Gentile

Gentile is an anglicized version of the Latin word gentilis, meaning of or belonging to a clan or tribe. In some translations of the Bible it is used to refer to non-Israelite tribes or nations, as the English translation of the Hebrew words goy (גוי) and nochri (נכרי—"stranger"). The Hebrew plural word goyim is sometimes translated as "the nations." Today, the primary meaning of Gentile is simply a "non-Jew."

Etymology

In the Hebrew Bible the terms "goy" and "goyim" were sometimes applied both to Israelites and to non-Israelites (Gen. 12:2, Ex. 33:10; Deut. 4:7 etc.). However, they are employed in many other passages to designate nations that are politically distinct from Israel (Deut. 15:6, Josh. 23:4, etc.). From this use is derived the meaning "stranger" (Deut. 29:24). Since the non-Israelites were worships of other gods, goy came to denote a "heathen."

The Latin term gentilis relates to gens (from which also derive gene, general, genus, and genesis). The original meaning of "clan" or "family" was extended in post-Augustan Latin to the wider meaning of belonging to a distinct nation or ethnicity. Later still the word came to mean "foreign," i.e. non-Roman. After the Christianization of the empire it could also be used of pagan or barbarian cultures. In Saint Jerome's Latin version of the Bible, the Vulgate, gentilis was used in this wider sense to translate both Greek and Hebrew words with similar meanings that referred to the non-Israelite peoples.

In the King James Version, "Gentile" is one of several words used to translate goy or goyim. It is translated as "nation" 374 times, "heathen" 143 times, "Gentiles" 30 times, and "people" 11 times. In the New Testament, the word translates Greek terms for peoples in general, and is used specifically to indicate non-Jewish peoples, as in Jesus's command to the apostles in Matthew 10:5-6:

These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

Altogether, the word Gentile(s) is used 123 times in the King James Version of the Bible.

Biblical attitude

The ancient biblical writers displayed a passionate intolerance toward the immorality connected with the goyim. The Canaanite tribes in particular constituted a constant temptation for the Israelites to engage in forbidden idolatrous practices. Because of this, the seven "goyim," i.e., the Gentile nations of Canaan (Deut. 7:1), were to be treated with little mercy. More especially, marriages with them were not to be tolerated (Deut. 7:3, Ex. 34:16). Nevertheless, some biblical books do mention marriages with non-Hebrews (Ruth 1:4, 2 Sam. 3:3, Judges 3:6, 2 Sam. 11:3, I Kings 11: 1). This shows that in practice, intermarriage was not uncommon.

Despite this hostility to foreign influence, the "stranger," whether merely a visitor or a foreign resident, received protection under the Law. The native-born Israelite was enjoined to love him (Lev. 19:34): "The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself." Recourse to the courts was open to him (Ex. 22:21, Deut. 24:17), and "one law and one statute" was to apply to native and stranger alike (Lev. 24:22, Num. 9:14, Ex. 12:49). However, the stranger was expected to refrain from the worship of idols (Lev. 20:2, Ezek. 14:7), from eating blood (Lev. 17:10), working on Sabbath (Ex. 20:10), and eating leavened bread on Passover (Ex. 12:19). In practice, however, the kings of Judah provided altars for resident foreigners to venerate non-Israelite deities, a fact much criticized by the prophets and authors of the Deuteronomic history.

In some cases, non-Israelites figure as exemplars of fidelity (Abraham's servent Eliezer), devotion (Ruth), piety (Job), and worship of Yahweh (Jethro). The Book of Isaiah's welcome and promise to the "sons of the stranger" (Isa. 56:3-6) displays the polar opposite of the spirit of exclusiveness often thought to be characteristic of Judaism.

Under Ezra and Nehemiah, on the other hand, rigorous measures were enforced to insure the purity of the seed of Abraham (Neh. 9:2, Ezra 9:2, etc.), namely the requirement of Jewish men to divorce their Gentile wives. However, this attitude was balanced by the teachings of the Book of Ruth, which shows that a Gentile woman was the great-grandmother of none other than King David, and the Book of Jonah, which shows God's compassionate providence for the citizen of the Gentile city of Nineveh.

