Nations will come to your light...

GENTILE ATTRACTION TO JUDAISM: GRACE WITH A GOAL

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Dr. Paul Manuel—2016

When God chose the descendants of Abraham as His people, it was an act of grace, but it was grace with a goal. He had a plan for them to tell others about the great God they served.¹ It will be an especially prominent feature of the Messianic Age:²

In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isa 2:2-3) Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. (Isa 60:3)

This mission (which actually began long ago) attracted two types of gentiles: those who lived inside the borders of Israel and those who lived outside those borders.

• A sojourner or resident alien was a gentile who followed God and lived inside the borders of Israel:

• An alien living among you who wants to celebrate the LORD's Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat of it. The same law applies to the native-born and to the alien living among you. (Exod 12:48-49)
• Any Israelite or any alien living among you who hunts any animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out the blood and cover it with earth.... Anyone, whether native-born or alien, who eats anything found dead or torn by wild animals must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be ceremonially unclean till evening; then he will be clean. (Lev 17:13, 15)
• Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a man must be put to death. You are to have the same law for the alien and the native-born. I am the LORD your God. (Lev 24:21-22)
• You must have the same regulations for the alien and the native-born.... 15 The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the LORD: The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you.... One and the same law applies to everyone who sins unintentionally, whether he is a native-born Israelite or an alien. (Num 9:14b-16, 29)
• Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the aliens living in your towns—so they can...follow carefully all the words of this law. (Deut 31:12)

• A foreigner was a gentile who followed God and lived outside the borders of Israel:

• These are the regulations for the Passover: "No foreigner is to eat of it.... (Exod 12:43)
• You must not accept such animals from the hand of a foreigner and offer them as the food of your God. They will not be accepted on your behalf, because they are deformed and have defects. (Lev 22:25)
• Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to an alien living in any of your towns, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. But you are a people holy to the LORD your God. (Deut 14:21 a-b)

Both the sojourner and the foreigner kept some or all of the law. No one forced them to comply; it was a responsibility they assumed because of their attraction to Israel's God and one they hoped would be to their ultimate advantage:³

Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely exclude me from his people." ...And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." (Isa 56:3a, 6-7)

For gentiles there was benefit in cultivating a close relationship with the author of these precepts, benefit that would accrue even after the exile.

The New Testament also had two groups of gentiles attracted to Israel's God but distinguished them less by geography and more by conformity.

• A God-fearer or worshiper of God was a gentile who adopted some of God's laws:

• One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. (Acts 16:14a)
• Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women.... So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. (Acts 17:4, 17)
• Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. (Acts 18:7)

• A proselyte or convert was a gentile who adopted all of God's laws:

• You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. (Matt 23:15b)
• Now there were staying in Jerusalem.... 11a both Jews and converts to Judaism. (Acts 2:5)
• When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul. (Acts 13:43b)

This attraction existed in Jesus' day, and he seems to anticipate some gentiles' eventual joining the rest of God's people:

I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. (John 10:16)

The early church, which began as a reform movement within Judaism, experienced an influx of gentiles and had to decide how to incorporate them into the burgeoning group of the rabbi's followers. Members of the main body, the Jerusalem congregation, proposed two solutions. A contingent of Pharisees thought the most straightforward way of dealing with this particular group was to have them convert—gentiles would become Jews: "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses" (Acts 15:5b). James, representing the apostles, proposed a more gradual integration:

"We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath." (Acts 15:19-21)

This second proposal won the day, and the church sent out representatives to implement the new policy.

The orthodox group that was heir to the apostles in Jerusalem was the Nazarenes,⁴ the name that first designated Jewish believers in Jesus.

We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect. (Acts 24:5)

The name "Christians" was used outside Israel to designate gentile believers.

The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. (Acts 11 :26b)

Before the number of gentile believers outpaced the number of Jewish believers, the name "Nazarenes" applied to all followers of Jesus.

