“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”

Isaiah 55: 6-7

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There is a Difference Between Israel and Judah

On my iPhones and iPods, I have installed the Simple Radio app. I can use it anywhere in the world, and listen to the radio channels that I enjoy most.

That’s especially handy when I’m in Israel. My visits to Israel tend to be extended stays, and if all goes as planned, my extended stays in Israel will be longer and more frequent in the near future. Eventually, I expect to spend months at a time in Israel 2 or 3 times a year. Being able to listen to the things I enjoy will be a great help.

FaithTalk Atlanta 970 AM is one of my favorite radio stations. I listen to it in the morning at home and while I am driving. Most of the shows are sermons by prominent preachers in America. They have lots of important and interesting information to share, but most of them have a difficult time distinguishing between Israel and Judah.

That’s a common mistake, but it’s not a mistake that preachers should make.

Most churchgoers have the same problem. They think Israel and Judah are the same, but they are not. To understand the Bible correctly, you must understand the difference between Israel and Judah. It’s impossible to understand the prophets and the gospels if you can’t draw that distinction.

Who are Jews?

To understand the difference between Israel and Judah, you must realize that Yahweh changed Jacob’s name to Israel. (Genesis 32:28) Jacob’s/Israel’s 12 sons are called the “Children of Israel”, and the nation Israel derives its name from Jacob/Israel. So, Israel is a nation and a people.

Jacob’s/Israel’s sons are listed below:

Reuben
Simeon
Levi
Judah
Dan
Naphtali
Gad
Asher
Issachar
Zebulun
Joseph
Benjamin

Only direct descendants of Judah are Jewish. Jacob’s/Israel’s other sons are Danites, Gadites, Levites, and so on. They are not Jewish.

The tribal land of the Children of Judah is called “Judea”. The rest of Israel is typically referred to in the Bible as “Israel”.

A Brief History: Israel and Judah

In about 2000 BC, Yahweh promised Abraham that the Land of Israel (i.e., the Promised Land) would belong to him and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob/Israel forever. That was long before the Children of Israel went to Egypt.

In about 1450 BC, the exodus of the Children of Israel form Egypt took place. Yahweh intended for the Children of Israel to take possession of the Promised Land at that time, but they demonstrated a lack of faith in Him in the wilderness of Paran. Because they lacked faith in Yahweh, the Children of Israel had to spend 40 years wandering in the wilderness. That was enough time for every adult traveling with Moses except Joshua and Caleb to die.

Moses was not Jewish. He was a Levite. Moses didn’t lead the Jewish people out of Egypt. He led the Children of Israel out of Egypt. The Children of Judah were a part of that group, not the whole group. In the wilderness, the Children of Israel camped by tribes.

When the Children of Israel settled the Promised Land, they settled it by tribes with fixed boundaries. The families of each of Jacob’s 12 sons except Levi got a portion of the Promised Land, and Joseph got a double portion, one for Ephraim and one for Manasseh.

The Levites were not left out, though. They ministered to Yahweh. He was their inheritance:

“The Levitical priests — indeed, the whole tribe of Levi — are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the food offerings presented to Yahweh, for that is their inheritance. They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; Yahweh is their inheritance, as He promised them.” (Deuteronomy 18: 1-2)

The Levites also controlled 48 cities in the Promised Land including 6 cities of refuge: Kedesh, Shechem, and Hebron west of the Jordan River and Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan east of the Jordan River.

Saul was the first King of the united Israel. He was not Jewish. He was a Benjaminite. Saul ruled Israel from about 1021 BC until about 1000 BC. When Saul died, David became King of Judah, and Saul’s son, Ish-bosheth, became King of Israel. David was Jewish. Like his father, Ish-bosheth was a Benjaminite.

David was King of Judah for 3 years. While he was King of Judah, Hebron was Judah’s capital. After 3 years, David became King of the united Israel. He reigned as King of the united Israel for 37 years, and he decided to make Jerusalem Israel’s capital. For 37 years, David ruled Israel from Jerusalem.

David died in about 970 BC, and his son, Solomon, became King of the united Israel. He ruled in Jerusalem until his death in about 931 BC. Like his father, Solomon was Jewish.

After Solomon’s death, his son, Rehoboam, became King of the united Israel, but Solomon had levied heavy taxes on the Children of Israel. Representing Israel, Jeroboam asked Rehoboam to lighten their burden, but he refused. Rehoboam said,

“My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins! Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” (1 Kings 12: 10-11)

Rehoboam was Jewish. His response infuriated the people of Israel, and they rebelled against him. Israel won its independence, and Israel and Judah have remained divided to this day. Israel made Jeroboam king. He was not Jewish.

About 200 years later in the 700s BC, the Assyrians conquered Israel and took the people captive. Israel was scattered throughout the world, and they became known as the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel”.

The people of Israel were not Jewish, and they were not Gentiles, either. In the Bible, Yahweh distinguishes between His people, the Children of Israel including Judah, and Gentiles. The word “Gentile” refers to anyone who is not a direct descendant of Jacob/Israel.

