Chapter 6.
WHAT THINGS WERE DONE BY AGRIPPA AT JERUSALEM WHEN HE WAS
RETURNED BACK INTO JUDEA; AND WHAT IT WAS THAT PETRONIUS WROTE TO THE INHABITANTS
OF DORIS, IN BEHALF FJAJ 19.51
1. NOW Claudius Caesar, by these decrees of his which were sent to Alexandria,
and to all the habitable earth, made known what opinion he had of the Jews.
So he soon sent Agrippa away to take his kingdom, now he was advanced to
a more illustrious dignity than before, and sent letters to the presidents
and procurators of the provinces that they should treat him very kindly.
Accordingly, he returned in haste, as was likely he would, now lie returned
in much greater prosperity than he had before
He also came to Jerusalem,
and offered all the sacrifices that belonged to him, and omitted nothing
which the law required; (19)
Josephus shows, both here and ch. 7. sect. 3, that he had a much greater
opinion of king Agrippa I. than Simon the learned Rabbi, than the people
of Cesarea and Sebaste, ch. 7. sect. 4; and ch. 9. sect. 1; and indeed
than his double-dealing between the senate and Claudius, ch. 4. sect. 2,
than his slaughter of James the brother of John, and his imprisonment of
Peter, or his vain-glorious behavior before he died, both in Acts 12:13;
and here, ch. 4. sect. 1, will justify or allow. Josephus's character was
probably taken from his son Agrippa, junior.
on which account he ordained that many of the Nazarites should have their
heads shorn
And for the golden chain which had been given him by Caius,
of equal weight with that iron chain wherewith his royal hands had been
bound, he hung it up within the limits of the temple, over the treasury,
(20)
This treasury-chamber seems to have been the very same in which our Savior
taught, and where the people offered their charity money for the repairs
or other uses of the temple, Mark 12:41, etc.; Luke 22:1; John 8:20.
that it might be a memorial of the severe fate he had lain under, and a
testimony of his change for the better; that it might be a demonstration
how the greatest prosperity may have a fall, and that God sometimes raises
up what is fallen down: for this chain thus dedicated afforded a document
to all men, that king Agrippa had been once bound in a chain for a small
cause, but recovered his former dignity again; and a little while afterward
got out of his bonds, and was advanced to be a more illustrious king than
he was before
Whence men may understand that all that partake of human
nature, how great soever they are, may fall; and that those that fall may
gain their former illustrious dignity again.FJAJ 19.52
2. And when Agrippa had entirely finished all the duties of the Divine
worship, he removed Theophilus, the son of Ananus, from the high priesthood,
and bestowed that honor of his on Simon the son of Boethus, whose name
was also Cantheras whose daughter king Herod married, as I have related
above
Simon, therefore, had the [high] priesthood with his brethren, and
with his father, in like manner as the sons of Simon, the son of Onias,
who were three, had it formerly under the government of the Macedonians,
as we have related in a former book.FJAJ 19.53
3. When the king had settled the high priesthood after this manner,
he returned the kindness which the inhabitants of Jerusalem had showed
him; for he released them from the tax upon houses, every one of which
paid it before, thinking it a good thing to requite the tender affection
of those that loved him
He also made Silas the general of his forces,
as a man who had partaken with him in many of his troubles
But after a
very little while the young men of Doris, preferring a rash attempt before
piety, and being naturally bold and insolent, carried a statue of Caesar
into a synagogue of the Jews, and erected it there
This procedure of theirs
greatly provoked Agrippa; for it plainly tended to the dissolution of the
laws of his country
So he came without delay to Publius Petronius, who
was then president of Syria, and accused the people of Doris
Nor did he
less resent what was done than did Agrippa; for he judged it a piece of
impiety to transgress the laws that regulate the actions of men
So he
wrote the following letter to the people of Doris in an angry strain: "Publius
Petronius, the president under Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus,
to the magistrates of Doris, ordains as follows: Since some of you have
had the boldness, or madness rather, after the edict of Claudius Caesar
Augustus Germanicus was published, for permitting the Jews to observe the
laws of their country, not to obey the same, but have acted in entire opposition
thereto, as forbidding the Jews to assemble together in the synagogue,
by removing Caesar's statue, and setting it up therein, and thereby have
offended not only the Jews, but the emperor himself, whose statue is more
commodiously placed in his own temple than in a foreign one, where is the
place of assembling together; while it is but a part of natural justice,
that every one should have the power over the place belonging peculiarly
to themselves, according to the determination of Caesar, - to say nothing
of my own determination, which it would be ridiculous to mention after
the emperor's edict, which gives the Jews leave to make use of their own
customs, as also gives order that they enjoy equally the rights of citizens
with the Greeks themselves, - I therefore ordain that Proculus Vitellius,
the centurion, bring those men to me, who, contrary to Augustus's edict,
have been so insolent as to do this thing, at which those very men, who
appear to be of principal reputation among them, have an indignation also,
and allege for themselves, 'that it was not done with their consent, but
by the violence of the multitude, that they may give an account of what
hath been done
I also exhort the principal magistrates among them, unless
they have a mind to have this action esteemed to be done with their consent,
to inform the centurion of those that were guilty of it, and take care
that no handle be hence taken for raising a sedition or quarrel among them;
which those seem to me to treat after who encourage such doings; while
both I myself, and king Agrippa, for whom I have the highest honor, have
nothing more under our care, than that the nation of the Jews may have
no occasion given them of getting together, under the pretense of avenging
themselves, and become tumultuous
And that it may be more publicly known
what Augustus hath resolved about this whole matter, I have subjoined those
edicts which he hath lately caused to be published at Alexandria, and which,
although they may be well known to all, yet did king Agrippa, for whom
I have the highest honor, read them at that time before my tribunal, and
pleaded that the Jews ought not to be deprived of those rights which Augustus
hath granted them
I therefore charge you, that you do not, for the time
to come, seek for any occasion of sedition or disturbance, but that every
one be allowed to follow their own religious customs."FJAJ 19.54
4. Thus did Petronius take care of this matter, that such a breach of
the law might be corrected, and that no such thing might be attempted afterwards
against the Jews
And now king Agrippa took the [high] priesthood away
from Simon Cantheras, and put Jonathan, the son of Ananus, into it again,
and owned that he was more worthy of that dignity than the other
But this
was not a thing acceptable to him, to recover that his former dignity.
So he refused it, and said, "O king! I rejoice in the honor that thou
hast for me, and take it kindly that thou wouldst give me such a dignity
of thy own inclinations, although God hath judged that I am not at all
worthy of the high priesthood
I am satisfied with having once put on the
sacred garments; for I then put them on after a more holy manner than I
should now receive them again
But if thou desirest that a person more
worthy than myself should have this honorable employment, give me leave
to name thee such a one
I have a brother that is pure from all sin against
God, and of all offenses against thyself; I recommend him to thee, as one
that is fit for this dignity." So the king was pleased with these
words of his, and passed by Jonathan, and, according to his brother's desire,
bestowed the high priesthood upon Matthias
Nor was it long before Marcus
succeeded Petronius, as president of Syria.FJAJ 19.55