Saturday, December 4, 2021

Biblical Jews and Gentiles were not who you were indoctrinated to believe they were Here’s why! By Morgan Bradford

Biblical Jews and Gentiles were not who you were indoctrinated to believe they were. Here’s why! By Morgan Bradford

Biblical Jews were generally from the southern kingdom of Judah. Around BC930, the kingdom split to make two kingdoms, northern (Israel) and southern (Judah). The northern kingdom consisted of ten tribes, while the southern kingdom consisted of three tribes and later, two. The northern kingdom (Israel) was conquered in BC721 by Assyria and taken captive. At this point, they became divorced from God (Jer 3:8), were no longer bound by the terms of the Mosaic Covenant and were called “not my people” by God in Hosea 1:9 but later, in Christ, became a people of God once again.

According to the story, God divorced the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 BC (Jer 3:8). The Mosaic Covenant was a covenant of marriage between Yahweh and the nation of Israel, but after being divorced the house of Israel could no longer lay claim to that covenant. Those Israelites became strangers to the covenants of promise but God promised to bring them back into the fold in the latter days, the days of the end of the old covenant religious system and temple community which is what the New Testament is about.

The term “gentile” was used to refer to any non-Jew in the ordinary sense. For example, those who mocked and carried out the actual crucifixion (Matt 20:19) and those who over-ran the temple in AD70, Roman legions consisting of Italians, Greeks, Arabs, Syrian and Persian detachments (Luke 21:24). 

To Jews, exiles from the northern kingdom were considered ‘gentiles’ (GK Ethnos) and were called “nations” because they had stopped being Torah observant and had stopped practicing circumcision. To a Jew, apostate Israelites dispersed among the nations were no different than any other nation. These were the gentiles of Matthew 24:31 that were gathered, the fullness of which came in by the time of the end, which was in the first century.

Many gentiles were non-Jewish descendants of the tribes of Israel who were scattered among the nations, those whom Peter and James called the “elect diaspora” (1 Peter 1:1, James 1:1). The gentiles Paul was writing to were these descendants of the tribes of Israel. They were being redeemed the nations. These were the gentiles Paul spoke of in...

(Rom 11:25 ESV) Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

Some gentiles were referred to as “Greeks” were descendants of the tribes of Israel who were Greek cultured Israelites who worshipped God with Jews at the festival (John 12:20). They were the “Greeks” of Acts 18:4 whom Paul reasoned with in the synagogue and the Greeks in Corinth who believed the gospel per Romans 1:16, like Justus (Acts 18:7) and Cornelius (Acts 10:2), and like the gentile proselytes of Antioch (Acts 13:42-43). In each case, there was a link to old covenant Israel. 

Both Paul and Jesus referred to some of their Israelite audiences as 'gentiles', which clearly shows that they were paganized Israelites. 

1 Corinthians 12:1-2 “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: 2 You know that you were GENTILES, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led.”

Those “gentiles” in Corinth were hellenized Israelites who were uncircumcised idol worshipers. Israelites would have been led away from their Israelite religion. Pagans weren’t led away from anything.

Paul also called his Roman audience 'Gentiles' when he said... 

(Rom 9:24 ESV) Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Paul then followed up in Roman 9:25 by quoting from Hosea 1:9 to inform his Roman gentile audience that they were the “people once not a people but now have become a people” that Hosea spoke of. Clearly, these Roman gentiles were descendants of Abraham. 

Paul also called his Ephesian audience of descendants of the tribes of Israel 'gentiles'. 

Eph 2:11Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands 

Eph 3:1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles They were called “gentiles” and “uncircumcision” by Jews because, like the Colossians, they were guilty of not keeping the ritual of circumcision. 

Non-Israelite nations were never required to be circumcised. Still speaking to the same people as in Eph 2:2, it is clearly seen that these gentile Ephesians were descendants of the tribes of Israel, part of the diaspora who had adopted pagan cultural practices but who had responded to the gospel and come out of the nations. Through the disciple's great commission, these elect diaspora were brought near when they were once far, grafted in with those of the natural vine, the “other sheep” found by the shepherd, once considered strangers but later adopted as sons, become a people of God when at one time they had not been. 

