Many people may know this already, but I didn’t. I came across Josephus’ use of “theocracy” (θεοκρατία) and the footnote read that Josephus apparently coined this term. I turned to my trusty Logos Bible Software to check for any other reference in any of my Greek sources with a Word Study. Sure enough, only one occurrence in Josephus and nothing in the Septuagint, OT Pseudepigrapha, Philo, NT, or Apostolic Fathers. I went online and checked TLG to find only one other reference elsewhere (not counting Eusebius’ quotation of Josephus). The only other use I found was in Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos’ (905-959) On Virtue and Vice . Interesting.
Of course, when Josephus uses “theocracy” (Apion 2.165), it has a positive connotation–unlike how many use it today as a critique of those Christians who would like the United States to be (even) more intimately tied to Christianity. Josephus uses the term to contrast the other forms of government in the world. This is linked to his discussion on the Jewish legal system. The Greeks change their laws because they have human laws. The Jews get their law from God. For Josephus, Jewish society is founded upon the rule of God and God’s law (and has been for a very long time!). Here is the “theocracy” passage:
To give but a summary enumeration: some peopls have entrusted the supreme political power to monarchies, others to oligarchies, yet others to the masses. Our lawgiver, however, was attracted by none of these forms of polity, but gave to his constitution the form of what–if a forced expression be permitted–may be termed a “theocracy,” placing all sovereignty and authority in the hands of God. To Him he persuaded all to look, as the author of all blessings, both those which are common to all mankind, and those which they had won for themselves by prayer in the crises of their history. He convinced them that no single action, no secret thought, could be hid from Him. He represented Him as One, uncreated and immutable to all eternity; in beauty surpassing all mortal thought, made known to us by His power, although the nature of His real being passes knowledge. [Apion 2.164-167, Thackeray trans.]
