Acts 5:36

Acts 5:36. For before these days. That is, ‘not long ago;' so Chrysostom understands the words when he remarks, ‘He does not speak of ancient records, though he might have done so, but of more recent histories, which are most powerful to induce belief.' Gamaliel's meaning is: ‘This is by no means the first time wild enthusiasts have appeared amongst us; but as you will see from the instances I am going to cite, such men have invariably finished their course in utter defeat and shame.' Still, though he is evidently arguing on the probability of the followers of Jesus turning out similar impostors, in Acts 5:39 he just hints at the possibility of another issue.

Rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain. This is one of the so-called historical inaccuracies of the ‘Acts.' Josephus mentions (Antt. xx. 5,1) a Theudas who persuaded a great company of people that he was a prophet, to induce them to follow his lead. This impostor was defeated and executed by the troops of Fadus, the Procurator of Judea. Now this happened in the reign of Claudius, some ten or twelve years after this speech of Gamaliel.

The mistake of identifying the Theudas of Josephus with the Theudas instanced by the writer of the ‘Acts,' is probably in great measure owing to the mistake of Eusebius, who, forgetful of the dates, and misled by the similarity of the names, confuses the two; but on examination, the details of the two outbreaks are different, for Josephus speaks of a great company of people as following the (later) Theudas of Josephus, while the Theudas of Gamaliel seems to have had comparatively few adherents, about four hundred. The apparent discrepancy between the history of Josephus and the Acts is best explained by the supposition that two persons bearing the name of Theudas appeared as insurgents at different times. Josephus relates how, at the time referred to by Gamaliel (see note on Acts 5:37), the land was overrun by insurgent bands under the leadership of fanatics. Some of the leaders he mentions by name, others he merely alludes to generally. One of these latter most probably was the Theudas mentioned by Gamaliel, selected by him for special notice, for some reasons unknown to us. The name was by no means an uncommon one, nor is there any improbability in supposing that one Theudas, an insurgent, should have appeared in the time of Augustus, and another fifty years later, when Claudius was reigning. Josephus writes, for instance, of four men named Simon, all leaders of insurrections within forty years, and of three insurgent chiefs named Simon within ten years. It cannot for one moment be conceded that in the speech of Gamaliel, reported by the author of the ‘Acts,' a grave historical error exists, considering that the whole writing of the ‘Acts' was evidently supervised by St. Paul, the pupil of Gamaliel.