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    1991 Fredriksen Gentiles-Gal 1-2

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    JUDAISM, THE CIRCUMCISION 0 : 7 N OF GENTILES, AND APOCALYPTIC HOPE: ANOTHER LOOK AT GALATIANS 1 AND 2 Memoriae Menachem Stern bet sacrum nl Ramet ane joel en that is, convert to Judaism (5: 4). " that salvation in Christ is rks of the law’ —has served version ofthis paper in June 198, During my stay at Orford on that occsion, word came of Menachem Stern's but as so macy others in the field of Chistian origins, Fully to his magisterial edn a or ne fc gipn Sopra nd et ny ee i oo, a sultan of my dep TP While eran CesPect. TANT : May his memory be for a blewing Pe TORE Reta reeoern ener” Inher corals awn ambiguows phrasing, party beesuse the eheonolagy ioe SES he lta ie ee logy (Philadelphia, 1984); the older historiographical discussions of these probleee ih: Kno, Chapters in a Life of Pel Naat 999) On Ane Coeiaet sd the Antiosine communi tee Meee toy fs a Antioch and Rome (New York, 1983), 28-44. ae problems {© Ostra Caran Hrews 99 nur otal den NS, VP 2 Octaher sot) ANOTHER LOOK AT GALATIANS 1 AND2 533, for centuries as the fundamental statement of the difference between Christianity and Judaism.* But the historian and theolo- gian know something that the actors in this drama could not; namely, that Jesus Christ would not return to establish the King dom within the lifetime of the first (and, according to their convie~ tions, the only) generation of his apostles.* Our interpretive context for Galatians is the birth of Christianity; theirs was scrip- tural—that is, Jewish—hopes and expectations in the face of the approaching End of Days. To understand the episodes, issues, and arguments related in Galatians, then, we must consider Paul's statements within his own religious context, first-century Judaism. More specifically, we must consider Judaism's views on Gentiles. 1, JewisH Views on Gentizes Judaism, of course, did not have views on Gentiles; Jews di ‘Their encounter with other nations, across cultures and centuries, * this ‘tinson between Chita and Judi, bor of mid-century rcligious polemic, continses fo control much of what pases for Nstorcl sudin {Chr orgie, the recent work of sich acboar we Lloyd Gaston John ager, H. Risinen, and. P. Sanders norvitneanding, See sp. Sander Inns in Poul end Poleinion Judaion (Philadelphia, 157), S59 and 4oqres Gera PPA), and his shoier synthetic uy Pl, the Les, ond he Poth Pople Philadelphia 198s; beet PJP), Veto ay ©. Fe Move’ Rade, tment esa, “Chriaian Writers on Juste, HTH 14 (9st), t9y-a54 $rhat Jenn expected the Kingdom to se she conlaion fo ho onh ministry iusteen an operating nsumption of most New Testament scholuaki nce Alber Sehwetae’s De Qu of the Harel Jous (on pub 1908). Te mon tect ful sud ie Sanders, Jens and Fdaion (Phindelphi, 1985) heresies JD). 1 ‘tempt to fecontuuct dhe waye fo which the continuing expectation of ted tnd its continung delay aflected the ealeat poxt-renecton comunity and, Sensequeny the keryatn, From Jew fo Cri, The Orgs ofthe NT Tage of ‘ena (New Haven, 1988), xp. 133-215. On te cachatlogy of Pauls communisee imparts, ep, W Mes, Fist Urban Chvans Sew Haren, 1083, tora IMs of tetera for hi santa generation theca ay anachroniae: they expected none further, Pl’ own bli vivid and clear & Cor, 34 dhe form ofthis word i pesing vay, and thua be can resonably suggest thatthe Connie foreowene sexual {Sibi if hey ace able inorder to prepare theres forthe Bw. 20-510 ir the end ofthe ge has comes son it expested that some of is compen tins evidently were surprised by some Christians dying before Chics rein, {These 131 aul mggsscoewhere that sch death ight be punitive hee” fore exceptional, 1 Cor 11230 for Romans, see below, p goa, Sec leo W. Dy Davies, Paul and the People of Isa, Ju and Petne Studies Philadelphia, ‘ohy ep 153s Sender PPY an fs Sap hs eetomed wo tare Pal expected the End within his own Liedine. What me fail fos, however, end what need to Be accounted for i why, midsentury, despite) the penage of time since Chis revurecion aad {© te are ofthe mission to Tal, Paul ad remained convinced Hw, after quarter cntry delay, could he reaonly avr that loan i were 10 nw ‘kan hone bo» (Rom 111). Se blow, Psa 534 PROFESSOR PAULA FREDRIKSEN resulted in a jumble of perceptions, prejudices, optative deserip- tions, social arrangements, and daily accommodations that we can Teconstruct from the various literary and epigraphical evidence only with difficulty. To draw from this synchronic and diachronic ‘mass a coherent (and so somewhat artificial) pictuze of what early first-century Jews would have thought of Gentiles, I have applied a form of the criterion of multiple attestation: if an identifiable position can be seen to exist in several different strata of Jewish ‘material (LXX, pseudepigrapha, Josephus, Mishnah, and syn- agogue prayers, for example) or in material of ethnically, histori ally, and religiously varying provenance (pre-mid-first-century Jewish and pagan, coincident with post-first-century Jewish, agen, and Christian), then, I will argue, that position probably obtained, at least as one among many, in the mid-first century as, well. As with synoptic material, the burden of proof is on the claim to historical authenticity; and the coherence of the Jewish position that I identify with the early New Testament data will be one of my proofs. The material relevant to Jewish views of Gentiles falls into two categories, quotidian and eschatological. Quotidian Situations What, on the average, did the average Jew think of the average Gentile? T think that we can rely here on Paul who, even when addressing Gentiles and in some sense acting as their advocate, refers to them, quite unselfeonsciously, as ‘sinners’ (Gal. 2: 15) Their characteristic social and sexual sins—slander, insolence, deceit, malicious gossip, envy, heartlessness, disrespect of parents, homosexual and heterosexual fornication’ —are the varied expres sion of a more fundamental spiritual error: they worship idols." Could there be such a thing, then, as a morally good Gentile? * Rom, 1 1831, sad specifically of Gentile culture ef. the similar list, Gal. : ovat, there characterized simply athe works ofthe flesh’ (wa Epya tis ups), Rom. 132 12-13 (st py fob axotovs). 1 Cor. 6: 9-11 (pereonal not ebtrac, ators, adulterers, sexual pe verts 0. And such were some of you, ie. hie Corinthian Gentle Christiana, fr Thess. 4: 4-6: Pauls Gentiles are to avoid not only porneia but also, witht ‘marviage, physical pasion, ‘unlike the Gentiles who da not know God (lbévo. 20 favrod oxsbog exdoB by discus...) Ev Nabe Eros eadep cal ‘Gi 80m ti lta tev Beov. Such lists of vices are common in Hellenic Jewish erature: see E. Kasemann’s discussion in Commentary on Romans (Grand Rapids, 1980), 49 fin Paul's letersi particuler, under porneia, Sanders, PLIES, for such lists in Hellenistic philosophy, Bets, Galatians, 281—5, ‘Hence a standard rabbinic designation for ‘Gentle, minn 329 739 of, sbbreviated, aktum (23), 'a worshipper of etre and planet pplied in almudic [eeratre to all iolators, ANOTHER LOOK AT GALATIANS 1 AND 2535 Josephus suggests that those pagans who respect Jews and Judaism are morally superior to those who do not. Later, the rabbis discus sed the question (which is to say, there were dissenting views) and for the most part concurred: Gentiles could be righteous, and as such they would have a place in the world to come.’ When the focus of rabbinic discussion shifts from ‘real Gentiles considered in principle’ to the imagined circumstances of the ger toshav ot ben Noach, the abandonment of idolatry seems to be the measure of such righteousness: it features prominently in the various lists ‘of the Noachite commandments.’ The rules for the ger toshav describe the ideal behaviour of pagan residents in Palestine, to be observed or enforced (according to later rabbinic traditions) when the Jubilee year would be kept, that is, in a period of Jewish sovereignty. Such ‘legislation’, drawn up as it was after the wars with Rome, was thus in many ways a form of wistful thinking, In real life, Gentiles had another option: ‘They could convert. Conversion to Judaism in antiquity was a common enough phe- Romenon to provide the material for sarcastic or satirical temarks—Horace’s on modes of persuasion; Juvenal’s on the effects of parents’ bad habits on children." Rabbinic law specified * On Josephus, Shaye J. D. Cohen, ‘Respect for Judaism by Gentiles in the Wertings of Jovephnus, HR Bo (1987), 409-20. T. Sanh. 13. 2 gives the debate between two first-century rabbis, R. Eliezer and R, Joshus See nso Sener Aiscussion, PRY 206-12, further developed in JY 212-21 (esp, on this debace, .a1s: “The point of the Rabbinie pasge isto pait that saving The, Elener’s tenia of Gentile righteousness and redemption] with the opposite one Sy Re Joshus, tothe effect that there are righteous Gentiles soho will share inthe ould ‘come, £ The Noachite commandments establish certain minimal standards of moral behaviour enjoined on non-Jews, Sanh. 56-60, The seven traditional rules prohibit ‘dolar, blasphemy, violent bloodshed, sexual sng, theft, and eating froma living snimal, endl enjoin the formation of law court, b Sanh, sb. CL. AvZa® SC). Jubilees 7: 203 ef. James’ ruling in Acts 15; 20. See Robert Tanmnesbacay's ‘comments in J. Reynolds and R. Tannenbaum, Jess and Godfearers at Aphrodisia: (Carmi, 1987), 48, 59; Martin Goodman, ‘Peowelytising in Rabbinic Judaion, TBS 401985), 178-85, esp. p. 183; Cohen, Crossing the Boundary and Becoming ' Jew’ HTR Balt (2980), 13-33, exp. p. 22. David Novak provides a comprehen ‘re ciacussion, The Image ofthe Now Jeu in Judaiom (Tesoovo: rose) 'b Arakin apa; discussion in Tannenbaum, Godfaarers 4b; Moore, dain st the Fist Centuries of the Chritian Era (Cambridge, 1929), vol sscae Schirer and G. Vetmes, The History ofthe Yewith pele tthe age of Fons Christ Edinburgh, 1973-86), vol. 3, 171-2 (herentter FIP). Horace, Satives 1. 4. 142-3 (like the Jews we shall force you to join our roma! cagemus in hane concedere turbo). John Noland has argued that this jibe targets Jewish politica, not religious, persusion, ‘Proselytism or Polite in Hors te, Satire i, 4, 138-43” Vig. Ch. 33 1979), 347-85. Jovenal complains thatthe sons of Judaizing fathers actually convert fully to Judaism, Sat. 14. 96-108 (a, ra below). See to John G. Gager, The Origin of Anti-Semitio. Attitudes toward 536 PROFESSOR PAULA FREDRIKSEN as halakhic requirements for those who would join Tsreel instruc~ tion in the mitzvot and accompanying ritual acts: immersion; while the Temple stood, sacrifice; and finally, for the male convert, ‘milah, circumcision." Circumcision is likewise singled out in Hell, enistic Jewish, pagan, and Christian literature as the premier mark of the Jew, and specifically of the convert to Judaism. According to both Juvenal and Josephus, the decision to receive circumcision is what distinguishes, quite precisely, the sympathizer from the convert.!® Judai in Pagan and Christan Antiquity (Oxford, 1983), exp. 364; Schirer- Vermes, HYP vol 5 162-65, 169; ako the material cited in Sten, below m1, ' Sifre Num. 108 on 19:14; m Ker. 2: 1b Ker. on; b Yeb.460~b, Ciscumelsion stands lst in my list fr rhetorical reasons; in realty, it precedes immersion, That conversion requires acceprance of the whole Torah i frequently emphasized, HYP. vol. 3, 175 1.93 for many references; so t00 Paul, Gal, §:} ‘every man who receives circumcision (ie. converts to Judai} «+ is bound to heep the whole Law. Further primary references in HP vol. 3, 170 n.78 (Mishoah), On the ‘phenomenon of conversion to Judaism in antiquity, che older discussions ta Moore, Judaism 2/531 fC; B. J. Bamberger, Proeytiom inthe Talmudic Peviad (New York, 968, orig. pub. 1936); W. G. Braue, Jewish Provelyton inthe Fist Five Contes Providence, 1940), K. G. Kuhn, ‘zpo0mvtos,, in TDNT vic 727-44, more recently Gager, Anti-Semitism, 55-66; . Schiffman, ‘At the Crossroads: Tanaae Perspectives on the Jewish- Chistian Schism, Jet and Chri Sele Definition, ed, E. P, Sanders, A. [. Baumgarten, and A. Mendelson (Philadelphia, tol) Voi 2, 122-30, revved and expanded as Who war a Feu? (Hoboken, 1988), tory See too John J. Colin, ‘Circumeision and Salvation in the First Centery, To ‘See Ourieoes a Others See Ur: Christians, Jews, “Other in Late Antique J. Neutner and E. 8, Frerichs (Chico, 198s), 163-86; Cohen, “Crossing the Boundary’; Goodman, ‘Who was a Jew?" Yarton Trust (Oxford, 198), 4-19 and notes; id, ‘Proselyisng in Rabbinic Judsism. he propoeal thet some proseytcs in some communities need not have been circumcised, pu forth mont recently by NJ. McBleney (Conversion, Ciscumeision andthe Law NTS 201974), 93833) and P. Borgen (Observations on the Theme “Paul and Philo” Dis bonis Literatur und Thecoge, ed. 8. Pedersen (Aarhus, 98), 85-102, esp. 85-69) has ‘ben suffciendly refuted by Schiffman (cited above) and John Nolland, “Uncircum. sised Proselytes”, JSF 12 (1981), 173-94. The question of fernle conversions ie ‘more problematic. Cohen has pointed out that non-rabbinie materials seem to asoumne the usual method to be mariage ta Jewish male, "The origine of the ‘matrilineal principle in rabbinic law’, AYSR to (1985), 19-83, 9-259 "8 ‘Quidam sortti metuentem sabbuatapatrem .- m0x ee priepotie Ponunt; ludsicum ediscunt et servant ac metaunt ius’, Juvenal Sat, 4. 96, 99. 10%; Josephus, on Izates’ receiving ireumeision asthe inal sage in his conversion, 30,3842 (ee too Nolland’s analysis, “Uncicumncived proselyes?), om crcunmckion for conversion in other eases 1. 85; 13. 257-8 and 918-10; 18. 354-85) 29. 139, and 145-6, Seep. Cohen, ‘Respect for Judaism’, 419, and “Crossing the Bound. tay’, 25 6. On the Christan perception of circumcision as the prime identifier of the Jew, more above; for the non-Christian outsiders perspective the mateal collected in Stern, Greek and Latin Authors 1, not. 55, 9, 81,11 (37) (Strabo ‘wrongly construc: female circamcition, Le. excision, a8 wel, 117 {etne suthon, sare mistake), 124 (agin), 129,145, 17,190, 193-5, 240, 241,343,245; 2, no 28 (Tacitus, who comments on ciumeision both ofthe born Jew and of the conver) ANOTHER LOOK AT GALATIANS 1 AND2 537 Philo speaks warmly of the proselyte: he is to be welcomed and esteemed as one who spiritually recapitulated the journey of Abra- hham, quitting his idolatrous homeland and travelling ‘to a better home ..., to the worship of the one truly existing God'.!” The ‘true proselyte’ is included as part of the community in the thir teenth benediction of the chief synagogue prayer, the Amidah or ‘Shemonch Esreh.