Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 5:37

"After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the enrolment, and drew away [some of the] people after him: he also perished; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered abroad." — Acts 5:37 (ASV)

Judas of Galilee.—In one passage, Josephus (Antiquities 18.1) calls him a Gaulonite—that is, from the country east of Galilee. If this account stood alone, Saint Luke might also have been charged here with inaccuracy. However, in other passages (Josephus, Antiquities 20.5.2; Wars 2.8.1), he is described as a Galilean.

Regarding the taxing (in the modern sense of the term) which followed the census that coincided with our Lord’s nativity—with both the taxing and the census 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 Caesar. It was lawful to use any weapons in defense of freedom.

The war they waged was a religious war. Josephus, writing long after the movement had collapsed but evidently giving the impressions of his own early manhood, enumerates them as one of the four great religious sects of Judaism, alongside the Pharisees (with whom they were very closely allied), Sadducees, and Essenes. 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, great at the time 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 (Josephus, Antiquities 20.5.2).