Slay them before me

The possession of land by the Israelis

The Israelis have won and kept land in Palestine by violence. They have also maintained their claim in the face of scriptures indicating that the land is to be restored to all Israel, not to those who claim to be descended from Judah. They have misappropriated the name ‘Israel’ and the right to land in Palestine.

The attempt to deny Israel’s claim was foretold:

Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession. (Ezekiel 11: 14 -15, emphasis added)

Subsequent verses confirm God’s intention to restore the land to Israel.

Daniel prophesied the failure of the Jewish aspirations:

…. the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall. (Daniel 11: 14)

The Jews still reject the Christ. Jesus told the Jews

Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. (Matthew 21: 43, emphasis added)

The fate of the Israelis

Jesus also said:

But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me. (Luke 19:27, emphasis added)

This is statement of what is to come. The Lord was in Palestine. Those who had rejected Him and would continue to reject him were his own tribe, the Jews. It seems they are being brought to Palestine to be slaughtered.

Scripture mentions a dwelling place for the descendants of Ishmael (Genesis 16: 12; 25: 18). They are turning to powerful friends for help, against the might of Israel’s patrons, the United States, the United Kingdom and their allies. Russian influence in the Middle East increases as hatred of Israel and its allies increases.

What we have been seeing in the Middle East and the intervention of the U.S., the U.K., Russia and China may be the prelude to Armageddon. Another unpalatable thing the scriptures tell us is that there will be a false hope of peace:

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5: 3, emphasis added)

You could say this scripture is being fulfilled now. The efforts to bring about peace and safety are making things worse. There have been naval conflicts between Iran and the U.S. and the U.K. The West is heaping up trouble for itself. The example of a woman in labour suggests a prelude to the destruction. The destruction may occur at the moment when peace and safety are proclaimed.

Man possesses now the means of his own destruction but it seems that the Almighty does not intend to let mankind destroy the earth:

And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou … shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. (Revelation 11: 18, emphasis added)

We are in a position to understand better than the apostle a possible means for fulfilment of the following scripture:

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter 3: 10)

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This post is intended to introduce prophecy relating to “the latter years” and indicating a move against Israel nations by some power leading a coalition which includes Persia, Ethiopia and Libya. Persia is now largely represented by Iran. The force which moves against Israel will comprise others. We see an alignment now of various nations opposed to the machinations of the modern state calling itself ‘Israel’ and its allies. The scriptures seem to indicate a bad outcome for the Israelis.

The building and planting of Israel (Part 3)

the strength of God’s word

It was prophesied that the sceptre would stay with Judah until the Messiah came (Genesis 49:10), later that David would never want a “man” (or heir) to sit on the throne ruling over the children of Israel, whom God would plant in a new land (2 Samuel: 7:10,16). Jeremiah’s commission was to overthrow the nations and kingdoms and “to build, and to plant” ( Jeremiah 1:10 ).

Israel was divided into Israel ruled by the House of Ephraim and Judah ruled by the House of David of the royal line of Judah. Zedekiah, the last King of Judah, was blinded and imprisoned after seeing his sons slaughtered (2 Kings 25:6-7). All the princes of Judah were killed (Jeremiah 52:10). There are those who believe that the royal line of Judah and, in particular, the House of David ceased to exist and to rule, contrary to the Word of God. How can they who claim to be believers doubt the effectiveness of the Word of God?

Just how serious was God’s promise to David?

I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: ….
My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;
If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;
Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.
His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.
It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah. (Psalms 89:20, 28-37)

Jeremiah says:

Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;
Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son [translated from the Hebrew word for 'person'] to reign upon his throne (Jeremiah 33:20-21)

That looks fairly uncompromising. Transgressions by David’s seed result in punishment, not loss of the throne. Moreover, David was not to want a kingdom of the children of Israel over which to rule:

Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.
Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;
Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them. (Jeremiah 33:24-26)

preservation of the House of David

We have seen how the United Kingdom bears certain marks identifying it with the Houses of Israel, Judah and Ephraim. How was the monarchy preserved and how did it continue ruling over the seed of Jacob, later named Israel? What we shall see is that the seed of David was preserved through the female line which married into another branch of the royal line of Judah which was thereby exalted to the throne of David.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ….
And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. (Numbers 27:6, 8; see also Joshua 17:6)

At one time a queen, Athaliah, ruled over Israel (2 Kings 11). When Jeremiah spoke of David not wanting “a man’ to rule over Israel, the Hebrew word is ‘ish’ which refers to a male or female person and is still in use today as part of ‘British’, ‘English’, ‘Scottish’, ‘Irish’ and ‘Danish’.

