PROSELYTE
LXX
as
'proselytes'
in
Egypt
(Ex
22a
23',
Lv
19",
Dt
10").
The
'stranger'
of
the
OT
becomes
the
'proselyte'
of
the
NT.
For
the
history
that
lies
behind
the
use
of
the
word
see
art.
Stkangek.
By
the
4th
cent.
B.C.
the
'stranger'
had
become
a
member
of
the
Jewish
Church
—
a
proselyte
in
the
technical
sense
(Bertholet,
SteUung
der
Israelitm,
p.
178).
Other
expressions
are
used
in
the
NT
to
indicate
a
more
or
less
close
sympathy
with
Jewish
religious
thought
and
life
without
implying
absolute
identity
with
and
inclusion
in
Judaism.
These
are
'fearers
of
God'
(phoboumenoi
ton
Them,
Ac
10'-
22
13"-
^s-
"
etc.),
and
'worshippers
of
God'
(sebomenoi
ton
Theon,
Ac
16"
17*-
"
etc.).
They
were
such
as
were
drawn
from
heathenism
by
the
higher
ideals
and
purer
life
of
Judaism.
They
were
dissatisfied
with
the
religious
teaching
of
their
nation,
and
found
in
Judaism
an
intellectual
home
and
a
religious
power
they
sought
in
vain
elsewhere.
But
a
study
of
Ac
10.
11,
esp.
11',
shows
that
these
were
not
proselytes;
they
refused
to
take
the
final
step
that
carried
them
into
Judaism
—
viz.
circumcision
(JEGT
vol.
ii.
p.
250
f.;
Ramsay,
Expositor,
1896,
p.
200;
Harnack,
Expansion
of
Chris-tianity,
i.
p.
11).
They
lived
on
the
fringe
of
Judaism,
and
were,
it
seems
(Lk
7',
Ac
10^),
often
generous
benefactors
to
the
cause
that
had
lifted
them
nearer
to
God
and
truth.
2.
Proselytizing
activity
of
the
Jews.
—
Up
to
the
time
of
the
Exile
and
for
some
time
after,
the
attitude
of
the
Hebrews
towards
'
strangers
'
was
passive:
they
did
not
invite
their
presence
into
their
community,
and
did
not
encourage
them
to
be
sharers
of
their
faith.
But
before
the
3rd
cent.
B.C.
a
change
of
outlook
and
national
purpose
had
taken
place,
which
had
converted
them
into
active
propagandists.
There
appear
to
have
been
three
reasons
for
this
change.
(1)
The
Hebrews
were
no
longer
concentrated
in
one
narrow
land
where
a
homogeneous
life
was
followed,
but
were
scattered
over
all
parts
of
the
civilized
world,
and
found
them-selves
in
contact
with
peoples
who
were
religiously
far
inferior
to
themselves,
however
otherwise
they
might
be
placed,
and
who
excited,
it
may
be,
their
disdain,
but
also
their
pity.
—
(2)
Many
of
those
in
the
Gentile
world
who
were
dissatisfied
with
the
intellectual
results
and
the
religious
conditions
of
their
time
saw
in
Judaism,
as
lived
and
taught
before
their
eyes,
some-thing
finer
and
nobler
than
they
had
found
elsewhere;
and
were
drawn
to
its
practical
teaching
and
life
without
committing
themselves
to
the
ritual
that
offended
their
sense
of
fitness
and
decency
(cf.
Harnack,
op.
cit.
i.
10
f.).
—
(3)
The
Hebrews
themselves
seem
to
have
responded
to
their
opportunity
with
a
quickened
en-thusiasm
for
humanity
and
a
higher
ideal
of
their
national
existence,
in
the
providence
of
God,
among
the
nations
of
the
earth.
It
does
not
appear
that
the
Hebrews
have
ever
been
so
powerfully
moved
towards
the
peoples
lying
in
darkness
as
in
this
time
subsequent
to
the
Exile
(Harnack,
op.
cit.
i.
11,
12).
They
were
convinced
of
the
claim
of
God
to
the
homage
of
men
everywhere,
the
universalism
of
their
revelation
of
truth
and
duty,
and
their
own
fitness
to
bring
the
world
to
God.
The
needs
of
the
world
moved
them
powerfully,
and
the
thoughts
that
found
expression
in
such
passages
as
Ps
33'
('
Let
all
the
earth
fear
the
Lord,
let
all
the
inhabitants
of
the
world
stand
in
awe
of
him')
36'-9
6410
65»
etc.,
filled
them
with
a
burn-ing
zeal
to
make
the
world
their
offering
to
God.
(Bertholet,
op.
cit.
p.
191
f.).
Perhaps
we
may
not
be
wrong
in
regarding
the
Septuagint
as
a
product
of,
as
it
certainly
was
an
aid
to,
this
missionary
effort.
This
spiritual
enthusiasm
for
God's
honour
and
man's
salvation
continued
till
about
the
time
of
the
Maccabees,
when
the
tenderer
springs
of
the
Jewish
spirit
were
dried
up,
and
the
sword
became
the
instrument
of
national
idealism,
and
whole
cities
and
tribes
were
PROSELYTE
given
the
option
of
circumcision
or
exile,
if
not
slaughter
(1
Mac
2«
13"
14"
«;
Jos.
