The nation of Israel in Old Testament times was the chosen nation or people of God. The Israelites were the Physical descendants of Abraham through Isaac and then through Jacob. The nation of Israel got its name because Jacob wrestled with the Lord’s messenger at Peniel (Gen.32.24-32), and was called “Israel”, which means “He who strove with God”, or “Prince of God.” The nation was composed of thirteen tribes. Each tribe founded by one of Jacob’s sons. The tribes are usually referred to as the twelve tribes of Israel because Jacob only had twelve sons, but in Genesis 48:5 Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were adopted by Jacob and given equal share among the sons of Jacob. Levi was set apart from the other twelve tribes to serve God as priests and teachers of the Law (Num.1:49-54).
Jacob, his sons and their families (a total of 70 souls – Gen. 46:27) had traveled from the land of Canaan down into Egypt and had settled there in the land of Goshen, because of a great famine in Canaan. This settlement had been allowed by Pharaoh because of his respect and love for Joseph, Jacob’s son who had been sold into slavery by his brothers, but had risen to the rank of Prime Minister of Egypt.
The Israelites remained in Egypt for a period of 430 years, by the end of this period the Israelites had become the servants of the Egyptians. It was at this time that God heard the cries of His people and sent Moses to bring them up out of Egypt. This he did and it was in the Sinai desert at the foot of Mount Sinai that God made His covenant with the Israelites and they were forged into the Nation of Israel under the Law of Moses.
Israel then departed the Sinai Desert headed for Canaan, which had been promised to the descendants of Jacob. God had promised Israel that He would drive out the Canaanites before them if they would heed His Word. Unfortunately, when they arrived at Kadesh, near the borders of Canaan, the people refused to enter in out of disbelief that God could deliver the Canaanites into their hand. For this, they were punished by being made to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.
At the end of this wilderness wandering, Israel was led into the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua. They had been told to destroy the Canaanites from the land, so that they would not be influenced by their idolatry. Israel failed to do this completely. So, when the generation that had conquered the Promised Land along with Joshua passed on, a new generation arose that did not know the Lord. They adopted many of the transgressions of the Canaanites and fell into idolatry. For this, God would punish them by allowing other nations to subjugate them. When the punishment would become too severe, the Israelites would cry to God and repent, for a time. When God would hear their cries, he would raise up a judge to rescue His people. This was the period of the Judges. As the years went by the apostasy of the people became greater and greater. They began to look at the nations around them and want to have a king, like them. Therefore, God appointed for them a king.
There are two historical periods of Israel’s monarchy. In the first period, known as the United Kingdom Period, all twelve land-bearing tribes and the priestly tribe of Levi were united under one kingdom. This period lasted 120 years through the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon. This unity was only interrupted for a short seven-year period after the death of Saul, when ten of the tribes refused to accept David as king. After the death of Saul’s last remaining son, these ten tribes were united under David’s rule.
The second period is known as the Divided Kingdom and began after the reign of Solomon. When Solomon was king, he had taxed the people heavily in order to build up the nation and the military. When he died and his son Rehoboam ascended to the throne, the people wanted him to reduce taxation, but instead he increased it further. This led to a revolt in which the Northern ten tribes split off and selected Jeroboam to be their king. The Lord allowed this division as punishment for Solomon’s involvement with idolatry. (1 Kings 11:11)
During the Divided Kingdom period, the twelve tribes of Israel (plus Levi) were separated into two kingdoms. The Northern tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim and Manasseh made up the nation of Israel, also called Ephraim (because Ephraim was by far the largest of these tribes). The two Southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin became known as the nation of Judah.
When the twelve tribes had entered into Canaan and settled into their respective lands, the tribe of Levi had cities scattered throughout the tribal land allotments. When the kingdom divided and the Northern kingdom turned to idolatry, the Levites left Israel and settled in Judah, along with those from each of the Northern ten tribes who chose not to worship idols. Because of this, the nation of Judah was in reality, composed of people from all of the tribes.
The Northern kingdom was carried into captivity by the Assyrians in 721 B.C. and was dispersed among the other nations conquered by the Assyrian Empire, never to return. The Southern kingdom was carried into captivity by the Babylonians between 606 and 586 B.C. and was dispersed among the nations that Babylon had conquered. The Babylonian Empire was conquered by the Medo-Persion Empire, and the Israelites, who had come to be known as the “Jews” or “Judes” (because they had come from Judah), were allowed, by the Decree of Cyrus, to return to Judea and rebuild the city of Jerusalem. This came after seventy-year captivity, The Jews returned to Judea in three groups. The first led by Zerubabel, the second by Ezra and the third by Nehemiah.
