Bulletin for Biblical Research 10.2 (2000) 161-180  [© 2000 Institute for Biblical Research]

 

                 )Ioudai/a in the Geographical List

                         of Acts 2:9-11 and Syria

                             as "Greater Judea"

 

                                         MARTIN HENGEL

                                      TÜBINGEN UNIVERSITY

 

            The appearance of   )Ioudai/a in the geographical list presented in Acts 2:9-

            11 has puzzled interpreters almost from the time of the publication of the

            book of Acts. It will be argued that this word should be retained in the text

            and should be understood in the light of traditional and especially messi-

            anic ideas about the extent of the promised land. The close association of

            Judea and Syria is especially important for understanding the meaning of

             )Ioudai/a in Acts 2:9-11.

 

            Keys Words:  )Ioudai/a, Syria, Diaspora, promised land / borders of Israel

 

 

Acts 2:9-11 still confronts interpreters with seemingly insoluble

problems. This text constitutes a geographical list of nations and ter-

ritories that extend from the east to the west (vv. 9 and 10), followed

by four additional groups that appear in a rather curiously stag-

gered fashion in v. 11. As a whole, this list seems rhetorically well

composed in sound and content, and the textual witness is, despite

select factual (sachliche) difficulties, on the whole surprisingly uni-

fied so that nothing speaks against the assumption that Luke com-

posed the text just as it has been transmitted to us. Except for the

beginning, the text falls mostly into pairs:

 

            9 Pa/rqoi kai_ Mh=doi kai_   )Elami=tai,

             kai_ oi( katoikou=ntej th_n Mesopotami/an,

               )Ioudai/an te kai_ Kappadoki/an,

             Po/nton kai_ th_n   )Asi/an,

            10 Frugi/an te kai_ Pamfuli/an,

              Ai!gupton kai_ ta_ me/rh th=j Libu/hj th=j kata_ Kurh/nhn,

              kai_ oi( e)pidhmou=ntej   (Rwmai=oi

162                 Bulletin for Biblical Research 10.2

 

            The list begins with the Parthians, the nation that rules the east,

and appropriately ends with the Romans, who represent the actual

world power in the west. These two powers provide a meaningful

framework for this list of nations: the three nations mentioned after

the Parthians are subjugated by them, the other areas by the Romans.

Verse 11, by contrast, disturbs this framework. Although the phrase

  )Ioudai=oi/ te kai_ prosh/lutoi, Krh=tej kai_   !Arabej fits the rhythm of

the language well, it does not seem related to the same subject mat-

ter. Why did Luke not simply end the list with the sensible ending

"Jews and proselytes?" With this ending he would have confirmed

that this list deals with the host nations—that is, the countries of the

origin of Jews who now inhabited Jerusalem and originally came out

of the Diaspora (including the proselytes) a list that should really

include the entire then-known world population of significance,

because these pious Diaspora Jews stemmed "from all nations under

the heavens."¹ According to Luke, they hear the Spirit-filled disciples

of Jesus all speak in the languages of the countries or nations in

which they had been born, languages that they themselves had spo-

ken in their childhood.²

            It is unnecessary to inquire to what extent Luke means to de-

scribe actual languages that were spoken back then by the majority

of the people and thus also by the local Diaspora Jews. The Jews in

the listed countries between the realm of the Parthians and of Rome

spoke predominantly Aramaic and Greek. It is therefore of little

value to speculate with Theodor Zahn in his commentary about the

extent to which the older national languages were still in use in Asia

minor. The Diaspora Jews who lived there would have understood

those languages as little as the Coptic in Egypt or Libyan in the

Cyrenaica. This list, which Luke adopted (as he did other lists in

Acts) from already-existing, probably written tradition, is not a list

of languages but is of a different nature. This is apparent from the

fact that it begins by naming three tribes/nations from the east, then,

beginning with "those who dwell in Mesopotamia," the names of

countries, or rather provinces, are introduced, five in Asia minor and

two (or rather, three) in Africa, whereby the whole closes again with

a nation, the Romans, just as the "Parthians, Medes, and Elamites"

from the east are listed at the beginning.

 

            1. Acts 2:5   }Hsan de_ ei)j   )Ierousalh_m katoikou=ntej   )Ioudai=oi, a!ndrej
eu)labei=j a)po_ panto_j  e!qnouj tw=n u(po_ to_n ou)rano/n. Compare Haman to Artaxerxes, earlier in

Esth 3:8 (M + LXX):   )Upa/rxei e!qnoj diesparme/non e)n toi=j e!qnesin e)n pa/sh| th|= basilei/aa|

sou.

            2. Acts 2:8, kai_ pw=j h(mei=j a)kou/omen e#kastoj th|= i)di/a| diale/ktw| h(mw=n e)n h|{

e)gennh/qhmen.

                     HENGEL:   )Ioudai/a in Acts 2:9-11                         163

 

            The "Judea" introduced between Mesopotamia and Cappadocia

and the "Cretans and Arabs" at the end remain a complete riddle. It

is this mystery that forms the focus of our present investigation.

            First, however, one must differentiate clearly between the pur-

pose of the list provided by the evangelist Luke—who certainly

intentionally shaped it this way, and who, as a well-traveled doctor

and as traveling companion to Paul, possessed solid geographical

knowledge—and the many-sided speculations concerning its deri-

vation and its original meaning.³  Luke is concerned with the sources

of the nations and countries of Jews and proselytes, who at that time

lived in Jerusalem, and he is concerned with their languages. In other

words, to him Jerusalem appears, at least concerning the geograph-

ical home of its Jewish (or converts to Judaism) citizens, to be a city

with international characteristics (Gepräge). This motif emerges sev-

eral times in Acts.

            The next parallel to our list is the listing of Greek-speaking Di-

aspora synagogues in Jerusalem (Acts 6:9), which reverses the order

of Acts 2:10. The list begins with the synagogue of the "libertines,"

that is, the Roman freedmen, then the synagogue of the Alexandrians

(Egyptian Jews) follows, and then it jumps to Cilicia (a hidden allu-

sion to Paul, who then appears in 7:58), and ends finally in the prov-

ince of Asia. We meet Jews from Asia in Jerusalem in 21:27 and Jewish

Christians from the Cyrenaica (and Cyprus) in 11:20 and 13:1. Ac-

cording to Luke, even the Alexandrian Apollos seems to have trav-

eled to Jerusalem, because he could hardly have learned of "John's

baptism" in the Egyptian metropolis (18:24-25).

            According to H. Conzelmann: "Luke is dependent upon a list of

nations which reflects the political situation of an earlier time. . . . It

describes the constituency of the twelve kingdoms, excluding Europe.

Such lists come from the geographers and the historians of Alexander

and of the twelve kingdoms."⁴ But this view is hardly correct, for Pon-

tus and even Cappadocia never really belonged to the dominion of

Alexander or, later, to the Seleucid Empire. Conzelmann cites merely

the ending of Q. Curtius Rufus's list (6.3.3)⁵ from one of Alexander's

speeches about the provinces subjugated by him, which lists Persia

(instead of the geographically almost identical "Elamites" of biblical

times), Media, and Parthia. Only this ending pointing to the east

shows a genuine connection with our list. In both lists, Parthia (that

 

            3. On this point, see now the convincing study by C. Thornton, Der Zeuge des

Zeugen (WUNT 56; Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1991).

            4. H. Conzelmann, Acts of the Apostles (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987) 14.

            5. Rufus probably wrote in the middle of the second century.

164                  Bulletin for Biblical Research 10.2

 

is, the Parthians), which stands at the beginning (or at the end),

proves a redaction during Roman times.⁶

            It is correct, however, that Alexander's crusade determined the

geographical terminology of the Hellenistic and Roman period, and

for that reason the stereotypical terms keep reappearing, even if

they—as in the case of the Medes and Elamites—actually no longer

corresponded to the geographical-ethnic realities in the first century

AD.⁷ This does not explain, however, either the "Cretans and Arabs" at

the very end of the list or the Romans who within the enumeration,

possess a necessary function as the western counterpoint to the Par-

thians in the East. For Luke, both Parthians as well as Romans, in their

role as the present political "lords of the world," may well point to the

e#wj e)sxa/tou th=j gh=j in the prophecy of the resurrected one in Acts 1:8.

