
TruthVid's 100 Proofs that the Israelites were White, Part 11
Here we cover proofs 32 and 33 of TruthVid's 100 Proofs that the Israelites were White. William Finck’s prepared notes are found below.
(32) Josephus's books - What we can learn from Josephus's multiple books
Flavius Josephus wrote four books which can with all certainty be attributed to him. According to one of those books, which is a short autobiography, he was from a priestly family of the tribe of Levi, and in his younger years he spent about three years as an Essene. Ultimately, however, Josephus became a Pharisee, but that alone does not make him an evil man. The parties of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes were political as much as they were religious, and if a man wanted to have any influence or any role in the political life of Judaea at that time, then being an Essene was a dead end, and the only other reasonable choice for a pious man was to join the Pharisees. However while the Essenes were excluded from the political scene in Judaea, Josephus did attest that of each of the sects in Judaea, they were the only ones who were all “Jews [or Judahites] by birth”, as he write in Wars Book 2. There he wrote describing the Judaean sects and said “119… the third sect, which pretends to a severer discipline, are called Essenes. These last are Jews [Judaeans or Judahites] by birth, and seem to have a greater affection for one another than the other sects have.”
Having informed us that of the religious sects in Judaea only the Essenes were Judaeans by birth, it is evident that Josephus was also informing us that the other sects were accepting converts of the other nations, namely the Idumaeans. So Josephus, being a Pharisee, it is evident that his religious learning and interpretations of ancient history and Scripture must have been in conformance with the teachings of his party. It is clear in the New Testament records that these parties were distinguished by various religious beliefs. For that reason, I do not give much credibility to Josephus’ interpretations of Genesis or other early accounts found in Scripture, as they would naturally reflect the leaven of the Pharisees which Christ Himself had condemned. However in spite of that, I believe Josephus himself was an honest man and earnestly sought to tell the truth about his nation, in spite of his biases, and in spite of things concerning which he was either naive or ignorant.