The Nagging Question

I need to write about something that is not popular, not even among those who are both spiritually alive and racially aware. It is a topic that is whispered in hushed tones, or loudly denounced (but rarely objectively considered) even by those with traditional social mores. It is something that looms large, always casting a shadow on Bible study, history, politics, religion, current events. That topic, that nagging question, is of Israel and the Jews, and who is Israel, and who are the Jews. This simple man is firmly convinced by the Bible, by the witness of the Church militant, by history, and by the witness of the enemies of God and God’s people that the Christians of the West have been lied to, whether deliberately or through ignorance. I do not seek popularity nor approval, but the truth.  Hear the issues, consider the evidence, and remember: He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.

Every first grade Sunday School child knows the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses and David.  What the children are not taught, and what theologians, even great and godly men, have somehow missed, are the prophetic details in these Bible stories. These accounts are the foundations of the Faith. If we miss something here, we miss, not salvation of necessity, but important facts which God gave for our instruction. Because the Bible is the recorded witness of God about his people Israel, and the Incarnate Son of God/Son of Man Jesus Christ, it is inexpressibly important that we understand correctly this word. Failure to do so is the root of the errors of ignorance sadly prevalent in the Church. Why is it that the topic of Israel, which occupies such a vast portion of the Bible, should be one that is so misunderstood and divisive? Why do Protestants, who claim sola Scriptura, have so many differing ideas about Israel? Why do we have replacement theology and dispensationalism? What does the Bible say?

Who is Israel? The simple answer is that Israel is Jacob. Genesis 35:10 declares -

And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.

The man Jacob’s name was changed to Israel by God after he wrestled with the angel, which happened back in chapter 32. This is simple and straightforward. It is the next verse which must be read and pondered carefully:

And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins

Do you see that? Israel is given a command with an annexed promised: be fruitful and multiply (command) and a nation AND A MULTITUDE OF NATIONS SHALL SPRING OF THEE (promise with emphasis added). Do you believe the Bible, Christian? Why is it, then, that you believe and teach that “Israel” is equal to or synonymous with “the Jews?” Even if the Jews of 2011 form a part of Israel, the Bible teaches that a multitude of nations shall spring from Jacob/Israel’s fruitfulness, not just one nation. That is the promise given here by God almighty, and there is no way to spiritualise this verse to refer to anyone who believes. It does not mention belief, it mentions reproduction. We have here a nation, singular, which history and the Scripture calls Israel after its father, and a multitude of nations, which with the Lord’s help we will seek to identify.

Jacob had already began to be fruitful. The Lord blessed him with 12 sons. These sons are Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph, and Benjamin. These sons gave their names to the twelve tribes of the (nation) Israel. However, before that, something happened to Joseph. His brothers sold him into slavery because of jealousy. While in Egypt, he was given a wife and two sons, Manasseh the eldest, because God had made him forget all his labour and his father’s household, and Ephraim the second, because God had made him fruitful in the land of his affliction. (Genesis 41:51,52.) In the course of time, Jacob and his other sons came into Egypt, Joseph revealed himself to them, and the family of Israel dwelt in the land of Goshen, a thing God had already revealed to his friend Abraham (Genesis 15:13.) When Jacob’s days were ending, he called for the sons of Joseph and blessed them, receiving them as his own sons (Genesis 48:13-22).

13: And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him.

14: And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.

15: And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,

16: The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

17: And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.

18: And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.

19: And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

20: And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

21: And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.

22: Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

It is a source of amazement to me that this passage is so casually passed by. When I first saw what was being said it was like a slap in the face, or a splash of cold water.  Even the eminent and Godly commentator Matthew Henry does not mention one word of the prophecy of verse 19 in particular. It is almost as if even the faithful men of God in the past had a blind spot to these things. Perhaps in His providence, they did.

What does the passage teach? Joseph has brought his sons, at Jacob (Israel’s) request, to his dying father. Joseph held them for the blessing, the same blessing Jacob had received at the hand of Isaac. That blessing included the Abrahamic promise from Genesis 12 as reiterated in Genesis 17, promising Kings and Nations, plural. Israel was the rightful holder of that promise. In verse 13, Joseph places the eldest toward Israel’s right hand, with the younger toward his left. However it was not to be; Israel, old and nearly blind, deliberately placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head before blessing Joseph and claiming the two boys as his own (verse 16.) Joseph was displeased by this as seen in verse 17, but Israel refused to change it; he was under the spirit of prophecy. Read verse 19 carefully – his (that is, Ephraim’s) seed shall become a multitude of nations! Nations is in the plural, not the singular. As an interesting note, the word used is goy which is sometimes rendered with the Latin derived gentile. Ephraim’s seed shall become a multitude of gentiles! This is Israel’s promise from Genesis 35 passed to Ephraim. He concludes with the passing of the Birthright, the same one received from Isaac and sold by Esau, to Joseph in verse 22. That is the double portion. Now, the question: what does this mean, and why do we hear nothing about this in Christian teaching? All Scripture is given for instruction, correct? Why has the error that the Jews are Israel been allowed to go to seed in dispensationalism? Very few things are stated more clearly in the history of the Bible than the promise of many nations belonging to Israel through Ephraim. The Jews are but one nation, so that fact by itself is enough to refute the error. Now one might then say yes, but this is referring to all who believe regardless of their nationality. How can that be? To believe is to be in Christ. Jesus Christ is the Davidic King of the tribe of Judah, therefore believers are related to Judah in that respect. The promise of His coming is found in Judah’s blessing. Judah’s blessing is received in Genesis 49:8-12. What part does Ephraim play in the Messianic lineage? None. If the Bible is true (and it is) then this must refer to something else.

This portion of the story is not done. In Genesis 49 Israel announces another prophecy to his sons; “that which shall come to you in the last days.” For the time being, consider what is said to Joseph in verses 22-26:

22: Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

23: The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

24: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

25: Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

26: The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

Israel promises to Joseph (and by extension to the sons of Joseph just received in chapter 48) fruitfulness in spite of vicious attacks. Joseph’s life had already been a testimony to that preservation. Pay careful attention to verses 25 and 26. All these blessings are promised to Joseph – that of the heaven above and of the depth beneath. The fact that these are tied together suggests that this refers to natural prosperity or the fruits of the earth’s bounty. The rains of heaven above and the bounty of the waters beneath will fall on Joseph’s posterity. He is prophesied agricultural bounty and the bounty of the sea. This will last “unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills” or, as the Geneva Bible renders it “unto the end of the hills of the world.” Christian, do you believe the Bible? Is there any indication that this has been rescinded? Can God lie, or is He unfaithful to his Word? If you believe the prophecy in 49:8-12 concerning Judah and the messiah, what about this prophecy? What do you believe about this?

To be continued. . .