Who were the ancient Israelites and the Jews? The land area known as modern Israel is disputed. For decades, even centuries, the Holy Land has been an area of strife & warfare over who are the rightful inhabitants. This topic will trace the identity of the Israelite people from the Bible.
We’ll begin with Abraham the Hebrew. God promised Abraham ca 2000 BC, Ge.17:3-5 “I will make you the father of many nations”. (In Ro.4:13, 17-18 Paul referred to God’s covenant with Abraham.)
In Ge.25:8-9, 1-2 are recorded Abraham’s sons. Isaac, Ishmaél…also Zimrán, Jokshán, Medán, Midián, Ishbák, Shúah (perhaps Eliézer, Ge.15:1-2 Septúagint/LXX).
Isaac then had twin sons, Jacob and Esau. God’s covenant with Abraham passed down through Isaac, and then Jacob. (see the topic “Circumcision in the Bible”.)
Ge.35:10-12 “God appeared to Jacob, ‘Israel shall be your name. A nation and an assembly of nations will descend from you.” God ‘changed’ Jacob’s name to Israel. Jacob thereby became the first Israelite. There were no Israelites prior to Jacob. Abraham and Isaac weren’t Israelites.
The man Jacob/Israel had 12 sons, whose descendants grew into the 12 tribes of Israel. Ge.35:22b-26 “The twelve sons of Jacob: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachár, Zebulún, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtalí, Gad, Ashér.” Jacob/Israel’s 4th son was Judah (Yehoodáh, Strongs h3063 Hebrew). Judah was the first Jew. There were no Jews prior to the man Judah. And Judah’s brothers weren’t Jews.
In Bible genealogy: Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Midian, the twins Esau & Jacob/Israel…none of them were Jews. But they were all Hebrews, descendants of Héber (LXX Ge.10:21, 11:14-17). Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:4 “Heber, from whom they originally called the Jews, Hebrews.” Ge.14:13 Abraham “the Hebrew” has been called the ‘first Jew’ by tradition, but not by scripture.
In scripture, all Jews are Israelites (Judah descended from Jacob/Israel); but not all Israelites are Jews. Again, Judah’s 11 brothers weren’t Jews. Joseph wasn’t Jewish, nor was Reuben, Zebulun, Gad, etc.
Ge.46:2-4 “God spoke to Israel [Jacob], ‘In Egypt I will make of you a great nation [goy].” (goy h1471 is the Hebrew term.) Israel’s descendants would become a great nation! (see “Gentiles in the Bible”.)
Ge.37:3, 9 Israel’s son Joseph is to have preeminence over his 11 brothers, including Judah. Ge.49:10 the Messiah Yeshúa/Jesus and kings would come from the tribe of Judah. v.22-26 but the blessing went to brother Joseph. Ge.48:15-20 the name Israel would be upon Joseph’s sons Ephráim & Manasséh; they’d become a “multitude of nations [goyim]”. 1Ch.5:1-2 “Though from Judah came the leader, the birthright belonged to Joseph.” Again, Joseph was distinct from Judah/the Jews. Jewish Encyclopedia: Tribes, The Twelve “Joseph and Judah typify two distinct lines of descent.”
By the time of Moses & Joshua, the sons/tribes of Israel with a “mixed multitude” had become a large people, 1550 BC. (Ex.12:37-38, see “Levites and the Exodus Multitude”.) The unified kingdom of Israel would achieve prominence in the Land during the reigns of David and Solomon (Jewish kings).
1Ki.11:11-13 after Solomon’s death, in the 900s BC Christ split the united nation of Israel into two (v.28-32). See 1Ki.12:15, 20-24. Thereafter the northern kingdom, consisting of 10 tribes, retained the name Israel. The southern kingdom of Judah, consisting of the other 2–3 tribes, became known as the Jews. The tribal territory of Benjamin (and most of the Levites) was given to Judah.
