|
The Foretold History of
Israel
3
This
history of "Israel" begins and ends with Melchizedek. It
begins with Melchizedek bringing God's covenant to Abraham.
UB p.
1020 Said he to Abraham: ‘Look now to the heavens and
number
the stars if you are able; so numerous
will your seed be.’ And
then Melchizedek told Abraham the
story of the future occupation
of Canaan by his offspring after their
sojourn in Egypt. This
covenant of Melchizedek with Abraham
represents the great
Urantian agreement between humanity
and divinity when God
agrees to do everything and man agrees
only to believe God’s
promises and follow his instructions.
First note that Melchizedek knows the future with certainty
and tells it directly to Abraham. We will see that
Melchizedek knows a lot more than just this tidbit of
"Israel’s" future history. Also note that while the Bible
views the covenant to be between God and Israel; the Urantia
Book views the covenant to be between God and all humanity.
As we will see, there is no contradiction because "Israel"
grows from a few tribes to include Christians and Jews and
finally all of humanity over time. God creates through an
organic evolutionary process we call history in retrospect.
Now for some very important family relationships.
Abraham and Sarah bring forth Isaac. Isaac and Rebekah
bring forth Esau and Jacob. Jacob is chosen by Isaac to be
the birthright son who inherits the largest share of
material wealth and receives the special blessings of God.
Jacob and Rachel then bring forth Joseph and Benjamin.
Joseph is the chosen birthright son. Jacob has six other
sons by his other wife, Leah; two sons by Rachel’s maid, and
two sons by Leah’s maid. Jacob's grand total of sons, then,
is twelve. Jacob is later called Israel, because he is the
progenitor of the twelve tribes of Israel. Next, Joseph,
Jacob’s son, has a dream wherein the sun, moon and eleven
stars bow down to him (Genesis). This prefigures Joseph’s
later status as the "chosen" birthright son of Jacob,
wearing the "crown" of the "elect." Joseph’s brothers become
resentful and jealous of him and conspire to throw him into
a pit. They then sell him to traveling Ishmaelites on their
way to Egypt. Joseph is very capable and intelligent. He
also has a gift of interpreting dreams, as does Daniel later
on. Therefore, Joseph is very successful in Egypt and
becomes the chief administrator for all Egypt in his service
to the king of Egypt. Joseph predicts, by the interpretation
of Pharaoh’s dream, an upcoming drought and famine and he
stores up grain for several years in preparation. When this
drought affects Canaan as well as Egypt, Jacob, who is still
living in Canaan, sends a few sons to buy grain from Egypt.
Joseph recognizes his siblings when they arrive and he sends
word to Jacob to come to Egypt with the rest of the extended
family. Thus, there is an emotional reunion between Jacob
and his favorite son, Joseph. In this manner, Jacob’s
growing family (children, grandchildren, etc.) spends
several hundred years in Egypt, first in the service of
friendly kings and then later enslaved to progressively more
hostile Egyptian leadership. When Jacob is on his deathbed,
he calls Joseph and Joseph’s two sons Ephraim and Manasseh
to his side for his farewell blessing and instruction, as
established by previous tradition.
Gen
48:3 And Jacob said to Joseph, ‘El Shaddai appeared
to me and
said, ‘I will make you fertile and
numerous, making of you a
community of peoples; and I will
assign this land to your
offspring to come for an everlasting
possession.
This
is, more or less, a repeat of the Abrahamic covenant. Could
El Shaddai have been the semi-material Melchizedek? Jacob
then places his right hand on Ephraim’s head
(indicating his most favored status) and his left
hand on Manasseh’s head (even though he is the older of the
two and would normally have been the most favored son) and
says,
Gen
48:16 Bless the lads; in them may my name be recalled
and may
they be teeming multitudes on
the earth.
Gen 49:1 Subsequently, as per tradition, "Jacob called
all his sons
together, that Jacob may tell them
what is to befall them in
the days to come."
Jacob, after having blessed Joseph’s children, who are his
grandchildren, then goes through each of his other twelve
sons and their respective tribes, outlining their future
destinies and blessings. Focusing here on Joseph, the
eleventh son, Jacob says:
Gen
49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough
A fruitful bough by a spring
Its branches grow over a wall
Archers bitterly assail him
They shot at him and harried him
Yet his bow stayed taut
And his arms were made firm
By the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob
–
There, the Shepherd, the Rock of
Israel –
The God of your father who helps
you
And Shaddai (? Melchizedek) who
blesses you
With blessings of heaven above. . .
Surpass the blessings of my ancestors
(Abraham and Isaac)
To the utmost bounds of the eternal
hills
May they rest on the head of Joseph,
On the brow of the elect of his
brothers. (Joseph)
In Deut. 33, Moses also gives Joseph, and his sons
Ephraim and Manasseh, the highest blessings on his deathbed.
Moses says of Joseph,
Deut 33:13-17 Blessed of the Lord be his land, with the
bounty of dew
from heaven and the bounteous
yield of the sun, and the
bounty of the earth and its
fullness, and the favor of the
Presence in the Bush (?
Melchizedek). May these rest on the
head of Joseph, on the crown
of the elect of his brothers. Like a
firstling bull in his majesty, he
has thorns like the horns of a
wild ox; with them he gores the
peoples to the ends of the
earth. One and all these are
the myriads of Ephraim; those are
the thousands of Manasseh.
