Acts 5:37

After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(37) Judas of Galilee.—In one passage Josephus (Ant. xviii. 1) calls him a Gaulonite—i.e., of the country east of Galilee. Had this stood alone, St. Luke might have been charged here also with inaccuracy; but in other passages (Ant. xx. 5, § 2; Wars, ii. 8, § 1) he is described as a Galilean. On the taxing, in the modern sense of the term, which followed on the census that synchronised with our Lord’s nativity, both being conducted under the supervision of Quirinus, see Notes on Luke 2:1-2. The insurrection of Judas was by far the most important of the attempts to throw off the yoke of Rome. He was assisted by a Pharisee, named Sadduk, and the absolute independence of Israel was the watchword of his followers. It was unlawful, in any form, to pay tribute to Cæsar. It was lawful to use any weapons in defence of freedom. The war they waged was a religious war; and Josephus, writing long after the movement had collapsed, but giving, obviously, the impressions of his own early manhood, enumerates them as being with the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, with the first of whom they were very closely allied—one of the four great religious sects of Judaism. Roman procurators and princes, like Archelaus and Antipas, were naturally united against him, and he and his followers came to the end of which Gamaliel speaks. His influence over the excitable population of Galilee was, however, at the time great, and in part survived. One of the Apostles probably derived his name of Zelotes, or Cananite (see Notes on Matthew 10:4), from having been among the followers of Judas, who were known by that name. His sons, Jacob and Simon, continued to be looked on as leaders after his death, and were crucified under Tiberius Alexander, the successor of Fadus in the procuratorship (Jos. Ant. xx. 5, §2).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:34-42 The Lord still has all hearts in his hands, and sometimes directs the prudence of the worldly wise, so as to restrain the persecutors. Common sense tells us to be cautious, while experience and observation show that the success of frauds in matters of religion has been very short. Reproach for Christ is true preferment, as it makes us conformable to his pattern, and serviceable to his interest. They rejoiced in it. If we suffer ill for doing well, provided we suffer it well, and as we should, we ought to rejoice in that grace which enabled us so to do. The apostles did not preach themselves, but Christ. This was the preaching that most offended the priests. But it ought to be the constant business of gospel ministers to preach Christ: Christ, and him crucified; Christ, and him glorified; nothing beside this, but what has reference to it. And whatever is our station or rank in life, we should seek to make Him known, and to glorify his name.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Judas of Galilee - Josephus has given an account of this man (Antiq., xvii. 10, section 5), and calls him a "Galilean." He afterward calls him a "Gaulonite," and says he was of the city of "Gamala" (Antiq., 18:1:1). He says that the revolt took place under "Cyrenius," a Roman senator, who came into "Syria to be judge of that nation, and to take account of their substance." "Moreover," says he, "Cyrenius came himself into Judea, which was now added to the province of Syria, to take an account of their substance, and to dispose of Archelaus' money." "Yet Judas, taking with him Saddouk, a Pharisee, became zealous to draw them to a revolt, who both said that this taxation was no better than an introduction to slavery, and exhorted the nation to assert their liberty, etc." "This" revolt, he says, was the commencement of the series of revolts and calamities that terminated in the destruction of the city, temple, and nation.

In the days of the taxing - Or, rather, the "enrolling," or "the census." Josephus says it was designed to take an account of their substance. Compare Luke 2:1-2.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

37. Judas of Galilee—(See on [1956]Lu 2:2, and Lu 13:1-3) [Josephus, Antiquities, 13.1.1].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Judas of Galilee; whether this was the same Judas who was called Gaulonite, from the place of his birth, a town in or near Galilee, and Galileus, from the province itself in which he was born, it is not so material to discuss, Josephus makes mention of two of this name.

The taxing; setting down all their names at the command of the Roman emperor, whereby,

1. They professed themselves to be his subjects.

2. They paid him a certain rate, in token of subjection, for every head, as poll money.

3. By this means he knew the number of his subjects, and the strength or weakness of every province. This was another tax than that mentioned Luke 2:2, which is there called the first.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

After this man rose up, Judas of Galilee,.... Of whom Josephus thus says (k):

"there was a man of Galilee, by name Judas, who led his countrymen into rebellion, declaring it an evil, should they suffer tribute to be paid to the Romans, and introduce mortal rulers after God.''

And not unlike this is what another Jewish writer says (l) of Judas the Galilean, and his party:

"these were the cause of the Jews rebelling against the Romans, for they said, it was not fit that any should rule over men but God alone; and that no one should be called Lord, but the blessed God.''

And this insurrection was "in the days of the taxing"; which was made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria; and the reason of it was, because he and his party would not pay that tax, for the reasons suggested in the above citations: and this is what Josephus refers to, when he says (m),

"Cyrenius came to Syria, sent from Caesar as judge of the nation, and appraiser of their estates; upon which Judas, the Gaulonite, (the same with Judas of Galilee,) rebelled, and Saddochus with him; saying, that this appraisment brought nothing else but servitude upon them; and therefore exhorted the nation to vindicate their liberty.''

