Who are the gentiles written about in the Bible, and where are they today? Be prepared to consider that at least some gentiles in the Bible may not be whom you think they are. This book will demonstrate biblically, archaeologically and historically that many people today who consider themselves to be gentiles are, in fact, Israelites, and that many people who consider themselves to be Jews are, in fact, gentiles. Sound confusing? Remember truth is often stranger than fiction and error often flies on the wings of truth.

If these statements are true, one can only imagine the profound effect they would have upon the eschatology of many Christians and, in turn, would probably change their perspective on life in general.

Clue Number One
Biblical Jews Correctly Identified

...many people today who consider themselves to be gentiles are, in fact, Israelites, and ... many people who consider themselves to be Jews are, in fact, gentiles.

In order to identify the gentiles in the Bible, it is necessary to first correctly identify the Jews and the Israelites. The fact that Jews and Israelites are often separate and distinct peoples is an important detail overlooked by many Christians.

In the Bible, racial Jews (better rendered Judahites¹⁰) are Israelites, but Israelites are not always Judahites. This fact is overlooked in Foy Wallace's book God's Prophetic Word. Wallace concluded that because "the terms 'Jews' and 'Israel' are used interchangeably" in the Bible "they are identical."¹¹ This error might be compared with the statement, "Because French Poodles are dogs, all dogs are French Poodles." Designating all Israelites as Judahites would be the same as labeling all Americans as Nebraskans. Most Nebraskans may be Americans, but not all Americans are Nebraskans. The same is true of the term "Jews" as used in the Bible. This distinction is acknowledged in The New Unger's Bible Dictionary:

JEW.... A Jehudite, i.e., descendant of Judah ... a name formed from that of the patriarch Judah and applied first to the tribe or country of Judah or to a subject of the kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 25:25; Jer. 32:12; 38:19; 40:11; 41:3; 52:28) in distinction from the seceding ten tribes, the Israelites.¹²

Three other Bible dictionaries confirm this distinction:

JEW.... Originally a member of the state of Judah (2 Ki. 16:6; Ne. 1:2; Je. 32:12) and so used by foreigners from the 8th century BC onwards....¹³

JEW ... This word does not occur in OT literature earlier than the period of Jeremiah. It then meant a citizen, or subject, of the kingdom of Judah (II K 25:25; Jer 32:12, 34:9, etc).¹⁴

Jew.... This name was properly applied to a member of the kingdom of Judah after the separation of the ten tribes [of the kingdom or house of Israel]. The term first makes its appearance just before the [Assyrian] captivity of the ten tribes. 2 Kings 16:6.¹⁵

The first chapter of the 1980 edition of The Jewish Almanac, titled "Identity Crisis," begins with the following statement:

Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to call an ancient Israelite a "Jew"....¹⁶

The foregoing declarations stand in contrast to the unsupported assumptions of many Christians. Consider, for example, the following statements by James Kennedy, Pat Robertson and Tim LaHaye:

Throughout the history of the Jews, they were in bondage to the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Philistines, and the Canaanites.¹⁷

Correction: All twelve tribes of Israel, not just the Judahites, were in bondage to the Egyptians.

The law of the God of Jacob was preserved by the Jewish people, who were the descendants of Jacob's twelve sons, as the true rule of order for all the nations.¹⁸

Correction: The descendants of Jacob's twelve sons were Israelites, not Judahites. Judahites were descendants of Jacob's fourth son, Judah.

Jews: the descendants of Abraham through Isaac. They started out as Hebrews, became the twelve tribes of Israel....¹⁹

Correction: The Judahites were descendants of Abraham through Judah, and they initially made up only one tribe of Israel.

The claim that the tribe of Judah became the twelve tribes of Israel is as erroneous as would be the claim that the tribe of Reuben or the tribe of Gad or any other tribe became the twelve tribes of Israel. If LaHaye's statement were true, it would mean that Isaac's son Jacob was a Judahite and that his twin brother Esau and his descendants were also Judahites. Obviously, this is incorrect.

In his book What Price Israel, Jewish author Alfred M. Lilienthal testified that the term "Jew" is not automatically synonymous with the term "Israelite." His statements leave no doubt that there is a general misunderstanding and misapplication of the word "Jew(s)":

The Jewish racial myth flows from the fact that the words Hebrew, Israelite, Jew, Judaism, and the Jewish people have been used synonymously to suggest a historic continuity. But this is a misuse. These words refer to different periods in history. Hebrew is a term correctly applied to the period from the beginning of Biblical history to the settling in Canaan. Israelite refers correctly to the members of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Yehudi or Jew is used in the Old Testament to designate members of the tribe of Judah, descendants of the fourth son of Jacob, as well as to denote citizens of the Kingdom of Judah, particularly at the time of Jeremiah and under the Persian occupation. Centuries later, the same word came to be applied to anyone, no matter of what origin, whose religion was Judaism.²⁰

In The History of Ancient Israel, Michael Grant echoes Lilienthal by pointing out that the terms "Jew," "Hebrew" and "Israelite" are not always interchangeable:

'Jew,' 'Hebrew,' 'Israelite' are sometimes regarded as interchangeable, but that is not always strictly the case. The word 'Jew' (originally defining the descendants of Jacob's son Judah) carries a wide range of implications − religious, cultural, ethnic, biological − which mean that the term can hardly be employed without misleading effect before the fall of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, or even, some would say, before the return of the exiles [from Babylon].... The designations 'Israelites' or 'people of Israel' are available for the earlier periods.... But once we have reached the epoch when the country has become divided between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 'Israelites' and 'people of Israel' will evidently have to be abandoned as a generic term.²¹

...if Abraham was a Judahite, then today's Arabs would be Judahites.

The Bible does not use the term "Jews" when referring collectively to Jacob's twelve sons or to their descendants who became the twelve tribes of Israel for the simple reason that not all Israelites were from the tribe, or kingdom, of Judah. This error has led to many mistakes in biblical interpretation and eschatology.

The earliest date that the term "Judahite" could be legitimately assigned to anyone would have been at the birth of Judah's children. Therefore, it is improper to identify Abraham, Isaac, Jacob or any of Jacob's other eleven sons as Judahites or Jews. To label Abraham as a Judahite would mean that all of his descendants, including his first born son Ishmael, the progenitor of today's Arabs, would be Judahites. In short, if Abraham was a Judahite, then today's Arabs would be Judahites.

Moreover, it is improper to call Abraham an Israelite. The first Israelites were the children of his grandson Jacob whose name was changed to Israel. Abraham is properly identified in Genesis 14:13 as a Hebrew.

The Bible clearly identifies the people known as Jews or Judahites. At the time of Solomon's son King Rehoboam, the nation of Israel consisted of twelve tribes that divided into two houses − the house of Judah and the house of Israel. 1 Kings 12 details this division.

