Reference: Proselytes
Fausets
geerim. 1Ch 22:2, "the strangers," in Septuagint "proselytes, i.e. comers to Palestine, sojourners (Ex 12:48; 20:10; 22:21; Le 19:33). In New Testament converts to Judaism, "comers to a new and God-loving polity" (Philo). Israel's religious attitude attracted neighbouring people from the first. The Shechemites are an instance, only that passion and interest were their motive (Genesis 34). Circumcision was required as the condition. At the Exodus "a mixed multitude went up with Israel" (Ex 12:38). "The stranger" was bound by the law of the Sabbath (Ex 20:10; 23:12; De 5:14) and the Passover when he was circumcised (Ex 12:19,48), the feast of weeks (De 16:11), tabernacles (De 16:14), the day of atonement (Le 16:29), prohibited marriages (Le 18:26), and blood (Le 17:10), and Moloch worship (Le 20:2), and blasphemy (Le 24:16).
The city of refuge was open to him (Nu 35:15). Kind treatment in remembrance of Israel's own position as strangers formerly in Egypt (Ex 22:21; 23:9; De 10:18-19; Le 19:33-34), justice (Le 24:22; De 1:16; 24:17,19-21), share in gleanings and tithe of the third year (De 14:29), were the stranger's right. But he could not hold land nor intermarry with Aaron's descendants (Le 19:10; 21:14), he is presumed to be in a subject condition (De 29:11); Hobab and the Kenites (Nu 10:29-32; Jg 1:16), Rahab of Jericho (Jos 6:25), and the Gibeonites as "hewers of wood and drawers of water" (Joshua 9), are instances of strangers joined to Israel. The strangers were assembled with Israel at the feast of tabernacles at the cnd of every seven years, to hear the law (De 31:10-12; Jos 8:34-35).
Under the kings strangers rose to influential positions: Doeg the Edomite (1Sa 21:7), Uriah the Hittite (2Sa 11:3), Araunah the Jebusite (2Sa 24:23), Zelek the Ammonite (2Sa 23:37), Ithmah the Moabite (1Ch 11:46, the law in De 23:3 forbidding an Ammonite or Moabite to enter the congregation to the tenth generation does not forbid their settlement in Israel, the law must have been written in times long before David whose great grandmother was Ruth the Moabtress), Ittai the Gittite (2Sa 15:19), Shebna the secretary of state under Hezekiah (2Ki 18:37; Isa 22:15), Ebedmelech the Ethiopian under Zedekiah (Jer 38:7), the Cherethites and Pelethites. (See CHERETHITES; PELETHITES.) Hezekiah's triumph over Sennacherib was followed by many bringing gifts: unto Jehovah to Jerusalem (2Ch 32:23); this suggested the prophecy in Psalm 87 that Rahab (Egypt) and Babylon (whose king Merodach Baladan had sent a friendly embassy to Hezekiah), Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia should be spiritually born (Ps 51:5,10; 22:31; Isa 66:8; Joh 3:3,5; both Old and New Testament teach the need of the new birth) in Jerusalem as proselytes.
Tyre's alliance with David was a prophetic earnest of its future union with the kingdom of God, of which the Syrophoenician woman was a firstfruit (Mr 7:26), as Candace's eunuch the proselyte (Acts 8) was a pledge of Ethiopia's conversion. In times of judgment on Israel for apostasy the stranger became "the head" (De 28:43-44); but under David and Solomon they were made to do bondservice, 70,000 bearers of burdens, 80,000 hewers, 3,600 overseers (1Ch 22:2; 2Ch 2:17-18). In Ps 94:6, as the pagan do not make widow and strangers their chief object of attack, "the stranger" is probably the saint in relation to this world (Ps 39:12), and "the widow" is the widowed church awaiting Christ's glorious epiphany to avenge her on antichrist (Lu 18:3-8).
All the prophets anticipate the future sharing of proselytes in the kingdom of God, and even in the Holy Land as "sojourners" (Eze 47:22; Isa 2:2; 11:10; 56:3-6; Mic 4:1), and meantime plead their cause (Jer 7:6; Eze 22:7,29; Zec 7:10; Mal 3:5). After the return from Babylon many "had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God" with their families (Ne 10:28). Many, in Esther's time (Es 8:17), "of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them." In New Testament times these appear in the synagogues (Ac 13:42-43,50; 17:4; 18:7), come up to the feasts at Jerusalem (Ac 2:10). Roman centurions, a class promoted for military good conduct, were noble specimens of these proselytes (Lu 7:5; Ac 10:2,7,30), and were most open to gospel truth.
