Accordingly  other  interpreters  believe  that
it  is  quite  probable  that  two  persons  by  the
name  of  Theudas,  at  a  distance  of  forty  years
or  more  from  each  other,  laid  themselves
open  to  the  just  vengeance  or  justifiable  sus
picions  of  the  Romans  and  were  punished.
It  is  not  at  all  clear  that  Theudas  the  Gau-
lonite  was  an  insurgent  of  the  same  class  as
Theudas  whom  Gamaliel  cites.  The  one  was
an  impostor,  a  pretended  prophet,  who,  on
the  faith  of  the  people  in  his  supernatural
47


powers,  drew  crowds  of  followers  after
him.  The  other  made  some  sort  of  claim
to  greatness,  gained  a  following  of  400
men,  and  came  to  naught.  Who  then  was
Theudas  to  wrhom  Gamaliel  refers  ?  He  was
probably  one  of  the  insurrectionary  chiefs,
who  led  belligerent  bands  in  the  closing  year
of  Herod  the  Great.  That  year  was  remark
ably  turbulent.  Josephus  mentions  three
disturbers  by  name,  and  makes  general  allu
sion  to  others.  Theudas  was  either  1.  One
of  these  unnamed  insurrectionists,  whom
Gamaliel  cites  to  show  that  a  bad  cause  and
its  leaders  come  to  grief.  Theudas  was  a
common  name,  and  within  a  period  of  half
a  century,  might  be  borne  by  two  persons  of
some  prominence  and  somewhat  similar  in
their  career.  Analogously  Josephus  gives
an  account  of  four  men  named  Simon,
who  followed  each  other  within  forty
years,  and  of  three  named  Judas,  within
ten  years,  who  were  all  instigators  of  rebel
lion.  Or  2.  One  of  the  three  insurgents  who
are  named  by  Josephus.  Two  are  advocated
as  identical  with  Theudas.  (1)  Simon  (Antiq.
