According to the book of Genesis, the initial covenant God made with Abraham was conditional, but we also know that he fulfilled the condition (Gen. 22: 18): "because you have obeyed my voice," but it was unconditional to his seed, and because of the promise God gave to Abraham, his seed have not been cast off "For I am the Lord I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed." Also in Jer. 31:35-36, it is stated that they stand for as long as the sun, moon and stars give light there is to be an Israel nation. "If those ordinances depart from before me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me (that represents me) for ever." Daniel assures us that the Kingdom of Israel is to endure for ever. This cannot refer to the House of Judah, from which has descended the modern day Jews, for they ceased to be a nation after they were exiled from Roman Judea by the Roman Empire in 70 AD.
The end of Genesis Ch 48 and beginning of Ch 49 record Jacob's declaration of his last will and testament to his sons. According to the ancient law of primogenitor, Reuben, Jacob's first-born son, should have received the birthright promises. However, like the two preceding generations in the line from Abraham, the elder son failed to meet the standard and was passed over for a younger son. Thanks to Reuben's sins with his father's concubine, Bilhah, the birthright was re-directed to two of Israel's younger, but more prominent sons, Judah and Joseph. Judah was given guardianship of the law until the arrival of the Messiah. Joseph's sons got everything else, including the right to the name Israel. The other brothers missed out altogether. Judah's descendents took his name and are today still known by that name - Jews. Many Jews were born Israelites (descendants of Israel), but not every Israelite was a Jew (descendant of Judah), in the same way that every Scotsman is born a Briton but not every Briton is a Scotsman.
God appears to have directed Jacob/Israel to bestow the birthright promises upon Joseph and his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. No doubt in passing on the covenant promises to Joseph's two sons, Jacob was greatly influenced by Joseph's dreams about God's elevation of Joseph above his brothers. Jacob began by adopting Ephraim and Manasseh, making them equal with his other sons, following which (Ch 48:16) he gave them the name "Israel". The phrase he used was that "his name would be perpetuated in them". This was not a suggestion, but an integral part of his last will and testament that he was in the process of declaring.
What he was literally saying was, "On them do I bestow the name of the House of Israel". Note that they were the only ones to whom he said this, therefore, of the twelve tribes, they were the only ones on whom Jacob conferred the right to refer to themselves as the House of Israel; that may be why thereafter we see some references in scripture to the House of Israel and others to the Children of Israel - the first would be to those identified by Israel as 'his line' and the latter to his actual children (remember that Ephraim and Manasseh were not his sons; they were his part-Egyptian grandsons).
Ephraim, the younger of Joseph's sons, was blessed over and above his elder brother, Manasseh, yet both were blessed over and above Jacob's actual sons. In this way, the birthright was bestowed on the House of Joseph and not Judah, as is commonly supposed. Ephraim and Manasseh were now named Israel, thereby identifying them as the line through which God's promises to Abraham would be fulfilled; Ephraim was told his line would be a "multitude of nations", or more accurately, a "company (commonwealth) of nations". Manasseh, on the other hand, would become a powerful country. Their descendants became the nobility of the 12-tribed Hebrew nation and led the Northern Kingdom after Judah and Benjamin withdrew to form the House of Judah. Ephraim and Manasseh were the sole heirs to the Abrahamic promise, and based on the aforementioned, it is to them that specific references to "The House of Israel", and the covenant promises they was destined to fulfill , were made by the prophets. Likewise, all references to 'The Children of Israel' and 'The 12 Tribes of Israel' encompass all twelve tribes.
Before moving on from Jacob's declaration of his last will and testament to his sons, let us briefly observe the prophesies spoken over Judah and over Joseph (via Ephraim and Manasseh) regarding the role of their offspring in the Latter Days. At this juncture, it is important to clarify the use of the term "latter days" by the Biblical writers. The phrases they used to define the past, present and future were as follows:
the past - former days
the present - now
the future, or yet to come - latter days
The term "latter days" referred to any duraion of time in the future. The term "last days", as in "there will be no more to follow them", is not found in original translations of scripture. Neither is the term "end times", only "end of days" which refers to the end of a specific period of time, not the end of time.
Judah, it was promised, is the one his brothers will praise, his hand will be on the neck of his enemies, and his father's sons (the other brothers) will bow down before you. In today's Jewish community, the descendants of Judah (the Zionists claim this heritage) are certainly praised by other Jews and honoured as leaders of their nation as their faction has been elected to control the Israeli Knesset (Government). Having "his hand will be on the neck of his enemies" is a very accurate description of the way the modern day state of Israel is treating its Arab neighbours, who that nation sees as its enemies.