Zedekiah’s daughters survived. They were taken captive in Mizpah (Jeremiah 41:10). Later, they were part of a remnant taken, in spite of a prophecy of Jeremiah, to Egypt along with Jeremiah himself and his scribe, Baruch:

But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations, whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;
Even men, and women, and children, and the king’s daughters, … and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.
So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes. (Jeremiah 43:5-

a new planting

Although most of those travelling to Egypt were to perish for disobedience, a few would escape from Egypt (Jeremiah 44:14). From the remnant which escaped, a Kingdom would grow:

And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this. (Isaiah 37:31-32)

The tale is told by Ezekiel:

Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent:
In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.
And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it. (Ezekiel 17:22-24)

The last verse alludes to the change of dynasty. The “high tree” is brought down and the “low tree” is exalted. The low tree is from a royal “twig” carried away to another land and becoming a “vine of low stature”:

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;
And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings [a ship] , longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch [the royal house] of the cedar:
He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants.
He took also of the seed [people] of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters [oceans], and set it as a willow tree.
And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs….
There was also another great eagle [ship] with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation.
It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.

The old rebellious ruling branch is gone:

Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon; (ibid., 1-6,12)

The high is to be replaced by the low:

And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.
I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, [no more overturned] until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him. (Ezekiel 21:25-27)

These prophecies relate to the abasing of one branch of the royal family (”him that is high”) and the exalting of the other (”him that is low”). To identify the two branches, we will have to go back to the beginning, to Genesis. The “tender twig” of David (a daughter) is to be united with him that is low. The monarchy “shall not be the same.” The throne is to be overturned, subsequently overturned twice more and then no more overturned. It “shall not depart from Judah” (nor from David’s seed) until it is given to him “whose right it is”, who we know, again from Genesis (49:10), is Shiloh, the Messiah. Moreover, it will continue to rule over “the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (Jeremiah 33:26).

the hidden twig of Judah

Genesis 38 tells us how Judah had twin sons by his widowed daughter-in-law, Tamar:

And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.
And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.
And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez.
And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah. (Genesis 38:27-30)

‘Pharez’ means ‘breach’, ‘Zarah’ means ’seed’. It was the ruling branch of the Pharez line that was brought down and the lowly Zarah line that was exalted in its place. A surviving princess of the Pharez line married a prince of the Zarah line and ruled over children of Israel because the House of Judah had been taken into captivity without a sovereign. The sceptre of Judah and the birthright of Joseph were reunited.

The genealogy of Judah is described in 1 Chronicles 2 where the sons of Pharez and Judah are named:

The sons of Pharez; Hezron, and Hamul.
And the sons of Zerah; Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara: five of them in all. (1 Chronicles 2:5-6)

Genesis 46 tells us which descendants of Israel went to Egypt. They did not include Zarah’s sons:

And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt ….
And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah: but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul. (Genesis 46:8,12)

We have to resort to little known history to trace the fortunes of Zarah’s descendants. I’m confining my observations to scripture, to relatively well-known history and observable facts. Northern Ireland contains what is still known as Jeremiah’s tomb and a spot where Queen Tamar Tephi, a daughter of King Zedekiah of Judah, is buried. The heraldry of Northern Ireland includes David’s harp and a hand bearing a scarlet thread. Irish history records, at the right date, the arrival of an Eastern prophet, his scribe and a princess, Tamar Tephi, who married Eochaidh, the Heremon of Ireland and descendant of Zarah through Calcol. The scribe is known by various names recognisable as variants of ‘Baruch’. Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom traces her ancestry through Tamar Tephi to King David.