And his exhortations and arguments prevailed with the people: wherefore it follows here,

and drew away much people after him; perhaps a much larger number than Theudas did, since they are not expressly mentioned how many they were:

he also perished; being killed in the insurrection, or taken and put to death by the Romans. So Origen says (n), that he was punished, and his doctrine was destroyed, and remained only among a few contemptible persons:

and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed; were forced to fly, some one way, and some another, and could make nothing of it: and as this instance was after the other before mentioned; and was so early as under the government of Cyrenius, and at the time of the taxing under him; it shows that Theudas could not be the Theudas of Josephus, unless the words should be rendered as see choose to do, "besides this man rose up Judas", &c. And others observe, that "after him", is the same as "before him"; and which, however, at first hearing, may seem very absurd, yet is justified by instances, as being a very proper way of speaking, seeing, when an account proceeds from the last as nearest, the first must be last, and the last first. Some, in order to reconcile this passage, think, that there is a transposition in the words of Luke, and that they should be read thus, "for before those days rose up Judas of Galilee", &c. and then, "after this man rose up Theudas", &c. so making Judas of Galilee more ancient than Theudas, as he must be, if he is the same Theudas Josephus speaks of: but still it is a difficulty how he could be the same, when that fact of his, the above historian speaks of, was seven, or eight, or ten, and, as some say, twelve years after this speech of Gamaliel's. To remove this, it is proposed, that what is said concerning Theudas is to be put into a parenthesis, and to be considered not as the words of Gamaliel saying them in the sanhedrim, but as the words of Luke the historian, who wrote after this fact was done; and because of the agreement of it with that of Judas, mentioned by Gamaliel, he inserts it; here, and joins it with it (o). And yet, after all, it looks as if it was another Theudas that is here spoken of, who was before Judas; and that he that Josephus speaks of, might be, as Dr. Lightfoot conjectures, one of his posterity, who was of, the same name, and trod in his steps, and. was guilty of sedition as his ancestor was, and as the sons of Judas were, mentioned by the same historian in the same place.

(k) De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 8. sect. 1.((l) Juchasin, fol. 139. 1.((m) Antiqu. l. 18. c. 1. sect. 1. Vid. l. 20. c. 4. sect. 2.((n) L. 1. contr. Cels. p. 44. (o) Vid. Vales. Not. in Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 2. c. 11. & Capelli Spicileg. in loc.

Geneva Study Bible

After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Acts 5:37. Ἰούδας ὁ Γαλιλαῖος] Joseph. Antt. xviii. 1. 1, calls him a Gaulanite; for he was from Gamala in Lower Gaulanitis. But in Antt. xviii. 1. 6, xx. 5. 2, Bell. ii. 8. 1, xvii. 8, he mentions him likewise as Γαλιλαῖος. Apparently the designation “the Galilean” was the inaccurate one used in ordinary life, from the locality in which the man was at work. Gaulanitis lay on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

He excited an insurrection against the census which Augustus in the year 7 aer. Dion. (thirty-seven years after the battle of Actium, Joseph. Antt. xviii. 2. 1) caused to be made by Quirinius the governor of Syria (see on Luke 2:2), representing it as a work of subjugation, and calling the people to liberty with all the fanatical boldness kindled by the old theocratic spirit. Joseph. Antt. xviii. 1. 1. See Gerlach, d. Röm. Statthalter, p. 45 f.; Paret in Herzog’s Encykl. VII. p. 126 f.

ἀπέστησε … ὀπίσω αὑτοῦ] he withdrew them (from the government), and made them his own adherents. Attraction: Hermann, ad Vig. p. 893.

ἀπώλετο] a notice which supplements Josephus. According to Joseph. Antt. xx. 5. 2, two sons of Judas perished at a later period, whom Tiberius Alexander, the governor of Judaea, caused to be crucified. Comp. Bell. ii. 8. 1. Still later a third son was executed (Bell. ii. 17. 8 f.; Vit. v. 11).

διεσκορπίσθησαν] they were scattered,—which does not exclude the continuance of the faction, whose members were afterwards very active as zealots, and again even in the Jewish war (Joseph. Bell. ii. 17. 7); therefore it is not an incorrect statement (in opposition to de Wette).

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 5:37. Ἰούδας ὁ Γαλ.: here too an inaccuracy might have been charged against St. Luke, but it is to be noted that while Josephus speaks of Judas as a Gaulonite in one passage, Jos., Ant., xviii., 1, 1, he frequently, as both Belser and Wendt point out, speaks of him as a Galilean, cf. Ant., xviii., 1, 6; xx., 5, 2; B. J., ii., 8, 1, and 17, 8. But the name Galilean might easily be given to him because Galilee was the scene of his exploits, or because Gamala, his home, belonged to Lower Gaulonitis, which was reckoned as part of Galilee. The accuracy of St. Luke in the account of Judas is remarkable, for Gamaliel speaks of his insurrection as coming to nothing. He could so speak, say in 34 or 35 A.D., but not some ten years later, when the followers of Judas had again gathered together, and formed a kind of school or party, to say nothing of the rebellion of his three sons, James, Simon, and later, Menahem; see Belser, u. s., p. 61, so Lightfoot, u. s., Nösgen, and Alford’s note.

