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How did the foreign people enter the fold of believers in biblical times of Moses and prior.

One scenario to better understand this question: In biblical times, A foreign person would have entered Israel now what he has to do to be accepted into the fold of the followers of Prophet Moses?Are there any biblical evidences of a foreign national or an in house disbeliever to have embraced the fold of the followers of Prophet Moses after a period of disbelief?

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This is a good question. I'm just going to clean it up a little. – Seth J Mar 6 at 16:45
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Presumably a non-believer wouldn't join the covenant, because why would he? But a foreigner who was a believer would certainly want to. – Seth J Mar 6 at 16:51
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That last edit made it so much more unclear. The question used to make sense; I don't know what you are asking anymore. – Double AA♦ Mar 6 at 17:28
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This is no longer a good question, for the reasons outlined by @DoubleAA above, and because you've made it clear that you are asking how people joined a "covenant" before any covenant existed. You should really take a look at a timeline of Biblical history. – Seth J Mar 6 at 21:18
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no, nobody understands what is being asked. we're all guessing. And you keep on changing it. – Seth J Mar 8 at 13:31
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closed as not a real question by Seth J, HodofHod, msh210♦ Mar 7 at 6:45

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

1 Answer

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There is a midrash which states that Avraham "converted" people -- here is a retelling of it from another website

"'And the people that they made in Haran.' Rabbi Elazar ben Zimra said [the text should read] ...”these are the converts that they converted.” And if it is that they converted them, why does it say “make”? Only to teach you that all those who bring a worshipper of stars [i.e. a pagan] close [to God] and converts him, it is as if [the one who converts the other] created [the one who converts]" (Genesis Rabbah 39:14).

If that is the case, then convincing them of belief in the monotheistic god and their choice to follow Abraham helped them enter into some important status. However, only those in Abe's "family" were ushered into the covenant. Whether there was another step beyond belief (which would bring someone into Noachide status) -- such as circumcision (which would make the person part of the family) is not attested to by text as far as I know.

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Do you really mean those in Abe's family were ushered into the covenant? The covenant was made with b'nei Yisrael. Do you mean a different covenant (where?)? – Monica Cellio♦ Mar 6 at 17:34
there are different covenants -- the bris was a covenant, shabbos is a covenant etc. When I mentioned simple monotheism (that Avraham seems to have "converted" people to) I didn't use the word covenant. – Dan Mar 6 at 17:36
@MonicaCellio The question (at least the last revision I understood) asked about pre-Mattan Torah. So the only convenant around was that which was made with Avraham himself (the Brit bein haBetarim) – Double AA♦ Mar 6 at 17:36
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Ah, ok. Thanks DoubleAA, and sorry @Dan - the edits to the question confused me. – Monica Cellio♦ Mar 6 at 17:39
i did not understand your answer can please explain all those quotes ,,, – Ali Mar 6 at 20:08

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