A) INTRODUCTION.

B) IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

C) A LITTLE HISTORY.

 

 

A) INTRODUCTION

 

 

The Bible word “Gentile[s]” in the Greek is, “Hellen,” and the Hebrew word is, “Goy” (or “Goi”), and is rendered “Gentiles” in the “King James Version” in some 30 passages.  It is however, translated much more frequently as “heathen,” and oftener still as, “nation,” which the latter is the usual rendering in the “Revised Version” (British and American).

 

By contrast, the word “Gentile,” is commonly used for indicating a non-Israelite person or people.  As such, this then corresponds to the true meaning of “Gentiles” in the Jewish concept and frame of mind.

 

It also occurs in passages referring to the Israelites, in regards to the Hebrew word “am,” as in Genesis 12:2; Deuteronomy 32:28; Joshua 3:17; 4:1; 10:13; Second Samuel 7:23; Isaiah 1:4; Zephaniah 2:9.  What is so very interesting to note about this application, is that the Hebrew word “am” is the term most commonly used for, “the people of God.”

 

 

B) IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

 

 

In the New Testament, “ethnos” is the word corresponding to the Hebrew word “goy” in the Old Testament, and it is rendered, “Gentiles,” by most versions of the Bible, while “haoc,” or “laos,” in the New Testament, is the word which corresponds to the Old Testament word “am.”  The “King James Version” also renders “Hellen,” as “Gentiles,” in six passages in the New Testament (John 7:35; Rom. 2:9 & 10; 3:9; 1Co. 10:32; 12:13).

 

 

C) A LITTLE HISTORY

 

 

The Gentiles were far less sharply differentiated from the Israelites in Old Testament times, as opposed to New Testament times.  Under Old Testament regulations they were simply non-Israelites, not from the stock of Abraham; but they were not hated or despised for that reason, and they were to be treated almost on a plane of equality; except certain tribes in Canaan with regard to whom there were special regulations of non-intercourse.

 

The Gentile stranger enjoyed the hospitality of the Israelite, who was commanded to love him (Deu. 10:19), and to sympathize with him, “For ye know the heart of the stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt,” Exodus 23:9.  The Kenites were treated almost as brethren, especially the children of Rechab (Jug. 1:16; 5:24; Jer. Chp. 35).  Uriah the Hittite was a trusted warrior of David (2Sa. 11); Ittai the Gittite was captain of David’s guard (2Sa. 18:2); Araunah the Jebusite was a respected resident of Jerusalem (2Sa. 24:16 & 18).

 

The Gentiles had the right of asylum in the cities of refuge, the same as the Israelites (Num. 35:15).  They might even possess Israelite slaves (Lev. 25:47), and a Gentile servant must not be defrauded of his wage (Deu. 24:15).  They could inherit in Israel even as late as the exile (Eze. 47:22-23).  They were allowed to offer sacrifices in the Temple at Jerusalem, as is distinctly affirmed by Josephus (“BJ,” II, xvii, 2-4; “Antiquities,” XI, viii, 5; XIII, viii, 2; XVI, ii, 1; XVIII, v, 3; “CAp,” II, 5).  However, this is not true according to the Levitical law (Lev. 22:25).  Prayers and sacrifices were to be offered for Gentile rulers (Jer. 29:7; Ezra 6:10; 1; Josephus, “BJ,” II, x, 4).  And “gifts” might be received from them (Josephus, “Antiquities,” XIII, iii, 4; XVI, vi, 4; “BJ,” V, xiii, 6; “CAp,” II, 5).

 

However, as we approach the Christian era, the attitude of the Jews toward the Gentiles changes, so-much-so that we find in New Testament times, the most extreme aversion, scorn, and hatred.  They were regarded as unclean, with whom it was unlawful to have any friendly intercourse.  They were the enemies of God and His people, to whom the knowledge of God was denied unless they became proselytes, and even then, they could not, as in ancient times, be admitted to full fellowship (allowed into the Temple).

 

Jews were forbidden to counsel them, and if they asked about Divine things they were to be cursed.  All children born of mixed marriages were bastards.  That is what caused the Jews to be so hated by Greeks and Romans, as we have abundant evidence in the writings of Cicero, Seneca, and Tacitus.  Something of this is reflected in the New Testament (John 18:28; Acts 10:28; 11:3).

 

If we inquire what the reason of this change was, we shall find it in the conditions of the exiled Jews, who suffered the bitterest treatment at the hands of their Gentile captors, and who, after their return and establishment in Judea, were in constant conflict with neighboring tribes, and especially with the Greek rulers of Syria.

 

The fierce persecution of Antiochus IV, who attempted to blot out their religion and to “Hellenize” the Jews, and the desperate struggle for Jewish independence, created in them a burning patriotism and zeal for their faith, which culminated in the rigid exclusiveness as we see in later times.  However, a more prominent reason would be that Jews, in general, believed that their original loss of their land and their exportation was due to their association and adaptation of Gentile habits.

 

Therefore, upon returning to the Promised Land, in Nehemiah’s time, it was reasoned that they would not associate with them in order to avoid this again.  As disassociation grew from necessity, necessity grew to scorn, and then scorn grew to hatred and the various restrictions and horrible rules associated with them.

 

With all the superiority of the gentile great world kingdoms, in military prowess, commerce, luxury, and the fine arts, even so Israel stood on an immense moral elevation above them; in the one point, nearness to God, and possession of His revealed Will and Word (Exo. 19:5-6; Psa. 147:19-20; 148:14; Rom. 3:1-2).  Jesus was even more forceful to this truth when He stated, “salvation is of the Jews,” John 4:22.

 

But this superiority was in the order of God, in that Israel, as priests unto God, might be the mediator of blessings unto all nations (Isa. 61:6).  The Covenant, from the first, with Abraham, contemplated that, “in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed,” Genesis 22:18.  The Jews in national pride failed to see this, and despised the Gentiles, thus ultimately rejecting theirs and everybody’s Messiah, and they were thus “broken off” from the olive tree, that the Gentiles might be “grafted in,” Romans 11:11-35.  See my Bible Study:  “ISRAEL'S REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY DOCTRINE.”

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