WHO OR WHAT IS ISRAEL? A BRIEF INVESTIGATION: PART 1

"Who or what is Israel?" is akin to the question, "What is a Jew?" Israel's late Prime Minister David Ben Gurion reportedly answered that question, "Whoever says they are a Jew is a Jew, because no one would accept the problem of being a Jew unless they are a Jew."

The answer is not so profoundly simple reqarding the question of Israel. There is plainly not one single definition of Israel. For example, today when we speak of Israel, most people think in terms of the State of Israel, but the State is not all of what Israel is. For instance, there are many Jewish people outside the State who also claim to be Israel, and there are other problems with the State being the ultimate definition of Israel.

Conceptually, there are many Israels, each defined by a certain perspective or historical time. So, to define Israel, we must first ascertain our premise. Are we talking about Jacob or his descendents? Are we talking about the land or the ancient kingdom or the present State? Are we talking about the covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or the Israel which the prophets declared would eventually come to be? Are we talking about the Israel at the time of Joshua or at the time of Yeshua? While all these "Israels" share a common history and there is overlap, one historical Israel does not mirror the other. Israel has undergone an evolution in history, and Israel is primarily defined by its moment in history.

Only when we understand Israel's history, and discover where it is going, will we find the true Israel. It is true Israel, the eternal Israel, which we want to know. If we take the scriptures as our authority, the ultimate and permanent Israel, is the one we need to know best, because it is the one for which G-d gave the promise to the first Israel, Jacob.

To begin with, Israel was made up of the physical descendants of the patriarch Jacob, whom G-d named Israel, meaning Prince of G-d. This designation made Jacob the son of G-d, since G-d is the universal King.

Jacob had twelve sons. Jacob gave his eleventh son, Joseph, the birthright, which made him his prime heir. Jacob passed over Reuben, his physical firstborn, because of Reuben's insult to Jacob through an incestuous affair. Joseph was also the firstborn of Rachel, the wife whom Jacob had chosen first. Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Jacob adopted as his own at the time of his death. At that time Jacob named the younger, Ephraim, as his prime heir (the same as the right of being firstborn). Jacob blessed Ephraim and said that his desendents would become the "fullness of the Gentiles" (melo goyim). A curious and puzzling promise, considering that Israel was to receive a commandment by YHVH to be a holy nation, separate from the Gentiles.

Jacob's eleven other sons, together with Josephs two sons, and all their descendants, would come to be called "the tribes of Israel." They were called the twelve tribes instead of thirteen because Levi would be given the priesthood and no land inheritance in Canaan. The individual tribal identities developed while Israel resided and multiplied as slaves in Egypt, and while Moses was leading them from there to Canaan.

Later, the land of Canaan, the land Israel eventually occupied, became known itself as Israel, or in the Hebrew, Eretz Yisrael. More accurately, Eretz Yisrael is all the land specified by YHVH to be inherited by Israel through the promise of YHVH passed from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. Each tribe was alloted a certain portion by Moses. When Moses sent the spies in, to scout out the land of Canaan, it was Joshua of the tribe of Ephraim and Caleb of the tribe of Judah, who came back full of courage to conquer the land. Eventually, Joshua did a wondrous job of leading Israel to conquer Canaan, but they never were able to drive out all the previous occupants. So, the land of Israel was never inhabited only by the descendants of Israel.

In the line to King David there was Rahab the Canaanite and Ruth the Moabite. David's wife, Bathsheba, was the wife of a Hittite, and their son, Solomon, had wives from other nations round about Israel. Over time it became clear that those who joined Israel were also to be accounted as Israel, so eventually Israel ceased being exclusively the physical descendants of Jacob. These undescended Israelites were religious and political prosylites, but they became an equal partner with the physically descended Israelites. Under the great King David (of the tribe of Judah) the tribes were unified, and it was David who was able to totally subject all the previous occupants to Israel's rule. This Israel became defined as a kingdom.

After King Solomon died the Kingdom of Israel was divided by political and religious differences into two kingdoms. Ten tribes split from allegience to Solomon's son and joined together as the northern kingdom, which retained the title of Israel. The northern Kingdom of Israel was also called Ephraim, because the tribe of Joshua was the largest and most powerful tribe of the northern kingdom. Ephraim was known for excellence in battle, but it also was jealous of the primary role of Judah as the ruling tribe.

The southern kingdom became known as Judah the most prominent tribe, but it included Benjamin and much of Levi. The coalition was natural between them, because Jerusalem, the capitol, was in Benjamin's land, and Judah had the ordained line of kings that ruled there, and Levi was assigned to attend to the Holy Temple that was built there.

The two kingdoms of Ephraim-Israel and Judah-Israel lived in disharmony for most of the next 200 years until the northern tribes of Israel (Ephraim) were carried off by conquering Assyria. A hundred years later, most of Judah also was carried off to Babylon and began to be called "Jews" there. During this time they grew in prominence and many other peoples became Jews with them. Seventy years later Judah returned to the land of Israel to reform their kingdom, but it was only as a political protectorate under various world empires. So, since the captivity no descendant of David has ruled as king.

In 168 B.C.(E.) Hasmonaen Jews, called Macabbees, overthrew the Greeks and their descendants ruled the land until Rome took complete control in about 45 B.C.(E.). They put the Edomite Herod (called the "great") on the throne. By the time of Yeshua, Israel was split by Rome into political regions known as Judah, Samaria and Galilee. After this, in the year 70, the Temple was destroyed and wars with Rome ensued until about the year 120, when Emporer Hadrian totally destroyed Jerusalem and dispursed all the Jews from the land of Israel. He gave the land of Israel the name Palestine, named after the Philistines who were ancient antagonists of Israel.

For the 2000 years since then a few Jewish people were able to remain in the land, but it was not under Jewish control again until 1948, when the Jewish State of Israel was born. This manifestation of Israel is yet another evolution in Israel's identity. Israel has gone from being under patriarchs, to under slavery, to under judgeships, to under kings, to under protectorates, to under foreigners, to under democracy. There have been seven "states" or manifestations of Israel in history. That being completed, do we now have the Israel promised in scripture? The answer is no. There is yet at least one more Israel to come.

Stay tuned for Part II

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