Identity of Israel part 2

Who is the body of Israel?

Lets go back to the beginning. In the Bible Israel was Jacob after he wrestled with God.

Genesis 32: 24-28

Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.”

But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”

So He said to him, “What is your name?”

He said, “Jacob.”

And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

Now that we know where the name Israel started, lets take it back to where this group of people originated. The father of Jacob was Isaac, and the father of Isaac was Abraham. Abraham was NOT a Jew, but rather, he was a gentile.

Genesis 11: 31

And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there.

Abraham has a pagan background. Living in the land of pagans, his father Terah had many wooden gods, created with his own hands. Abram, however, had lived with Noah for some time and learned the ways of YHWH and Noah taught Abram how to believe with faith.

Jasher 11:12-43

At that time died Nahor, son of Serug, in the forty-ninth year of the life of Abram son of Terah.

 And in the fiftieth year of the life of Abram son of Terah, Abram came forth from the house of Noah, and went to his father's house.

 And Abram knew the Lord, and he went in his ways and instructions, and the Lord his God was with him.

 And Terah his father was in those days, still captain of the host of king Nimrod, and he still followed strange gods.

 And Abram came to his father's house and saw twelve gods standing there in their temples, and the anger of Abram was kindled when he saw these images in his father's house.

 And Abram said, As the Lord liveth these images shall not remain in my father's house; so shall the Lord who created me do unto me if in three days' time I do not break them all.

 And Abram went from them, and his anger burned within him. And Abram hastened and went from the chamber to his father's outer court, and he found his father sitting in the court, and all his servants with him, and Abram came and sat before him.

 And Abram asked his father, saying, Father, tell me where is God who created heaven and earth, and all the sons of men upon earth, and who created thee and me. And Terah answered his son Abram and said, Behold those who created us are all with us in the house.

 And Abram said to his father, My lord, shew them to me I pray thee; and Terah brought Abram into the chamber of the inner court, and Abram saw, and behold the whole room was full of gods of wood and stone, twelve great images and others less than they without number.

 And Terah said to his son, Behold these are they which made all thou seest upon earth, and which created me and thee, and all mankind.

And Terah bowed down to his gods, and he then went away from them, and Abram, his son, went away with him.

 And when Abram had gone from them he went to his mother and sat before her, and he said to his mother, Behold, my father has shown me those who made heaven and earth, and all the sons of men.

 Now, therefore, hasten and fetch a kid from the flock, and make of it savory meat, that I may bring it to my father's gods as an offering for them to eat; perhaps I may thereby become acceptable to them.

 And his mother did so, and she fetched a kid, and made savory meat thereof, and brought it to Abram, and Abram took the savory meat from his mother and brought it before his father's gods, and he drew nigh to them that they might eat; and Terah his father, did not know of it. And Abram saw on the day when he was sitting amongst them, that they had no voice, no hearing, no motion, and not one of them could stretch forth his hand to eat.

 And Abram mocked them, and said, Surely the savory meat that I prepared has not pleased them, or perhaps it was too little for them, and for that reason they would not eat; therefore tomorrow I will prepare fresh savory meat, better and more plentiful than this, in order that I may see the result.

 And it was on the next day that Abram directed his mother concerning the savory meat, and his mother rose and fetched three fine kids from the flock, and she made of them some excellent savory meat, such as her son was fond of, and she gave it to her son Abram; and Terah his father did not know of it.

 And Abram took the savory meat from his mother, and brought it before his father's gods into the chamber; and he came nigh unto them that they might eat, and he placed it before them, and Abram sat before them all day, thinking perhaps they might eat.

 And Abram viewed them, and behold they had neither voice nor hearing, nor did one of them stretch forth his hand to the meat to eat.

 And in the evening of that day in that house Abram was clothed with the spirit of God.

And he called out and said, Wo unto my father and this wicked generation, whose hearts are all inclined to vanity, who serve these idols of wood and stone which can neither eat, smell, hear nor speak, who have mouths without speech, eyes without sight, ears without hearing, hands without feeling, and legs which cannot move; like them are those that made them and that trust in them. And when Abram saw all these things his anger was kindled against his father, and he hastened and took a hatchet in his hand, and came unto the chamber of the gods, and he broke all his father's gods. And when he had done breaking the images, he placed the hatchet in the hand of the great god which was there before them, and he went out; and Terah his father came home, for he had heard at the door the sound of the striking of the hatchet; so Terah came into the house to know what this was about. And Terah, having heard the noise of the hatchet in the room of images, ran to the room to the images, and he met Abram going out. And Terah entered the room and found all the idols fallen down and broken, and the hatchet in the hand of the largest, which was not broken, and the savory meat which Abram his son had made was still before them. And when Terah saw this his anger was greatly kindled, and he hastened and went from the room to Abram. And he found Abram his son still sitting in the house; and he said to him, What is this work thou hast done to my gods? And Abram answered Terah his father and he said, Not so my lord, for I brought savory meat before them, and when I came nigh to them with the meat that they might eat, they all at once stretched forth their hands to eat before the great one had put forth his hand to eat. And the large one saw their works that they did before him, and his anger was violently kindled against them, and he went and took the hatchet that was in the house and came to them and broke them all, and behold the hatchet is yet in his hand as thou seest. And Terah's anger was kindled against his son Abram, when he spoke this; and Terah said to Abram his son in his anger, What is this tale that thou hast told? Thou speakest lies to me. Is there in these gods spirit, soul or power to do all thou hast told me? Are they not wood and stone, and have I not myself made them, and canst thou speak such lies, saying that the large god that was with them smote them? It is thou that didst place the hatchet in his hands, and then sayest he smote them all. And Abram answered his father and said to him, And how canst thou then serve these idols in whom there is no power to do any thing? Can those idols in which thou trustest deliver thee? can they hear thy prayers when thou callest upon them? can they deliver thee from the hands of thy enemies, or will they fight thy battles for thee against thy enemies, that thou shouldst serve wood and stone which can neither speak nor hear?

