Lost!
By
Rabbi Robert O. Miller
“Rebbe YahShua said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:9, 10)”
One of the most popular television shows here in the US right now [2010] is “Lost.” It mixes thrills with Sci-Fi wonder, it began with a jetliner traveling from Australia to Los Angeles crashing (too close for comfort for me since I take that route often), leaving 48 survivors on an unidentified island with no sign of civilization or hope of imminent rescue. A kind of Gilligan’s Island meets Survivor meets Land of the Lost. Why this popularity for one television show? We have a fixation with things that are lost.
And one of the most popular prophetic subjects has to do with the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.” But were they “lost” in the context that we did not know where to find them? For the answer we must refer to the words of our Messiah: “Go…to the lost sheep of Israel. (Matthew 10:6)” He is saying this to the disciples, notice their lack of response. What they did not say is more important than what they could have said. They did not say, “But Rabbi no one knows where they are…they’ve been lost for centuries.” Rather, the disciples expressed no difficulty with the commission given to them.
“These twelve Rebbe YahShua sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. (Matthew 10:5-7)”
“…He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Adon, help me. (Matthew 15:24,25)”
“I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will hear to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. (John 10:16)”
“…this full Messianic message of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14)” “…ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)”
“…Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father, by authority of the Son through the inspiration of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. (Matthew 28:19)”
The Fall of the Commonwealth
We begin our excursion to find “The Lost Tribes of Israel with an often overlooked event by many in Yahweh’s Word, that is, the separation of the Commonwealth of Israel into two specific ‘houses’ around 926 BCE. Up to then, the twelve tribes of Israel (plus the priestly tribe of Levi) had been united under the monarchies of Sh’aul, David, and Solomon. Kings David and Solomon absorbed the Phoenicians into the Commonwealth of Israel who had massive fleets, which sailed the globe. Via the widespread sailing routes of the Phoenicians, the Israelites established a large network of colonies that stretched from Africa to Britain. The Scriptures assert that King Solomon had a global impact, and that ancient kings traveled to Israel to witness Solomon’s wealth and wisdom. As evidence of Israel’s global impact, the 10 Commandments (in Paleo- Hebrew) have been found written on a mountain in Los Lunas, New Mexico and on an unearthed tablet in Newark, Ohio. But when King Solomon’s son Rehoboam ascended to the throne, the ten Northern tribes rebelled and seceded from the union. This left only the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin and most of the Priests of Levi under the control of the King in Jerusalem. From that time on, the tribes were divided into two nations, which came to be called the House of Israel (the Northern ten tribes) and the House of Judah (the Southern two tribes).
However, the division of Israel truly began in the heart of King Solomon.
“…King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; of the nations concerning which Yahweh said unto the children of Israel, “Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods:” Solomon clave unto these in love. (I King 11:1,2)”
Yahweh even ‘appeared‘ unto King Solomon ‘twice‘ concerning these abominations, but he would not הבושת teshuvah (return) unto Him.
“Yahweh became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. (I King 11:9)”
As an act of love and the fulfillment of His Word, Yahweh said to King Solomon: “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole Kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen. (I King 11:11-13)”
Notice,Yahweh didnot ‘rend away all the kingdom’ of Israel, ‘but will give one tribe’ (which was actually a composite of Judah & Benjamin) to King Solomon’s son Prince Rehoboam of Judah, the Royal Sceptre Tribe. Wherever you find Judah you find Levi (Num.3 & 18) to be the Torah givers.
“The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a Torah giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. (Genesis 49:10)”
“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. (John 4:22)”
“What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Primarily, because to them were committed the oracles of Yahweh. For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the Faith of Yahweh without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let Yahweh be true but every man a liar. As it is written: ‘That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged. (Psalm 51:4)” (Romans 3:1-4)”
“For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery–so that you will not be wise in your own estimation–that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,” THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM,WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS. (Isaiah 59:20, 21)” (Romans 11:25-27)”
The severity of King Solomon’s sin was that he broke one of the major Commandments from Yahweh: “Thou shalt have no other elohim before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I Yahweh thy Elohim am a jealous Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me (Exodus 20:4,5).” Now, this does not mean Yahweh will punish a child for their parent’s sin. Each individual is responsible for their own actions before Yahweh.
“I Yahweh search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve. (Jeremiah 17:10)” However, the consequences of the actions of our forefathers will extend to the third and fourth generation and if each generation continues in the iniquity, then they will be punished.
