Saturday, December 10, 2011

The Real Israel


        I had posted a blog explaining the truth about the true identity of the State of Israel. The State of Israel is the country of modern-day, biblical Judah. The State of Israel is not Modern-day, biblical Israel. I had explained that the Land of Israel belongs to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob/Israel, and Jacob/Israel’s descendants, but the Jews are only descendants of Judah that have intermixed with two other tribes of Jacob/Israel: Benjamin and Levi. Who and where are the other descendants of Jacob today? Jacob had 12 sons by 4 wives, and even adopted the two sons of Joseph—who were born from an Egyptian mother. However, if The State of Israel is not Israel biblically, who is Israel today? It will take some time to explain the answer, and I will have to start with Jacob’s sons.

        Now, I did mention that Jacob wrestled with Esau for the blessings of the first born—should it be no surprise that Jacob’s sons would do the same? Reuben was the first born of Jacob, and he was born by Leah. He forfeited the blessing of the first born because he laid with Zilpah—Jacob’s wife! However, Joseph was the first born by Rachel. Over the course of Joseph’s youth, he inherited the blessing of the first born, and he received a coat of many colors as a sign of that inheritance. Well, Joseph’s brothers became envious of him. Problem was: they weren’t proving to God that they wanted the blessing of the first born—even though it could have been given to Dan or Gad as well as Reuben.
 
        The envy of Joseph only gotten worse when he received two dreams from God—explained in Genesis 37: 5-10. The first was about sheaves: Joseph’s sheaves stood upright, and his brother’s sheaves bowed down to his. The second dream was different because there was the sun, the moon, and 11 stars, but they were still bowing to Joseph. These dreams were definitely prophetic. However, being envious of Joseph’s calling of being their master, his brothers got even more bitter—even to the point of wanting to kill him. Jacob just kept Joseph’s dreams in mind. But Joseph’s 11 brothers wouldn’t let it go, and they attempted to kill him. If it wasn’t for Reuben and Judah’s intervention, they would have. Joseph was sold into Egyptian slavery because of God’s plan to send Joseph to Egypt to save many people.

         In Egypt, Joseph became the prime minster of Egypt in his days because of God’s gift of interpreting dreams. God warned the King of Egypt that He was sending 7 years of plentiful harvest followed by 7 years of famine. Joseph was placed in charge to make sure that there was food during the famine. God also allowed the Pharaoh to give Joseph a wife from the high priest of On. She gave birth to two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim. Interesting that the Hebrew meaning to Ephraim is “fruitfulness”, could it be that sheaves representing the descendants of Joseph’s brothers will bow down to Joseph’s son? And, those very same descendants—symbolized by the sun, moon, and 11 stars—will do the same for Joseph’s other son: Manasseh? That would mean that all of the descendants of Joseph’s brothers will be living under the rule of Joseph’s descendants—within nations’ descendant from Ephraim and Manasseh, within the world of nations, or both. I believe: both.

        How can Joseph’s brothers be subject to his sons? How does this relate to the name of Israel: Joseph’s father? Well, while the famine was going on, Jacob went down to Egypt with his entire household, and he saw Joseph’s two sons before he died. Jacob did a ceremony for Joseph’s sons in Genesis 48. Jacob put his right hand on Ephraim’s head—even though he wasn’t the first born. The right hand is the more dominate hand, and that means that the first born blessings will go to the child with the right hand first before the left hand. Manasseh was the first born, but Jacob had his left hand on the child. This is the blessing that Jacob/Israel gave to them in verse 15-16:

        “God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
      The God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
 16 The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil,
      Bless the lads;
      Let my name be named upon them,
      And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;
      And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

        Noticed how Jacob/Israel prayed to God that his name—Jacob/Israel—be named upon them, that’s key because the state of Israel wasn’t named after the people but after the land itself. Jacob gave his name to Ephraim and Manasseh as well as their descendants. This means that modern-day, biblical Israel have to be nations descendant from Ephraim and Manasseh. Who are they today? Let’s look to the bible first. In Verse 19, Jacob was responding to Joseph’s legitimate defense of Manasseh because he was the first-born, and Jacob said:

“I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”

        What’s being said is this: Manasseh will be a great, single nation, and Ephraim would be a multitude of nations. Actually, the words translated ‘multitude of nations’ means “Fullness of the Gentiles”—in other words, an Empire that’s over Israelite and non-Israelite peoples. These are your clues to finding who Ephraim and Manasseh are today. Now, keep in mind that Ephraim received the birthright blessings before Manasseh did—that will also help in finding out who they are. Another clue in finding them is God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: somehow Ephraim and Manasseh would have some way of acknowledging that covenant. Using these three clues, it’s time to show you who Israel are today.

Since God gave the name of Israel to Ephraim first, we will start searching for them first. Ephraim would be an Empire that would reach the fullness of the gentiles, and they would acknowledge God’s covenant. Well, the word in Hebrew that means ‘covenant’ is “Berit”. If you take out the ‘e’, you get “Brit”—umm sounds familiar. It is familiar: it’s the first syllable to ‘British’. In Hebrew, British means ‘covenant man’—looks like we have an acknowledgement of God’s covenant. Let’s dig deeper into the British. They had an Empire that spread through 25% of the world’s land mass before World War II. It seems like they went into the Fullness of the Gentiles. That was the height of the British Empire. The British must be Ephraim. They were Israel until the inheritance of dominion was given to the United States after World War II. Wait, who are the Americans then?

