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Etymology
The term zealot, the common translation of the Hebrew kanai (קנאי, frequently used in plural form,
קנאים, kana'im), means one who is zealous on behalf of God. The term derives from Greek ζηλωτής
(zelotes), "emulator, zealous admirer or follower".[1][2]
History
Josephus' Jewish Antiquities[3] 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 (also called
Judas of Gamala) in the year 6 CE against the Census of Quirinius, 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)
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.[5]
Simon the Zealot was listed among the apostles selected by Jesus
in the Gospel of Luke[6] and in the Acts of the Apostles.[7] He is
called Cananaean in Mark and Matthew (Matthew 10:4,
Mark 3:18)
In the Talmud
In the Talmud, the Zealots are the non-religious (not following the religious leaders), and are also called the
Biryonim ( )בריוניםmeaning "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.[9] 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, 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 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.[10][11] The Zealots advocated violence against the Romans, their Jewish collaborators,
and the Sadducees, by raiding for provisions and other activities to aid their cause.[12]
Sicarii
One particularly extreme group, perhaps a subgroup of the Zealots, was known in Latin as sicarii, meaning
"violent men" or "dagger men" (sing. sicarius, possibly a morphological reanalysis), because of their policy
of killing Jews opposed to their call for war against Rome. Perhaps many Zealots were sicarii
simultaneously, and they may be the biryonim of the Talmud that were feared even by the Jewish sages of
the Mishnah.
According to historian Hayim Hillel Ben-Sasson, 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.[8]
See also
Knanaya
Sicarii (1989), 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
1. Zealot (http://www.etymonline.com/word/zealot), Online Etymology Dictionary
2. Zelotes (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.005
7%3Aentry%3D%2346226), Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, "A Greek-English
Lexicon", at Perseus
3. "Josephus, Antiquities Book XVIII" (http://earlyjewishwritings.com/text/josephus/ant18.html).
4. Jewish Encyclopedia | second edition | vol 21 | pg 472
5. Richard Horsley's "Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs" and Tom Wright's "The New
Testament and the People of God"
6. Luke 6:15
7. Acts 1:13
8. H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0-
674-39731-2, page 275
9. Neusner, Jacob (1962). "6". A Life of Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai: Ca. I-80 C.E. E.J. Brill.
ISBN 978-9004021389.
10. Solomon Schechter, Wilhelm Bacher. "Johanan B. Zakkai" (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.c
om/articles/8724-johanan-b-zakkai). Jewish Encyclopedia.
11. Bavli Gittin 56b
12. Sorek, Susan (2008). The Jews Against Rome: War in Palestine AD 66–73 (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=WcTiAAAAQBAJ&q=The+first+was+on+Engeddi+where+they+cut+dow
n+its+defenses+and+took+provisions+which+they+brought+back+to+Masada&pg=PA98).
Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 98. ISBN 9781847252487.
13. Fairchild, M. R., "Paul's Pre-Christian Zealot Associations: A Re-examination of Gal. 1:14
and Acts 22:3" (http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=
23547). New Testament Studies 45(4), pp. 514–532
External links
Smith, Sydney F. (1913). "Zeal" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(191
3)/Zeal). Catholic Encyclopedia.
"Zealot" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_International_Encyclop%C3%A6dia/Zeal
ot). New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
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