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Topic: Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright
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BORN AGAIN
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Regarding this Topic, after further reading I have discovered the following regarding the names of the northern kingdom of Israel and the names of the southern kingdom of Judah.
1. the NORTHERN kingdom of ISRAEL was NEVER CALLED JUDAH or the JEWS in the Bible; the northern kingdom of ISRAEL is NEVER called JUDAH.
2. Judah IS freely called BOTH ISRAEL and JUDAH in the Bible when speaking ONLY of the SOUTHERN kingdom of Judah. Judah is freely spoken of as ISRAEL AND as JUDAH, but the northern kingdom is NEVER called JUDAH.
On the other hand, Judah is NEVER called EPHRAIM.
The northern kingdom is called a number of names in the Bible, but NEVER JUDAH:
it is called "Israel"
it is called "Ephraim"
it is called "Isaac"
it is called "all Israel"
And the southern kingdom is called JUDAH and JEWS and and JEWRY and ISRAEL.
So both the northern kingdom AND the southern kingdom are freely referred to as ISRAEL in the Bible, but the southern kingdom is NEVER called EPHRAIM, and the northern kingdom is NEVER called JUDAH or JEWS in the Bible.
WHENEVER the Bible mentions the JEWS, it is ONLY referring to descendants from the southern kingdom of Judah/Benjamin/Levi. Israel-Ephraim has NOTHING TO DO with the JEWS in the Bible.
Understanding that difference opens up certain parts of the Bible which otherwise would be hard to understand.
But the most important part that I've discovered is that JUDAH is STILL FREELY called ISRAEL AND JUDAH in the Bible.
"British Israelite-sim" advocates way OVERSTATE that the name ISRAEL is ALWAYS someone OTHER than Judah, trying to give the reader the impression that Israel is ALWAYS the NORTHERN kingdom and that JUDAH and the JEWS are ALWAYS the SOUTHERN kingdom in "British Israelite-ism".
But the truth turns out to be what I have written above in this post, that Judah is also still freely called Israel in the Bible, even after the Jeroboam-Rehoboam split, just like northern Israel.
But Israel-Judah is never called Israel-Ephraim and Israel-Ephraim is never called Israel-Judah.
And those two possess different birthright promises, that has NOT changed.
God bless, ![[Cross]](graemlins/cross.gif) BORN AGAIN
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in case timspong is interested and has not seen this. God bless, BORN AGAIN
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(Adapted from Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright, by J.H. Allen, written around 1902, available online for about $29)
PART II -- CHAPTER 3 -- THE TEARING DOWN AND ROOTING OUT
Pursuant to the object of Jeremiah's call and work, the first king on David's throne to be disposed of was Josiah, for it was in the 13th year of his reign that the call of God came to Jeremiah, as you may know by reading Jer. 1:1, 2. Jeremiah himself gives no account of the downfall of Josiah, but it is recorded in 2 Kings 23, and 2 Chronicles 35. It took place in the days of Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt.
Josiah himself was a good man and a good king; he did all that could be done to restore the people to the worship of God. He had all the wizards, workers with familiar spirits, images, idols and abominations put out of the land; but the LORD would not stay his threatened punishment of the kingdom of Judea, which had become "worse" than Israel.
Concerning the goodness of Josiah, and his inability to prevent the impending calamity, it is written:
"And like him was no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose any like him."
"Notwithstanding, the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh [son of Hezekiah] had provoked him withal. And the LORD said, I will remove Judah [the Jews] out of my sight, as I have removed Israel [the ten tribes]." (2 Kings 23:25-27)
Not only was Josiah the best king they ever had, and not only did he put away those abominations, but he also kept the greatest Passover that was ever held since the days of Samuel the prophet. To this Passover that good king gave 33,300 cattle and oxen, and to this the princes and people gave willingly of their flocks and herds, until the number was swelled to many thousands more.
The sons of Aaron made themselves ready; the people made themselves ready; the sacrifices were killed; the blood sprinkled; the offerings were burned upon the altar of the LORD, and the people kept the feast of unleavened bread for seven days. But all this availed nothing, except a personal blessing to Josiah, that he should die in peace and not see the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the people.
No, the eternal fiat of God had gone forth, and we think that no number of worshipers, no number of good kings, or good men, and surely no mighty army of bad men, could stay the downfall of that nation.
For the LORD says, "After all this," when Pharaoh Necho, the king of Egypt, came up to Charchemish to fight against the king of Assyria, Josiah rashly, without provocation, made it his business and went out to fight against the king of Egypt, who kindly tried to restrain him, and sent ambassadors to him saying:
"What have I to do with you, you king of Judah? I come not against you this day, but against the house [Assyria] wherewith I have war; for God commanded me to make haste: forbear you from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy you not."
And the record continues:
"Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him and listened not to the word of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away, for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah." (2 Chr. 35:21-25)
So Jeremiah saw that good king pulled down, and lamented him, together with the whole nation; and the singing men and women made an ordinance of lamentations for Josiah, and Shallum the son of Josiah ascended the throne. But the LORD had said, "I swear by myself" that this house of Judah shall come to desolation. So he says to this lamenting people:
"Weep not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him who goes away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. For thus says the LORD touching Shallum, the son of Josiah, which reigned instead of Josiah, his father, who went out of this place, he shall not return any more: but he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more." (Jer. 22:10-12)
Thus Jeremiah records the fact of another overthrow; and so the work goes on.
Jehoiakim, another son of Josiah, was next to take the throne of his fathers; but hear the judgment which was pronounced upon him:
"Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Johoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah: They shall not lament for him saying (to each other), Ah, my brother! or, my Ah, my sister! They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah, LORD! or, Ah, his glory! He shall be buried with the burial of an *** , drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem." (Jer. 22:18, 19)
Another disposed of. Who is next?
"As I live, says the LORD, though Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck you from there; and I will give you into the hand of them who seek your life, and into the hand of them whose faces you fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hands of the Chaldeans. And I will cast you out, and your mother that bare you, into another country, where you were not born, and there shall you die. But unto the land whereunto they desire to return thither shall they not return."
"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? O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD: Write you 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." (Jer. 22:24-30)
Thus Coniah makes the fourth king who has been disposed of since the LORD called and commissioned Jeremiah; but there is still another, as recorded by that prophet:
"And King Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, reigned instead of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakiah." (Jer. 37:1)
Zedekiah, the successor to Coniah, ascended the throne about 600 years before Christ. His reign lasted only 11 years, and he is the last king of the Judo-Davidic line who has reigned over the Jewish nation from that day to this. Yet God has said that he would build up David's throne unto all generations, and prior to that he declared:
"The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah [his posterity], nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him [Shiloh] shall the gathering of the people be." (Gen. 49:10)
With these facts before us it behooves us to look well into this history of Zedekiah, and learn his fate and also that of his family.
During the reign of Coniah, the predecessor of Zedekiah, the king of Babylon had come against the kingdom of Judah, subdued it and carried away the king, his mother, his wives, and others, into Babylon. Consequently at the time when Zedekiah ascended the throne, the country of Judah was a province of Babylon.
But the then-tolerant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took Mathaniah, the third son of Josiah, who was of course brother to Jehoiakim, Coniah's father, and changed his name to Zedekiah, then made him king instead of Coniah.
We do not purpose, especially at this time, to go into endless genealogies, as it is generally confusing to the reader. In this Josiah family there were at least two Zedekiahs, and Zedekiahs along the family line for centuries back. There were also Shallums, and Shallums, and Shallums, and even Coniah's name is spelled three different ways. We will also say, for the benefit of the more critical student, that often a man is said to be the son of another when in fact he is grandson or even further removed. Christ is the "Son of David," and yet David is his great-grandfather 28 generations back.
"From David until the carrying away into Babylon are 14 generations, and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are 14 generations." (Matt. 1:17)
This Zedekiah of whom we write is the third son of Josiah, for we read,
"And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, his (Coniah's) father's brother, king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah."
"Zedekiah was 21 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah." (2 Kings 24:17-19)
Thus we find Jeremiah making the following record concerning Coniah's successor:
"And King Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, reigned instead of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made king in the land of Judah." (Jer. 37:1)
The work of rooting out and tearing down has been well done so far, and we may rest assured that, although the prophet's own flesh and blood are on the throne and dwelling in the palace, the God-assigned work will not stop. But if there should be any very young or helpless members of that family survive the wreck which must come during the tearing down and rooting out period, who would have a greater claim as their natural protector than one so closely allied by the ties of blood as this very man whom God has chosen for the work of building and planting, as well as of tearing down and rooting out?
Jeremiah records the downfall of Zedekiah and his sons, the royal princes, as follows:
"In the 9th year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. And in the 11th year of Zedekiah, in the 4th month, and the 9th day of the month, the city was broken up. And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergal-sharezar, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Rabmag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon."
"And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah, the king of Judah, saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls; and he went out the way of the plain. But the Chaldeans' army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to Riblah, in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him. Then the king of BabyIon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes; also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him in chains, to carry him to Babylon. And the Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem." (Jer. 39:1-8)
In the 52nd chapter of Jeremiah there is a statement of these events, to which, after recording the fact concerning the king's being carried to Babylon in chains, there is added the following:
"And the king of Babylon . . . put him in prison till the day of his death." (Jer. 52:11)
Thus ends the history of the last prince of the house of David who has ever reigned over the Jewish people from that time until the present; and we know that they are not now, as a nation, being ruled over by any prince of their royal family; for they are scattered among all the nations of the earth, and are now fulfilling, not the prophecies concerning their ultimate and most glorious destiny, but a class of prophecies which pertain to this period, or time, of being scattered, which are those of becoming "a hiss and a byword," "crying for sorrow of heart and vexation of spirit," and leaving "their name for a curse."
When those events occurred which resulted in the overthrow of the Zedekiah branch of the royal house, a climax was reached, not only in the history of all those things which were involved in the Davidic covenant, but also in that predestined work, for the accomplishment of which God sanctified and sent Jeremiah into this world.
By this climax, the first part of his mission, in all its phases, was now most thoroughly accomplished -- namely, the plucking up, throwing down, afflicting.
Indeed, it was so well done, that the heretofore accepted authorities in theologic, historic and ethnologic matters have taught that the sceptre, throne and kingdom of David were wiped out of existence, together with the house of David, excepting only another branch of the family of Josiah, who were carried away into Babylonian captivity, of whom came Christ, the son of David, who, according to the Scripture, must yet sit upon the throne of his father David. We will give but one example of that class of sophistical reasoning which has led the mind of the Christian world into this gross error.
Take, for instance, the well-known and much-used Polyglot Bible, published by Samuel Bagster & Sons, of London. The compilers of this work (whoever they are we know not) give what is called "A summary view of the principal events of the period from the close of the sacred canon of the Old Testament until the times of the New Testament."
According to the system of chronology which this work adopts, the overthrow of Zedekiah occurred in the year 589 B. C. This proposed summary begins after the return of the Jewish people from Babylonian captivity, but while they were yet under the dominion of the Kingdom of Persia; and when Artaxerxes Longimanus was the reigning king, who in his 20th year commissioned Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, an event which happened, according to the chronology used, in 446 B. C.
Then follows a brief record of the death and successions of kings, the rise and fall of dynasties, and the overthrow of kingdoms, powers, dominions and empires. But it is always shown conclusively that these ruling powers, whatever might be their nationality, were dominating the Jewish people.
The summary shows that Alexander the Great marched into Judea to punish the people for certain grievances which, in his mind, they had practiced against him as commander of the Grecian forces, and that God thwarted him in that purpose.
It shows that when Alexander died the Grecian empire was divided among his four generals; that Palestine was given to Loamedon, one of those generals, and that it was soon taken away from him by Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, that they "rejoiced to submit to this new master," and what the consequences were. It shows what they suffered under Antiochus Epiphanes, especially after a false rumor had been spread concerning his death, which they believed and rejoiced in, and that in consequence of this rejoicing:
"he slew 40,000 persons, sold as many more for slaves, plundered the temple of gold and furniture to the amount of 80 talents of gold, entered the Holy of Holies, and sacrificed a sow upon the altar of burnt offerings, and caused the broth of it to be sprinkled all over the temple."
No greater indignity than this could have been put upon that people. The summary continues, a truthful record of suffering after suffering, trouble after trouble, and indignity after indignity, heaped upon that conquered people, who during all those centuries were reigned over by their enemies, the Gentile nations; but not once does the record show -- no not for even one generation -- that they were ruled by a prince of their own royal house.
Finally, the summary ends as follows:
"At length Antipater, a noble but crafty Idumean, by favor of Julius Caesar, was made procurator of Judea, and Hyrcanus continued in the priesthood. After Antipater's death, his son, Herod the Great, by the assistance of Antony, the Roman triumvir, and through much barbarity and bloodshed assumed the regal dignity; which authority was at length confirmed by Augustus Caesar.
He maintained his dignity with great ability, but with the utmost cruelty, in his own family as well as among others, till the birth of Christ. In the interval he built many cities, and, to ingratiate himself with the Jews, almost rebuilt the temple.
His crude attempt to murder the infant Savior is recorded by the evangelist; and soon afterward he died most miserably. After some years, during which the dominions of Herod were governed by his sons, Judea became a Roman province, and the sceptre departed from Judah, for Shiloh was come [the italics are their own]; and after having been under the government of Roman procurators for some years, the whole Jewish state was at length subverted by Titus, the son of Vespasian."
The sophistry in the use of those italicised words, as employoud by the compilers of that summary, is that they destroy the evident meaning of that prophecy to which they refer, by the substitution of various sceptres -- held by various kings, of various Gentile nations, that have consecutively held dominion over the Jewish people -- for one particular Sceptre, which the LORD promised should be held, only by some member of Judah's family line, and which should not cease to be held by those of his posterity until Shiloh should come.
If the view, as put forth in the closing sentence of that summary, is the true one, then the entire prophecy must, for several reasons, go by default.
1. A sceptre did not depart from over the Jews when Christ came. Forty years after Christ had come and gone finds them still under the power of Rome. Shortly afterward they were dispersed and have since been scattered among all nations, where they remain unto this day, and are still being ruled over.
2. If the first coming of Christ was his Shiloh coming, then Shiloh failed; for the people did not gather unto him.
3. The LORD declares: "Judah is my lawgiver." According to this summary and other accepted evidence, Judah as Lawgiver departed from the Jews 588 years before Shiloh came. Hence that unbridged chasm of nearly 600 years stands like a gaping wound in the side of the Church of Jesus Christ, whenever she is compelled to show herself in naked honesty. The entire trend of this summary with its subtle reference to the prophecy in question seems to be that so long as the Jewish nation was ruled over, no matter by whom, and held together as a province or state, this prophecy was vindicated: whereas such vindication, conception, or use of those words, is only an attempt to hold together, by daubing with untempered mortar, an edifice which is tottering and tumbling.
The most charitable construction which can be put upon such accommodating, mollifying, weak and abortive efforts to vindicate the truth of God, is that the persons are ignorant of just some such vital point as the fact that Jeremiah was called and commissioned of God to build and plant anew the plucked-up kingdom of David.
All who claim that Christ has come as Shiloh are compelled to resort to just such distortions of the Divine Word as the one under consideration, in order to fill up that gaping hiatus of 588 years, from the overthrow of Zedekiah until Christ.
Furthermore, after they have plastered over that gap to their own (questionable) satisfaction, they are still confronted with the fact that the LORD God did not give unto Christ the throne of his father David, nor cause him to reign over the house of Jacob --no, not even spiritually -- for the Jews are a part of the house of Jacob: as these men themselves are compelled to admit. Also the Jews are enemies to the gospel of grace which Jesus Christ came to bring,
"but as touching the election [of race], they are beloved for the fathers' sake." (Rom. 11:28)
Meanwhile, the great question which confronts us is this: Has God suffered his faithfulness to fail, or allowed any of his promises to go by default, or permitted his covenant either with Judah, David or Christ to suffer lapse? The very thought that such could possibly be the case causes us to feel the first chilling blight of skepticism to fall heavily upon our hitherto believing and happy hearts.
The next link in the chain of this divine history is of such deep import that it is impossible for us to over estimate its value, as it is the connecting link between sacred history and prophecy; for you will notice in the first clause of the following text we find a record of events which have become history, but before the sentence is finished we are carried out into the field of prophecy.
"It shall come to pass that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict, so shall I watch over them, TO BUILD and TO PLANT, says the LORD.” (Jer. 31:28)
The LORD here uses the already accomplished facts of history as a basis upon which to rest his promise concerning the accomplishment of those which are yet future. Hence, upon events which once were prophetic, but which have now become history, he predicts the fulfillment of others which are still in the future.
But these events must follow as a sequence to those which have gone before, since both these which are past and those which are yet to come were originally couched in the same prophecy, in the same commission, and were to be accomplished by the same prophet, Jeremiah.
The LORD has said that David should never lack a man of his seed to sit upon that throne. But, Where was the seed with which Jeremiah must "build and plant"?
END of Part II -- Chapter 3 -- Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright.
God bless, BORN AGAIN
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Carmela
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I am familiar with most of it BA and it's a good lesson.
However I'm not familiar with this last question you asked so I will definitely look that up although I would venture to say that scarlet signifies the blood of Jesus so maybe, although I need to read it to know, she is covering him with HIS blood.
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Sister Carmela, in my opinion this Christian book is a very important lesson that most bornagain Chrsitians don't know about, about what happened to the promises of the house of Israel. What happened to the house of Israel which possessed the "unconditional promises" that Jacob gave to Ephraim, namely that "Ephraim" would "become a multitude of people", would "become many nations" and would "possess the gates of their enemies".
Brothers and sisters, why did the midwife attach a scarlet thread to the wrist of Zarah, the twin brother of Pharez from whom came the kings of Judah and the Messiah the King of Israel, according to the Judah-Pharez line. But Biblically speaking, why did the midwife tie a red thread to Zarah's wrist and say to Pharez, "this breach be upon you".
This was not for "no reason"; God doesn't play like that; that red thread is recorded for a reason, to follow Zarah the twin brother of Pharez.
God bless, BORN AGAIN
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I will try to read through this later today. It's kind of long so I haven't had a change yet.
I have been wanting to read it though.
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PART II -- CHAPTER 2 JEREMIAH'S CALL AND COMMISSION
Having settled the question concerning the perpetuity of the covenant which God made with "David and his sons," together with the fact that He has given, as a pledge of their everlastingness, not only the astronomic order of producing day and night, months, years and seasons, but the very holiness of his character as well, we must now proceed to take up the thread of history which pertains to that sceptre, throne, kingdom and royal seed whose continued existence is balanced over against such weighty considerations as the power, integrity and immutability of the character and Word of God.
While dealing with the history of the Birthright inheritors, the house of Joseph, we had, of necessity, much to say concerning the history of the Sceptre and the royal family, its inheritors. Especially was this true when we contrasted that system of feudalism and continual overthrowing of dynasties which prevailed in the ten-tribed kingdom of Israel as compared with the one continuous dynasty and succession of the royal princes of the Judo-Davidic family, as they mounted the throne of their fathers and held the sceptre over the three-tribed kingdom of Judah.
In order to have our historic thread complete we must resume our history of the Sceptre at the call of Jeremiah the prophet, which occurred at a period prior to the time when the Jews were taken into the Babylonian captivity, but subsequent to the time when Israel, the Birthright kingdom, was taken into captivity by King Shalmanesar of Assyria, and deported into the country of the headwaters of the Euphrates, the country more generally known as Medo-Persia.
It is certain that we can never understand the history of this covenanted throne, kingdom and family, and the fact that they have been thus far built up "unto all generations," unless we understand the history and accept with unfaltering faith the call and commission of Jeremiah the prophet, in relation to those things which God has given His pledge shall endure forever.
For if to be taught the distinction between the two houses, and to understand the difference between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, may be likened unto the key which unlocks the outer sanctuary of our understanding of sacred history, then surely a knowledge of the life and work of Jeremiah is the key which the Holy Spirit can use to open that inner sanctuary, or Holy of Holies, of our understanding in these matters upon which rest the vindication of God.
According to the Divine record, there have lived in this world only three men who were sanctified before they were born. The first was this same Jeremiah, who, in one of the darkest hours in all the history of the Abrahamic nations which pertains to them as a whole, was made the custodian of the sceptre, throne and royal seed of David. The next was John the Baptist, the forerunner and herald of the coming Prince of the House of David. Then came the last and greatest of all -- our LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Son of David, that Prince of whom the angel declared to Mary at the time of the annunciation:
"The LORD God shall give to him the throne of his father David." (Luke 1:32)
When this blessed Prince takes His seat He will be the last King to sit on that throne, or any other on this earth.
In the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the 13th year of his reign, while Jeremiah was still a mere youth, only 17 years of age, he received his call as the "prophet to the nations," and was given his commission, the details of which he himself has given in the first chapter of his own prophecies, as follows:
"Then the word of God came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the belly I knew you -- before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations."
"Then said I: Ah, LORD God! Look, I cannot speak, for I am a child."
"But the LORD said to me: Say not, I am a child, for you shall go to all that I shall send you, and whatsoever I shall command you, you shall speak. Be not afraid of their faces; for I am with you to deliver you, said the LORD."
"Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me: Look, I have put My words into your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to build and to plant." (Jeremiah 1:4-10)
Called as the prophet of God; the words of the LORD put into his mouth with a touch from the Divine hand; and set by the Divine One "over the nations and over the kingdoms." What!? Surely he was not set over all the nations, neither all the kingdoms of the earth?
No, there is nothing said about all nations; just simply and definitely "the nations" and "the kingdoms." So far as the word which is translated "nations" is concerned, it is the same word that is used when the LORD said to Abraham, "I have made the father of many nations”; and when he said to Rebekah, "Two nations are in your womb." (Genesis 25:23).
He now calls Jeremiah to be a "prophet to the nations," i.e., the to the "two nations," the "two kingdoms," to the two houses – Israel and Judah; to the "two families," to the inheritors of the Birthright and of the Sceptre.
It is to these nations, and not all the nations of the earth, that the LORD sends Jeremiah, His prophet, with a commission to root out, tear down, and destroy, on the one hand, but -- hear it! -- he was also Divinely commissioned to "BUILD AND PLANT"!
The fact that Jeremiah was commissioned to overthrow the commonwealth of Judah, to destroy the Davidic kingdom, as it then existed among the Jewish people, throw down the throne of David which was in their midst, and root out that branch of the royal family which occupied the throne at that time -- all this is so clear, so well known, that most, if not all, of the accepted authorities of Christendom proclaim it.
But those same authorities do not seem to know, neither do they proclaim that which follows as a natural consequence, i.e., that if it was the kingdom, sceptre, throne and seed of David which were overthrown, then it follows that it is those very same things which must again be planted and built.
Hence we affirm that, as God is still holy and did not lie to David, and if He did not sanctify, call, and commission Jeremiah in vain, then that throne of David was again set up, the seed planted, and the kingdom built before Jeremiah died.
Mind you, we do not say that these were planted and built again among the Jews. That was not at all necessary in order to fulfillment.
