The Hebrew peoples, the great grandchildren of Abraham, and children of Jacob called Israel - the 12 tribes of Israel of which Joseph's 2 sons, Ephraim and Manasseh became equal inheritors as Israel took them as his own before he gave his blessings to each of the tribes and passed on.
The Israelites are God's chosen people. Deut. 7:6: "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession."
These are some of the factors involved in God's selection of Israel.
In addition to the people of Israel being special and God's chosen, the land is special also. In Deuteronomy 11:12, we read, "It is a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end."
Sources:
www.allabouttruth.org (God's chosen people)
Primarily the Old Testament is about the Jewish people. In the first book in the O.T. we have the creation, Adam and Eve, Noah, and Abraham among others, but it was Abraham who was first called a Hebrew. God's promises to the Jewish people was first given to Abraham as the founding father of the Jewish people. All of the books of the Old Testament were written by Jewish authors.
The "central characters" are the Israelites, a.k.a. the Jews.
The Tanakh (Jewish Bible) has as its focus the Israelites.
Jews believe in the Old Testament exclusively. Christians believe in the Old Testament along with the New Testament.
Abraham, his son Isaac, and grandson Jacob were Hebrews. Jacob took or was given the name Israel, and his descendants called themselves the Children of Israel or Israelites. They were still Hebrews. One of the tribes of Israel, the Judaites, was descended from Jacob's son Judah. The kingdom of Judah was the last surviving Israelite kingdom, and the survivors of that kingdom, regardless of their tribal affiliation, were known as Judaites or Jews, the English word that comes through Latin and Greek from the Hebrew word for the Judaites. Jews still call themselves Israelites, Children of Israel, and sometimes even Hebrews.
Abraham is known as the Father of Believers.
All born again believers.
Some became Christians, and other remained Jews.
He will be in the kingdom of God with other Old Testament believers such as Abraham and Jacob.
The new Testament is read by the christian believers.
The New Testament was written for believers in Jesus Christ as Lord and Master (Christians). We believe it as pure truth.
The Old Testament.
The Old Testament is sacred to Judiasm, Christianity, some Muslims, Mormans, Catholics and many other believers. It's not like they pick and choose parts of the Old Testament. New Agers pull whatever they want from the Bible but they really don't believe the entire Bible. Some cults do that too.
A:According to Acts of the Apostles, far from becoming believers, the Jews stirred up trouble for Paul in Berea.
The book of Hebrews in the New Testament is often described as a letter to the Jews, emphasizing the supremacy of Jesus Christ and his role in fulfilling the Old Testament covenant. It also contains references to many Old Testament saints who demonstrated great faith, earning them a place in the "hall of fame" of believers.
Abraham is first mentioned in the Old Testament.
The Bible, in the New Testament, teaches that the Christian believers ARE the church. It states this many times. The idea of "church" meaning a building is a much more recent idea. At the beginning of the church there probably weren't any church buildings as such. So according to the Bible in the New Testament, Christian believers are part of the church, and the church is the body of Christian believers. The expectation of the New Testament is that Christian believers will be a part of the church, personally involved and in relationship with the other believers. The New Testament does not have anything to say about whether people who are not believing Christians should attend church - there's no rule about it. But there's no reason why they shouldn't. Most of the New Testament was written specifically to churches, not to individuals.