From ChatGPT on 12/24/2025
I’ll search for scholarly information on the evolution of these ethnic and religious designations. Let me search for more specific scholarly information about the chronology of these transitions. Based on the scholarly research, here’s what critical biblical scholars say about the evolution of these ethnic and religious designations:
The Four-Phase Transformation
Critical scholars identify several distinct phases in the development of Jewish identity, with different terminology marking each period:
1. Hebrews (Early Period)
The term “Hebrew” first appears in Genesis applied to Abraham and his descendants, often used as an external identifier to distinguish them from surrounding peoples. In the Hebrew Bible and Torah, the most common term is “sons or daughters of Israel” (b’nei Yisroel or b’not Yisroel), along with “Israelites” and “Hebrews”.
2. Israelites (United and Divided Kingdom Period)
The term “Israelite” derives from Jacob’s name change to Israel in Genesis 32:28, denoting direct lineage from Jacob’s twelve sons. Before the monarchy’s division around 930 BCE, it referred to all twelve tribes. After the split, “Israelite” sometimes specified the northern ten-tribe kingdom, contrasting with Judah.
3. Judeans/Judahites (Post-Exile Period)
The gradual shift from “Israelites” to “Jews” is made explicit in the Book of Esther (4th century BCE). After the Persian Emperor Cyrus allowed Israelites to return to the province of Judea around 515 BCE, they were called Judeans by others, though they still referred to themselves as Bnei Yisrael. This evolution reflects the southern kingdom’s dominance after the northern kingdom’s fall in 722 BCE.
4. Jews (Hellenistic Period and After)
This is where scholars focus most intensely. Shaye J.D. Cohen, one of the most influential scholars on this topic, argues in his landmark work The Beginnings of Jewishness that:
The term Ioudaios was an ethnic-geographic designation meaning “Judaean” in all uses prior to the mid-second century BCE, but after the second century BCE a semantic shift occurred incorporating religious, cultural, and political senses. The peculiar combination of ethnicity, nationality, and religion that would characterize Jewishness through the centuries first took shape in the second century BCE.
During the Hellenistic period (322 BCE onward), when Judeans encountered gentile Greeks, the religious identity became the main identifying trademark of being a Judean/Jew, with ethnic identity becoming less of a requirement. Under the influence of Hellenistic culture and politics, the Hasmoneans re-fashioned the Judaean state into a league that allowed the incorporation of non-Judaeans.
Scholarly Debate
There is ongoing scholarly debate about translation and terminology:
Scholar Daniel R. Schwartz distinguishes “Judean” (inhabitants of Judea in southern Palestine) from “Jew” (descendants of Israelites adhering to Judaism, including converts), while Shaye J.D. Cohen argues “Judean” includes believers in the Judean God and allies of the Judean state.
Some scholars argue the term “Jew” should be used even in the pre-exilic period for those from the tribe or kingdom of Judah, since ancient languages themselves don’t distinguish between Iron Age “Judahites” and later “Jews”.
Timeline Summary
- Hebrew: Patriarchal period (Abraham onward)
- Israelite: From Jacob’s renaming through the divided monarchy (c. 930 BCE)
- Judean/Judahite: Particularly after 722 BCE (fall of northern kingdom) and 586 BCE (Babylonian exile)
- Jew (as religious-cultural identity): Mid-2nd century BCE is the critical turning point according to Cohen and others
Key sources cited: Wikipedia “Jews,” Shaye J.D. Cohen’s The Beginnings of Jewishness (1999), TheTorah.com, Teen Ink academic article, UW Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, World History Encyclopedia.