The search for the House of Israel

the casting out

Samaria, the capital of Israel, was besieged and Israel (not Judah) was taken into captivity:

And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah [king of Judah], which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.
And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is in the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes (2 Kings 18:9-11)

The previous chapter tells us that the land was re-populated and summarises the reasons for the deportation:

And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.
For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;
Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. (2 Kings 17:20-24)

The new inhabitants suffered because they were strangers to the God of Israel, so a priest of Israel was brought to teach them of “the God of the land” (ibid., 25-28). The scriptures tell us of no other Israelite who returned to the land of Israel. People of Judah, on the other hand, did return to Jerusalem after the subsequent deportation of Judah.

the disappearance

So, what happened to the people of Israel, meaning the northern kingdom of that name as distinct from the former kingdom comprising the Houses of Israel and Judah? This is what the Almighty says through the prophet Amos:

For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. (Amos 9:9)

At the time of this prophecy also, the House of Judah still held dominion in its own kingdom. Note that the prophecy relates to “the House of Israel”. Hosea tells us, with reference again to the House of Israel:

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered (Hosea 1:10)

Remember, the House of Israel was led by the House of Ephraim, who was to become “a multitude of nations” (Genesis 48:19). Manasseh was to become a great people (ibid.) Neither of those prophecies had been fulfilled at the time of the deportation. Ephraim and Manasseh received the birthright, excluding royalty and that birthright included multiplying. Thus, the House of Israel, although divorced, was to proliferate while Judah did not:

for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. (Isaiah 54:1; see also Galatians 4:27)

The way that Israel followed was to be hedged so that she could not re-trace her steps:

Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. (Hosea 2:6)

Israel was to vanish:

Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney. (Hosea 13:3)

Judah has never vanished. The people were deported to Babylon and returned from there to Jerusalem. Descendants of the House of Judah have fiercely maintained their heritage. The House of Israel lost its way and disappeared.

Ezekiel visited the House of Israel after its deportation. His book begins with him “among the captives by the river of Chebar” (Ezekiel 1:1). That river is, evidently, in the same region as the locations to which Israel was deported. Ezekiel was directed to prophesy to the House of Israel (Ezekiel 3:17). He was also given prophecies relating to Judah as, for example, in chapter 4:1-7 and especially in chapter 23. The defeat of Jerusalem was yet to occur.

Ezekiel speaks of trials to be undergone by Israel, survival of a remnant, its repentance and its testimony of the God of Israel:

Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.
And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, … and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. (Ezekiel 6:8-9)

The point is repeated in Ezekiel 22:15

And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.

In chapter 36 Ezekiel speaks of restoring the House of Israel to its land and then:

And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries (v.19)

The House of Israel is spoken of as “the dispersed” in Zephaniah 3:10:

From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.

Jeremiah confirms that the House of Israel was to move beyond lands known to it:

Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers …
… the LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them (Jeremiah, 13;15)

The Jews of Jesus’ time did not know the whereabouts of “the dispersed”:

Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.
Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come.
Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? (John 7:33-35)

the identification

Jeremiah spoke of the Almighty sending many who would search for the House of Israel although the people were not hidden from Him:

Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes. (Jeremiah 16:16-17)

Notice that the fishers were to be sent before the hunters. The fishers were the disciples of Jesus sent to “the lost sheep of the House of Israel” (Matthew 10:6) after “His own [Judah] received Him not” (John 1:11). Jesus, of course, knew where to send his fishers. Later generations would hunt for the House of Israel because its whereabouts would be unknown. The present day identity of the House of Israel is hidden to most, even to the House of Israel itself.

So, from the scriptures cited in this and earlier posts, we know a certain amount about the House of Israel. I’d like to mention two more specifically. They relate to the heraldry of two nations prominent in the world today. The first concerns the symbolism of the lion and the unicorn:

God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.
He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee. (Numbers 24:8-9)

To my knowledge, the unicorn and the lion appear together in the heraldry of only one nation which, as it happens, is the founder of “a company of nations” (Genesis 35:11). The British National Crest contains, as well as the Lion and the Unicorn, the harp of David, the young lions, a small rampant lion and the crowned lion. The last may represent the Lion of Judah (Revelations 5:5) as it is situated above the crown itself.

The second additional mark relates to the fact that Manasseh was, in effect, the thirteenth tribe when he and his brother Ephraim were given equal standing with their father Joseph’s brethren:

And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.
And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.
Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren (Genesis 48:5, 21-22)

There is a great people whose heraldry contains several symbols in groups of thirteen. The founders emigrated from Great Britain. The central figure of the Great Seal of the United States of America is the eagle:

And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. (Exodus 19:3-4)

The seal bears 13 stars, 13 constellations, 13 stripes, 13 olive berries and 13 olive leaves. The motto e pluribus unum contains 13 letters. The pyramid on the reverse has 13 layers topped by the all-seeing eye of God.

