WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BEWTEEN THE JEWS AND ISRAEL

What Is the Difference Between
the Jews & Israel
by Charles J. Voss

Did you know that the first place the word "Jew" is used in the Bible the JEWS ARE AT WAR WITH ISRAEL?
2 Kng 16:5-6 (KJV) "Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave* the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day."
*The word "drave" is a direct quote from the Kings James and it is archaic old "English," in modern times we would say "drove."
Did you know that all Jews are Israelites but not all Israelites are Jewish? How could that possibly be? The story begins with Abraham and his obedience to the Great CREATOR, who then gave him many promises. One of the promises was that his descendants would make up many nations:
Gen. 17:3-5 "Then Abram fell on his face, and CREATOR talked with him, saying: `As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.'" 1
Another of these promises was that these descendants of Abraham would be called the sons of Isaac:
Gen. 21:12 "And CREATOR said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called."
Even though Sarah was barren and was in her old age, the Great CREATOR intervened and she gave birth to a son and named him Isaac, (Gen. 21:2-3). Isaac had two sons Esau and Jacob. The birthright of Isaac was passed to Jacob (Gen. 25:24-33). Jacob's name was changed to Israel, (Gen. 35:10). Thus all the sons that Israel (Jacob) had became known as the "sons of Israel," and the resulting nation became the nation of Israel. Yet the overriding name would still be the "sons of Isaac."
The twelve sons of Israel (Jacob) were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher (Gen. 35:23-26). The families of each of these sons became large and were known as the twelve tribes of Israel. Moses later brought these Israelite tribes out of slavery in Egypt.
However, Joseph had two sons named Ephraim and Manasseh that took his place as two tribes, (Gen. 48:9-16). Joseph then accounted for two tribes, thus there were a total of thirteen tribes of Israel.
The tribe of Judah sprang from one man--Judah, who was only one of Israel's (Jacob's) children. They were later called the Jews. The Jewish people are only one-thirteenth of the tribes of Israel. This is a bit confusing because most Jews live in the country of Israel and in New York State. However, we can see that all Jews are Israelites but not all Israelites are Jewish.
The tribe of Levi became the Levitical priesthood, was scattered among all the tribes*, and was not counted as a tribal nation (Lev. 1:47-50). Thus, although there were actually thirteen tribes, they were counted only as twelve tribal nations.
* Most of the Levites returned to Jerusalem soon after the ancient nation of Israel divided into two nations (2 Chron 11:13) yet they never were counted as a nation of Israel.
Who are the people of Israel in today's world?
Abraham was promised that his descendants would become as numerous as the stars in the heavens (Gen. 17:5-7). Notice the longevity to the nations of Israel of a thousand generations that our CREATOR has promised:
Deut. 7:6-9 "For you are a holy people to ETERNAL CREATOR; ETERNAL CREATOR has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. ETERNAL did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because ETERNAL loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, ETERNAL has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Therefore know that ETERNAL CREATOR He is CREATOR the faithful CREATOR who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments."
Next ETERNAL CREATOR said the House of Israel would be taken captive. Take note that the House of Judah (Jews) is mentioned by itself, and that both nations are mentioned together as the House of Isaac. Therefore, it requires both Israel and Judah together to make up the House of Isaac.
Amos 7:9-16 "'The high places of Isaac shall be desolate, And the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste. I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam.' Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, 'Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said: 'Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive from their own land.' Then Amaziah said to Amos: [Go, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah. There eat bread, and there prophesy. But never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the royal residence.' Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah: 'I was no prophet; or was I a son of a prophet, but I was a sheepherder and a tender of sycamore fruit. Then ETERNAL took me as I followed the flock, And ETERNAL said to me, `Go, prophesy to My people Israel.` Now therefore, hear the word of ETERNAL: you say, `Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not spout against the house of Isaac.'"
After King Solomon's death, the Commonwealth of Israel split into two nations. The Northern Kingdom consisting of ten tribes became the nation of Israel with Shechem as the first capital. Samaria eventually became the permanent political capital of the Northern Kingdom. Israel consisted of the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim, Manasseh, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. Jeroboam (their king) set up a golden calf in Dan and one in Bethel and turned their religion to pagan mythology causing them to be taken into captivity and losing their identity.
The Southern Kingdom consisted of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and part of Levi, which became the nation of Judah with its capital remaining in Jerusalem. Judah was later taken into Babylonian captivity but retained the sign of the Sabbath and did not lose its identity as the tribe of Judah. After seventy years, most of them returned to Jerusalem to build the second Temple.
Since Israel had turned to a mythological religion, It no longer worshipped The Mighty One of Israel or kept the Sabbath. They worshipped the mythological sun 'god' on the first day of the week instead. The CREATOR set the Sabbath for all of Israel for a sign between Himself and Israel for all generations (Ex. 31:13: Ezek. 20:12,20). Thus Israel became the "lost ten tribes."
As time progressed Assyria became a powerful empire. They captured and deported the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in approximately 740 to 720 BCE (before Common Era). Assyria removed Israel from their homeland and replaced them with other captured peoples of the Assyrian Empire. The captured people of Israel were placed in the western part of the empire. Later Babylon became the world ruling empire - replacing Assyria. Rather than be taken captive by the Babylonians, the Assyrians migrated westward and, in doing so, they pushed the Israelites farther westward.
In the late 1800's some clay Assyrian cuneiform tablets were discovered and they were finally translated in the 1930's. These tablets were Assyrian records of this 700's BCE Israelite deportation. There were records of four deportations, which proved the ten tribes of the northern Nation of Israel were assembled into Assyrian culture and became identifiable as the Camerians, the Sycthians, and the Goths. Our records of ancient history show that over several hundred years, and through different paths, the Sycthian, Camerian and the Goths migrated essentially to northwest Europe and became known as the Anglo-Saxon Celtic people.
Linguistic analysis of the word "Anglo-Saxon" shows the word "Saxon" means "sons of Isaac." This is exactly what was promised to Abraham and again to Jacob:
Gen. 48:16 "The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."
Our CREATOR's statement to Abraham, "in Isaac shall your seed be called" has now happened exactly that way. The basic message the CREATOR was relaying through Abraham is, "That through Isaac the Children of Israel will be able to learn their identity."
Secular history traces the Anglo-Saxon "lost ten tribes" of Israel through the Caucasus Mountains, where they picked up the name Caucasians. From there they migrated into Europe and England. Portions of them migrated from Europe to America. Generally speaking, the democracies of Europe, America, and the countries of the former British Commonwealth are the "lost tribes" of Israel. Most people in these countries have the mistaken feeling that they are gentile because most people today have no idea past two or three generations where they came from.
The people of NW Europe migrated to the British Isles, Ireland, and Scotland. They colonized South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and America. Since they were from the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic people and are called Saxons (sons of Isaac), this is a fulfillment of prophecy.
For a long time many people have felt there was more to the Hebrew Scriptures (OT) than they have been taught. This is true because the Hebrew Scriptures is written to the people of Israel. The world time clock says we are less than a minute away from midnight. The hour is late in this earth age and the time is too short just to be playing church. Educate yourself on the location of Israel7 and the truth of The Holy Scriptures.
Footnotes
1. From the New Kings James Version and all emphasis are ours. We will use ETERNAL in place of "the Lord" and CREATOR in place of "God."