Zealots

A Jewish nationalist movement of the fanatical sect known as the Zealots, chafing under foreign rule, challenges Roman control in 66.

After a protracted siege begun by Vespasian, the Roman commander in Judah, but completed under his son Titus in 70, Jerusalem and the Second Temple are seized and destroyed by the Roman legions.

The last Zealot survivors perish in 73 at the mountain fortress of Masada, about fifty-six kilometers southwest of Jerusalem above the western shore of the Dead Sea.

The extremist Zealots occasionally resort to violence and assassination against the Romans and their Jewish supporters, according to the historian Josephus; hence, they are called Sicarii (from the Greek for "dagger men").

The surname of Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, may indicate that he was a member.

Another of the Twelve, Simon (called the Zealot by Luke and called the Cananaean—Aramaic for "zealot"—by Matthew and Mark), may originally have belonged to the Zealots or still be a member.

Jesus is often depicted in modern imagery, with red (or, at least, “auburn”) hair, but since there are no contemporary descriptions of him, no one can say.

It is possible that his erstwhile disciple, Judas, may have been red-haired, if there is any basis to the the nineteenth-century term “Judas-haired”, an epithet directed against redheads.

The Apostles, as the disciples become known after Jesus’ crucifixion, had reportedly witnessed Jesus’ ascension into heaven and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the faithful community at Pentecost.

The Gospels assert that Jesus had challenged and commissioned the men to spread the message about Jesus as Messiah and to continue the work he has begun.

The devoted but skeptical Thomas—called Didymus ("twin")—refuses to believe in the testimony of the other apostles concerning the resurrection of Jesus until he sees the wounds of the resurrected Christ himself (according to John 20:24, 25, 26-29).

Thomas (according to early fourth century writer Eusebius of Caesarea) becomes a missionary to Parthia and later (according to the third century "Acts of Thomas,") founds the church of the Malabar Christians in Madras.

Jesus’ brother James was not (according to the later Gospels of Matthew and John) a follower of Jesus during his early ministry. (The New Testament lists James—later identified as Saint James the Lesser—as first among the "brothers of Jesus," a relationship often posited as that of stepbrothers or cousins.)

James had become a believer after the resurrected Christ appeared to him (according to Paul, in I Corinthians 15:7), and is regarded as an apostle (according to Paul, in Galatians 1:19).

John (whom many people believe is the "beloved disciple" referred to in the fourth Gospel, attributed to John) plays (according to Acts 1:13, 8:14) a prominent role in the early church.

Bartholomew, whose name means "son of Tolmai" and is frequently identified (John 1) with Nathanael, is (according to tradition) martyred in Armenia.

Matthew, the tax collector called by Jesus (Mark and Luke give his name as Levi) goes on to write (according to tradition) the Gospel of Matthew.

John’s brother James, (later known as Saint James the Greater) is (according to Acts 12) martyred under Herod Agrippa I; his bones are taken to Spain (according to legend) and interred at a shrine at Santiago de Compostela.

Little is recorded of another disciple, Thaddeus (mentioned in Mark and Matthew and often identified with the Jude, or Judas, son of James, in Luke 6:16).

Matthias (according to Acts 1:15-26) is the apostle chosen by lot to replace Judas; he later preaches, according to one tradition, in Ethiopia.

Roman garrisons stationed throughout Judea have exploited Jews with punitive taxation since 63 BCE, exceeding the quota set by the Roman Empire and keeping the surplus revenues for themselves.

The Roman procurators have also subjugated the Jewish High Priesthood, appointing pro-Roman Jews to positions of authority, and desecrated sacred Jewish practices with sacrilegious pagan rituals.

The Roman Emperor Caligula in 39 had declared himself divine and ordered his troops in Jerusalem to place his name on the Temple.

When the Jews refused, he threatened to destroy the temple but his sudden timely demise saved Jerusalem from a premature siege, yet Caligula's threat had caused many of the moderate Jews to shift towards radical anti-Roman political views.

As the Roman burden becomes more onerous, Jewish priests alienated by the pro-Roman high priesthood join in the effort to attain political and religious liberty by any means possible, thus forming the Zealots, who kindle anti-Roman sentiment throughout Galilee and Judea.

Josephus' Jewish Antiquities states that there were three main Jewish sects at this time, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes.

