The Nation Divided
After Joseph passed on, new kings arose in Egypt, who did not know of all the good things that Joseph had done for Egypt, and for Pharaoh. These new kings feared Israel’s children; and so they chose to enslave them. The bondage in Egypt was hard.
Then, four hundred and thirty years after Israel’s descendants first went down into Egypt, YHWH sent a man named Moshe, to draw them out. Moshe brought Israel’s children through the Red (actually Reed) Sea, and then into the wilderness of Sinai. Then, some fifty days later, they were given the Torah at the foot of Mount Sinai, which constituted their betrothal. At that time, they were told that they would be brought into the Promised Land, the Land of Canaan.
Knowing that YHWH was leading them to the Land of Canaan, Moshe sent twelve spies into the Land, to spy it out. However, of the twelve spies, only two of them brought back a positive report. Their names of the two bringing back a positive report were Caleb the son of Yephunneh (of the Tribe of Judah), and Joshua the son of Nun (of the Tribe of Ephraim):
6 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Yephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes;
7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: "The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land!" [Bemidbar (Numbers) 14:6]
It is very symbolic that the two spies bringing back the good report were from the tribes of Judah and Ephraim. These two tribes represent what later came to be known as the Two Houses of Israel.
The southern-most House was that of Judah (or ‘Jacob’), and it consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. These two tribes together (with some of Levi) are what we think of as ‘The Jews’ of today.
In contrast, the northern ten tribes were called the House of Israel, the House of Ephraim, and/or the House of Joseph. While these three terms are all synonymous, these are different than the Jews. This is because there are prophecies over both Judah and Israel that have yet to be fulfilled. For example:
18 "In those days the House of Judah shall walk with the House of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north, to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers. [Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 3:18]
Scripture definitely prophesies different things over Judah than it does over Israel, and unless one understands the distinction between the two groups, the Prophecies can seem to be just one big mass of jumbled, conflicting material.
Christians expect the Prophecies to conflict with each other, because it reinforces their dogma that the Messiah would have to come and do away with them.
But does the Christian hypothesis really make sense? Does the Father contradict Himself? Or did He send His Son to blot out His allegedly meaningless ramblings? The entire concept is an insult to YHWH.
The Two Houses of Israel and Judah are clearly two separate, distinct groups of people:
11 Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and appoint for themselves one head; and they shall come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezre’el! [Hosea 1:11]
The Church, however, has never understood the Two Houses; and so they have never taught on it. Rather, they have mistakenly concluded that today’s Jewry represents all the Twelve Tribes of Israel. A brief survey of Israel’s history, however, will show that this is not correct.
After Moses’ death, Joshua led the children of Israel in the conquest of the Land of Canaan. Then came the period of Judges, and then First and Second Samuel. During these periods, the tribes were not held together under any kind of strong, central leadership; and consequently they languished.
After Judges and Samuel came the period of First and Second Kings. After King Shaul’s reign, King David united the Israelite people, vanquished their enemies, and then led Israel’s children back to the Marital Covenant.
Scholars agree that Joshua and King David establish the classical Hebrew standard for a Messiah. A Messiah (or an ‘anointed’ one) is a divinely-appointed leader who vanquishes the enemies of Israel, unites Israel’s children, and then brings the lost and scattered of Israel back to the eternal Covenant. Although most Christians may not realize it, this is exactly the role that Yeshua is fulfilling, although it is taking place so slowly that one cannot fully understand how He is doing it, without an overview of both Covenants.
When Yeshua died, the Jews were not able to see how He was gathering in the lost and scattered of Israel’s children; nor could they see how He had vanquished Israel’s enemies. Moreover, because of widespread misunderstanding of Shaul’s epistles, many Jews believed that Yeshua had come to destroy the Covenant. For all of these many reasons, the Jews rejected Yeshua as their Messiah.
However, as the fourth and final phase of the regathering of the Lost Ten Tribes continues (and the Nazarene movement continues to grow) the Jews will slowly begin to see that Yeshua really is their Messiah. They will see that He truly is regathering Israel’s lost and scattered children from every tribe and tongue and nation; and that He truly is bringing them back to the Eternal Covenant. When that happens (and the Jews see Yeshua’s followers zealous for the Torah in large numbers) there will be no separating the Jewish people from their Messiah.
Yet while there are other reasons for the history of conflict between Christians and Jews, the violence can in many ways be traced to the ancient rivalries that have always existed between Israel’s Two Houses. These rivalries have existed ever since Joseph first dreamed (and his brothers became jealous); but by the time of King David, these rivalries had become intense:
43 And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, "We have ten shares in the king; therefore we also have more right to David than you! Why then do you despise us? Were we not the first to advise bringing back our king?"
Yet the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel. [2nd Samuel 19:42-43]
Despite their sibling rivalries, King David was able to unite the tribes, and keep them together. However, after David had grown old, his son Solomon began to reign.
With Solomon’s reign, a number of problems developed. Solomon had taken a large number of foreign wives. These wives were called ‘foreign’ in that they never converted to Israelite worship.
The problem was not that Solomon’s wives were foreign-born. Rather, the problem was that they never converted to the worship of YHWH (as had Ruth), but continued to worship their pagan gods. Thus it happened that in an effort to please his idolatrous wives, Solomon began to practice the same forms of idolatry as they did, even though YHWH had personally warned him not to:
1 But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites — 2 from the nations of whom YHWH had said to the children of Israel, "You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you: (for) surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.
3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.