Ant.
xni.
ix.
1,
xi.
3,
xv.
4).
Of
course,
this
was
a
means
that
was
not
available
outside
their
hereditary
home.
This
propaganda
went
on
till
the
1st
cent,
of
our
era,
when
the
dissatisfaction
of
the
Jews
with
the
Roman
supremacy
culminated
in
insurrection.
In
their
confiict
with
Rome
their
numbers
were
greatly
reduced
by
slaughter,
and
their
power
of
religious
expansion
was
checked
by
the
decree
of
Hadrian,
modified
later
by
Antoninus,
in
forbidding
circumcision.
By
this
time,
however,
Judaism
had
won
a
large
following
in
every
town
of
size
and
import-ance
(cf.
Ac
2»-";
Jos.
BJ
vir.
iii.
3,
c.
Apion.
ii.
11,
40;
Seneca,
ap.
August,
de
Civitate
Dei,
vi.
11;
cf.
'victi
victoribus
leges
dederunf;
Harnack,
op.
cit.
i.
14;
Scharer,
HJP
ir.
ii.
304
ff.).
But
now
bloodshed
and
persecution
produced
the
twofold
result
of
closing
and
steeling
the
heart
of
Judaism
to
the
outside
world,
so
that
proselytes
were
no
longer
sought
by
the
Jews,
and
the
tenets
and
the
practices
of
Judaism
became
crys-tallized
and
less
amenable
to
Hellenistic
influences,
and
so
less
fitted
to
win
the
Gentile
spirit.
3.
Admission
of
the
proselyte.
—
The
ritual
conditions
imposed
on
the
proselyte
on
entering
Judaism
were
three:
(1)
circumcision,
(2)
cleansing
or
baptism,
(3)
sacrifice.
Baptism
took
place
after
the
healing
of
the
wound
caused
by
circumcision.
Some
have
sought
to
discover
in
it
an
imitation
of
Christian
ritual.
But
there
is
no
foundation
for
such
a
claim.
Cleansing
or
baptism
lay
in
the
very
nature
of
Judaism,
—
the
heathen
was
unclean
and
so
had
to
be
cleansed
by
washing
in
water
before
admission
into
Judaism.
Sacrifice
was
both
an
expression
of
thanksgiving
and
an
individual
participation
in
Jewish
worship.
With
the
fall
of
the
Temple
sacrifice
lapsed,
though
at
first
it
was
made
a
burden
on
the
proselyte
to
lay
aside
enough
to
pay
for
the
sacrifice,
should
the
Temple
again
be
restored;
but
even
this
demand
was
in
course
of
time
allowed
to
lapse,
as
the
prospect
of
restoration
vanished.
These
three
conditions
seem
of
early
origin,
though
we
may
not
have
specific
reference
to
them
till
the
2nd
cent.
a.d.
Among
individual
Jewish
teachers
there
was
differ-ence
of
opinion
as
to
the
necessity
of
circumcision
and
baptism,
but
all
early
usage
seems
to
confirm
their
actual
observance.
It
is
true
that
Izates,
king
of
Adiabene,
for
a
time
refrained
from
circumcision
under
the
guidance
of
his
first
Jewish
teacher,
Ananias,
but
this
counsel
was
given,
not
because
it
was
at
the
time
deemed
unnecessary
for
a
proselyte
to
be
circum-cised,
but
because
circumcision
might
alienate
the
sympathies
of
his
people
from
Izates
and
endanger
his
throne.
And
Ananias
wisely
laid
greater
stress
upon
the
moral
than
upon
the
ritual
side
of
conversion.
All
through
the
Dispersion
we
find
the
same
disposition
to
conciliate
the
Gentiles
who
were
willing
to
share
in
the
Jewish
faith
in
any
measure,
by
relaxing
the
ritual
demands.
And
we
cannot
withhold
our
apprecia-tion
of
the
action
of
the
Jews,
for
they
wisely
discriminated
between
the
real
and
the
formal
side
of
their
religion.
They
never
did
anything,
however,
to
lower
or
com-promise
the
moral
demands
of
their
faith.
They
rigorously
Insisted
on
the
recognition
of
God
from
all
their
proselytes
with
all
His
claims
upon
their
service
(Harnack,
op.
cit.
i.
72).
It
does
not
appear
that
con-version
enhanced
the
reputation
of
the
proselytes;
for
although
they
could
not
but
win
the
esteem
of
the
finer
minds
of
their
nation
by
their
higher
moral
life,
yet
they
seemed
to
the
people
to
display
a
type
of
daily
life
lacking
in
domestic
reverence
and
civic
and
national
patriotism
(Tac.
Hist.
v.
5.
8;
Juv.
Sat.
xiv.
103-4).
4.
Place
of
the
proselyte
in
the
growth
of
the
Christian
Church.
—
Those
proselytes
who
had
embraced
Judaism
in
its
entirety
seem
to
have
accepted
the
attitude
of
the
Jews
generally
towards
Christianity.
Most
of
them
would
oppose
It,
and
.those
who
accepted
it
would
