(6) And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I
will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
(7) For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant
plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.‖ (Isaiah 5:1-7)
The Individual Vineyard:(30) ―I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
(31) And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone
wall thereof was broken down.
(32) Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.
(33) Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
(34) So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.‖ (Prov 24:30-34)
Who/What is a Jew?The passages above tell of the Almighty's vineyard and the results He expects of His people Israel.
He is the owner of the spiritual vineyard called the House of Israel. In fact, the Most High calls Himself the El
Elyon of Israel and His Son is called the King of the Jews! (Luke 23:36-38). But, some will ask "Who is an
Israelite?" "Who/What is a Jew?" Many people these days claim to be Jews, or members of the Lost Ten
Tribes of Israel. They come in all colours: black, brown and white. Are they all Jews or the descendants of
the ancient Israelites?
According to the dictionary, a Jew is:
A member of the tribe of Judah.
An Israelite.
One whose religion is Judaism.
In the Old Covenant, the term Jew initially meant a member of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; who
together comprised the southern kingdom of Judah. After the 70-year captivity, the terms Jew and Israelite
became fused as many captive Israelites, dispersed many years before, returned to Israel with the
Babylonian exiles. According to the Halakha, the body of religious law generally accepted by Orthodox,
Conservative and Reformed Jews, a Jew is someone who has a Jewish mother. But this definition would
exclude King David's grandfather Obed, whose mother was Ruth the Moabitess; and possibly even King
Solomon, whose mother, Bath-Sheba, was the former wife of Uriah the Hittite.
In June 1970, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the child of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother may
be registered as Jewish by nationality. But orthodox Jews dispute this ruling even to this day. David ben-
Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister, even suggested that anyone who wished to be considered a Jew should
be accepted as such. Many other definitions have been suggested and even applied; but the question still
remains unanswered for many.
21:43-46 The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation―(43) Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing
forth the fruits thereof. (44) And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it
shall fall, it will grind him to powder. (45) And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables,
they perceived that he spake of them. (46) But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the
multitude, because they took him for a prophet.‖
Verse 43, in conjunction with verse 19 (the fig tree), is often used to teach that YHWH changed His mind and
did away with the faith of Israel (as given in the Torah) and began something new (i.e., "the Christian
Church"), about the time of Acts chapter 2.
The reality is that YHWH did not do away with His Torah (i.e., Matt 5:17-21, Rom 3:31); but the offer of the
Kingdom along with the task of spreading the news of Messiah, did indeed "pass from" Israel to the nations
(via the faithful Jewish remnant in the Diaspora) after Y‘shua's death – only for a certain period and though
not for long. (Much of chapters 9-11 of Paul's Romans letter address this.)
The offer of the Kingdom through Messiah was indeed intended for Israel and not the Gentiles: