Is Their A Difference Between The Jews And Israel?
What Is The Difference Between The Jews And Israel?
Yes, all Jews are Israelites, but not all Israelites are Jewish.
Did you know that the first place the word "Jew" is used in the Bible, the JEWS ARE AT WAR WITH ISRAEL?
(2 Kings 16:5-6)[1] (KJV) 5Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. 6At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave* the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.
*The word "drave" is a direct quote from the Kings James and it is archaic old "English," in modern times we would say "drove."
Did you know that all Jews are Israelites but not all Israelites are Jewish, despite their insistance to the contrary? How could that possibly be? The story begins with Abraham and his obedience to the Great CREATOR, who then gave him many promises. One of the promises was that his descendants would make up many nations:
(Genesis 17:3-5) (KJV) 3And Abram fell on his face: and the ETERNAL[2] talked with him, saying, 4As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
Another of these promises was that these descendants of Abraham would be called the sons of Isaac:
(Genesis 21:12) (KJV) And CREATOR said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Even though Sarah was barren and was in her old age, the Great CREATOR intervened and she gave birth to a son and named him Isaac, (Genesis 21:2-3). Isaac had two sons Esau and Jacob. The birthright of Isaac was passed to Jacob (Genesis 25:24-33). Jacob's name was changed to Israel, (Genesis 35:10). Thus all the sons that Israel (Jacob) had became known as the "sons of Israel," and the resulting nation became the nation of Israel. Yet the overriding name would still be the "sons of Isaac."
The twelve sons of Israel (Jacob) were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher (Genesis 35:23-26). The families of each of these sons became large and were known as the twelve tribes of Israel. Moses later brought these Israelite tribes out of slavery in Egypt.
However, Joseph had two sons named Ephraim and Manasseh that took his place as two tribes, (Genesis 48:9-16). Joseph then accounted for two tribes, thus there were a total of thirteen tribes of Israel.
The tribe of Judah sprang from one man, Judah, who was only one of Israel's (Jacob's) children. They were later called the Jews. The Jewish people are only one-thirteenth of the tribes of Israel. This is a bit confusing because most Jews live in the country of Israel and in New York State. However, we can see that all Jews are Israelites but not all Israelites are Jewish.
The tribe of Levi became the Levitical priesthood, was scattered among all the tribes*, and was not counted as a tribal nation (Numbers 1:47-53). Thus, although there were actually thirteen tribes, they were counted only as twelve tribal nations.
* Most of the Levites returned to Jerusalem soon after the ancient nation of Israel divided into two nations (2 Chronicles 11:1-14) yet they never were counted as a nation of Israel.
Who Are The People Of Israel In Today's World?
Abraham was promised that he would be exceeding fruitful, and that he would father many nations and kings (Genesis 17:5-7), and his son Isaac was further promised that his descendants would become as numerous as the stars in the heavens (Genesis 26:1-4). Notice the longevity of the Israelites, of a thousand generations, that the ETERNAL has promised:
(Deuteronomy 7:6-9) (KJV) 6For thou art an holy people unto the CREATOR thy SOVEREIGN: the CREATOR thy SOVEREIGN hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 7The ETERNAL did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 8But because the ETERNAL loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the ETERNAL brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9Know therefore that the CREATOR thy SOVEREIGN, he is SOVEREIGN, the faithful SOVEREIGN, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
Next the the ETERNAL CREATOR said the House of Israel would be taken captive. Take note that the House of Judah (Jews) is mentioned by itself, and that both nations are mentioned together as the House of Isaac. Therefore, it requires both Israel and Judah together to make up the House of Isaac.
(Amos 7:9-16) (KJV) 9And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. 10Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. 11For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. 12Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: 13But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court. 14Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit: 15And the ETERNAL took me as I followed the flock, and the ETERNAL said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. 16Now therefore hear thou the word of the ETERNAL: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.
After King Solomon's death, the Commonwealth of Israel split into two nations (2 Kings 17:1-18). The Northern Kingdom consisting of ten tribes, became the nation of Israel with Shechem as the first capital. Samaria eventually became the permanent political capital of the Northern Kingdom. Israel consisted of the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim, Manasseh, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. Jeroboam (their king) set up a golden calf in Dan and one in Bethel and turned their religion to pagan mythology causing them to be taken into captivity and losing their identity.
Because Israel had turned to a mythological religion, It no longer worshipped The Mighty One of Israel or kept the Sabbath. They worshipped the mythological sun 'god' on Sunday, the first day of the week instead. [The Israelites of today worship a self-proclaimed 'son of god' (Deuteronomy 13:1-5), despite the ETERNAL's declaration that no other 'gods' exist but Him (Isaiah 44:6)]. The CREATOR set the Sabbath for all of Israel, as a sign between Himself and Israel, to be observed by all generations forever (Exodus 31:13, Ezekiel 20:12, Ezekiel 20:20). The result of Israel turning away from the ETERNAL, and the sabbath, was to be expelled from His presence, to become known as the "lost ten tribes", which continues to this very day.
