GREEK: 2474 Israhl Israel 2475 Israhlithv Israelites
HEBREW: 3478 larsy Yisra'el 3481 ylarsy Yisr@'eliy 3482 tylarsy Yisr@'eliyth
NAVE: Israel Israelites
EBD: Israel
SMITH: ISRAEL ISRAELITE
ISBE: ISRAEL ISRAELITE; ISRAELITISH
BAKER: Israel
BRIDGEWAY: ISRAEL
Israel
In Bible versions:
Israel: NET AVS NIV NRSV NASB TEVIsraelite: NET AVS NIV NRSV NASB TEV
Israelites: NET NIV NRSV
people of Ephraim: NET
the nation that descended from Jacob, whom God named Israel; the Jewish people
son of Isaac son of Abraham; founder of the nation of Israel
the nation of Israel under Moses, Joshua and the judges
the kingdom of Israel under King Saul
the northern tribes under Ish-Bosheth & Abner
the Kingdom of Israel as united under David and Solomon
the Northern Kingdom as divided from Judah, Simeon and Benjamin
the post exile Jewish community; the re-established Israel
the post exile lay community; Israelites other than Levites
Israel in general as in the Psalms and the prophets
the phrase "All Israel"
the phrase "Assembly of (United) Israel"
the phrase "Border(s) of Israel"
the phrase "Children of Israel"
the phrase "Congregation of Israel"
the phrase "Descendants" or "Offspring of Israel"
the phrase "Elders of Israel"
the phrase "God of Israel"
the phrase "Hill country of Israel"
the phrase "Holy One of Israel"
the phrase "House of Israel"
the phrases "Judge(d) Israel; judge(s) of Israel"
the phrase "King of Israel"
the phrase "King over Israel"
the phrase "Kings of Israel"
the phrase "Land of Israel"
the phrase "Leaders in/of Israel; take the lead in Israel"
the phrase "Man of Israel"
the phrase "Men of Israel"
the phrase "Mountains of Israel"
the phrase "O house of Israel"
the phrase "O Israel"
the phrase "His people Israel"
the phrase "My people Israel"
the phrase "Thy people Israel"
the phrase "People of Israel"
the phrase "Prince(s) in/of/over Israel"
the phrase "Reign over Israel"
the phrase "Shepherd(s) of Israel"
the phrase "Sons of Israel"
the phrase "Territory of Israel"
the phrase "Throne in/over/of Israel"
the phrase "Tribes of Israel"
the phrase "Virgin of Israel"
a citizen of Israel.
a member of the nation of Israel
Arts
Greek
Strongs #2474: Israhl Israel
Israel = "he shall be a prince of God"1) the name given to the patriarch Jacob (and borne by him in
addition to his former name)
2) the family or descendants of Israel, the nation of Israel
3) Christians, the Israel of God (Ga 6:16), for not all those who
draw their bodily descent from Israel are true Israelites, i.e.
are those whom God pronounces to be Israelites and has chosen to
salvation
2474 Israel is-rah-ale'
of Hebrew origin (3478); Israel (i.e. Jisrael), the adopted name of Jacob, including his descendants (literally or figuratively): KJV -- Israel.see HEBREW for 03478
Strongs #2475: Israhlithv Israelites
1) an Israelite, one of the nation of Israel, a name to be held in honour2475 Israelites is-rah-ale-ee'-tace
from 2474; an "Israelite", i.e. descendant of Israel (literally or figuratively): KJV -- Israelite.see GREEK for 2474
Hebrew
Strongs #03478: larsy Yisra'el
Israel = "God prevails"1) the second name for Jacob given to him by God after his wrestling
with the angel at Peniel
2) the name of the descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob
2a) the name of the nation until the death of Solomon and the split
2b) the name used and given to the northern kingdom consisting of
the 10 tribes under Jeroboam; the southern kingdom was known as
Judah
2c) the name of the nation after the return from exile
3478 Yisra'el yis-raw-ale'
from 8280 and 410; he will rule as God; Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity: KJV -- Israel.see HEBREW for 08280
see HEBREW for 0410
Strongs #03481: ylarsy Yisr@'eliy
Israelite = see Israel "God prevails"1) a descendant or inhabitant of the nation of Israel
3481 Yisr'eliy yis-reh-ay-lee'
patronymically from 3478; a Jisreelite or descendant of Jisrael: KJV -- of Israel, Israelite.see HEBREW for 03478
Strongs #03482: tylarsy Yisr@'eliyth
Israelitess = see Israel "God prevails"1) a female descendant or inhabitant of the nation of Israel
3482 Yisr'eliyth yis-reh-ay-leeth'
feminine of 3481; a Jisreelitess or female descendant of Jisrael: KJV -- Israelitish.see HEBREW for 03481
Israel [nave]
ISRAEL1. A name given to Jacob, Gen. 32:24-32; 2 Kin. 17:34; Hos. 12:3, 4.
2. A name of the Christ in prophecy, Isa. 49:3.
3. A name given to the descendants of Jacob, a nation. Called also Israelites, and Hebrews, Gen. 43:32; Ex. 1:15; 9:7; 10:3; 21:2; Lev. 23:42; Josh. 13:6, etc.; 1 Sam. 4:6; 13:3, 19; 14:11, 21; Phil. 3:5.
Tribes of Israel were named after the sons of Jacob. In lists usually the names Levi and Joseph, two sons of Jacob, do not appear. The descendants of Levi were consecrated to the rites of religion, and the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, were adopted by Jacob in Joseph's stead, Gen. 48:5; Josh. 14:4, and their names appear in the catalogs of tribes instead of those of Levi and Joseph, as follows: Asher, Benjamin, Dan, Ephraim, Gad, Issachar, Judah, Manasseh, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, Zebulun.
Names of, seen in John's vision, on the gates of the New Jerusalem, Rev. 21:12.
Prophecies concerning, Gen. 15:5, 13; 25:23; 26:4; 27:28, 29, 40; 48:19; 49; Deut. 33; of the multitude of, Gen. 13:16; 15:5; 22:17; 26:4; 28:14; of their captivity in Egypt, Gen. 15:13, 14; Acts 7:6, 7.
Divided into families, each of which had a chief, Num. 25:14; 26; 36:1; Josh. 7:14; 1 Chr. 4-8.
Number of, who went into Egypt, Gen. 46:8-27; Ex. 1:5; Deut. 10:22; Acts 7:14.
Number of, at the time of the exodus, Ex. 12:37, 38 with Gen. 47:27; Ex. 1:7-20; Psa. 105:24; Acts 7:17.
Number of, fit for military service when they left Egypt, Ex. 12:37; at Sinai, by tribes, Num. 1:1-50; after the plague, Num. 26; when David numbered, 2 Sam. 24:1-9; 1 Chr. 21:5, 6; 27:23, 24; after the captivity, Ezra 2:64; Neh. 7:66, 67; in John's apocalyptic vision, Rev. 7:1-8.
Dwelt in Goshen, Gen. 46:28-34; 47:4-10, 27, 28.
Dwelt in Egypt four hundred and thirty years, Ex. 12:40, 41, with Gen. 15:13; Acts 7:6; Gal. 3:17.
Were enslaved and oppressed by the Egyptians, Ex. 1; 2; 5; Acts 7:18-36.
Their groaning heard of God, Ex. 2:23-25.
Moses commissioned as deliverer, Ex. 3:2-22; 4:1-17.
The land of Egypt plagued on their account, See: Egypt.
Exempt from the plagues, Ex. 8:22, 23; 9:4-6, 26; 10:23; 11:7; 12:13.
Children were spared when the firstborn of the Egyptians were slain, Ex. 12:13, 23.
Instituted the passover, Ex. 12:1-28.
Borrowed jewels from the Egyptians, Ex. 11:2, 3; 12:35, 36; Psa. 105:37.
Urged by the Egyptians to depart, Ex. 12:31-39.
Journey from Rameses to Succoth, Ex. 12:37-39.
Made the journey by night, Ex. 12:42.
The day of their deliverance to be a memorial, Ex. 12:42; 13:3-16.
Led of God, Ex. 13:18, 21, 22.
Providentially cared for, Deut. 8:3, 4; 29:5, 6; 34:7; Neh. 9:21; Psa. 105:37.
See: Maa; Cloud, Pillar of.
Journey from Succoth to Etham, Ex. 13:20; to Pi-hahiroth, Ex. 14:2; Num. 33:5-7.
Pursued by the Egyptians, Ex. 14:5-31.
Pass through the Red Sea, Ex. 14:19-22; Deut. 11:4; Psa. 78; 105; 106; 107; 136.
Order of march, Num. 2.
Journey to Marah, Ex. 15:23; Num. 33:8.
Complaint on account of the bitter water, Ex. 15:23-25; water of, sweetened, Ex. 15:25.
Journey to Elim, Ex. 15:27; Num. 33:9.
For the itinerary, see Num. 33.
Complained about food, Ex. 16:2, 3.
Provided with maa and quails, Ex. 16:4-36.
