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Bible Dictionaries
Assassins
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or (or, more properly, Sicarii [cf. Acts 21:38], ‘dagger-men’)
The name given, according to Josephus, to a body of radicals in the Jewish Messianic agitation which culminated in the outbreak of a.d. 66. The name was derived from the short daggers worn by the members of the body (sica, a short, curved, possibly Persian sword), which they kept concealed in their clothing and used to stab people among the crowds. The Sicarii seem to have appeared first during the procuratorship of Felix, although Josephus in Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) vii. viii. 1 might be interpreted as ascribing their origin to a somewhat earlier period. He has a number of references to these men, whom he describes as follows (Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) ii. xiii. 3):
‘There sprang up another sort of robbers in Jerusalem who were called Sicarii, who slew men in the daytime in the midst of the city, especially at the festivals, when they mixed with the multitude, and concealed little daggers under their garments, with which they stabbed those that were their enemies; and when any fell down dead, the murderers joined the bystanders in expressing their indignation, so that from their plausibility they could by no means he discovered. The first man who was slain by them was Jonathan the high priest, after whom many were stain every day, and the fear men were in of being so treated was more harassing than the calamity itself everybody expecting death every hour, as men do in war. So men kept a look-out tot their enemies at a great distance, and even if their friends were coming, they durst nut trust them any longer, tint were slain in the midst of their suspicions and precautions. Such was the celerity of the plotters, and in cunning was their contrivance against detection.’ See also Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) vii. x. 1.
It is difficult to say whether these Sicarii at first constituted an organized body, although such a view would seem to be implied by Josephus (Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) vii. viii. 1). They joined the Zealots (ib. ii. xvii. 7), and inaugurated the reign of terror which filled Jerusalem after the outbreak of the Revolution, Subsequently they seized the great fortress of Masada (ib. iv. vii. 2), and there maintained themselves by plundering the neighbouring country, until they were besieged by the Romans under Flavius Silca. Their commander was one Eleazar (ib. vii. viii. 1), whom Josephus describes as an able man and a descendant of that Judas who had led the revolt against the census under Quirinius. After a considerable siege the Romans were on the point of taking the fortress when the Sicarii massacred themselves, one old woman alone escaping.
In Acts 21:38 they have ‘the Egyptian’ as a leader. Josephus mentions this Egyptian as having appeared during the procuratorship of Felix, but does not connect the Sicarii with him (Ant. xx. viii. 6; Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) ii. xiii. 5). The Sicarii seem to have dispersed after the Roman war and to have disappeared from history, the references to Sicarii in the Mishna (Bikkur. i. 2, ii. 3; Giṭṭin v. 6; Machsh. i. 6) probably being to robbers in general.
Literature.-See E. Schürer, GJV [Note: JV Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes (Schürer).] 3 i. [Leipzig, 1901] p. 574, n. [Note: . note.] 31 (History of the Jewish People (Eng. tr. of GJV).] i. ii. 178), where further references will be found.
Shailer Mathews.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Assassins'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/a/assassins.html. 1906-1918.
