The heart of Zacharias had been gathering thoughts to itself through all those months of silence, and no sooner was his mouth opened than he poured forth to God the hymn of priestly thanksgiving which we call, from its first word in the Latin version, Benedictus (wh. see). Here we need only note in it an evident allusion to his own name (signifying ' Remembered by Jehovah ') and his wife's (Elisabeth = Eli-sheba = ' the oath of God ') — ' to remember his holy covenant ; the oath which he sware to our father Abraham ' (Lk V^- ''3).
Nothing is said of Zacharias after this. The statement of several of the Fathers (Origen, Greg. Nyss., Cyr., and Pet. Alex.), though accepted by Baronius, that this Zacharias was slain by Herod between the Temple and the brazen altar, has no historical basis ; it is a mere guess to explain the difficulty, that whereas many of the prophets were martyred at a later date than Zechariah the son of Jehoiada (2 Cli :^4-0), yet our Lord, summing up the list of such murders, begins with Abel and ends with Zechariah (Mt 233S). See Barachiah. Zacharias having been by this mistake made a martyr, his relics were forth- coming, and Cornelius a Lapide speaks of seeing and venerating his head in the Lateran basilica at Rome.
James Cooper.
ZAREPHATH (AV Sarepta). — A town of the narrow rocky Phoenician coast, 9 miles S.W. of Sidon, 17 miles N. of Tyre, and 60 miles directly N. of Nazareth, whence NT reference is made to it. Perched 500 feet high on a steep hillside a mile from the coast road, the modern shrunken hamlet looks down upon the traveller riding through a mile of the ruins of the ancient Zarephath, which once as a populous city extended to the sea, was provided with walls, and had a commodious harbour, now filled with sand and ruins.
While, in the theoretical division of the Holy- Land among the twelve tribes by Joshua, Zarephath fell into the lot of Asher, going down, as that did, 'even unto great Sidon,' 'and to the fortified city of Tyre' (Jos 19^8'-), it, together with the most of Asher's territory, remained almost wholly Phoe- nician and Gentile. St. Luke's report of Christ's sermon at Nazareth distinctly connects Zarephath with Sidon, as do the LXX and MT in the account of Elijah's sustenance by the widow there. This Evangelist — apparently the only Gentile-Christian NT writer — seizes as does no other upon the thought that the boundless grace of God has been extended in certain typical cases to remote Gentiles, even to the superseding and exclusion of those M'ho were of the stock of Abraham and dAvelt within the Holy Land. The choice, among all others, of the widow of pagan Phoenician Zarephath, and of Naaman the leper of heathen Syrian Damascus, to receive the favours of the prophets Elijah .and Elisha, filled the crabbed synagogue hearers of Nazareth with wrath and murder (Lk 4-^''^').
Wilbur Fletcher Steele.
ZEAL. — It is not easy to distinguish zeal (Gr. '<;9}\os from 'giw 'to boil') from enthvsiasm (which see) ; but, as regards the derivation, the former indicates the charnc.ter, the latter the source of the inward state ; and, as regards the meaning, the former lays stress on the vofitional, the latter on the emotional aspect of the complex condition of
846
ZEALOT
ZEBULUN
soul. As 'ardour in embracing, pursuing, or de- fending' an object, it is ascribed to Phinehas (Nu 25"- 13), Elijah (1 Mac 2^8), the Jewish people (Ac 212", Ro 10''). St. Paul claims it for himself (Ac 223, 2 Co IP, Gal 1", Ph S"), and commends it in the Corinthians (2 Co V- ^^ 9^) and Epaphras (Col 4^3, variant reading for labour). The same Greek word is used in the bad sense of jealousy, which is condemned in the Apostolic writings (1 Co 3^, 2 Co 1220, Gal 520, Ja Z^*-'^^). A quotation from the Psalms (69**) is applied to Jesus to describe the im- pression made on the disciples by the first cleansing of the Temple ( Jn 2^''). Tliis may throw some light on the problem of the repetition of the act at the close of the ministry (Mt 2I12-", Mk IV^-^^, Lk ig'*^- *), as the first may have been due to His fresh enthusiasm for His vocation, the second may have been a more deliberate assertion of His Messianic claim. As zeal in the fulfilment of His purpose is ascribed to God (2 K W"-, Is 9^ ST^^ 59'^ 63>5, Ezk 5^3), the mood itself as well as the occasion of it was worthy of Jesus as the Son of God.
From this term is derived the name of one of the Jewish parties, the Zealots (which see), to which, as his surname indicates, Simon the disciple (Lk 615, Ac I'S) had belonged. The zeal of Jesus for the Temple may have been what drew Simon to Him. ALFRED E. GaRVIE.
ZEALOT (Gr. fryXwnjs) occurs in Lk B^^and Ac V^ as the designation of Simon, one of the Twelve. In the lists given by Mt. and Mk. tlie equivalent ' Cananfean' {Kavavaios) is used. The Zealots were the rigorous Nationalists, the party of violent opposition to Roman domination. Josephus {Ant. XVIII. i. 6) calls them a ' fourth sect of Jewish philosophy,' and says that 'Judas the Galilaean was the founder. ' He adds : ' These men agree in all things Avith the Pharisaic notions ; but they have an inviolable attachment to liberty, and say that God is to be their only Ruler and Lord ' ; he speaks of their ' immovable resolution ' and their indifference to suffering and death. These quali- ties Avere all abundantly illustrated in the final struggle at Jerusalem and at Masada. Edersheim (LT i. 237 ff. ) dates the rise of the party from the accession of Herod the Great, and the activity of guerilla bands in Galilee under the leadership of one Ezechias. ' It was in fact a revival of the Maccabean movement, perhaps more fully in its national than in its religious aspect.' Plummer ( ' St. Luke ' in ICC) attaches more importance to the religious aspect of the movement : — ' The Zea- lots date from the time of the Maccabees as a class who attempted to force upon others their own rigorous interpretations of the Law.' In the later stages of the Jewish history the party grew more violent. Its ringleaders were known as the Sicarii, and their overthrow of all moderating leadership sealed the doom of Jerusalem. There is no special difficulty in believing that a member of this party might be attracted to Jesus and become one of His chosen disciples. Galilee was the home of the party, and it naturally included in it men of very different types, from the religious fanatic to the partisan of revolution. Simon's zealotry, purified by the knowledge of Jesus, might readily become true loyalty to the Kingdom of God. Edersheim gives us the additional explanation that, at the period when the ministry of Jesus began, ' A brief calm had fallen upon the land. There was nothing to provoke active resistance, and the party of the Zealots, although existing, and striking deeper root in the hearts of the people, was, for the time, rather wliat Josephus called it, "the philosophical party " — tlieir minds busy with an ideal, which their hands were not yet preparing to make a reality ' (op. cit. p. 243). We should, however, take note of the alternative possibility (see Plummer, loc. cit.)