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From: James Trimm <jstrimm@h...>
Date: Tue Aug 15, 2000 4:12pm
Subject: The Two Houses
My personal thoughts on the two houses:
After the time of Solomon the Kingdom of Isreal split into two kingdoms
known as the two Houses of Israel. The Southern Kingdom became known as
the Kingdom of Judah. The Northern Kingdom became known as the Kingdom
of
Israel. This Northern Kingdom was also often called "Ephraim" after its
most promenant tribe. 2Kings 17 tells us of how the Assyrian kiing Sargon
II took the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom captive in 723 BCE and
resettled them so that "none was left except the tribe of Judah" (17:18).
These came to be known as "the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel". They were
divorced by YHWH (Jer. 3:8 ) but there was yet a promise of an eventual
reunion of the two houses of Israel ( Is. 11:11-12; Jer. 3:6-18; Hosea 1-3;
Amos 9:8-10; Obad. 15-21; Micah 2:12-13; 5:3-15; Zech. 8:13; 9 & 10;
Ezekiel 34-37 esp. 37 ).
Part of the reason that the split took place is that Ephraim would not be
under the authority of Judah. As a result they rebeled and established
their own authority, their own priests and their own sanctuary. They also
mixed the true religion of Torah with paganism.
Recently research has been conducted by Orthodox Jewish Israeli scholars
which traces the migrations of these Lost Ten Tribes. Two of these
scholars are John Hulley (Yochanan ben David) and Yair Davidy.
John Hulley recently published a paper in the Israeli journal B'Or Ha'Torah
(In the light of Torah) in which he traced the migrations of these "Lost
Tribes" north west, accross the Bosphorus straits between the Mediturnian
and the Black sea.
Yair Davidy has written three books under the Rabbinic approbation of
Orthodox Israeli Rabbi Abraham Feld. These are The Tribes; Ephraim and
Lost Israelite Identity. Yair Davidy's thouroughly documented research
has
shown that the Lost Ten Tribes, which
had been transplanted to the outskirts of Assyria came to be known as the
Sakeans (they were previously known as Yitzakheans or in Aramaic Isakeans).
These Sakeans are known to have migrated northwest and made their way into
Europe to become the Scythians
(S'kitheans) and Saxons (Saksons). Davidy's research has shown that other
tribal groups of the Lost Ten Tribes also emerged in Europe under names
similar to those of the Tribe of Israel, such as: Galics (Galileans); Danes
(Dans); Cimereans (Simeons); Goths/Gots (Gads "Gad" is pronounced in Hebrew
as "God").
Dr. James Tabor of the Universtity of North Carolina has said:
Based on this and much additional research it can
be definitely be shown that significant portions of
the Lost Tribes migrated northwest, toward Europe
and are to be found today among the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic
and associated peoples. In other words the tribes are
largely located today in the United States, Great Britain,
northwestern Europe, Australia, New Zealand and
other scattered areas. They are primarily Protestant...
(Restoring Abrahamic Faith; James Tabor; page 46)
Dr. Tabor has also said:
This is not the so-called "Anglo-Israel" theory of many
of the racist groups. This is hard-core historical
research as to where these tribes actually migrated.
(Remarks on the Return of the Lost Tribes; James Tabor)
As these Ephraimites migrated northwest into Euprope they brought their
pagan gods and goddesses with them. Thus the Babylonian goddess Ishtar
became the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre and Ba'al Gad became "God"
. They
worshiped these pagan gods in temples they called "KIRKS" .
These same people eventually became Christians. As you will recall we
noted in the last chapter that Pope Gregory wrote to Augustine the first
missionary to the British Isles (C.E. 597):
Do not destroy the temples of the English gods; change them
to Christian churches. Do not forbid the "harmless" customs
which have been associated with the old religions;
consecrate them to Christian use.
Thus the Anglo-Saxons continued to worship "God"; celebrate "Easter" and
worship in their "Churches" (Kirks).
It is by-and-large these western European peoples that eventually became
Protestantsism.
Now their is no shortage of Tanak passages which promise an eventual
reunion of these two houses. However it must be remembered, that the House
of Israel was divorced by YHWH (Jer. 3:8 ) while Judah yet rules of YHWH (
Hosea 11:12 ). The hope of the House of Israel is the reunion of
the two
houses. This is not accomplished, as some have taught, by merging these
two houses on equal terms, and it is not accomplished by an "Ephraimite
movement" that persists in doing its own independant thing appart from
Judah since that was Ephraim's fatal error in the first place.
One of the most powerful illustrations of the reunion of the two houses is
to be found in the two sticks prophecy of Ezekiel 37:15-23:
15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
16 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:
17 And join them one to another into one stick;
and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 And when the children of thy people
shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not
shew us what thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD;
Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph,
which is in the hand of Ephraim,
and the tribes of Israel his fellows,
and will put them with him,
even with the stick of Judah,
and make them one stick, and they
shall be one in mine hand.
20 And the sticks whereon thou writest
shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
21 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:
22 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.
23 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 dwellingplaces,
wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them:
so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
(Ezek. 37:15-23)
Notice that in this prophecy Judah is not joined to Ephraim, nor are the
two sticks brought together on equal terms. Instead Ephraim is joined
to
Judah.
This is also illustrated in Zech. 8:23:
Thus saith the LORD of hosts;
In those days it shall come to pass,
that ten men shall take hold
out of all languages of the nations,
even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew,
saying, We will go with you:
for we have heard that God is with you.
(Zech. 8:23)
NOW LETS LOOK AT THE OLIVE TREE PARABLE OF ROMANS !!
Who are the "Jews" and "Gentiles" of Rom. 9:24 (and Rom. 9-11)?
Rom. 9 begins the contrast of the "Jews" and "Gentiles" by quoting Hosea
2:25(23); 2:1 (1:10) in Rom. 9:25-26. But if we look up the context of
the
people "which were not my people" which he calls "my people" in Hosea we
find that they are the "children of Israel" (Hosea 2:1 ( 1:10)) as opposed
to "the children of Judah" (Hosea 2:2 (1:11)) So if Paul is quoting Hosea
in context and contrasting Jews and Gentiles (Rom. 9:24) using Hosea 2:1-2
(1:10-11) then the "Jews" of Rom. 9:24 are the "Childern of Judah" of Hosea
2:2 (1:11)
and the "Gentiles" of Rom. 9:24 are the "children of Israel" of Hosea 2:1
(1:10). If this is true then as this contrasting pair advances into Rom.
Chapter 11 the two trees are the two Houses.
This is also clear from Rom. 9:32 which quotes Is. 8:14 as applying to both
of the houses of Israel.
(This reasoning carries on thru Romans 11 M'LOA HAGOYIM = "a multitude of
nations"/"fullness of the Gentiles" (Gen. 48:19 = Rom. 11:25). The
word
"etz" in Hebrew which is the word for "stick" in the two sticks prophecy of
Ezek. 37 also means "tree" tieing in with two trees in Rom. 11. In Ezek.
37 the two sticks are the two Houses of Israel.)
(The term GOYIM ("gentiles" or "nations") is occasionally used in the Tanak
to describe the House of Israel as oposed to the House of Judah (see Gen.
48:19 & Is. 9:1 for example).
So the "Jews and Gentiles" of Rom. 9 are not Jews and non-Hebrews but Jews
and Ephraimites.
James Trimm
Study Torah with SANJ Mitvah Club
http://www.nazarene.net/MitzvahClub.htm
Message 1361 of 1366