¥ The convert had certain legal disabilities with Tespect to marriage (in particular, with priestly families), but in ‘most other respects was integrated and integrable. As such, he or she becomes irrelevant to this discussion, because the Gentile who converts is no longer a Gentile, but a Jew.!® Some scholars take this well-attested fact of conversion to Juda- ism together with other data to mean that Jews actively sponsored actual missions to Gentiles: Judaism, they contend, was a mission ary religion. According to this line of reasoning, missions are implied by ancient demography: the Jewish population inereased ‘vastly’ from the time of the Babylonian Exile to the early Imperial period; only aggressive proselytism can account for such an increase, The significant body of Hellenistic Jewish writings sup- ports this view: it is the literary remains of an active campaign to attract Gentiles to Judaism. The effectiveness of this campaign in turn accounts for ancient pagan anti-Semitisus, payuns resented Judaism’s success. And finally Matt, 23: 15 states what this evid- ence otherwise strongly implies: Jews would cross sea and land to make a single convert. They actively proselytized Gentiles.2" 1 de vir, 20. 102-4; abo, eg. leg. 1. 2-4. ' “Over the righteous and over the pious and over the elders of thy people of the house of Iaral; and over the remnant of their Torah scholacs; and over the Fighteous proselytes; and over us fue. the praying community] may thy meres shower down, Lord our God,” Text from Schirer-Vermes, HIP vol = 437) foe ‘he addition of proselytes tothe benediction, Meg. 176. 1 See Schirer-Vermes, HJP 3. 175 and na, 95-r0t for sabbinic discussion of Fights, duties, and disabilities ofthe convert who, upon the completion of immer sion (since szerifice was no longer possible) "sin ll respects like am Tarai’ ‘ob, 47. Similarly Philo, de wit. 20. 103; Josephus, « Ap. 2,230, 16e; also BY 2388, where Agrippa Tl 'refers to the princes of Adiabene an opopuoy, at Achior converts and is circumcised he is considered to be joined to the house of Iara’, Jat 14: 10% cf, Justin Martyr's lament that converts to Judaism stive fn all ways tobe tke ‘naive’ Jews, Dialogue with Trypho r2a- Tek. $6" 5-7 svete ‘that chose who have joined Israel willbe gathered in with them atthe Ends more ‘on this prophetic verse and ita relation to conversion in antiquity below, 39, ' The iaue isnot whether Jews encouraged adiitation of their religious cult and culture—cleary they did—but whether this is tantamount to ‘miason? as the word is normally understood and used, implying clear ideologieal commitments to religious advertising and solieitation, self-conscious organization —the image drawn, in other words, from later Christian practice, Besides the older studies of Jewish proselytism cited above, also F. Hahn, Mission in the New Testoment London, 1965), esp. 21-5; the more rent work of D. Georgi, The Oppononts of 538, PROFESSOR PAULA PREDRIKSEN But receiving and encouraging converts is one thing; actively soliciting them is another. Do data attesting to Jewish influence of, conversely, to Jews’ awareness of their wider cultural environ- ‘ment, require missionary enterprise as explanation? To address the data in the sequence in which I presented them above: (a) A supposed increase in the Jewish population over more than half a millennium should count neither as a phenomenon that needs to be explained by an appeal to massive conversions (and $0, gal vakomer, to missions), nor as a datum supporting the missionary hypothesis. We simply cannot knot enough about ancient popula tions to make the argument.¥” (b) Hellenistic Jewish literature of the sort that argues the superiority of Judaism to idolatry, of Jewish religious and ethical notions to their pagan counter- Parts,!*reveals only one voice in the sparring of competitive middle-brow salon cultures. It aims to inspire respect and admira- tion for Judaism, presented as an ethical philosophy; its intellectual and literary pretensions indicate how small, relatively, the audi- ence for such writings must have been, (c) As for pagan ‘anti- Paulin Secon Corinthians Philadelphia, 1986), 83-228; 8, J.D. Cohen, "Conversion to Judaism in Historical Peropesve: fom Biblical lerel to Post-bibical Toca, Conseroative Judaion 361983}; Lous H. Feldman, ‘Jewish Prostlytom' Buca, adatom. and Christianity 4 Harold W. Attidge und Gchei Taw (Devoe foe, ‘coming; I thank Professor Feldman for allowing me to consult and cite his mane seript) Jeremia states ‘This was a wholly new phenomenon: Judaism wa te fat ‘reat missionary religion to make its appearance inthe Merlitertanean world, Yous Promise the Nations (London, 1958), 11. He ets in support Moore, Judson 1 1323; but Moores view is more nuance, sx n.24 below. See Georgi, Opponents, 83 f. and nn, 4-15. Reliance on so-illed demogrephical data for this period is extremly izardout. Haack (Mion and Exper ts th eda. 1929), Juster (Les Just; ong. pub. gia) and Baron (4 Social oad Reger lsory ofthe Jews 1; and edn. 1954) are the la le for this data se now Schtree, Vermes, HYP vol. 2, 1-19, on Palestine, vol 3, 3-86 on the Diaspora, ' Which are usually condemned (hence the vce lists, mentioned earlee) or best, damned with what amounts to frit prise; ie. where the Grecks got some ‘thing right (philosophical monotheism, for example) they relied on Jewish learaing snd revelation, Hence the traditions that a Greek translation of Jewish setiptures existed before Ptolemy Philadelphus (25-246 nce) commissioned the 13% Homer, Hesiod, Pythagoras, Socretes, and Plato had ebviously had some aoure to Torah! (Aristobolus, a rd-and eentury noe Jewish write, preserved In uscd, ius, Pracp, Bu. 13:13, 1-16). Sometimes pagans even conceded the point: “What is Plato, asked Numenius of Apamaea, ‘but Moses speaking Greek? (epud Clem: ent, Strom. £73, 4). See too ‘Tanneibaum's remarks, Aphrodsiae, 6, Put differently: Joseph and Asenath does indeed ‘argue’ that conversion to Judainm ia preferable to continuing in idolatry. But does that make ita 'missonary’ tract? Te persuasion by one erate ‘minority directed toward another tantamount to “missionary sctivity? Only in limited sense. But scholars who maintain the existence of Jewish misions thine in terms of vost numbers. Te the degree that thi trata had target, that target ‘would have been individuals rather than populations; and its primary intended ANOTHER LOOK AT GALATIANS 1 AND 2539 Semitism’, the supposed response of Gentile culture to Jewish missionary success, most of the writers cited in support of such are culturally xenophobic: passages satirizing circumcision and abstention from pork target not Jews or Jewish customs per se, but anything perceived as foreign, hence threatening.” Finally, (a) Matthew's Pharisees evidently do seek converts, But they do so in a passage of highly charged rhetoric, within a document [whose social situation is difficult to reconstruct. Whether real hares ofr hat mater, Jove geeral-evgh comer frequen that Matthew cannot help ur with? Irth external evidence for Jewish tmsson is unobliging, the internal evidence is