There has been considerable confusion over the definition of Israel and the Gentiles coming from some circles within preterism. Hopefully, this article will clear up the confusion.
First off, it was no shock to Paul that the majority of Jews did not turn to the Lord. There is not one verse in the OT that suggests that they would. In fact, their end is always described in terms of a “remnant.” Paul makes this abundantly clear in his citations in Rom 9.25-29:
as also in Hosea He saith, ‘I will call what is not My people — My people; and her not beloved — Beloved, 26 and it shall be — in the place where it was said to them, Ye are not My people; there they shall be called sons of the living God.’ 27 And Isaiah doth cry concerning Israel, ‘If the number of the sons of Israel may be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved; 28 for a matter He is finishing, and is cutting short in righteousness, because a matter cut short will the Lord do upon the land. 29 and according as Isaiah saith before, ‘Except the Lord of Sabaoth did leave to us a seed, as Sodom we had become, and as Gomorrah we had been made like. ‘ (Young’s).
Here, Paul quotes four passages of Scripture. The first two are taken from Hosea and the last two are taken from Isaiah. Paul does not quote his verses out of context, either. He knows the context of each passage that he has used here. So, we must understand the context of these verses as well.
The first two passages are taken from Hosea 2.23 and 1.10, respectively. There is no question that the context of both verses are meant for Israel. Hosea wrote during the time of Ahaz and Hezekiah (kings of Judah) and Jeroboam and Jehoash (kings of Israel) – 1.1. In fact, the superscription of Hos 1.1 is the only one of its kind in the prophetic books that mentions both kings of the then divided kingdom. All the other prophets mention only the Judean kings. Therefore, Hosea starts his book with a divided kingdom, and it is warranted throughout his material that the term Israel be understood as the northern kingdom (the so-called 10 tribes – I will use the more common designation, “the northern kingdom”).
In 1.6-7 we find the denominations, “house of Judah” and “house of Israel.” It is the house of Israel that Hosea is concerned with in his material. 1.10, which Paul quoted, is concerned with the northern kingdom, the house of Israel, who was deported by the Assyrian aggression in the eighth century B.C.E. Yet, according to Hosea 1.10 and 2.23 God would call them again and reunite them with the house of Judah (1.11) under “one leader.” Israel will come “up out of the land” to which they have been scattered. The Hebrew translation “up out of the land” matches the Septuagint Greek ek tes ges. This is a very important expression commonly used for Israel and Judah’s regathering, and we will come back to it in a moment. One notices, though, that geographically speaking, Assyria and Babylon are both located north of Israel. Israel, geographically speaking, came “up” from Egypt (the south), so would they not come “down” from the north? Is there a particular reason that “come up” is used here? Is this pointing to the resurrection of Israel and Judah, the same way Ezekiel 37 did?
Moving forward, our first conclusion is that Paul’s two quotations from Hosea are certainly fixed in their context as referring to Israel, the northern kingdom, and not Judah. Paul’s next verse is Isa 10.22, 23. The context here is most explicit. There the prophet is dealing with the Assyrian aggression. Notice Paul’s introduction before he quotes these verses: “And Isaiah doth cry concerning Israel.” In the Isaianic context Paul is spot on, for Isaiah is only talking about the “house of Israel,” the northern kingdom. So, for Paul, we know that he is aware of the context in both Hos and Isa for the three first passages he quotes deals exclusively with the house of Israel, the northern kingdom.
The final quotation come from Isa 1.9. Let us read to find out who the addressees are: “And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. 9 If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah” (English Standard Version). Isaiah, in this passage, is talking about Judah, the “daughter of Zion.” In fact, 1.1 begins with “The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem.” Paul has effectively quoted a string of passages that concerns a remnant of Israel, the northern kingdom, and the remnant of Judah, the southern kingdom. Two remnants will come from both houses, and these two remnants together will form “all Israel” for Paul. God never promised to save the majority; only a remnant from both houses. Now, what does this have to do with the Gentiles?
It is commonly assumed here in Rom 9.25-29 that Paul is reapplying what in Hos belonged to the house of Israel to the Gentiles (vid. Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul, Yale University Press, 1989 – a well-received book, and highly acclaimed). Hays writes, “Paul deconstructs the oracle and dismantle’s Israel’s privilege; with casual audacity he rereads the text as a prophecy of God’s intention to embrace the Gentiles as his own people” (67). I disagree entirely with this assumption. The reason I do so is because Paul’s argument, at this point, is in error if Hays is correct. Any Jew in Paul’s day simply would have noted the context of Isaiah and Hosea and simply retorted, “well, Paul, if you can change the subject of these verses to Gentiles, what keeps me from saying that they are really speaking of giant reindeer?” What would Paul’s answer be? He certainly could not appeal to the Scripture! He could only appeal to “the Spirit told me”, to which the Jew in response would say, “well, the Spirit told me, too!” Dead argument. If Paul is quoting Hosea to refer to the Gentiles, then Paul is guilty of the most heinous sort of prooftexting there is. I can’t have that on my conscience.