Complained in need of water at Rephidim, Ex. 17:2-7; water miraculously supplied from the rock at Meribah, Ex. 17:5-7.
Defeat the Amalekites, Ex. 17:13; Deut. 25:17, 18.
Arrive at Sinai, Ex. 19:1; Num. 33:15.
At the suggestion of Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, they organize a system of government, Ex. 18:25; Deut. 1:9-18.
The message of God to them, requiring that they shall be obedient to his commandments, and as a reward they would be to him a holy nation, and their reply, Ex. 19:3-8.
Sanctify themselves for receiving the law, Ex. 19:10-15.
The law delivered to, Ex. 20-23; 24:1-4; 25-31; Lev. 1-25; 27; Deut. 5; 15; 16.
The people receive it and covenant obedience to it, Ex. 24:3, 7.
Idolatry of, Ex. 32; Deut. 9:17-21.
The anger of the Lord in consequence, Ex. 32:9-14.
Moses's indignation; breaks the tables of stone; enters the camp; commands the Levites; three thousand slain, Ex. 32:19-35.
Visited by a plague, Ex. 32:35.
Hardness of Heart of, Ex. 33:3; 34:9; Deut. 9:12-29.
God withdraws his presence, Ex. 33:1-3.
The mourning of, when God refused to lead them, Ex. 33:4-10.
Tables renewed, Ex. 34.
Pattern for the tabernacle and the vessels, and forms of worship to be observed, Ex. 25-31.
Gifts consecrated for the creation of the tabernacle, Ex. 35; 36:1-7; Num. 7.
The erection of the tabernacle; the manufacture of the vessels, including the garments of the priests; and their sanctification, Ex. 36:8-38; 37-40.
First sacrifice offered by, under the law, Lev. 8:14-36; 9:8-24.
Second passover observed, Num. 9:1-5.
March out of the wilderness, Num. 10:11-36.
For itinerary, see Num. 33.
Order of camp and march, Num. 2.
Arrive at the border of Canaan, Num. 12:16.
Send twelve spies to view the land, Num. 13; 32:8; Deut. 1:22, 25; Josh. 14:7.
Return with a majority and minority report, Num. 13:26-33; 14:6-10.
Complained over the report, Num. 14:1-5.
The judgment of God upon them in consequence of their unbelief and complaint, Num. 14:13-39.
Reaction, and their purpose to enter the land; are defeated by the Amalekites, Num. 14:40-45; Deut. 1:41-45.
Abide at Kadesh, Deut. 1:46.
Return to the wilderness, where they remain thirty-eight years, and all die except Joshua and Caleb, Num. 14:20-39.
Rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, Num. 16:1-40; Deut. 11:6.
Complaint against Moses and Aaron; are plagued; fourteen thousand seven hundred die; plague stayed, Num. 16:41-50.
Complained about water in Meribah; the rock is struck, Num. 20:1-13.
Are refused passage through the country of Edom, Num. 20:14-21.
The death of Aaron, Num. 20:22, 29; 33:38, 39; Deut. 10:6.
Defeat the Canaanites, Num. 21:1-3.
Are scourged with serpents, Num. 21:4-9.
Defeat the Amorites, Num. 21:21-32; Deut. 2:24-35, and the king of Baasha, Num. 21:33-35; Deut. 3:1-17.
Arrive in the plains of Moab, at the fords of the Jordan, Num. 22:1; 33:48, 49.
Commit idolatry with the people of Moab, Num. 25:1-5.
Visited by a plague in consequence; twenty-four thousand die, Num. 25:6-15; 26:1.
The people numbered for the allotment of the land, Num. 26.
The daughters of Zelophehad sue for an inheritance, Num. 27:1-11; Josh. 17:3-6.
Conquest of the Midianites, Num. 31.
Nations dread, Deut. 2:25.
Renew the covenant, Deut. 29.
Moses dies, and people mourn, Deut. 34.
Joshua appointed leader, Num. 27:18-23; Deut. 31:23.
See: Joshua.
All who were numbered at Sinai perished in the wilderness except Caleb and Joshua, Num. 26:63, 65; Deut. 2:14-16.
Piety of those who entered Canaan, Josh. 23:8; Judg. 2:7-10; Jer. 2:2, 3.
Men chosen to allot the lands of Canaan among the tribes and families, Num. 34:17-29.
Remove from Shittim to Jordan, Josh. 3:1.
Cross Jordan, Josh. 4.
Circumcision observed and passover celebrated, Josh. 5.
Jericho taken, Josh. 6.
Ai taken, Josh. 7; 8.
Make a league with the Gibeonites, Josh. 9.
Defeat the five Amorite kings, Josh. 10.
Conquest of the land, Josh. 21:43-45, with Judg. 1.
The land allotted, Josh. 15-21.
Two and one-half tribes return from the west side of the Jordan; erect a memorial to signify the unity of the tribes; the memorial misunderstood; the controversy which followed; its amicable adjustment, Josh. 22.
Joshua's exhortation immediately before his death, Josh. 23.
Covenant renewed, death of Joshua, Josh. 24; Judg. 2:8, 9.
Religious fidelity during the life of Joshua, Josh. 24:31; Judg. 2:7.
Under the Judges
Public affairs administered four hundred and fifty years by the judges, Judg. 2:16-19; Acts 13:20.
The original inhabitants not fully expelled, Judg. 1:27-36; 3:1-7.
Reproved by an angel for not casting out the original inhabitants, Judg. 2:1-5.
People turn to idolatry, Judg. 2:10-23.
Delivered for their idolatry to the king of Mesopotamia during eight years; their repentance and deliverance, Judg. 3:8-11.
Renew their idolatry, and are put under tribute to the king of Moab during eighteen years; repent and are delivered by Ehud; eighty years of peace follow, Judg. 3:12-30.
Shamgar resists a foray of the Philistines and delivers Israel, Judg. 3:31.
People again do evil and are put under bonds for twenty years to the king of Syria, Judg. 4:1-3.
Delivered by Deborah, a prophetess, and judged, Judg. 4; 5.
Seven years of bondage to the Midianites; delivered by Gideon, Judg. 6; 7; 8:1-28; See: Gideon.
Return to idolatry, Judg. 8:33, 34.
Abimelech foments an inter-tribal war, Judg. 9.
Judged by Tola twenty-three years, Judg. 10:1, 2; by Jair twenty-two years, Judg. 10:3, 4.
People backslide, and are given over to the Philistines for chastisement eighteen years; repent and turn to the Lord; delivered by Jephthah, Judg. 10:6-18; 11.
Ephraimites go to war against other tribes; defeated by Jephthah, Judg. 12:1-7.
Judged by Ibzan seven years, Judg. 12:8-10; by Elon ten years, Judg. 12:11, 12; by Abdon eight years, Judg. 12:13-15.
Backslide again and are chastised by the Philistines forty years, Judg. 13:1.
Judged by Samson twenty years, Judg. 15:20; 13-16.
Scandal of the Bethlehemite's concubine, and the consequent war between the Benjamites and the other tribes, Judg. 19-21. Judged by Eli forty years, 1 Sam. 4:18; 1-4.
Struck by the Philistines at Eben-ezer, 1 Sam. 4:1, 2, 10, 11.
Demand a king, 1 Sam. 8:5-20; Hos. 13:10.
Under the Kings Before the Separation into Two Kingdoms
Saul anointed king, 1 Sam. 10; 11:12-15; 12:13.
Ammonites invade Israel, are defeated, 1 Sam. 11.
Philistines killed, 1 Sam. 14.
Amalekites defeated, 1 Sam. 15.
David anointed king, 1 Sam. 16:11-13.
Goliath slain, 1 Sam. 17.
Israel defeated by the Philistines, and Saul and his sons slain, 1 Sam. 31.
See: Saul.
David defeats the Amalekites, 1 Sam. 30; 2 Sam. 1:1; made king, 2 Sam. 2:4, 11.
Ish-bosheth made king, 2 Sam. 2:8-10.
The conflict between the two political factions, 2 Sam. 2:12-32; 3:1.
David made king over all Israel, 2 Sam. 5:1-5.
Conquests of David, 2 Sam. 8; Absalom's rebellion, 2 Sam. 15-18.
See: David.
Solomon anointed king, 1 Kin. 1:32-40.
Temple built, 1 Kin. 6.
Solomon's palace built, 1 Kin. 7.
Solomon's death, 1 Kin. 11:41-43.
See: Solomon.
The Revolt of the Ten Tribes
Foreshadowing circumstances indicating the separation: Disagreement after Saul's death, 2 Sam. 2; 1 Chr. 12:23-40; 13.
Lukewarmness of the ten tribes, and zeal of Judah for David in Absalom's rebellion, 2 Sam. 19:41-43.
The rebellion of Sheba, 2 Sam. 20.
The two factions are distinguished as Israel and Judah during David's reign, 2 Sam. 21:2.
Providential, Zech. 11:14.
Revolt consummated under Rehoboam, son and successor of Solomon, 1 Kin. 12.