The apostle's arrival in Rome in the last chapter signals the fulfillment

of an essential part of this prophecy.⁸ Since Luke pictures only the

west, we do not learn anything from him about the development of

the eastern mission beyond the Euphrates. The same is true of all

other early Christian sources before the Acts of Thomas, around AD

200.⁹ Luke and the early Christian literature that has been preserved

up to the middle of the second century are as indifferent to this matter

as they are to Egypt. By contrast, in Acts 8:26-39, Luke already has

 

            6. Characteristically, the reference to the Parthians is missing in the Diadochean

list after the death of Alexander (in Arrian [2d cent. AD]: ta_ meta_   )Ale/candron [F. Ja-

coby (ed.), Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (Leiden: Brill, 1958) 156 frg. 1.5-8]); also

missing are the Cyreneans and the Romans. This means that Arrian's list is older.

            7. The lists given by Conzelmann (Acts, 14 n. 7) from Ps.-Scylax 81ff. to Lucian's

De syria dea 32 show a consistently diverging characteristic and can in no case be traced

back to a common origin.

            8. Acts 28:14, kai_ ou#twj ei)j th_n   (Rw/mhn h!lqamen, and v. 16, o#te ei)sh/lqomen ei)j   (Rw/mhn . . . .

            9. The earliest possible attestation of the Edessan Thomas tradition occurs in the

second half of the second century. See M. Hengel and A. M. Schwemer, Paulus zwi-

schen Damaskus und Antiochien (WUNT 108; Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1998) 193;

cf. p. 12 nn. 35, 41-42. That the early Christian mission already reached beyond the

Euphrates into the east may be assumed, yet we do not know even as much about it

as we know about the Christians in Alexandria before Basilides, ca. 130; cf. Hengel and

Schwemer, 389-94. Besides reports about the conversion of the king of Abgar of Edessa

to Christianity, which emerge toward the end of the second century, we only possess

a strange and possibly earlier note by Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.10.3, about Pantaenus, the

teacher of Clement of Alexandria, who on a trip to India is supposed to have found

"the writings of Matthew in Hebrew," which "Bartholomew, one of the Apostles" is

believed to "have left" there. On the later mission in the kingdom of the Parthians, see

A. von Harnack, Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums in den ersten drei Jahrhun-

derten (4th ed.; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1924) 1.108-10, referring to Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.1.1.

It is peculiar that neither the apologists nor Irenaeus mentions the kingdom of the

Parthians and its Christian communities.

                     HENGEL:   )Ioudai/a in Acts 2:9-11                         165

 

the Ethiopian eunuch and minister of finance spread the new message

of salvation to the uttermost ends of the earth in the deep south.

            Nor can the "Cretans and Arabs" (Acts 2:11) after the summa-

rizing "Jews and proselytes" be explained (as does Conzelmann¹⁰) as

a geographic extension or summation in the sense of "'those who live

on islands and those who live on the mainland' (or 'westerners and

easteners'?)"; Luke's clear ethnic designation calls for a more concrete

meaning.¹¹

            The supposition that the list originates from an astrological cat-

alogue that connected certain countries with signs of the zodiac is

equally unconvincing.¹²

            In reality, Luke adopted a list that constitutes an overview of the

territories in which the Jewish Diaspora was numerically strongest.

The next parallel is the more elaborate list that Philo inserts into King

Agrippa I's letter to Caligula.¹³ It describes Jerusalem as a "native city"

(patri/j) of the king and as a mhtro/polij of not just one territory, Judea,

but many countries, based on the settlements that Jerusalem has

founded by its missionary endeavors over time (dia_ ta_j a)poiki/aj a$j e)c-

e/pemyen e)pi_ tw=n kairw=n). Philo first names the "neighboring lands"

(ta_j o(mo/rouj), Egypt, Phoenicia, Syria, and Coele-Syria, followed by

 

            10. Conzelmann, Acts, 14, following 0. Eissfeldt, "Cretans and Arabs," TLZ 72

(1947) cols. 207-12; repr. in Eissfeld, Kleine Schriften (Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1966)

3.28-34.

            11. Therefore, Philo's reference to the conclusion of the long and complicated list-

ing of the spreading of the Jewish Diaspora is insufficient (Legatio ad Gaium 281-83).

At the end, Philo mentions the three continents Europe, Asia, and Lybia and then "con-

tinent and islands, shores, and interiors"; this, however, cannot be meant by the post-

script "Cretans and Arabs."

            12. So, for example, S. Weinstock, "The Geographical Catalogue of Acts II, 9-11,"

JRS 38 (1948) 43-46, based on an older examination by F. Cumont, Klio 9 (1909) 263-

73, about Paulus Alexandrinus's list of countries (2d half of the 4th century); the text

is also printed by P. van der Horst, "Hellenistic Parallels to the Acts of the Apostles,"

JSNT 25 (1985) 49-60, esp. p. 53. There also is another enumeration of geographical list-

ings, which go beyond Conzelmann's. For arguments against an astrological origin, see

B. M. Metzger, 'Ancient Astrological Geography and Acts 2, 9-11," in Apostolic History

and the Gospel (E F. Bruce Festschrift; ed. W. W. Gasque; Exeter: Paternoster / Grand

Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970) 123-33; repr. in Metzger, New Testament Studies: Philological,

Versional, Patristic (NTTS 10; Leiden: Brill, 1980) 46-56; and E. Gating, "Der geogra-

phische Horizont der sogenannten Völkerliste des Lukas (Acta 2,9-11)," ZNW 66 (1975)

149-69. Paul's list has a completely different character.

            13. Philo, Legat. 281-83. Cf. E. M. Smallwood, Philonis Alexandrini Legatio ad

Gaium (Leiden: Brill, 1961) 294; and A. Pelletier, Les Oeuvres de Philo d'Alexandrie (Paris:

Editions du Cerf, 1972) 32.263, both of which refer to Acts 2:9-11. Compare also van

der Horst, "Hellenistic Parallels," 54: "Of special interest is Philo's list in Legat. 281 since

it indicates the degree of dispersion of the Jews in the middle of the first cent. AD"; and

J. M. Scott, Paul and the Nations (WUNT 84; Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1995) 168: "The

closest parallel." 

166                  Bulletin for Biblical Research 10.2

 

"those lying far apart" (ei)j ta_j po/rrw diw|kisme/naj): "Pamphylia,

Cilicia, most of Asia minor up to Bithynia and the corners of Pontus."

The same is true of Europe: here he limits himself to the seven regions

of Greece, from Thessaly to the Peloponnese. "However, not only the

continents are filled with Jewish settlements, but also the best known

islands: Euboea, Cyprus, Crete.¹⁴ I say nothing of the countries beyond

the Euphrates" (because all "except a small portion . . . are inhabited

by Jews").¹⁵

            While Philo speaks about Jewish colonists, who are sent from the

mother city, Jerusalem, to all parts of the civilized world, Luke exhib-

its a contrary tendency: he talks about pious Jews (and pagan converts

to Judaism), who have returned from all over the world (a)po_ panto_j

e!qnouj tw=n u(po_ to_n ou)rano/n) to Jerusalem. Here they hear in their na-

tive language (i.e., in the language of their country of origin) the new

message, addressed to the entire world, concerning the "great deeds

of God" (2:11), as a first step toward a worldwide mission. The lin-

guistic miracle is symbolically to prepare this worldwide mission.¹⁶

Both accounts have in common the universal spreading of the Jewish

Diaspora, for which both lists are fragmentary. Philo's list lacks the

reference to the Roman Diaspora, Luke's the one to Greece, although

both are well informed about these missing areas. Philo mentions ex-

plicitly the great significance and obedience to the law of the Roman

community that had been founded by Jewish prisoners of war after

the conquest of Jerusalem in AD 63 by Pompey.¹⁷ Luke names the

Jewish communities, or synagogues, in Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea,

Athens, and Corinth.

            In Agrippa's letter to Caligula, the reference to the Jews in Greece

was more important than the one to the Babylonian Diaspora; the

emperor did not have to be made aware of the Jews in Rome itself,

 

            14. Compare Philo, Legat. 214: the Jews "have spread across all continents and

islands." Compare also Esth 3:8 (see above, n. 1).

