Regarding who is a Jew and who is foreigner, Jewish Law says Jewishness passes through one’s mother.
“Who is a Jew?
A Jew is any person whose mother was a Jew or any person who has gone through the formal process of conversion to Judaism.”
http://www.jewfaq.org/whoisjew.htm
Notice it does not say born in Israel. They are natural born Jews by maternal lineage and naturalized Jews by conversion.
As I recall, the Bible doesn’t define Jew or foreigner, so the rabbis had to figure this out. Similarly, the Constitution doesn’t define natural born citizen, so the Congress has to figure it out, and has done so beginning with its very first act, in 1790. But, if you know where in the Bible it defines who is a natural born Jew, who a naturalized Jew and who is a foreigner, I’d love to hear.
BTW what do you think of the prohibition in the Bible against taking foreign wives?
“Who is a Jew?
A Jew is any person whose mother was a Jew or any person who has gone through the formal process of conversion to Judaism.”
Yes, I know of these facts, in fact, if I so chose do so, today I could miraculously be transformed into a “Jew” because of maternal genealogy. The Bible, however, says something quite different and the biblical family structure was given in the beginning when the man was set up as the head of the house and therefore, all nationality passes through the husband/father respectively. A man does not take the woman's name in marriage & the children do not take the maiden name of the mother, it is the father's character that the family takes.
I also do not know when the change from simply being of the tribe if Judah to being “Jewish” as in a religion began, but it would seem to me that it began well before the 1st century CE. There are times in the Apostolic writings where one is referred to as a Yehudi (Judahite one might say) and then in other cases it is clear they are referencing being “Jewish” as in ones religion.
When the tribes came back from Babylon, only a small fraction of Judah (less than 5%) returned. Also, small fractions of the other tribes (house of Israel) returned as well, and both of these joined those who had remained in the land during the captivity where they were all melded into one pot, being defined by their “Jewishness”, i.e. religion that included both the Tanakh & the oral torah (Babylonian Talmud) that the tribe of Judah had brought back with them. Yeshua (Jesus) rejected this oral torah and He taught that these oral laws of men make void the Torah of the Father, including who was of greater Israel (all tribes including Judah). Paul was clear, he said he was an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, he never referred to himself a “Jew”, however, he did refer to himself as Pharisee, but never a “Jew”.
I believe the reason they go by the mother today is simply for religious reasons because, even the most highly regarded geneticists today say that there is no pure blood person of any tribe living today. And so the only way to distinguish them from the world is by religion, that of the Babylonian Talmud, the laws of men that rule over the Temple then & the Israelites themselves to this day.
As far as the prohibition of taking foreign wives, well, for that all we have to do is look to Solomon's reign and how the wives influenced worship, both in the Temple & out. Israel was warned not to do this because in Elohim's eyes, adultery is worshiping false gods (Num 25) & the material things of this world (money/political power- Num 16-17) by turning a blind eye to His instructions (Torah/Law). I am a firm believer in persons marrying someone of the same biblical beliefs so not to create chaos, envy & strife in ones home & family, however, if they be of different beliefs, it is also my belief that as the bible says, the wife takes on the character of her husband, not the other way around for that usurps the family structure that Elohim put in place in the beginning when He created mankind, both male & female.