Matthew 24:11 And many false prophets shall
rise, and shall deceive many.
In the days of Claudius Caesar sometime in the
40's
Antiquities of the Jews book XX
CHAPTER 5.
CONCERNING THEUDAS AND THE SONS OF
JUDAS THE GALILEAN; AS ALSO WHAT CALAMITY FELL UPON THE JEWS ON THE DAY
OF THE PASSOVER.
1. NOW it came to pass, while Fadus was
procurator of Judea, that a certain magician, whose name was
Theudas,persuaded a great part of the people to take their effects with
them, and follow him to the river Jordan; for he told them he was a
prophet, and that he would, by his own command, divide the river, and
afford them an easy passage over it; and many were deluded by his words.
However, Fadus did not permit them to make any advantage of his wild
attempt, but sent a troop of horsemen out against them; who, falling
upon them unexpectedly, slew many of them, and took many of them alive.
They also took Theudas alive, and cut off his head, and carried it to
Jerusalem. This was what befell the Jews in the time of Cuspius Fadus's
government.
2. Then came Tiberius Alexander as successor to
Fadus; he was the son of Alexander the alabarch of Alexandria, which
Alexander was a principal person among all his contemporaries, both for
his family and wealth: he was also more eminent for his piety than this
his son Alexander, for he did not continue in the religion of his
country. Under these procurators that great famine happened in Judea, in
which queen Helena bought corn in Egypt at a great expense, and
distributed it to those that were in want, as I have related already.
And besides this, the sons of Judas of Galilee were now slain; I mean of
that Judas who caused the people to revolt, when Cyrenius came to take
an account of the estates of the Jews, as we have showed in a foregoing
book.
The Wars of the Jews Book II
CHAPTER 13.
NERO ADDS FOUR CITIES TO AGRIPPAS
KINGDOM; BUT THE OTHER PARTS OF JUDEA WERE UNDER FELIX. THE DISTURBANCES
WHICH WERE RAISED BY THE SICARII THE MAGICIANS AND AN EGYPTIAN FALSE
PROPHET. THE JEWS AND SYRIANS HAVE A CONTEST AT CESAREA.
1. NOW as to the many things in which Nero acted
like a madman, out of the extravagant degree of the felicity and riches
which he enjoyed, and by that means used his good fortune to the injury
of others; and after what manner he slew his brother, and wife, and
mother, from whom his barbarity spread itself to others that were most
nearly related to him; and how, at last, he was so distracted that he
became an actor in the scenes, and upon the theater, - I omit to say any
more about them, because there are writers enough upon those subjects
every where; but I shall turn myself to those actions of his time in
which the Jews were concerned.
2. Nero therefore bestowed the kingdom of the
Lesser Armenia upon Aristobulus, Herod's son, and he added to Agrippa's
kingdom four cities, with the toparchies to them belonging; I mean Abila,
and that Julias which is in Perea, Tarichea also, and Tiberias of
Galilee; but over the rest of Judea he made Felix procurator. This Felix
took Eleazar the arch-robber, and many that were with him, alive, when
they had ravaged the country for twenty years together, and sent them to
Rome; but as to the number of the robbers whom he caused to be
crucified, and of those who were caught among them, and whom he brought
to punishment, they were a multitude not to be enumerated.
3. When the country was purged of these, there
sprang up another sort of robbers in Jerusalem, which were called
Sicarii, who slew men in the day time, and in the midst of the city;
this they did chiefly at the festivals, when they mingled themselves
among the multitude, and concealed daggers under their garments, with
which they stabbed those that were their enemies; and when any fell down
dead, the murderers became a part of those that had indignation against
them; by which means they appeared persons of such reputation, that they
could by no means be discovered. The first man who was slain by them was
Jonathan the high priest, after whose death many were slain every day,
while the fear men were in of being so served was more afflicting than
the calamity itself; and while every body expected death every hour, as
men do in war, so men were obliged to look before them, and to take
notice of their enemies at a great distance; nor, if their friends were
coming to them, durst they trust them any longer; but, in the midst of
their suspicions and guarding of themselves, they were slain. Such was
the celerity of the plotters against them, and so cunning was their
contrivance.
4. There was also another body of wicked men
gotten together, not so impure in their actions, but more wicked in
their intentions, which laid waste the happy state of the city no less
than did these murderers. These were such men as deceived and deluded
the people under pretense of Divine inspiration, but were for procuring
innovations and changes of the government; and these prevailed with the
multitude to act like madmen, and went before them into the wilderness,
as pretending that God would there show them the signals of liberty. But
Felix thought this procedure was to be the beginning of a revolt; so he
sent some horsemen and footmen both armed, who destroyed a great number
of them.
