I noticed you werent posting, but I thought you might enjoy some of the pretzel twisting on who/what is Israel.
Oh, I suppose I'll review the thread.
who/what is Israel
I've been suggesting in these threads for years, that folks examine all the different ways "Israel" gets used. Jacob's new name. The tribes coming from him, considered collectevly. The united kingdom. The northern kingdom, in contrast to Judah. The servant of the LORD. Physical descendants of Jacob, vs. the believing remnant. "They are not all Israel who are of Israel". "The commonwealth of Israel", to which believing Christian gentiles are now explicitly in. Galatians 6:16. And there's a reference in Joshua somewhere, telling us that "all Israel" included stray foreigners. Who is the "synagogue of Satan" in Jesus' letters to the 7 churches? Who are the "unbelievers" in Judea that Paul hopes to be delivered from, in Romans 15?
Has anyone brought up Isaiah 49, where the servant of Yahweh is both Israel, and the one who redeems Israel?
Listen to me, O coastlands,
and give attention, you peoples from afar.
The LORD called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.
He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
And he said to me, You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
But I said, I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the LORD,
and my recompense with my God.And now the LORD says,
he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him
for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,
and my God has become my strength he says:
It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
Excellent points about Isaiah 49; harmonizing all the Scriptures is a wise approach.