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Israel and Judah, part 2

There have been prophets from the beginning of history. No doubt Enoch was a prophet, but the first one to be called a “prophet” is Abraham (Genesis 20:7). Moses and Aaron were prophets, as were Samuel and David. But the Old Testament prophets who wrote the books of the prophets were all born long after the kingdom was divided into Israel and Judah.

For this reason, when those prophets spoke of either Israel or Judah, they were using the terms according to their definitions common in their own lifetime. Prior to the death of Solomon, Israel referred to all 12 tribes that constituted the nation, but the divided kingdom revised the definition of Israel to mean just ten tribes—not twelve. Israel became distinct from Judah. Hence, their prophecies must be understood in that context.

Today many Christians do not realize this, and so they mistakenly consider the Jews to be the Israelites referred to by the prophets. Yet even the term “Jew” is just an abbreviation of Judah. In fact, in the King James Bible, the first time that the word “Jew” appears is in 2 Kings 16:6 KJV, where we see the Jews in a war with the Israelites who had formed an alliance with the Syrians.

⁵ Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage war; and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. ⁶ At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave [drove] the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.

The NASB translates the term as “Judeans,” which is a Grecianized form of “Judahites” that is seen in the New Testament.

Today many Christians, having never been taught this fact, identify the Jews with Israel rather than with Judah. Their mistaken view is reinforced by the fact that the Jewish nation today adopted for itself the name Israel. (In 1948 the founders of “Israel” debated on the name, some suggesting The Kingdom of Judah, but in the end they decided it was important to adopt the name “Israel” in order to fool the Christians, knowing that this would cause the Christians to apply the biblical prophecies of Israel to them.)

Jeremiah 5:11 says,

¹¹ “For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously with Me,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 31:31 says,

³¹ “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.”

Zechariah 8:13 says,

¹³ “It will come about that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing. Do not fear; let your hands be strong.”

In each case above, the prophet was listing two nations, not just one nation having two names. I have quoted Zechariah 8:13 to point out that both nations “were a curse among the nations.” In other words, they failed to fulfill the Abrahamic covenant that was to be a blessing to all nations. God promises to reverse this, of course, but most people do not truly understand how.

Israel and Judah Caused Blasphemy Against God

The biblical record is clear that both Israel and Judah caused the nations to blaspheme God. Neither nation (except for the remnant of grace) understood the Abrahamic calling. Neither of them were able to obey the law of God. Both failed to be the children of Abraham according to Jesus’ definition in John 8:39. Isaiah 52:5 says,

⁵ … Again the Lord declares, “Those who rule over them howl, and My name is continually blasphemed all day long.”

Paul quotes this in Romans 2:23, 24,

²³ You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? ²⁴ For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles [ethnos, “nations”] because of you,” just as it is written.

The people were called to represent God and to convey the mind of God as a light to the nations. However, they failed because they treated the other nations as enemies of God, calling them blasphemers and idolaters. The seed of Abraham was to bless the nations, but instead they cursed the nations. In turn, the nations had no respect for the God of Israel. Foreigners had very little information about God, and they assumed that the Israelites’ portrayal of their God was an accurate representation of His nature.

This, in fact, was why God finally cast the Israelites and Judahites out of the land. Israel was cast out permanently; Judah was allowed to return after 70 years, so that the Messiah could be born in Bethlehem. Having fulfilled the calling given to Judah in Genesis 49:10, God then cast the Jews out of the land as well. Paul makes it clear that the Jews had dishonored God in the same way that the Israelites had done 700 years earlier.

The problem, Paul explains, is that the carnal mind is at war with God. It is religious but not spiritual. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that the “natural man” is psuchikos, “soulish,” being born of Adam, the first “soul” (Genesis 2:7). The mind of the natural man “cannot accept the things of the Spirit of God.” Paul admonishes us to follow “he who is spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:15). He was not speaking of a religious man but of the mind of the inner man that has been begotten by the Holy Spirit.

The Israelites and Judahites were all soulish and carnal, except for the remnant of grace. Hence, they did not know God in spite of their religious worship in the temple. It was this very carnality which caused the nations to blaspheme God. Carnality made the Israelites and Judahites to misunderstand the idea of being “chosen.” They thought it meant that they were better than others, as if God was partial in His ways. They thought that loving their neighbor meant loving their fellow Israelite or Judahite alone.

And so by misrepresenting the mind and purpose of God, they failed to fulfill the Abrahamic calling. Paul tells us in Romans 11:7 that only the remnant of grace was truly “chosen.” No one is part of that remnant apart from genuine faith in Jesus Christ.

Abraham was a Friend of the Philistine King

Genesis 21:22-27 tells how Abraham made a covenant with Abimelech, the king of the Philistines.

²¹ Now it came about at that time that Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do…” ²⁷ Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.

How did Abimelech know that God was with Abraham? Was it not because he saw how Abraham conducted himself righteously? Would Abimelech have said this if Abraham had treated him with disrespect? Abraham made a covenant before God with Abimelech, thereby blessing him.

Today the Israelis have an entirely different mindset. Supposedly to fulfill Bible prophecy, they made war on the Palestinians (a name derived from Philistine), essentially stealing land and treating them with great injustice. Then when the Palestinians objected and fought back, the Israelis called them terrorists. Today they seek to exterminate them, especially in Gaza, which used to be the land of the Philistines.

They do not know God, nor are they an example of righteousness to the Palestinians. Their carnal minds may be religious, but they have not been begotten by the Spirit. Therefore, they have again caused the name of God to be blasphemed among the nations. They are today a curse in the entire region. The Arabs who are unfamiliar with Scripture naturally assume that the Israelis are following the dictates of the God of Israel, and so they have a very poor concept of Him. Who can blame them?

Even antizionist influencers in the West, many of whom I respect for their knowledge, have little understanding of this, and so they too despise the Scriptures. Frankly, this horrifies me, but Scripture puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of those who cause the name of God to be blasphemed among the nations.

When men cause others to blaspheme the name of God and disparage His true nature, one cannot merely blame the blasphemers. One must go to the root cause of the blasphemy. That is the way of God. And we know that He commanded Israel (and all of us) to love the foreigner and to treat them as equals. Numbers 15:16 says,

¹⁶ There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you.