The Egyptian False Prophet

Next, after other matters, he goes on to say: “The Egyptian false prophet struck the Jews a heavier blow than these. A charlatan came into the country and gained belief for himself as a prophet. He gathered about thirty thousand of those he had deceived, led them around from the desert to the mount called the Mount of Olives, and from there he was ready to force his way into Jerusalem, overpower the Roman garrison and the people, and rule as a tyrant, with those who burst in with him as his bodyguard. [a] But Felix forestalled his attack. He went out to meet him with the Roman heavy infantry, and the whole people joined in the defense. So when battle was joined, the Egyptian fled with a few followers, and most of those with him were killed or taken alive.”

So says Josephus in the second book of his Histories. It is worth comparing what is told here about the Egyptian with what is in the Acts of the Apostles. There, in the time of Felix, when the Jewish crowd rose in riot against Paul, the tribune in Jerusalem said to him, “Are you not, then, the Egyptian who before these days stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the dagger-men out into the desert?” Such were the events in the time of Felix. [b]