Jacob, Ephraim, The Church and End Times (pt 27 of 27)

Now, let’s take what we’ve learned and look at Romans 11. Here’s the question: why is it that God gave His Torah to 12 tribes of Israel, then through the House of Judah, the Jewish part of Israel, gave us our Savior, only to have the torch of the gospel to be passed on from the Jews to the Gentiles, and then for the Jews and the gentiles to be at odds with each other for centuries? Let’s read verses 11-26, because this question is explicitly addressed and answered.

The next question is, “Are they [referring to the Jewish nation] down for the count? Are they out of this for good?” And the answer is a clear-cut No. Ironically when they walked out, they left the door open and the outsiders [Gentiles] walked in. But the next thing you know, the Jews were starting to wonder if perhaps they had walked out on a good thing. Now, if their leaving triggered this worldwide coming of non-Jewish outsiders to God’s kingdom, just imagine the effect of their coming back! What a homecoming!

But I don’t want to go on about them. It’s you, the outsiders, that I’m concerned with now. Because my personal assignment is focused on the so-called outsiders, I make as much of this as I can when I’m among my Israelite kin, the so-called insiders, hoping they’ll realize what they’re missing and want to get in on what God is doing. If their falling out initiated this worldwide coming together, their recovery is going to set off something even better: mass homecoming! If the first thing the Jews did, even though it was wrong for them, turned out for your good, just think what’s going to happen when they get it right!

Behind and underneath all this there is a holy, God-planted, God-tended root. If the primary root of the tree is holy, there’s bound to be some holy fruit. Some of the tree’s branches were pruned and you wild olive shoots were grafted in. Yet the fact that you are now fed by that rich and holy root gives you no cause to crow over the pruned branches. Remember, you aren’t feeding the root; the root is feeding you.

It’s certainly possible to say, “Other branches were pruned so that I could be grafted in!” Well and good. But they were pruned because they were deadwood, no longer connected by belief and commitment to the root. The only reason you’re on the tree is because your graft “took” when you believed, and because you’re connected to that belief-nurturing root. So don’t get cocky and strut your branch. Be humbly mindful of the root that keeps you lithe and green.

If God didn’t think twice about taking pruning shears to the natural branches, why would he hesitate over you? He wouldn’t give it a second thought. Make sure you stay alert to these qualities of gentle kindness and ruthless severity that exist side by side in God—ruthless with the deadwood, gentle with the grafted shoot. But don’t presume on this gentleness. The moment you become deadwood, you’re out of there.

And don’t get to feeling superior to those pruned branches down on the ground. If they don’t persist in remaining deadwood, they could very well get grafted back in. God can do that. He can perform miracle grafts. Why, if he could graft you—branches cut from a tree out in the wild—into an orchard tree, he certainly isn’t going to have any trouble grafting branches back into the tree they grew from in the first place. Just be glad you’re in the tree, and hope for the best for the others.

I want to lay all this out on the table as clearly as I can, friends. This is complicated. It would be easy to misinterpret what’s going on and arrogantly assume that you’re royalty and they’re just rabble, out on their ears for good. But that’s not it at all. This hardness on the part of insider Israel toward God is temporary. Its effect is to open things up to all the outsiders so that we end up with a full house. Before it’s all over, there will be a complete Israel. As it is written.

A champion will stride down from the mountain of Zion;
he’ll clean house in Jacob.
And this is my commitment to my people:
removal of their sins.

From your point of view as you hear and embrace the good news of the Message, it looks like the Jews are God’s enemies. But looked at from the long-range perspective of God’s overall purpose, they remain God’s oldest friends. God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded —Romans 11:11-26

God’s plan was to give His covenants to Israel; covenants that would lead to a restoration of the relationship between mankind and God. In due time, the gentile world was to be joined to Israel’s covenants—Old and New. When Israel, for the most part, rejected the New Covenant, which is the blood of Christ, gentile believers were grafted into Israel, with the twin purposes of sharing Israel’s covenants, and of carrying forth the gospel to the whole gentile world. But, at the appointed time, the Jews would wake up, and see that the gentiles had what had always been intended for Israel; and they become jealous, and want what the gentile believers have. And, then, Paul says the Jews will learn the gospel from the gentiles, who originally learned the gospel from the Jews, and in this way all Israel will be saved. Both houses. Who is all Israel, spiritually? Believers—gentile and Jew. Ephraim, the house of Israel that became part of the gentile world, and Judah, who remained Jewish. Both houses. Saved. And, we’re seeing this happen, with our own eyes—why wouldn’t you rejoice?

