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After other matters he proceeds as follows: "But the Jews were
afflicted with a greater plague than these by the Egyptian false
prophet. For there appeared in the land an impostor who aroused faith
in himself as a prophet, and collected about thirty thousand of those
whom he had deceived, and led them from the desert to the so-called
Mount of Olives whence he was prepared to enter Jerusalem by force
and to overpower the Roman garrison and seize the government of the
people, using those who made the attack with him as body guards. But
Felix anticipated his attack, and went out to meet him with the Roman
legionaries, and all the people joined in the defense, so that when
the battle was fought the Egyptian fled with a few followers, but the
most of them were destroyed or taken captive." Josephus relates these
events in the second book of his History. But it is worth while
comparing the account of the Egyptian given here with that contained in
the Acts of the Apostles. In the time of Felix it was said to Paul
by the centurion in Jerusalem, when the multitude of the Jews raised
a disturbance against the apostle, "Art not thou he Who before these
days made an uproar, and led out into the wilderness four thousand men
that were murderers?" These are the events which took place in the
time of Felix.
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