ZEALOTS
Background
- Zelotes is a Greek word
meaning “Zealous One” – Simon
Zelotes was a disciple of Jesus.
- TAX TIME - At the time of the
birth of Jesus, a decree went out from Cesar Augustus that everyone in the
Roman world must be taxed, especially the Jews. – Quirinius was to compile a
census of the Jews and to make a detailed notation of their
property holdings.
- The Zealot Resistance was founded in the
time of Quirinius around
- Judas
the Galilean
led the Zealots in an ill-fated revolt against the Romans; he was killed
and his followers scattered, but the Zealot Resistance lived on.
- The Romans had
ordered a census to be taken of the Jews for the purpose of TAXATION and
the Zealots objected for two main reasons.
- FIRST; The Zealots took the position that no one
should be honored as Lord or King but God Jehovah. – So they rejected the
foreign rule of the Romans.
- SECOND; to pay taxes to an
Emperor was considered Idolatry and blasphemous to God.
- A Holy War with
overwhelming odds had already been fought and won fulfilling Gods promises
to
- The
Zealots
mantras was; “NO RULE BUT THE LAW, NO KING BUT GOD”. They were greatly feared as they would
kill you in cold blood just because you were a Roman.
- They had hope for a
Messiah that would overthrow the Roman Government and restore the kingdom
to
- The Pharisees thought that the
Roman oppression was the hand of God because of
- NOTE: As I read through the Commentaries, I find
some that want to condemn the Zealots for starting the Roman War and
others that call them HEROS. – I leave
it to you to decide.
Ex 15:3 – God of War
3 The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his
name. NIV
Luke 2:1-3 – Romans
decreed the Jews must pay taxes.
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree
that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
2 (This was the first census that took place while
Quirinius was governor of Syria
3 And everyone went to his own town to register. NIV
Acts 5:37 – Judas the
Galilean Zealot led a revolt against Rome
37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in
the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too
was killed, and all his followers were scattered. NIV
Jesus a Zealot
- The Pharisees tried
to get Jesus connected with The
Zealot Resistance Movement by asking him the question; “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar”?
Mark 12:13 -17 - Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not
13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees
and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words.
14 They came to him and said, "Teacher, we
know you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no
attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the
truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
15 Should we pay or shouldn't we?"
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are
you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me
look at it."
16 They brought the coin, and he asked them,
"Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" - "Caesar's,"
they replied.
17 Then Jesus said to them, "Give to
Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." NIV
Sicarii – The Dagger People
- The
Zealots
around 52 to 60 A.D. formed a radical group know as The Sicarii (dagger people) indicative of their tactics, who
circulated in crowds during festivals and killed Roman sympathizers
with daggers they concealed in their clothing. – That certainly would include
TAX COLLECTORS for
- The
Sicarii
were devoted supporters of God and His laws and secretly engaged in acts
of intrigue, violence, force, deceptions plus ASSASSINATIONS of Roman soldiers and anyone else that
opposed the resistance in order to keep it from achieving its liberating
ends.
- The Sicarii; the secret Zealot sect
had escaped the war with
- Masada was a plateau on the top of an isolated
rock formation some 330 feet higher on the West side than its
surroundings of the Judean Desert
and some 1,300 feet above the Dead Sea on the East side - The plateau was huge; big enough for an
entire village of a thousand.
- Around
40 A.D.
on an upper terrace, King Herod
built for himself a 36,000 square foot palace with royal living quarters as
a place of refuge for his family - It had a large Roman style bath house
and a few storehouses for food and supplies and a few residential and
administrative buildings as well. He also dug out two more lower terraces below
the palace
- He had built a DOUBLE
wall about 4,590 feet in circumference around the top of the site with
some 30 towers containing 70 rooms for protection, making it virtually
impregnable.
- In
66 A.D
The Zealots captured the fortified stronghold from the Romans and turned
it into their fortress for some 7 years.
- The Romans built a
ramp 645 feet long and 200 feet high and with catapults bombarded the
walls of
- JOSPHUS
the Jewish Historian reports that their leader Eleazar gave a speech to
the remaining Zealots, painting a picture of the indignities and
dishonor that was to befall them at the hands of the Romans and they
decided to kill themselves rather than face dishonor. – Each man killed
his own family – Then…
- Josephus
7.9.1
- ” Then they chose ten men by lot out of them, to slay all the rest;
every one of whom had laid himself down by his wife and children on the
ground, and threw his arms about them, and they offered their necks to the
stroke of those who by lot executed that melancholy office; and when these
ten had without fear slain them all, they made the same rule for casting
lots for themselves, that he whose lot it was should first kill the other
nine , and after all, should kill himself.
- The militant Zealots had
led the nation of
Josephus – Everybody needs this reference
book in their library. - NYOBS 22.03
- Antiquities
of the Jews is a twenty-volume historiographical work composed by
the Jewish historian Titus Flavius
Josephus containing an account of the history of the Jewish people.
- Josephus was born
into a family of Priest about four years after the death of Jesus
Christ.
- Josephus lived for a time with the Essenes who gave us the Dead Sea Scrolls; he became a Pharisee
at the age of 19 and later became a high priest and the governor of
The Grace of God
- Matthew was a Tax Collector, a Publican. - Taxes on
transported goods were collected by “Local Contracted Collectors” who
paid an agreed-upon sum in advance to the Romans, for the
right to collect taxes in their area.
They in turn kept any excess that could be squeezed out of the
people. – NYOBS 10.02 – THE PLAYERS
- Tax
collectors
called Publicans were despicable, vile, unprincipled scoundrels that
extorted money from the people to line their own pockets. They were the
most despised if not most hated people in
- Tax collectors were
banned from the
- Simon
the “Zealot”
was also known as “Simon the Canaanite”. - Not a lot is known about Simon,
but scripture says, he gave up everything to follow Jesus.