If you are interested, download the entire study of “Jacob, Ephraim, the Church and End Times.”

Jacob, Ephraim, The Church and End Times (pt 26 of 27)

Turn to Psalm 102.

Prayer of a sufferer overcome by weakness and pouring out his complaint before

ADONAI: ADONAI, hear my prayer! Let my cry for help reach you! Don’t hide your face from me when I am in such distress! Turn your ear toward me; when I call, be quick to reply!

For my days are vanishing like smoke, my bones are burning like a furnace. I am stricken and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food. Because of my loud groaning, I am just skin and bones. I am like a great owl in the desert, I’ve become like an owl in the ruins. I lie awake and become like a bird alone on the roof.

My enemies taunt me all day long; mad with rage, they make my name a curse. For I have been eating ashes like bread and mingling tears with my drink because of your furious anger, since you picked me up just to toss me aside.

My days decline like an evening shadow; I am drying up like grass. But you, ADONAI, are enthroned forever; your renown will endure through all generations. You will arise and take pity on Tziyon, for the time has come to have mercy on her; the time determined has come. For your servants love her very stones; they take pity even on her dust.

The nations will fear the name of ADONAI and all the kings on earth your glory, when ADONAI has rebuilt Tziyon, and shows himself in his glory, when he has heeded the plea of the poor and not despised their prayer.

May this be put on record for a future generation; may a people yet to be created praise ADONAI. For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven ADONAI surveys the earth to listen to the sighing of the prisoner, to set free those who are sentenced to death, to proclaim the name of ADONAI in Tziyon and his praise in Yerushalayim when peoples and kingdoms have been gathered together to serve ADONAI. He has broken my strength in midcourse, he has cut short my days.

I plead, “God, your years last through all generations; so don’t take me away when my life is half over! In the beginning, you laid the foundations of the earth; heaven is the work of your hands. They will vanish, but you will remain; like clothing, they will all grow old; yes, you will change them like clothing, and they will pass away.

But you remain the same, and your years will never end. The children of your servants will live securely and their descendants be established in your presence” —Psalm 102

Notice that it says in verse 14 (perhaps verse 15 depending on your Bible version) that “For your servants love her very stones” not just His chosen people—His servants. All those who love Him, Jew or gentile, are His servants. Jews and gentiles will simply fall in love with Israel.

Also, look at verse 18; it says that what’s spoken in this Psalm is for a future generation (from David’s time). This is for people who hadn’t even been created yet that will praise God. Well, all of Israel had certainly already been created, lived in Egypt, left Egypt, and at the time of this Psalm were living in their own sovereign nation with one king over all 12 tribes—David.

This mention of a mysterious “people not yet created” is talking about nothing less than the body of gentile believers—the Church—who will become part of spiritual—true—Israel. And, we will all be loving Israel, and praising God, according to this prophesy.

Jacob, Ephraim, The Church and End Times (pt 25 of 27)

Now, I would like to tell you my best estimation of what everything we’ve covered so far means to us, and then read to you a couple more scriptures.

First, I believe that the tribes of Israel called out in Revelation 7, those who had been called “lost,” but are certainly not lost any more; those who are called part of Ephraim, are those who didn’t assimilate into the gentile world, but through God’s providential hand, managed to stay together and stay identified to their original tribes. And, notice, it’s from these “Ephraimite” tribes that the bulk of that 144,000 will come. In other words, most of the tribes in that listing in Revelation 7 are what came to be known as Ephraim-Israel as completely apart from Judah and Benjamin and Levi.