no less so. ‘One of the great puzzles of the roselytiing movement is how to explain the existence of mas Trovernent When we do not know the name of a tingle Jewish mmnsonary, unles; of eourae, we except Paul. Beyond not know Seca a ee a 1 Sern tps As) con een Se and Lands The Search fo oats ated ut Bt a eel 28 ta an ie ton int ctm fo favor al noe‘ new factor th mie have Fae eager ee eee isa ltt Get gealy dc lla ams ‘ne non-Christian the arene wor, "rose in Rabie Ju Po Valerius Maximus: I stn on ernie tein rp te i ogo roger aes tothe s-Pon owweaereny vat ours soy Exon & SiGe Sastre Sl hes Macon ace in whet ivr in ecing eb stra ahr pin, Ln ue pal zntially Jewish; but itis his anonymous competi- 540 PROFESSOR PAULA FREDRIKSEN ANOTHER LOOK AT GALATIANS 1 AND 541 Rg tho missionized, we do not know howe, We : fe might exy E 38 least ftom the rabbis ee ight expect, at demons. Others, as Philo mentions in his Life of Moser, were eee ee ee a se Jems of antiquity evidently most drawn by the public Jewish festivals, like the one held on Pharos Precsion-~prescriptone ie egunaary-formation, and. halakhic near Alexandria to celebrate the translation into Greek of the ae ip ‘or and legal discussion of correct mis, Bible“ But others, well attested in literary and epigraphic if mi : ‘cigamisioniing were a normal and wider a, formed an identifiable, if liminal, group of cues Jewish activity: in fact, we find nothing, Rather, the rabbis (per Ther ancone Seagal Emin, group of adherents rae oe | Their ancient designations vary: GoBodjevon, cepoucr ee Gettized) accounts describe the procedure iene Oe inscriptions, Ocooehss, in Lain’ manana’ i hee Gentile’s not the Sewiah comes, the iki i te my, ‘featers of heaven’. I am speaking of courve, of che "Gok ib evidence both of Josephus on the royal haar nths cater Jew- exert the Bonde ae of ze on che rr house of Aut ot Who are the Godfearets? They are Gentiles, but not proselytes; etn wane if they were proselytes, chey would then be Jew Ip shirk nt ions —,; conversions them as ‘semi-proselytes’ is unhelpful: the word suggests some Imissions—as opposed tothe frelance no ; nominator et 2 ote othe lance, mets for of arene depen ie BE the word suggests some of unstructured ah di wicuals or the side-effect : People were voluntary Judaizers. Accordi 1g to both Philo and especially Josephus, they could be found in significant numbers in any urban centre where a Jewish community ned Bon on these people assume—again T emphasize, voluntary eens Jewish religious practices ancient data speak mort often ofdietay ally, to mention Judaism had little reeson, ' ‘Adjure demons by the god of the Hebrews ... [and say]; “I adjure thee by im who appeared to Osracl in the pillar of light an in te clo by doe Exod. 15: 21-2)... Taare thee bythe seal which Solomon lid upon the toate ol Jeremiah [sic] and he poke’, PBEP i. yo07-8s, The anonymove pagaa sets (thi century ce) may well have copied out his charm from a Teeigh tregrg) handbook; but the confusions in biblical chronology incline me so arkert Tee a relied on impresions and metnories from scriptural readings in a coneewee ‘now on these texts Curse Tables and Binding Spells in Ancient Medion, ranean Culture, ed. John G. Gager (Oxford, forthcoming vost) 5 “Thecefore, even to the present day, there is held every year feast and several assembly on th island of Pharos, whither not only Jews but mulstude, of others cross the water, both to do honor tothe place where the light of ee ‘ersion (si. LXX) fee shone out, and to thank God for the good sifted nat For an overview of the current interpretative debate, se the articles in BAR. 12 (2986 for further disussion and bibliography, Schirer-Vermes HIP vel 359-76, ep. 165 alo the lengthy note to Juvenal in Stn, net oy * Ex. AY 14.7.3 orBouevor contribute to the Temple; B72 182 lvbatovees, Sar be found in every city in Syrin; 7. 3, 3 Greeks attend syragonge service ik ‘Ansoch and after thes fhion become part ofthe community. Cp. s,96 G80) ‘sambinuous: he might refer either to adherence (hence Gadfeaters or conven, (ence proselytes) when he speaks ofthe spread of Jewish observances in Gesu ‘populations, See Schier-Vermes, HP vol. 3, 166-8 for review of tin Sere insesiptional data, Luke, in Act, also refers tothe ubiquity of Godfeners so 22; 13,16, 26, 43 505 16: ag 17: 4,17; 187. ALT. Keanbel offers an astare {analyse ofthe Godfearer' function in Acts as « theological mide em etree Judeiam and Chrstnity, but he concludes from this Observation that they hed no exittence in fct (‘The Disappearance ofthe "God-featers", Namen 28 Goose) 43-26) In light of all the other data, reports of the Gadfeaiers demas oe, areatly exaggerated poegalt Sitcumeisere, who preach Judaism to the Gentile, a reach J the Gentiles, Whar, fe: "When a man comes in these tines secking toc duatat is your motive? Do you mot know thar lat defmizodden ...” 1fhe answers, "I know ee So Moore: ‘{Tyhe belief in the future coming of an age when “the Lord hall be te convert the Gentiles ..- and made Jeet of the Mediteranesn world, When *0t he; see Below, onvert, he is asked, ow afflicted, distressed cept him at once niversality of the tue religion, the Se 542 PROFESSOR PAULA FREDRIKSEN setition, the Sabbath and the feel Je, thei observance of Jewish law isnot repel law: halakhicly, they are literally anomolous.»* uated By Jewish ‘The Aphrodisias inscription ‘presents further evidence Godfeares' noma, thet Law-frecness*! This tose oe she hames of Jews and Godfearers~contibutors, pechape fos facet dive forthe establishment of «soup kitchen for the poor, Annes the Jews are given three prossytes, who have asotoned Teneek names; and, listed separately, fifty @eoceBeic, that is, Participating Genes. Two of thee appear a8 well among the mane of tae Belonging to the Sexovtar (probably the prayer quorunds ne others are identified as Books, member of the town eoeacl a ‘This a is most ining, since indicts tat Gents whose status in the larger urban community necestated thee pits idolatry (her offee would require their presen ot wees the gods ofthe nohic and the empite) could athe sane tee Be setive Gf not, perhaps, fully integrated) pardcipane ithe re ‘gogue community and worshippers, after ther fashion o saan con pers, ater ther fashion, of the Seatered literary evid i Y evidence supports this view. The centurion Comets, for example, described sea enrr of Gott whe wen constantly and supports the penr, whether etive on net ena have been understood by Iuke’s ancient audience % £2 patie agen to, since as an oficer he would have partcpercd eat unit's military cults Pagan and later Chistes aes nn mockingly of Gentiles who worship in the synagogue and arenas © Ap. 39 82) manson dba, fd on Sid 2,680 mein ta, tn ov sin ia Tavenal Sat 4, 96-106, sted ove ha ed GTM pos of halt iso dtemine wheter o ot bib! png ot in fat area smart ee os wy Sea trplion tbe commands, toe fe tae ae ane and to determine precisely what must be done in order to fulfil it’, Senders, PP} 26. We should not be worprined hen a tne doen a Meso (eh ee {othe onsuch topes aura Gualenee ni eae ee ion th oe han or on the way Gein woul oe Goan tc other We nd tea ees gee ing ot ‘ed ernione oe Gentiles ewrored other Gentiles liberated from the blindness efi anda prin) nes ene en ae om Fal onan “sale cone as Fer thet of hit incxpton, Reynolds and Tanenbaum, Gd ‘aeneniaan' anton of thet a tan pea ey a Penant inveriptions, 25 fi. 7 7 ie % On the Sexavia, Tannenbaum, Godfearers 28-38; the Bovheveat 54 M7. a, Ate, 5, 1 need by Tannenbaum, Gaara 6 £5 to ih Lik cnr Caper he Tye Ina aed el see 7 5; of. Matt. 8: 5=13), meonen Oe Since they are not ANOTHER LOOK ATGALATIANS 1 AND2 543 tional altars both. Tertullian in North Africa and, centuries later, Cyril of Alexandria comment bitterly on the inconsistency of such | practices; while Commodian—who can be placed reasonably in tither the third century or the fifth—eriticizes Jews for tolerating this behaviour.