The Northern Kingdom consisted of 10 of the tribes of Israel (excluding Judah and Benjamin). It lasted for about 210 years until it was destroyed by Assyria in 721 BCE. Its capital was Samaria. Every king of Israel was evil. They all “did evil in the sight of Yahweh, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he had made Israel to sin. (1 King 15:34)”
Jeroboam, the Ephraimite, was the first king of the Northern Kingdom. While a young man King Solomon placed him over the tributes of Ephraim and Manasseh. He superintended the labors of his tribesmen in the building of the fortress Mello in Jerusalem. It was while a civil servant to the King that Jeroboam became aware of the widespread discontent caused by the extravagances which marked the reign of Solomon.
One day, the prophet AhiYah meets Jeroboam the Ephraimite coming out of Jerusalem, and Jeroboam had on ‘a new garment’: “And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet AhiYah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field: And AhiYah 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 Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel, ‘Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee (I King 11:29-31).” Yahweh spoke through AhiYah and promised that if Jeroboam were faithful to Yahweh his house would be confirmed in authority over Israel. “If you do whatever I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. I will humble David’s descendants because of this, but not forever.’ (I King 11:38,39)”
Not satisfied to await the death of the king, Jeroboam attempted a coup which was unsuccessful, and he fled to Egypt, where he remained until the death of King Solomon in 975 BCE. After the death of King Solomon, Jeroboam returned to Israel, where he became the leader of the delegation sent by the malcontents of Israel to ask the new king, Rehoboam to lighten the burdens, which his father, King Solomon, had placed upon them. No sooner had King Rehoboam imprudently and harshly rejected their petition did the Ten Tribes of the North withdrew their allegiance to the House of David, seceded from the Commonwealth and proclaimed Jeroboam their king, while only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to King Rehoboam.
“So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David.” So Israel departed unto their tents. But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. (I Kings 12:16,17)”
King Jeroboam established his headquarters at Shechem. Fearing the Temple worship in Jerusalem prescribed by the Torah might cause the people of the Northern Kingdom to go back to their old allegiance, he provided a new form of worship within their own boundaries, and for this purpose he set up two golden calves to be worshipped as Yahweh, one in Bethel and the other in Dan. He also built temples in the high places the main one on Mount Gerizim – the Mount of Blessing – which was a replica of King Solomon’s Temple at Jerusalem and had them served by priests selected from the common people. He also moved the High Holy Days from the seventh month to the eighth, thereby effectively setting aside the Sabbath commandment, since the Holy Days are Yahweh’s Sabbaths. Those who didn’t agree with King Jeroboam’s ‘golden calf’ worship also left the Northern Ten Tribes and moved to Jerusalem to the ‘House of Judah’.
“…the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest’s office unto Yahweh: and he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made.(2 Chronicles 11:14,15)”
“Jeroboam drove Israel from following Yahweh, and made them commit a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, until the Sovereign removed Israel out of His sight. . . . (2 Kings 17:21-23)”
War between Israel and Judah continued the first six years of their separate existence (I Kings, 14 : 30; 15 : 7, 16; 2 Chronicles 12 : 15; 13 : 2-3) because of the evil mistrust between two brothers – Ephraim & Judah. The first time the word “Jews” appears in the Scriptures was when the King of Israel, allied with Syria and drove the “Jews” from the Red Sea port city of Elat (2 Kings 16:6-7). King Jehu of Israel (884 BCE) fought with King Athaliah of Judah. King Pekah entered into an alliance with King Rezin of Syria and invaded Judah and carried back a considerable number of captives.
