In the Scriptures many of protagonists’ names have meanings
that either determine or are congruent with the given person’s identity. Our
identity, naturally, plays a major role in our lives;
gender, family, community, ethnicity, nationality and profession. In our day and age one can also be known or
identified by one’s association with a political or religious grouping, or other
types of ideologies, or even by varying interests.
At the very beginning the Creator made Man in His image
and likeness; He made them male and female. This was humanity’s initial identity
and had they continued to “walk” with Elohim they would have come to know
themselves accordingly and would have given expression to this “image and
likeness”. They truly would have been the Creator’s children, sons and
daughters (‘like father - like son/daughter’).
However, having given up their original nature, our progenitors
bequeathed to their seed a distorted identity which has taken on manifold
expressions all through history. So much so, that the rebellion has morphed to
the point of the current frightening gender confusion, attempts at cloning and
other technological efforts that at times almost dehumanize what Elohim created
in His image. Darwin’s theory relegated
the human species to an animalistic identity and this has evolved into a
behavior and a mindset to match. Animals
in many cases have been and are domesticated or trained, and are then harnessed
to tasks that serve their master. Such
is the condition we face in the world of humanity today.
A dictionary definition of identity is: ”The state or
fact of remaining the same one or ones, as under varying aspects or conditions…
the condition of being oneself or itself, and not another…condition or
character as to who a person or what a thing is; the qualities, beliefs, etc.,
that distinguish or identify a person or thing.”
Elohim had given man
his name, and then man named the woman. Humanity continues, likewise, to
name their offspring. The Creator asked
Adam to name the animals, and thus involved him with their identity-definition.
The book of Genesis sets in motion a
history of identification markers. Our “father
Abraham” is but one example. Many today, even four thousand years after the
fact, continue to identify themselves as people groups descended from him. To follow the identity pattern in Genesis, as mentioned above, there are individuals
whose names describe or determine their identity and who have thus been differentiated
into families, tribal groupings, or nations yet all originating with Abraham,
such as Ishmael, Isaac, or the tribes of Israel. Then there are more Abrahamic relatives with national
identities, such as the Midianites, Sheba and Edom.
In the writings of the New Covenant there are many
references to “nationality”, simply by the usage of the term “ethnos”, which
means exactly that, a “nation” or a “people group”. In English that neutral
term has been translated into “Gentile” or “Gentiles”. The usage of the term Gentile, rather than
people or nation, has become synonymous with being non-Jewish, as mentioned in
the last article, while Jewish equals to being a descendent of the forefathers
- Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As a matter
of fact, these Patriarchs are often called Jews. So where does this leave us, who claim
Israelite identity?
In his letter to the Ephesians Paul describes the “Gentiles”:
“Living in the
futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated
from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the
blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over
to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness” (Ephesians 4:17-19). Peter adds more to the identity of a “Gentle”: “For we have spent enough of our past
lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles -- when we walked in lewdness,
lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries”
(1 Peter 4:3). Is this who we are, as redeemed
Israelites in Messiah? Or is this why
the apostle says “formally you were [identified as] Gentiles” (and I might add “behaved
like them”)? But now “having been brought back into covenant”, do we still
identify ourselves as Gentiles, or are we truly the Israel of YHVH that
manifests His nature?
In the Israeli news this week there was a report about 50
Gypsies from France and other locations that convened for a conference in
Jerusalem proclaiming Israelite identity.
Their gypsy ethnicity and their claims sparked here unfavorable comments
regarding their ultimate intentions.
Very recently I received a letter from a Jewish Messianic
believer, commenting on the Israelite (two house) Movement. Here are just a few of his “jabs”: I viewed it as one of the many new winds
that blow regularly through the Body of Messiah in these days of delusion… a rather convoluted reasoning process… Remembering the words of Thomas Paine, “To argue
with someone who has abandoned reason is to administer medicine to a dead
man,”… This is coveting of [identity] the
first order. This appears to be nothing more than a new twist on replacement
theology.
Because more and more groups around the world are claiming
an Israelite identity of some sort we, along with the Jewish nation, are faced
with a real dilemma. We, for example, believe in Yeshua as Messiah and claim
the New Covenant writings as central to our identity and cultural expression,
while the Jewish nation is guarded and protective of their identity. To
many Israeli Jews, whether religious or secular, the idea of “non-Jewish lost
tribes” poses a threat to their identity and uniqueness. With all the ones that are coming to the fore as
“Israelites”, it remains up to YHVH to sift out the ones who are merely jumping
on the band wagon. Yet we do need to be mindful
that there is more happening out there in regards to Israelite identity, although
at times to the point of “competition”. To all that we say, let the real
Israelites rise up!