Indeed, we will show that it was not planted nor built in Judah. For God "gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and his sons by a covenant of salt." (2 Chronicles 13:5)
Nine-twelfths of the seed of Israel never were members of the Jewish kingdom.
The great wrong of which the standard authorities of Christendom have been guilty is that, with a wide-open Bible before them, they should be in such ignorance of the declared purpose of God, and have such a hesitating, apologetic faithlessness in His covenant promises -- wherein He has sworn by Himself -- that they are blinded even to the necessity of accounting for the building and planting which God gave Jeremiah to do.
The great fault with their whole teaching, so far as the outcome of Jeremiah's work is concerned, is that they have either suffered, implied, or actually taught that the promises of God to David were allowed to go by default. And when an honest questioner would arise, as of necessity there must, he at once becomes an irresponsible, irregular, unarmored stripling, upon whom these regulars in the army of Israel insist on putting the armor of Saul.
But the "heavy" armor of the should-be leader will not fit the bright young head and freer limbs of the little irregular; so he must go forth alone to slay the giant of infidelity, whose champions have been defying the armies of the living God.
Meanwhile, these "regulars" stand on the hill of their self-importance and ask, "Who is this youthful stripling whom we see down in the valley picking up pebbles with which to meet the foe whose challenge has sent dismay among us for lo these many days?"
END of Part II--Chapter 2 of Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright
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(Adapted from Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright, by J.H. Allen, written about 1902, available online for about $29)
Part II--Chapter I THE SCEPTRE, AND THE DAVIDIC CONVENANT
"Ought you not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?" (2Chronicles 13:5)
There is no question, with those who have followed us thus far, that the Birthright people have been cast out into an unknown and far-away country, which, when they entered, was a mostly uninhabited and unexplored wilderness. While Israel has been exploring, pioneering and settling this wilderness, the LORD has so hedged up their way that they cannot find the paths by which they came nor the place from where they came.
Although lost in so far as their national identity is concerned, they are in the place where the LORD has said they shall find grace, and where He has promised to speak comforting words to their hearts--in the wilderness.
There we will leave them to fulfill their appointed destiny of becoming a multitude of nations, while we follow the history of the Sceptre, and learn what the Word of the LORD has revealed concerning His present and its future. For, if God has been true to His word, and unless the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has become of no effect, then the Sceptre, as well as the Birthright, has not only a present existence, but a glorious future.
When God made the covenant with Abram in which He made him (prospectively) the father of many nations, thereby changing his name to Abraham, He gave the promise, "Kings shall come out of you." (Genesis 17:6, 35:11)
Also, when the promise concerning the multiplicity of nations was reiterated to his wife, whose former name was Sarai, but now Sarah, or princess, it was said, "Kings of nations shall be of her." (Genesis 17:16, R.V.)
Thus by the choice or election of God were they made, not only the progenitors of a race which was to develop into "many nations" which were to spread abroad to the North, South, East and West, but also a royal family. This, of course, includes a Sceptre -- the emblem and sign of royalty.
These promised blessings given by the LORD and confirmed to Abraham by an oath, were received by him in faith, and counted as though they were already in existence, for the simple reason that, when a thing is promised by the LORD and received by anyone in faith, that thing must eventually materialize, because faith is the God-given force or power which will and must eventually bring promised things into existence.
Hence both "the Birthright" and "the Sceptre" blessing passed from Abraham to Isaac as a real inheritance, who in turn bestowed them upon Jacob.
On his deathbed, Jacob separated these two covenant blessings – the Birthright and the Sceptre--the Birthright falling to Ephraim and the Sceptre falling to Judah, as we have before fully explained. When Jacob, at the time of his death, while acting under the direction of the Holy Spirit, gave the Sceptre blessing to Judah and his lineage, the prophecy which he gave with it was,
"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and to him shall the gathering of the people be." (Genesis 49:10)
After the Abrahamic people had cried down the Divine Theocracy, rejected the LORD as their king, and insisted on having a human king, they chose Saul. Although Saul was not of the royal line, but a Benjamite, he was permitted to reign, for the LORD had determined to give the people the desire of their hearts.
But after the downfall of that haughty Benjamite, David, a son of the royal family of Judah, was enthroned, and to him were reiterated the promises concerning the royal family, which had been emphasized to Judah by his dying father Jacob when he bestowed on him the unconditional promises of royal fatherhood.
When the Sceptre was confirmed to David, the LORD gave the message through Nathan the prophet in these words:
"When your days are fufilled, and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you which shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be My son. If he commit iniquity, I will chaveen him with the rod of men."
"But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you: Your throne shall be established forever." (2 Samuel 7:12-16)
David was so impressed with the magnitude of this prophecy and with the period of time which it covered that he went in and sat before the LORD, pondering over it, until in wonderment he exclaimed:
"Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house that You havet brought me to this? And this was yet a small thing in Your sight, O LORD God; but You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O LORD God?" (2 Samuel 7:18,19)
No. It is not the manner of man to prophesy concerning things "for a great while to come." But it is the manner of God. Yes, and it is the manner of God to make good that which He has spoken. David understood this; so he prayed,
"And now, O LORD God, the word that You have spoken concerning your servant, and concerning his house, establish it forever, and do as You have said." (v. 25)
If it be possible that there can be such power put into written words as shall yet come from that voice which shall sound the seven thunders, we pray that it may be put into those which record the above facts; and thus compel our readers to see that it is not the spiritual throne, the spiritual sceptre, the spiritual house, nor the heavenly kingdom, which are therein spoken of, but that it is the literal throne, the earthly kingdom, and the lineal house of the Judo-Davidic family which are the subjects of this prophecy; and that these are to endure FOREVER.
There is also in this prophecy a note of warning to David's successor, which is given in the following:
"If he commits iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men."
It is not at all presumable that the ruler, sitting on the spiritual throne, and holding the sceptre over the heavenly kingdom, would commit iniquity; hence no such threat could have been given with reference to him. But when it is applied to Solomon, the immediate successor of his father David, and to others of the royal line of Judah, it is altogether another question, for many of them were as wicked as men get to be.
Further, this prophecy was to go into effect when David's "days were fulfilled," and when the son who should be set up after him would build a house for God. Solomon, who was "set up" after David, did build a house to the LORD, viz., the temple at Jerusalem. But the Messiah has never, as yet, built any such house. Before the temple was built, and when Solomon was giving orders to Hiram concerning the material for its construction, he said:
"Behold, I purpose to build an house to the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to David my father, saying, Your son whom I will set upon your throne in your room he shall build an house unto my name." (I Kings 5:5)
Also, when the temple was finished, Solomon, standing before the altar of the LORD, in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, with uplifted hands spread toward heaven, in that wonderful prayer at the dedication of the temple, said:
"The LORD has performed His word that He spoke; and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel. . . . There is no God like You, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keeps covenant and mercy with your servant . . ."
"who have kept with your servant David my father that which You promised him; You speak also with Your mouth, and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that You promised him, saying: There shall not fail you a man in My sight to sit on the throne of Israel." (I Kings 8:20-25)
By this prayer we see that Solomon understood that the throne, the kingdom, and the lineal house of David should stand forever.
Solomon not only understood it this way, but declared it before all the congregation of Israel, so that the entire nation should be fully aware of the fact. This was so thoroughly known in Israel and acknowledged by her prophets that, at the time of the division of the race into two kingdoms in the days of Rehoboam and Jeroboam, Abijah, in his zeal that the lineal rights of the royal family might not be ignored, stood upon a mountain in Ephraim and cried out:
"Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel. Ought you not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever and to his sons [not son, not one, but many] by a covenant of salt?" (13:5) The marginal reading is, "a perpetual covenant."
Psalm 89 contains much light regarding the covenant under consideration, which the LORD made with David and his sons, concerning the perpetuity of his throne, sceptre, kingdom, and his posterity. In it the LORD declares:
"I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to David My servant, saying, Your seed will I establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations." (Psalm 89:3-4) Not a few, not some, not even many, but "ALL generations."
Continuing, He says:
"My mercy will I keep for him forevermore, and My covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure forever, 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 transgressions 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 has gone out of my lips." (v. 28-34)
Surely it is not possible to break the force of these words. The proposition could not be stated in stronger terms. The LORD simply will not break His covenant; He will not change, nor modify, nor in any way or for any reason alter, the thing that He has spoken, even if the children of David do forsake His law and break every commandment in His statute book. If they do break His law, He will chastise and punish with "the rod" and "with stripes," but He will not suffer His faithfulness to fail.
The covenant is unconditional. It "shall stand fast," no matter how often they are visited with rod and stripe for their transgressions. No matter how severe the punishment, the fact remains that the throne, the sceptre, the kingdom and the seed, must endure forevermore.
The fact that in this confirmation of the Davidic covenant the LORD uses the expressions, "His children," "they" and "their," all in the plural form, is proof that this covenant does not have reference to the spiritual reign of His son Jesus Christ in the hearts of Christians.
Furthermore, it could not be possible that Jesus Christ, of whom the prophet Isaiah wrote saying, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" whose "name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6), we say it is not possible for this Prince of Peace, who is The Mighty God, to break His own commandments, forsake His own law, or disregard His own statutes, and then punish Himself for His own wickedness.
No, these warnings do not apply to the Immortal One, but to the frail mortal sons of David, of whom Solomon was the first, and whom the LORD punished for His wickedness, as we may learn by referring to I Kings 11, where we read as follows:
"And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods, but he kept not that which the LORD commanded."
"Therefore the LORD said to Solomon: Forasmuch as this is done of you, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely rend the kingdom from you, and I will give to your servant. Notwithstanding, in your days will I not do it, for David your father's sake; but I will rend it out of the hand of your son. Howbeit, I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to your son for David My servant's sake." (I Kings 11:9-13)
Please notice how perfectly the facts agree, in every detail, with the declared purpose of God. Solomon, the seed of David, who was set up after him, who sat on the throne in the room of his father, who built and dedicated the house of the LORD, did forsake his God and refuse to obey His commandments.
If God is true to His word, he must punish any of the children of David who thus forsake His law. So, as a punishment to Solomon, He purposes to take the greatness and power of the kingdom away from that son, who, as Solomon hopes, shall inherit the throne, crown, sceptre and kingdom, in all its glory. But no; the LORD purposes to take away the greater part of the national strength and power of the kingdom and give it to one of the servants of Solomon instead of the royal heir.
But while the LORD is declaring to Solomon the punishment which He purposes to visit upon him for his disobedience, He is careful to say:
"Howbeit, I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to your son." (v. 13)
Why not "rend away all the kingdom?"
The Divine reply is, "For David My servant's sake."
Why for David's sake?
Because the LORD gave the "kingdom over Israel to David and his sons forever."
Ah, He dared not take away the entire kingdom from that royal line! Yes, we can say "dared not," and emphasize it, too. And we may also add, must not cannot, or any and all such expressions as will voice our protest or express the impossibility of such a thing.
Indeed, the LORD Himself has uttered a stronger protest than ours could ever be. We say this because the LORD, in this Psalm which we have under consideration, after saying, "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips," has, in the very next statement, made use of words which forever shut the door of retreat; for He not only took an oath, in which He pledged His own holy character, but He brought the physical universe into the contract, or at least that portion of it which involves the continued existence of the present arrangement of our solar system. His declarations are:
"Once have I sworn, by My holiness, that I will not lie to David. His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in the heaven." (Psalm 89:35-37)
Also, in v. 29 of that same Psalm is the following:
"His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven." (v. 29)
If we are willing to give these words their full and natural meaning, then surely we must see clearly that it is the intention of the LORD that we shall understand that, so long as the sun, the "great light" which He created for a light by day, and the moon the "lesser light," which He created to rule the night, shall keep their appointed places in the heavens, traveling their orbits, continuing to make their proper changes, passing through their ecliptics, or completing their lunations, just so long must they rise over, shine down upon, and set beyond, the limits of, a kingdom on this earth over which some member of the Judo-Davidic family is holding the scepter. Just so long will they continue to say, by their very presence in the heavens.
"We are witnesses to men throughout all generations, that the LORD God of Israel has not lied to His servant David."
Furthermore, it is certain that the expressions, "days of heaven," and "a faithful witness in heaven," as used in these Scriptures, are purely astronomic, and refer to the stellar and atmospheric heavens.
Hence the throne, kingdom, sceptre and family of David must endure, "as the days of heaven," i.e., so long as the earth continues to revolve on its own axis, thus giving to itself that diurnal motion which causes day and night to succeed each other, and which enables the sun and moon to perform their functions of lighting the day and night.
"But," says one, "do not these sayings apply to the kingdom and throne in heaven, where Christ, the seed of David, is now sitting at the right hand of God? And is not the New Jerusalem, which is above, and is the mother of us all, the celestial capital of that kingdom?"
To this we are compelled to give a negative answer; for that celestial city has "no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." (Revelation 21:23)
“But," questions another persistent spiritualizer, "do not the seed and throne mentioned in these Scriptures refer to Christ, who is the 'Son of David,' in his spiritual kingdom, which is set up in the hearts of men?"
Again we are compelled to reply in the negative, for the Holy Ghost is the divine illuminator of that kingdom; the sun and the moon having never been heavenly lights, only in an astronomic sense.
Furthermore, a mere glance at the context will reveal the fact that the LORD is dealing with a very earthly seed and kingdom; for, intermingled with the promises of an everlasting seed, throne and kingdom, the declaration is made concerning the children of David that, if they do not walk in His judgments and keep His commandments, but forsake His law, and break His statutes, then He will visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. But still, no matter how wicked the ruler on the throne or the subject in the realm, He will not suffer His faithfulness to fail, His covenant with David must stand forevermore.
The only conditions to the covenant are such as are entirely beyond the power of man either to control or to break, viz., the faithfulness of God in keeping and fulfilling His word, the holiness of His character -- for He cannot lie -- and the omnipotence of His power to keep the sun, moon and the earth rolling onward in their present cycles and order until, by the good pleasure of His will, He shall change those ordinances and bring into existence the new heavens and the new earth. Hence, the Holy Spirit inspired Jeremiah to write:
"Thus says the LORD: If you 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 My servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne." (Jeremiah 33:20, 21)
Previously, in v. 17 of this same chapter, the LORD said: "David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel." Then He adds the following:
" If My covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinance 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." (Jeremiah 33:25-26)
This, too, after saying:
"As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David My servant." (Jeremiah 33:22, 25, 26)
In the statement, "David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne," the word man is translated from the Hebrew "ish" (iysh), which is defined as meaning "a man, a person, a certain one, any one."
In the declaration that David should always "have a son to reign upon his throne," the Hebrew word from which "son" is taken is "ben", which means "son, man, or a builder of the family name.
In the other expression, "take any of his seed to be rulers," etc., the word "seed" is taken from the Hebrew "Zara" -- " a man, a person, a child, a nephew, a grandchild, or relative."
This being the case -- together with the fact that when duration of time is being considered, there are no stronger words in the Hebrew language than those which are translated "forever," "evermore," and "everlasting," then these following propositions must stand:
1. The LORD God of Israel made a covenant with David concerning the perpetuity of his seed, throne, and kingdom, regardless of the good or evil conduct of his descendants.
2. The subjects of this Davidic kingdom must belong to the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
3. Some person of the lineage of King David must be on that throne (seat of power) who holds the sceptre, and reigns over that kingdom.
4. National afflictions will come upon them, as punishment for their unrighteousness; but they will not be utterly destroyed; for the kingdom must endure so long as there be day and night, and the subjects must continue to increase until they become innumerable.
5. So long as the sun, moon and earth continue rolling onward in their appointed orbits, just so long must the seed, throne, and Israelitish kingdom of David be in existence, or we have no longer a holy God ruling in the heavens and watching over Israel.
6. In order to prove that God has become unholy -- i.e., lied -- some man must yet find a fulcrum on which to rest his lever with which he can stop the rotation of the earth, and then find some way by which he can drive those witnessing lights from the sky; or in some way break up the appointed ordinances of heaven and earth, so that there cannot be day and night in their season. Otherwise, the holiness and omnipotence of God must not be questioned. This is the reason that David so triumphantly says to him: "Thou have magnified your word above all your name," (Psa. 138:2).
7. The fact that God has thus magnified his word above his name would, in case of a failure on his part to perpetuate that which he swears shall be in existence forever, give us authority to impeach his testimony on every line, for it would undeify him.
END of Part II-Chapter 1 of Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright.
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CHAPTER 11 JOSEPH-ISRAEL LOST (continued)
Jeremiah also has given utterance to prophetic sayings which are in full accord with those of the prophets already quoted, and which cover the same ground, but give additional facts in the following:
"Therefore will I cast you out of this land, into a land that you don’t know, neither you nor your fathers, and there shall you serve other gods day and night; where I will not show you favor."
"Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The LORD lives who brought the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands where He had driven them: and I will bring them again to their land that I gave to their fathers."
"Behold I will send for many fishers, says the LORD, and they shall fish for them; and after I will send many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and from out of the holes of the rocks. For My eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from My face, neither is their iniquity hidden from My eyes. But first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled My land, they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things."
"O LORD, my strength and my fortress and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come to you from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know. I will cause them to know My hand and My might; and they shall know that your name is the LORD." (Jeremiah 16:13-21)
We have given the above quotation in full and at length, because, as a prophecy, it contains the facts of the casting out and return of Israel, together with a brief epitome of their history while thus cast out. Let us notice them:
1. "I will cast you out of this land." We know that they were taken into Assyria.
2. "Into a land that you know not." They were not to remain in Assyria.
3. "Neither you nor your fathers." A land unknown to the entire race, and as they were among the most, if not the most, civilized nations on the earth, we are safe in saying that it was to be a long way from their home; that they were to move on through the nations until they came into unknown regions, into the uninhabited, unexplored wilderness beyond the pales of civilization.
4. "And there shall you serve other gods day and night." They can then and there get their fill of idolatry.
5. "I will not show you favor," i.e., not ease their punishment, until, as He says, He has first recompensed "their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled My land, they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things," i.e., Jeroboam's calves, Ahab's image of Baal, Moloch, etc.
6. When He says that He will not show them favor, the context proves that He means for a certain season or period. For He says, "I will bring them again into their land", i.e., back into the Samaritan portion of the land.
7. "I will send for many {Hebrew, rab -- abundant, enough, plenteous, a multitude} fishers." Jesus said to His disciples, "I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19, Mark 1:17) . He came to His own tribal house, Judah, but His own received Him not, and then He said to them: "Your house is left unto you desolate." (Matt. 23:38, Luke 13:35). But he said to his fishers, "Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Matt. 10:6).
And 630 years prior to Jesus, and 120 years after Israel had been cast out, and before the house of Judah were taken to Babylon, God had said through the mouth of Jeremiah,
"My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds {their priests, who were of the lowest type of the people} have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill {wandering}, they have forgotten their resting place." {i.e., their home}. (Jeremiah 50:6)
8. "And they shall fish them." These gospel fishers of men are successful. Lost Israel takes the bait and is fished. Hallelujah!
All this is in harmony with the prophetic history of Israel, as read by the other prophets. For when Hosea is being used to prophesy concerning Israel being hedged in with walls and thorns, and losing her paths, the LORD further adds,
"Behold I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably {marginal reading: speak friendly to her heart} to her. And it shall be in that day says the LORD that you shall call Me Ishi {my husband} and shall call Me no more Baali {my master}. For I will take the names of Baalim {plural of Baal} out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their names." (Hosea 2:14, 16, 17)
Is it any wonder that this same prophet declares,
"Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?" (Hosea 4:8)
Concerning this fact of Israel's receiving the gospel while cast out:
"Thus says the LORD, The people who were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel." (Jeremiah 31:2)
The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Hence the lost sheep of the house of Israel receive the gospel blessings because of the fishers who are sent to them.
9. "And after (that) I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them." The violent protest of our brother, from whose commentary we quoted on a former occasion, is prima-facie evidence that this prophecy concerning the hunting for them has been, and is being fulfilled; it is as follows:
"Hence, all of this hue and cry about the lost tribes, ransacking all the world to find them, and writing vast volumes, is a piece of twaddle and nonsense. Thousands of people are now studying (Glory to God!) great books (Thank God for them!) which claim to identify the 'lost tribes.'"
Amen! and amen! For God says: "They shall hunt for them."
Another of those who object to so much hunting, Prof. Rawlinson, has unwittingly proved this prophecy to have been fulfilled, for he says: "They (the ten tribes) have been found a hundred times in a hundred different localities." This proves that the LORD, in order that His word of truth might be fulfilled, has, to say the least, raised up one hundred hunters.
Had Prof. Rawlinson said, "They were supposed to have been found a hundred times in a hundred different localities," we could not doubt that his statement was true. For it is true that thousands are studying, and writing, and ransacking the world, to find the lost tribes of Israel; and the prophecy concerning the hunters and the hunted, stands vindicated, albeit many have hunted in vain.
Otherwise, we are forced to the conclusion that one of the holy men who was moved by the Holy Ghost to write the Bible was jesting, when he wrote concerning a corps of men who should become hunters of that which was not lost.
And since God has furnished the hunters -- for it is by reading his Word that they become inspired to hunt -- we would be forced to conclude that he would play, or juggle, with the credulity of the human race.
10. It is evident from the declaration, "They are not hidden from My face," that the people in question were hidden from others. Else, why should the LORD say that they were not hidden from Him?
"If they were not hidden from the LORD, who were they then hidden from?"
We answer --THE HUNTERS.
11. The nineteenth verse relates to Gentiles who shall come to the LORD from the ends of the earth. The Hebrew word (goy) which is here translated Gentiles, is often translated, nations, people, tribes, and, far away people. God had told Israel that He would cast them afar off, and in Jeremiah 1:10 this same Hebrew word is translated nations. In Jeremiah 31:9, while speaking to Joseph-Ephraim-Samaria-Israel, the LORD says:
"I am a father to Israel and Ephraim is My firstborn. Hear the word of the LORD, O you nations [goy], and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him."
12. And in this prophecy which we are considering, we are told that these nations shall yet come "from the ends of the earth," and say: "Surely our fathers have inherited lies." (Jeremiah 16:19) How so?
Do not forget, Hosea has prophesied concerning the same people, saying that in the place where it shall be said to them, "You are Lo-ammi,” or “not the people of God" (Hosea 1:9), there it shall be said to them "ammi," or "You are the sons of the living God." (v. 10)
These people shall return to their home and to their LORD, who will be there about the time they get there. And they shall say: "We have inherited lies, for we have been told that we were not the seed of Abraham, but now we know that we, too, have Abraham as our father."
13. Then, says the LORD, "I will cause them to know My hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is the LORD." (Jeremiah 16:21), i.e., Jehovah.
So we find that while Israel was taken into Assyria they were not to stay there, but were to wander into an unknown country, called the wilderness; and that eventually, when they have fulfilled their destiny by becoming "many nations," the head of the nations is in the isles of the sea, and that the LORD is to gather them from there.
So it is evident that the school of teachers who say that Israel returned with Judah from Babylon, do not know where the Birthright kingdom is, thus making it quite clear that they are lost even to those who say that there is no lost Israel.
