Judas of Galilee

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Judas of Galilee or Judas of Gamala led a violent resistance to a census imposed for Roman tax purposes by Quirinius (sometimes spelled "Cyrenius" in Josephus) in Iudaea Province around AD 6. The revolt was crushed brutally by the Romans. These events are discussed by Josephus in Jewish Wars (also known as The Wars of the Jews) , (Book 2, Chapter 8, Section 1 and Chapter 17, Section 8), and in Antiquities of the Jews Book 18. Judas is also mentioned by Gamaliel, a member of the Sanhedrin, in a speech related in Acts 5:37. Gamaliel offers him as an example of a failed Messianic leader.

In Antiquities of the Jews Book 18 (Chapter 1) Josephus states that Judas, along with Zadok the Pharisee, founded the Zealots, which he calls the "fourth sect" of first century Judaism (the first three are the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Essenes). Josephus blames the Zealots, a group of theocratical-nationalists who preached that God alone was the ruler of Israel and later urged that no taxes should be paid to Rome, for the Great Jewish Revolt and for the destruction of Herod's Temple.

Josephus does not relate the death of Judas, although he does report (Antiquities 20.5.2 102) that Judas' sons James and Simon were executed by procurator Tiberius Julius Alexander in about 46 AD, several years after Rabbi Gamaliel's statement. He also reports that Menahem, one of the early leaders of the Jewish Revolt in AD 66, was Judas´son, but most scholars doubt this. Menahem may have been Judas´ grandson, however^[1]. Menahem´s cousin, Eleazar ben Ya´ir, then escaped to the fortress of Masada where he became a leader of the last defenders against the Roman Empire.