5/19/2023 0 Comments Ancient jews in dispersio![]() This verb appears in only three instances in the NT (Acts 8:1b, 4 11:19). These scattered communities were to view their lives on earth as temporary (thus, as aliens, sojourners, pilgrims, or foreigners who belonged to heaven). In 1 Peter 1:1, Peter described his audience as “God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.” Like the use of James, the Petrine diaspora refers to the scattered communities outside Palestine. The mention of the “twelve tribes” probably refers to the literal twelve tribes of the nation of Israel, although some scholars have seen the “twelve tribes” as a figurative reference to the true people of God (thus, broadening the Jewish roots to include the Church of James’ day). In James 1:1, James greeted “the twelve tribes scattered among the nations” in his salutation. ![]() In John 7:35, the Jews in Palestine raised the questions, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?” Through these questions by the Jews, I see their use of diaspora (“scattered”) as a reference to the Jewish minority in the midst of other religions-in this case the Greek-speaking environment. The verbal substantive, diaspora, commonly translated as “scattered,” occurs only three times in the NT (John 7:35 James 1:1 1 Peter 1:1). The term diaspora is found in the New Testament, the LXX (or Septuagint), related Old Testament words, and extra-biblical literature during the biblical period. The purpose of this article is twofold: (1) to survey how diaspora is used in the Bible and during biblical times and (2) to describe how Jewish diaspora (including Jewish Christian diaspora) is related to Christian missions. In this article, the term diaspora will be used as a reference to the Jewish dispersion throughout the known world during the biblical period. ![]() However, the applicability of the use of diaspora has been widened to any religious or racial minority living within the territory of another religious or political society. It is also the technical name for all the nations outside of Palestine where Jewish people had come to live. The term diaspora refers to the Jewish dispersion (i.e., to the scattering of Jews outside Palestine). ![]()
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