The verse that is commonly misread to suggest that the Torah was ‘nailed to the Cross’ at Golgotha is found in Colossians 2:13-14. We will use the King James Version here:

 

 

Christians say that the handwriting of ordinances that was against us is the Law, which is why Yeshua had to be sent to nail it to His Cross.

However, if we look at this passage in the Aramaic (Peshitta), we see that what this passage actually says is that Yeshua blotted out the handwriting of our debts. What this passage actually means, then, is that when Yeshua died to atone for our sins (both individual and corporate) what He nailed to His Cross was the record of our sins.  Thus our criminal record was blotted out, and we were given a clean slate, so that we could begin again:

 

 

 

We know that the Apostle Shaul’s writings are difficult to understand. One of the things that the Apostle Shaul says in the Book of Hebrews, then, is that the Old Covenant is now old; and therefore it is now obsolete, and is almost ready to vanish:

 

 

 

All Scripture is true; but we have to understand that there is a hidden meaning to this passage.

In the Hebrew, the term ‘New’ Covenant is actually the term ‘Renewed’ Covenant, because in Hebrew, the word ‘New’ is the word Chadash (pronounced ‘Hadash’, with a hard Middle-Eastern ‘H.’) 

This word Chadash does not imply that the Covenant is ‘brand’ new; but that it has been made new yet again. This word Chadash implies that the Covenant would be re-newed, meaning its principles and tenets would remain the same as before.

One useful analogy is how we talk about a ‘new’ moon, in English. We call it a ‘new’ moon, even though it is the exact same moon as before. In the same way, it is the same Covenant as before: just re-newed.

In order to understand this better, let us look at Jeremiah 31:31 (which Shaul quoted):

 

 

This Renewed Covenant was different in that it was to be written in the people’s minds, and on their hearts: It says nothing about the adoption of different days of worship.

It is also interesting to note that while verse 31 tells us that this Renewed Covenant would be given to both Houses, verse 33 specifies that the Renewed Covenant would first be given only to Israel (Ephraim). Also, an interesting interplay between Genesis 49:10 and Deuteronomy 33:21 (which will be discussed in detail in Nazarene Scripture Commentary) will show us that the ability to set Halachah (the ability to bind on earth what had already been bound in the Heavens, as was done in Acts Chapter Fifteen) was transferred from the House of Judah to the House of Ephraim after the destruction of the Temple; and that it presently rests with the House of Ephraim. This will be explained in greater detail in Nazarene Scripture Commentary.
 

 

This argument is in all probability true; but the truth is also that it makes absolutely no difference. Irrespective of their genetic lineages, the Jews of today are at least the prophetic representatives of the Jews of Yeshua’s time.

The Book of Genesis is generally prophetic. Genesis tells us, then, that Israel had two wives (Leah and Rachel) and two concubines. These symbolize the Two Houses, Judah and Ephraim.  Leah represents the blood descendants of the House of Judah, while the children of her concubine (Zilpah) represent those who were grafted in to Judah (i.e. the Khazars and the so-called ‘Germanic Jews.’) The fact is, however, that these are all nonetheless Jews (and Israelites), with an Inheritance in the Millennial Land (re: Ezekiel 47-48).

Ephraimites would do well not to point fingers at Judah’s genetic lineage, in that Ephraim was altogether swallowed up (Hosea 8:8), and is not able to prove blood lineage at all. However, just as blood lineage is irrelevant for Judah, so it is for Ephraim. What matters is that one wants to return to the Land of Israel, and keep the Torah once again.

 

[For another example, the word ‘Palestinian’ means ‘invader.’ The vast majority of the modern-day Palestinians (the Philistines of Scripture) are really genetic Egyptians, Lebanese, Jordanians and/or Syrians; and yet they became ‘invaders’ when they spiritually self-identified as Philistines/Palestinians.]

 

The Jewish Sages are recorded as saying that the Lost Tribes were hidden beyond the Sambatyon River, a mythical river that was impassable six days of the week (in that it spewed forth stones, thereby killing anyone who tried to cross it). The Sambatyon was supposedly passable only on the Sabbath; but since the Torah forbids travel on the Sabbath, the Jews never could cross it, to reach their brothers.

The problem with the face value of this legend is that while the whole world has been charted, no River Sambatyon exists. This, however, is not to say that there is no significance or value to the Sages’ assertion that the Tribes are lost ‘Beyond the River Sambatyon.’

In Hebrew, words and their sounds have many layers of meaning. Further, the Jewish Sages have been known to hide controversial secrets within several layers of allegory. This may be the case here.

In Hebrew, the word ‘Sam’ means a spice, or a drug. The word ‘Bat’ means ‘daughter of.’ The word ‘Ion’ is the Hebrew word for all things Greek (or Ionic). At the secret (‘sode’) level, then, the Sam-bat-yon River would be the Daughter of the Greek-Drug River (i.e., the ‘Daughter of Hellenic Thought’ River).

At the sode (secret) level, the Lost Tribes were exiled beyond the River of Hellenic Thought, which was impassable, except on Sabbath. However, since the Lost Tribes did not rest on the Sabbath, their Jewish brothers were never able to connect with them.

However, as we will detail in Joseph’s Return, Judah and Ephraim are getting ready to reconnect.

 

 

The problems of the Asian-fulfillment theories are many, and will be dealt with in more detail in the study Migrations. The principle difficulty, however, is that the Dream of Jacob’s Ladder tells us that the Lost Tribes were to go in every direction: not just east.

Further, the few thousand Asians reportedly identified as the Lost Tribes are not nearly numerous enough to fulfill all the prophecies, which called for the Children of Israel to be as numerous as the stars of the heaven, and the sand of the seashore:

 

Only the Christians are a Covenant people as numerous as the stars of the Heavens and the sand of the sea; and therefore only they fulfill this prophecy.

 

 

The ‘One-House’ Messianic Jewish thesis is that the Lost Tribes were all recovered before Yeshua was born. The flaws with this theory are too numerous to catalogue here, although the main difficulty is that many of the Prophecies still speak to Judah and Ephraim’s coming reunion. This re-union is still a future event: It has not yet taken place.

The House of Judah was restored to the Land of Israel in 1948, when the Nation of Israel was ‘born in one day’ (fulfilling Isaiah 66:8). This restoration also simultaneously fulfills the first half of the prophecies in Ezekiel 37, which call for the House of Judah to be gathered together as one ‘stick’ in the Land, just prior to the restoration of the ‘stick’ of Ephraim. This cannot possibly be a reference to any time prior to 1948.

Further, one of the jobs of a Messiah is to unite the children of Israel together in the Land. If the tribes were already reunited prior to Yeshua’s arrival, how does Yeshua fulfill the Messiah’s traditional role of a Regather? How is He bringing back the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel (Ephraim), as He said in Matthew 15:24? Is Yeshua not the prophesied Messiah?

Messianic Judaism’s thesis also suggests that while the ‘gentiles’ took care of their Messiah for them for some two-thousand years, now that the Jews are back on the job, the gentiles have only to acknowledge (Messianic) Judah’s authority, and submit to their rule.