The Birthright: Part 2

THE BIRTHRIGHT: PART 2

The historical northern kingdom of Israel consisting of the current so-called lost ten tribes are legally ordained by God as the holders of the birthright promise.  The house of northern Israel was originally deemed the wife of God but the Lord divorced His wife, however the future Israel will be the bride of Christ.  The first appearance of Jesus was to accept the scepter and establish His Kingship of the Kingdom of God as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.  This secured His throne rights as the Messiah.  His second appearance will be to the tribes of Joseph to secure His birthright inheritance and establish the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God which will be His Kingdom.  It was the actual Kingdom inheritance that went into captivity and that Kingdom is not lost.

Misunderstood Prophecy

Some deluded Bible teachers insist all twelve of the tribes are present in modern Israel but that is completely untrue.  There may have been a few individuals during the Idumean times of Jesus first appearance and there may be some in current Israel but they do not hold the birthright title and no one in modern Israel will ever hold or have access to that title.  The name Israel signifies the holders of the birthright but Judah, in the form of Idumeans, and current Israel of Judahite/Edomites do not hold that title.  These same deluded Bible teachers insist the lost ten tribes as well as British Israelism is a myth initiated by Herbert W. Armstrong of the original Worldwide Church of God.  Mr. Armstrong had some faulty doctrines, but he may have been led to discover the true nature of the so-called lost tribes, therefore, it is not a myth as will be explored later.

Unfulfilled prophecy cannot be properly comprehended without understanding the true Biblical nature of current Israel as opposed to the Biblical northern Israel of ten tribes.  As an example, go to Ezekiel 38-39 and plug in true Israel in the place of modern Israel at each occurrence of the word “Israel” and it completely changes the understanding or misunderstanding of the prophecy(s). 

Current Bible teachers and exegetes can write books and make money while convincing readers of their misunderstood concepts of the fulfillment of prophecy by current Israel and the surrounding areas and peoples but they are wrong if they consider as the entire twelve (or 13) tribes living in the Promised Land.  In 1948 the Idumeans proclaimed their new nation as Israel.  The evangelical world proclaimed that prophecy had been fulfilled.  The restoration of the Kingdom was at hand.  They were the chosen people of God and they would fulfill the remaining prophecies of the Bible.  The Christian world immediately placed their support behind the state that illegally took the name of Israel which could only be employed by the tribes of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh.

Judah only had the legal right to produce the Messiah as the inheritor of the scepter, which was done from 2 BC until the death and resurrection of Jesus in 33 AD.  When Jesus was born and secured His legal throne and Kingship rights the prophetic role of Judah concerning the salvation of the world was concluded.  The destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, and the Judean/Idumean remnant in 70 AD defines the final fulfillment of Judah regarding the Messiah-ship of Jesus.  One prophecy remaining to be fulfilled would be one final restatement of the cursed fig tree bearing many leaves but no fruit, which is the current Israel which is in the process of being fulfilled.

Northern Israel

The northern ten tribes began their nation around 930 BC due to a disagreement concerning taxation and leadership.  Jeroboam of the nation of Ephraim, the holder of the birthright, was the leader and first king of the nation.  A split or breach occurred when the birthright tribes were taken away from Solomon’s son, Rohoboam.  This nation lasted for 210 years and officially ended at the fall of Samaria in 721 BC.

Although the northern nation of Israel was destroyed and the majority of the population carted away by Assyria, the Old Testament prophets continued to prophesy the restoration of the House of Israel with the House of Judah, and the current nation of Israel is not that restoration and never will be in this present age regardless of the deluded teachings of Bible exegetes.

The “dry bones” prophecy of Ezekiel 37 was not fulfilled in 1948 as proclaimed by deluded Bible teachers, but will be fulfilled at the second coming of Jesus.  This passage speaks of the repair of the breach between Judah (Judeans) and Joseph (the northern nation of Israel).  It also speaks of resurrection from the dead.

