Jews
The name "Jews" first attaches to the people of the kingdom of Judah and Benjamin and, after the dissolution of the northern kingdom, expands to designate Israel as a whole. The umbrella collects the long arc of this people: their naming, their election and exaltation, their kings and dynastic histories, their humiliation and exile, their return, the remnant, and the figurative portraits drawn from Israel's life.
Naming and Election
The name Israel is given to Jacob at the Jabbok and confirmed at Bethel: "And he said, Your name will not be Jacob anymore, but Israel: for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed" (Ge 32:28); "And God said to him, Your name is Jacob: your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel will be your name: and he named him Israel" (Ge 35:10). The election is rooted in the love of the fathers — "And because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought you out with his presence[his Speech] , with his great power, out of Egypt" (De 4:37) — and in Yahweh's claim to a redeemed people: "And what other nation on earth is like your people Israel, whose God went and redeemed a people for himself, and made a name for himself, and did great and awesome things for you⁺ to drive out nations and their gods before your people, whom you redeemed to yourself from Egypt?" (2Sa 7:23). "But now thus says Yahweh who created you, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel: Don't be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine" (Is 43:1). "For Yah has chosen Jacob to himself, [And] Israel for his own possession" (Ps 135:4). They are "a people who stays alone, And will not be reckoned among the nations" (Nu 23:9).
The name "Jews" itself is used of the people of Judah in the Assyrian and Babylonian period: at Elath, "Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath" (2Ki 16:6); at Mizpah, Ishmael "struck Gedaliah, so that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah" (2Ki 25:25); and at the wall of Jerusalem the Assyrian heralds "cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them, and to trouble them" (2Ch 32:18).
Bondage in Egypt
The Egyptian slavery occupies the formative humiliation: "Therefore they set over them slave masters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Raamses" (Ex 1:11); "And the Egyptians made the sons of Israel to serve with rigor" (Ex 1:13). Moses' first sight of his people is one of forced labor: "he went out to his brothers, and looked on their burdens: and he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers" (Ex 2:11). The cry rises out of slavery (Ex 2:23; Ex 5:4), and Yahweh answers with covenant possession: "I will take you⁺ to be my people, and [my Speech] will be your⁺ God; and you⁺ will know that I am Yahweh your⁺ God, who brings you⁺ out from under the burdens of the Egyptians" (Ex 6:7). The same pattern of bondage is recalled at Numbers 20:15 and recounted in the Psalms: "He turned their heart to hate his people, To deal subtly with his slaves" (Ps 105:25).
Promised Special Immunity
The plagues distinguish the sons of Israel from the Egyptians. "I will set apart in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies will be there" (Ex 8:22). "And Yahweh did that thing on the next day; and all the cattle of Egypt died; but of the cattle of the sons of Israel not one died" (Ex 9:6). "Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were, there was no hail" (Ex 9:26). "But against any of the sons of Israel will not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that you⁺ may know how that Yahweh does make a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel" (Ex 11:7). The Passover blood is the token: "when I see the blood, [by my Speech] I will pass over you⁺, and there will be no plague on you⁺ to destroy you⁺, when I strike the land of Egypt" (Ex 12:13). A general pledge of immunity from disease frames the whole pattern (Ex 15:26), and the psalmist applies it widely: "A thousand will fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; [But] it will not come near you" (Ps 91:7).
Victorious in Battle
When Israel is faithful, the wars go their way. Abram strikes the eastern kings (Ge 14:15). Yahweh saves them at the sea (Ex 14:30) and confounds the Philistines with thunder at Mizpah (1Sa 7:10). Saul defeats the Ammonites at Jabesh-gilead (1Sa 11:11). David fells Goliath (1Sa 17:51). The Syrians flee before David (2Sa 10:18); his mighty men strike the Philistines (2Sa 23:10). At Jericho the wall falls (Jos 6:20); at Beth-horon Yahweh casts down great stones from heaven (Jos 10:11). Gideon's three hundred rout Midian (Jg 7:21). Jehoshaphat returns from Edom in joy: "every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for Yahweh had made them to rejoice over their enemies" (2Ch 20:27).