The above facts are in harmony with still other authentic history as contained in the apocryphal book of Ezra, i.e., Esdras. Mind you, we do not assert that this book is inspired, although there are thousands who, with ourselves, believe it is. But we give it simply as corroborative history. Esdras had seen a vision in which there were two companies, one a warlike and the other a peaceful company. The declared explanation of the peaceful company is as follows:
"Whereas you sawest that he gathered another peaceful company, those are the ten tribes, who were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Hosea, the king whom Shalmanesar, the king of Assyria, led away captive; and he carried them away so they came into another land. But they took counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwell, that they might keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land."
"And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow passage (the gate) of the river. For the Most High then showed signs for them, and held still the flood till they were passed over, for through that country there was a great way to go, namely, a year and a half. And the same region is called Asaareth (Margin: Ararath, same as Ararat or Armenia, which are only different forms of the same word). Then they dwelled there until the latter time; and now when they shall begin to come, the Highest shall stay the springs of the streams again, that they may go through: therefore saw you the multitude with peace." (2 Esdras 13:39-47)
Every statement made in this extract is corroborated by unquestioned canonical writings, as we have shown, except one; and Isaiah settles that as follows:
"The LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry shod. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people who shall be left from Assyria -- like as it was in the day that He came up out of the land of Egypt." (Isaiah 11:15, 16)
Mind you, He does not say that they shall come from Assyria; He is speaking of the remnant of His people who are left from Assyria, i.e., the Assyrian captivity. The tongue of the Egyptian sea is not en route from either Babylon or Assyria. The tongue of the Egyptian sea is a tongue of the Red sea, and the river with seven streams, mouths, or delta, is the river Nile which waters Egypt; and these are in a direction from Palestine which is diametrically opposite to that of Assyria and Babylon.
After all, it is not so much a question of the lost ten tribes, for some out of all the tribes returned to the kingdom of Judah in the days of Rehoboam, the first king of Judah. This is no doubt the reason that the Jews, upon their return from Babylon, offered the twelve bullocks for all Israel, as a burnt offering unto the LORD.
But it is a question of the lost house of Joseph, that is, THE LOST BIRTHRIGHT. The Jews, although denationalized and scattered everywhere, have never been lost; but, as foretold, they have always been so "well known" that they have become a "by-word"; consequently, they have never been hunted for. But there is a prophecy in the Psalms concerning a people by the name of Israel, who are spoken of as the hidden people of the LORD, and whom He is called upon to defend from their enemies. Of these it is declared:
"They have taken crafty counsel against Your people and consulted against YOUR HIDDEN ONES. They have said, come and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name ISRAEL may be no more in remembrance." (Psalm 83:3, 4)
Hence, there is a people who bear the name Israel, which, as we have learned, is the name of the birthright nation, which if it is not now hidden, has in the past been hidden from all except the Omnipotent One.
END of Chapter 11 of Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright
God bless, BORN AGAIN
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(Adapted from Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright, by J.H. Allen, written about 1902, available online for about $29)
CHAPTER 10 JOSEPH-ISRAEL LOST
In spite of all the facts to the contrary, there is a class of teachers who without one word of historic proof insist upon teaching that the ten-tribed Israelites returned with the 3-tribed Jews from Babylon.
Here is the argument of a commentator who has written two commentaries on "The Revelation." He is a good man and has a pure heart; but in so far as this subject is concerned, he certainly has not informed himself.
He first asks the question: "Were not the ten tribes lost after the deportation of Shalmanezar, as none but Judah and Benjamin returned in the Exodus of Nehemiah?"
And answers it thus:
"There is a general misapprehension and delusion on that subject. As the ten tribes were carried into captivity 134 years before Judah and Benjamin; yet doubtless many of the ten tribes returned with them to Palestine.
So the ten tribes were not lost, but they simply lost their tribe-hood, as they did not return in their organized tribes, but as individuals. Hence all of this hue and cry about the lost tribes, ransacking all the world to find them, and writing vast volumes about it,, is a piece of twaddle and nonsense."
Thus with one presumptive statement from his mouth he attempts to sweep from before our eyes the most important subject, in so far as the vindication of the Word of God is concerned, that has ever made an appeal to Bible-loving people for an honest hearing.
This same commentator speaks of "The Exodus under Nehemiah." There were two returns from Babylon, the first and largest under Ezra, while that the return under Nehemiah was 14 years later, and was composed “of those Jews who were left" of the Babylonian captivity, who did not go up with the first Ezra return.
The commentator further writes: "The ten tribes of Israel had been in the Chaldean Empire 200 years by the time of the Exodus of the Jews” occurred from Babylon.
But it is written "that Israel was taken to Assyria, and placed in the regions of the rivers Hilah (Halah) and Habor" (see 2 Kings 17:6, 18:11; 1 Chronicles 5:26), a region of country more than 500 miles from Babylon.
Assyria was on the middle-upper Tigris river valley, by Nineveah and Calah where Kurdish Iraq is today, and Babylon was much farther south on the southeast Euphrates river valley, closer to where Baghdad is on the southeast Tigris river valley.
To us it seems an insult to the integrity of God for man to presume that the ten tribes EVER saw Babylon.
The commentator still further says: "Of course, they were but a fraction of Judah and Benjamin" who returned. But God says, "All the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together to Jerusalem, and EVERY ONE to his city."
After all, only about ___ thousand total had been taken to Babylon in the Judah-Benjamin-Levi 70-year captivity to Babylon on the Euphrates river. But the ten tribes of Israel were far northwest on the middle-upper Trigris river.
Is there a question here as to who I shall believe? None whatever; but, since our brother says that only a fraction of Judah and Benjamin returned, we would ask:
“Where were the remaining fractions from which that fraction was taken?”
And since he tells us that doubtless many of the ten tribes of Israel returned with that fraction, we would ask: “Where is the whole number now from which the many came?”
And, without waiting for an answer, we hasten to say that this man had evidently lost something, and namely that the people in question are lost, at least to him. But not to the Lord Yashshua-Jesus nor to the LORD Yehovah.
When the LORD determined to give the ten tribes of Israel a bill of divorce, He called Hosea to prophesy against her {the ten tribes of Israel}, and, in order to have a perfect type of her adulterous condition, the LORD asked Hosea take a wife of whoredom and bear children of whoredoms with her because the people of "the land had committed great whoredoms, departing from the LORD." (Hosea 1:2)
As the wife of the prophet Hosea bore children, the LORD took the privilege of naming them, and in each name He uttered a prophecy.
When the first daughter was born, "God said to him {Hosea}, “Call her name Lo-ruhamah--which means, not having obtained mercy”--for 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)
“Now when she {Hosea’s wife} had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived again and bore a son. Then said God, “Call his name “Lo-ammi--which means, “not My people”, for you are not My people, and I will not be your God.”
“Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sands of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered--and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said to them “You are not My people, there it shall be said to them, “You are the sons of the Living God." (Hosea 1:8-10)
Beloved, do you catch the wonderful meaning of this? Look! The name of the first son was Lo-ruhamah, which meant “not having obtained mercy”. This was the name God gave to the ten-tribed northern kingdom of Israel. This was not said to Judah-Benjamin-Levi.
God called the second son Lo-ammi, which meant “not My people”. God refuses any longer to be the God of the ten-tribed kingdom of Israel among whom those two sons of Hosea were born, Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi, God cast them off and forsook them. But not forever. But not until being sifted through the nations for a long time first, as we shall see.
But the people of Judah-Benjamin-Levi were allowed to return to their land of Judah-Benjamin after only 70 years of captivity in Babylon on the southeast Euphrates river valley. But not the 10 tribes of northern Israel: they would be Lo-ruhamah or “not having obtained mercy” and Lo-ammi”, or “not My people”. But for David’s sake the LORD would not entirely rend away the tribe of Judah.
But "Yet" -- O do you see the immutability of the promise of the covenant-making and covenant-keeping LORD Jehovah, who, after making an unconditional promise keeps it, no matter what the conditions are? God had said it. He does not and cannot lie; with Him there is "no variableness nor shadow of turning." (James 1:17)
The LORD God of Israel promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that their seed would become: "many nations." (Genesis 17:14)
“I will make your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven." (Genesis 22:17, see Exodus 32:13)
"I will make you fruitful and multiply you." (Genesis 35:11, 48:4)
"Your seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south." (Genesis 13:16, 28:14)
The LORD then prophesied through Jacob-Israel while they were in Egypt that the LORD was making Joseph’s son Ephraim His firstborn who would possess the birthright promises, but that Judah would possess the sceptre promise, a dynasty of kings, and the Messiah would come from Judah through the family of David and thirdly, Judah would possess a portion of the land of Israel.
In due time, during the reign of King Rehoboam of the tribe of Judah, the LORD separated the sceptre kingdom of Judah-Benjamin-Levi from the birthright kingdom of Ephraim or the 10-tribed kingdom of northern Israel, and the LORD by the mouth of Jacob-Israel divided the unconditional promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the LORD gave 3 promises to Judah the sceptre holder and 4 promises to Ephraim-Israel the birthright holder. The 10 northern tribes also retained the national name of Israel.
The 3 promises given by Jacob-Israel to Judah who is the head of the 3-tribed kingdom of Judah-Benjamin-Levi were the sceptre, the Messiah and the church, and a portion of the land of Israel. Judah-Benjamin-Levi must accomplish these 3 promises in its history.
The 4 promises given by Jacob-Israel to Ephraim who is the head of the 10-tribed kingdom of Israel were a multitude of people, many nations, possess the gates of their enemies and a portion of the land of Israel.
Ephraim or the 10-tribed northern kingdom of Israel who went captive into Assyria on the middle-upper Tigris river must accomplish these 4 promises in history.
Therefore the LORD in the time of King Rehoboam over Israel caused all the tribes of Israel to gather either to one or the other kingdom, so that there now were two kingdoms over Abraham’s posterity, and the LORD also said, "This thing is of Me." (1 Kings 12:24)
But after a number of years of being a separate kingdom of the 10 tribes of Israel, the 10 tribes of Israel now:
"Ephraim is joined to his idols." (Hosea 4:17)
"Lo-Rumahah--They are not My people." (Hosea 1:9)
"I will not be their God." (Hosea 1:9)
"I cast them out." (see 1 Kings 9:7, 17:20, 2 Chronicles 7:20 )
"Yet" in spite of this, and although driven from home, " the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sands of the sea, who cannot be numbered.” (Hosea 1:10)
This language proves that the 10-tribed kingdom of Israel must increase and fulfill their God-appointed promises by growing into a multitude of people, and become many nations and possess the gates of their enemies sometimes in their history.
But the 10 tribes of Israel had also become Lo-rumahah and Lo-ammi, meaning “not having obtained mercy” and Lo-ammi” or “not My people”.
But while in that cast-out condition, and while developing their destiny regarding multiplicity, they will become lost, so lost that they themselves will not know who they are.
For it shall come to pass that, in the place where they go, they will be told that “they are not the people of God”, as at the time of the casting-off they knew themselves to be.
And when they are told that they are not the people of God they shall so have forgotten their origin, that they will believe it. If that be the case, they certainly will be LOST, at least to themselves, and will need some one to prove to them that they are the descendants of God's chosen people.
So, when the time comes, it shall be said of those same persons who were said to be Lo-Rumahah and Lo-ammi that it would be said to them, "You are the sons of the Living God." (Hosea 1:10)
While northern Israel was true to the LORD, she was likened as a delicate and comely woman, and the LORD called her His wife. But when she became an idolatrous nation, He called northern Israel a harlot, and the LORD treated her as a woman who had broken wedlock, by giving her a bill of divorce.
After the LORD had "cast her out of His sight," and allowed northern Israel to be carried away into Assyrian captivity, northern Israel is spoken of in prophecy as "forsaken," a woman ”in widowhood," "a wife of youth," "refused," "barren" and "desolate."
But the LORD also made a promise of redemption to that same desolate northern Israel, saying:
"You shall forget the shame of your youth and shall not remember the reproach of your widowhood any more. For your Maker is your husband {once more}, the LORD of Hosts is His name.”
“And your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall He be called. For the LORD has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when you were refused,” says your God. For a small moment have I forsaken you, but with great mercies will I gather you." (Isaiah 54:4-7)
You will also find by consulting this same chapter that, while barren, forsaken, and desolate, this same woman was to become the mother of more children than while married, or, in other words, the 10 tribes of northern Israel who thru Ephraim held the 4 birthright promises was to increase while cast out more than before! This is exactly what the prophet Hosea declared in the prophecy which we have been considering.
The LORD further used Hosea to teach that the northern tribes of Israel would become lost after being cast out, in the following:
"For she said: I will go after my lovers (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 *** alone by himself; Ephraim has hired lovers), who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink. “Therefore, look, I will hedge up your way with thorn, and make a wall, that SHE SHALL NOT FIND HER PATHS." (Hosea 8:8, 9; 2:5, 6)
To show that the Scriptures which we have just quoted refer to Israel, and not to Judah, we call your attention to the opening words of the chapter in which the non-parenthetical, or enclosing text appears, which is as follows:
"Say to your brethren, Ammi, and to your sisters, Ruhamah. Plead with your mother, plead! For she is not My wife, neither am I her husband." (Hosea 2:1)
When God gave to the 10 tribes of northern Israel the name Lo-ammi, or “not my people”, it was because He had cast her off, and they were no longer His people. For when the LORD gives a name to a person or a nation, He names them in harmony with their character or prophetic condition.
But while it is true that the 10 tribes of northern Israel were not at that time the people of God, it is true that Judah-Benjamin-Levi was then ruling with God, and was still counted among the faithful; hence, Judah-Benjamin-Levi were still Ammi, or the people of God.
Also when God gave to the 10 tribes of northern Israel the name Lo-ruhamah, which meant, “not having obtained mercy”, God did so because that name would be characteristic of His attitude toward the northern tribes of Israel at that time, for He had declared that He would no longer have mercy upon them, but He would cast them out.
But at that same time He said, "I will have mercy upon the house of Judah." (Hosea 1:7)
So, while Israel was Lo-ruhamah, or “not having obtained mercy”, then Judah was Ruhamah, or still obtaining mercy”. For that word "Lo" is the Hebrew negative, and in the words Ammi, and Lo-ammi {not ammi}, Ruhamah, and Lo-ruhamah {not ruhamah}.
These things being true, it is clear that the brethren Ammi and their sisters Ruhamah were Judah-Benjamin-Levi who were together called the Jews and Jewesses of the kingdom of Judah which held the 3 promises of the sceptre, the Messiah and the church, and a portion of the land of Israel.
It is they who were exhorted above to plead with their mother, because the 10 tribes had come out of the original 13-tribed KINGDOM OF ISRAEL.
Yes, the 10-tribed kingdom of Israel, she of whom the LORD had said, "She is not My wife, neither am I her husband" she, the woman of whoredom: she the woman who had broken wedlock; she who had run after her hired lovers; she who asked counsel of golden calves and stone images; she who was joined hopelessly unto Jeroboam's calves, and of whom, after she was sent adrift, the LORD said that He would hedge up her way, and make a wall, so that"she shall not find her paths", i.e., become lost for now about where she, the 10 tribes of northern Israel, the Ephraim tribres who have to fulfill the 4 unconditional promises of God, cannot remembere where she came from.
The LORD further declares,
"When Ephraim spoke trembling he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died. And now they sin more and more, and have made themselves molten images of silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of craftsmen; and they say of them, “Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves. Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passes away, and as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshingfloor, and as the smoke out of the chimney." (Hosea 13:1-3)
Like the smoke out of a chimney disappeared not to be found again, and as the sun has scattered the morning cloud, and as the dew withdraws from leaf and blad-–and even as we cannot hunt that scattered cloud, and cannot search for that smoke, and cannot find again that dew, so they also will be lost to themselves.
This is certainly what the LORD intends us to understand concerning the kingdom of northern Israel, subsequent to their captivity, but prior to Judah’s captivity into Babylonia, the LORD proclaims through the prophet Jeremiah, "My people have been lost sheep." (Jeremiah 50:6)
Ezekiel not only corroborates these prophets, but He visited Israel about 12 years before Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and took Judah-Benjamin-Levi captive to Babylon. Ezekiel says,
"As I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God." (Ezekiel 1:1)
You will find by consulting a map that this river Chebar is the same as Chabor and Habor, which is the same region of Habor, Halah and the river Gozan where the 10 tribes of northern Israel were deported by King Shalmaneser of Assyria.
In fact, the rivers Gozan and Halah {Chalah and Calah} empty into the Chebar or Chabor or Habor, which, in turn,empties into the Euphrates river in middle-upper Euphrates, in northwest Iraq. Chebar, Chabor, Habor, Kebah and Heber are all different forms of the same word.
Ezekiel continues and says,
"Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, who dwelled by the river Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them 7 days. And it came to pass at the end of 7 days, that the LORD came to me, saying, Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel." (Ezekiel 3:15, 17)
Then after speaking of many who would be destroyed by sword, famine and pestilence because of their abominations, and how He would scatter their bones round about the altars of their idols, He says:
"Yet will I leave a remnant, that you may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when he {the 10 tribes of northern Israel} shall be scattered through the countries. And they that escape of you shall remember Me among the nations where they shall be carried." (Ezekiel 6:8, 9)
Again, the offended God of Israel uses Ezekiel to declare, "I will scatter you among the heathen and disperse you in the countries." To do what? Destroy them? No, but to consume your filthiness out of you. (Ezekiel 22:15)
After this, the LORD declares what would happen after this dispersion has been accomplished, saying:
"I scattered them among the heathen and they were dispersed through the countries . . . and when they entered into the heathen, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name, when they said to them, “These are the people of the LORD and are gone forth out of His land.”
“But I had pity for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen where they went.”
Therefore say to the house of Israel, “Thus says the LORD God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for My holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the heathen wherever you went”.
“And I will sanctify My great name . . . and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their very eyes. For I will take you from the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land." (Ezekiel 36:19-24)
Judah-Benjamin-Levi or the Jews were taken into Babylon and they returned from there already, to prepare for the birth of the Messiah and the church.
But the house of Israel, as herein stated, was scattered throughout all countries after they were cast out. But for the vindication of His holy name, He has declared that He would yet be sanctified in the eyes of all nations, by identifying Israel among the nations and bringing them back to their own land. When that takes place, the 10 tribes of northern Israel shall come out of all countries.
In two of the following quotations the house of northern Israel are called, "the dispersed." This will help us understand Zephaniah 3:10:
"From beyond the rivers of Kush, my suppliants, even the daughter of My dispersed, shall bring My offering.”
Since we understand now that "the dispersed" are the ten tribes of northern Israel, which composed the Birthright kingdom which was to become many nations and become a multitude of people and would possess the gates of their enemies, we understand the grave import of the question asked of Jesus by the chief men of Judah in the following:
"When the Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him {Jesus}, the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. Then Jesus said to them, “Yet a little while am I with you and then I go to Him who sent me. You shall seek me but shall not find me: and where I am, there you cannot come.”
“Then said the Jews among themselves, ‘Where will he go that we cannot find him? Will he go to the dispersed among the Gentiles?" (John 7:32-35)
This very question revealed the fact that the people of Judah-Benjamin-Levi knew that the ten tribes of Israel were still dispersed among the nations, but that the people of Judah-Benjamin-Levi did not know where the 10 tribes of Israel were, because “they could not go to them.”
Judah also understood the fact that, if this man was indeed the Messiah, He would know where the lost people were, and He could go to them. It was thus also an admission from the chief men of Judah, that a portion of the race was still lost, “had lost her paths”.
The prophet Micah also falls into exact line with the rest of the prophets, for through him the LORD declares:
"I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of you; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold, they shall make a great noise by reason of the multitude of men. The breaker is come up before them; they have broken up and passed through the gate and are gone out by it; and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD is on the head of them." (Micah 2:12, 13)
The reason the LORD says that He will assemble and put them together is because, prior to when King Shalmaneser took the main kingdom of northern Israel captive into Assyria, King Tiglath-Pileser had aleady taken the Reubenites and the Gadites and a portion of Naphtali and one-half of the tribes of Manasseh to Assyria, "And he brought them to Halah and Habor and Hara, and to the river Gozan." (see 2 Kings 17:6, 18:11; 1 Chronicles 5:26)
Later, the rest of the ten tribes were brought to that same region.
And the last that Josephus knew concerning the ten tribes, is that they were beyond the river Euphrates. This river rises at the foot of Mount Ararat, up in the Caucasian Pass, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The 10 tribes of Israel, making a great noise because of the multitude, went out through this pass or gate of Caucasus, from Assyria and Media to the north side of the Caucasus Pass.
End of Chapter 10 of Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright.
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CHAPTER 9 THE JEWS GO TO BABYLON AND RETURN
Ezekiel 23 contains a short story which seems somewhat veiled, but a knowledge of the two houses and their respective capitals lifts the veil and quickly sweeps it aside. It is of interest to us, or should be, and begins as follows:
"There were two women, daughters of one mother, who committed adultery in their youth in Egypt, the names of whom were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister, and they were Mine, says the LORD, and they bore sons and daughters. Thus were their names; SAMARIA is Aholah [i.e., Israel], and JERUSALEM is Aholibah [Judah]." (Ezekiel 23:2-4)
Then the story continues and tells how Aholah the elder played the harlot, and was followed into that sin by her sister Aholibah, who was more corrupt than Aholah had been. So God judged them "as women who break wedlock." Before the story is ended the history of Israel's captivity to the Assyrians is told, together with prophecies concerning the captivity of Judah in Babylon.
The LORD further says to the Jews:
"And your elder sister is Samaria [Israel], she and her daughters who dwell at your left hand; and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. Yet have you not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations; but, as if it were a very little thing, you were corrupted more than they in all your ways . . . Neither has Samaria [Israel] committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they and have justified [by comparison] your sisters in all your abominations which you have done. You also, who have judged your sisters, bear your own shame for your sins which you have committed more abominable than they." (Ezekiel 16:46-52)
This is in harmony with the record of Judah, as given by Jeremiah in the following:
"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 to me, Backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah." (Jeremiah 3:8, 11)
"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 23:27)
So Jeremiah was commanded to stand in the gate of the LORD's house and proclaim the word of the LORD to all the men of Judah, and among other things say to them:
"But go now to My place which is Shiloh [one of the cities of Joseph], where I set My name at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel. And now, because you have done all these works, says the LORD, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you heard not; and I called you, but you did not answer. Therefore will I do to this house which is called by My name, wherein you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim." (Jeremiah 7:12-15)
The above is the prophecy; the following is a part of the historic record of the fact after its fulfillment.
"Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land. This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive in the 7th year [of his reign], 3,023 Jews. In the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 persons. In the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away captive of the Jews 745 persons. All the persons were 4,600." (Jeremiah 52:27-30)
Thus Jeremiah teaches that it was the Jews, or the people composing the kingdom of Judah, who were carried into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar; and in order to show that it was the Jewish people, and they only, who returned from that captivity, we cite the following:
"Now these are the children of the province [Judah had been a province to Babylon 20 years before Nebuchadnezzar robbed and burned the temple, destroyed Jerusalem, and took the Jews to Babylon] who went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried away into Babylon, and came again to Jerusalem and Judah, every one to his city." (Ezra 2:1)
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are the only books of the Bible which deal with the history of that return. Jeremiah had prophesied that the Jews should remain captives in the Chaldean Empire (Babylon was its capital) for 70 years. Just as the 70 years came to an end, the empire was taken by the Medo-Persians, and it became known in history as the Medo-Persian Empire.