Today, most Christians talk about Jews and Gentiles as though only the Jewish people are Yahweh’s chosen people. That’s not correct. The other Children of Israel are Yahweh’s chosen people, too. Just like Judah, they were supposed to represent Yahweh before the nations, i.e., the Gentiles.

The Children of Israel were never actually “lost”. They assimilated in the nations of the Gentiles where they went, and over time they lost touch with their identities as Children of Israel. Even so, they remain Children of Israel to this day. Yahweh knows exactly who they are. They are direct descendants of Jacob/Israel.

A Brief History: Judah and Judaism

In about 597 BC, the Babylonians completed their conquest Judah and took Judah to Babylon as captives. On the 9^th of Av in 586 BC, the Babylonians destroyed Yahweh’s Temple in Jerusalem.

The destruction of the Temple meant that temple sacrifices could not be made. Thus, Jewish religious leaders in Babylon (primarily scribes and Pharisees) decided to create a new religion, Judaism, with themselves in charge, and they introduced the concept of synagogues to replace Temple worship.

They also wrote the Babylonian Talmud to dictate how Jewish people should live. The Babylonian Talmud was the beginning of the Oral Law. The Oral Law is also known as Halacha and the traditions of the Jews.

Judah remained in Babylon for 70 years. In about 539 BC, the Persian King Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon, and he gave the order to allow the Jews to return to the Promised Land. When they returned, they brought Judaism with them. Eventually, they rebuilt Yahweh’s Temple, and combined Judaism with the traditional worship that Yahweh laid out in the Torah.

This is the critical point: Judaism is a man-made religion. It did not come from Yahweh. Yahweh gave the Torah to the Children of Israel at Mount Sinai. He did not give the Torah to the Children of Judah alone. There is no way that Yahweh would have condoned a religion called “Judaism”, thus effectively ruling out all the Children of Israel except Judah.

In the Torah, Yahweh laid out in great detail what He expects from all of His people. Judaism diverges from Yahweh’s commands in the Torah in many critical ways, and according to Judaism, the Oral Law has precedence over the Torah. From Yahweh’s perspective, that is absolutely unimaginable.

According to the Oral Law, people can become Jewish by converting to Judaism. That certainly did not come from Yahweh. According to the Torah, only direct descendants of Judah are Jewish.

Stated simply, Jewishness is based on lineage, not faith. It is impossible to become a direct descendant of Judah by converting to Judaism. That notion was made up by scribes and Pharisees.

Back to FaithTalk Radio in Atlanta

A couple of days ago, I heard a prominent preacher on FaithTalk radio say, “He was a Levite. That means he was Jewish.” But a Levite is not Jewish. Levites descend from Levi. Jews descend from Judah. Judaism has confused most preachers.

Most Jews in Israel are confused about it, too. Judaism has a stranglehold on their thinking. Without giving it much thought, most Jews in Israel have bought into the notion that Judaism takes precedence over the Torah. That’s a serious mistake.

Regularly, I hear preachers on FaithTalk radio refer to the 144,000 witnesses mentioned in Revelation 7 as 144,000 Jewish witnesses. That’s not true. Revelation 7 is abundantly clear about the lineages of those witnesses:

And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed. (Revelation 7: 4-8)

According to Revelation 7, only 12,000 of the 144,000 witnesses are from the tribe of Judah. They are Jews. The others are not Jews. The others are descendants of the other Children of Israel. They are Levites, Gadites, Danites, and so on. Judaism has confused most preachers and their seminary professors.

Adjusting to reality and changing your thinking isn’t easy, but preachers need to do it. If they want to represent Yahweh properly, they must do it.

Why is the Distinction between Israel and Judah Important?

The distinction between Israel and Judah is crucial. We know that, because in Ezekiel 36 and 37, Yahweh presents one of His most important end time prophecies. In those chapters, He explains that He will return Israel to the Promised Land and reunite Israel and Judah.

Obviously, Israel and Judah are not the same, or He would not need to reunite them.

The prophecy in Ezekiel 36 and 37 hasn’t been fulfilled yet. Preachers must know that. If they can’t understand the difference between Israel and Judah, they can’t do their jobs properly at this critical juncture. They have been so confused by Judaism that they miss some of the most important things Yahweh said in the Scriptures.

This morning on FaithTalk radio, I heard a prominent preacher say that chapters 36 and 37 of Ezekiel have to do with “the LORD” fulfilling His promise to return the Jews to Israel. In part, it does, but it has more to do with Yahweh returning the Children of Israel to the Promised Land and reuniting Israel and Judah. In those chapters, that is exactly what Yahweh said He will do. The preacher missed it completely.

After botching his analysis of Ezekiel 36 and 37, the preacher referred to Paul as “a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin”. Paul was not Jewish. He was a Benjaminite who practiced Judaism before He met Yahweh.

The preachers I’m referring to are not ordinary baby Christians. They are seminary trained preachers with huge congregations. They have a duty to get their facts straight.

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“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”

John 10: 14-18