4. The name of the ten tribes that revolted from the house of David. Called also Jacob, Hos. 12:2.
List of the kings of Israel, and the period of time in which they reigned. For the facts of their reigns see under each name:
1. Jeroboam, twenty-two years.
2. Nadab, about two years.
3. Baasha, twenty-four years.
4. Elah, two years.
5. Zimri, seven days.
6. Omri, twelve years.
7. Ahab, twenty-two years.
8. Ahaziah, two years.
9. Jehoram, twelve years.
10. Jehu, twenty-eight years.
11. Jehoahaz, seventeen years.
12. Jehoash, sixteen years.
13. Jeroboam II, forty-one years.
14. Zachariah, six months.
15. Shallum, one month.
16. Menahem, ten years.
17. Pekahiah, two years.
18. Pekah, twenty years.
19. Hoshea, nine years.
The ten tribes carried captive to Assyria.
History of: War continued between the two kingdoms all the days of Rehoboam and Jeroboam, 1 Kin. 14:30; and between Jeroboam and Abijam, 1 Kin. 15:7, and between Baasha and Asa, 1 Kin. 15:16, 32.
Famine prevails in the reign of Ahab, 1 Kin. 18:1-6.
Israel, called also Samaria, invaded by, but defeats, Ben-hadad, king of Syria, 1 Kin. 20.
Moab rebels, 2 Kin. 1:1; 3.
Army of Syria invades Israel, but peacefully withdraws through the tact of the prophet Elisha, 2 Kin. 6:8-23.
Samaria besieged, 2 Kin. 6:24-33; 7; city of, taken, and the people carried to Assyria, 2 Kin. 17.
The land repeopled, 2 Kin. 17:24.
The remnant that remained after the able bodied were carried into captivity affiliated with the kingdom of Judah, 2 Chr. 30:18-26; 34:6; 35:18.
Prophecies Concerning: Of captivity, famine, and judgments, 1 Kin. 14:15, 16; 17:1; 20:13-28; 2 Kin. 7:1, 2, 17; 8:1; Isa. 7:8; 8:4-7; 9:8-21; 17:3-11; 28:1-8; Hos. 1:1-9; 2:1-13; 4; 8; 9; 10; 11:5, 6; 12:7-14; 13; Amos 2:6-16; 3-9.
Of restoration, Hos. 2:14-23; 11:9-11; 13:13, 14; 14:8.
Of the reunion of the ten tribes and Judah, Jer. 3:18; Ezek. 37:16-22.
See the following:
Judah
The nation composed of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, called Judah, Isa. 11:12, 13; Jer. 4:3, and Jews, [See: Jews] ruled by the descendants of David.
In the historical books of the Kings and the Chronicles the nation is called Judah, but in the prophecies it is frequently referred to as Israel, as in Isa. 8:14; 49:7.
List of rulers and the periods of time over which they reigned:
1. Rehoboam, seventeen years.
2. Abijah, or Abijam, three years.
3. Asa, forty-one years.
4. Jehoshaphat, twenty-five years.
5. Jehoram, eight years.
6. Ahaziah, one years.
Athaliah's usurpation, six years,
7. Joash, or Jehoash, forty years.
8. Amaziah, twenty-nine years.
9. Uzziah, or Azariah, fifty-two years.
10. Jotham, sixteen years.
11. Ahaz, sixteen years.
12. Hezekiah, twenty-nine years.
13. Manasseh, fifty-five years.
14. Amon, two years.
15. Josiah, thirty-one years.
16. Jehoahaz, Josiah's son, three months.
17. Jehoiakim, Josiah's son, eleven years.
18. Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah, Jehoiakim's son, three months.
19. Zedekiah, or Mattaniah, Josiah's son, eleven years.
For the history of the above kings see under each name.
Rehoboam succeeds Solomon. In consequence of his arbitrary policy ten tribes rebel, 1 Kin. 12.
Other circumstances of his reign, 1 Kin. 14:21-31; 2 Chr. 10-12.
Death of Rehoboam, 1 Kin. 14:31.
Abijam's wicked reign, 1 Kin. 15:1-8; 2 Chr. 13; Asa's good reign, 1 Kin. 15:9-24; 2 Chr. 14-16.
Asa makes a league with Ben-hadad, king of Syria, to make war against Israel, 1 Kin. 15:16-24.
Jehoshaphat succeeds Asa, 1 Kin. 15:24; 2 Chr. 17-20; 21:1; joins Ahab against the king of Syria, 1 Kin. 22.
See Jehoshaphat. Jehoram, called also Joram, reigns in the stead of his father, Jehoshaphat, 2 Kin. 8:16-24; 2 Chr. 21.
Edom revolts, 2 Kin. 8:20-22.
Ahaziah, called also Azariah, 2 Chr. 22:6, and Jehoahaz, 2 Chr. 21:17; 25:23, succeeds Jehoram, 2 Kin. 8:24-29; 2 Chr. 22; slain by Jehu, 2 Kin. 9:27-29; 2 Chr. 22:8, 9, Athaliah, his mother, succeeds him, 2 Kin. 11:1-16; 2 Chr. 22:10-12; 23:1-15.
Jehoash, called also Joash, succeeds Athaliah, 2 Kin. 11:21; 12:1-21; 2 Chr. 24.
the temple repaired, 2 Kin. 12.
Amaziah reigns, and Judah is invaded by the king of Israel; Jerusalem is taken and the sacred things of the temple carried away, 2 Kin. 14:1-20; 2 Chr. 25.
Azariah, called also Uzziah, succeeds him, 2 Kin. 14:21, 22; 15:1-7; 2 Chr. 26.
Jotham succeeds Uzziah, 2 Kin. 15:7, 32-38; 2 Chr. 27.
Rezin, king of Syria, invades Judah, 2 Kin. 15:37.
Jotham is succeeded by Ahaz, 2 Kin. 16:1; 2 Chr. 28.
Judah is invaded by kings of Samaria and Syria; Ahaz hires the king of Assyria to make war on the king of Syria, 2 Kin. 16:5-9.
Ahaz changes the fashion of the altar in the temple, 2 Kin. 16:10-18.
Hezekiah succeeds Ahaz, 2 Kin. 16:19, 20; 2 Chr. 29-32.
His good reign, 2 Kin. 18:1-8.
He revolts from the sovereignty of the king of Assyria, 2 Kin. 18:7.
King of Assyria invades Judah, and blasphemes the God of Judah; his army overthrown, 2 Kin. 18:9-37; 19.
Hezekiah's sickness and miraculous restoration, 2 Kin. 20.
Succeeded by Manasseh, 2 Kin. 20:21; 2 Chr. 33:1-20.
Manasseh's wicked reign, 2 Kin. 21:1-18.
Amon succeeds Manasseh on the throne, 2 Kin. 21:18-26; 2 Chr. 33:20-25.
Josiah succeeds Amon; the temple is repaired; the book of the law recovered; religious revival follows; and the king dies, 2 Kin. 22; 23:1-30; 2 Chr. 34; 35.
Josiah is succeeded by Jehoahaz, who reigned three months, was dethroned by the king of Egypt, and the land put under tribute, 2 Kin. 23:30-35; 2 Chr. 36:1-3.
Jehoiakim is elevated to the throne; becomes tributary to Nebuchadnezzar for three years; rebels; is conquered and carried to Babylon, 2 Kin. 24:1-6; 2 Chr. 36:4-8.
Jehoiachin is made king; suffers invasion and is carried to Babylon, 2 Kin. 24:8-16; 2 Chr. 36:9, 10.
Zedekiah is made king by Nebuchadnezzar; rebels; Nebuchadnezzar invades Judah, takes Jerusalem, and carries the people to Babylon, plundering the temple, 2 Kin. 24:17-20; 25; 2 Chr. 36:11-21.
The poorest of the people were left to occupy the country, and were joined by fragments of the army of Judah, the dispersed Israelites in other lands, and the king's daughters, 2 Kin. 25:12, 22, 23; Jer. 40:7-12.
Conspired against and slain by Ishmael, 2 Kin. 25:25; Jer. 40:13-16; 41:1-3.
Ishmael seeks to betray the people to the Ammonites, Jer. 41:1-18.
The people, in fear, take refuge in Egypt, 2 Kin. 25:26; Jer. 41:14-18; 42:13-18.
Captivity of: Great wickedness the cause of their adversity, Ezek. 5-7; 16; 23:22-44.
Dwell in Babylon, Dan. 5:13; 6:13; Jer. 52:28-30; by the river Chebar, Ezek. 1:1; 10:15.
Patriotism of, Psa. 137.
Plotted against, by Haman, Esth. 3.
Are saved by Esther, Esth. 4-9.
Cyrus decrees their restoration, 2 Chr. 36:22, 23; Ezra 1:1-4.
Cyrus directs the rebuilding of the temple, and the restoration of the vessels which had been carried to Babylon, 2 Chr. 36:23; Ezra 1:3-11.
Proclamation renewed by Darius and Artaxerxes, Ezra 6:1-14.
Ezra returns with seventeen hundred and fifty-four of the captivity to Jerusalem, Ezra 2.
