Let me start off with this:
It has become clear that using the Hebrew word 'Torah' sets off red flags in many people, so from now on I will use the translation to English which is 'Instruction'. These Instructions were given by the Creator as a type of Owner's Manual, full of Instructions for living on this planet, to set us apart from worldly affairs. We call them 'Scriptures' and they are found, bound within the pages of the Bible. I no longer preach about which version to use. Which ever one you have, pick it up and read, study it, learn it and live by it so that all will go well for you. Y'shua gave us the Ruach haKodesh, the Comforter, who will reveal Truth, and give us understanding, as long as we continue to read Scriptures.
Time and again while discussing 'religion', when I get to the part about Yahweh never being about 'religion', that His Instructions are the perfect guide for our governance, health and well being, this is the response:
"But - Jesus was a Jew!"
What is meant by this? Was he a Jew by birth? heritage? or a Jew by religious tradition? Is he a Jew because some rabbi on TV says he is? If you read Scriptures you learn that he certainly did not practice Judaism. In fact he taught against it! Judaism is a religion spun off the Word of Elohim, mixed with man's own imagination, as are so many other religious belief systems.
Quote: In the Bible the word "Jew" means a resident of the land of Judea regardless of their tribe, race or religion, just as an Australian or Englishman may in fact be a Chinese, Negro or an Eskimo, or perhaps a member of the tribe of Judah. (end quote)
Remember, the House of Israel began with Abraham the Hebrew. His offspring were Hebrews. His son, Jacob, carried on the Hebrew line. His name was changed to 'Israel' and his offspring were the House of Israel made up of his twelve sons and their offspring, all were descendants of Abraham the Hebrew.
In the days of Y'shua few of the citizens of Judea were 'Yehudeans'. Some belonged to other tribes of Israel, and many were descendants of Esau (Edomites) who had assimilated and become co-religionists with the Judahites and remnants of the other tribes in the hybrid religion of Pharisaism developed during the captivity in Babylon. This religion of the Talmud is called Judaism today.
In Matthew 15, Y'shua is having a discussion with the scribes and Pharisees. He ends up telling them that they nullify the Word of Elohim because of their tradition. He calls them hypocrites, teaching the doctrines of men.
In today's world, most people think of Jews as the people of Israel, but that is not correct. An Israelite was one who had descended from Jacob. In Y'shua's time individual Jews may or may not have descended from Jacob, but they did recognize Pharisaism and not the Instructions Yah had given, recorded in Genesis through Deuteronomy.
The point is that one who is called a "Jew" in the Bible is not necessarily a chosen man of God, or a member of the tribe of Judah, an Israelite, or even a Semite, but one who is a resident of Judea. A Judean. But a well-organized and well-financed international "pressure group" created a so-called "secondary meaning" for the new word "Jew" which is not the understanding intended by the Scripture of truth. Those who call themselves Jews today falsely imply they are somehow descendants of the tribes of Israel and chosen of God. Yet few of them are Jews as they are not "Judeans," or residents of Judea.
If modern day so-called Jews are not the Jews of the Bible, who are they? When asked, "Who is Israel? - Who is a Jew?" the Israeli Government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) unhesitatingly answered:
"The term Israelite is purely Biblical. An Israeli is a citizen of Israel, regardless of religion. A Jew is a person anywhere in the world born to a Jewish mother, or converted to Judaism, who is thus identified as a member of the Jewish people and religion" (Information Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem; February, 1998).
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I Samuel 16- Yahweh says to Samuel, "I am sending you Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have decided on one of his sons to be king." 16:13- Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the presence of his brothers, and the spirit of Yahweh gripped David from that day on.
Jesse was a descendant of Perez, son of Judah. David was descendant of Judah and Joseph descended from this lineage.
Fast forward to the birth of Y'shua.
Maryam was caused to become pregnant by the Ruach haKodesh - the spiritual realm. Y'shua was born from Maryam, by water and blood - the physical realm. Maryam was cousin to Elizabeth who was descended from Aaron - a Levite (Luke 1:5). Thus, her cousin, Maryam, was also a descendant from the tribe of Levi, which would make her son, Y'shua, a Levite by blood. Joseph married Maryam and adopted her son.
Y'shua was a "Jew" by location only -a resident- born in Bethehem, Judea. He was not a Jew by birth nor by religious affiliation. He was a Levite by blood and from the House of Judah by adoption, making it legal for him to become a future king. All of this qualifies Y'shua haMashiyach to be King and High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. What a wonderful revelation!
Genesis 14:18- And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was a priest of Yahweh Elohim. He blessed Abram.
Isaiah 9:6- In token of abundant authority and of peace without limit upon David's throne and kingdom, that it may be firmly established in justice and in equity now and evermore.
Psalm 110:4- Yahweh has sworn and will not relent, "You are a priest forever, a rightful king by My decree after the order of Melchizedek.'
Hebrews 6:19- which is to us as an anchor that retains our soul so that it stays fixed; and it enters into that within the veil where Y'shua has previously entered for us and has become a priest forever, after the likeness of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 7:14- For it is manifest that our Master Y'shua arose from Yehuda, from a tribe of which Moses said noting concerning a priesthood. And this is further manifest from his saying that another priest will stand up after the likeness of Melchizedek, who was not according to the Torah of physical requirements, but according to the power of an indestructible life.
Another example to consider is how the apostle Paul describes himself in Philippeans 3:5- "Circumcised when eight days old; of the stock of Israel; of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew, descendant of Hebrews; in regards to Torah, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the assembly of Messianic believers; and as to the righteousness of the oral Torah, I was without fault." (Oral Law is rabbinic tradition, man's commentary and ideas about God's Commandments.) Paul's attitude about himself and all he had mastered changed after he saw the superior knowledge of Y'shua and learned that his own righteousness came from Faith in the Messiah, that is, the righteousness which is from Elohim, and not of himself. Paul was not a 'Jew' pretending to be a Greek, but was well aware of his heritage as a descendant of Abraham. His Hebrew name, Saul, was taken from the first king of Israel, who was from the tribe of Benjamin, and Paul's teacher, Gamaliel, was also from the tribe of Benjamin. They were Jews by location, not by birth or religious affiliation, although Paul was under the influence of religion before Y'shua called him out. What a wonderful example!
To proclaim that 'Jesus is a Jew' is meaningless. To have the testimony of the Son of Elohim, Y'shua the Anointed One and proclaim the Good News of the kingdom is a wonderful act in our obedience to the one who Created us.
Would you be surprised to learn that the Jews are not God's chosen people and that the modern day state of Israel is not prophecy fulfilled, as many claim? Fact is, back in the days after the Hebrews fell into slavery in Egypt, a 'mixed multitude' became united as One People by their Faith and Trust in the One True Living Elohim, aka: The Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Please click here for my complete study: Who Is Israel?
