Understanding the Term Jew in History

The first most important thing to

realize is that the word Jew is a loaded term.

It originates from one of the tribes of Israel named Judah.

Judah was one of Jacob's 12 sons and the term Jew refers to people who lived in or

were from Judah,

the territory of land that the tribe of Judah received as their inheritance once

they entered the promised land.

Later this was called Judea,

which is a Greco Roman transliteration.

And that means the Jews were specifically from Judea.

This may seem like no big deal,

but it's actually very significant. Firstly, what it means is

that those before the territory of Judah was created were not Jews.

Moses wasn't a Jew, nor was he Jewish.

Jacob was not a Jew or Jewish either.

Isaac wasn't a Jew, nor was he Jewish.

Abraham wasn't a Jew because Abraham was a Hebrew, a descendant of Eber.

Abraham was also promised to be the father of many nations,

not just one nation or group of people, i e. the Jews.

In fact, up until and including Jacob,

all of these patriarchs were referred to as Hebrews.

God famously changed Jacob's name to Israel.

And between the time of Jacob, through the time of Moses,

and up until the territory of Judah was established,

the people of the Bible were called Hebrews and Israelites respectively.

If the significance of these things isn't immediately obvious, don't worry.

It will become very plain as we dive deeper into this. Moving on.

What this means is that,

once the term Jew even began being used,

it was really only used to refer to a minority of the people within Israel,

that is, the Judeans or those from Judah.

The Bible is therefore not about the Jews,

nor are the Jews the founders of monotheism,

nor even the majority of people highlighted in Scripture.

Samson was from the tribe of Dan.

Deborah was from the tribe of Ephraim.

Gideon was from Manasseh.

Elijah came from Gad or Manasseh.

And Elisha, his protege, came from Issachar.

Joshua and Samuel were from the tribe of Ephraim.

And Moses and Aaron were from the tribe of Levi.

All of these famous Bible

heroes were Israelites, not Jews.

They did not come from Judah,

nor did they refer to themselves as Jews, because they had no reason to.

The Bible also speaks of

Egyptians, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Armenians, Persians, Greeks, Romans,

and countless other pagan tribes and peoples.

So, anyone telling you that the Jews are the center of

Scripture is just not telling you the truth.

But now things start to get a little more complicated.

And for that, you have to know a bit of history.