Ezra begins his record as follows:
"Now in the 1st year of King Cyrus of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, '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.”
“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] who is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remains in any place [throughout the kingdom] where he sojourns, let the men of his place keep him with silver and with gold and with goods and with beasts, besides the free will offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”
“Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God has raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem." (Ezra 1:1-5)
Do you notice that it is only the men of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi who are responding to this call? Also you will remember that those three tribes are the three which compose the kingdom of Judah which went into the Babylonian captivity, the ten tribes of Israel having been carried away into the Assyrian captivity 130 years prior to that.
Also notice that it was not all the fathers nor all of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi that rose up to this call, but the chief of the fathers, and all of the people in those tribes mentioned whose spirit the LORD had made willing. So these willing ones went to work, gathering together their silver, gold, goods, and other precious things. And Cyrus, the king, brought out of the house of one of the idols, where Nebuchadnezzar had put them, all of the vessels belonging to the house of the LORD, and through his treasurer:
"numbered them to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. And this is the number of them: 30 charges of silver, 39 knives, 30 basins of gold, silver of a second sort 410, and other vessels 1,000. All the vessels of gold and silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with him of the captivity who were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem." (Ezra 1:8-11)
Some presume to teach that the house of Israel returned to Judah with the Jews when they came back from Babylon. When we get to that phase of our subject we will prove by both the Old and New Testaments that they did not. But just here we need to say that in the books which deal with the history of this return, there is not the slightest mention, direct or indirect, by inference or reference, of the other kingdom, or house, of Israel.
There is a mention of the army of Samaria by Nehemiah, but you will find that they belonged to the post-Samaritans, who with others opposed and hindered the Jews in their work, until finally they forced them to cease work on the temple. Here is the record:
"But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall he was angry and took great indignation and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews?" (Nehemiah 4:1, 2)
Again:
"Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity were building the temple to the LORD God of Israel…" (Ezra 4:1)
Following these statements is the account of a prolonged persecution of the Jews by those mongrel nations of post-Samaritans. They hired counselors, wrote letters of protest, resorted to trickery and hypocrisy. A letter of protest was written to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, which was signed by many, together with “the rest of the nations whom the noble Asnapar brought over and set in the cities of Samaria."
This had the effect of stopping the work on the temple, and it did not begin again until during the 2nd year of Darius, at which time these imported post-Samaritans again tried to hinder. The account of this is given by Josephus, as follows:
"When the Samaritans, who were still enemies to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, heard the sound of trumpets, they came running together, and desired to know what was the occasion of the tumult; and when they perceived that it was the Jews who had been carried captive to Babylon and were rebuilding the temple, they came to Zorobabel, and to Jeshua, and to the heads of the families, and desired that they would give them leave to build the temple with them, and to be partners with them in building it; for they said, ‘We worship your God, and especially pray to him, and are desirous of your religious settlement, and this ever since Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, transplanted us out of Cuthah and Medea to this place.”
When they thus said, Zorobabel and Jeshua, the high priest, and the heads of the families of the Israelites, replied to them that, “it was impossible for them to permit them to be their partners, while they only had been appointed to build that temple at first by Cyrus, and now by Darius, although it was lawful for them to come and worship there if they pleased, and that they could allow them nothing but that in common with them, which was common to them with all other men, to come to their temple, and worship there.”
"When the Cutheans heard this, for the Samaritans have that appellation, they had indignation at it, and persuaded the nations of Syria to desire the governors, in the same manner as they had done formerly in the days of Cyrus, and again in the days of Cambyses afterwards, to put a stop to the building of the temple, and to endeavor to delay and distract the Jews in their zeal about it."
This delayed matters for some time, but finally Darius ordered a search among the royal records, which resulted in the finding of the record of Cyrus concerning the restoration of the Jews, the building of the temple, and what the LORD commanded him in reference to them.
The contents of this proclamation is given by Josephus, as follows:
"Cyrus, the king, in the first year of his reign, commanded that the temple should be built in Jerusalem; and the altar in height should be three-score cubits, and its breadth of the same, with three edifices of polished stone, and one edifice of stone of their own country: and he ordained that the expenses of it should be paid out of the king's revenue. He also commanded that the vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had pillaged out of the temple and carried to Babylon should be restored to the people of Jerusalem, and that the care of these things should belong to Sanadassar, the governor and president of Syria and Phoenicia, and to his associates, that they may not meddle with that place, but may permit the servants of God, the Jews and their rulers, to build the temple."
"He also ordained that they should assist him in the work; and that they should pay to the Jews, out of the tribute of the country where they were governors, on account of the sacrifices, bulls and rams, and lambs and kids of goats, and fine flour, and oil, and wine, and all other things that the priests should suggest to them; and that they should pray for the preservation of the king, and of the Persians, and for such as had transgressed any of these orders thus sent to them, he commanded that they should be caught, and hung upon a cross, and their substance confiscated to the king's use. He also prayed to God against them, that if any one attempted to hinder the building of the temple, God would strike him dead, and thereby restrain his wickedness."
Josephus also relates another trick of these Cuthean Samaritans as follows:
"When Shalmanesar, the king of Assyria, had it told him, that Hoshea, the king of Israel, had sent privately to So, the king of Egypt, desiring his assistance against him, he was very angry, and made an expedition against Samaria, in the seventh year of the reign of Hoshea; but when he was not admitted into the city by the king, he besieged Samaria three years, and took it by force in the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, and in the seventh year of Hezekiah, king of Jerusalem, and quite demolished the government of the Israelites, and transplanted all the people into Medea and Persia, among whom lie took King Hoshea alive; and when he had removed these people out of this their land, he transplanted other nations out of Cutha, a place so called, (for there is still a river of that name in Persia,) into Samaria, and into the country of the Israelites. So the ten tribes of the Israelites were removed, etc. . . . "
"But now the Cutheans who removed into Samaria, (for that is the name they have been called by to this time, because they were brought out of the country called Cutha, which is a country of Persia, and there is a river of the same name in it,) and are called in the Hebrew tongue Cutheans, but in the Greek tongue Samaritans. And when they see the Jews in prosperity they pretend that they are changed, and allied to them, and call them kinsmen, as though they were derived from Joseph."
Our object in inserting these quotations is threefold. First, to show that not only the sacred writers, but also the secular historian, and the rulers, both friendly and unfriendly, who had to do with those Israelites who went into and came out of the Babylonian captivity, called them Jews.
Second, to show how the bitter feeling was engendered among the Jews against those Cuthea-Samaritans, whom they called "Dogs," whom they never forgave, and with whom they never had any dealings. When Christ spoke to the woman of Samaria at the well, she was so surprised that her first words were, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me, a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans." (John 4:9)
Third, to show that neither Josephus, who writes on the "Antiquities of the Jews," nor their enemies, the Cuthea-Samaritans, ever confounds ten-tribed Israel with the Jewish Israelite kingdom of Judah-Benjamin-Levi.
Oh, how we thank God that He made Josephus write concerning those imported nations in Samaria, who, because they were living in that land which had been the home of the Birthright kingdom, when they were seeking that which would be advantageous to them, would sidle up to the Jews, and claim kinship.
"AS THOUGH THEY WERE DERIVED FROM JOSEPH." What impudence! Think of the audacity of these imported mongrels claiming to be a portion of the Abrahamic birthright-holders. Is it much marvel that the Jews should dub such a race of fawners by the appropriate name of Dogs?
Both Ezra and Nehemiah, the Biblical historians of the return of the Jews from Babylon to Judah, give the genealogy of all who returned, a list of all the men who worked on the wall, a special list of all the priests who had married strange wives, and the exact number of individuals who returned. The aggregate of these is summed up as follows:
"The whole congregation together was 42,360, besides their servants and their maids, of whom there were 7,337." (Ezra 2:64-65)
Ezra states that there were among these servants 200 singing men and women, but Nehemiah puts the number of singers at 245. This could easily have been the case by the time he got there, for the going up which was led by him was the second one, and did not take place until 14-1/2 years after that which was led by Ezra.
And yet in the genealogical records of this "whole congregation" of 49,897 Jews, there is not a tribal name mentioned except those of Judah, Benjamin and Levi.
Please remember that it is the people of these three tribes who compose the mass of the kingdom of Judah, and who only are called Jews.
Josephus tells us of an epistle which was written by Xerxes, the son of Darius, at the time when the Jews were getting ready to leave Babylon, and sent to Esdras (Ezra) which was the cause of great rejoicing among them. He speaks of the effect it had upon them, as follows:
"So he read the epistle at Babylon to those Jews that went there, but he kept the epistle itself, and sent a copy of it to all those of his own nation that were in Medea. And when these Jews had understood what piety the king had toward God, and what kindness he had for Esdras, they were all greatly pleased; nay, many of them took their effects with them, and came to Babylon, as very desirous of going down to Jerusalem; but then THE ENTIRE BODY of THE PEOPLE of ISRAEL remained in that country, wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while THE TEN TRIBES are beyond the Euphrates until now (A.D. 95), and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers."
We note that I Kings and II Kings, the Chronicles, Josephus, Ezra and Nehemiah, all speak of the kingdom of Judah at times as "Judah and Benjamin." This is why Josephus says that there were only two tribes under the power of the Romans.
The reason for this is supposed to be the fact that the Levites were priests who served in the temple, and did not count for anything when it came to the political and fighting strength of the Jewish people, for the Levites were undoubtedly with Judah and Benjamin, as a part of the Kingdom of Judah.
Furthermore, aside from the mention of the tribal name of Ashur, as the name of the tribe to which Anna, the prophetess belonged, there is not a tribal name used in any historic portion of the new Testament, except the three tribal names of the Jewish people, i.e., Judah, Levi, and Benjamin. The ancestors of Anna could easily have belonged to one of those scattered families who returned out of Israel unto the kingdom of Judah, because they would not serve Jeroboam's calves.
END of Chapter 9 of Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright.
God bless, BORN AGAIN
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(Adapted from Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright, by J.H. Allen, written in 1902), available online for about $29.
CHAPTER 8 SAMARIA-ISRAEL CAST OUT AND CAST OFF
Concerning the casting out of Israel, it is written:
"And it came to pass in the 4th year of King Hezekiah [the king of Judah] which was the 7th of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel, that King Shalmaneser of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, and at the end of 3 years they took it; even in the 6th year of Hezekiah, that is, the 9th year of Hosea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken.”
“And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes.
Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed His covenant, and all that Moses, the servant of the LORD, commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them." (2 Kings 18:9-12)
"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 17:23-24)
If the king of Assyria did take this ten-tribed kingdom out of their own land, which land is called Samaria, and then placed another people there instead of the children of Israel, then Samaria is the lawful home of those pre-Samaritans, THE EGYPTO-ISRAELITES of the Ephraimite or Birthright kingdom, while those mongrel post-Samaritans, who were gathered up from various places, were but strangers and foreigners in that portion of the Abrahamic land known as Samaria.
Following this record of the removal of Israel and the placing of these strangers in their former home, we have the following:
"And so it was at the beginning of the dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them which slew some of them. Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which you have removed and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he has sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land."
"Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry one of the priests whom you brought from there; and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land. Then one of the priests whom they carried away from Samaria came and dwelled in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD. "
"Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the [former] Samaritans [Israelites] had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt; the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth [an idol], and the men of Cuth made Nergalm [another idol], and the men of Hamath made Ashima [still another]. And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak [still others], and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim."
"So they feared the LORD and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of nations [the 10 tribes of Israel] whom they carried away from there. Unto this day they do after the former manners." (2 Kings 17:25-34)
Yes: "after the former manners" of idolatrous Israel who feared -- was afraid of -- the LORD, but served their own idol-gods. Yes; after the former manner of Israel who built those same high places -- the groves, temples and altars -- and in them worshipped the works of their own hands. Yes; after the former manner of Israel, who rejected the priests of the LORD, and made priests of the lowest of the people.
The charge against the people of Israel was,
"Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, says the LORD." (Jeremiah 3:20)
And the LORD cried out,
"O Ephraim, you have committed whoredom. Israel is defiled." (Hosea 5:3)
Hosea is also used of the LORD to declare "Ephraim is smitten . . . . My God shall cast them away, because they did not listen to Him." (Hosea 9:16-17) Thus the LORD declares, "I will love them no more" (v. 15), but in the bitterness of His disappointment, for this is the same LORD who wept over Jerusalem, and cried out, "O Ephraim, how shall I give you up?" (Hosea 11:18)
No! No! That loving One did not want to cast them off; but they forsook Him; they would not have Him to reign over them; they would no longer ask counsel of Him after the judgment of Urim and Thummim, for the faithful but rejected One declares,
"My people ask counsel at their stock [cattle, calves], and their staff declares unto them: for the spirit of whoredom has caused them to err, and they have gone awhoring from under their God." (Hosea 4:12)
Still He cries after them,
"Return, O backsliding Israel, return! Return to Me and I will return to you, for I am married to you. I will heal your backslidings and love you freely." (Jeremiah 3:14, 22)
But they would not. Previous to this the LORD had said that He was a husband to Israel; but now, disappointed, He turns his heart more to the other kingdom – to that of Judah -- and says:
"Though you, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend." (Hosea 4:15)
But as the story unfolds we find that Judah offended worse than Israel, and that 130 years after the driving out of Israel, they of Judah too were carried into captivity -- the captivity in Babylon.
Since "the head of Ephraim is Samaria," (Isaiah 7:9), there need be no difficulty in understanding why the LORD should declare that "the inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-aven," (Hosea 10:5). Beth-aven is defined as "House of Vanities"; "vain emptiness." When Jeroboam set up the two calves for Israel to worship, he set one in Bethel, which means "God's house"; and by worshipping those idols they turned the house of God into a house of vanity, or of vain, hollow, unsatisfactory emptiness. "Thus provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger by their vanities." (1 Kings 16:13) Hence the wail of the prophet, "They trust in vanity and speak lies." (Isaiah 15:4)
Let us note carefully, and we will get still clearer light concerning the calf question.
"Israel has cast off the thing that is good [God and His care]: the enemy shall pursue him [because they have cast off the protection of God]. They have set up kings, but not by Me [of their own choice, not the LORD's choice]: they have made princes [feudal princes, not of the royal line which was in Judah], and I knew [Hebrew, yada, appointed, recognized] it not: of their silver and their gold have they made themselves idols [calves] that they may be cut off."
"Your calf [the cause], O Samaria, has cast you off [the result]: My anger is kindled against them: how long will it before they [Israel] attain to innocency?"
"For from Israel was it [the calves]. The workmen made it, therefore it is not God. But the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces."
"For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it has left no standing corn, the bud shall yield no meal: if so be that it yield, the strangers [post-Samarians] shall swallow it up."
"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 *** alone [without God] by himself: Ephraim has hired lovers. Yes, though they have hired [lovers] among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall begin to sorrow in a little while for the burden of the king of princes."
"Because Ephraim has made many altars to sin, altars shall be to him a sin. I have written to him the great things of My laws, but they were counted as a strange thing. They sacrifice [other] flesh for the sacrifices of My offerings, and eat it; but the LORD does not accept them: now will He remember their iniquity, and visit their sins; they shall return to Egypt. [Figurative of captivity and bondage]. For Israel has forgotten his maker." (Hosea 8:3-13)
Isaiah fully explains the expression, "They shall begin to sorrow in a little while, for the burden of the King of Princes" (Hosea 8:10) in the following:
"O Assyrian, the rod of My anger, and the staff in their hand is My indignation. I will send him against a 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. Howbeit he means not so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. For he says, Are not my princes altogether kings?" (Isaiah 10:5-8)
This last expression was an Assyrian boast. The Assyrian king really expected to destroy Israel and cut them off, but the Word of God had gone forth that they shall never be destroyed. In order to punish them He allowed the Assyrian to "tread them down like mire of the streets." And further on He refers to the Egyptian bondage, and says that the Assyrian shall smite them with a rod and lift up his staff against them, "after the manner of Egypt."
It is high time for us, who live in the realm of faith, to throw off our lethargy, arouse ourselves from our God-dishonoring stupidity and ignorance and understand that the name Samaria has a prophetic significance, as well as a historic one.
Yes, and that not only Samaria, but that the names of Ephraim, Joseph, Rachel, Judah, Jacob, Israel designate the ten-tribed Egypto-Israelite Birthright kingdom; and when those names are used prophetically, the prophecy involved must refer to the same people.
This is also true of the terms Judah and the Jews. True, the name Israel at times includes the Jews, for, racially speaking, it is their national name; but it is used again and again and again when it has no reference whatsoever to the people of Judah or the Jews.
In the 31st chapter of Jeremiah the LORD has made an unconditional promise to the Birthright nation. This promise is given in clear, definite and unmistakable language, which He declares they shall consider in the last days; and in which He uses the names of Jacob, Ephraim, Israel, and Samaria, together with the name of Rachel, the mother of the birthright family.
It is in this prophecy that the LORD makes use of the expression, "I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn" (Jeremiah 31:9) in connection with which He says, "He who scattered Israel will gather him" (v.10) and commands that this be told in the land where Ephraim is living in the last days. He also says to them, in this same promise, "You shall yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria" (v. 5) and to this He further adds: "A great company shall return there." (v. 8)
"Return there?" "Where?" To the place from which they came – to SAMARIA!
"Who?" Jacob-Rachel-Joseph-Ephraim-Samaria-Israel!
It is a well-known fact that Judah or the Jews went into the Babylonian captivity; but further, that they returned from that captivity and dwelt, for a short season, in Judah, or Jewry.
But, aside from that one priest who was brought back from among the captives of Israel, and who dwelt in Bethel that he might teach those mongrel post-Samaritans the manner of the God of the land, there is not one word of history, sacred or profane, to show that any tribe, tribes, or remnants of tribes, of those pre-Samaritans, the children of Israel, who composed the northern kingdom, have ever returned to and dwelt in their former home.
That is, that portion of the land which the LORD God of heaven and earth promised to their fathers, and which is known in Biblical history as “Samaria" and "All Israel," and “Ephraim” in contradistinction from what is known as "All Judah" and "Jewry," which was the home of Judah-Benjamin-Levi designated the Jews.
In another chapter we have given the details of the Babylonian captivity of Judah, but just at present we desire to call your attention to the fact that their captivity occurred in 588 B.C. (Usher's chronology, which is not correct by more than 8 years, but is sufficiently correct for our present purpose), and the first prophecy uttered concerning that captivity was 623 B.C. and the last one 23 years later, i.e., in 600 B.C.
But the prophet Amos had prophesied concerning the captivity and return from captivity of the ten-tribed kingdom of Israel 164 years prior to the first intimation that Judah or the Jews would ever go into captivity, and 199 years before Judah or the Jews were carried into captivity.
In writing concerning the captivity of the ten tribes, the names which Amos used to designate them are, "Samaria," used 4 times; "Joseph," used 3 times; "Isaac," used twice; "Bethel," used 5 times, and "Israel," used 17 times.
Amos is the only prophet who applied the name of “Isaac” to either one of the two kingdoms. But there can be no possible doubt that Amos gives the name “Isaac” to the ten-tribed kingdom. The first verse in the book of Amos reads:
"The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel, in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam [Jeroboam II] son of Joash, king of Israel. " (Amos 1:1)
He uses the title “Isaac” as follows:
"And the high places [groves of worship] of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries [of Bethel and Dan] of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam [king of ten-tribed Israel] with the sword. Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel [the place where they worshipped the calf], sent to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus said Amos, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.”
Also Amaziah said to Amos, O you seer, go flee away into the land of Judah [Jewry] and eat bread there and prophesy there; but prophesy not again anymore at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel." (Amos 7:9-15)
In the days of Joshua when the land of Canaan was divided by lot, Bethel fell to the house of Joseph. Thus we find it in possession of the Birthright kingdom and used as the chapel of this idolatrous king, for Jeroboam I had polluted it with one of the calves.
While it is true that this people were taken to Assyria and were given a promise that they shall eventually return, there is something else which must first occur; for the LORD has said of them that after they were cast out He would:
"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)
Then, after giving this prophecy concerning the sifting of the house of Israel among all nations, Amos prophesies concerning their return, as follows:
"And I will bring again the captivity of My people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, says the LORD your God." (Amos 9:14, 15)
But, in spite of the fact that this prophecy was written two centuries before Judah was sent into captivity, while Judah was yet counted among the faithful saints, it having no application to Judah whatsoever, and that, when fulfilled, the people to whom it refers SHALL NO MORE BE PULLED UP out of their land -- there are still theory-bound men who are so determined that everything Israelite shall be Jewish that they have the audacity to tell us that this prophecy was fulfilled when the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity.
END of Chapter 8 of Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright.
God bless, BORN AGAIN
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BA this post is so long and it's hard for me to sit that long but I have been slowly trying to read it. I got half way through the first post and so far it's the same taught in Pinecrest. I wish my printer worked so I could read it later.
Sorry
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(Adapted from Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright, by J.H. Allen, written in 1902)
CHAPTER 7 EPHRAIM-SAMARIA-ISRAEL'S IDOLATRY
"When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria, for they commit falsehood." (Hosea 7:1)
Here the names of Israel, Ephraim, and Samaria, are used interchangeably for the one kingdom. It bears the name Ephraim, because it is possesses the remaining Birthright promises; that of Samaria, because that was the name of their capital city; and the name of Israel, for the reason that when dying Jacob, whose name had been changed to Israel, in bestowing the Birthright upon Joseph's two sons, said: "Let my name be named on them."
When the blessing of Him who dwelt in the bush came upon Joseph who was separated from his brethren, it is declared that his glory was the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh.
Thus Joseph received, in so far as tribal honor or glory is concerned, a double portion. So, at the time of the division of the land of Canaan by lot, under the leadership of Joshua, we find the declaration that "there was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph"; but that, "they gave no part to the Levites in the land, save cities to dwell in," and the reason given for that is, "For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim." (Josh. 14:4).
When Jacob adopted the two sons of Joseph, Jacob gave them tribal headship and thus made 13 tribes in Jacob. And since Judah, Benjamin, and Levi were the tribal heads of the kingdom of Judah, there were still 10 tribes for the Birthright kingdom, and the LORD's promise to the king of Israel stood fast.
The history of the kingdom of Israel, as opposed to that of Judah or the Jews, is full of the sin of Jeroboam and of her kings who walked in that sin. That sin was, in a special sense, the sin of that nation. It pertained exclusively to them because it was born, bred, lived, and died among them; for no other nation took up with it, not even their brethren of the kingdom of Judah.
It was the standing sin of the nation; to them it ever stood as an open door through which other forms of idolatry might enter, and through which they did enter. For, although it is said of Omri, the sixth king of Israel, that he wrought evil in the sight of the LORD in following the sin of Jeroboam, and also that he did worse than all that were before him, the LORD is compelled to say of Ahab, the son of Omri, that he did worse than his father; for it was he who introduced the worship of Baal among the Israelites.