5. But there was an Egyptian false prophet that
did the Jews more mischief than the former; for he was a cheat, and
pretended to be a prophet also, and got together thirty thousand men
that were deluded by him; these he led round about from the wilderness
to the mount which was called the Mount of Olives, and was ready to
break into Jerusalem by force from that place; and if he could but once
conquer the Roman garrison and the people, he intended to domineer over
them by the assistance of those guards of his that were to break into
the city with him. But Felix prevented his attempt, and met him with his
Roman soldiers, while all the people assisted him in his attack upon
them, insomuch that when it came to a battle, the Egyptian ran away,
with a few others, while the greatest part of those that were with him
were either destroyed or taken alive; but the rest of the multitude were
dispersed every one to their own homes, and there concealed themselves.
6. Now when these were quieted, it happened, as
it does in a diseased body, that another part was subject to an
inflammation; for a company of deceivers and robbers got together, and
persuaded the Jews to revolt, and exhorted them to assert their liberty,
inflicting death on those that continued in obedience to the Roman
government, and saying, that such as willingly chose slavery ought to be
forced from such their desired inclinations; for they parted themselves
into different bodies, and lay in wait up and down the country, and
plundered the houses of the great men, and slew the men themselves, and
set the villages on fire; and this till all Judea was filled with the
effects of their madness. And thus the flame was every day more and more
blown up, till it came to a direct war.
7. There was also another disturbance at Cesarea,
- those Jews who were mixed with the Syrians that lived there rising a
tumult against them. The Jews pretended that the city was theirs, and
said that he who built it was a Jew, meaning king Herod. The Syrians
confessed also that its builder was a Jew; but they still said, however,
that the city was a Grecian city; for that he who set up statues and
temples in it could not design it for Jews. On which account both
parties had a contest with one another; and this contest increased so
much, that it came at last to arms, and the bolder sort of them marched
out to fight; for the elders of the Jews were not able to put a stop to
their own people that were disposed to be tumultuous, and the Greeks
thought it a shame for them to be overcome by the Jews. Now these Jews
exceeded the others in riches and strength of body; but the Grecian part
had the advantage of assistance from the soldiery; for the greatest part
of the Roman garrison was raised out of Syria; and being thus related to
the Syrian part, they were ready to assist it. However, the governors of
the city were concerned to keep all quiet, and whenever they caught
those that were most for fighting on either side, they punished them
with stripes and bands. Yet did not the sufferings of those that were
caught affright the remainder, or make them desist; but they were still
more and more exasperated, and deeper engaged in the sedition. And as
Felix came once into the market-place, and commanded the Jews, when they
had beaten the Syrians, to go their ways, and threatened them if they
would not, and they would not obey him, he sent his soldiers out upon
them, and slew a great many of them, upon which it fell out that what
they had was plundered. And as the sedition still continued, he chose
out the most eminent men on both sides as ambassadors to Nero, to argue
about their several privileges.
Wars of the Jews Book 6
THE GREAT DISTRESS THE JEWS WERE IN
UPON THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE HOLY HOUSE. CONCERNING A FALSE PROPHET,
AND THE SIGNS THAT PRECEDED THIS DESTRUCTION.
2. And now the Romans, judging that it was in
vain to spare what was round about the holy house, burnt all those
places, as also the remains of the cloisters and the gates, two
excepted; the one on the east side, and the other on the south; both
which, however, they burnt afterward. They also burnt down the treasury
chambers, in which was an immense quantity of money, and an immense
number of garments, and other precious goods there reposited; and, to
speak all in a few words, there it was that the entire riches of the
Jews were heaped up together, while the rich people had there built
themselves chambers [to contain such furniture]. The soldiers also came
to the rest of the cloisters that were in the outer [court of the]
temple, whither the women and children, and a great mixed multitude of
the people, fled, in number about six thousand. But before Caesar had
determined any thing about these people, or given the commanders any
orders relating to them, the soldiers were in such a rage, that they set
that cloister on fire; by which means it came to pass that some of these
were destroyed by throwing themselves down headlong, and some were burnt
in the cloisters themselves. Nor did any one of them escape with his
life. A false prophet was the occasion of these people's destruction,
who had made a public proclamation in the city that very day, that God
commanded them to get upon the temple, and that there they should
receive miraculous signs of their deliverance. Now there was then a
great number of false prophets suborned by the tyrants to impose on the
people, who denounced this to them, that they should wait for
deliverance from God; and this was in order to keep them from deserting,
and that they might be buoyed up above fear and care by such hopes. Now
a man that is in adversity does easily comply with such promises; for
when such a seducer makes him believe that he shall be delivered from
those miseries which oppress him, then it is that the patient is full of
hopes of such his deliverance.
3. Thus were the miserable people persuaded by
these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not
attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so
plainly foretell their future desolation, but, like men infatuated,
without either eyes to see or minds to consider, did not regard the
denunciations that God made to them.
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