The ancient Israelites and the modern day Jews are not necessarily the same people. Research the Ashkenazi and the Khazars. You might also try running a search on Edomites Jews or Edom Jews.
Revelation 2:8-9 (King James Version)
2:8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Revelation 3:7-9
7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Pseudo-Israel
Are all modern day Jews really Israelites?
Simply because someone calls himself a Jew does not prove that he is a true physical descendant of Jacob/Israel. Just as people from many different races and nationalities are referred to as Americans merely by virtue of their being a United States citizen, so the Romans also referred to all the inhabitants of Judea as Judeans (Jews in modern parlance), regardless of whether they were Israelites by blood or not.
"John Hyrcanus conquered the whole of Edom and undertook the forced conversion of its inhabitants to Judaism (Joseph., Ant. XIII, 9, 1). Thenceforth the Edomites became a section of the Jewish people." (Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 6, (1971), p. 378; The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia (1977), p. 589).
"Thus, at this juncture of time the Edomites 'were incorporated with the Jewish nation, and their country was called by the Greeks and Romans 'Idumea' (Mark 3:8; Ptolemy, 'Geography,' v. 16)." (The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. V. (1904), p. 41).
Flavius Josephus (Jewish 1st Century historian) - Antiquities of the Jews Book XIII
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS,
FROM THE DEATH OF JUDAS MACCABEUS TO THE DEATH OF QUEEN ALEXANDRA.
CHAPTER 9.
HOW, AFTER THE DEATH OF ANTIOCHUS, HYRCANUS MADE AN EXPEDITION AGAINST SYRIA, AND MADE A LEAGUE WITH THE ROMANS. CONCERNING THE DEATH OF KING DEMETRIUS AND ALEXANDER.
"1. BUT when Hyrcanus heard of the death of Antiochus, he presently made an expedition against the cities of Syria, hoping to find them destitute of fighting men, and of such as were able to defend them. However, it was not till the sixth month that he took Medaba, and that not without the greatest distress of his army. After this he took Samega, and the neighboring places; and besides these, Shechem and Gerizzim, and the nation of the Cutheans, who dwelt at the temple which resembled that temple which was at Jerusalem, and which Alexander permitted Sanballat, the general of his army, to build for the sake of Manasseh, who was son-in-law to Jaddua the high priest, as we have formerly related; which temple was now deserted two hundred years after it was built. Hyrcanus took also Dora and Marissa, cities of Idumea, and subdued all the Idumeans [Greek for Edomites, descendants of Esau - ed]; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would circumcise their genitals, and make use of the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision, and of the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time therefore this befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews. "
There is only one man in all of Scripture, only one person in the entire Bible whom Yahweh declares his hatred for personally. That man�s name is Esau, the older twin brother of Jacob.
KJV Malachi 1:1-3
1 The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
2 I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob,
3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
And again in the New Testament:
KJV Romans 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Flavius Josephus - The Wars of the Jews
Or
The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem Book II
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF SIXTY-NINE YEARS.
FROM THE DEATH OF HEROD TILL VESPASIAN WAS SENT TO SUBDUE THE JEWS BY NERO.
CHAPTER 8.
ARCHELAUS'S ETHNARCHY IS REDUCED INTO A [ROMAN] PROVINCE. THE SEDITION OF JUDAS OF GALILEE. THE THREE SECTS.
"2. For there are three philosophical sects among the Jews. The followers of the first of which are the Pharisees; of the second, the Sadducees; and the third sect, which pretends to a severer discipline, are called Essenes. These last are Jews by birth, and seem to have a greater affection for one another than the other sects have. These Essenes reject pleasures as an evil, but esteem continence, and the conquest over our passions, to be virtue. They neglect wedlock, but choose out other persons children, while they are pliable, and fit for learning, and esteem them to be of their kindred, and form them according to their own manners. They do not absolutely deny the fitness of marriage, and the succession of mankind thereby continued; but they guard against the lascivious behavior of women, and are persuaded that none of them preserve their fidelity to one man."
Implied in this passage is that many, if not most, of the Pharisees and Sadducees during this time period were not physically Jews (of the Tribe of Judah or any other Israelite tribe).
