Were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Jews? – Part 2 – The Patriarchs.

If you haven’t done so, please read Part 1 before proceeding with the reading of this article – thank you.

Before I press on with the main theme, of this my second article, on this crucial Biblical history, we need to establish or determine what a Patriarch is. First and foremost Patriarchs were very important people. How and why were they important? They were important because God made them important and it is fundamental that we understand that, they did not make themselves important. They did not set themselves up as Patriarchs, they were not little dictators or tin pot megalomaniacs or tyrants. The title ‘Patriarch’ is a bestowed gift; an honour or blessing from God, all part of His glorious Grace. OK, but why were they important and why are they important to us in the 21^st century? They were and are important because they were the original forefathers or progenitors of family dynasties, tribes or clans that grew to become, in this age today, the nations of the world we live in. If we are of Celtic-Anglo-Saxon-Judahite blood then The Patriarchs are our original forefathers.

Shem, Ham and Japheth – Noah’s sons were Patriarchs too, and it’s from Shem that we get Abraham’s lineage plus the lineage of all white peoples. Now God called Abram and gave him a new name – Abraham, and made him a Patriarch, and God told him that nations would come from his loins.

Genesis 35:11 (KJV) And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.

Not only one nation but a COMPANY OF NATIONS and kings too. As a Patriarch, Abraham would produce other Patriarchs – Isaac and Jacob his son and grandson were also Patriarchs. Before I move on just ask yourself this question: when were The Jews ever a company of nations with kings ruling over them? Answers on the back of a postage stamp – thank you!!

Now after Jacob, who was renamed Israel by God, was that the end of the Patriarchs? I ask this, because many, especially those in mainstream Christianity, believe that to be the case, but they are seriously wrong. By being so wrong they create a gaff of monumental proportions – a chasm of error that totally distorts Biblical history and its message. Even the Gospels and the identity of many of the intended recipients of that Good News message are misunderstood. All the evidence is there in both Old and New Testaments and I will now begin to reveal this awesome Truth.

Back to the Patriarchs, and as I was saying, was Jacob/Israel the last of the Patriarchs? The answer to this question is a decisive and resounding no and as always we will go the Holy Scriptures for our evidence. It’s strange really because the word ‘Patriarch’ is nowhere found in the Old Testament, but rather in the New Testament and yet all the Patriarchs that ever lived, lived in Old Testament times. There are only four verses of Holy Scripture in the KJV that contain the word Patriarch(s) so I will copy them here:

Acts 2:29 (KJV) “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.” (Emphasis mine)

Straight way we have evidence that even hundreds of years after Jacob, King David is referred to as a Patriarch, and he was a patriarch, but in a very different way. I will return to explain this difference in a future study.

Hebrews 7:4 (KJV) Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. (Emphasis mine)

Acts 7:8-9 (KJV) And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs. 9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him. (All emphasis mine)

Now here we have it in these last two verses of Acts – Jacob begat The Twelve Patriarchs, i.e. Jacob or Israel’s twelve sons by his four wives. We must understand that these twelve sons were the Patriarchs of twelve family dynasties that became twelve tribes or clans, that became twelve independent nations, and these twelve nations are still with us today. The Jews are descendant from only one of these twelve patriarchs and being known as Jews they carry a derivation of their forefather’s name – Judah. Judahis the patriarchal forefather of the Jews – in part. Judah’s eleven brothers were fellow patriarchs and were separate individual progenitors in their own God given right to father their own identities as tribes and then nations. Hence all Jews are Israelites, but not all Israelites are Jews. In fact the Jews are a minority in Israel.

OK, having got this far we now need to understand that the Jewish line from Judah is a little more complicated than the lineages from other eleven Patriarchs. Judah had a problem of not being able to keep it in his trousers (pants) and he took a fancy to an Adullamites’ daughter (A Canaanitess) named Bathshuah and sired three sons from her, two of whom were killed by The Lord for their wickedness, but the third son survived and he married another Canaanitess thereby starting the mongrel line known as the Canaanite Jews; in reality non Jews. (For all the details of these shenanigans please see my articles entitled: “Were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Jews? Genesis 38 – Royal Judahites and The Canaanite Jews – Parts 1 & 2” – (coming soon)

As stated, the issue we now have to come to terms with is this, of all the Israelites, the Judahites/Jews are only a small part – one tribe. Moreover, up until 1947 they were not a nation at all due to God’s punishment and were dispersed around the globe. The first dispersion took place in circa 585 BC when they were taken captive by the Babylonians and again in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalemcompletely. So the Judahite/Jews, although a tribe of Israel, have never been a proper geographical nation of Israel. Most of their existence has been spent as citizens, often persecuted citizens, of other nations. Is that important, most definitely, as we shall see?

We can now see that there were eleven other Patriarchs who were not Judahites/Jews and I will list their names, yes they were all brothers but not all full brothers. Jacob/Israel had four wives. Two of them were sisters – Laban’s daughters Leah and Racheland the other two were the hand maids of the sisters – Bilhah and Zilpah.

Leah the elder sister had six sons – Rueben (the eldest son), Simeon, Judah, Levi, Issachar and Zebulon.

Rachel, the wife Jacob loved, had two sons – Joseph and Benjamin (the youngest son)

Zilpah, Leah’s hand maid had two sons Gad and Asher.

Bilhah, Rachel’s hand maid had two sons also – Dan and Naphtali.

Here listed above are The Twelve Patriarchs and each of whom sired their own tribe, clan and nation. Now one of these was Judah who was the Patriarch of the Royal Judahites and the Canaanite Jews. The other eleven Patriarchs were Israelites but they were not Judahites or Jews. Judah was the first Judahite/Jew and his offspring only were Judahites and Jews.

Now there was one final twist to this fascinating story of historical Israel and that twist lay in the story of Joseph’s trials at the hand of his wicked jealous brothers which I will continue with in the next article. Please stay with it.

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