When Did Jews Become Israel?

With Prof. Yonatan Adler

November 27, 2025

In this episode, Alex Tseitlin speaks with Professor Yonatan Adler about a deceptively simple question: which identity came first, Israel or Jewish? The biblical story presents Israel as the older and broader identity, with Judah and Jews emerging later. Adler asks a different question: when did ordinary Jews actually begin using the name Israel for themselves?

Key Points

• The Bible presents Israel as the older identity and Judah as one part of Israel.
• Adler focuses on non-literary evidence such as coins, papyri, inscriptions, and synagogue mosaics rather than biblical narrative alone.
• Babylonian, Egyptian, and Mediterranean Jewish documents from before the Common Era usually use Jews or Judeans, not Israel.
• The name Israel is largely absent from hundreds of early Jewish documents.
• The first securely dated Jewish inscriptional use of Israel appears on Great Revolt coins from 66 to 67 CE.
• Later uses of Israel usually appear in biblical or biblicizing language rather than everyday speech.
• Bar Kokhba coins use phrases such as freedom of Israel and redemption of Israel.
• The adoption of Israel identity may be connected to the adoption of biblical scripture, likely in the Hasmonean period.

Israel in the Bible

In the Hebrew Bible, Israel begins with Jacob, who receives the name Israel after wrestling with a divine being. His twelve sons become the twelve tribes of Israel. The northern kingdom is called Israel and the southern kingdom Judah. In this framework, Israel is the older, broader identity and Judah is one component within it.

Asking a Different Historical Question

Adler sets aside the biblical narrative and asks a different question: when do we actually see Jews using the name Israel in real documents, inscriptions, coins, and objects? This method focuses on material evidence rather than literary reconstruction. The findings are surprising.

Jews, Judeans, and the Missing Name Israel

Documents from the Babylonian exile, the Elephantine papyri in Egypt, and later Hellenistic and Roman period texts consistently use the name Jews or Judeans to describe the community. Despite the biblical insistence on Israel as the primary identity, the name Israel barely appears in the earliest surviving non-literary Jewish documents.

The First Shekel of Israel

The earliest securely dated Jewish inscriptional use of Israel comes from the Great Revolt against Rome in 66 to 67 CE. Coins struck by the rebels carry the phrase Shekel of Israel. This is a revolutionary act of identity: choosing the name Israel rather than Judea signals a claim to the full biblical inheritance and a break from Roman political terminology.

Bar Kokhba and the Language of Redemption

The Bar Kokhba revolt of 132 to 135 CE produced another wave of Israel language. Coins and documents use phrases like freedom of Israel and redemption of Israel. Again, Israel appears in a moment of crisis, rebellion, and the claim to national restoration. The language is explicitly biblical.

Biblical Language and Public Identity

Adler notices a pattern: when Israel appears in Jewish inscriptions, it is almost always in biblical or biblicizing formulas. Synagogue mosaics, tombstones, and magical bowls use Israel in phrases drawn from scripture. This suggests that Israel was not ordinary everyday speech but a formal or sacred register connected to the language of the Torah.

When Did Jews Become Israel?

Adler's hypothesis is that the identity of Israel became meaningful to ordinary Jews when biblical texts, especially the Torah, were widely adopted as sacred scripture. He points to the Hasmonean period as the likely turning point, when the Torah became the public, constitutional document of Judean identity. Before that moment, Israel was a name in a book. After it, Israel became a living identity.