The Zealots were a
political movement
A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Som ...
in 1st-century
Second Temple Judaism
Second Temple Judaism refers to the Jewish religion as it developed during the Second Temple period, which began with the construction of the Second Temple around 516 BCE and ended with the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE.
The Second Temple p ...
which sought to incite the people of
Judea Province to rebel against the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
and expel it from the
Holy Land by force of arms, most notably during the
First Jewish–Roman War
The First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), sometimes called the Great Jewish Revolt ( he, המרד הגדול '), or The Jewish War, was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews against the Roman Empire, fought in Roman-controlled ...
(66–70). ''Zealotry'' was the term used by
Josephus for a "fourth sect" or "fourth Jewish philosophy" during this period.
Etymology
The term ''zealot'', the common translation of the
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
''
kanai'' (, frequently used in plural form, , ''kana'im''), means one who is
zealous on behalf of God. The term derives from
Greek (''zelotes''), "emulator, zealous admirer or follower".
History
Josephus' ''
Jewish Antiquities
''Antiquities of the Jews'' ( la, Antiquitates Iudaicae; el, Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἀρχαιολογία, ''Ioudaikē archaiologia'') is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by historian Flavius Josephus in the 13th year of the r ...
'' states that there were three main Jewish sects at this time, the
Pharisees, the
Sadducees, and the
Essenes. The Zealots were a "fourth sect", founded by
Judas of Galilee
Judas of Galilee, or Judas of Gamala, was a Jewish leader who led resistance to the census imposed for Roman tax purposes by Quirinius in Judea Province around 6 CE. He encouraged Jews not to register and those that did had their houses burnt an ...
(also called Judas of Gamala) in the year 6 CE against the
Census of Quirinius
The Census of Quirinius is generally believed to be a census of Judea taken by Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, governor of Roman Syria, upon the imposition of direct Roman rule in 6 CE. The Gospel of Luke uses it to date the birth of Jesus, w ...
, shortly after the Roman Empire declared what had most recently been the
tetrarchy of Herod Archelaus to be a
Roman province. According to Josephus, they "agree in all other things with the Pharisaic notions; but they have an inviolable attachment to liberty, and say that God is to be their only Ruler and Lord." (18.1.6)
According to the
Jewish Encyclopedia article on ''Zealots'':
Others have also argued that the group was not so clearly marked out (before the first war of 66–70/3) as some have thought.
Simon the Zealot
Simon the Zealot (, ) or Simon the Canaanite or Simon the Canaanean (, ; grc-gre, Σίμων ὁ Κανανίτης; cop, ⲥⲓⲙⲱⲛ ⲡⲓ-ⲕⲁⲛⲁⲛⲉⲟⲥ; syc, ܫܡܥܘܢ ܩܢܢܝܐ) was one of the most obscure among the apostl ...
was listed among the apostles selected by
Jesus in the
Gospel of Luke and in the
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...
. He is called
Cananaean
Simon the Zealot (, ) or Simon the Canaanite or Simon the Canaanean (, ; grc-gre, Σίμων ὁ Κανανίτης; cop, ⲥⲓⲙⲱⲛ ⲡⲓ-ⲕⲁⲛⲁⲛⲉⲟⲥ; syc, ܫܡܥܘܢ ܩܢܢܝܐ) was one of the most obscure among the apostl ...
in Mark and Matthew (, )
Two of Judas of Galilee's sons, Jacob and Simon, were involved in a revolt and were executed by
Tiberius Alexander
Tiberius Julius Alexander (fl. 1st century) was an equestrian governor and general in the Roman Empire. Born into a wealthy Jewish family of Alexandria but abandoning or neglecting the Jewish religion, he rose to become the 2nd procurator of Jude ...
, the
procurator of Iudaea province from 46 to 48.
[H.H. Ben-Sasson, ''A History of the Jewish People'', Harvard University Press, 1976, , page 275]
The Zealots had the leading role in the
First Jewish–Roman War
The First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), sometimes called the Great Jewish Revolt ( he, המרד הגדול '), or The Jewish War, was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews against the Roman Empire, fought in Roman-controlled ...
(66–73 CE). The Zealots objected to Roman rule and violently sought to eradicate it by generally targeting Romans and Greeks. Another group, likely related, were the
Sicarii
The Sicarii (Modern Hebrew: סיקריים ''siqariyim'') were a splinter group of the Jewish Zealots who, in the decades preceding Jerusalem's destruction in 70 CE, strongly opposed the Roman occupation of Judea and attempted to expel them and th ...
, who raided Jewish habitations and killed Jews they considered
apostate and collaborators, while also urging Jews to fight Romans and other Jews for the cause. Josephus paints a very bleak picture of their activities as they instituted what he characterized as a murderous "reign of terror" prior to the Jewish Temple's destruction. According to Josephus, the Zealots followed
John of Gischala, who had fought the Romans in
Galilee, escaped, came to Jerusalem, and then inspired the locals to a fanatical position that led to the Temple's destruction. They succeeded in taking over
Jerusalem, and held it until 70, when the son of Roman Emperor
Vespasian,
Titus, retook the city and destroyed
Herod's Temple during the
destruction of Jerusalem.
