Israelology is the branch of Christian systematic theology that focuses on the nation of Israel and the Jews. Although it is a rarely addressed subject in systematic theology, Israelology seeks to answer the following questions:
What is the nation of Israel?
Where is the nation of Israel located?
Who are the Jews, and what are their roots?
What impact did Israel and the Jews have on history?
Does God still have plans for Israel?
Why do the Jews have a big influence in today's world?
Why should Israel and the Jews matter to us?
Israelology should be regarded as a key subject in systematic theology because the Jews and the nation of Israel enshroud almost everything in the Bible. All the books in the biblical cannon, except for one or two, were written by Jews. About 83% of the Bible's subject matter pertains to the Jews, the nation of Israel or both, whether partially or totally. All of the parables and poetry in the Bible were written in accordance with ancient Jewish traditions and principles. The majority of the prophets and heroes of the Old Testament were of Israel. Jesus said the salvation of all humanity originates with the Jews. Jesus Himself was a Jew by ethnicity, since he descended from Jewish ancestors. The first Christians of the young Church in the 1st Century were Jews before Gentiles began to be added to the Church. Both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant were originally made with the nation of Israel, while the Church that includes Gentiles was merely grafted into the Olive Tree of the New Covenant. Many of the biblical prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled pertain directly to the destiny of Israel and the Jews. These and other facts explain why a thorough study of Israel and the Jews is important.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ISRAEL AND THE JEWS
In both the Old Testament and the New Testament the nation of Israel and Jewish constituents identified Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) as their forefathers. Alternate names for the Jews includes the Hebrews, the Abrahamites, and the Israelites. The people that came to be identified with Abraham were always called the Hebrews, primarily because of the Hebrew language they spoke. Jewish tradition as well as some Christian Scholars, believe that Hebrew was the original language of humanity prior to the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel. Some of the descendants of Noah's son Shem, known as the Semites, continued to speak the Hebrew language for generations after the Tower of Babel, and Hebrew came to be known as a Semitic language. Eventually a man named Terah was born in Shem's family line, and Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran (Genesis 11:24-26). Abram or Abraham was born in 2166 B.C., about 352 years afters Noah's Flood in 2518 B.C. Terah and his sons were living in the land of Shinar or Sumer, where they worshiped false gods (Joshua 24:2, 3). In 2091 B.C., the true God Yahweh called Terah's son Abram, who was renamed Abraham, to leave his father's homeland and relocate to the land of Canaan along the east shore of the Mediterranean Sea. God promised to give the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants. Abraham and his wife Sarai (renamed Sarah) had no children, so Abraham begot a son named Ishmael by the concubine Hagar. God promised Abraham that his wife Sarah would conceive and bear a son despite her old age. Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah in 2066 B.C. God declared that both Isaac and Ishmael will produce a nation, but the promises of God will come through Isaac's descendants. Then Isaac married Rebekah and begot Esau and Jacob in 2006 B.C. Afterward, Jacob married Leah and Rachel, plus he had at least two concubines Zilpah and Bilhah. Jacob begot a total of twelve sons, including six sons by Leah, two sons by Zilpah, two sons by Bilhah, and two sons by Rachel. In order from oldest to youngest, the twelve sons of Jacob were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin. God renamed Jacob and called him "Israel," and that is why the Hebrews were called "Israelites," and why the Hebrew nation was called "Israel." One of Jacob's youngest sons, Joseph, was envied by his brothers and they sold Joseph to the Egyptians in 1897 B.C. God exalted Joseph in Egypt to the position of governor, which was second only to Pharaoh in rank. God used Joseph to help the Israelites to survive a severe famine. In 1876 B.C., Jacob and his family of Israelites moved to Egypt during the governorship of Joseph and began to multiply from seventy Israelites to many thousands of Israelites.
After the death of Joseph and his family, the Egyptians began to brutally oppress the Israelites. Moses was born in 1547 B.C., and God raised up Moses to deliver the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. Through His servant Moses, God struck Egypt with ten devastating plagues, including the death of the firstborn. Pharaoh's heart was hardened over and over, until Pharaoh finally allowed the Israelites to leave Egypt after the tenth plague. God divided the Sea, led the Israelites through the divided Sea, then collapsed the water down upon Pharaoh's army. The Exodus from Egypt took place in 1446 B.C., and that moment of liberation ended roughly 430 years of Hebrew bondage in Egypt. God cared for His chosen people the Israelites in the wilderness by providing them water and feeding them with manna from heaven. God also used a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night to lead the Israelites through the wilderness. The Ten Commandments and hundreds of other laws were given by God to the Israelites through Moses, and this collection of civil, moral and ceremonial laws was called the Torah (Pentateuch). God also made a covenant, and many promises, with the Israelites and they were included as part of the Torah. In addition, Moses' brother Aaron and his sons were organized into the Aaronic Priesthood and the Levites were appointed to help them. All of these events occurred in 1445 B.C. at Mount Sinai. The Israelites did not enter the Promised Land; that is, the land promised to Abraham and his descendants, until forty years after their exodus from Egypt. The forty year delay was because of God's punishing the Israelites for their unfaithfulness to Him. The Israelites finally entered the Promised Land at Jericho under the leadership of Joshua in 1405 B.C. The Israelites were empowered by God to overthrow and destroy the idolatrous nations that inhabited the Promised Land, then the Israelites took full possession of the Promised Land. Twelve Tribes of Israel that occupied geographic territory included ten sons of Jacob and the two sons of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh). The sons of Jacob that received territory included Asher, Dan, Judah, Benjamin, Zubulun, Naphtali, Gad, Reuben, and Issachar. Simeon's territory was engulfed by Judah's. The tribe of Ephraim was sometimes called Joseph in the Old Testament, and Manasseh was subdivided into eastern and western tribes. The tribe of Levi did not receive territory but possessed a number of cities scattered everywhere in Israel. After Joshua's death, God appointed successive judges to in Israel for about 350 years until the time of the prophet Samuel when kings began to rule over Israel (Acts 13:20-21). Saul was anointed as Israel's first king in 1043 B.C., then Saul was replaced by David in 1004 B.C., then David was succeeded by Solomon in 971 B.C. It was Solomon who built the first great Temple in Jerusalem and dedicated it to the Lord. The first three kings among the Hebrews ruled for a combined total of 120 years over an undivided kingdom. After Solomon's death in 931 B.C., the land of the Hebrews was divided into two kingdoms: the kingdom of Israel in the north (ten tribes) and the kingdom of Judah in the south (two tribes). Virtually all of the kings of the northern kingdom (Israel) were wicked, and about half of the kings of the southern kingdom (Judah) were wicked. Because of the wickedness, God eventually delivered both kingdoms over to heathen enemies. The northern kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 B.C., and the southern kingdom was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonians in 586 B.C.
The people of Judah were taken into captivity in Babylon and Medo-Persia for a period of 70 years. In 536 B.C., King Cyrus of Persia returned the Jews to their homeland and the Jews rebuilt their Temple to the Lord in 516 B.C. Over the next 500 years, the Jews were under the authority of the Greeks. Then Antiochus Epiphanes of Seleucia, in 168 B.C., profaned the temple in Jerusalem with an idol to the Greek god Zeus and a pig sacrifice, but the Jews fought back and freed their temple and rededicated it. Later, Jerusalem and the Jews were under Roman authority from 50 B.C. to 70 A.D. The Roman rulers set up Herod, as well as Roman governors to watch over affairs in Judea. About 29 A.D. to 33 A.D., Jesus Christ appeared to the Jews as their promised Messiah, but most of the Jews rejected Jesus. Also around this time, the Church of the Christian faith, founded by Jesus Himself, set out on their Great Commission and began to spread from Jerusalem to areas throughout the Roman Empire and the whole world. Jerusalem and the Jews were conquered by the Romans in 70 A.D., and the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. For 1,878 years (70 A.D. to 1948 A.D.), the Jews were scattered among all the Gentile nations in what is called the Diaspora (Greek word for "scattering"). Israel became a sovereign nation once again in 1948, and the Jews began repossessing their homeland. This occurred approximately 2,520 years after Ezekiel's temple vision in 572 B.C. The Bible prophesies that the Jews will ultimately accept Jesus as their Messiah at the end of the future Great Tribulation, and their Messianic kingdom will rule the four corners of the earth.
HOW AND WHEN WAS THE NAME "JEW" APPLIED TO THE HEBREWS?
The word Hebrew (meaning "descended from Eber," one of Abraham's Semite ancestors) was used very early in Hebrew history, when the Hebrews did not have a well-known national identity. Pharaoh knew the Jewish people by the name Hebrews. But the Torah constantly refers to the Hebrews as the "children of Israel" or simply "Israel". The name "Israel" was used throughout biblical times. The name "Jews" (Yehudim) first appears in the latter books of the Old Testament, such as Esther, Daniel, Nehemiah and Ezra, books that deal with the Babylonian exile. This is because it was mainly the tribe of Judah that was exiled to Babylon and the Babylonians and Persians called them "Judeans" or "Jews". The name "Jews" gradually came to be used for all people of the Hebrew and Aramaic culture, whether from the tribe of Judah, Benjamin, Levi or any of the other tribes who were mixed in with them. The Hebrews were called "Jews" throughout the New Testament, distinguishing them from Greeks or Gentiles. The name "Jews" remains acceptable among the Hebrews today, but some antisemitic groups use the name in a mocking way.
WHEN DID ARAMAIC ENTER JEWISH CULTURE?
Of all the Semitic languages, Aramaic is the one that most resembles Hebrew. Aramaic words, phrases, and even whole scriptural passages appear in different parts of the Old Testament, including parts of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Daniel and Jeremiah 10:11. Outside of the Bible, the oldest fragments of Aramaic are relatively late, dating from 820 B.C. and later. Among Jewish scholars in recent centuries, Aramaic has been held in higher esteem than Hebrew, simply because the primary works of the Jewish tradition, including the Talmud, were written in a dialect of Aramaic.The Babylonians and Persians used Aramaic to communicate with the Jews during their seventy years of captivity, and this contributed to Aramaic becoming the common language of the Jews after the captivity. From that time onward, the Jews began translating some part of their Old Testament into Aramaic. These Aramaic parts of the OT are known as the Targums. Aramaic was commonly spoken among the Jews during the days of Jesus and His apostles. Modern Jews still speak Aramaic, but Hebrew has also become very popular again.
WHAT SKIN COLOR WERE THE JEWS OF THE BIBLE?
There is much debate over the exact appearance and skin color of Abraham and his Jewish descendants. A significant percentage of historians and bible scholars are convinced that the ancient Jews were of a much darker complexion than the modern people who inhabit Palestine today. For example, the Egyptians were Hamitic, and so were the Canaanites. They were descendants of Ham, who was a black person. Joseph was unrecognizable to his brothers when they encountered him in Egypt, indicating that Joseph was of the same color as the Egyptians around him. Also in Exodus 2:16-19 Moses was mistaken for a Hamitic Egyptian. If Moses was not physically identical to Hamitic people how could he have also been mistaken for an Egyptian? In Acts 21:37-38, the Roman soldier mistakenly thought Paul was an Egyptian. How could the soldier mistake Paul for an Egyptian unless the ancient Israelites were of a darker skin tone? Whether people realize it or not, the common portrayals of Jesus as a white man with long dark hair are actually modeled after old paintings of Cesare Borgia, a 15th Century Italian nobleman. One theory argues that the light-skinned race of people that occupy Palestine and the Middle East today are actually descendants of Persians, Arabians, Armenians and European Khazars. The aggressive conquests of the Byzantine Empire and the Muslims drove the darker skinned people of ancient Palestine and Egypt into Subsaharan Africa and parts of Europe and India. Despite the re-establishment of Israel as a sovereign nation in 1948, Black Hebrew Israelites and other radical groups with Afrocentric views of the Bible believe that the real Jews have not yet claimed possession of their homeland, but the country is being led by Gentiles until the Son of Man returns. As of 2011, there were a total of 125,500 Black Ethiopian Jews residing in Palestine. Israeli authorities reject the claims that the Black Hebrew Israelites are authentic Jews, but are instead a cult based on Islam, African tribal religions and liberation theology.
DID GOD TURN HIS BACK ON ISRAEL AND REPLACE THEM WITH THE CHURCH?
An intense debate exists between dispensationalists and supersessionists over whether or not God permanently turned His back on the Jew and national Israel after they rejected Jesus as their Messiah. Catholicism, and most who hold to Reformed Theology, believe that God's sovereign purpose for earthly Israel and ethnic Jews was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and that all Jewish law and covenants are fulfilled in Christ. According to supersessionism, all Old Testament prophecies pertaining to Israel that were not fulfilled at Christ's first coming will be fulfilled by the Church, with all of God's promised blessings to Israel being bequeathed to the Church. Dispensationalism disagrees with this and argues that Israel is only experiencing a temporary judgment from God in which Jews are in a state of blindness because of rejecting the Messiah, and they will remain in blindness until the Church Age or Age of Grace ends at the pre-tribulation rapture. God will turn His attention to national Israel once again during the Great Tribulation, when the Jewish nation will finally accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah at Armageddon. After the Great Tribulation, Jesus will establish a kingdom in Jerusalem where He will rule over the whole world for the 1,000 year Millennium. The Church and the revived nation of Israel will rule the world together with Jesus during the Millennium. According to dispensationalists, both national Israel and the Church each receive their own unique blessings from God onward into eternity future. Supersessionism argues against dispensationalism and teaches that there is only one destiny for everyone who was redeemed by God in Christ, that both the OT saints and the NT saints will be consolidated into the Church and will reign in Heaven with Christ forever. Contrary to the view of supersessionism, there are many Bible passages where God promised to never leave or forsake the nation of Israel and the Jews (Genesis 17:4-9; Jeremiah 31:31-37; 32:37-41; Ezekiel 37:1-28; Amos 9:11-15; Zechariah 14:9-11; Matthew 19:28; John 4:22; Romans 11:25, 26; Revelation 7:3-8).
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