History of the Jewish Nation – Alfred Edersheim.

It is my deliberate conviction that Jewish History casts much light on the evangelical accounts of the Gospels, on the Book of Acts, and on later Ecclesiastical History, both in its records of the spread of Christianity, and of the origin and development of heretical secs. It is the peculiar object of this History, not only to give an impartial account of facts, but especially to describe the state of society, of trades, commerce, agriculture, arts, sciences, theology, etc., during the first centuries of our era.