zealots Summary and Overview

a sect of Jews which originated with Judas the Gaulonite (Acts 5:37). They refused to pay tribute to the Romans, on the ground that this was a violation of the principle that God was the only king of Israel. They rebelled against the Romans, but were soon scattered, and became a lawless band of mere brigands. They were afterwards called Sicarii, from their use of the sica, i.e., the Roman dagger.

ZEAL'OTS , the name of a party among the Jews, half religious and half political, founded by Judas the Galilean or the Gaulanite, Acts 5:37, and, after the death of him and his sons, led by Eleazar, one of his descendants. Contending that God was the only king of Israel and refusing to pay the tribute to the Romans, they broke out into open rebellion under the lead of Judas, but were soon dispersed, and, while afterward attempting to maintain themselves by a kind of guerilla-warfare, they gradually sunk into mere bands of robbers and brigands, and -were called Sicarii, from the Latin sica, "a dagger."