THE ‘G-D-FEARERS’

Then and Now

 

By Ashirah Yosefah

 

“A man should be forever G-d-fearing in the innermost recesses of his heart,

acknowledge the truth, and speak the truth in his heart.”

(Siddur, Tehillat Hashem, Morning Prayers)

 

“There shall be one law for you and for the resident stranger; it shall be a law for all time throughout the ages.  You and the stranger shall be alike before HASHEM; the same ritual and the same rule shall apply to you and to the stranger who resides among you.”

(Bemidar 15:15-16, JPS Tanach, 1999)

 

 

In 1976, in a quiet fertile valley in Southwest Turkey, in an area known in ancient times as Caria, Kenan T. Erim, an archaeologist and art historian at New York University, was overseeing a team excavating the site destined for construction of a museum, when the trowel of a Turkish woman on the team suddenly struck something very sold and immoveable.  What she had inadvertently discovered was a massive, square marble pillar that had once stood in the ancient Roman city of Aphrodisias, so named after the G-ddess Aphrodite.  This pillar, however, had nothing to do with the erstwhile G-ddess of love and its inscription made that clear.  On two sides, line after line of Greek inscription appeared, listing 126 donor names clearly and others that had worn away with time.  According to Robert F. Tannebaum in an article published on Biblical Archaeology Online, entitled Jews and G-d-Fearers in the Holy City of Aphrodite: 

 

“What made this inscription special was that it was installed by the Jewish community of Aphrodisias. Before this, scholars hadn’t even known there was a Jewish community at Aphrodisias. Moreover, this was the longest Jewish inscription ever recovered from the Classical world. … The inscription seems to date to the early third century, about 210 A.D. It is a list of donors—126 of them preserved, perhaps a few more missing. They had contributed to a fund for the construction of a building for community use—the same kind of list that might be found on the wall of a modern synagogue.”

 

The inscription referred to 54 of these donors as theosebeis.  Their names were Gentile, not Jewish.  Who were they?  Robert F. Tannebaum provides an answer:

 

“On Greek inscriptions from Rome to the Crimea, people called theosebeis (plural of theosebes) appear from time to time. The word means “G-d-fearers.” Although none of these G-d-fearers have identifiably Jewish names, they nonetheless donate to Jewish causes. Many scholars have sought to equate these theosebeis with men and women mentioned in Acts as “those who fear G-d” (hoi phoboumenoi ton theon), or, alternatively as hoi sebomenoi ton theon (sebomenoi is from the same verbal root [sebeo] as it appears in theosebeis). Whether or not Luke’s G-d-fearers are the theosebeis of the inscriptions is, however, a hotly disputed conclusion.  The people mentioned by Luke in Acts include many of Paul’s first converts; who and what they were is therefore of great importance for understanding the earliest history of the Church and the nature of Paul’s mission.  Paul finds these people in synagogues. He begins speeches in these synagogues with “Men of Israel and those who fear G-d” as though Jews and G-d-fearers are two different categories of people who attend the synagogue service. Luke calls some of them “Greeks” meaning non-Jews.

 

Over a century ago, it was pointed out that G-d-fearers as a description also fits a class of people mentioned in the Talmud,b the yirei shamayim, “those who fear (i.e., revere) Heaven (i.e., G-d).” The yirei shamayim were gentiles interested in Judaism, but not enough to convert; some rabbis said these gentiles would have a share in the resurrection; others argued that they would have to convert first. If these yirei shamayim are the same as the theosebeis of the inscriptions, then we must recognize a great number of gentile fellow-travelers scattered all over the Roman empire; in that case, it would not be surprising that Paul encountered them in the synagogues.

 

… The theosebeis are listed separately from the Jews; and although not all of the Jews on the list have Jewish names, the majority of them do.  The theosebeis not only donate to a Jewish community charity, two of them are members of the Jewish association for, among other things, study and prayer, referred to in the introduction to the inscription. It is clear that the theosebeis are gentiles interested in the Jewish religion, and attached, however loosely, to the Jewish community. The word theosebeis is just another version of “G-d-fearer.” If that is true at Aphrodisias, it is probably true elsewhere, where theosebeis also contribute to Jewish causes.

 

G-d-fearer then is a catch-all term covering a wide spectrum of degrees of interest in Judaism—from the half-hearted to the fully committed—but short of actual conversion.

