The document provides information about key biblical identities and terms: - Abraham was the first Hebrew, and all his descendants were also Hebrews. Jacob's name was changed to Israel, and all his descendants were Israelites. - Israel had 12 sons who formed the 12 tribes of Israel. Only the tribe of Judah became known as Jews. - Today, a Jew is anyone with a Jewish mother or who has gone through the conversion process. - The Torah was given not just to Jews but to all Israelites, including adopted Israelites. Keeping God's commandments in the Torah is required for righteousness.

1. The Basics
Who Are the Jews and is Torah Just for
Them?

2. Who are the Jewish People?
• Who was considered the first Jew?
• Who was considered a Jew in Yeshua’s time?
• Who is considered a Jew today?

3. Who was the Torah given to?
• Was it just Jews at the base of Mt. Sinai?

4. What is our Biblical identity?
• Who or what is Israel?
• Who are Hebrews and who was the first Hebrew?
• Who are the Israelites and who was the first one?
• Why are there 12 tribes of Israel and where did they come from?
• These are all questions that we have to answer before we can define
who the Jewish people were and are.

5. Abraham
• “One who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew”
Genesis 14:13
• The first person mentioned in the Bible as a “Hebrew” is Abram, who was
renamed Abraham.
• This makes sense considering that Abraham “crossed over” and left the
comfort of his country, his home, and his family to follow YHWH into the
wilderness.
• “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house,
to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless
you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless
those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you
all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12: 1-3

6. Abraham the Hebrew!
• Abraham was Hebrew and most likely he was the first Hebrew.
• This would make all the descendants of Abraham Hebrews as well.
• Isaac
• Jacob
• King David
• Y’shua
• Would have all been Hebrew’s because they were all descendants of
Abraham.

7. Who or What is Israel?
• Today, Israel is a country in the Middle East
• When we read about Israel in the Bible, is this the Israel that is being
referred to? The Nation of Israel?
• Then YHWH appeared to Jacob again when he came from
Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. YHWH said to him, “Your
name is Jacob; you shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel
shall be your name.” Thus He called him Israel. Genesis 35:9-10

8. Jacob is Israel!
• When we see “Israel” in the Bible, assuming it is referring to the
country of Israel can cause some confusion.
• When the Bible refers to “the sons of Israel,” it is talking about Jacobs’s
twelve sons and their descendants.
• Jacob or Israel’s twelve sons and their descendants were the first
Israelites.

9. Recap!!!
• Abraham was the first Hebrew.
• All of Abraham’s descendants were Hebrews.
• Jacob’s name was changed to Israel.
• All of Jacob’s (Israel’s) descendants were Israelites.
• Abraham and Isaac were not Israelites, because Israelites didn’t exist
yet.

10. The 12 Tribes of Israel!!!
• Israel’s sons; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad,
Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin made up the twelve
tribes of Israel.
• Each tribe would have been named according to the name of these 12
sons.
• Dan’s descendants were called Danites.
• Levi’s descendants were known as Levites.
• Benjamin’s descendants were the Benjamites (Paul was from the tribe
of Benjamin *Philippians 3:5)

11. Judah – The Origin of the Jews
• That’s right…Jews are what the descendants of Judah became known
as.
• That means that only 1/12th of the nation Israel was Jewish.
• All Jews are Israelites and Hebrews.
• However, not all Israelites are Jewish.

12. Recap!!!
• Abraham was the first Hebrew.
• All of Abraham’s descendants were Hebrews.
• Jacob’s name was changed to Israel.
• All of Jacob’s (Israel’s) descendants were Israelites.
• Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel) were not Israelites, because
Israelites didn’t exist yet.
• Israel’s 12 sons make up the 12 Tribes of Israel
• All of Israel’s sons were Hebrews and Israelites, but none of them were
Jews, because Jews did not exist yet.

13. Recap!!!
• Israel’s son, Judah, is the origin of the Jewish people, so all his
descendants are Jewish, Israelites, and Hebrews.
• The other 11 tribes are not Jewish, but they are Israelites and
Hebrews.
• Only 1/12th of the Tribes of Israel were Jewish.

16. How does Judah Equal Jews?
• In Hebrew, Jew is Yehudi(Yea-Who-de) which is derived from the name
Judah and in it’s plural form it is Yehudim(Yea-Who-Deem) or as they
are commonly known today, Jews.

17. YHWH’s Chosen People are Not the
Jews.
• Well, Sort of!!!
• According to the Bible, YHWH’s chosen people are the descendants of
Israel who we now know are not just Jews, but all of the twelve tribes.
• Jews are only 1/12th of YHWH’s chosen people.

18. OK, So Only Descendants from Judah
are called Jews, Right?
• Not Exactly.
• After the death of King Solomon, the nation of Israel was split into two
kingdoms: the kingdom of Judah (Southern Kingdom) and the kingdom
of Israel (Northern Kingdom) *(I Kings 12; II Chronicles 10).
• At this point, the word Jew was used to describe anyone from the
kingdom of Judah, which included the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and
Levi, as well as remnants from the other tribes.
• In Esther 2:5, Mordecai is referred to as both a Jew and a member of
the tribe of Benjamin. Same with Paul in Philippians 3:5.