Temple rebuilt and dedicated, Ezra 3-6.
Artaxerxes issues proclamation to restore the temple service, Ezra 7.
Priests and Levites authorized to return, Ezra 8.
Corruptions among the returned captives; their reform, Ezra 9; 10.
Nehemiah is commissioned to lead the remainder of the captivity, forty-nine thousand nine hundred and forty-two, back to Canaan, Neh. 2; 7:5-67; Psa. 85; 87; 107; 126.
Wall of Jerusalem rebuilt and dedicated, Neh. 2-6; 12.
The law read and expounded, Neh. 8.
Solemn feast is kept; priests are purified; and the covenant sealed, Neh. 8-10.
One-tenth of the people, to be determined by lot, volunteer to dwell in Jerusalem, and the remaining nine parts dwell in other cities, Neh. 11.
Catalog of the priests and Levites who came up with Zerubbabel, Neh. 12.
Nehemiah reforms various abuses, Neh. 13.
Expect a Messiah, Luke 3:15.
Many accept Jesus as the Christ, John 2:23; 10:42; 11:45; 12:11; Acts 21:20.
Reject Jesus, See: Jesus, Rejected.
Rejected of God, Matt. 21:43; Luke 20:16.
Prophecies Concerning: Of their rejection of the Messiah, Isa. 8:14, 15; 49:5, 7; 52:14; 53:1-3; Zech. 11; 13; Matt. 21:33; 22:1.
Of war and other judgments: Deut. 28:49-57; 2 Kin. 20:17, 18; 21:12-15; 22:16, 17; 23:26, 27; Isa. 1:1-24; 3; 4:1; 5; 6:9-13; 7:17-25; 8:14-22; 9; 10:12; 22:1-14; 28:14-22; 29:1-10; 30:1-17; 31:1-3; 32:9-14; Jer. 1:11-16; 4:5-31; 6; 7:8-34; 8; 9:9-26; 10:17-22; 11:9-23; 13:9-27; 14:14-18; 15:1-14; 16; 17:1-4; 18:15-17; 19; 20:5; 21:4-7; 22:24-30; 25:8-38; 28; 34; 37; 38:1-3; 42:13-22; 43; 44; 45; Lam. 5:6; Ezek. 4; 5; 11:7-12; 12; 15-17; 19; 22:13-22; 23:22-35; 24; 33:21-29; Dan. 9:26-27; Joel 2:1-17; Amos 2:4, 5; Mic. 2:10; 3; 4:8-10; Hab. 1:6-11; Zeph. 1; Zech. 11; 14:1-3; Mal. 4:1; Matt. 21:33, 34; 23:35-38; 24:2, 14-42; Mark 13:1-13; Luke 13:34, 35; 19:43, 44; 21:5-25; 23:28-31; Rev. 1:7.
Dispersion of: Isa. 24:1; Jer. 9:16; Hos. 9:17; Joel 3:6, 20; Amos 9:9; Ezek. 4:13; 5:10, 12; 20:23; 36:19; Dan. 9:7; John 7:35; Acts 2:5.
Of blessing and restoration: Isa. 1:25-27; 2:1-5; 4:2-6; 11:11-13; 25; 26:1, 2, 12-19; 27:13; 29:18-24; 30:18-26; 32:15-20; 33:13-24; 35; 37:31, 32; 40:2, 9; 41:27; 44; 49:13-23; 51; 52:1-12; 60; 61:4-9; 62; 66:5-22; Jer. 3:14-18; 4:3-18; 12:14-16; 23:3; 24:1-7; 29:1-14; 30:3-22; 32:36-44; 33; 44:28; Ezek. 14:22, 23; 16:60-63; 20:40, 41; 36:1-38; 37:12, 21; Dan. 11:30-45; 12:1; Joel 3; Amos 9:9-15; Obad. 17-21; Mic. 2:12, 13; 5:3; Zeph. 2:7; Zech. 1:14-21; 2; 8; 10:5-12; 12:1-14; 13; 14:3-21; Mal. 3:4; Rom. 11; 2 Cor. 3:16; Rev. 7:5.
See: Nation.
Israelites [nave]
ISRAELITESSee: Israel.
Israel [ebd]
the name conferred on Jacob after the great prayer-struggle at Peniel (Gen. 32:28), because "as a prince he had power with God and prevailed." (See JACOB.) This is the common name given to Jacob's descendants. The whole people of the twelve tribes are called "Israelites," the "children of Israel" (Josh. 3:17; 7:25; Judg. 8:27; Jer. 3:21), and the "house of Israel" (Ex. 16:31; 40:38).
This name Israel is sometimes used emphatically for the true Israel (Ps. 73:1: Isa. 45:17; 49:3; John 1:47; Rom. 9:6; 11:26).
After the death of Saul the ten tribes arrogated to themselves this name, as if they were the whole nation (2 Sam. 2:9, 10, 17, 28; 3:10, 17; 19:40-43), and the kings of the ten tribes were called "kings of Israel," while the kings of the two tribes were called "kings of Judah."
After the Exile the name Israel was assumed as designating the entire nation.
ISRAEL [smith]
(the prince that prevails with God).- The name given, (Genesis 32:28) to Jacob after his wrestling with the angel, (Hosea 12:4) at Peniel. Gesenius interprets Israel "soldier of God."
- It became the national name of the twelve tribes collectively. They are so called in (Exodus 3:16) and afterward.
- It is used in a narrower sense, excluding Judah, in (1Â Samuel 11:8; 2Â Samuel 20:1; 1Â Kings 12:16) Thenceforth it was assumed and accepted as the name of the northern kingdom.
- After the Babylonian captivity, the returned exiles resumed the name Israel as the designation of their nation. The name Israel is also used to denote lay-men, as distinguished from priests, Levites and other ministers. (Ezra 6:16; 9:1; 10:25; Nehemiah 11:3) etc.
ISRAELITE [smith]
(descendant of Israel). In (2Â Samuel 17:25) Ithra, the father of Amasa, is called "an Israelite," while in (1Â Chronicles 2:17) he appears as "Jether the Ishmaelite." The latter is undoubtedly the true reading.ISRAELITE; ISRAELITISH [isbe]
ISRAELITE; ISRAELITISH - iz'-ra-el-it, iz'-rael-it-ish: Belonging to the tribes of ISRAEL (which see). Occurs 4 times in the New Testament: of Nathanael (Jn 1:47); used by Paul (Rom 9:4; 11:1; 2 Cor 11:22).
Israel [baker]
[N] [E] [H] [J] [S]The Name and People. Jacob, grandson of Abraham, was named Israel after he had wrestled with God (Gen 32:28). This name is a combination of the Hebrew words for "wrestle" and "God" (because sareta [you have wrestled] with God [‘el] and men you will be called yisrael). When Jacob had returned to Canaan, God commanded him to settle in Bethel; there God appeared to Jacob again and repeated that his name was no longer Jacob but Israel. This confirmation of the naming was followed by God confirming his covenant with Jacob (Gen 35:9-12), emphasizing specific elements of the covenant he had made with Abraham (Gen 17:1-8). The name, expressing the concept of wrestling, clinging firmly to God, and overcoming, and God's confirming of his covenant with Jacob, indicates that Israel is to be understood as Jacob's covenant name. The name spoke of his being bound with a bond of life and love to God. His descendants were at times referred to as Hebrews (Gen 39:14, 17; 40:15; 41:12), and when they were slaves in Egypt (Exod 1:15; 2:13), and occasionally in other contexts (e.g., Deut 15:12; 1 Sam 4:6; Isa 36:11; Jer 34:9, 14). Eventually they were known as Jews (first mentioned in Jer 32:12). The use of these references, "Hebrew" and "Jew, " indicated that among the nations, Abraham and Jacob's descendants were thus known nationally and/or ethnically. The name "Israel, " however, referred to Jacob's descendants' spiritual, covenantal, and religious heritage. The name "Israel" spoke of the ethnic or national Hebrews' and Jews' unique relationship with God. There was a time when the name was not used to refer to all of Jacob's descendants because after the division of the tribes, the northern ten tribes were known as Israel and the southern tribes as Judah. After the exile it was used again to refer to the entire community.
The Old Testament is often considered to be specifically a record of Israel's national history, of its unique religion, and of its hopes for the future. The Scriptures are also used as a source for understanding God's redemptive activities on behalf of and goals for Israel. While it is true that these are aspects of the Old Testament record, the more inclusive message is to reveal how God sovereignly chose to prepare and use Israel as his unique mediatorial agent. He unfolded his kingdom plan on behalf of all races, nations, peoples, and ethnic groups.
God's Purposes. God's purpose for electing Israel can be divided into five interrelated and correlated themes.
