Who are the Israelites?

What was this People? — No ordinary affection had thus moved him, for no ordinary people were they, as he now recounts. They were Israelites, descendants of Jacob, who had received that name from the One who had wrestled with him, and then blessed him by the ford Jabbok, at the spot which the patriarch in consequence named Peniel (Gen. 32:30). He gave a name to the place. God gave a name to him. Peniel, he named the place. Israel, God surnamed him. Israelites, then betokened their descent from him, who as a prince had power with God and with men, and had prevailed. Israelite was no mean name to bear. It told of natural descent from him, to whom, and to his seed the promise of the land for an inheritance was freely, and irrevocably confirmed (Gen. 35:12; 48:4). To them as a nation great and special privileges belonged: viz., "the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the promises: whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen" (Rom. 9:4-5). An array of privileges, an accumulation of honours unparalleled. "What nation," Moses had asked, "is there so great, who has God so nigh to them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?" (Deut. 4:7). What nation has ever been so highly favoured? we may well ask, having the world's history of upwards of forty centuries to look back upon. How the apostle too would emphasise their privileges, putting as he does, the copulative conjunction and between each one of them.

The adoption was theirs, as the Lord announced to Pharaoh, "Israel is My son, even My first-born: and I say to thee, Let My son go, that he may serve Me" (Ex. 4:22-23). The glory it had been the privilege of their father often to see, and to know that it was in their midst, upon the mercy-seat (Lev. 16:2) Covenants too they could speak of. The first, made at Sinai, between God and them (Ex. 24), broken, alas, ere six weeks had run its course, by their making the golden calf. The second made by God with Moses and Israel unconditionally, in accordance with which the Lord brought them into the land (Ex. 34:10-27). The third, made by God with Israel in the land of Moab, on the observance of which, and of that made at Sinai, depended their continuance in the land (Deut. 29:1). A fourth there is, yet to be made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, called the new covenant. Of this Jeremiah prophesied (Jer. 31:31-34). To it the Lord referred, and first announced, that joy being rightly His, on the blood of what sacrifice it would be established (Matt. 26:28). And to it the writer of the Hebrews calls especial attention (Heb. 8; 10:16-18), as teaching us of the abiding efficacy of the blood of Christ. Then too the giving of the law was theirs, the ten commandments having been audibly promulgated by the voice of God Himself; so it could be said, that they alone of all nations had heard the voice of the living God speaking to them out of the fire, and lived (Deut. 5:26). To them, too, and to them only was there given a ritual for Divine worship. To them, too, were promises made by God, which through the coming of the Lord Jesus were in process of fulfilment. Looking back to the past the fathers, as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc., could be claimed as belonging to them. And from Israel, to crown it all, Christ came after the flesh, who is, not merely a man, but is over all, God blessed for ever.*

Name given to Jacob after 'a man' had wrestled with him, to whom he clung when he was by him crippled. It signifies 'a prince of God:' and it was said, "as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." It thus indicated the way of blessing with regard to the nation in which God's government in the earth was to be established. The twelve sons of Jacob became the heads of the twelve tribes, and they and their descendants were called the children of Israel, or simply Israel. At the division of the kingdom, the ten tribes were called 'Israel,' and the two tribes 'Judah,' though this distinction is not at all times rigidly adhered to: thus the princes and kings of Judah are called princes of Israel, and kings of Israel. 2 Chr. 12:5-6; 2 Chr. 21:2; 2 Chr. 28:19. So those who returned from exile, though they were in the main of the two tribes, are called people of Israel, or Israel. In the prophets also, though the ten tribes are not called Judah, the two tribes are at times called Israel. The ten tribes in the prophets are often spoken of as EPHRAIM, which was the chief of the ten. Though Israel was reckoned as ten tribes, it is most probable that the portion of Simeon, being situated on the extreme south, was united to Judah, as well as the territory of Dan in the S.W., though the people of Simeon may have scattered themselves among the other tribes, and those of Dan have gone north and joined their tribe there.

Jacob being named ISRAEL led to his descendants being called the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. They are however frequently addressed as 'JACOB,' or 'house of Jacob,' as if they had not preserved the higher character involved in the name of 'Israel,' but must be addressed by the natural name of their forefather, Jacob. Gen. 25 — Gen. 49.

Then Isaac had two sons, but God set aside the older and designated Jacob as His choice to be the immediate father of the nation Israel, and gave him the name Israel. Twelve sons were born to Jacob and these were destined to be the heads of the twelve tribes of which the nation was formed.

The law teachers were boasting in the Galatians who had received circumcision, and so outwardly had become Jews. But this did not make them God's people. In chapter 3, verses 7, 9, and 29, we find much the same thought. "The ones on the principle of faith, these are the sons of Abraham." So now in contrast to the false teachers making false Jews, the Apostle cries in triumph, these are "the Israel of God." These who walk by the rule of the new creation are the true Israelites, not those wearing the badge of circumcision. The people of Israel had three names: Hebrews, Jews and Israelites. Jews were especially those of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin, though many others had joined them under this name. "Israel" means "prince of God," and was the name given to Jacob by God Himself, when he wrestled with the angel and prevailed. "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob (means 'cheater'), but Israel (a prince of God): for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." Gen. 32:28. This name includes all the descendants of Jacob, all the twelve tribes, not the two tribes only as the name "Jew" means. It is most interesting to notice that this name Israel, is the name chosen by God's earthly people today, as they once again begin to take possession of their own land. But the true Israelites are those "born again" into God's household.

Designation of Abraham and of his descendants. The name is first met with when Lot had been carried away prisoner, one came and told Abram 'the Hebrew.' Gen. 14:13. Hence it is applied to Abraham's descendants through Isaac and Jacob in distinction to the name of Israelites (from the name of Israel given to Jacob), which is their covenant name, the name of promise. It may be remarked how Saul king of Israel had lost the sense of this when he said "Let the Hebrews hear." 1 Sam. 13:3.

The term applied to the nation of Israel as now scattered throughout the world. Esther 3:8; Jer. 25:34; Ezek. 36:19; John 7:35. It was to believers among them that the Epistles of James and 1 Peter were specially addressed.

The nation of Israel was descended from Abraham, and we know how zealously they contended for the relationship, though alas, they had not and have not the same faith. Still the land was given to them, and when God's set time comes they will surely be brought back to their 'fatherland' and after trial and discipline will be blessed therein.

Who, then, were the JEWS? Turn to Romans 9:3-4, and 5, "For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: who are ISRAELITES; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law (note this), and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen." This is a brief description of what the JEWS were. They were a separated people — a distinct nation set apart to God. But an earthly nation they were. Hence you will find God, speaking of them through the prophets, says — "Jehovah hath chosen Jacob unto Himself, and ISRAEL for His peculiar treasure" (Ps. 135:4). And, again, "For JACOB my servant's sake, and ISRAEL mine elect, I have called thee by name, though thou hast not known me" (Isaiah 45:4). The Lord had set barriers, if I may so say, around them, separating them from all other nations.

By ISRAEL we do not mean the Jews, the scattered nation as they are to-day, nor as they were in the time of our Lord, a remnant still clinging to their ancient capital, Jerusalem. We do not allude to them as they actually existed at any time, but rather to what that nation was according to God's original plan for them.