לדרכי שימושו של יוספוס בספר מקבים א

Josephus' use of I Maccabees as his primary source for the description of the Hasmonean uprising is evident through a comparison of Antiquities XII, 241 ff. with I Macc. i, 11 ff. While seemingly additional information in Antiquities has been attributed at times to additional sources at Josephus' disposal, such as an 'anonymous author' drawing on an earlier version of I. Macc., or possibly even the original Hebrew version of that book, it is also apparent that Josephus felt free to rewrite major portions of his source. One cause for this was undoubtedly a need for the updating of Greek style — a phenomenon apparent in Josephus' rendition of the Letter of Aristeas as well. Josephus also deemed it necessary to add factual information to that supplied in I Maccabees, such as geographical locations, distances between sites, and numbers of casualties. However, some of Flavius' departures from the original text of I Maccabees cannot be explained by any of the above requirements. This is especially true in the case of speeches delivered by Mattathias at the outset of the rebellion, or by Judah before going into battle. These speeches, by their very nature, represent the beliefs and motivations inserted by the author of I Maccabees into the mouths of his heroes, and it is these that undergo major changes in the version presented by Josephus. Thus, while I Maccabees notes God's power to grant victory to the few over the many, making no mention of the victors' virtues, Josephus stresses that such victories are dependent on the piety of the victors, and the righteousness of their cause. Josephus goes on to emphasize at numerous points that the Hasmoneans were striving not merely for the reconquest of the Temple, but for the ideal of freedom (ἐλευθεϱία) and restoration of the 'laws of the fathers'. A third major departure in Josephus' rendition relates to the idea of active or passive resistance. Whereas the speeches in I Maccabees exhort soldiers towards doing battle in the hope of ultimate victory, Josephus invariably rewords the passages to read as a praise of martyrdom, always stressing a willingness to 'give one's life' for the ideal of religious freedom. The author maintains that these deviations are not incidental, but in fact reflect Josephus' own ideas on Jewish wars, the criteria for their justification and the conditions required to achieve victory. It is suggested that in thus rendering the history of the Hasmonean uprising, Josephus was consciously drawing a line between the wars of Mattathias and Judah, which he deemed justified and thus resulted in victory, and the aims and behaviour of the zealots of his day, on whose motivation Josephus casts more than passing aspersions.