Well, Zealots is the most "logical" unit for Judean Elites...

I didn't say Judeans start with one province... They start as Horde... no settlements....

A Slinger could be effective force indeed, but the "Horde Slinger" unit maybe have the worst stat of slingers afterall.. look at this (compare this to EB 1 units)

Compared to the most poor slingers...
type roman missile accensi
dictionary roman_missile_accensi ; Accensi (For Comparison)
category infantry
class missile
voice_type General_1
soldier hellenistic_missile_sphendenotai_accensi, 30, 0, 0.85
mount_effect chariot +2, horse -2, elephant +1
attributes sea_faring, hide_forest, can_sap, hardy
formation 2.8, 3.5, 3.4, 4.8, 5, square
stat_health 1, 1
stat_pri 1, 0, stone, 133.2, 27, missile, archery, blunt, none, 15 ,1
stat_pri_attr ap
stat_sec 7, 0, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, knife, 0 ,0.04
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 1, 6, 0, flesh
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 1
stat_ground 0, 0, 0, -2
stat_mental 8, low, untrained
stat_charge_dist 30
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 1, 336, 84, 40, 60, 336
ownership seleucid, slave
Here's my proposal to "Horde Slinger" unit...

type judean horde slingers
dictionary judean_horde_slingers ; Horde Slingers
category infantry
class missile
voice_type General_1
soldier hellenistic_missile_sphendenotai_accensi, 60, 0, 0.85
attributes sea_faring, hide_forest, can_sap, horde_unit
formation 1.2, 1.2, 2.4, 2.4, 5, square
stat_health 1, 1
stat_pri 1, 1, stone, 120, 25, missile, archery, blunt, none, 15 ,1
stat_pri_attr ap
stat_sec 7, 1, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, knife, 0 ,0.04
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 0, 3, 0, flesh
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 1
stat_ground 0, 0, 0, -2
stat_mental 7, low, untrained
stat_charge_dist 30
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 1, 500, 0, 60, 80, 500
ownership judea(use any faction that will be replaced), slave
did u think that poor missile infantry stand any chance once their bullets was totally spent? (7 attack, 3 defense, low lethality....)
So this was the idea, of adding some phalanx unit (pantodapoi phalangitai) for Judaea, to made them still playable...

Made them all comprised of Gund-i Palta is not a good idea too... too many skirmishers will guarantee your men will be rided down by seleukid Prodromoi