Last spring, I led an eschatology series on Wednesday nights, and one evening was dedicated to answering this question: Who is Israel? Since then, this topic has come up repeatedly. It’s not always in the context of end-times discussions. Sometimes it’s a political debate. Other times, it’s a broader theological conversation. No matter how you look at it, Israel remains a hot topic. And, as is often the case with hot topics, pejoratives and misinformation are used too freely, which only increases the tension.
The simplicity of the question betrays the complexity of the answer. There are several ways to respond, and each has its own consequences. Honestly, entire books have been written on this topic, so this blog post won’t be comprehensive by any means. However, I believe there are big rocks that we can look under to help us frame the answer properly. This post will explore four ways to answer the question.
Biological Israel
There are the physical descendants of Jacob/Israel who can claim to be part of Israel. This is the simplest way to understand it. If your ancestor is Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, then you are biologically part of Israel. But here’s the problem: even the best DNA testing can’t trace you back to an individual from four thousand years ago. The most advanced DNA tests can link you to a people group from a particular region, but that’s as precise as it gets. But even if somehow accurate records were kept, there’s a genealogical horizon that cannot be crossed due to the Jewish diaspora after 70 AD. A great many, if not most, genealogical records up to that day were destroyed.
However, the biological definition also adheres to a larger principle. While the Lord indeed began Israel with a family He chose and adopted for Himself (Deuteronomy 32:9), the goal was to shift from a focus on biology to a covenantal one. The gene pool was never intended to be a fixed boundary. Think about the mix of people, presumably Egyptians (Exodus 12:38), who left Egypt with Israel. Also, consider the inclusion of Gentiles like Rahab and Ruth. The significant Greco-Roman-era proselytism also highlights this. The inclusion of Gentiles into Israel was baked in from very early on.
Because the biological definition of Israel gave way to covenant, not mere descent, the identity of Israel, even two thousand years ago, wasn’t a matter of simple biology. It had become a matter of whether you practiced the Jewish faith. The biological definition was never meant to be the boundary. That actually helps, given that ten of the twelve tribes were absorbed into Assyrian culture after the conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel. Today’s Jews trace their heritage to the southern kingdom of Judah, which, although conquered by Babylon, was not absorbed into Babylonian culture but maintained its distinct ethnic and religious identity.
Geopolitical Israel
Modern Israel is a mix of different people and religious groups. There are Jews, Muslims, Christians, and a smattering of smaller groups. While modern Israel was an idea well before the events of World War II, the Jewish Holocaust provided the decisive momentum for the establishment of a Jewish state for their own self-rule and protection against European antisemitism. The establishment of modern Israel wasn’t born purely from religious ideals or prophetic urgency. Prior to WWII, the proponents of a modern Israel were primarily secularists. Post WWII, the movers and shakers were still secularists, but once things were established, evangelicals the world over celebrated the rebirth of Israel as a prophetic signpost. Since her rebirth, modern Israel has been inescapably viewed through religious and prophetic lenses.
However, modern Israel is, by its own people’s self-description, largely non-observant. As of late 2025, Israel’s population sits at roughly 10.1 million, of which about three-quarters are Jewish. Among those Jews, the breakdown runs roughly 42.7% secular (hiloni), 33.5% traditional (masorti), 12.0% religious (dati), and 11.4% ultra-Orthodox (haredi). In other words, only about a quarter live under the full obligation of Jewish religious law. A plurality are secular, culturally and ethnically Jewish, but not practicing. And the largest believing group, the traditional, hold the faith while observing it selectively rather than completely.
The government of modern Israel operates as a parliamentary democracy. Israel does not have a formal constitution; instead, it has adopted a series of Basic Laws. The absence of a formal constitution stems largely from the founders’ inability to determine how Jewish a Jewish state should be. The Basic Laws function as a proto-constitution of sorts. They are, by design, open and under development, partially because of the ongoing debate of how the Jewish faith should intertwine with the Jewish state’s governing documents.
This is a far cry from the monarchy of the Old Testament. It’s also a far cry from the ultra-Orthodox vision of a life ordered by Torah. As a modern nation, the government of Israel is not necessarily led by religious conviction or a Messianic expectation for its future. They are compelled by the same needs and demands that any democracy anywhere in the world faces: the welfare, prosperity, and security of their citizens.
