Sunday, 18 January 2015

Judaism, the First Phase: the Place of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Origins of Judaism,
Joseph Blenkinsopp, Eerdmans, 2009, page 25

Josephus weighs in on the name/identity issue:

This name (i.e. 'ioudaioi', Judeans) by which they have been called from the time when they went up from Babylon is derived from the tribe of Judah; s this tribe was the first to come to those parts, both the people themselves and the country have taken their name from it. (Antiquities 11.173)

Blenkinsopp claims that Josephus, whose interest would have been to generate a claim of longevity or continuance if that were possible, is saying that afer the return a new situation came into being, requiring a new name.