Although several of the Church Fathers mention the Nazarenes, only one seems to have had first-hand knowledge of them (i.e., through personal contact):

• Epiphanius (c. 315-403) Panarion 29.7.1-5 "They did not call themselves Christians, but Nazarenes, taking this name from the place Nazareth. But actually they remained wholly Jewish and nothing else. For they use not only the New Testament but also the Old, like the Jews. For the Legislation of the Prophets and the Scriptures, which are called the Bible by the Jews, are not rejected by them as they are by those [heresies] mentioned above. They are not at all mindful of other things but live according to the preaching of the Law as among Jews: there is no fault to find with them apart from the fact that they have come to believe in Christ. For they also accept the resurrection of the dead and that everything has its origin in God. They proclaim one God and his Son Jesus Christ. They have a good mastery of the Hebrew language. For the entire Law and the Prophets and what is called the Scriptures, I mention the poetical books, Kings, Chronicles and Esther and all the others, are read by them in Hebrew as is the case with the Jews, of course. Only in this respect they differ from the Jews and Christians: with the Jews they do not agree because of their belief in Christ, with the Christians because they are trained in the Law, in circumcision, the Sabbath and other things."

Other Church Fathers, most notably Jerome, knew about the Nazarenes but received their information second-hand.

• Jerome (c. 345-419) Letter 75:13 "Since the preaching of the gospel of Christ, the believing Jews do well in observing the precepts of the law, i.e. in offering sacrifices as Paul did, in circumcising their children, as Paul did in the case of Timothy, and keeping the Jewish Sabbath, as all the Jews have been accustomed to do.... In our own day there exists a sect among the Jews throughout all the synagogues of the East, which is called the sect of the Minei, and is even now condemned by the Pharisees. The adherents to this sect are known commonly as Nazarenes; they believe in Christ the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary; and they say that He who suffered under Pontius Pilate and rose again, is the same as the one in whom we believe. But while they desire to be both Jews and Christians, they are neither the one nor the other. .... If, in short, it shall be declared lawful for them to continue in the Churches of Christ what they have been accustomed to practice in the synagogues of Satan, I will tell you my opinion of the matter: they will not become Christians, but they will make us Jews."

According to Eusebius, during the first Jewish revolt (70 CE) and subsequent invasion of Jerusalem by Roman troops, most of the Nazarenes fled east to Pella (in the Transjordan), whereas most of the Pharisees fled west to Yavne (in central Israel).⁵ Nazarenes later returned to Jerusalem, which became the seat of a line of Jewish bishops, although with apparently diminished authority. Pharisees remained in Yavne, which eventually became the center of Rabbinic Judaism.

The standardization of authority in Judaism after 70 CE, with its emphasis on Pharisaic halakah (as preserved in the Mishnah) marginalized rival groups that did not adopt the prevailing view (e.g., Karaites, who rejected oral Torah). The Nazarenes' belief in Jesus as messiah, rather than Bar Kochba, whom Rabbi Akiva endorsed, may have led to the final break between the Nazarenes and rabbinic Judaism, relegating the Nazarenes to the fringe.⁶ (Nazarene friendly relations with gentile Christians probably did not help their cause, although the Nazarenes' adherence to Torah led the gentile church to ostracize them as well.)

That state of affairs lasted until about the fourth century, by which time the number of gentiles had exceeded the number of Jews, and the policies of the (now gentile) church had likewise changed. At that point, church officials determined the most straightforward way of dealing with this particular group was to have them convert—Jews would become gentiles.⁷ Attempts by church officials to implement this policy met with resistance, though, as most Jews did not find the church's message about Jesus to be compelling, especially because it required them to forsake much of what God had commanded. Moreover, church officials often blamed Jews for the death of Jesus:

