據說著名猶太歷史學家 Josephus有過以下的故事：在羅馬人佔領喬塔帕特後，39 個猶太人與Josephus及他的朋友躲到一個洞中，39個猶太人決定寧願死也不要被敵人到，於是決定了一個自殺方式，41個人排成一個圓圈，由第1個人開始報數，每報數到第3人該人就必須自殺，然後再由下一個重新報數，直到所有人都自殺身亡為止。



然而Josephus 和他的朋友並不想遵從，Josephus要他的朋友先假裝遵從，他將朋友與自己安排在第16個與第31個位置，於是逃過了這場死亡遊戲。-It is said that the famous Jewish historian Josephus has the following story: In the Roman occupation of乔塔帕特after 39 Jews and Josephus and his friends hid in a cave, 39 Jewish spiritual sense of the word should not be decided by the enemy that decided a means of suicide, 41 individuals formed a circle, from one individual to start off, each reported a few to the first 3 people to be the person to commit suicide, and then re-reported by the next number until all committed suicide so far. However, Josephus and his friends do not want to comply, Josephus to his friends to pretend to follow, he will be friends with their own arrangements in section 16 with the first 31 positions, so escaped the death game.