JUDAH'S SCEPTRE AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT
by J.H.Allan (1917)
PREFACE.
Because of our connection with a certain school of Christian
thought, we once held the erroneous opinion that most of the
prophecies of the Old Testament were fulfilled, and that its
present use was simply to feed the faith of devout men. Also,
that any nourishment for faith which could be drawn from that
source was not wholesome food for the soul, unless we were in
possession of such an exalted type of spirituality that we would
be able to rise above the somewhat prosy details of its
histories, and find our soul-food in a surely accompanying
spiritual influence, which, in its action upon us, was superior
to the mere literalness of the subject matter.
We were also led to suppose that the unfulfilled prophecies of
"Moses and the prophets" were of no special moment to
Christianity, because the great momentous question, the coming of
a Saviour, was settled forever. Consequently, when, perchance, we
found some prophetic utterance therein, which we were forced to
admit had not become a historic verity, and since this was the
dispensation of the Spirit, we felt at liberty to give the reins
to our somewhat vivid imagination, and let it run unchecked
through the verdant and fruitful fields of speculation in search
of some rare and deeplyspiritual truth which we might lay against
that seeming rhetorical figure of Holy Writ.
But this roaming through those alluring fields always resulted in
failure, for when those fanciful and random conjectures, no
matter how lofty, were brought before our quickened conscience,
they were soon condemned, because that judge who sits at the bar
of our spiritual integrity not only revealed their insincerity,
but also convinced us that they did not contain the real import,
thought and purpose for which those words of God were written.
Thus defeated, we could only bemoan our lack, not only of the
mental power to grasp the true meaning of those holy words, but
also the depth of spirituality which was supposed to be essential
to the possession of that intense spiritual power which could
pierce through the density of earthly things into the rarity of
those which were heavenly. For the spiritual standards which we
had erected for ourselves demanded the attainment of a soul life
which would give us power to soar in the spirit into such
rarefied heights of divine enlightenment that we could discern
the graceful curves, the symmetrical outlines, the non-earthly
shadows, the heavenly half-tones and the divine high-lights of
that wonderful picture,-that spiritual masterpiece - which lay
behind the coarseness of the letter.
These errors so blinded us, that, in our ignorance, we even
considered that the twelve apostles, whom our Lord had chosen and
enlightened, were in gross error when they understood Christ and
the Scriptures to teach that there was to be a literal and
visible kingdom of God on the earth with the Lord as king of all
the earth when that day came. We assumed that their conception of
the promised kingdom, when contrasted with our own, was carnal in
the extreme, and that the superiority of our conception lay in
the fact that it was free from all such mortal grossness. And we
really thought that this spirit of moral groveling among the
apostles had reached its climax, when James, who afterward became
a martyr, and his brother John, he wham the Master loved, took
their mother to Christ, and had her make a request of Him for
them which they did not dare make for themselves.
But, thank God, such conceptions of divine truth were only our
spiritual swaddling clothes, and the day dreams of spiritual
babyhood. For, as we grew in grace, and became less presumptive,
the Holy Ghost lifted the veil from our mind, and illuminated the
following portion of the Saviour's reply to the request of the
mother of James and John: "To sit on my right hand, and on my
left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom
it is prepared of my Father."
In this work we have followed the history of the two families, or
kingdoms, into which the seed of Abraham were divided, through
the intricate paths of their Biblical history, and the prophecies
concerning them, which have thus far become history, down to the
present day, without the loss of any single connecting link.
We have been moved by the Holy Spirit to thus write concerning
the earthly history.- of God's s c chosen race, because so very
it is known by the masses of our people, and yet it is the
foundation upon which the entire structure of Christianity must
reset, A knowledge of these earthly things not only renders the
claims of Christianity impregnable, but they are also the basis
upon which we must rest our faith for better things. For Jesus
has said, "If I have told you of earthly things, and ye believe
not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?" The
truth of this saying of our Lord has been demonstrated in our own
ministry; for in the past seven years, during which time we have
been able to demonstrate the special features of truth as set
forth in this book-i. e., the realization o f the promises made
to ISRAEL, by THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL - the Lord has used us to
bring more skeptics to the light of his truth, than in all our
previous ministry of twenty-one years. Also during this seven
years, while we have seen the faith of some fail, the Lord has
helped us to save the tottering faith of many. We are also sure,
from the very reasons which are given, that the faith of those
who have made shipwreck could not have failed, if they had known
these things. Hence we have written this time concerning the
earthly things which are the subjects of Divine inspiration,
praying that God will use them to strengthen the faith of some,
and to bring others into the faith in the inspiration of the
Bible. But if there seems to be a demand for it we will write
again, and then we will write on THE HEAVENLY THINGS.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
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
ninety 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 ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to
Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me
and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and
thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his
face; and God talked with him, saying: As for me, behold my
covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many
nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy
name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made
thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make na
tions of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will
establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee
in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God
unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee,
and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger,
all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will
be their God." - Gen.17:I-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 o
f 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 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 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. 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." 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, it is in the hands
of the "Unspeakable Turk."
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 thei- 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 which 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 unto
Abraham the second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith
the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not
withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless
thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of
the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy
seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed
m; voice." Gen.22:16-18.
Before noticing the one great feature of this covenant, we
wish to call your attention to some of the 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, 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: "Thy seed shall possess the
gate of his enemies."
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 Re bekah.
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: "Thou art our sister, be thou the
mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the
gate of those that hate them."
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 thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed." 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."
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."
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 might live to fulfill his God-ordered destiny. The
prototype of this is another Son of Promise, an only Son, from
whom so much-so very 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, 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; 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."
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 thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee." 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; 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, or - on the
strength of that which has been, and that which now is - shall
yet be fulfilled.
..........
To be continued
Joseph's Birthright #2
Race verses Grace
JUDAH'S SEPTRE AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT
by J.H.Allen (1917)
CHAPTER II.
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 so doing, 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 consequent; 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 (cord, or line) of his inheritance." Deut.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 set apart, and every continent divided. For
the scope of the facts herein stated are world-wide, 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 forthcoming nations,had their
national home allotted unto 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 Israel, 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
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, should be used for this purpose, and exclaimed, "O that
Ishmael might live before thee !" 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
said to Abraham: "Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed,
and thou shalt call his name Isaac ... and as for Ishmael, I have
heard thee ... twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him
a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac,
which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next
year."
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 oú 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 can no more
reckon these nations as a part of the promised many, 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 soon
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." As he carries
the argument still further, he makes this truth all the more
apparent by declaring: "In Isaac shall thy seed be called," and
then explains, as follows: "That is, they which 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 that calleth). it was said unto 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!" Rom.9:7-i4.
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 all 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 mater 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 he should be pleased to choose
the white race with which to work out his purpose, instead of the
red, or copper-colored one; but makes the implication that there
would have been unrighteousness, of a very grave character, with
the Lord, if this election had been one 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 also 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 swear unto Abraham thy father; and
I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and I
will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" Hence Isaac also
became the inheritor of a promise from the God of his father.
(4) The immediate posterity of Isaac, the promiseholder, were
Jacob and Esau, the persons whom Paul uses in making his argument
concerning the Lord's choice of race. Jacob, the younger of these
two, who were twins, was chosen by the promise-maker, before they
were born, to be the inheritor of the covenant promises. And so
the Divine promiser reiterates those promises to him, as follows:
"I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac:
the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy
seed: and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou
shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the
north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all
the families of the earth be blessed." 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 repromised, 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 promiseinheritors, they are "the Children of
the Flesh" only. While to 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 Israelities, 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 seven thousand 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." 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."
Here we find two elections, i. e., the election of race and the
election of grace.
Touching the election of race, God could say, "And thou,
Israel, art 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 ye this day whom ye 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 thee 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
election might stand"-not in the good or evil works, or unholy
natures of unborn babes, "but of him that calleth."
When the call of God is of racial, or of national import,
God can say: "Hearken unto 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 sure." When it
is race, it is, "Whom I (God) have chosen." When it is grace, it
is, "Whosoever will, may come and take the water of life freely."
When it is race, it is, "I have called thee by my name; thou
art mine." In grace it is "Whosoever believeth," of whom the Lord
says: "They are mine." In grace it is, "Come." In race it is
fate, destiny, kismet.
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 offereth praise glorifieth me;" but in
race, it is, "This people have I formed for myself; they SHALL
show forth my praise."
This declaration brings us to the consideration of the
purpose, or object, which the Lord has in choosing, and forming a
speciat 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 Israelitish
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."
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.
Harken ye unbelieving ones! Harken to this! "Thus saith the
Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O
Israel, * * * ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant
whom I have chosen; that ye 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 Saviour. I have declared, and have saved,
and I have showed, when there was no strange God among you:
therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord--that I am God." -
Isa.43:1,10-12.
Note this, "That YE 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, saith the Lord God, when I shall be
sanctified in you before their eyes." - Ezek.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.
.............................
To be continued
THE PROPHECIES OF JUDAH'S SEPTRE AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT #3 Birthright Given
by Allen (1917)
CHAPTER III.
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."--Gen.
49:10. "For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him comes
the chief ruler (prince); but the Birthright is Joseph's."--1
Chron.5:2.
That the Sceptre blessings, privileges, and promises pertain
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, as involved in the
following: "I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make
nations of thee;" second, a royal line, the promise of which is
given as follows "Kings shall come out of thee." 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 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 he 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 he gave all his possessions to
Isaac, the son of Sarah. "Abraham gave all that he had unto
Isaac."--Gen.25:5.
Isaac became the heir because he was the first born among
the lawful sons of Abraham; hence those possessions came to him
as the right of the first-born, 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 covenants
of promise which contained these two distinct features - a
multitude of people and a royal line.
Esau, the son of Isaac and brother of Jacob, having been
born first, for he was the elder of twins, was next in the line
of succession, and being the elder or firstborn, came into
possession of the Birthright. Thus he had a birthright at his
disposal, but instead of keeping it, and allowing it, in turn, to
become the property of his first-born son, he undervalued it, and
sold it to his brother Jacob, who, being the younger, could not
have acquired it by right of birth.