Here, in Deuteronomy 33, we have foretold the material
blessings and military might of the descendants of Ephraim
and Manasseh. The "bounteous yield of the sun and the
bounty of the earth" means plenteous yield from the best
crop lands. The "bull in his majesty," who "gores the
peoples," is symbolic of military might. The "myriads of
Ephraim" is a very large number and the "thousands of
Manasseh" is a less large number.
And so we reflect on who these descendants might be if
they were among us today. What peoples or nations of today
have been blessed with the greatest material blessings and
military might? Is this prophecy fulfilled, yet to be
fulfilled, or a failure? Also note the association of the
elect (chosen) status with the crown; with
reproductive and material fruitfulness; with the bow of the
triumphant archer; and with military prowess ("he gores the
peoples to the end of the earth"). These associations will
be referred to in other parts of this study. Before
returning to The Foretold History of Israel, lets
briefly consider some confusing terminology that we will
meet as we study the Biblical prophets.
After studying diagram #1 in the appendix, we can begin
to understand some of the references made in the Bible
regarding the various tribes of Israel. First, the word
Israel is a very confusing designation. It is
usually used to refer to the Northern Ten Tribes of
Israel who lose their identity and become the Lost Ten
Tribes of Israel. This lost remnant, is according to
prophecy, re-gathered and re-united with Judah at the end of
the age and the story ends where it begins, completing the
age. Ephraim is also used to designate the Northern Tribes
because Ephraim comprises a majority of the population of
Israel. Remember, Ephraim inherits the elect status, as
indicated by a crown, from his Father Joseph. Great
fruitfulness is bestowed on the elect. Therefore, over
successive generations, the tribe of Ephraim increases
geometrically and becomes a larger and larger proportion of
the total population of the Northern Tribes and also of the
whole House of Israel as well (see diagram #2). "Jacob" is
also used sometimes to designate the whole House of Israel;
Judah plus Israel. It can also be used to refer to just the
Northern Tribes as well because most of Jacob is made up of
Northern Israel which in turn is made up of Ephraim. Judah,
not being as bountiful remains a small and shrinking
percentage of the total population, as does all the other
tribes except Ephraim and, to a lesser extent, Manasseh who
also inherits some of the bounty bestowed by his Father
Joseph. Again the context of the particular designation
is our guide as the names Israel and Jacob themselves can
confuse. Now lets return to the Foretold History of
Israel.
The growing families from Joseph’s two sons and Jacob’s
eleven sons remain in Egypt for several hundred years until
they become progressively enslaved by the Egyptian kings.
They suffer deprivation and debasement until Moses arises
and is called by the Lord to be His servant. Moses, with a
supposed series of miracles, leads Jacob (all the
Israelites) out of Egypt in a 40-year trek back to Canaan,
the land promised to Abraham by Melchizedek. Once
established in the Holy Land, the House of Israel unifies
for a period and then divides into northern (Israel) and
southern (Judah) factions. The Northern Tribes
(Israel/Ephraim) turn away from God first and become
progressively depraved, sinful, and foolish, even
sacrificing their own children to pagan gods. Those in high
positions, the power elite, become the most depraved of all,
absolute power corrupting absolutely. Having turned their
backs on God, the Northern Tribes drift farther and farther
away from God and truth. Foolishly, the leaders of Israel
try to silence the prophets sent by God and succeed in
leading the people into destruction and captivity at the
hands of the Assyrians. The surviving remnant of Israel (the
Northern Ten Tribes) first go into exile in Assyria and then
later migrate northward, never to return, losing their
identify and becoming the "Lost Ten Tribes" of Israel.
Meanwhile, Judah is undergoing the same corrupting process,
also ignores her prophets, and is also destroyed except for
a remnant. The remnant of Judah is taken into captivity to
(one city) Babylon for the next seventy years. Cyrus of
Persia-Media then conquers Babylon and frees the Judah
(Jews) remnant to return to Canaan and build the second
temple. Then the whole process starts over again. The people
(Judah remnant) turn away from God again; the elite
leadership of "vipers" (as John the Baptist called them)
grow more and more arrogant and less and less wise. They
conspire to bring about Jesus’ death and fail to recognize
their spiritual savior as portrayed by their
prophets. Then the leaders plunge their nation once again
headlong into war and inevitable destruction, this time
at the hands of the Roman army in 70 A.D. Most die, but a
remnant of Judah is scattered among many nations for
the next two thousand years while the Christians have their
turn to carry the torch of God during the presently ending
"Age of the Gentiles". This is Israel’s history to the
present time.
The Biblical Prophets, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and 1Enoch
all predict a final end of the age when the "Messiah" comes
to put an end to war and to reunite the Judah and Lost
Israel remnants into one nation again and forevermore. The
Messiah also judges the nations, the peoples, and
establishes justice. He enters right after the onset of the
messianic war where "all the nations" come against Israel.
As it stands now, the remnant of Judah (the Jews) has
been and is being re-gathered into modern Israel, with
nationhood declared in 1948. The Lost Israel (northern
tribes) remnant is still unidentified and un-gathered,
seemingly lost to history. Also, for the first time in the
history of Israel, the world situation is entering a
scenario that could, for the first time, conceivably see
"all the nations", (the United Nations), as prophesied, come
against modern Israel (remnant of Judah) through the newly
formed "global police force," NATO. If and when this
"police force" comes against modern Israel the Messiah is
prophesied to intervene. Our upcoming study of prophecy will
fill in many details of what is about to occur.
Nevertheless, every individual is free to choose
their own part in what is about to unfold. |
◄