Only the people of the house of Judah became known as Jews, as rendered in our English versions of the Bible. The first appearance of the word "Jew" in the Bible is found in 2 Kings 16:6, and it occurs after the two houses separated. From this point forward the Bible uses the word "Jew" exclusively for descendants of the tribe of Judah or the southern kingdom or house of Judah. The only exceptions are found in Esther 8:17 and Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 where non-Israelites assumed the name and/or religion of the house of Judah and became known as Judahites.

In A Partisan History of Judaism, Rabbi Elmer Berger testified to the fact that only those of the tribe or house of Judah were designated as Jews in the Scriptures:

It is interesting ... to know that these tribes [Israelites from all twelve tribes entering Canaan] and their subsequent confederacies were not yet really Jews; that there was no "Jewish" nation. It was not for many years after these earliest origins of these people that we find the word "Jews" in the Biblical texts. Probably the earliest such reference is in the Second Book of Kings, chapter 18, verse 26, in which the language of the people of the southern kingdom of Judah is called "the Jews' language." This passage is in connection with an incident close to the period of the Babylonian Exile, and the people themselves and their religion are not spoken of, by the Bible, as Jews until after the Exile.²²

The term "Jews" was never employed in the Bible to designate all twelve tribes of Israel.

With the exception of non-Israelite proselytes who adopted the name or religion of Judaism, the people identified as Jews throughout the Bible were the physical descendants of the house of Judah, which consisted of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi. The term "Jews" was never employed in the Bible to designate all twelve tribes of Israel.

The renowned first-century Judahite historian Flavius Josephus bore witness to the fact that the designation "Jews" was derived from the tribe of Judah and was used for the descendants of the house of Judah who came out of the Babylonian captivity:

So the Jews prepared for the work: that is the name they are called by from the day that they came up from Babylon, which is taken from the tribe of Judah, which came first to these places [Jerusalem and the land of Judah], and thence both they and the country gained that appellation.²³

Many Christians incorrectly maintain that the term "Jews" became synonymous with all twelve tribes when a remnant from the two-tribed house of Judah returned from the Babylonian captivity to rebuild Jerusalem under Ezra and Nehemiah. For example, Foy Wallace asks the following baseless question regarding the Judahites:

After the return to Jerusalem, Ezra commanded a sin offering for every tribe of Israel, and he referred to them as 'all Israel.' ...Why offer for 'all Israel' if it was only the Jews who returned from Babylon, and not Israel...?²⁴

A fair answer would be - why shouldn't he have done so? Nothing can be proven by the fact that Ezra made a sacrifice for all twelve tribes when dedicating the house of God. In the apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees, written in the second century BC, a priest by the name of Jonathan made a similar offering at which time he prayed for Israel in her entirety, although only a portion of the house of Judah was present at the time:

Therefore whereas we are now purposed to keep ... the feast of the tabernacles, and of the fire, which was given us when Neemias [Nehemiah] offered sacrifice, after that he had builded the temple and the altar.... And the priests made a prayer whilst the sacrifice was consuming ... Jonathan beginning ... as Neemias did. And the prayer was after this manner; O Lord, Lord God, Creator of all things ... Receive the sacrifice for thy whole people Israel, and preserve thine own portion, and sanctify it. Gather those together that are scattered from us, deliver them that serve among the heathen, look upon them that are despised and abhorred, and let the heathen know that thou art our God. − 2 Maccabees 1:18-27

In 1 Kings 18:30-32, we are informed that "Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob" and "with the stones he built an altar in the name of Yahweh" on Mount Carmel at a time and place when only ten tribes were present. The Prophet Daniel also petitioned Yahweh for forgiveness not only for his fellow Judahites in the Babylonian captivity, but for all Israel near and far:

I Daniel ... prayed unto YHWH my God, and made my confession, and said, ... we have sinned.... O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; the men of [the house of] Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all [the house of] Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.... Yea, all [the nation of] Israel have transgressed thy law.... − Daniel 9:1-11

It was a common practice for the priests or prophets to sacrifice or pray on behalf of all twelve tribes even when some of the tribes were not present at the time. The book of Ezra reveals that Ezra was doing the same thing. He made an offering for all Israel - the remnant of the two tribes who had returned to Jerusalem and the remaining ten tribes who were scattered among other nations.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia identifies those who returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity as Jews and specifies them as being from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi:

In the very first year of his [King Cyrus'] reign over Babylon he issued an edict (2 Chron 36 22 ff; Ezra 1 1 ff) that permitted the Jews to return home, with the command that they should again erect their temple.... At the head of those to be returned stood Sheshbazzar, who is probably identical with Zerubbabel ... and also the high priest, Joshua.... They were accompanied by only a small part of those in exile, that is by 42,360 men and women and children, male and female servants, esp. from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi, but of the last-mentioned tribes more priests than other Levites.²⁵

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's Commentary's comments on Ezra 2:1 agree with The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia:

...those which had been carried away - i.e., the descendants, including children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of those whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away unto Babylon. Those who are mentioned in the following catalogue, then, were not the ten tribes, who were dispersed into various and scattered districts of Assyria, but the Jewish exiles resident in or around Babylon. Zerubbabel, the prince of Judah, himself resided there; and thither flocked around his standard those Jews who formed the first caravan, comprising chiefly or exclusively those of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin who took the initiative in the journey to the land of their fathers, both from their location in Babylon, and from their greater interest in the work of rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple.²⁶

The house of Judah was composed of the three tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi:

...Judah and Benjamin ... and the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him [King Rehoboam] out of all their coasts. For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem. - 2 Chronicles 11:12-14

A small contingency from some of the other ten tribes, associated themselves with the Judahites on certain occasions according to 1 Chronicles 9:1-3, 2 Chronicles 11:13-17 and 15:8-9. While this is true, there remained a definite distinction between the two houses. 1 Kings 12:23-24, and other passages too numerous to cite, demonstrate this division between the two houses of Israel.

People who are determined to make the term "Jews" synonymous with all twelve tribes of Israel from the time of Ezra and Nehemiah onward attempt to use the passages from 1 and 2 Chronicles to support their claims. Adam Clarke thought otherwise:

The kingdom of Judah was composed of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with the Levites; all the rest [the ten tribes] went off in the schism with Jeroboam, and formed the kingdom of Israel. Though some out of those tribes did rejoin themselves to Judah, yet no whole tribe ever returned to that kingdom.²⁷

A close examination of the previous passages and an honest evaluation of the prophets refute any interpretation that unites the house of Judah with the house of Israel prior to the New Covenant dispensation. Demographics and common sense do as well.

Various studies have estimated the collective population of the houses of Israel and Judah at the time of their respective captivities to be anywhere from five to thirty million. Ezra 2:64-65 declares that 49,697 Israelites returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity. Using the most conservative figure of 5,000,000 Israelites from all twelve tribes in existence at the time, and subtracting the approximate 50,000 Israelites who returned to Jerusalem, we are left with 4,950,000 Israelites from both houses who did not return to Jerusalem.

The following diagram demonstrates the enormity of the number of Israelites that would be unaccounted for by those who attempt to reunite both houses at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah after the Judahites' returned to Jerusalem. This graphically illustrates the impossibility of the claim that the Judahites represented all twelve tribes of Israel. Each star in the diagram represents 50,000 Israelites; the entire chart represents the conservative figure of 5,000,000 Israelites.