But Jewish fanaticism sought proselytes also by force and fraud, as John Hyrcanus offered the Idumeans the alternative of death, exile, or circumcision (Josephus, Ant. xiii, 9, section 3). Casuistry released the proselyte from moral obligations admitted before; and superstition chained him anew, hand and foot, e.g. the korban (Mt 15:4-6); and circumcision, canceling all previous relationships, admitted of incestuous marriages. Any good in paganism was lost, and all that was bad in traditional Judaism was acquired. Thus the proselyte became "twofold more the child of hell" than the scribes themselves (Mt 23:15). Considering that the end justified the means, the scribes "compassed sea and land to make one proselyte," yet, when made, the Jews despised the proselyte as a "leprosy cleaving (in perversion of Isa 14:1) to the house of Jacob"; "no wise man would trust a proselyte to the 24th generation" (Jalkuth, Ruth f. 163 a). They classed them into
(1) "Love proselytes," wishing to gain the beloved one.
(2) Man for woman or woman for man, where one embraced the married partner's Judaism.
(3) Esther proselytes, to escape danger (Es 8:17).
(4) King's table proselytes, seeking to gain court favor, as under Solomon.
(5) Lion proselytes, through dread of judgments: 2Ki 17:26 (Gem. Hieros., Kiddush 65, section 6). Simon ben Gamaliel said: "when a pagan comes to enter the covenant we ought to stretch out, our hand to him and bring him under the wings of God" (Jost, Judenth. 1:447).
The distinction between "proselytes of the gate" (from Ex 20:10, "the stranger that is within thy gates") and "proselytes of righteousness" was minutely drawn by the talmudic rabbis and Maimonides (Hilc. Mel. 1:6). The proselytes of the gate were not bound to circumcision, only to the seven precepts of Noah, namely, the six said to have been given to Adam:
(1) against idolatry,
(2) blasphemy,
(3) bloodshed,
(4) uncleanness,
(5) theft,
(6) the precept of obedience to authorities, and
(7) that given to Noah against "flesh with the blood"; but he had not the full Israelite privileges, he must not study the law nor redeem his firstborn.
But all this is rabbinical systematizing theory; in fact, the New Testament only in a general way recognizes two degrees of converts to Judaism. The eunuch of Candace was a sample of the full convert, circumcised and baptized at his admission (Otho, Lex Rabb., Baptism, for which the rabbis quoted Ex 19:10), followed by his presenting the corban offering of two turtle doves, as after a birth (Le 12:8). The presumed existence of this proselyte baptism for males and females throws light on John's baptism and the priests' question, "why baptizest thou then?" (Joh 1:25) and Joh 3:5,10, the Lord's words to Nicodemus, "art thou a master (teacher) of Israel, and knowest not these things?" Nicodemus ought to have understood the deeper sense to which Christ applied the familiar phrase "new birth" in connection with "baptism" of proselytes.
However, there is no mention of baptism of proselytes in the Bible, the Apocrypha, Philo, Josephus, or the older targums. The centurion Cornelius was a proselyte of a less strict kind, which the rabbis would call a proselyte of the gate; otherwise a special revelation would not have been needed to warrant Peter's opening the gospel kingdom to him, as it had not been needed to open the gospel to Candace's eunuch (Acts 8; 10). "Proselyte" occurs in New Testament only Mt 23:15; Ac 2:10; 6:5; 13:43. The common phrase is" devout men," "fearing" or "worshipping God" (Ac 10:2,7; 13:16,26,43,50; 16:14; 17:4,17; 18:7; Joh 12:20). From them came the largest accession to the Christian church.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses. For whoever eats that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, among the aliens and among the natives of the land.
And also a mixed multitude went up with them, and flocks, and herds, very much cattle.
And when a stranger shall stay with you, and desires to keep the Passover to Jehovah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it. And he shall be as one that is born in the land. And no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
And when a stranger shall stay with you, and desires to keep the Passover to Jehovah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it. And he shall be as one that is born in the land. And no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
And Jehovah said to Moses, Go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.
But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah your God. You shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger within your gates.
But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah your God. You shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger within your gates.
But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah your God. You shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger within your gates.
You shall neither vex a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
You shall neither vex a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Also you shall not oppress a stranger. For you know the heart of a stranger, since you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
You shall do your work six days, and on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your ass may rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.