When the Jews had resettled in Judea and Jerusalem and had rebuilt the temple, they entered into what is known as the Inter-Testamental Period. After they completed the reconstruction of the temple of the Lord, the inspiration of scripture was halted for over four hundred years. During this period, a lot happened, but nothing is recorded by inspired history. We know much of what transpired during this period because of the writings of Josephus, a first-century Hebrew historian.
When the Old Testament ended, the Jews were living in their homeland under the rule of the Persian Empire. The Persians were later conquered by Alexander the Great, and Judea fell into the hands of the Grecian Empire. Early in this period of Grecian rule, little had changed for the Jewish people. They still were allowed to govern themselves, for the most part. After Alexander died, with no heirs, his empire was spilt in three kingdoms, each kingdom ruled by one of Alexander's generals. In 171 B.C., Antiochus Epiphanes IV, came to power and ruled over the Grecian kingdom that included Judea. In 164 B.C., he entered the temple of God, set up an idol to himself and sacrificed swine upon the altar of the Lord. This became known, to the Jews as the "Abomination of Desolation." The Jews were outraged at this sacrilege, and rose up in rebellion under a Levite name Judas Maccabees. The Jews fought a successful revolt against Grecian rule and in 164 B.C. managed to drive out the armies of Antiochus. The modern Jewish festival known as Hanukkah, the festival of lights, commemorates the rededication of the Temple after the over-throw of Grecian rule.
This segment of the Inter-Testamental Period is known as the Maccabean kingdom. The Jews were, once again, an independent nation for the first time in over four hundred years. During this time, Israel was ruled by a succession of the descendant of Judas Maccabees. This kingdom was not a God sanctioned kingdom, because they were not ruled by a descendant of David.
This independent Jewish nation lasted for nearly 100 years, until the Roman General Pompey captured Jerusalem in 63 B.C. Judea then became a Roman province. In 37 B.C., Herod the Great came to power. He succeeded the last Maccabean King, John Hyrcanus. Herod was not of Jewish stock; instead, he was an Idumean (Edomite). The Idumeans were descendants of Abraham and Isaac through Esau, and so they were “cousins” of the Jewish people. Herod is known as “the Great” because of the many architectural wonders he created. He built several fortresses and the sea port of Caesarea, to curry favor with the Romans. However, his most famous construction was the Temple in Jerusalem. Beginning with the Temple that had already been reconstructed by Zerubabel, he built up the entire complex and until it had become one of the great wonders of the ancient world.
Herod the Great is perhaps most famous, or infamous, for the “killing of the innocents” in Bethlehem, just after the birth of Christ. It was to this Herod that the wise men of Matthew chapter 2 came; and from whom Joseph, Mary and Jesus fled to Egypt.
By the time of Christ’s birth, the religion of the Jews had developed into several main sects, or denominations. The most prevalent sect, especially among the common Jewish people was the Pharisees. The Pharisees were very strict in their adherence to the traditions of their ancestors. These traditions, both written and oral, were set forth during the Inter-Testamental Period and were non-inspired. It was these traditions, known today as the Talmud or Mishna that Christ called referred to in Mark 2:7-9 “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.”
Another prominent sect was the Sadducees. They mainly composed of the ruling class among the Jews. This sect believed that the Torah (Law of Moses) was the only inspired scripture. They were very strict in their adherence to the ceremonial law. In addition, they did not believe in doctrine of the Resurrection from the dead (Matthew 22:23).
Along with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, a third prominent sect was the Zealots. The Zealots were known for their desire to overthrow Roman rule and establish an independent Jewish nation. One of Christ’s apostles had come from this sect, Simon Zelotes (Luke 6:14.
Another sect worth mentioning is the sect of the Essenes. The Essenes were most likely a sub-sect of the Pharisees, who believed purity and complete separation from sinfulness. This led them to establish communities completely isolated from the outside world. It was in the remains of one of these communities that the “Dead Sea Scrolls” were discovered in 1947.
So Far, we have looked briefly at the history of the Jewish people, first in the Old Testament, Inter-Testamental and Gospel times when Christ walked the earth. Now we will turn our attention to the final years of Biblical Judaism.
