Proselytes

Proselytes (Gr. pros-elytos, Heb. gerim) was an English form of the Greek translation of the name given by the Jews to those heathens who became converts to Judaism. There were two kinds of proselytes distinguished: 'Proselytes of the Gate,'—i.e. heathen strangers, who, in order to be allowed to reside in Palestine, had undertaken to submit to the 'Seven Commandments of the Sons of Noah,' that prohibit blasphemy, idolatry, murder, incest, theft, disobedience to the authorities, and the eating of flesh with the blood in it: commandments which probably had grown out of certain restrictions originally put upon the 'strangers' by the Mosaic Law (Exodus, xii. 19; xx. 10, &c.). These 'Proselytes of the Gate,' or 'Sojourners,' could not claim all the privileges of an Israelite, could not redeem their first-born, and, at a later period, were not allowed to live in Jerusalem. The second class of proselytes was formed by the gere hatsedek ('Pious Proselytes'), or gere haberith ('Proselytes of the Covenant'). These accepted all the dogmas and customs of Judaism to their fullest extent, and were called 'Complete Israelites.'