PROSELYTES.
Meaning of Term (§ 1). " Strangers in Israel " (§ 2). Early Proselytism (§ 3). Decline of Jewish Propaganda (§ 4). Palestinian Proselytes (§ 5). Status of the Proselyte (§ 6). Hellenistic Proselytes (§7). Significance for Early Christianity (§ 8).
The proselytes were converts from heathenism to Judaism. The Greek original of the term, proselytos, is not found in classical authors, and was
evidently borrowed from colloquial
i. Mean- speech by the Septuagint as an equiva-
ing of lent for the Hebrew ger (A. V., " Stran-
Term. ger," q.v.). In this sense proselytos
occurs seventy-eight times as the translation of ger in the Septuagint, which does not use it to render any other word. On the other hand, the Aramaic giyyora, " stranger," is sometimes retained in the Greek versions (Ex. xii. 19; Isa. xiv. 1; Aquila, Lev. xix. 34) ; and elsewhere, where there is no allusion to proselytes in the technical sense of the term, paroikos, " sojourner, alien," is found (e.g., Gen. xv. 13, xxiii. 4; Ex. ii. 22, xviii. 3; Deut. xiv. 21 ; II Sam. i. 13), as well as epelytos, " incomer, foreigner " (Job xx. 26). The Syriac version frequently paraphrases the idea of " proselyte " as " he who is converted unto me." The term " proselyte " occurs four times in the New Testament (Matt, xxiii. 15; Acts ii. 10, vi. 5, xiii. 43); but in other early Christian literature the word is seldom found.
In ancient Israel the gerim, or " strangers," were a class possessing a special status and belonging to another race which had for some reason entered the
land of Israel and placed themselves 2. " Stran- under the protection of its people (see gers in Stranger) . While there was a strong- Israel." ly marked and increasing tendency to
make the " stranger " share in all the religious obligations and prerogatives of Israel, and even to become fully Judaized by circumcision, this was not proselytizing in the later sense of Judaism's extension beyond its boundaries, but rather marked the desire to avoid, so far as possible, any foreign elements within the bounds of Israel. A very late example of such seekers for protection is related by Josephus {Life, 23), in which the Jews made circumcision a necessary condition. In post-exilic times, however, such cases were rare; the weak Jewish community, under foreign domination, was not strong enough either to subject the numerous foreign colonists or to absorb them. Under the Maccabees, indeed, Idumeans, Itureans, and many Greco-Syrian cities were forcibly Judaized by circumcision. Nevertheless a number of Greek settlements remained in the land, and the Herodians and Romans also introduced many foreign elements into the country. It was of these aliens that the rabbis thought when they applied the laws of the Old Testament regarding the gerim in so far as these were referred, not to the proselytes, but to the " strangers in Israel." The latter were sharply distinguished from the proselytes, and were placed on a par with heathen and idolaters; and when the
Proselytes
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
gcrim were required to observe the seven " Noachian laws " (obedience to Jewish authority, and avoidance of bhvsphemy, idolatry, fornication, murder, theft, and the eating of meat not killed according to legal prescription), this was done to preserve the holiness of Israel. The Jews forgot, however, that they had to deal with their rulers, not with their supplicants, and the whole idea remained mere theory, though it seems to have influenced the rules for the association of Jewish and gentile Christians recorded in Acts xv 20, 29, xxi. 25.