19. Hey Grab Me a Coke! What Kind?

20. Today, It’s Even More Different Than it
Was 2000 Years Ago.
• A Jew is any person whose mother was a Jew or any person who has gone
through the formal process of conversion to Judaism.
• It is important to note that being a Jew has nothing to do with what you
believe or what you do. A person born to non-Jewish parents who has not
undergone the formal process of conversion but who believes everything
that Orthodox Jews believe and observes every law and custom of Judaism
is still a non-Jew, even in the eyes of the most liberal movements of Judaism,
and a person born to a Jewish mother who is an atheist and never practices
the Jewish religion is still a Jew, even in the eyes of the ultra-Orthodox. In this
sense, Judaism is more like a nationality than like other religions, and being
Jewish is like a citizenship.
• Source: Who is a Jew? “Judaism 101” http://www.jewfaq.org/whoisjew.htm

21. Recap!!!
• Abraham was the first Hebrew.
• All of Abraham’s descendants were Hebrews.
• Jacob’s name was changed to Israel.
• All of Jacob’s (Israel’s) descendants were Israelites and Hebrews.
• Abraham, Isaac, and Israel were not Israelites, because Israelites
didn’t exist until Jacob (Israel) had children.
• Israel’s 12 sons make up the 12 Tribes of Israel.
• All of Israel’s sons were Hebrews and Israelites, but none of them were
Jews, because Jews did not exist yet.

22. Recap!!!
• Israel’s son, Judah, is the origin of the Jewish people, so all his
descendants are Jewish, Israelites, and Hebrews.
• The other 11 tribes are not Jewish, but they are Israelites and
Hebrews.
• Only 1/12th of the Tribes of Israel were Jewish.
• The nation of Israel split into two separate kingdoms. The kingdom of
Israel and the kingdom of Judah.
• The kingdom of Judah included the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi,
as well as remnants from the other tribes and they all became known
as Jews.

23. So, Israelites are ONLY descendants
from Israel, Right?
• WRONG
• There were more than just Israelites that came out of Egypt.
• There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who
sojourns among you. Exodus 12:49
• The natives would have been descendants of Jacob’s twelve sons, and
the strangers would have been everyone who wasn’t one of Jacob’s
twelve sons, but they were ALL a part of Israel.
• Even though they were not born Israelites they were grafted in and
therefore under the same law. This is what Paul is talking about in
Romans 11 when he talks about being grafted in.

24. We were adopted into the nation of
Israel.
• The House Rules are the same for everyone.
• The adoptee is treated as an equal.
• In the ANE, a parent could disown a paternal child, but it was illegal to
disown an adopted child. So the adopted child, in a way, had more
rights than a natural born child.
• When you adopt a child, they take on your name and your family
identity.
• If YHWH’s chosen people is Israel, then when we are adopted by
YHWH, or grafted in, to use Paul’s analogy, we become Israel.

25. If the Torah was given to Israel and We are
Israel, then the Torah is for Us.
• “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am
teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take
possession of the land which YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers,
is giving you. You shall not add to the word which I am
commanding you, nor takeaway from it that you may keep the
commandments of YHWH your Elohim which I command you.
Deuteronomy 4:1-2
• There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who
sojourns among you. Exodus 12:49
• You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-
born. I am YHWH your God. Leviticus 24:22

26. But I thought Adam and Eve were
Jewish?
• There is a deception at work that has a majority of people believing
that most if not all of the Old Testament was written for the Jews.
• Most people believe that YHWH led the Jews out of Egypt, and while
that is true, there is much more to the story. He also led the other
eleven tribes out of Egypt as well as foreigners who chose to
“crossover” and worship YHWH.

27. WE ARE HEBREWS, WE ARE
ISRAEL!!!
• Father Abraham, had many sons, and many sons had fa-ther
Abraham. And I am one of them, and so are you…
• YHWH changed Jacob’s name to Israel knowing that his sons would
grow into the nation of Israel, His chosen people. As adopted
members of Israel, we are equal partakers of the blessings and curses
given to the native Israelites.
• If we proclaim the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as our King, then
we have an obligation to uphold the constitution of His kingdom.
• That constitution is the Torah!

28. The Torah is for Us!
• This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you
shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do
according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your
way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. Joshua
1:8
• And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep
his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not
keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but
whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of YHWH is
perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says
he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he
walked. 1 John 2:3-6

29. The Torah Defines Sin!
• What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had
not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have
known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
Romans 7:7
• Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices
lawlessness(Torahlessness); sin is lawlessness(Torahlessness). 1 John
3:4 (Emphasis Mine)
• John tells us that sin is the transgression of the law, YHWH’s instructions
(Torah). Paul tells us that without the Torah we wouldn’t know what sin is.
The Torah is like a mirror, it shows us where we fall short. It also shows us
how to live according to YHWH’s will for us. Living in a manner that produces
a state of righteousness.
• Without the Torah defining what sin is, we are left to interpret sin any way we
see fit, or that fits our doctrine.

30. How Does YHWH React to the
Lawless?
• If one turns away his ear from hearing the law (Torah), even his
prayer is an abomination. Proverbs 28:9
• We know that YHWH does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a
worshiper of YHWH and does his will, YHWH listens to him. John
9:31
• YHWH exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give
repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are
witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom YHWH
has given to those who obey him.” Acts 5:31-32

31. Are You Lawless or Righteous?
• The Bible defines the lawless as those who have willfully turned away from
YHWH’s commandments, His Torah!
• If you have turned willfully turned away from the Torah, you have also turned
away from YHWH. You are lawless.
• If a man is righteous and does what is just and right-- walks in my
statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he
shall surely live, declares the YHWH. Ezekiel 18:5,9
• And YHWH commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear YHWH our
God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as we are
this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all
this commandment before YHWH our God, as he has commanded us.’
Deuteronomy 6:24-25