The right of Esau to sell the birthright has never been
questioned; his wisdom in selling it may well be questioned. The
fact that Jacob, who became anxious to obtain that birthright,
felt that he must not only make the purchase from Esau, its
lawful owner, but also knew that he must deceive their father in
order that he might secure from him the accompanying blessing, is
proof positive that the Birthright was the lawful inheritance of
Esau.
Moreover, when Jacob went in unto Isaac in the disguise
which he and his mother had devised, he went with a lie on his
lips, and said to his father, "I am Esau thy first born." But
Isaac was distrustful; the hands felt all right, but the voice
aroused suspicion. So the blind father asked, "Art thou my very
son Esau?" Again Jacob answered in the affirmative.
What was he after? That which belonged to the first-born.
What did he get? That which belonged to the firstborn.
He had not only bought it from the first-born himself, but
also had deluded the father into bestowing upon him the blessing
which made the purchase secure from the human side; for when
Isaac found that Jacob had secured the blessing from him by
subtility, he could not revoke it.
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 thee, and in multiplying I
will multiply thee." It is also recorded that "God blessed Isaac
saying I will bless thee, * * * and I will make thy seed to
multiply as the stars." Esau's sad cry was exceedingly bitter
over his disappointment when he found that Jacob had supplanted
him, but Isaac was compelled to say to him, "I have blessed him
(Jacob) and he shall be blessed." So it is recorded: "And Isaac
called Jacob and blessed him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not
take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan-aram,
to the house of Bethuel, thy mother's father; and take thee a
wife from thence of the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother.
And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply
thee, that thou mayst be a multitude of people; and I will give
thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee and to thy seed with
thee."--Gen.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 that, while Isaac in fact gave it to Jacob, he
intended it for Esau, his first-born son, to whom it belonged by
right of birth. If it belonged to him because he was the
first-born, then it was his "birthright." And since he sold his
birthright to Jacob, who thus became its possessor, Jacob and not
Esau must become the father of that promised multitude of people
which is contained in the Birthright; i.e., the covenant promise
to Abraham.
In truth Esau could justly say: "Is he not rightly named
Jacob? (supplanter) for he hath supplanted me these two times: he
took away my birthright; and, behold now he hath taken away my
blessing."
Although Jacob had received from his father the much coveted
blessing, which carried with it the inheritance of the Birthright
promises, he was dissatisfied, and seemed to hold those blessings
as insecure until they had been ratified to him directly by the
blessing of God. Having secured them by fraud, he knew that he
was holding them under the protest of both his father and his
outraged brother.
So much from the human side. On the divine side, God
intended that Jacob should have the birthright, for, as we have
already shown, he chose Jacob in preference to Esau before they
were born. Had Jacob trusted God, he would have placed him in
possession of the birthright in a perfectly honorable way; but
he, in distrust, took matters into his own hands, and gained
possession of it by wicked conniving.
It was because of this that he had more trouble to secure
the blessing of God upon his possession of this inheritance than
had his predecessors, and though he wrestled for it with the
angel all the night long, he did not secure it until he had first
confessed his name which was expressive of his character - to be
Jacob, i.e., supplanter. Then it was that God bestowed the
blessing, took away that reproachful name, and gave him a new and
unstained one, even Israel: the meaning of which is: "As a prince
thou hast prevailed with God."
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 it. But that we are right in saying that the
first-born 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 entertainment 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 the fact 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 first-born according to his Birthright,
and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marveled one
at another."--Gen.43:33.
The fact that Reuben was the first born and possessor of the
Birthright, and the cause of his losing it, are set forth in
connection with the declaration that the Birthright had been
given to Joseph, as follows: "Now the sons of Reuben, (for he was
the first-born; 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 is
the chief ruler; but the birthright is Joseph's.) The sons of
Reuben the first-born of Israel were, etc."--1 Chron.5:I-3.
If our readers would know just why this act should have
caused Reuben to forfeit his birthright, they must be able to
read between the lines. We are only at liberty to say that, after
that act, if either Reuben or his probable first-born 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."
To Isaac and to Israel God had confirmed the covenants of
promise in their entirety, including in the confirmation the
promise of the land, a multiplicity of seed, the one seed, or the
Messianic covenant, and a royal line; but you will note from the
Scripture just quoted, that the promise of a royal line, which,
as the sacred story proceeds, is clearly shown to contain the
Messianic covenant, had been separated from the birthright, and
given to Judah, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, while the
birthright fell to Joseph. This individual separation of the
Sceptre and the Birthright 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 should direct; 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 - Caucassian and
Arabic, in one womb; and the manner of their birth was so
supernaturally manipulated, 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 of the Sceptre, and the Birthright, by dying
Jacob, to Judah and 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, he took with him his two sons, and hastened 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." Then discovering
that Joseph was not alone he asked, "Who are these?" to which
Joseph replied, saying, "They are my sons, whom God hath given me
in this place," i. e., 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; at
which time he said: "And now thy two sons Ephraim and Manasseh,
which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto
thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be
mine." (Gen.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 thine," but they "shall be called
after their brethren in their inheritance." 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 Ghost had told Jacob that Ephraim was the one
which had been chosen by the Lord as the inheritor of the
birthright, or the blessing of the first born. 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 first
born, is mentioned first when his name is coupled with that of
Simeon. But the transfer of the birthright from his eldest to his
younger son was not made known to Joseph until after he had
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, 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 first born
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 first born 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 Ghost,' 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 which 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." 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.
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 thee shall
Israel bless, saying: God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh;
and he set Ephraim before Manasseh."--Gen.48:19,20.
So Ephraim was set before Manasseh, both nationally and
tribally; but they were to grow together until they became a
multitude of people in the midst of the earth. Eventually
Manasseh was to become a separate nation, and as such was to be 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 firstborn of Israel. This is why God
declares "I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born."
Jer.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." 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."--Gen.49:10.
Whatever else the Birthright may have contained, or if God
ever did count those other blessings and promises as belonging to
the Birthright, one thing is certain; that is, that when the
Birthright passed into the possession of Joseph and his sons, it
was stripped bare of all else, save the oft-repeated promises
which pertain to a multiplicity of seed for Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. Hence, when it was recorded in the Chronicles that the
Birthright was Joseph's, it was understood that from the loins of
Joseph's sons must come seed, posterity, people. Yea, multitudes,
nations - "many nations," even races of people.
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 of
necessity become the father of those 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."
Heb.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 fatherhood of many nations, that Esau
sold.
..........
To be continued
Joseph's Birthright #4
The Dividing of Israel - Two Kingdoms
JUDAH'S SEPTRE AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT
by Allen (1917)
Let me say here that Mr.Allen missed out the unconditional
promise given to Jacob that from him would come a "nation and
company of nations" - see Genesis 35:9-11, which comes before
Genesis 48 and 49, which also brings out that Joseph would be a
fruitful vine by a well, whose branches run all over it. So
indeed has this prophecy come to pass in the last 300 hundred
years - Keith Hunt.
CHAPTER IV.
JACOB'S SEED DIVIDED INTO TWO KINGDOMS.
When Boaz took Ruth ... for a wife, the people who were
assembled prayed for her, saying: "The Lord make thee like Rachel
and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel." The fact
that these two women, as the wives of Jacob, were the builders of
the house of Israel, would of necessity divide the immediate
household of Jacob into two families. Hence the pertinency of the
question: "Considerest thou not the two families which the Lord
hath chosen?" (Jer.33:24.)
Since the covenant promise of the Birthright was given to
one of these two families, and that of the Sceptre to the other,
it would be but natural - especially since one of these
forthcoming blessings was to be so much superior to the other -
for these families to keep somewhat apart, so as to keep their
family distinctions intact. This they did, and yet they dwelt
together for a number of centuries, apparently without any
factions whatever.
Together, as one nation, they lived on in Goshen. Together
the Sceptre and the Birthright families are pressed into bondage.
Together the children of Rachel, of whom it was prophesied that
there should be thousands of millions, and the children of Leah,
the mother of coming royalty - royalty which, as the sequel
proves, is not only the grandest and best that this world will
ever know, but also the most glorious that will ever be known in
all the universe of God - together they bend their necks to the
yoke, and their backs to the burdens. Together they serve those
unjust taskmasters. Together their Lord, whose presence was with
them, brought them out of that galling Egyptian servitude, out
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 - 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 over a man-archy. Refusing Him who had
honored, protected and cherished them as a husband doth 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.
Then it was that there arose trouble, trouble which resulted
in strifes and factions galore; for after the establishment of
the monarchy only three kings - namely Saul, David and Solomon -
reigned over all Israel in 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 Rachel and Leah - or
more properly, Judah and Joseph, since they are the
promise-holders - into positions to fulfill their God-appointed
destinies. And yet we shall find that the mills of God do grind -
oh, so very slowly.
There is contained in the eleventh and twelfth chapters of
the book of First Kings a record of the division of the tribes of
Israel into two kingdoms, with a son of the royal family 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 burnt incense, and sacrificed unto Moloch and other idols;
and because of this, "The Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as
this is done of thee, and thou bast not kept my covenant and my
statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the
kingdom from thee, and give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding,
in thy days I will not do it, for David thy father's sake; but I
will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will not rend
away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to thy son for
David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have
chosen." 1 Kings 11:11-13.
The twenty-sixth verse of the same chapter 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, he made
him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph." 1 Kings
11:28.
When the Birthright was transferred to the sons of Joseph,
Ephraim, the younger, was set before Manasseh, the elder, and,
aside from the fact of joint inheritance in the multitude of
posterity, Ephraim seems to enjoy the special Birthright, or
first-born 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 first-born."
Jer.31:9.
We have in this man Jeroboam, a servant of Solomon's, an
Ephraimite, who was ruler over all 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 thee ten pieces: for thus saith the Lord, the God
of Israel, Behold I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of
Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee. * * * 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 unto thee, even ten tribes.
And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may
have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have
chosen to put my name there. And I will take thee, and thou
shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and thou
shalt be king over Israel."
