Judas of Galilee, or Judas of Gamala, was a Jewish leader who led resistance to the census imposed for Roman tax purposes by Quirinius in the Judaea Province in 6 CE.[1] He encouraged Jews not to register and those that did had their houses burnt and their cattle stolen by his followers.[2] He is credited with beginning the "fourth philosophy" of the Jews which Josephus blames for the disastrous war with the Romans in 66–73. These events are discussed by Josephus in The Jewish War and in Antiquities of the Jews and mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles.[3]
In Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus states that Judas, along with Zadok the Pharisee, founded the Zealots, the "fourth sect" of 1st-century Judaism[4] (the first three being the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Essenes). Josephus blamed this fourth sect for the First Jewish–Roman War of 66–73. The Zealots were theocratic nationalists who preached that God alone was the ruler of Israel and urged that no taxes should be paid to Rome.[5]
Several scholars, such as Gunnar Haaland and James S. McLaren, have suggested that Josephus's description of the fourth sect does not reflect historical reality, but was constructed to serve his own interests. According to Haaland, the part covering the Zealots acts as a transition and an introduction to the excursion concerning the Jewish schools of thought, all of which Josephus presents to portray the majority of Jews in a positive light, and to show that the Jewish War was incited by a radical minority.[6] Similarly, McLaren proposes that Judas and his sect act as scapegoats for the war that are chronologically, geographically and socially removed from the priestly circles of Jerusalem (and Josephus himself).[7]
Josephus does not relate the death of Judas, but does report that Judas's sons James and Simon were executed by procurator Tiberius Julius Alexander in about 46 CE.[8] He also claims that Menahem ben Judah, one of the early leaders of the Jewish Revolt in 66 CE, was Judas's "son", which some scholars doubt though Menahem may have been Judas's grandson.[9] Menahem's cousin, Eleazar ben Ya'ir, escaped to the fortress of Masada where he became a leader of the last doomed defenders against the Roman Empire.
Judas is referred to in Acts of the Apostles, in which a speech by Gamaliel, a member of the Sanhedrin, identifies Theudas and Judas as examples of failed Messianic movements, and suggests that the movement emerging in the name of Jesus of Nazareth could similarly fail, unless he really was the Messiah.[10]
^Raymond Brown, An Adult Christ at Christmas: Essays on the Three Biblical Christmas Stories, Matthew 2 and Luke 2 by Raymond E. Brown (Liturgical Press, 1978), page 17.
^Julian Doyle, Crucifixion's a Doddle
^"Judas the Galilean - Livius". www.livius.org. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
^Flavius Josephus, Antiquities Book 18 Chapter 1
^Reza Aslan, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, pp. 40–41
^Gunnar Haaland, A Villain and the VIPs: Josephus on Judas the Galilean and the Essenes.
In Anders Kolstergaard et al. (ed.), Northern Lights on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Proceedings of the Nordic Qumran Network 2003–2006. Studies on the Text of the Deserts of Judah v. 80. Leiden: Brill, 2009. Pp. 241–244.
^James S. McLaren, Constructing Judaean History in the Diaspora: Josephus’s Accounts of Judas.
In John M.G. Barclay (ed.), Negotiating Diaspora: Jewish Strategies in the Roman Empire. London: T&T Clark, 2004. Pp. 90–108.
^Flavius Josephus, Antiquities 20.5.2 102
^"Messianic claimants (12) Menahem". Archived from the original on 2016-11-10. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
JudasofGalilee, or Judasof Gamala, was a Jewish leader who led resistance to the census imposed for Roman tax purposes by Quirinius in the Judaea Province...
revolt of Jewish extremists (called Zealots) led by JudasofGalilee. The Gospel of Luke uses the census to date the birth of Jesus, which the Gospel of Matthew...
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preceded the revolt ofJudasofGalilee at the time of the Census of Quirinius decades before, in 6 CE. Josephus makes clear that the revolt of his Theudas took...
were a "fourth sect", founded by JudasofGalilee (also called Judasof Gamala) in the year 6 CE against the Census of Quirinius, shortly after the Roman...
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reminding them about the previous revolts of Theudas and JudasofGalilee, which had collapsed quickly after the deaths of those individuals. Gamaliel's advice...
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to Augustus in Rome, dissidents led by Judas, son of Hezekiah, had attacked the palace of Sepphoris in Galilee, seizing money as well as weapons which...
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Judas Barsabbas was a New Testament prophet and one of the 'leading men' in the early Christian community in Jerusalem at the time of the Council of Jerusalem...
Wednesday) of Holy Week. Judas was both a disciple of Jesus and one of the original twelve Apostles. Most Apostles originated from Galilee but Judas came from...
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Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee."...
(often identified with James, son of Alphaeus) Joseph (Joses) Judas (Jude) (often identified with Thaddeus) Simon Mary of Clopas Cleopas (often identified...
Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor...
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AD 44) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was the second of the apostles to die (after Judas Iscariot), and the...
descriptions of Jesus's life and teachings that are not in the New Testament. These include the Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Peter, and Gospel ofJudas, the Apocryphon...
defense of perpetual virginity of the mother of Jesus, argued that the brothers of Jesus (James, Simon, Jude (also identified in tradition with Judas Thaddeus)...
seventy, as Judas Iscariot was from among the twelve, because they absolutely denied our Lord's divinity at the instigation of Cerinthus. Of these Luke...
disciples), he left Judea and departed to Galilee. He had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sy'char, near the field that...
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