The difference between the Jews and Israel
By varnum11
@varnum11 (77)
United States
March 31, 2007 4:11pm CST
Most people out there don't realize there is a difference between Israel and the Jews.
Before I begin, I am not anti-semitic. Though what I am going to write many people will not understand and will probably think I am.
I don't believe in the replacement theory that the church and Christians replaced the Jews because they rejected Christ. Read Romans 11: 26-36 and you will see that God never rejected His people. They rejected Christ, but Christ and God never rejected them. There was a reason for the rejection. Their rejection of Christ enabled the Gentiles to be accepted before God by means of Christ. I'll leave this too another discussion.
The most correct definition of Jew I believe is a person descended from the kingdom or nation of Judah. And I say kingdom or nation because the first time the word Jew is mentioned in the Bible on a chronological time scale is 2 Kings 16:6.
In this verse the king of Syria and the king of Israel allied themselves against Jerusalem and the Jews. Wow! how times changed even back then. Israel and Judah (the Jews) fighting one another. You can reading alot about these two kingdoms and their kings in 1&2 Kings and 1&2 Chronicles.
In saying that, I can now say that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not Jewish. Moses and Aaron were not Jewish. None of these were descended from the kingdom of Judah. Neither was king David or king Solomon Jews. They were descended from the tribe of Judah, but not from the kingdom of Judah.
Now you can read about the split of Israel into two kingdoms in 1 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 10. These are two different accounts of the same event.
The kingdom of Israel, was headed by the tribe of Ephraim and the kingdom of Judah was headed by the tribe of Judah.
The tribes associated with the kingdom of Israel were: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Zebulon, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali and Joseph (who was divided through his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh).
The tribes associated with the kingdom of Judah (or the Jews) were: Judah and Benjamin. These two tribes with the exception of some of the tribe of Levites made up the kingdom of Judah.
In saying all that, I can now say this, All the Jews are of Israel and are Israel, but not all Israel is Jewish nor are Jews. There is another group of people that are also chosen with their Jewish brothers. Who are these people? Where can they be found? They did not return, as some people believe, to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple after their Babylonian captivity. If you read in Ezra and Nehemiah of those that returned they were of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levites which I already mentioned before were the people of the kingdom of Judah (the Jews). And the most times written in the bible about the Jews were in Ezra, Nehemiah and Ester. Ester of course is a story during the time of the Jewish captivity and Ezra and Nehemiah about their return to Jerusalem.
What about the other non-Jewish Israelis? I could write a book on this. I will try to make this short.
In Jeremiah 16:14-16 it says, "Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD lives, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, the LORD lives, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold, I will send for many fishers, says the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks."
I put emphasis on the phrase "I will send for many fishers,..,and they shall fish them.
Now it is interesting in Matthew 4:18,19. Jesus is calling two of his disciples Peter and his brother Andrew. Jesus told them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
I'm sure you understand my point. The men to which the disciples were to fish were the children of Israel which the LORD said He would fish and return to the land promised to their fathers. At the same time, these men being fished became Christians.
Are Christians then non-Jewish Israelites. Not all Christians are, because not all Christians are Christian. I do believe that God called those non-Jewish Israelis back to himself through the Christian covenant and doctrine.
These same true Christians, love their Jewish brothers and will always be on their side.
This is a summary of how I see things. I know I will get alot of negative responses, but tell me what you think
1 person likes this
4 responses
@mobyfriend (1017)
• Netherlands
3 Apr 07
Amazing explanation. And did you know that several letters of the apostles were adressed to the lost tribes of Israel? Have a look at 1 Peter 2: 9 which refers back to Exodus 19:6.
No negeative response from me.
1 person likes this
@mobyfriend (1017)
• Netherlands
3 Apr 07
Your sure know what you are talking about. I'm also one of the people who never believed in the replacement theory.
@hoping4amiracle (227)
• United States
13 Oct 08
Well, I am really shocked to find someone that believes the way as I do. You did a great job with this and I know most people don't understand but I believe in time they will. May Lord Bless you.
1 person likes this
@sweety_81 (2124)
• India
11 Dec 08
I believe this is what the difference is in ' What we are seeing today " ,
History as derived from Scientific evidence and Literary writings of Non-Religious People and last ,but not the least from Religious Text like Bible , Bhagwad Gita etc .
Even In india ; we are still not clear whether Aryans came from Central Asia and then fought with Local Inhabitants called as Dravidians .Or ;were these Aryans original inhabitants of Indian Sub continent only .
Moreover;we might not have these rigidly defined religious identities of Christian,Jew,Hindu , Muslim , Sikh , Buddhist as we see today .
Most of the historical people were in Tribe based societies and followed many practices which we do not follow .
So;we are not so clear whether what we know about different Religions or Areas is more based on Mythology or on Scientific evidence.
After all; Religion and Science do have conflicting view points in many aspects .
Regards
-Sweety_81
@piya84 (2581)
• India
23 Nov 10
Just stumble upon this discussion.I am hindu and i really dont have much idea about jews and Israel.There are some jewish communities though in India living here for 2000 years and they say they are the one of those scattered people.
Interesting information.Thanks for explaining.