            15. Legat. 216: Petronius knows "that Babylon and many other Satrapies are in-

habited by Jews."

            16. The Lukan description, according to which the Diaspora Jews hear in Jeru-

salem the Spirit-filled disciples in the many languages of their own native countries,

overturns the contemporary Jewish notion that "the sacred language"—that is, He-

brew—will be spoken in the messianic kingdom as one language, as it had been before

the confusion of languages. See text 4Q464, edited by E. Eshel and M. Stone, in Qumran

Cave 4.XII: Parabiblical Texts, Part 2 (ed. M. Broshi et al.; DJD 19; Oxford: Oxford Uni-

versity Press, 1995) 118-221, together with Jub. 12:26-27 and its numerous listings of

rabbinic texts.

            17. Compare Philo, Legat. 155-58; compare also 160, where we are told of Seja-

nus's plans against the Jews in Rome and Philo's contact with Roman Jews as leaders

of the Alexandrian delegation.

                     HENGEL:   )Ioudai/a in Acts 2:9-11                         167

 

who supported Philo in his delegation in Rome. Luke's list, however,

could have selected those areas in which the Jewish Diaspora was

particularly strong and thus represented a real political power.

            Yet the rather unintelligible   )Ioudai/an between the "inhabitants

of Mesopotamia" and "Cappadocia" appears to prevent any mean-

ingful interpretation. No other passage in Acts in its first quotations

has caused the exegetes in the old church as great a headache as this

  )Ioudai/an, which, since it is clearly attested in the manuscripts, can-

not simply be summarily dismissed as a gloss or scribal error. Its re-

tention in spite of all interpretive difficulties could, rather, serve as

evidence for the outstandingly faithful transmission of the text.¹⁸ The

earliest citations in the church fathers show that the   )Ioudai/an was al-

ready a stumbling stone. Tertullian, who is the first to cite this text as

an example for "all nations" who believe in Christ, and who adds

many others, replaces the term with the seemingly more meaningful

Armenia.¹⁹ Since, however, there is very little evidence for a Jewish

Diaspora in this area, which was fought for by both Romans and

Parthians, his interpretation is doubtful.²⁰

            Closer to historical reality are Eusebius and Jerome, who, when

interpreting Isa 11:11-14, which describes the homecoming of the

 

            18. See B. M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (London

and New York: United Bible Societies, 1971) 293-94, for an overview of possible hy-

potheses: "the committee was impressed by the overwhelming preponderance of ex-

ternal evidence supporting   )Ioudai/an and therefore retained it in the text." The older

hypotheses and conjectures are listed by C. Clemen, TSK 68 (1895) 297-357; compare

E. Nestle, ZNW 9 (1908) 253-54, who, after the conjectures Armenia, Syria, India, Idu-

maea, Cilicia, Bithynia, Lydia, and the country Yaudi and Gordaea, also adds the Adi-

abene as an eleventh possibility. W H. P. Hatch, in the same journal on pp. 255-56,

followed up with the supposition Aramaia. See also J. H. Ropes, in Beginnings of Chris-

tianity (ed. E J. Foakes Jackson and K. Lake; London: Macmillan, 1920), vol. 1: The Acts

of the Apostles; vol. 3: The Text of Acts (1926) 14-15; Gating, “Der geographische Hori-

zonte,” 150 nn. 5-6, 180-81; C. K. Barrett, The Acts of the Apostles (2 vols.; ICC; Edin-

burgh: T. & T Clark, 1994-98) 1.121.

            19. Tertullian, Adversus Iudaeos 7.4 (CChr.SL 2.2, p. 1352), Augustine (Contra epis-

tulam Manichaei quam vocant Fundamenti 9) is supposedly based on this (cf. CChr.SL

25.1 [ed. J. Zycha, 1891] 204). Besides these references, one also finds in Augustine

Iudaean and Iudaei; see also C. Tischendorf, Novum Testament Graece (editio octava

critica maior, 1872; repr. Graz, 1952). That is, Augustine wavered in his understanding

of this passage.

            20. For this, see the new E. Schürer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of

Jesus Christ (3 vols.; rev. by G. Vermes, F. Millar, and M. Black; Edinburgh: T. &. T Clark,

1973-87) 3.6, 10, with reference to J. Neusner, "The Jews in Pagan Armenia," JAOS 84

(1964) 230— 40. Their weak and late attestation explains why neither P. Trebilco, Jewish

Communities in Asia Minor (SNTSMS 69; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1991) nor J. M. Barclay, Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora from Alexander to Trajan (323

BCE-117 CE) (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1996) even mentions Armenia in his index.

168                Bulletin for Biblical Research 10.2

 

Diaspora, substitute Suri/an for   )Ioudai/an.²¹ Since both elsewhere re-

tain Judea, which is only transmitted in manuscripts, this substitution

is probably less a conjecture than a substantially correct interpreta-

tion for, according to Josephus, "the Jewish people has been dispersed

among the nations of the world; they mingled most strongly (with the

native populace) in Syria and Judea, because of their proximity (to their

homeland).²² Syria and Judea are linked in a unique way. The solution

to this riddle is to be found in this connection.

            Other conjectures from the early church are "Indian" by John

Chrysostom,²³ which lies completely outside the geographical frame-

work; also   )Ioudai/oi, which would then have to be connected with

oi( katoikou=ntej th_n Mesopotami/an, which then conflicts with 2:5,

oi( katoikou=ntej  )Ioudai=oi, in Jerusalem, at least according to the

Peshitta, a reading that Zahn defends astutely and that is also found

once in Augustine.²⁴ Finally, Theophylact, in his commentary, drops

the problematic   )Ioudai/an and moves from the inhabitants of Meso-

potamia over to Cappadocia.²⁵ This simplest solution, of eliminating

the offendingly incomprehensible   )Ioudai/an, found the consent of

such self-declared critical spirits as von Harnack and others but is

improbable even on the basis of textual criticism alone. The problem

just cannot be removed in this rather convenient fashion.²⁶

            The best explanation (this was already seen by ancient scholars

such as Eusebius and Jerome) for the difficult term   )Ioudai/an would be

 

            21. See Eusebius, Comm. Isa. 63 (on 11:11), ed. J. Ziegler, GCS (1974) 87.16; Jerome,

Comm. Isa. (CChr.SL 73, 1.2, 1963) 155.

            22. J.W. 7.46; cf. 2.62-63, 465; also Philo, Legat. 245: in each city of Asia (minor)

and of Syria in great number; and 281: the settlers sent out into the bordering areas of

"Egypt, Phoenicia, Syria including Coelesyria." See also Hengel and Schwemer, Paulus

zwischen Damaskus und Antiochien, 82ff., 292-93; Schürer, The History of the Jewish

People, 3.13-15; Barclay, Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora, 242-58. Eusebius, Vit. Const.

3.9.8; and Comm. Ps. 67.32, has   )Ioudai/an. Jerome, Comm. Mich. 1.41-47 (CCSL 76, 1.6,

p. 468) reads Iudaeam.

            23. This is, however, not a direct citation but an interpretation (Chrysostom,

Hom. Act. 4; PG 60, col. 47); the direct citation has   )Ioudai/an (ibid., PG 60, col. 44).

            24. Peshitta: jihûdāje'; for exhaustive reference, see T. Zahn, Die Urausgabe der

Apostelgeschichte des Lucas (Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons

und der altkirchlichen Literatur 9; Leipzig: Deichert, 1916) 31, 133-36, 246; and in Ti-

schendorf, Novum Testamentum Graece. The reference to Augustine, Contra litteras Peti-

liani, ed. Petschenig (1909) 266, 10. The reference to the Sahidic translation is wrong; see

Ropes (in Foakes Jackson and Lake [eds.], Beginnings of Christianity, 3.14-15); compare

also T. Zahn, Die Apostelgeschichte des Lucas (Kommentar zum Neuen Testament 5/1-2;

Leipzig and Erlangen: Deichert, 1922) 85ff.

