140 A History of Judaism
came about because of the ‘previously unaccustomed nature of this
philosophy’.^49
The novelty in this Fourth Philosophy lay entirely in its teachings
about authority. The followers of this doctrine, according to Josephus,
‘have a passion for liberty that is almost unconquerable, since they are
convinced that God alone is their leader and master’. The immediate
impact of the philosophy, since it coincided with the imposition of
Roman rule, was to foment anti- Roman feeling, but the implications of
the philosophy as described by Josephus went much wider. The objec-
tions of these Jews had nothing specifically to do with Roman or foreign
rule, for they could have been expected to oppose equally a continu-
ation of rule by a Jew. Archelaus, the son of Herod who in 6 ce was sent
by the Romans into exile in southern Gaul, was just as much a ‘mortal
master’ as the Roman emperor. Since Josephus objected so vehemently
to this new philosophy, it cannot be identified with the notion of theoc-
racy which, as we have seen (Introduction, p. xx), Josephus described in
Against Apion as the crowning glory of the Jewish constitution, with
the divine will mediated through the High Priest. Nor, since it is stated
specifically to be new, can it be identified with the objection to the
appointment of a king over Israel, rather than relying on judges to medi-
ate the word of God, which formed an important theme of the biblical
books of Samuel (see Chapter 1). Josephus seems to have envisaged a
form of anarchic Judaism in which each Jew claimed a direct line to
God, perhaps through individual reading of the biblical texts (although
he says nothing about the relationship of this group to scripture).^50
No name is given by Josephus to this philosophy in any of the three
short passages in which he describes it, and even within these brief
descriptions he contradicts himself. According to the Jewish War, and
one of the passages in the Antiquities, the leader was a Galilean named
Judas, but in the other passage in the Antiquities Judas is said to have
come from Gamala on the Golan (east of the Sea of Galilee) and to have
been in alliance with a certain Saddok, a Pharisee. The explicit assertion
in one passage that this group had nothing in common with the other
three philosophies is directly contradicted by the statement in another
passage that ‘this school agrees in all other respects with the opinions of
the Pharisees’, except with regard to their passion for liberty. There is
perhaps also something incongruous in the notion that Judas ‘set him-
self as a leader’ of the fourth of the philosophies, despite his opposition
to mortal rule of any kind.^51
It seems that this type of Judaism was something very different from