From Canaanites to Israelites
While the Israelites were God’s chosen people they were only formally recognized as the Israelites after their freedom and exodus from Egypt. Before then they traditionally followed the cultural rules and customs of the Canaanite people. While they were known as a separate entity they were often thought of as just another sect within the Canaanites. The Israelites were often identified as Canaanites mainly because they wore the same style of clothing as the city-dwelling Canaanites. The origins came during a period from 1198-1167 BC. During this time the entirety of Canaan was in upheaval with multiple nomadic groups vying for different areas of land. This was further complicated when they were invaded on two fronts by sea-faring warriors on one side and foreign nomadic groups on the other who saw the land of Canaan as a better place to live and moved en mass. However during this time there was an entity known as “Israel” that was emerging and seemed to be a motley group of several different peoples. In the book of Joshua is when the unifying of the people group known as the Israelites began. There are multiple occasions when Joshua seeks to unify the people he is leading by inviting them to pledge their allegiances to the 10 commandments and other laws that were associated with the name of Moses. This group of people that then rejected the beliefs and gods of their ancestors then became the people group known as the Israelites. This unification was even mentioned in Acts 15:14-18 when James speaks on the rules and regulations that should be put into effect for the gentiles, “Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: “ ‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord who does these things’- things known from long ago.
From Israelites to Christians
Now the implications of this are staggering. Not only are the Jewish people not the only ones who can receive salvation from the Lord after Christ’s coming, but God had planned to do that the entire time and demonstrates this by reminding the Jewish people where they had come from. The roots of the Israelites started out as gentiles and now God’s new and glorious freedom in Christ was exposed to every culture and ever people for the first time in the history of humanity. While God had made multiple ways for people to join his following it required becoming a member of the Jewish religion and then following that strictly. And even THEN the strictest followers of Judaism wouldn’t even recognize you as a real Jewish member of society. But with Jesus’ ministry and then subsequent death and resurrection on the cross the ability to live in God’s presence was expanded to all who believed in Christ. Thus this led to the expansion of the name for God’s people becoming Christians.
