Read Genesis; they had fallen away from Him.
The Old Testament chronicles the exploits of a wayward people. Yes, those kinds of terms run throughout the text. Wayward; idolators, adulterers, disobedient, and all the rest. None is righteous, lamented David. The temple people were a people with little or no connection to their God.
After their fall from grace, they were wayward. Their Messiah reconciled their relationship to God. The Jewish converts in the New Testament loved their brethren. What they opposed were the false teachings of the Pharisees and the temple rulers.
Salvation came to the Jews first.