Abstract
Abstract In his recounting of the Exodus narrative of the making of the priestly vestments in Judean Antiquities 3.151-180, 184-187, Josephus provides a vivid description of the high priest’s wardrobe, including its cosmological connotations. This article shows that Josephus uses cosmological motifs in his recounting of the high priestly attire in order to convey a message to his intended audience in Rome. Josephus adds his own accents to the biblical narrative to convince his public that the high priest’s fine clothing functions as a statement that the Judean God is not a national deity with restricted power, but the Highest God, who is the only creator, maintainer, and supreme ruler of the universe. Seen from this perspective, we observe Josephus in dialogue with a well-established Greco-Roman clothing imagery tradition that portrays gods and mortals in symbolic garments to enhance their far-reaching power or authority.
Highlights
Introduction to JudeanAntiquities, xvii–xx. 9 Lucian, Hist. cons. 40, 61; Mason, “Publication and Audiences.” For objections to Mason’s view, see Huitink and van Henten, “Publication.” For alternative interpretations of Josephus’ primary audience for Antiquities, see Bilde, Flavius Josephus, 102–3; Price, “Provincial Historian”; Castelli, Antichità Giudaiche, 26–28. 10 Translations follow Feldman, Judean Antiquities 1–4.via free access outlining the characteristics of the cult site and the priestly attire, and before proceeding to the cosmological meaning of them (3.181–187), he comments: One might wonder at the hatred of men toward us which they have continued to have on the ground that we belittle the Divinity that, they themselves have made up their minds to reverence
For if someone should investigate the construction of the tent and should observe the clothing and the vessels of the priest that we use for the sacred service, he would find that our lawgiver was a divine man and that the slanders that we hear from the others are unfounded
Our assessment of Ant. 3.151–180, 184–187 shows Josephus’ attempt to provide a vivid description of the high priest’s apparatus. In his reworking of the Exodus narrative of the making of the high priestly attire, Josephus carefully describes each item of clothing and interprets most of them as symbolic aspects of the universe
Summary
Introduction to JudeanAntiquities, xvii–xx. 9 Lucian, Hist. cons. 40, 61; Mason, “Publication and Audiences.” For objections to Mason’s view, see Huitink and van Henten, “Publication.” For alternative interpretations of Josephus’ primary audience for Antiquities, see Bilde, Flavius Josephus, 102–3; Price, “Provincial Historian”; Castelli, Antichità Giudaiche, 26–28. 10 Translations follow Feldman, Judean Antiquities 1–4.via free access outlining the characteristics of the cult site and the priestly attire, and before proceeding to the cosmological meaning of them (3.181–187), he comments: One might wonder at the hatred of men toward us which they have continued to have on the ground that we belittle the Divinity that, they themselves have made up their minds to reverence. Josephus appears here to use the cosmological interpretation of the tent to refute the slurs and misconceptions against the Judeans throughout antiquity Among those include the nature of God as misconstrued by outsiders,[11] and the view that the native god of the Judeans had power only within a circumscribed geographic area.[12] As a way to refute such slanders about Judean worship and enhance Moses’ character, Josephus invites his readers to observe the structure of the tent, its contents, and the priestly garments he has just described. He remarks, the readers will find that the “lawgiver was a divine man.”
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