The symbols are Israelite. Stars or constellations symbolise Israel (Genesis 37:9; Revelations 12:1), as do the olive (Hosea 14:6) and arrows (Genesis 49:23-24; Numbers 24:8).

The marks of the House of Israel so far :

1. It includes a great people and “a multitude of nations” (Genesis 48:19) or “company of nations” (loc.cit.)
2. It comprises an enormous number of people
3. Its identity is generally unknown, even to itself
4. It has been instrumental in making known the God of Israel
5. It occupies several countries a long way from its original homeland
6. It still possesses its homeland
7. It is different from the House of Judah
8. It has “spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south” (Genesis 28:14) *

* It is, I suggest, likely that this has already occurred given that the age of imperialism (short of wholesale conquest by war) is behind us. Moreover, the prophecy in Genesis 49:22 relates to the “last days” (ibid.,1). The apostle Peter spoke of his time as being within “the last days” (Acts 2:16-17). The expression probably refers to the period between Jesus’ departure from this world as the Lamb of God and his return as the Lion of Judah.

The first and eighth marks mentioned above refer specifically to the two tribes of Joseph as mentioned in Genesis 28:14, previously cited. Also here :

His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh. (Deuteronomy 33:17)

Notice that England first “spread abroad to the west”. It lost its first colony (Isaiah 49:20). Later, the people went “to the east” (India and elsewhere), “to the north” (Canada) and to the south (the Cape Colony, Australia and New Zealand). Hence “the empire on which the sun never sets” applied to the British empire and later the Anglo-American territories.

Heraldry identifies the United Kingdom with all Israel (Numbers 23:24; 24:8-9) and the Houses of Judah (Genesis 49:9) and Joseph (Deuteronomy 33:17). It identifies the United States of America with Manasseh. Both the United Kingdom and the United States of America maintain considerable influence over the fate of the territories formerly occupied by the Kingdom of David. There are other marks, to be discussed in later posts.

The building and planting of Israel (Part 2)

After the prophecy to David of the planting of the people of Israel in a new land (2 Samuel 7:10), his kingdom was divided into Israel (ten tribes) and Judah (two tribes). Israel was ruled by Ephraim and its capital was Samaria. The royal line of Judah ruled in the kingdom of Judah whose capital was Jerusalem.

Judah was to serve a purpose still whereas Israel was to be taken away. This is the prophecy given by Hosea:

I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.
But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah …. (Hosea 1:6-7)

and again:

Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints. (Hosea 11:12)

The deportation of Israel

The Almighty intended to use Assyria to take Israel away:

O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. (Isaiah 10:5-6)

The deportation of the House of Israel by Assyria took place in stages, recorded in 2 Kings 15:29, 1 Chronicles 5:26, 2 Kings 17:1-6 and 2 Kings 18:9-11. Israel was completely removed from the land:

So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. (2 Kings 17:23)

The northern kingdom was re-populated by Assyria with people from various places, including Babylon: 2 Kings 17:24.

The restoration of Israel

Judah contained the royal line; only the sceptre was given to Judah (Genesis 49:10). The main birthright was given to Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh - Genesis 49:22-26) who were included in the ten tribes comprising the House of Israel. Israel’s seed, it was foretold, would

spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south (Genesis 28:14)

Israel, the father of the nations, was promised

a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee (Genesis 35:11)

Those promises passed to the sons of Joseph:

he [Manasseh] also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother [Ephraim] shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. (Genesis 48:19)

After the ten tribes were deported, Jeremiah was given the commission to build and plant the nations and kingdoms. Israel’s deportation occurred before Jeremiah’s time. Hosea wrote of its downfall and restoration

Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.
For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.
Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them (Hosea 8:8-10)

Of Ephraim, whom God called his firstborn (Jeremiah 31:9), Hosea says

My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations. (Hosea 9:17)

Yet Ephraim was not to be destroyed:

How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? … mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.
I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim (Hosea 11:8-9)

The deportation of Judah

The royal line and part of the people of Judah were deported to Babylon and an attempt was made to destroy the royal line, as mentioned in the previous post. Because Judah did not learn from Israel’s mistakes, it was also to be taken away:

The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: ….
And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.
And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours, ….
Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.
And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.
Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side;
For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated: (Ezekiel 23:1-2, 4-5, 9, 11, 22, 2

The destinies of Israel and Judah compared

Jeremiah was later given separate prophecies concerning the respective fates of the Houses of Israel and Judah. Israel was to restored as a nation ruled by the House of David (the royal line of Judah). Judah was never to be made whole again.

Israel is likened to a vessel re-made by a potter:

Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel….
If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. ( Jeremiah 18:3-6, 8 )

These verses speak of the remaking of Israel, as a vessel in the hands of God.

In the following chapter, Judah is described as a hard-baked bottle which, once broken, cannot be remade:

Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, ….
And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.
Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,
And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again (Jeremiah 19:1, 3, 10-11

The time will come, however, when Israel and Judah will be reunited. Until that time, Judah cannot be made whole. Ezekiel speaks of the reunion:

The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel his companions:
And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. (Ezekiel 37:15-22)

The building and planting of Israel

The scriptures tell us that after the taking away of the Kingdom from Israel, it was to be restored. This was the authority and commission given to Jeremiah:

See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. ( Jeremiah 1:10 )

“The nations” refers to Israel and Judah. In verse 4 of the same chapter:

I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Jeremiah’s time followed the taking into captivity of the northern kingdom, Israel, by Assyria. Judah had not, at the point when Jeremiah was given his commission, been deported to Babylon. Thus, it was the seat of the royal line of Judah which was to be rooted out, pulled down, destroyed and thrown down. It was the nations and the kingdoms which were to be built and planted. Rebuilding of the Davidic kingdom was necessary to fulfil the promises made by the Almighty to King David when he ruled over all Israel as one kingdom in the land of Canaan :

Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, ….

And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. (2 Samuel: 7: 10,16)

If these promises are to be fulfilled, the royal line must survive and its authority over all Israel (David’s Kingdom) re-established. Moreover, the nation of Israel must be planted in a place other than the land of Canaan, with the House of David ruling over it. In Jeremiah’s time, the royal line ruled over Judah only. The remaining tribes of all Israel (which comprised the northern Kingdom of Israel) were in exile, probably without a ruler. Jeremiah was to perform the task of building and planting the authority of the House of David.

Separating the kingdom from the remnant of the nation

The calling of Jeremiah occurred during the reign of Josiah (Jeremiah 1:2). 2 Kings tells us that Josiah did what was right but that it was not enough to save the kingdom:

Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, ….

And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. ( 2 Kings 23:26-27 )

2 Chronicles 35:23-24 records the wounding in battle and subsequent death of Josiah. Two of Josiah’s sons succeeded him in turn. The first, Shallum, was taken into captivity, never to return ( Jeremiah 22:11-12 ). The second, Jehoiakim, met an ignominious end (Jeremiah 22:18-19). Jehoiakim’s son, Coniah, followed and he was the one of whom God decreed “no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah” (Jeremiah 22:30). Thus, the shortened reigns of three successive kings of Judah is recounted in one chapter of Jeremiah.

That brings us to the last to rule in that land, Zedekiah:

And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim …. ( Jeremiah 37:1 )

Zedekiah was a vassal of the king of Babylon because Judah had during Coniah’s reign been taken into captivity. The conquest began during the reign of Jehoiakim:

In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him….

And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father’s brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah. ( 2 Kings 24:1, 17 )

Although Jeremiah speaks of ‘Coniah’, 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles refer to ‘Jehoiachin’ and ascribe different ages to him at the beginning of his reign. 2 Kings says he was 18 years old, 2 Chronicles 8 years old. He is named Jeconiah in 1 Chronicles 3:17. Moreover, it was Coniah’s father, Jehoiakim, of whom Jeremiah also writes:

Therefore thus saith the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. ( Jeremiah 36:30 )

Joseph, Mary’s husband, was of that line; Jehoiakim is the ‘Jechonias’ of Matthew 1:11. Jesus, if he is to inherit the throne of David, cannot be Joseph’s son. The scriptures tell us that the Messiah is conceived by a virgin ( Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:34 ).

The captivity of Judah by Babylon is described in 2 Kings :

And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. ( 2 Kings 24:12)

and in Jeremiah :

Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem ( Jeremiah 27:20 )

Babylon attempted to end the royal line of Judah :

So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him.