Of Joseph's offspring in the Latter Days, Jacob prophesies that they will be a fruitful bow that will flow over the wall (flow over into other lands?), they will have strong bows, hands and arms made mighty by God (military strength), will be endowed with blassings from heaven above (spiritual), with blessings lying in the deep beneath (mineral wealth), blessing of the breasts and the womb (many children). These blessings will be greater than those bestowed on Jacob's forefathers (Issac and Abraham). Like Joseph, they will be the consecrated ones, set apart from his brethren to become the prince (royal leader) among them. We will return to this prophesy at the very end of this study.
Even though the Message of God's Kingdom has been relegated in Christianity to a position inferior to salvation, it has always been God's Number One priority. In John 3, Jesus said, "Unless a man be born again He cannot see the Kingdom of God". Being part of God's Kingdom should be the number one goal - salvation is simply the means of getting into it. In the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, the first desire it expresses to God is not, 'save the world', but 'Thy Kingdom Come'. Setting up His Kingdom, in which His laws would be followed, thus opening the gates to the blessings that following them brings, was always God's plan.
God has been coaxing humanity along a path of Kingdom living through faith and obdience. He found Abraham to be a man who was willing to obey him no matter what, a man in whom was a seed of faith that saw the scope and magnitude of God's Kingdom long before it became a reality. In making His covenant with Abraham, God was making a commitment that it would be through Abraham's seed - both physical and spiritual - that God would establish his Kingdom and through it, bless all the peoples of the earth.
Who that seed would be is clarified in Israel's blessing to his sons - they would be the descendants of Ephraim and Mansseh; who became the Northern Kingdom, who would be carried off into exile because of their spiritual infidelity and worship of Baal; who would be scattered throughout Europe and loose their identity as the people elected by God for this task, who in the days of the New Testament Church, were identified by the Apostles as those who had been 'exiled by the great dispersion'; who in the "Latter Days", God would raise up in fulfillment of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and in fulfillment of their God-given destiny and birthright as the offspring of Ephraim and Manasseh - that through them all the world be blessed, that they would bring a light to the Gentiles (Isa 49:6).
Luke 2:32 identifies Jesus as that light, 2 Cor 4:6 indicates how they would shine that light - "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." There is no mention here of the modern day Jewish people, the descendants of Judah, only those described by the Apostles as the 'exiled by the great dispersion' and by Jesus as "the lost sheep of the House of Israel". Nowhere in the scriptures - Old or New Testamant - is there any "Latter Days" promises concerning 'the lost (or non-lost) sheep of the House of Judah".
Jeremiah 3 talks of two groups of people, "backsliding Israel" and "her treacherous sister Judah", clearly identifying them as separate entities. V8 says … "(when) Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce." If you want to see the terms of this divorce and the promise of a reconciliation, read the first chapter of Hosea. Jeremiah also speaks of a reconciliation in Ch 3 verse 12: "Go and proclaim these words towards the north and say, Return, faithless Israel, says the Lord, and I will not cause My countenance to fall and look in anger upon you, for I am merciful, says The Lord; I will not keep My anger forever (13) Only know and acknowledge your iniquity and guilt - that you have transgressed against the Lord your God ... return, O faithless children, says the Lord for I am the Lord and Master and Husband to you, and I will take you one from a city and two from a tribal family - and I will bring you to Zion".
This is not God speaking to the Jews (Judah); this is God speaking to the House of Israel (Ephraim and Manasseh), who have been scattered towards the north, and in doing so have lost their identity but not their calling as God's people. Note this Latter Days return by the House of Israel is not as a nation, but as hand-picked individuals called out from among the nation, "one from a city and two from a tribal family".
God gave the Old Testament prophet Isaiah a similar vision of how God would recover, restore and use His "lost people of the House of Israel" in the Later Days. The picture begins to come together in chapter 8:13-18 which tells us that the "rock of offense" (Jesus) will be sent to look out the divorced and hidden Israel (see also Jeremiah 3:6-12). Isaiah 14:1-3 then tells what will happen to the House of Israel in their home away from home as they are being prepared for their task.
Israel will get Mercy
They will be Chosen
Their will have their own land
Strangers will serve them in that land
They will take captive their captors
They will rule their oppressors
They will have rest from sorrow, fear, and bondage.
Those who believe these verses refer to the modern day Jews rather than the as-yet unrevealed Lost House of Israel must ask, "Do all these promises fit the Jews of history?"
Mercy: No
Chosen: No, as they never lost sight of themselves as being chosen
Their own land: No, not until 1948
Strangers will serve them in that land: No
They will take captive their captors: No
They will rule their oppressors: No
They will have rest from sorrow, fear, and bondage: No - the Jews have been on the edge of their seats since they became a nation in 1948
In Isaiah 37:31, God makes a reference to Judah and their part in this, telling how the kingly lines of Zarah and Pharez will join in the development of the House of Israel. "A remnant of Judah shall take root down, and bear fruit up." This reference is followed up in another study.
Design by W3layouts