The Zealots are a "fourth sect", founded by Judas of Galilee (also called Judas of Gamala) and Zadok the Pharisee in the year 6 against Quirinius' tax reform, shortly after the Roman Empire declares what had most recently been the tetrarchy of Herod Archelaus to be a Roman province, and that 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).

Some scholars argue that the group was not so clearly marked out before the first war of 66-70 as others have supposed.

The Zealots, as strict interpreters of the Law are extremists who are willing to lay their own lives down for independence from Roman domination.

They have begun to form a growing nationalist resistance movement.

Two of Judas' sons, Jacob and Simon, are from 46 to 48 involved in a revolt and are executed by Tiberius Alexander, the procurator of Iudaea province.

The Pharisees (despite the unflattering portrayal of them in the New Testament) are for the most part intensely religious Jews and adhere to a strict though non-literal observance of the Torah.

Politically, however, the Pharisees have no sympathy with the intense Jewish nationalism of such sects as the military patriotic Zealots and are willing to submit to Roman rule if only the Jews could maintain their religious independence.

The Roman-supported Sadducees, drawn mainly from the conservative and aristocratic priestly class, have engaged in an ongoing power struggle with the Pharisees, who tend to be middle class and open to religious innovation.

The struggle has led to rancor and, in some instances, violence.

The Sadducees reject the Pharisee's markedly fatalistic emphasis on divine providence, as well as their belief in resurrection and elaborate angelology.

The Pharisees also differ from the Sadducees in their use of oral legal tradition to supplement the Torah.

However, all scrupulously adhere to the Pharisaic interpretations of the law, once given.

The Romans' brutal suppression of the Jewish Revolt, in which Jerusalem is destroyed, obliterates the last vestiges of ancient Hebrew statehood and, with it, Jewish national autonomy.

Placing Palestine under Roman governors and renaming Jerusalem Aelia Capitolina, the Romans scatter the rebellious segments of the Jewish population, selling thousands of Jews into slavery and thus intensifying the Jewish Diaspora throughout the Roman world.

The Jews of Judea, always generally hostile to the ruling Idumaean dynasty and increasingly incensed by the political and religious insensitivity of the various Herodians and the Roman governors, are on the verge of rebellion.

Burdened by excessive taxation and outraged by acts of brutality, the Judaeans have become increasingly restive under Roman rule, the more so because they are confident that God will ultimately vindicate them.

Jewish scholars have, for four centuries, intensively studied the biblical laws recorded in the Pentateuch—long transmitted by word of mouth and known as the Oral Torah—applying them to new situations and supplemented them with traditions of popular observance and with precedents established by prominent leaders.

Another body of laws, halachah, or halakhah, a Hebrew term meaning "the way," have developed since biblical times to define the holy way of life in Judaism.

Distinct from the laws recorded in the Pentateuch, halachah, based on oral traditions believed to have been revealed to Moses at the same time as the Scriptures, is used to explicate and interpret the Scriptures.

Study of the written and unwritten oral law had become central to Judaism during the Hasmonean period, during which the Pharisees had become dominant.

The Roman-supported Sadducees, drawn mainly from the conservative and aristocratic priestly class, have engaged in an ongoing power struggle with the Pharisees, who tend to be middle class and open to religious innovation.

The struggle has led to rancor and, in some instances, violence.

The Zealots, pledged to expel all foreigners from the Jewish state, antagonize Cestius Gallus, the inept Syria-based Roman provincial governor, and Gessius Florus, the avaricious Roman procurator of Judea, both of whom are entirely contemptuous of the Jews.

The ultra-orthodox Zealots and other revolutionary groups agitate for armed revolt.

The Sadducees are inclined to collaborate with the Romans; the Pharisees advocate passive resistance but seek to avoid open war.

Joseph ben Matthias, born in 37-38 of an aristocratic priestly family in Jerusalem, was, according to his own account, a precocious youth who by the age of 14 was consulted by high priests in matters of Jewish law.

At age sixteen, he had undertaken a three-year sojourn in the wilderness with the hermit Bannus, a member of one of the ascetic Jewish sects that flourishes in Judaea.

Returning to Jerusalem, he had joined the Pharisees—a fact of crucial importance in understanding his later collaboration with the Romans.

Joseph in 64 is sent on an embassy to Rome to secure the release of a number of Jewish priests of his acquaintance who are held prisoners in the capital.