And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon. ( 2 Kings 25:6-7 )

The significance

It appears to many at that point :

1. The sceptre departed from Judah and “a lawgiver from between his feet” even though Shiloh was not yet come, in spite of Genesis 49:10.

2. The throne and kingdom of David ceased to exist, in spite of the promises recorded in 2 Samuel 7 and this :

For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel ( Jeremiah 33:17 )

That was part of Jeremiah’s prophecy while he was imprisoned by Zedekiah for foretelling the defeat and blinding of Zedekiah.

3. God’s promise to plant Israel in a new land meant nothing ( 2 Samuel 7:10 ).

4. Jeremiah’s commission to build and plant meant nothing ( Jeremiah 1:10 ).

Those scriptures are not meaningless or ineffective. The royal line survived, it was re-planted and the Kingdom and nation were restored to it in another land.

The redeemer of Israel

There are those in Christendom who teach that the Israel of the Bible has been spiritualised. They say the Church is the new Israel. They may overlook this exchange between Jesus and his first disciples:

When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. (Acts 1:6-7)

As mentioned in the previous post, the death of Jesus served to free Israel for remarriage. In the passage just quoted, Jesus’ response to the question does not refute the underlying assumption: that the kingdom will at some time be restored to Israel.

The Messiah was to take up the throne of David. I’ve previously mentioned Genesis 49:10 which says “unto him [Shiloh] shall the gathering of the people be.” Isaiah is more explicit:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Ezekiel also speaks in terms which suggest the Messiah taking up the Crown of Israel:

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.

I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him. (Ezekiel 21:26-27)

And Jeremiah says:

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jeremiah 23:5-6)

If the Jewish beliefs were correct and the Messiah was yet to come, how would he be treated upon His arrival? How would they recognise Him when they rejected Jesus, who fulfilled the prophecies?

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

Mary’s husband, Joseph, was descended from Coniah whose seed were denied the throne, so Jesus could not be Joseph’s child:

Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?

Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah. (Jeremiah 22:28, 30)

Jesus was descended from David through David’s son, Nathan, and Jesus’ mother, Mary.

Perhaps they can say that Isaiah is not a true prophet. Can they say the same about Moses?

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)

The Messiah in the person of Jesus was certainly to suffer at the hands of Satan. We also have Daniel:

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:25-27)

These verses from Daniel warrant detailed examination. They could be the subject of a separate post; there are sources which seem to apply correct principles here, here and here. We find the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecies and the beginning of the fulfilment of the other prophecies in Luke:

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.

And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:30-35)

The Spirit and the bride

They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? … yet return again to me, saith the LORD.

And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.

Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: (Jeremiah 3:1, 8, 11-14)

Although the promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) and David were unconditional, God made a conditional covenant with their descendants, the 13 tribes, at Mt Sinai. He delivered the Law by which the tribes of Israel were to be governed and they agreed to obey. The Law was given only to the emerging nation of Israel and to no other people; it was part of the covenant between them and God:

He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.

He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD. (Psalms 147:19-20)

Paul (an Israelite: Romans 11:1) says this of the Law:

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24)

The law was to govern the nation in the land it was to occupy:

And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. (Deuteronomy 4:13)

Ezekiel likens the nation to a fair woman and also speaks of her unfaithfulness:

I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.

Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.

Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.

I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.

I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.

And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.

Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.

And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.

How weak is thine heart, saith the LORD GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;

In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire;

But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband! (Ezekiel 16:7-15, 30-32)

Ezekiel, like Jeremiah, also speaks of reconciliation:

And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.

So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.

For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.

And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD:

That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 16:38, 42, 59-60, 62)

Thus Jeremiah writes

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. ( Jeremiah 31:31-33, cited in Hebrews 8 )

Hosea speaks of the day when Israel will return to its God and speaks of a new betrothal:

… then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.

Therefore will I return, and take away … and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.

Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.

And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.

I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.

… and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God. (Hosea 2:7, 9-10, 14, 19-20, 23)

There is to be a new marriage:

And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. (Revelation 19:6-9)

The remarriage is made possible by the death of the husband. The apostle Paul wrote:

Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. (Romans 7:1-2)

Israel was freed by the death of “her” husband to remarry and will once again serve God:

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)

In the words of the prophet again:

For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.

Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.

