Perhaps the most repeated phrase among the Christian world is “God will bless Israel.” The people are not aware of who is part of Israel. People think that the actual state of Israel where the Jews live are the only real chosen people. They are ignorant, and the reason is that they have never been taught anything else. Every where this is repeated constantly. I am going to show you a couple of points how Isrealites were actually chosen. And how God replaced the original chosen people.

We need to go all the way back to the beginning to see what happened to the original twelve tribes of Israel. The original tribes consisted of twelve groups, tribes like Benjamin, Isiah, etc. They would travel wherever God instructed them and usually have a leader guide them where God wanted. As time passed from Moses establishing the law and other leaders taking his place, the groups reached their tolerance of listening to Godly instruction.

Instead of straight-up rebellion like the tribes have done in the past to invoke God’s wrath and punishment on them, they as a whole nation decided to quit listening to God altogether. Here it is below.

“And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba. And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.

Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.”
(1 Samual 1:1-8)

This is a very significant passage; they not only reject God entirely as a whole nation but also want to be just like other nations, serving other false gods, taking bribes as appointed judges, and distorting everything they were taught. They stopped being the chosen people of Israel when everyone conspired against God. When reading through more of the Old Testament, the pattern never changes. It’s consistent that the original chosen people rebelled over and over again to the point (much later in the OT) that they literally started killing godly men when they were told something they didn’t want to hear.

Murder was normal now in the name of God, and still laying claim to being picked. Eventually God had stopped sending anyone to tell the chosen people to change and stop being wicked. There was a long pause of God speaking through men; about four hundred and fifty years passed, and then finally God spoke through John the Baptist and eventually the Messiah.

But even sending a normal Jewish prophet who was righteous and practiced the Pharisees law was still rejected, and no support was given to him by the Jewish leaders at the time when jailed and eventually executed. Now we are going to move on to the New Testament. Let’s start with a very clear example of what Jesus says to the current Jewish leaders called the Pharisees.

In Matthew 21:24-27, Jesus is asking the Pharisees where the baptism of John the prophet came from; they hesitate and speak privately with themselves and eventually make the excuse that they don’t know when in fact they really did know. They decided not to say the truth because then they themselves would be held accountable to the Old Testament and other truths John was speaking about (something they did not practice).

Then Jesus gives them a parable.

”But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the tax-collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.” (Matthew 21:28-31)

What a shocking thing to say! What nerve! Jesus said that their religious position meant nothing and that the people they despised were worthy; a prostitute, for crying out loud, would be going into the kingdom, and they would not unless they changed. I wanted to mention the prostitute because even in the religious Christian world today, people are so fast to judge and condemn prostitutes, thieves, and greedy tax collectors. But they rarely look at themselves and don’t even try to help. Instead, in many cases, they are just as self-righteous as the Pharisees.

I am saying this about people and churches as well because this entire spiritual application applies to religious people today too that just pay God lip service. There is so much of it in today’s world that I feel I have to be consistent in all my articles about these issues.

So, we have Jesus basically telling the Pharisees, You better change, or you’re not getting in the kingdom. Then right after giving them that parable, he delivers another haymaker (a powerful right hook).

”Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.

Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.”
(Matthew 21:33-41)

This is probably the most direct parable Jesus used when addressing the Pharisees about how they paid God lip service and, in actions, did absolutely nothing and killed righteous prophets all through their rebellious history. The parable, as most people know, also implies Jesus own death after God had sent him. Yet even after multiple people were sent and Christ himself, the Jewish people still don’t listen, so Jesus finishes the story and says this kingdom of God will be taken from you (Jewish people) and given to the gentiles instead.

”Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”
(Matthew 21:43)

Then the Pharisees realize that Jesus was speaking about them.

So, we see this history of the original chosen people completely rejecting God and murdering our savior, Christ. Even though people can read most of these points, many people walk away still holding onto the idea that God still picks the Jewish people. So that being said, I am going to show you how original people were grafted into being an Israelite according to the Old Testament itself.

“And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.” (Exodus 12:48-49)

As in, he shall be considered an Israelite and be under the covenant too. This verse has nothing to do with blood lineage; these are completely new people, strangers as the Lord said.

One of the strongest examples is Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite. (Numbers 32:12) A Kenizzite was associated with peoples outside Israel; Genesis 15:19 mentions Kenizzites among the nations of Canaan. Yet Caleb becomes one of the twelve spies, receives an inheritance in Judah, and is counted among Israel’s leaders. He eventually receives land in Israel just like the native Israelites.

Rahab of Jericho was adopted in as well. “And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day.” (Joshua 6:25)

Isaiah 56:3-8 shows that a foreigner who joins himself to the Lord is not excluded from God’s people. Rather, God welcomes him into the covenant community and accepts him as part of His worshiping people. Something that reflects Jesus grafting in the Gentiles later. There are many more cases of this adoption into Israel in the Old Testament that I won’t mention here, but you get the point.

This is why James’s first letter in the NT says, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.” (James 1:1)

He knows too that anyone willing to follow and obey Christ has the same promise inherited by the original tribes. There are many verses in the OT where God says he’s going to give this promise to others. Here are a few just to point them out. Deuteronomy 32:21 (in connection with the NT, Romans 10:19), Hosea 1:10 (in connection with the NT, Romans 9:25-26)

Its not a suprise that with all of the medical advances we have today that it is still almost immpossible to know who actually came from any of the tribes of the Israelites.

Recently Israel claimed that a handful of people from India were from the tribe of Benjamin. But of course they would never want anyone to legitimately verify that. It’s just given the illusion that they have actually discovered the lost tribes, but as we just went over, no one in the OT was taking blood tests to say if someone was an Israelite. They were simply adopted into it. The only credibility, according to the Old Testament itself, would be “Do you practice the Torah?” Or “Are you interested in serving God?” People from every walk of life and faith would convert and be grafted in consistently in the twelve tribes.

We are getting close to closing this topic, but before that we are going to move to the epistles and see what some apostles have said on this issue.

“And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; boast not against the branches. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear.” (Romans 11:17-20)

Obviously Paul realized that the Israelites, or Jews who decided to not obey even the OT, let alone the NT, were broken off and replaced with Gentiles. Just like we discussed previously that you can be adopted in, you also can be broken off from the continuing covenant with Christ as the head now.

”For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:26-29)

Paul knew that anyone can be adopted in and there are no more titles to indicate who is part of God’s kingdom; it is now an inward spiritual adoption, not an outward appearance.

I hope you have learned about the truth of who is an Israelite and why the Jewish people of today are not chosen anymore. It is important to know this as you will meet many people who argue that they are and that we as Christians owe everything to them personally.

We need to tell other people the truth and stand firm on who is an Isrealite and who is not according to all the evidence presented. Thank you for reading.