pros ́ḗ-līt (προσήλυτος, prosḗlutos, from prosérchomai, “I approach”): Found 4 times in the New Testament. In the Septuagint it often occurs as the translation of גּר, gēr. The Hebrew verb gūr means “to sojourn”; gēr accordingly means a stranger who has come to settle in the land, as distinguished on the one hand from ‘ezrāḥ, “a homeborn” or “native,” and on the other from nokhrī or ben-nēkhār, which means a stranger who is only passing through the country. Yet it is to be noted that in 2 Chronicles 2:17 those of the native tribes still living in the land as Amorites, Hittites, etc., are also called gērīm. In two places, (Exodus 12:19; Isaiah 14:1) the Septuagint uses, g(e)iṓras, which is derived from gīyōr, the Aramaic equivalent for gēr. Septuagint uses pároikos (the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew tōshābh, “a settler”) for gēr when Israel or the triarchs are indicated (Genesis 15:13; 23:4; Exodus 2:22; 18:3; Deuteronomy 23:7; 1 Chronicles 29:15; Psalms 39:12; 119:19; Jeremiah 14:8), and in a few other cases. In Talmudical literature gēr always stands for proselyte in the New Testament sense, i.e. a Gentile who has been converted to Judaism. Onkelos, who was himself a proselyte, always translates the word in this way.
No difficulties were put in the way of those strangers who wished to settle down in the land of Israel. All strangers, the third generation of Egyptians and Edomites included, and only Ammonites and Moabites excluded, could enter “the congregation of God” without circumcision and without the obligation to keep the ceremonial law.
‘The stranger within the gate’ was free to eat meat which was prohibited to the Israelite (Deuteronomy 14:21). If, however, the stranger wished to take part in the Passover, a feast permeated with national ideals, he must be circumcised. The keeping of the Sabbath and other feasts was regarded rather as a privilege than as a duty (Exodus 23:12; Deuteronomy 16:11, 16:14); but according to Leviticus 16:29 the gēr was obliged to keep the fast of Atonement. He was forbidden on pain of death to blaspheme (Leviticus 24:16) or to offer children to Molech (Leviticus 20:2). If he desired to bring a burnt offering, the same law applied to him as to the Israelites (Leviticus 17:8; 22:18). Though the law of circumcision was not forced upon the gēr, it seems that the Mosaic Law endeavored to bring him nearer to the cult of Israel, not from any proselytizing motives, but in order to preserve theocracy from admixture of foreign elements, which would speedily have proved fatal to its existence.
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Author: International Std. Bible Encyclopedia
Keywords: Proselyte, Proselytize, Proselytizing, Convert, Conversion, Neophyte, Catechumen
Source: James Orr (editor), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 5 volume set.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.