** The fogginess of rabbinical discussion of God- fearers reinforces this impression: their association with the syn- agogue was voluntary, their status ambiguous (since, as Gentiles— and unlike proselytes—they were not subject to the strictures of Torah), their religious allegiances various. Despite the Jewish horror of idolatry, Jews evidently made room in the synagogue for those Gentiles who, like Naaman, worshipped YHWH as a © god among gods. Tdolatrous pagans condemned in the abstract, ideally forbidden residence in the Holy Land, welcomed fully as Jews should they decide to convert, tolerated (and evidently solicited for tzedakah) should they stay in the synagogue’s penumbra as affliated out- siders. Let us consider Gentiles now in a different situation: Can they, ultimately, be redeemed? What happens to Gentiles at the End? % Tertullian, ad Nations 1. 13, 3-4 Some pagans keep the sabbath and Pass- ‘over, yet continue to worship at traditional stars; Cyril, de adoration in spirit et Strate 5. yay Mfon ia Phonecia and Palestine, calling themoeves Orooe}ets Folow consistently neither Jewish nor Greek religious custom. Commodian mockt thove wha live between both ways they rash from synagogue to pagan shrine, ‘medi Tudacus" (structions 37. 1). He adds, disapproving, that the Jews tolerate such behaviour (icant it i si fussur est deos adorare’ 37. ro). On thing Commodian, J-P, Brisson, Autonomiome et Chrstioniome dane P Afrique Romaine (Pais, 1958), 378-410, Gentiles evidenty continaed in their Judsiing ways even after conversion to Christianity: Ignatius, Bp. Mag. 10:3 (its foolish to talk of Jesus Christ and to Julaize); Ep. Phil. 6° (Hf anyone should undertake to interpret Judaism 0 you, do not listen to him. For its better to hear of Christianity oma man who has ben circumcised [=a Jew or a convert to Judai, become Christian] than to heat of Judaism from someone aneircumised [a pagan Judaizer)), Chrysostom, in 386, delivered eight biter setmons during the autumn High Holidays agninst those metabers of his church (29120, au he says feequenty) who ntend synagogues tnd observe Jewish festivals and farts. See dicussion in Wayne A. Mecks and Robert L. Wilken, Jews and Christians in Antioch (Missoula, 1978), 25-36; 50 8s-1a6 for translations of Sermone 1 and 8) Justin, more than two centuries tir, dicusses a number of types of Gentile Christian afliation with Judaism, to and including full conversion to xh Ewvouoy nohtteiav, asertng that even lttch proselyies wil be saved as long as they believe fully in Christ. He frankly tmite, however, that other Christians do not share his liberal views Dial. 46-7. nikically they'te eaty to define. They're Gentiles. Period,” Shaye Cohen, personal correspondence, But there are Gentiles and Gentiles, and obviously 3 Plows sympathizer would raise questions for his host community that totally Mnffiiated Gentle would not, See M. Goodman's nuanced speculations on this fac, ‘Nera the Ficus Judaicur and Jewish Tents", JRS 79 (1989), 40-4 and "Who was a Jew? 544 PROFESSOR PAULA FREDRIKSEN Exchatological Situations vj he idiom of Jewish restoration theology draws on the imayed and experience of the Babylonian captivity. ‘Redemption’ is imaged concretely: not only from sin, and from evil, but from rile. The twelve tribes are restored, the people gathered back peagind the ‘Temple and Jerusalem are renewed snd made. splendid, the Davidic monarchy restored: God’s Kingdom is fstablished.%* What place, if any, do Gentiles have in such 2 kingdom? We can cluster the material around two poles.” At the negative | Satreme, the nations are destroyed, defeated, or in some way | subjected to Israel. Foreign monarchs lick the dust at Israel's fee, (Isa. 49: 235 ef. Mic. 7: 16); Gentile cities are devastated, or Tee opulated by Israel (Isa. 54: 3; Zeph. 2: 1-3: 8); God destroys | the nations and their idols (Mic. 5: 9,15). Many passages from te prophets and the pseudepigrapha bespeaking such destruction, however, are followed closely by others describing the Gentle’ ¢schatological inclusion. Perhaps, then, such texts envisage the destruction of the unrighteous Gentiles alone, not of all Gentiles out court; and T. Mos. 10: 7 speaks of the destruction only of idols, not idolators. At the positive extreme, the nations participate in Ierae!’s "On the themes of Jewith restoration theology, Sunder, 9, 79-119, 242-4 reconstruction of Jesus! views within thie tedona! pessoa Vgmen HYP va seat; Fred, Jen 86, 7” Fe ater Bose onthe sae theme, ba ognized diferent, Sanden, Bi 2t8 TL Donaon, "The "Cure ofthe Lev and he hea gen Gentle: Galan 3. 19°14, NTS 52 (988), sno nate, een of te Promite, 45-75. : ee Jes 8 Sirach 36: 1-10 a male ‘out thy weuth; dest that whichis with a pith fire and be removed from the whole earth, They shall be trove ase Zeadament of Sr, and perish in rath «+; Beach 4! 3s, 31-s our tau fee cvertaken you, but you wll soon see their destruction and will read upon dae Tcl. Wretched willbe those who affieted you Bre will come ore {the enemy city] for many day’; Si. Or. 317-40 the nations willoce enero, ‘blest fo destruction, outrages, and slavery. 669: God will destoy the king, ‘ingedround Jerusalem. 761: God will bur with fre race of grove ne 35 30 "The Lord's servants... wil drive out their enemies "and they wii allel thie judgments ad al oftheir curses among their enemies Br Bel ‘RejMessah ‘wil have gentile nations serving under his yoke; I QM tar 1e-34 “Rejoice, all you cites of Judat; keep your gates ever open, thatthe hosts se kd ‘nations soay be brought in. Their kings ahall serve yous and all your oeeree {hall bow dovn before you.” Biblical passages and citi fom the specrrpee {rom the Osford RSV; peeudepigrapha from James A. Charlesworth (eho ee York, 1985), 3 vol, ANOTHER LOOK AT GALATIANS 1 AND 2545, J fedemption. The nations will stream to Jerusalem and worship ‘the God of Jacob together with Israel (Isa. 2: 2~4]/Mic. 4: 1 #2); _n God's mountain (i.e. the Temple mount), they will eat together the feast that God has prepared for them (Isa. 25: 6). As the Jews leave the lands of their dispersion, Gentiles will accompany tem: | In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take old of the robe of @ Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we p have heard that God is with you””” (Zech. 8: 23). Or the nations _carry the exiles back to Jerusalem themselves (Ps. Sol. 7: 31~41). ; Burying their idols, ‘all people shall direct their sight to the path of uprightness’ (1 Enoch 91: 14), _ Who are these redeemed Gentiles? Are they the ones who had “already