The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism: A New Theory of People, Exile, and Israelite Identity

In 350 pages that feel simultaneously overwhelming and too brief, Staples argues that "throughout the period covered by the book, one constant is that 'Israel' is the name either for the tribes of the biblical northern kingdom or for the twelve-tribe covenantal people of YHWH" (339)--but Israel was not, as most scholars have assumed for the past 80 years, an 'insider' term for the Jewish people; rather, "'Jew' continues to refer to the subset of Israel specifically derived from the kingdom of Judah either by descent, marriage, or (eventually) proselytism/conversion" (340).This semantic distinction is woven into the Hebrew Bible's exile-and-return narrative to the point that it is impossible to discuss one without the other; thus "Jews in this period did not anticipate merely a 'Jewish' restoration but a full restoration of 'all Israel'" (341). In his introduction, Staples notes that any worthwhile investigation of "Israel" should not limited only to semantic uses of the Hebrew and Greek words themselves, but must include a survey of all the key restoration texts. Staples first forayed this thesis with his 2011 JBL article on "all Israel" in Rom 11:26. It was a radical assertion, and more than one fellow scholar balked at such a revolutionary step that would shift the landscape in any number of adjacent disciplines. But a historian's first job is to place texts within their original contexts, and the attempt to do that for the Apostle Paul was, according to Staples, the raison d'etre for this study. The legacy view postulates that "Israel" was used as an insider term, whereas "Jew" was used as an outsider term (often with a disparaging connotation), but that both essentially meant the same thing. In this, the first of two books written to further refine and support his conclusions from that original JBL paper, Staples not only proves his thesis; he obliterates this legacy view. And for good reason--Staples clearly shows how it was Nazi "theology' developed and utilized to justify Hitler's "final solution." In the first chapter, Staples takes the legacy view to task, writing what reads more like a historical mystery novel than a philological reception history. The primary villain: Karl Kuhn (and his mentor Gerhard Kittel), one of the first of Hitler's "brownshirts" who proudly wore his Nazi uniform while lecturing on theology. Staples demonstrates that Kuhn's model of Israel=insider term and Jew=outsider term was really just Nazi anti-Semitism, and not reflective of any early Jewish lit--and especially not of Josephus, who features heavily in this chapter.In the second chapter, Staples makes his historical case that the Samaritans (1) claimed to be Israelites, (2) the Jews understood why, as purported descendants of the northern kingdom of Israel, they made this claim, even if they disagreed; and (3) that no one in either group considered Samaritans to be "Jews." The final section of this chapter provides evidence for how the term "Hebrew" functions frequently as a linguistic marker pointing to Hebrew/Aramaic language proficiency or heritage, and thus overlaps (but is distinct from) both "Israel" and "Jews."In the third chapter, Staples builds upon the latest research as he discusses how strange it is that "the Hebrew Bible is scripture collected and edited by Jews, for Jews, about Israel [not Judah alone]," (89) and how "at the root of exilic and post-exilic Judaism we find not a redefinition of Israel limited to Jews/Judahites but restoration eschatology--a theology looking backward to biblical Israel and forward to a divinely orchestrated future restoration of Israel far exceeding the small return of Yehudim in the Persian period" (94). The discussion here is some of the most important material in the entire book, spanning the Torah, Deuteronomic history, and 1/2 Chronicles. Staples concludes: "The 'better alternative reality' envisioned throughout this literature consistently involves a restored Israel including all twelve tribes and featuring perfect covenantal obedience and cultic practice" (119).Staples then wades into the prophetical literature of the Hebrew Bible in the fourth chapter, illustrating how seemingly odd it is that prophets who hailed from Judah were continually concerned with the covenantal status, exile, and promised return of the northern tribes. Isaiah, the minor prophets, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all closely distinguish between Israel/Ephraim, Judah, and the combination "Jacob"/[all] Israel, as Staples aptly demonstrates. And, even more importantly, this distinction happens centrally within the restorationist texts, which in turn helped establish a Jewish eschatological hope that was centered on a complete twelve-tribe restoration.The fifth chapter covers Ezra-Nehemiah, Daniel, 1 Enoch, and 1/2 Maccabees. Staples makes two important contributions to the discussion here: first, he correctly asserts that Ezra-Nehemiah was