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"For whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people
shall be my people, and thy God my God" (Ruth 1: 16).
Not all strangers however, would hold such strong feelings toward Judaism as this,
and it must be understood that when the word "proselyte" is used in this article, it is used
of all who were attracted in various degrees of intensity towards Judaism. Later, a
twofold division of proselytes became apparent; those who by circumcision had obtained
access to the privileges of Temple worship, and those who only professed a respect for
the Mosaic religion, and attended as hearers in the synagogues (see The Life and Epistles
of St. Paul by Conybeare and Howson). The proselytes referred to in Acts (2: 10; 6: 5;
13: 43) were probably the former of these two classes, since other terms seem to be used
by Luke to describe the latter (e.g. `devout').
That Gentiles became proselytes during both Old and New Testament days is probably
attributable to their recognition of the superiority of the religion of Israel. When, through
the dispersion, Jewish communities sprang up in all parts of the then known world,
Gentiles, unsatisfied with the heathenism around them, attached themselves to these
communities.
Those described during Acts as "fearing God" (10: 2), "worshipping God" (16: 14),
"devout" (13: 50; 17: 4), were probably some of these. Many of them appear to have
been women. Dean Farrar, writing of New Testament days, says:
"Greek proselytes were at this period common in every considerable city of the
empire" (The Life and Work of St. Paul).
Although many Gentiles joined themselves to Judaism of their own volition, it must
be remembered that the Pharisees had a certain zeal for proselytism:
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to
make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell
than yourselves" (Matt. 23: 15).
Believing that the end justified the means, the Pharisees had few scruples in the means
they employed to make a proselyte. Consequently, although conforming in some degree
to Judaism, many proselytes still held heathen ideas, and so were hypocritical and
reprobate. Hence the Lord's words, "twofold more the child of hell". The name
`proselyte' thus came into disrepute, and Rabbinical writers had the strongest contempt
for them. They called them "the leprosy of Israel", and said "that they are not to be
trusted to the twenty-fourth generation". But those who appear in the Acts of the
Apostles were evidently not of this character, for many of them embraced the faith and
showed that their works were not evil (John 3: 20, 21). Josephus, writing of the Jews in
Syrian Antioch, says:
"They also made proselytes of a great many of the Greek perpetually, and thereby,
after a sort, brought them to be a portion of their own body" (The War of the Jews,
Book VII, chapter 3).