Why are the Levites being un-set apart; included back in as a tribe of Israel? Because they aren’t needed any more as a special priestly tribe to officiate Temple services. The only men who will survive the Tribulation in one form or another are Believers. And all men will be as priests. All sacrifice is over. All Temple worship is over. And, all redemption is over. It’s finished. So, there’s no need for the Levites to be set apart as the ransom for Israel’s firstborn. The Levites role is completed, so they are returned to their heritage, Israel.

I believe that Ephraim, at the very least is all those remaining remnants of the 10 northern tribes of Ephraim-Israel who have maintained that identity over the centuries. Those 10 tribes who have been rediscovered and invited to return for a joyful reunion with their Jewish brothers and sisters, in their homeland, Israel.

But, I leave room for the possibility that Ephraim in some way also represents the gentile portion of the Church—probably on a spiritual level more than on a physical level. However, a physical connection is certainly possible. As with all prophesy, you only get the full picture after it has all come to pass. When someone is in the midst of its fulfillment, as we are today when it comes to the reuniting of Ephraim and Judah, not all of it is clear. Most of this is mysterious, so we need to be careful not to be rigid and dogmatic about what the path to the final outcome is going to look like.

When Ezekiel says that the two sticks, Ephraim and Judah are coming back together, I believe that we may be hearing about a reunion on two levels: spiritually and physically. Several times I have talked about what I call The Dual Realities; this mysterious way that God operates where everything to do with His plan has a spiritual element and a physical element that works in parallel.

On a physical level, I see the reuniting spoken of in Ezekiel 37, as the return of the “lost” tribes of Ephraim to Israel, joining their brothers from the tribe of Judah—the Jews—who came a few years before them to establish the State of Israel. I don’t have to guess about this, because it’s happening now and we are witnesses to it. And, on an earthly and physical level, we have the two houses of Israel—Ephraim and Judah—coming back together to form one nation of God, as they were at their inception, Israel. The 12 tribes, together again. Physically present and living together in Israel. Something that hasn’t existed for almost 3000 years.

Yet—following the model of the Dual Realities—on a spiritual level, I also see another aspect of the reunion of Ezekiel 37 as ultimately being about the gentile believers in Christ, possibly represented in some way by Ephraim, who are going to come together with the Jewish believers in Christ, represented by Judah. Together, these are Spiritual Israel, or the true Israel that Paul talks about. And, that’s beginning to happen, right now, as gentile believers are reaching out in love to the Jewish people as never before in history. The number of Jewish people coming to faith in Yeshua is growing at a breakneck speed, and as those who have been to Israel recently testify that there is a bond of love growing between gentile and Jew, and especially between Messianic Jew and gentile Christian. And, this was all prophesied as to how it would happen, in what order it would happen, where it would happen, and who would be involved.

Jacob, Ephraim, The Church and End Times (pt 24 of 27)

If you read the 49^th chapter of Genesis, and look at the blessings of Jacob on his 12 sons, we’ll see that Dan is apparently going to have a serious on-going problem with idolatry. Some even think that the Anti-Christ will arise out of a connection to the tribe of Dan (by the way, I don’t subscribe to that belief, but neither do I say it’s entirely impossible). So, that may be the reason Dan is left out. Yet, the next logical question is: where is Ephraim? Because in Ezekiel, we see in the end times that Ephraim and Judah are reunited. Next we see that in place of Ephraim, Joseph is added back in. I told you earlier that we will see the make-up of the tribes of Israel evolve, beginning from the time of their inception, and eventually here in Revelation. We must understand that this is significant. To suddenly see Ephraim deleted and Joseph added back in says something dramatic has happened. But, what?

Well, let’s look at the next couple of verses in Revelation 7:

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

“Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

I answered, “Sir, you know.” —Revelation 7:9-14

First, let’s remember that Ephraim and Judah coming back together occurs before the Great Tribulation. It happens in the latter days, but before the world enters that terrible period.

