Was Moses a Jew?

Question

Who used the term "Jew" first?

Answer 1

Some will say Moses was "the" original Jew. But he was a Hebrew which gave the law from GOD to the Hebrew people and this formed the Early Jewish Faith. Before Moses there was no Jewish faith. There were men of GOD we see that in patriarchs such as Abraham. But there was no Jewish Faith. The Jewish Faith is formed primarily on the first five books of the Bible called the Pentateuch which were written by Moses (debatably on parts of it being written by others as dueteronomy describes Moses' death) . . .

It appears the orgin of the term "Jew" is shrouded in some historical confusion. But the term originates from the people of the land of Judea. However, there's certain forms and changes of the word over time particularly through translation from Greek to Latin to English . ..

LOVE your neighbor as yourelf.
Amen.

Answer 2

Of course Moses was Jewish.
The first Jew was Abraham.
According to Wikipedia:
In some places in the Talmud the word Israel(ite) refers to somebody who is Jewish but does not necessarily practice Judaism as a religion: "An Israel(ite) even though he has sinned is still an Israel(ite)" (Tractate Sanhedrin 44a). More commonly the Talmud uses the term Bnei Yisrael, i.e. "Children of Israel", ("Israel" being the name of the third patriarch Jacob, father of the sons that would form the twelve tribes of Israel, which he was given and took after wrestling with an angel, see Genesis 32:28-29 [5]) to refer to Jews. According to the Talmud then, there is no distinction between "religious Jews" and "secular Jews." In modern English, the term "Israelite" is never used to refer to contemporary Jews, but can be used to refer to Jews of the Biblical era. The Jews of today's State of Israel are called "Israelis" (as are all the state's citizens, regardless of ethnic origin) and do not call themselves "Israelites" in English. They refer to themselves using the Hebrew word "Yisraeli", which is the same for both.

Answer 3

Yes, Moses was a Jew, although they weren't called Jews back then. As a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he would have called himself a "Child of Israel", or a "Hebrew". In his day, calling someone a Jew meant they were from the tribe of Yehudah (Judah).
The term "Jew" came into being nearly a thousand years later. Nine and a half of the twelve tribes were exiled by the Assyrians. The Jews left either belonged to the prominant tribe of Yehudah, or the smaller tribes of Binyamin (Benjamin) and Levi. Since most of them were from Yehudah, they started referring to all Jews as Yehudim (Jews), regardless of their tribal affiliations. (See Esther 2:5, where Mordechai is referred to as a "Yehudi" from the tribe of Binyamin).

Answer 4

Yes and no. If a jew is defined as a descendent of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then yes. However, the first time the term 'jew' is used is in the Book of Esther when Mordechai is described as 'the Jew'. This designation came about after the first temple was destroyed and the babylonian exile ensued. The tribe of Judah was the dominant tribe of Israel and the people were commonly called 'yehudim' or judeans....jews for short (in english).

Answer 5

Moses was one of Bnei Yisrael, the Children of Israel, specifically of the descendants of Ysiarael's (Jacob) son Levi.

Today, Jews still call themselves bnei Yisrael- though the term Yehudi has become popular as a descriptive term since the time that the Kingdom of Judea held the remnants of all the tribes. We see the term "Yehudi" used in a general way to refer to someone NOT of the tribe of Judah already in the Book of Esther- where the narrative takes place in the time just after the destruciton of the first temple- so around 2500 years ago.

Answer 6

Sir, pass over the Fundies' tortured explanations: yes, Moses was a Jew, BUT... The answer is that if the man existed at all, he was Jewish.

Answer 7

Jews are decendents from one of the tribes of Isreal which was Judah. It was ALL the tribes of Isreal who were inslaved in Egypt. Not just the Jews. Moses was from Levi.

Answer 8

Germans. they called them Jews because they game from Judah. the name for these people were called Aparu ,they came out of northeast Africa. Moses was an Egyptian Moses is an Egyptian name . Egypt where the idea of one god came from.

Answer 9

yes...all figure in Christianity (Including Christ) were born Jewish until after Christ walked the Earth. Moses was around hundreds of years before Christ arrived.

Answer 10

he was from the tribe of levi. they started using the tern jews afterthe day of the first kings jerusalem