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 or confederation
must needs be called "ISRAEL," or the prophecy fails.
After this prophecy, which God gave to Ahijah to deliver to
Jeroboam, was made public, Solomon became so jealous for himself
and posterity that he undertook to kill Jeroboam; while he, in
order to escape the wrath of Solomon, fled to Egypt and 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
upon them an enormous tax for the building and furnishing of the
temple and royal palaces. These were finished and furnished, but
the taxes were not abated. Also there was this taxation without
representation by any in Israel, except from 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; "Thy father made our yoke grievous; now, therefore, make
thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which
he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee."
His reply to this request was, "Depart yet for three days,
then come again to me." During this three days of grace, which he
had asked, and they had granted, 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
would "Speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants
forever."
Then he 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. They said, "Thus shalt thou say unto them,
My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins. And
now, whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add
to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will
chastise you with scorpions."
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!" The challenge to the royal house was,
"Now, see to thy 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, and 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 congrega tion 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,
an hundred and four score thousand men which were warriors, to
fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to
Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. But the word of God came unto
Shemaniah the man of God, saying, Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of
Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and
Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying, Thus saith
the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the
children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing
is from me." 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.
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
Judah was given to the other kingdom. Thus the titles "House of
Israel," and the "House of Judah" are used to designate the two
kingdoms, as they stand 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, to whom pertains the Birthright, was king over that
kingdom, and a son of the royal house of Judah, to whom pertains
the Sceptre, was king over the other kingdom, which bears the
name of the inheritor of the Sceptre, 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, or
commonwealth. Each was then free to go forward, independent of
the other, and fulfill its God-appointed destiny; one to fulfill
the first covenant which the Lord made with their father Abraham,
that of becoming many nations, and the other to fulfill the
second covenant of bringing forth the Messiah.
(From that time on in the prophetic books Israel is the 10-tribes
and Judah the 3-tribes. They are always each other and never is
one taken for the other, not in the prophetic books from Isaiah
to Malachi - Israel is Israel (10 tribes) and Judah is Judah (3
tribes) - Keith Hunt)
The first thing recorded of Jeroboam, as king of Israel, is
that he built the city of Shechem, in Mount Ephraim, and dwelt
there. This city was the first capital of that kingdom. From
there the king of Israel went out and built the city of Penuel,
and seemed to prosper for a short season. But Jeroboam fell to
thinking that, if his subjects were allowed to continue going to
Jerusalem to sacrifice unto the Lord, their hearts would turn
again to Rehoboam, whose capital city it was, and they would then
kill him, and go again to the kingdom of Judah.
Therefore he made two calves of gold, and said unto the
people, "It is too much (trouble) for you to go to Jerusalem:
behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee 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 unto Dan. And he made a house of high
places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were
not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the
eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the
feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he
in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he
placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had
made. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel,
on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which
he had devised in his own heart; and 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.
We find that the history of the 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 need be no confusion. For instance, it is recorded
that, "The days which Jeroboam reigned were two-and-twenty years,
and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab, his son, reigned in his
stead." 1 Kings 14:20. But the very next verse tells us that,
"Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was
forty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen
years in Jerusalem." The two reigns began simultaneously. If
Jeroboam's reign lasted for twenty-two years, and Rehoboam's only
for seventeen years, then it must needs be that some other king
or kings reigned for five years contemporaneously with Jeroboam,
unless the kingdom of Judah had collapsed; but it had not. So the
record declares, "Now, in the eighteenth 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
three for Abijah, are only twenty of Jeroboam's twenty-two years.
So if the record be correct, we shall expect it to tell who
ascended the throne of Judah in the twentieth year of Jeroboam's
reign. This it does do, as follows: "And in the twentieth year of
Jeroboam, king of Israel, reigned Asa over Judah." 1 Kings 15:9.
Now, if Asa lived and reigned more than two 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 twa 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."
Then follows a record of the fulfillment of the prophecy
concerning the doom of Jeroboam, viz., 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, twenty-
and-four 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 this
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 twenty-second verse
is the corresponding expression "all Judah." "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: whereas it simply means, in this instance, and
many others, all the country occupied by the ten tribes which
formed the kingdom of Israel, just as the expression "all Judah,"
or "all Judaea"--the Greek form of the same 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.
..........
To be continued
Joseph's Birthright #5
Not all Israelites are Jews
JUDAH'S SCEPTRE AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT
by Allen (1917)
CHAPTER V.
ALL ISRAELITES ARE NOT JEWS
After the division which occurred among the seed of Abraham
in the days of Jeroboam and Rehoboam, and 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 eleventh chapter of Second Chronicles we
find a brief recapitulation of the history of the revolt of the
Ten Tribes, to which are added further details as to the result,
a list of the cities which were built by Rehoboam for the defense
of the kingdom of Judah, and the following:
"And he fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and
stores of victuals, and of oil and wine. And in every several
city he put shields and spears, and made them exceeding strong,
having Judah and Benja min on his side. And the priests and the
Levites that were in all Israel (i. e., the territory of country
occupied by the ten-tribed kingdom) resorted to him 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 he ordained him priests for the high places,
and for the devils, and for the calves which he 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 oú Judah, and made Rehoboam, the son of
Solomon, strong." 2 Chron.11:11-17.
These statements make it clear that, after Jeroboam, the
king of Israel, had set up those golden calves, and 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, for a while at least, was
composed of three tribes, in addition to those scattered families
out of all the rest of the tribes who would not forsake the
worship of the God of Israel, and who would not worship the
calves which Jeroboam had set up, but those people evidently lost
their tribal relations and were assimilated into one of the three
tribes of which the kingdom of Judah was composed, for in all the
history and prophecy which concerns the three-tribed kingdom,
there are no tribal names used, save only those of Judah,
Benjamin and Levi.
Before we carry the history of these two kingdoms any
farther, or leave the A B C of this matter, we deem it important
to place before our readers an array of Scripture texts, in which
both houses, kingdoms, nations, or families of Abraham's
posterity, through the Isaac-Jacob line, are spoken of in the
same passage in such a way that the most simple minded cannot
fail to see that two distinct peoples are being considered.
We cannot, however, at this juncture, give the relative place of
these Scriptures, as regards the history, past, present and
future, of these people under consideration. We place these
Scriptures before you, only to show, at present, that ever after
the division of the people into two commonwealths, in the days of
Rehoboam and Jeroboam, they were recognized in scriptural history
and prophecy as two kingdoms or nations.
For instance, take the following - "Behold the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have
promised unto the house of Israel, and to the house of Judah."
Jer.33:14. Here the Lord has promised to perform a certain, "good
thing" for "The house of Israel;" but he has just as assuredly
promised to perform that same certain "good thing" for the house
of Judah, as well as for Israel, for the house of Judah is not
included in the house of Israel, and vice versa.
Take another, as follows: "And I will cause the captivity of
Judah and the capitivity of Israel to return, and will build them
as at the first." Jer.33:7. Here it is a question not only of
"the captivity of Judah," but also "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 lo! the days come, saith the Lord, that I will
bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith
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 spake concerning Israel and concerning
Judah." Jer.30:3,4. Here is something that concerns Judah; but it
also concerns Israel; and the people whom it concerns are "my
people Israel and Judah." So, if Judah, the Jews, are the people
of the Lord, then the Lord has a people besides the Jews whom he
calls Israel, and who are not counted among the Jews.
Still another: "For the children of Israel, and the children
of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth." Jer.
32:30. You see that while speaking of the evildoing of his
people, it was not sufficient for the Lord to speak of the
children of Israel only, but the children of Judah must also be
included, in order to embrace all who are under consideration.
In Jer.13:11, we have indisputable proofs of the two houses,
since the broadest generic terms possible are used. Here it is:
"For as a girdle cleaveth 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, saith 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
"the whole house of Judah" are not all of the Lord's people, and
that "the whole house of Israel" are not all of the Lord's
people; but that it takes "the whole house of Israel" together
with "the whole house of Judah" to make all of his chosen people.
It also proves that there is a people called "the whole house of
Israel" of which "the whole house of Judah" is regarded as
neither part nor parcel. True, they are brethren, because they
all are of the seed of Jacob. As such, they are Jacobites,--or,
since Jacob's name was changed to Israel his descendants may all
be called Israelites. But it is a fact that the seed of Jacob
have been divided, by the will, the decree, and the direct
intervention of God, into two kingdoms, or nations, one of which,
when politically considered, is called "the whole house of
Israel," "the children of Israel," "the house of Israel," "all
Israel," and "Israel"; while the other nation is called "the
whole house of Judah," "the house of Judah," "the children of
Judah," "all Judah," and "Judah," or "the Jews."
The name Jew is derived from, or rather is a corruption of,
the name of Judah (Singular Ju-dah, or Jewdah; plural, Ju-dahs,
or Jew-dahs; possessive, Ju-dah's, or Jew-dah's; contracted, Jew,
Jews and Jew's). Hence it is that the names Jew and Jews are
applied only to the people who composed the kingdom of Judah.
Also it was their land only which was designated as "Judah" and
"all Judah," and which finally became known as "Judea" and
"Jewry," "all Judea" and "ALL JEWRY."
Indeed, long before the division took place, Moses, while
prophesying unto the seed of Jacob, cried out, "Hear, Lord, the
voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people." This can mean
nothing else, except that Judah was to be separated from his
people, and finally, if that prayer is ever answered, was to be
brought back to them.
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." Jer.3:8.
Here Israel and Judah are not the same; They are only
sisters, both in shame.
"And the Lord said unto me, That backsliding Israel hath
justified herself more than treacherous Judah." Jer.3:11.
Here Israel, in idolatry the adulterous, is justified more
than Judah, the treacherous: although God had said, "Though thou,
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.
The name, "Jerusalem" is often used to designate the Jewish
people because it was their chief city. When Jesus wept over the
city and cried out "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, * * * how oft would I
have gathered you as a hen gathereth her brood under her wing,
but ye would not!" he did not mean the streets and buildings of
the city, but the people; and not only the people dwelling within
the walls, but the nation as well. For it was not only the Jewish
capital - but it was their metropolis, their commercial center,
their citadel, their royal city, their sanctuary and in every way
the representative city of their nation.
