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Chapter XI.—The Impostor Theudas and his Followers.; original source section: Chapter 11
1 complete historical source paragraphs and 4 editorial footnotes. Author and edition credits are shown for each record; original wording is retained.
English translation and editorial credits: Rev. Arthur Cushman McGiffert (Ph.D.).
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κατὰ τὸν δηλούμενον χρόνον, i.e. about the time of Agrippa’s death. But Luke writes πρὸ γὰρ τούτων τῶν ἡμερῶν, “Before these days.”
Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XI.—The Impostor Theudas and his Followers.; original source section: Chapter 11, editorial note cite_note-1 · Original source
1. Luke, in the Acts, introduces Gamaliel as saying, at the consultation which was held concerning the apostles, that at the time referred to, “rose up Theudas boasting himself to be somebody; who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered.” Let us therefore add the account of Josephus concerning this man. He records in the work mentioned just above, the following circumstances:
There is a chronological difficulty in connection with this Theudas which has caused much dispute. The Theudas mentioned by Josephus arose in the time of Claudius; but the Theudas referred to by Gamaliel in the Acts must have lived many years before that. Various solutions of greater or less plausibility have been offered, almost any one of which is possible, and abundantly sufficient to account for the alleged discrepancy, though none can be proved to be true. Compare Wieseler’s Chron. des ap. Zeitalters, p. 138, note 1; Ewald’s Gesch. des Jüdischen Volkes, Bd. VI. p. 532; Jost’s Gesch. der Israeliten, Bd. II. Anhang, p. 86; and the various commentaries on the Acts in loco. A question of more importance for us, in the present instance, is as to Eusebius’ conduct in the case. He identifies the Theudas of Luke with the Theudas of Josephus,—an identification which is impossible, if both accounts are accepted as trustworthy. Eusebius has consequently been accused of an intentional perversion of facts for the sake of promoting the credibility of Luke’s accounts. But a protest must again be entered against such grave imputations upon the honesty of Eusebius. A man with a very small allowance of common sense would certainly not have been so foolish as consciously to involve himself in such a glaring anachronism—an anachronism which every reader had the means of exposing—for the sake of making a point in confirmation of the narrative of Luke. Had he been conscious of the discrepancy, he would certainly have endeavored to reconcile the two accounts, and it would not have required a great amount of ingenuity or research to discover in the pages of Josephus himself a sufficiently plausible reconciliation. The only reasonable explanation of Eusebius’ anachronism is his carelessness, which caused him to fall into many blunders as bad as the present, especially in questions of chronology. He read, in the Acts, of Theudas; he read, in Josephus, of a similar character of the same name; he identified the two hastily, and without a thought of any chronological difficulty in the case. He quotes the passage from the Acts very freely, and possibly without recollecting that it occurs several chapters before the account of the famine and of the other events which happened in the time of Claudius.
Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XI.—The Impostor Theudas and his Followers.; original source section: Chapter 11, editorial note cite_note-5 · Original source
2. “While Fadus was procurator of Judea a certain impostor called Theudas persuaded a very great multitude to take their possessions and follow him to the river Jordan. For he said that he was a prophet, and that the river should be divided at his command, and afford them an easy passage.
About 44 a.d. See above, chap. 8, note 2.
Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XI.—The Impostor Theudas and his Followers.; original source section: Chapter 11, editorial note cite_note-4 · Original source
2. “While Fadus was procurator of Judea a certain impostor called Theudas persuaded a very great multitude to take their possessions and follow him to the river Jordan. For he said that he was a prophet, and that the river should be divided at his command, and afford them an easy passage.
Josephus, Ant. XX. 5. 1.
Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XI.—The Impostor Theudas and his Followers.; original source section: Chapter 11, editorial note cite_note-3 · Original source
1. Luke, in the Acts, introduces Gamaliel as saying, at the consultation which was held concerning the apostles, that at the time referred to, “rose up Theudas boasting himself to be somebody; who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered.” Let us therefore add the account of Josephus concerning this man. He records in the work mentioned just above, the following circumstances:
2. “While Fadus was procurator of Judea a certain impostor called Theudas persuaded a very great multitude to take their possessions and follow him to the river Jordan. For he said that he was a prophet, and that the river should be divided at his command, and afford them an easy passage.
Complete source paragraph · Book II, Chapter XI.—The Impostor Theudas and his Followers.; original source section: Chapter 11, source paragraph 3 · Original source