To what extent did G-d-fearers feel bound by Jewish law? The Talmud lists generalized requirements—“the seven commandments [given] to the Sons of Noah,” (i.e., non-Jews)—that sometimes seem to apply to G-d-fearers; but these talmudic lists differ. Diaspora Jewish religious texts in Greek from the second century B.C. to the second century A.D. (the pseudepigrapha) contain lists of what gentiles must do to be saved. But these lists vary even more. It appears that there were no fixed rules for G-d-fearers to follow, just desirable attitudes they ought to acquire.  … Yet some G-d-fearers in Aphrodisias studied the law; many elsewhere observed the Sabbath rest and other customs. The extent to which they obeyed Jewish law seems to have been up to the G-d-fearers themselves.

 

To be a G-d-fearer, then, meant to share in the advantages of Judaism (monotheism, a divinely revealed system of ethics, a hope of immortality and of salvation to come) without having to take on the disadvantages (painful circumcision, 613 commandments, a life hedged about with observances and avoidances). This helps explain why there were so many G-d-fearers in Aphrodisias—perhaps nearly as many as Jews.”

 

Reflecting on the archaeological evidence from the Aphrodisias dig and similar finds in other Mediterranean locations, Tannenbaum makes the observation:

 

“We have, then, a widespread phenomenon of Judaizing gentiles in the synagogues: What are they doing there? The Aphrodisias inscription shows us that some devote themselves to study and prayer, just as Jews do.”

 

Jewish historian Josephus noticed this phenomenon as well and commented on it more than once:

 

“But no one need wonder that there was so much wealth in our Temple, for all the Jews throughout the habitable world, and fearers of G-d, even those from Asia and Europe, had been contributing to it for a very long time.” (Josephus, Antiquities. 14.110).

 

“[the Antiochian Jews] were constantly attracting to their religious ceremonies multitudes of Greeks, and these they had in some measure incorporated with themselves …” (Josephus, Wars of the Jews 7.45)”

 

This phenomenon has not escaped the eye of other religions.  In Baha’i Library Online, in an article entitled Christianity from a Baha’i Perspective, Robert Stockman notes as follows:

 

“The most successful missionaries of all were the Jews. Hellenistic culture had a tendency toward monotheism, and only one people firmly believed in one G-d. Jewish missionaries, like modern Christian evangelists, were self-appointed and itinerant. They preached in synagogues and in the marketplaces. A group of people, called G-d fearers, came into existence who read the Hebrew Bible (in its standard Greek translation), who often attended synagogue, who did not work on the Sabbath, yet who did not desire to undergo the pains of circumcision, the rigors of the Jewish dietary laws, or the inconvenience of following all the moral principles.  …   But sometimes the children of G-d-fearers became Jews. No one knows what fraction of the diaspora Jews were converts, but it is known that of the Roman Empire's approximately sixty million people, between four and six million were Jews. Most cities in the eastern Roman Empire had significant Jewish populations; Alexandria, Egypt was reported to be one third Jewish.”

These G-d-fearers had adopted Jewish traditions along with observance of the Seven Universal Laws and they attended synagogue services, but they were not full converts and did not want to submit to circumcision.

 

These gentile G-d-fearers combine the Jewish traditions, ethics and morality with their observance of the Seven Universal Laws.  They attended synagogue services, but were not full converts and did not want to submit to circumcision. It is likely that these were the G-d-fearing gentiles mentioned in the Christian gospels, particularly throughout the Books of Acts.  They restricted themselves to the observance of certain leading points of the Jewish law and often worshipped in the synagogues of the time, but they were not regarded as an integral part of Jewish communities. Their level of association with the Jewish communities and synagogues varied according to the individual or family.  They were not Jews by birth or conversion; they were known simply as “G-d-fearers”.  They were monotheistic, believed in the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and guarded the Torah covenant for the nations.  They fellowshipped and lived amidst the Jewish communities as a distinct entity, but an accepted neighbor.  Then came Christianity …

 

Robert Stockman comments on this development in his article Jews and G-d-Fearers in the Holy City of Aphrodite:

 

“For those G-d-fearers who hesitated to join Judaism because of its laws and its ethnicity, Christianity represented an ideal alternative. As a result they joined Christianity in great numbers; Jewish missionaries had unconsciously laid the foundation for Christian growth. Christian missionaries followed the same approaches used by Jewish missionaries; they spoke at synagogues, gave speeches in the marketplace, and met with fellow members of their ethnic group or profession. According to the Book of Acts (16:13), on the Sabbath Paul visited a "place of prayer," probably a synagogue. By attending synagogue services, early Christian missionaries would have made contact with those sympathetic to the new religion such as the G-d-fearers.”