Jews even considered other Jews to be gentiles, of a different ethnos, because they were apostate, or held to opposing religious or political beliefs. Even Jesus considered disobedient Jews to be “gentiles” 

“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a GENTILE and a tax collector.” (Matthew 18:15-17)

Did you catch that? Jesus told his fellow Jews that an unrepentant Israelite should be to them as a GENTILE. Proof positive that sinful and non-Torah practicing Israelites were considered “gentiles” by their fellow Jews.

So, we know who Jews were and we have seen examples of the three different types of gentiles. Two of the three were linked to Israel by faith and physical descent. They were the only type of gentile who needed salvation. Nobody today is a biblical t to Jew or gentile that needs salvation. #IO

May be an image of text that says 'BIBLICAL JEWS AND GENTILES WERE NOT WHO YOU'VE BEEN INDOCTRINATED TO BELIEVE THEY ARE. HERE'S WHY.'

MORE READING MATERIAL:

Who were THE DIASPORA? THE ELECT? The fullness of GENTILES that Paul spoke of? Who were those YHWH CALLED NOT MY PEOPLE? Are people today elect like Reformed Calvinist folk think they are? Here’s a RED PILL to who the Bible identifies as the elect!

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-diaspora-were-elect-remnant-of.html?m=1

THE LOST SHEEP OF ISRAEL were NOT Samoans, Mexicans, Indians, Filipinos, Koreans, Irish, English…. but Israelites, duh!!!

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-lost-sheep-of-israel-were-not.html

People in the 21st century pick up an ancient book and assume it’s written to them when it is not. It was written to the ekklesia in Rome Corinth Galatia; Timothy Titus Philemon... in the 1st century

THE BIBLE IS ISRAEL’s STORY!

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-bible-is-israels-story.html?m=1

Ancient Israel Only - Simplified. https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/04/ancient-israel-only-simplified-by-mb.html?m=1

26 POINTS THAT [ISRAEL ONLY] STANDS ON REGARDING THE PROMISES AND COVENANTS

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/07/26-points-that-israel-only-stands-on.html?m=1

1 According to Scripture, one cannot be a Christian without the Indwelling Holy Spirit.

2 The Holy Spirit was promised to a specific group of people in the last days (30-70AD).

3 Therefore, there are no more Christians. https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/05/after-70ad-no-one-has-holy-spirit-here.html?m=1

NOT ONE PERSON TODAY HAS THE HOLY SPIRIT Here are some facts about the HOLY SPIRIT

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/05/after-70ad-no-one-has-holy-spirit-here.html?m=1

Is The Holy Spirit still indwelling people?

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/05/after-70ad-no-one-has-holy-spirit-here.html?m=1

ISRAEL ONLY: THE GENTILES WERE SCATTERED ISRAELITES

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2020/12/israel-only-gentiles-were-scattered.html?m=1

Israel SCATTERED by GOD among the nations for their sin and idolatry, became like the gentile nations, then REGATHERED in THE LATTER DAYS by 70AD

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2020/05/scattered-israel-among-nations-peoples.html

THE LOST SHEEP OF ISRAEL were NOT Samoans, Mexicans, Indians, Filipinos, Koreans, Irish, English…. but Israelites, duh!!!

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-lost-sheep-of-israel-were-not.html

GENTILES IN ROMANS 9:19-33 ARE THE CUT OFF ISRAELITES, THE NORTHERN KINGDOM, THE DIASPORA

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2018/06/gentiles-in-romans-919-33-are-cut-off.html

ALL ISRAEL SAVED https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2018/06/all-israel-will-be-saved-all-israel-was.html?m=1

Gentiles who were sealed, saved, and redeemed had to have been Israelites! Here’s why! https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/10/gentiles-who-were-sealed-saved-and.html?m=1

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

WHO WAS THE SERPENT? By Morgan Bradford

WHO WAS THE SERPENT?