- Zealots were opposed to paying
taxes to a pagan King, and since Matthew was a tax collector for the
Romans, Simon “in a heart beat” would have probably killed him with his
dagger; but was saved only by the
grace of God; now they were both brothers; they were Disciples
of Christ.
The
transforming grace of God molded “The Zealous One” to have zeal on behalf of
the Gospel. GOD IS STILL TRANSFOMING PEOPLE TODAY
Acts 1:13 - Simon was a Zealot
13 Those present were Peter, John, James and
Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon
the Zealot, and Judas son of James. NIV
Matt 9:9 – Matthew was a
Tax Collector for the Romans.
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew
sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told
him, and Matthew got up and followed him. NIV
Muslim Zealots
- Today we don’t have a sect
that is zealous for Jesus Christ and the Lord JEHOVAH.
- ALLAH (Arabic) is a contraction of “Al” meaning sole or only, and “Lah” meaning God. Before the birth of Islam, Allah was a
term used by pagan religions for their different gods. This term provided a common ground
between pagan Arabs, Muslims, Jews and Christians. Muslims have 99 names
for God with the word Allah connected to it.
- SAME
GOD
- Muslims insist that Allah is the SAME GOD as of the Jews; the God of
Abraham. The name Allah is deemed
more powerful than the name YAHWEH.
- Muslims
believe
JESUS, the son of Mary said, “I am a messenger of “Allah”, bringing
good tidings of a messenger who comes after me, whose name is ‘the
praised one” – His name is “MOHAMMAD”.
- Christians reject all this.
- The
Quran
given to Mohammad, the “Last
Prophet”, is the perfect revelation of Allah.
- The
Hadith
is a collection of sayings, deeds and behavior of Mohammad including;
eating, sleeping, praying, mating, planning revenge on his enemies and
dispensing justice. - These actions were considered the actual actions
of “Allah”. - The Hadith in some sects is followed more closely than
the Quran and its sayings can supersede the Quran.
- Sura 4:157 – Christ
did not die on the cross, but was made to appear so.
- Sura 5:75 – Christ, the son of Mary was no
more than a messenger. Many were the messengers that passed away before
him.
- Sura 19:96 – Allah
has no affection for any creature.
Love is conditional on GOOD WORKS.
- Sura 3:129 – Allah
has PREDESTINED some to paradise and some to hell.
- Sura 32:13 – Allah
sends to hell whomever he wants. He
created a multitude of spirits and men specifically for the purpose of
sending them to hell.
- Sura 9:5 – When the
sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find
them, seize them; lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war).
- Hadith 2:483 – I have
been ordered to fight the people till they say, Allah be
worshipped.
- Sura
- Sura
- Hadith
- A
good Muslim
will do all these things as well as name their children Mohammad.
- Mohammad said “He, who
relinquishes his faith; kill him. I have been ordered by Allah to fight
with people till they testify there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is
his messenger
- Hadith 1:505 – Anyone
who dies in a Jihad will have a prominent place in paradise.
- Hadith 9:459 – Anyone
who engages in a holy war (jihad)
will be admitted into paradise with his reward of booty.
- Sura 78:33 – In
paradise man can have many WOMEN.
- Ayatollah
Khomeini said
“The purest joy in Islam is to kill and to be killed for Allah”. - There
can be no peace with the Jews or Christians or any other non-Islamic
people; and that if peace must be made, only a truce is permissible and
that “for a maximum of 10 years as an expedient to hone our swords,
whet our blood and strengthen our will.”
- Islamic
Extremist
- If you follow Islam, and are committed to the Quran and the Hadith, then
“extremism” is just a normal part of everyday life. - The Muslim mission
is to convert or kill the infidel in the name of Allah. – It’s in the Hadith.
- MUSLIM ZEALOTS -
The
Dagger people who will kill themselves in order to kill you.
NYOBS 14.22 – ANOTHER GOSPEL
– MUSLIMS – NYOBS 29.23 – THE CASE FOR CHRISTIANITY
In the multitude of counselors,
there is wisdom.
Prov 11:14
I
am grateful for those that went before me providing concepts, ideas, historical
information, and scripture verses.
Because of them I can stand on their shoulders and see further that I
otherwise ever could have.
A Commentary – Critical,
Experimental & Practical - Eerdmans
Bible Almanac; The – Packer Tenney White
Baker Commentary on the
Bible – Walter A. Elwell
Bible Commentary – F.B. Meyer
Customs and Folkways of Jewish Life – Theodor H. Gaster
Expositor’s Bible
Commentary; The – Frank E. Gaebelein
Guide Post - Lent – Max Lucado
Harpers Bible Dictionary – Harper & Row
Illustrated Encyclopedia
of Bible Facts – Packer-Tenney White
Jewish book of Why; The – Kolatch
Josephus; The Jewish Historian – The Antiquity of the Jews
Matthew Henry’s Commentary – Zondervan
Mysteries of the Bible – Readers
Digest
New International Version
Bible – NIV
New Unger’s Bible
Handbook; The – Gary N. Larson
Paul & His Letters – John B. Polhill
The Message Bible
Tyndale New Testament
Commentaries - Leon Morris
Vincent’s Word Studies of
the NT – MacDonald
Webster’s New World
College Dictionary - Webster
Why Do Catholics Do That? –
Kevin Orlin Johnson
Wikipedia
Wycliffe Bible Commentary;
The – Pfeiffer & Harrision
Zondervan Pictorial
Encyclopedia of the Bible; The – Tenney
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