For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. (Isaiah 62:1, 4-5)

The Jews and the State of Israel are not ‘Israel’ of the Bible

To my knowledge the word ‘Jews’ is first used in the Scriptures more than two centuries after the division of the kingdom when Ahaz was King of Judah and Pekah was King of Israel. It appears in this passage:

Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.

At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: ….

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. (2 Kings 16:5-7)

Elath is mentioned a little earlier in 2 Kings:

And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.

He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, …. (2 Kings 14:21-22)

If any clarification of identities is required, Isaiah provides it:

And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.

And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. (Isaiah7:1-2)

Remember, as recounted in a previous post (Joseph’s birthright), that although the perpetual royal line was to come from Judah, it was Joseph, particularly his sons Manasseh and Ephraim, to whom the principal birthright was given and upon whom Israel conferred his name. Joseph had been sold into captivity in Egypt and had those sons by an Egyptian woman:

And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.

And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.

And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. (Genesis 41:50-52)

Their mixed blood may be why it was necessary for Israel to adopt the boys as his own in order for them to receive the birthright. The apostle Paul writes of Israelites as the people “to whom pertaineth the adoption”. He identified himself as an Israelite:

For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. (Romans 11:1)

The tribe of Benjamin was part of the kingdom of Judah whose people were described as Jews. Earlier in the same letter to the Romans, however, Paul writes:

For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; (Romans 9:3-4)

As we have seen, the promises, except of royalty, were given to the sons of Joseph. The law was given to all the tribes of Israel. All of Israel were not called ‘Jews’. The Bible uses the term only in relation to the people of the kingdom of Judah and some of their descendants. Later academics and theologians in error have used the term interchangeably with ‘Israelites’ and even with ‘Hebrews’. To add to the confusion, descendants of the first Jews made converts to Judaism and today Jewry, so-called, includes many who are merely converts to Judaism and their descendants. Not all Israelites are Jews and not all Jews are Israelites.

The adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh is a type of the later adoption of the children of creation by God as his own children. As Paul writes earlier in the same letter:

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (Romans 8:14-16)

Paul is clearly referring to two different adoptions - one of the Spirit in Romans 8 and one of the flesh in Romans 9. (Jesus told Nicodemus that it was necessary to be born again “of the Spirit” (John 3:3-5).)

Different prophecies were made in relation to Judah and Israel and their fortunes were to be quite different. The house of David retained the sceptre promised to Judah “until Shiloh come” (Genesis 49:10) and Israel became a great people (Genesis 48:19) and “a company of nations” (Genesis 35:11). In time, all Israel is to be united and to reoccupy the land promised to the forefathers as a possession but that time has not yet come. The state of Israel occupies the wrong land, comprises the wrong people and has been brought into being at the wrong time.

The division of Israel

A foretaste of the division occurred when David was made King of Judah and a separate King of the rest of Israel was crowned following the slaying of King Saul. David later became king of all Israel.

David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.

In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah. (2 Samuel 5:4-5)

In the history of Israel recorded in scripture, only three kings - Saul, David and Solomon - ruled over all the tribes of Israel. Jeremiah 33:24 refers to “the two families which the LORD hath chosen”. These two families were to rule over separate kingdoms - the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah. The royal line of Judah, however, was to have a permanent line of succession and was destined to rule over all of Israel whereas Joseph’s descendants were to rule for a time over ten tribes of Israel after the division into two kingdoms. The two families were from the two wives of Israel, Leah and Rachel. Ruth 4:11 refers to “Rachel and … Leah, which two did build the house of Israel.”

Rachel was the mother of Joseph, whose sons Ephraim and Manasseh received the principal birthright. Leah was the mother of Judah, who received the promise of royalty. That promise was said to endure “until Shiloh come” and its everlasting nature was confirmed to David. David and Solomon were descended from Judah and ruled over all the tribes of Israel. Solomon’s disobedience, however, received a penalty which lead to the division of the kingdom and a temporary break in the rule of the Judah royal line over the principal part of the kingdom:

Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.

Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.

Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen. (1 Kings 11:11-13)

Jeroboam, a descendant of Ephraim, was chosen to rule over the kingdom of Israel, as distinct from the kingdom of Judah:

And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field:

And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces:

And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee:

(But he shall have one tribe for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel ….

But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes.

And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there.

