385 GAL 3,28 AND ITS ALLEGED RELATIONSHIP TO RABBINIC WRITINGS issues that must be dealt with before any assertion can be made as to the relationship between Gal 3,28 and the three blessings of gratitude found in rabbinic texts. From a literary perspective, Gal 3,28 differs from the overall structure of the three blessings of gratitude found in the Tosefta and in the Talmuds by the following omissions and re-arrange- ments. Both Gal 3,28 and the three expressions of gratitude found in rabbinic writings make three statements, however, the content of the two traditions are so different from each other. Gal 3,28 con- tains three pairs of antitheses, while the rabbinic texts under study mention only one member of each of the pairs of opposites listed in the texts. Instead of the pairs ÃIoydaıov and ™Ellhn, doylov, ˜ ˜ and eleyuerov, arsen and uhly, as in Gal 3,28, we have ywg, hça ߥ ¶ ˜ and rwb. In these lists of items, we find only one closely related term, as ywg could have a similar connotation as ™Ellhn 25. In the second expression, the terms hça and uhly have different con- ˜ notations, but sometimes hça could be used in a general sense to identify every female human 26. The use of rwb in the third expres- sion is unique to the three blessings of gratitude. The negative particles used in Gal 3,28 and the three expressions of gratitude found in rabbinic sources differ: In Gal 3,28, the first two pairs have two negative particles oy - oyde and the third pair has only ß ßù one negative particle oy, to which the opposite is joined by kaı. ß ù Unlike Gal 3,28, each statement in the three blessings of gratitude found in rabbinic sources contains the negative particle alç. Judaism of the Second Temple period, rabbinic Judaism and the New Testament, especially the gospels. Their discussions centre on the different traditions that preceded the written Gospels and the possible interrelations between them. Others have focused on several aspects of the relationship between Judaism before and after Second Temple period, especially Judaism as represented in rabbinic period. See also D.I. BREWER, “The Use of Rabbinic Sources in Gospel Studies”, TynB 50 (1999) 281-298, 282. BDB, 156, translates ywg as nation, people (New Hebrew includes 25 gentiles). The LXX often translates the Hebrew ywg as eunov. See J. LUST – ¶ E. EYNIKEL – K. HAUSPIE (eds.), A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint (Stuttgart 2003) 172. In some English lexicons of the New Testament ™Ellhn is used to refer to non-Jews. Where ywg has been used in the sense of those who are non-Jews defined in terms of nation, ethnicity, culture and religion, with respect to what ™Ellhn may have meant for Paul, one may conclude that both terms have similar meaning. BDB, 61; BDAG, 455. 26