Theudas
Encyclopedia
Theudas (died c. 46 AD) was a Jewish rebel of the 1st century AD. His name, if a Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 compound, may mean "gift of God", although other scholars believe its etymology is Semitic
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...

 and might mean “flowing with water”. At some point between 44 and 46 AD, Theudas led his followers in a short-lived revolt.

The revolt

Our principal source for the story is Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...

, who wrote:

It came to pass, while Cuspius Fadus
Cuspius Fadus
Cuspius Fadus was an Ancient Roman eques and procurator of Iudaea Province in 44–46 AD.After the death of King Agrippa, in 44 AD, he was appointed procurator by Claudius. During his admi­nistration, peace was restored in the country, and the only disturbance was created by one Theudas, who came...

 was procurator
Procurator
Procurator may refer to:*Procurator , the title of various officials of the Roman Empire...

 of Judea
Judaea (Roman province)
Judaea or Iudaea are terms used by historians to refer to the Roman province that extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Israel...

, that a certain charlatan
Charlatan
A charlatan is a person practicing quackery or some similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, fame or other advantages via some form of pretense or deception....

, whose name was Theudas, persuaded a great part of the people to take their effects with them, and follow him to the Jordan river; for he told them he was a prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...

, and that he would, by his own command, divide the river, and afford them an easy passage over it. 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. After falling upon them unexpectedly, they slew many of them, and took many of them alive. They also took Theudas alive, cut off his head, and carried it to Jerusalem. (Jewish Antiquities 20.97-98)


The movement was dispersed, and was never heard of again.

Josephus does not provide a number for Theudas' followers, but the Acts of the Apostles
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...

, if it is referring to the same Theudas (see below), reports that they numbered about 400. The ease with which they were overcome suggests that they were unarmed, unlike many other Messianic insurgents of the period.

Some writers are of the opinion that he may have said he was the Messiah.

The Theudas problem

In Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 scholarship, the sole reference to Theudas presents a problem of chronology. In Acts of the Apostles
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...

, Gamaliel
Gamaliel
Gamaliel the Elder , or Rabban Gamaliel I , was a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the mid 1st century CE. He was the grandson of the great Jewish teacher Hillel the Elder, and died twenty years before the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem...

, a member of the sanhedrin
Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel.The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel made of 71 members...

, defends the apostles by referring to Theudas:

"Men of Israel, be cautious in deciding what to do with these men. Some time ago, Theudas came forward, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. But he was killed and his whole following was broken up and disappeared. After him came Judas the Galilean at the time of the census; he induced some people to revolt under his leadership, but he too perished and his whole following was scattered." (NEB, Acts 5:36-8)


The difficulty is that the rising of Theudas is here given as before that of Judas of Galilee
Judas of Galilee
Judas of Galilee or Judas of Gamala led a violent resistance to the census imposed for Roman tax purposes by Quirinius in Iudaea Province around AD 6. The revolt was crushed brutally by the Romans...

, which is itself dated to the time of the taxation
Census of Quirinius
The Census of Quirinius refers to the enrollment of the Roman Provinces of Syria and Iudaea for tax purposes taken in the year 6/7 during the reign of Emperor Augustus , when Publius Sulpicius Quirinius was appointed governor of Syria, after the banishment of Herod Archelaus from the Tetrarchy of...

 (c. 6-7 AD). Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...

, on the other hand, says that Theudas was 45 or 46, which is after Gamaliel is speaking, and long after Judas the Galilean.

There are several arguments put forward to solve this problem. The 18th century theologian John Gill
John Gill (theologian)
John Gill was an English Baptist pastor, biblical scholar, and theologian who held to a firm Calvinistic soteriology. Born in Kettering, Northamptonshire, he attended Kettering Grammar School where he mastered the Latin classics and learned Greek by age 11...

 wrote "Some think Josephus is mistaken in his chronology, and then all is right." Another argument is that the author of the Book of Acts used Josephus as a source and made a mistake in a reading the text, taking a later reference to the execution of the "sons of Judas the Galilean" after the rebellion of Theudas as saying that the rebellion of Judas was later; however there is disagreement as to whether Luke used Josephus. Other explanations are that he was referring to a different revolt by another Theudas, or that he mistakenly transposed the two names.

Some arguments that Josephus and Gamaliel refer to different men named Theudas are:
  1. Gamaliel ascribes only 400 men to Theudas, Josephus uses the terms "a great part of the people" and "many" Josephus recounts a massacre of over 20,000 people in his next paragraph, so a band of only 400 would probably not considered significant enough and would fall in "ten thousand" that he did not elaborate in Antiquities
  2. The terminology for the figure is somewhat different: Gamaliel says Theudas was 'claiming to be somebody', Josephus uses the terms 'magician' and 'prophet'. Also, Gamaliel says that Theudas's followers 'rallied to him' (a more political sounding term); Josephus says Theudas's followers took their effects and were migrating to the river Jordan. Moreover, Gamaliel says that Theudas was simply killed and "all his followers dispersed"; Josephus says Theudas was captured and then beheaded, and the head then taken to Jerusalem, while many of the followers were killed by the Roman troop of horsemen, and that many of them were likewise captured and arrested.
  3. Origen
    Origen
    Origen , or Origen Adamantius, 184/5–253/4, was an early Christian Alexandrian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished writers of the early Church. As early as the fourth century, his orthodoxy was suspect, in part because he believed in the pre-existence of souls...

     referred to a Theudas active before the birth of Jesus in Contra Celsum. It is possible that this is simply a referral to Acts, but Origen did mention in the same chapter about another rebellion, Dositheus the Samaritan, that Gamaliel didn't refer.
  4. The name 'Theudas' does show up in Jerusalem ossuaries close in time, e.g. Inscription 1255, and shows up in the Papyrii as hypocoristic forms (i.e. "pet" names, 'nicknames') for many Greek theophoric names (e.g. Theodotus, Theodorus, Theodotion, etc.), so it could refer to any number of people at the time. At the time there was a prevalence for having both a Greek and a Hebrew name, with the Greek name having the same or very similar meaning as the Hebrew. This pattern shows up in the Jerusalem ossuaries and the 'Goliath' family in Jericho [e.g. 'Theodorus' (greek) for 'Nathanel' (hebrew)]. With this in mind, 'Theudas' could be Greek for a wide range of Hebrew names: Jonathan, Nathanael, Mattathias, Hananias, Jehohanan, etc. In one case, the synagogue ruler in Ophel was listed under his alternate Greek name "Theodotus".


Jewish Encyclopedia mentions a third man named Theudas, who lived during the second century:

"Theudas introduced into Rome the practise of eating on the eve of Passover a lamb prepared in accordance with the custom observed in Jerusalem with regard to the sacrificial lamb (Pes. 53a, b; Ber. 19a; Beẓah 23a)

Sources

  • Flavius Josephus
    Josephus
    Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...

    , Jewish Antiquities 20.97-98
  • Acts of the Apostles
    Acts of the Apostles
    The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...

    5:36

External links

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