not understood within 2TJ to be representative of a *concluded* return from exile, but rather the (disappointing) *beginning* of a return. Second, he again demolishes Kuhn's insider/outsider paradigm (vis-a-vis its reliance on 1 Maccabees) by noting how the author of 1 Macc was using Israel language precisely to invoke the restoration-eschatological promises of the prophets; thus in 1 Macc, "the use of these terms is rhetorically powerful, identifying the Hasmonean house as the rightful rulers of Israel-being-restored..." (172).In chs. 7-11 Staples turns to the wider corpus of 2TJ lit, but only after spending ch. 6 pushing back on the notion that success outside Palestine meant that diaspora Jews had abandoned the biblical framework. Instead, "the traditional perspective of restoration eschatology mediated through the Jewish scriptures remained influential, though everyday diaspora life was often prosperous and pleasant" (209).Chs. 7 and 8 cover Josephus and Philo, respectively. Having already reviewed Josephus' semantic use of both "Israel" and "Jews" in ch. 1, Staples reads him as viewing the fall of Jerusalem through the same lens as the book of Daniel--that is, the dispersion is both God's punishment and mercy on his people, but Rome, like Babylon, will eventually fall and Israel will rise up in line with Balaam's oracles. Philo, who is well-known for philosophical and metaphorical approaches to the Torah, is shown to be surprisingly literal when discussing the dispersion and promised restoration. Furthermore, his use of "Israel" as the simultaneously historical-and-future 12-tribe nation and "Jews" as the contemporary people, respectively, closely mirrors Josephus (and, in some ways, anticipates Paul).The Dead Sea Scrolls, discussed in ch. 9, provide further insight into 2TJ restoration expectations. Staples argues that the sect sees the exile as ongoing, and they have therefore "withdrawn from the wicked in the land to rejoin the larger body of Israel that has remained in exile for centuries ... their community has thus become the necessary atonement in exile to bring about the final eschatological restoration of all Israel; their existence and obedience are the final necessary steps for Israel's restoration in Deuteronomy" (287-288). The sect's usage of Israel is subtle and complex, but their semantic usage--and even their self-given name 'The Yahad'--indicate that full, twelve-tribe restoration is in view.Chs. 10-11 cover the rest of the extant 2TJ literature, divided into narrative and eschatological/apocalyptic/wisdom categories. It is difficult to summarize such a large corpus, but with both groups of literature, Staples clearly demonstrates that (1) the authors retained an emphasis on tribal distinctiveness with an eye towards reunification of the twelve tribes and tribal allotments; and (2) "Israel terminology ... is highly correlated with a setting in the biblical past, an eschatological/restoration context, or in ritual and prayer contexts that often imply one or both of the biblical/eschatological contexts" (314).Overall, this work is both challenging and rewarding. Staples writes to his fellow scholars, and the text is littered with footnotes, but his prose is fluid and his arguments coherent and concise and readily understandable to laypeople. He presents a revolutionary new approach to Judaism (and the religions that flowed out of Judaism, including Christianity) that will surely incite some antipathy in the field, but from my perspective, it will be difficult to supply a more coherent picture of theses texts than what Staples provides.David SchroderOct 2021

Staples covers concepts I have been chewing on for years just from my reading of the Bible. He takes the reader on a journey of discovery to understand what a Second Temple Era Jew would have meant when using the term "Israel." Of course, there's so much more. This is a scholarly work and not a "light" read, but well worth it if you want to further your understanding of the New Testament.Edit: David Schroder did an much better review and I recommend reading it if you are still on the fence about this book. I cannot recommend this too much. It is a "must have" in my opinion and I don't say that about many books outside the Bible.

Not a very well-written or informative book.

The media could not be loaded. This is an absolute must read for anyone concerned with the idea of the Lost Tribes of Israel. After Assyria conquered Northern Israel legend has it that they would be brought back by God in the last days. Did God forget about these Israelites altogether and did the Jews just give up the idea or did it persist even centuries after the second temples demise?Dr. Jason Staples takes on the giants in academia with this ground breaking theory which may change how you view the entire New Testament of Biblical Studies!Derek LambertMythVision Podcast

Some aspects doe not have enough evidence as yet, but the shift in perspective does give a possible solution to that language and differentiation between Jew and Israelite.