Establishing the Pattern
The Ten Tribes were banished from the Land of Israel for sinning against their Creator: that much is clear. However, if Divine Providence tells us that all things ultimately stem from the hand of the Creator for a divine purpose, then what was that purpose? Why did the Tribes have to sin, and be banished? Is there any kind of a logical sequence, or a pattern?
In the Beginning, YHWH formed the man Adam from the dust of the ground:
7 And YHWH Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
[Breisheet (Genesis) 2:7]
Many Christians believe that Adam and Eve (actually Adam and Havvah) could have avoided their fall from grace, simply by making better choices:
13 And YHWH Elohim said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
[Breisheet (Genesis) 3:13]
But is that really so? Even though Adam and Havvah appeared to have free will and choice, the Apostle Shaul tells us that our Salvation was fore-ordained from before the foundations of the world:
4 Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be set apart and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Yeshua Messiah to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. [Ephesians 1:6]
If Salvation was fore-ordained, then surely it was also necessary for Adam and Havvah to fall, so they could be saved. One wonders, then, if there might be a parallel with the House of Ephraim…and if so, what?
Many Christians believe that man will ultimately return to the Garden of Eden, from whence he came. This, however, is contrary to the Scriptures, which tell us that mankind is headed for life in a city:
2 Then I, Yochanan (John), saw the set-apart city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from Elohim, prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband. [Revelation 21:2]
If dusty man began in the field, but will ultimately progress to the city, can we infer that YHWH did not create Adam and Havvah as finished products? They may be finished in the physical, material sense; but they still had to undergo a spiritual refinement. Like a rich metal ore, dusty man has to be crushed, and then sluiced, and then refined as silver and gold are refined: in the fire and the furnace of affliction.
But if mankind must undergo spiritual affliction, then what is the ultimate goal of all of his spiritual refinement and learning? Could it be to train this dusty, materialistic man to become more of a spiritual being? Or what is the purpose of it all?
After Adam and Havvah (Eve) first broke His Commandments, mankind began to be corrupt:
11 The earth also was corrupt before Elohim, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 So Elohim looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
[Breisheet (Genesis) 6:11-12]
At this time, YHWH told a man named Noah (or Noach) that if he obeyed the voice of Elohim, he would save his own life, and the lives of his immediate family:
17 And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark — you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. [Breisheet (Genesis) 6:17-18]
Next, Avraham was asked to obey YHWH’s voice, even though it meant he would have to leave his home and his extended family, and everything he knew; and then sojourn in a Land not his own:
1 Now YHWH had said to Abram:
"Go yourself out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a Land that I will show you.
[Breisheet (Genesis) 12:1]
This same Avraham later agreed even to slay his only son, in obedience to YHWH’s voice:
2 Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” [Breisheet (Genesis) 22:2]
Notice, then, that Noach obeyed YHWH’s voice; but his reward was that he would save the lives of himself and his family members. In contrast, however, Avraham’s obedience would cost him his relationships with his extended family; and later would even threaten to cost him his only son.
What the Scriptures reveal, then, is that YHWH continually raises the cost of being loyal to Him. Whereas Noach would deliver his family through his obedience, from Abraham on forward, such obedience would begin to take an increasing personal toll. This pattern of raising the cost of obedience, then, carries forward to the incident with the golden calf.
When the children of Israel sinned against YHWH by making a visible object of worship, YHWH wanted to destroy Israel’s children, and make a new-and-superior nation out of Moshe’s better seed. However, although Moshe would have personally gained just by consenting, he pleaded with YHWH to spare the lives of his Israelite brothers and sisters:
9 And YHWH said to Moshe, "I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10 Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
11 Then Moshe pleaded with YHWH his Elohim, and said: "YHWH, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people, whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
12 “Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, 'He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people.
13 “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever’.”
14 So YHWH relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people. [Shemot (Exodus) 32:9-14]
Even though a man’s carnal nature is to sire as many children as he can, Moshe sought to save his brothers’ and sisters’ lives, even though it meant he would have to forego siring such a nation himself.
Moshe, then, traded away his own personal success for an opportunity to serve others in a spiritual way. In this he was a shadow of the coming Messiah, who laid down His life to save others:
13 Greater Love has no man than this, that he should lay down his life for his friends. [Yochanan (John) 15:13-17]
What we see, then, is that the Israelite religion is not just a religion, but also a spiritual path. In contrast to the value systems of the world, Israelite worship asks one to learn to place others ahead of oneself:
3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit; but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than (themselves).