In Isaiah, the prophet is aware of the divided status of the nation. And, therefore, in the restoration passages, the prophet sees these two houses as reunited:
“and he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel” 8.14
“He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.” 11.12,13.
Let us say, for the sake of argument, that Paul is not misquoting these verses and is quoting them
correctly within their original context. Is there any proof for this in Paul’s words? In Rom 9 Paul is explicitly dealing with Israel “according to the flesh” (9.1-5). He is not dealing with “spiritual Israel”. In 9.1-5 Paul has in mind all of Israel (both houses), for he uses this adjective in 1.6,7. “Not all Israel is Israel.” Then, “Nor because they (all Israel and Judah) are his descendents (which they were according to the flesh) are they all Abraham’s children.” In 9.10-21 Paul appeals to the electing purposes of God within the descendents of Abraham. Esau and Jacob were both sons of Abraham, both circumcised on the eighth day. According to the flesh, there was no distinction between them. But, according to election, God’s calling, there was a great deal of distinction between them. Same for Isaac and Ishmael. The same example is used for Israel and the Egyptians. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened in order to bring about Israel’s deliverance (as were Ishmael and Esau). God can harden whom he desires to harden and have mercy on whom he desires to have mercy. Paul’s point so far is so well backed up by the Hebrew bible that no Jew would resist his argument.
correctly within their original context. Is there any proof for this in Paul’s words? In Rom 9 Paul is explicitly dealing with Israel “according to the flesh” (9.1-5). He is not dealing with “spiritual Israel”. In 9.1-5 Paul has in mind all of Israel (both houses), for he uses this adjective in 1.6,7. “Not all Israel is Israel.” Then, “Nor because they (all Israel and Judah) are his descendents (which they were according to the flesh) are they all Abraham’s children.” In 9.10-21 Paul appeals to the electing purposes of God within the descendents of Abraham. Esau and Jacob were both sons of Abraham, both circumcised on the eighth day. According to the flesh, there was no distinction between them. But, according to election, God’s calling, there was a great deal of distinction between them. Same for Isaac and Ishmael. The same example is used for Israel and the Egyptians. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened in order to bring about Israel’s deliverance (as were Ishmael and Esau). God can harden whom he desires to harden and have mercy on whom he desires to have mercy. Paul’s point so far is so well backed up by the Hebrew bible that no Jew would resist his argument.
Paul then takes this argument and applies it to the current situation of his own day (9.22-29). What if God wanted to harden some of the descendents of Abraham in order to make known his glory to others who are descendents of Abraham? Nothing prevents him from doing so, of course. The “objects of mercy” include “even us, who he also called (kaleo) not only out of Judah, but also out of nations” (my translation). Remember I mentioned this little preposition ek before? Here it is again. God promised to call vessels of mercy out of Judah because the Scriptures (Isaiah 1.9) states that they will be left “like a cucumber in a field” (a remnant). And, in Hosea, God promised to bring out of the nations a remnant of the house of Israel (Hos 1.11). In fact, this little phrase “out of the nations” is used several times in the OT prophetic corpus for the regathering of Israel and Judah. Ezekiel 36.24 is one example of very many the states, “For I will take you out of nations; I will gather you out of lands.” Jeremiah 23.3 makes Paul’s point clearer: “Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.” Paul was not looking for a massive explosion of Jewish and Israelite conversions, but for only a remnant of them and he is expounding on this point according to the Scriptures.
The Jews in Paul’s day expected a massive conversion to Messiah and a reversal of her fortunes over the Roman dominance. But, Paul’s gospel was by far producing more fruit among the nations/Gentiles than it was among the Jews and Israelites scattered abroad and those living in the land of Israel. But Paul could appeal to the Scriptures that in the last days only a remnant of those descendents from Abraham, descendents of Israel and Judah, would be “saved.” Paul is not applying Hosea 1.10 and 2.23 to the Gentiles any more than he would applying Isaiah 10 or 1.9 to the Gentiles! The house of Israel, according to the prophets, would be a small, small number (a remnant) that was to be gathered out of the nations. They had been scattered among the nations, and were now being gathered out of the nations. Also, out of the house of Judah a remnant was being saved, but the majority was not, and for Paul, this is what the word prophesied.
Isaiah had long ago predicted this and his remnant theology, as it has been called, is seen throughout his work. A “cucumber”, “tent”, “survivors”, “a stump”, “a shoot” and a “seed” are all metaphors used in Isaiah to denote the small beginnings they will have “in the last days.” But, those small beginnings will produce much fruit among the nations. In short, when God gathers together the remnants of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, the nations will also be included in this. Isaiah explicitly states this as the case: “In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people….He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah out of the four quarters of the earth. 13 Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish, and Judah’s enemies will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim….In that day you (Judah and Ephraim) will say: “I will praise you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. 2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” 3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted (11.11-12.4).
