Re-defining the word: “Jew”
This blog should be read in conjunction with: Who are the Joes? and Content on the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel.
The Jews are NOT fake (as some anti-semitic historians have tried to surmise), nor are they a pure race, but they are largely and literally physical (and spiritual) descendants of Jacob, but this is where the word “Jew” should be redefined for the modern world populace: the Jews aren’t exclusively representative of ALL descendants of Jacob.
In the words of a respected scholar in the late 1800’s:
I can never be too thankful to the Almighty that in my youth he used the late Professor Wilson to show me the difference between the two houses. The very understanding of this difference is the KEY by which almost the entire Bible becomes intelligible, and I cannot state too strongly that the man who has not yet seen that Israel of the Scripture is totally distinct from the Jewish people, is yet in the very infancy, the mere alphabet, of Biblical study, and that to this day the meaning of seven-eighths of the Bible is shut to his understanding.
- Prof. C.A.L. Totten [1851-1908] Yale University
Furthermore, not only are the Scriptures unintelligible in many respects, it would appear “Elohim is a liar” in respect to His promise of multitudes… IF the TWO Houses of Israel are NOT understood in their proper context, regarding antiquity and prophecy yet fulfilled. And it should be noted that Totten considered the Jewish people as Israelites… just not the House of Israel, otherwise known as “Joseph” and/or “Ephraim” figuratively. He would have connected them to the House of Judah.
The modern definition (or perception) of ***THE JEWS*** is that they are NOW representative of Israel in her entirety… “the Israel of old”, …”the Chosen People”. They are indeed chosen and they are Israelites, but they themselves do not claim to represent all Hebrews exclusively. Read 10 Reasons the Jews are from Judah.
The ancient definition of Israel was quite different than the modern and most popular understanding. The sons of Jacob were segmented into two Houses as early (indeed even earlier) as the days of Samuel the Prophet (II Samuel 5:1-5). The two Houses of Judah (Jew Da) and Israel even had their troops numbered separately (II Samuel 24:9). David referred to them separately. They are referred to in the Writings and Prophets continually as two separate entities. Their demise and captivity were inflicted by separate Empires (Assyria and Babylon). And the Prophets indicate the two Houses will continue to trouble each other even unto their latter day (Isaiah 11:12-13)… when finally… the BRANCH of David unites them under his reign (Ezekiel 37:24). The BRANCH is the Messiah… whom we believe to be Yehoshua (Jesus)… at his next coming.
Understanding that, we should logically surmise the two Houses are separate now too… of course… since the BRANCH of David has not united the two Houses yet. And this begs the question: Who are they now?
First, why does it matter? Why is it important to understand this reality in scripture and history… and in our modern world?
Many are departing from their trust in the Almighty… for many reasons. And many students of scripture have determined the Almighty to be a liar in regards to His own promises to Jacob. The promises to Jacob’s seed to become a “multitude of nations” never seems to have occurred (in their minds) according to secular history, based on widely accepted definitions of who “Israel” is in the modern world. The fact is: “The Jews” simply can not be representative of such promises. And indeed, they are NOT. Jew-Da has a separate and very important promise in regards to the Scepter (Genesis 49:10). Jew Da’s House never received a promise to become a great multitude. It was the House of Israel (the House of Joseph) that received such. So, if these definitions and perceptions are re-defined and re-learned… we would see, as students of scripture and history, there is no reason to accuse יהוה , the Almighty, of being a liar in this regard. Nor is there any reason to lose trust in Him in any regard. The House of Israel did indeed become a multitude of nations… just as He promised. He may seem a far off to many now, but He also promised he would bring us close again. He will hear our cries for help again (Isaiah 65:24) and we will again hear His voice and know His compassions. Let Isaiah 54 bring you comfort if יהוה feels as if He is afar off.
The Lion, the Lamb, and the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel
Below are random thoughts regarding the Lion, the Lamb, and the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel.
* Jew-Da (Judah) was/is representative of a Lion (Genesis 49:9). Looking at nature, a pack of lions never move and grow into great numbers. Even so, the multitude is troubled by their presence.
* Joseph (Israel) was/is representative of a Calf, Lamb, Ox, and/or Bull (Deut 33:17). Cattle can indeed become a great multitude… a great herd of people…. or rather, a “multitude of nations”. Such has happened, though not under the name “Israel”, for the prophet Hosea warned Israel would cease to be “a people”, but they will become “the people Israel” again (Hosea 1:10).
