7. Josephus Assumes Command in Galilee
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we know nothing yet of the Gabarenes, they would turn out to be solid supporters of John. Clearly, Josephus indulges in a bit of wishful thinking. Gabara now supported John under direction from Jerusalem and received both the Jerusalem delegation and John warmly. This is why Josephus refused to meet his opponents there, placing Gabara on a par with only Gischala (the town) in its hostility towards him. John had been introduced at Life 43–5 as a prominent figure at Gischala, who at first tried to restrain his citizens from anti–Roman activity but then responded to attacks from gentile towns by launching his own raids and fortifying his town. In Life 70–6, Josephus visited John at Gischala and found him now eager for both revolution and personal power. It is this personal rivalry, as Josephus presents it, which will evolve into the major conflict of his Galilean career: that against the delegation sent from Jerusalem.
Josephus in Galilee, Phase III B: The Dabaritha Affair (the “Fake Navy”) and the Revolt of Tiberias The young men of Dabaritha (by Mount Tabor) attacked the wife of the king’s overseer Ptolemy on the Great Plain, bringing gold and silver back to Josephus at Tarichaeae. Embarrassed, as always at the revolutionary zeal of “his” Galileans, Josephus retained the booty to return it to Ptolemy in accordance with his reading of the law — and not so incidentally with his unwillingness to offend Agrippa II. However, he lied to his men about it while he had two of the king’s friends return it to Agrippa II. In Life 27:132–36 and War 2.21.3 598–600, this failure to distribute the plunder to its claimants, raised the rumor that Josephus was intending to betray the country. Given, Josephus’s previously expressed proclivities, this would be a reasonable expectation. However, Josephus likes to portray himself here as committed to doing his duty as a general, notwithstanding his doubts as to the wisdom or success of the rebellion, much like Ananus in War 2.648–51. Josephus boasts how he tried to trick his accusers by asserting that the plunder would be sold and the proceeds used to repair the defenses of Jerusalem. In a world turned mad with rebellion and knavery, being cleverer by half than your enemy is a virtue — at least to a proper Roman nobleman. There was a rally in the hippodrome wherein Jesus ben Sapphias, chief magistrate of Tiberias, led a discussion about Josephus. Jesus claimed that Josephus intended to betray the Law of Moses, with reference to the restoration of the plunder to the king. Jesus held copy of the Torah in his hands, urging the mob to attack Josephus for his transgression of that religious decree. Unquestionably, Josephus wants his reader to discern the irony of the “devil