converted to Judaism before the Kingdom came? No: such ‘4 Gentile, though a special sort of Jew (that is, a proselyte) would already ‘count’ as a Jew. To say that a proselyte is not in the ‘category of ‘Gentiles redeemed at the End’ is thus a tautology. I take this to be the point of a passage often cited in support of an End-time mission to convert Gentiles, Isa. 56: 3~7. Given the present force of the subordinate verbs and the future action of the main verb (‘those who join . . . I will save’), these eae a construed as speaking to the place of those quondam Gentiles— be they foreigners or even eunuch who have aleady converted ‘at some indeterminate time before the End. God assures them | that they will be gathered together with the native-born when final redemption comes. “The foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord ... the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths and hold fast my covenant ... I will give them an everlasting name; ... the foreigners who join, ... every one who keeps the sabbath and holds fast my covenant, these I will bring to my holy mountain.’** m ... 8 Dhovevng 8 xpooxsizees npbs wiptow...(avxate] Bvoya otomov Bon na sls Dhayleo soe spavtnpto epi Sess oh at ving sade Goinevoutvon: ck edBare pov. a Eetzonéons rig Sains to, elk arouses Bog x0 tv you, vertmeenen eee Erte 546 PROFESSOR PAULA FREDRIKSEN Are the saved Gentiles the ones R. Joshua would have had in Thnds when he spoke of the righteous of the nations having a share in the world to come (TT. Sanh. 13. 2)? I think not, Trae Context implies that Gentiles who are righteous in this presom world, that is, who eschew the worship of idols now, will be redeemed then, in the future, at the End, The passages in the Prophets, Tobit, Sirach, and the pseudepigrapha, however, imply 8 different sequence of events: at the End, the Lord of Tsadl Tee als himself in glory, and itis that revelation which prompts {he nations to bury their idols.#° So too, as T construe ity the second paragraph of the synagogue prayer, the Alemu: frst God's final revelation, and then the repudiation of images."* Do all Gentiles then become Jews at this point? Is this not ‘ -al Gentiles’ enter the Kingdom and turn to Israel's God? Again, I think not. All the materclce have reviewed—biblical and ‘extra-biblical Jewish writings, Josephus, the rabbis, and outsiders whether pagan or Christan emphasize circumcision as the sine qua non of becoming a Jem lit 48. 32 “Turn t0 me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For Iam Seat there no other; 4:6 and elsewhere) I will ve you sae} ree nahn {Periation, that my salvation may reath tothe ends ofthe earths Zep seh ae {hat time Iwill change the speech of the peoples toa pure speech, arnt ra Yl upon the name of the Lord and serve hint with ane scent Secher 302 ‘Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cites The tabet ine Stans shall go to another, saving, “Let us goat once to cates the fore ne Lord of hosts Tam going.” Many peoples and strong nations shal otter acne fe, Lord of oss in Jerusslem «..'; Zo. 13: 11 ‘Many nation will conne feet, 360 the mame of the Lord God, bearing gits in their hander nae Zemple willbe rebuilt forever; ‘Then al the Gentiles will tara fear Sc Lore God in Sir. 36: 11-17 calls upon God to make Sid. Or. 5: 616 afer the coming of the Great King, the netoos eal eed Stile knee --- 30 God's 715-24 the nations wil send votive offerings ne ‘Femble and proces there; they will renounce their idols; 7y2 “From eer la ‘hey will bring incense and gifts to the house of the great Goa SANs hope, therefore, Lord our God, soon to behold thy majestic plory, when Re sbominatone sal be removed from the earth and the fale gods extettoneoh then he world shall be perfected under the reign of the Ainighey eas hhumenking (732°) will call upen thy mame -.” May they Lord at Prostrate themselves and give nor to thy glorious Yoke of thy kingdom, and do thou reign over them speedily and forever on ae, ha-thalem, ed. Ph. Birnbaum (New York, toy) ‘Amsin, the situation of female converte is harder to reconstruct, since the {tual and social acts, whatever they would have been a whatever pesiod andes, simply do not receive the attention that eircumesson does in thoes orn ee ‘The ruch-misinterprete episode concerning Teates, however, doce contenes the principe I sketch here: Josephus does not depict Ananias‘llewing Lecce © be = convert without circumcision, while Elezat ines on it shee, ances, ANOTHER LOOK AT GALATIANS 1AND 2547 But the (male) Gentiles’ eschatological acknowledgement of God and consequent repudiation of idols would not (theoretically) alter their halakhic status, which can change only through conversion, hence circumcision. Zech. 14 does envisage, peculiarly, these re. deemed Gentiles’ keeping Sukkot: but I have found no tradition © anticipating universal nbw na. Given the precise focus on cir- cumeision as the mark of the (male) convert, one would expect this. But Jews did not expect this, and so no such tradition exists? ‘They looked forward, rather, to the nations’ spiritual, and hence ‘moral, ‘conversion’: Gentiles at the End turn from idolatry (and the sins associated with it) and turn to the living God. But moral conversion is not halakhic conversion; and non-idolatrous Gentiles | are Gentiles none the less. When God establishes his Kingdom, then, these two groups will together constitute ‘his people’: Isracl, redeemed from exile, and the Gentiles, redeemed from idolatry. Gentiles are saved as Gentiles: they do not, eschatologically, become Jews. 1 want to emphasize this last point, because as far as I can see it has been universally missed. From the notes at the bottom of the Oxford RSV to virtually every secondary discussion in books or journal articles, interpreters routinely slip from seeing the xcliutological inclusion of Gentiles as meaning eschatological con- version.** ‘This is a category error. Saved Gentiles are mot Jews. ckomes fates ae a sympathizer precisely to preserve the king's status as @ Genie, and shus lesen the risk of provoking popular incident CUT so aban lear ills him tat, fhe would be Jew, he ust sonvere re be ceoamcbed 2 Raradm tT win Pas opponent ic bf ving Js the same one he inves to leptimae his poston: Jewish miesonry peace in the face of the coming End of Daya” Paula Fredrisen, "Pl and upeein Conversion Narratives, Orthodox Traditions, and the Rewospestve lt Peg ‘xi (986), 391. Thnew sucha tation, because I had tied en edo a university; Paul and his coveligionst, deprived of my educational advanteges id not. Senders errs smal: in Pa’ view, he sop the church ee Se tabled by admiting Gentes to srelacerding tothe fleh oy Nendo Jewish echatolopcal expectation would have it PLYP 17, may emphasis oo “Thus Zech. a: 11 concerns echatoogia incision not conversions “Many ‘ations Ovm; Heb. a1) sll jin themselves to the Lard om tha day, aed they tall be my people ass; Heb, ab) Tan. Gb 1 21 might be taken to oe some sor of exchatologcal minion othe nating an thir satmegueat cones, bat the pee i diffe" hal end survivors tothe ations sand ey tal declare my slory to the nation tions will ey the exes Back to take for priate and Levitess Tae lat ert in patcla i extraordinary, ines in the moral courte of event