After 40 years of wandering in the Sinai Desert while all adults over the age of 20 died off because of their sins, the nation of Israel entered the land God had promised Abraham his descendants would inherit because of his obedience.  For many years all went well for the nation as success as its people proved God’s cause and effect law played out for them as detailed in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.  Then a generation came on the scene that grew tired of success and prosperity.  They grew weary of being commanded by someone who demanded the best from them.  Israel had a better; they thought their neighbors lifestyle, their way of life was much better than theirs.  Their words to the by-the-book prophet Samuel who God had placed over them was: “We want a king.”  Though they were led by a true man of God, the people desired to be like the heathen nations that bordered them.  The grass, they determined while watching their neighbors frolic in sin, was definitely greener.

Speaking through Samuel, the Almighty warned the nation that a king would rule them according to his whims and would use them to satisfy his desires, they nevertheless insisted on having a leader who was more like themselves, which Samuel definitely was not.  As Samuel’s replacement God chose a man named Saul to be their king (1 Sam. 8:7-22).  When Samuel expressed his disappointment at being replaced as the leader of Israel, God assured him that the people had not rejected him (Samuel), rather, they had rejected God Himself.  This lesson needs to be taught and learned today.  When God sets a man in an area to lead His true church, the people must accept him and follow him.  If they reject his words, they prove that they “DESPISE” both God and Christ (Lk. 10:16).

Over time Saul proved himself to be morally corrupt and was eventually replaced by David, “a man after God’s own heart.”  David ruled over the Judahites (“Jews”) for seven years, then over all of the House of Israel for 33 years. (II Sam. 5:4,5).  God then established an Everlasting Covenant with David which guaranteed that his throne and his tribe would endure FOREVER–“as long as the sun and moon endured in the heavens” (II Sam. 7:11-17 and Ps. 89:3,4,29-37).  God decreed that there would always be one of David’s biological lineage reigning over the House of Israel (Jer. 33:17-26).

Therefore, the 13 tribes of the House of Israel, the Throne of David and the Everlasting Covenants (Abrahamic and Davidic) must exist today because all three entities were declared by God to be eternal.  Notice that David’s throne is also the Lord’s throne (1 Chron. 29:23).  That throne will one day be occupied by Jesus Christ Himself–“THE KING OF THE JEWS” Who will “RULE THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL FOREVER” (Zec. 6:13/ Mat. 2:6) and came to “SAVE HIS PEOPLE (ISRAEL) FROM THEIR SINS” (Mat. 1:21).  Jesus Christ will one day occupy the throne of David as the King of Israel: “For the Lord God will give to Him (Christ) the Throne of His father David and He will reign over the House of Jacob (Israel) forever” (Lk. 1:32,33).  Christ has not yet occupied that throne, therefore that throne is in existence and awaits His arrival.  In Revelation 3:21 Jesus proclaims that those who overcome Satan (his temptations to sin) as He overcame him will sit with Him (Jesus) on that throne in the Kingdom of God.  During the reign of David Israel stayed focused on the Law of God by revering and obeying it.  As a result of her obedience to the Law the nation prospered and succeeded as it never had before–or since.  Kings and queens came from all over the world to see the grandeur of the nation populated by God’s people who were blessed by Him because of their obedience to Him.

But once again the people grew tired of obeying God and took His blessings for granted because they were the children of Abraham.  Their downward slide into Satan’s abyss began.  This descent into rebellion slowly gained power and came to total fruition during the kingship of David’s son Solomon who, through marriages to hundreds of heathen women, drew the once Godly nation into the various sins of the Gentile nations with whom Solomon had made covenants.  That which calls itself Christianity continues to walk ancient Israel’s spiritual path today.  As a result of Israel’s infatuation with Satan and his Gentile people, God divided the nation into two kingdoms (1 Kings 11:29-36).  The ten Northern tribes, called Israel, occupied the area called Samaria and was led by Ephraim who established the kingdom’s capital in the city of Samaria.  God established Jeroboam as its king.  The other two (southern) tribes, plus most of the tribe of Levi (the priestly tribe) was located in Judea with its capital in Jerusalem.  The tribe of Levi was allotted no land, but was scattered throughout all of the tribes, serving as their spiritual leaders (Deut. 8:1,2).  Over time most of the Levites in Israel left Samaria and migrated to Jerusalem, leaving the 10 tribes of Israel with “priests” who had been granted priesthood status by Jeroboam’s decree.  These were not God’s chosen priests, but rather friends of Jeroboam whom he made priests as a favor.  Some were wealthy enough to buy priesthoods for themselves.