Defeated in Battle
When Israel turns away, the wars run the other way. The Philistines strike them at Aphek (1Sa 4:2; 1Sa 4:17) and on Gilboa Saul falls (1Sa 31:3; 2Sa 1:4). At Ai three thousand flee (Jos 7:4). The first Moabite oppressor strikes them (Jg 3:13). The lament rises: "You make us to turn back from the adversary; And those who hate us take spoil for themselves" (Ps 44:10).
The Judges
A succession of saviors is raised up to deliver Israel. Yahweh "raised up a savior to the sons of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother" (Jg 3:9); then Ehud (Jg 3:15) and Shamgar (Jg 3:31). Deborah judges from her palm-tree (Jg 4:5). Gideon (Jg 6:36), Tola (Jg 10:1), Jair (Jg 10:3), Jephthah (Jg 11:11), Ibzan (Jg 12:8), Elon (Jg 12:11), Abdon (Jg 12:13), and Samson (Jg 16:30) follow. Samuel judges all his life (1Sa 7:15; 1Sa 7:16). Eli "had judged Israel forty years" (1Sa 4:18). Abimelech rises briefly at Shechem (Jg 9:1). Beneath these courts the Mosaic charge stands: "I charged your⁺ judges at that time, saying, Hear [the causes] between your⁺ brothers, and judge righteously" (De 1:16; cf. De 16:18; De 25:1; Ex 18:13; 2Ch 19:5).
Exalted Above the Nations
Blessing language frames the people's privileged standing: "to make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, and in name, and in honor; and that you may be a holy people to Yahweh your God, as he has spoken" (De 26:19); "Yahweh your God will set you on high above all the nations of the earth" (De 28:1); "Yahweh will make you the head, and not the tail" (De 28:13). "He made him ride on the high places of the earth" (De 32:13). "Happy are you, O Israel: Who is like you, a people saved by [the Speech of] Yahweh, The shield of your help, And the sword of your excellency!" (De 33:29). The eschatological vision sees the nations bringing them home and bowing: "the house of Israel will possess them in the land of Yahweh for male slaves and for female slaves" (Is 14:2); "they will go after you, in chains they will come over; and they will fall down to you" (Is 45:14); "kings will be your nursing fathers" (Is 49:23); "the sons of those who afflicted you will come bending to you... and they will call you The city of Yahweh, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel" (Is 60:14).
Compared to an Unfruitful Vine
The vine becomes the standing emblem of Israel's bearing fruit, or failing to. "You brought a vine out of Egypt: You drove out the nations, and planted it" (Ps 80:8). "He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth bad [grapes]" (Is 5:2). "Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then have you turned into the wild branches of a foreign vine to me?" (Je 2:21). The vine grows low (Eze 17:6) and the mother is "like a vine, in your blood, planted by the waters" (Eze 19:10). The vine of the forest is given to fire (Eze 15:6). Israel is "a luxuriant vine, that puts forth his fruit" (Ho 10:1).
Characterized as an Adulteress
The covenant figure of marriage becomes the figure of unfaithfulness. The chronicler records that the trans-Jordanian tribes "trespassed against the God of their fathers, and went whoring after the gods of the peoples of the land" (1Ch 5:25). "They didn't listen to their judges; for they went whoring after other gods" (Jg 2:17). Gideon's ephod becomes a snare (Jg 8:27). Hosea piles up the same vocabulary: "the spirit of whoring has caused them to err, and they have whored away from their God" (Ho 4:12); "the spirit of whoring is inside them" (Ho 5:4); "you have whored away from your God; you have loved wages on every grain-floor" (Ho 9:1). Ezekiel echoes it: "they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed" (Eze 6:9); "Do you⁺ pollute yourselves after the manner of your⁺ fathers? And you⁺ whore after their detestable things?" (Eze 20:30); "you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, therefore bear you also your lewdness and your whoring" (Eze 23:35). Psalm 106:39 reads, "Thus they were defiled with their works, And whored in their doings."