This being true, we may expect that the name of the capital
city of the ten-tribed kingdom would be used as a representative
name and applied to that nation. Also, since the name of Judah
was given as a national name for the Jewish people, because of
the fact that it was one of the royal sons from the tribe of
Judah who led the revolt when she became a separate nation, and
the fact that her kings were of Judah's line, thus making the
tribe of Judah the representative tribe, so we might expect the
same thing with reference to the ten-tribed kingdom. Jeroboam
reigned over Israel in Shechem twenty-two years, and was
succeeded by Nadab, his son, who reigned two years. After this,
Baasha conspired against him, killed him, and reigned in his
stead; but he moved the capital to Tirzah, where he reigned for
twenty-four years, and was followed by his son, Elah, who reigned
in that city two years. Then he was conspired against by Zimri,
who reigned only seven days, until he in turn was conspired
against and died by burning the king's house down over his own
head. Then Omri, who had conspired against Zimri and succeeded
him to the throne, bought a hill from Shemar, on which he built
the city of Samaria, which became the permanent capital of the
kingdom of Israel. Hance the name of the chief city of Israel,
Samaria, is often used, when referring to Israel, in the same
representative way that Jerusalem is, in the case of the Jews.
For an example take the following: "Thy Calf, O Samaria, hath
cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will
it be ere they attain to innocency? For from Israel was it also:
the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the Calf of Sa-
maria 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
Samaria stands for Israel, whose capital it is, and whose own
workmen had made the calf which they themselves worshiped.
But this nation has another name which stands for the whole, as
well as that of Israel and Samaria. Look ye ! "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.
Thus we see that the name of Ephraim is used as a representative
name for the northern kingdom, just as the name of Judah is used
for the southern kingdom, and that the names Israel, Ephraim and
Samaria are used as names of the ten-tribed kingdom in
contradistinction to those of the 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, he made a prophecy concerning the
pre-eminence 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 that 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."
With the name of Ephraim standing at the head of one of the
two nations of Jacob, and the name of Judah at the head of the
other, we can easily understand such expressions as the
following: "O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what
shall I do unto thee? For your goodness is as a morning cloud,
and as the early dew it goeth away." Hosea 6:4.
Since both Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, and Ephraim, the
second son of Joseph, had been dead for nearly one thousand years
prior to the writing of these Scriptures which we have just
given, we must know that these are national names, used to
represent the national conditions of the two nations which are
addressed.
So, also, is the following: "Therefore will I be unto
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 unto 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-I5.
Before proceeding further with the history of these two
kingdoms, there is one other point which must be settled once for
all. This is that the people of God whom he distinctively calls
"Israel," the heads of which are the birthright holders, unto
whom was given that national name - it coming to them with the
birthright at the time of the transfer of that inheritance--are
not Jews, that the Holy Spirit has never, either in Biblical
history or prophecy, called them Jews, and that 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; they belong to the posterity of Jacob, who was called
Israel; hence they are all Israelites. But the great bulk of
Israelites are not the Jews, just as the great bulk of Americans
are not Californians, and yet all Californians are Americans;
also, as in writing the history of America we must of necessity
write the history of California, because California is a part of
America; but we could write a history of California without
writing a history of America.
So, in writing the history of Israel we must needs write the
history of the Jews, but we could write the history of the Jews
and not write the history of Israel. Or, in other words, in
writing the history of the many nations we must write the history
of the Jews, for, to say the least, they are one of those many
nations; but in writing the history of the Jews, it would be
utterly impossible to write the history of the many nations which
were promised to the birthright people, whose national name is,
in a special sense, Israel, and whose people are not Jews.
Nationally speaking, they are brother nations, but not always
very brotherly. But if we can keep track of the birthright
nation, and if they ever have that birthright promise fulfilled
to them, then, and only then, can we write the history of the
many nations which the Lord God of Israel promised unto their
fathers Abraham, Isaac, Jacob-Israel, Joseph, and Ephraim and
Manasseh.
It will help us much in our study of this question, to know
just when and under what circumstances the word Jew is first used
in the canon of Sacred Scripture.
It was not until more than two hundred years after the
revolt of the ten tribes from the house of David. It was at a
time when Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, formed a
federation with Rezin, king of Syria, and came up against Ahaz,
king of Judah, to war for acquisition of territory. Notice how
the prophet of God speaks of 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 Rezin,
the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king 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." Isa.7:I,2. The prophet further explains, that "The head
of Syria is Damascus, (Damascus was the capital of Syria) and the
head of Damascus is Rezin (King of Syria); and within
threescore-and-five (65) years shall Ephraim be broken that
it be not a people. (Marginal--from being a people.) And the head
of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's
son." Isa.7:8,9. Remaliah's son was Pekah, king of Israel.
What Isaiah had to say concerning this war was for the
purpose of making prophecies concerning the outcome. 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 seventeenth year (as king) of Pekah, the son of Remaliah,
Ahaz, the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign, and
reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. * * Then Rezin, king of
Syria, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to
Jerusalem to war; and they besieged Ahaz (king of Judah), but
could not overcome him. At that time Rezin, king of Syria,
recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath; and the
Syrians dwell there unto this day. So Ahaz sent messengers to
Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy
son; come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria,
and out o f the hand o f the king o f Israel, which rise up
against me." 2 Kings 16:1,2,5-7.
Here we have it clearly stated that in this war the
besieging party is, "Pekah, the king of Israel," who is the "head
of Samaria," which is the head of "Ephraim," together with
another nation with whom they are confederate. And if we put it
as Isaiah does concerning the other house, the besieged party was
"Ahaz, king of Judah," head of "the Jews," whose head is
"Jerusalem," the head of the house of David.
Do you see the point? The king of Judah, or the king of the
Jews, was besieged in his capital, and wanted to form an alliance
with the king of Assyria and, to secure him as an ally, even
fawned upon the king of Assyria, saying "I am thy servant, thy
son," and crying "Come up!" What for? To save the JEWS from the
hand o f ISRAEL.
Thus we see that the first time the word Jews is used in the
history of the Abrahamic race is at a time when the Jews and
Israel were at war with each other. Hence we ask, If the Jews
were the besieged and Israel was with the besiegers, how can it
be possible that the Jews and Israel are one and the same people?
According to the conclusion of the great number of our learned
men, also some "higher (?) critics," we must needs conclude that
the Jews were fighting their own shadow, which would be reducing
the whole matter to an argumentum ad absurdum.
It is high time for the Christian world, yea, and all
secular historians, too, "to awake out of sleep," 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 has been and never can be, for the
difference between them is not only political and territorial but
it is semiracial. For, although the inheritors of the Sceptre and
the Birthright were sons of the same father, they were not sons
of the same mother, and thus they were only half brothers. This,
together with the fact that Leah is described as "tender-eyed"
and Rachel was said to be "fair," would make some strong facial
and physical distinctions in the posterity of the two families.
But when we remember that Joseph married an Egyptian princess,
thus blending the best Semitic blood with the royal blood of
Egypt, and making the posterity of Joseph half-blood Egyptian,
then we must know that while the children of Joseph are half
Israelitish they are still three-fourths removed from the
children of Judah. This alone would make great changes in their
physique and largely eradicate all facial resemblances.
The fact that Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, who
were the final inheritors of the Birthright, were half-blood
Egyptians is that which made it necessary for Jacob to adopt them
and make them fully his own, as Reuben and Simeon were his,
before he could confer upon them the covenant Birthright. This is
the adoption to which the Apostle Paul refers in his argument
concerning the Children of the Promise versus the Children of the
Flesh, as follows: "Israelites, to whom pertaineth 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." Here Israelites as a whole,
including both houses, are spoken of. Hence, to all who really
believe, claim, or teach that the Jews ONLY are Israelites, and
of all who believe that the word adoption, as used in this
connection, can possibly have reference in any way to spiritual
adoption we ask: When, how, or where did there ever occur an
adoption, either spiritual or racial, among the Jews as a nation?
No answer required. Please reflect.
An eminent theological professor, who gives an exegesis of
the Sunday-school lessons for the most prominent denominational
papers in this country, 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 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 writing the history of the
Abrahamic people until twelve hundred years after the 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 Jewry, which country was occupied by
the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi, and did not include
Samaria, the home of the ten-tribed kingdom.
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, that the words "Jew" and "Jews" are equivalent to
"Israel," "Israelites," "Israelitish," "Hebrew" and "Hebraic."
By not distinguishing Israel from 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 Zachariah; 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? 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
states in his writings that he was led into infidelity because he
saw that the Jews did not and never could verify the promises
concerning Israel.
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.
..........
To be continued
Joseph's Birthright #6
The Broken Brotherhood
JUDAH'S SCEPTRE AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT
by Allen (1917)
CHAPTER VI.
THE BROKEN BROTHERHOOD
In the last chapter we gave much testimony from the
Scripture showing that the ten-tribed kingdom is dealt with, both
in history and 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 the
Scripture is totally distinct from 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, quite evident
that, for some time after the division, but it is Judah that
pleased him 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 the war
which occurred between Israel and Moab in the days of Jehoram,
the son of Ahab, king of Israel, and of Jehoshaphat, king of
Judah.
During the reign of Ahab he had conquered Moab, and the king
of Moab paid him a revenue of one hundred thousand lambs and one
hundred thousand rams, with the wool. But upon the ascension of
Ahab's son 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 to all the region
of country which was occupied by the ten tribes of which the
kingdom of Israel was composed. Samaria was their capital city
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 hath rebelled against
me. Wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle?" To this the
king of Judah replied in the affirmative, saying:
"I will go up: I am as thou art, and my people as thy people."
As a matter of course he could say, "My people are as thy
people," for the people were brethren and subjects of brother
nations, all being seed of Abraham, 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 kinfolks 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 and the Children of the Promise made common
cause, and went up together against the king of Moab. But when
they had made a seven-days' 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 eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and
he reigned twelve years. And 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."
