Iudiasmos before the NT

Christian Alexander

I am looking to find out when Iudiasmos originated as a term in the extrabiblical and historical writings. Oskar Skarsaune, In the Shadow of the Temple: Jewish Influences on Early Christianity, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2002), pages 39-40 said the term originated in 2 Maccabees. I am looking to find it in all extra biblical and historical writings from the late 2nd century B.C. to 3rd century AD. How can I do this using Logos Software? 

JBR

Do you mean "Ioudaismos"?

MJ. Smith

Christian Alexander said:

How can I do this using Logos Software? 

Logos is oriented toward the Greek of the Septuagint, New Testament, New Testament apocrypha, and the Greek Church Fathers. It may or may not have information on when a particular word originated outside that literature.

I would run a search for Ioudaismos on all relevant lexicons ... I get lots of hits but few that carry etymological data and even fewer that  include early Greek. It being a transliteration makes it very difficult to track historically. The two matches with useful content are limited to Bible/parabiblical words. From google searches it appears likely that 2 Maccabbees may be the oldest preserved attestation.

[quote]

Septuagint Usage

Ioudaios is most likely an approximate transliteration of the Hebrew term yᵉhûdhî and the Aramaic word yᵉhûdhāy. Although Ioudaios does not occur in the Septuagint, it is clear in 2 Kings 18:26,28 (LXX 4 Kings 18:26, 28); 2 Chronicles 32:18; Nehemiah 13:24; and Isaiah 36:11 and 13 that transliteration is what happens to the related term yᵉhûdhîth, the “Hebrew language,” which gets rendered Ioudaisti. Similarly, in 2 and 4 Maccabees Ioudaismos equals “Judaism” (2 Maccabees 2:21; cf. 8:1; 14:38; 4 Maccabees 4:26). Derived from Judah, the largest of the two southern Israelite tribes, this term ultimately extended to all those Hebrews of pure descent.

Thoralf Gilbrant, “Ἰουδαῖος,” in The New Testament Greek-English Dictionary, The Complete Biblical Library (WORDsearch, 1991).

[quote]

A. Israel, Judah, and Hebrews in the OT.
1. Israel and Judah. Israel is the name of the sacral tribal league of Josh. 24. It denotes the totality of God’s elect and embraces their central beliefs. With the monarchy it still covers the whole group under Saul, but under David it comes to denote the northern tribes as distinct from Judah. David and Solomon hold the league together in spite of tensions, but with Rehoboam Israel breaks away and we have the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Judah is simply a political name for the tribe and then for the southern kingdom, and has no sacral significance. With the collapse of the northern kingdom, Israel again becomes the name for the whole people in the spiritual sense (as it had been for the prophets; cf. Is. 8:14), and this becomes the normative usage. In practice, of course, Judah is now Israel, but the concept of a greater Israel embracing all the tribes is never lost. Josiah attempts an actual restoration of the full Davidic kingdom, and reconstitution of the twelve tribes becomes a form of eschatological expectation.
2. Hebrews. The name Hebrews seems at first to be a legal rather than an ethnic term (perhaps connected with ḫabiru) (cf. Ex. 21:2ff.; Jer. 34:8ff.; 1 Sam. 14:21). But the term then becomes a more general one that is used by foreigners to denote Israel (often critically; cf. Gen. 39:14 etc.), or by Israelites to distinguish themselves from foreigners (Gen. 40:15; Ex. 1:19, etc.). It thus has almost a national sense in, e.g., Gen. 14:13 and Jon. 1:9. [G. VON RAD, III, 356–59]
B. Israḗl, Ioudaíos, Hebraíos in Jewish Literature after the OT.
1. Israḗl-Ioudaíos.
a. The Basis. In postexilic times two terms come into use for the people, the sacral term Israel (ite) and the political term Jew. Both denote the people in terms of religious confession as well as national allegiance. Israel is the fellowship of those who worship the true God and who have been chosen by him to do so. Every Jew stands in relationship to God, and outsiders can enter into this relationship only by becoming members of this people. Of the two designations, Israel is preferred by the people and stresses the religious aspect, while Jew is the non-Israelite usage (freely adopted by Jews of the dispersion) and carries at times (though infrequently) a disparaging nuance.
b. The Usage of Palestinian Judaism. (i) In 1 Maccabees Israel is the author’s own term but Ioudaíoi is used (a) when non-Jews are speaking, (b) in diplomatic letters, treaties, etc., (c) by Jews themselves in diplomatic communications, (d) and by Jews also in official domestic documents (cf. 1 Macc. 13:42; also Hasmonean coins). (ii) Religious works like Sirach or Judith naturally use Israel with its religious orientation. The same applies to rabbinic works. (iii) When the rabbis do use Ioudaíos, it is mostly on the lips of non-Jews, or in adoption of the usage of non-Jews or Jews of the dispersion. How unusual the term is may be seen from the attempt to find a play on the word monotheist in the description of Mordecai as a Jew in Esth. 2:5.
c. The Usage of Hellenistic Judaism. (i) In 2 Maccabees Israel occurs only five times and always in strongly religious contexts, e.g., 1:25–26. Ioudaíos is freely used even in self-designation. We also find Ioudaismós for the Jewish religion (cf. 8:1). 3 Maccabees follows a similar pattern (cf. Israel in 2:6 etc., Ioudaíos elsewhere). (ii) The testimony of inscriptions is to the same effect. Even Jews call themselves Ioudaíoi. Cf., too, the Aramaic documents from the Elephantine colonists. (iii) 4 Maccabees may also be cited in this context, though the religious contents here give greater scope for Israel.

Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey William Bromiley, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1985), 372–373.

David Thomas

Christian Alexander said:

I am looking to find it in all extra biblical and historical writings from the late 2nd century B.C. to 3rd century AD.

Are you familiar with the Perseus Digital Library? https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/ 

The Perseus Collection is also available as Free resources in the Logos Catalog.