Reading Josephus and the New Testament in sync

Reading Josephus and the New Testament in sync is something I have long wanted to do. The New Testament makes more sense when I read it in historical order. So it is bound to make even more sense if I read it along with Josephus, a Jewish Roman historian from that time.

Josephus wrote:

• “Antiquities of the Jews” (c. 94) – a history of the Jews up to the year AD 64.
• “The Jewish War” (c. 75) – a history of the First Jewish-Roman War, which lasted from AD 66 to 73.

He lived from about AD 37 to 100.

He talks about King Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, John the Baptist, all of that. Even Jesus, in passing (in a strange passage called the Testimonium Flavianum that seems to have been corrupted by Christian scribes). He lays out the history of Palestine in the time of Jesus from a non-Christian point of view.

Here is roughly where each year starts in Josephus and the New Testament (“roughly” because they sometimes skip ahead or flashback or tell things in a somewhat different order – and, of course, there is always a certain amount of guesswork in things like this):

BC:

• 44: Antiquities 14.9 – Herod rules Galilee; appears before the Sanhedrin
• …
• 37: Ant 15.1 – Herod becomes king of Judea
• …
• 5: Ant 17.2; Luke 1:1
• 4: Ant 17.4; Luke 1:57; Matthew 1:1
• 3: Ant 17.9
• …

AD:

• 1: Ant 17.13
• …
• 8: Ant 18.2.1; Luke 2:41
• …
  • 26: Ant 18.2.3; Luke 3:1; Matthew 3:1; Mark 1:1; John 1:1
  • 27: Ant 18.3.1; Luke 3:21; Matthew 3:13; Mark 1:9; John 1:35
  • 28: Ant 18.3.2; Luke 6:1; Matthew 4:23; Mark 2:23; John 5:1
  • 29: Luke 9:1; Matthew 9:35; Mark 6:1; John 6:1
• 30: Luke 13:1; Matthew 19:1; Mark 10:1; John 11:1; Acts 1:1
  • 31: Acts 5:1
  • 32: Acts 5:12
  • 33: Ant 18.3.4
  • 34:
  • 35: Acts 9:3
  • 36: Ant 18.4
  • 37: Ant 18.5.3
  • 38: Ant 18.6.11; Acts 9:26
  • 39: Ant 18.7; Acts 10:1
• 40: Ant 18.8.1; Acts 11:25
  • 41: Ant 19.1.3
  • 42: Ant 19.5.1
  • 43: Ant 19.8.1
  • 44: Ant 19.8.2; Acts 12:1
  • 45: Ant 20.1; James; Acts 12:24
  • 46: Ant 20.5.1; Acts 13:14
  • 47: Ant 20.5.2; Acts 14:21
  • 48: Ant 20.5.2; Acts 14:26
  • 49: Ant 20.5.3; Acts 15:1
• 50: Ant 20.5.4; Acts 15:36
  • 51: 1 Thessalonians; 2 Thessalonians
  • 52: Ant 20.6.1; Acts 18:18
  • 53: Ant 20.7.1; Acts 19:1
  • 54: Ant 20.8.1; 1 Corinthians
  • 55: Ant 20.8.6; Acts 20:1
  • 56: Ant 20.8.7; 2 Corinthians; Galatians; Romans
  • 57: Ant 20.8.8;  Acts 20:4
  • 58: Ant 20.8.9
  • 59: Ant 20.8.10; Acts 25:1
• 60: Ant 20.8.11; Acts 28:16
  • 61: Ant 20.9.1; Philemon; Colossians; Ephesians
  • 62: Ant 20.9.2; Philippians
  • 63: Ant 20.9.5
  • 64: Ant 20.11.1; Acts 28:17; 1 Timothy; Titus; 1 Peter
  • 65: Hebrews
  • 66: Jewish War 2.284
  • 67: JW 3.142; 2 Peter; Jude; 2 Timothy
  • 68: JW 4.413
  • 69: JW 4.550
• 70: JW 5.99
• …
• 90: 1 John; 2 John; 3 John
• …
• ????: Revelation

Revelation is set in the future.

The Testimonium Flavianum is in Antiquities 18.3.3, which here falls under AD 28.

For the New Testament I follow the order and dating of Edward Reese. In my experience, his order is way better than the printed order and even better than the order scholars say the New Testament books were written in. Written order is almost always best, so I suspect the scholars have it wrong in some big way. I am sure Reese has mistakes too, but he seems to be way closer to the mark.

This will be my Bible reading plan for the near future – in addition to reading Psalms and Proverbs a chapter a day in a six-month cycle:

• Jan: Proverbs (31 chapters)
• Feb-Jun: Psalms (150 chapters)
• Jul: Proverbs
• Aug-Dec: Psalms

That leaves three days left over at the end of the year, and one at the end of June in a leap year.  So even if I get bogged down in Josephus, like during the Jewish War, I will almost always have at least one chapter of the Bible to read.

– Abagond, 2022.

Sources: penelope.uchicago.edu; livius.org; “The Reese Chronological Study Bible” (2016) by Edward Reese.

See also:

• books – books I read in 2022
• Bible
  • The Bible in chronological order – for the whole Bible, by century and decade, not year
  • ANT: Abagond New Testament – uses written order
  • Josephus
• Palestine
• AD (Anno Domini)

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