By Norman Manzon
~ Esther 8:17 ~
In our study, Who Is Israel? Who Are the Jews? I made the statement, "A Jew is a member of the nation of Israel, and 'the Jews,' used in its broadest biblical sense, is identical to the nation of Israel." In other places in this series I made similar statements. Yet, there is one instance in Scripture where proselytes (Gentile converts to Judaism) are called Jews in most translations, including many very good translations, such as the New American Standard: And many among the peoples of the land became Jews . . . (Esther 8:17). The same is also true of commentators of the caliber of Keil and Delitzsch: "to confess oneself a Jew, to become a Jew." Some translations, though, do use such expressions as: accepted the Jewish religion. The same is true of commentators such as Dr. Charles Ryrie: "embraced the religion of Judaism as proselytes" (Ryrie Study Bible).
It is also noteworthy, however, that even in the days of the authorship of Esther (shortly after 465 B.C., when the events take place), Jew
was used in reference to a descendant of the man Israel: Now there was at the citadel in Susa a
Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite (Esther 2:5).
So, which is the best translation?
There are two classes of considerations that pull in opposite directions. On the one hand, the root of the Hebrew word mityahadim,
translated became Jews in the New American Standard, is yhd, the same root in yehudi or
yehudim, which are translated Jew and Jews respectively. This, of course, pulls in the direction of translating mityahadim as "became Jews." On the other hand,
several considerations pull in the direction of translating mityahadim as "became proselytes to Judaism":
1. The plain meaning of the passage is that Gentiles converted to Judaism.
2. Grammatical considerations, as explained by Dr. Fruchtenbaum:
|
The verb lehityaheid [the infinitive form of mityahadim, which is a participle] has the same
connotation as lehitnatzer. Neither word focuses on a change of ethnic identity, but of religious identity. Lehitnatzer means to convert to Christianity, and
lehityaheid means to convert to Judaism. Thus a more correct translation is to convert to Judaism to become proselytes, but it does not mean to become Jews in the sense of
an ethnic identity change.1 |
3. Among the two hundred and fifty-six times in which Jew or Jews appear in the New American Standard, Esther 8:17 is the only instance in which proselytes are called Jews. (In our Replacement Theology study, we examined those New Testament passages that appear to say otherwise at first glance, and have found that they actually do not.)
4. All of the considerations in the section, Who Are the Jews? in Who Is Israel? Who Are the Jews?, including the exclusive use of Jews by Yeshua, His disciples and their contemporaries in the sense of
bloodline Jews.
5. Yeshua Himself used Jews in the context of the very covenants by which God set Israel apart from the nations. He said to the Samaritan woman,
Salvation is from the Jews (John 4:22), meaning, not of the Samaritan nation, which had an unauthorized temple on Mt.
Gerizim, but of the Jewish nation.
Above all other considerations, the identical construction of lehityaheid and lehitnatzer carries the day. In consideration of that and of all the rest of the above, the only reasonable translation is one that focuses on the religious conversion: "converted to Judaism," "became proselytes to Judaism," or a similar rendering. Consistent with that, Jew and Jews will be used in this series solely in reference to the bloodline descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - the way Yeshua used it and the way it is used in every other instance in Scripture. In the broader perspective, to be consistent with Scripture, Jew ought not to be used in reference to a Gentile convert to Judaism, a Gentile believer who identifies with the messianic community, or a Gentile believer in general,2 but solely in reference to a bloodline descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
* If you were blessed by this study, please consider linking to it. Thank you. *
RECOMMENDED READING
Materials by Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum:
1. Messianic Bible Study 007: Jews,
Gentiles, Christians
2. The Footsteps of the Messiah (Tustin: Ariel Ministries Press, 2001), 691-696.
* Dr. Fruchtenbaum's materials are available for purchase at Ariel
Ministries in various formats. Some of
his Messianic Bible Studies (mbs) are also available for free online reading at Ariel's Come and See.
Other select materials and resources are available at Ariel, as well.
*
© Norman Manzon, 2011
Part 1: Who Is Israel? Who Are the Jews?
Part 2: The Chosenness of Israel
Part 3a: Contrary Claims I: Replacement Theology
Part 3b: Contrary Claims II: Ephraimite or Two-House Doctrine
The Faithful Remnant of Israel
The Prophetic Feasts of Israel
Was the Law of Moses Given on Pentecost? A Tale of Two Occasions