Entirely different from the gerim of ancient times,
with their peculiar legal and social isolation, were
the proselytes of later Judaism, that is
3. Early to say, the following which it gained
Prosely- as a religious community outside its tism. own people and its own land. The earliest proofs of this are in Neh. x. 28 and Isa. hi. 6. While at first the post-exilic community was exclusive, the tendency toward propaganda became evident in the period of the Maccabees, as when an embassy was sent to Rome in 139 B.C., only to be expelled by the prastor Hispalus because of attempts to win converts. The chances for and against such a propaganda were about equal ; everything oriental exercised a potent spell at that period; the later philosophy was attracted by monotheism; and ethics and asceticism, as well as superstition, found satisfaction in all that was strange and exotic. Judaism, enjoying many imperial privileges, had also political advantages to offer. On the other hand, a strong pan- Hellenic party nourished an aversion to everything barbarian, and the Jews were in evil repute as traders and usurers, as magicians, and procurers. Their imageless worship was regarded as atheistic, and the wildest reports were circulated regarding them. The anti-Semitic movement was systematically fostered by the gymnastic societies of the larger Greek cities. Judaism was also something strange and foreign in the world of that time, and its exclusiveness seemed misanthropy (Tacitus, Hist., v. 5). Nevertheless, the unshakeable consciousness of being the true religion that animated Judaism (cf. Rom. ii. 17 sqq.) overcame all obstacles. Its enormous success is attested by Josephus and classical authors, and was especially great among women. The reigning house of Adiabene was converted to Judaism; Helena was often in Jerusalem, as were her sons Izates and Monobazus, who also built themselves a tomb there. The Bible translators Aquila of Sinope and Theodotion of Ephesus were also believed to be proselytes. Legend even made a proselyte of the prophet Obadiah as well as of Israel's greatest enemies, and represented them as ancestors of famous families of proselytes. It was said that Shemaiah and Abtalion, the predecessors of Hillel and Shammai, were descended from such a family of Assyrian proselytes. Agrippa II., at the time of the marriage of each of his sisters, Dnisilla and Berenice, required the circumcision of their husbands, Aziz of Emesa and Polemon of Cilicia.
The time of Rabbi Akiba marks in a twofold sense the end of the Jewish propaganda. Judaism, thrown back upon itself, then began its process
of petrification into the Talmud (q.v.), and with
the rejection of Greek civilization it renounced all
spread among the Greeks. On the
4. Decline other hand, Hadrian's edict against of Jewish circumcision was suspended under
Propa- Antoninus Pius only in the case of ganda. Jewish children, otherwise remaining in force as a part of Roman law, and so rendering any propaganda impossible. Conversion to Judaism or any attempt at proselytizing was punished by confiscation and exile, if not by death. There is not much significance in the fact that, at the time of the Christian persecutions, some individuals went over to the synagogue. History and legend of later times have but little to say in regard to conversions, though there are allusions to a monk of Sinai who was circumcised and took the name Abraham. The ecclesiastical and civil laws often treat of the enforced circumcision of Christian slaves in Jewish houses. It was only outside the Roman Empire, however, that the Jewish propaganda still had considerable success, as in the conversion of the Arab tribes in the region of Medina and especially that of the Himyaritic princes and of the Chazar Prince Bulan in the Crimea.
From the account given by Josephus of the conversion of Izates of Adiabene (Ant., XX., ii. 3-4), it is evident that Jewish proselytizers followed two distinct methods, one type requiring complete adhesion with circumcision as the sign of the covenant, and the other being satisfied with a leaning toward Judaism and the observance
5. Pales- of certain of its usages. In like mantinian ner there were two classes of proselytes:
Proselytes, complete converts and quasi-converts, or circumcised and uncircumcised. This distinction may be paralleled with that found in Palestino-rabbinical Judaism as contrasted with Hellenistic Judaism. The former recognized as proselytes (or, more exactly, as " proselytes of righteousness ") only those who had been fully received into the religious community of Israel by means of circumcision. On this view was based the judgment of Paul when, in distinguishing between Jew and gentile, he regarded everyone who was circumcised as a Jew (Gal. v. 3) ; and this was also the opinion of Domitian when he ordered that the tax levied on Jews should also be collected from proselytes. The first requirement of Rabbi Trypho, in Justin, Trypho, viii., was circumcision; and the necessity of the rite is insisted upon in Talmudic anecdotes. The words of Christ in Matt, xxiii. 15, likewise refer to such circumcised proselytes, who were not originally very numerous. While Hillel made their reception easy, the sterner school of Shammai required a testing of their motives. Only after preparatory instruction imparted by three scribes did the threefold ceremony of reception take place: circumcision, immersion, and sacrifice. The instruction was continued until the immersion, which occurred when the wound was healed. The three teachers were witnesses at the ceremony, and only with this bath of purification was the rite of admission completed. It is, therefore, mentioned more often than circumcision itself, especially by the Hellenistic Jews, who renounced circumcision