RELIGIOUS FIGURES from Palestine

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Palestinian Religious Figures of all time. This list of famous Palestinian Religious Figures is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Zacchaeus (50 - 100)

With an HPI of 69.48, Zacchaeus is the most famous Palestinian Religious Figure.  His biography has been translated into 34 different languages on wikipedia.

Zacchaeus (sometimes spelled Zaccheus; Ancient Greek: Ζακχαῖος, Zakchaîos; Classical Syriac: ܙܰܟ݁ܰܝ, romanized: Zakay, "pure, innocent") was a chief tax-collector at Jericho in the Bible. He is known primarily for his faith in climbing a sycamore tree to see Jesus and also his generosity in giving away half of all he possessed. A descendant of Abraham, he was an example of Jesus's personal, earthly mission to bring salvation to the lost. Tax collectors were despised as traitors (working for the Roman Empire, not for their Jewish community), and as being corrupt. His story is found in the Gospel of Luke. Because the lucrative production and export of balsam was centered in Jericho, his position would have carried both importance and wealth. In the account, he arrived before the crowd who were later to meet with Jesus, who was passing through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. He was short in stature and so was unable to see Jesus through the crowd (Luke 19:3). Zacchaeus then ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree along Jesus's path. When Jesus reached the spot he looked up at the sycamore tree (actually a sycamore-fig Ficus sycomorus), addressed Zacchaeus by name, and told him to come down, for he intended to visit his house. The crowd was shocked that Jesus, a religious teacher/prophet, would sully himself by being a guest of a sinner.

2. Jehoshaphat (-908 - -849)

With an HPI of 67.36, Jehoshaphat is the 2nd most famous Palestinian Religious Figure.  His biography has been translated into 45 different languages.

Jehoshaphat (; alternatively spelled Jehosaphat, Josaphat, or Yehoshafat; Hebrew: יְהוֹשָׁפָט, Modern: Yəhōšafaṭ, Tiberian: Yŏhōšāp̄āṭ, "Yahweh has judged"; Greek: Ἰωσαφάτ, romanized: Iosafát; Latin: Josaphat), according to the Hebrew Bible, was the son of Asa, and the fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah, in succession to his father. His children included Jehoram, who succeeded him as king. His mother was Azubah. Historically, his name has sometimes been connected with the Valley of Josaphat.