Hasn't this been the subject of other threads here? Since we're discussing it again... I agree, God is no respecter of persons as written. Just look at Old Testament history about the nation of Israel falling away from Him to Baal worship and that will easily be seen.
God's Israel today is His Church through His Son Jesus Christ. And any non-flesh born Israelite that believes on God's promised Saviour Jesus Christ becomes part of that. That's why Apostle Paul called God's Israel through Christ the "commonwealth of Israel" in Ephesians 2. It was to not just represent one literal nation or people, but peoples of all nations that believe on The Father through His Son Jesus Christ unto Salvation.
A false idea that keeps getting pushed as truth is that only Jews represent flesh Israel, (i.e., flesh born Israelites, not just the geographical nation of Israel.)
The Old Testament prophets and Books of Kings and Chronicles reveal how God split old Israel into two separate kingdoms and peoples. Even in the New Testament the Pharisee Jews revealed they knew about the majority of Israelites having been scattered abroad, that they were not present in the holy land at that time but dispersed among the Gentiles (John 7:35; James 1:1).
Historically, the name Jew is derived from the tribe of Judah. The Jewish historian Josephus (100 A.D.) declared that's the name which ONLY those who returned to Jerusalem from the 70 years Babylon captivity began to call theirselves, along with all peoples that lived in those lands of Judea around Jerusalem...
"So the Jews prepared for the work: that is the name they are called by from the day that they came up from Babylon, which is taken from the tribe of Judah, which came first to these places, and from there both they and the country gained that appeallation." (Antiquities Of The Jews, Josephus, Book II, Chap.5; Sec.7 (173), from translation by William Whiston).
That was about the 70 years Babylon captivity of the "house of Judah" per God's Word. Did you know that "house of Judah" which went captive to Babylon by king Nebuchadnezzar did NOT represent ALL the tribes of Israel???
After God split old Israel into two separate kingdoms per 1 Kings 11 through 13, the "house of Judah" made up ONLY the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levites (along with some small remnants of the other tribes). That's who became the group known as Jews. But not only those, but also foreigners that lived in the lands of Judea at that time of the return from Babylon.
That split is clearly written in God's Word, and I get tired of hearing Jews today omit that history like it never happened, especially when Jewish scholars themselves have testified that the majority of Israelites (the ten tribes) are NOT among the Jews (something Josephus also declared in his histories of Israel).
The other tribes of Israel that are NOT Jews:
Dan; Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad.
Count 'em. That's 10 Tribes of Israel that were separated from Judah, Benjamin, and Levi per God's Word. Those were NOT Jews, nor or they known as Jews today, nor did they ever... join back among the Jews today. Their joining with the "house of Judah", the stick of Ezekiel 37 that is in the hand of Judah, is still for sometime in our future when Christ Jesus returns to gather the people.
Those 10 Tribes were called the "house of Israel" per God's Word after He split the two groups. They represented the "kingdom of Israel" after the spliit, while Judah at Jerusalem represented the "kingdom of Judah" per God's Word.
What does that mean for today? The "kingdom of Israel" of 10 Tribes was scattered among the Gentiles while the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi were still living in the lands around Jerusalem. The kings of Assyria removed the 10 Tribes out of the land; Judah in the south still remained...
10 Tribes ("house of Israel") >>> removed from around 741 B.C. to 670 B.C to land of the Medes by kings of Assyria
3 Tribes ("house of Judah") >>> removed around 580 B.C. captive to Babylon by king of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar.
Not only that, but God's Word of the Book of Ezra tells us exactly who, and how many of the Judah (Jews) captives returned to Jerusalem after their Babylon captivity.
Only a small remnant of the 3 Tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi returned to Jerusalem to build the second temple and walls. The rest of the Jews stayed... in Babylon after the 70 years. God had taken good care of them is why, like He said He would; they would plant vineyards and build houses there and would increase in numbers (per Jeremiah). So most of them didn't want to leave Babylon. What happened to that majority of them that chose to stay in Babylon? They were later scattered through the countries like their brethren of the 10 Tribes had been. Ezekiel was given to prophesy of it (Ezek.3 through 6). That's what's called the Jewish Diaspora (dispersing). It did NOT involve the 10 Tribes of Israel, for they were already scattered out of the land by the time of Nebuchadnezzar.
This is why Apostle Paul would claim to be a Judean ("Jew") per Acts 21:39 and 22:3. He was born of the tribe of Benjamin, but a Judean ("Jew") because his ancestors were from the small remnant of Jews (Judah, Benjamin, Levi) that returned to Jerusalem after their captivity to Babylon (per both the Bible history and the Jewish historian Josephus).
James 1:1
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
(KJV)
What about James' salutation to all 12 tribes then???
All the 10 Tribes were scattered abroad out of the holy land first. Then the majority of the 3 Tribes under Judah that remained in Babylon were later scattered abroad among the Gentiles also.
God foretold through His prophet Hosea, that scattered Judah (Jews) would retain their heritage as part of israel. But not so for the 10 Tribes, for they were to be lost (to the world, but not to God). The Behistun Rock carving on a mountainside (in modern Iraq) stands as archaeological proof of the separate captivity of the 10 Tribes of Israel by the kings of Assyria. Their physical features are even represented in that carving.
Thus, the Jews are ONLY a portion of TOTAL flesh-born Israelites today. The 10 Tribes made up the majority of old Israel, and there's no reason to think they don't still today, especially when God foretold through Jacob that just Ephraim would become "a multitude of nations", and that his brother Manasseh would also become "great" (Gen.48).
