The term Jew is used in these
biblical passages to identify the rabbinical leadership of Judea who were opposed
to Jesus. The term Galilean may be considered the antithesis of the term
Judean or Jew. It was a foredrawn conclusion by Judeans that the
Messiah could not be a Galilean. (Berakhoth, Babylonian Talmud 33a;
Vermes 1973:55) and “can anything good come out of Nazareth” (John 1:46)? This
enmity between Judeans and Galileans is evidenced in John and in the rabbinic
literature. “No man may marry the daughter of the ‘am ha-arez
[Galilean], for they are like unclean animals, and their wives like reptiles,
and it is concerning their daughters that Scripture says: ‘Cursed be he who
lies with any kind of beast” (Deuteronomy 27:21 [RSV]. Greater is the hated of
the am ha-arez for the learned than the hatred of the Gentiles for
Israel; but the hated for their wives is even greater” (B. Talmud, Pesahim
238, Late First Century Rabbi, Eliezer ben Hyrcanus). (James R. Harris, “The ‘I
Am’ Passages in the Gospels and in 3 Nephi: How They Differ and What These
Differences Reveal about Early Christianity,” in The New Testament and the
Latter-day Saints: Sperry Symposium 1987 [Orem, Utah: Randall Book Company,
1987], 95 n. 9)