Following the introduction of Baalism, other idolatries were quickly introduced among them, and soon the cup of the 10-tribed kingdom Israel's iniquity was full to the brim; the result of which was that she was cast out of the land.
Israel was not only cast out of that land, their God-given heritage and which -- if God be true -- must yet become their everlasting home; but she was cast off by the LORD and divorced from Him, because of her harlotry in forsaking Him, her lawful husband, for the worship of idols.
Before giving the details of the casting out and the casting off, we deem it advisable to give a complete list of the 10-tribed kingdom of Israel's dynasties, together with a list of all the kings who reigned over 10-tribed Israel from the time when the kingdom was taken from Solomon and given to Jeroboam, his servant, until they were finally driven out of the land, and also to give what the Scripture says concerning the idolatry of each of those kings.
So we place below the name and number of the king, the number of the dynasty, and the length of time which each of the kings reigned, and what is said concerning his idolatry.
I. DYNASTY.
1st King, Jeroboam. Reigned 22 years.
"And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even to Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam, king of Judah. Thereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” And he set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship." (I Kings 12:26-30)
2nd King, Nadab. Reigned 2 years.
"And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin." (I Kings 15:26)
II. DYNASTY.
3rd King, Baasha. Reigned 24 years.
"And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin." (I Kings 15:34)
4th King, Elah. Reigned 2 years.
"For all the sins of Baasha (Jeroboamism), and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned, and by which they made Israel to sin, etc." (I Kings 16:13)
III. DYNASTY.
5th King, Zimri. Reigned 1 week.
"And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the palace of the king's house, and burnt the king's house over him with fire, and died, for his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did to make Israel to sin." (I Kings 16:18, 19)
IV. DYNASTY.
6th King, Omri. Reigned 12 years.
"But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all that were before him. For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities." (I Kings 16:25-26)
7th King, Ahab. Reigned 22 years.
"And Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel than all the kings of Israel that were before him." (I Kings 11:30-33)
8th King, Ahaziah Reigned 2 years.
"And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin: for he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the LORD God of Israel, according to all that his father had done." (I Kings 22:52, 53)
9th King, Jehoram. Reigned 12 years.
"And he wrought evil in the sight of the LORD; but not like his father, and like his mother; for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom." (2 Kings 3:2, 3)
V. DYNASTY.
10th King, Jehu, Reigned 23 years.
"Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan." (2 Kings 10:29)
11th King, Jehoahaz, reigned 17 years.
"And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom." (2 Kings 13:2)
12th King, Joash. Reigned 10 years.
"And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; he departed not from all the sins of Jerohoam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin; but he walked therein." (2 Kings 13:11)
13th King, Jeroboam, the 2d. (son of Joash). Reigned 41 years.
"And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jerohoam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." (2 King 14:24)
14th King, Zachariah. Reigned 6 months.
"And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." (2 Kings 15:9)
VI. DYNASTY.
15th King, Shallum. Reigned 1 month. (Sins of
Shallum not recorded.)
VII. DYNASTY.
16th King Menahem. Reigned 10 years.
"And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not all of his days from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." (2 Kings 15:18)
17th King Pekahiah. Reigned 2 years.
"And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: and he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." (2 Kings 15:24)
VII. DYNASTY.
18th King, Pekah. Reigned 20 years.
"And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.” (2 Kings 15:28)
19th King, Hoshea, Reigned 22 years.
"And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him." (2 Kings 17:2)
After the introduction of Baalism and other idolatries, there were a few feeble attempts at reformation: but they were only a partial, as we may readily see. Take, for instance, the case of Jehoram to which we referred in the last chapter; how it is written that:
"He wrought evil in the sight of the LORD, but not like his father and mother, for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made, nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin." (2 Kings 3:2-3)
It was this slight and hypocritical attempt to purify the worship of the people which so displeased the LORD, and which made Elisha the prophet give that scathing rebuke to Jehoram in the presence of his kinsman kings. For if he knew enough concerning the LORD God of his race to have his conscience troubled over Baal, he had sufficient light to have made a clean sweep of the whole thing, but he did not do it.
And the sequel proves that he did not succeed in destroying Baalism from among his people, for they were soon back to it, and even went so far as to offer their own sons and daughters in living sacrifice to the idol of Baal.
It was to this kingdom, the people of which are Israelites and not Jews, that the LORD sent Elijah the prophet to make the fire test as to whether He or Baal be God. And when the LORD answered by fire, which not only consumed the sacrifice but the stones of the altar, the water in the ditch, and the very dust under the altar, it was these people who shouted loud and long: "The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!" But they never forsook Jeroboam-ism, and soon relapsed into the worship of Baal worse than ever.
Finally the LORD raised up Jehu, who destroyed all the house of Ahab, and became the king of Israel. He, upon his ascension, "gathered the people together and said to them, Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu shall serve him much. Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his priests; let none be wanting; for I have a great sacrifice to do for Baal; whosoever shall be wanting [lacking] he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtlety, to the intent that he might destroy the worshipers of Baal." (2 Kings 10:19)
His ruse worked like a charm; they all came, prophets, priests and all the worshipers, "so that there was not a man left that came not," and the house of Baal was full from one end to the other. Then he commanded his guards to destroy them, saying that the man who let one escape should pay the penalty with his own life. They did their work and did it well. So the record reads, "Thus Jehu did destroy Baal out of Israel." But, oh, note the very next words:
"Howbeit, from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan." (2 Kings 10:29)
It was in regard to Israel, this ten-tribed kingdom, that the LORD, through the prophet Hosea, said, "Israel slides back as a backsliding heifer," (Hosea 4:16) and of whom he said, "I will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely" (Hosea 14:4); and whom he exhorted, saying: "O Israel, return to the LORD your God!" (Hosea 14:1). But they would not.
And yet at that same time the LORD declared that Judah or the Jews still had power with Him, and that they were still among the faithful saints.
In the face of all these facts, can there be any further question as to the real meaning of the expression, "Ephraim is joined to his idols" – to wit, Jeroboam's calves? Or need we be surprised, in the fact of these cold hard facts, that the LORD should say, "Leave him alone?"
No, surely not. The only surprise is that we should have been so stupid as to have tried to spiritualize Ephraim and his idols.
Since it is a well-known fact that Judah or the Jews also went into the worship of Baal, and that for this they were eventually carried away to Babylon, we deem it advisable that all may the more readily grasp other facts which we shall yet deal with, to give at this juncture a tabulated list of Judah's kings from the time God broke up the united kingdom -- for you will remember that he said, "This thing is of Me" -- until the people of Judah or the Jews went into the Babylonish captivity.
KINGDOM OF JUDAH
(Dynasty a continuation of David's house.)
Number King Years Reigned
1 Rehoboam 17
2 Abijah 3
3 Asa 41
4 Jehosaphat 25
5 Jehoram 8
6 Ahaziah 1
7 (Queen) Athaliah 6
8 Jehoash 40
9 Amaziah 29
10 Azariah (Uzziah) 52
11 Jotham 16
12 Ahaz 16
13 Hezekiah 29
14 Manassah 55
15 Amon 2
16 Josiah 31
17 Jehoahaz 3 mos.
18 Jehoiakim 11
19 Jehoiachin 3 mos.
20 Zedekiah 11
In this list we see that the same dynasty, which started when David was made king over the united tribes, continues throughout this entire list down to and including Zedekiah; while, in the given list of Israel's kings, you notice there are no less than eight dynasties. The reason is obvious. Judah's kings are the God-given royal line, along which the sceptre passing from father to son.
For the LORD had promised this family that neither the sceptre nor a law-giver should depart from them until Shiloh should come. But such was not the case in the 10-tribed kingdom of Israel which possessed the remaining Birthright promises, hence feudalism prevailed among them.
END of Chapter 7 of Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright.
God bless, BORN AGAIN
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(Adapted from Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright, written by J.H. Allen in 1902). Available online for $29.
CHAPTER 6 THE BROKEN BROTHERHOOD
In chapter 5 we gave much testimony from the Scripture showing that the ten-tribed kingdom is dealt with, both in history and in prophecy -- much of which is yet unfulfilled -- as the house of Israel, and other titles, some of which you will find quite prominent in this chapter; while the three-tribed kingdom, which is composed of the Jewish people, is dealt with as the house of Judah and the Jews.
If any of our readers are not yet satisfied on this point we promise that they shall still have abundant opportunity to become thoroughly convinced. Prof. C.A.L. Totten, of Yale University, says:
"I can never be too thankful to the Almighty that in my youth he used the late Professor Wilson to show me the difference between the two houses. The very understanding of this difference is the KEY by which almost the entire Bible becomes intelligible, and I cannot state too strongly that the man who has not yet seen that Israel of Scripture is totally distinct from the Judah or the Jewish people, is yet in the very infancy, the mere alphabet, of Biblical study, and that to this day the meaning of seven-eighths of the Bible is shut to his understanding."
This will become more and more apparent as we proceed with a few brief outlines of the histories of these two kingdoms.
Israel displeased the LORD by her idolatry, but it is quite evident that, for some time after the division, Judah pleased Him still by her faithfulness; and it is also evident that, for a short period, fraternal relations existed between the two kingdoms. These evidences are found in the history of a war which occurred between Israel and Moab in the days of King Jehoram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, and of King Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.
During the reign of Ahab of Israel, Ahab had conquered Moab, and the king of Moab paid him a revenue of 100,000 lambs and 100,000 rams, with the wool. But upon the ascension of Ahab's son Jehoram to the throne of Israel, the king of Moab rebelled against him; and so it is recorded that:
"King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that same time, and numbered all Israel." (2 Kings 3:6)
Here the expression all Israel has reference only to the ten tribes of which the kingdom of Israel was composed. Samaria was their capital and the dwelling place of the king; but when the king of Moab rebelled against him it was but natural, and also good generalship, that he should want to know the fighting strength of the kingdom.
So he made a tour throughout the realm that he might know just how many fighting men he had. But it seems that he returned fully satisfied that he did not have an army of sufficient strength to insure victory, for he sent a message to the king of Judah, saying:
"The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me against Moab to battle?" (2 Kings 3:7a)
To this the king of Judah replied in the affirmative, saying:
"I will go up: I am as you are, and my people as your people." (2 Kings 3:7b)
As a matter of course he could say, "My people are as your people," for the people the two nations were brethren, all being the seed of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, the Children of the Promise.
These two kings further decided, while holding a council of war, to go up by the way of the wilderness of Edom, and to ask the king of Edom to join with them against the Moabites. For the Edomites were also kinfolk of these two nations, they being the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob, whose name was changed to Edom after he sold his birthright.
The king of Edom consented to go with them, and thus the Children of the Flesh (Edom) and the Children of the Promise (Israel and Judah) made common cause, and went up together against the king of Moab.
But when they had made a seven-day journey they got into trouble, for there was no water for that great army of men and the beasts of burden which they were compelled to have with them.
At the beginning of the chapter which contains the history of this war concerning the king of Israel, we have the following:
"Now Jehoram, the son of Ahab, began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and he reigned 12 years. And {Jehoram} wrought evil in the sight of the LORD, but not like his father and his mother; for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom." (2 Kings 3:1-3)
But as soon as they were in trouble and the idolatrous king of Israel found there was no water, then in startled fear he cried out, saying: "The LORD has brought us three kings out here to destroy us." (2 Kings 3:10)
Now quickly, when tortured with guilty fear, the idolater knew there was a LORD who had power to destroy them, or at least to destroy him, for he knew that he deserved it, and he only said "us three" because of a spirit of guilty cowardice which hoped to shift the responsibility onto all of them, or, if failing that, to insist that others were fully as much to blame as he was -- which is so often seen in frightened but impenitent men. But it was not so with Jehoshaphat, the God-fearing king of Judah, who at once asked:
"Is there not here a prophet of the LORD that we may inquire of the LORD by him?" (2 Kings 3:11)
No doubt, the thought of Jehoshaphat in asking that question was that by making inquiry of the LORD they would receive Divine instruction which would enable them to escape the threatened danger. For when one of the servants of the king of Israel, upon hearing this inquiry, stepped forward and informed them that Elisha the prophet was with the company, the king of Judah rejoiced and said: "The word of the LORD is with him."
When Elisha was found and these three kings were ushered into his presence, he addressed himself first to the king of Israel, saying:
"What have I to do with you? Get yourself to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother." (2 Kings 3:13)
But to this the king, still fearful, vouchsafed only the reply,
"No, for the LORD has called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab." (2 Kings 3:13)
Then Elisha said:
"As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not look toward you, nor see you." (2 Kings 3:14)
There are reasons given, and they are weighty ones, why the prophet of God should regard the king of Judah and emphasize the fact of his presence, in contrast to the king of Israel; for, through the prophet Hosea the LORD declared:
"Ephraim compasses Me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet rules with God, and is faithful with the saints." (Hosea 11:12)
Ah, yes; Judah is not only faithful among the saints, but she yet has power and ruling influence with God. There are reasons, abundant, for that honorable distinction which was conferred upon Judah and her God-honoring king.
It was because of Judah that the LORD sent water to that thirsty army and gave them victory over the Moabites.
But Israel and her king, although serving Jeroboam's calves, yet, in a time of trouble, when moved by guilty fear, admitted the power of the God of their fathers. Hence "lies and deceit" were in Ephraim-Israel, but faithfulness -- as yet -- among the Judah-Jewish people.
But there came a time when Judah was not among the faithful, and when she lost her power with God; and there also came a time when the fraternal relations were broken between these brother nations.
There are many instances of the severance of brotherly harmony between these nations, but the following instance, which occurred in the days of King Amaziah of Judah, and King Joash of Israel, not only reveals the broken ties but justifies the term Ephraim-Israel.
"Moreover, Amaziah gathered Judah together and made them captains over thousands and over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers through all Judah and Benjamin [the Levites were priests, not warriors], and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield.
“He also hired 100,000 mighty men of valor out of Israel, for 100 talents of silver. But there came a man of God to him, saying, 'O king, let not the army of Israel go with you, for the LORD is not with Israel, to wit, all the children of Ephraim. But if you insist on going, to be strong for the battle, God shall make you fall before the enemy; for God has power to help and to cast down.'"
"Then Amaziah {of Judah} said to the man of God, But what shall we do with the 100 talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give you much more than this.
“Then Amaziah {of Judah} separated them, to wit, the army that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again. Therefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger. And . . . the soldiers of the army {of Israel} which Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even to Beth-boron, and smote 3,000, and took much spoil." (2 Chronicles 25:5-13)
Here we see that the terms Israel and Ephraim are interchangeable, for at one time we read the army out of Israel and at another time, we read, the army that is come out of Ephraim.
Also the man of God told the king of Judah or of the Jews that, if he went into battle with the 100,000 men that he had hired out of Israel, the LORD would defeat him, for God was not with Israel, to wit, Ephraim. And further, when the king of Judah sent the soldiers back home he sent them from the nation which the sacred history calls "the Jews" to that which is called "Israel."
There is one other point which must not be overlooked at this juncture; that is, that Ephraim is the representative of the house of Joseph which was over the 10-tribed kingdom, and that Joseph-Ephraim possessed the Birthright promises of a “multitude of people,” of “many nations,” of “possessing the gates of their enemies,” and “possessing their share of the land of Canaan” which were originally given to Abraham, then to Isaac and then to Jacob, who gave the above Birthright promises to Joseph-Ephraim, so that "Joseph" is also used when recording facts of history or prophecy concerning the ten-tribed kingdom.
This use of "Joseph" does not often occur, but the following is an instance:
"And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them. And Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine." (Zechariah 10:6, 8)
This text clearly shows that the names of Ephraim and Joseph are titles of the ten-tribed kingdom, in contradistinction from Judah and the Jews being titles of the three-tribed kingdom.
And, since it is true that Judah and Joseph-Ephraim are the inheritors of the Birthright promises which pertain to the two covenants, we need not be surprised and indeed would rather expect that these two names would stand thus contrasted.
But all the more should we expect this, when we see the fact so clearly revealed in the history of the posterity of these two men, Ephraim, is over one of the Birthright nations and is representative of that nation, while Judah's “sceptre or royal line” and “Messianic one seed” and a “share of the land of Canaan” are swaying over the other.
But these facts are still more clearly brought out in one of Ezekiel's prophecies, as follows:
"Moreover, you son of man, take one stick and write upon it, for Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions {i.e., Benjamin and Levi}: then take another stick, and write upon it for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions {i.e., the 9 tribes that are with Ephraim}.
“And join them one to another into one stick, and they shall become one in your hand. And when the children of your people shall speak to you, saying, Won’t you show us what you mean by these?, say to them, Thus says 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 in my hand. "
"And the sticks wherein you write shall be in your hand before their eyes. And say to them, Thus says the LORD God: Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, where 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 anymore. Neither shall they defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be My people, and I will be their God." (Ezekiel 37:15-23)
Many things will need to be explained before we can show the relative place in the history of these people of all the facts herein mentioned. But this much is clear:
1. That there are two sticks, two nations, or two kingdoms.
2. That Judah who inherited the sceptre and Messianic one seed, has one of those sticks, one kingdom, or one nation; while Joseph-Ephraim who inherited the multitude of seed and many nations and possession of the gates of their enemies has the other stick.
3. That Judah has with him as companions “some of the children of Israel" and that Ephraim has some of "the tribes of Israel," who are his fellows; and his companions.
4. That when this prophecy was written they were divided; and that all the people belonging to the race had gathered either to Judah or to Joseph-Ephraim, or in other words, either to the Sceptre promises or to the remaining Birthright promises.
5. That at some future time they are again to be united, become one kingdom, and then remain so forever.
6. That when they are thus united, one king shall be king over them all, and when this takes place the people will have been so lifted up by Divine power and so enriched by grace that they will no more defile themselves, commit no transgressions, or in any way displease the Lord, but shall be his accepted people, and he shall be their God.
Evidently one of these sticks is the Sceptre nation Judah-Jews and the other the remaining Birthright nation Ephraim-Israel. These promises are of general interest to all the children of promise, but they are the exclusive property of two men, of Judah and Ephraim, who are the special subjects of the prophecy, while the entire posterity of Jacob is the general subject.
This figure of the two sticks, or staffs, is used in another prophecy, which pertains to the two houses and which should be of profound interest to all.
Beginning in the middle of the Zechariah 11:7-14, we have the following:
"I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty {i.e., Ephraim-Israel}, and the other I called Bands {i.e., Judah-Jews}. . . And I took my staff, even Beauty {i.e., Ephraim-Israel}, and cut it asunder, that I might break My covenant which I had made with all the people. And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon Me knew that it was the Word of the LORD.
“And I said to them, If you think good, give Me My price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for My price 30 pieces of silver. "
"And the LORD said to me, Cast it to the potter: a goodly price that I was priced at of them. And I took 30 pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD. Then I cut asunder My other staff, even Bands {i.e., Judah-Jews}, that I might break the brotherhood between Israel and Judah." (Zechariah 11:7-14)
So Ephraim-Israel and Judah-Jews are the two staves which the LORD took unto Himself. He first cut asunder the staff Beauty, i.e., the ten-tribed Israel.
Then, after a certain transaction in which their Lord was sold for 30 pieces of silver, He cut asunder His other staff Bands {i.e., Judah-the Jews}, so that He might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel!
Just what great and marvelously fulfilled truth is herein declared we are not yet prepared to explain. At this juncture we can only call your attention to the fact that Ezekiel's prophecy concerning the putting together of the two sticks could not have been fulfilled until after the transaction which concerns the 30 pieces of silver; and that when it does take place it must be in harmony not only with those blessed results, which we have already mentioned, but also with that which is contained in the rest of that prophecy, a part of which is as follows:
"And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelled; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children forever: and my servant David shall be their prince forever."
"Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore." (Ezekiel 37:25-26)
The brotherhood is still broken, but it shall be mended.
END of Chapter 6 of Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright.
God bless, BORN AGAIN
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(Adapted from Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright, written by J.H. Allen, in 1902) Available online for $29.
CHAPTER 5 NOT ALL ISRAELITES ARE JEWS, BUT ALL JEWS ARE ISRAELITES
After the division which occurred among the seed of Abraham in the days of Jeroboam and Rehoboam, but before the two kingdoms had settled down to steady going, there arose several contingencies which we must understand before we can intelligently follow their history any farther.
By consulting the 11th chapter of 2 Chronicles we find a brief recapitulation of the history of the revolt of the Ten Tribes, to which are added further details, among which is a list of the cities which were built by Rehoboam for the defense of the kingdom of Judah, and it says the following:
"And he fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and stores of victuals and oil and wine. And in every several city he put shields and spears, and made them exceedingly strong, having Judah and Benjamin on his {Rehoboam’s} side. And the priests {of Aaron} and the rest of the Levites that were in all Israel [i.e., in the country occupied by the ten-tribed kingdom] resorted to him {to Rehoboam} out of all their coasts. "
" For the Levites left their suburbs and their possessions, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest's office unto the Lord: And {Jeroboam} ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which lie had made.
“And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the LORD God of their fathers. So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, strong." (2 Chronicles 11:11-17)
These statements make it clear that, after King Jeroboam of Israel had set up those golden calves in Bethel and in Dan, and Jeroboam made priests of the lowest of the people, he would not allow the Levites, whom the Lord had made the priestly tribe of the race, execute any priestly offices, or to conduct any services unto the Lord God of their fathers; and for this reason they returned to Rehoboam, who already, as is affirmed, had the tribes of Judah and Benjamin on his side.
Thus the kingdom of Judah, the possessor of the covenant promises of the Sceptre or royal line and of the Messianic one seed , was composed of three tribes, in addition to those scattered families which came out of the rest of the tribes of Israel who wanted to worship the God of Israel, and who could not worship the calves which Jeroboam had set up in Bethel and Dan.
But those few evidently lost their tribal identity and were assimilated into Judah, Benjamin and Levi.
But the ten-tribed kingdom of Israel was still there, mostly intact and full of Israelites of the remaining 10 tribes of Israel.
(If you would point out that 10 tribes and 3 tribes makes 13 tribes, it is because Jacob gave to Joseph a double portion, for Ephraim and for Manasseh whom Jacob adopted, and now there were 13 tribes, but Levi was not given a plot of land in Israel because Levi dwelled in cities of each of the 12 tribes.
So the southern kingdom of Judah consisted of 3 tribes, of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi and of those who came out of Israel to the southern kingdom of Judah and strengthened them.
And the northern kingdom of Israel had 10 tribes remaining, because of Ephraim and Manasseh being adopted, as the LORD had said to Jeroboam through the prophet, “I will give you 10 pieces; but I will not entirely rend the kingdom away from Solomon’s son, for my servant David’s sake, and he shall have one tribe.”
Before we carry the history of these two kingdoms any farther, or leave the A B Cs of this matter, we deem it important to place before our readers an array of Scripture texts, in which both houses, both kingdoms, both nations, or both families of Abraham's seed, through Isaac-Jacob, will be spoken of together in the same passage in such a way that the most simple minded reader cannot fail to see that two distinct peoples or nations are being considered.