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 hath brought us three kings out here
to destroy us."
How quickly, when tortured with guilty fear, the idolater
knew there was a Loin who had power to destroy them, or at least
to destroy him, for he knew that he deserved it, and only said
"us three" because of a spirit of guilty cowardice which hoped to
shift the responsibility, or, if failing in that, to insist that
others were fully as much to blame as he - which is so often seen
in frightened but impenitent men. But it was not so with
Jehoshaphat, the God-fearing king of Judah, for he at once asked:
"Is there not here a prophet of the Lord that we may inquire of
the Lord by him?"
No doubt, the thought of Jehoshaphat in asking this question
was that by making inquiry of the Lord they would receive such
Divine instruction as 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 to the king of Israel,
saying: "What have I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets of
thy father and to the prophets of thy mother." But to this the
king, still fearful, vouchsafed only the reply, "Nay: for the
Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into
the hand of Moab."
Then Elisha said: "As the Lord of Hosts liveth, before whom
I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of
Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor
see thee."
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 declares: "Ephraim compasseth
me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit but Judah
yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints."
Ah, yes; Judah is not only faithful among the saints, but
she yet has power and ruling influence with God. Here are
reasons, abundant, for that honorable distinction which was
conferred upon Judah and her God-honoring king. It was because of
them that the Lord sent water to that famishing 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 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 Amaziah, king of Judah, and Joash, king
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 hired an hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of
Israel, for a hundred talents of silver. But there came a man of
God to him, saying, 'O king, let not the army of Israel go with
thee, for the Lord is not with Israel, to wit, all the children
of Ephraim. But if thou wilt go and do it, to be strong for the
battle, God shall make thee fall before the enemy; for God hath
power to help and to cast down.' And Amaziah said unto the man of
God, But what shall we do with the hundred talents which I have
given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The
Lord is able to give thee much more than this. Then Amaziah
separated them, to wit, the army that was come to him out of
Ephraim, to go home again: wherefore their anger was greatly
kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger. And
* * * the soldiers of the army which Amaziah sent back,
that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities
of Judah, from Samaria even to Beth-horon, and smote three
thousand of them, and took much spoil."
Thus we see that the terms Israel and Ephraim are used
interchangeably, for at one time we read "the army out of
Israel," and at another, but concerning the same transaction,
"the army that is come out of Ephraim." Also the man of God told
the king of the Jews that, if he went into battle with the
hundred thousand 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; that Joseph represents the Birthright blessing,
which carries with it the promise of a multitude of children,
which was originally given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and that
it sometimes occurs that the name of Joseph, the father, instead
of Ephraim, the son, is used when recording facts of history or
prophecy concerning the ten-tribed kingdom. This 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." Zech.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 as titles of the three-tribed kingdom. And,
since it is true that Judah and Joseph are the inheritors of the
two special promises which pertain to the two covenants, we need
not be surprised at this, but should 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 that the Birthright name and people are representatives of
one nation, and that Judah's sceptre is swaying over the other.
But these facts are still more clearly brought out in one of
Ezekiel's prophecies, as follows: "Moreover, thou son of man,
take thee one stick and write upon it, for Judah, and for the
children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and
write upon it for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and. for all the
house of Israel, his companions. And join them one to another
into one stick, and they shall become one in thine hand. And when
the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt
thou not shew us what thou meanest by these? say unto them, Thus
saith the Lord God: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph,
which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his
fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah
and make them one in my hand. And the sticks wherein thou writest
shall be in thy hand before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus
saith the Lord God: Behold I will take the children of Israel
from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather
them on every side and bring them into their own land. And I will
make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel;
and one king shall be king to them all, and they shall be no more
two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any
more at all. Neither shall they defile themselves any more 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:
(i) That there are two sticks, two nations, or kingdoms.
(2) That Judah, who inherited the sceptre and crown, has one of
those sticks, kingdoms, or nations; while Joseph-Ephraim has the
other.
(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 Joseph, or in other words, either to the Sceptre or to
the Birthright.
(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 and the other
the Birthright; for these and the promises connected with each
are of general interest to all the children of promise, but they
are the exclusive property of the two men, Judah and Joseph, who
are the special subjects of the prophecy, while the entire
posterity of Jacob is the general subject. But 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 midst of the seventh verse of the eleventh
chapter of Zachariah, we have the following: "I took unto me two
staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands. *
* * And I took my staff, even Beauty, 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
unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not,
forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
And the Lord said unto me, Cast it to the potter: a goodly price
that I was priced at of them. And I took thirty pieces of silver
and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. Then I cut
asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the
brotherhood between Israel and Judah." Zech.11:7-14.
So Israel and Judah are the two sticks or staves which the
Lord took unto himself. He first cut asunder one stick or staff
called Beauty, i. e., ten-tribed Israel. Then, after a certain
transaction in which their Lord was sold for thirty pieces of
silver, he cut asunder his other staff, called Bands (i. e.,
Judah, the Jews), that he might break the brotherhood between
Judah and Israel!
Just what a 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
thirty 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 dwelt; 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."
The brotherhood is still broken, but it shall be mended.
..........
To be continued
Joseph's Birthright #7
Israel's Idolatry
JUDAH'S SCEPTRE AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT
by Allen (1917)
CHAPTER VII.
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 the Birthright
kingdom; 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 that dwelt in the bush came upon
Joseph, he who was separated from his brethren, it is declared
that his glory was the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands
of Manasseh. Thus he received, in so far as tribal honor or glory
is concerned, a double portion. So, at the time of the division
of the land 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 first born of Joseph; but that "they gave no part
unto the Levites in the land, save cities to dwell in," and the
reason given for it is, "For the children of Joseph were two
tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim." Josh.14:4.
The fact is that Jacob adopted the two sons of Joseph gave
them tribal headship, and thus made thirteen tribes in Jacob.
And since Judah, Benjamin, and Levi were the tribal heads of the
kingdom of Judah, there were still ten 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 the
Jews, is full of the sin of Jeroboam and of her kings who walked
in this sin. This 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 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 Godgiven
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 Israel's
dynasties, together with a list of all the kings who reigned over
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 saith
concerning the idolatry of each of these her 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, in one column; and what is said concerning his
idolatry in the other.
I. DYNASTY.
1st King, Jeroboam. Reigned 22 years.
Idolatry
"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 unto Rehoboam, king of
Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam, king of
Judah, whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of
gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to
Jerusalem behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee 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." (1 Ki.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."
(1 Ki. 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." (1
Ki.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." (1 Ki.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
Reigned 1 week. 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." (1 Ki.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 6th King, Omri. walked in
all the way of Jeroboam, Reigned 12 years. the son of Nebat, and
in his sir wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the Lord
God of Israel to anger with their vanities." (1 Ki.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 7th King, Ahab. came to
pass, as if it had been a Reigned 22 years. 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 worshiped 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." (1 Ki.16:30-33.)
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 8th King, Ahaziah. mother,
and in the way of Jeroboam, Reigned 2 years. the son of Nebat,
who made Israel to sin: for he served Baal, and worshiped him,
and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel, according to all
that his father had done." (1 Ki.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 Reigned 12 years.
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
Ki.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 Ki.
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 Ki.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 Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who
made Israel to sin; but he walked therein." (2 Ki.13:11.)
13th King. Jeroboam, the 2nd, 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 Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who
made Israel to sin." (2 Ki.14:24.)
14th King. Zachariah. Reigned 6 months.
"And he did that which was evil imthe 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 Ki.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 Ki.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 Ki.15:24.)
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 Ki.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 Ki.17:2.)
After the introduction of Baalism and other idolatries,
there were a few feeble attempts at reformation; but they were
only 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." 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 unto them, Ahab served
Baal a little; Jehu shall serve him much. Now therefore call unto
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 Ki.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 same ten-tribed kingdom,
that the Lord, through the prophet Hosea, said, "Israel slideth
back as a backsliding heifer," and of whom he said, "I will heal
their backslidings, I will love them freely"; and whom he
exhorted, saying: "O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God!" But
they would not. And yet at that same time the Lord declared that
the Jews did have power with him, and that they were 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" - Jeroboam's calves? Or need we be
surprised, in the fact of these cold, hard facts, that the Lord
should say, "Let him alone?"
No, surely no. 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 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 with which we shall yet deal, 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 is of me" - until the Jewish people went into the
Babylonish captivity.
KINGDOM OF JUDAH.
(Dynasty a continuation of David's house.)
1st King ............ Rehoboam..Reigned 17 years
2nd " ............ Abijah .................... 3 "
3rd " ............ Asa ......................... 41 "
4th " ............ Jehosaphat .............. 25 "
5th " ........... Jehoram ................. 8 "
6th .. ............ Ahaziah .................. I "
7th " ............ (Queen) Athaliah.... 6 "
8th " ............ Jehoash .................. 40 "
9th .. ............ Amaziah ................ 29 "
Loth " ............Azariah, or Uzziah....52 "
11th .. ............ Jotham .................. 16 "
12th .. ............ Ahaz ...................... 16 "
13th " ............ Hezekiah ............... 29 "
14th .. ............ Manassah .............. 55 "
15th " ............ Amon ................... 2 "
16th " ............ Josiah .................... 31 "
17th " ............ Jehoahaz ............... 3 mos.
18th " ............Jehoiakim .............. 11 years
19th " ............Jehoiachin ............. 3 mos.
20th " ........... Zedekiah ............... 11 years
In this list we perceive that the same dynasty, which
commenced when David was made king over the united tribes,
continues throughout this entire list down to and including
Zedekiah; while, in the previously 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 swaying sceptre passed 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 kingdom of Israel, hence feudalism prevailed
among them.
....................
To be continued
Joseph's Birthright #8
Israel Cast Off!
JUDAH'S SEPTRE AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT
by Allen (1917)
CHAPTER VIII.
