Introduction to the NT World  The Zealots  Making sense of the New Testament requires navigating your way through a maze of different cultural, religious, political, and economic groups that existed in first-century Jewish society as well as in the Roman Empire at large. Week 12, 10/26/2011 Week 12, 10/26/2011 Gene Wright, Gene Wright,

Who were the Zealots Who were the Zealots Question: How can the people survive? Answer of the Zealots? By killing everyone who does not follow God. The zeal of Mattathias for Yahweh and the law led him to resist the emissaries of Epiphanies and refuse to offer a pagan sacrifice (1 Maccabees 2:24, 26). Rather than apostasize, Mattathias drew out his sword, killed the King's Agent, the cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Let every one who is zealous for the law and supports the Covenant come out with me.” Mattathias and his sons fled to the mountains, sparking a popular Jewish revolt. These zealous Jewish freedom fighters achieved considerable success. The temple was rededicated to God, and the Jews celebrated their first Hanukkah. In this way the Maccabean / Hasmonean dynasty had been purchased in blood.

The Zealots But the Hasmoneans did not just target the actual pagan oppressors. They began killing their fellow Jews who were working with the occupying forces, calling them renegades. The attacks on the oppressors were viewed as a religious duty for God and attacks on Jewish people who were helping them were viewed in the same light. There can be little doubt that those who joined Mattathias in Herem or "Holy War” set the pattern for the eventual emergence of the Zealots as a distinct party in the First Century.

The Zealots The Greek word zelos conveys the notion of fervent heat. The root word for Zealot literally means to boil. The English word zeal comes from the same source. The image of hot boiling water conveys fervency and passionate commitment, whether to God, a person or a cause.

The Zealots Josephus describes the Zealots as the Fourth Party of the Jews. The others were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. He says that they had a burning passion for “liberty.” They said, “God was their Ruler, Lord, and King,” and they refused to give any earthly man the name and title as their King. They were the most nationalistic of all the Jewish Nation. Josephus describes the Zealots as men who did not mind dying. They would slaughter their own loved ones for their country in their struggle for freedom, if their hopes of victory could be achieved. The Zealots and Pharisees believed in the afterlife for the faithful, especially those who were martyred in the defense of Yahweh.

The Zealots The term Zealot in the decades immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem, applied to the Jewish revolutionaries who attempted to expel the Romans and their partisans from the country. “Partisans” were those who were friendly to the Romans.

The Zealots According to Josephus the Zealots resorted to violence and assassination in their hatred of the foreigner. The Zealots were prepared to go the distance in secret murders and assassinations to rid their country of all foreign rule. Josephus indicates the Zealots, were headed by Judas of Galilee, who “in the days of the enrollment,” bitterly opposed the threatened increase of taxation at the census of Quirinius. (Luke 2:1,2 and Acts 5:37)

The Zealots Josephus recorded that a different group of bandits sprang up in Jerusalem, the Sicarii. They appeared a few years after the middle of the first century, and represented the extremists of a desperate terrorist movement. Sicarii comes from the Latin word Sica, which means, dagger. Thus, the Sicarii became known as The Dagger Men. The Sciarii carried out their assassinations with curved daggers in belts that surrounded their waists, concealed under their clothing.

The Zealots During the Jewish assemblies, feasts, festivals, and especially during the pilgrimage to the Temple mount, the Sicarii would mingle with the crowd. When the time was right, they stabbed their victims to death with military precision in broad daylight. When the victims fell, the assassins would join in the cries of indignation. Through this plausible behavior, they easily avoided discovery. This method of assassinating people in crowded places before slipping away, caused extreme anxiety among surrounding onlookers, and struck fear into their hearts.

The Zealots During the Jewish assemblies, feasts, festivals, and especially during the pilgrimage to the Temple mount, the Sicarii would mingle with the crowd. When the time was right, they stabbed their victims to death with military precision in broad daylight. When the victims fell, the assassins would join in the cries of indignation. Through this plausible behavior, they easily avoided discovery. This method of assassinating people in crowded places before slipping away, caused extreme anxiety among surrounding onlookers, and struck fear into their hearts.

The Zealots The Sicarii were distinguished from the Zealots by primarily targeting other Jews considered to be collaborators with Rome. Ananias the High Priest in was the son of Nebedaeus. He was nominated to the office by Herod in A.D. 48. “And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” (Acts 23:2-4) He was deposed shortly before Felix left the province and was assassinated by the Sicarii in a viaduct at the beginning of the last Jewish war.

The Zealots “When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.” (Acts 23:12-15) The Sicarii or Zealots? Probably one or the other.

The Zealots Masada was an ancient mountaintop fortress in Southeast Israel on the shore of the Dead Sea. It is 1,400 ft high and has an area of about 18 acres. In A.D. 70, Zealots revolted against Rome. Survivors fled to this fortress built by Herod. The uprising was brutally stamped out by the Romans, and ended with Jerusalem’s destruction. At Masada it took the Roman army of 15,000 fighting men, two years to break through and subdue the fortress of a Jewish force of less than 1,000, including women and children. On the inevitable day of defeat, 15,000 Roman troops breached Masada’s walls. It was late in the day, so the Romans delayed the final attack until dawn. That night the remaining Jewish survivors met and voted for suicide, rather than enslavement.

The Zealots Masada was an ancient mountaintop fortress in Southeast Israel on the shore of the Dead Sea. It is 1,400 feet high and has an area of about 18 acres. In A.D. 70, Zealots revolted against Rome. Survivors fled to this fortress built by Herod. The uprising was brutally stamped out by the Romans, and ended with Jerusalem’s destruction. At Masada it took the Roman army of 15,000 fighting men, two years build a ramp and subdue the fortress of a Jewish force of less than 1,000, including women and children. On the inevitable day of defeat, 15,000 Roman troops breached Masada’s walls. It was late in the day, so the Romans delayed the final attack until dawn.

Masada aerial from south Roman siege ramp “Snake Path” Siege camp

The Zealots That night the remaining Jewish survivors met and voted for suicide, rather than enslavement. The survivors drew lots and chose 10 men to slay all the rest. Each man lay down on the ground with his wife and children and embraced them. Together, they awaited the blow from the men chosen to deliver it. When the 10 executioners had unflinchingly, completed their task, they drew lots again to see who would kill the other 9, then, take his own life. At dawn, the Romans poured through the breached walls. Fires burned quietly everywhere. A ghostly stillness hung over the air. Finally, two women and five small children emerged from a water conduit to tell the story. “When the Romans saw the mass of slain, they were unable to take pleasure in the sight, even though the people were their enemies.” - Josephus

The Zealots Luke 6:15: “Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alpheus, and Simon who was called Zelotes.” or, Simon the Zealot. In the same group, you have Matthew the tax collector. Matthew, collector of money for the Romans and government who were oppressing the Jewish people. One of the miracles of the power of Christ is that Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot, could live at peace in the close company of the group of Jesus’ followers. If Simon had met Matthew anywhere else, other than a follower of Jesus, it is highly probable that Simon would have killed Matthew. Whenever you hear the name of Matthew or Simon the Zealot, remember Romans 1:16 – the power of God unto salvation.