With the separation of the House of Israel into two “houses/kingdoms,” the “Birthright” (blessed) tribes and the “Scepter” (throne) tribes parted and became enemies (1 Chron. 5:2).  The Northern Tribes (Israel/Ephraim) would fulfill God’s promise to Abraham that his seed would number as the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea and would be dispersed throughout the earth.  The Southern Tribes (Judahites–Jews) would fulfill God’s promise that one of Abraham’s seeds (Judah, the son of Jacob) would produce the Messiah.  Most of the Jews would be dispersed throughout the world as had their northern brethren.

Following the national split the people of the two kingdoms went ever deeper into sin and drew ever further away from God as the Prophet Isaiah warned (59:2).  Finally the Almighty was forced to enact His warning given in Leviticus 26, that if they persisted in sinning He would curse them seven times (2520 years), cause them to be removed from the Promised Land and scattered among the heathen.  To accomplish this He sent the Assyrians against the Northern Kingdom and, over several years, conquered them and carried the survivors to Assyria where they were placed in several new locations (II Ki. 17:24).  In II kings 17:6-18; 18:11,12 and 15:29 one can read about the campaign the Assyrians waged over the years that finally resulted in the defeat and enslavement of Israel.  For the sake of time reference, the defeat of Israel is normally given as 721 B.C.  The Assyrians then replaced the Israelites of Samaria with people from other areas.  After that the word “Samaritan” referred only to Gentiles.  The only Israelites (descendants of Abraham) remaining in that part of the world were the Jews of Judea–the Southern Kingdom comprised of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi.  Today they comprise approximately 1/3 of the world’s Jews.

Approximately 150 years after the defeat and enslavement of their northern brethren, the Jews of Judea were conquered and enslaved by the Babylonians.  As God had prophesied to Abrahan, many of the Jews were scattered throughout the Gentile nations where they joined their biological brethren.  Hundreds of millions of Israelites, including most of the Jews, remain among the heathen (Gentiles) to this day.  Globally, approximately 15 million people identify themselves as Jews    (Israelites), approximately 1/3 of whom live in the Middle-Eastern nation today called Israel.  Read Who and Where is Israel Today?  Key word–Where.

An explanation is needed at this point in order to avoid confusion.  Following the defeat and captivity of both kingdoms, the term “House of Israel,” the “whole House of Israel,” the House of Israel “wholly” and “all of Israel” are used to refer to the entire 13-tribed nation.  Neither the world in general, nor the Israelites themselves know who the world’s Israelites are or where they are.  Numbering in the hundreds of millions, the world, including the Israelites themselves call them “Gentiles.”

In spite of the horrendous experiences of the House of Israel, her “sister” (the Jews) did not learn the lesson God was teaching.  Over several years and several attacks, Babylon eventually conquered the Southern Kingdom in the 570’s B.C.  Scripture tells us that the Jews were even more evil than their Israelite relatives (Jer. 3:6-11).  In each case, God’s warning in Leviticus 26:23,24 (the “seven times” punishment for sin) was at different times administered to each kingdom.  See the previous posting for details.

Both kingdoms were defeated, enslaved and the majority of their numbers scattered throughout the world as God prophesied He would do.  See Jeremiah 9:16; 13:24; 18:17; 23:1; 49:32,36 for prophesies concerning their scattering.   God, who knows the end from the beginning, knew Abraham’s descendants would rebel against Him and warned them what would be the outcome of their rebellion.  Neither kingdom believed His prophets’ warnings.  Their reasoning was that because they were “the children of Abraham,” God would never do that to them.  The present “Christian nations” are following in their ancestors’ spiritual footsteps.   Being “Christians,” God would never do that to them.  Read Would God do That?  Key word: Would.  The outcome of the church’s modern day rebellion will be the same as that of their spiritual and biological ancestors.  Their first parents (Adam and Eve) set the pattern.  God does not change His will.  We either conform to it and live, or reject it and die.  Let us obey His written will and live with Him for eternity.  L.J.