And if her hand cannot reach to a lamb, then she shall bring two turtle-doves or two young pigeons. The one shall be for a burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed.
And it shall be a statute forever to you: in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, you shall afflict your souls and do no work at all, the native and the alien who is staying among you.
And any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that are staying among you, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that soul who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.
You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, neither the native, nor any stranger that lives among you.
And you shall not glean your vineyard. And you shall not gather the leavings of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am Jehovah your God.
And if a stranger lives with you in your land, you shall not oppress him.
And if a stranger lives with you in your land, you shall not oppress him. The stranger that dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself. For you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God.
Again you shall say to the sons of Israel, Any man of the sons of Israel or of the strangers who live in Israel, that gives any of his seed to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones.
He shall not take a widow or a divorced woman, or profane, or a harlot, but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.
And he that blasphemes the Name of Jehovah shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall surely stone him. And the stranger as well, even as he that is born in the land; when he blasphemes the Name, he shall be put to death.
One judgment shall be for you whether an alien or a native; for I am Jehovah your God.
And Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law: We are going to the place of which Jehovah said, I will give it to you. Come with us, and we will do you good. For Jehovah has spoken good concerning Israel. And he said to him, I will not go, but I will go to my own land and to my kindred. read more. And he said, Please do not leave us, because you know how we are to camp in the wilderness, and so you may be to us for eyes. And it shall be, if you go with us, then it shall be, whatever goodness Jehovah shall do to us, the same will we do to you.
These six cities shall be a refuge for the sons of Israel, and for the stranger, and for anyone who stays among them, so that everyone who kills any person through error may flee there.
And I commanded your judges at that time saying, Hear the causes between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the stranger with him.
But the seventh day shall be the sabbath of Jehovah your God. In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, nor your ass, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger inside your gates, so that your manservant and your maidservant may rest like yourself.
He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger in giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
And the Levite, because he has no part nor inheritance with you, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are inside your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied, so that Jehovah your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
And you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male servant, and your slave girl, and the Levite inside your gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, those among you, in the place which Jehovah your God has chosen to place His name there.
And you shall rejoice in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male slave, and your slave-girl, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow inside your gates.
An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of Jehovah. Even to their tenth generation they shall not enter into the congregation of Jehovah forever,
You shall not pervert the rightful judgment of the stranger nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's clothing to pledge.
When you cut down your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to bring it. It shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow; so that Jehovah your God may bless you in all the work of your hand. When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again. It shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. read more. When you gather the grapes from your vineyard, you shall not glean afterward. It shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
The stranger within you shall get up above you very high, and you shall come down very low. He shall loan to you, and you shall not loan to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
your little ones, your wives, and your stranger that is in your camp, from the cutter of your wood to the drawer of your water;
And Moses commanded them, saying: At the end of seven years, at the set time of the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel has come to appear before Jehovah your God in the place which He shall choose, you shall read this Law before all Israel in their hearing. read more. Gather the people, men and women and the little ones, and your stranger who is within your gates, so that they may hear and that they may learn and fear Jehovah your God, and be careful to do all the words of this Law,
And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had. And she lives in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
And afterward he read all the words of the Law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua did not read before all the congregation of Israel, with the women and the little ones, and the strangers that walked among them.
And the sons of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the sons of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad. And they went and lived among the people.
And a man from the servants of Saul was there that day, held before Jehovah. And his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of Saul's herdsmen.
And David sent and asked about the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, Why do you also go with us? Return to your place, and stay with the king. For you are a stranger, and also an exile.
Zelek the Ammonite; Naharai the Beerothite, armor-bearer to Joab the son of Zeruiah;
All these Araunah, like a king, gave to the king. And Araunah said to the king, May Jehovah your God accept you.
And they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which you have removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the manner of the God of the land. And He has sent lions among them, and, behold, they kill them because they do not know the way of the God of the land.
And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn. And they told him the words of the chief of the cupbearers.
Eliel the Mahavite, and Jeribai, and Joshaviah, sons of Elnaam, and Ithmah the Moabite,
And David commanded the strangers in the land of Israel to be gathered. And he set masons to cut squared stones to build the house of God.
And David commanded the strangers in the land of Israel to be gathered. And he set masons to cut squared stones to build the house of God.
And many brought gifts to Jehovah to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from that time on.
