Zealotry

Zealotry was originally a political movement in first century Judaism which sought to incite the people of Iudaea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the holy land by force of arms, most notably during the Great Jewish Revolt (AD 66-70). Zealotry was described by Josephus as one of the "four sects" at this time.
The term Zealot, in Hebrew kanai (קנאי, frequently used in plural form, קנאים), means one who is zealous on behalf of God. The term derives from Greek ζηλωτής (zelotes), "emulator, zealous admirer or follower".Zealot, Online Etymology DictionaryZelotes, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, "A Greek-English Lexicon", at Perseus
==History==
Josephus' Jewish Antiquitiesbook 18 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) and Zadok the Pharisee in the year 6 against Quirinius' tax reform, shortly after the Roman state declared (what had most recently been the territory of Herod Archelaus) 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) 
According to the Jewish Encyclopedia article on ZealotsJewishEncyclopedia.com - ZEALOTS: 
In either case, it has also been argued that the group was not so clearly marked out (before the first war of 66-70/3) as some have thought.Richard Horsley's "Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs" and Tom Wright's "The New Testament and the People of God"
The Crisis under Caligula (37-41) has been proposed as the first open break between Rome and the Jews.H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0674397312, The Crisis Under Gaius Caligula, pages 254-256: "The reign of Gaius Caligula (37-41) witnessed the first open break between the Jews and the Julio-Claudian empire. Until then — if one accepts Sejanus' heyday and the trouble caused by the census after Archelaus' banishment — there was usually an atmosphere of understanding between the Jews and the empire ... These relations deteriorated seriously during Caligula's reign, and, though after his death the peace was outwardly re-established, considerable bitterness remained on both sides. ... Caligula ordered that a golden statue of himself be set up in the Temple in Jerusalem. ... Only Caligula's death, at the hands of Roman conspirators (41), prevented the outbreak of a Jewish-Roman war that might well have spread to the entire East."
Two of Judas' sons, Jacob and Simon, were involved in a revolt and were executed by Tiberius Alexander, the procurator of Iudaea province from 46 to 48.H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0674397312, page 275
When Rome introduced the imperial cult, the Jews unsuccessfully rebelled in the Great Jewish Revolt. The Zealots continued to oppose the Romans.
The Zealots had the leading role in the Jewish Revolt of 66. 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.
The Zealots objected to Roman rule and violently sought to eradicate it by generally targeting Romans and Greeks. Zealots engaged in violence against other Jews were called the SicariiA Brief History of Terrorism. They 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. 
===Talmud===
In the Talmud, the Zealots are also called the Biryonim meaning "boorish" or "wild", and are condemned for their aggression, their unwillingness to compromise to save the survivors of besieged Jerusalem, and their blind-militarism. They are further blamed for having contributed to the demise of Jerusalem and the second Jewish 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 Yochanan ben Zakkai out of Jerusalem, who met Vespasian which led to the foundation of the Academy of Yavneh which produced the Mishnah.
The Zealots advocated violence against the Romans, their Jewish collaborators, and the Sadducees, by raiding for provisions and other activities to aid their cause.
===Masada===
After the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in AD 70, 960 Zealots took refuge by capturing the Roman fortress of Masada and taking no prisoners. Rome sent the Tenth Legion to retake the stronghold, but it failed for three years. It is estimated that they took over 1,000 casualties in the process. The Zealots held the fortress even after the Romans invented new types of siege engines. Finally, in the third year of the siege, The Romans completed a massive earthwork siege ramp up one face of the mountain on which Masada sat. This allowed them to bring the full strength of their siege to bear and penetrate the walls, a feat impossible before due to the topography of the mountain itself. When the Romans stormed in to capture the Zealots, they found that the fighters and their families had all committed suicide.
One of their leaders, Elazar ben Yair escaped to the desert fortress of Masada and fought alongside the Sicarii Zealots until Masada was captured in 73. The Jewish Revolt was suppressed thereafter and the Zealots declined in power and finally faded into history
Today, members of some units of the Israel Defense Forces, climb Masada and declare "Masada Shall Not Fall Again",
in Hebrew, at their graduation from basic training.
===Sicarii===
One particularly extreme group of Zealots was also 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. Probably 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 H.H. 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.
The term sicariii also referred to a class of gladiators who fought with a long, curved knife.
==Paul the Apostle==
Taking the Greek word zelotes in Acts 22:3 and Galatians 1:14 of the New Testament to mean a 'Zealot' with capital Z, an articleabstract, "Paul's Pre-Christian Zealot Associations: A Re-examination of Gal. 1:14 and Acts 22:3" by Mark R. Fairchild, Ph.d has been written up to suggest that Paul the Apostle may have been a Zealot, which might have been the driving force behind his persecution of the Christians (see stoning of Saint Stephen) before his conversion to Christianity and his conflict with Jewish Christians even after his conversion. 
 
While most of translations render this Greek word as an adjective "zealous", the word is a noun meaning 'adherent, loyalist, enthusiast; patriot, zealot'. A 'Zealot' with capital Z, however, would suggest a member of the particular Zealots, the group emerged in Jerusalem ca. A.D. 28 according to Josephus. In the two cited verses Paul literally declares himself as one who is loyal to God, or an ardent observer of the Law, but see also Antinomianism in the NT. This does not necessarily prove Paul was revealing himself as a Zealot. A translation (Modern King James Version) renders it as 'a zealous one'. Two modern translations (Jewish New Testament and Alternate Literal Translation) render it as 'a zealot'. The latter may not be inaccurate, but it is disputed by those who claim it gives wrong association with the Zealots.
==See also==
* Terrorism
* Secession
* Simon the Zealot
* Knanaya
==Notes==
==External links==
*Jewish Encyclopedia: Zealots
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Category:Early Christianity and Judaism
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ar:زيلوت
bg:Зилоти
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de:Zelot
et:Seloodid
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