writing within living historical memory of the Jewish community's accumulated record of its own past. He was not copying Joshua — he was consulting sources and recording what they told him.
What they told him matched what Joshua recorded.
And the walls that fell of themselves, as both Joshua and Josephus describe, fell outward — as the archaeology at Jericho confirmed in the twentieth century.
Two ancient sources. One modern excavation. All three describing the same direction of collapse.
Share this with someone who treats Josephus and Joshua as incompatible.
"When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed." — Joshua 6:20
#Josephus #JerichoWalls #BibleFacts #VerifiedHistory
Flavius Josephus occupies a unique position in the historical study of the biblical period. A Jewish general who surrendered to Rome during the revolt of 66-70 AD, defected and spent the rest of his life writing Jewish history under Roman patronage, Josephus had every professional reason to present a rational, credible, Rome-friendly account of his people's history. He was not a Christian. He had no theological investment in the miracles of the Hebrew Bible being historically accurate. His audience was Roman and Greek.
In his Jewish Antiquities, written around 93 AD, Josephus covers the story of Jericho from the Book of Joshua.
He records that when the priests blew the trumpets on the seventh day, the walls of Jericho fell down of themselves. He does not rationalise. He does not explain. He records the tradition that the walls fell spontaneously — of themselves — which is the language of miraculous causation.
He also records that Rahab's house was preserved and that she and her family were saved, consistent with the Joshua account of the scarlet cord and the protection of Rahab's household.
Josephus had access to historical sources and oral traditions that no longer exist. He was writing within living historical memory of the Jewish community's accumulated record of its own past. He was not copying Joshua — he was consulting sources and recording what they told him.
What they told him matched what Joshua recorded.
And the walls that fell of themselves, as both Joshua and Josephus describe, fell outward — as the archaeology at Jericho confirmed in the twentieth century.
Two ancient sources. One modern excavation. All three describing the same direction of collapse.
Share this with someone who treats Josephus and Joshua as incompatible.
"When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed." — Joshua 6:20
#Josephus #JerichoWalls #BibleFacts #VerifiedHistory
The man writing history for Rome confirmed the walls fell exactly as Joshua said.
Flavius Josephus occupies a unique position in the historical study of the biblical period. A Jewish general who surrendered to Rome during the revolt of 66-70 AD, defected and spent the rest of his life writing Jewish history under Roman patronage, Josephus had every professional reason to present a rational, credible, Rome-friendly account of his people's history. He was not a Christian. He had no theological investment in the miracles of the Hebrew Bible being historically accurate. His audience was Roman and Greek.
In his Jewish Antiquities, written around 93 AD, Josephus covers the story of Jericho from the Book of Joshua.
He records that when the priests blew the trumpets on the seventh day, the walls of Jericho fell down of themselves. He does not rationalise. He does not explain. He records the tradition that the walls fell spontaneously — of themselves — which is the language of miraculous causation.
He also records that Rahab's house was preserved and that she and her family were saved, consistent with the Joshua account of the scarlet cord and the protection of Rahab's household.
Josephus had access to historical sources and oral traditions that no longer exist. He was writing within living historical memory of the Jewish community's accumulated record of its own past. He was not copying Joshua — he was consulting sources and recording what they told him.
What they told him matched what Joshua recorded.
And the walls that fell of themselves, as both Joshua and Josephus describe, fell outward — as the archaeology at Jericho confirmed in the twentieth century.
Two ancient sources. One modern excavation. All three describing the same direction of collapse.
Share this with someone who treats Josephus and Joshua as incompatible.
"When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed." — Joshua 6:20
#Josephus #JerichoWalls #BibleFacts #VerifiedHistory
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