An Historical Account ofJesus 33Returning now to the historical account of the life of Jesus, it will
be remembered that the political and social situation at the time of
[esus's birth, along with the events leading up to the death of John
the Baptist have already been mentioned. The point had now been
reached where the entire resistance movement was concentrated
around the divinely inspired figure of Jesus:
Before doing anything else, Jesus had to undergo forty days
living and praying in the wilderness. He was now thirty years old.
Under[ewish law, this was the age when a man was freed from the
domination of his father. Unlike John, he did not openly teach, when
he preached to the multitudes, that they should take a stand against
the Roman rulers. Discreet preparations needed to be made. Previ
ous attempts had ended in disaster and the recent death of John
was fresh in the mind of Jesus. With foresight and prudence, he
began to prepare and organise the Jews. He baptised no one. This
would have unnecessarily attracted too much attention from the
Romans, and would have been a dangerous practice, as he couId
not have prevented the 'vipers' from infiltrating the resistance
movement.
Jesus appointed twelve disciples, a traditional number repre
senting the twelve tribes of Israel. They further enlisted seventy
two patriots to serve under their commando The Pharisees had al
ways kept the Am AI-Arez, the able-bodied [ews who lived in the
villages, at arm's length. Jesus took them under his wing. These
peasants, many of whom were of the Essene community, became
the zealous followers of Jesus, and were ready to lay down their
lives for his cause. They were known as Zealots. According to the
Bible, at least six of the twelve disciples are known to have been
Zealots,
Jesus, who had come to reaffirm and not to reject the teaching
of Moses, issued the Old Testament appeal: 'Whosoever is zealous
for the Law and maintains the Covenant, let him come forth after
me: (Maccabees 2: 27-31). A large number began to enlist, but they
were kept underground, and their training was carried out in the
wildemess. They were also called Bar Yonim, which means 'sons of
the wilderness', From among these, those who had learned to use
the dagger were known as Sicarii (dagger-men). A further hand
picked group of men formed a kind of bodyguard, and they were
known as Bar Jesus, or 'sons of Jesus'. A number of persons known
as Bar Jesus are mentioned in historical sources, but a curtain of