Who [Or What] Is Meant By: "All Israel" - In The Scriptures

Original Map of Ancient Israel - before the captivity.

Time after time, we hear Yahweh [God] relating His prophetically given messages to either: "Jacob," "Ephraim," "Jacob/Ephraim," "Judah," and "All Israel" - in the sacred scriptures... but, what do these specifically descriptive terms really mean; and precisely whom is He talking to whenever He uses them? There is frequently much confusion surrounding them; and many, very sincere, Judeo-Christian Believers find themselves wondering what these scriptural terms honestly mean. After all, a given message is only valuable for the properly intended recipient; and without such correct knowledge, it is virtually useless to anyone! Therefore, let's explore these highly valuable terms - from the actual scriptures themselves....

However, in order to properly understand these numerous biblical references, we will first need to understand a few things about Yahweh Himself.

For instance:

• Yahweh has made several covenants with mankind - at various times; and He never goes back upon His words.
• He never forgets a promise having been made and holds both contractual parties fully accountable - particularly including Himself.
• Since Fathers may speak for their households, the children are assumed parties to the original contract; and thus, by extension, their children are as well - in eternal perpetuity.
• Like All Fathers, this relationship includes both: Rewards and Chastisements - as an inducement to encouraging proper familial behavior... and His children may not benefit from one, without compliantly submitting themselves to the other.
• But Unlike Many Fathers, He intimately knows every member of His familial lineage - down to the very last human generation... even when they [themselves], do not know of Him!

Yahweh's original promise was to The Patriarch Abraham, who left the nation of Ancient Babylon - then called Chaldea - at His personal behest. By doing so, and taking upon himself the life of a nomad, Abraham displayed great faith in the God of his direct ancestors: Adam, Enoch, and Noah. We must bear in mind, that by the time of Abraham's birth - only a few were left in all of Chaldea, who worshiped this most ancient of gods... and many of them, weren't any more faithful, than our modern day Jews or Christians. How many today, would drop everything to wander off into the desert - upon hearing Yahweh's heartfelt voice? Our current percentage of international missionaries can offer us a reasonable modern day clue....

Abraham had two sons: "Ishmael," and "Isaac," and each one was given a specific blessing [or covenanted promise] by Yahweh. Although Ishmael was the oldest of the two, he did not get the greater of these two blessings, since he was conceived out of unfaithfulness to Yahweh's promise - for his wife Sarah to produce him an offspring. Meanwhile, Isaac - being the promised child of Yahweh - received the primary blessing as promised long before Ishmael was ever born.

The Blessing Made To Ishmael:

• "Then the Angel of Yahweh said to her, 'I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.'" - Genesis 16:10.
• "And the Angel of Yahweh said to her: 'Behold you are with child, and you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because Yahweh has heard your affliction. He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of his brothers.'" - Genesis 16:11-12.
• "But Yahweh said to Abraham, 'Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bond-woman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bond-woman, because he is your seed." - Genesis 21:12-13.

The modern day descendants of Ishmael, or "The Ishmaelites," make up a very large percentage of the Middle Eastern population [12 descendant nations, or ethnic races]... and as The Angel of Yahweh has prophesied regarding them, they are an exceedingly strife-filled race of people - with: "Their hands against every man, And every man's hands against them." In fact, it is this inherently "wild" personal genetic nature - which makes them [precisely] so easy to stir up by their political and religious leaders! As science is finally discovering today, certain characteristic personality traits - just like our human physical features - are [also] passed on through our genetics. Our overall psychological temperament is merely one of them.

The Blessing Made To Isaac:

• "Then the Angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: 'Because you have done this thing, and not withheld your son, your only son, in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants will possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.'" - Genesis:22:15-18.
• "So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her: 'Our sister, may you become The Mother of thousands of ten thousands; And may your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them.'" - Genesis 24:59-60.

When Isaac's Wife Rebekah was proven incapable of having children, Isaac prayed to Yahweh regarding his wife's barren condition... and Yahweh answered his pleas by giving her twins. From the very beginning, these two brothers wrestled within her incessantly... and this, constant internal agitation, grew to the point of her ongoing concern and discomfort. Thus, Yahweh responded to her understandable fears, by explaining to her that:

• "Two nations are within your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger." - Genesis 25:23. 

These combatative twins were, "Esau" and "Jacob." Since Esau was the eldest and well loved by his father, Isaac fully intended to pass along his blessing to Esau - upon his death. However, Esau lacked any true: understanding, valuation, appreciation, or [even] reverence for such nebulous and spiritually derived gifts! Moreover, Rebekah - remembering Yahweh's promise - conspired with her son Jacob to ensure this younger son's inheritance of his firstborn Birthright and Blessing. This particular biblical recounting may be found in Genesis Chapters 25-28.



The Blessing Made To Esau [The Elder]:

• "Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. By your sword shall you live, and you shall serve your brother; and it shall come to pass, when you become restless, that you shall break his yoke from your neck." - Genesis 27:39-40.

The Blessing Made To Jacob:

• "Surely, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed. Therefore may Yahweh give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brothers, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!" - Genesis 27:27-29.
• "May Yahweh The Mighty One bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples; and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which Yahweh gave to Abraham." - Genesis 28:3-4.
• "And behold, Yahweh stood above it and said: 'I am Yahweh God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.'" - Genesis 28:13-15.
• "And He said, 'Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with Yahweh and men, and have prevailed." - Genesis 32:28.

After wrestling with The Angel of Yahweh, Jacob was given the name Israel - which means: "He who has struggled with God and with men and has prevailed." Consequently, the scriptural term "All Israel" includes every single Physical and Spiritual Descendant of Jacob. If you are the Physical and Spiritual Descendant of Jacob, then you are numbered among those to whom All Israel scripturally refers and are factually included - as being party to these numerous prophetic references. Thus, when the scriptures relate Yahweh's assembling of All Israel back within our promised homeland, He is referring to far more than just the children of Judah [or, Jews]... as we shall very soon see, by His miraculous regathering of His full promised people!

Jacob - who had four wives named: Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah - also had 12 sons; by them. These Sons were named: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. Their descendants became the Twelve Tribes of Israel - as spoken of repeatedly - in the sacred scriptures. For a list of their specific blessings, as given by Jacob upon his deathbed, read Genesis 49:1-28. It is far too long for this particular posting - which is already growing quite long. However, it is also important to note, that both of Joseph's sons - Ephraim and Manasseh - received Jacob's blessings, as well.

Later, when Ancient Israel was divided into the two separate kingdoms of Judea and Israel, the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin comprised Judea [The House of David]; while the other ten tribes made up the new nation of Israel [The House Of Jacob]. Consequently, today's modern Jews represent only a very small portion of "All Israel" - which retained their ancestral and spiritual identity after their Babylonian Captivity... and Jacob/Israel, which was more thinly scattered over the earth by the Assyrians, has [for the most part] lost its true ancestral identity. And yet, Yahweh has never forgotten even one of them, or His perpetual promises to them - for all perpetuity!

Moreover, within the hearts of these [so called]: "Lost Ten Tribes Of Israel" - lies a fully genetic seed which predisposes them to a heightened spiritual interest with respect to seeking out Yahweh and His eventual fulfillment of these continual promises. In times past, this formed the spiritual impetus for our rapidly growing and far purer form of Early Christianity... but now, with the revelation of "Sun Worshiping Paganism" being found nearer to the heart of it, it is leading us outward from The Heart Of Babylon - in our ever ongoing search for purer forms of spiritually enlightened worship. Many are heeding The Prophetic Call: "Come Out Of Babylon My People!"