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spoke of large multitudes from various regions that “crept into Jerusalem” as the Jewish-
Roman War was about to begin, and these multitudes followed the lead of the Zealot movement. The
three main Zealot leaders, Eleazar ben Simon, John Levi of Gischala, and Simon Bar Giora, were
Galileans. When Simon came to Jerusalem in April 69 AD, he brought an army of 40,000 with him,
including many Idumeans (Wars 4.9.3-12 (h 몭p://www.biblestudytools.com/history/flavius-
josephus/war-of-the-jews/book-4/chapter-9.html)).
Revelation 13:1 describes the beast as having seven heads. This is the same number of heads that the
dragon (“called the Devil and Satan”) also had (Rev. 12:3, 9). John provides more details about the
seven heads in Revelation 17:9-11, and he singles out one of the heads in Rev. 13:3. So when we cover
those verses we will explore who the heads were and what roles they played. I believe they were
heads of the Zealot movement, some in the decades prior to the Jewish-Roman War and others
during the war.
This verse also describes the beast as having 10 horns (Rev. 12:3). Again, this is the same number of
horns that the dragon had. John likewise gives more details about the 10 horns in Revelation 17:12-17
than he does in Revelation 13, so we will have that discussion later in this series as well. In the
meantime, please feel free to refer to a post I wrote in July 2016 in which I propose that the 10 horns
were 10 Jewish generals (h 몭
ps://adammaarschalk.com/2016/07/11/josephus-lists-the-10-horns-who-
received-authority-for-one-hour-revelation-1712/) who were given authority in December 66 AD
(Wars 2.20.3-4 (h 몭p://www.biblestudytools.com/history/flavius-josephus/war-of-the-jews/book-
2/chapter-20.html)). Our study of Daniel 7 also discussed the three horns that were plucked out by the li
몭le horn (h 몭
ps://adammaarschalk.com/2017/01/14/daniel-7-the-fourth-beast-10-horns-three-horns-and-a-li 몭le-
- horn/) – details that are not found in the book of Revelation. If you read that part of the series, you’ll
recall that I proposed that the li 몭le horn was Eleazar ben Simon and that the three plucked horns
were [1] Ananus ben Ananus [2] Niger of Perea, and [3] Joseph ben Gorion. Their deaths are recorded in
Wars 4.5.2 (h 몭p://www.biblestudytools.com/history/flavius-josephus/war-of-the-jews/book-
4/chapter-5.html) and Wars 4.6.1 (h 몭
p://www.biblestudytools.com/history/flavius-josephus/war-of- the-jews/book-4/chapter-6.html).