            25. PG 125, col. 536.

            26. A. von Harnack, Beiträge zur Einleitung in das Neue Testament: III. Die Apostel-

geschichte (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1908) 65-66, though he does add: "There is no satisfying

explanation for the interpolation" (p. 66). Compare also E. Preuschen, Die Apostel-

geschichte erklärt (HNT 4/1; Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1912) 12; A. Loisy, Les Actes des

                     HENGEL:   )Ioudai/a in Acts 2:9-11                         169

 

that it stood for Syria, which not only possessed the comparatively

densest Jewish population among all other lands of the Diaspora but

was, under changing borders, most closely connected with Judea.

Greeks and Romans, as well as Jewish authors such as Philo and Jo-

sephus, regarded Judea politically and geographically as an append-

age to Syria, though it nonetheless enjoyed a certain independence.

As a result of the Jewish War of 66-70, Judea was changed into its

own province beside Syria. After the Bar Kokhba rebellion, the name

Judea disappeared; it was replaced by the province of Palestine,

which nonetheless remained geographically always a part of Syria.

Geographical designations almost always changed according to the

political situation.²⁷

________________________________________________________________________

Apôtres (Paris: Nourry, 1920; repr. Paris: Rieder, 1925) 191; E. Haenchen (Die Apostel-

geschichte [KEK 3; 6th ed.; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1968] 134 n. 5), who,

however, also refers to H. H. Wendt, Die Apostelgeschicte (MeyerK 3; Göttingen: Van-

denhoeck & Ruprecht, 1880) 85 (not 83). Wendt, however, rejects this hypothesis. See

further discussion in C. S. C. Williams, The Acts of the Apostles (BNTC; London: Black,

1957) 65. Even F. Blass, A. Debrunner, and F Rehkopf (Grammatik des neutestamentlichen

Griechisch [14th ed.; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1975] §262.4) assert that

  )Ioudai/an is "very probably . . . a later intrusion." The missing article is, as in Matt 4:25

in reference to   )Ioudai/an, "transferred" from the prior th_n Mesopotami/an.

            27. Among the Ptolemies, the still-small "Jehud" was part of the province "Suri/a

kai_ Foini/kh"; cf. M. Hengel, Judentum und Hellenismus (3d ed.; WUNT 10; Tübingen:

Mohr [Siebeck, 1988) 681 (see index s.v. "Seleucids"). It belonged to Coele-Syria, while

during Roman rule the territory was under the supervision of the governor of Syria.

            Josephus is able to designate the non-Jewish Hellenistic populace of Palestine as

"Syrians" (e.g., J.W. 2.266; on the conflicts in Caesarea, see 1.205, 259; 2.458, 461, 625;

3.57). The kingdom of Agrippa II has a mixed Jewish-Syrian populace. See also Philo,

Flacc. 29: "The Alexandrians know that Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod and the Has-

monean woman Mariamne, is of Syrian descent and as the successor of Philip he ruled

over a great part of Syria" (Legat. 179, 222: "We Jews were the first in all of Syria to con-

gratulate Gaius when he began his reign"; 245). According to Josephus, J.W. 2.90, the

Jewish delegates requested Rome not to tear apart the "remains of Judea" and deliver

it into the hands of the sons of Herod "but to join it with Syria" (= Ant . 17.314: prosqh/-

khn de_ Suri/aj gegono/taj, according to the text of R. Marcus). The same sentiment is

expressed in Ant. 18.2, where we are told that the Jews did not want to obey the sons

of Herod but the imperial representative who had been sent there (cf. 108). Compare

the same idea in J.W. 2.97 (= Ant. 17.320) for the Hellenistic cities Gaza, Gadara, and

Hippos. According to Ant. 17.355, after the dethronement of Archelaus, his territory

was added to Syria. For the Greeks, Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine formed practically

a geographical unit (cf. Herodotus 2.104.3; see M. Stern, Greek and Latin Authors on Jews

and Judaism [3 vols., Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1974-

84] 3.150-51; see index s.v. "Syria Palestina"). Palestine also counts as a part of Syria;

the same is true for Judea (cf. ibid., 1.348 §141, on Ovid, Ars amatoria 76-77: Iudaeo Syro,

"Syrian Jew"). Ovid can also call a Jew a "Palaestinius Syrus" (cf. Ars 419). On this, see

Stern, ibid., 1.349: "In the first century CE the Jewish writers in Greek, Philo and Jo-

sephus already use the name Palestine or Syria—Palestine to designate the whole land

of Israel."

170                  Bulletin for Biblical Research 10.2

 

            In the Jewish mind, on the other hand, during the high points of

Jewish history, large parts of Syria were under the dominion of Israel.

The kingdom of David, for example, reached from Edom to beyond

Damascus to Zoba on the Euphrates and to Hamath on the Orontes.²⁸

The Euphrates, the border between Roman Syria and the Parthian

Empire up to the middle of the second century, thus became, espe-

cially in Deuteronomistic language, the ideal eastern border of the

holy land.²⁹ Already in the prophecy given to Moses, the borders of

the holy land were supposed to include the greater part of Syria, "from

the desert to the great river Euphrates, and to the great ocean toward

sunset, that shall be your land,"³⁰ a vision that then also influenced

the "ideal" circumference of the messianic kingdom. Thus, says Deu-

tero-Zechariah, about the prince of peace who will enter Jerusalem:

 

            his rule extends from ocean to ocean, from the river (i.e., Euphrates) to

            the ends of the earth.³¹

 

            The key word Yehuda appears mysteriously in the concluding de-

scription of Jeroboam II's victories over his Syrian enemies,

 

            who restored the boundaries of Israel.³² . . . The remaining history of

            Jeroboam, all his deeds and victories, how he went to war and returned

            Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the

            Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?³³

 

            No matter what the original meaning of this controversial text

was (which was often regarded as corrupt), the LXX and the Targum

apparently understood this passage in such a way that the regaining

of the Syrian territories "for Judah in Israel" happened in the interest

of the supposedly united Northern and Southern Kingdoms; one

could also say that it happened in the interest of "greater Judea"

or—which is the same thing—of the restored, true Israel. The mean-

ing of the LXX and Targum text could also point to a still-expected,

 

            28. 2 Sam 8:1-14; cf. Ps 60[59]:2 LXX and Symmachus.

            29. On this interesting point, see the recent and important study by M. Bock-

muehl, "Antioch and James the Just," in James the Just and Christian Origins (ed. B. Chil-

ton and C. A. Evans; NovTSup 98; Leiden: Brill, 1999) 155-98, esp. 169-79. His

observations coincide independently in many points with my own.

            30. Josh 1:4; Gen 15:18; Exod 23:31; Deut 11:24.

            31. Zech 9:10; Mic 7:12; cf. Ps 72:8; the same formulation reappears in Sir 44:21,

where it also certainly has messianic meaning.

            32. 2 Kgs 14:25.

            33. 2 Kgs 14:28: l)"rf#&;yib;@ hdfw@hyli tmfxj-t)e q#&em@ed@a-t)e by#$ih" r#$e)jwa cf. LXX kai_ o#sa

e)pe/streyen th_n Damasko_n kai_ th_n Ai)ma_q tw|=   )Iou/da e)n   )Israh/l; Tg.: tybdl l)r#yb.

hdwhy On Josephus, see below, n. 47.

            The formulation "those from the house of Judah" is typical for the Southern King-

dom in the Targum of Kings. The Syrian drops the offensive hdwhy, and reads only l)r#y.                       