Donald Kauffman Dictionary of Religious Terms “The name Jew derives from Judah, the Israelite tribe whose name was transferred to the Southern Kingdom.” 2Ki.16:5-6 the first time the term “Jew” (Yehoodeé h3064) occurs in the Bible, they’re fighting against…Israel (and Syria)! After Solomon, Israel and the Jews/Judah became separate nations.
Later, the kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria. (see “Israelite Deportations by Assyria”.) 2Ki.17:19-24 “Israel was carried away into exile from their own Land to Assyria until this day.” v.6 “In the ninth year of Hoshéa, the king of Assyria settled them in Haláh and Habór, on the river of Gozán, and in cities of the Medes.” Israel (also called Samaria) in the north, the 10 tribes, was removed from the Land (721 BC). They were resettled in the area of old Mesopotamia, at the Tigris & Euphrates, and beyond. They became the so-called ‘Lost 10 Tribes’ of Israel, living far away to the (north) east. The northern kingdom of Israel ceased as a nation. Samaria became an Assyrian province.
2Esdras 13:40 KJV 1611 edition “Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their owne land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria ledde away captive, and hee carried them ouer the waters, and so came they into another land.” (KJV Middle English spelling.) cf. Tob.1:1 Tobit, from the tribe of Naphtali, was taken captive.
Josephus op. cit. 9:14:1 “Shalmanéser, the king of Assyria, besieged Samaria, and transplanted all the people into Média and Persia, among whom he took King Hoshea alive; and when he had removed these people out of this their land, he transplanted other nations into Samaria, into the country of the Israelites.” The other peoples transplanted into the Land became known as Samaritans.
Assyria placed heathen foreigners into Israel to replace the Israelites (2Ki.17:24). Probably not every last Israelite was removed from the Land. (Earlier some had fled south to Judah to escape the Assyrian invaders.) Over the decades, the imported foreigners were assimilated with any few remaining Israelites…as Samaritans. Those Samaritans held pagan beliefs mixed with God’s ways (ref Je.41:5).
Over 100 years later, the southern kingdom of Judah went into captivity to Babylon. The prophet/priest Ezekiel was taken captive in 597 BC. In Ezk.8:1 & 20:1, Ezekiel interchangeably called the captive elders the “elders of Israel” and the “elders of Judah” (592–591 BC). By this time, these descendants from the southern kingdom Judah were being referred to as descendants of Israel. Since Judah/Jews did descend from Jacob/Israel, ancestrally Jews are Israelites too. (But not all Israelites are Jews.) Babylon went on to sack Jerusalem in 586 BC. The southern kingdom of Judah ceased as a nation.
Some Jews were allowed to return to the Land of Judah with Zerubabbél ca 538 BC. More returned with Ezra & Nehemiah between 460–440 BC. From which tribes of Israel were those returning Jews?
Ezr.1:5 “Judah and Benjamin and the priests and Levites, everyone God had stirred to rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.” Ezr.4:1 “The enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord.” Ezr.2:64, 70 “The whole assembly together 42,360.” In Ezra, the only tribes who returned were Judah, Benjamin, and the priestly tribe of Levi…the Jews. Ne.11:3-4, 7 “In the cities of Judah lived each on his own property, Israelites, priests, Levites. And some of the sons of Judah and sons of Benjamin lived in Jerusalem. From the sons of Judah…From the sons of Benjamin.” v.36 “From the Levites, some divisions in Judah belonged to Benjamin.” In Nehemiah, as in Ezra, the only tribes of Israel mentioned are Judah, Benjamin, Levi! Non-priests or laymen were referred to as common “Israelites”…Ezekiel too had referred to Jewish elders as “Israel”.
None of the other 10 tribes returned from deportation/captivity…not Reuben, Simeon (other than those who’d moved to Judah centuries earlier & intermarried), Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, nor Joseph (Ephraim & Manasseh). Those tribes weren’t Jews. They remained long gone from the Land!
However, after the Babylonian captivity, many Jews were living east in Persia. They were descendants of Judah/Benjamin/Levi from the southern kingdom. It’s likely some descendants of the resettled 10 tribes (and others) living in Medes cities and Persia intermarried with Jews there in the days of the Jewess Esther (400s BC). The Persian king married her (Est.4:13-14). Est.8:17 “Many among the peoples of the land (Persia) became Jews.”
