Derek has Defined Messianic Judaism (and now my head hurts)

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Derek has offered a definition of Messianic Judaism...or has he?  I can't really tell what he's saying.  Messianic Judaism is for the family of Jews...oh, wait, no, it also includes Gentiles who support the vision of Messianic Judaism.  Huh?  

I think everyone should discuss this in an uncensored environment (Derek censors all opposing viewpoints on his blog;  here, on the other hand, we welcome all points of view). 

Before the discussion begins...

Here's something to consider:  isn't the whole purpose of covenant to extend kinship (i.e. family-ness) to those who are not kin? (see Frank Cross below for further explanation).  

"Kinship [in Semitic tribal groups] was conceived in terms of one blood flowing through the veins of the kinship group...Kindred were of one flesh, one bone.  'The whole kindred conceives of itself as having a single life.'  On meeting Jacob, Laban says, 'Surely thou art my bone and flesh [basar].'  Tribesmen of Israel meeting David at Hebron introduce their negotiations with him by saying, 'Behold we are thy bone and thy flesh.'...Rooted in the concept of kinship was the obligation to protect one's kindred...The obligation of the kinsman is also to uphold the welfare of his fellow kinsman....
     We have noted that the language of love (ahabah) is kinship language, the bond that holds together those in intimate relationships, the relationships of family and kindred.  Hesed ('loyalty') too, I should argue, originally was a term designating that loyal and loving behavior appropriate to a kinship relationship...Kinsfolk are expected to be loving, just and generous to one another and not to demand strictly equivalent returns of one another.'....
   
     Kinship-in-Law
   
     The kinship bonds that give unity and cohesion to the lineage and family in tribal societies become attenuated as tribal societies become more complex....
     In tribal societies there were legal mechanisms or devices--we might even say legal fictions--by which outsiders, non-kin, might be incorporated into the kinship group.  Those incorporated, an individual or a group, gained fictive kinship and shared the mutual obligations and privileges of real kinsmen....
     In Israel, contrary to many primitive band or tribal societies, the legal compact of marriage introduced the bride into the kinship group or family.  This is the proper understanding of Genesis 2:24:  'Therefore a man will abandon his father and his mother and cleave to his wife, and [the two of them] will become one flesh.'  Flesh refers not to carnal union but to identity of 'flesh,' kinship, 'bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.' ...
     Adoption of sons or daughters is another means of ingrafting non-kin or distant kin into the lineage.  The practice was widespread in the Near East and in Israel.  Its formulae survive (often in secondary settings):  'I will be to him a father and he will become my son,' or 'my son are thou, today I have begotten thee,' or 'a child is born to us, a son is given to us.'
     Oath and covenant, in which the deity is witness, guarantor, or participant, is also a widespread legal means by which the duties and privileges of kinship may be extended to another individual or group, including aliens.  In describing early Arab tribalism, Robertson Smith writes:
   
'The commingling of blood [in the oath and covenant ritual] by which two men became brothers or two kins allies, and the [legal] fiction of adoption by which a new tribesman was feigned to be the veritable son of a member of the tribe, are both evidences of the highest value, that the Arabs were incapable of conceiving any absolute social obligations of social unity which was not based on kinship; for a legal fiction is always adopted to reconcile an act with a principle too firmly established to be simply ignored.'
     Kinship and Tribal Federation
   
     Early Israel must be designated a tribal league or federation....
     ...We may describe the social organization of the league from three standpoints.
     The league was a military organization....
     The league was also a kinship organization, a covenant of families and tribes organized by the creation or identification of a common ancestor and related by segmented genealogies.  Such genealogies are in substantial part constructs, based as much on 'kinship-in-law' as real kinship...The league in ideal form was conceived as twelve tribes, related at once by covenant and kinship.
     The...league was also a religious organization or society..."