                HENGEL:   )Ioudai/a in Acts 2:9-11                         171

 

future messianic kingdom just like David's great kingdom. In the

synonymous parallelism of Ps 76:1, "In Judah God is known, his

name is great in Israel," Judah and Israel are seen as united, and the

victory of the God of Zion is celebrated. Verse 11 probably reads:

"Yea, the grim Edom shall praise you and the remainder of Hamath

shall celebrate you. . . . He humiliated the mind of the princes // ter-

ribly he met the kings of the earth."³⁴

            O. Eissfeldt has connected this Judah in 2 Kgs 14:28 with the

  )Ioudai/a of Acts 2:9 by providing new evidence for a suggestion by

H. Gunkel, which C. Clemen adopted. Gunkel had surmised that

  )Ioudai/a derives from the region of Ya’udi (j’dj), attested in As-

syrian cuneiform script and Old Aramaic inscriptions of Zincirli, a

land whose name could easily be mistaken for Y^ehûdāh.³⁵ In 2 Kgs

14:28, Yehûdāh may indeed originally have had something to do

with the north Syrian Ya-ú-di, but that this name, attested in 660 BC,

should reappear over seven centuries later in Acts 2:9 and yet

remain without any other attested parallel is unlikely. Rather, the

LXX and the Targums of the prophets point to a desire to extend

Judea's influence, by means of the unity of the restored Israel, as

far as possible to the Syrian north. The starting point is the Israel

of David's kingdom, which in Hellenistic-Roman times served re-

peatedly as model and above all determined the geography of mes-

sianic expectations. It is to be observed that "Judea" was a variable,

geographically. It stood for the small Persian territory of Jehud, be-

tween Jerusalem and Beth Zur, as well as for the much greater

kingdom of the Hasmonean expansion, the even greater domain of

Herod or of his nephew Agrippa I, which included significant areas

of southern Syria with its numerous pagan inhabitants. This cor-

responds to Strabo's geographical picture of Judea as an important

part of southern Syria: the territory may be divided into Comma-

gene; Seleucis, as its most important part; Coele-Syria; Phoenicia;

and Judea, whereby the latter designates "the inner area above Phoe-

nicia up to the Arabs between Gaza and the Anti-Lebanon."³⁶ A

 

            34. On the text and the translation, see H.-J. Kraus, Psalmen I (3d ed.; BKAT 15/

1; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1966) 524ff. The superscription in the LXX

reads: w)|dh_ pro_j to_n   )Assu/rion; thus the translators understood the psalm as an

eschatological hymn of victory against the Seleucids.

            35. "Judah" in 2 Kgs 14:28 and "Judea" in Acts 2:9; see O. Eissfeldt, Wissenschaft-

liche Zeitschrift du Martin-Luther Universität Halle 12 (1963) 229-38 = Kleine Schriften

(Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1968) 4.99-120, esp. 115-17. See also "Judah" and "Judea"

as designation of north Syrian regions; cf. FF 38 (1964) 20-25 = Kleine Schriften, 4.121-

31. See on pp. 115-16 the elaborate citation from C. Clemen, TSK 68 (1895) 297-357.

            36. Strabo 16.2.2.21. The size of Coele-Syria is, however, controversial: some wanted

to extend it to the entire Syria south of the Seleucis. These, with the Tetrapolis Antioch,

Seleucia, Apamea, and Laodicea would be the "last part" of the province (16.2.4).

172                Bulletin for Biblical Research 10.2

 

certain contrast is provided by a concurrent listing of the seven

nations (e!qnh) of Syria: Syrians, Coele-Syrians, Phoenicians, and

"mixed with these" Jews, Idumaeans, Gazeans, and Azoteans,

whereby Strabo counts the latter four as belonging to the region of

Judea (and the Idumeans had already converted to Judaism under

Hyrcanus 1).³⁷ Even a significant part of the inhabitants of Azotos,

perhaps as many as half of them, were Jews.³⁸ A third possibility

mentioned by Strabo is that Judea designates merely those areas in

southern Syria that were mostly inhabited by Jews.³⁹

            Since the term Israel as it is used in salvation history was mostly

unknown to the ancient world, it would be understandable if the gen-

erally used designation Judea, in the sense of the greater Judea hoped

for in messianic times, was transferred pars pro toto, or a parte potiori

to all of Syria.

            Moreover, one has to consider that in the first century the territo-

ries of the consciously Jewish Herodian clientele princes under Roman

authority extended far beyond the areas inhabited predominantly by

Jews, even to the middle of Syria. Individual pagan rulers, such as Azi-

zos of Emesa and King Polemon of Pontos even converted to Judaism

and were circumcised in order to marry the daughters of Agrippa I.

The dynasty of Herod in general had manifold dynastic connections

to Syrian and Asian rulers. The dynasty also exhibited its power

through magnificent buildings in Phoenician and Syrian cities.⁴⁰ Ap-

parently the Romans regarded the ruling Jewish dynasty of Herod as

a stabilizing element in the east. That this attitude could, of course,

change abruptly is demonstrated by the attempt of King Agrippa I to

summon the princes of Syria and Asia Minor to a council meeting,

which was rudely canceled by the personal intervention of the Syrian

governor Marsus.⁴¹ This may be evidence that the Jewish kings tried

to assume more political influence in Syria.

            Josephus not only emphasizes (by special reference to Antioch) that

there were more Jews in Syria than in other countries, but he talks in

 

            37. For a more exact dating of the conquest and forced conversion of Idumaeans,

see D. Barag, "New Evidence on the Foreign Policy of Hyrcanus I," Israel Numismatic

Journal 12 (1992-93) 22-26. In the first Jewish Wars and in the Bar Kokhba uprising, the

descendants of the Idumeans prove themselves to be law-abiding, freedom-loving Jews.

            38. See M. Hengel, "Der Historiker Lukas und die Geographic Palästinas in der

Apostelgeschichte," ZDPV 99 (1983) 147-83, esp. pp. 166-67 = Between Jesus and Paul

(London: SCM, 1983) 97-132 (112ff.). According to Philo, Legat. 197-206, the populace

of the neighboring, politically similarly-situated Iamnia was even dominantly Jewish.

            39. Among others, Luke seems to be familiar with this further understanding of

Judea; see Hengel, "Der Historiker Lukas," 151; and W. Gutbrod, "  )Israh/l," TDNT

3.384-86.

            40. Hengel and Schwemer, Paulus zwischen Damaskus und Antiochien, 93-95, 347

n. 421.

            41. Ibid., 95 nn. 380-81; 347 n. 1421.

                     HENGEL:   )Ioudai/a in Acts 2:9-11                         173

 

this context explicitly about the "mixing of nations."⁴² After the unex-

pected Jewish victory over the Syrian governor, Cestius Gallus, at the

Beth-Horon Mountain in 66 BC, serious anti-Jewish pogroms took place

because the Syrians felt threatened by the Jewish minority that they

had always hated. Josephus describes the situation with great rhetorical

skill: "The whole of Syria was a scene of frightful disorder; every city

was divided into two camps, and the safety of one party lay in their an-

ticipating the other." Suspicion was directed, not only at the Jewish peo-

ple themselves, but also at their pagan allies, as a group that "aroused

suspicion," a group whom one "feared . . . as much as pronounced aliens

. . . the whole province was full of indescribable horrors.⁴³

            According to Philo, on the other hand, Petronius, governor of

Syria, emphasized to the insane Caligula the significance of the large

Jewish populace in Syria and Palestine for the peace and stability of

the Roman border province.⁴⁴

            The connection between the Jewish ethnos (that is, its motherland

in the narrower sense) and Syria was unique and manifold and differed

fundamentally from its relationship with other areas of the Diaspora.

This pertains also to the interpretation of its own salvation history.

Here, the Old Testament ideal continued to operate. In fact, it was even

augmented. According to the Jewish historian Eupolemus, a follower

of the Maccabeans and Jerusalem priests, David subjugated the Syrians

at the Euphrates, Commagene, which bordered Cappadocia, the entire

country east of Jordan, the Phoenicians, and the Nabateans.⁴⁵ That is,

David, at least according to Eupolemus, conquered and made all of

Syria up to its northern border pay tribute. Josephus is of the same

opinion, possibly following Nikolaus of Damascus: David defeated

 

            42. J.W. 7.43: to_ ga_r   )Ioudai/wn ge/noj polu_ me_n kata_ pa=san th_n oi)koume/nhn

pare/spartai toi=j e)pixwri/oij, plei=ston de_ th|= Suri/a| kata_ th_n geitni/asin a)namemig-

me/non e)caire/twj e)pi_ th=j  )Antioxei/aj h}n polu_ dia_ th=j po/lewj me/geqoj. Cf. 2.263: Jews

and Syrians in Caesarea; 3.57: in the kingdom of Agrippa II; see also Strabo 16.2.2;

Philo, Legat. 220.

            43. J.W. 2.462-63, 465 (LCL); on this, see Hengel and Schwemer, Paulus zwischen

Damaskus und Antiochien, 82ff. On the Syrians' hatred and fear of the Jews, see J.W.

