The nation
of Judah, however, retained its identity and returned back to the land
after being exiled for a period of time in Babylon.
Ezra
1:2-3
2 Thus
says Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven has given me all the
kingdoms of the earth; and he has charged me to build him a house at
Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
3 Who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him, and let
him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD
God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.
By the
first century (at the time of Yeshua) the southern kingdom had populated
both the territory of the nation of Judah, and part of the territory formerly belonging to Israel (the northern kingdom).
Also they were dispersed to other regions that were outside of this
area, known as the diaspora.
Regional
One of the
most misunderstood definitions of the word “Jew” is that of region. To
understand this, look at a map of Israel. The region around and below
Jerusalem was the general area of the southern kingdom, Judah. This was
known (in the first century) as the region of Judea. People who lived in
this region were called Judeans. Above the region of Judea was the region
known as Samaria, and above the region of Samaria was the region of
Galilee. The people in Samaria were knows as Samaritans, and the people in
Galilee were known as Galileans.
John
7:1
1 After
these things, Yeshua walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry,
because the Jews sought to kill him.