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THEUDAS
Rebel referred to by Gamaliel in his speech before the Sanhedrin as an example of the fact that false messiahs would fall without anyone’s intervention (Acts 5:36). Theudas evidently led an unsuccessful rebellion against Rome in which he and 400 others were killed. A chronological difficulty is created by the fact that Josephus reports a rebellion led by Theudas during the reign of Claudius as occurring around AD 44, which is seven to ten years after Gamaliel’s speech. While critics have offered this apparent anachronism as evidence that Luke (or some later editor) was in error, several other solutions are possible. Possibly the error is in Josephus’s report rather than Luke’s, or two different individuals named Theudas are intended. During the final years of Herod the Great, several rebellions occurred, one of which may have been instigated by Theudas. It has been suggested (without any direct evidence) that Herod’s slave Simon may have adopted the name Theudas when he gained freedom and subsequently rebelled against Herod. While the identity of Theudas remains unknown, this fact does not necessarily discredit the historical accuracy of Luke’s narrative.