First, Israel was to, and did, bring the Messiah to Israel and to the nations of the world. God had assured Adam and Eve that the seed of the woman would crush Satan's head and thereby undo the disobedience, sinfulness, and corruption resulting from their deviation from God and their breaking of the covenant. Of Noah's progeny, Shem was identified as the seed-bearing progenitor (Gen 9:24-27). Then Abram/Abraham was called and told by God that through him all nations were to be blessed (Gen 12:3). It was to be through Abraham's seed (Gen 15:5; 17:1-8) that God would bring in the Messiah and the sure redemptive victory over Satan, sin, and its effects. This seed line was narrowed to Isaac, Jacob/Israel, Judah, and David. Meanwhile all of Abraham's seed was to serve as light to the peoples of the world (Isa 9:2-7; 42:6; 49:6).
Second, inseparably related to this first and all-inclusive purpose, was Israel's divinely determined role to give, uphold, and preserve the Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments. This written Word is the sure, infallible record of how God created the cosmos, and how he purposed to bring redemption and restoration to the cosmos and its inhabitants. Without this written word there would be no record of what God had done, promised, and carried out. Once Israel was formed as a people under Moses' mediatorial leadership, this first part of the word was written by him; and it was added to by other Israelite writers, historians, poets, sages, and prophets. Thus, Israel's divinely determined purpose was to bring the eternal living Word, Jesus Christ (John 1:1-3), and the inspired, inerrant, and infallible written word to all the nations of the world—including themselves.
Third, Israel, by God's determinate counsel, was given the unique role of being a mediatorial people. God called Abraham from a "corner" of the then known world to place him in the center among the nations. There, with smaller nations as near neighbors, Syria, Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon, and larger ones beyond, the Arabians, Egyptian, Hittite, Assyrian, and Babylonian, Israel was made to be a peculiar treasure, to be a kingdom, a priestly people, and a holy nation (Exod 19:4-6). This multifaceted role was not just simply for Israel's sake. Israel was elected, empowered, qualified, and given the opportunity in centrally located Canaan to mediate between God and the nations. This mediatorial work was to be carried out through living according to the word God had given so that nations would take note of and desire to join in the blessing, wonder, and glory of life with and under his beneficient reign (Isa 2:1-5; Micah 4:1-5). Israel's initial purpose was not to witness verbally, but to exhibit the rich blessedness of covenantal life. The non-Israelite, drawn to Israel in this way, was expected to learn and submit to God's revealed demands. Such was the case with Rahab (Joshua 2:9-13), Ruth (Ruth 1:16-18), and Uriah (2 Sam 11:6,11). They were neither Hebrew nor Jew but became true citizens of Israel, God's covenant people.
Fourth, God called, elected, and declared that Israel as a people were to be a kingdom (Exod 19:6). Moses emphatically declared they were chosen because of no merit of their own. God chose Israel to be his covenant/kingdom people because he loved them with a gracious love (Deut 7:7). Israel, however, had its responsibilities placed before it. The people had to acknowledge and exhibit in the totality of their lives that God was their one and only King. No other gods were to be recognized as their sovereign ruler or as their source of life and its inclusive blessings. Israel was to know itself as a theocracy under the reign of God. As such they were called to be royal, loving, obedient, serving people.
Israel had the duty, according to God's purposes, to demonstrate to itself, its children, its non-Israelite neighbors living within Canaan's borders, and surrounding nations, how, as a redeemed, covenantal serving people, they should live as a theocratic kingdom. This could only be done by faithfully carrying out the three creation covenant mandates: the spiritual, the social, and the cultural.
The spiritual mandate called for loving fellowship with God and an adoring worship that would glorify the sovereign covenant Lord. Fellowship and worship were to be carried out in families (e.g., Passover, Exod 12) but particularly in the courts of the tabernacle and temple. The people, old and young, were to be called together, and as an assembly were to pay homage to their Lord. Means for the assembly's worship were prescribed. The tabernacle and later the temple, giving symbolic and typological expression to the the covenant promise, "I am your God, I am with you, " was to be the central place of worship (Deut 12:1-14). Moses later told the people they could assemble for worship around local altars at which priests officiated (Deut 12:15-19). Yahweh provided the priesthood and the prescribed sacrifices to enable the assembly to worship as a devout kingdom people. Some sacrifices were to be offered daily (Lev 6:1-8), others at appropriate times (feasts or for specific situations); the Sabbath was to be the day of no work but to be the time of worship for the entire assembly. God repeatedly reminded his people that they were not to assemble around and worship other gods because he was a jealous Lord (Deut 4:15-24; 13:1-18). Nor were the people to worship as they saw fit (Deut 12:8); they were to keep the basic principles for obeying and carrying out the spiritual mandate as these were stated in the first four commandments.
God called Israel as a covenant community to live and exhibit kingdom life to the world. Israel was to obey and carry out the creation covenant social mandate. Commandments 5-7 provided basic guidelines. Within the community, family life was to be fundamental; parents were to teach, train, and discipline their children (Deut 6:4-9; Psalm 78:1-8). Children were to respond to parents with honor and dignity. Marriage with noncovenant people was strictly forbidden (Deut 7:1-6). However, those who were not biological descendants of Abraham could be taken as mates if they became members of the Israelite community. Procreation was to be considered a divine ordinance for thus seed would come forth to continue covenantal service within the theocracy. Abuse of sexual potential was strictly forbidden as was adultery.
Israel as a holy nation was to exhibit the kingdom of God to the world by heeding and carrying out the creation covenant cultural mandate. Prerequisites were their activities as a worshiping assembly and their communal life expressed by their mutual love and joy in marriage, family, clan, and entire covenant community. God's purpose for Israel as a holy nation was that they be totally separated from heathen practices spiritually, socially, and culturally and be consecrated to their sovereign Lord who had commanded "Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy" (Lev 19:2). Israel, the holy nation, was to be organized politically. Yahweh was their sovereign King. Elders and judges had to carry out administrative and judicial duties; priests had to assist particularly in regard to health laws.
Israel, to meet the challenge of being a holy, politically organized, governed, and law-abiding nation, was called to live separately among the nations. God gave them Canaan as their land, not first of all for their own advancement and enjoyment but to enable Israel to serve as the mediatorial nation in the midst of the nations. Each tribe and clan was given an inheritance from which they were to remove all Canaanite inhabitants so that they could live without unholy pressures and truly be free to live up to God's purposes for them. Israel was promised prosperity but these material blessings were to be received as means to serve. Thus, as good stewards, they could develop and beautify their natural surroundings and with skill produce materials that would enhance the beauty of their environment. The tabernacle and temple were examples of highly developed cultural craftsmanship.
Fifth, to work out his purposes for the world under sin, God chose Israel to be his covenantal servants who were to live by faith and demonstrate it to the nations. Noah and Abraham exercised faith as did many others (Heb 11). This faith included knowing the Lord, trusting in him, and living a life of courage and hope. This faith was inseparable from obedience to all of God's revealed will. Through obedience Israel would exhibit to its offspring and neighbors what service to God entailed. Indeed, the life of faith, obedience, and service would fulfill the purposes God had in mind and revealed to them. In this way, Israel would serve mediatorially as a messianic people and in time bring forth the Messiah himself, receive and give to the world God's inscripturated word, and show that the kingdom of God included all of life's activities and relationships.
Israel's Privileges. In the economy of God's kingdom, privileges involve responsibilities. Israel, called and enabled to carry out God's purposes, was given privileges commensurate and in correlation with the responsibilities given them. These privileges were many.
First, it was Israel's privilege to represent and mirror the Sovereign of the cosmos to the nations. Israel's privilege was to serve! Self-serving and self-aggrandizement were entirely contrary to the responsibilities and privileges given to the descendants of Jacob. The people, as an assembly, as a community, and as a nation, were never to consider themselves only as objects of God's election, love, and providential goodness; they were to consider themselves basically as subjects called for the purpose of serving. In service according to God's purposes, Israel would be honored by the privileges made available to them.
Second, it was Israel's privilege to be in a unique covenantal relationship with God. God, referring to himself as the Husband (Jer 31:33) and Israel as his precious possession whom he had brought to himself, implied Israel was his bride (Exod 19:4-6). This covenantal/spiritual marriage relationship was a bond of life and love God would not break. He would not divorce her though he would send her away for a time (Isa 50:1). Israel had assured security in the love, goodness, and faithfulness of God.
Third, Israel had unique access to God. God dwelt in the midst of his people. First by Moses and then via the priests, the people could come into the presence of God. He communed with them, receiving their sacrifices, praises, and prayers. He spoke to them directly, through his written Word read to the people, and by the prophets. In this intimate relationship, Israel could know the character of their God. He was sovereign and all-powerful; he declared and showed himself to be compassionate, gracious, patient, full of love, faithful, forgiving, righteous, and just (Exod 34:6-7; Num 14:17-18; Psalm 103:8-13; Jonah 4:2-3).