Before we continue, remember when the Jewish nation was divided and the northern ten tribes were carried into Assyrian captivity and later the nation of Judah was carried into Babylonian captivity. Both the Assyrians and the Babylonians, when they conquered a people, would remove them from their homeland and scatter them among their other conquered nations. When this was done to the Jews, it became known as the “Diaspora” or dispersion. The northern ten tribes, when they were “dispersed” lost their religious and national identity and intermarried among the other conquered nations. As well, those few of the northern kingdom who were allowed to remain in Palestine also intermarried with foreigners. Thus began the Samaritan people of whom we read in the New Testament.
When the southern kingdom was taken captive, they only remained in captivity for 70 years. They, for the most part, maintained their ethnic and national identities. Even though they were spread throughout the lands of the Babylonian Empire, they maintained their religion as best they could. It was during this period that synagogue worship began. The temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed, the people in captivity were not allowed to go to Jerusalem for worship, so they began meeting together on the Sabbath day to worship God. It was this “synagogue movement” that allowed them to maintain their national identity. When the captivity ended, many of the Jews, especially those who were the most zealous, returned to Palestine. Others remained in the various places to where they had been dispersed. Many of these, especially in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) and Greece, became “Hellenized” into the Greek culture. They adopted Greek styles of living as well as the Greek language.
During Jesus’ day, the Jews had rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple was more than just a center for worship. It was also the center of the Jewish nation, inside its walls was held the genealogical records of all the tribes and families of the Jews. These records were important because without them there would be no record of who the Levites were and no way to identify the Messiah. The tribe of Levi had been set aside for their special service to God; they needed to be identified according to their family lineage, because each branch of Levi had a different area of service. As well, one of the identifying marks of the Messiah was that he would be a descendant of David. The fact that Jesus Christ was such a descendant was never disputed, even by the Jewish leaders of His day. Without the Temple, the Jews would have no records of their lineage; they would not be able to prove that they were true descendants of Abraham.
When Christ died upon the cross, in approximately 33 A.D., the Law of Moses was fulfilled and passed away. The need for a special people to bring Messiah into the world ended, thus the religion of the Jews was no longer the religion of God. Had the Jews recognized Messiah as a spiritual savior, and not a political one, they would have accepted Jesus and been converted, having seen the natural fulfillment of the Law. However, this was not the case. In fact, the Jews, early on became the greatest enemy of Christianity. It was the Jews who first began to persecute Christians, beginning with Saul of Tarsus.
The end of the Jewish religion, as the religion of God’s people, came with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Once that religious dispensation ended, the church of Christ became the religion of God’s people. God’s people are no longer the physical descendants of Abraham through Jacob, but have become the “spiritual” descendants of Abraham through faith. See Romans 4:20-25.
The Jews maintained their traditions and form of worship, making their three yearly sacrifices at the Temple, even as Christianity grew both numerically and geographically. In a period of about thirty years, the Gospel had been preached to the entire world. It was by about this time the Palestinian Jews began to mount their final uprising against the Roman Empire. A revolt began in Judea in the month of September, in the year 66 A.D. This rebellion, against Rome, brought the full weight and wrath of the most powerful empire the world has ever known down upon the Jewish people. For three years, the Jews held out, but by the month of April, in the year 70 A.D. only Jerusalem itself had not fallen back into Roman control. The Emperor Vespasian, who had just the previous year become Emperor, decided to make an example of Jerusalem to prevent any other regions from revolting. Vespasian’s son Titus laid siege to the city of Jerusalem beginning in April of the year 70 A.D. By September of that year, the entire city had been destroyed, the temple itself had been burned to the ground and been dismantled stone by stone. All of the genealogical the records of the Jewish people were destroyed at that time.
The Jewish people continued on as they did during the Babylonian captivity. They continued worship in the synagogues and they even attempted to maintain their own genealogical records. Nevertheless, since they were no longer God’s people and no longer protected under God’s Divine providence, they were unsuccessful in this attempt. As the centuries have gone by, all knowledge of who is a true descendant of Jacob has been lost. Those that call themselves Jews today, are not necessarily the Jews that we read of in the Bible. Over the years, many people of other races or nationalities have converted to some form of Judaism. To be a citizen of the modern state of Israel, all one must do is claim to be Jewish and they will be accepted as Jews.
What is important for us to keep in mind today is that the Jews are not God’s special people. Christians are! The Old Testament Jews were selected for one purpose only, and that was to bring Christ into the world. Once Christ fulfilled His mission, their reason for existing as God’s special people ceased. Today Christians are “Spiritual Israel,” those who believe and obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ are God’s special people.