Threatened with Reprobation, Humbled, Cut Off
Covenant curses warn what disobedience brings: "I will set my face against you⁺, and you⁺ will be struck before your⁺ enemies: those who hate you⁺ will rule over you⁺" (Le 26:17); "all these curses will come upon you, and overtake you" (De 28:15); "Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them" (De 31:17); "I will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam" (1Ki 14:16); "though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my soul would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight" (Je 15:1); "I will cast you⁺ out of my sight, as I have cast out all your⁺ brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim" (Je 7:15); "My God will cast them away, because they did not [receive his Speech]; and they will be wanderers among the nations" (Ho 9:17). The same cutting off is figured by the prophets and apostle: in Yahweh's word, "He will come and destroy these husbandmen, and will give the vineyard to others" (Lu 20:16); "none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper" (Lu 14:24); "if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them" (Ro 11:17); and in 2Th 2:12, "all who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, would be judged."
The humiliation language piles up: "the children" become princes (Is 3:4); "you have laid your back as the ground, and as the street, to those who go over" (Is 51:23); "you will serve your enemies that [the Speech of] Yahweh will send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things" (De 28:48); the hand of Midian prevails so they hide in caves (Jg 6:2); the Moabite king is served eighteen years (Jg 3:14); Saul and his men are dismayed before Goliath (1Sa 17:11); the verdict on the northern kingdom is, "Yahweh rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers" (2Ki 17:20); Nehemiah's prayer rehearses the same pattern (Ne 9:28); Ezra's confession is, "Since the days of our fathers we have been exceedingly guilty to this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands" (Ezr 9:7); Sirach records, "And there was great mourning in Israel, And in every place where they were" (1Ma 1:25; cf. 1Ma 1:58).
Carried into Bondage
Beyond Egypt, the later captivities are foretold and fulfilled. "Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you will set over you, to a nation that you haven't known, you nor your fathers" (De 28:36). The northern carrying-away is recorded twice: "the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes" (2Ki 17:6; cf. 2Ki 18:11; 2Ki 15:29). Tiglath-pileser strips Naphtali and Galilee. The southern carrying-away follows: "he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives" (2Ki 24:14); "the remainder of the people who were left in the city ... Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive" (2Ki 25:11). Ahaz's Judah is delivered into the hands of Aram and Pekah (2Ch 28:5). Isaiah foretells, "of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, they will take away; and they will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon" (Is 39:7). Amos hears the same word: "Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely be led away captive out of his land" (Am 7:11). Jeremiah marks Judah's deportation: "Judah is carried away captive, all of it; it is wholly carried away captive" (Je 13:19). Luke 21:24 extends the pattern to the Roman period: "they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations: and Jerusalem will be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."
Became a By-word
The exiled people become a proverb among the nations. "I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them ... and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples" (1Ki 9:7). "You will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away" (De 28:37). "I will even give them up to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse" (Je 24:9). "I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries" (Eze 22:4). "You make us a byword among the nations, A shaking of the head among the peoples" (Ps 44:14).
Lost the Joy of Divine Favour
Joy is one of the first casualties of the breach. "I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feasts, her new moons, and her Sabbaths" (Ho 2:11). "I will turn your⁺ feasts into mourning, and all your⁺ songs into lamentation" (Am 8:10). "Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride" (Je 7:34; cf. Je 16:9; Je 25:10). "There is a crying in the streets because of the wine; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone" (Is 24:11). "I will cause the noise of your songs to cease; and the sound of your harps will be heard no more" (Eze 26:13). "The joy of our heart has ceased; Our dance has turned into mourning" (La 5:15). The pattern returns at the end as judgment on Babylon: "the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will be heard no more at all in you" (Re 18:23).
Persecution
Israel suffers persecution from the surrounding nations and from its own conquerors. The Edomites drive the Jews from Elath (2Ki 16:6). Daniel records that "[prominent] men, Chaldeans, came near and brought accusation against the Jews" (Da 3:8). Esther records the edict of Haman: "letters were sent by posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day" (Es 3:13). The psalmist hears the same hostility: "They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether: They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land" (Ps 74:8); "Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance" (Ps 83:4).