He is there introduced to Poppaea Sabina, Emperor Nero's second wife, whose generous favor enables him to complete his mission successfully.

During his visit, Joseph is deeply impressed with Rome's culture, it’s sophistication, and, especially, its military might.

Berenice, the daughter of King Agrippa I, attempts to ease Judeo-Roman tensions in 65, but she and other moderates prove unable to control the increasingly desperate populace.

There has been a long tradition of hostility between the large Hellenized populations of Palestine and the Jews (also a problem in the Diaspora, most notably at Alexandria during the reign of Caligula).

Gessius Florus, the Roman procurator of Judaea, upon taking office in Caesarea in 64 had begun a practice of favoring the local Greek population of the city over the Jewish population.

The Greeks, noticing Florus' policies, have taken advantage of the circumstances to denigrate their Jewish neighbors.

One notable instance of provocation occurs while the Jews are worshiping at their local synagogue and a Hellenist sacrifices several birds on top of an earthenware container at the entrance of the synagogue, an act that renders the building ritually unclean.

In response to this action, the Jews send a group of men to petition Florus for redress.

Florus, despite accepting a payment of eight talents to hear the case, refuses to listen to the complaints and instead has the petitioners imprisoned.

The son of the Kohen Gadol (high priest) Eliezar ben Hanania, in reaction, ceases prayers and sacrifices for the Roman Emperor at the Temple.

Protests over taxation join the list of grievances and random attacks on Roman citizens and perceived 'traitors' occur in Jerusalem.

Joseph returns to Jerusalem on the eve of a general revolt against Roman rule.

Florus further angers the Jewish population of his province by having seventeen talents removed from the treasury of the Temple in Jerusalem, claiming the money is for the Emperor.

In response to this action, the city falls into unrest and some of the Jewish population begins to openly mock Florus by passing a basket around to collect money as if Florus were poor.

Florus reacts to the unrest by sending soldiers into Jerusalem the next day to raid the city and arrest a number of the city leaders.

The arrested individuals are whipped and crucified despite many of them being Roman citizens.

The pro-Roman king Agrippa II has expended large sums in beautifying Jerusalem and other cities, especially Berytus.

His partiality for the latter has rendered him unpopular among his own subjects, and the capricious manner in which he has appointed and deposed the high priests make him disliked by the Jews.

Agrippa fails to prevent his subjects from rebelling, and urges instead that they tolerate the behavior of the Florus.

But in 66 the Jews expels him and his sister Berenice, who, fearing the worst, flee to Galilee.

Urged on by the fanatical Zealots, the Jews oust Florus and set up a revolutionary government in Jerusalem that extends its influence throughout the whole country.

Along with many others of the priestly class, Joseph counsels compromise but is drawn reluctantly into the rebellion.

Cestius Gallus, the legate of Syria, brings a legion, the XII Fulminata, and auxiliary troops as reinforcements to restore order.

All available troops in autumn 66 are mustered, formed into a column and sent to confront the rebellion’s perceived center.

Ideally, such a show of force would have allowed the Romans to regain the initiative and prevent the rebellion from developing and growing stronger.

Gallus conquers Bezetha, in the Jezreel Valley, soon to be the seat of the Great Sanhedrin (Jewish supreme religious court), but is unable to take The Temple Mount.

The Roman forces invest Jerusalem, then for uncertain reasons, withdraw back towards the coast, closely pursued by rebel scouts.

The organization of the Jews is better than it had been previously.

As the Romans near the pass of Beth Horon, they are ambushed and come under attack from massed missile fire, and are then suddenly rushed by a large force of infantry, twenty-four hundred Zealots led by Eleazar ben Simon.

The Romans cannot get into formation within the narrow confines of the pass and lose cohesion under the fierce assault.

The equivalent of an entire legion is destroyed.

Gallus succeeds in escaping with a fraction of his troops to Antioch by sacrificing the greater part of his army and a large amount of war material.

After the massacre, the Jewish Zealots go through the Roman dead, stripping them of their armor, helmets, equipment, and weapons.

Eleazar, returning to Jerusalem with substantial loot, will use the wealth acquired in this decisive victory as political leverage during the battle for power in Jerusalem in 67-69.

The battle of Beth-Horon is one of the worst defeats suffered by regular Roman troops against a rebelling province in history, encouraging many more volunteers and towns to throw their lot in with the rebels.

A full-scale war is now inevitable.