Are Today’s Israelis “Real” Jews?

Q

In the Bible it says that God made a Covenant with Abraham. This Covenant was carried on to his descendants, (Gen.17:9) all the way to the 12 Tribes of Israel.

Abraham had a son named Ishmael. Being that Ishmael was a descendant of Shem and Heber, that would make him both a Semite AND a Hebrew. He is also the father of what we now know as Arabs.

With all this kept in mind…I not too long ago saw on TV, that DNA tests have shown, that the Jews that are coming from Eastern Europe and Russia have no connection at all to the Israelites. In fact, they are from the old Khazarist empire, and other places. Whom did not become Jews till about 750 AD.

My question is this…If over 90% of those making up the Nation of Israel now, are as DNA says not real Jews (from the tribe of Judah of the Org.12), have we not done the Devils work as we were warned by John in Rev.2:9 and 3:9, by making the nation in 1948?

If the Arabs are Semites and Hebrews….are we not compounding our sin even farther if we take the side of the people in the nation now named Israel when they go to war?

So from what I am getting here, is that the bloodlines in the Bible mean a LOT to Him. Should it not mean something to us also? As I am a new Christian, your thoughts and more experienced wisdom on this matter mean a lot to me.

A

Blood lines are very important to God. As far as Ishmael being a descendant of Shem’s you’re correct. The word Hebrew first appears in Genesis 14:13 and refers to Abraham. Many believe that Hebrew is derived from Eber, one of Abraham’s ancestors. But Ishmael wasn’t a Hebrew for two reasons. One is that Ishmael was half Egyptian, but the main one is that God commanded Abraham to disinherit Ishmael because he was not God’s intended heir for him. (Genesis 21:8-13) Isaac was the son through whom the line would continue with the birth of Isaac’s son Jacob, later called Israel. God made Ishmael the father of the Arab nations.

It’s also true that many of the inhabitants of Israel today are Europeans whose ancestors may be the Khazars, who were driven west from the area around the Caspian Sea to settle Eastern Europe over 1000 years ago. But included among them is the Remnant of Israel that God promised always to preserve. It’s for the sake of this remnant that God created the nation Israel in 1948. It was a dramatic fulfillment of prophecies in Ezekiel 36 & 37 that man was led to accomplish by the Creator of the Universe, not something we did on our own.

Through your reading you’ve come across the Palestinian argument that even if Israel is the Jewish Promised Land, the people in it today aren’t the ones God gave it too. That argument is inconsistent with Bible Prophecy, and is used by Israel’s enemies to justify their efforts to destroy the Jews.

Also note that Isaiah 56:3-8 gave gentiles who bound themselves to God full rights and privileges in Israel, so even if there weren’t any Jews left from the original 12 tribes, seeing the Jews of today as a fulfillment of Rev. 2:9 & 3:9 would be contrary to God’s promise to them in Isaiah.