		The Judahite remnant (50,000 Israelites from the house of Judah) who returned from the Babylonian captivity to rebuild Jerusalem.
4,950,000 missing Israelites

The numbers alone dispel the idea that the houses of Judah and Israel were reunited when the 50,000 Judahites returned to Jerusalem from their Babylonian captivity.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's Commentary acknowledges that the Judahites that returned to Jerusalem did not represent the reunion of the house of Israel with the house of Judah foretold by the prophets:

...the ten tribes did not return at the restoration from Babylon, but is and shall continue distinct from Judah until the coming union with that tribe at the restoration ... a future complete fulfillment must therefore be looked for.²⁸

In the first century AD, approximately 500 years after Ezra and Nehemiah, Flavius Josephus placed the dispersed ten tribes beyond the Euphrates River:

...the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.²⁹

Even contemporary Jews teach that only Judah, Benjamin and Levi returned to Jerusalem following their captivity in Babylon. In an article titled "Where are the Ten Tribes?" in the Jewish Quarterly Review, A. Neubauer distinguished between the ten tribes and the two tribes that returned from Babylon:

The captives of Israel exiled beyond the Euphrates did not return as a whole to Palestine along with their brethren the captives of Judah.... Ezra and Nehemiah give the enumeration only of "the children of the province of Judah, that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away unto Babylon, and came again to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone unto his city."³⁰

In Discourses, Argumentative and Devotional on the Subject of the Jewish Religion, Rabbi Isaac Leeser wrote that the two houses were not reunited following the Babylonian captivity:

But seventy years soon elapsed, and at their ending a small number of Jews, now no longer the united Israelites, returned to repossess their land, and again they dwelt therein....³¹

Neubauer added that according to the prophets, the ten tribes of the house of Israel were not to be reunited with the two tribes of the house of Judah until the advent of the Messiah. He pointed out that the Judahites at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah did not look at this reconciliation as having occurred in their day, but as something to be fulfilled in the future:

...the return of the ten tribes was one of the great promises of the Prophets, and the advent of the Messiah is therefore necessarily identified with the epoch of their redemption. ...the hope of the return of the Ten Tribes with the Messiah did not cease amongst the Jews during the time of the second Temple....³²

Abraham Yagel, a sixteenth-century Italian Jew, pointed out that the ten-tribed house of Israel did not return at the time of the rebuilding of the second temple, but that they were to return at the Messiah's First Advent. Yagel did not recognize Yeshua (Jesus' given Hebrew name) as Messiah, therefore he erroneously anticipated the return of the ten tribes at some future date:

...it is clear to anyone who has his right senses, that the [Ten] Tribes still exist, and that they will return at the time when the Redeemer shall come to Sion.³³

...the books of Ezra and Nehemiah ... confirm that the houses of Judah and Israel were not reunited at that point in history....

It is not necessary to take the word of these human sources alone. The Bible is always our best authority, and a person has only to read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah to confirm that the houses of Judah and Israel were not reunited at that point in history:

Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of YHWH which is in Jerusalem ... them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem. - Ezra 1:5-11

...the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the [Babylonian] captivity builded the temple unto YHWH God of Israel. − Ezra 4:1

...they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the exiles, that they should assemble at Jerusalem, and that whoever would not come within three days ... all his possessions should be forfeited and he himself excluded from the assembly of the exiles. So all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days.... − Ezra 10:7-9

And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein, these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city.... − Nehemiah 7:5-7

King Nebuchadnezzar took only the house of Judah captive into Babylon. Common sense dictates that only those carried captive into Babylon returned from Babylon. Ezra stipulated Judah and Benjamin as representing "all the exiles."

There is no biblical justification for claiming that the house of Israel returned to Jerusalem with the house of Judah. Therefore in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah only Israelites from the house of Judah were called Jews.

Ezra and Nehemiah used the terms "Jews" and "Israelites" interchangeably because descendants of the house of Judah could be called by either name. They were Judahites in the narrow sense and Israelites in the broad sense. Hurlbut's Story of the Bible also delineated the house of Judah's dual designation:

From this time [the Judahites' captivity in Babylon] these people were called Jews, a name which means "people of Judah." ...And because they had once belonged to the twelve tribes of Israel ... they were also spoken of as Israelites.³⁴

...the ten tribes of Israel ... did not meet the criteria for being called Judahites....

This cannot be said about the ten tribes of Israel. Because they did not meet the criteria for being called Judahites, they were, therefore, only known as Israelites.

In Amos 3:7, Yahweh declared that He "will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Yahweh never revealed to any of His prophets that He would bring both Judahites and Israelites back to Jerusalem immediately following the Babylonian captivity. He did reveal through His Prophet Jeremiah that only Judahites would return to Jerusalem:

Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.... Thus saith YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon.... For thus saith YHWH, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. − Jeremiah 29:1-10

Robert Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible summarizes the truth regarding the biblical term "Jew":

Strictly speaking, the name is appropriate only to the subjects of the kingdom of the two tribes after the separation of the ten tribes, B.C. 975.³⁵

This first clue establishes that the term "Jews" designates only the house of Judah. This one biblical fact alone should begin to change the way contemporary Christians view the history and the prophecies of the Bible.

Clue Number Two
Today's Jews Correctly Identified

Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to call an ancient Israelite a "Jew" or to call a contemporary Jew an "Israelite" or a "Hebrew."

Most people believe that today's Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that they represent all twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. As has already been demonstrated, the second half of this claim is inaccurate because the Bible never identifies the Jews with all twelve tribes of Israel.

According to many Jewish authorities, the first half of this same claim − that the majority of today's Jews represent all or any Israelites − is also untrue. The Jewish Almanac succinctly states another fact that will surprise most people:

Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to call an ancient Israelite a "Jew" or to call a contemporary Jew an "Israelite" or a "Hebrew."³⁶

In the 1960s, Nathan M. Pollock was professor of Medieval Jewish History at Tel Aviv University. In the San Diego Union, August 28, 1966, Leo Heiman remarked about Professor Pollock's research supporting The Jewish Almanac's startling admission:

He has devoted 40 of his 64 years to trying to prove that six out of 10 Israelis and nine of 10 Jews in the Western Hemisphere are not real Jews' Jews [genetic Judahites], but descendants of fierce Khozar tribes which roamed the steppes of southern Russia many centuries ago. For obvious reasons the Israeli authorities are not at all eager to give the official stamp of approval to Pollock's theories. "For all we know, he may be 100 per cent right," said a senior government official. "In fact, he is not the first one to discover the connection between Jews and Khozars. Many famous scholars, Jews and non-Jews, stressed these links in their historical research works."³⁷

Notice that the connection between the Jews and the Khozars was acknowledged by a senior Israeli government official. Moreover, this same official emphasized that "many famous scholars, Jews and non-Jews stressed these links in their historical research works." Those famous scholars include Bernard Lazare, Robert Quillan, James Yaffe, Paul Meyer, the authors of The Jewish Encyclopedia, The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, The Encyclopedia Judaica, The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, The New Encyclopaedia Britannica and many others, Jews and non-Jews alike.³⁸

Map showing the Distribution of Religions in Europe in the Tenth Century, C.E., Indicating Extent of the Kingdom of the Chazars. (After Schrader, "Atlas de Geographic Historique.")