for eat IES fe a a nor hacia _ {© Eg. the RSV notes on Zeph 3 8-13 and Tob. 14: 6 Historians who explain prota by sserng ta Jews condited misnan Coatoe ee Vener at suppor, claiming them atthe biblical source of Tudhianrs megeed 548, PROFESSOR PAULA FREDRIKSEN ‘They are Gentiles; they just do not worship s © RLY just do not worship idols any more. The wall narions in b Yebamoth a4b that in the Messing age Israel will not receive proselytes shows how lunselfeonsciously those Tepbis assumed that Gentle, too, would be eee in the King- CORE Bectuse, of course, only a Gentile cout hen candidate for ‘To sum up the two respect to the quot oF Jewish ene, Gentiles were free to observe se much ee of emish tom athe chose ba, mate ocna e not expected to abandon their ancestral observances if they chose Sop ete eared Lo erate worshiy ae’ of them; they could (and evidently wee did) So r—SC SG ir affiliation wes with Israel, in Jerusalem, Eis God of Israel, will have redeemed then Gos igelatry: he will have saved them=—to phrase in slightly dierent itiom—eraciously, apart from the works of the [a ns Paul ees, iterPretive facts help us to undersea he ‘vents Paul describes in the frst two chapters of Ganens TI. Pavt's Persecution oF tie Exxiesia spat’ general situation when writing Galatians ig clear enough, Other Christian missionaries—whethes Judaizing Christian Gen. tiles or more traditionally observant Christin Jews" —have come sob Sint then sat hm ANOTHER LOOK AT GALATIANS : AND2 549 into his Gentile communities and taught that membership in the ekklesia required conversion to Judaism, that is, circumcision, La repudiating their gospel, Paul asserts the divine source of his own E (ch. 1) and cryptically relates three previous occasions on which he had encountered Peter and others of the original Palestinian followers of Jesus, and come away from those encounters secure in his own interpretation of the gospel. The telescoping of his current polemical situation with his accounts of these earlier events and conversations is both obvious and difficult, The issue when he writes is circumcision; and he implies that it was the issue ae well for the episodes he relates in chapters 1 and 2!” Commentators are well aware that Paul frames these episodes this way for shetorical effect, and that the historical reality behind them is more nuanced than his report allows. None the less, most continue to see some sort of direct relation between the issue at stake in this mid-century letter—Gentile circumcision —-and the reason why Paul himself persecuted the ekklesia some fifteen or 0 years earlier. T want to argue that there was not. Let us consider the definition of ‘persecution’ first. ‘Taking the evidence of the epistles over that of Acts, and drawing on the dating suggested by Paul's references in chapter 1, we distil the following: that sometime before 33 cE or 20, the year of his call, Paul persecuted the Jewish members of the ekklesia that had formed in his synagogue community in Damascus. I follow, inter «lia, Hultgren in construing ‘persecution’ to mean, not ‘execution? (lake's picture) but disciplinary flogging, makkot mardut (et, 2 Cor. r1: 24). I translate Paul's x20” OnspBodv as ‘to the utmost” (cf the RSV’s ‘violently’), and in this context construe him to be saying that he (as an officer of the Damascus bet din?) administered the maximum number of stripes permitted by the Law, namely thirty-nine lashes, Those receiving this flogging would have bee, other Jews—as Sanders has pointed out, punishment implies (Philadelphia 1961), 74-8; . Munck, Paul andthe Soloation of Mankind (Atant, +959) 87-134. Again, my use of ‘Christian’ here is anacheontoc ay Thi 2 14 speals to 6: 13-13; 2 a0, to 6:14; soe Sanders PLIP te, A Hutwgren, Paul's pre-Christian Persecutions of the Chusch’, SOL 9§ (3926), 97111; ef. my discussion in ‘Paul and Augustine, art tit, ao aes From Jeous to Chris, 42 f. While only Acts claims that Paul wis acting oe (cial capacity (and then as an agent of the High Priest) I seecmee Wer Dann imoelf would not have been a fee agent, ‘persecuting” on his own sete Hultgren implies that Pal received matt arb'im, the thisty-nine letee, the faxed number referring to the penalty for violation of 4 biblied methine (a Makkot 3): this is unlikely. Mathot mardut, howevet, & pot ¢ Ried ern (except forts upper limit thirty-nine blows), and could be assigned ante scretion of the court. On lsciplinary fogging, D. R.A. Her The Thee of Fenton Perecation of Christians in the Gospel of Matthes (Cambridge, 967) tae. 350 PROFESSOR PAULA FREDRIKSEN inclusion®\—and in an What can we iow sbout che ear : ‘ m bout the carly teryema that ein exp sy i gpeten or adherens would have bean sages, inimal reconstruction would porate wo Why then the synagogue’s hostile | [exponse? Scholars focusing. primarily en eomues. lervama—the menage of the cucifed Mecsigg ait ion ofthe arval of the Monash eat since with the arrival of the Mead Gal. 3: 13. One sees the first Bay from lack of evidence in sufficiently early Jewish teak ut also from counter-evidence: the first generation of Jesus’ or} Srrewish followers evidently proclaimed him Mesdah win continuing to Keep Torah.* Additionally, Paul nowhere rockon ve SrALP 193; This ie perhaps the burden of ys in Gal. 1. Panes eIaden that ee Benne of Pa chnge eae ase E once ereecuted ut is now preaching) Geng oe ae gee, SCE” Jewi; Christian Jews in Dams had be Bae explanation less frequently now. It suffers not S* For my reconstruction ofthe content of th Regge the apostolic resurrection experiences andthe Cea hi etod fey poe Peiences and the composition of Barat 1 Se2 ep. B. J Levy, “Torah inthe Mesteie A Sanders, PPY 470 adn. a5 Bo, 496s oa gs Philadelphia, 1952) ace cotined Torah observance of Jes dicts, Aet 46 5 12, 42; an: 23—7 t, on how a Christian st ‘sacrifice a the hEnples la Ina the Pasion nares, teens ae eg res a he the discovery of the empty tomb occu les wait un the Saath ie over, Ma ve N's Geter 7 (e979), 69-8, ‘Davies, Tol nthe eins ANOTHER LOOK AT GALATIANS 1 AND 2 SSI tlaim, when arguing that the Law is no longer valid, that itis the ‘Messiah’s coming as such that overthrows or undoes the Law.“ Ifsuch a Jewish tradition existed, then, evidently the first genera- tion of Jewish apostles did not know it. "The second explanation is more complicated, ‘The ‘hanging’ in Deuteronomy refers not to a mode of execution, but to the publica "tion that a sentence of capital punishment has been executed: the offender's body is displayed by hanging. In the biblical text, such [© person would have been perceived as ‘cursed’ because of the | crimes for which he would have been executed, presumably by stoning: blasphemy or idolatry (ef. m Sanh. 6. 4). The ‘hanging’ itself is not the reason for the ‘curse’. Paul interprets ‘nailed toa cross’ as ‘hanged on a tree’, and suggests, by invoking Deu- teronomy, that someone (or perhaps, according to some comment ators, in particular a Messiah) dying like a criminal was cursed. Such a message, so goes the argument, would be deeply offensive to religious Jews.** Several observations. First, Paul is not the only ancient Jew to conflate the biblical hanging with crucifixion. 