Ezekiel 37:12 NET  Therefore prophesy, and tell them, 'This is what the sovereign LORD says: Look, I am about to open your graves and will raise you from your graves, my people. I will bring you to the land of Israel.

In verse 12 above, the Lord specifically says, “I am about to open your graves and will raise you from your graves”.  That will truly occur at the rapture (harpazo, catching (away), gathering (up)) and it did not happen symbolically or otherwise in 1948 because no individual from the ten northern tribes were present and no one was raised from the dead, even symbolically.

As stated in Part 1, Ezekiel was a type of missionary sent to the tribes of Israel by God.  He writes that Israel (10 northern tribes) have no shepherd and have become scattered over the face of the earth and that no one is earnestly searching for them.  The Lord states that He will search for them and deliver them in the “cloudy and dark day” which is a reference to the wrath of God prior to the complete fulfillment of the Kingdom of God during the Millennium era.

Ezekiel 34 KJV  (2)  Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel….. ( 5)  And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.  (6)  My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.  (12) KJV  As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.  (13)  And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

The Messiah, Jesus, is the King.  The house of Israel was His wife but will become His bride.  The House of Israel (Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh) will be the future bride.  Israel is the birthright nation but all races and nations can join the wedding as bridesmaids (just be prepared and make certain your lamp has oil before the door closes).  It is my opinion that Israel is beloved by God and that Israel is the “apple of God’s eye”, but the current nation of Israel is NOT the birthright Israel and is not the “apple of His eye”.  Real Israel is among the nations soon to be the Bride of Christ, the future completely fulfilled Kingdom of God, and are currently among the righteous God-worshipping Christians referred to as the Church.  Members of the current nation of Israel who are actual tribal members of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi can be restored as the breach will be restored but will require a belief in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Judah just like anyone else.  There is not two ways to salvation.

Dr. Stephen E. Jones: God’s Kingdom Ministry  While historians throughout history, and even the apostles in the New Testament, have continued to write about the Israelites, it is amazing that modern Bible teachers seem to ignore the facts completely. Their zeal to give the birthright to the Jews today blinds them to the entire flow of prophecy in its outworking among the modern nations.

The Location of Lost Israel

The Tribes by Yair Davidy: [Copied from Stephen Jones book entitled, Secrets of Time]   This book published in Hebron, Israel relates “the Israelite Origins of Western Peoples.” Its Jewish author even has a Letter of Commendation from Rabbi Abraham Feld of the prestigious Maccabee Institute in Jerusalem.

This book shows how most of the ancient Israelites were exiled and lost their identity and that today their descendants are to be found mainly amongst the “Gentile” peoples of North America, Northwest Europe, Australia and South Africa. The present-day Jews in the Diaspora and Israel [i.e., the Israeli state] are mainly descended from only two of the original twelve tribes whereas the offspring of the remaining majority are in the above areas.… (p. 1) These claims are not far-fetched. They are supported by Biblical, Historical, and other evidence much of which is, in effect, even recognized by the academic world, which simply has not sufficiently co-related the information in its possession and has not drawn the necessary conclusions from the proof it already acknowledges. (p. 2) The Israelites were transported en-masse first mainly to areas in northern Mesopotamia and to Hara and from those regions they later moved northward into “Scythia” (roughly the area encompassed in the past by the U.S.S.R.) whence they migrated in several waves to the extreme north and west of Europe from which their descendants settled North America, Australasia, and South Africa. The peoples in these said nations today are thus in the Biblical and historical sense brothers of the Jews who came from the remaining southern kingdom of Judah and comprised the second half of the Hebrew nation with the Lost Ten Tribes comprising the remainder. The Jews and the Lost Ten Tribes together form the Israelite HEBREW nation. (p. 7)

More location information coming next in Part 3

The Origin Of The English Word “Gentile”

AN UNFORTUNATE TRANSLATION ERROR

12-29-2011

TECHNICAL ASPECTS
Ethnos – G1484 in Strong’s numbering system.  It is used 164 times in the New Testament translated “Nation or Nations” 64 times; “Gentiles” 93 times; “Heathen” 5 times; and “People” 2 times.