Well, America has some of the same traits as the British: Language, customs, and legal system are very similar. However, America is very different than the British. America is a Republic; Britain is a Constitutional Monarchy. America has little empire ambition; Britain had a lot of empire ambition. America changes foreign policy depending on the leadership elected; Britain has a fairly consistent foreign policy. Another interesting difference to note is that America has the best land blessings, but the British have the most blessings for the “fruit of the womb”.

No wonder British means ‘Covenant Man’—the British Empire had 500 million subjects at the height of its power! However, the Hebrew name for the United States is: ‘Artzot Habrit’ meaning “Land of the Covenant”. It looks like the United State’s name acknowledges the covenant with God. Are we the single, great nation that Jacob was talking about? Let’s look at the history of America: God broke the British yoke after the American Revolution. By doing this, America inherited the land from sea to sea: a great landmass about the size of Australia. If the British are Ephraim and Ephraim received the blessings first before Manasseh, America receiving the land from sea to shining sea is the fulfillment of that because we came out of the British—whom already received their inheritance before America existed. We are that single, great nation; we are Manasseh.

Just as the British received their land inheritance before America did, so did they receive world dominion before America did. The British had it for nearly 200 years, and it was only recently in human history that the British fell. America received her inheritance of world dominion after World War II. For 200 years, the British Empire inherited the name: Israel. When the British fell before World War II, the British handed world dominion to the United States. Since the United States is Manasseh and Manasseh was to receive the inheritance after Ephraim, it would make since that God transferred the name of Israel to the United States after the British fell. What that means is this? The United States of America is Modern-day, Biblical Israel.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

The Origins of Judah

         I titled this blog: “The Origins of Judah”. I know that will throw some of you off because there is no country in this world called Judah. However, most of the inhabitants in the nation called Israel are named Jews: יהודים. That does sound familiar to the biblical name Judah: יהודה. Huh, I wonder why David Ben-Gurion and the other founders of the modern state of Israel called it Israel instead of Judah. Even the Israeli Declaration of Independence makes a distinction between the people that inhabit the land, and the land itself.

“the Land of Israel, [Palestine] was the birthplace of the Jewish people.”  --Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel

        Yes, it’s true that Jews were tilling the ground since the early 20th century, and it’s also true that the Zionists were buying land from Arabs in Palestine during the early 20th century as well. However, Zionism wasn’t born in the land of Israel, but a Jewish nation was born in the land—it was born in ancient times. This nation (or, should I say: kingdom) was much older than Zionism. That kingdom was called the Kingdom of Judah; it was born in the land of Israel during the reign of King Rehoboam, son of Solomon. O reader, please understand that the land was already being cultivated by Israelities during the days of the Judges, Samuel, King Saul, King David, and King Solomon—before the kingdom of Judah ever existed! The land was given to Israel, and to his seed (keep that in mind), as a possession even before the days of Moses and Joshua—whom God instructed to lead the 12 tribes of Israel to the land flowing with milk and honey. Allow me to take you even further back in time to a place called Bethel.

Bethel was the place Jacob saw a vision of God, and this was the place Jacob’s anointed pillar stood—it still stands today. He was running from his brother, Esau, because Esau wanted to kill him for taking his blessing. In fact, Jacob supplanted Esau of the blessing of the first born: this blessing had to do with land possession. The first born receives the best land that God can offer. However, God told Rebekah: 

“Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.”

If you know the story, the firstborn came out hairy and his name became Esau. Esau’s younger brother was holding onto his heel as he was coming out. He was named Jacob, which means supplanter. 

        It makes you wonder why Jacob had to hold on to Esau’s heel during the birth process. It did say in Genesis 25:22: “But the children struggled together within her;”. The two brothers struggled against each other inside Rebekah’s womb. Esau came out first, but, in my opinion, he tried to force his brother to not come out—they were wrestling to get out of the womb first. Jacob had to protect himself by holding on to Esau’s heel. This is my own theory. You determine if it’s true or not. However, what is true is this: the brothers have been wrestling each other since they came out of the womb. Their descendants are still fighting each other in like-manner today. 
 
The Jews are descendants of Jacob: Judah, the 4th son of Jacob by Leah. The Palestinians are descendants of Esau: Amalek, the grandson of Esau. Ever since the State of Israel came out of the womb of the British Empire, the Jews and Palestinians have been wrestling each other for the Holy land. They were wrestling each other inside the womb ever since the Belfour Declaration in 1926. The Belfour Declaration was a document written by the British to give the Jews a homeland in Palestine—even though Jews were buying land from Arabs before the Belfour Declaration. However, it’s not the British that gave that land to Judah’s descendants, but God did. The proof is in Genesis 35: 10-12: 

10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel. 11 Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. 12 The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.”

        God gave the land of Israel (Palestine) to Jacob’s descendants. That land today belongs to the Jews because they are descendants of Jacob. The land does not belong to any other people unless you are descendants of Jacob/Israel—only to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob/Israel, and Jacob/Israel’s descendants does the land belong too. As a side note, most Americans are descendants of Jacob: Jacob had 12 sons by 4 wives. However, the point is this: the Holy land is God’s land, and He gives it to whomever He wishes to give it too. No man determines who receives the land or not—only God has that right. God gave it to the Jews and to other people descendant from Jacob/Israel, and no one else unless they become God’s people: God’s children.