Hi veteran,
On the one hand, I can see what you mean, but isn't there also profound irony in attempting to slur a person with their very own title?
Matthew 2:1 - 6 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
When Herod the king had heard [these things], he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. Even Herod knew it must have been prophesied!
5 And they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, and thou Bethlehem, [in] the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
Isaiah 6:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of [his] government and peace [there shall be] no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. John 2:17, Psa 69:9.
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The most important thing to note is that Herod heard about those wise men inquiring about where Christ was. And then Herod called together the chief priests and scribes and people of the Jews to find out about it (Matthew 2). They KNEW where Christ was to be born per the OT prophets, and they told Herod. Then Herod met with the wise men and decided to use them to find Baby Jesus so he could destroy Him.
By Herod's acts, and the later acts of the chief priests, scribes, and unbelievers of the people who were against Jesus, why were they afraid at the prophecy of His Birth and the wise men's search, as per Matthew 2:3?
Firstly, king Herod was NOT of Israelite birth. Per Josephus, Herod was of Idumean birth, a descendent of Esau, the brother of Jacob. Herod had been appointed ruler by the Romans, a political appointment, not a divine one. Moreover per Josephus, the chief priest was also of foreign birth, likewise with the scribes that were of the Kenites that lived among the Canaanites (1 Chron.2:55; Gen.15:19). Same among the sects of Sadduccees and Pharisees, for not all of them were of Israelite birth either.
So what do you think those foreigners that had crept in among the true remnants of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi at that time were after? They were after Christ's Throne on earth, His Kingdom He then had come to offer God's people there.
This is why OT Bible history is important. Those foreigners not of Israel had been allowed to creep in as early as Joshua's days (Judges 2 & 3; Joshua 9). They first became bondservants to Israel, and were still present during Solomon's reign (1 Kings 9). And they went captive with the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi to Babylon for 70 years. And some of them returned with the small remnant of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi (per Ezra 2 lists). Some of them became temple servants (Nethinims) and also priests (Ezra 2 again). So the stage was set in Jerusalem for the time of Christ's first coming to be crucified upon the cross by those.
The kingdom they were usurping involved only the portion of Israel then in Jerusalem-Judea and those who called themselves Jews at that time. Per Josephus, the title of 'Jew' began with the small remnant of Judah, Benjamin, Levi, and the foreigners that returned with them from the Babylon captivity. All the peoples that lived in the lands of Judea then took that name, the strangers included. Therefore, the title 'king of the Jews' meant to them, the rightful ruler over the holy land of promise and its people there at that time. God had already scattered through the nations the majority of the peoples of Israel, the ten tribes. And the largest portions of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi stayed in Babylon after the 70 years, only to be scattered further through the countries with not returning to Jerusalem then.
This is why that title "king of the Jews" was really a false title, not just because Pilate used it to mock the Jews, but because Christ Jesus is King over all... Israel, and over all the earth, all inclusive. Furthermore, what made it a false title especially was because it applied to the idea the religious Jews of that time had about God's Kingdom. The true irony was how those crept in foreigners were not even of Israelite origin and were claiming to recognize it in connection with The Christ of OT prophecy,
yet, it worried them that it might actually be coming true. That should reveal all the more those were foreigners trying to usurp Christ's Kingdom.
Wasn't Pilate just as caught up in being part of the fulfilment of prophecy, as both the Jews who believed and the Jews who did not believe?
Romans 2:29 But he [is] a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision [is that] of the heart, in the spirit, [and] not in the letter; whose praise [is] not of men, but of God.
Pilate simply used the title "king of the Jews" to mock the religious Jews who wanted our Lord Jesus executed while he knew Jesus was innocent. Those Jews understood the prophecy of Christ's coming, yet they still refused Him as The Christ. That shows they were not of the Truth from the start, and were thieves in hiding with the real purpose to steal the kingdom for theirselves (which is what Christ revealed in Matt.21 with the parable of the householder-vineyard).
Although Ben Friedman's witness has truth in it about the Khazars becoming religious Jews, the title of 'Jew' is an actual title that originated from the sole Israelite tribe of Judah. The reason it was applied to the tribes of Benjamin and Levi also was because all three tribes became joined under one kingdom in the southern holy lands ruled by the kings of Judah at Jerusalem-Judea after God split Israel into two separate kingdoms (1 Kings 11 forward). They were known as the "house of Judah" per God's Word. And that's what the foreigner crept in unawares were after to steal.
With God scattering the majority of Israel beforehand, i.e., the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel, called the "house of Israel" in His Word, that actually kept these out of that mess of foreigners trying to steal Christ's vineyard of Israel. Those false Jews who tried to steal couldn't claim the ten lost tribes as Jews, simply because they were scattered and lost to them. By God scattering the ten tribes, He was actually protecting them, until the time when Christ would come to die on the cross and be preached and accepted mainly by the ten tribes along with believing Gentiles of the lands of their scattering. Thus Christ fulfilled what He said in Matt.21, that He would take His vineyard out of the hand of those false Jews who were trying to steal His heritage of the majority of the people of Israel.
Knowing this, then it becomes easy to fathom where the false notion that only Jews are Israelites originated from, i.e., from those false Jews trying to steal Christ's Kingdom and heritage.
