Nations and Goyim, Hellēnes and Others

Chapter 4 concentrates on terminology, examining the changes in the meanings of both ethnē and goyim. After discussing the Dead Sea Scrolls and the First and Second Maccabees, it moves to Philo and Josephus, discussing the different terms they use for foreigners, collective and individual, and their discursive meanings. For both authors, Israel is conceived as an exception that does not define the rule. Instead, it was understood on the terms of Israel’s constitution, which Philo interpreted theologically, and Josephus read politically and historically. The chapter ends with an analysis of the Greek warning inscription found in the Temple court, which forbade strangers from entering the Temple on pain of death.