What other people have Hebrew as their native tongue. God revealed Torah to the Jewish people. And yes, Today's Jews are "Israel" as you put it. we are all descended from Israel as he was the father of the tribes. There are a lot of Jews who know their lineage. There is a common DNA marker for Cohen and Levites. So yes, our book in our language. And a lot of Jewish descendants are practicing Xtians because their ancestors were forcibly converted.
The current descendants of Israel that are Christians have no idea that they are of Israeli line. It's been 2,700 years or so since they were carried away. I'm sure many are Muslim based on who carried them away. Oh ya, you are fighting your brothers probably more than your cousins. And, no. Not a lot of Jews know their lineage. There are a few that have kept genealogical records and claim to be descendants of Solomon. My 1st cousin's husband claims this. But, he didn't want to be a Levite priest and be a rabbi either.
So, the native tongue in Israel is Hebrew. When did that start? Oh ya, the people migrating to Israel after 1948 had to learn Hebrew all over again.
I found this online. I think it shows our differences and why you interpret Hebrew differently that me. "The Christian and the Jewish readings of the Hebrew Bible are both driven by forces external to the actual text. For Christians, the writings of Paul, part of the New Testament, are one such major influence. He initiated the reading of the Hebrew Bible in terms of a universal human disaster, followed by a rescue mission focused in Jesus. This interpretation then became standard in the Church throughout the early centuries, and has remained so to this day. For Jews, after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE—an event that forced a reorientation of the way the religion was observed—the rabbinic tradition increasingly saw the Bible as a closed corpus that could be used as a guide for living in the present, rather than as orientated to the future of the world. Mainstream Judaism has continued to read the text as
torah—guidance for living a Jewish life—though there have been, and are, groups that still look for a coming divine intervention in world affairs." -
Judaism and Christianity Both Rely on the Hebrew Bible. Why Do They Interpret It So Differently?
It's a really good article on this topic. I noted the change in the usage of the Torah after the Temple was destroyed as prophesied by Jesus. There was no more teaching of salvation and eternal life for the Temple is gone. I find that Christians still believe in salvation through Jesus's atoning sacrifice but they also have decided that new prophetic teaching from God stopped with the death of the Apostles. They believe the Heavens are closed except for one major Church and that isn't the Catholic Church.
The point is, the interpretation of Hebrew will therefore differ between Jews and Christians. That doesn't mean I reject everything you would teach. Not at all. The teachings do reflect how to live a good life. But, it also allows for divergence into accepting secular beliefs such as evolution and abortion. I have to ask you what your belief in God is? Do you believe God is a personage of some sort? Or, do you believe as my father did that there is no God, just goodness in the world?