Just in case you weren't aware of it, the word Jew which occurs in English Bibles is translated from the Greek Ioudaios, which would be better rendered either Yudeios or Yudean. And ,of course, the Hebrew is Yehudi, meaning a descendant of Yudah.
Yahshua HaMashiach (The Anointed One, Christ) was born of a woman descended from the tribes Yudah and Levi. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Word of Yahweh made flesh.
Saul of Tarsus whose name was changed to Paul was from the tribe of Benyamin (Romans 11:1; Phillipians 3:14). Paul may have been an exception among the Pharisees, such as perhpaps Nicodemus was also.
KJV 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.
I don't believe that the majority of modern day Jews are the true descendants of Jacob/Israel. For the most part they are Edomites (descendats of Esau) and Khazars (Turks who converted to Judaism in the Middle Ages and became the German, Eastern European, and Russian Jews), amongst others, who seek to usurp the birthright and inheritance which they wrongly believe was stolen from them thousands of years ago. They claim to be the chosen people of God, but they may actually be something else entirely.
KJV Revelation 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
KJV Revelation 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Zohar [Kabbalasic literature], Section 3, Page 199b "When Israel are by themselves and do not come up for judgement with the other peoples, God is lenient with them and makes atonement for them. But when they come up with the other peoples, God knows that Samael, the guardian of Esau, will come to call to mind their sins, and therefore He provides a remedy for them and for each sin He smites them and purifies them with chastisements little by little, but does not clear them out of the world. When they come up for judgement Samael brings up many records against them, but God brings forth the records of the sufferings which they have endured for each sin, so that they are all wiped off without any indulgence. Then Samael has no more power and can do nothing to them and he vanishes from the world with all his followers and peoples."
The Ascension of Isaiah (Jewish Pseudepigrapha) 11:41 On account of these visions and prophecies Sammael Satan sawed in sunder Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet, by the hand of Manasseh.
KJV Malachi 1:1-5
1 The burden of the word of the LORD (Yahweh) to Israel by Malachi.
2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, the border of wickedness, and, the people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.
5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.
Yahshua himself had some very interesting things to say about the descendants of Esau, who had during his time become a part of the Jewish nation:
KJV Matthew 23:27-39
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Revelation 2:8-9 (King James Version)
2:8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Revelation 3:7-9
7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Pseudo-Israel
Are all modern day Jews really Israelites?
Simply because someone calls himself a Jew does not prove that he is a true physical descendant of Jacob/Israel. Just as people from many different races and nationalities are referred to as Americans merely by virtue of their being a United States citizen, so the Romans also referred to all the inhabitants of Judea as Judeans (Jews in modern parlance), regardless of whether they were Israelites by blood or not.
"John Hyrcanus conquered the whole of Edom and undertook the forced conversion of its inhabitants to Judaism (Joseph., Ant. XIII, 9, 1). Thenceforth the Edomites became a section of the Jewish people." (Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 6, (1971), p. 378; The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia (1977), p. 589).
"Thus, at this juncture of time the Edomites 'were incorporated with the Jewish nation, and their country was called by the Greeks and Romans 'Idumea' (Mark 3:8; Ptolemy, 'Geography,' v. 16)." (The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. V. (1904), p. 41).
Flavius Josephus (Jewish 1st Century historian) - Antiquities of the Jews Book XIII
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS,
FROM THE DEATH OF JUDAS MACCABEUS TO THE DEATH OF QUEEN ALEXANDRA.
CHAPTER 9.
HOW, AFTER THE DEATH OF ANTIOCHUS, HYRCANUS MADE AN EXPEDITION AGAINST SYRIA, AND MADE A LEAGUE WITH THE ROMANS. CONCERNING THE DEATH OF KING DEMETRIUS AND ALEXANDER.
