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    Judas the Apostle
    Judas the Apostle
    Judas the Apostle
    Ebook116 pages3 hours

    Judas the Apostle

    By Geo Lally

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    Judah ben Shimeon is a patriot anxious to make any sacrifice to rid his country of the hated infidel invaders. Could this be the villain who has been reviled for so many years?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGeo Lally
    Release dateApr 14, 2010
    ISBN9781452381503
    Judas the Apostle

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      Book preview

      Judas the Apostle - Geo Lally

      Judas the Apostle

      Geo Lally

      Judas the Apostle

      Published by Geo Lally at Smashwords

      Copyright 2009 George Lally

      ISBN 978-1-4523-8150-3

      Preface

      This work of fiction is the result of a conversation that occurred years ago. A friend who happened to be a cleric told me (and some others), There is a little bit of the Judas Iscariot (Judah ben Shimeon) trait in each of us. Hopefully not too much that can’t be overcome.

      Do we really know much about this man whose name is synonymous with treachery? Was he that horrible or was his traitorous nature created by writers several hundred years after his death? This story takes an alternate look at a possible Judas doing what he had to do without evil intentions.

      Consider the name Judas Iscariot. Where did the word "Iscariot" come from?

      It was not a family name as the Jews (or many other groups at that time) did not use this type of family name. It could have been a corruption of a village name (Kerioth-Jeariam) where Judas may have lived. No other apostle was identified with this type of village affiliation. Some scholars believe it was a corruption of the Greek word "sicarsios" which meant assassin or knife wielder. This word was shortened to "scarsi" and was the name of a Jewish guerilla movement early in the common era.

      It should be noted that Jesus Christ is referred to as Jesus of Nazareth. People have lived in that area of Galilee since prehistoric times, but the town called Nazareth was not named until many years after Christ. This was about the time when western scribes were documenting the New Testament. European people often referred to people using their given name and the town or area where they lived. Middle Eastern people to this day refer to people by their given name and the name of the persons father or in some cases the name of a tribe.

      Over the years that memory of what the cleric said has stayed with me, at times troubling me and at other times causing me to try to understand why Judah would even consider betrayal of the savior of his race. Perhaps Judah ben Shimeon felt he could save the Jewish race by forcing Yoshua’s hand to lead a Jewish revolt. There is no doubt in my mind that many of the Jews wished for someone, anyone, to perform in the role of King David, a warrior king, and expel the unwanted invaders restoring Jewish sovereignty.

      Jesus Christ is considered by Christians as the most remarkable and intelligent person ever on earth. This being the case, was Jesus Christ such a poor judge of character that he would choose one of his twelve apostles not knowing what task this man would eventually perform? Christ treated these apostles as family, and I believe there was mutual love and respect. I find it inconceivable that Christ did not know Judah’s future.

      Was the betrayal an attempt to force Jesus’ hand to lead a Jewish revolt. Judah’s act of betrayal was foretold. Did he act freely? To know the answer to that we would have to know exactly what was in the minds of all of the persons involved at that time. Many people use Judah as an excuse for many things, reasoning that at least they are still better than Judah. My response to that is ---perhaps.

      Judah was a character in a story written beforehand, and his best efforts could never change the predetermined outcome. He has been vilified for betraying Jesus. He may not have had a choice in this; his fall from grace occurred because he did not repent. According to biblical accounts none of the apostles acquitted themselves too well on Holy Thursday; however, most of them appeared to reconcile themselves with Christ.

      To this day there is a continued vilification of Judah because he betrayed and thus hurt God. To me, God was, God is, God will be. Man cannot hurt God no matter what man does. Man can harm his fellow man or himself, or man can imperil his relationship with God.

      This book is how I explain Judah and his relationship to God, man, me.

      G. T. Lally, Sr.

      Holly Springs, N.C.

      "Chapter 1 199th Year of Hasmonaean, (the Hasmonaean calendar began at the time of the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem), 6th of Iyar (Common Era year 34)

      The relationship between the Roman conquerors and the Jews had never been trouble free. The main causes of trouble were the Roman arrogance and the Jewish obstinacy. Of course most people of conquered lands remain obstinate and these two peoples were continually testing one another.

      For several years the Romans had honored an agreement to keep what the Jews referred to as craven images out of the holy city of Jerusalem. But while working on the fortress of Antonio in celebration of a construction milestone, the Romans had a parade. In that parade they carried several different images of imperial eagles and images of several other animals. This parade of images angered most every Jew and embarrassed the Jewish officials who thought the Romans would honor their promise prohibiting craven images in Jerusalem.

      As a result many of the zealots felt this incident would cause more Jews to support their cause. They also felt that this was the time to increase their attacks against the Romans. They needed to show that the Romans were vulnerable to determined Jewish resistance. Armed attacks inside Jerusalem had proved suicidal, but outside the city it was possible to attack a Roman patrol if they could find out in advance where and when a patrol would be leaving Jerusalem and traveling through the hill country for the sea coast.

      The zealots made these attacks to accomplish several goals: show the Romans that they were vulnerable, obtain whatever armament the Romans lost in the battle, and retrieve whatever cargo was being transported, (most likely goods confiscated from the Jews).

      These Roman caravans did not travel on a set schedule, and it was difficult for any Jewish group to know in advance when they would occur. But now with Jewish tempers inflamed Judah, and his group felt that if they could find out the possible departure time of a caravan, this was the time to strike the Romans.

      Judah and Aram had often discussed the feasibility of an attack on a Roman caravan. During one of these talks Aram said, Several conscripts who were stationed at the fortress Antonio and frequented prostitutes in a mean neighborhood outside the walls of Jerusalem were talking about soldier’s duties. They mentioned an upcoming caravan to take something of importance to be shipped to Rome.

      Judah, Did they talk about a specific date when this would happen?

      No, but I asked my source to get more detailed information. I feel we will hear from him soon. Meanwhile we need to step up our own preparations. Inventory and repair any arms that we have. Also we need to put our zealot friends on alert while keeping our preparations confidential.

      They gathered more than eighty able-bodied Jewish fighters in and around the farm at Kerioth and rehearsed scenarios for an attack on a Roman caravan. Aram, Judah and Yaakob gathered armaments. They had over fifty spears with leather thongs wrapped around the shafts, sixty iron-headed javelins with elder wood shafts to be used in the opening of an attack, slings to hurl an avalanche of stones, forty polished goat-horn bows with at least three hundred arrows. They had twenty olivewood battle clubs studded with several types of metal spikes. Best of all they had thirty, short cut-and-thrust swords made of superior iron. The latter were as good as any possessed by the Romans. These swords were superior to the two-handed swords with which a large number of Roman conscripts were equipped.

      Early on the fourth of Iyar word came from an informant in Jerusalem that several drunken Roman soldiers were discussing a caravan that was to leave Jerusalem for the seacoast on the sixth of Iyar at

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