By Morgan Bradford

When one interprets the garden of Eden as  being the “promised land” and Adam as Israel (Ezek 34:31), then a clearer picture begins to appear as to the identity of the serpent. 

Who was Israel’s primary enemy? Canaan. The serpent was known to Adam just as Canaanites were known by primitive Israelites. In the creation narrative, snakes were created first. Canaanites were in the land first. In fact, modern scholarship shows that ancient Israelites were originally Canaanites.

Adam was placed in the garden with an evil inhabitant.
Israel was placed in the promised land that had an evil inhabitant.

Adam’s placement in the garden included ruling over all the animals, including the serpent.
Israel’s placement in the promised land included ruling over all its inhabitants, including Canaanites.

(Gen 3:14 NASB)  The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you…”

(Gen 9:25 NASB)  So he [Noah] said, “Cursed be Canaan…”

The name “Canaan” comes from a root word כָּנַע kana, which means “subdue”. This of course is consistent with Israel’s mandate to subdue the inhabitants of the promised land, Canaanites. The term is used in this way in Deuteronomy 9:3.

(Deu 9:3 NASB)  “Know therefore today that it is the LORD your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue (kana) them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD has spoken to you.

Source for this section: (Adam As Israel, Seth Postell, ppg 105-106)

We can also see Joshua being a type of Adam, tasked with conquering and subduing the inhabitants of Canaan (Josh 1:3, 18:1). Failure to subdue the inhabitants of the land leads Gibeonites tricking Joshua into making a covenant with them (Josh 9), which was forbidden by the law (Exod 23:32-33).

Josh 9:4 says that the Gibeonites acted “craftily”.  Who else was crafty?

The serpent was “more crafty than any other beast of the field…” (Gen 3:1 NASB).

After Joshua was deceived, he blames the Gibeonites (Josh 9:22 NASB).

After Eve was deceived, she blamed the serpent (Gen 3:13 NASB).

Noah curses Canaan (Gen 9:25 NASB) “Cursed be Canaan”
God curses the serpent (Gen 3:14 NASB) “Because you have done this, Cursed are you…”

The Gibeonites are cursed with being in perpetual servitude.

(Jos 9:23 NASB)  “Now therefore, you are cursed, and you shall never cease being slaves, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”

The serpent is cursed with having to crawl on its belly and eat dust.

(Gen 3:14 NASB)  The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;

Jesus referred to Jews who were hostile to him as “serpents” and “brood of vipers” (Mat 12:33-34), which is to call them snakes. Why? Not because there was a real, talking snake in the garden and not because Jews were literal snakes. Jesus called them serpents because they were dishonest and manipulative, like the Gibeonites with Joshua in the promised land. Jews would have been aware of the story of Joshua and the Gibeonites. Calling Judaists “serpents” would have been a massive insult, the ultimate slur.

We have a rather enigmatic reference to the serpent in…

(Rev 20:2)  And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;

Was the “dragon, serpent of old, devil and Satan” all the same thing at the same time? Yes and no. The serpent in the garden were Canaanites, more specifically, the Gibeonites.  But in the Revelation, all of these titles (dragon, serpent of old, devil and Satan) are a cumulative picture of Jewish deception and first century opposition to Christ and his cult of Israelite followers.

At the beginning of Israel’s redemptive narrative, the serpent (Canaan, specifically, Gibeonites) were overcome. At the end of Israel’s redemptive narrative, enemies of Jesus’ followers, characterized as the “dragon”, serpent, devil, satan, beast and false prophet were overcome.

(Rev 20:10 NASB)  And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

The lake of fire was symbolic for the judgment of destruction of the old covenant religious system and temple community. It follows that the "serpent" in that context, as in Genesis 3, wasn't a literal talking snake, but an enemy of Israelites who were of faith in Christ, Judaists. #IOWINS