And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple-slaves, and all those who had separated from the people of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters (everyone who had knowledge, and who had understanding),
And in every province, and in every city where the king's command and his order came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell on them.
And in every province, and in every city where the king's command and his order came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell on them.
They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness to a people that shall yet be born, that He has done this.
Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and give ear to my cry. Do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a pilgrim, as all my fathers were.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
They kill the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
And it shall be, in the last days the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it.
And in that day there shall be the Root of Jesse standing for a banner of the people; to Him the nations shall seek; and His resting place shall be glorious.
For Jehovah will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel and set them in their own land; and the stranger shall be joined with them, and they shall cling to the house of Jacob.
So says the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, Go, go up to this treasurer, to Shebna who is over the house. Say,
And do not let the son of the stranger, who has joined himself to Jehovah, speak, saying, Jehovah has utterly separated me from His people. And do not let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For so says Jehovah to the eunuchs who keep My Sabbath, and choose things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant; read more. even to them will I give within My house and within My walls a hand and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger, who join themselves to Jehovah to serve Him, and to love the name of Jehovah, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and takes hold of My covenant;
Who has heard a thing like this? Who has seen things like these? Will the earth be brought forth in one day? Or will a nation be born at once? For Zion travailed and also brought forth her sons.
if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your hurt;
And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, of the eunuchs in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the pit (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin),
In you they have despised father and mother. In your midst they have dealt with the stranger by oppression. In you they oppressed the orphan and the widow.
The people of the land have used oppression and practiced robbery, and they have troubled the poor and needy. Yea, they have oppressed the stranger without right.
And it will be, you shall make it fall by lot for an inheritance to yourselves, and to the strangers who live among you, who shall father sons among you. And they shall be to you as native-born among the sons of Israel. They shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.
But it shall be in the last days the mountain of the house of Jehovah shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it.
And do not crush the widow or the orphan, the alien or the poor. And do not devise evil in your heart, of a man against his brother.
And I will come near you to judgment. And I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those who extort from the hired laborer's wages, and turning away the widow, and the orphan, the alien, and not fearing Me, says Jehovah of Hosts.
For God commanded, saying, "Honor your father and mother"; and, "He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him die by death." But you say, Whoever says to his father or mother, Whatever you would gain from me, It is a gift to God; read more. and in no way he honors his father or his mother. And you voided the commandment of God by your tradition.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
The woman was a Greek, a Syro-phoenician by race. And she begged Him that He would cast the demon out of her daughter.
And a widow was in that city. And she came to Him, saying, Avenge me of my adversary. And he would not do so for a time. But afterward he said within himself, Though I do not fear God nor regard man, read more. yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, that she not wear me down in the end. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge says. And shall not God avenge His own elect who cry day and night to Him, though He has been long-suffering over them? I say to you that He will avenge them speedily. Yet when the Son of Man comes, shall He find faith on the earth?
And they asked him and said, Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor that Prophet?
Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things?
Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya around Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya around Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
And the saying pleased all the multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch.
one devout and fearing God, with all his household, both doing many merciful deeds to the people, and praying continually to God.
one devout and fearing God, with all his household, both doing many merciful deeds to the people, and praying continually to God.
And when the angel who spoke to Cornelius departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from those who waited on him continually.
And when the angel who spoke to Cornelius departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from those who waited on him continually.
And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour. And at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing.
And rising up and signaling with his hand, Paul said, Men, Israelites, and those fearing God, listen.
Men, brothers, sons of the race of Abraham, and whoever among you fears God, the Word of this salvation is sent to you.
And the Jews having gone out of the synagogue, the nations begged that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. And the synagogue being broken up, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
And the synagogue being broken up, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
And the synagogue being broken up, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women, and the chief ones of the city, and raised a persecution against Paul and Barnabas. And they threw them out of their borders.
But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women, and the chief ones of the city, and raised a persecution against Paul and Barnabas. And they threw them out of their borders.
And a certain woman named Lydia heard us, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God; whose heart the Lord opened, so that she attended to the things which were spoken by Paul.
And some of them believed and joined themselves to Paul and Silas, both a great multitude of the worshiping Greeks, and not a few of the chief women.
And some of them believed and joined themselves to Paul and Silas, both a great multitude of the worshiping Greeks, and not a few of the chief women.
Then indeed he addressed the Jews in the synagogue, and those worshiping, and daily in the market, to those happening to be there.
And he departed from there and entered into the house of one named Justus, one worshiping God, whose house was next to the synagogue.