Who Were the Zealots in the Bible?

Contributing Writer
Who Were the Zealots in the Bible?

Zealots in the time of Jesus were a faction of Jews who were so zealous in their passion for the Torah and for God’s leadership that they believed in literally fighting for rulership by God alone. Much like modern-day libertarians, Zealots believed that individuals should have great freedom and self-rule with minimal government intervention. This made them political, but since the Israelites through time had elements of theocratic rule, their zeal was often motivated by more than politics. As you can imagine, this put them continually at odds with the Romans who ruled through power, oppression, and military might and at odds with other Jewish leaders who valued peace.

Why, then, would Jesus invite a Zealot, Simon (not Peter), to be one of His twelve apostles?

Were the Zealots Just Political Rebels?

Recorded in the history of the Jews (Numbers 25) is a story of correction after one of the many times the Israelites wandered into idolatry. “While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel” (Numbers 25:1-3 ESV).

Idolatry was such a serious violation of the Israelites’ covenant relationship with the Living God that it eventually led to God allowing their overthrow by Babylon, the first destruction of the temple, and their exile from the Promised Land (until the time of the Persians when God orchestrated their return). Idol worship was a serious offense in God’s eyes. To appreciate the offense of idolatry, just imagine a wife bringing home another man to love while assuring her husband she still loved and respected him. God’s jealousy isn’t that of someone who covets or envies. It’s the righteous jealousy of a spouse who rightfully expects zealous faithfulness from his or her partner.

In this passage, God ordered Moses to hang all the chiefs of the people who had compromised themselves with Baal of Peor, and Moses instructed the judges to follow through. To modern eyes, this seems a severe punishment but the Bible teaches consistently that compromise, false teaching, and idolatry have no place in the lives of people of faith. Even with all the dangers confronting the early church, the danger most frequently written about by the New Testament writers is that of false teachers. Just as children and teens don’t always appreciate the dangers about which their parents warn, so God’s people don’t always appreciate the danger of idolatry but still must trust God’s warnings to worship Him and Him alone.

Numbers 25 continues to tell of an Israelite (Zimri) who defied God by openly bringing a Midianite woman (Cozbi) into his tent, even while Moses and the people wept over sins at the entrance to the tent of Meeting. Phinehas the son of Eleazar took it upon himself to kill the man and the woman with a single spear. At that, the plague that was punishing the people stopped.

God then spoke to Moses. “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace,  and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel’” (Numbers 25:11-13 ESV).

The psalmist writes this of Phinehas in Psalm 106: 31 ESV “And that was counted to him as righteousness from generation to generation forever.”

Through the worldview of the Zealots, Phinehas’s action was more than a political act. In a way, to the Zealots, he performed a defensive act against those who were endangering Israel by consorting with idols and those who worship them. God rewarded Phinehas. The Zealots would have seen this story as instructional for their own zeal.

The Zealots also would have likened their resistance to Rome (led by the Ceasars who were often worshipped as gods) to Phinehas’s actions in defending the faith. While it was political on one level, for them, it would have been motivated by religious fervor.

Did the Zealots’ Vision Align with God’s Plan?

Here’s the distinction between the account in Numbers 25 and the Zealots who were active in the time of Christ. When Phinehas acted, it was within the context of God’s direct instruction to Moses. God had commanded Moses to punish by hanging all the chiefs who had compromised themselves. Moses passed on that instruction to the judges or leaders. Phinehas wasn’t acting out of guessing God’s plan or desires. It can be concluded that his actions were in line with those that Moses directed.

There is no evidence that the Zealots received direct instruction from God or from the leaders of Israel at that time. They were one of four powerful groups in Israel in Jesus’s days and each group believed they were best at interpreting what God would want. Of course, looking back through what we know about the Messiah, we can see that each one was expecting a different type of Messiah.

  • The Sadducees had a liberal interpretation of the Scriptures and denied the supernatural, including resurrection. They may not even have been looking for a literal Messiah but believed a more theoretical version of what God meant about sending deliverance. This group was diplomatic and practical, interested in keeping the peace with Rome even if it meant compromise.
  • The Pharisees interpreted Scripture in legalistic ways and lived hypocritically, even justifying their cooperation with the Romans. They were focused on maintaining religious freedom from Rome, which is noble, but Jesus made it clear in His preaching that most of them had come to live empty lives with hearts far from true devotion to God.
  • The Essenes separated themselves to wilderness isolation, studying the Scriptures and living lives of prayer and devotion. Their response to God was to withdraw from society altogether, which was similar to monks or the desert fathers, so as to better focus and hear from God.
  • The Zealots were militants and sometimes violent extremists who believed that when Messiah came, He would overthrow Rome and reign in power. They believed they served God best through resisting Roman rule and being examples of religious and military zeal.