4 For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to YHWH his Elohim, as was the heart of his father David.
5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth (Easter) the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did evil in the sight of YHWH, and did not fully follow YHWH, as did his father David.
7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. 8 And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. 9 So YHWH became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from YHWH Elohim of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what YHWH had commanded.
11 Therefore YHWH said to Solomon, "Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 12 Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; (but) I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
13 However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and (one more) for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
[Melachim Aleph (1st Kings) 11:1-13]
Solomon also took a large number of slaves from the Northern House of Ephraim, both to build the Temple, and his own personal estate. For example, when we read in Ecclesiastes about the magnificent gardens and pools that King Solomon had built, these were all built by slaves from the House of Joseph:
4 I made my works great. I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards.
5 I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
6 I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove.
7 I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house.
Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me.
[Kohillet (Ecclesiastes) 2:4-7]
King Solomon took multitudes of slaves from the Northern House of Joseph. However, we never read of his having taken slaves from the House of Judah.
26 Then Solomon's servant, Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zereda, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king.
27 And this is what caused him to rebel against the king:
Solomon had built the Milo (the Citadel) and repaired the damages to the City of David, his father.
28 The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon, seeing that the young man was industrious, made him the officer over all the (slave) labor force of the House of Joseph (i.e., the House of Ephraim).
[Melachim Aleph (1st Kings) 11:26-28]
The main problem, though, was Solomon’s idolatry. In verse 11 (above), YHWH had promised to punish Solomon for serving his wife’s foreign gods by tearing the reign out of Solomon’s son’s hand (thereby leaving only two tribes for Solomon’s son to rule over). In verse 29, then, we see how this tearing-away of the reign would be carried out:
29 Now it happened at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahiyah the Shilonite met him on the way; and he had clothed himself with a new garment; and the two were alone in the field.
30 Then Ahiyah took hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 And he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten pieces (one piece for each of the ten tribes), for thus says YHWH the Elohim of Israel: 'Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to you;
32 but (his son) shall have one tribe for the sake of My servant David, and (one more) for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel,
33 because they have forsaken Me, and worshiped Ashtoreth (Easter) the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the elohim (god) of the Moabites, and Milcom the elohim (god) of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways, to do what is right in My eyes, and keep My statutes and My judgments, as did his father David.
34 However, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes.
35 But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and give it to you — ten tribes. [1st Kings 11:29-35]
YHWH tells Jeroboam (through Ahiyah) that he loved David, because David kept his Commandments. Ahiyah prophesied that if Jeroboam will also keep the Commandments, then the House of Israel will be established as the new lead house:
37 So I will take you, and you shall reign over all your heart desires, and you shall be king over Israel.
38 Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David; and will give Israel to you.
39 And I will afflict the descendants of David (i.e., the Jews) because of this, but not forever’.”
[Melachim Aleph (1st Kings) 11:37-39]
Notice that the curse over Judah is not forever. Also notice that YHWH’s promise that He would make Ephraim into the ‘New Israel’ was only conditional. Israel would only be the new lead house as long as they kept His Commandments.
Then, in First Kings Chapter Twelve, the House of Israel rebelled out from under Solomon’s son (Rehoboam). After they did this, they established Jeroboam as their new king.
Jeroboam knew that he had to lead the people to keep the Torah, but he had a problem in that the Torah calls for the people to go up to Jerusalem three times a year. Jerusalem, however, was back in King Rehoboam’s country (in the Southern Kingdom):
26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom may return to the House of David (Judah),
27 (For) if these people go up to offer sacrifices in the House of YHWH at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah; and (then) they will kill me, and (then) go back to Rehoboam, (the) King of Judah.”
Jeroboam knows he must teach his people to go up to Jerusalem, if Israel is to remain the new lead house. However, if his people go up to Jerusalem, his people will ultimately kill him.
Jeroboam, then, comes up with a plan:
28 Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem (for the festivals). Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!" 29 And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
30 Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.
31 He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.
32 Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made.
33 So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense. [1st Kings 12:25-33]
We will see a number of parallels here between the Northern Kingdom, and the Christian Church.
Notice what happened: Jeroboam pushed the fall festivals backwards (from the seventh month, to the eighth). He set up false houses of worship, and then set up visible objects (idols) for the people to worship. He made priests of just anyone; and not only the sons of Levi. He told the people that his new religious system was legitimate, even though it departed from the Torah. Point for point, this is the exact same pattern that the Christian Church would later follow.
The Church pushed the fall festivals backwards from the fall, into the winter. They moved the center of worship from Jerusalem to Rome, set up a false Temple, and established idols (in the form of statuettes and graven images) within it. Next, they made priests out of just anyone, rather than the sons of Levi.
The pattern established in the Garden of Eden is this: When we obey YHWH’s Laws, we get to live in His special Land, and He Himself takes care of us. However, when we disobey His Laws, He kicks us out of His Land and then draws out the sword after us, until we repent. For Israel, this is what would soon happen.
Much like the Torah-less Christians (who would later claim to be the ‘New’ Israel), Jeroboam’s Ephraim had become the new lead House; but only for a time. Since they no longer obeyed the Eternal Covenant, they would no longer be allowed to dwell in the Covenant Land (because they were defiling it).
Just as the Christians would later be scattered to the four corners of the Earth, Jeroboam’s Northern Kingdom of Israel went before them. They would be scattered from the Land of Israel for their failure to obey YHWH’s Torah.
However, as we will see, all this was to fulfill the promises given to the Patriarchs.