"Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I have not come to bring peace, but the sword." (Matthew 10:34) After a thorough reading of "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth," one may find it sort of ironic that Reza Aslan exposes the reader to this quote from the gospel of Matthew. Whether Jesus said these exact words does not matter, what matters is the deeper message that Reza, following Matthew's style, is implying. Its implication may be that peace is not needed when a culture has forcibly lost its identity. Peace on Earth is what many modern Christians would believe Jesus' end goal was. One's faith allows them to believe that if they so desire. However, the fact of the matter is the "sword" was necessary in the times of Jesus of Nazareth. They were times of religious fervor, Roman imperialism, apocalyptic expectations, and corruption in the most sacred place on Earth to the Jewish populace, the Temple of Jerusalem. All of the Jews were awaiting the messiah that would deliver to them the Promised Land. The Jewish aristocracy, specifically the high priests during those days had defiled the Temple and, simultaneously, humiliated and degraded Judaism. Those who suffered the worst were average citizens, farmers and peasants. The observance of all this suffering is what promoted the idea of zeal. Many were punished by crucifixion for their revolt against the Roman Empire because the Kingdom of God was an immediate threat to the control over the nobility in first-century Palestine. A "sword" needed to be used in order for Roman dominion to be separated from the Jews. Therefore, zeal acted as the force which allowed zealots like Jesus of Nazareth to try to combat the injustice towards the peasants. .
To begin with, Reza Aslan paints a picture of a corrupted theocracy. There were a plethora of fees that began when one entered the Temple of Jerusalem.