Strong’s G1074 appears once as “Nations” and in other places is translated as “generation(s)”, “time”, and “ages”.  G1085 appears twice as “nation(s)” and other times as:  kind, kindred, country, stock, offspring, born, diversities, and countrymen.

G246 appears once as “nation.”

G1672 (Hellen) is used 6 times as “Gentiles”, with 40 instances translated as “Greek” or “Greeks” as it should be.

The English word - Gentile - has its origin from the Latin gentelisis and the French gentil, both derived from the Latin root gens, meaning - "A Selected Clan or Race of the same ethnic stock.”

The word “ethnos” (G1484) literally means ‘nation’ or a homogenous race of people.  It is not applicable to an individual. A person cannot be addressed as a nation or race.  The idea that a person can be called a "gentile" - stems from an incorrect translation of the original word.

THE ORIGIN AND USAGE
It appears that the translators of the Authorized Version of the Bible are responsible for the perpetuation of the word “Gentile” in the English language.  It was evidently coined by the translators to correspond with their personal understanding and bias that excluded the national theme of Israel as the northern ten tribes from the Old Testament and referred to in the New Testament.   Lacking knowledge of the location and racial makeup of the dispersed nation of Israel, they considered “Israel” and “Jew” as interchangeable terms.

Due to centuries of mass indoctrination, in the minds of most people, the world is now divided into two groups of people – the Jews and everyone else as if the Jews constitute the entirety of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel.  I have heard people refer to Abraham as a Jew and the Israelites in Egypt prior to the exodus as Jews.  The term “Jew” did not even appear until the southern kingdom of Judah was taken captive to Babylon.  Jew is an abbreviated slang term for Judahite, a resident of the southern kingdom of Judah, much like the Japanese, during WWII, were referred to as “Japs”.

In the translator’s understanding, the area around New Testament Judea contained all the people of the Birthright promise that God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob which consisted, after the death of Solomon, of the nations of Judah and Israel.  Recall from previous posts that the northern nation of Israel was conquered by Assyria who deported the vast majority (but not all) of the Israelites to the northeastern region of their territory.  A hundred plus years later, the southern kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Babylonians with three different deportations.  Most (but not all) of the Judahites were taken captive back to Babylon.  Seventy years later some (but not all) of the captives were allowed to return.

Had the translators used the word "nation" in every occurrence, the context would dictate whether “ethnos” was applicable to the nation of Israel or nations of a non-Israelite race and much confusion concerning the New Testament message would have been avoided.
This unfortunate translation of introducing the previously unknown word “gentile” into the Bible and the English language has become a de facto convention around the world.  There are no popular commentaries, eschatology books, or Bible studies that do not employ the concept of the modern “Jews” as the totality of every instance of words such as:  Jew, Zion, Israel, and Israelite.  Almost all secular encyclopedias and dictionaries, give a definition of ‘gentile’ as a ‘non-Jew’ with no further elaboration.

Bible scholars, preachers, pastors, and teachers design convoluted and confusing explanations for sections of Paul’s letters because they believe his epistles were addressed to some foreign group of people of a non-Israelite race called “Gentiles.”  Many Church doctrines are erroneous and full of contradictions because of this misunderstanding.  In Matthew 10:5-6 the Lord Jesus sent His disciples to deliver the message of the Kingdom to the lost sheep of the house of Israel only.

These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles (ethnos: the multitude – in this instance the ethnos refers to Judea), and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  (Matthew 10:5-6 KJV)

NOTE that in the above scripture reference, the word “ethnos” defined as: a nation, a race, or a homogenous ethnic group can even refer to the Jews of the province of Judea because the disciples were sent out of Judea.

