Chapter 5.
CONCERNING THEUDAS AND THE SONS OF JUDAS THE GALILEAN; AS
ALSO WHAT CALAMITY FELL UPON THE JEWS ON THE DAY OF THE PASSOVER.FJAJ 20.25
1. NOW it came to pass, while Fadus was procurator of Judea, that a
certain magician, whose name was Theudas, (9)
This Theudas, who arose under Fadus the procurator, about A.D. 45 or 46,
could not be that Thendas who arose in the days of the taxing, under Cyrenius,
or about A.D. 7, Acts v. 36, 37. Who that earlier Theudas was, see the
note on B. XVII. ch. 10. sect. 5.
persuaded a great part of the people to take their effects with them, and
follow him to the river Jordan; for he told them he was a prophet, and
that he would, by his own command, divide the river, and afford them an
easy passage over it; and many were deluded by his words
However, Fadus
did not permit them to make any advantage of his wild attempt, but sent
a troop of horsemen out against them; who, falling upon them unexpectedly,
slew many of them, and took many of them alive
They also took Theudas
alive, and cut off his head, and carried it to Jerusalem
This was what
befell the Jews in the time of Cuspius Fadus's government.FJAJ 20.26
2. Then came Tiberius Alexander as successor to Fadus; he was the son
of Alexander the alabarch of Alexandria, which Alexander was a principal
person among all his contemporaries, both for his family and wealth: he
was also more eminent for his piety than this his son Alexander, for he
did not continue in the religion of his country
Under these procurators
that great famine happened in Judea, in which queen Helena bought corn
in Egypt at a great expense, and distributed it to those that were in want,
as I have related already
And besides this, the sons of Judas of Galilee
were now slain; I mean of that Judas who caused the people to revolt, when
Cyrenius came to take an account of the estates of the Jews, as we have
showed in a foregoing book
The names of those sons were James and Simon,
whom Alexander commanded to be crucified
But now Herod, king of Chalcis,
removed Joseph, the son of Camydus, from the high priesthood, and made
Ananias, the son of Nebedeu, his successor
And now it was that Cumanus
came as successor to Tiberius Alexander; as also that Herod, brother of
Agrippa the great king, departed this life, in the eighth year of the reign
of Claudius Caesar
He left behind him three sons; Aristobulus, whom he
had by his first wife, with Bernicianus, and Hyrcanus, both whom he had
by Bernice his brother's daughter
But Claudius Caesar bestowed his dominions
on Agrippa, junior.FJAJ 20.27
3. Now while the Jewish affairs were under the administration of Cureanus,
there happened a great tumult at the city of Jerusalem, and many of the
Jews perished therein
But I shall first explain the occasion whence it
was derived
When that feast which is called the passover was at hand,
at which time our custom is to use unleavened bread, and a great multitude
was gathered together from all parts to that feast, Cumanus was afraid
lest some attempt of innovation should then be made by them; so he ordered
that one regiment of the army should take their arms, and stand in the
temple cloisters, to repress any attempts of innovation, if perchance any
such should begin; and this was no more than what the former procurators
of Judea did at such festivals
But on the fourth day of the feast, a certain
soldier let down his breeches, and exposed his privy members to the multitude,
which put those that saw him into a furious rage, and made them cry out
that this impious action was not done to approach them, but God himself;
nay, some of them reproached Cumanus, and pretended that the soldier was
set on by him, which, when Cumanus heard, he was also himself not a little
provoked at such reproaches laid upon him; yet did he exhort them to leave
off such seditious attempts, and not to raise a tumult at the festival.
But when he could not induce them to be quiet for they still went on in
their reproaches to him, he gave order that the whole army should take
their entire armor, and come to Antonia, which was a fortress, as we have
said already, which overlooked the temple; but when the multitude saw the
soldiers there, they were affrighted at them, and ran away hastily; but
as the passages out were but narrow, and as they thought their enemies
followed them, they were crowded together in their flight, and a great
number were pressed to death in those narrow passages; nor indeed was the
number fewer than twenty thousand that perished in this tumult
So instead
of a festival, they had at last a mournful day of it; and they all of them
forgot their prayers and sacrifices, and betook themselves to lamentation
and weeping; so great an affliction did the impudent obsceneness of a single
soldier bring upon them.FJAJ 20.28
(10)
This and. many more tumults and seditions which arose at the Jewish festivals,
in Josephus, illustrate the cautious procedure of the Jewish governors,
when they said, Matthew 26:5, "Let us not take Jesus on the feast-day,
lest there be an up roar among the people;" as Reland well observes
on tins place. Josephus also takes notice of the same thing, Of the War,
B. I. ch. 4. sect. 3.FJAJ 20.29
4. Now before this their first mourning was over, another mischief befell
them also; for some of those that raised the foregoing tumult, when they
were traveling along the public road, about a hundred furlongs from the
city, robbed Stephanus, a servant of Caesar, as he was journeying, and
plundered him of all that he had with him; which things when Cureanus heard
of, he sent soldiers immediately, and ordered them to plunder the neighboring
villages, and to bring the most eminent persons among them in bonds to
him
Now as this devastation was making, one of the soldiers seized the
laws of Moses that lay in one of those villages, and brought them out before
the eyes of all present, and tore them to pieces; and this was done with
reproachful language, and much scurrility; which things when the Jews heard
of, they ran together, and that in great numbers, and came down to Cesarea,
where Cumanus then was, and besought him that he would avenge, not themselves,
but God himself, whose laws had been affronted; for that they could not
bear to live any longer, if the laws of their forefathers must be affronted
after this manner
Accordingly Cumanus, out of fear lest the multitude
should go into a sedition, and by the advice of his friends also, took
care that the soldier who had offered the affront to the laws should be
beheaded, and thereby put a stop to the sedition which was ready to be
kindled a second time.FJAJ 20.30