4 Let each of you look out not only for (your) own interests, but also for the interests of others.
[Philippians 2:3-4]
The pattern, then, is that YHWH is training His dusty bride to nurture an ever-increasing devotion and love towards others. One must learn to do only good, even though it will cost one dearly, in the material sense. One must learn not to rely on one’s own might and power; but to turn to YHWH for support. One must learn to listen for the voice of the Bridegroom, and then obey it, no matter what personal cost one might have to incur.
From Noach, to Abraham, to Moshe, and then to the Messiah, the material cost of obeying YHWH’s voice would only increase.
Despite ever-increasing personal sacrifice, the bride becomes both filled and adorned with love, by letting love be the central core motivation for every aspect of everything she does. This is true religion, and this is the heart of the Law. The Apostle Shaul addresses this beautifully in his writings, at First Corinthians Chapter Thirteen:
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long, and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself; is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things; 12 for now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then (we shall see) face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know, just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
[First Corinthians Thirteen]
Love truly is the greatest of all things, for we know that the Spirit is Love:
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of Elohim; and everyone who loves is born of Elohim, and knows Elohim.
8 He who does not love does not know Elohim; for Elohim is love.
[Yochanan Aleph (1st John) 4:8]
However, we are also told that without keeping the Bridal Instructions, our love is not complete:
3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
4 He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of Elohim is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
[Yochanan Aleph (1st John) 2:3-6]
What YHWH is trying to fashion from his dusty lump of clay, then, is a bride who listens intently for the sound of His voice, and who keeps His Covenant in a heart of perfect love, no matter what it may cost her. However, YHWH knows that dusty old mankind is still a little dull around the edges, and is only able to learn just-so-quickly. Therefore, He has been giving her everything she needs to grow, in stages, as if He has been raising her up from her childhood.
Up until this point in history, Christianity has not needed to know anything about the need to fulfill the Marital Covenant, as the Christians have been busily spreading their version of the Good News outward, and making disciples in all nations. However, now that Ephraim’s Exile is nearing its end (of which we will speak in the next chapter), the Christians are finally beginning to realize that there is more to being a follower of the Messiah than just loving Him in a purely idealized, intellectual sense. Rather, one must also learn to walk just as He walked; and do as He did.
Before mankind was able to accept the true Good News, mankind was only able to accept the Christian variation. Fallen Adam was so far fallen that he was not ready to accept the whole truth. And while Christianity is not the end-goal of the belief in Yeshua, let us give Christianity its due. While the Christians did persecute the Jews, and while they exterminated the Nazarenes, they also brought great advancements to the world. Even their religion of intellectual-only love wrought a dramatic civilizing effect upon all of man’s prior corruptions.
Apart from their barbarous acts against the Jews, the Christians (and even the Catholic Christians, to some extent) helped bring civilization to the world. For example, they stopped pagan earth-worshippers (such as the Druids) from sacrificing their children at human-life-sacrifice sites such as Stonehenge.
After Catholicism became the official religion of the Roman Empire, instead of burning their children to demons in bone-fires (bonfires), the Roman citizens were now encouraged to come inside of the Catholic Churches, where they could simply burn candles to their demons (who had been turned into figurines, and canonized by the Pope): Hence the children lived.
From a Torah perspective, Christianity was just one desolating abomination after another. However, from an objective point of view, the Christians (and even the Catholic Christians) brought a great deal of advancement to the world. Even though the Pope would claim to be Elohim’s representative on earth, the world was made into a much better place than before. This is one reason Yeshua tells us:
38 And John answered Him, saying, “Rabbi, we saw someone casting out demons in Your Name, who does not follow us. And we stopped him, because he does not follow us.”
39 But (Yeshua) said, “Do not stop him! For there is no one who shall do a work of power in My Name, yet be able to speak evil of Me quickly! For he who is not against us is for us.”
41 For truly I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you are of Messiah, he will by no means lose his reward.
[Marqaus (Mark) 9:38-41]
Though the Christians would persecute the Nazarenes unto death, even the Christians would have their reward, for Christianity needed its day in the sun that the promises to the Patriarchs might be fulfilled.
Some Christians would be truer to the principle of Love than others would be, but YHWH would know the difference; and all would be held accountable for what they knew, in the Day of Judgment.
Christianity’s day in the sun, however, is rapidly being brought to a close. As we will see in the following chapter, the prophecies tell us that Ephraim’s long period of exile has reached its finishing-point, and the time for the regathering is at hand.