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The Distinction Between Biblical Israel and Modern Israel
The Distinction Between Biblical Israel and Modern Israel
Throughout history, words shift, identities are reshaped, and names are borrowed. Yet when it comes to “Israel” and “Jew,” the difference between the ancient meaning and the modern usage could not be more important to understand.
Israel: A Man, NOT a Modern Nation
Israel: A Man, NOT a Modern Nation
In Genesis 32:28, Jacob wrestled with the angel and was given a new name: Israel. From his twelve sons came the tribes of Israel. Thus, when the Bible says, “children of Israel,” it is not speaking of a country on a map, but of Jacob’s descendants—his household, his family line.
Later, when the kingdom split, there were two entities:
The Northern Kingdom (Israel), composed of ten tribes.
Reuben
Simeon
Ephraim
Manasseh
Issachar
Zebulun
Dan
Naphtali
Gad
Asher
The Southern Kingdom (Judah), composed mainly of:
1. Judah
2. Benjamin
(Plus, many of the Levites who served at the temple in Jerusalem)
It was only those of Judah (Judeans) that came to be called Jews. Originally, being a Jew did not mean simply practicing a religion. It meant being a member of a bloodline—the tribe of Judah, descended directly from Jacob.
*Tribe of Levi is unique among Jacob’s sons because they were set apart for priestly service rather than given a land inheritance.
"But to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance, since the food offerings presented to the Lord, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as he promised them." -Joshua 13:14
"Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Shalmaneser the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land." - 2 Esdras 13:39–45
"But they formed this plan for themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the nations and go to a more distant region, where mankind had never lived, that there at least they might keep their statutes which they had not kept in their own land. 43 And they went in by the narrow passages of the Euphrates River...Through that region there was a long way to go, a journey of a year and a half; and that country is called Arzareth" -2 Edras 13:41-46
Assyrian relief dated to this time period (705-681 BC) under King Sennacherib, son of Sargon II who captured Samaria and carried Israel away captive.
King Hoshea (Osea) reigned: ~732–722 BCE.
Assyrian captivity of the Ten Tribes: 722 BCE (fall of Samaria).
Biblical Israel vs. Modern Israel
Biblical Israel vs. Modern Israel
Israel in the Bible = Jacob, renamed “Israel” (Genesis 32:28). His sons became the tribes. When scripture says, “children of Israel,” it literally means his descendants.
Judah/Jews = A subset of Israel (the tribe of Judah + Benjamin + Levites around Jerusalem). Over time, “Jew” became shorthand for all Israelites, but originally it was narrower.
Modern State of Israel = A 20th-century political creation (Balfour Declaration 1917, British Mandate, 1948 establishment).
👉 Biblical Israel was a people, not a political state.
The Covenant Lineage
The Bible emphasizes this covenantal lineage:
Genesis 49 lists the blessings of each tribe.
2 Kings 16:6 distinguishes between Israel and Judah.
The post-exile books of Ezra and Nehemiah reveal that it was primarily the house of Judah that returned from Babylon.
Thus, to the biblical writers, Israel = people of Jacob, and Jew = a member of Judah’s tribe. Not a religion, not a passport, not a political state.
Romans 9:6 says: “For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel”
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