The same bias that prompted the translators of the Authorized Version to distort the meaning of ethnos, is also evident with the Greek words genes, genos and gennema, whose primary meaning in each instance is “race.” 

In many passages they confused the racial meaning by rendering “genos” or "race" as "generation.”  In the following scripture passages the word "generation" makes no sense with the context:  Matthew 3:7. 12:34; 23:33, 24:34, Mark 13:30; Luke 3:7; 21:32; 1 Peter 2:9.

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.  (Matthew 24:34 KJV)  The generation Jesus was talking to has already passed but the race of Israelites is still alive and well and will be at the return of Jesus.  This causes many prophecy expositors to proclaim that the ‘generation’ referred to in this verse commenced in 1948 with the recognition of the modern state of Israel.  However, they are running out of time and may soon be forced to view this verse with its original intent.

Paul recognized that the Israelites, among the nations, were blind to their identity.

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel (northern 10 tribes), until the fullness of the Gentiles (Nations or races) be come in.  (Rom 11:25 KJV)

Jeremiah lived around 100 to 130 years after the nation of Israel was deported by Assyria.  He indicated that Israel were like lost sheep and had forgotten their national origins.

Jeremiah 50:4-6 KJV  In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together….  (5)  They shall ask the way to Zion….saying….let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant…. (6)  My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.

Many difficult Bible passages can be more easily understood when the target population that the message was intended for is known.  All translations are subject to the biases and world views of the translators.  Anyone who believes that the pens of the King James translators were any more directed by God than any other are deluded – the pens of the original Hebrew and Greek authors – Yes – others not so much.

Your Father is the Devil

Your Father is the Devil 

12-21-2011

John chapter 8 records a confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees.  It concludes with Jesus telling the Pharisees that their father is the devil (Satan?), and by insinuation or genetics, that they are liars and murderers.

John 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

It is my position that the direct words of Jesus (non-parabolic) are to be taken literally and without equivocation.  Can it be shown that the Pharisees were genetically liked to the devil or similar angelic entity?

THE SONS OF GOD
The “sons of God” who mated with human women in Genesis chapter 6 and spawned giants or nephilim, among other things, are now imprisoned in Tartarus.  (See II Peter 2:4 and Jude 1:6)  Enoch called these ‘sons’ Watchers and stated there were 200 of them who descended on Mt. Hermon during the days of Jared.  Everyone else died in the flood except Noah, three sons, four wives, and select animals.  Genesis 6 also states there were giants after this as well.  What is the origin of these ‘after that’ giants?

There is no mention of ‘sons of God’ mating with human women in the Bible after the flood, although that doesn’t mean it didn’t occur.  It is possible that someone other than Noah, who was proclaimed genetically pure, was carrying Watcher DNA.  Very little of the background of Noah is recorded either in the Bible or non-canonical literature.  Noah could have had more wives than the one who accompanied him on the ark.  Each of the three sons could have had a different mother.  What is known is that Noah’s genetic makeup was untainted by Watcher DNA as was Shem’s mother and Shem because the Messiah, Jesus, appeared through the linage of Shem.

Gen 6:9  These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect (without blemish; undefiled) in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

It has also been theorized that demonic possession can alter the genetic code.  Keep in mind that demons, the soulless spirits of dead nephilim, did not exist until after the flood.  The author, Douglas Hamp, has written a book entitled, “Corrupting the Image,” which discusses the possible connection of the ‘fall’ of Adam to DNA corruption.

NOAH, HAM, AND CANAAN
There is an enigmatic passage in Genesis 9 concerning Ham and Noah.  The text reads that Ham “saw the nakedness of his father” and upon awakening, Noah knew what Ham had done and cursed his grandson, Canaan, the son of Ham.