In New Testament (NT) times, Judaea was a Roman province. Few tribes of Israel are identified in the NT. He.7:14 Yeshua/Jesus is from the tribe of Judah. Lk.1:26-33 His mother Mary/Miriam and legal father Joseph were Jews descended from David. Lk.1:5, 13 John the Baptizer was from the priestly tribe of Levi. Ro.11:1 the apostle Paul was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin. Those were the 3 tribes (comprising the old southern kingdom of Judah, the Jews) who’d returned from Babylonian captivity.
However, Anna was from the tribe of Asher (Lk.2:36). Asher had been part of the northern kingdom of Israel (one of the 10 tribes), not aligned with the Jews of the southern kingdom. Lk.2:36 Cambridge Commentary indicates some individuals from the lost 10 tribes had preserved their old genealogies. Ellicott Commentary “Some, at least, of its [the ten tribes] members survived and cherished the genealogies of their descent.” Sometime in the past, Anna’s ancestors of Asher had begun dwelling with Jews. But the vast majority of the 10 tribes were gone from the Land. Ac.2:22 Peter addressed diaspora Jews as Israel. Such verses don’t mean all Israelite tribes had returned or mixed with the Jews.
Josephus op. cit. 11:5:2 (written 93–94 AD) “Wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the 10 tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.” In 94 AD, the 10 tribes were still gone! Talmud Yebamot 17b “The 10 tribes of scattered Israel in their places of exile are legally gentiles for all intents and purposes.” As Hoséa had foretold, 755–725 BC…Ho.8:8 “Israel is swallowed up; they are now among the nations.” It happened. The bulk of Israel remained in lands of the gentiles/nations.
Let’s tie-in more Old Testament prophecies which help to further identify NT Israel. Am.1:1 Amos was a Jew in Judah who the Lord had sent to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel around 750 BC. Am.7:10-17 Amaziah, the “priest” at the Bethél shrine in Israel, expressed animosity and told Amos to leave Israel and return to his people in Judah, the Jews. Am.9:8-12 LXX Amos prophesied the future of the northern kingdom. “Saith the Lord, ‘I will sift the house of Israel among all nations [gentiles]. In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David which is fallen, and will rebuild the ruins of it. That the remnant of men and the gentiles upon whom My name is called may earnestly seek Me.”
The breach of the ancient divided kingdom is to be closed. (cf. KJV Jdg.21:15.) see “Tent/Tabernacle of David”.
James spoke of the above old Greek/LXX passage regarding the northern kingdom Israel by referring to God having now taken from among the gentiles/nations a people for His name and salvation. Ac.15:13-18 “I will rebuild the tabernacle of David. That the rest of men may seek the Lord, and all the gentiles upon whom My name is called,’ saith the Lord.” Acts 15 council leaders tied ancient Israel to…gentiles!
Ezk.37:15-22 “The word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Take one stick for Judah, for the sons of Israel his companions; then take another stick for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim [Joseph’s son, to whom was given Jacob’s name Israel, Ge.48:16] and all the house of Israel, his companions. Then join them, that they may become one.” Again, Joseph wasn’t Jewish. Yet Judah and Joseph…the Jews (who also are Israelites) and the northern kingdom of Israel/Ephraim…are to be reunited under King Jesus!
The Lord told Hosea to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel. Ho.1:4-11 “I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. For you are not My people and I Am not your God. Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sands of the sea which cannot be measured or numbered. And it will come about that it will be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’ And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together.”
The disobedient 10 tribes would be exiled from the Land, and become a multitude in Assyria, Persia, and elsewhere. But then Ho.2:23, “And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!”
Eventually in the future, descendants of the 10 tribes would become people of God again! Israel gathered together to Christ with the descendants of Judah. Praise the Lord!
This topic is continued and concluded in “Israelites Identification (2)”.
Bible Topic Exposition 