                So after all this goes down back in the bible, the first time we see Abram called a Hebrew or a crossed over one isn’t until chapter 14, during the battle of the war of the nine kings.

Genesis 14:13

Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamr the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner; and they were allies with Abram.

This shows us Abraham was the FIRST one to have crossed over, before there was any Identities. No Israelites, Jews, Christians or any other denominations.

He was a crossed over one, a Hebrew. The Hebrew meaning of the word Hebrew is this.

Strong's H5680 - `Ibriy

Hebrew = "one from beyond"

The root word for Hebrew is Ibri and it literally means the “crossed over one”, or on the other side. That being said, Abraham being called a Hebrew shows us that he was the first to be chosen.

John 5:23

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

The Greek word for Passed is Strong's G3327 – metabainō

Its meaning is to pass over from one place to another, to remove, depart.

The moment Abram believed in YHWH he passed over.

As soon as Abraham believed, he passed over, or crossed over, or became Hebrew. The difference between him and other is the Hebrew definition of what it means to believe.

believe is this.

Strong's H539 - 'aman

to support, confirm, be faithful

(Qal)

to support, confirm, be faithful, uphold, nourish

foster-father (subst.)

foster-mother, nurse

pillars, supporters of the door

(Niphal)

to be established, be faithful, be carried, make firm

to be carried by a nurse

made firm, sure, lasting

confirmed, established, sure

verified, confirmed

reliable, faithful, trusty

(Hiphil)

to stand firm, to trust, to be certain, to believe in

stand firm

trust, believe

The definition of believing is more than thinking something is real, but rather proving and upholding that faith with your works.

So what YHWH is saying is this, if you actually believe in me, you will come out of Egypt, and cross over the red sea. Once you cross over, you become a new creation. You have proved your belief. I used the red sea here because of Moses, but it could be just as simple to say, if you actually believe in me, you will come out of Ur, the city of sin.

Not only that but it isn’t until after this that YHWH makes the promise to him. The Abrahamic covenant has nothing to do with salvation however, and we all seem to get a bit confused when it comes to that.

The Abrahamic covenant Guarantee

-              God guaranteed to Abraham that his descendants would be blessed.

-              This is an unconditionally irrevocable promise for as long as they live on this earth.

Romans 11:28-29

Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

YHWH made a promise to Abraham that his descendants would be blessed, and He has kept that promise throughout history even to this day. But that is not a promise of salvation, its just a promise of blessings.

Fast forward back to Jacob and we see that Israel started off as 12 tribes with ONE kingdom, Later it was split into 2 houses, the Northern kingdom of Israel and the Southern kingdom of Judah. The north held 10 tribes and the south held 2. Jacob had 12 sons, those 12 sons became the twelve tribes of Israel. Those tribes were called the tribes of Judah, Gad, Dan, Assur, Simeon, Levi, Zebulun, Joseph, Reuben, Benjamin, Naphtali, and Issachar.

These twelve tribes made up the entire kingdom of Israel. Unfortunately, that didn’t last and they became split up into two kingdoms. Those two kingdoms are the Norther kingdom of Israel and the Southern kingdom of Judah.

1 Kings 11: 31,33

And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you

because they have[a] forsaken Me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways to do what is right in My eyes and keep My statutes and My judgments, as did his father David.

Now that the kingdoms are split the 10 tribes in the north are called the house of Israel, house of Joseph, or just Ephriam. Out of the 2 kingdoms, it is Judah that can trace back their lineage to Abraham, no one else.

In 586 BC the southern kingdom went into captivity in Babylon. They later returned and resettled Jerusalem. This is the ONLY reason a Jewish people exist today. The northern kingdom were rebellious against YHWH and were also taken into captivity, they went into Assyria. It was at this point that they lost who they were and were scattered unto the four corners of the Earth.

Deuteronomy 28: 15

“But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

Deuteronomy 28: 64

“Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone.

Deuteronomy 29:1

These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.

Deuteronomy 29: 14

“I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone, 15 but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today

Deuteronomy 29:10-13

“All of you stand today before the Lord your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones and your wives—also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water— 12 that you may enter into covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath, which the Lord your God makes with you today, 13 that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

One thing that I would like to point out here is who exactly the Mosaic covenant was meant for. In verse 11, YHWH makes sure to mention “the stranger”. Who is this stranger?

The term Stranger in verse 11 is Strong's H1616 – ger

It means a sojourner

a temporary inhabitant, a newcomer lacking inherited rights

of foreigners in Israel, though conceded rights

Jeremiah 31:31

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—

There is NO house of GENTILES. In Christ there is NO Jew or Gentile, and its not about bloodline, so how do the gentiles fit into the new covenant?