Gen 9:22-25  And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.  (23)  And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.  (24)  And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.  (25)  And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren

This passage has been variously understood to mean that Ham: merely saw his father unclothed; had sexually relations with his mother; sodomized Noah; or castrated Noah.  It is doubtful that the first explanation would have solicited any response at all.  Plus, Noah would not necessarily have to be drunk for this to take place. 

The incestuous explanation would not have resulted in the cursing of Canaan, but more likely the stoning of Ham. It has been suggested that Canaan was the product of an incestuous act but Canaan must have already existed for Noah to curse him.

Does the sodomy conviction have any merit?  It is my supposition that sodomy and other sexual deviancies are a product of fallen angel genetics but that is a subject for another post.  When Noah realized what had happened, he cursed one of the four sons of Ham listed in the Biblical record: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

Why Canaan?  As we will see later, the Canaanites, the descendants of Canaan, mostly settled in and around the area of the Promised Land which was the area that the giants, discussed in the Biblical record, resided.  Whatever the explanation, Canaan and his descendants were infected with nephilim DNA.  This ‘alien’ DNA was diluted as compared to the first generation of giants prior to the flood.  The book of Enoch (non-canonical) refers to giants much larger than Goliath or Og of Basham.

After the exodus from Egypt, the reason the Lord God commanded the Israelites to destroy all the inhabitants of the Promised land is because it was a central hotbed of Watcher DNA corruption.  They were not to even take their livestock, but to destroy them.  Of course, the job never was fully completed.  David and his men killed the last of the obvious giants, but as we will see, a diluted form of the corrupted genetics remained.

The sons of Canaan as listed in the Biblical record are:  Zidon, Heth, Jebusite, Girgashite, Hivite, Sinite, and Hamathite.  Heth was the father of the Hittites. Esau, the fraternal twin brother of Jacob, took three wives of the Hittites producing the tribe known as the Edomites.

ESAU AND HIS LEGACY
What is the story of Esau and why should we care?  Many church people tend to relegate Old Testament history as interesting stories that one learns in Sunday school but of little or no relevance to modern New Testament people.  It is my opinion these people are wrong.  The Biblical descriptions of these Old Testament characters and their actions are there for a reason, and that is to inform today’s people why the world is as it is.  The actions and in-actions of these patriarchs have had far reaching consequences that have affected the flow of the history of God’s people.

In Romans 9:13 Paul summarized the Lord God’s statement made in Malachi, “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”  Why did the Lord God hate Esau?

Mal 1:2-3  I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,  (3)  And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

Esau was the first born and as such was entitled to the birthright inheritance.  Esau forfeited the birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup and then Rebekah and Jacob tricked Isaac into bestowing the inheritance upon Jacob.  You can read the entire story in Genesis 25-26  Afterward when Esau realized that he had given up a fortune in inheritance, he cried and pleaded with Isaac to give him some sort of a blessing.  Then Isaac, acting as a prophet of God, gave Esau a blessing of sorts that is shaking the world today and will eventually invoke the wrath of God.

Gen 27:39-41  And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above;  (40)  And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.  (41)  And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.

In literal English, Esau’s dwelling would derive from the fatness of the earth.  He would live off of that produced by someone else.  His life would be characterized by violence and treachery.  He would initially serve his brother, Jacob, but at some point his descendants would dominate those of Jacob.  Esau hated Jacob and swore in his heart to kill him and this attitude will continue until the end.

Hebrews 12:16 describes Esau as a fornicator.  

Thayer Definition of "fornicator":
1) a man who prostitutes his body to another’s lust for hire
2) a male prostitute
3) a man who indulges in unlawful sexual intercourse, a fornicator

Hebrews 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

What did Esau do to earn the title of fornicator?  He married outside of his seed line and took three wives from the Hethites.  Heth was one of the sons of Canaan, the cursed grandson of Noah.   He did not just adulterate his seed line by marrying out of his race, but with marrying into the cursed seed or the seed of the serpent.  This cursed his descendants with destruction, and is what broke the hearts of his parents, Rebekah and Isaac.

