Who was the first Jew in the nominal sense?

[aball1035]

Although Adam followed God in the Old Testament, and therefore could be counted as Jewish in a sense, when did Judaism as we know it from the Old Testament (with a priesthood, temple and sacrifice) come about? Was it Abraham?

[marty1818]

This might clarify things for you:

http://forums.catholic.com/showthrea...ight=first+jew

[KScoyote]

The covenant was made with Abram.

Jacob's name was change to Israel.

The family fathers were the priests and offered sacrifice for the sins of their families until the golden calf sin in the desert. 3000 were killed and the men of the tribe of Levi were then installed as the priests for the nation of Israel.

the Tabernacle was made and served as the place of the alter of God until Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem.

Fun reading, Genesis and Exodus.

There is much I left out, and I encourage you to read it for yourself.

[EricFilmer]

Originally Posted by aball1035

Although Adam followed God in the Old Testament, and therefore could be counted as Jewish in a sense...

It has always been my understanding that the religion of Judaism formally began with God's covenant with Abraham. This was when God began working his plan of salvation for humanity through a chosen people. Prior to this were God's covenants with Adam and Noah, but these were universal covenants rather than focusing on any one particular group of people. Nevertheless, the actual name "Judaism" does not date back to the time of Abraham (as is explained in the link provided by marty1818).

...when did Judaism as we know it from the Old Testament (with a priesthood, temple and sacrifice) come about? Was it Abraham?

Prior to the Exodus event, the male head of a household was considered a priest. It was his responsibility to erect an altar outside and make sacrifices to God on behalf of himself and his family. There was no temple, nor was there a specific occupational priesthood (with the possible exception of the mysterious Melchizedek, described in Genesis as a priest-king).

This was the way of things from the beginning with Adam and through the time of the Patriarchs (i.e., Abraham, Issac, Jacob, etc.). This was also the way things were still done initially during the time of Moses (for example, at the Passover, note how the head of the household did the priestly function of sacrificing the lamb).

Things changed after the apostasy event in the wilderness involving the golden calf (Exodus 32). At that point, God ordained that priestly duties, including making sacrifices, would exclusively be performed by the male members of Aaron's tribe (the Levites). They were entrusted with doing such functions on behalf of all the Hebrews. The Book of Leviticus was primarily written to describe their duties. Nevertheless, at this time there was still no temple (the closest thing to the temple was a special mobile tent constructed to house the Ark of the Covenant).

Centuries later, King David desired to build an actual temple in Jerusalem to house the Ark of the Covenant and have an altar for sacrifices. But God ordained that his son, Solomon, would be the one to actually construct it so the temple used in Judaism came into being during the reign of King Solomon. It was later destroyed by the Babylonians. A second temple was rebuilt during the time of the Persian Empire (when the Hebrews were allowed to re-settle the Holy Land) but it was destroyed in A.D. 70 by the Romans. FWIW, the Ark of the Covenant disappears from the biblical narrative after the Babylonian invasion. Therefore, the second temple never housed it, although the second temple was still important in Judaism, being the place for making sacrifices (among other religious functions).

[Julia Mae]

Originally Posted by aball1035

Although Adam followed God in the Old Testament, and therefore could be counted as Jewish in a sense, when did Judaism as we know it from the Old Testament (with a priesthood, temple and sacrifice) come about? Was it Abraham?

Abraham and the People of the Covenant, who came to be called Hebrews and much later Jews, had a Prophet-centered belief system. That was maybe 400 ye rs or so? Then there were Judges. During this time, the Levites were designated to be priests.

No Temple.

As for Sacrifice, EVERYONE had sacrifice, all religions practice some form of sacrifice. The hallmarks, or unique characteristics, of the Hebrews were the Covenant, One God and the Law. The thing that has always been part of the People of the Covenant under any name is the Law.

Anyway, about 700 yrs in, after they get to Canaan, they ask for a King. God doesn't think this is a good idea, but they insist and so they start having Kings and almost immediately break into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. So, the Kingdom of the Judeans gives us the word "Jew" or "Judaism." The Northern Kingdom is decimated, they are all run off and start their own scattering of communities, but they still have the Law and the priests and the Covenant. Then, later on, the rest of them get scattered, with the largest number being in Babylon, where they did quite well.

See, their conquerors never insisted they stop being Jews, so they just regroup. It was during the last Babylonian exile that, scholars believe, the writings of the two Kingdoms were combined into the Scriptures we have today.

When the Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem, a lot of them didn't go, they had a good thing in Babylonia. Some zealous sorts went and started rebuilding the Temple. There was also a Temple in Egypt, BTW, which had about a 40% Jewish population.

So, most of the Jews were actually NOT in Jerusalem/Palestine and most of them never saw the Temple, like most of us will never see the Lateran Palace.

After the final razing of the Temple in 70AD, there would have been probably 3 million Jews in various places all over what we call the known world, all connected by the Law, by the culture and practice of their faith and still, 1500 years after Abraham, still the People of the Covenant. They then moved to a 4th sytem, called Rabbinical Judaism, which is pretty much, I think, what we still have.

[DPMartin]

Originally Posted by aball1035

Although Adam followed God in the Old Testament, and therefore could be counted as Jewish in a sense, when did Judaism as we know it from the Old Testament (with a priesthood, temple and sacrifice) come about? Was it Abraham?

Aball

Abraham was the first Jew in the normal sense, as in by flesh. There is the circumcised (Jew) and the un-circumcised (none Jew) though there are circumcised Gentiles they may have not been circumcised with the intent of them being Jewish. Judaism is a “ism” name brought about through Jewish history and or Theology, google it. Temple and such, is in the days of Moses, he wrote the first five books in the OT, also known as the Torah (the Law and Commandments).

[Publisher]

There is no way to tell..."Jew" is the designation of those who returned from "Captivity"...majority was the tribe of Judah....the "lost 10 tribes" of Israel were assimilated into the Babylonian culture and it's surrounding neighbors....there were no "Jews" prior to the "Return".....around 600BCE

[patrick457]

Originally Posted by aball1035

Although Adam followed God in the Old Testament, and therefore could be counted as Jewish in a sense, when did Judaism as we know it from the Old Testament (with a priesthood, temple and sacrifice) come about? Was it Abraham?

Let's first sort out the terms.

It seems that the very first adage for the Israelites was ʿIḇrîm "Hebrews," named after either the patriarch Eber (Genesis 10:21) or from the word עָבַר (ʿāḇár 'to pass', 'to traverse', 'to cross over'). Some even postulate a connection with the mysterious Asiatic nomads known to the many ancient Near Eastern peoples as the Habiru. 'Hebrew' is mostly taken as synonymous with 'Israelite', especially in the pre-monarchic period when they were still nomadic. "Israelites" (or more literally, the "sons of Israel") is said to derive of course from Jacob's other name.

Near-exclusive use of the term "Judahite"/ "Judaean" / "Jew" for the chosen people as a whole is a later conceit, coming from after the return from the Exile to Babylon.