While doing research for my previous post, I had found an interesting passage in one of Ishay Rosen-Zvi’s papers:
In light of all this it is easier to appreciate the uniqueness of the treatment of goyim in Tannaitic literature. In this corpus, goy (in the singular!) refers, for the first time, not to a single nation, but to an individual from among the goyim, a non-Jew. An example of this process is nicely illustrated in the Tosefta:
R. Judah says: a man should say three blessings every day. Blessed is He who has not made me a goy. Blessed . . . who has not made me an ignoramus (bwr). Blessed . . . who has not made me a woman. A gentile, for it says “all gentiles (gwyim) are nothing to Him, as naught and vanity they count toward Him” (Isa 40:17). An ignoramus, for “there is no ignoramus fearful of sin” (m. ʾAbot 2:5). A woman, for women are not obligated in the commandments. (t. Ber. 6:18)
While the exclusion of the woman and the ignoramus merits some explanation — pointing out difference between free, educated men and women or ignoramuses — in the case of the gentile no such argumentation is given. Instead, R. Yehuda invokes a verse which uses three different words for “nothing” to describe “all goyim.” In its original context, the verse describes the smallness of all nations, including Israel, to God, the lord of the universe: “Behold, the nations (גוים) are as a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales” (Isa 40:17).
Ishay Rosen-Zvi, “What if We Got Rid of the Goy? Rereading Ancient Jewish Distinctions,” Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period, Vol. 47, no. 2 (June 2016): pp. 180-181.
In other words, a few centuries after Christ, the Jewish rabbis had twisted a passage in scripture (namely Isaiah 40.17) in order to construct the notion of “goyim” as “gentiles.” For the record, Rosen-Zvi is himself a Jewish scholar (I don’t know which sect of Judaism), and he’s willing to concede that the rabbis twisted scripture here.
If you want to double-check the part of the Tosefta he cites, here it is:
Rebbi Yehudah says, “A person is obligated to say [the following] three Berachot (blessings) every day: Baruch [Ata Hashem Eloheinu Melech Haolam] Shelo Asani Goy (Blessed are You Hashem, our God, King of the world, for not making me a gentile), Baruch [Ata Hashem Eloheinu Melech Haolam] Shelo Asani Isha (Blessed are You Hashem, our God, King of the world, for not making me a woman), Baruch [Ata Hashem Eloheinu Melech Haolam] Shelo Asani Bur (Blessed are You Hashem, our God, King of the world, for not making me a boor). [The reason for saying a Beracha for not making him] a gentile is because it says ‘All nations are like nothing to Him. He considers them to be empty and void.’ (Isaiah 40:17) [The reason for saying a Beracha for not making him] a woman is because women are not obligated in Mitzvot (commandments).” [The reason for saying a Beracha for not making him] a boor is because a boor is not afraid of sin. They have said a parable to what this is similar to. [It is similar] to a king of flesh and blood who said to his servant to cook him [some] food, but he (i.e. the servant) has never cooked food in his life. In the end he ruins the food and angers his master. [Or the king told the servant] to hem for him a robe, but he (i.e. the servant) has never hemmed a robe in his life. In the end he [causes] the robe to get dirty and angers his master.
Tosefta Berakhot, 6.23. Accessed via Sefaria.org.
Underlining by me.
I find it rather interesting how we can see the contrast between how St. Isaiah said something and how it was interpreted by later generations.
Nikaea 325 