This dynasty founded by Esau became the Edomites.  When Esau was born he was covered with red hair like a garment.

Genesis 25:25  And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau (hairy).

The soup he ate in exchange for his birthright was red pottage and his name was changed to Edom, which means ‘red’.

Genesis 25:30  And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.

The color ‘red’ has come to be associated with the Edomites.  The dragon described in Revelation 12:3 having seven heads and ten horns is red.  Communists are known as “Reds”.  This association will be discussed later.

THE EXILES
After the death of Solomon, around 930 BC, the nation of Israel was split into two nations.  The southern nation retaining Jerusalem for its capital was called Judah.  The majority inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah were the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and the Levite priests.  The majority inhabitants of the northern kingdom of Israel were the remaining ten tribes.

The northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria around 721 BC and the majority (but not all) of the population were deported to northern Assyria.  After a generation or two they started migrating north, northeast, and northwest toward Europe and Russia, eventually losing any knowledge of their original identity.

The southern kingdom of Judah was eventually conquered by the Babylonian empire and many of the inhabitants were deported to Babylon.  Prior to Babylon the Assyrians, under Sennacherib attacked Judah around 701 BC and is stated to have carried into Assyria some 200,000 captives, but otherwise left the nation intact.

There were three phases of the Babylonian deportation.  The first one included Daniel and other members of the royal court.  Two more deportations followed leaving only the very poor and elderly behind. The last occurred around 586 BC
.
During these invasions and exiles, the Edomites actually assisted the invading armies.  They killed fleeing Israelites, stole their property, and occupied their towns.  Through Obadiah, the Lord God delivers a scathing accusation and condemnation of these Edomites.

Obadiah 1:8-14  Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?  (9)  And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.  (10)  For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.  (11)  In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.  (12)  But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.  (13)  Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;  (14)  Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.

THE MACCABEAN PERIOD
The Babylonian invasion and subsequent mass exile of the southern kingdom of Judah left the area mostly unpopulated.  Historians tell us that large numbers of Arabs had immigrated into Edom whereby the native Edomites moved into the area vacated by Judah.  This area of former Judah became known as Idumea and its inhabitants called Idumeans.  (NOTE:  the word translated ‘Jew’ in the New Testament is actually ‘Idumean’)  Ezra and Nehemiah give accounts of the conflicts the returning Judahites had with the Idumean-Edomites. It is to be noted that only a small number of Judahites returned from exile.  The vast majority remained in Babylon.

The Maccabean revolt was the final reaction of the Judahites against the actions of Antiochus IV.  The Idumeans were hostile to the Maccabean revolt, and in 112 BCE Hyrcanus , a Maccabean king, conquered Idumea and gave them a convert or die ultimatum.  In the words of the historian, Josephus:

“Hyrcanus took also Dora and Marissa, cities of Idumea, and subdued all the Idumeans; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would circumcise their genitals, and make use of the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision, and of the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time therefore this befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews.”( Antiquities of the Jews - Book XIII chap. 9)

Herod the Great, the Jewish king who rebuilt the temple, creating the splendid edifice described by Josephus and the Talmud, was a descendant of Idumean converts.  The Idumeans gained great political and religious power and became known as the Pharisees and Sadducees.

In other writings, Josephus makes a clear distinction between the Pharisees and Sadducees who were Idumeans and the Essenes who were of the tribe of Judah.

For there are three philosophical sects among the Jews. The followers of the first of whom are the Pharisees; of the second the Sadducees; and of the third sect, who pretends to a severer discipline, are called Essenes. These last are Jews (Judah) by birth, (Josephus, Wars 2:8:2)

The following four ‘Jewish’ witnesses confirm that the Edomites were the “Jews” of the New Testament and well as today.

