My questions. I've said that several times now. Copy my questions and then reply. Not difficult at all.
Do I really have to say that Abel wasn't a Jew? Must I really say that?
Jews and Gentiles are POST.... flood.
Abel was
not Jewish.
Abel (the son of Adam and Eve described in Genesis 4) predated the existence of the Jewish people by many generations. The Jewish identity as a distinct people group began with
Abraham, who lived much later, and was more formally established with his grandson
Jacob (renamed Israel) and Jacob's descendants.
The biblical timeline places Abel at the very beginning of human history, while Abraham (considered the father of the Jewish people) appears many generations later. Judaism as a religious and ethnic identity emerged gradually through Abraham's descendants, particularly following the covenant established with Moses and the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.
From a biblical perspective, Abel would be considered part of early human history before the development of distinct ethnic or religious identities like "Jewish."
And here is where you are in error-Pre, Post-whatever---flood.
The term “Jew” (Hebrew: יְהוּדִי, Yehudi) refers historically to:
Descendants of the tribe of Judah, one of Jacob’s twelve sons.
More broadly, Israelites, especially post-exilic ones from the southern kingdom of Judah.
A people group descended from Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, receiving the Mosaic covenant at Sinai.
Abel, however, lived:
Before Abraham (Gen 12),
Before the twelve tribes, and
Before the formation of the nation of Israel.
Therefore, Abel cannot be “Jewish” in any covenantal or ethnic sense because:
He predates the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12, 15, 17),
He predates circumcision as a sign of covenant (Genesis 17),
He predates the giving of the Torah at Sinai (Exodus 19–20).
Abel was the second son of Adam and Eve, and therefore part of pre-Abrahamic humanity.
He was a righteous individual (cf. Gen 4:4; Heb 11:4), but not “Jewish.”
The term “Hebrew” (ʿIvri) is first applied to Abraham (Gen 14:13), not earlier.
Hebrews 11:4 says:
“By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain... and through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.”
This shows his faith was commendable, but not Israelite or “Jewish” by covenantal affiliation.
Jewish tradition does not consider Abel Jewish;
he is part of what some rabbis call righteous Gentiles (chasidei umot ha'olam) who preceded Abraham.
Christian scholars (e.g., F.F. Bruce, Craig Keener, and the majority of Old Testament experts) agree that the term “Jew” is anachronistic when applied to pre-Abrahamic figures like Abel, Noah, or even Job.
Anything else?
J.