Following are portions of a letter written by Jewish author Benjamin H. Freedman to the New York National Economic Council, Inc. and published in their Council Letter No. 177, October 15, 1947. Although Freedman was specifically addressing the exploitations of Zionism,³⁹ he also expounded upon the fact that most of today's Jews are not descendants of Jacob Israel:

Popular ignorance of ... political Zionism is beyond calculation. Vaguely most Christian Americans have the idea that the Jews claim Palestine because it was the "Promised Land" in which they lived for a period of a few centuries that ended 2,000 years ago. And the thought of a people returning to its "homeland" seems emotionally satisfying and good. But here are facts most Americans do not know: Political Zionism is almost exclusively a movement by the Jews of Europe. But these Eastern European Jews have neither a racial nor a historic connection with Palestine. Their ancestors were not inhabitants of the "Promised Land." They are the direct descendants of the people of the Khazar [alternate spelling for Khozar] Kingdom, which existed until the 12th century. The Khazars were a non-Semitic ... Mongolian tribal people.... About the 7th century A.D., the King of the Khazars adopted Judaism as the state religion, and the majority of inhabitants joined him in the new allegiance. Before that date there was no such thing as a Khazar who was a Jew [Judahite]. Neither then nor since was there such a thing as a Khazar whose ancestors had come from the Holy Land....

...these Eastern European, Yiddish-speaking Jews who form the Zionist group practically in toto, have neither a geographic, historic nor ethnic connection with either the Jews of the Old Testament or the land known today as Palestine.⁴⁰

H.G. Wells, in his Outline of History, reached the same conclusion regarding today's Jews:

The main part of Jewry never was in Judea and had never come out of Judea.⁴¹

In The Master Bible's "Archaeological Supplement," George Robinson quoted the late Henry Morgenthau's autobiography All in a Life Time that stated that "Zionism is the most stupendous fallacy in Jewish history." Robinson declared that the Zionists are not Judahites:

The Zionists are not Jews according to race. Rather, they are the descendants of a hoard of pagans who pressed into Russia in the first century of our era and in due time became proselytes to Judaism. In 692 A.D., they formed the Khazar kingdom. In 955 A.D., Russia conquered them. They are neither Jews by race, nor are they genuinely Jewish in religion. They pass as Jews and pretend that they are the descendants of Israel and therefore, have a right to Palestine as their national homeland, but they are false in their claims and irreligious in their living.⁴²

The previous quotations are documented as historically accurate in the remarkable book The Thirteenth Tribe written by the well-known Jewish author Arthur Koestler. This book is summed up in the following statement:

In this last chapter I have tried to show that the evidence from Anthropology concurs with history in refuting the popular belief in a [modern] Jewish race descended from a biblical [Israelite] tribe.⁴³

In his book What Is A Jew?, Rabbi Morris Kertzer testified that many ancient Jewish Rabbis were non-Israelite gentiles:

Several of the ancient rabbis, in fact, including some of those who created the Talmud, traced their ancestry to Gentiles who had been converted to Judaism.⁴⁴

Consequently, the descendants of those ancient rabbis would also be non-Israelite gentiles. To serious students of the Bible, none of this should come as a surprise. Yeshua warned of imposters who falsely claim to be Israelites:

I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Judahites,⁴⁵ and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. − Revelation 2:9

Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Judahites, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. − Revelations 3:9

In other words, there were and are imposters who claim to be descendants of Jacob Israel from the house of Judah. After quoting the previous verse of scripture, Jewish author Jack Bernstein, in his book The Life of an American Jew in Racist Marxist Israel, pointed to today's Jews as "...the people to whom God was referring"⁴⁶ in Revelation 3:9.

Arthur Koestler was unable to genetically trace the majority of today's Jewish people to Jacob Israel. However, he did trace their Khazar ancestry to non-Israelites:

...genetically they are more closely related to the Hun, Uigur and Magyar tribes than to the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Should this turn out to be the case, then the term "anti-Semitism" would become void of meaning.⁴⁷

The Khazars and their King are all Jews [by conversion to Judaism].... Some are of the opinion that Gog and Magog are the Khazars.⁴⁸

Joseph [one of the Khazar kings] then proceeds to provide a genealogy of his people. Though a fierce Jewish nationalist, proud of wielding the "Sceptre of Judah," he cannot, and does not, claim for them Semitic descent....⁴⁹

According to the article "Statistics" in The Jewish Encyclopedia, in the sixteenth century the total Jewish population of the world amounted to about one million. This seems to indicate ... that during the Middle Ages that the majority of those who professed the Judaic faith were Khazars.⁵⁰

Today's descendants of yesterday's Khazars ... have the biblical and spiritual marks of Esau Edom's descendants.

Today's descendants of yesterday's Khazars cannot be Israelites. A point even more pertinent is that the Khazars have the biblical and spiritual marks of Esau Edom's descendants.⁵¹ Some historians maintain that the Turkish tribes, from whom the Khazars are descended, can be traced to Teman the grandson of Esau. The Jewish Encyclopedia recounts a Khazar tradition that originally places some of their progenitors near the land of Edom:

Hasdai ibn Shaprut, who was foreign minister to Abd al-Rahjan, Sultan of Cordova, in his letter to King Joseph of the Chazars [alternate spelling for Khazars] (about 960 [AD]) ... speaks of the tradition according to which the Chazars once dwelt near the Seir (Serer) Mountains.⁵²

Mount Seir and the surrounding area was the Edomites' homeland:

And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom. − Genesis 32:3

Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom. − Genesis 36:1-8

At the time of Esther, approximately 600 BC, it is certain that relatives of Haman and other Edomites, who were a part of the Persian population, became known as Judahites by converting to their religion:

And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Judahites had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the [non-Judahite] people of the land became Judahites; for the fear of the Judahites fell upon them. − Esther 8:17

According to three Jewish encyclopedias and Flavius Josephus, the entire Edomite nation was forced into converting to Judaism and became known as Judahites at the time of the high priest John Hyrcanus (Maccabaeus):

...in the days of John Hyrcanus (end of the second century B.C.E.) ... the Edomites became a section of the Jewish people.⁵³

They were then incorporated with the Jewish nation....⁵⁴

...from then on they constituted a part of the Jewish people, Herod [King of Judea] being one of their descendants.⁵⁵

...they submitted to the use of circumcision, and the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time ... they were hereafter no other than Jews.⁵⁶

By their own testimony, the vast majority of today's Jews are not racial Israelites or even Judahites.