We place these Scriptures before you, only to show at present, that ever after Israel was divided into two nations, in the days of Rehoboam and Jeroboam, they were immediately recognized in scriptural history and prophecy as two kingdoms or two nations.
For instance, take the following --
"Behold the days come, says the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel, and to the house of Judah." (Jeremiah 33:14)
Here the LORD has promised to perform a certain good thing for the house of Israel and the LORD will also perform that same certain good thing for the house of Judah, for the house of Judah does not include the house of Israel anymore, and vice versa.
Take another, as follows:
"And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them as at the first." (Jeremiah 33:7)
Here it is a question not only of the captivity of Judah, but also of the captivity of Israel. Neither is it a question only of the return of the captivity of Judah, for there is promised also in the same sentence the return of the captivity of Israel, i.e., a people who are not included with "Judah."
Again,
"For look! the days come, says the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and of Judah, says the LORD; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. And these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah." (Jeremiah 30:3, 4)
Here is something that concerns Judah that also concerns Israel; and the people whom it concerns are my people Israel and Judah. So the whom He calls Israel, are not counted among Judah and the Jews and Jewry.
Still another:
"For the children of Israel, and the children of Judah have only done evil before Me from their youth." (Jeremiah 32:30)
It was not sufficient for the LORD to speak of the children of Israel only, but the children of Judah {Judah, Benjamin and Levi} must also be included, in order to embrace all who have done evil.
In Jeremiah 13:11, we have indisputable proofs of the two houses or nations, since the broadest generic terms possible are used here. Here it is:
"For as a girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says the LORD; that they might be unto Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory; but they would not hear."
This statement gives us to understand that there is a whole house of Judah and that there is a whole house of Israel who together make all of God’s chosen people or children.
It also proves that the whole house of Israel was no longer considered part of the whole house of Judah True, they are brethren, the seed of Abraham, holding different parts of the covenant promises, but they all are the seed of Jacob-Israel. As such, they are still all Jacobite-Israelites – even those in the southern kingdom.
But it is a fact that the seed of Jacob had been divided, by the will and decree and direct intervention of the God of Israel, into two kingdoms, or two nations, one of which, politically and covenant promise considered, was the whole house of Israel, the children of Israel, the house of Israel, all Israel, and Israel. Those phrases all referred to the northern ten-tribed kingdom of Israel only.
And the other nation was called the whole house of Judah, the house of Judah, the children of Judah, all Judah, and Judah or the Jews or Jewry.
The name Jew is derived from the name Judah (singular Ju-dah, or pronounced Jew-dah or Jehu-dah; possessive it was Ju-dah's, or Jew-dah's or Jehudah’s; which eventually was contracted to Jew, Jews and Jewry.
Those names Jew and Jews only applied to the people who belonged to the kingdom of Judah, which was Judah, Benjamin and Levi and those out of Israel who strengthened Judah. Only their land was ever designated as Judah and all Judah, and which later also became known as Judea and Jewry all Judea and all Jewry.
Indeed, long before the division into two nations took place, Moses, while prophesying about the seed of Jacob, cried out, "Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him {Judah} to his people. This can only mean that Judah was to be separated from his people Israel, but that finally, if that prayer is ever answered, has to be brought back to them of Israel again.
But let us continue our array of texts in which both houses are mentioned, almost in the same breath.
"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," (Jeremiah 3:8)
("Here Israel and Judah are not the same;
They are only sisters, both in shame.")
"And the LORD said to me, That backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah (Jeremiah 3:11)
("Here Israel, in idolatry the adulterous,
is justified more than Judah, the more treacherous")
Although the God of Israel had said, "Though you, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend" (Hosea 4:15)
And He also said,
"I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel [that I should altogether pardon them – margin]. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God." (Hosea 1:6, 7)
Also, the name Jerusalem is often used to designate the Jewish people because it was their chief city. When Jesus wept over the city, He cried out, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how oftem would I have gathered you as a hen gathers her brood under her wing, but you would not!" (Matt. 23:37, Luke 13:34)
When saying “Jerusalem, Jerusalem”, the LORD did not mean the streets and buildings of the city, but the people; and not only the people dwelling within the walls, but in the nation as well.
This was the Jewish capital of Judah -- its metropolis and commercial center, its citadel, its royal city, where their sanctuary was and in every way Jerusalem was a representative name for the city and for the nation.
That being true, we may expect that the name of the capital city of the ten-tribed kingdom of Israel would also be representative of that nation. Jeroboam reigned over 10-tribed Israel in Shechem 22 years, and he was succeeded by his son Nadab, who reigned 2 years.
After that, Baasha conspired against Nadab and killed him, and reigned over the ten-tribed northern kingdom of Israel stead; but he moved his capital from Shechem to Tirzah, where he reigned for 24 years, and Baasha was followed by his son Elah, who reigned Tirzah for 2 years.
Then Elah was conspired against by Zimri, who reigned only seven days, before Omri conspired against Zimri who burned the king's house down over his head in Tirzah.
Then Omri who had conspired against Zimri, bought a hill from Shemar, on which Omri built the city of Samaria, which became the permanent capital of the 10-tribed northern kingdom of Israel. Hence the name of the chief city of Israel, Samaria, is often used as a representative name referring only to Israel, in the same representative Jerusalem was representative Judah and the Jews.
For an example, take the following:
"Your calf, O Samaria, has cast you off; My anger is kindled against them: how long will it before they attain to innocency? For from Israel was it also, the workmen made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces." (Hosea 8:5, 6)
Of course, the calf herein referred to is the calf worship instituted by Jeroboam who caused Israel to sin, and since the calves were made by the workmen of Israel, they were not God. So we see that the capital of Samaria stands for Israel, whose workmen made the calves which they worshipped .
But this nation has still another name which stands for the whole, as well as the names Israel and Samaria. Look!
"When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood." (Hosea 7:1)
Here we see all three names together in one verse and we see that the name Ephraim is also used as representative of Israel and of Samaria of the northern ten-tribed kingdom, just as the name Judah and Jerusalem were used for the southern kingdom, and so the names Israel, Ephraim and Samaria were used for the ten-tribed kingdom, in contradistinction to that three-tribed kingdom which are Judah, Jerusalem, and the Jews.
On the very day on which Moses died, while he was reiterating and enlarging upon the prophecies which Jacob had given at the time of his death to his children, Moses made a prophecy concerning the preeminence of Ephraim in Joseph-Israel, as follows:
"Let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him who was separated from his brethren. 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 33:16-17)
Ephraim inherited the Birthright promises of a multitude of people , of many nations, of possessing the gate of their enemies, and of possessing a share of the land of Canaan, and to Ephraim was given these Birthright promises and to Judah were given the Birthright promises of the Sceptre or royal line and the Messianic one seed and establishing the church, and a share in the land of Canaan.
Ephraim was the head of Israel, one of the two nations of Jacob-Israel, and Judah the Sceptre holder was at the head of the other nation, and so we can easily understand expressions as the following:
"O Ephraim, what shall I do to you?Judah, what shall I do to you? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goe away." (Hosea 6:4)
By the time Hosea prophesied the above, both Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, and Ephraim, the second son of Joseph, had been dead for hundreds of years, so we must see that these, Ephraim and Judah, are now their national names, used to represent the conditions of the two nations which are being addressed..
So, also, is the following:
"Therefore will I be to Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness. When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to King Jared; yet he could not heal you of your wound.
"For I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away, and none shall rescue them. I will go and return to My place, until they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early." (Hosea 5:12-15)
Before proceeding further with the history of these two kingdoms, there is one more point which must be settled once and for all. This is that the people of God whom He distinctively calls Israel, the head of whom is the birthright holder, to whom was given that national name Israel when dying Jacob said, “Let my name {Israel} be named upon them {upon Ephraim and Manasseh}.
Neither the Holy Spirit nor the God of Israel ever called them Jews, and they have never been called Jews except by uninformed historians and by unscriptural teachers of the Word of God.
Understand us: we do not say that the Jews are not Israelites; for they also belong to the posterity of Jacob-Israel; hence the Jews are also Israelites. But the great bulk of Israelites were not Jews, but were Israelites of the 10-tribes of northern Israel.
Nationally speaking, they are Israelite brother nations, but they are not always very brotherly anymore after the Birthright promises were separated, with part going to each family.
It is well-known what happened in history to the Judah kingdom, but if we can keep track of the birthright nation of Israel, and if they have that birthright promise to fulfill in them, then, and only then, can we write the history of the many nations which the LORD God of Israel had promised to their fathers Abraham, Isaac, Jacob-Israel, Joseph, and lastly to Ephraim and Manasseh, while Judah got the Sceptre promises and the Messianic one seed promise and the right to build the church.
It will help us in our study of this question, to know just when and under what circumstances the word Jew was first used in the Scriptures.
It was more than 200 years after the revolt of the ten tribes from the house of David.
It was at a time when King Pekah was king of Israel, and he formed a federation with King Rezin of Syria, and together they came up against King Ahaz of Judah, to war for acquisition of territory. Notice how the prophet of God speaks about these three nations Israel, Syria and Judah. He declares:
"And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uziah, King of Judah, that King Rezin of Syria, and King Pekah … of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it [Jerusalem was the throne seat of Judah] but could not prevail against it. And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim." (Isaiah 7:1, 2)
The prophet further explains that,
"The head of Syria is Damascus, [Damascus was the royal capital of Syria] and the head of Damascus is King Rezin [of Syria]; and within 65 years shall Ephraim be broken that it be not a people. (Margin: from being a people). And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son." (Isaiah 7:8, 9)
What Isaiah had to say concerne the outcome of this war. We must pass over the prophecies for the present, as our object now is to show the difference between the Jew and Israel and we have simply quoted sufficient for our purpose.
We now turn to the historic record of that war, and read:
"In the 17th year of Pekah {king of Israel}, the son of Remaliah, King Ahaz of Judah, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, began to reign, and Ahaz reigned 16 years in Jerusalem . . . Then King Rezin of Syria, and King Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war; and they besieged Ahaz (king of Judah), but could not overcome him.
“But at that time King Rezin of Syria recovered {the seaport} Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath; and the Syrians dwelled there unto this day.
“So King Ahaz {of Judah} sent messengers to Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your 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, who rise up against me." (2 Kings 16: 1, 2, 5-7)
Here it is clearly stated that in this war the besieging party is, "King Pekah of Israel," who is also the "head of Samaria," who is also called the head of "Ephraim," who are confederate with King Rezin of Syria. And the besieged party was King Ahaz of Judah,head of the Jews who were until then in possession of the seaport Elath, whose head is Jerusalem, head of the house of David which only has the Scepter and the Messianic one seed promise and its share of the land of Canaan.
Do you see the point? The king of Judah, the king of the Jewsd, was besieged in his capital by the king of Israel[/b], and Judah sought an alliance with the king of Assyria to do what? To save the Jews from the hand of Israel.
Thus we see that the first time the word Jews is used in the history of the Abrahamic race when the Jews and Israel were at war with each other. Hence we ask, how can it be possible that the Jews and Israel are one and the same people? They are not, they became two nations, with two sets of Birthright promises to fulfill.
According to the conclusion of a great number of “learned men,” also some "higher critics," we must needs conclude that the Jews were fighting their own shadow, which would reduce the whole matter to an argumentation ad absurdum.
It is high time for the Christian world, yes, and for all secular historians too, "to awake out of sleep," and take the advice of the learned Apostle Paul and "cease giving heed to Jewish fables" and quit telling the people that all Israelites are Jews. It is not true, never was and never can be, for the difference between them is not only political and territorial but also semi-racial.
For, although the Judah inheritors of the Sceptre and the Messianic one seed Birthright promises were sons of the same father, they were not sons of the same mother, and thus they were only half brothers.
Add to this that Leah was described as "tender-eyed" and Rachel was said to be "beautiful," which would make for some strong facial and physical distinctions between the posterity of the two families.
And when we remember that Joseph married an Egyptian princess, thus blending Semitic blood with Hamite blood of Egypt, and making the posterity of Joseph half-blood Egyptians, then we must know that the children of Joseph were half-Israelite but still three-fourths removed from the children of Judah. This would make for considerable changes in their physique and largely eradicate many facial resemblances between the Leah families and the Rachel families and Joseph’s half-Egyptian family.
This fact that Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, were half-blood Egyptians but were also the final inheritors of the Birthright promises of a “multitude of people,” “many nations,” “possessing the gates of their enemies,” and “a share in the land of Canaan,” is what made it necessary for dying Jacob-Israel to adopt Ephraim and Manasseh and make them fully his own, as Reuben and Simeon were his own, before he could confer upon them their Birthright promises.
That is also the adoption to which the Apostle Paul refers in his argument concerning the children of the promises versus the children of the flesh, as follows:
"Israelites, to whom pertains the adoption, and the covenants, and the glory, and the giving of the law, and the service, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came." (Romans 9:4-5)
Here Israel as a whole, including both houses, are spoken of, but to Ephraim and Manasseh, the heads of the ten-tribed kingdom of Israel, belonged the adoption.
An eminent theological professor, who gives an exegesis of the Sunday-school lessons for the most prominent denominational papers in this country (in 1902 A.D.), began his exposition on "The Call of Abraham" as follows:
"We come now to the third of the great landmarks of history, the call of Abraham. From being a universal history the record becomes national. Hereafter, we have to do with one people, the Jews. In {Abraham} the founder of the Jewish nation we find not a conqueror or a lawgiver but a saint."
Yet it is fact that the term Jews is not used in the history of the Abrahamic people until about 1,200 years after the first call of Abraham.
Another theological professor, of one of our largest training schools, defines "The Jews" as "A name given to all the descendants of Abraham." Ah! We ask -- When?
Still another defines "The Jews": "A name given to the descendants of Abraham, who were divided into twelve tribes." And yet it is a fact that in the Scriptures the name Jews was given only to those who dwelt in Judah or Jewry, whose country was occupied by the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi, and did not include, and never did include Samaria, the home of the ten-tribed kingdom of Israel.
No; it is a fiction which has been foisted upon us by modern scholars, many of whom are presidents and professors of universities, colleges and theological seminaries, editors of religious and secular newspapers, doctors of divinity and church dignitaries, who maintain that the words "Jew" and "Jews" are equivalent to "Israel," "Israelites," "Israelitish," "Hebrew" and "Hebraic."
By not distinguishing between Israel and Judah we have in the Bible a historical and prophetic chain which can never be linked together, and which sets all of the writers at variance with one another; for we cause Isaiah to question statements made by Jeremiah; set Joel, Amos, and Zephaniah against Zechariah; cause Jeremiah to convict Hosea of being a false prophet; then make Ezekiel step in and contradict them both and many others in such a manner that one prophet is made to give the lie to the other.
We feel sorry for the so-called "Higher Critics," for they really do find trouble, but they cannot conceive that this trouble could, by any possible chance, arise because of their misconception of the subject matter; hence it must be in the style [stylus -- a pen] or manner of the prophet. Thus if any of the prophets chance to reveal a mannerism at one time which is not so plainly manifest at another, then the exclamations, "Ah! Eureka! We've found it! There are two of them!" are heard to vibrate and revibrate throughout the ecclesiastical world.
Is it any wonder that skepticism is rampant, both in the church and out of it, since the common error of Christendom is to regard the Jews as the whole house of Israel?
They never had the same Birthright promises, but be sure that both their respective Birthright promises must also be fulfilled. Those of Judah are largely fulfilled, but are those of Ephraim-Israel already fulfilled, or not?
Is it any wonder that Tom Paine lost his soul while following the beaten path of this fallacy? For he did give the Bible up as a myth, and boldly stated in his writings that he was led into infidelity because he saw that the Jews never did have the promises concerning a “multitude of people” and “many nations” and “possessing the gates of their enemies” for Paine did not understand that those were Israel’s Birthright promises..
For it is true that God had declared, through Micah, of Israel, who was divorced and cast far off, that he would (at the proper time) make her a strong nation; while Judah was to become a remnant. Isaiah, Hosea, Jeremiah and the New Testament declare Israel to be lost; while both Jeremiah and Ezekiel affirm that Judah is well known.
Hosea declares Israel to be as "the sands for multitude"; while Jeremiah insists that Judah is "few in number" and a remnant. Isaiah, David, Micah, Jeremiah and others declare that Israel is the strongest war power on earth, never to be conquered by a Gentile power; and yet Jeremiah declares that Judah is "without might;" while Daniel bemoans and records the fact that the Jews will be conquered by a Gentile power.
The entire line of prophets from Moses down declare Israel to be a continuous monarchy, whose Sceptre is held by the seed of David; while Judah is to be "without government" of their own, but are to be ruled over. Hosea declares that "Israel shall ride" but "Judah shall plow."
Moses also declares that there shall come a time in the history of Israel (the ten tribes) when they also shall "be few in number," and yet it is prophesied concerning them that they shall obtain possession of "great possessions," inheriting and establishing (peopling) the desolate places of the earth, rule many heathen nations, have a great revenue, become the "mart of nations," hold the keys of commerce, be "exalted above their neighbors," and become "the chief of nations."
But, on the other hand, Judah is to be "without geographical inheritance," "strangers in all countries," "howl for vexation of spirit," "leave their name for a curse," "be ashamed," and "cry for sorrow of heart" until the great day of Jezreel.
END of Chapter 5 of Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright.
God bless, BORN AGAIN
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yahsway
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Thanks BA ![[wave3]](graemlins/18.gif)
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yahsway writes quote:
Hmm BA. So this says to me that ALL JEWS are Israelites but not all Israelites are Jews. Would you say this is a fair assumption? Shalom
The Jews of course are Jacob-Israelites because they are of the tribe of Judah, which is one of Jacob-Israel's 12 sons. But the descendants from the tribe of Issachar or Asher, for example, are not Jews because only those from the tribe of Judah are called Jews.
But those from the tribe of Issachar and the tribe of Asher, for example, are of course Jacob-Israelites because they were sons of Jacob-Israel.
But Issachar and Asher were part of the ten-tribed kingdom of Israel, which retained the name "Israel" for their kingdom, while the southern kingdom was called Judah or the Jews or Jewry in the Bible.
Hence the statement that all Jews are Israelites (Judah being descended from Jacob-Israel) but the rest of the Israelites of the ten-tribed kingdom are never called Jews in the Bible because they are not part of the kingdom of Judah, so that it can be said that "not all Israelites are Jews."
God bless, BORN AGAIN
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yahsway
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Hmm BA. So this says to me that ALL JEWS are Israelites but not all Israelites are Jews. Would you say this is a fair assumption? Shalom
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(Adapted from Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright, written by J.H. Allen, in 1902. Available online for about $29)
CHAPTER 4 JACOB'S SEED DIVIDED INTO TWO KINGDOMS
When Boaz took Ruth the Moabitess for a wife, the people who were assembled prayed for her, saying:
"The Lord make you like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel." (Ruth 4:11)
The fact that these two women, as the wives of Jacob, were the builders of the house of Israel, would of necessity divide the household of Jacob into two families. Hence the pertinency of the question:
"Consider you not the two families which the LORD has chosen?" (Jeremiah 33:24)
Since the remaining covenant promises of the Birthright were given to the Rachel-Joseph-Ephraim family, and the Sceptre and Messianic one seed promises to the Leah-Judah family, it would be only natural for these families to keep somewhat apart, so as to keep their family distinctions intact. This they did, and yet they dwelled together for a number of centuries, apparently without any factions whatever.
After Jacob-Israel had been in the land of Goshen for only 17 years, the covenant promises were separated, after which they lived together, as one nation, in Goshen.
Together the Sceptre and the Birthright families were pressed into bondage. Together the children of Rachel-Joseph-Ephraim, of whom it was prophesied that there would be thousands of millions, and the children of Leah-Judah, the mother of coming royalty, bent their necks to the yoke, and their backs to the burdens. Together they served those unjust taskmasters.
Together the two families were brought out of that galling Egyptian servitude, through the Red Sea, and into the wilderness. There still together, they refreshed their spirits by drinking from that spiritual Rock which followed them; and there they refreshed their bodies with drink from that literal rock which, as we shall prove, they carried with them. Together they ate the same spiritual and temporal meat, albeit, at times, that temporal meat was angels' food which God sent down from one of their habitations.
Together they crossed the Jordan, marched around Jericho, drove out the Canaanites, and -- for a season only – together they inhabited that promised land in which they enjoyed the blessings and privileges of a theocratic government.
But it is recorded that they lightly esteemed the Rock of their salvation, cried down the theocracy, and shouted for a man-archy. Refusing Him who had honored, protected and cherished them as a husband does a wife, despising that Divine One who had followed them and led them and nourished them and fought for them, they demanded that like the nations around them, a man should be their king.
It was then that trouble arose, trouble which resulted in strife and factions galore; for after the establishment of the monarchy, only three kings -- Saul, David and Solomon -- reigned over all Israel as one united kingdom.
After the death of Solomon, contingencies arose in Israel which brought the two families that held the covenant blessings face to face with issues that resulted in a division of the nation, which placed both the families of the promise-holders of Rachel and Leah, or more properly, of Judah and Joseph-Ephraim, into the positions to fulfill their God-appointed destinies.
The 11th and 12th chapters of 1 Kings record the division of the tribes of Israel into two kingdoms, with a son of the royal family of Judah as king over one kingdom, and a son of the house of Joseph as king over the other and larger kingdom.
King Solomon had married strange wives, and because of them he had burned incense and sacrificed to Moloch and other idols; and because of this,
"The LORD said to Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of you, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely rend the kingdom from you, and give it to your servant. Notwithstanding, in your days I will not do it, for David your father's sake; but I will rend it out of the hand of your son. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to your son for David My servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen." (1 Kings 11:11-13)
The 26th verse of 1 Kings 11 speaks of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite, Solomon's servant. It is known that the word Ephrathite means Ephraimite. The record further states,
"And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor: and Solomon, seeing the young man that he was industrious, made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph." (1 Kings 11:28)
When the remaining Birthright promises were transferred to Joseph, Ephraim the younger was set before Manasseh the elder, and aside from the fact of joint inheritance in the multitude of posterity in the midst of the earth, to Ephraim were given the main promises of the Birthright, or firstborn distinctions. This is shown in several ways; but at present we will only call your attention to the fact that God says:
"I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn." (Jeremiah 31:9)
We have in this man Jeroboam, a servant of Solomon, an Ephraimite, who was ruler over the Birthright family. God had told Solomon that after his death He would give the kingdom to his servant, but, "not all." In harmony with these things we read:
"And it came to pass that at the 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 the 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 you ten pieces: for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to you . . . . "
"Howbeit, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: . . . for David My servant's sake, whom I chose -- because he kept My commandments and My statutes. But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it to you, even ten tribes. And to his son will I give one tribe, that David My servant may have a light always before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen to put My name there. And I will take you, and you shall reign according to all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel." (1 Kings 11:29-31, 34-37)
In this prophecy, there is made a promise to a son of the house of Joseph, that he shall reign over ten tribes, and be king over Israel. Hence if Jeroboam ever received his promised kingdom, it must have been formed by a confederacy of ten of the tribes of Israel, and that ten-tribed kingdom had to be called "ISRAEL," or the prophecy fails.
