“Israel” and “Jew” as Markers of Jewish Identity in Antiquity: The Problems of Insider/Outsider Classification

Abstract

Abstract Building on K. G. Kuhn’s TWNT entry on the names “Israel” and “Jew” in post-Hebrew Bible Jewish literature, many scholars have claimed that the two ethnonyms can be classified as insider and outsider designations respectively. This essay nuances that categorization. While Kuhn and subsequent scholars have rightly noted the uneven distribution of the names, the exceptions to an insider/outsider model are too numerous to maintain it without modification. Both “Israel” and “Jew” were insider names whose usage in Jewish literature was influenced by the speech situation of the author as well as by consciousness of the biblical narrative.