“But a prophet of Yahweh named Oded was there, and he went out to meet the army when it returned to Samaria. He said to them, “Because Yahweh, the Elohim of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand. But you have slaughtered them in a rage that reaches to Heaven. And now you intend to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves. But aren’t you also guilty of sins against Yahweh your Elohim? Now listen to me! Send back your fellow countrymen you have taken as prisoners, for Yahweh’s fierce anger rests on you.” Then some of the leaders in Ephraim—Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berekiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—confronted those who were arriving from the war. “You must not bring those prisoners here,” they said, “or we will be guilty before Yahweh. Do you intend to add to our sin and guilt? For our guilt is already great, and his fierce anger rests on Israel.” So the soldiers gave up the prisoners and plunder in the presence of the officials and all the assembly. (2 Chronicles 28:9-14)”
This act of Israel brought about the prediction of Isaiah regarding the destruction of the Israelite and Syrian kingdoms by the Assyrians and the remedy for the division the Coming of Messiah: “Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying, “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of TabeEl king over it.” Yet this is what the Sovereign Yahweh says: ‘It will not take place, it will not happen, for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.’ ” Again Yahweh spoke to Ahaz, “Ask Yahweh your Elohim for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put Yahweh to the test.” Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you House of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my Elohim also? Therefore the Sovereign himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. Yahweh will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.” (Isaiah 7:4-17)”
The Virgin Birth was not about a flippant miracle to wow people into believing in the Messiah. Rather it was a sign that Yahweh would not utterly destroy Israel both Ephraim and Judah from off the face of the earth. At this ImmanuEl would restore the Kingdom once and for all. The belief of the Messiah’s Virgin Birth is an act of divine nationalism! To deny the Virgin Birth, is to deny Israel!
“All this took place to fulfill what Yahweh had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him ImmanuEl”—which means, “El with us.” (Matthew 1:22, 23)”
The prophet AhiYah announced the Divine vengeance that was to come upon the House of Jeroboam because of these evil deeds: “I raised you up from among the people and made you a leader over my people Israel. I tore the kingdom away from the House of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes. You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have provoked me to anger and thrust me behind your back. Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the House of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will burn up the House of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. Yahweh has spoken!’
As for you (the wife King Jeroboam and Queen of Israel), go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy (the Crown Prince) will die. All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the House of Jeroboam in whom Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, has found anything good.
Yahweh will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the family of Jeroboam. This is the day! What? Yes, even now. And Yahweh will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their forefathers and scatter them beyond the River, because they provoked Yahweh to anger by making Asherah poles. And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit. (1 Kings 14:7-16)”
Fearing the prophecy, a portion of the people of the Ten Northern Tribes evaded the Assyrian invasion by migrating northward through what is still called the Pass of Israel, into the Caucasus Mountains in 724-721 BCE led by a member of the House of David (“Our Scythian Ancestors Identified With Israel,” Grawler). “The chief of all the captains of the host” was of the children of Pherez (1 Chronicles 27:3)” from him the royal line of David sprang (Ruth 4:12, 18-22). Likewise this new young ruler identified himself with Pherez by naming himself “Pharotes” (“The Medes and the Persians,” Culican). In fact, there has never been a time when King David did not have at least one descendant ruling over some portion of Israel.
“[For Yahweh promised King David] Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever. (2 Samuel 7:16)”
“I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered. Once and for all, I have sworn by my holiness— and I will not lie to David-that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah (Psalm 89:34-37)”
They established their colony near the Black and Caspian Seas located in present-day Georgia, calling it “Sacae,” named after the Israelite patriarch, Isaac. The Greeks called them Scythians and described them as a very civilized people who eschewed foreign religions and had such Hebrew customs as prohibiting the consumption of pork. In fact, the prophet Jeremiah was told to send a message to the ten tribes of Israel living “north” of the land of Israel: “Yahweh said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares Yahweh, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,’ declares Yahweh, ‘I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt— you have rebelled against Yahweh your Elohim, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’ ” declares Yahweh. (Jeremiah 3:11-13)”
Hoshea had become King of Israel when he killed KingPekah and then revolted against the Assyrians at the instigation of the Egyptian king (2 Kings 17:4). Shalmaneser IV, King of Assyriaat once invaded Israel. Conquering Israel was not easy for the Assyrians; the siege of Samaria, Israel’s capital, lasted three years. Due to the judgment of Yahweh, Assyria began to decline immediately after she conquered Israel. The siege caused a revolt of the military. General Sargon, the leader of the Military, formed a coup and killed Shalmaneser and became king. He successfully completed the siege and carried the Ten Tribes into a captivity from which they never returned (2 Kings 17:6; 18:11). The captives were carried to Assyria, Mesopotamia and Media (“Antiquities of the Jews,” Book XV chapter 2 verse 2; “Wars of the Jews,” Book 2 chapter 16 verse 4).
