sympathetically involved with the Jewish community and who lived in ac-
cord with at least some of its precepts. The terminology has a parallel in
Josephus, who attributes the wealth of the Temple to contributions both
from Jews and from “those who worship God” all over the world. Closely
comparable phrases appear in inscriptions of somewhat later periods from
a wide variety of regions ranging from Italy to the Black Sea. Gentiles in
substantial numbers participated in some fashion (doubtless in diverse
fashions) in Jewish synagogues and communities — and they were clearly
welcomed.Relations with the Homeland
An important question remains. How did Diaspora Jews relate to the
homeland? Did the land of Israel beckon to those dwelling in distant
places, a prime objective of the displaced, the principal means of realizing
the destiny of the people for whom the “Return” represented the fulfill-
ment of Yahweh’s promise? Or had the Jews instead assimilated to life
abroad, finding gratification in the concept that their identity resided in
the “Book,” not in any territorial legitimation. For such Jews, restoration to
the homeland was irrelevant and superfluous; the land of their residence
rather than the home of the fathers constituted the cardinal attachment.
The dichotomy misleads and deceives. The whole idea of valuing
homeland over Diaspora or Diaspora over homeland is off the mark. Sec-
ond Temple Jews need not have faced so stark a choice.
The Bible, of course, has YHWH promise eventually to return the chil-
dren of Israel from the most remote regions to the land of their fathers.
And similar comments recur in Jewish Hellenistic writers who deplore the
dispersal and forecast the ingathering of the exiles, as in the book of Tobit,
thePsalms of Solomon,andJubilees.But in each instance the termination of
exile and the return to the homeland are connected to the reconstruction
of the Temple. As a symbol of the faith, its demolition at the hands of Bab-
ylon had caused heartbreak and longing. But a comparable condition did
not hold in the Hellenistic Diaspora. The Temple stood again in Jerusalem.
And few Jews abroad were held there by constraint.
The generally satisfactory circumstances of the Diaspora defused any
widespread passion for the “Return.” Jews, as we have seen, generally
formed stable communities at places quite distant from Judea, entered into
the social, economic, and political life of the nations they joined, and as-112erich s. gruenEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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