In the Talmud
In the
Talmud, the Zealots are the non-religious (not following the religious leaders), and are also called the ''Biryonim'' (בריונים) meaning "boorish", "wild", or "ruffians", and are condemned for their aggression, their unwillingness to compromise to save the survivors of besieged
Jerusalem, and their blind
militarism against the rabbis' opinion to seek treaties for peace. However, according to one body of tradition, the rabbis initially supported the revolt up until the Zealots initiated a civil war, at which point all hope of resisting the Romans was deemed impossible. The Zealots are further blamed for having contributed to the demise of Jerusalem and the
Second Temple, and of ensuring Rome's retributions and stranglehold on Judea. According to the
Babylonian Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the center ...
,
Gittin:56b, the Biryonim destroyed decades' worth of food and firewood in besieged Jerusalem to force the Jews to fight the Romans out of desperation. This event directly led to the escape of
Johanan ben Zakai
:''See Yohanan for more rabbis by this name''.
Yohanan ben Zakkai ( he, יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זַכַּאי, ''Yōḥānān ben Zakkaʾy''; 1st century CE), sometimes abbreviated as Ribaz () for Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, was one of the Tan ...
out of Jerusalem, who met
Vespasian, a meeting which led to the foundation of the
Academy of Jamnia which produced the
Mishnah which led to the survival of
rabbinical Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism ( he, יהדות רבנית, Yahadut Rabanit), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, or Judaism espoused by the Rabbanites, has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Babylonia ...
. The Zealots advocated violence against the Romans, their Jewish collaborators, and the
Sadducees, by raiding for provisions and other activities to aid their cause.
Sicarii
The Sicarii were a splinter group of the Jewish Zealots who, in the decades preceding
Jerusalem's destruction in 70 CE, strongly opposed the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
occupation of
Judea and attempted to expel them and their sympathizers from the area. The Sicarii carried ''
sicae'', or small
daggers, concealed in their cloaks. At public gatherings, they pulled out these daggers to attack Romans and alleged Roman sympathizers alike, blending into the crowd after the deed to escape detection.
According to historian
Hayim Hillel Ben-Sasson
Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson ( he, חיים הלל בן-ששון (1914 in Valozhyn – 16 May 1977 in Jerusalem) was professor of Jewish medieval history at Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּ� ...
, the Sicarii, originally based in
Galilee, "were fighting for a social revolution, while the Jerusalem Zealots placed less stress on the social aspect" and the Sicarii "never attached themselves to one particular family and never proclaimed any of their leaders king". Both groups objected to the way the priestly families were running the Temple.
Paul the Apostle
While most
English translations of the Bible render the Greek word ''zelotes'' in Acts 22:3 and Galatians 1:14 of the
New Testament as the adjective "
zealous", an article by Mark R. Fairchild
[Fairchild, M. R.]
"Paul's Pre-Christian Zealot Associations: A Re-examination of Gal. 1:14 and Acts 22:3"
''New Testament Studies'' 45(4), pp. 514–532 takes it to mean a Zealot and suggests that
Paul the Apostle
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
may have been a Zealot, which might have been the driving force behind his persecution of the Christians (see the stoning of
Saint Stephen
Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...
) before his
conversion to Christianity
Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person to Christianity. Different Christian denominations may perform various different kinds of rituals or ceremonies initiation into their community of believ ...
, and the
incident at Antioch, even after his conversion. In the two cited verses Paul literally declares himself as one who is ''loyal'' to God, or an ''ardent'' observer of the Law, but the relationship of
Paul the Apostle and Jewish Christianity
Paul the Apostle has been placed within Second Temple Judaism by recent scholarship since the 1970s. A main point of departure with older scholarship is the understanding of Second Temple Judaism; the covenant with God and the role of works as ...
is still debated. This does not necessarily prove Paul was revealing himself as a Zealot. The ''Modern King James Version'' of
Jay P. Green) renders it as 'a zealous one'. Two modern translations (the
Jewish New Testament and
Alternate Literal Translation) render it as 'a zealot'. The
Unvarnished New Testament (1991) renders Galatians 1:14 as "being an absolute zealot for the traditions". These translations may not be inaccurate, but it is disputed by those who claim it gives the wrong association with the "Zealots".
See also
*
Eifert
The surname of Eifert, Eiffert, Eyfert, is German in origin. It has in its modern context in the translation of zealot, (of the Greek: zelotes = the Eiferer, in Hebrew kanai) the biblical form, Pinhas the zealot. There is also an early Prussian tra ...
*
Knanaya
*
Sicarii (1989)
Sicarii (''Daggermen'') was a Jewish terrorist group active in Israel that took responsibility for a series of terrorist attacks between 1989 and 1990 on Palestinians and Jewish political and media figures considered sympathetic to the plight o ...
, a modern group inspired by the Sicarii
*
Sikrikim, a modern group inspired by the Sicarii
* ''
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth'', a book about the life of
Jesus by
Reza Aslan
Notes
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
1st century in religion
6 establishments
73 disestablishments
Jews and Judaism in the Roman Empire
Ancient political movements
Early Christianity and Judaism
Jewish nationalism
Jewish rebellions
National liberation movements
Census of Quirinius