Religious Israel
Saying you’re Jewish doesn’t necessarily mean you practice Torah or attend synagogue with any regularity. It’s important to understand religious claims on a spectrum. On one end, you have the faithful, who cross every “t” and dot every “i,” and then you have the other end with those who claim a family heritage, but don’t actually believe at all. This was similar in the first century, where the different sects of Judaism lived beneath the same label of Jewish. You had Pharisees who were observant of the Law, the Prophets and the oral traditions of the elders. Sadducees who embraced the Torah but rejected the oral tradition and the resurrection. Then there were the Essenes, who were observant like the Pharisees, but withdrew from mainstream society for a more monastic, communal existence. Finally, there were the Zealots, who were the nationalists of their day, actively seeking ways to overthrow their Roman oppressors.
Today, the Jewish community commonly makes four distinctions within Jewish identity, which were mentioned earlier: hiloni, masorti, dati, and haredi. Hiloni Jews are secular, which would include atheists and agnostics. Masorti (not to be confused with the denomination) are believing Jews, but they observe the faith selectively. Dati are fully observant Jews. Haredi are ultra-observant Jews with a high degree of separation from secular society, depending heavily on rabbinic authority over community life.
But as already mentioned, modern Israel isn’t only Jewish. Other faiths also make up portions of its population. So when we think of modern Israel in the religious sense, yes she’s mostly Jewish, but not entirely. There are Muslims and Christians who are just as legally Israeli as the Jewish citizens. But none of these — ethnicity, citizenship, or even the practice of Judaism — is where the New Testament finally locates Israel.
The Olive Tree, Israel
Perhaps one of the most important metaphors from the Bible for Israel is that of an Olive Tree. The first comparison comes from King David himself, where he compared himself to an olive tree.
“But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.” – Psalm 52:8
The typological King of Israel, David, called himself an olive tree. From there, the metaphor becomes for the whole nation. The prophets Jeremiah (11:16) and Hosea (14:6) both use the olive tree as a symbol for Israel. The Apostle Paul drew on this metaphor in Romans 11.
“But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.” – Romans 11:17-18
Working backward from Paul’s use of the olive tree metaphor, we can see two things. Israel is the whole tree: root, trunk, and branches. The branches consist of both natural branches and wild ones grafted in. The natural branches represent the physical descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. The wild branches are grafted in, so they are not physical descendants. As with most metaphors, they are intended to communicate big ideas and not necessarily answer every nuanced question. Paul’s point here is more about the Lord’s grace to graft in wild branches than the nuanced questions we could ask about the natural branches. But the inclusion of wild branches helps us understand the identity of who is Israel, and who isn’t.
If you are a part of the olive tree, whether natural branches or grafted in wild ones, you are a member of Israel.
In this sense, Israel is the loyal people of God purchased by Christ from every tribe and every nation. The word “church” is the Greek ekklēsia, whose Hebrew counterpart is qahal, meaning “assembly.” So it isn’t a term that is meant to overtake or replace Israel. Every believer in Jesus Christ is added to the assembly. Look how the author of Hebrews describes the assembly.
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” – Hebrews 12:22-24
Israel, the Olive Tree, the assembly of the firstborn, these are all one and the same, and the wild olive branches, the Gentiles, are grafted in, added to the assembly of Israel.
Why is this important? Because, contrary to some popular sentiments, the New Testament church hasn’t replaced Israel. The Lord is enlarging Israel by adding His faithful children from the Gentiles to her number. We must be cautious about the wolves within the church who peddle antisemitism and Jew hatred. Part of Paul’s reason for penning Romans 11 was to combat Gentile arrogance against the Jews.
“do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.” – Romans 11:18-21
And note the Lord’s heart toward the natural branches.
“And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.” – Romans 11:23-24
What does this mean? Every promise made to Israel in the Old Testament is shared with every wild olive branch that is grafted into the Olive Tree. It means that Israel is no longer limited to national boundaries and ethnic heritages. Israel is united by faith in Jesus, Messiah. Israel can be found in every nation on earth. Israel, by that definition, has covered the earth with the glory of the Lord. There are still people groups who haven’t heard the Gospel, so the work is still ongoing, but through Messiah, Israel will reach into every people group and every nation. Even the natural branches will be grafted back into the Olive Tree.
“Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
‘The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob’;
‘and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.’” – Romans 11:25-27
I hope this has been helpful in some way. It falls short of being comprehensive, but it is enough to begin answering the question of who Israel is in an informed and Biblical way.