In any group, beliefs and behaviors have a range. Certainly some Zealots were less violent than others, leaning more toward religious than political zeal. But they were known for their hatred of Rome and hatred is not the way of the Lord.

Joel Ryan writes, “Known as the sicarii, or “dagger men,” the Zealots would often conceal curved daggers in the folds of their robes and sneak up on Roman soldiers and politicians and stab them in the back. The Zealots were also known to burn or destroy Roman targets in Judea then retreat to the Galilean countryside to hide. Their founder, Judas (not Iscariot), was himself a Galilean who had led a revolt against Rome in AD 6 in response to the passage of a Roman census tax.”

Was One of Jesus’ Disciples a Zealot?

Jesus doesn’t explain to us why He chose who He did to be among His twelve apostles. They were all men (although Jesus has countless women disciples traveling with Him, as well). They had different personalities and temperaments. For instance, we can see from the biblical accounts that Peter was impulsive and passionate, Thomas more skeptical but still devoted to Jesus, and John more philosophical as seen in his writings. After Jesus’s death and resurrection, the religious leaders were surprised at the eloquence and boldness of these simple men, many of whom had little formal schooling.

Probably most shocking in Jesus’s choices (besides choosing the man who would betray Him) was that of including both a tax collector and a Zealot. Matthew would have been despised by many Jews as one who compromised with Rome by profiting from the collection of taxes. He would have been especially despised by the Zealots. Simon, the Zealot, would likely have rather died (or murdered someone) than to compromise with Rome.

And yet, these two men became brothers as they followed Jesus. One laid down his love of money and the other his devotion to violence to learn the Way— the Way of Jesus.

We can only imagine that initially, Jesus would have disappointed any Zealot. They had prepared for a Messiah who would free them from Rome by force and possibly conquer the world just as the leaders of the Babylonians, Medo/Persians, Greeks, and then Romans had in the centuries before.

Jesus, however, had a greater plan, one that involved laying down His life, rising again, and ascending to the Father so that the Holy Spirit might fill His people, giving birth to the church. In this way, Jesus conquers every heart that surrenders to His love but it’s not a work of force. He served His disciples and told them to do the same. When Peter drew his sword and sliced off the ear of the high priest’s servant, Malchus, at Jesus’s arrest, Jesus healed the man and told Peter to put away His sword.

It's interesting that it was Peter who did this. Perhaps there is a bit of zealot in all of us that needs to surrender to the way of Christ. Including Simon the Zealot in his original twelve disciples demonstrates Jesus’s love for all, His power to transform lives, and the truth that God’s ways are not our ways.

What Can We Learn From the Zealots Today?

What are the lessons we can understand for our lives from the Zealots?

First, Jesus chose Simon, a Zealot, to be one of the twelve. We don’t know why but it serves to show us that no matter where a person’s sins or misguided zeal takes them, they aren’t beyond the call of Christ. Paul was a Pharisee persecuting the followers of Jesus. Matthew was a compromiser. Men and women who see violence as an answer today, or who have followed their spiritual hunger into cults or harmful sects, may be brothers or sisters worshipping beside us tomorrow when Jesus calls and they answer.

Second, the makeup of the disciples, which included those who might have a natural animosity for one another such as Simon and Matthew, illustrates what God can do when we choose to follow Jesus. Paul wrote to remind the Corinthians how close each of them came to being shut out of the kingdom but that now they “were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV) When people lay aside their differences to worship Jesus as one family, it presents a powerful picture to the world.

Finally, while each of us may identify a bit more with one apostle than the others, if we live long enough, we see a bit of each in each of us. I know there are times I’ve been tempted to impulsivity, to legalism, to compromise, and to impatience bordering on hostility. There may be a pharisee or tax collector, a doubter or a zealot lurking in each of us. Even when we’ve come to Jesus, we must take every thought captive and surrender every choice to the Living God who guides us by His Holy Spirit, lest we, too, be led astray by the enemy.

Jesus didn’t come to forcibly overcome the powers of this world. Jesus came to announce God’s Kingdom come. God’s kingdom doesn’t come through military or political overthrow but through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Related article: Why Would Jesus Call a Zealot to Be His Disciple?

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/miriam-doerr

Lori Stanley RoeleveldLori Stanley Roeleveld is a blogger, speaker, coach, and disturber of hobbits. She’s authored six encouraging, unsettling books, including Running from a Crazy Man, The Art of Hard Conversations, and Graceful Influence: Making a Lasting Impact through Lesson from Women of the Bible. She speaks her mind at www.loriroeleveld.com