Fourth, it was Israel's privilege to have a land and cultural blessings that God had prepared for them by Canaanite endeavors. It was a land with flourishing cities, houses filled with good things, wells providing water, productive vineyards, and fruitful orchards (Deut 6:10-12). This promised land was their inheritance to be possessed for service and not to be occupied for self-satisfaction and feelings of superiority. The land was never to be seen as a prize or as a possession without regard for the reasons that it was given: to be central among the nations so that the messianic light of God's kingdom would shine out to all nations. In this land, then, Israel had the privilege of carrying out its spiritual, social, and cultural mandates. It was to be a place of rest, prosperity, security, and peace; Israel thus had the privilege of portraying to all nations what the redeemed and restored cosmos would be like. By its serene, serving life Israel could portray hope for a blessed future for peoples of all nations who joined them in faith, obedience, and service to God, thus bringing glory to the cosmic King.
Fifth, within their promised land and to the nations beyond, Israel had the privilege of proclaiming, as no other could, that God reigned. This message was one of assurance for present and future times. The Sovereign God was in control and directed all the affairs of the cosmos, of the nations, and of individuals. Moses sang, "The Lord will reign forever and ever" (Exod 15:18). The psalmists sang it (Psalm 93:1-2; 97:1; 99:1-5). The prophets proclaimed it to Israel (Isa 52:8) and to the nations (Obad 1:1, 21).
Sixth, Israel was given promises concerning its continuation as a people. This privilege had the potential of breeding a false security that irrespective of circumstances, Israel as a nation could expect to endure throughout all ages. Inseparably involved, however, with this tremendous privilege was the demand that the people live by faith, obediently and in the service of God and his purposes concerning his enduring kingdom.
Israel's Response. Biblical revelation records how Israel responded to its call to believe, obey, and serve God's purposes for Jacob's descendant's and to the privileges given so that God's purposes could be fulfilled. The account is a revelation of faithfulness, obedience, and service on the part of varying numbers of the people in various ways, and unfaithfulness, disobedience, and lack of service, often on the part of most of the people. God, however, remained faithful and steadfast in working out his kingdom, covenantal, and mediatorial plan. He did so by blessing, by withholding blessings, and by executing, in a mitigated way, the curse of the covenant. Israel was never completely destroyed as a community although it suffered severely when the warnings Moses had enunciated (Deut. 28-29) went unheeded. God humiliated Israel by bringing famines, hardships, military defeats, foreign oppressions, and eventually exile.
The tensions between covenantal living and violations of it were starkly present among Jacob's twelve sons. Ten brothers sold Joseph into slavery and lied about his disappearance. Judah had sex with a woman he considered a prostitute (Gen 38) while Joseph refused the sexual temptations in Egypt. In spite of his humiliations he remained faithful and served his covenant Lord. Jacob referred to various other sins of his sons (Gen 49:4,5,17,27). Yet in spite of Judah's failings he was prophesied to be a forbear of the Messiah Israel was to bring into the world (Gen 49:8-12). It was Joseph, richly blessed (Gen 49:22-26), who acknowledged God's faithfulness and sovereign providential guidance (Gen 50:19-20).
Israel as a growing community in Egypt suffered as slaves; there is little evidence of conscious obedience and service to Yahweh once Joseph had died, except for the midwives who spared Moses (Exod 1). Ready to be freed as slaves under Moses' leadership and spontaneous in vows to obey and serve Yahweh as a covenant community and nation (Exod 19:8; 24:3, 7), Israel's sons and daughters soon exhibited their fickleness and hankering for life in Egypt (Exod 32:2-8). Moses' intercession was heard and Israel was made to know that God was a faithful, covenant-keeping God whose jealously preserved his character and his people (Exod 34:5-14).
Once Israel had received the tabernacle, the Aaronic priesthood, and the prescriptions for sacrifices and feasts, the people had every opportunity to be a believing, obeying, worshiping, serving community and theocratic nation. But there were murmurings and rebellions (Num 11:1; 12:1-2; 14:1-4; 16:1-3; 21:4-5); two of the twelve spies trusted in and honored God (Num 13); ten did not. Nor did the nation as a whole. When under Moses and Joshua's leadership the Transjordan was conquered, God had Moses reveal to the people that he, the covenant Sovereign of earth and heaven, called upon and demanded the people to love, obey, worship, and serve as a devout covenant people. Joshua, divinely ordained, was an effective military leader. Israel as a nation was given the promised land, cultivated, built up, and productive.
After Joshua's death, the people repeatedly broke covenant with God. They were humiliated by military defeats and economic hardships. Ever faithful, God moved his people to acknowledge him by means of these hardships and provided leaders so that the people had freedom and prosperity again. Throughout the turbulent times of the judges, from Othniel to Samuel, God continued to work out his messianic purposes. The judges, Boaz and Ruth, and Samuel, the judge/prophet, stand out.
God's faithfulness in regard to his messianic purposes and goals was dramatically revealed in the time of David and Solomon. David, a descendant of Judah, of the seedline of Abraham and Shem, was anointed and enthroned. David, the poet and prophet, in spite of his sins, was a man after God's heart. He conquered and reigned over the entire territory God had promised to Abraham (2 Sam 8:1-14). His reign is described as just and right (2 Sam 8:15). The covenant was confirmed and expanded with specifics concerning covenant seed and an eternal dynasty (2 Sam 7:1-28). His son Solomon carried out the plans David made for the temple and worship. Solomon exhibited wisdom (1 Kings 10:1-13) and the splendor of the theocratic monarchy was unsurpassed (1 Kings 10:14-29). Psalm 72 expresses the glory of the messianic kingdom, as initially realized under David and Solomon and to be fully and finally realized under Jesus Christ.
The prophetic office served Yahweh's purposes. Moses had been a prophet par excellence; Samuel fulfilled a key role in anointing David (1 Sam 16:13) and Nathan pronounced one of the most significant prophecies when he addressed David, assuring him that a descendant would reign, that David's throne and kingdom would last forever. In this prophecy no reference is made to the nation of Israel itself but rather to the central person, David, and to his seed. Israel would provide the context but the central thrust was on the house of David, his throne, and the kingdom God was to bring to ever fuller manifestation.
The high points, as exhibited in the covenant with David, his victories, his just and righteous reign, the wisdom of Solomon and grandeur of his throne and kingdom, were not maintained. God's purposes did not diminish; the privileges given to the royal house of David were initially expanded. But Solomon in his later years and the majority of the Davidic dynasty did not remain faithful covenant and kingdom believers and obedient servants. A major part of the theocratic nation seceded and took the name "Israel." The tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin constituted the ongoing environment in which God continued to work out his purposes. The low point came after Israel was deported into exile in 722 b.c. (2 Kings 17:21-23). A small remnant from Judah fled to Egypt (Jer 41:16-18; 44:26).
The prophets continued to speak God's words of both warning and promise. Judah particularly was repeatedly reminded that God's kingdom and covenant would continue; the promise of the messianic mediator was repeated before (Isaiah and Micah) and during (Ezekiel and Daniel) the exile. The descendants of Jacob, the Israelite covenant community, whether in homeland or in exile, would continue so that God's covenant promises concerning the conquering seed, as represented by the Davidic dynasty, and concerning his all-encompassing kingdom would in time be realized. Thus the nation of Israel was not the central focus; God's purposes to be realized through Israel were. Israel, as a people, would bring in the Messiah.
After the exile, the descendants of Jacob, often referred to as Jews rather than Israelites, formed a social and religious community. The efforts to be a worshiping, called-out people were diminished by legalistic scribal and priestly activities and by various fanatic attempts that failed to transform the people living in Palestine into a nation again. Thus, while Israel as a nation no longer functioned, it did as a social and religious community. In that setting the ultimate purpose for Israel's call and existence was fully realized in Jesus, even as God had purposed. Forty years, the same period of time Israel wandered in the desert, after Jesus ascended to reign over the kingdom, the Israelite community, temple, and sacrificial system were removed. The promise God made to Adam and Eve, repeated to Abraham, Judah, and David concerning the conquering, reigning Seed of the woman was fully kept. Israel, in spite of its repeated Acts of unbelief, disobedience, and rebellion, fulfilled the purposes for which God had called and prepared it.
Contemporary Issues Regarding Israel. The relationship of Israel to the Scriptures is definite. Both the Old and New Testaments were written by people who were known to be of Israelite nativity. The entire Bible is God's gift to the world via the people of Israel—whether one wishes to refer to the Bible as Hebrew (Old Testament) and Jewish (New Testament). The fact remains, the entire Bible was given by God through the believing, obeying, and serving covenant community. Moses and the historical, poetic, wisdom, and prophetic writers were covenant servants; equally so were the New Testament evangelists, historical epistolary, and apocalyptic writers. Serious differences of views pertain, however, concerning the nature of the entire Bible. Is it a record of Israel's origins, existence, and development as a nation? In other words, is the Bible a strictly human book or is it a divinely inspired book that has the message of divine creation, humanity's fall, God's redemptive and restorative program, and his enduring kingdom to and initially carried out largely by Israel? The biblical account is clear and definite: Israel was God's instrument by which the Bible was given to the entire world.