“In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their Elohim, Which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom Yahweh cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against Yahweh their Elohim, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. (II Kings 17:6-9)”
“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. (II Kings 17:23, 24)”
“At the beginning of my (Sargon II) rule, in the very first year I reigned…I set siege to and conquered Samaria…I carried away into captivity 27,290 persons who lived there; I took fifty fine chariots for my royal equipment.” (Assyrian inscription)
So Yahweh removed Israel from the Promise Land and allowed Gentiles from five specific nations to divide the land and live on it in their place. The vacant country of Samaria was repopulated by colonists from five districts of the Assyrian empire and these colonists ultimately developed into the Samaritan nation (2 Kings 17:24). This is the deeper meaning of the story of the Woman At the Well. The Woman is Lost Israel, who had ‘five husbands’. The woman said to Rebbe YahShua, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. (John 4:20)” Rebbe YahShua told her “Ye worship ye know not what…” (John 4:22). Each one of those ‘five husbands’ represents being ‘married’ to the wrong ‘bridegroom’ in false worship. “…salvation is from the Jews.”
Having abandoned the Sabbath, the Covenant sign marking Israel as Yahweh’s people, the Northern Tribes eventually lost their identification. That is why most Israelites do not know who they are to this day. Take this line of thought to its logical conclusion: failure to recognize who Israel is, is failure to recognize Yahweh who made Israel!
In Ezekiel 4:1-5 there is a strange prophecy concerning the Northern Tribes Assyria took into captivity: “Now, son of man, take a clay tablet, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.
“Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the House of Israel. ”
The key to this prophecy is found in verse 6: “I have assigned…a day for each year.” So if the House of Israel fell when the capital of Samaria was taken in 721BCE starting the 390 year punishment for them, then their captivity should have ended in 331 BCE.
In that year one of the turning points of History occurred. Greece under the sovereignty of Alexander the Great conquered Persia and released the House of Israel from their captivity. Instead of returning to the Promise Land they decided to stay on the land they had known for 390 years and create a new country calling it PehLevi.
The Ten Northern Tribes went first, then the Two Southern Tribes in Judea along with Levi making up the ‘House of Judah’ went into captivity to Babylon for seventy years, as prophesied by Yahweh through Jeremiah.
“Yahweh said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, “Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? She is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. And I said after she had done all these things, ‘Turn thou unto Me.’ But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. (Jeremiah 3:6,7)”
“Judah kept not the commandments of Yahweh their Elohim, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. And Yahweh rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until He had cast them out of His sight. (2 Kings 17:19-20)”
The ‘House of Israel’ played the ‘harlot’, with the false worship and so did the ‘House of Judah’. Ezekiel 23 labels the two ‘houses’ of Israel as two-harlot sisters, one named Aholah (“she has her own tent” meaning her idolatrous sanctuary – ten tribes), and the other Aholibah (“my tent is in her” – house of Judah).
“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 it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto Me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith Yahweh. And Yahweh said unto me, “The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. (Jeremiah 3:8)”
“And Yahweh 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.” (II Kings 23:27)”
Yahweh brought the ‘spoiler’ Nebuchadnezzar upon the whole House of Judah to do all the things prophesied.
“…this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith Yahweh, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. And I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations. (Jeremiah 25:11-13)”
Yahweh spoke through His prophet Jeremiah to the ‘House of Judah’ a prophetic time frame on the Babylon captivity of ‘seventy years’ which actually happened, but it is also a blueprint for what we as Latter Day Israel will go through because of our infidelity, the main difference in the ‘seventy years’ of Judah’s captivity and for us today is the symbol of the ‘seven years’ tribulation under the last great false belief system, called Mystery Babylon which is virtually upon us today. That’s why is says, ‘which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations’. This applies to us today also.
“Is this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith Yahweh. But go ye now unto My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the 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 Yahweh, 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 7:11-15)”
“And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land. (Jeremiah 52:27)”
This puts a whole new perspective of why Rebbe YahShua was so violent in cleansing the Holy Temple. He was blaming the Priesthood for not teaching Judah to keep the Faith.
“Rebbe YahShua entered the Temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, ” ‘My house will be called a House of Prayer, (Isaiah 56:7)’but you are making it a ‘den of robbers. (Jeremiah 7:11)'”
Yahweh promised that Babylon would become a waste and desolation after the seventy-year captivity of Judah, and that’s exactly what happened. Persia, under Koresh (Cyrus), King of Persia, and the Medes conquered Babylon and it became the Medo-Persian Empire releasing the House of Judah of their captivity. The Book of Ezra records all those of the ‘house of Judah’ who returned to Jerusalem.