As we consider the characteristics of such men as Theudas and Judas, it is difficult to suppose that the age which produced them could have produced the Messiah of the Gospels. He is, in truth, the Anti-Christ of Judaism. Instead of giving Himself out to be somebody, Jesus is meek and lowly of heart; instead of stirring revolt in Galilee, a burning furnace of sedition, His blessing is upon the peace-makers; instead of seeking a kingly crown, like Judas the Gaulonite, He withdraws from those who would take Him by force, and make Him a king; instead of preaching revolt and licence in the name of liberty for merely selfish ends, He bade men render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; instead of defiantly bidding His followers to be in subjection to no man, and inaugurating a policy of bloodshed and murder, He bade them remember that whilst One was their Master and Teacher, they all were brethren. Schürer, Jewish People, div. ii., vol. iii., p. 80, E.T., well points out that we have a literary memorial of the views and hopes of the Zealots in the Assumption of Moses, which goes so far as to prophesy that Israel will tread on the neck of the eagle, i.e., the Romans, x. 8; but see also edition of Assumption of Moses by Prof. Charles, p. 42.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

37. Judas of Galilee] With this account agrees the history of Josephus (Antiq. xviii. 1. 1), except that, as has been already noticed, he calls Judas a Gaulonite, but as when speaking of the same man again (xx. 5. 2) he calls him Judas of Galilee, and in the same sentence alludes to the history before narrated “as we have shewn in a foregoing book,” we can have no hesitation in accepting Gamaliel’s story as the correct one, while at the same time we may learn from this example what value we ought to place on the accuracy of Josephus when we have to weigh his statements against those of the New Testament.

in the days of the taxing] Not the same which is mentioned Luke 2:2. That was rather an enrolment or census-taking preliminary to taxation. The revolt of Judas, about seven years later, was caused by the actual imposition of a tax. Josephus says of it (xviii. 1. 1): “Cyrenius came into Judæa to take an account of their substance,” and afterwards “Judas said that this taxation was no better than an introduction to slavery, and exhorted the nation to assert their liberty.”

drew away much people after him] The Greek word rendered much is wanting in the best MSS. Read, drew away [some of the] people after him.

he also perished] Josephus gives no notice of the fate of Judas and his party, though he mentions the revolt several times and says (B. J. ii. 8. 1) that this “Judas was a teacher of a peculiar sect of his own.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 5:37. Μετὰ, after) It must therefore be a different Theudas whom Josephus places after this Judas [not before him, as here].—ταῖς ἡμέραις, in the days) A time then well known and suited for attempts to effect a revolution.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 37 - Enrolment for taxing, A.V.; some of the for much, A.V.; as many for even as many, A.V.; scattered abroad for dispersed, A.V. Judas of Galilee, otherwise called the Gaulonite, as a native of Gamala, in Gaulonitis. He was probably called a Galilaean because Galilee was the seat of his insurrection (Josephus, 'Ant.,' 18, 1:1 and 6; also 'Bell. Jud.,' 2. 8:1; 17:8). He was the great leader of the Jews in opposing the census ordered by Augustus, after the deposition of Archelaus, and carried out by Cyrenius, or rather P. Sulpicius Quirinus, the Propraetor of Syria, with the assistance of Cumanus, the subordinate Governor of Judaea. Judas, with Zadoc his coadjutor, was the founder of a fourth Jewish sect, nearly allied to the Pharisees, and his sedition was founded on his philosophic tenets. Josephus speaks of him as the author of all the seditions, tumults, slaughters, sieges, devastations, plunder, famines, ending with the burning of the temple, which afflicted his unhappy country. He gives no account of his death. But his two sons, James and Simon, were crucified by Tiberius Alexander, the successor of Cuspius Fadus. Another son, Menahem, having collected and armed a large band of robbers and other insurgents, after a partially successful attack on the Roman camp at Jerusalem, was miserably slain. The enrolment (ἡ ἀπογραφή, as Luke 2:1). The purpose of Augustus, which had been delayed some years from causes not accurately known, perhaps in deference to some remonstrance from Herod the Great, was now carried into effect. Quirinus was sent, apparently the second time, as Proprsetor of Syria, to which Judaea was now attached, with Cumanus under him as Procurator of Judaea, to make a valuation of all their property. The Jews had been first persuaded by the high priest Joazar, i.e. apparently in the end of Herod's reign, or the beginning of Archelaus's, to submit to what they greatly disliked, but were now roused to insurrection by Judas of Galilee ('Ant.,' 18, 1:1). He also perished. Nothing is known of his death beyond this notice of it. Scattered abroad. Not crushed, for the insurrection broke out again and again, having the character of a religious war given to it by Judas of Galilee. Acts 5:37

Vincent's Word Studies

Obeyed

Note the word for obeyed (ἐπείθοντο) implying the persuasive power of Theudas' boasting. See on Acts 5:29.

Taxing (ἀπογραφῆς)

See on Luke 2:1, Luke 2:2.

Much people

The best texts omit much.

Were dispersed (διεσκορπίθησαν)

See on Matthew 25:24.