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“He was a grand opportunist, and a story teller, but who knows what else.”

You’re an example of a “low information Christian.”

A Valuable Eyewitness

While every historian is fallible and must be read with care, historians can be very helpful, especially when they report firsthand knowledge. As a teenager, Josephus spent time with various Jewish sects and knew them well. He later observed the Jewish revolt from the front lines. When he was captured, he got to see the other side. In fact, he won the favor of the general, Vespasian, by accurately predicting his rise to the throne of the empire. Josephus ultimately switched sides and received Roman citizenship, even adopting Vespasian’s imperial family name, Flavius. He now had access to the emperor’s libraries, military reports, and court records from Herod and other rulers in Palestine.

The principal value of Josephus’s work lies in his discussion of Jewish history from 100 BC through AD 100. His narrative of this era is strongly supported by numerous authentic sources he gathered and interpreted with skill.

Josephus’s works provide us with valuable details that do not survive in any other records. In fact, he provides the most important extrabiblical information on many key political figures, such as Herod the Great, Felix, and Pilate. For instance, most of our knowledge of Herod’s extensive building projects, such as the temple that Christ often visited, comes from Josephus.

His works also provide insight into the inner workings of first-century Jewish sects such as the Pharisees and Sadducees. His description of another sect, the Essenes, helped confirm that they were the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He also provides gripping details about other first-century events, such as the destruction of the temple (prophesied by Christ in Matthew 24:2) and the Jews’ last-ditch resistance atop Masada.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v8/n1/is-josephus-reliable