Zealots

From the Ency. Judaica 16:947

The name, recorded by the Jewish historian Josephus, by which some Jewish resistance fighters were known in the Jewish War, 66-73 C.E. This name is important in view of it’s portable origin.
Meaning of the Name. Josephus provides a clue to it’s real meaning both by his apparent reluctance to use it, and by his explanation of it when he does. This, when his narrative obliged him to record that the Jewish insurgents who seized the Temple in 66 C.E. were known as Zealots, he adds: “for so these miscreants called themselves, as though they were zealots in the cause of virtue and not for vice in it’s based and most extravagant form” (Wars, 4:161; cf. 7:268-70).

By this denigrating comment Josephus reveals that the name Zealot was not merely descriptive of the character and action of the Jewish resistance party, but that it had been deliberately adopted by the party itself.
A passage from the Sanhedrin (9:6 ; TB Sanh. 82a) provides a further clue to the orginal meaning by associating the Zealots (Kanna’im) with action that recalls the deed of Phinehas in Numbers 25:7-13 . Phinehas is praised for hie zeal (be-Kano) in defending God’s cause, thus becoming the divinely commanded prototype of the Zealot, who was ready to resort to violent action to defend the honor of God and protect the Torah.
Josephus, who defected to the Romans and blamed the Zealots for the catastrophe of 70 C.E., was obviously reluctant to call them by the name which proclaimed their religious inspiration. He preferred to describe them as (lestai , “brigands”) or as ( sicarii, “dagger-men”).
His indiscriminate use of the latter term for the Zealots is particularly confusing, for it would seem that he purposely called the main resistance party by an opprobrious term more appropriate to the terrorist organization.

A careful analysis of Josephus’ writings reveals that the Zealot movement stemmed from the action of Judah the Galilean in 6 C.E. and embodied the fundamental principles of his teaching. In that year Judeaיהודה‎
(Yəhūda Greek: Ἰουδαία Latin: Iudaea) or Judaea – a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name Judea is a Greek and Roman adaptation of the name “Judah”, which originally encompassed the territory of the Israelite tribe of that name and later of the ancient Kingdom of Judah. For more info click here was for the first time, incorporated into the Roman Empire, and P. Sulpicus Quirinius, the legate of Syria, was ordered of taxing the new possession. The high priest Joazar counseled the people to submit to the Roman requirement; but Judah the Galilean, who was probably a rabbi, assisted by Zadok, a Pharisee, urged resistance.
In Josephus’ writing from the “Jewish Wars” about 75-79 C.E. clearly states the two principles of Judah’s teaching: that the Jews should not pay tribute to Rome, or acknowledge the emperor, a mortal man, as their master. These two principles were interrelated, and indicate that Judahיְהוּדָה‎
Modern: Yəhūda, Tiberian: Yŭhūḏā), literally “thanksgiving” or “praise,” is the noun form of the root Y-D-H (ידה), “to thank” or “to praise. The fourth of the six sons of Jacob and Leah. Also referring to the tribe of Judah or The Kingdom of Judah later referred to as Judea For more info click here conceived of Israel as a theocracy. The objection to the Roman tribute evidently derived from this conception. Judeaיהודה‎
(Yəhūda Greek: Ἰουδαία Latin: Iudaea) or Judaea – a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name Judea is a Greek and Roman adaptation of the name “Judah”, which originally encompassed the territory of the Israelite tribe of that name and later of the ancient Kingdom of Judah. For more info click here was the Holy Land, and to give of it’s resources in tribute to the Romans was an act of apostasy.

Josephus ends “Antiquities” (completed 93-94 C.E.) by blaming the followers of Judah for the destruction of the Temple. In a further descriptive note (Ant. 18:23-25), in which he still studiously refrains from using the name Zealot, he says that the followers of Judahיְהוּדָה‎
Modern: Yəhūda, Tiberian: Yŭhūḏā), literally “thanksgiving” or “praise,” is the noun form of the root Y-D-H (ידה), “to thank” or “to praise. The fourth of the six sons of Jacob and Leah. Also referring to the tribe of Judah or The Kingdom of Judah later referred to as Judea For more info click here associated themselves generally with the Pharisees, and that “they have a passion for liberty that is almost unconquerable, since they are convinced that God alone is their leader and master,” and he comments on their amazing fortitude toward suffering.