SAMARIA-ISRAEL CAST OUT AND CAST OFF
Concerning the casting out of Israel, it is written "And it
came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah (the king of
Judah) which was the seventh year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of
Israel, that Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against
Samaria and besieged it, and at the end of three years they took
it; even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year
of Hosea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken. And the king of
Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in
Halah, and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of
the Medes. 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 (literally
his fore-front regard, or fore-front favor; such as is expressed
in other places by the use of the words face and countenance), 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, as it is herein affirmed, the king of Assyria did take
this ten-tribed kingdom out o f their own land, which land is
called Samaria, and then place another people there instead o f
the children o f Israel, then Samaria is the lawful home of those
pre-Samaritans, THE EGYPTO-ISRAELITES of the Ephraimitish 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 grant 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. Wherefore they spake to the
king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed and
placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God
of the land: therefore he hath 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 ye brought from thence; 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 dwelt 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
Sepharviam. 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
(Joseph-Ephraim-Samaria-Israel whom they, carried away from
thence. Unto this day they do after the former manners." (2 Kings
17:25-34.)
Yes: "after the former manner" of idolatrous Isreal. Yes;
after the former manner of 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 worshiped 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. Yes; here is a perfect flower, produced from the pollen
of example, and grown upon the plant of "after the former
manner." Yes; here is a clear case of gathering thistles when
they should have had figs. And yet that poor priest whom they
sent back was not to blame, for he himself was one of the lowest
of his race. The blame lay behind him-Israel!
The charge against the people of Israel is, "Surely as a
wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt
treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord." (Jere.
3:20.) And the Lord cried out, "O Ephraim, thou hast 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 harken unto him." Thus the Lord
declares, "I will love them no more;" but in the bitterness of
his disappointment, for this is the same Lord that wept over
Jerusalem, he cried out, "O Ephraim, how shall I give thee up?"
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
(support or stay) declareth unto them for the spirit of whoredom
hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under
their God." (Hosea 4:12.)
Still he cries after them, "Return, O backsliding Isreal,
return! Return unto me and I will return unto you, for I am
married unto you. I will heal your backslidings and love you
freely." 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-that of Judah-and says:
"Though thou, 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 one hundred and thirty
years after the driving out of Israel they, too, were carried
into captivity,-the captivity in Babylon.
Since "the head of Ephraim is Samaria," (Isa.7:9) there need
be no difficulty in understanding why the Lord should declare e
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 worshiping 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
(passionate suffering) by their vanities." Hence the wail of the
prophet, "They trust in vanity and speak lies."
Let us note carefully, and we will get still clearer light
concerning the calf question. "Israel hath cast off the thing
that is good (God and his care): the enemy shall pursue him
(because they had cast off the protection of God). They have set
up kings, but not by me (their own, not the Lord's, choice) they
have made princes (feudal princes, not of royal line), and I knew
(Heb, yada, appoint, recognize) it not: of their silver and their
gold have they made them (selves) idols (calves, etc.) that (as a
result) they may be cut off.
"Thy calf (the cause), O Samaria, hath cast thee off (the
result): mine anger (long-suffering passion) is kindled against
them: how long will it be ere they (Israel) attain to innocency?
( i. e., lack of guilt through the power of the calf to forgive,
or take that guilt away.)
"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.
For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind:
it hath left no standing corn (R. V.); the bud shall yield no
meal: if so be it yield, the strangers (Post-Samaritans) 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 ass alone (without God) by himself:
Ephraim hath hired lovers (Marginal reading: loves, i. e., having
no loving care from the Lord, they hire some one to love them).
Yea, though they have hired (lovers) among the nations, now will
I gather them, and they shall begin to sorrow in a little while
(marginal reading) for the burden of the king of princes. Because
Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be to him a
sin. I have written to him the great things o f my laws, but they
were counted as a strange thing. They sacrifice (other) flesh for
the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the Lord
accepteth them not: now will he remember their iniquity, and
visit their sins; they shall return to Egypt. (Figurative to them
of captivity and bondage). For Israel hath forgotten his maker."
Isaiah fully explains the expression, "They shall begin to
sorrow in a little while, for the burden of the King of Princes,"
in the following: "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the
staff in their hand is mine 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 meaneth
not so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not
a few. For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?" (Isa.
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 has 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 and many others have the same
signification in the prophecies of the Bible that they have in
its historic portions. That is, if the names Israel, Samaria,
Ephraim, etc., are used in the history to designate the
ten-tribed Egypto-Israelitish Birthright kingdom; then, when
those names are used prophetically, surely the prophecy involved
must refer to the same people. This is also true of the terms
Judah and the Jews. True, the name Israel often 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
whatever to the Jewish people.
In the thirty-first 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 first born," in
connection with which he says, "He that scattered Israel will
gather him," 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, "Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of
Samaria," and to this he further adds: "A great company shall
return thither."
"Return thither." "Where?"
To the place from which they came--SAMARIA ! "Who?"
Jacob-Rachel-Joseph-Ephraim-Samaria-Israel ! ! !
It is a well-known fact that the Jews went into the
Babylonish captivity; but it is much more fully known that they
returned from that captivity and dwelt, for a short season, in
Judea, 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," in
contradistinction from that which is known as "All Judea" and
"Jewry," which was the home of the Jews.
In another chapter we have given the details of the
Babylonian captivity of the Jews, 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 eight 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 twenty-three years later,
i. e., 600 B.C. But the prophet Amos had prophesied concerning
the captivity and return from captivity of the ten-tribed kingdom
one hundred and sixty-four years prior to the first intimation
that the Jews would ever go into captivity, and one hundred and
ninetynine years before they were carried away into captivity.
In writing concerning the captivity of the ten tribes the names
which Amos used to designate them are, "Samaria," used four
times; "Joseph," used three times; "Isaac," used twice; "Bethel,"
used five times, and "Israel," used seventeen times.
Amos is the only one of the prophets 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 of 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 (this is Jeroboam the second) son of
Joash, king of Israel. He uses the title of Isaac as follows:
"And the high places (groves for worship) of Isaac shall be
desolate, and the sanctuaries (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 went to worship the calf),
sent to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired
against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not
able to bear all his words. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall
die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out
of their own land. Also Amaziah saith unto Amos, O thou seer, go
flee away into the land of Judah (Jewry) and there eat bread, and
prophesy there; but prophesy not again any more 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 the first 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,
saith the Lord thy God." (Amos 9:14,15.)
But, in spite of the fact that this prophecy was written two
centuries before the Jews were sent into captivity, while they
were yet counted among the faithful saints, it having no
application to them whatever, and that, when fulfilled, the
people to whom it refers SHALL NO MORE BE PULLED UP out of their
land - there are theory-bound men who are so determined that
everything Israelitish shall be Jewish that they have the
audacity to tell us that this prophecy was fulfilled when the
Jews returned from the Babylonish captivity.
....................
To be continued
Joseph's Birthright #9
Jews in Babylon and Return
JUDAH'S SCEPTRE AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT
by Allen (1917)
CHAPTER IX.
THE JEWS GO TO BABYLON AND RETURN
The twenty-third chapter of Ezekiel 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, saith the Lord, and they bare sons and daughters." "Thus
were their names; SAMARIA is Aholah (Israel), and JERUSALEM
Aholibah (Judah)." Ezekiel 23:4. 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 that 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 thine elder sister
is Samaria (Israel), she and her daughters that dwell at thy left
hand; and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is
Sodom and her daughters. Yet hast thou not walked after their
ways, nor done after their abominations; but, as if it were a
very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy
ways. * * * Neither hath Samaria (Israel) committed half of thy
sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they
and hast justified (by comparison) thy sisters in all thine
abominations which thou hast done. Thou also, which hast judged
thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast
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 unto me, The backsliding Israel hath
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 unto all the men of Judah, and among other things say
unto them: "But go ye now unto 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 ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake
unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I
called you, but ye answered not. Therefore will I do unto this
house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto 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 seventh year (of
his reign) three thousand Jews and three-and-twenty. In the
eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from
Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-and-two persons. In the
three-and-twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuzar-adan, the
captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven
hundred forty-and-five persons. All the persons were four
thousand and six hundred." (Jeremiah 52:27-30.)
Thus doth Jeremiah teach, 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 (Judea had been a province to Babylon twenty years
before Nebuchadnezzar robbed and burned the temple, destroyed
Jerusalem, and took the Jews to Babylon) that went up out of the
captivity of those which had been carried away, whom
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried away into
Babylon, and came again unto 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 the capital of that empire) for seventy
years. Just as the seventy years came to an end the empire was
taken by the Medes and Persians, and it became known in history
as the Medo-Persian empire.
Ezra begins his record as follows: "Now in the first year of
Cyrus, King 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 said Cyrus
King of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the
kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an
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) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever
remaineth in any place (throughout the kingdom) where he
sojourneth, 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 hath 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 mentioned as 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
Babylonish captivity, the ten tribes having been carried away
into the Assyrian captivity one hundred and thirty 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 unto Sheshbazzar, the
prince of Judah. And this is the number of them: Thirty charges
of silver, nine and thirty knives. Thirty basins of gold, silver
of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a
thousand. All the vessels of gold and silver were five thousand
and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with him of
the captivity that were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem."
(Ezra 1:8-11.) Please notice that among these things mentioned as
belonging to the house of God there is no mention of the Ark of
the Covenant. The reason is that the Ark was with the Birthright
people.
Some presume to teach that the house of Israel returned to
Palestine with the Jews when they came 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 builded
the wall he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the
Jews. And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria,
and said, What do these feeble Jews?"(Neh.4:1,2.) Again: "Now
when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the
children of the captivity builded the temple unto 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 second year of Darius, at which time these
imported 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 Cambysses 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
he 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
Babylonish 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 thou, being
a Jew, askest drink of me, a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have
no dealings with the Samaritans."
Third:
to show that neither Josephus, who writes on the "Antiquities of
the Jews," nor their enemies, the Cuthea-Samaritans, ever
confounds the ten-tribed Israelites with the Jewish Israelites.