By their own testimony, the vast majority of today's Jews are not racial Israelites or even Judahites. History reveals that most of today's Jews are not Israelites but rather Edomites because of forced conversion in the seventh and second centuries BC and voluntary conversion in the seventh century AD. This Edomite connection with today's Jews is an important piece of the puzzle that will be addressed in more detail later.

Clue Number Three
Biblical Israelites Correctly Identified

Following the division of the twelve tribes of Israel, during the reign of King Rehoboam in approximately 937 BC, the ten northern tribes became known as the house of Israel. These tribes were never known as Judahites, but retained their family identity as Israelites. This biblical fact has major ramifications. Peloubet's Bible Dictionary helps to clarify the issue:

Israel.... 1. The name given, Gen. 32:28, to Jacob.... 2. It became the national name of the twelve tribes collectively. They are so called in Ex. 3:16 and afterward. 3. It is used in a narrower sense, excluding [the house of] Judah, in 1 Sam. 11:8; 2 Sam. 20:1; 1 Kings 12:16. Thenceforth it was assumed and accepted as the name of the northern kingdom.⁵⁷

In a section titled "The Hebrew Peoples," relating to the time following the division of the two houses, Harmsworth History of the World affirms that the ten tribes were not Judahites:

Since the severance, the God of Israel had ceased to be the centre of a national worship, and any traces of such worship, which had been retained in the north from the time of David, were quite insignificant.... In reality the Ten Tribes ... were not, therefore, "Jews."⁵⁸

...there was a period of time when the ten tribes were not even known by the name "Israelites."

Furthermore, there was a period of time when the ten tribes were not even known by the name "Israelites." Understanding the Israelites' marital relationship with Yahweh and Yahweh's subsequent divorce of the house of Israel is essential to understanding this loss of identity. The Old Testament Scriptures reveal that Yahweh wed the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel:

And YHWH said ... Israel ... I am married unto you.... − Jeremiah 3:11-14

Moses recorded in the book of Exodus what has been described as Yahweh's marriage proposal to all twelve tribes of the nation of Israel:

Ye have seen ... how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people.... And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. − Exodus 19:4-6

This is the first time that the word "kingdom," used in reference to Yahweh's kingdom, appears in the Bible. Yahweh established a kingdom relationship between Himself and the nation of Israel when He married her at Mount Sinai. In Ezekiel 16 Yahweh provided a second witness to the affinity between His kingdom and His marriage to Israel:

Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord YHWH, and thou becamest mine.... Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. − Ezekiel 16:8-13

King David commented on this kingdom relationship:

...let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. − Psalm 59:13

Jacob was given the name "Israel" because this name means power or ruling with El:

And he [Yahweh] said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God.... − Genesis 32:28

James Strong defined the name "Israel":

Yisra'el (yis-raw-ale'); from OT:8280 and OT:410; he will rule as God....⁵⁹

"God" is translated from the Hebrew word "Elohym." El is short for Elohym. Yahweh Elohym married the twelve tribes of Israel thereby making her His helpmeet. As both His wife and His queen, she ruled with El in His kingdom and was thus named Isra El.

Later, however, because the ten-tribed house of Israel worshiped other gods, an act which Yahweh identified as adultery, He divorced and put them away:

And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not.... − Jeremiah 3:8

2 Kings 17 describes the divorce and dispersion of the house of Israel at the hands of their Assyrian spoilers:

Therefore YHWH was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.... And YHWH rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. − 2 Kings 17:18-20

Yahweh declared to Hosea that as a result of His divorcing the house of Israel, she would no longer be His people, thereby stripping that house of her name:

And YHWH said unto him ... I will ... cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.... Then said God ... ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. − Hosea 1:4-9

When the ten tribes committed adultery and He divorced them, they were no longer a part of Yahweh Elohym's people. Therefore, the ten northern tribes no longer had either the right or privilege of being called Isra El.

Historian Walter Hutchinson described the consequence of the house of Israel's disobedience under King Jeroboam and subsequent divorce in terms of a loss of identity:

In consequence of Jeroboam's ambition, aided by the weakness of Solomon's successor Rehoboam [king of the house of Judah], at about the year 937 B.C. there were formed the rival, and often hostile, kingdoms of Judah and Israel, the latter of which lost its identity by the capture of Samaria in 722 B.C....⁶⁰

Following Yahweh's divorce of the ten-tribed house of Israel, He dispersed them among non-Israelite nations:

...when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings.... And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. − Ezekiel 36:17-19

Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure. − Hosea 8:8

Behold, the eyes of the Lord YHWH are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith YHWH. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. − Amos 9:8-9

The Kingdom represented the seat of government and Yahweh's covenantal marriage relationship with Israel. It was this seat of government that Yahweh destroyed, not the people of the house of Israel.

And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am YHWH their God. But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am YHWH. - Leviticus 26:44-45

Yahweh dispersed the house of Israel throughout the nations, and eventually their identity was forgotten by the other nations:

I [Yahweh] said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men. − Deuteronomy 32:26

Although the house of Israel's identity was lost to other nations, and even to herself, Yahweh never lost sight of who she was:

...O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen ... thou art my servant: I have formed thee.... O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. − Isaiah 44:1-21

Paul identified himself and the Christians in Corinth as descendants of the Old Testament Israelites....

Because of being dispersed throughout the then known world, the descendants of the house of Israel became identified as simply goyim, the Hebrew word most often translated "gentiles" in the King James Version. This change from a specific to a non-specific identity is confirmed in the New Testament. Paul identified himself and the Christians in Corinth as descendants of the Old Testament Israelites, and later he identifies them as ethne, the Greek equivalent of goyim:

Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. − 1 Corinthians 10:1-5

Ye know that ye were Gentiles [ethne], carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. − 1 Corinthians 12:2

Yahweh had divorced the ten-tribed house of Israel for her idolatry and scattered her among non-Israelite ethne or peoples. Eventually they assumed the names of the nations and peoples among whom they lived or those nations gave them other names. This change of names is indicated in The Jewish Encyclopedia under the heading "Tribes, Lost Ten":

If the Ten Tribes have disappeared, the literal fulfillment of the prophecies would be impossible; if they have not disappeared, obviously they must exist under a different name.⁶¹

2 Kings 17:1-23 records that the Assyrians were responsible for taking the ten-tribed house of Israel into captivity and dispersing them among non-Israelite peoples. In recent years, some fourteen hundred Assyrian cuneiform tablets have been unearthed and deciphered. These tablets provide some of the names the house of Israel had been given or that they assumed during their dispersion.

Missing Links Discovered in Assyrian Tablets, by biblical archaeologist and historian E. Raymond Capt, documents the new names of the house of Israel during and following their Assyrian captivity.⁶² The identity of the dispersed Israelites today is a question that will be answered in Chapter 6.

It is important to understand that the terms "Jews" and "Israelites" are synonymous only when referring to the descendants of the two-tribed house of Judah. It is equally important to understand that it is inaccurate to refer to the Israelites descended from the ten-tribed house of Israel as Jews or Judahites. They were not descended from Judah; hence there is no scriptural justification for calling them Jews. The Israelites that Assyria dispersed eventually became known as gentiles, or nations, having lost their identity through the centuries.