11 Q ‘Temple 64 6-13, which paraphrases Deuteronomy, mandates execution by hanging/crucifixion as a punishment for treason ot for maligning the Jewish people! the ‘curse woul obtain, one prowess of the deceased's crime of betrayal, not because of the mode of execution itself. Similarly, popular Purim celebrations in antiquity could refer to Haman’s gibbet as a ‘tree’: Haman was ‘cursed’, however, because of his role in the Esther story, not because he died by hanging.” My point is that nowhere outside of Paul’s snarled passage in Gal. 3 does one see the claim that death by crucifixion eo ipso means a death cursed by God—not in Joseph description of the eight hundred Pharisees crucified by Alexander point remains. On the strains caused by the evangelist’ commitment to presenta rous opposed to the Law, while using traditional material attesting other Fredrikien, Jens, esp. 8-114; on Jesu dlacples, Sanders, JY 903; alo 43-69 ews. So too Sanders, PPY 479-8. % X ubiquitous tradition in New Testament scholarship: See discussion and bibliography in Fredrksen, ‘Paul and Augustine’, art eit, 10-19 and m © See discussions in F. F. Bruce, "The Curse ofthe Law’, Pa and Paulino. ‘Euays in Honour of C.K. Barrett, ed. M.D. Hooker and 8,'G, Wilson (Londen, 1982), 30s T. C. G. Thornton, “Frees, Gibbets, and Crosses, JTS x8, xi (973), 130-1; on §Ghov)y9id., “The Crucifixion of Haman and the Seandal of the Cross’, JTS xs, sev (1986), 416-26; Mex Wileos, “Upon the Tree Deut. 21: 22-3 in the New Testament’, JBL 96 (1977), 85-091. A. Fitzmeyer, To Advance the Gospel (New York, 1981), 125-46, orig. pub. ‘Crucifason in Ancient Palestine, Qumran Literature, and the New Testament”, CBQ 4o (1978), 493-513. 552 PROFESSOR PAULA FREDRIKSEN Janneus (AF 13. 14, 2), nor in his discussions of the thousands of insurrectionists (for whom he otherwise shows litte sympathy) so dispatched by Rome. Further, a crucified Jew might look like « criminal to Gentiles; to other first-century Jews, Deut. 21 notwith. standing, he would probably look more like a fallen hero. And finally, once again, the original apostolic community actually pre sents counter-evidence: it existed in Jerusalem unmolested for decades,** though it too proclaimed a crucified Messiah, Nothing in first-century Judaism, in other words, seems to require that a crucified man ipso facto be seen as cursed of God, and we have no evidence of Jews having done so. Paul deploys Peut. 21: 23 in order to wend his way from ‘curse’ to ‘blessing’ in Gal. 3, In this context the verse has thetorical foree.!® But it cannot provide the grounds for a religious reason why Paul, and others in his synagogue, would have moved to discipline Jewish members of the ekklesia in their midst, ‘What else, then, have we got? The fact that this kerygma of the Ctucified Messiah was evidently heard also by the synagogue’s Gentiles, who were in turn welcomed into the ekklesia. The con, troversy in Galatia revolves around whether to circumeise Chris. tian Gentiles; Paul implies elsewhere that he is persecuted because he does not preach circumcision (Gal. 5: 11; of. 6: 12); where hie speaks of his former activity as a persecutor of the Church, he sometimes mentions his zeal for the Law (Gal. 1: 13; Phil. : 6; cf. Gal. 1: 23 and 1 Cor. 15: 9). Pulling these disparate pieces of evidence together, a third explanation for Paul’s pre-Christian activity emerges. Paul persecuted for the same reason he later claims to be persecuted: admission of Gentiles to the ekklesia without requiring circumcision, that is, conversion to Judaism, ‘The Law-free mission to the Gentiles, in other words, would have 5 Laake reports a furry of setivty, usally initiated by the Sanhedrin, in the period immediately following Jesus! execution (Acte 421-39; ch gr teeny, The {he apostle ae frst ‘beaten’ i. lashed, v.43] and then released; 6 86-4 changes fare brought against Stephen, which culeinated in his being stoned: whethes he by order of the court or by mob action ie unclear; 8: 1-3, the curion, ‘persecution’ aimed at everyone ‘except the apostles, who retain in the es) Seg Henchen's treatment of these passages, dct, Thereafter, Luke reports seching until Agrippa II executes James the son of Zebedee « 44 (ta: 1 Ba no eee provided; similarly, Peter is arrested but escapes). Finally, some Steen yoare late: { 389, Jews from Asin accuse Paul of defling the Temple, and so ince w net (ge: a7 ff), Josephs relates briefly thatthe High Priest Anarus 2 2, hed Too, Jesus’ brother, arresed and executed along with unidentified others, Hie seuen offended some other Jews (pechaps Pharisees), who protested tothe seeulerason ities; they deposed Ananut (AY 20. 9,1). The point is tht, rom ee ee ae estruction ofthe city im. 7o, the church in Jerusalern by and large wes left stows Sanders, PLYP 35-7. ANOTHER LOOK ATGALATIANS1AND2 553 existed before Paul; once its opponent, he later became its champion. Let us consider this proposal in light of the material on Jews and Gentiles with which I began our investigation. Once in the Diaspora, the gospel spread so quickly to Gentiles because Gen- tiles were present in synagogues to hear it. These Gentiles would demonstrate their reception of the gospel, we can suppose, by voluntarily doing something never demanded of them by’ the synagogue: they relinquished completely their native observances, most especially the worship of idols."' And the original apostles would have readily accepted these Gentiles, because such a response was consonant with a prominent (indeed predominant) strain of Jewish apocalyptic expectation with which the earliest movement—also Jewish, also apocalyptic—aligned itself. Gentile reception of the gospel of the coming Kingdom and their sub- sequent repudiation of idolatry, in other words, would seem one more ‘proof’—as Jesus’ resurrection itself—that the Kingdom was, indeed, at hand.** The ekklesia, this mixed association of Jews and Gentiles, would then form as a subgroup within the synagogue. Paul then would persecute the Jewish members of this group precisely because they permitted (uncircumcised) Gentiles as members, 1 do not see how this can work. The same factors that explain the early apostles’ ready inclusion of Gentiles—namely standard Jewish practice toward sympathizers, on the one hand, and a Strong and articulated apocalyptic tradition, on the other —make “© This mission is usually associated withthe Hellenists, who are then construed 1s somehow in opposition to the Aramaic-speaking care troup of disiplesseo, a. M. Hengel, Bern Jesus and Paul (Philadelphia, 1983); also Acts and the History of Earliest Christianity (Philadelphia, 1979), J. G. Gages, “Some Notes on Paul's Conversion, NTS 27 (1981), 700 3 ef W. D Davier's discussion, Paul sand Jewish Christinnity’, Jews and Poulin Studies v7o: Sanders, PLP tof * On this expectation in other Jewish literature, above p. ses. Paul too rigor ously insists that his Gentle in Christ absolutely abandon their idols (and oo, fornication; eg. 1 Thess. 1: 9 ff; 1 Cor. s: 11, 6 of, 10: 7-23; ef. 2Cor. & '5-7:4 Gal. 4: 1-11, which probably accounts for some of their confusions regarding food, e.g 1 Cor. 8 1-13, of. to: 18), No synagogue would do this is an eschatological demand to male of Gentle. In it we see the strength of the

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