“Now in the first year of Koresh king of Persia, that the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Koresh king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, ‘Yahweh Elohim of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His People? His Elohim be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Yahweh Elohim of Israel, (He is Elohim,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of Elohim 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 Elohim had raised, to go up to build the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:1-5)”
These are those of the House of Judah who returned from the Babylonian captivity that were commissioned to rebuild Yahweh’s House (the Holy Temple at Jerusalem) after the King of Babylon had destroyed It. Nothing is mentioned of the other Tribes of Israel, specifically the Lost Ten Northern Tribes of the ‘House of Israel’.
Only a small percentage of the Jews, less than 50,000, chose to return, “The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore, Beside their servants and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: and there were among them two hundred singing men and singing women. (Ezra 2:64, 65),” with the majority choosing to remain in Babylonia.
Dr. Alfred Edersheim, in his book “The Life and Times of Jesus, the Messiah,” says: “In general it is of the greatest importance to remember in regard to the Eastern Dispersion that only a minority of the Jews, consisting in all of about 50,000 originally returned from Babylon, first under Zorobabel and afterwards under Ezra (537 BCE and 459 BCE respectively). Nor was their inferiority confined to numbers only. The wealthiest and most influential of the Jews remained behind. According to Josephus, with whom Philo substantially agrees, vast numbers, estimated at millions, inhabited the Trans-Euphrates provinces”… “the great mass of the ten tribes was in the days of [Messiah], as in our own times, lost to the Hebrew nation” Not lost that we do not know where to find them but lost in their identity and solidarity.
Judah remained a satellite under the rule of the Medes and Persians. Later to the Macedonians (often referred to as the Greek Empire) who conquered the Medes and Persians. Still later, to the Romans who conquered the Macedonians. The Romans were in control at the time of Rebbe YahShua’s earthly ministry.
Where Did They Go?
So, what happened to the rest of Israel and Judah? The prophet Amos (9:9), uses the metaphor of sifting grain to describe what Yahweh has done to Israel. Yahweh, Amos says, “will sift the House of Israel among all nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve; yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.”
The rapid decline of Assyria afforded some Israelites the opportunity to become aggressive. Early on, the Shuthelahite, Bekerite and the Tahanite clans actually became strong enough to mount a guerilla war against their captors. After the internal rebellion was put down Assyria was so weakened that a confederation of the Babylonians and the Medes found it relatively easy to capture Nineveh, Assyria’s capital city, in 612 BCE.
The large province inside Babylonia that Nebuchadnezzar placed most of Judah on became known as PehLevi (Mouth of Levi) after the Levites that were placed over the tribes. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica: “The name Pahlavi or PehLevi, which means Parthian, can be traced back for many centuries…the great peculiarity of the language is though it is Iranian, it is full of Semitic (Hebrew) words.” It is said that the Ephriamite Tahanites helped found Parthia. “These were the descendants of Ephraim by their clans: through Shuthelah, the Shuthelahite clan; through Beker, the Bekerite clan; through Tahan, the Tahanite clan. (Numbers 26:35)”
Through an alliance between the Shuthelahite, Bekerite and the Tahanite clan the Parthians defeated the Seleucid Greek Empire founded by Alexander the Great, and established their own empire from the Euphrates River to the western borders of India calling their capital Teheran. As the Israelites had a hereditary priesthood (the Levites), so did the Parthians (the Magi) also called Goans (Geniuses).
The Magi of Parthia were the ones coming to see the Messiah, the Redeemer of all Israel: “After YahShua was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magifrom the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the eastand have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:1,2)”
George Rawlinson, professor of ancient history at Camden from 1861 to 1889 and Canon of Canterbury, asserts that the world has been taught history from a Greco-Roman bias giving us an anti-Semetic perspective. “…the picture of the world during the Roman period…put before students in ‘Histories of Rome’ was defective. Not to say false, in its omission to recognize the real position of Parthia…as a counterpoise to the power of Rome…a rival state dividing with Rome the attention of mankind and the sovereignty of the known world…the truth seems to be that…from the first to the last…there was always in the world a Second Power, civilized…which in a true sense balanced Rome, acted as a counterpoise and a check…This power for nearly three centuries was Parthia. (“The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy”)” Parthia regularly defeated the Roman Empire in many wars.