2.461, 478; also 5.556: Arabs and Syrians; 7.46: after the arrival of Vespasian, the hatred

of the Jews in all of Syria reached its climax; 363: in Caesarea. See also J.W. 1.88: The

Syrians have an "innate hatred of the [Jewish] people" (e!mfuton au)tw=n pro_j to_ e!qnoj

a)pe/xqeian). Josephus wrote as an eyewitness.

            44. Philo, Legat. 207-61. Compare for example 226-27, where the protesting Jews

attacked Phoenicia like a cloud, to the surprise of those who underestimated the great

numbers of this people; further 244-45; cf. the less rhetorically exaggerated Ant.

18.262-63, 269-72, 277, 282-83, 286-87, 302-3. Presumably there was unrest in Anti-

och in connection with Gaius's plans; see Hengel and Schwemer, Paulus zwischen Da-

maskus und Antiochien, 281-86.

            45. Eusebius, Praep. ev. 9.30.3-4; cf. N. Walter, JSHRZ 1/2, 99-100; Hengel and

Schwemer, Paulus zwischen Damaskus und Antiochien, 189.

174                    Bulletin for Biblical Research 10.2

 

the mighty King Hadad of Damascus and subjugated "Damascus

and the rest of Syria."⁴⁶ Josephus, in reference to Jeroboam II, repeats

this assertion: according to the prophecy of the prophet Jonah, David

subjugated the "entire country" of the Syrians.⁴⁷

            However, we find this special interest in "all of Syria" as early as

the Palestinian and Jewish-Hellenistic Abraham tradition, which even

pagan authors followed.⁴⁸ Especially impressive is the description of

Abraham's journey around the promised land: setting out from the

Nile, he travels along the (Mediterranean) Sea to the mount of Tauros,

and from there he moves east to the Euphrates and follows the river

to the "Red Sea," that is, the Persian Gulf. He then skirts the Arabian

peninsula until he reaches the Nile once more. In other words, the

promised land includes all of Syria and Arabia.⁴⁹ The geographical

picture of Abraham's journey is reminiscent of the messianic version

in Ps 72:8: "he reigns from sea to sea [that is from the Mediterranean

sea to the Persian Gulf, or Indian Ocean] and from the [River] Eu-

phrates to the ends of the earth!" Another example is the secondary

addition of Mic 7:11-12: "this is a day when your borders will spread

out, this is a day when they will come to you from Assur (Syria?),⁵⁰

even from Egypt and Tyrus⁵¹ to the (Euphrates) river,⁵² from sea to sea,

from mountain to mountain."⁵³ The extension of borders is already

 

            46. Josephus, Ant. 7.100-104; see Hengel and Schwemer, Paulus zwischen Da-

maskus und Antiochien, 87.

            47. Ant. 9.207. See above, n. 33, on 2 Kgs 14:28.

            48. According to Nicolaus of Damascus, Abraham ruled as king over Damascus,

before he moved on to "Canaan, which is now called Judea" (Josephus, Ant. 1.145). Ac-

cording to Pompeius Trogos, the Jews stem from Damascus, Syriae nobilissima civitas.

Abraham and Israel were (supposedly) kings there (Justin, Epitome 3.2.1). See Hengel

and Schwemer, Paulus zwischen Damaskus und Antiochien, 87.

            49. 1QapGen 21:15-19. See now also M. Morgenstern et al., "The Hitherto Unpub-

lished Columns of the Genesis Apokryphon," AbrN 33 (1995) 30-54. In 17:10, the "moun-

tain of the bull" appears already in the dividing up of Shem's inheritance. On this entire

matter, see Hengel and Schwemer, Paulus zwischen Damaskus und Antiochien, 118-19.

            50. See T. H. Robinson and F. Horst, Die Zwölf kleinen Propheten (HAT 14; Tübin-

gen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1964) 151: "The mentioning of Assur, which could possibly be un-

derstood as 'Syria,' could certainly pertain to the times of the Maccabeans so that what

is meant is 'Seleucid' (Assur) and Ptolemaic kingdom (Egypt)." On the linguistic usage

of Assur = Syria, see Meleagros von Gadara, Anth. Gr. 7.417.2; also on this Hengel,

Judentum und Hellenismus, 155-56. This interpretation is possible even as early as the

beginning of the third century.

            51. Read misisiôr.

            52. By this the LXX intends the destruction of the Seleucid kingdom through the

expansion of the cities of God's people (Mic 7:11-12 LXX): h(m/raj a)loifh=j pli/nqou. e)ca/-

leiyi/j sou h( h(me/ra e)kei/nh, kai_ a)potri/yetai no/mima/ sou. h( h(me/ra e)kei/nh: kai_ ai( po/leij

sou h#cousin ei)j o(malismo_n kai_ ei)j diamerismo_n   )Assuri/wn kai_ ai( po/leij sou ai( o)xurai_

ei)j diamerismo_n a)po_  Tu/rou e#wj tou= potamou= Suri/aj h(me/ra u#datoj kai_ qoru/bou

            53. On the design of the text and its translation, see Robinson and Horst, Die

Zwölf kleinen Propheten, 150; see also H. W. Wolf, Dodekapropheton 4: Micha (BKAT 14.2;

                     HENGEL:   )Ioudai/a in Acts 2:9-11                         175

 

mentioned in Ezek 47:15-18 and the interpretation of this passage in

the LXX and the Targum to the Prophets: In the north the borders reach

from the Mediterranean Sea to the border between Damascus and

Hamath, which is situated farther north (compare above, at the dis-

cussion on 2 Kgs 14:28), and in the east to the territory between the

Hauran and Damascus. The Targum also adds: "and you shall share

it as an inheritance for yourself and the proselytes who have converted

among you and have had children among you."⁵⁴ Thus, despite all op-

position, it seems that Jewish propaganda has been fairly successful in

the Syrian realm. Josephus recounts, though probably exaggerates,

that the women of the Damascenes had "for few exceptions all con-

verted to the Jewish form of worship."⁵⁵ At this point, the mission of

the Hellenistic Jews and of Paul outside of Eretz Israel began.

            The eschatologically interpreted text Zech 9:1 talks about Da-

mascus becoming the "place of rest" or "dwelling place" of Yahweh.

The Targum of the Prophets goes even one step further: "and Da-

mascus desires to belong again to the land of the house of Shekinah."⁵⁶

            In a discussion between the Tannaites R. Yehuda b. Elai and

R. Yose, son of the Damascene, about the interpretation of Zech 9:1,

Yose claims, based on his connection to the city of Damascus and on

Isa 41:7 and Cant 7:5, "that the land of Israel will spread out and rise

up on all sides . . . and the gates of Jerusalem will reach to Damas-

cus . . . and the exulting people will come and dwell in its midst."⁵⁷

According to another Tannaitic tradition, only seven of the nations

promised in Joshua's time were actually subjugated. Three are left for

messianic times. According to R. Simeon b. Yohai (ca. 100-150) these

three are the Damascenes, Apamea (here identical with northern

_______________________________________________________________________

Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1982) 186ff., 200. The borders of Jerusalem

or, in the later interpretation, also of Israel, are expanded for the homecoming exiles

from the Diaspora.

            54. Tg. Ezek. 47:22.

            55. Josephus, J.W. 2.560-61. Luke's plural synagogues in Damascus in Acts 9:2

and 20 is factually correct; see Hengel and Schwemer, Paulus zwischen Damaskus und

Antiochien, 80-84. On the mission in Syria and Cilicia, that is, to the Euphrates and

Tarsus, see passim.

            56. See K. J. Cathcart and R. P. Gordon, Aramaic Bible, vol. 14: The Targum of the

Minor Prophets (Wilmington, Del.: Glazier, 1989) 303.

            57. Sipre Deut. §1 (on Deut 1:1); H. S. Horovitz and L. Finkelstein, Siphre D'be Rab:

Siphre ad Numeros adjecto Siphre Zutta (Corpus Tannaiticum; Leipzig: Gustav Fock, 1917;

repr., Jerusalem: Shalem Books, 1992) 7-8. Both Tannaites lived in the middle of the

2d century. An elaborate parallel is found in Cant. Rab. 7:5 §3, where the interpretation

of the Haggadist R. Yohianan is presented as generally known. Further parallels in

Hengel and Schwemer, Paulus zwischen Damaskus und Antiochien, 88 n. 344, in connection

to G. Stemberger, "Die Bedeutung des 'Landes Israel' in der rabbinischen Tradition,"

Kairos 25 (1983) 176-99, esp. p. 193. See now Bockmuehl, "Antioch and James the Just,"

with further evidence especially for Antioch.