Judaism's maturing attitude to Gentiles

In pre-exilic times commerce between Israelites and Gentiles was not very active or extensive, and non-Israelites such as the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians often appeared as enemies. The Babylonian exile brought "Israel" into closer contact with "non-Israel." The books of Ruth and Jonah are also documentary evidence that the Hebrew racialism of Ezra met with strenuous opposition.

The rise of Alexander the Great brought Judaism of the Second Temple era into more direct confrontation with Greek culture as a sometimes antagonistic force. The Maccabean revolution represented a bitter struggle against militant Hellenism. Occasional persecution under various Roman administrations intensified this antagonism. The Essenes, especially in the War Scroll, saw the Romans as enemy kittim against whom the Son of Light would fight in the Last Day.

In New Testament times, a lively and sometimes heated debate over relations with Gentiles was conducted between the disciples of the Pharisaic sages Hillel and Shammai, the former taking a more liberal view toward commerce with non-Jews and the later taking the stricter attitude. The Jewish teacher Jesus of Nazareth himself seems to have sided with Hillel for the most part in this debate. Jesus' dialog with the "expert in the Law" in Luke 10 typifies this debate. Here, Jesus and the halakhic authority agree that "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind" and "Love your neighbor as yourself" are the two most important commandments in the Torah. The crucial question followed: "Who is my neighbor?"

The early Christian movement—still at this time basically a Jewish sect—would soon face a major crisis over the question of relations with Gentiles, when Paul of Tarsus insisted that Gentiles be admitted to full membership without first converting to Judaism. Soon, Judaism and Christianity would part ways altogether.

Meanwhile, increasing Roman persecution resulted in the ascendancy of those rabbinical authorities who took a hard line against commerce with Gentiles. Later, Jewish revolts under the emperors Titus and Hadrian intensified the sense of antagonism between Jews and non-Jews.

Talmudic views of Gentiles

In judging the later halakic laws concerning Gentiles, one must keep in mind the desperate situation of the Jews. No longer in possession of a land of their own and living among people who at times treated them as enemies, Judaism was engaged in a struggle for self-preservation. Thus, the rabbis of the Mishnah, though not always antagonistic toward Gentiles, generally emphasized the need for separation and sometimes showed outright disdain for non-Jewish culture. As with many Talmudic subjects, their opinions on the matter were far from unanimous.

According to Rabbi Eliezer, the maxim "Love and benevolence exalteth a nation" refers to Israel, while whatever charity the Gentiles practice is actually motivated by self-glorification. Several other tannaim (earlier rabbinical sages) agreed. But Rabbi Neḥunya ben ha-Ḳana interpreted the same maxim as follows: "'Righteousness exalteth a nation,' for benevolence, both for Israel and for the Gentiles, is a sin-offering." Gamaliel II is reported to have repealed an obnoxious law allowing Jews to use property stolen from Gentiles. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, however, held that the mind of every non-Jew is always intent upon idolatry (Giṭ. 45b) and that Gentiles have no share in the life to come (Sanh. 105a). On the contrary, Joshua ben Hananiah contends that there are righteous men among the Gentiles, and that these will enter the world to come (Tosef., Sanh. 13:2). He is of the decided opinion that Gentiles may lead a righteous life and thus escape hell.

Akiva, like Hillel, declared the command to love one's neighbor as oneself (Lev. 19:18) to be the fundamental proposition of religion (Yer. Ned. 41c; Gen. R. 24). And once again, the question revolved around defining who is one's neighbor. Akiva himself was a strong Jewish nationalist who supported the Bar Kochba revolt against Rome in the mid second century. Among Akiva's disciples, Tarphon is noted for his antipathy to the Jewish Christians, whose books he would burn without regard for the name of God occurring within them (Shab. 116a). On the other hand Rabbi Meir showed a particularly inclusive attitude when he insisted that a non-Jew versed in the Torah equals in rank the high priest (Sanh. 59a, Sifra 86b). He was also an intimate acquaintance with the Gentile philosopher Euonymos of Gadara.

Simon ben Yochai, on the other hand, was the preeminently the anti-Gentile teacher. He is infamously quoted as declaring (Yer. Ḳid. 66c; Massek. Soferim xv. 10, etc), "The best among the Gentiles deserves to be killed." Judah ben 'Illai recommended the daily recital of the benediction, "Blessed be Thou... who hast not made me a goy" (Men. 43b). The great sage Judah ha-Nasi, on the other hand, makes a distinction between those Gentiles that subjected Israel those that did not.