After this prophecy which God gave to Ahijah to deliver to Jeroboam was made public, Solomon became jealous and undertook to kill Jeroboam, causing Jeroboam to escape the wrath of Solomon by fleeing into Egypt and he remained there until after the death of Solomon.
At the death of Solomon, the royal succession fell to his son Rehoboam, who at the time of his accession had gathered with all Israel at Shechem, the place where, for reasons which will be given later, Israel crowned her sovereigns.
But difficulties arose. The people had grievances which they wanted adjusted, before they were willing to submit to the rule of this young sovereign. Solomon had laid an enormous tax on them for the building and furnishing of the temple and royal palaces. These were now finished and furnished, but the taxes had not abated.
Also there was this taxation without representation by any in Israel, except by the royal tribe of Judah. Still, in spite of the fact that a spirit of rebellion had possession of them because of these facts, they were willing to hold a consultation with Rehoboam, in hope that their condition might be bettered and amity might still prevail. So they made Jeroboam their spokesman, and directed him to say to the young king:
" Your father made our yoke grievous; now, therefore, make you the grievous service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve you." (1 Kings 12:4; 2 Chron. 10:4)
His reply to this request was, "Depart yet for three days, then come again to me." (1 Kings 12:5; 2 Chron. 10:5) During these three days of grace, Rehoboam first consulted with the old men, asking them how they would advise him to answer the people. They gave him wholesome counsel, saying to him that if he should "Speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever." (v. 7 in both books)
But he also consulted with the young men with whom he had grown up, asking them how they would advise him. But their advice was hasty and hot-headed, and they said,
"Thus shall you say to them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins. And now, whereas my father did load you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." (v. 10-11 in both books)
When the three days had expired, Jeroboam and the people came again to King Rehoboam, as he had appointed, to receive the answer to their request. Then Rehoboam answered them roughly, forsaking the counsel of the old men, and adhering to the counsel which the young men in their pride and egotism had given, using their very words.
"Whips" and "scorpions!?” How insulting! Surely in all the figures of speech there could not have been chosen any so hard for that "elect" people to swallow. But they did not swallow them; they rebelled. The command to the people was, "To your tents, O Israel!" (v. 16 in both books) And the challenge to the royal house of Judah was, "Now, see to your own house!"
Rehoboam's next move was to send Adoram who had charge of the tribute, to collect the taxes then due. But instead of paying their taxes, the people stoned the man to death; and as soon as Rehoboam heard this, he fled in his chariot with all speed to Jerusalem.
Then comes the following:
"So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day. 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 . . . And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 men who 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 to Shemaniah the man of God, saying, Speak to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying, Thus says the LORD, You 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." i.e., the division. (1 Kings 12:19-24)
Well may the LORD say, "This thing is from me." In the division of that race into two kingdoms, he has fulfilled his word to Solomon concerning the rending of the kingdom out of the hand of his son, and giving it to his servant. Yet, in doing so, he remembered not only His oath to David, but also His word to Solomon, in that He did not rend away all the kingdom; for there was one tribe, that of Benjamin, left with the royal tribe of Judah.
Also the prophecy of Ahijah to Jeroboam was fulfilled, for he became king of the ten-tribed kingdom, which, by Divine appointment, retained the national name of Israel, while that of the name of Judah was given to the other kingdom. Thus the titles "house of Israel" and "house of Judah" are used to designate the two kingdoms, as they stood separated and in opposition to each other.
Moreover, since the Birthright tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, went with the ten-tribed kingdom, and a scion of the house of Joseph was king over that kingdom, and a son of the royal house of Judah, to whom pertained the Sceptre, was king over the other kingdom, then surely the Sceptre and the Birthright were separated then and there.
They were not only separated, but each became a nucleus around which either the one or the other, of all the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, did gather.
Thus the SCEPTRE and the BIRTHRIGHT families each became the head and representative of a distinct nation. Each was now free to go forward, independent of the other, to fulfill God’s appointed destiny; one to fulfill the Birthright covenant promises which the LORD made with their father Abraham of becoming a multitude of people, of many nations, of possessing the gates of their enemies and of possession of the land, and the other to fulfill the covenant promises of a royal line from which would come the Messiah.
The first thing recorded of Jeroboam, king of Israel, is that he built the city of Shechem, in Mount Ephraim, and dwelled there. This city was the first capital of that kingdom. But Jeroboam fell to thinking that, if his subjects were allowed to continue to go to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, their hearts would turn again to Rehoboam, whose capital city it was, and they would kill him, and return again to the kingdom of Judah.
Therefore Jeroboam made two calves of gold, and said to the people,
"It is too much [trouble] for you to go to Jerusalem: behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And he set one in Bethel, and one in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one [in Bethel], and even to Dan. And he made a house of high places and made priests of the lowest of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi."
"And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the 8th month, on the 15th day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. So he offered on the altar which he had made in Bethel, on the 15th day of the 8th month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart; and he ordained a feast unto the children of Israel, and he offered upon the altar and burnt incense." (1 Kings 12:28-33)
This was the great sin which was such a curse to the people. But we want you to note just how the LORD speaks of it. After the prophet whom he had sent out of Judah had proclaimed the doom of Jeroboam, he further adds:
"The LORD shall smite Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and He shall root up Israel out of his good land, which He gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the LORD to anger. And He shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin." (1 Kings 14:15, 16)
Dear reader, please note that it was Israel, and not Judah, over which Jeroboam reigned; that it was Israel, and not Judah, whom he caused to sin; that it was Israel the ten-tribed kingdom, and not Judah, the royal kingdom, that worshiped those two golden calves which Jeroboam the king of Israel had set up in his own territory, and not in the land of Judah.
That it was Israel whom the LORD declared He would give up, root out of that land, and scatter beyond the river, because of this thing. For the people of the kingdom of Judah never did worship those golden calves; neither did they worship at Bethel, nor in Dan: they worshiped in Jerusalem.
Later, the royal kingdom did go into idolatry; but it was Baalism, and not this special form of idolatry which had its origin in Jeroboam, for this was confined alone to Israel.
The history of these two kingdoms is intermingled throughout the books of First and Second Kings, but never confounded. So that, with a little care and thoughtfulness on our part, there needs to be no confusion. For instance, it is recorded that,
"The days which Jeroboam reigned were 22 years, and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab, his son, reigned in his stead." (1 Kings 14:20)
But the next verse tells us that,
"Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, reigned in Judah. Reboboam was 40 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem."
The two reigns began simultaneously. If Jeroboam's reign lasted for 22 years, and Rehoboam's only for 17 years, then it must be that some other king or kings reigned for 5 years contemporaneously with Jeroboam, unless the kingdom of Judah had collapsed; but it had not. So the record declares,
"Now, in the 18th year of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, reigned Abijah over Judah. Three years reigned he in Jerusalem." (1 Kings 15:1)
Seventeen years for Rehoboam and 3 years for Abijah, are only 20 years of Jeroboam's 22 years. So if the record is correct, we shall expect it to tell who ascended the throne of Judah in the 20th year of Jeroboam's reign. This it does, as follows:
"And in the 20th year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, reigned Asa over Judah." (1 Kings 15:9)
Now, if Asa lived and reigned more than 2 years, he lived to see the death of Jeroboam and the elevation of his successor. Hence, the record continues:
"And Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned over Israel 2 years. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of his father, and in the sin wherewith he made Israel to sin." (vv. 25-26)
Then follows a record of the fulfillment of the prophecy concerning the doom of Jeroboam, namely the entire destruction of his family, at the hand of Baasha, of the house of Issachar, who reigned instead of Nadab son of Jeroboam. Hence it is recorded that:
"In the third year of Asa, king of Judah, began Baasha, the son of Ahijah, to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, 24 years. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin." (1 Kings 15:33, 34)
We have brought you down to the contemporaneous reigns of Asa the third king in Judah, and Baasha the third king in Israel, not only to show that there need be no confusion in the intermingled history, but also for another purpose, which follows.
You will notice that in the last quotation, the expression "all Israel" occurs, while in the 22nd verse is the corresponding expression “all Judah, saying, "Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah."
These expressions, all Israel and all Judah, are undoubtedly used as contradistinctive titles of the two kingdoms into which the people were divided.
The expression "all Israel" as used in the above quotation, and with the same meaning in many other places in the Scriptures, has confused many students. They seem to think it means, or ought to mean, all the people who are the descendants of Israel, i.e., all Israelites.
But here in this instance and in many others, it simply means all the country occupied by the ten tribes which formed the kingdom of Israel, just as the expression "all Judah," or "all Judea" -- the Greek form of the term -- is used to designate all of the country which was given to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, they being the tribes which composed the kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem, the capital of the kingdom, was located in that portion allotted to Benjamin, and Judah's portion was the hill country south of Jerusalem.
END of Chapter 4 of Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright.
God bless, BORN AGAIN
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(Adapted from Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright, bu J.H. Allen, written in 1902. Available online for about $29)
CHAPTER 3 THE SCEPTRE AND THE BIRTHRIGHT
Simply to show the fact that there is in Biblical history that which is styled the Sceptre, and also that there is a something which is designated as the Birthright, we quote the following:
"The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah, etc." (Genesis 49:10)
"For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him comes the chief ruler [prince]; but the Birthright is Joseph's." (1 Chronicles 5:2)
That the Sceptre blessings, privileges, and promises belong to Judah, from whom comes the royal family of Israel's race, is well known, and its import somewhat fully comprehended in the realm of light and knowledge as disseminated through Christendom.
But that which is called the Birthright has not, in the past, been understood at all, and as yet is understood but by the few. And the very few who have written on themes which involved the Birthright have assumed that their readers were as wise as they, and have written concerning the Birthright without explaining what it was; hence, the reader is compelled to receive their use and application of the word without knowing it to be correct.
When we say that the word Birthright implies that which comes by right of birth, or as an inheritance, all will agree with us; but just what special inheritance is referred to as that which is declared, in the above text, to be the right of Joseph, few will understand until the matter is explained. Hence we give the following:
In the first covenant which the LORD made with Abraham, there are two distinct features, in so far as concerns his children; first, a multiplicity of seed and many nations, as involved in the following:
"I will make you exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of you." (Genesis 17:6a)
Second, a royal line, the promise of which is given as follows:
"Kings shall come out of you." (Genesis 17:6b)
Hence these covenant promises and blessings, which had been given him direct from the LORD, became the lawful heritage of Abraham.
This heritage which was given from God to a human being seems to have in it both a human right and a divine right; the human right being that a son of the heritage-holder may succeed the father and become the lawful possessor of the inheritance; the divine right being that of choice among the legal posterity of the heritage-holder.
After this heritage was given, Isaac was the first heir in the line of succession, and he was also the one whom the LORD had chosen as the inheritor of that which had been given to his father.
At the time of Abraham's death, Abraham was the father, not only of Isaac, but of six other lawful sons who were the children of Keturah, his second wife. Notwithstanding this fact, the divine record declares that Abraham gave all his possessions to Isaac, the son of Sarah: "Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac." (Genesis 25:5)
Isaac became the heir because he was the firstborn among the lawful sons of Abraham; hence those possessions came to him as the right of the firstborn, or by right of birth, i.e., as a Birthright.
And, if Isaac was heir to all that Abraham had, then, aside from all else which may have come into his possession, he was most certainly heir of that God-given heritage, the covenant promises which contained these distinct features -- a multitude of people and many nations and a royal line and a seed of Messianic covenant.
Esau, the son of Isaac and brother of Jacob, having been born first, for he was the elder of twins, was next in line of succession, and being the elder or firstborn, came in to possession of the Birthright promises.
Thus he had a birthright at his disposal, but instead of keeping it, and allowing it, in turn, to become the property of his firstborn son, he undervalued it, and sold it to his brother Jacob, who, being the younger, could not have acquired it by right of birth.
Jacob had bought it from the firstborn himself, and he secured the blessing from Isaac for it:
"I have blessed him [Jacob] and he shall be blessed." (Genesis 27:33)
That word "blessing" seems to be the word which attaches itself to the receiver and inheritor of even these covenant promises which pertain wholly to earthly things. For God had said to Abraham:
"In blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply you." (Genesis 22:17)
It is also recorded that:
"God blessed Isaac . . . saying I will bless you . . . and I will make your seed to multiply as the stars." (Genesis 26:3-4)
So it is recorded:
"And Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and said to him, You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father; and take you a wife from there of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. And God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a multitude of people; and I will give the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed with you." (Genesis 28:1-4)
Thus we see that this blessing, as given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, carries with it the promise of a numerous posterity; also, that the "blessing of Abraham" was given to Jacob by his father Isaac, who was the direct inheritor of the Abrahamic heritage.
And since Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, who thus became its possessor, Jacob and not Esau must become the father of that promised multitude of people and many nations and royal line and a Messianic seed which are contained in the Birthright; i.e., the covenant promise to Abraham.
The next legal inheritor of the Birthright was Reuben, the first-born son of Jacob and Leah, his first wife; but he, like Esau, lost it; and Joseph, the firstborn son of Rachel, the second and best loved wife of Jacob, succeeded his father in the possession of the birthright.
But that we are right in saying that the firstborn is the legal inheritor, is evident from the fact that Reuben, the first born son of Jacob, is declared to have been heir to the birthright.
This is made clear in the Biblical account of the feast which was given by Joseph to his brethren when they came into Egypt the second time to buy food and brought Benjamin with them. For when the feast was ready, and Joseph -- who had not yet revealed to them that he was their brother -- gave the word, "Set on bread," it is said of the servants, who, it seems, had previously been instructed, that, "They sat before him the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marveled one at another." (Genesis 43:33)
The fact that Reuben was the firstborn and possessor of the birthright promises, and the cause of his losing it, are set forth in connection with the declaration that the birthright had now been given to Joseph, as follows:
"Now the sons of Reuben, (for he was the firstborn; but forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy [of Reuben's sons] is not to be reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him {Judah} is the chief ruler {prince}; but the birthright is Joseph's.)" (1 Chronicles 5:1-3)
If our readers would know why this act would have caused Reuben to forfeit his birthright, they must read between the lines. We are only at liberty to say that, after that act, if either Reuben or his probable firstborn had come into possession of the Israelitish birthright, the Lord could not have declared, as he did concerning Israel, "I planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed." (Jeriamiah 2:21)
But you will note from the Scripture just quoted that the promise of a royal line and the Messianic seed had been separated from the birthright for the first time, and given to Judah, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, while the remaining birthright promises were given to Joseph.
This separation of the Sceptre and Messianic seed from the birthright promises took place just previous to the death of Jacob, who had these blessings at his disposal. Not, however, as his own selfwill or human judgment might suggest, but only as God directed; for the history of the people involved is a divine work from start to finish, and its ultimate object is the glory of God in the vindication of his word.
The call of Abraham and the giving of the promises to him were supernatural; for God had appeared unto and talked with him. The production of Isaac was also supernatural. No human possibility was there. But the possibility of faith was there, and it prevailed.
The conception, and the birth of Jacob and Esau were also supernatural, for there were "two nations," two distinct races -- a white child and a red one -- Caucasian and Arabic, in one womb.
And the manner of their birth was supernaturally manipulated, so that, as they struggled in the womb, Jacob held Esau's heel, and thus they were born: the very manner of which, as we hope to show, is one of the most striking types in all the Word of God.
And yet, none of these events are any more supernatural, nor attended with any greater manifest power of God, nor is his will any more clearly manifest in them, than is the transfer to Judah of the Sceptre and Messianic seed promises, with the remaining birthright promises of multipliple seed and many nations and possessing the gates of their enemies and the land possession of Canaan fell to Joseph.
At the time of Jacob's death, all Israel was in Egypt living in the land of Goshen. When it was reported to Joseph that his father was dying, Joseph took his two sons and hurried to the bedside of the dying patriarch.
But when Joseph and his sons were ushered into the presence of the dying man, it appears that supernatural strength, from the one who had given him the name of Israel, was given him, for, although dying, it is recorded that, "He strengthened himself and sat up in the bed." (Genesis 48:2) Then, discovering that Joseph was not alone, he asked, "Who are these?" (v. 8), to which Joseph replied, "They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place." (v. 9), i.e., in Egypt.
After Joseph had explained to Jacob, concerning his half-blood Egyptian boys -- Joseph had married an Egyptian woman -- then Jacob proceeded to adopt them as his own legal sons, as he said:
"And now your two sons Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine." (Genesis 48:5)
But after the adoption was completed he said to Joseph, concerning the issue which should be begotten of him after them, "They shall be yours," (v. 5) but they "shall be called after their brethren in their inheritance." (v. 6)
So it is that the tribal names of all the posterity of Joseph are dealt with, both from a historic and a prophetic standpoint, as Ephraim and Manasseh. Do not forget that, for upon it depends much of interest in that which is to follow.
It would appear that, at the time of the adoption or prior to it, the Holy Spirit had told Jacob that Ephraim was the one which had been chosen by the LORD as the inheritor of the remaining birthright promises, or the blessing of the firstborn.
For at that time, the name of Ephraim the younger, was mentioned before Manasseh the older; as also the name of Reuben, who was the real firstborn, is mentioned first when his name is coupled with Simeon. But the transfer of the remaining birthright promises from his eldest to his younger son was not made known to Joseph until he presented his sons before Israel for the promised blessing.
Jacob had said, "I will bless them." So when Joseph brought them to him, and bowed himself with his face to the earth, he held Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand to the right hand of Jacob.
Joseph in his human calculation, was managing so as to have Manasseh his firstborn get that promised "blessing" which was in Jacob's right hand. His thought was, "If I take Manasseh in my left hand, that will bring him to the right of my father, so that, even if he is blind, when he stretches forth his hands to give the blessing, his right hand will rest on the head of my firstborn son."
But no! Look! As Jacob reaches out his hands to lay them in blessing upon those two heads, he being under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is "guiding his hands wittingly," i.e., knowingly, crosses them and lets his right hand rest upon the head of Ephraim, the younger brother.
They were in this position when "he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel who redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name [Israel] be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth." (Genesis 48:15-16)
These were the collective blessings which those two received; together they inherited the names of the racial fathers; together they are to grow into a multitude of people in the midst of the earth.
At this juncture Joseph noticed that Jacob's right hand was not resting on Manasseh's head, and wanted to remove it, but Jacob refused, saying "Not so." "But," says the anxious Joseph, "You have your right hand on my younger son's head."
To this, Jacob replied, "I know it, my son, I know it."
How does Jacob know it? He is in a dying condition and blind. Ah, the Spirit -- the Spirit of Prophecy -- is upon him!
See what follows. Jacob does not remove his hands, nor change their position; but with his left hand still on Manasseh's head, and his right hand on Ephraim's head, he continues to prophesy; still the prophecies are no longer collective, but special and individual.
Of Manasseh he declares, "He shall also become a people [nation] and he shall also be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations."
And he blessed them that day, saying, In you shall Israel bless, saying: God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh; and he set Ephraim before Manasseh." (Genesis 48:19-20)
So Ephraim was set before Manasseh, both nationally and tribally; but they were to first grow together until they became a multitude of people in the midst of the earth.
Eventually Manasseh was to become a separate nation, even a great nation. But Ephraim was to become a multitude of nations, or as some translate it, "a company of nations"; in either case this is a reiteration and confirmation of the promise made to Abraham.
In his tribal relations, also, Ephraim was placed before his elder brother, because he was elevated to the inheritance which was forfeited by Reuben, the first-born of Israel. This is why God declares:
"I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn." (Jeremiah 31:9)
While the spirit of prophecy was still upon Jacob, he called all his sons together to tell them what their posterity should become "in the last days." (Genesis 49:1) Among other prophetic utterances, of which we shall speak later, was the following concerning Judah and the Sceptre:
"The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." (Genesis 49:10)
Whatever else the birthright contained, or if God ever did count those other blessings and promises as belonging to the birthright, one thing is certain. That when the birthright passed into the possession of Joseph and his sons, it was stripped of the Sceptre and the Messianic seed.
Hence, when it was recorded in the Chronicles that the birthright was now Joseph's, it was understood that from the loins of Joseph's sons must become multiple seed and many nations and possess the gates of their enemies and possess the land of Canaan.
This is the crucial test. Since the promise of the fatherhood of many nations, which was given successively to Abraham and Jacob was inherited and sold by Esau, then inherited and forfeited by Reuben, but finally given to Joseph and his two sons, and never revoked -- then, we say, that the crucial test, not only for the faithfulness of God, but also for the integrity of his Word, is that Joseph, through Ephraim and Manasseh, must become the father of many nations which were promised to the fathers of Israel.
But the fact that Joseph must become the father of those promised nations is not only the crucial test of God and his Word, but it is also a test of the power and worth of FAITH;
"By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph." (Hebrews 11:21)
What was that for which Jacob put forth faith when he blessed the sons of Joseph? It was that they should grow to be a multitude in the midst of the earth and eventually become that which the Birthright demanded: that is, a multitude of nations. It was this birthright, the multiplicity of seed and fatherhood of many nations and possesson of the gates of their enemies, that Esau sold.
END of Chapter 3 of Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright.
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CHAPTER 2 RACE VERSUS GRACE
Since we are compelled to begin our search for light, concerning every phase of these themes, along the lines of Biblical history and prophecy, it will be well for us first to gather from those sources a few of the greater and more general facts.
By doing so, we will find it to be a great help in our study of the more special features of the subjects, as it will enable us to place, with unerring certainty, each detail where it belongs.
It being true that the LORD included in the Abrahamic covenants a promise that the forthcoming children of promise should eventually develop into many nations, there are many other things that must follow as a consequence; one of which is, that for the accomplishment of this purpose, God must provide sufficient territory or scope of country, which shall become the home of each nation, for it is absolutely impossible that flourishing nations shall exist without national homes.
Pursuant to this thought, we know of no utterance in all the Word of God which furnishes a more general or comprehensive outlook than the following:
"When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the LORD's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot [the cord, or line] of His inheritance." (Deuteronomy 32:8, 9)
When Moses was commanded to write the above concerning the division of the earth's surface to the sons of Adam, only a very small portion of it was inhabited; nevertheless, in the mind of God every Island was already set apart, and every continent divided.
For the scope of the facts herein stated are worldwide, and embrace within their sweep the entire inhabited and inhabitable portion of the earth's surface. Also, those divisions were so arranged and subdivided, and the boundaries so set, that every nation, tongue, and people among the sons of Adam –- be they already in existence, or be they among the still forthcoming nations -- had their national home allotted to them.
Moreover, God always not only kept in mind that special country which He had promised should become the everlasting inheritance of the chosen race, but He also, when setting the territorial bounds for other nations, remembered that Israel should become many nations, and either restricted the boundaries of other nations, or enlarged those divisions of country intended for Israel, which will be needed by that immense multitude of people when they shall have fulfilled their appointed destiny of developing into many nations. For we must bear in mind that the posterity of Abraham are a natural seed, according to the flesh, and that each special nation of the many must have a place in which to dwell.
