ISRAELITE (Joh_1:47).This is the only instance of the use of the word Israelite in the Gospels. It has the particular significance, suggested by the story of Jacob in Gen_32:28; Gen_35:10, of one belonging to the Jewish race, with special reference to the privileges conferred by God on His people: whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the temple service, and the promises (Rom_9:4). Its use (as distinct from Jew and Hebrew) became closely associated with belief in the Messianic hope (cf. Joh_1:45), and the expression Israelite indeed, addressed to Nathanael, breathes that sense of tragedy so apparent in the Fourth Gospel, inasmuch as those who were specially His own received Him not. We may compare the attitude of the Jews, in ch. 6, who blindly claimed race privileges, and yet were enemies of Christ, and who cherished the very prejudice that Nathanael overcame (cf. Joh_1:46 with Joh_6:42, where the objection in both cases is to the commonplace origin of Jesus), when he readily responded to Philips invitation, Come and see. It is in this sense that Nathanael is without guile. He does not allow his devout sense of privilege to destroy openness of heart towards the claim of Jesus of Nazareth. His action shows that he is sincere, frank, and without sinister aim (cf. 2Co_12:16, 1Th_2:3). To Jesus, therefore, he is an object of surprise.
R. H. Strachan.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
(See ISRAEL.).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Israelite
(Heb.Yisreeli', יַשְׂרְאֵלַי, 2Sa_17:25; once [Num_25:14 -] אַישׁ יַשְׂרָאֵל, man of Israel, i.e. male Israelite; fem. יַשְׂרְאֵלַית, Israelitish woman, Lev_24:10; Sept. and New Test. Ι᾿σραηλίτης), a descendant of Jacob, and therefore a member of the chosen nation, for which, however, the simple name ISRAEL SEE ISRAEL (q.v.) is oftener employed in a collective sense, but with various degrees of extension at different times:
(1.) The twelve tribes descended from Jacob's sons, called Israel already in Egypt (Exo_3:16), and so throughout the Pentateuch and in the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, often with the explicit addition all Israel.
(2.) The larger portion, or ten northern tribes, after the death of Saul (2 Samuel 2, 9, 10, 17, 28), a distinction that prevailed even under David (2Sa_19:40).
(3.) More definitely the schismatical portion of the nation (consisting of all the tribes but Judah [including Simeon] and Benjamin), which established a separate monarchy at Samaria after the death of Solomon (1Ki_12:19). Seldom does the legitimate kingdom of Judah appear in the sacred narrative under this appellation (2Ch_12:1; 2Ch_15:17).
(4.) After the Exile, the two branches of the nation became again blended, both having been carried away to the same or neighboring regions, and are therefore designated by the ancient title without distinction in Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 Maccabees. Gradually, however, the name Jews (q.v.) supplanted this appellation, especially among foreigners. (5.) In the New Test. the term Israel or Israelite is used of the true theocracy or spiritual people (2Co_11:22). SEE HEBREW.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.