Hosea, uniquely the prophet to the House of Israel, promised that Yahweh would make the Israelites a majority after he exiled them from the Promise Land and ultimately restore them.
“Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then Yahweh said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer show love to the House of Israel, that I should at all forgive them. Yet I will show love to the House of Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by Yahweh their Elohim.”
After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. Then Yahweh said, “Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your Elohim.
Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living Elohim.’ (Hosea 1:6-10)”
Josephus tells us: “…there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers. (Antiquities of the Jews – Book XI chapter 5 verse 2)”
“And whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable multitude unto him, those are the ten tribes which were carried away prisoner out of their own land in the time of Hosea, the King, whom Shalmanesar, the King of Assyria led away as captive, and he crossed them over the waters, as they came into another land. But they took this counsel among themselves that they would leave the multitude of the heathen and go forth into a farther country … that they might raise up their statues which they never kept in their own land. And they entered into the Euphrates by the narrow passage 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, even for a year and a half; and the same region is called Asareth“(4 Ezra 13 : 36-39).
After Parthia fell to the nomadic Sasanids from Afghanistan the Northern Ten Tribes dispersed. In 1893, a minister from the Operative Jewish Convert Institute of London, Rev. J. H. Bruhi noticed in his travels: “It is a most significant fact that whereas the Jews in Palestine, Arabia, Turkey, Mesopotamia and Persia style themselves as יְהוּדִים, Yehudim (Jews), those from Persia onwards call themselves Bani Israel (Children of Israel)” (“The Ten Tribes, Where are They? By One Who Has Been Among Them.”)
Dr. Joseph Wolff, a Messianic Jew, tells us that he came across Israelites in Persia, Kurdistan, Khurasan, Kokand, Bokhara and Samarkand. In Bokhara, he estimates, they were ten thousand in number. Regarding the Israelites of Bokhara and Khurasan he says: “They were quite ignorant of his (YahShua’s) history and suffering and death, which also convinces me that the Jews of Khurasan and Bokhara are of the Ten Tribes, who never returned to [Israel] after their Babylonian captivity… they would not even listen to me until I had recited the Shema Yisrael. ” (Narrative of a Mission to Bokhara in the Years 1843-1845).
However, most of Parthians fled to the Caucasus Mountains and Black Sea region after Parthia fell, joining their Scythian cousins who were called “Goths” by the Romans. These armies of refugees needed new homelands, and they sought them by invading the European and Balkan provinces of their historic enemy, the Roman Empire. The tribes were decidedly were more civilized and religious than the Romans. As large numbers of refugees poured out of Asia into Europe in search of new homelands, they fought both the Romans and each other. These tribes made alliances with the natives and overwhelmed Rome and provided the population bases for the modern nations of Europe. These new arrivals brought many aspects of Scythian/Parthian culture with them, including Parthia’s feudal system of government.
The Ministry of the Talmidim
We have been told by old belief systems that Messiah YahShua chose the twelve talmidim (disciples), ordained them apostles, sent them to preach to the Jews, when they, rejected that message, they turned to the Gentiles replacing the Jews but nothing could be further from the truth.
Rabbi Yakkov Ha Tzaddik, the brother of our Messiah and leader of the Messianic Movement of the Netzarim addressed his letter: “Yakkov, a servant of Yahweh and of King Messiah YahShua, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations…(James 1:1)” This letter is not addressed to the Gentiles. It is not addressed exclusively to the Jews. It is addressed to all the Tribes of Israel!
Rabbi Kepha, one of our Messiah’s most trusted talmidim described himself as: “Kepha, an apostle of Messiah YahShua, (sent) to Yahweh’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (1 Peter 1:1)” The word “strangers” used here does not mean Gentiles. The original Greek is παρεπίδημος “parepidemos”. It means literally, “an alien alongside,” “a resident alien” translated from the Hebrew הַפְּזוּרִים הַגָּרִים meaning “the scattered strangers” living “throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” He wrote this letter from Babylon, which at the time was under the rule of the Parthian Empire! Abraham, as you remember from Scripture, was a stranger, an alien, when he lived among the Canaanite Gentiles. Rabbi Kepha was addressing part of the lost ten tribes who dwelt among the Gentiles as aliens or strangers. Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia are all located in the northern half of Asia Minor in modern Turkey. These lands lay immediately west of the Parthian Empire!