Kings of Israel and Judah
The northern kingdom's line is told through a chain of accessions: Jeroboam (1Ki 11:28; 1Ki 14:20), Ahab (1Ki 22:40), the anointing of Jehu (1Ki 19:16), Asa's wars with Baasha (1Ki 15:16), the brief and bloody successions in 1Ki 16:8-29, Jehoram (2Ki 1:17), Jehu (2Ki 10:35), Jehoash (2Ki 13:10), Jeroboam II (2Ki 14:23-29), and the rapid collapse of the northern dynasties under Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, and Hoshea (2Ki 15:8-30).
The southern kings are recorded in the parallel formula: Rehoboam (1Ki 11:43; 1Ki 14:31), Abijam (1Ki 15:8), Asa (1Ki 15:24), Josiah's coming death is foretold at the altar at Bethel (1Ki 13:2), Jehoshaphat (2Ch 21:1), Ahaziah (2Ki 8:25-26), Joash hidden by Jehosheba (2Ki 11:2), the long arc Amaziah-Azariah-Jotham-Ahaz (2Ki 14:1-21; 2Ki 15:1-38; 2Ki 16:20), Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon (2Ki 21:1-19), Jehoahaz/Jehoiakim (2Ki 23:30-34), Jehoiachin (2Ki 24:6), and Zedekiah (2Ki 24:17).
The Remnant
Through the threats of cutting off, the prophetic word holds open a remnant. "Except Yahweh of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like Gomorrah" (Is 1:9). "He who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, will be called holy" (Is 4:3). "There will be a highway for the remnant of his people, who will remain, from Assyria" (Is 11:16; cf. Is 11:11). Hezekiah's prayer is for "the remnant who is left" (Is 37:4). "Look, in it will be left a remnant that will be carried forth, both sons and daughters" (Eze 14:22). "They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine" (Je 6:9). "Sing with gladness for Jacob ... O Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of Israel" (Je 31:7). "I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them" (Je 23:3). "I will surely gather the remnant of Israel" (Mi 2:12). "The remnant of my people will make a prey of them" (Zep 2:9). The same remnant theme is taken up by Paul: "If the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved" (Ro 9:27); "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace" (Ro 11:5).
Return From Captivity
The promised gathering threads through the prophets. "Then [the Speech of] Yahweh your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples" (De 30:3). "As Yahweh lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries where he had driven them" (Je 16:15). "I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds" (Je 23:3). "I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria" (Zec 10:10). "At that time I will bring you⁺ in, at the time when I will gather you⁺; for I will make you⁺ a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I bring back your⁺ captivity" (Zep 3:20).
In the Maccabean and Sirach Witness
Within the books that UPDV carries as canon, the same arc continues. Antiochus invades and Israel mourns: "after Antiochus had ravaged Egypt in the hundred and forty-third year, he returned and went up against Israel" (1Ma 1:20); "great mourning in Israel, And in every place where they were" (1Ma 1:25); "many of Israel consented to his service, and they sacrificed to idols, and profaned the Sabbath" (1Ma 1:43); "by their power they dealt with the people of Israel, who were found in the cities month after month" (1Ma 1:58). Mattathias dies and is buried in Modin (1Ma 2:70). Israel is delivered (1Ma 4:25); Judas gathers "all the Israelites who were in the land of Gilead" (1Ma 5:45); the wicked are exposed (1Ma 6:21); Judas Maccabeus and "the people of the Jews" send envoys to Rome (1Ma 8:20); Jonathan is mourned (1Ma 12:52); Simon's brothers die for Israel (1Ma 13:4); all Israel mourns Jonathan many days (1Ma 13:26); "the yoke of the nations was taken off from Israel" (1Ma 13:41); under Simon "the land of Judah was at rest" (1Ma 14:4).
Sirach speaks of Israel as Yahweh's portion: "For every nation he appointed a ruler, But Israel is the Lord's portion" (Sir 17:17). Wisdom dwells in Jacob: "In Jacob let your dwelling place be, And in Israel take up your inheritance" (Sir 24:8). Sirach prays that the tribes be gathered (Sir 36:11) and "Have mercy upon the people called by your name, Israel whom you surnamed Firstborn" (Sir 36:12). He contrasts the man's few days with "the life of Israel days without number" (Sir 37:24; cf. Sir 37:23). And he records that even after pluckings and scatterings, "to the house of David was left a prince" (Sir 48:15-16).