176                    Bulletin for Biblical Research 10.2

 

Syria—i.e., the Seleucis)⁵⁸ and Asia Minor (that is, only the territories

[except for Egypt] that Philo believed to possess the greatest Diaspora

[see discussion above]).⁵⁹

            As far as the halakic praxis is concerned, "the Syrian realm [pos-

sessed] a median status between Israel and foreign territory."⁶⁰ By rea-

son of Abraham's prophecy (Gen 15:18-21) and also in view of the

kingdom of David, the messianic expectations entailed an extension

of the borders of Eretz Israel, especially in the area of Syria. The

halakic praxis may at this point also be related to contemporary

messianic hope. A concrete example from the realm of the sacrifice

halaka may demonstrate this connection. In the recently (1989) dis-

covered ^cAkeldama graves southeast of Mount Zion on the slope,

above the confluence of the Hinnom and Kidron Valleys, there is a

family burial ground with numerous, predominantly Greek inscrip-

tions from the Second Temple period. One also features the ossuary

of a man with the Greek name Ariston; beneath his name is written in

an Aramaic form of Hebrew: "Ariston of Apamea, Jehuda the prose-

lyte."⁶¹ Since, on this burial ground of wealthy Jews, only one person

was buried per ossuary, it is a fair conjecture that this Ariston was a

proselyte from Apamea who had adopted a Jewish name after his

conversion.

            We meet another religiously zealous Ariston from Apamea in the

Mishna. His firstfruits were accepted by the priests, even though they

came from pagan territory, with the justification that he who "owns

land in Syria is as one who owns land in the suburbs of Jerusalem."⁶²

Proselytes from Syria/Phoenicia are also found in Acts 6:5 (Nicolaus,

the proselyte from Antioch) and in other Jerusalem ossuary inscrip-

tions ("Judas, proselyte from Tyros").⁶³ The inclusion of Syrians in the

holy land is also attested by the same treatise, which goes on to say

 

            58. Apamea had a particularly large urban area; see F. Millar, The Roman Near

East, 31 BC-AD 33 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993) 149, 250-51, 256-63.

            59. Gen. Rab. 44.23 (on Gen 15:19-20); J. Theodor and Ch. Albeck (eds.), Midrash

Bereshit Rabbah (3 vols.; Jerusalem: Wahrman, 1980) 2.446. Rabbi (Jehuda han-naśî)

mentions Arabia and Nabatea.

            60. The material is arranged in exemplary fashion by Stemberger, "Die Bedeu-

tung des 'Landes Israel," 198 n. 24; cf. M. Hengel, with R. Deines, "Der vorchristliche

Paulus," in Paulus and das antike Judentum (ed. M. Hengel and U. Heckel; WUNT 58;

Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1991) 279-80 for additional evidence.

            61. T. Ilan, "The Ossuary and the Sarcophagus Inscriptions," in The Akeldama

Tombs: Three Burial Caves in the Kidron Valley, Jerusalem (ed. G. Avni and Z. Greenhut;

Israel Antiquities Authority Reports 1; Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 1996)

66 §19.

            62. M. Hial. 4:11.

            63. B. Bagatti and J. T. Milik, Gli scavi de "Dominus flevit": Monte Oliveto-

Gerusalemme (2 vols.; Pubblicazioni dello Studium Biblicum Franciscanum 13; Jerusalem:

Francescani,

                         HENGEL:   )Ioudai/a in Acts 2:9-11                         177

 

that sacrificial offerings from Alexandria and Babylon were rejected.⁶⁴

The treatise also describes the discussion between the moderate

R. Gamliel II and the zealot R. Eliezer (b. Hyrcanos), in which R. Eliezer

defended the validity of the same obligation of tribute for all of Syria

as for Eretz Israel, while R. Gamliel argued (related to the "meal of-

fering") for a special status for people residing between the coast of

Gezib, the Anti-Lebanon at Damascus, and the Euphrates, which cor-

responds to the old ideal biblical northern border.⁶⁵ For the privileged

status of Syria in relation to Eretz Israel and foreign Gentile nations,

see also m. ^cOr. 3:9; m. Ma^caś 5:5; m. Šeb. 6:2, 5; t. Ter. 2.9; m. B. Qam. 7:7.

            R. Aqiba had an equalizing tendency: "Aqiba states the general

rule that everything which is permitted in the land (Israel) should

also be allowed in Syria."⁶⁶ G. Stemberger conjectures that the halakic

borders were first expanded and then retracted. Behind the first ten-

dency to expand borders may have been messianic-nationalistic am-

bitions in the last part of the late Second Temple period.⁶⁷

            One should also look at the interpretation of the Table of Nations

in Genesis 10, as Josephus interprets it for his own time. According to

his interpretation, Canaan, son of Ham, settled in the area that is

"now called Judea," because seven descendants of Canaan were killed

by the Hebrews, now called Jews, because God's curse on Ham was

passed on to Canaan and his descendants.

            To be sure, the inhabitants of Sidon, Arce, Hamath/Epiphaneia,

and Arados—that is, the Phoenician coastal tribes—also descend

from the cursed one: on the basis of the merciless concluding sentence,

"the remaining descendants of Ham escaped the curse;⁶⁸ God, how-

ever, allowed the curse to pass on to the sons of Canaan," one may

_______________________________________________________________________

1958-64) 1.84 §13; on this, see E. Puech, "Inscriptions funéraires palistiniennes:

Tombeau de Jason et ossuaires," RB 90 (1983) 481-533, esp. p. 519. In my opinion it is

to be read TYPOY instead of TYPA. Even the proselyte (CII 1835) from Jerusalem has

the name Judas.

            64. M. Hal. 4:10; see also Josephus, Ant. 3.318-19; and Hengel and Schwemer,

Paulus zwischen Damaskus and Antiochien, 110-11: the rejection of sacrificial offerings

from Babylon.

            65. M. Hial. 4:7-8; cf. m. Šeb. 6:1 on Gezib (= Achzib in Josh 19:29; Judg 1:31); and

G. Reeg, Die Ortsnamen Israels nach der rabbinischen Literatur (Beihefte zum Tübinger

Atlas des Vorderen Orients, Reihe B: Geisteswissenschaften 51; Wiesbaden: Reichert,

1989) 174. Gezib is about 15 km north of Acco and in Talmudic literature was consid-

ered the official northernmost location of Eretz Israel on the coast. On the purity of a

field in Syria near Eretz Israel, see m. Ohol. 18:7: A field in Syria in proximity with Eretz

Israel may be walked on in purity, and it falls under the tithing law and the laws for

the year of the Sabbath: "The dwelling-places of the Gentiles," however, "are unclean."

            66. M. Šabb. 6:2; cf. also R. Simon (b. Johiai) at 6:5-6; see in addition, Stemberger,

"Die Bedeutung des 'Landes Israel," 98 n. 24.

            67. Ibid., 184; cf. Hengel, Der vorchristliche Paulus, 279-80.

            68. This refers to the Ethiopians, Gabaens, Egyptians, and Libyans.

178                   Bulletin for Biblical Research 10.2

 

surmise that one day this curse will be fulfilled, and the entire "land

of Canaan," which—as Josephus always emphasizes—extends to

Hamath on the Orontes, will belong to God's people.⁶⁹ Hamath⁷⁰/

Epiphaneia, which already in Hellenistic times was part of the Seleu-

cis, is repeatedly emphasized by Josephus as the northern border of

promised land. This was also the point reached by the spies that Moses

sent out, who, from the border of Egypt, traveled through the entire

promised land of Canaan.⁷¹ Later the king of Hamath sought David's

favor, impressed by David's victory over the Syrians. Solomon subju-

gated the Canaanites on the heights of Lebanon, "even to the city of

Hamath" for the payment of tribute and for forced labor.⁷² Jeroboam

II also arrived at this point after the subjugation of all Syria, at which

point Josephus points out again that this was the ancient border of

Canaan.⁷³ Furthermore, Jonathan the Maccabean routed the army of

Demetrius II at this very place.⁷⁴ In these accounts, one can detect the

national pride of the Jerusalem priest and imperial freedman Jose-

phus, who is not only well acquainted with the national history and

geography but also with the messianic hope of his people.⁷⁵ In the later

rabbinic tradition and the Targums, it is possible simply to substitute

"Antioch" for "Hamath."