• Epistle of Barnabas (80-120) 4:6-7 "The covenant....is ours, but they lost it...when Moses had just received it."
• Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians (105-115)10 "It is absurd...to cherish in the mind a Judaism which has now come to an end. For where there is Christianity there cannot be Judaism.... 11 He...endured the cross at the hands of the Christ-killing Jews...."
• Justin Martyr (150-160) Dialogue with Trypho 16 "Circumcision...was given for a sign...that you alone may suffer that which you now justly suffer.... These things have happened to you in fairness and justice, for you have slain the Just One...."
• Origen of Alexandria (185-233/254) "The Jews...have committed the most abominable of crimes, in forming this conspiracy against the Savior of the human race."
• Tertullian (197-220) On Prayer (De Oratione) 14 "Though Israel may wash all its members every day, it is never clean. Its hands, at least, are always stained, forever red with the blood of the Prophets and of our Lord Himself."
• John Chrysostom (344-407) Homily Against the Jews 1 3:1 "The synagogue is not only a brothel...it also is a den of robbers and a lodging for wild beasts....the dwelling of demons. 4:2 This is true not only of the synagogues but also of the souls of the Jews. 6:6 Demons dwell in the synagogue...in the place itself [and] in the souls of the Jews."
• Augustine of Hippo (334-430), Confessions, 12.14 "I wish that you would slay them [the Jews] with your two-edged sword."
• Peter the Venerable of Cluny (d. 1156) Against the Inveterate Obduracy of Jews (Adversus Judeorum inveteratam duritiem) "I doubt whether a Jew can be really human."
• John Calvin (1509-1564) Of The Unknowable Name and The Generations of Christ (Ad Quaelstiones et Objecta Juaei Cuiusdam Responsio) "Their [the Jews] rotten and unbending stiffneckedness deserves that they be oppressed unendingly and without measure... and that they die in their misery without the pity of anyone."
• Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a most vehement anti-Semite, and his voluminous writings are replete with statements condemnatory of Jews. (His early optimism that Jews would accept a reformed version of the gospel gave way later in life to pessimism and hostility.)

• On the Jews and their Lies (1543) Chapter 17 "My advice...is: First, that their synagogues be burned down.... Second, that all their books...be taken from them.... Third, that they be forbidden on pain of death to praise God, to give thanks, to pray, and to teach publicly among us and in our country.... Fourth, that they be forbidden to utter the name of God within our hearing."
• Of The Unknowable Name and The Generations of Christ (1543) "Even if they were punished in the most gruesome manner that the streets ran with their blood, that their dead would be counted, not in the hundred thousands, but in the millions...still....they are the devil's children, damned to Hell.... I am much too mild in insulting such devils...."

Needless to say, church officials did not convince large numbers of Jews to embrace its version of Christianity,⁸

Judaism continued to attract gentiles, much to the dismay of (medieval) church officials who felt the need to restrict contact between gentiles and their Jewish neighbors by legislating their separation throughout the empire:⁹

• There were laws forbidding Christians from marrying Jews.
• There were laws forbidding Christians from observing Jewish festivals (e.g., Passover).
• There were laws forbidding Christians from resting on the Sabbath.
• There were laws forbidding Christians from following Jewish dietary customs.
• There were laws forbidding Christians from practicing circumcision.
• There were laws forbidding Christians from committing apostasy (i.e., converting to Judaism).

These efforts by church leaders were marginally successful in keeping the two communities apart, but the mere existence of such rules shows that the attraction remained.

The reform movement within Judaism has continued to grow (Meyer 1983),¹⁰ especially as Messianic synagogues make the case for Jesus within the Jewish community (Harris-Shapiro 1999; Kinzer 2005), attracting even non-Jews.¹¹ Some gentiles actually convert (Hutchens 1974) while others adopt select practices (e.g., Sabbath, holidays, kashrut) but remain on the fringe.

There are Christians today who think God is finished with the Jews, that because the majority of Israel did not recognize Jesus as the messiah, God has replaced them with the (gentile) Church as the centerpiece of His plan. But Paul writes, "God's gifts and His call are irrevocable" (Rom 11:29), and He has certainly illustrated that His call remains on Israel by the way He has blessed the people:

Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! (Rom 9:4-5)

Moreover, God states quite clearly through Jeremiah that His commitment to Israel
has not diminished:¹²

If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.... If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed laws of heaven and earth, then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them. (Jer 33:20b-22, 25-26)

As Zechariah states, God will implement His plan through the messiah, and it will redound to the good of His people:

I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. (Zech 12:10)

The LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west.... 5b Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.... 9 The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.... 11 It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure. (Zech 14:3-5b, 9, 11)

Israel remains the centerpiece of God's plan, and Jewish believers will be at the forefront of His future activity.

When God chose the descendants of Abraham as His people, it was an act of grace, but it was grace with a goal. He took a relatively obscure family patriarch and promised to establish through his offspring a kingdom, culminating with the epitome of grace, the messiah. It is a kingdom that will include others not in Abraham's lineage but who, like him, serve "the judge of all the earth" who does what is right (Gen 18:25).¹³ That has been God's goal from the beginning¹⁴ and the one He will yet implement.

For a pdf including Bibliography and Endnotes see here.