We have another group of people, in Revelation 7, being described as from every nation, tribe, and tongue. Of course, these are the Believers who have been removed from the Tribulation. Some say these are those who were martyred during the Tribulation; others (as do I) say that these are those who have been raptured. But, the point is, whoever these people are, and however it is they wound up in front of God’s throne, it’s clear these are Believers.

Now, I told you when I would be speculating, and this is one of those times. Who are these people dressed in the white robes? Could this be a portion of Ephraim, who’s suddenly missing from the listing of the 12 tribes? I ask that because John asks the angel in verse 13: “who are they and where are they from?” We know from an earlier verse that they are from every nation, tribe, and tongue. every means every. And, we know that Ephraim wasn’t just scattered among the gentiles, but a few Ephraimites joined with the tribe of Judah—the Jews. And, we know that “nations” by definition means gentiles.

Jacob, Ephraim, The Church and End Times (pt 23 of 27)

So, you who are real Bible students, if you are fortunate enough to have a computer based Bible search program or even a good concordance, sit down some evening, and go to all the places where Ephraim is mentioned. It will put a chill down your spine when you see where it leads you. But . . . let me also show you a place where Ephraim is not mentioned, when one might expect that it should be, and that should also indicate something important to us.

Immediately I saw Four Angels standing at the four corners of earth, standing steady with a firm grip on the four winds so no wind would blow on earth or sea, not even rustle a tree. Then I saw another Angel rising from where the sun rose, carrying the seal of the Living God. He thundered to the Four Angels assigned the task of hurting earth and sea, “Don’t hurt the earth! Don’t hurt the sea! Don’t so much as hurt a tree until I’ve sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads!”

I heard the count of those who were sealed: 144,000! They were sealed out of every Tribe of Israel: 12,000 sealed from Judah, 12,000 from Reuben, 12,000 from Gad, 12,000 from Asher, 12,000 from Naphtali, 12,000 from Manasseh, 12,000 from Simeon, 12,000 from Levi, 12,000 from Issachar, 12,000 from Zebulun, 12,000 from Joseph, 12,000 sealed from Benjamin —Revelation 7:1-8

Now, the context of this passage is that it’s occurring in the Tribulation period—the period that’s known to the Jewish people as the Time of Jacob’s Troubles. The Time of Jacob’s Trouble and the Tribulation indicate basically the same thing. It’s just two different cultural expressions for the same event.

And, here we have this great event we have heard about for years—the sealing of the 144,000 witnesses. But, notice, these witnesses are all from the tribes of Israel; and these witnesses are listed tribe by tribe, 12,000 per tribe times 12 tribes equals 144,000.

But, look carefully: oddly, there are two names missing from this list, and an old one added back in: Ephraim and Dan are missing, and Joseph and Levi are added back in. Why? Stay tuned . . .

Jacob, Ephraim, The Church and End Times (pt 22 of 27)

Let’s go back to Ezekiel, and look at Ezekiel 37.

Now, to understand the context, the book of Ezekiel was written by a man who was living in Babylon at the time he wrote this down. He was among the exiles of Judah—that is, he was a Jew—who had been hauled off to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Ephraim-Israel had ceased to exist for well over a century before this time.

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make my Spirit enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ “

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ‘So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’ “

The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, ‘Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, ‘Ephraim’s stick, belonging to Joseph and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand.

“When your countrymen ask you, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by this?’ say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in Ephraim’s hand—and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’ Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

” ‘My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.’ ” —Ezekiel 37

Wow! I know it was a lot of reading, but for what we are doing, the key verses are 15-19. And, what’s happening is that Judah and Ephraim, after being brought to life again, are brought back to the re-established land of Israel, and are being rejoined into one unified people. This is an end-times prophecy. This has never happened. And, it happens only after Israel is re-born as a nation.

The thing is, we know who Judah is—it’s the Jews. But what about Ephraim? How can Ephraim rejoin Judah, if Ephraim is the lost and scattered 10 lost tribes, almost all of whom have become gentiles and have no idea who they are?

What’s inescapable is that there’s going to be a joining of the Jewish people with whoever it is that somehow finds out they are Ephraim. And, we know from Jacob’s prophecy concerning Ephraim, and from all the other prophecies we’ve studied, that at least part of Ephraim is most definitely connected with the gentiles.