Oh, how we do 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 Judea, 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 forty-and-two thousand three hundred and
three-score, besides their servants and their maids, of whom
there were seven thousand, three hundred thirty-seven." Ezra
states that there were among these servants two hundred singing
men and women, but Nehemiah puts the number of singers at two
hundred and forty-five. 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 fourteen years and a
half after that which was led by Ezra. And yet in the
genealogical records of this "whole congregation" of forty-nine
thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven 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 till now (A.D.95), and are an immense multitude, and
not to be estimated by numbers."
We note that First and Second 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.
....................
To be continued
NOTE:
Some have argued with the phrase "and all Israel in their cities"
-- Ezra 2:70. To say all 13 tribes of Israel returned and came
back to the Holy Land, except some who decided not to, and hence
were the scattered "Jews" of Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. But
from that phrase they argue there was never any "lost" tribes of
Israel. As we have seen Josephus the Jewish historian of the
first century A.D. does not agree with such an argument, and I'm
sure he had read the book of Ezra.
The answer is as the example of Luke 2:1. "....that ALL THE WOLRD
should be taxed" (enrolled margin of KJV).
Obviously the people of Chian, India, North and South America,
Japan, Australia and etc.. did not come to be taxed or enrolled.
So such phrases have a CONTEXT!!!
The phrase in Ezra "all Israel in their cities" has a CONTEXT of
THOSE WHO RETURNED, which in the context of the return of the
Jews from Babylon, was not even ALL the Jews returned, as Acts 2
points out. And Jews are Israelites, but not all Israelites are Jews.
Hence Josephus was quite CORRECT, just as the relatively modern
Jewish Christian scholar Elersheim also agrees with Josephus -
the 10 Tribes of Israel (except for individuals) NEVER EVER
returned to the Holy Land.
Oh the silly arguments of men, who it seems never read all the
Bible, or they read it with tunnel vision, some verses like Luke
2:1 go right over their heads, and they so go on their their
theological blindness and ignorance.
Keith Hunt
Joseph's Birthright #10
Joseph-Israel Lost #1
JUDAH'S SCEPTRE AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT
by Allen (1917)
CHAPTER X.
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 Egypto-Israelites returned with the Jews. 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 a
hundred and thirty-four 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
tribehood, 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, is a piece of twaddle and nonsense."
Thus with one presumptive wave of the hand he attempts to
sweep from before our eyes the most important subject, so far as
the vindication of the Word of God is concerned, that has ever
made an appeal to a Bible-loving people for an honest hearing.
This same commentator speaks of "The Exodus of Nehemiah," and of
the number that returned "under Nehemiah," as though there were
but one Exodus from Babylon. Whereas there were two, the first
and largest being under Ezra, while that of Nehemiah was fourteen
years later, and was composed of those Jews "which were left" of
the Babylonish captivity, who did not go up with the first or
Ezra exodus.
He further says: "The ten tribes had been in the Chaldean
Empire two hundred years at the time of the Exodus." But it is
written "that Israel was taken into Assyria, and placed in the
regions of the rivers Hilah and Habor," a region of country more
than five hun dred miles from Babylon. To us it seems an insult
to the integrity of God for any man to presume that the ten
tribes ever saw Babylon.
This commentator still further says: "Of course they were
but a fraction of Judah and Benjamin" which returned. But God
says: "All the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves
together unto Jerusa lem, and EVERY ONE unto his city." Is there
any question here as to which we shall believe? None whatever;
but, since our brother says that only a fraction of Judah and
Benjamin returned, we would ask: Where are the remaining
fractions from which that fraction was taken? And since he tells
us that doubtless many of the ten tribes returned with that
fraction, we would ask: Where is the whole number from which the
"many" came? And, without waiting for an answer, we will hasten
to say that when this man was driven to use the "doubtless"
argument, he had evidently lost something, and that the people in
question are lost, at least to him.
When the Lord had determined to give Israel a bill of
divorce, he called Hosea to prophesy against her, and, in order
to have a perfect type of her adulterous condition, made him take
a wife of whoredoms and bear children of whoredoms because the
people of "the land had committed great whoredoms, departing from
the Lord."
As the wife of the prophet bore children, the Lord took the
privilege of naming them, and in each name uttered a prophecy.
When the first daughter was born, "God said unto him, 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 (the prophet's wife) had weaned Lo-ruhamah,
she conceived and bare a son. Then said God, Call his name
Lo-ammi (which means, not my people), for ye 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 unto them Ye are not my people, there it shall be said
unto them, Ye are the sons of the Living God." (Hosea 1:8-10.)
Beloved, do you catch the wonderful meaning to all this? Look!
The name of the newborn son is Lo-ammi, for God refuses any
longer to be the God of that people among whom the child is born;
he casts them off and forsakes them.
"Yet" - O do you see the immutability of the promise of the
covenant-making and covenant-keeping Jehovah, who after making an
unconditional promise must keep it, even if some conditions do
change? God has said it. He cannot lie; with him there is "no
variableness nor shadow of turning." He has promised Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, that their seed shall become "many nations."
"I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven." "I
will make thee fruitful and multiply thee." "Thy seed shall be
as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the
west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south." And
then he told Joseph that all these promises should be fulfilled
in his sons, at that same time malting Ephraim his first-born.
Then in due time he separated the Sceptre and the Birthright,
causing all the tribes to gather under the one or the other,
making two kingdoms of the entire Abrahamic posterity, saying,
"This thing is of me."
But now "Ephraim-Israel is joined to his idols." "They are
not my people," "I will not be their God," "I cast them out"; and
"yet," in spite of this, and although driven from home by their
enemies, "yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as
the sands of the sea, which cannot be numbered." This language
proves that, although cast off, they must still increase and
fulfill their God-appointed destiny by growing into a multitude
of people in the midst of the earth, and in due time become a
great nation or a company of nations. Also, the words which
immediately follow these show that, while in that cast-out
condition, and while developing into their destiny as regards
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, that they are not Jacob's seed, that they are not
Israel, 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 have so forgotten their origin, that they will believe
it. This being 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, the Lord has said that those persons shall be there, and
shall say unto them: "Ye are the sons of the Living God."
While Israel was true to the Lord, she was likened to a
delicate and comely woman, and the Lord called her his wife; but
when she became an idolatrous nation, she was called a harlot,
and the Lord treated her as a woman who had broken wedlock, by
giving her a bill of divorce. After the Lord has "cast her out of
his sight," and allowed her to be carried away into the Assyrian
captivity, she is spoken of in prophecy as "forsaken," a woman in
"widowhood," "a wife of youth," "refused," "barren" and
"desolate."
But the Lord made a promise of redemption to that same
desolate one, saying: "Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth
and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
For thy Maker is thy husband (once more), the Lord of Hosts is
his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the
whole earth shall be called. For the Lord hath called thee as a
woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when
thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I
forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee." (Isa.
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, on in
other words, Israel was to increase while cast out more than
before. This is exactly what the prophet Hosea has declared in
the prophecy which we have been considering.
The Lord further uses Hosea to teach that 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 ass alone by himself:
Ephraim hath hired lovers'), that give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. Therefore, behold, I
will hedge up thy way with thorns, 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, aside from the Jews, 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 ye unto your
brethren Ammi, and to your sisters, Ruhamah. Plead with your
mother, plead! for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband."
When God gave to Israel the name of Lo-ammi, or not my people, it
was because he had cast them 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 condition. But
while it is true that Israel was not at that time the people of
God, it is true that Judah was then ruling with him, and was
counted among the faithful; hence, they were Ammi, or the people
of God.
Also when God gave to Israel the name of Lo-rubamah, the
meaning of which is, not having obtained mercy, he did so because
that name was characteristic of his attitude toward them, at that
time, for he declared that he would no longer have mercy upon
them, but would cast them out. But at that same time he said, "I
will have mercy upon the house of Judah." So, if Israel was
Lo-ruhamah, the one not having obtained mercy, then Judah was
Ruhamah, the one which obtained mercy. For that word "Lo" is the
Hebrew negative, and, in the Scriptures under consideration, the
words Ammi, Lo-ammi, Ruhamah, and Lo-ruhamah are Hebrew words
which are transferred, but not translated.
These things being true, it is clear that the brethren Ammi,
and their sisters Ruhamah, who are exhorted to plead, are the
Jews and Jewesses of the kingdom of Judah. It is they who are
exhorted to plead with their mother, i. e., to plead with that
out from which they came, namely: THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL.
Destroy them? No, but "consume thy, filthiness out o f
thee." (Ezek.22:15.) After this, the Lord declares this
dispersion to have been accomplished, saying: "I scattered them
among the heathen and they were dispersed through the countries:
* * * and when they entered into the heathen, whither 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 mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned
among the heathen, whither they went. Therefore say unto the
house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your
sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye
have profaned among the heathen, whither ye 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
eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you
out o f all countries, and bring you into your own land."
(Ezek. 36: 19-24.)
The Jews were taken into Babylon and returned from thence;
but the house of Israel, as herein stated, was scattered
throughout all countries. But for the vindication of his holy
name, he declared that he should yet be sanctified in the eyes of
all nations, by saving Israel and bringing them back to their own
land. When this takes place, Israel shall come out from all
countries.
In two of these quotations they are called, "The dispersed."
This will enable us to understand Zeph.3:10 - "From beyond the
rivers of Ethiopia, my suppliants, even the daughter o f my
dispersed, shall bring mine offering."
Since we understand that "the dispersed" are the ten tribes,
which composed the Birthright kingdom, we comprehend the grave
import of the question asked by the chief man of Judah in the
following: "When the Pharisees heard that the people murmured
such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief
priests sent officers to take him. Then Jesus said unto them, Yet
a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent
me. Ye shall seek me and shall not find me: and where I am,
thither ye cannot come. Then said the Jews among themselves,
Whither will he go that we cannot find him? "Will he go unto the
dispersed among the Gentiles?" (John 7:32-35.)
This very question reveals the fact that the Jews knew that
the ten tribes were dispersed among the nations, and that they
did not know where they were; hence, that they could not go to
them. They also comprehended the fact that, if this man called
Christ should prove to be the long-expected Messiah, he did know
where the lost people were, and could go to them. It is also an
admission, from the chief men of Judah, that a portion of the
race were lost.