…in the days of John Hyrcanus (end of the second century B.C.E.) … the Edomites became a section of the Jewish people. "EDOM," Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, Israel: Encyclopaedia Judaica Company, 1971) Vol. 6, p. 378

They [the non-Israelite Edomites] were then incorporated with the Jewish nation…. "EDOM, IDUMEA," The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York & London: Funk and Wagnalls Company, 1904) Vol. V, p. 41

…from then on they [the non-Israelite Edomites] constituted a part of the Jewish people, Herod [King of Judea] being one of their descendants. "EDOM (Idumea)," The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1977) p. 589

…they [the Edomites] were hereafter no other than Jews. Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews (Grand Rapids, MI: Dregel Publications, 1960) Book XIII, Chapter IX, Verse 1, p. 279

Again, let me say that the word translated ‘Jew’ in the New Testament should be written as ‘Idumean’ and an Idumean is a converted Edomite. The King James Version (by accident?) and various other versions have done a great disservice to the Church by confusing the identity of the present day Edomites.  The Scofield study Bible has been instrumental in propagating this misconception.  By calling them Jews and linking them with Israelites (all 12 tribes) many doctrinal areas of the Bible, especially the New Testament, have been misunderstood. 

The ‘Jews’ of today, who are descendants of these Edomite converts originally migrated toward Turkey, North Africa, and Spain after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD.  They are the primary constituents of the Sephardic Jews, from which the Orthodox Jews emerged.  Their primary ‘holy’ books are the Babylonian Talmud and various commentaries on the Talmud, as it was in Jesus’ day, not the books of Moses (Pentateuch).  This is confirmed by the Jews in their own writings:

“The Jewish religion as it is today traces its descent, without a break, through all the centuries, from the Pharisees. Their leading ideas and methods found expression in a literature of enormous extent, of which a very great deal is still in existence. The Talmud is the largest and most important single member of that literature.” Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. VIII, p. 474 (1942)

THE KHAZARS
The main mass of today's "Jews" (92%-95% [number disputed]) are called the Ashkenazi Jews which are the Khazar Jews.  They were the (7th - 11th century AD) Turko-Mongoloid Khazars from the Northern region of the Caucasus Mountains between the Black and Caspian Seas (in modern day Russia), having migrated from eastern Asia.  In Turkic speaking countries the Caspian Sea is known as the Khazar Sea.

Genetically, the Khazars were an admixture of the Uigur, Magyar, and Hun tribes, mixed with the early Turks who were descendants of Noah's son Japheth and not Shem.  According to Wikipedia the name 'Khazar' is related to a Turkic verb form meaning "wandering.”

As stated above only a small number of Judahites returned from exile with the vast majority remaining in Babylon.  A Khazar king sent for the rabbis of the Talmudic academies of Pumbedita and Sura in Babylon and these rabbis converted the whole Khazar tribe to Judaism, and they took on the identity of the "Jews" that the rabbis in Babylon were calling themselves.

It has also been stated that a large number of Edomite Jews migrated to the Khazar empire after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, although no documents can be found to corroborate this assertion.

These same Khazar "Jews" flourished for a period spanning four centuries until being finally flushed out of Southern Russia by the hoards of Genghis Khan (one of their ancient blood relatives) and migrated into Eastern Europe and mixed and blended in with the Polish and other eastern European peoples, as well as later on with the German true-Israel people, often taking on their names and dropping their traditional Jewish (Khazar) names thus becoming Crypto-Jews.

Notably, the great crypto-Jew dynasty family was the Rothschild's who Germanized their Jewish name from Bauer to "Rothschild" (German for "red shield") and pretended to be a German people, becoming crypto-Jews (secret Jews).

