Zealots

“ These fierce and uncivilized people were incorporated with the Jews as one nation; but they retained the love of adventure which belonged to their Arab blood, and the application of the Zealots was received with wild cries of joy. They hastily assembled, and formed themselves into a regular army of twenty thousand men, under the command of James and John the sons of Lofas, Simon the son of Cathlas, and Phineas the son of Clusothas, This numerous and powerful body advanced immediately towards Jerusalem, proclaiming that they were marching to the relief of the capital. ”

“ These are tests of purity and piety. Zealots frequently enter temples and perform such feats for the admiration of pilgrims and by-standers. Many are clairvoyants and have the power of second sight. They hypnotize subjects and go into trances themselves, in which condition the soul is supposed to leave the body and visit the gods. ”

“ The cowed populace answered never a word, but the Zealots and swordsmen swarmed to the broad tops of the walls with hoots of derision. Stones rained down on the emissary for peace. They hissed his words with shameless insults, and bade the Romans not draw back in cowardice because this was Jewish Sabbath, but to come on and dare to try the third strong wall. When the peace emissary would have shouted again, those on the wall threw a naked dead body in his face. ”

“ The Zealots seized on the friends and relatives of the victims and dragging them to the walls and towers, compelled them to behold the dreadful spectacle of Roman cruelty. This checked the desertions; and none fled to the camp of the besiegers but those who preferred running the risk of immediate death rather than remaining to suffer the slower torments of hunger. Some of these were sent back into the city by Titus with their hands cut off and a message to John and Simon, exhorting them to capitulate before it was too late, and not force him to destroy both the city and the temple. ”

“ After having treated of these false Zealots in Religion, I cannot forbear mentioning a monstrous Species of Men, who one would not think had any Existence in Nature, were they not to be met with in ordinary Conversation, I mean the Zealots in Atheism. One would fancy that these Men, tho' they fall short, in every other Respect, of those who make a Profession of Religion, would at least outshine them in this Particular, and be exempt from that single Fault which seems to grow out of the imprudent Fervours of Religion: ”

“ The widows and orphans of zealots who fell beneath famine, disease and the sword at Antioch and Doryleum, at Odessa and Jerusalem, have perished from want on their own land and in their own homes, while the tonsured spoiler of their substance reveled in luxury and wantonness in those rich valleys which the unreasoning fanaticism of their possessors left deserted, to be the spoil of the grasping hierarchy that remained. ”

“ Before they departed, however, they opened all the prisons, and released two thousand of the people, who immediately fled away and joined Simon the son of Gioras. The populace, relieved of the presence of the Idumeans, began to resume their confidence, and many ventured out in open daylight, to gather up the bodies of their friends for burial, or to cast over them a little earth where they lay, to protect them from the birds of prey and ravenous dogs. But the Zealots did not lay aside their power or their cruelty, with the departure of their allies ”

“ Fear and wrath and dire revenge animated the pale countenances of these famished and woe-worn men; and from the streets of the upper city were heard such cries of anguish and despair as reached the rocks and hills around, and were echoed back to mingle with the shouts of the Roman soldiers, and the dying groans of those who were perishing in the flames. In the midst of the confusion John of Gischala, ever intent on his own preservation, rushed out of the temple with a band of Zealots, and succeeded in forcing his way through the crowd and reaching the upper city in safety. ”

“ According to Josephus, the Zealots, who were masters of the greater part of Jerusalem during the struggle, established a reign of terror. They trampled upon the laws of man, and laughed at the laws of God. ”

“ With the Temple and its Sadducean high priests perished the Sanhedrin in which the Sadducees had competed with the Pharisees for predominance. The Sicarii or Zealots who had appealed to the arm of flesh were exterminated. Only the teachers of the Law survived to direct the nation and to teach those who remained loyal Jews, how they should render to Caesar what belonged to Caesar, and to God what belonged to God. Here and there hot-headed Zealots rose up to repeat the errors and the disasters of their predecessors. ”

“ At their head stood the high-priest Matthias, the son of Boëthus, and others belonging to the great priestly families. They knew how to enlist upon their side many of the populace who were unable to leave the city, and who were afraid of the consequences of the civil war. In league with the Idumæans, they suddenly made a well-directed attack upon the Zealots, over whom they gained a signal, but only a momentary advantage, for, recovering themselves from this defeat, the Zealots assembled upon the Mount of the Temple, and prepared to show a bold front to their opponents. ”

“ Alas, here was the beginning of a civil conflict as well—war within war. Judea's cup of misery was full. John of Gischala, the escaped Zealot, was soon at the head of the extreme fanatic party. Fighting contingents of malcontents came to Jerusalem from all over the country and joined the Zealots, which thus became the ruling power. They threw discretion to the winds. An ignorant man of the common people was also chosen as High Priest though this office had always been in the hands of the aristocracy.
The Idumeans were now invited to enter Jerusalem and join forces with the Zealots. ”

“ Strengthened by the increase of numbers, the Zealots drove away their opponents and became masters of the upper town. The anger of the people was roused against the friends of Rome, they set fire to the palaces of King Agrippa and Princess Berenice, devoting to the flames likewise the house of the rich priest Ananias, and the public archives, among which the bonds of debtors were kept. Some of the partisans of Rome crept in terror into the sewers, while others took refuge with the troops in the western palace of Herod. ”

“ The zealots also thought that unless they prevailed, there would be no punishment so bad but it would be inflicted on them. So their conflicts were conducted by their passions; and at the first they only cast stones at each other in the city, and before the temple, and threw their javelins at a distance; but when either of them were too hard for the other, they made use of their swords; and great slaughter was made on both sides, and a great number were wounded. As for the dead bodies of the people, their relations carried them out to their own houses ”

