Judas the Galilean

Josephus calls him in one place a man of Gamala in Gaulanitis and elsewhere “the Galilean”. When Quirinius registered property in Judea, Judas and a Pharisee named Zadok told the people that the assessment was a step into slavery and that they should have no ruler but God (Josephus, Antiquities 18.4–11, 23–25) (Josephus, Jewish War 2.118); see Judea Comes under Direct Roman Rule. Josephus, who is hostile to him, describes his followers as a fourth school beside the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes, agreeing with the Pharisees in everything except their refusal to call any man lord (Josephus, Antiquities 18.4–11, 23–25).

These passages do not tell how Judas died. In Acts the Pharisee Gamaliel says that he perished and that his followers were scattered (Acts 5:37). His family remained prominent among the rebels: two sons were crucified under the governor Tiberius Alexander (Josephus, Antiquities 20.102), Menahem, another son, armed his followers from Herod’s armoury at Masada and became a leader of the revolt in Jerusalem (Josephus, Jewish War 2.433–434), and the commander of Masada at its fall was a descendant (Josephus, Jewish War 7.253).