THE NAMES ISRAEL AND JEW IN ANCIENT JUDAISM AND IN THE NEW TESTAMENT: II

Abstract

Summary This is the second part of a larger study on the significance of ‘Israel’ and ‘Jew’ in the ancient period. In the previous part, we reviewed the early history of the name Jew and studied the use made of both names in three categories of ancient Jewish texts: archeological documents (papyri, coins and inscriptions), literary writings related to the Bible (Hagiographa, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha) and writings of well-identified authors (Qumran, Philo and Josephus). The present article analyses the use made of these names in another large body of ancient Jewish texts: rabbinic literature. It consists of texts with an inner-Jewish character: the use of Hebrew predominates as well as the inner-Jewish self-appellation Yisrael. It is the exceptions to this rule which deserve our close attention. We then draw conclusions, not only for rabbinic literature but for the whole spectrum of Jewish texts we covered. The use made of both names, ‘Israel’ as the inner-Jewish name and ‘Jew’ as the outside self-desi...