* One day, the Lion (Jews) and Lamb (Joes) will lay down together in peace (Isaiah 11:6;65:25), without troubling each other anymore (Isaiah 11:13). “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is, when brothers dwell together in unity.” (Psalm 133)
* The Messiah Yeshua, came first as a Lamb to die in place of the lambs (nations) of Ephraim (Joes), but He came out of Jew-dah (as a Jew) and will return again as the Lion of Jew-dah, the BRANCH of David (Revelation 5:5-6).
To answer the question: “Who are the Joes now?”, read some of the books dedicated to the research of their identity. You can find many listed under the Books section above. Know this: any question worth asking, is worth researching.
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Abba, open Your scriptures to us all and give us all hearts like your servant, the shepherd David. Cause us to no longer be sheeple, but sheep dogs, friends of the Good Shepherd.
Let it be so.
There is Only ONE Human Race
I recently found this wonderful website, dedicated to bringing racism to an end: OneHumanRace.
There is indeed only ONE human race. We all descend from Noah. See Noah and Exponential Population Growth . We may have different colors and slightly different shapes now, but those are only biological developments (variation) due to location, isolation, and a whole host of other factors which didn’t take tens of thousands of years to variate as the Evolutionists would like to have us believe. There are strong possibilities that Noah’s sons and wives contained much variation themselves. In other words, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and their wives could have appeared quite dissimilar physically amongst their small group, jump starting the vast variation that would ensue among their descendants, those whom rapidly re-populated planet Earth.
Below are some important quotes from Population Geneticists and science writers regarding genetics and the human race:
“The human genome is not partitioned according to any definitions of racial groups. In fact, there are no parts of the genome that define every member of a racial or population group. The number of genes that have changed to produce all of the variation observed in different racial groups is minuscule compared with the backdrop of natural genetic variation in humans.”
-Georgia Dunston (Quoted on pg.68 Mapping Human History by Steve Olson).
The next quote is a bit long. It is from the last page of a chapter that Steve Olson dedicated to the topic of the interconnectedness of the human race.
Using the genetic differences between individuals and groups to reconstruct human history, as I do in this book, can be a dangerous undertaking. It may seem to imply that the genetic differences between groups are as substantial as the cultural differences that divide us. It even may seem to imply that genetic factors are the cause of these cultural differences.
To avoid these misinterpretations of genetic information, we need to think carefully about what our genes are saying. First, we have to keep in mind the extreme fluidity of human groups. The word “race,” for example, can’t begin to capture the commonalities and differences of our shared history. Most African Americans have European ancestors; all European Americans have African ancestors. “Race” disguises rather than acknowledges our multifaceted histories.
Second, we have to remember how small the genetic differences among groups are. The genetic variants affecting skin color and facial features probably involve a few hundred of the billions of nucleotides in a person’s DNA - an insignificant amount. Yet societies have built elaborate systems of privilege and control around these minuscule genetic differences.
Finally, we must become much better at putting genetics in context. People tend to attribute great importance to the findings of geneticists. But the striking homogeneity of our DNA actually emphasizes the centrality of individual and group experience in determining who we are. Everyone is the product of a particular human and genetic history. Yet this history is shared as well as unique, universal as well as individual. As we learn more about our relationship to the past, we need to find ways of interpreting this information that don’t constrain the human spirit.
-Steve Olson Mapping Human History pg.69
Next are quotes from Spencer Wells‘ recent work Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project.
Rather than belonging to discrete subspecies, humans are part of one big extended family. pg.22
One of the most tantalizing results to come out of the studies by Cavalli-Sforza and Lewontin was the finding that humans might be more closely related to each other than previously suspected. The tree derived by Cavalli-Sforza and Edwards, as with all family trees, traces back to a common source-that vertical line up at the top from which all of the other lines descend. And Lewontin showed that the genetic variation among human races was less than would have been expected if they had been diverging from each other for millions of years. The take-home message was that humans were all family.
What does this mean for everyone’s concept of race? Of course humans come in a wide variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. Over the years these differences have been used to divide humanity. What the genetic data was saying, though, was that underneath the surface we are all much more closely related than we ever suspected. pg.24
Ephraim’s seed has been scattered to the four winds, four corners of the Earth, but Israelite or not, we are all family in a very real sense. Unfortunately, we behave like sheeple in relation to each other. Also, elementary children forming small clicks is another superb example of humanity, minus the fact that elementary children don’t generally kill each other physically, only emotionally and mentally.
See also: Salvation and Genetics; Pure Breed or Pure Non-sense?
