In my last post I established that Israel operated under a Greek style of government called an AMPHICTONY.
However, it’s a mistake to call it a “government” because there was no central ruling authority.
It was more like a loosely held together alliance of tribes bound together by family and religion.
While other amphictonies were usually bound together by military security and economics, not so with Israel.
For them, the binding elements were the fact they were all descended from their patriarch Jacob and were all loyal to the Mosaic Covenant.
That’s why the tribes of Israel would get into brutal battles with each other one moment and then the next moment turn around and kiss each other on the cheeks as if nothing had happened.
And if you think about it, the current situation of the Hebrews today is quite similar.
There are Hebrews located all around the world who are now making ALIYAH to Israel (returning back to the homeland).
As a result, Israel is a melting Hebrew pot of different races and backgrounds from all around the world.
And what do you think happens when you’ve got so many groups in one place who speak different languages and are of different cultures?
It’s inevitable that skirmishes will break out.
Yet, at the end of the day, all Hebrews recognize they are brothers all descended from Jacob and who all worship the one true God.
That’s why they are able to bury the hatchet and forgive each other.
Folks, what I’ve just explained right there is the one thing about tribal societies most Westerners don’t get.
In fact, we see this very thing occurring all over the Middle East and especially during the Iraqi war.
The United States will be backing one tribe who is in a vicious battle with another tribe and just when it seems like the one tribe they’re supporting is about to win, all of a sudden the fighting will stop and the 2 tribes who were at each other’s throats will enter into a peace treaty with each other.
The US will be scratching their heads wondering what in the heck just happened.
Well, the answer is because of what I’ve just explained.
In other words, blood is thicker than water.
In the final analysis, the tribes fighting with each other realize they are bound together by a common ancestor and that it would be a tragedy to see one of their own exterminated at their own hands.
Keep this key point in mind as we move forward in our study of Judges.
Because it will clear up a lot of the confusion that would otherwise arise when looking at some of the perplexing behavior of the Hebrew tribes in their dealings with each other.
Your article states, “Yet, at the end of the day, all Hebrews recognize they are brothers all descended from Jacob and who all worship the one true God.”
This has never been true, and even less true now. Present-day Israel, by their own admission through surveys, is predominantly secular (80% plus). Of those in Israel that claim Judaism as their religious belief, only a small percent are orthodox or ultra orthodox. The rest are very liberal, watered-down, adaptations of Judaism, including Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism/occult).
As for ancient Israel, they’re seen all through the Old Testament Biblical text as a people who constantly turned away from Elohim to pagan gods all the way from Egypt to present day.
If you want to find a uniting factor among Jews, it’s not their so-called belief in the God of Israel… Anything but.
Hi Ben,
Thanks for your comment but I beg to disagree.
Even the staunchest, most atheistic Jew recognizes his roots go back to Jacob and to Moses at Sinai…even if he tells himself it’s just mythology.
Shalom.
I understand the point you’re trying to make, BUT AGAIN, my point is that whatever may unite Jews has nothing to do with religious beliefs. Too many Christians, and none more than Zionists, have a fairy tale mentality about Israel/Jews loving the God of the Bible, but nothing could be further from the truth. It is important to convey the truth of Israel’s rejection of the God of the bible, past, present, and future (until Yeshua returns). Sadly, if there’s anything that may unite Israel, it’s their rejection of the true, living, Elohim.
If you, or anyone, thinks that roots going back to Jacob and Moses at Sinai is something to be proud of, or some great religious uniting factor, remember this– Jacob was a liar and a schemer, and this is what Elohim had to say about the children of Israel at Sanai…
Deuteronomy 913 “Furthermore Adonai spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed they are a stiff-necked people. 14 Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ ”
So, perhaps it is their detestable nature that unites them more than anything else…
– Jeremiah 29:17 thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad. 18 And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I will deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth—to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, 19 because they have not heeded My words”
– Ezekiel 36:16 Moreover the word of Adonai (the Lord) came to me, saying: 17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity. 18 Therefore I poured out My fury on them for the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it. 19 So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds. 20 When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name”…
Shalom right back at ya
When I read thoughts such as these I am reminded of a sort of parable – the Bible is written as a love letter. Instead of seeing the Father as one who seeks to correct His children, albeit harshly at times, some see Him, really, as less personal (at least to the Jews) and so ready to take an axe against them. Who can you get the maddest at but those you love the most?
The Jews are no worse sinners than any on us but due to their special place in Yah’s design, they have higher expectations on them – from whom much is given, much is required.The gifts and calling given by God are irrevocable. Woe to us if we seek to do that.