“ No sooner were these ruffians within the gates than they cast aside their cloaks, and brandishing their swords, fell upon the defenceless multitude, who expected that a general massacre would follow. The Zealots suspected that the stratagem was designed entirely for their destruction, and leaving the gates undefended, they all fled away and took refuge in the subterranean chambers beneath the temple. The helpless crowd who had assembled to worship the Lord God of Israel now gathered around the sacred altars for protection ”

“ The city of Jerusalem was at this time in a most dreadful state of confusion and tumult. The inhabitants were divided into two parties: one party, seeing that a continuance of war would totally ruin their country, wished to submit to the Romans; the other party, the Zealots, would not hear of submission; and as they were the worst of men, they committed the most horrid crimes, often under pretence of religion. No person's life was safe, and the whole city was distracted by acts of violence and cruelty. The leader of the party of Zealots within the city was a man named John ”

“ The fury of the war spread through all the mountains as well as the plains around Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of the metropolis were entirely blocked up. Those who would gladly have made their escape, and fled to the Romans, were narrowly watched by the Zealots; and those who had no wish to favour the conquering army were afraid to venture forth, as their forces now invested the city on every side. Every day they looked out, in the fearful expectation of seeing the golden eagles glittering on the plain to the north, and the enemy approaching to their very gates. ”

“ After which these Idumeans retired from Jerusalem, and went home; which departure of theirs was a great surprise to both parties; for the people, not knowing of their repentance, pulled up their courage for a while, as eased of so many of their enemies, while the zealots grew more insolent not as deserted by their confederates, but as freed from such men as might hinder their designs, and plot some stop to their wickedness. ”

“ The populace pressed on, and drove the Zealots back into the temple, following them within the sacred walls with furious cries. The robbers passed the outer court, and secured the gates of the next enclosure against their pursuers; and Ananus would not allow his followers to press their advantage, and assault the gates, for he feared to commit violence in so holy a spot, or to take his people into that court which was yet polluted with slaughter and crime. He therefore retired, leaving six thousand men in the cloisters, to keep guard and watch the motions of the robbers. ”

“ The great purpose they had in view—the recovery of their freedom—electrified young and old, and the Zealots, a faction which at first only comprised followers of Shammai, soon included a great number of Judæans, who chafed indignantly under the weight of the Roman fetters.
As soon as the law was passed that every one should give an accurate description of his family, his lands and his property, Zadok and Judas gave the signal for energetic resistance. In some places a conflict seems to have ensued. ”

“ The Idumæans were as heartily disliked by the Zealots as they were by the moderate party, and many of them were courteously persuaded to withdraw from Jerusalem. Meanwhile the reign of terror continued, and amongst others fell Niger, the hero from Peræa, probably because he had upheld the Synhedrists. In fact, this one case corroborates the general rule that every revolution devours its originators. ”

“ Ananus set himself against this sacrilegious reign of terror, but the zealots prevailed, and he was put to death, and his naked corpse “thrown out to the dogs and vultures, in a land where it was a sacred custom to bury even the worst malefactors before sunset. The moderate party was crushed, and the zealots followed up their triumph, first by a series of massacres, in which, says Josephus, ‘they slaughtered the people like a herd of unclean animals,’ to the number of 12,000, and then by murders under the form of law.” ”

“ When his address was received with scorn, he proceeded, according to his account, to lecture the people from their ancient history, in order to prove that they had never been successful in aggressive warfare. "Arms were never given to our nation, but we are always given up to be fought against and taken." The Zealots' desecration of the Temple deprived them of Divine help, and it was madness to suppose that God would be well-disposed to the wicked. Had He not shown favor to Titus and performed miracles in his aid? Did not the springs of Siloam run more plentifully for the Roman general? ”

“ A great modern writer sees in this unquenchable passion of the Zealots for liberty a sublime type of steadfastness [1] ; but Josephus, who after the fall of the Temple had made another unavailing effort to persuade them to lay down their arms, again pours forth his abuse upon those who fought against the sacred might of Rome. Over a million had perished in the siege, and less than one hundred thousand were captured, of whom only forty thousand were preserved. ”

“ The Romans were not only willing, but very desirous, to grant those Jews in Jerusalem both their lives and their liberties, and to save both their city and their temple. But the zealots, the robbers, and the seditious would hearken to no terms of submission. They voluntarily chose to reduce the citizens to that extremity, as to force mothers to this unnatural barbarity, which, in all its circumstances, has not, I still suppose, been hitherto paralleled among the rest of mankind. ”

“ He found it necessary to put to death two sons of the Zealot Judas, the Galilean. These Zealots already briefly referred to [154] were a group of irreconcilables that at times resorted to desperate remedies. They were the advance guard of a revolution. Rebellions continued to grow in gravity with each successive rule. During the administration of Ventidius Cumanus a rebellion broke out through the wanton indecency of a Roman soldier during the Passover celebration. In putting down the insurrection Cumanus ordered many thousands slain. ”

“ These were the301 Jerusalem Zealots under Eleazer ben Simon and Simon ben Ezron, consisting only of two thousand four hundred members, the Galilæan Zealots under John, numbering six thousand armed men, the Simonists and Sicarii outnumbering the rest by their army of ten thousand, and the Idumæans under Jacob ben Sosa and Simon ben Kathla, a troop of five thousand men. These twenty-four thousand heroic patriots might have put their valor to some account in one decisive battle could they but have acted in harmony. ”