            If one considers all of this evidence and the points of view con-

cerning the special connection of Judea and the Jewish people with

Syria and Phoenicia situated in the north, it seems difficult to inter-

pret the problematic, but nonetheless authentic,   )Ioudai/an that occurs

in the list of nations between the inhabitants of Mesopotamia and

Cappadocia in any other way than as the same "Greater-Judea" that

 

            69. On the list of nations, see Ant. 1.134-42; on Heber and the Hebrews, see Ant.

1.146, 148; on the subjugation of Canaan, see Ant. 1.185; 4.300. After their destruction,

their land will belong to Israel (Ant. 2.194-95, 200, and others; compare also Scott, Paul

and the Nations, 166-67).

            70. Hamath is Amathē/Amathos in Josephus (LCL).

            71. Ant. 3.303; cf. Num 13:21.

            72. Ant. 7.107-8; 8.160-62. Josephus adds that not one of the Hebrews was sold

into slavery.

            73. Ant. 9.206-7.

            74. Ant. 13.174; cf. 1 Macc 12:24ff.; from here he turns toward Damascus, clearly

walking in the footsteps of Israel's great kings.

            75. On this, see his depiction of the Balaam oracle in Numbers 24, in Ant. 4.114-

22, and also his reference in Ant. 10.209-10 to the stone in Nebuchadnezzar's dream,

which will destroy the "iron" Roman Empire that will presently dominate, with God's

permission. See also M. de Jonge, "Josephus und die Zukunftserwartungen seines Volkes,"

in Josephus-Studien: Otto Michel zum 70. Geburtstag gewidmet (ed. 0. Betz, K. Haacker, and

M. Hengel; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1974) 205-19, esp. pp. 211-12. About

Hamath = Antioch, see Tg. Jer. I and II and Neofiti to Gen 10:18; Tg. Jer. I and Neofiti Num

13:21; Tg. Neofiti Num 34:8 with relation to the Taurus/Amanus Mountains, the northern

border of Syria. Cf. also Tg. Jer. I and II Num 34:7. For further evidence, see Bockmuehl,

"Antioch and James the Just."

                     HENGEL:   )Ioudai/a in Acts 2:9-11                         179

 

comprises the Roman province called Syria. This would be a Jewish

contemporary linguistic context, behind which—with reference to

the highlights of earlier history—may well stand expectations con-

cerning the extensiveness of Eretz Israel in the messianic future and

that possessed halakic consequences for the present. Based on salva-

tion history, the term "Judea" would then be a pars pro toto for the Ro-

man province of Syria; and the list is not constructed haphazardly

but with deliberation, because it lists "only those countries particu-

larly in which many strong Jewish communities existed."⁷⁶ This is

true of the Diaspora beyond the Euphrates—one only needs to con-

sider the conversion of the imperial dynasty of Adiabene.⁷⁷ The great

number of Jews in Asia Minor is repeatedly attested, not only by Jo-

sephus and Philo, but also by many inscriptions; the same is true for

Egypt and Cyrene. The Diaspora in Thracia, Macedonia, and Achaia

are left out here because they are of less significance, while the Ro-

man Jews had to be named due to their status as citizens of a me-

tropolis. They form the western counterweight to the Parthians, with

whom the list begins. In Jerusalem, too, if we disregard the special

case of Syria = Judea at this point, the returnees from Babylon, Asia

Minor, Egypt, Cyrenaica, and Rome possessed the greatest influence.

In this sense, the structure of the Lukan list certainly makes sense.

            This is also true for the four concluding groups mentioned in v. 11,

which are also criticized: Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs. I

can deal with these only briefly. With them Luke returns to the be-

ginning, the Jews in Jerusalem (2:5). The addition "and proselytes"

sharpens the focus: there are converted Gentiles among the Jews in the

holy city.⁷⁸ Even the strange doublet at the end, "Cretans and Arabs,"

seems purposeful to me. This describes the immediate neighbors of the

Jews in the motherland toward the west and the east. At the same time, the

Arabs are immediate relatives because they are descendants of Abra-

ham. Nebajoth, to whom Josephus traces back the Nabateans, was the

firstborn of Ishmael and grandson of Abraham. The "Cretans" are in

my opinion a euphemism for the neighbors in the coastal plain, that

is, the descendents of the Philistines. Did not the Philistines come

from Caphtor, which could be identified with Crete, and were not the

 

            76. A. Schlatter, Die Apostelgeschichte: Ausgelegt für Bibelleser (2d ed.; Erlauterun-

gen zum Neuen Testament 4; Stuttgart: Calwer, 1948) 21.

            77. Compare Hengel and Schwemer, Paulus zwischen Damaskus and Antiochien,

108-9; see also Josephus, Ant. 11.133: The Diaspora beyond the Euphrates is the most

numerous one. Only two tribes in Asia and Europe were subject to the Romans (Judah

and Benjamin), the ten tribes with "countless myriads whose number cannot be ascer-

tained remained in the east"; compare also Ant. 18.314-79, about the uprising of

Anilaeus in Babylon and the fate of the Jews who resided there.

            78. One need only consider the members of the Adiabenian dynasty, who per-

manently resided in Jerusalem prior to 70.

180                        Bulletin for Biblical Research 10.2

 

"Crethi and Plethi" David's bodyguards? Philistine and Canaanite, by

contrast, were "non-words." The LXX translates consistently pĕlîštîm

249 times as a)llo/fuloi. The Jews from the coastal plains who lived in

Jerusalem could not very well be associated with the Philistines; the

reference to the ancestry of one's former archenemy from the island

of Crete sounded more distinguished. The coastal plains and Na-

batean Arabia belonged to the earliest areas of Christian mission

work.⁷⁹ That Cretans paradigmatically refers to islanders and Arabs

to the inhabitants of the continent is implausible. If this were the case,

one should sooner expect "Cypriots." Cyprus was not only closer, but

it also possessed a large Jewish Diaspora. The coastal inhabitants and

the (Nabatean) Arabs were geographically and on the basis of prom-

ise of the land especially closely connected to Israel; they were the

first nations that were favorably predisposed for the "pilgrimage of

the nations" to Zion on their geographical location alone.

            The list is of Jewish origin. Luke did not compose it, but he did

render it unfamiliar through the reference to the linguistic miracle.

            Maybe the emerging vision of Greater Judea as the Roman Syria

in the list may help to explain the fact that the early church of the first

century restricted its missionary activity exclusively to Syria and that

the first large Gentile-Christian communities came into existence not

in Alexandria but in Antioch, the capital of Syria. The fact that Paul

stayed in Syria and Cilicia (and before that in Nabatean Arabia) for

sixteen years after his conversion at Damascus, right up to the Ap-

ostolic council, could become more intelligible in light of this ex-

planation. In this area, which bordered Eretz Israel directly, which

according to ancient biblical tradition was inseparably connected with

it, Jews and god-fearing Gentiles were to prepare the coming of the

Messiah and the concomitant return of God's people. The urgent

problem of "Syria," so important for the history of the early church,

does not present itself to us in the light of trendy and therefore ques-

tionable theories about the "Syrian syncretism" but as the question

concerning the Jews and Judaizing pagan sympathizers in Syria. They

were the first recipients of early Christian missionary activity outside

of Eretz Israe1.⁸⁰

 

            79. Compare also Acts 8:40; Gal 1:17; see Hengel and Schwemer, Paulus zwischen

Damaskus und Antiochien, 57, 85, 174-94.

            80. A German version of this paper appeared in the Festschrift for Marc

Philonenko as "  )Ioudai/a in der geographischen Liste Apg 2,9-11 und Syrien als 'Gross-

judda, " RHPR 80 (2000) 51-68. I wish to thank Jens Zimmermann for translating this

paper into English, Chris Young for in-putting the Greek, and C. A. Evans for editing

the paper for its appearance in the Bulletin for Biblical Research.