But, we also now know with a certainty, that the identifiable Israelite tribes that formed Ephraim, 2700 years ago, are alive and well. In fact, they have stepped forward, asserted their Israelite heritage, and have petitioned the State of Israel to migrate to Israel. Not only that, in March of 2005, the government of Israel and the religious hierarch of Israel agreed that these Ephraimite tribes have been found, that indeed they are Israel, so a law was passed allowing these Ephraimites to return home and be reunited with their Israelite brothers, the Jews.

And, here we gentiles sit, gathered together today—we Christian gentiles—with this growing love and concern for Israel in our hearts. And, by the way, we see this same phenomena happening all over the world—this is by no means an American movement. And, we don’t know where it came from, this love. But, we know, in our Spirits that we do have some sort of connection with the Jewish people. And, without a doubt in my mind, that connection has its source in Ephraim. I think it’s much more of a spiritually based connection, but indeed some physical element may also be involved.

Jacob, Ephraim, The Church and End Times (pt 21 of 27)

Now, before we examine those Hebrew words of Genesis 48, let me emphasize something: when mistakes are made trying to interpret and understand the meaning of Biblical prophesy, it’s usually because the words of those prophesies aren’t taken literally enough. So, let’s take a look at the Hebrew words that make up the last few critical words of the prophetic blessing Jacob pronounced on Ephraim, at the end of verse 19. Where our Bibles say group of nations, or something like that, the original Hebrew is: melo ha goyim. And, those words, in their most literal sense, mean—a fullness of gentiles. Or more to the exact context of the era when it was written, a fullness of gentile nations.

So, Ephraim is going to become the fullness of the gentile nations. Of course, the $64,000 question is, so what exactly does that mean?

Well, though the clouds are lifting, the window is still fogged somewhat. What we can now see is that Ephraim is identified with the gentile peoples of the world. But, we also know that large populations of the various 10 tribes that formed Ephraim have been rediscovered. And, they’re saying, “We are Israel, but we are not Jews.” And, right they are. They are from the Kingdom of Ephraim, not from the Kingdom of Judah.

Some believe that the result of Ephraim being absorbed into the gentile world is that through the miraculous ways of God; every gentile believer in Christ has literal physical genealogical ties to Ephraim. Some will say that they can even tell you which tribe of Israel they are descended from. There’s a group called the Brit-Am Association, which takes it a step further and says that Britain and America are two of the 10 lost tribes of Israel.

Others say that Ephraim is purely symbolic—symbolic of gentile believers. Still others say that spiritually, but not physically, gentile believers are Ephraim—Spiritual Ephraim.

Nonetheless, the bottom line is, Ephraim was prophesied by Jacob to “become a fullness of the gentiles”—that is, Ephraim was going to be some special and important type of blessing to non-Hebrews—gentiles. And 1200 years after the prophetic Cross-Handed Blessing by Jacob on Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh, Ephraim was indeed scattered and large segments of the population absorbed by the gentiles of the world. So, at least some of the prophecy is clear, and it has happened. Other parts of the prophecy, such as those parts of Ephraim, which were exiled but maintained tribal affiliation as well as a memory of their Hebrew Roots, are also starting to play another, and different, prophetic role. And, it’s happening right before our eyes.

Jacob, Ephraim, The Church and End Times (pt 20 of 27)

Now, armed with the knowledge that most of Ephraim was scattered and assimilated into the gene pool of gentiles, while Judah had remained a separate and identifiable Hebrew culture and race, let’s go back to Genesis 48 and look at verses 17-19 again.

When Yosef saw that his father was laying his right hand on Efrayim’s head, it displeased him, and he lifted up his father’s hand to remove it from Efrayim’s head and place it instead on M’nasheh’s head. Yosef said to his father, “Don’t do it that way, my father; for this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.” But his father refused and said, “I know that, my son, I know it. He too will become a people, and he too will be great; nevertheless his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will grow into many nations” —Genesis 48:17-19

It says at the end of verse 19 that Ephraim is going to become “a multitude of nations.” Some Bibles say Ephraim will grow “into many nations;” still others say he will become a group of nations. Here’s where looking at the original Hebrew words comes in handy.