Clue Number Four
Biblical Gentiles Correctly Identified

It would not be much of a mystery if the gentiles in the Bible were simply non-Israelites to whom Yeshua granted salvation through His propitiating sacrifice.⁶³ But it would be especially intriguing if some of the gentiles fulfilled Bible prophecies that were directed at Israelites. What if these gentiles were somehow racially related to the Israelites of biblical antiquity, and the redemption and remarriage that Yahweh promised to the divorced and dispersed Israelites applied to certain gentiles in the New Testament? Could a portion of the gentiles actually be someone other than whom they are commonly considered to be? These possibilities present a much more perplexing puzzle than simply that of salvation being granted to non-Israelites.

To answer the foregoing questions, a person must become familiar with two words − one Hebrew and one Greek. The English word "gentiles" in the Old Testament is translated from the Hebrew words "yogl" (goy - singular) and "<y]oG" (goyim - plural). Its New Testament Greek counterpart is "eqno$" (ethnos - singular) and "e)qnh =" (ethne - plural).

In the King James Old Testament, the Hebrew word goy or goyim is translated "nation(s)" 373 times, "heathen(s)" 142 times, "gentiles" 30 times, "people(s)" 11 times, and "another" 1 time. Not once is goy or goyim translated non-Jew or non-Israelite.

In the King James New Testament, the Greek word ethnos or ethne is translated "gentiles" 93 times, "nation(s)" 64 times, "heathen(s)" 5 times, "people(s)" 2 times and "Greek" 1 time. Not once is ethnos or ethne translated non-Jew or non-Israelite.

Because most people think that the Jews in the Bible represent all twelve tribes of Israel, they inevitably jump to the unwarranted conclusion that the term "gentiles," especially when used in contrast with the term "Jews," refers exclusively to non-Israelites. The following quotations represent this thinking:

Gentiles ... All nations of the world other than the Jews....⁶⁴

The Heb. goyim signified the nations, the surrounding nations, foreigners as opposed to Israel.⁶⁵

Heb. Goi, "the nations" (or "heathen," derived from the Gr. ethne), as opposed to Israel (Neh. v. 8).⁶⁶

Gentiles: all the peoples of the world who are non-Jews. In the New Testament, a Gentile designates any lost member of the human race who is not a Jew.⁶⁷

The word translated as "GENTILES" is often translated as "NATIONS." It is the word "ETHNOS" from which we derive "ETHNIC." All people who are not JEWS are GENTILES regardless of their ethnic origin.⁶⁸

In the New Testament, the word for "Gentiles" (Greek ethnos) is also translated "nations" and "heathen." The corresponding Hebrew word in the Old Testament is goi. That is, all nations outside God's covenant people of Israel, were called "Gentiles," or "heathen," or simply the "nations."⁶⁹

The term "Gentiles" in the New Testament always refers to people and nations outside of and apart from all the twelve tribes of Israel.... It can be said positively that IN NO CASE IN THE BIBLE, either in the Old Testament or in the New, DOES THE WORD "GENTILE" REFER OR APPLY TO ANY PART OF ISRAEL.⁷⁰

The words "gentiles," "goy" and "ethnos" are not the exclusionary terms that some Christians try to make them.

The words "gentiles," "goy" and "ethnos" are not the exclusionary terms that some Christians try to make them. For example, try replacing the word "nations" translated from goyim, with the word "non-Israelites" in Genesis 25:23 where Rebekah is informed about her twin boys, Jacob and Esau:

And YHWH said unto her, Two non-Israelites are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

Try the same in Genesis 48:19 where Jacob blesses Joseph's second son Ephraim:

And his father [Jacob] refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of non-Israelites.

Try replacing the word "nation" with "non-Israelite" in Jeremiah 31:35-36 where Yahweh promised both houses of Israel that He would never forsake them as long as the sun rules by day and the moon by night:

Thus saith YHWH, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; YHWH of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith YHWH, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a non-Israelite before me for ever.

The preceding examples demonstrate that the definition and application of the Hebrew word goyim is not as narrow as some people would make it.

The same is true for its Greek counterpart ethne. If modern Christianity's definition for ethnos is correct, John 18:35 would have to be translated as follows:

Pilate answered, Am I a Judahite? Thine own non-Israelites and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?

Ethnos and ethne have a much broader use in the New Testament than is commonly understood. Consider the following four examples.

The first employs the word "gentiles" (ethne) in reference to non-Israelites, specifically Canaanites:

Our [Israelite] fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus [the Old Testament Joshua] into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers.... − Acts 7:44-45

The second uses the word "nations" (ethne) in reference to a multi-ethnic multitude of people, Israelite and non-Israelite alike:

And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation. − Acts 17:26

The third employs the word "nation" (ethnos) in reference to Judahites, specifically descendants of the house of Judah, the two southern tribes of Israel:

And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Judahites.... − Acts 10:22

The fourth uses the word "gentiles" (ethne) in reference to Israelites, specifically the descendants of the house of Israel, the ten northern tribes of Israel:

And that he [Yahweh] might make known the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he hath called, not of the Judahites only, but also of the Gentiles? − Romans 9:23-24

We will return to this last passage at a later point because some people may question this interpretation and also because it provides important clues for solving the mystery.

Even without accepting the application for ethne in Romans 9:23-24, it should be apparent from the other three passages, as well as from many other New Testament passages, that there is a much broader use of the Greek words ethnos and ethne than what is usually taught. Lexicographers also provide the broader application. Consider the following definitions for the Greek word ethnos:

...1. a multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together; a company, troop, swarm.... 2. a multitude of individuals of the same nature or genus ... Acts 17:26.... 3. Race, nation: Mt 21:43; Acts 10:35, etc. ... of the Jewish people, Lk 22:25; used (in the sing.) of the Jewish people, Lk. 7:5; 23:2.... 4. ... in the O.T., foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles ... Mt. 4:15 ... and very often; in plain contradistinction to the Jews: Ro 3:29.... 5. Paul uses ... ta\ >e&qnh even of Gentile Christians: Ro. 11:13; 15:27....⁷¹

There are 64 passages in the NT where we have e&qno$ or e&qnh without any special sense or characteristics.... About 60 refer to a people or peoples in the general sense, and of these the following have in view the Jewish people: Lk. 7:5; 23:2; Jn. 11:48, 50, 51, 52; 18:35; Ac. 10:22; 24:2, 10, 17; 26:4; 28:19; 1 Pt. 2:9. That the Jewish people is meant in the same sense as others, with no particular distinction, may be seen from the various contexts.... That the expression e&qnh refers to all nations may be seen from the addition of pa/nta [all] in Mt. 24:9, 14; 25:32; 28:19; Mk. 11:17; 13:10; Lk. 21:24; 24:47; R. 15:11; Gl. 3:8.⁷²

In the foregoing quotation from the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, some of the passages that are applied to "the Jewish people" are inclusive of all twelve tribes, indicating that the word ethnos describes both Judahites and Israelites.