In addition to the fact that these Abrahamic nations are a fleshly seed, we must remember also that they are not necessarily a race of saints; for it is a notorious fact that some of that race have been, and others are now, just as wicked as that fallen son of the heavens would have them; but, on the other hand, that same race has furnished, and still is furnishing, men who are the grandest and best of earth.
When the time came for God to produce from the covenant man Abraham a son who should be the further progenitor of the covenant race, Abraham was anxious that Ishmael, his son by Hagar the handmaid of Sarah, be used for this purpose, and he exclaimed, "O that Ishmael might live before You!" To this earnest appeal the Lord was not indifferent, and promised that He would bless Ishmael.
But on the subject of rejecting Ishmael as the covenant inheritor, and making His covenant with a son who should be a child of Sarah, as well as of Abraham, the LORD was inflexible. His word of promise was the insurmountable barrier, and so He also said to Abraham:
"Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed, and you shall call his name Isaac . . . and as for Ishmael, I have heard you . . . 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 to you at this set time in the next year." (Genesis 17:19-21)
So Ishmael's posterity became alien before the legal line had any existence, except that, on the authority and responsibility of creative faith, the LORD counts things that are not as if they were -- for God had yet to create Isaac and bring forth life out of that which was as good as dead.
We have the record of another racial choice and rejection which was made before birth, that of Jacob and Esau, but before we discuss the question of race versus grace -- as involved in the caption of this chapter -- relative to them, for it is over their case that the subject is argued in the New Testament.
We wish to call your attention to the fact that after the death of Sarah, Abraham married a second wife whose name was Keturah, by whom he had a number of sons.
These sons in time became the fathers of the Medes, Midianites, and other nations; but we cannot reckon these nations as a part of the promised many, anymore than we can those which were formed by the posterity of Ishmael and Esau. Could we do so, our task would be an easy one and our story would soon be told.
But we cannot do this, for the covenant nations must come only from Abraham and Sarah through their only son Isaac, whose posterity alone can be called, as they are called, the Children of the Promise, in contradistinction to those who belong to the other families, and who are called the Children of the Flesh.
This brings us to the question of race versus grace as understood by the New Testament Church, and explained by the Apostle Paul, who in his Epistle to the Romans says:
"Neither, because they are the children of Abraham, are they all [racial] children . . . but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." (Romans 9:7-8)
As he carries the argument still further, he makes this truth all the more apparent by declaring:
"In Isaac shall your seed be called."
and then explains, as follows:
"That is, they who are the children of the flesh, these are not the [national] children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, at this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even our father Isaac (for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls): it was said to her, ‘the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.’ What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid!" (Romans 9:7-14)
With this argument before us, it is clear that it is only the children of Isaac who are counted for the national seed of the covenant concerning the promised multitude, and that this question of election as regards Jacob and Esau is purely racial and national.
That is, one of these two nations which sprang from the same mother is the recipient of national promises, glories, honors, covenants, and service of which the other is not a partaker.
The argument is that when Rebecca, who we remember was to become the mother of thousands of millions, had conceived by Isaac, the father of the race, the result was that there were two nations, or nationalities, in the womb -- not necessarily a nation either of sinners or of saints.
To convince us that the election was purely racial, Paul throws in the parenthetical clauses explaining that Jacob had done nothing good that he should deserve these covenant blessings. But he also just as assuredly affirms that Esau had done no evil that he should not have them, for the choice was made before they had the power to do good or evil, i.e., before they were born.
(The King James version is a little unfortunate in its use of the word "hated," as herein used, for one meaning which is given to the original word is, "to love less," and when used in contrast to the word "love" as applied to Jacob, it will bear that simple meaning. The fact, which Paul states, is simply that God loved Jacob more and Esau less, or that he preferred one to the other, and that this preference for one excluded the other.)
So Paul asks the question, "Is there unrighteousness with God?" and for a reply gives only that surprised exclamation, "God forbid!" He scouts the criminating thought that it could possibly be unrighteousness with God, that God should be pleased to choose the white race with which to work out His purpose, instead of the red, or copper-colored one.
But Paul makes the implication that there would have been unrighteousness, of a very grave character, with the LORD, if this election had been of grace instead of race -- that is, grace unto salvation for Jacob and his seed, and damnation, without any possible chance of grace, for Esau and his children.
Now for the facts concerning these contradistinctive appellations, "Children of the Flesh" and "Children of the Promise," as applied to the races which have Abraham for one common father.
1. God, as we have shown, made a covenant with Abraham, in which it was promised that he should become the father of many nations, hence Abraham was the inheritor of a promise from God.
2. Isaac, who was a natural son of Abraham and Sarah, according to the flesh, was not only the child of a special promise, but he was the first child of the covenant promise.
3. After the death of Abraham, God confirmed the original covenant promise to Isaac, the child of promise, as follows:
"I will perform the oath which I swore unto Abraham your father; and I will make your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your seed all these countries; and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 26:3-4)
Hence Isaac also became the inheritor of a promise from the God of his father.
4. The immediate posterity of Isaac, the promise-holder, were Jacob and Esau, the persons whom Paul uses in making his argument concerning the LORD’s choice of race. Jacob, the younger of the two, who were twins, was chosen by the God the promise-maker, before they were born, to be the inheritor of the covenant promises. And so the Divine promiser reiterates those promises to Jacob, as follows:
"I am the LORD God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed: and your seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in you and in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 28:13-14)
Hence Jacob also received direct from the LORD the same covenant promises which had previously been given to his fathers.
5. Since there can be no mistaking the purport of these covenant promises regarding a natural and multitudinous posterity for these promise-inheritors, and inasmuch as these promises were promised and re-promised, by the Divine promise-maker to the successive promise-holders, then, when that promised multitude of people shall have materialized, it is they, and they only, who can be called "The Children of the Promise." And the only crucial test is that they be Abraham's seed who have descended from Isaac through Jacob.
Thus it is that the natural seed of Abraham, whose genealogical tree sprouts from the Jacob roots, are the children of the promise, and that others are not, although they also be the natural sons of Abraham, but, not having come through the family line of the promise-inheritors, they are "the Children of the Flesh" only.
While to the Israelites only, the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, pertain the promises, the covenants, the adoption, the glory, the special service, the giving of the divine law, and through whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came.
But no such national glory, honor, dignity, and exaltation are promised to those other nations which sprang from that same father through Ishmael, Esau, and the sons of Keturah: no, not even such glory as comes from the least of these covenants promises and blessings.
Consequently, we can see why the LORD always declares Himself to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and not the God of Abraham, Ishmael, and Esau; and why it is that Paul's kinsmen according to the flesh are exclusively the children of the promise, for they are Israelites, to whom pertain the promises, etc.
That is, they are the people who owe their existence to the fact that God was true to the promise which He made to Abraham, repeated to Isaac, and reiterated to Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, and from whom come the elect people whose general racial name is Israel. Thus each individual member of the race is an Israelite, be he a good man or a bad one, and belongs to the elect or chosen people of God.
Therefore all this question of election between Jacob and Esau, which has caused so many unjust conceptions of God and his precious saving truth, is a question of race, and not of grace.
However, there is both an election of race and an election of grace, for Paul, when speaking of the 7,000 men who had not bowed the knee to Baal, declares that even now,
" . . . at this present time, also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace." (Romans 11:5)
But when he wrote regarding the attitude of a certain part of the elect race toward the election of grace, he says:
"As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes." (Romans 11:28)
Above we find two elections, i.e., the election of race and the election of grace.
Touching the election of race, God could say, "And you, Israel, are My servant whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend."
But, when it was a question of individual service or relation to Him, even among his chosen people, He could throw the responsibility on them, and say: "Choose you this day whom you will serve."
Or when pressing the subject of eternal life to be accepted or rejected by each member of that elect race, God could say: "See, I have this day set before you life and death," and then exhort them to "Choose life!"
If it is a question of race election, and the fidelity of the Divine promise is at stake, it can be asserted that the will of God, independent of the will of others, can cause certain conditions to obtain; "that the purpose of God according to the election might stand" (Romans 9:11) -- not in the good or evil works, or unholy natures of unborn babes, "but of Him who calls."
When the call of God is of racial, or national import, God can say: "Listen to Me, O Jacob and Israel My called." But if it is a question of personal election to the grace of salvation, then faithful men of God may exhort other men, saying:
"Give diligence to make your calling and election {of grace} sure." (2 Peter 1:10)
When it is race, it is, "Whom I (God) have chosen."
When it is grace, it is, "Whosoever will, may come and take of the water of life freely." (Revelation 21:6, 22:17)
When it is race, it is, "I have called you by My name; you are Mine." But in grace it is "Whosoever believes," of whom the LORD says: "They are Mine.”
In grace it is, "Come."
In race it is fate, destiny, kismet, according as only God will do.
One is a chosen race, and the other is a chosen way. The way is by faith that it might be of grace, but the choice of race is according to the predetermined and predestined purpose of God.
In race election it is generation, or born of the flesh.
In the election of grace it is regeneration, or born of the Spirit.
In grace it is, "Whosoever offers praise glorifies Me" (Psalm 50:23), but in race, it is, "This people have I formed for Myself; they SHALL show forth My praise." (Isaiah 43:21)
This declaration brings us to the consideration of the purpose, or object, which the LORD has in choosing, and forming a special race of men who, in spite of the wickedness of the great bulk of them, He calls His own chosen people, and whose national destiny He purposes to control.
Much of the manifest purpose of God touching this people is made known in that brief epitome given by the Apostle Paul, as quoted above, respecting the national honors of his own people. Figuratively speaking, every word in that resume of Israelite history and the summing up of their honors weighs a ton.
As we proceed with the story of Israel, it is our purpose to consider these facts in detail, but at this juncture we will take time only to say that, since the creation, no such opportunity, or such fitting cause, for national honor and greatness has ever come, or ever can come, to any other nation on the earth.
It would seem that their cup of glory was full to the overflow, when through them the LORD sent His word from heaven, and spread it abroad over the face of the inhabited portions of the earth, and when God's word had been so fulfilled, and His purpose for them so fully accomplished that they could say:
"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, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)
When they could say this -- then it would seem that their cup of national greatness and glory was overflowing, and that the supreme purpose of God for them had been reached.
But it is our glad privilege to tell you that there is in God's word a declared purpose, which must yet be accomplished through that elect race, and until it shall be fulfilled, all that which is done is robbed of fully nine-tenths of its power and glory; since, outside the realm of faith, millions are today hopelessly drifting on the shoals of constantly increasing forms of unbelief, and with the great majority of men, the word of God must forever be regarded as a cunningly devised fable, unless God has some plan of vindication for it and Himself.
Furthermore, the great love of God is misunderstood and despised; the blood of the atonement is trampled upon; Christ is still considered by the many a bastard, a fraud, and a failure. He is still put to an open shame in the house of his professed friends; shipwrecks of a one-time faith and a present professed faith in him are scattered everywhere.
And so it is that God, His Word, and His Christ, must yet be fully vindicated. And they shall be, for God has promised it; and when this vindication shall have been accomplished, then, and not till then, will Israel have reached the supreme climax of greatness and glory of the purpose for which the Lord has chosen her.
"For thus says the LORD who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel . . . you are My witnesses, says the LORD, and My servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He; before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside Me there is no Savior. I have declared, and have saved, and I have showed, when there was no strange God among you: therefore you are My witnesses, says the LORD -- that I am God." (Isaiah 43:1,10-12)
Note this, "That YOU may know and believe ME, and understand that I AM HE."
God not only intends to use the Israelites for the purpose of convincing them that He is God, and the only God, but He also intends to use them to convince the rest of the world. For He says:
"I will sanctify My great name . . . and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, says the LORD God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." (Ezekiel 36:23)
This is the great purpose for which the LORD has chosen Israel, and when this is accomplished, they shall have reached the acme of national glory.
If you ask, "Is the history of Israel, as a whole, a Divine work?” we answer, yes. But if you ask, "Is that history designed as a preparation for the moral creation which Jesus Christ came to effect?" our answer is, no. The law which the LORD gave to His people was intended to accomplish that purpose; but the history of Israel, together with prophecies concerning them, many of which must yet become history, is for the vindication of God.
END of Chapter 2 of Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright
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CHAPTER 1 THE UNCONDITIONAL PROMISES MADE TO ABRAM AND ABRAHAM
"Behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. Neither shall your name anymore be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made you. And I will make you exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come out of you." (Genesis 17:4-6)
Although it is not generally known, it is nevertheless true that God made two covenants with Abraham, or, rather, that He made one with Abram and another with that same man after his name was changed to Abraham. This change of name was made that it might harmonize with the new character and the new order of things as they pertain to the covenant man.
The first, or Abram covenant was made when the man was 99 years old; but the second, or Abraham covenant was not made until this man was called upon to make the one great sacrifice of his life.
The text of the first of these covenants is as follows:
"And when Abram was 99 years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am the Almighty God; walk before Me and be perfect. And I will make My covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face; and God talked with him, Saying: As for Me, behold My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made you. And I will make you exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come out of you."
"And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto you, and to your seed after you. And I will give unto you, and to your seed after you, the land wherein you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." (Genesis 17:1-8)
We see at once that the great feature of this covenant is a multiplicity of seed for a man that hitherto has been childless; and that this multitude of people are to become, not one great nation, not simply a plurality of nations, but a large plurality, i.e., "MANY NATIONS."
With the great majority of Bible students, and with most schools of Biblical thought, the fact that the LORD, when making this covenant, promised Abram that he should become the father of more than one nation is entirely overlooked.
The general trend of the teaching is, that, of all the people who dwell upon the face of the earth, the Jewish people are distinctively the people, the one nation only, which is composed of the seed of Abraham; and that they, and they alone, are the chosen people of God whose national story makes up the great bulk of Biblical history and prophecy.
But such cannot be the case, for if God has fulfilled the first promise which He made to the father of the Jewish people, He has made it possible for the people of some of the other nations of earth to stand side by side with that one, and with them must be able to say, "We have Abraham to our father."
One special, and important feature of this covenant is that among this multitude of Abrahamic seed there is also to be a royal, or kingly line; the posterity of which shall become the rulers of, at least, some of these nations which shall owe their origin to one common father Abraham.
For the LORD not only promised Abraham that kings should come out of his loins, but when He reiterated the promises of His covenant to Sarai, the barren wife of Abraham, He said: "She shall be the mother of nations; kings of people [R.V., nations] shall be of her." (Genesis 17:16)
And so her name was changed to Sarah, i.e., Princess, that she too might have a name which would be in harmony with her new character, for only a princess may be the mother of kings.
Another special feature of this covenant is, that there is a land consideration, which involves the land of Canaan in an everlasting bond -- not only of ownership, but of possession.
Evidently the everlasting possession of that land by its lawful heirs has not yet begun, for, at this writing (in 1902), it was still in the hands of the Ottoman Turks.
One other feature of this covenant is, that it is wholly unconditional. That is, the LORD has promised, irrespective of the moral or spiritual character of the people themselves, so to increase the posterity of the Abrahamic lineage, that, nationally, they shall become all that the covenant promises.
Centuries after the giving of this covenant, when the Abrahamic posterity were quite numerous, and while they were still together in one nation, the LORD made a covenant with them which was conditional; but they broke faith with Him, and violated its specified conditions.
Since it is true, that, in contracting or conditional covenants, there is both a party of the first and a party of the second part, and the law is, that, when either party breaks the conditions, the other is not held, or bound by them, hence when the covenant people broke their part of the contract, God was no longer bound, and said: "They continued not in My covenant, and I regarded them not." Thus that covenant was annulled.
But in this covenant which we have under consideration, God has assumed all responsibility, and to His integrity alone must we look for its fulfillment.
For while it is true that both God and Abraham are parties to this covenant, we well know who has pledged Himself, and whose will it expresses, and whom to expect shall keep His word inviolate, and who will be to blame if this covenant goes by default.
The second covenant which God made with Abraham was not made until many years after the first, and was made at a time when Abraham had just offered his only son, who was the first of the promised many, as a sacrifice, in obedience to the command of Him who produced that son by His creative power, from that which was as good as dead, and as an expression of faith in the resurrective power of that same covenant-making God. It is recorded as follows:
"And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham the second time, and said, 'By Myself have I sworn, says the LORD, for because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son: that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because you have obeyed My voice'." (Genesis 22:16-18)
Before noticing the one great feature of this covenant, we wish to call your attention to some of its minor points. The first of which is, that it also is unconditional, "By Myself have I sworn," is the declaration of the covenant maker; hence this covenant can neither be broken nor annulled, because, as in the first covenant, God alone is the responsible party.
Another point is that there is a repetition and confirmation of the multiplicity of children phase of the first covenant, to which is added the first detail as to what shall be a national characteristic of Isaac's multiplied seed in their relation to other nations, namely: "Your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies." (Genesis 22:17)
The LORD usually gives Himself two witnesses, or doubles His promises and prophecies, as in the case of Pharaoh when he had dreamed the same thing twice and Joseph told him the reason that the dream was doubled to him was because the thing which it signified was of God.
So it was with this gate blessing. It was at a time, that, after consenting to accompany Abraham's servant and become the wife of Isaac, through whom must come this great multitude of people, this gate promise, together with that which pertains to the multiplicity of children, was given to Rebekah.
It came as a parting blessing from her brothers, who, it seems, were imbued with the spirit of prophecy; for it is recorded that they blessed her, and said: "You are our sister, be you the mother of thousands of millions, and let your seed possess the gate of those that hate them." (Genesis 24:60)
But the one great special feature of this second covenant which God made with that one man, is most certainly couched in the following words: "In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 22:18, 26:4, 28:14).
It will take but little investigation to reveal the fact that this one phase of this last covenant is Messianic, and that it pertains especially to but one person.
But, that the many to whom pertains the first covenant are involved in this, together with the one to whom it more especially pertains, and that the principal one of this covenant is involved, in the common bond of brotherhood, with the many of that first covenant, no one will deny.
We understand that at the time these words were uttered, it would have been impossible to give them the fullness of meaning which the Holy Spirit has given them, as interpreted in the New Testament, for it was under the illumination given to the Apostle Paul, that their full import bursts upon us.
It was when contrasting the law covenant -- the one which was annulled -- with this only-son covenant that Paul is careful to say:
"Now to Abraham were the promises made, even for his seed, He does not say, and to the seeds, as concerning many, but as concerning one: 'and to thy seed which is Christ'." (Galatians 3:16)
We have here given the best translation, for clearness, that the text will allow. In it the Apostle makes no attempt to give an exact Old Testament quotation, but bases his argument on the strength of the subject noun being in the singular number.
The subject with which he is dealing is the blessing that shall come upon all the Gentile nations through Abraham's sacrificed son, the one seed, who also was the Only Son of his Divine Father, just as Isaac, the type, was the only son of his father when he was offered in sacrifice.
It is not only the words, but also the circumstances connected with the giving of these promises, which are prophetic. God had said to Abraham that the many nations which He had formerly promised him should come through Isaac, his only son, but afterward called upon him to sacrifice that son, who was the only one through whom that promise could be fulfilled.
But Abraham knew that God had accomplished that which was equal to a creation, when, through him and Sarah, who were both as good as dead, Isaac had been produced; so, being strong in faith, he offered him up, "accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure." (Hebrew 11:19)
Could any analogy be more complete?
A Son of Promise, an only son, from whom so much is expected, sacrificed and accounted dead, then, in symbol, raised from the dead! And the two special reasons for this test, being, on the one hand, an encouragement to faith, and on the other, that the son {Isaac} might live to fulfill his God-ordered destiny.
The prototype of this is another Son of Promise, an only Son, from whom so much is promised and expected, sacrificed on the tree, dead.
But that the two witnesses, the word and the symbol, of the promiser might not fail, the Divine Father, who gave back that other only son, raises from the dead His only Son, that he also might become the author and finisher of our faith, that he {Jesus} too might live and become all that was promised and expected of him, and thus fulfill his glorious destiny.
We can ask no more, for both the lesser and the greater son, the type and prototype, are, "as concerning the flesh," sons of Abraham.
Throughout the world it is most generally known, and throughout Christendom it is universally known, that "the seed to whom the promise was made," did come, namely Jesus Christ.
But it is not universally known, nor acknowledged throughout Christendom, that the many peoples are included in that same covenant with this one seed, without whom the entire structure of Christianity must fall, and that every argument for the Christ, from the covenant standpoint, must stand the crucial test of a numerous posterity from the loins of Abraham, or go down. And yet it is so.
True, the covenant with the people failed; true, the people sinned, and violated their obligations; true, the law was added, because of their transgressions, to bridge over, "till the [one] seed should come to whom the promise was made."
But the argument in favor of the Messianic covenant against all this is, that: "the covenant which was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect." (Galatians 3:17)
How could it? We, sirs, believe that it could not. All Christendom believes that it could not. And if it could not, neither can the promise concerning a multiplicity of children for Abraham be annulled.
For, with this same Messianic promise, there is a repetition of the metaphor of many seeds, as the stars of heaven and as the sands of the sea shore, together with the gate blessing; so we can just as reasonably expect that Christ could or would have failed, as to expect that the gate, the sand, and the star, promises shall have gone by default.
But, at this late day in the history of the world, with the Divine light of prophecy shining upon well known facts, which once were only the subjects of prophetic utterances but are now the recorded facts of authentic history, we can say with a confidence, which is supported by the eternal Spirit, that neither have failed.
Elsewhere, when this same Apostle was making an effort to encourage the faith of believers in the faithfulness of God, he gives a word for word quotation from this same covenant promise, saying:
"When God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He swore by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you." (Hebrews 6:13-14)
This quotation, as you see, pertains to the multiplicity of seed, and not to the Messianic phase of the second covenant; but it proves to us that each individual feature of that covenant stands on the same secure foundation, and is just as sure of fulfillment as the other, for underneath every promise of that covenant there are two immutable things -- God and His oath.
So, we are safe in saying that God has made two unconditional covenants with Abraham, and that, if He has been true to those covenants, then there are "many nations" in existence on this earth today, the people of which must have descended from Abraham and Sarah through Isaac; and that these nations are in possession of the gates, or entrances, of their national enemies; unless it be that the time has not yet come for those promises to materialize.
The facts, in either case, are revealed, and, as we proceed, we shall see which of these is true; but thus far it is evident that one of these covenants is Messianic; that the other is multitudinous; that each is contained in the other; that in them there is no contracting party of the second part; and that both alike do stand on the integrity of God.
These are the days of skeptical indifferentism on the one hand, and of rampant infidelity on the other; of narrow sectarianism, worldly churchianity, and the blatant headiness of higher (?) criticism -- days when “Endor-ism” is called "Spiritual -ism, " when Buddhism is sanctified by the name of Theo-sophia, i.e., Divine wisdom, and when pure faith and true spirituality are dubbed "Fanaticism."
Then surely, in such days as these, all who believe that the promises of God are never broken will be helped and encouraged when proof, full and abundant, shall be given that not only the promise concerning the many nations, but all the predictions of "Moses and the prophets," as they pertain either to the Christ or to the many-nationed people, have been, are being -- on the strength of that which has been, and that which now is -- shall yet be fulfilled.
END of chapter 1 of Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright.
God bless, BORN AGAIN
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