By the time Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, the world had been starkly divided, by God, into two divisions of people: Israelites and everybody else. The “everybody else” is what the Bible calls gentiles. Gentile is the English translation of the Hebrew word “goy.” To this day, the physical world remains, in God’s eyes, two groups: Israelites and gentiles. The common terminology we use today is Jews and gentiles. For the purpose of conversation, Jew, Hebrew, and Israelite are all the same things. But, technically, and for those who want to better understand the Scriptures, each of those three terms all mean something different and I hope you’re beginning to grasp that difference.

Jacob, Ephraim, The Church and End Times (pt 19 of 27)

Now that we’ve followed what eventually happened to the descendants of Ephraim, let’s try to understand what happened to the southern kingdom (the Kingdom of Judah), that other house or family of Israel. Judah wasn’t attacked by Assyria. They made a treaty with Assyria, instead, and paid tribute to Assyria in exchange for remaining a separate nation. But, a little after 600 BC, some 130 years after the northern kingdom of Ephraim-Israel ceased to exist, Babylon became the new world power, and led by Nebuchadnezzar, attacked and conquered Judah.

Unlike what Assyria did to Ephraim-Israel, the Babylonians didn’t scatter the inhabitants of Judah. They did deport a large group of Jews up to Babylon, but they weren’t assimilated or separated. They were generally allowed to stay together as a group and (this is important) maintained a separate culture. Not only were the people of Judah allowed to stay separate, most wanted to stay separate—another significant difference between them and Ephraim-Israel. Ephraim-Israel was turned over to the gentiles because they wanted to be like the gentiles, so God granted it. Judah didn’t want to be like their gentile neighbors. In addition to the hundreds of thousands of Jews taken off to Babylon, thousands more were left in Judah as caretakers of the land (these were peasants primarily), and simply because they had so little value to the Babylonians, it wasn’t worth the trouble to deport them to Babylon.

By the time of the Babylonian invasion of Judah, Judah consisted primarily of the two tribes of Benjamin and Judah. Most certainly we should include the Levites as well, and without doubt, tiny groups of other Israelite tribes also lived in Judah. But, the presence of these other tribes was insignificant because their numbers were so small and their influence was non-existent. It’s also important that we understand that not long after Judah was hauled off to Babylon, and when Persian and then Greek influence would begin to spread after Babylon lost it’s grip on the Middle East, the people of Judah would start to be called Jews. Jews, as we know them today, are only people who are from the former nation of Judah. But, after Babylon, they view themselves as the remnant of all Israel, because to their view, the tribes forming Ephraim Israel were long gone.

Jacob, Ephraim, The Church and End Times (pt 18 of 27)

Now, it’s important to note that not every Israelite that was deported became assimilated. We are learning today, in our time, that groups from each of those 10 tribes of Ephraim-Israel managed to stay together (maintaining their tribal affiliation and loyalty), and they retained a distant memory of their Hebrew history. There’s an excellent Documentary film called, The Quest for the Lost Tribes, which clearly identifies all but a couple of those 10 Ephramite tribes (often called the 10 lost tribes of Israel), living in various places in Asia, and in groups sometimes topping a million people, and maintaining their tribal names and many Hebrew worship rituals.

But, and here is what stimulated me to create this entire study, and for the sake of clarity, it’s fair to say that for the most part the members of the various tribes forming the kingdom of Ephraim-Israel simply became part of the gentile world, and no one knows who or where these people are—except for God himself. Possibly some of you reading the study are walking around with Hebrew blood from one or more of the 10 lost tribes of Ephraim-Israel. But, physically, we have absolutely no way of knowing it.

One theory, which can never be proved or disproved, is that those who find an explainable love and appreciation for the Hebrew history are in fact, descendants of these 10 tribes. As I said, it can’t be proved, but it is a fun concept to entertain.