Practical relations with Gentiles

In later diaspora Judaism, discrimination against Gentiles, while technically allowed, were nevertheless seldom practiced. The principal drawback was the fear of "profaning the Holy Name." Despite the stereotypes perpetuated by fictional characters such as Shakespeare's Shylock, it was considered necessary to overlook legal quibbles which might appear unjust in the eyes of the world, and which would reflect on the good name and integrity of the Jewish nation and its religion. The preservation, "for the sake of peace," of the friendly relations between Jew and Gentile, and the avoidance of enmity, were considered paramount (Ab. Zarah 26a; B. Ḳ. 113b).

On the other hand, it would naturally be quite unsafe to trust a Gentile as a witness, either in a criminal case or in a civil suit. He could not be depended upon to keep his promise or word of honor (Bek. 13b). On the other hand, documents and deeds prepared by Gentile notaries in their courts were to be admitted as valid evidence (Giṭ. i. 4). Rabbi Simeon even validates a Jewish writ of divorce signed by a Gentile notary (ibid). A Gentile's testimony to a man's death was sometimes held sufficient to release a woman from her marriage bond and to permit her to marry again (Giṭ. 28b).

Present Status of the Gentile

With the conversion of Gentiles to Christianity or to Islam, their status as "heathens" made obsolete the restrictions placed on the ancient Gentile. For Orthodox Jews, the main distinctions between Jews and Gentiles today is that Gentiles are required to keep only the Noachide laws, those rules supposedly given by God to Noah and his descendants, while Jews are required to keep the entire corpus of the 613 Mosaic laws.

Contemporary Jews generally hold that the anti-Gentile laws were not expunged from the rabbinic literature after the advent of Christianity mainly because of the persecutions and the barbaric treatment of the Jews in the Middle Ages. A gradual decrease of rabbinic animosity toward Gentiles may be seen by comparing the various halakic codes and collections of responsa, with rabbinical animosity toward Gentiles reoccurring mainly in times of persecution and diminishing in times of peace.

For example, the early prohibitions against a Jewish physician offering his services to a Gentile patient was contrary to the general practice of the Jews in the Middle Ages. Maimonides himself became the physician of Sultan Saladin in Egypt. The prohibition against the employment of a Gentile nurse or midwife was modified by an eminent authority with "so long as there is a Jew living in that town who is liable to come into the house" (Moses of Coucy, "Semag," § 45). Nowadays animosity of Jews toward Gentiles has become almost entirely a thing of a the past, except in exceptional cases where nationalistic or religious hatred becomes inflames.

Christian usage

Both the concept of Gentiles and the term itself have also been used throughout Christian history. Jesus reportedly used the term in such expressions as:

• Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.—Matthew 10:5
• On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.—Matthew 10:18
• You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.—Matthew 20:25
• Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.—Luke 21:24

Saint Paul was reportedly chosen as the apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15), and the issue of Jewish-Gentile relations became a major bone of contention between Paul and the leaders of the Jerusalem Church (Acts 11). Paul is reported to have begun his ministry in various cities by preaching first to Jews and only later to Gentiles (Acts 13:46). Only after the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. and the consequent scattering of the formerly central Jerusalem church did Christianity emerge as a religion primarily for Gentiles, but with Jewish roots.

Several of the Church Fathers referred to non-Christians a Gentiles, and this tradition continued into the Middle Ages, when Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote his Summa Contra Gentiles. Throughout much of Christian history the term was used synonymously with "infidel." As recently as the early twentieth century, the Catholic Encyclopedia stated, "The word Gentiles designates, in theological parlance, those who are neither Jews nor Christians." Numerous Protestant writers also used the term Gentile to refer to non-believers.

In the terminology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often refers generally to non-members of the LDS Church. In such usage, even Jews may be colloquially referred to as Gentiles. The Amish, likewise, refer to those not of their particular faith as Gentiles.

See also

• Goy
• Israelite
• B'nei Noah

External links

• Jewish Encyclopedia: Gentile. Retrieved December 10, 2007.

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