“Mayer Amschel Rothschild (February 23, 1744 – September 19, 1812) was the founder of the Rothschild family banking empire that would become one of the most successful business families in history. In 2005, he was ranked 7th on the Forbes magazine list of the The Twenty Most Influential Businessmen Of All Time. The business magazine referred to him as a "founding father of international finance".[1] The famous saying: "Give me the power to issue a nation's money, and I care not who writes the laws" has been attributed to him.[2]

    He was born Mayer Amschel Bauer in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany to Moses Amschel Bauer. He changed his name to Rothschild (Red Shield in English) from Bauer, the previous family name, in reference to the red shield that was the official house sign and thus logotype of the family business, a bank and pawnshop founded by his father Moses.”  — Source

Although not the only person writing on this subject, Arthur Koestler and his book, The Thirteenth Tribe, is generally recognized as the authority on the Eastern European, Khazar, Jew connection. 

The Thirteenth Tribe  THE KHAZAR EMPIRE AND ITS HERITAGE
by Arthur Koestler

...but that does not alter the fact that the large majority of surviving Jews in the world is of Eastern European — and thus perhaps mainly of Khazar — origin. If so, this would mean that their ancestors came not from the Jordan but from the Volga, not from Canaan but from the Caucasus, once believed to be the cradle of the Aryan race; and that genetically they are more closely related to the Hun, Uigur and Magyar tribes than to the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Should this turn out to be the case, then the term “anti-Semitism” would become void of meaning, based on a misapprehension shared by both the killers and their victims. The story of the Khazar Empire, as it slowly emerges from the past, begins to look like the most cruel hoax which history has ever perpetrated. ― Arthur Koestler, The Thirteenth Tribe; pg.17.

According to Koestler (and others) the Khazars adopted Judaism as their state religion in 740 AD.  Their King at that time (740 AD) invited a group of Edomite Jews to teach the people the religion of Judaism, which at that time was the Babylonian Talmud.  The majority of Eastern European Jews are Khazar and Japhetic in origin, not Semitic and he refers to the 1973 Jewish Encyclopedia and A. N. Poliak, Professor of Medieval Jewish History at Tel Aviv University as confirmation.
 
Some Arab historians are of the opinion that Gog and Magog are the Khazars.  Khazars were re-exporters of foreign goods, middlemen, inspectors of trade, goldsmiths, and silversmiths; and they exacted 10% tax on all trade. The Khazar King, in a letter, traced his people in Togarma and Japheth, the ancestors of all the Turkish tribes.

Friedman also points out that a large number of Edomite Jews migrated to the Khazar empire after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, although no documents can be found to corroborate this assertion.  This large group of Khazar Judaics are considered to be the Ashkenazi Jews. 

Other points made by Koestler:

• In A.D. 864 a monk wrote "there exists a people under the sky in regions where no Christians can be found, whose name is Gog and Magog, and who are Huns; among them is one called Gazari [Khazari?], who are circumcised and observe Judaism in its entirety."
• Russian communists tried to hide their Khazar-Jewish connection!
• The Khazar kingdom known as a kingdom of "Red" Jews.
• Interchangeable names --Khazar, Zhid (or Yid), and Jew
• The majority of Jews in the Middle Ages were Khazars.
• Jews were mint masters, royal treasurers, tax collectors, and money lenders. Their principal source of income was foreign trade and the levying of customs dues.  They practiced communal life.
• They lost the name of Khazars and became known as Jews. During the Dark Ages commerce largely in Jewish hands, including slave trade.
• Gives origin of Yiddish language. It is NOT Hebrew!
• "The Jewish dark ages may be said to begin with the Renaissance." (Reviews comment: This remark by the Jew Cecil Roth, coupled with other information, is a sorrowful admission that the Jews were supreme in the Dark Ages but lost their dominion over Europe when the Light of God's Word brought about the Renaissance!)

John 8:33  They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

The above is a true statement.  The Pharisees are related to Abraham through Isaac and then through Esau not Jacob.  Jacob’s descendants were in bondage in Egypt.  Esau’s descendants were living in the area of Canaan at the time.  When the children of Israel came out of Egypt and entered the Promised Land (Canaan), the Lord God commanded them to destroy all the inhabitants (Canaanites, Edomites, and others).  What a different world we would be living in today if they had been completely obedient.