The Southern Kingdom consisted of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and part of Levi, which became the nation of Judah with its capital remaining in Jerusalem. Judah was later taken into Babylonian captivity but retained the sign of the Sabbath and did not lose its identity as the tribe of Judah. After seventy years, most of them returned to Jerusalem to build the second Temple.
As time progressed Assyria became a powerful empire. They captured and deported the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in approximately 740 to 720 BCE (before Common Era). Assyria removed Israel from their homeland and replaced them with other captured peoples of the Assyrian Empire. The captured people of Israel were placed in the western part of the empire. Later Babylon became the world ruling empire, replacing Assyria. Rather than be taken captive by the Babylonians, the Assyrians migrated westward and, in doing so, they pushed the Israelites farther westward.
In the late 1800's some clay Assyrian cuneiform tablets[3] were discovered, which were finally translated in the 1930's. These tablets were Assyrian records of this 700's BCE Israelite deportation. There were records of four deportations, which proved the ten tribes of the northern Nation of Israel were assembled into Assyrian culture and became identifiable as the Camerians, the Sycthians, and the Goths. Our records of ancient history show that over several hundred years, and through different paths, the Sycthian, Camerian and the Goths migrated essentially to northwest Europe and became known as the Anglo-Saxon Celtic people. Linguistic analysis of the word "Anglo-Saxon" shows the word "Saxon" means "sons of Isaac." This is exactly what was promised to Abraham and again to Jacob:
(Genesis 21:12) (KJV) And CREATOR said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
(Genesis 48:16) (KJV) The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name [Jacob] be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
Our CREATOR's statement to Abraham, "in Isaac shall your seed be called" has now happened exactly that way (Genesis 21:12). The basic message the CREATOR was relaying through Abraham is, "That through Isaac the Children of Israel will be able to learn their identity."
Secular history traces the Anglo-Saxon "lost ten tribes" of Israel through the Caucasus Mountains, where they picked up the name Caucasians. From there they migrated into Europe and England. Portions of them migrated from Europe to America. Generally speaking, the democracies of Europe, America, and the countries of the former British Commonwealth are the "lost tribes" of Israel. Most people in these countries have the mistaken feeling that they are gentile because most people today have no idea past two or three generations where they came from.
The people of NW Europe migrated to the British Isles, Ireland, and Scotland. They colonized South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and America. Since they were from the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic people and are called Saxons (sons of Isaac), this is a fulfillment of prophecy.
For a long time, many people have felt there was more to the Hebrew Scriptures (OT) than they have been taught. This is true because the Hebrew Scriptures is written to the people of Israel, who are destined to become a kingdom of priests, a holy nation unto the ETERNAL (Exodus 19:3-7). The world time clock says we are less than a minute away from midnight. The hour is late in this earth age and the time is too short just to be playing church[4]. Educate yourself on the location of Israel[5] and the truth of The Holy Scriptures.
Footnotes:
[1] [a]All scriptural links point to the Bible Gateway, A Searchable Online Bible In Over 100 Versions And 50 Languages, located at "BibleGateway.Com", a vast biblical resource containing all the major texts and reference materials useful for in-depth bible studies. Most scriptual quotations are from the (KJV) of the Bible, however versions noted in (parentheses) should also be consulted. [b]All Strong's scriptural references point to the Blue Letter Bible Lexicon, located at "BlueLetterBible.Org", another vast biblical resource which has over 4,000,000 links available, pointing to more than 165,000 pages of concordances, lexicons, dictionaries, commentaries, images, and several Bible versions.
[2] We will use the words Almighty, CREATOR, ETERNAL, Mighty One, or SOVEREIGN in place of the words 'God', 'Lord', 'Elohim' or 'El', when refering to the ONE and ONLY, ETERNAL CREATOR and SOVEREIGN of the universe. (Isaiah 44:6, Isaiah 44:24):
(Isaiah 44:6) (CEB) The ETERNAL, Israel's king and redeemer, the SOVEREIGN of heavenly forces, says: I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there are NO 'gods'.
(Isaiah 44:24) (AMP) Thus says the ETERNAL, your Redeemer, and He Who formed you from the womb: I am the CREATOR, Who made all things, Who alone stretched out the heavens, Who spread out the earth by Myself.
[3] E. Raymond Capt has done some wonderful work on the Assyrian cuneiform tablets. I recommend his book, "Missing Links Discovered in Assyrian Tablets". It is an archaeological study of the origin and history of the "Lost Tribes of Israel", and the Assyrian tablets that reveal the fate of these same people, who were chosen by the CREATOR to be the "light-bearers" to the nations. A good work despite it's 'christian' aspect.
[4] See the following articles and essays: "Are We Saved By Grace?", "Christmas - Origin, History, And Traditions.", "Easter A Pagan Passover", "[New Testament]™ Credibility", "Our True CREATOR And Redeemer", "Quest for the Messiah", "Religious Saviors And Their Claims Throughout History", "The Eternal's Test", "Why Are Bad Things Happening To America?", "Why Christianity?".
[5] See the following articles and essays: "All Israel Scriptures", "Reuniting the Tribes of Israel", "The Children Of Israel", "The Coming Rebirth of Israel", "Who Are The Lost Tribes Of Israel?".