The biblical record concerning Israel's origin is clear. Scholars, working in the areas of Near Eastern archaeology and historical criticism have offered variant views. That Israel as a body of approximately two million people lived and served as slaves in Egypt is not accepted by many such scholars. That there is some evidence that a group of Semitic people lived and were enslaved in Egypt is generally accepted. But the manner and time of the dramatic exodus event are not accepted as historically or archaeologically verifiable. Likewise, the Sinai experience, the forty-year wandering in the wilderness, and the military conquest of Canaan have been seriously doubted. Alternate views are projected, such as a small group that escaped from slavery in Egypt, joining other groups, gradually infiltrated Canaan and took on many of its ways of life. The development of Israel as a nation has been seen as a gradual formation of a league of tribes of various origins. The evidence presented by archaeologists and historical critics has not bee accepted by many scholars, particularly evangelical, conservative scholars. These scholars, however, have shown that archaeological and scientific historical studies do not contradict the biblical record but illumine it.
A third debated issue in relation to Israel, and closely related to the two already mentioned, is the origin and nature of Israel's religion. Reference is made particularly to Israel's beliefs, worship patterns, and practices. The Scriptures testify to Israel's faith as revealed by God and its worship activities directed by him. With the aid of scholars who have studied Israel's social structures and psychological attitudes, students of Israel's surrounding nations and their religions have attempted to demonstrate that much of what Israel practiced religiously was adopted from those of the peoples around them. Israel did not live in isolation from its neighbors; it had various religious practices that were outwardly similar, such as portable shrines, systems of sacrifice, and religious objects such as altars. Israel's religion was unique, however, in origin and practice. God revealed himself directly to Abraham, as he had done to Adam and Noah. He especially revealed himself as a covenant Lord to them and this covenantal relationship with all its ramifications and implications was explicated in detail by God through his appointed mediatorial agents. Israel's faith and religious life and activities had their origin in revelation, not in borrowing or in religious perceptions. It must be added, however, that Israel was not always faithful to their sovereign covenant Lord. There was much vacillation in its loyalty to him and there is much evidence of disobedience as exhibited in Israel's following of their neighbors' detestable idolatrous practices.
Much discussion is involved in the issue of Israel and the land. That God promised Abraham and his progeny a land as their possession cannot be doubted. But did God unconditionally promise that it would be an eternal possession? Many evangelical Christians believe this is the case; they speak of the Palestinian covenant on the basis of their interpretation of Deuteronomy 28. Other equally sincere evangelical biblical students point to five important qualifying factors. First, Moses emphatically stated that obedience was a basic requirement to inherit the land and to remain blessed possessors (Deut 4:25-31; 28:15-68). Second, the term translated "everlasting" is often translated correctly "for a long time, " "for ages." The term cannot mean eternal, in the sense of never-ending, for at the Lord's return at the end of time, the order of the renewed heavens and earth will be ushered in. Third, God fulfilled his promises regarding the land and its extent at the time of David and Solomon (2 Sam 8:1-4; 1 Chron 18:1-13; 1 Kings 4:20-21; Psalm 72:8). Fourth, the prophetic promise of a return to the land after the exile was fulfilled when a remnant returned (Ezra 2). Fifth, the New Testament does not refer to Israel as a nation possessing the land forever; rather, it speaks of Abraham's believing covenant offspring inheriting the world (Rom 4:13).
Another issue concerns the interpretation of prophecies concerning Israel. This issue is closely related to Israel's relationship to the land, the church, and the millennium (Rev 20). The following factors must be kept in mind. The prophets spoke of a future for Israel. They did not, however, always refer to Israel as a political entity, an organized nation. The concept of the remnant is dominant, particularly of Israel as a believing covenant community. Furthermore, when the prophets spoke to their contemporaries they did so in terms the people at that time understood. Hence, when prophets spoke of the wonderful future of Yahweh's covenant people, they did so in simple urban, pastoral, agricultural, and natural (nature) terms (Isa 35). Strict literal interpretation, often controlled by certain presuppositions regarding Israel as a political, national entity, must be used very discretely if not completely avoided.
Another specific issue concerns the relationship of Israel and the New Testament church. On the basis of a too literal interpretation of Old Testament prophecies concerning Israel and maintaining the view that New Testament writers referred to a politically organized national entity rather than to the believing covenant community, a strict separation is posited between Israel as a nation and the non-Jewish New Testament covenant community of believers, the church. It is believed that God has two distinct people in mind with a distinctly separate program for each. Many biblical scholars have difficulties with this separation. Some of the points stated in preceding paragraphs should be kept in mind. Moreover, Jesus never spoke of Israel's continuation as a politically separate religiously oriented nation; rather, he spoke of God's all-encompassing kingdom. And while it is true Paul spoke of his ethnic people as "the people of Israel" (Rom 9:3-5), he spoke of all true believers in Jesus Christ as Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise made to Abraham's descendants (Gal 3:28). He also wrote of all believers, Gentiles as well as ethnic Jewish people who believed in Jesus Christ, as Israel (Gal 6:16). It is therefore believed that Paul, when speaking of his own ethnic people, many of whom did not accept Jesus as the promised Messiah, and of many Gentiles coming to faith, includes all believers, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, to constitute the "all Israel, " that is, the unified body, the covenant community of believers (Rom 11:25-32).
The last issue to be referred to, although others could be included, is Israel's national existence as a millennial kingdom. This issue has many ramifications that cannot be included in this essay. Suffice it to state that John did not write that Israel as a distinct religious national entity would be a separate kingdom for a thousand years. Nor did Jesus say he would return to earth to reign over the Jewish kingdom. In addition, various scholars have pointed out in times past and present that the Israelite kingdom, first as a theocracy and then under the reign of David's dynasty as a monarchy, was a type of the eternal kingdom Jesus is perfecting and will return to the Father (1 Cor 15:24-28).
Gerard Van Groningen
Bibliography. F. F. Bruce, Israel and the Nation; L. A. DeCaro, Israel Today: Fulfillment of Prophecy?; A. Gileadi, ed., Israel's Apostasy and Restoration; W. Hendrikson, Israel in Prophecy; A. W. Kac, The Rebirth of the State of Israel; M. Karlberg, JETS31/3 (1988): 257-69; G. E. Ladd, The Last Things; H. K. LaRondelle, The Israel of God in Prophecy; J. B. Payne, Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy; P. Richardson, Israel in the Apostolic Church; J. F. Walvoord, Israel in Prophecy; M. J. Wyngaarden, The Future of the Kingdom.
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[N] indicates this entry was also found in Nave's Topical Bible
[E] indicates this entry was also found in Easton's Bible Dictionary
[H] indicates this entry was also found in Hitchcock's Bible Names
[J] indicates this entry was also found in Jack Van Impe's Prophecy Dictionary
[S] indicates this entry was also found in Smith's Bible Dictionary
ISRAEL [bridgeway]
God promised Abraham that he would make from him a nation, that he would give that nation the land of Canaan as a homeland, and that through it blessing would come to people worldwide (Gen 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 15:18-21; 22:17-18). The nation became known as Israel, after Abraham’s grandson (originally named Jacob) whose twelve sons were the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel (Gen 32:28; 35:22-26; 49:1,28; 1 Chron 1:34; 2:1-2; see JACOB).Beginnings of Israel’s national life
When circumstances in Egypt were more favourable than in Canaan, Jacob and his family (about seventy people) moved to Egypt to live (18th century BC; Gen 46:26-27). When, after more than four hundred years in Egypt, they had multiplied till they could truly be called a nation, God used Moses to lead them out of Egypt, with the aim of bringing them into Canaan (about 1280 BC; Exod 12:40-41). Three months after leaving Egypt they arrived at Mt Sinai, where they remained for the next year. During that time Moses organized them as a national community, taught them the ways of God and officiated in a covenant ceremony that bound them to God as his people (Exod 19:1-6; 24:3-8; Num 10:11-12; see COVENANT; LAW).
In spite of promising to obey God, the people rebelled against him, with the result that he kept them from entering Canaan for forty years. During those years most of the adult population died, and a new generation eventually entered Canaan under the leadership of Joshua (about 1240 BC; Num 14:32-34; Josh 1:1-5; Heb 3:16-17).
Establishing the nation in Canaan
Israel conquered not only Canaan (i.e. the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea) but also the land east of Jordan. This combined area was then divided between the twelve tribes, nine and a half tribes settling in Canaan, the other two and a half tribes in the area east of Jordan (Josh 13:7-8). (For the tribal divisions of the land see TRIBES.)
God instructed the Israelites to wipe out the Canaanites and remove all trace of their religion, but they failed to do so. As a result the Canaanite people left in the land were a source of trouble to Israel, and the Canaanite gods were the cause of Israel’s falling into idolatry (Judg 2:1-3; see BAAL). When the people of Israel turned away from God, God used enemies to punish them; when they turned back to God and cried to him for mercy, he raised up deliverers (called judges) from among them to overthrow the enemy and lead the people back to himself (Judg 2:11-19).
There was little unity in Israel during this period. Each tribe looked after its own affairs without much concern for the others (Judg 21:25). The one leader who brought some measure of unity to Israel was the godly man Samuel. The people asked that Samuel appoint a king to succeed him, believing this would help give the nation stability. Samuel opposed this, pointing out that devotion to God was the source of national stability. When it became clear that the people would not listen to him, he allowed them to have their king (1050 BC; 1 Sam 8:4-9).