Rabbi Sha’ul was chosen by Messiah to be His “chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. (Acts 9:15)” Rabbi Sha’ul spent his years in ministry in the southern, half of Asia Minor and Europe. “Yea, so have I strived to preach the Full Messianic Message, not where Messiah was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation” (Romans 15:20). Not preaching in the areas where Rabbi Kepha and others of the Talmidim had carried the Full Messianic Message. Remember, Rabbi Sha’ul was forbidden by the Spirit to preach in Bithynia. “After they (Rabbi Sha’ul and his companions) were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered [permitted] them not. And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas” (Acts 16:7, 8).
With Rabbi Sha’ul’s arrival in Rome he went first seeking the Israelites: “[The Israelites at Rome] replied, “We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect.” They arranged to meet Rabbi Sha’ul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the Kingdom of Yahweh and tried to convince them about YahShua from the Torah of Moses and from the Naviim (Prophets). (Acts 28:21-23)”
After Rome, Rabbi Sha’ul continued to preach the Full Messianic Message to the nations looking for “Lost Israel.” “Rabbi Sha’ul, full of the blessings of Messiah, and abounding in the Spirit, departed out of Rome, determining to go into Spain, for he had a long time proposed to journey thitherward, and was minded also to go from thence to Britain. For he had heard in Phoenicia that certain of the children of Israel, about the time of the Assyrian captivity, had escaped by sea to “The Isles afar off” as spoken be the Prophet [Ezra], and called by the Romans – Britain. And the King commanded the Full Messianic Message to be preached far hence to the Gentiles [nations], and to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. (Act 9:15, 22:21) And no man hindered Rabbi Sha’ul…(Acts 29:1-4)” Rabbi Sha’ul’s commission, after he revealed Messiah to the kings and rulers at Rome, was to bear the name of King Messiah YahShua to the “children of Israel” (Acts 9: 15)
The Catholic Historian Eusebius, in his third book of “Evangelical Demonstrations”, chapter 7, admitted that the apostles “passed over to those which are called the British Isles.”
William Camden in his book “Remains of Britain” written in 1674 said: “The true Christian Religion (Messianic Faith) was planted here most anciently by Joseph of Arimathea, Simon Zelotes, Aristobulus, by St. Peter, and St. Paul, as may be proved by Dorotheus, Theodoretus and Sophronius.” He said this in contention that the religion of the day had been hijacked by paganism.
Rabbi Andrew according to Cave’s “Antiquitates Apostolicae” went into “Scythia and the neighboring countries primarily allotted him for his province. First then he travelled through Cappadocia, (Upper) Galatia and Bithynia, and instructed them in the faith of Messiah, passing all along the [Black Sea]… and so into the solitude of Scythia.” Rabbi Andrew preached to the very area in Asia Minor which Rabbi Sha’ul had bypassed.
Rabbi Yakkov haKatan (James the Lesser) preached in Spain where he planted the [Faith]” (Cave’s “Antiquitates Apostolicae”).
Rabbi MattenYahu (Matthew) according to Metaphrastes: “went first into Parthia, and having successfully planted [the Messianic Faith] in those parts, thence travelled to Aethiopia, that is, the Asiatic Aethiopia, lying near India” slightly east of the area where the Assyrians settled the Israelite captives.
Rabbi Thomas journeyed into Northwest India to whom the Greeks called the “Nephthalite Huns.”
Rabbi Bartholomew also spent part of his time in neighboring Armenia and a portion of Upper Phrygia in Asia Minor.
Rabbi YaHudah ministered in Assyria and Mesopotamia which at that time were part of Parthia which Josephus designated as still inhabited by the Ten Tribes.
Remember, Rabbi Yakkov HaTzaddik referred to Israel as “scattered among the nations” and that is exactly where we have found them. I am reminded of the witnesses of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) being poured out on the Talmidim on Shavuot (Feast of Pentecost): “Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism Cretans and Arabs) —we hear them declaring the wonders of Yahweh in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:7-12)”
What was Rabbi Kepha’s response: “…this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, Yahweh says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of Yahweh. And everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh will be saved. (Joel 2:28-32)‘Men of Israel, listen to this…(Acts 2:16-22)”
What Is Our Responsibility?
As we have seen from the prophetic Abrahamic Covenant, the majority of the people you meet are Israelites that have been dispersed all over the world and they don’t even know it nor the blessing given to them as heirs. As King Messiah’s evangelistic ambassadors we are to go out preaching to the Majority dispersed throughout all the nations and sift Israel from the nations.
