Sceva, a Jew – Acts 19:14

Jan 20, 2015 | Acts

The title to last Wednesday’s lesson was: “Wandering Jew.”

I tried to explain that that was the meaning of the Biblical statement: “vagabond Jews.”

That message was primarily about what the sons of Sceva were trying to do when they said,

“We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth,”

I also tried to deal with some of the background of these people.

As we were finishing, Bro. Asmundson asked a question, pointing out the Sceva is said to be a Jew AND a chief of the priests.

A basic knowledge of the Old Testament should tell us that the priests came from the tribe of Levi,

so why was this man called a “Jew?”

Last week, I gave a very brief answer.

Before moving on, I thought that perhaps we should examine that question a little more thoroughly.

I realize that not everyone may agree with my conclusions, and that is certainly your choice,

But before you disagree, I ask that you carefully consider whether or not my understanding and interpretation of the scriptures is correct.

I think that our opinions on any Biblical subject should come primarily from the Bible, not the words of the commentators or the critics of the Bible.

Let’s start with the Origin of the term “Jew.”

The first time that we run into that word is in II Kings 16; please turn there.

“In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.

Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father.

But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.

And he sacrificed & burnt incense in the high places, & on the hills, and under every green tree.

Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.

At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave THE JEWS from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.”

The second use of that word is found in II Kings 18.

In this chapter the Syrians had come up to Jerusalem and had besieged it.

In an effort to terrorize the people in the city, Rabshakeh got a PA system and began to cajole them.

In verse 26 we read: “Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in THE JEWS‘ LANGUAGE in the ears of the people that are on the wall.”

And then two verses later, “Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in THE JEWS‘ LANGUAGE, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:”

What was the language that Rabshakeh used to speak to the people of Jerusalem?

He was speaking in Hebrew – the Jew’s language.

The tribe of Judah did not have a language that was different from the people of Manasseh or Ephraim.

In other words, the word “Jew” was slowly becoming a synonym for “Israelite” and even “Hebrew.”

The word “Jew” is a derivative of “Judah.”

The first Jews were children of the tribe of Judah.

This is the definition according to the dictionary, and there is sufficient evidence of that in the Bible.

After the nation of Israel was divided by the rebellion against Solomon’s son Rehoboam, it became common to refer to the ten northern tribes as “Israel” and the two southern tribes as “Judah.”

And the people of those nations were eventually known as “Isrealites” and “Jews.”

As we continue to read through the Old Testament, we begin to find fewer and fewer references to “Israel” and more and more references to the “Jews.”

Over time, that the word “Jew” was a synonym for tribes other than Judah becomes quite clear.

For example, eight times in the Book of Esther we are told that Esther’s kinsman, Mordecai, was a Jew.

The first time that we find the singular use of the word “Jew” it is in regard to Mordecai.

He called himself “a Jew” in Esther 3:4.

Esther 6:10 says, “Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.”

Now listen to Esther 2:5 – “Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, A BENJAMITE.”

The Bible says that Mordecai was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin.

Towards the end of Babylonian captivity the word “Jew” became synonymous with people from all twelve of the tribes of Israel.

Now, let’s examine that word in the New Testament.

First we notice that it is very common.

The words “Jew” and “Jews” are found 190 times.

The words “Hebrew” and “Hebrews” are found 14 times and ten of those refer to the Hebrew language.

In other words, “Jew” is found nearly fifty times more often than “Hebrew” in the New Testament.

And “Israel,” which we’ll come back to in a few minutes, is found only 73 times.

So “Jew” is used about three times as often as “Israel.”

According to the language of the New Testament there are two kinds of people in secular society.

There are Gentiles and there are Jews.

The scriptures abound in verses which compare those two kinds of people.

Romans 3:9 – “What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.”

Romans 3:29 – “Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also.”

Romans 9:24 – “Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?“

Romans 10:12 – “For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.”

1 Corinthians 1:22 – “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.“

1 Corinthians 1:23 – “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness.“

1 Corinthians 1:24 – “But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”

In the days of the New Testament the word “Jew” remained a synonym for “Israel.”

Of what tribe was the apostle Paul?

He was of the tribe of Benjamin, as Mordecai and the first King of Israel had been.

When Paul was defending himself after the Jews of Jerusalem tried to kill him, he said,

“I am a man which am A JEW of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.”

And again in Acts 22:3 he said, “I am verily a man which am A JEW, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.”

Paul was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin.

It’s interesting to compare the words “ISRAEL” and “Jew” in the New Testament.

It’s interesting to work those words backwards.

Who were the people that returned from captivity and began residing in Jerusalem?

Weren’t they primarily from the tribe of Judah?

Who might we assume made up the bulk of the residents of Jerusalem in Jesus’ day and Paul’s?

I may be totally off track, but I would say that they were primarily of the tribe of Judah – Jews.

If that is the case, why is it that Peter and others preferred to call the people of Jerusalem “Israelites?“

Acts 2:22 – “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know.“

Acts 3:12 – “And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?“

Acts 4:8 – “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.“

Acts 4:27 – “For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together…”

It appears to me that Peter preferred to use the word “Israel” and Paul preferred the word “Jew,” but they were both talking about the same general group of people

And now getting back to Sceva.

If he was a true priest, then he was a member of the tribe of Levi,

but he could also be called a “Jew,”

because that was a term which had come to be used to describe any of the children of Jacob.