The early Israelite kingdom
Israel’s first king, Saul, though a good soldier, was a failure as a national and spiritual leader. He was followed by David, who became probably Israel’s greatest king.
David conquered Jerusalem (which till then had been held by the Canaanites), and set about making it the political and religious centre of the nation (1003 BC; 2 Sam 5:1-10). (For the significance of Jerusalem in Israel’s history see JERUSALEM.) David expanded Israelite rule to the Euphrates River in the north, over Ammonite and Moabite territory to the east, over Philistine territory to the west, and to the Red Sea and Egypt in the south (2 Sam 8:1-4,11-14).
Solomon, who succeeded his father David as king, devoted himself to developing and beautifying Jerusalem, so that his national capital might be a place of incomparable splendour. But he was a hard ruler. The people hated his forced labour programs and heavy taxation schemes, and as soon as he died they took the opportunity to revolt. Only the king’s tribe, Judah, along with neighbouring Benjamin, supported the Davidic king. The remaining tribes broke away, appointing as their king Jeroboam, a leader from the tribe of Ephraim (930 BC; 1 Kings 11:11-13,29-32; 12:20).
From that time on, the nation was divided into two, a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. The northern kingdom, which consisted of ten tribes, still called itself Israel (though it was sometimes called Ephraim, after its leading tribe). The southern kingdom, which consisted of two tribes, was called Judah. (For details of the southern kingdom and its history see JUDAH, TRIBE AND KINGDOM.)
Northern part of a divided kingdom
Jeroboam made Shechem the capital of the northern kingdom (1 Kings 12:25). (The capital was later moved to Tirzah, and later still to Samaria, where it remained till the end of the kingdom; 1 Kings 15:21,33; 16:23-24.) Jerusalem remained the capital of the southern kingdom, and kings of the Davidic dynasty continued to rule there (1 Kings 12:17,21; 22:41-42).
Jerusalem was also the location of the temple. Therefore, to prevent northerners from defecting to the south, Jeroboam built shrines at Dan on his northern border and Bethel on his southern border, complete with his own order of priests, sacrifices and festivals. Jeroboam’s religious system combined Canaanite and Israelite practices, and led to a moral and religious decay that would result in God’s destruction of the kingdom (1 Kings 12:26-33; 16:19,26; 2 Kings 17:7-18).
Soon Israel was troubled by a kind of false religion that was even more serious than that which Jeroboam had introduced. This was the Baalism of Phoenicia that the Israelite king Ahab and his Phoenician wife Jezebel tried to establish as Israel’s official religion (1 Kings 16:29-34).
To resist Jezebel’s Baalism, God raised up the prophets Elijah and Elisha. They helped to preserve the faithful minority of believers in Israel and so prevent Israel’s ancient religion from being lost for ever. Part of Israel’s punishment for its acceptance of Jezebel’s Baalism was a series of destructive invasions by Syria that lasted many years (1 Kings 19:13-18; 2 Kings 8:12-13; 10:32-33; 13:3-8). (For a map showing Israel’s position in relation to the major nations that became involved in its history see BIBLE.)
When the Syrian oppression of Israel was finally removed, Israel enjoyed a time of renewed growth and prosperity, particularly during the reign of Jeroboam II (793-752 BC; 2 Kings 14:23-25). The prosperity, however, resulted in much corruption, injustice, immorality and religious decay, and soon the prophets Amos and Hosea were announcing God’s judgment on the sinful nation (Amos 7:8-11). The judgment came when Assyria conquered the northern kingdom and took the people into captivity in Assyria (722 BC; 2 Kings 17:5-6). This marked the end of the northern kingdom. Nineteen Israelite kings had ruled over it, and these had been spread over nine dynasties.
The Assyrians then resettled people from other territories of their empire into parts of the former northern kingdom, mainly the central region around Samaria. These people intermarried with Israelites left in the land, and combined their own religions with Israel’s. From these people there developed a race, of mixed blood and mixed religion, known as the Samaritans. True Israelites despised them (2 Kings 17:24-33; see SAMARIA).
Meanwhile the kingdom of Judah to the south struggled to maintain its independence. Eventually it was conquered by Babylon, who, in a series of attacks, took the Judeans captive to Babylon and destroyed Jerusalem (587 BC; 2 Kings 25:1-12). Throughout the years of captivity in Babylon, the southerners retained their national and religious identity. Not so the northerners, who became widely scattered and were absorbed into the peoples among whom they lived.
The rebuilt nation
In 539 BC Persia conquered Babylon and allowed all captive peoples to return to their homelands. Many of the Judeans returned to Palestine and, under the leadership of the governor Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua, began to rebuild the nation. The reconstructed temple was completed in 516 BC (Ezra 1:1-4; 5:1-2; 6:14-15).
Although back in their land, the people were still under the rule of Persia. They were at least united, for there was no longer a distinction between northerners and southerners. The restored nation could be called either Israel or Judah, because it was the true continuation of the ancient Israel, even though it consisted mainly of Judeans. Israelites therefore became known as Jews, the name ‘Jew’ being short for ‘Judean’ (see JEW).
After the early enthusiasm, spiritual life in the new nation soon declined. In an attempt to improve matters, the priest and teacher Ezra came to Jerusalem in 458 BC, with authority from the Persian government to reform the people (Ezra 7:1-10). But his efforts brought little success, and only when Nehemiah joined him thirteen years later was there any great change in Jerusalem. The Persian rulers had appointed Nehemiah governor of Jerusalem, and he and Ezra worked together to bring about wide-sweeping reforms (Neh 2:1-8; 8:1-4,8; 9:1-3).
Over the years that followed, a number of developments arose out of these reforms. They included the construction of buildings for worship and teaching called synagogues, the growth of a class of teachers of the law called scribes, and the establishment of a council to judge Jewish affairs called the Sanhedrin (see SYNAGOGUE; SCRIBES; SANHEDRIN).
The Greek and Roman periods
When the Greek conqueror Alexander the Great spread his power across the region (334-331 BC), Israel fell under Greek rule. Alexander’s empire soon split into several sectors, Israel at first falling within the Egyptian sector, but later within the Syrian sector (198 BC).
By this time Greek customs and ideas were having some influence on the Jewish way of life, and this created divisions among the Jews. Some opposed this Greek influence and others encouraged it. Here we see the beginnings of the parties of the Pharisees and the Sadducees (see PHARISEES; SADDUCEES).
When fighting broke out in Jerusalem between these two Jewish factions, the Greek ruler in Syria showed his hatred of the Jews by trying to destroy them and their religion. The Jews fought back fiercely, regaining control of their temple in 165 BC, and eventually regaining full political independence in 143 BC. After 460 years under Babylon, Persia, and then Greece, the Jews were free again. (For further details of the events outlined above see GREECE.)
Though free from foreign domination, the Jews continued to fight among themselves. This so weakened the nation that it was unable to withstand the spreading power of Rome (who had succeeded Greece as the leading power of the region). In 63 BC Jewish independence came to an end. The politics of the region continued in confusion till 37 BC, when Herod, a part-Jew, was appointed ‘king’ over the Jews, though still under the overall control of Rome. Some time after Herod’s death, Judea came under direct Roman rule, with Roman governors in charge (AD 6). (For details see HEROD.)
Among the Jews were anti-Roman extremists called Zealots, who were constantly looking for opportunities to fight against Rome. Finally, about AD 66, open rebellion broke out. The result was conquest by Rome and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, thereby bringing Israel’s national life to an end. (For details see ROME; ZEALOT.) Not until recent times (AD 1948) did Israel become a nation again.
Spiritual Israel
Although all the physical descendants of Jacob were God’s chosen people Israel in the physical and national sense, not all were God’s people in the inward and spiritual sense. Only those who turned from their sins and trusted in the saving mercy of God could be called the true Israel, the true people of God. This was so in Old Testament as well as New Testament times (Isa 1:4-20; Rom 2:28-29; 9:6-8; Gal 6:16).
Yet even these, the true people of God, did not experience the full blessings that God intended for his people. God’s purposes for Israel found their perfect fulfilment in the Messiah, Jesus (see MESSIAH). The nation Israel was Abraham’s natural offspring (John 8:37); the few faithful believers in Israel (often called the remnant) were his spiritual offspring (Rom 9:6-7; Gal 3:29); but the Messiah himself was the perfect offspring, the one in whom all God’s purposes for Israel were fulfilled and through whom people of all nations are blessed (Gal 3:16; cf. Gen 12:1-3).
When people through faith are ‘in Christ’, they become Abraham’s offspring through Christ and inherit God’s promises through Christ. This is so regardless of their nationality (Gal 3:14,29; Eph 3:6). The true people of God includes all who have faith in him, not just those who belong to Israel. Like Abraham they are saved by faith, and therefore are spiritually his true descendants (Rom 4:11-12,16; Gal 3:26-29; 4:26-28; 6:16; 1 Peter 1:1; 2:9).
