![]() These sources support two main reasons for the diaspora namely: (1) forced deportation triggered by conquests of the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Roman empires and (2) voluntary migration triggered not by shame but by optimism and restoration of dignity.ĭuring the diaspora, there were probably few major cities or regions that were without a community of resident Jews. However, in the LXX, they are always rendered with words other than diaspora.Īside from biblical literature, sufficient extra-biblical sources picture the period of Jewish diaspora. The three Hebrew words of ndt, golah, and galota can mean the process of “leading away,” “deportation,” or “exile.” They can also mean the state of those “led away,” “deported,” or “exiled.” They have become technical terms for exile or banishment after the destruction of Jerusalem and the loss of the Palestinian homeland. In Deuteronomy 30:4, the Hebrew root is ndt, which in the niphil means, “expelled, driven out.” The nearest Hebrew term, which may correspond to diaspora is golah, or galot, or the emphatic galota (from the Aramaic root, galo). There is no fixed or technical Hebrew equivalent for the Greek word diaspora. Moreover, diaspora can refer to both the dispersion and the totality of the dispersed. In the Greek translation (i.e., LXX or Septuagint, including the Apocrypha) of the Hebrew Old Testament, the technical term, diaspora, is found in twelve passages, generally referring to the “dispersion of the Jews among the Gentiles” or “the Jews as thus scattered.” This noun, diaspora, is used in the LXX of the exile of the scattered people of God among the Gentiles. The unique contribution of these verses in the use of diaspeiro is that those who were scattered served essential factors in the expansion of early Christianity or to missions (Acts 8:4-8, 40 11:19-21). In each instance, diaspeiro relates to the scattering of the Christians of Hellenistic Jewish origin (Greek-speaking Jewish Christians from the diaspora) in areas where there was a non-Jewish majority (Acts 11:19), but also in the area around Jerusalem and toward Samaria (Acts 8:1). 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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