We have been commanded: “…this full Messianic message of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14)”
“…ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)”
It is our responsibility to get this message out: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the full message! (Isaiah 52:7)” (Romans 10:14,15)”
You have been sent: “…to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. (Matthew 10:5-7)” As we go into the nations preach the Full Messianic Message of the Kingdom the sheep will hear the message. King Messiah YahShua said: “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” (John 10:14-18)
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost. (Matthew 18:12-14)”
“I will whistle for Ephraim (1 King 19:9-18), and gather the remnant; for I have redeemed them, and they shall increase as they increased when I sowed them among the nations, and they shall remember me in far countries; and they and their children will live and return. (Zechariah 10:8-9)”
King Messiah YahShua is the “Great Redeemer.” Redeem, or in Hebrew “ga’al” means to release, deliver, or preserve. The Torah provides for a blood relative (who has the means and willingness) to take it upon himself to recover his kinsman, and restore everything, including that which has been lost; as well as to be an avenger of wrongs. (Leviticus 25:25; Numbers 5:8; Joshua 20:5; Ruth 3:12; Ruth 4).
“What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham came to be considered righteous by Yahweh through legalism, then he does have something to boast about. But this is not how it is when we stand before Yahweh. For what is the testimony of the Tanach? ‘Abram believed Yahweh, and He credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)’ Now to the worker, the wages are not credited to one’s account as a favor or gift of mercy but as what is owed him. But to the man who does not “work” but has faith in the One who takes the ungodly man and makes him righteous, his faith is credited to him as righteousness. (Romans 4:1-5)” The Greek word ἀσεβής asebes, rendered “ungodly ” in Romans 4, is from the word ἀσέβως asebos referring to someone who ignores a summons or is not willing to look back when being hailed. To be “ungodly” is to disregard the whistle for the sheep. This is translated from the word רָשָׁע meaning to “be convicted or incriminated.”
The Abrahamic Blessing “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3) literally reads: “Ve’nivrechu bekah kol mishpachot ha-adamah.” “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you and in you all the nations of the earth shall be mixed!” The Hebrew word translated in most translations as “blessed”, is the Hebrew word וְנִבְרְכוּ “ve’nivrechu.” It appears only three times in the Tanach in Genesis 12:3, 18:18 and 28:14 and all three times it speaks of how Abraham will affect the nations of the earth. According to the section under “Farming” in Yevamos 63 this word can also mean “mixed” or “grafted” as much as it can be “blessing.”
The severity of our message according to Ephesians 2 is there is no salvation outside the Commonwealth of Israel. If you act as a Gentile, you will be treated as a Gentile. Without your place in the Commonwealth “…you [are] without Messiah, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without Yahweh in the world. (But if you will accept the Kingdom and its King you will receive salvation through the shed blood of our Messiah) But now in Messiah YahShua you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah. (Ephesians 2:1-13)” Through this acts of “blessing” of the blood the unbelievers “have been grafted (ve’nivrechu) in among [Israel] and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches (that fell off through unbelief). If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if Yahweh did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. (Romans 11:17-21)”
“And you (Gentiles) He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
But Yahweh, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Messiah …and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Messiah YahShua,that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Messiah YahShua.For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of Yahweh,not of works, lest anyone should boast.For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah YahShua for good works, which Yahweh prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh–who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands–that at that time you were without Messiah, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without Yahweh in the world. But now in Messiah YahShua you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah. (Ephesians 2:1-13)” This stands to reason since the New Covenant says “…the days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah–not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,says Yahweh.But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know Yahweh,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahweh. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-36)”
This fulfills the prophecy: “Again the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,”As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: “For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, “For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.
And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, “Will you not show us what you mean by these?’–say to them, “Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.”‘And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.
Then say to them, “Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their Elohim. (Ezekiel 37:15-23)”
This is our responsibility; this is our commandment; this is our commission; and this is our message: “And this Full Messianic Message of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)”
Originally written by Rabbi Robert O. Miller on July 24th 2010*
*A version of this article appeared as a chapter in Rob’s 2007 book The Majority. However this file on his hard drive had been updated on July 24th 2010 and may have had revisions from the original 2007 chapter.
(Robert Owen Miller 1957-2021)
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