In fact, Paul quotes from this section in Isaiah (11.10) in Rom 15.12 and makes my point: “For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the nations might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the nations, and sing to your name.” In short, the remnant of the house of Israel was being regathered with the remnant of the house of Judah into one nation, under one king and Lord Jesus, Messiah. Since this was what was happening from Paul’s perspective, naturally he went to the nations, because the prophets foresaw that when God regathered Israel and Judah, the nations would rejoice and come into the salvation as well. Israel was scattered “among” the nations, and now a small remnant of them were being called out of the nations, and as a result the nations themselves participated along with Israel.
Isaiah states, “Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your (regathered Israel and Judah) sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders” (49.22). This is during the time of Israel and Judah being regathered together again and as a result, praise breaks forth “among the nations” which they were scattered. To equate the Gentiles/nations (as Hays and some preterists do) with the “house of Israel” completely misses the mark. The inclusion of the nations in Paul’s day signaled for him (and is proof for us) that the great regathering of Israel and Judah had taken place.
Peter is most explicit when he wrote to the Diaspora (I Pet 1.1). He wrote “to the elect of God.” He was writing to the house of Israel and Judah scattered among the nations and announced that they being in a state of “not my people” has now been changed (1.10). He is not writing to Gentiles! The same for the letter of James, who wrote, “to the twelve tribes of Israel” (1.1).
John, in Rev 7, uses the same Isaianic words to denote the gathering together from “the four corners of the earth” those who were sealed “out of all the tribes of Israel” (7.4). He is not seeing every Israelite, but only those out of Israel and Judah, following Paul that “not all Israel” will be sealed and gathered together. Only a remnant (pictured here symbolically as 144,000). When one understands that there were well over two million Jews and Israelites alive in Paul’s day, 144,000 is a small, small number. John’s vision then shifts to the nations (7.9) and they rejoice together with the tribes of Israel, “Salvation belongs to our God!” (7.10). Is this not what we just read in Isaiah?
John, in Rev 7, uses the same Isaianic words to denote the gathering together from “the four corners of the earth” those who were sealed “out of all the tribes of Israel” (7.4). He is not seeing every Israelite, but only those out of Israel and Judah, following Paul that “not all Israel” will be sealed and gathered together. Only a remnant (pictured here symbolically as 144,000). When one understands that there were well over two million Jews and Israelites alive in Paul’s day, 144,000 is a small, small number. John’s vision then shifts to the nations (7.9) and they rejoice together with the tribes of Israel, “Salvation belongs to our God!” (7.10). Is this not what we just read in Isaiah?
Now, some may ask questions about the historical lineage of Israel at the time of Paul since their exile happened in 722 B.C.E. That’s almost eight hundred years to the time of Paul. Perhaps the Israelites were so assimilated among the nations that they “became” nations. But, this denies the promises of God that he would save Israel, physical descendents of Abraham!
The OT evidence for this assumption, however, is not true. From Easton’s Bible Dictionary we read, “The ten tribes, after existing as a separate kingdom for two hundred and fifty-five years, were carried captive (B.C. 721) by Shalmaneser (or Sargon), king of Assyria. They never returned to their own land as a distinct people, although many individuals from among these tribes, there can be no doubt, joined with the bands that returned from Babylon on the proclamation of Cyrus.” And, “The name “Samaritans” in 2 Ki 17:29 clearly applies to the Israelite inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom. In subsequent history it denotes a people of mixed origin, composed of the peoples brought by the conqueror from Babylon and elsewhere to take the places of the expatriated Israelites and those who were left in the land (722 BC). Sargon claims to have carried away only 27,290 of the inhabitants (KIB, II, 55). Doubtless these were, as in the case of Judah, the chief men, men of wealth and influence, including all the priests, the humbler classes being left to till the land, tend the vineyards, etc. Hezekiah, who came to the throne of Judah probably in 715 BC, could still appeal to the tribes Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, Asher and Zebulun (2 Ch 30:5,10,11,18 ff); and the presence of these tribesmen is implied in the narrative of Josiah’s reformation (2 Ch 34:6 f)” ISBE, “Samaritans”.
The above article verses in quotation: 17:29 But each of these nations made1 its own gods and put them in the shrines on the high places that the people of Samaria2 had made.