 

Throughout the Roman Empire, nearly every city contained Gentile converts to Judaism. The Tanach had been translated into Greek and many believed and practiced monotheism as exemplified and taught by Jews.  Historical records indicate that part of the impetus for Constantine to create a new state religion (Christianity) was his fear of loosing control of his subjects due to the increasing numbers of Jews and Jewish converts in his empire.  He had to find some substitute, a religious placebo, to pacify those attracted to Jewish monotheism, while accommodating the pagan rituals of others.  Christianity was his solution.  He borrowed the Jewish roots of the relatively new Nazarene messianic movement, then gradually mixed in elements of pagan worship, creating ‘new’ Christian traditions with roots in paganism, such as Mitras/Christmas, Ishtar/Easter, etc. 

 

The Nazarenes (usually regarded as the ‘original Christians’) were nearly all Jews.  Christianity was neither named nor established as a religion until the Council of Nicea in 325 CE.  During the early years of the Nazarene movement, the faith they taught was essentially Judaism, albeit with their particular messianic focus on Jesus/Yeshua, who, at the time was not regarded as a divine being.  The Nazarenes believed him to be messiah, but as a man in accordance with the traditional Jewish understanding of the person and role of the Messiah to come.  At the time of the Jerusalem Council, when James was asked to rule on what guidelines to give the gentile converts joining the Nazarene movement (people referred to as G-d-fearers), James advised them to keep the Seven Universal Laws (Acts 15:13-31).  He was not giving them a new religion to follow, nor was he trying to convert them to Judaism.  James, as the appointed elder of the Nazarenes, was simply stating the provisions of the Torah covenant that exists for the non-Jewish nations of the world.

 

Many of the ancient G-d-fearers longed for a stronger identification with Israel and a greater acceptance as part of the Jewish people, but held themselves at a distance because of their resistance to circumcision and the many disciplines involved in observing the Halachic Torah Laws.  When the missionary Paul developed his doctrine that the Torah had been done away with, replaced by his concept of grace and Christian freedom, he also promoted the concept of a new ‘spiritual Israel’.  This new religious entity contained a promise of community and inclusion that appealed to many among the G-d-fearers.  Paul’s doctrines offered them salvation in return for confession and baptism, which was much less intimidating than being circumcised.  The yearning prevalent among the G-d-fearers to be identified as part of Israel was quenched by assuming a new identification as ‘spiritual Israel’.  Paul offered the gentiles and the G-d-fearers amongst them a ‘best of both worlds’ panacea.  Hundreds of gentiles and G-d-fearers joined the ranks of Nazarenes.  This number continued to grow and became absorbed into Christianity, by the millions, after Constantine established it as the state religion of the Roman Empire, further expanding its religious offerings to include traditions familiar enough to be comfortable to the masses involved in paganism.  In time, the term G-d-fearer faded into antiquity, replaced for the most part by the title ‘Christian’.

 

It is evident from archaeological and historical records that at the beginning of the ‘Christian’ or ‘Common’ era, there were many gentile monotheists observing the Seven Universal Laws for mankind and even practicing many Jewish traditions, living and worshipping as compatible neighbors amidst Jewish communities.  Did such a phenomenon exist prior to the Christian era?  It did and perhaps even more so.

 

Going back in time to Mt. Sinai, the Torah makes it clear that after Hashem established the special covenant with Israel as His witnesses, a nation of kings and priests, Gentiles were not excluded from the hope of having a share in the World to Come.  In fact, when the Torah was given, we find specific mention that the Midianite priest Yithro traveled to join Moshe and the Children of Israel in order to convert to Judaism.  Throughout the Tanach we read of such converts:  Yithro, Rachab and Ruth being perhaps the most famous.  However, there is even more evidence in Tanach of the gentiles who did not convert.  These gentiles are recorded as having lived righteous lives in accordance with Torah’s guidelines for the nations of the world:  A special covenant which Israel was commanded by Hashem to teach to the nations by being a “light unto the nations”.  It is worthwhile to note that the Rambam in Hilchot Malachim (Laws of Kings), Sefer Shoftim, states that Moshe Rabbeinu commanded Jews from Hashem’s Word to compel the whole world to accept the Sheva Mitzvot.

 

Israel’s status as Hashem’s ‘Chosen People’ did not, and does not, mean that she alone merits salvation and Gentiles must convert have a share in the World to Come.  Quite the contrary, Israel was chosen and set aside for a specific priestly role as teachers of G-d’s existence and His Word to the world.  The teacher must always adhere to a more stringent level of behavior in order to be an effective role model.  It is not an easy task.  It might seem in Torah that Hashem rebukes Israel for being stiff-necked and stubborn, but the Ramchal (Moshe Chaim Luzzato) comments in The Knowing Heart that this ‘stiff-neckedness’ on the part of Israel is one of their most endearing qualities to Hashem.  What other nation of people could have endured the trials and persecutions that have befallen the lot of Jews and still persevered?  Certainly, the ancient civilizations alive at the time of Israel’s formation no longer exist, nor do the Persian, Babylonian and Assyrian Empires.  Tanach is filled with brutally honest accounts of the strengths and weaknesses, triumphs and failures of Jews throughout the ages.  Israel has been a role model at the best and at the worst of times.  The covenant seed-line of Moshiach was entrusted to Israel, the Torah, the Prophets, the sacrificial system and the Temple.  These privileges were bestowed on behalf of the nations and are inherent in the blessing and promise Hashem first made to Abraham, then affirmed to Isaac and later to Jacob:

 

“… and all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you.”

(Bereishis/Genesis 12:3, Rashi)

 

In an article entitled, Gentile G-d-fearers and the Jewish Rejection of the Gospel, by Rich Lusk, © 2003, the author writes:

 

“We find Gentiles who chose to remain Gentiles trusting in Israel’s G-d all over the OT. There was no reason for a Gentile who worshipped [Hashem] to submit to circumcision, unless he wanted to take up the priestly mantle himself. Melchizedek, Ishmael, Abimelech, Joseph’s Pharoah, the Egyptian mid-wives, Jethro, Naman the Syrian, Obed-edom, Hiram of Tyre, Uriah the Hittite, the Queen of Sheba, Nebuchadnezzar, Jonah’s Ninevites, and so on, all show us that the grace of G-d was not confined to the boundaries of Israel. In Numbers 15, we find Gentiles are permitted to participate in the sacrificial system. In fact the only OT rite Gentiles were excluded from as Gentiles was Passover. Their inclusion in the scope of G-d’s redemptive grace was manifested in the Feast of Tabernacles, in which 70 bulls were offered during the festival for the 70 nations of the world (cf. Gen. 10).”

 

[See also Numbers 29:12-38 – Note, however, that the bringing of sacrifices to the Temple by gentiles did not include permission to perform any of the commandments designated for the Levites and Cohanim; nor were the sacrificial requirements the same as those designated specifically for Israel in the role as Hashem’s nation of witnesses.]

When David haMelek triumphantly and joyously escorted the Ark of the Covenant from the house of Obed-Edom into the City of David (1Chronicles 16), he composed and sang a song of praise to the G-d of Israel that included calling upon the nations to bring tribute to Hashem in Jerusalem:

 

“Ascribe to Hashem, O families of the peoples,

Ascribe to Hashem glory and strength.

Ascribe to Hashem the glory of His Name,

Bring tribute and enter before Him,

Bow down to Hashem majestic in holiness.”

(1 Chronicles 16:28-29)

 

These verses echo prophetically the future time foretold by the Prophet Yeshayahu:

 

“As for the foreigners who attach themselves to HASHEM, to minister to Him, and to love the name of HASHEM, to be His servants – all who keep the Sabbath and do not profane it, and who hold fast to My covenant – I will bring them to My sacred mount and let them rejoice in My house of prayer.  Their burnt offerings and sacrifices shall be welcome on My altar; for My House shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

(Yeshayahu 56:6-7, JPS Tanach, 1999)

 

Conversion, therefore, is not a requirement for a non-Jew to live righteously before G-d and merit eternal life.  The Seven Universal Laws for all mankind (including Jews) are.  They are the basic requirements for a relationship of truth and integrity before G-d and man.  Each commandment is a portal to increasing levels of Torah observance should the individual so desire, but as with any sound structure, a solid foundation must first be laid.  Those who guard these Seven Laws have been called “G-d-fearers” since ancient times.

 

In our day, we are witnessing a resurgence of “G-d-fearers’ by the hundreds of thousands around the world.  A surging wave of teshuvah is engulfing the nations – an unmistakable move of Hashem.  Their identities are obscured by the names of the various religious movements in which they find themselves, but the pull on their heart comes from antiquity, from a mountain called Sinai, where the G-d of Israel made a covenant with Israel and entrusted them with His Covenant for the nations.  The G-d of Israel does not forsake His promises, nor does He break His covenants.  Hashem’s tidal wave of teshuvah is sweeping across nations just as the Tsunami swept across Southeast Asia in 2004.  Many have been caught off guard and few ‘aid agencies’ were in place when this surge began, but, thank G-d, they are assembling now.  With G-d’s help and a good measure of humility on both sides of a long-standing divide, may we all merit seeing Israel and the nations prepare themselves to welcome the Messianic Age and proclaim the One True G-d.

 

“Let Israel declare, His steadfast love is eternal.

Let the house of Aaron declare, His steadfast love is eternal.

Let those who fear Hashem declare, His steadfast love is eternal.”

(Tehillim 118: 2-4)