It is no different in the Old Testament. Goy, the Hebrew equivalent for the Greek ethnos, is used in identical fashion. Consider the following definition for goy from The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon:

...1. Nation, people ... a. specif. of descendants of Abraham ... Gn 12:2 ... 17:6 ... definitely of Israel Ex 19:6 ... 33:13 ... Dt 4:6 ... of Israel and Judah as two nations Ez 35:10.... c. usually of non-Heb. peoples Ex 9:24, 34:10 ... esp. of these peoples as heathen: idolatrous Lv 18:24, 28....⁷³

...goy can refer "specif. of descendants of Abraham," "definitely of Israel" and "of Israel and Judah as two nations."

The Old Testament does not use goy exclusively for non-Hebrew peoples. In fact, this lexicon begins by correctly defining the word generically as any nation or people. It then includes three definitions that many Christians completely ignore: goy can refer "specif. of descendants of Abraham," "definitely of Israel" and "of Israel and Judah as two nations."

Contrary to popular teaching, the Bible provides examples of non-Israelite nations identifying Israelites as goy and goyim:

Behold I have taught you [the nation of Israel] statutes and judgments.... Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the [non-Israelite] nations [goyim], which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great [Israelite] nation [goy] is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as YHWH our God is in all things that we call upon him for. − Deuteronomy 4:5-7

...thou [Mount Seir, representing the Edomites] hast said, These two nations [two goyim, the houses of Israel and Judah] ... shall be mine, and we will possess it.... Ezekiel 35:10

The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia and The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary correctly define goy:

...Goy (or Goi) is rendered "Gentiles" in the AV [Authorized Version] in some 30 passages, but much more frequently "heathen," and oftener still, "nation," ... it, is commonly used for a non-Israelitish people, and thus corresponds to the meaning of "Gentiles." It occurs, however, in passages referring to the Israelites, as in Gen 12 2; Deut 32 28; Josh 3 17; 4:1; 10 13; 2 S 7 23; Isa 1 4; Zeph 2 9....⁷⁴

...Sometimes goy refers to Israel (Gen. 12:2; Deut. 32:28; Josh. 3:17; 4:1; 10:13; II Sam. 7:23; Isa. 1:4; Zeph. 2:9...)....⁷⁵

Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary points out that the word "gentiles" is "a term used by [contemporary] Jewish people to refer to foreigners or any other people who were not a part of the Jewish race."⁷⁶ In other words, the idea that the term "gentiles" exclusively represents non-Jews is simply a Jewish tradition adopted by modern Christianity. While this is true for many of today's Jews and Christians, The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia and The Jewish Encyclopedia clearly state that in the Bible goy meant simply nation(s), and that it was used for both non-Israelites and Israelites alike:

The Hebrew word goy (plural goyim) means "nation." In Biblical usage it is applied also to Israel: "Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation" (goy kadosh; Ex. 19:6).⁷⁷

In the Hebrew of the Bible "goi" and its plural "goyyim" originally meant "nation," and were applied both to Israelites and to non-Israelites (Gen. xii. 2, xvii. 20; Ex. xiii. 3, xxxii. 10; Deut. iv. 7; viii. 9, 14; Num. xiv. 12; Isa. i. 4, ix. 22; Jer. vii. 28).⁷⁸

...goy means any nation, be it non-Israelite, Israelite or Judahite.

The Jewish Encyclopedia admits that the Hebrew word goyim and its English equivalent "gentiles" changed over time and took on "the sense of 'non-Jew.'"⁷⁹ Nevertheless, according to the Bible, goy means any nation, be it non-Israelite, Israelite or Judahite.

Both non-Israelite and Israelite goy can be found in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word goy, like the Greek word ethnos, is simply a generic word meaning nation(s) or people(s). The most cogent definition for both words is "a multitude of individuals from the same nature or genus."⁸⁰ "Nations" is the best translation of goy and ethnos. Both words should have been translated in this manner throughout the Old and New Testaments, permitting the context of each passage to determine which nation(s) were being referred to. Had they been consistently translated nation(s), much of today's confusion concerning the gentiles would have never occurred. The translators' inconsistency in their renditions of goy and ethnos has contributed to flawed theology concerning these words and their biblical and eschatological applications.

People are often heard speaking of an individual as being a gentile. This is another improper use of the term. Because both goy and ethnos are collective nouns, neither word can be used to identify an individual. The Bible always uses these terms to identify a nation composed of many individuals or numerous nations.

With this information so readily available from both the Bible and the lexicons, it is perplexing that many preachers and theologians continue to teach otherwise. At best, they have not taken the initiative to investigate this subject. At worst, they are similar to the leaders described in Ezekiel 22:25: "There is a conspiracy of her [the land's] prophets ... they have taken the treasure and the precious things," giving them away to people to whom they do not belong.

Understanding that goy and ethnos refer to both non-Israelite and Israelite nations will place you well on your way toward solving the mystery of the gentiles.

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Chapter 1        Table of Contents        Chapter 3

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Source Notes

10. From the perspective of the Hebrew language, Yahudi (singular) and Yahudim (plural) are better renditions than are Judahite and Judahites. Nevertheless, Judahite(s) has been retained throughout to reduce complexity and for the sake of reader association.

11. Foy Wallace, Jr., God's Prophetic Word (Ft. Worth, TX: E. Wallace Publications, 1946) p. 402.

12. "Jew," The New Unger's Bible Dictionary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1985) p. 688.

13. "Jew," New Bible Dictionary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1982) p. 593.

14. "Jew," A New Standard Bible Dictionary (New York, NY: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1936) pp. 453-454.

15. "Jew," Peloubet's Bible Dictionary (New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1947) p. 316.

16. "Identity Crisis," The Jewish Almanac, compiled and edited by Richard Siegel and Carl Rheins (New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1980) p. 3.

17. Dr. James Kennedy, Character & Destiny: A Nation in Search of Its Soul (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994) p. 165.

18. Pat Robertson, The New World Order: It Will Change the Way You Live, (Dallas, TX: Word Publishing, 1991) p. 250.

19. Tim LaHaye, Rapture under Attack: Will You Escape the Tribulation? (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 1998) p. 233.

20. Dr. Alfred M. Lilienthal, What Price Israel (Chicago, IL: Henry Regnery Company, 1953) p. 216.

21. Michael Grant, "Appendix 11, The Names of the Country and the People," The History of Ancient Israel (New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1984) pp. 283-284.

22. Rabbi Elmer Berger, A Partisan History of Judaism (New York, NY: The Devin-Adair Company, 1951) p. 32.

23. Flavius Josephus, Josephus, "The Antiquities of the Jews" (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1960) Book XI, Chapter V, Verse 7, p. 236.

24. Foy Wallace, Jr., God's Prophetic Word (Ft. Worth, TX: E. Wallace Publications, 1946) p. 401.

25. "Israel, History Of," The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdman's Publishing Co. 1939) Volume III, p. 1526.

26. Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown, A Commentary Critical, Experimental and Practical on the Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdman's Publishing Co. 1967) Volume II, pp. 583-584.

27. Adam Clarke, Clarke's Commentary (New York, NY: Lane & Scott, 1850) Volume IV, p. 526.

28. Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown, A Commentary Critical, Experimental and Practical on the Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdman's Publishing Co. 1967) Volume IV, p. 346.

29. Flavius Josephus, Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews" (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1960) Book XI, Chapter V, Verse 2, p. 234.

30. A. Neubauer, "Where are the Ten Tribes?," The Jewish Quarterly Review (New York, NY: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., 1889) Volume I, pp. 15-16.

31. Rabbi Isaac Leeser, Discourses, Argumentative and Devotional on the Subject of the Jewish Religion (Philadelphia, PA: Haswell and Fleu, 1836) Volume II, p. 25.

32. Neubauer, pp. 17-18.

33. Abraham Yagel, Beth hal-Lebanon, quoted by A. Neubauer, "Where are the Ten Tribes?," The Jewish Quarterly Review (New York, NY: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., 1889) Volume IV, p. 412.

34. Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, Hurlbut's Story of the Bible (Philadelphia, PA: The International Press, 1932) p. 419.

35. Robert Young, "Jew," Analytical Concordance to the Bible (New York, NY: Funk and Wagnall's Company, Twentieth American Edition) p. 544.

36. "Identity Crisis," The Jewish Almanac, compiled and edited by Richard Siegel and Carl Rheins (New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1980) p. 3.

37. Leo Heiman, "The Jews That Maybe Aren't," San Diego Union, 28 August 1966.

38. God's Covenant People: Yesterday, Today and Forever, by Ted R. Weiland, reveals from the testimony of the Jews themselves that most of today's Jews are not Israelites. Most of God's Covenant People may be read at http://www.missiontoisrael.org/gods-covenant-people/tableofcontents.php, or it may be obtained in its entirety from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363 for a suggested donation of $23 (hard cover) or $14 (soft cover).

39. Zionism is a national and political movement that maintains the Jewish people are entitled to a national homeland. Formerly founded in 1897, Zionism eventually selected Palestine in 1917 as their home. Since 1948 Zionism's main aim has been the development, support and defense of the modern State of Israel. The term "Zionism" was coined in 1890 by Nathan Birnbaum.

40. Dr. Benjamin H. Freedman, "Economic Council Letter, No 177 (October 15, 1947)," Palestine (New York, NY: National Economic Council, Inc., 1947) quoted in Destiny Magazine, 28 January 1948.

41. Herbert George Wells, The Outline of History (New York, NY: The Macmillan Publishing Company, Inc., 1923) p. 494.

42. George L. Robinson, "Archaeological Supplement," The Master Bible, p. 1398-G.

43. Arthur Koestler, The Thirteenth Tribe (New York, NY: Random House, 1976) p. 199.

44. Rabbi Morris N. Kertzer, What Is a Jew? (New York, NY: Collier Books, 1960) p. 203.

45. The word "Jew(s)" does not accurately convey the biblical intent of the original Hebrew and Greek words "<yd]WhY" (Yehuwdiy) and "Ioudai/wn" (Ioudaios ). To accurately reflect this intent, the author has inserted Judahite(s) where appropriate.

46. Jack Bernstein, as told by Len Martin, The Life of an American Jew in Racist Marxist Israel (Costa Mesa, CA: The Noontide Press, 1991) p. 20.

47. Koestler, p. 17.

48. Koestler, p. 46.

49. Koestler, p. 72.

50. Koestler, p. 151.

51. Who is Esau-Edom? by Charles A. Weisman (Burnsville, MN: Weisman Publications, 1991) presents numerous Edomite characteristics found in the Khazars and in their modern Jewish descendants.

52. "Chazars," The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York, NY: Funk and Wagnalls Company, 1905) Volume IV, p. 3.

53. "Edom," Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, Israel: Encyclopaedia Judaica Company, 1971) Volume 6, p. 378.

54. "Edom, Idumea," The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York & London: Funk and Wagnalls Company, 1904) Volume V, p. 41.

55. "EDOM (Idumea)," The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1977) p. 589.

56. Flavius Josephus, "The Antiquities of the Jews," Josephus, (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1960) Book XIII, Chapter IX, Verse 1, p. 279.

57. "Israel," Peloubet's Bible Dictionary (New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1947) pp. 279-280.

58. Hugo Winckler and Leonard William King, "The Hebrew Peoples," Harmsworth History of the World by Arthur Mee, Sir John Alexander Hammerton and Arthur Donald Innes (London, England: Carmelite House, 1908) Volume 3, p. 1776.

59. James Strong, "la@r*c=,y" "Dictionary of the Hebrew Bible," The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990) p. 53.

60. Walter Hutchinson, Hutchinson's History of the Nations (London, England: Hutchinson & Company, 1914) Volume II, p. 530.

61. "Tribes, Lost Ten," The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York and London: Funk and Wagnalls Company, 1905) Volume XII, p. 249.

62. Missing Links Discovered in Assyrian Tablets, by E. Raymond Capt, is available from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363 for a suggested $10 donation.

63. It is, however, a mystery why Yahweh would love any of us so much that "...while we were yet sinners, Christ [would die] for us" - Romans 5:8.

64. "Gentiles," The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible (Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster Press, 1944) p. 199.

65. "GENTILE," The New Unger's Bible Dictionary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1966) p. 465.

66. "Gentiles," Fausset's Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1963) p. 316.

67. Tim LaHaye, Rapture under Attack: Will You Escape the Tribulation? (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 1998) p. 233.

68. Randy Shupe, "God's Dispensational Truth," The Prophetic Word (Arvada, CO: Apostolic Missions, Inc., 1997) January, p. 3.

69. Henry Morris, Ph.D., "Heathen Darkness," Days of Praise (Santee, CA: Institute for Creation Research).

70. Anton Darms, The Delusion of British-Israelism: A Comprehensive Treatise (New York, NY: Loizeaux Brothers, Bible Truth Press, 1940) pp. 72-73.

71. Joseph Henry Thayer, "e)qno$," The New Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1979) p. 168.

72. Karl Ludwig Schmidt, "e)qno$," Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Gerhard Kittel, editor (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1964) Volume II, p. 369.

73. Francis Brown, S.R. Driver, Charles A. Briggs, William Gesenius, "yogl," The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1979) p. 156.

74. "Gentiles," The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdman's Publishing Co. 1939) Volume II, p. 1215.

75. "Gentiles," The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1967) p. 307.

76. "Gentiles," Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995) p. 487.

77. "Gentiles," The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (New York, NY: The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Inc., 1941) Volume 4, p. 533.

78. "Gentile," The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York, NY: Funk and Wagnalls Company, 1905) Volume V, p. 615.

79. "Min (pl. Minim)," The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York, NY: Funk and Wagnalls Company, 1905) Volume VIII, p. 594.

80. Joseph Henry Thayer, "e)qno$," The New Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1979) p. 168.