30:1 Hezekiah sent messages throughout Israel and Judah; he even wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, summoning them to come to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem1 and observe a Passover celebration for the Lord God of Israel. 30:2 The king, his officials, and the entire assembly in Jerusalem decided to observe the Passover in the second month. 30:3 They were unable to observe it at the regular2 time because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not assembled in Jerusalem. 30:4 The proposal seemed appropriate to3 the king and the entire assembly. 30:5 So they sent an edict4 throughout Israel from Beer Sheba to Dan, summoning the people5 to come and observe a Passover for the Lord God of Israel in Jerusalem, for they had not observed it on a nationwide scale as prescribed in the law.6 30:6 Messengers7 delivered the letters from the king and his officials throughout Israel and Judah. This royal edict read:8 “O Israelites, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so he may return9 to you who have been spared from the kings of Assyria.10 30:7 Don’t be like your fathers and brothers who were unfaithful to the Lord God of their ancestors,11 provoking him to destroy them,12 as you can see. 30:8 Now, don’t be stubborn13 like your fathers! Submit14 to the Lord and come to his sanctuary which he has permanently consecrated. Serve the Lord your God so that he might relent from his raging anger.15 30:9 For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and sons will be shown mercy by their captors and return to this land. The Lord your God is merciful and compassionate; he will not reject you16 if you return to him.”
The men of Israel and Judah who lived in the towns of Judah also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks and a tithe of the holy things dedicated to the LORD their God, and they piled them in heaps. (II Chron 31.6) Here are survivors from the tribes of Israel living in Judah.
34:3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his ancestor1 David. In his twelfth year he began ridding2 Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, Asherah poles, idols, and images. 34:4 He ordered the altars of the Baals to be torn down,3 and broke the incense altars that were above them. He smashed the Asherah poles, idols and images, crushed them up and sprinkled the dust over the tombs of those who had sacrificed to them. 34:5 He burned the bones of the priests on their altars; he purified Judah and Jerusalem. 34:6 In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins4 around them, 34:7 he tore down the altars and Asherah poles, demolished the idols, and smashed all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem. They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the temple of God, which the Levites who were the doorkeepers had collected from the people of Manasseh, Ephraim and the entire remnant of Israel and from all the people of Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem 35.16 And all the service of Jehovah is prepared on that day, to keep the passover, and to cause to ascend burnt-offering upon the altar of Jehovah, according to the command of king Josiah. And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” (Josiah’s reforms were well, well, after the Assyrian captivity).
We have NT evidence that the tribes were not all obliterated. In fact, “And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin” (Luke 2.36). Here we have a prophetess from the tribe of Asher. Asher was exiled in 722 B.C.E. How in the world would Luke know that she was from Asher? How would Anna have known? Were there others from Asher, too? From Napthtali? Dan? Mannasah? Nothing from any historical record that we have rules out these things, and everything in the Scriptures
point to the fact that there were still small numbers of these tribes living out their faith in Judah, in the city of Jerusalem (like Anna) (like many of the Samaritans, who still legitimately traced their physical lineage to Abraham – regardless of intermarriage). We saw above that many of the survivors of these tribes lived in Judah.
point to the fact that there were still small numbers of these tribes living out their faith in Judah, in the city of Jerusalem (like Anna) (like many of the Samaritans, who still legitimately traced their physical lineage to Abraham – regardless of intermarriage). We saw above that many of the survivors of these tribes lived in Judah.
Why does Jesus hang out in the land of Galilee more than he does in the south? Mat 4.12-17 tells us: “Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Nap htali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations- 16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” 17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Was this message to be heard by those that James writes to: “to the twelve tribes of Israel” (James 1.1)? How about Paul, using the present tense, when he said, “And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial today. This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping (present tense) to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve (present) God day and night (presently). O king, it is because of this hope that the Jews are accusing me (presently accusing) (Acts 26.6-7). And what was this hope? The next verse answers: “Why should any of you consider it incredible that God is raising (present) the dead?” [Just a side note: if the hope was the resurrection/restoration of Israel, what would a denial be but a denial of the resurrection/restoration of Israel. Is this what “some” in Corinth were denying: Israel’s Blessed Hope?]
So, we have Jesus in the land (Galilee) of the house of Israel preaching, “repent, for the kingdom of God and time to regather you together under one God and one King has come!” We have Paul quoting Hosea and Isaiah and we have several, several prophecies that speak of both houses being gathered out of the nations whom they were among. The result of this regathering, this resurrection of the dead, was that the nations would also rejoice and join in on the regathering, carrying Jews and Israelites on their shoulders. These Gentiles would also be included into the nation of the newly redeemed Israel so that they, too, would be called, “ members of Israel.” God has only one nation in his kingdom and that nation is Israel, and Israel has been raised from the dead and newly transformed into a son of God so that just as The Son of God is, so they are also. Where The Son of God is, so are they. Praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ who has revealed his righteousness, kept his covenant with the descendents of Abraham and caused the nations to rejoice and increase Israel’s borders forever and ever!