Isaac Leeser, an eminent Jewish scholar, who translated the
Hebrew Scriptures for the English speaking Jews, says in his
great work, "The Jewish Religion," Vol. I, page 256: "Let us
observe that by this return of the captives (from Babylon) the
Israelitish nation was not restored; since the ten tribes, who
had formerly composed the kingdom of Israel, were yet left in
banishment; and to this day the researches of travelers and wise
men have not been able to trace their fate." 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
thee; 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 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 on the head
of them." (Micah 2:12,13.)
The reason the Lord says that he will assemble and put them
together is, that, prior to the time when Shalmaneser took the
main body of the kingdom of Israel into Assyria, it seems that a
former king (Tiglath-Pileser) had taken the Reubenites, the
Gadites, a portion of Naphtali, and one of the half tribes of
Manasseh, "And brought them unto Halah, and Habor and Hara, and
to the river Gozan." Later, the rest of the ten tribes were
brought to this same region.
As we have already noted, 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 and Caspian seas. Israel,
making a great noise because of the multitude, went out through
this pass, or gate, or entrance.
What is meant by the king passing on before them is
explained later.
....................
To be continued
Joseph's Birthright #11
Joseph-Israel Lost #2
JUDAH'S SCEPTRE AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT
by Allen (1917)
CHAPTER XI.
JOSEPH-ISRAEL LOST--(CONTINUED)
If it could be proved that Israel returned with Judah from
the Babylonish captivity, it would only prove that her prophetic
history was not fulfilled, and that those prophets which both
Jews and Christians have reecived as the true prophets of God,
are but lying prophets. For 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. As in the following
"Therefore will I cast you out of this land, into a land
that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers, and there shall ye
serve other gods day and night; where I will not show you favor.
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall
no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of
Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, that
brought the children of Israel from the land of the north, and
from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring
them again unto their land that I gave unto their fathers.
"Behold I will send for many fishers, saith 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 mine eyes are upon all
their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their
iniquity hid from mine eyes. And first I will recompense their
iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land,
they have filled mine 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 unto thee 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 mine hand and my might;
and they shall know that thy name is the Lord." (Jer.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 ye know not." They were not to remain in
Assyria.
(3) "Neither ye 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 ye 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 recornpensed "their
iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land,
they have filled mine 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., the Samaritan
portion of Palestine.
(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." He came to his own tribal house,
Judah, but his own received him not, and then he said unto them:
"Your house is left unto you desolate." But he said to his
fishers, "Go to the lost sheep of the HOUSE of Israel." Six
hundred and thirty years prior to this, one hundred and twenty
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 hath 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.
(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) unto
her. And it shall be in that day saith the Lord that thou shalt
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 14:8.) Concerning this fact of Israel's
receiving the gospel while cast out: "Thus saith the Lord, The
people which were left of the sword found grace in the
wilderness; even Israel." (Jer.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 which 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, 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 hid from
my face," that the people in question were hid from others. Else,
why should the Lord say that they were not hid from him?
"If they were not hid from the Lord, who were they hid from?"
We answer-THE HUNTERS.
(11) The nineteenth verse relates to Gentiles who shall come unto
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 Jer.1:10 this same Hebrew word
is translated nations. In Jer.31:9, while speaking to
Joseph-Ephraim-Samaria-Israel, the Lord says: "I am a father to
Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born. Hear the word of the Lord,
O ye nations (Goy), and declare it in the isles afar off, and
say, He that 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."
How so?
Do not forget, Hosea has prophesied concerning the same
people, saying that in the place where it shall be said unto
them, "Ye are Lo-ammi, or not the people of God," there it shall
be said unto them "Ammi," or "Ye are the sons of the living God."
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, saith the Lord, "I will cause them to know mine hand,
and my might; and they shall know that my name is the Lord,
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 thou sawest that he
gathered another peaceful company, those are the ten tribes,
which 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 dwelt, 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 dwelt 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 sawest
thou 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 one 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
an highway for the remnant of his people which shall be left from
Assyria, like as it was in the day that he came up out of the
land of Egypt." (Isa.11:15,16.)
Mind you, he does not say that they shall come from Assyria;
he is speaking of the remnant of his people which 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 thy
people and consulted against THY 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." (Psa. 83:3,4.)
Hence, there is a people who bear the name of Israel, which,
as we have learned, is the name of the birthright nation, which
if it is not now hid, has in the past been hid from all except
the Omnipotent One.
....................
NOTE:
The prophecy in Isaiah 11 has a double meaning, it is a prophecy
for when Jesus the Messiah returns, and Israel will come from the
modern Assyrian nation - the German nation - and so from the end
time Holy Roman Empire - the 7th and last resurrection of the
Holy Roman Empire, now rising in Europe. Isaiah 11 is very much a
prophecy for the end time, when the Messiah returns to establish
the Kingdom of God on earth for the 1,000 years as given in
Revelation chapter 20.
Keith Hunt
To be continued
Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright #12
David's Throne Forever!
by Allen (1917)
THE SCEPTRE, AND THE DAVIDIC COVENANT
CHAPTER I.
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 an
uninhabited and unexplored wilderness. While Israel has been
exploring, pioneering and settling this wilderness, the Lord has
so hedged up their way that they can find neither the paths by
which they came nor the place from whence 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 Scepter, 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 Scepter, 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
thee." 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" (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 any
one 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; while he in turn bestowed them upon
Jacob, who so much desired them and considered them so surely to
exist already that he was willing to strike bargains for them, or
even resort to fraudulent measures to get possession of them.
At the death of Jacob these two covenant blessings the
Birthright and the Sceptre - were separated, the Birthright
falling to one of his sons and the Sceptre to another one of
them, as we have heretofore 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 unto him shall the gathering of the people be."
(Gen. 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, was enthroned, and to him were
reiterated the promises concerning the royal family, which had
been emphasized to Judah by his dying father when he bestowed on
him the covenant blessing of royal fatherhood.
When the Sceptre covenant was confirmed to David, the Lord
gave the message through Nathan the prophet in these words: "When
thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I
will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy
bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an 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 chasten 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 thee. And thy house and thy kingdom shall be
established forever before thee: Thy throne shall be established
forever." (2 Sam.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 thou
hast brought me hitherto? And this was yet a small thing in thy
sight, O Lord God (i. e., the present power, glory and prestige
of David's house, throne and kingdom): but thou hast spoken also
of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the
manner of man, O Lord God?" (2 Sam.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 thou hast
spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house,
establish it forever, and do as thou hast said."
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 all 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 commit 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 a 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, it is altogether another question, for
many of them were as wicked as men ever 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 unto the name of the
Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto David my father, saying, Thy
son whom I will set upon thy throne in thy 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, and with uplifted
hands spread toward heaven, in that wonderful prayer at the
dedication of the temple, said: "The Lord hath performed his word
that he spake; 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 an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. There is
no God like thee, in heaven above, nor on earth beneath, who
keepest covenant and mercy with thy servant, * * * who hast kept
with thy servant David my father that which thou promised'st him;
thou speakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with
thine hand, as it is this day. Therefore now, Lord God of Israel,
keep with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him,
saying: There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the
throne of Israel." (1 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, thou Jeroboam and all Israel.
Ought ye 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."
The eighty-ninth Psalm contains much light regarding the
covenant under consideration, which the Lord made with David and
his sons, concerning the perpetuity of his throne, scepter,
kingdom, and his posterity. In it the Lord declares: "I have made
a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,
saying, Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy
throne to all generations." 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."
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, he 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," - 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
the eleventh chapter of 1 Kings, where we read as follows: "And
the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned
from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto 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. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon: Forasmuch as
this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my
statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the
kingdom from thee, and I will give unto thy servant.
Notwithstanding, in thy days I will not do it, for David thy
father's sake; but will rend it out of the hand of thy son.
Howbeit, I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give
one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake." (1 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 unto 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 thy son."
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 dare not take away the entire kingdom from that royal
line! Yes, we can say "dare 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 unto David. His seed
shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. It
shall be establshed forever as the moon, and as a faithful
witness in the heaven." (Psa.89:35-37.) Also, in the
twenty-ninth verse of that same Psalm is the following: "His
seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the
days of heaven."
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 sceptre. Just so long will
they continue to say, by their very presence in the heavens,
"We are witnesses unto men throughout all generations, that the
Lord God of Israel has not lied into 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." (Rev.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 characterfor 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
Ghost has inspired Jeremiah to write: "Thus saith the Lord: If ye
can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night,
and that there should not be day and night in their season; then
may also my covenant be broken with my servant, that he should
not have a son to reign upon his throne." (Jer. 33:20,21.)
Previously, in this same chapter, and in the seventeenth
verse, the Lord has 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." 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." (Jer.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 hast magnified thy word above all thy 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.
..........
NOTE:
And the angel said to Mary the son she would have by the Holy
Spirit, was to be the Son of God - Immanuel - "God with us" - and
to Him would be given the Throne of David.
I submit it is against all natural logic to presume Jesus the
Christ would somehow be given a throne that has not existed for
thousands of years (it has alread been at least 2 and 1/2
thousand years if the throne of David came to an end when Judah
was finally deported to Babylon in 586 B.C. with the fall of
Jerusalem)....such a thought and promise is silly and illogical
to the extreme, for anyone to take a throne that has not existed
for thousands of years.
God cannot be counted a liar to David, the ideas of men may make
God a liar, and not able to perform His work, but the words given
by the Eternal to David about his throne enduring forever, are so
powerfully strong, those with simple childlike faith, will know
and believe that David's throne will exist on earth today; that
someone is now today, sitting on that throne ruling at least some
of the children of Abraham. And so it will be a throne that even
in the space-age world of the 21st century, will still exist, and
still be regarded with favor and respect and honor, by tens of
millions of people.
Is there such a throne today? A throne that is the most famous
throne in the entire world; a throne that defies the modern age
of modern enlightened technology; does such a throne exist today?
YES INDEED, and it should not take the reader very much thought
or time to figure which throne in the world is the greatest
throne that has ever been in the history of mankind.
Keith Hunt
To be continued
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