Who was the first Jew?
Many of my closest friends are Jewish but I still have a lot to learn about the Jewish people and the Jewish faith.
Recently I have been contemplating the origin of the Jews. Just who was the first Jew? Like so much to do with the Jewish story, the answer is not straightforward.
According to this source, the answer is simple. The first Jew was Abraham.
But according to this source, Abraham was not a Jew. Nor was his son Isaac. Nor was Isaac’s son Jacob. Moses and Aaron were also not Jews. This source insists that the first Jews were the children of Jacob’s son Judah.
A third source states:
‘If by “Jew” we mean “Hebrew,” Abraham was the first Jew. If by “Jew” we mean “of the tribe of Judah,” Judah was the first Jew. If by “Jew” we mean “the first person in the Bible to be referred to as a Jew,” the nameless Jews in 2 Kings chapters 16—25 were the first Jews. Generally speaking, people today use the term Jew to refer to “a person who is of the chosen people of Israel.” With that in mind, Abraham should be considered the first Jew.’