"1. BUT when Hyrcanus heard of the death of Antiochus, he presently made an expedition against the cities of Syria, hoping to find them destitute of fighting men, and of such as were able to defend them. However, it was not till the sixth month that he took Medaba, and that not without the greatest distress of his army. After this he took Samega, and the neighboring places; and besides these, Shechem and Gerizzim, and the nation of the Cutheans, who dwelt at the temple which resembled that temple which was at Jerusalem, and which Alexander permitted Sanballat, the general of his army, to build for the sake of Manasseh, who was son-in-law to Jaddua the high priest, as we have formerly related; which temple was now deserted two hundred years after it was built. Hyrcanus took also Dora and Marissa, cities of Idumea, and subdued all the Idumeans [Greek for Edomites, descendants of Esau - ed]; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would circumcise their genitals, and make use of the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision, and of the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time therefore this befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews. "
There is only one man in all of Scripture, only one person in the entire Bible whom Yahweh declares his hatred for personally. That man�s name is Esau, the older twin brother of Jacob.
KJV Malachi 1:1-3
1 The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
2 I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob,
3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
And again in the New Testament:
KJV Romans 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Flavius Josephus - The Wars of the Jews
Or
The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem Book II
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF SIXTY-NINE YEARS.
FROM THE DEATH OF HEROD TILL VESPASIAN WAS SENT TO SUBDUE THE JEWS BY NERO.
CHAPTER 8.
ARCHELAUS'S ETHNARCHY IS REDUCED INTO A [ROMAN] PROVINCE. THE SEDITION OF JUDAS OF GALILEE. THE THREE SECTS.
"2. For there are three philosophical sects among the Jews. The followers of the first of which are the Pharisees; of the second, the Sadducees; and the third sect, which pretends to a severer discipline, are called Essenes. These last are Jews by birth, and seem to have a greater affection for one another than the other sects have. These Essenes reject pleasures as an evil, but esteem continence, and the conquest over our passions, to be virtue. They neglect wedlock, but choose out other persons children, while they are pliable, and fit for learning, and esteem them to be of their kindred, and form them according to their own manners. They do not absolutely deny the fitness of marriage, and the succession of mankind thereby continued; but they guard against the lascivious behavior of women, and are persuaded that none of them preserve their fidelity to one man."
Implied in this passage is that many, if not most, of the Pharisees and Sadducees during this time period were not physically Jews (of the Tribe of Judah or any other Israelite tribe).
Just in case you weren't aware of it, the word Jew which occurs in English Bibles is translated from the Greek Ioudaios, which would be better rendered either Yudeios or Yudean. And ,of course, the Hebrew is Yehudi, meaning a descendant of Yudah.
Yahshua HaMashiach (The Anointed One, Christ) was born of a woman descended from the tribes Yudah and Levi. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Word of Yahweh made flesh.
Saul of Tarsus whose name was changed to Paul was from the tribe of Benyamin (Romans 11:1; Phillipians 3:14). Paul may have been an exception among the Pharisees, such as perhpaps Nicodemus was also.
KJV 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.
I don't believe that the majority of modern day Jews are the true descendants of Jacob/Israel. For the most part they are Edomites (descendats of Esau) and Khazars (Turks who converted to Judaism in the Middle Ages and became the German, Eastern European, and Russian Jews), amongst others, who seek to usurp the birthright and inheritance which they wrongly believe was stolen from them thousands of years ago. They claim to be the chosen people of God, but they may actually be something else entirely.
KJV Revelation 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
KJV Revelation 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Zohar [Kabbalasic literature], Section 3, Page 199b "When Israel are by themselves and do not come up for judgement with the other peoples, God is lenient with them and makes atonement for them. But when they come up with the other peoples, God knows that Samael, the guardian of Esau, will come to call to mind their sins, and therefore He provides a remedy for them and for each sin He smites them and purifies them with chastisements little by little, but does not clear them out of the world. When they come up for judgement Samael brings up many records against them, but God brings forth the records of the sufferings which they have endured for each sin, so that they are all wiped off without any indulgence. Then Samael has no more power and can do nothing to them and he vanishes from the world with all his followers and peoples."
The Ascension of Isaiah (Jewish Pseudepigrapha) 11:41 On account of these visions and prophecies Sammael Satan sawed in sunder Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet, by the hand of Manasseh.
KJV Malachi 1:1-5
1 The burden of the word of the LORD (Yahweh) to Israel by Malachi.
2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, the border of wickedness, and, the people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.
5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.
Yahshua himself had some very interesting things to say about the descendants of Esau, who had during his time become a part of the Jewish nation:
KJV Matthew 23:27-39
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