And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king over Israel. (1 Kings 11:29-32, 35-37)

What we see here is that the Judah dynasty was to continue reigning over the smaller kingdom. A dynasty from Joseph was to rule over the “ten tribes”. After Solomon’s death, rebellion brought Israel to the brink of war, with this result:

And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they sent and called him unto the congregation, and made him king over all Israel: there was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.

And when Rehoboam [Solomon's son] was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying,

Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the LORD, and returned to depart, according to the word of the LORD. (1 Kings 12:20-24)

There were 13 tribes of Israel but the tribe of Levi did not occupy or possess any part of the land; they were scattered among the houses of Israel and Judah, so that they were not counted in the number of tribes:

For the LORD had spoken unto Moses, saying,

Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel (Numbers 1:48-49)

The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance.

Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them. (Deuteronomy 18:1-2)

We are told in 1 Kings 14:30 that “there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.” The son of Solomon (Rehoboam) ruled over Judah and Benjamin (the kingdom of Judah) and Jeroboam ruled over the other 10 tribes (the kingdom of Israel). The two thrones devolved separately as described in the books of Kings and Chronicles. By different events in the two kingdoms, all Israel was taken in captivity away from the land first promised to the forefathers; all Israel has not occupied that land since then. The land is larger than the area now occupied by the so-called State of Israel.

The House of Israel, particularly Ephraim and Manasseh, went on to fulfil its destinies, as did the royal line, which reigned over Israel in other lands. It was the people of Judah who later became known as the Jews.

The legacy of Abraham: an everlasting covenant

Judah and Joseph were two of Israel’s twelve sons. Israel was previously named Jacob and shortly before his death he named Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh as his own. He subsequently made certain prophecies concerning Judah and also concerning Ephraim and Manasseh. Those prophecies and the covenant later made by God with King David all stemmed from a covenant made originally by God with Abraham. The tale is told in Genesis, chapter 17:

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,

As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. (verses 1-7)

These blessings were to follow notwithstanding the advanced years of Abraham and his wife, Sarai. Abraham’s wife was to be the mother of the seed through whom the promises would be fulfilled:

And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? (verses 15 to 17)

God confirmed his promises and named the son to be the heir of them in verses 18 to 21. Abraham had a son, Ishmael, by a bondwoman but the promises were to be fulfilled by a son whom Sarah was to bear:

And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

In the following chapter 18:18, there is reference to one particular nation. Beginning in verse 17:

And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

After Isaac was born, then weaned, Sarah wished Abraham to cast out the bondwoman and her son so that the son should not be an heir with Isaac. In Genesis 21:10-13:

Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.

And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.

So we see that although nations were to come from Abraham and Sarah, it was through Isaac that God intended to “establish [His] covenant”. Yet God tested Abraham by asking him to make a sacrifice of Isaac. Abraham was willing to do as he was commanded and God spared Isaac. The former promises to Abraham were amplified as follows (Genesis 22:15-18):

And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, had two sons. They were twins and the younger, Jacob, was to inherit the legacy of Abraham. Genesis 25: 21-26 records

And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the LORD.

And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.

And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.

And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob:

God decided to establish His covenant with Isaac but also made a nation from Ishmael. Once again, from Isaac and Rebekah, two nations begin and one is to be chosen. God later confirmed to Isaac promises made to his father (Genesis 26: 4-5):

And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

Jacob purchased the birthright from Esau and later obtained, by trickery, the blessing of the first-born from Isaac. In Genesis 27: 28-29:

Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:

Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.

Soon afterwards, Isaac had to tell Esau of the trickery and bless Esau in turn as much as he could (verses 35-40):

And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.

And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?

And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?

And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.

And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above;

And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.

Later Isaac confirmed that the legacy of Abraham passed to Jacob. Genesis 28: 3-4

And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;

And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.

Isaac sent Jacob to seek a wife. On the way, Jacob dreamed. Genesis 28: 12-15

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

Chapter 35: 10-11

And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.

And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

Chapters 48 and 49 of Genesis, as already mentioned in previous posts, recount how the promise of royalty went to Judah “until Shiloh come” (49:10) and the main birthright went to Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh. 2 Samuel 7:10, 12-16 records how the royal line and throne was established in King David’s house “for ever”. David was in the Judah line of succession and Jesus, through Mary, was in the Davidic line of succession although he did not succeed to David’s throne at the time of his first advent.

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