Who was the first Jew?
The answer depends on which name you mean, because Scripture gives this people three: Hebrew, Israelite, and Jew — and each one starts at a different moment in their history. The line traces back to Abraham, but the word "Jew" itself only appears centuries after him.
Where the word "Jew" begins
Strictly, "Jew" is not a term for the whole family that came from Abraham. It is a narrower, later word, tied to one tribe and one kingdom:
Morrish Bible DictionaryA man of Judah. The term does not occur until after the division of the kingdom. 2 Kings 16:6; 2 Kings 25:25. It is applied to anyone belonging to the two tribes, and it may have been used of any of the ten tribes who remained in the land at the captivity or returned there. The name is found mainly in the Old Testament in Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther and Jeremiah. In Esther the name is applied to all the Hebrews in Persia.
Three names, three meanings
The three titles are not interchangeable, and knowing which is which clears up a great deal of confusion:
G C WillisThe people of Israel had three names: Hebrews, Jews and Israelites. Jews were especially those of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin, though many others had joined them under this name. "Israel" means "prince of God," and was the name given to Jacob by God Himself, when he wrestled with the angel and prevailed. This name includes all the descendants of Jacob, all the twelve tribes, not the two tribes only as the name "Jew" means.
The first Hebrew
If the question means the first man marked out from all others as belonging to this line, the answer is Abraham — and the title he first carries is "Hebrew". It is given to him in Genesis 14:13, and it describes a way of life, not a bloodline:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe root of the word is "to pass over," as when one passes over a river, or from one region to another. Abraham was told to leave his country and his family and to go into the land of Canaan, and the word Hebrew is not used until Abraham had left his country and was in the land of Canaan. When there he was a "sojourner," in a strange country, living in tents. The name was therefore descriptive, and the people of the land could go to Abraham the "sojourner" and tell him that Lot had been taken prisoner.
What he was called out of
Abraham was no better than his neighbours when God spoke to him. His own family worshipped idols:
Hamilton SmithThe tenth and eleventh chapters of Genesis portray the terrible character of the world out of which Abraham was called. Three things marked that world. First it was an apostate world that had fallen into idolatry. This we know from Joshua's last words to Israel as recorded in Joshua 24:2. He reminds them that their fathers, together with Terah, the father of Abraham, "served other gods."
Head of a race
There were men of faith before Abraham. What made him different was that God started something in him that had not existed before:
J. N. DarbyThis, then, is the sum of these new ways of God: the world having given itself up to idolatry, God called out a man to belong to Him, outside the world, making him the keeper of His promises. There had been faithful men before, but not the stock of a race (as Adam was of the fallen race); but Abraham is the head of a race, for even we ourselves, as being Christ's, are the seed of Abraham.
He was counted righteous before he wore the badge
The order of events in Abraham's life matters enormously. He believed God and was reckoned righteous while still uncircumcised; the outward sign came afterwards:
The Christian's FriendAbraham was reckoned righteous by faith before he was circumcised, so that circumcision has nothing to do with it; therefore he is the father of all those who believe; that is, he is the first example, the head of the family, so to speak, of those who are justified on the same principle, that is, by faith.
What actually counts before God
That order shaped the argument Paul later makes in Romans 2. Descent and ceremony are not what God weighs:
F. B. HoleIt is not official position, which is an outward thing, that counts before God and puts right what is wrong. It is the inward thing that God values. God would have respect to the one who obeys, even were he an uncircumcised Gentile. He would reject the disobedient, even were he the circumcised Jew.
Commentators differ on how far to press this. One writer cautions against reading the passage as a transfer of Israel's identity to the church: "The first passage, however, is not written about Christians at all, but about Gentiles who fulfilled the law as compared with Jews who broke it" (T. B. Baines).
Summary
- Name. "Jew" means a man of Judah and does not appear until after the kingdom split — so no one in Genesis is called a Jew.
- Root. Abraham is the first man named "Hebrew," a word meaning one who has crossed over: a sojourner living in tents in a land not yet his.
- Call. He was pulled out of a family that served other gods; the line began with grace, not with merit.
- Stock. Faithful men lived before him, but Abraham alone was made the head of a race and the keeper of God's promises.
- Reach. He was declared righteous by faith before circumcision, which makes him the first example and father of all who believe — and which is why God still looks at the inward reality, not the outward mark.