About Judas the Galilean

An essay donated by Daniel T. Unterbrink

Sponsored link.

I have written two books which tell a new tale concerning Jesus of Nazareth.  The first book, "Judas the Galilean", explores the similarities between Jesus and another first-century rabbi, Judas the Galilean.  Both men cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem, were involved in a Barabbas-style prisoner release, were proclaimed Messiah in Galilee, and both founded new philosophies.  The Jewish historian, Josephus, wrote extensively about the life of Judas the Galilean but did not mention the cause or date of Judas' death.  On the other hand, Josephus did not describe a single action of Jesus but did tell of Jesus' crucifixion at the hands of Pilate.  Many scholars doubt the reliability of the "Jesus" passage in Josephus.  I believe this "Jesus"  passage was a substitution for the death of Judas the Galilean.  Judas the Galilean founded the fourth philosophy (later known as the Zealots), and was always on the mind of Josephus.  Josephus recorded the crucifixions of two of Judas' sons (45-47 CE), the stoning of another son, Menahen, who marched on Jerusalem ala Jesus in 66 CE, and the suicide of a grandson, Eleazar, at Masada in 73 CE.  It is incomprehensible that Josephus would have forgotten to tell of Judas the Galilean's death.  It is my contention that Jesus was simply a title for Judas the Galilean, and that the early church tried to distance Jesus from his true past.

The second book, "New Testament Lies", covers much of the same material as "Judas the Galilean", with one exception: "New Testament Lies" incorporates the Slavonic Josephus.  Scholars have ignored the Slavonic Josephus for two reasons.  First, a comprehensive comparison of the Slavonic version of the "War" with the Greek version was not published until 2003.  Second, many items within the Slavonic "War" are not consistent with Traditional Christianity.  The Slavonic Josephus includes "the star of Bethlehem" infant narrative but dates the story at 25 BCE, a full generation before the date as calculated in Matthew.  There are three passages about John the Baptist which go against the conventional Gospel accounts.  First, John came baptizing at the river Jordan in 6 CE, immediately before the tax revolt against Rome, led by Judas the Galilean. (Note that Jesus was crucified for his refusal to pay taxes to Rome.)  This John also preached the same philosophy as practiced by Judas.  In short, according to the Slavonic Josephus, John the Baptist was a disciple of Judas the Galilean.  The two other passages concerning John place John's death at 36 CE, several years after the Gospel death of Jesus.  This is confirmed by Josephus' "Antiquities".  Obviously, the Gospel timeline of John the Baptist was shifted in order to hide John's connection with Judas the Galilean.  The Slavonic Josephus also disproves the stories of Judas Iscariot and Barabbas.  According to this source, the High Priests paid Pilate 30 talents to arrest Jesus, and it was Jesus who was released to the crowd, not Barabbas (Judas the Galilean was released to the Jewish crowd in 4 BCE by the son of Herod the Great, Archelaus.)

This is a very complicated subject, in that all of Christianity is turned upside down.  With this earlier timeline for Jesus, it is now possible to compare the early church to the writings of Josephus.  The result is unsettling.  The hero of Traditional Christianity, Paul, becomes the traitor as depicted by Josephus and other early writings.  The introduction of Judas Iscariot by the Gospel writers was just an attempt to shift blame from Paul to a Jewish Apostle.  This whole cover-up is detailed in both books.  What is at stake?  The future of Christianity.

The following material should be noted: