Israelites

An Israelite is a member of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve sons of the Biblical patriarch Jacob who was renamed Israel by God in the book of Genesis, 32:28. The Israelites were a group of Hebrews, as described in the Hebrew Bible. There are modern historical debates about the origins of the Hebrews/Israelites.

The English word Israelite derives from ישראל (Standard Yisraʾel Tiberian Yiśrāʾēl, "Upright (with) God"); see the article Israel for details on the word's definition.

Biblical origins

1759 map of the tribal allotments of Israel

According to the Hebrew Bible, the Israelites were the descendants of the sons of Jacob, later known as Israel. His twelve male children were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Gad, Naphtali, Asher, Joseph, and Benjamin.

In the biblical narrative, the sons of Jacob all migrate to Egypt where one of them, Joseph, has become the prime minister. They remain there for 400 years, during which time they multiply to become the twelve "tribes of Israel." Together, they leave Egypt under the leadership of Moses, during the Exodus. The Tribe of Levit is set apart during this time as a priestly class to assist the sons of Aaron and attend the Tabernacle which the Israelites carried through the wilderness. After 40 years of wandering through the wilderness, the Israelites finally reach Canaan and conquer it. The Tribe of Joseph was divided into the two half-tribes of Benjamin and Manasseh and the Tribe of Levi, rather than possessing its own territory, served as a priestly group scattered among the other Israelite tribes.

Strictly speaking, therefore, there were actually 13 tribes, but 12 tribal areas. When the tribes are listed in reference to their receipt of land, as well as to their encampments during the 40 years of wandering in the desert, the Tribe of Joseph is replaced by the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, while the Tribe of Levi disappears from the list. Thus, the tribes are listed in the following ways:

Original division: Reuben Simeon Levi Judah Issachar Zebulun Dan Naphtali Gad Asher Joseph Benjamin

Division according to apportionment of land in Israel: Reuben Simeon Judah Issachar Zebulun Dan Naphtali Gad Asher Benjamin Ephraim (son of Joseph) Manasseh (son of Joseph)

Israelite tribes in of Canaan

The final chapters of the Book of Numbers and the entire Book of Joshua describe the initial conquest of Canaan by the Israelites under the leadership first of Moses, and then Joshua. The Book of Judges describes the Israelites' struggle to establish a national foundation as they face military opposition from the native peoples, temptation from Canaanite religious practices, and war among themselves. The prophet Samuel emerges at the end of the period of judges and creates a sense of national unity, anointing the Benjaminite Saul as the first king of "Israel." Soon, however, God rejects Saul and Samuel anoints David, who leads a band Judahite outlaws that ally themselves with the Philistines until Saul's death. Through a long civil war with Saul's son, Ish-bosheth, David eventually becomes king of all the tribes, although he faces several rebellions in which the northern tribes especially reject his leadership. David's son Solomon succeeds in created a more truly united kingship, although the northern tribes bristle under heavy taxation and forced labor in his capital of Jerusalem. After Solomon's death, a labor dispute occasions the loss of the ten northern tribes by his son Rehoboam. Thereafter, the nothern tribes are known as "Israel" while the southern kingdom is known as "Judah."

Judahl was populated by the tribes of Judah, most of Benjamin, some of Levi (who acted as priests and guardians at the Temple of Jerusalem) and also remnants of the Tribe of Simeon, most of whom probably were assimilitaed into Judah early on.

In 722 B.C.E. the Assyrians under Shalmaneser V conquered the northern Kingdom of Israel, destroyed its capital of Samaria and sent the northern Israelites into exile and captivity. The so-called Ten Lost Tribes are those who were deported. In Jewish popular culture, the ten tribes disappeared from history, leaving only the tribes of Benjamin and Judah and the Levi who eventually became the modern day Jews.

Babylonian captivity and after

In 607 B.C.E. the nation of Judah was conquered by Babylon, and leading Judeans were deported to Babylon and its environs in several stages. Some 70 years later, the Cyrus the Great of Persia, who had recently conquered Babylon, allowed Jews to return to Jerusalem in 537 B.C.E. and rebuild the Temple. By the end of this era, members of the tribes in Judea seem to have abandoned their individual identities in favor of a common one and were henceforth known as Jews.

While Jewish history refers to the norther tribes as "lost" after this, the northern tribes, who had largely intermarried with people brought in by Assyria, were reconstituted as the nation of Samaria. Disdained by Jews because of their mixed lineage, they refused to worship in the rebuilt Temple of Jerusalem, believe that God had commanded the Israelites to establish a central sancturay at Mount Gerizim in the north. Samaria continued to exist as Judah/Judea's rival for several centuries, and its people were known as Samaritans. Suffering persecution under Rome, then under the Christian empires, and finally by Muslim rulers, the Samaritans nearly died out. Today a small population of Samaritans, with its priesthood and sacrificial traditions still intact, continues to exist in Israel and Palestine.

The Jews, meanwhile were scattered after a rebellions against Rome 66 C.E. ended in the desruction of the Temple of Jerusalem and the expulsion of the Jews from the capital. A further rebellion in the second century under the messianic leader Bar Kochba led to a near complete diaspora in which Jews moved east to the cities of the Eastern Roman Empire, west to Alexandria and Africa, and north into Asia Minor and southern Europe, eventually making their way to northern and eastern Europe and the United States. The Jews of Europe face near annihlation in World War II when Adolf Hitler's Third Reich planned their complete extermination. Due to the victory of the Allies, however, they survived, and the state of Israel was established in 1948 as a have for holocaust survivors and other Jewish refugees.

Modern views

Archaeology and modern biblical criticism challenge the biblical view. Rather than migrating en masse together out of Egypt and conquering Canaan in a short period, a much more gradual process is envisioned. Moreover, many scholars believe that several, perhaps most, of the Israelite tribes never migrated to Egypt at all. The archaelogical record is missing any evidence of a large migration from Egypt to Canaan (said the Bible to include 600,000 men of fighting age or at least 2 million people in all), while even relatively small bands of migrants usually leave some evidence of their travels.

Accordingly, many of the so-called Israelites must have lived in an around Canaan and come to join the Israelite federation at a later date. According to this theory, the late-comers were adopted in the "people of Israel" and in turn adopted the Israelite national origin stories in a similar manner to the way more recent American immigrants identify with the story of the British colonists coming to the new world in search of freedom and prosperity.

The existence of a group known as Israel in Canaan is confirmed by a stele left by the Egyptian ruler Merneptah, (reigned 1213 to 1203 B.C.E.) who boasts of having devastated "Israel" and several other peoples in Canaan at a time when most scholars believe the Exodus had not yet occurred.

A number of theories have been put for regarding the identity of the Israelites and the process by which Israel became a nation. The tribe of Joseph (later Ephraim and Manasseh) is often identified as a group which did spend time in Egypt and later came to Canaan. The "Israel" refered to in the Merneptah Stele may be the Bedouin-like wanderers known to elsewhere as "Shasu," who, according the archaelogical record were the first group leaving evidence of worship the Israelite GodYahweh. Other groups that may have later been known as Israelites include the Hyksos and the Apiru. The Hyksos were a large population of semitic people who for a time ruled Egypt but were driven north during the reign of Ahmose I in the sixteenth century B.C.E. The Apiru (also called Habiru) constiuted several groups of nomadic raider who sometimes attacked and occasionally conquered Canaanite towns in the period roughly equivalent to the period of the Israelite conquest of Canaan up until the reign of King David. One theorgy holds that David himself was the last and greatest of the Apiru bandit leaders. (Finkelstein)

The Tribe of Dan is one that seems to have been a relative latecomer to the federation

"Israelite" traditions outside mainstream Judaism

Some modern religions maintain that its followers are "Israelites" or "Jews" although the meaning of these claims differs widely.

Some outside traditional practice of the Law of Moses believe themselves to be the modern descendants of the Israelites. Such groups include the Latter-day Saints, adherents of British Israelism, the Two House Movement, and even some anti-semitic groups, denying the Jewish people their ancestry. (See also supersessionism.)

Samaritans

Samaritans are a very small ethnic group (not more than about 700 persons) and religious sect living in the State of Israel and the West Bank with many beliefs in common with Judaism. They accept the five books of the Torah and the Book of Joshua (but no other books), and hold that the only prophet is Moses. They also preserve their own unique form of Hebrew, and regard themselves as the descendants of Aphrime (Ephraim) and Manatch (Manasseh), though that identification has been challenged by Jews since the 6th century B.C.E. Many regard them as a sect of Judaism, but they regard themselves as distinct from Jews, and do not refer to themselves as Jews.

Messianic Judaism

See also Messianic Judaism

Messianic Judaism considers Jesus to be the Messiah and exists in many sects, some of which accept the core doctrines of Christianity and some which do not or only in degrees. Adherence to the precepts of the Torah, the foundation of Judaism, is also variable depending on the group. It is frequently spear-headed by ethnic Jews ^{[citation needed]}, but many non-Jews are flocking to their synagogues or meeting places, especially those embracing the Two House Movement. Many of its non-Jewish converts consider themselves as "grafted in" to the tribes of Israel, thus, believing they are "Jewish" and/or "Israelite," in a similar way to Caleb and Ruth (great grandmother of King David), both non-Jews, joined themselves to ancient Israel.

The Southern Baptist Convention and the Assemblies of God movement actively participate in establishing Messianic congregations as part of their efforts to evangelize the Jewish people.

Karaite Judaism

Karaite Judaism relies on the Tanakh as the sole scripture and rejects the Oral Law (the Mishnah and the Talmuds). It does not require its adherents to wear Tefillin in any form. They also require tekhelet in their Tzitzit, contrary to Halacha. There are approximately 50,000 adherents of Karaite Judaism, most of whom reside in Israel. However, exact numbers are not known, as most Karaites have not participated in any religious censuses. Like the Samaritans, the division goes back many hundreds of years.

Latter-day Saints

The Latter Day Saint movement (Mormons) consists of a group of religious denominations derived from that started by Joseph Smith, Jr., of which the largest by far is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of more than 12 million members. Almost half of all Latter-day Saints — those in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — live in the United States, and the rest are scattered in countries on every continent all over the world. They believe that through baptism and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, they become "regathered" Israelites, either as literally recovered from the scattered seed of Israel, or as Gentiles adopted and grafted into Israel, and thus becoming part of the covenant people or chosen people of God. LDS Israelite belief is not strictly ethnic, and as such, Latter-day Saints do not consider themselves to be Jews, but rather as "Israelites" of many different cultures occasionally including Jews. They believe that the House of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) takes a prominent role in the spread of the gospel to all of scattered Israel in the last days as a fulfillment of many Old Testament prophecies, and that the House of Judah has a prominent role in the last days and during the Millennium. (Isaiah 2:2-4, Isaiah 11:10-13)

and Guide to LDS scriptural references on Israel

Rastafarians

Rastafarians believe that the black races are the true Children of Israel, or Israelites, as they like to call themselves. Using the Bible they also conclude that Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is the returned messiah who will lead the world's peoples of African descent into a promised land of full emancipation and divine justice.

One Rasta sect, called the Twelve Tribes of Israel, imposes an metaphysical system whereby Aries is Reuben, Aquarius is Joseph, etc. With his famous early reggae song The Israelites Desmond Dekker immortalised the Rastafarian concept of themselves as the Children of Israel.

Anti-Semitic Groups

A number of groups claim to be the only "true Israelites." Such groups generally do not recognize the validity of Jews or any other group that claims Israelite descent. Mainstream historians, as well as religious and secular authorities, dismiss such claims, and these groups are openly hostile to Jews and Judaism in their attempts to supersede them. See British-Israel-World Federation.

See also

• Kingdom of Israel
• Kingdom of Judah
• History of ancient Israel and Judah
• Gentile

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Redford, Donald. Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times. Princeton University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-691-00086-7.

External links

• The Israelite census, of the book of numbers, in isolation, at wikisource

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