Z is for Zealots

My A to Z blogging theme is characters in (people from) the scriptures. Since my blog is a book blog, this theme would fit right in and help me strengthen a weakness at the same. How fantastic is that?!  This challenge is a blessing. Thank you A to Z Challenge team!  *Book: LDS quad combo scriptures: KJV Holy Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, Pearl of Great Price. (p)1989, (c)1979.

(Source)

I'm having a tough time paraphrashing this one so I'll quote it directly:

"Two other groups mentioned in the New Testament grew up during the period between the testaments. A group of Jews favored the reign of Herod Antipas and urged the people to support his sovereignty. For that reason they were called Herodians. The Herodians saw Herod Antipas’s rise to power as the fulfillment of certain messianic ideas then current. They preached these ideas and opposed any whom they felt might upset the status quo. This political party joined forces with the religious sect of the Pharisees to oppose Jesus (see Matthew 22:16 ) since they saw the Master as a threat to their political aims.

In opposition to the Herodians stood the Zealots. This party was formed in A.D. 6 under the head of Judah of Galilee in opposition to Roman taxation. These rebels had some of the spirit of the Maccabees in their opposition to gentile rule and influence and desired to keep Judea free. It was not just to the Maccabees that they looked as a prototype, however, but to Aaron’s grandson Phinehas (see Numbers 25:7–13 ). During the Exodus from Egypt, Phinehas killed a man and a woman who had blatantly violated the laws of God in the wilderness and threatened the safety of the whole house of Israel. The Lord commended Phinehas for his “zeal” in defending the law of God. The Zealots thus reasoned that violence was justified in seeking to overthrow Rome. The Romans called them the Sicarri, from the Latin word for dagger, since they would sometimes mingle in a crowd with daggers under their cloaks. They would then assassinate those known to favor Rome or sometimes Roman officials themselves. Though violent, the Zealots were strictly religious, justifying themselves on the grounds that only through the overthrow of Rome could God’s kingdom come about. Their very name suggested great zeal for the law of Moses. Their initial rebellion in A.D. 6 was successfully suppressed by the Romans, after which the survivors went to the deserts where they continued to put pressure on the Romans through guerrilla tactics during the time of the Savior. After the death of Jesus, it was the Zealots primarily who led the revolt against Rome that resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70." (2003, Old testament Student Manual, Religion 302, pg364-365)

I also found more about Zealots online in the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia.  Go HERE to find out more.

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Hooray!!!  That was the last letter!!! 

Whew!!  I survived the A to Z Challenge!! What a feat!  ~Stay tune ..reflection report on May 7th.