Not all Israelites are Jews

 

All Jews are Israelites. Yes. Absolutely. Even one of the Gates into the City of New Jerusalem will be called Judah (Revelation 21:12). We should be very respectful how we treat Jews. Jesus was a Jew. And He said how we treat His brethren is how we treat Him (Matthew 25:40,45). There is no replacing Judah. 

 

At the same time, Judah does not replace Ephraim and all the other tribes. While Jesus was a Jew, He also stated that he came for the other tribes, the lost sheep of the House of Israel (Matthew 15:24). Here, many will say the House of Israel means the Jews. But in the Old Testament, the House of Israel is always in reference to the northern tribes that broke away under Ephraim. It is never in reference to the House of Judah. 

 

There is also the argument that when God divorced the northern tribes, anyone who was righteous came out of them and was grafted in to Judah, thus leaving only the Jews. They get this from 2 Chronicles 11:13-17. This basically states that when the northen Kingdom worshipped idols, the Levites left and went to Judah. This does not say that they became Jewish. If they had, they would no longer be descendants of Levi, they would be adopted descendants of Judah. This passage also states that after them, others went to Jerusalem. 

 

2 Chronicles 11:16 - And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to scarifice unto the LORD God of their fathers. 

 

Read this very carefully. This does not state that Judah adopted people from all the other tribes, making them Jews. It said they came to Jerusalem to sacrifice. Put this into context. Three times a year, the men are called to gather in Jerusalem to sacrifice during the various festivals. Jeroboam, the ruler of the Northern Kingdom, was afraid that he would lose control of the people. So he built altars and set up idols to try and keep people from going to Jerusalem to sacrifice. According to this passage, the righteous did anyway. But if you read the verses past this, it was only for three years. This does not say they were grafted or adopted into the tribe of Judah. And even if they were, again, only for three years. This does not carry all of the tribes inside of Judah through to the modern day. Thus, we go back to the previous statement, not all Israelites are Jews.