JUDAH'S SCEPTRE AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT #13
by Allen (1917)
JEREMIAH'S CALL AND COMMISSION
Having settled the question concerning the perpetuity of the
covenant which God made with "David and his sons," together with
the fact that he has given, as a pledge of their everlastingness,
not only the astronomic order of producing day and night, months,
years and seasons, but the very holiness of his character as
well, we must now proceed to take up the thread of history which
pertains to that sceptre, throne, kingdom and royal seed whose
continued existence is balanced over against such weighty
considerations as the power, integrity and immutability of the
character and Word of God.
While dealing with the history of the Birthright and its
inheritors, the house of Joseph, we had, of necessity, much to
say concerning the history of the Sceptre and the royal family,
its inheritors. Especially was this true when we contrasted that
system of feudalism and continual overthrowing of dynasties which
prevailed in the kingdom of Israel as compared with the one
continuous dynasty and succession of the royal princes of the
Judo-Davidic family, as they mounted the throne of their fathers
and held the sceptre over the kingdom of Judah.
In order to have our historic thread complete we must resume
our history of the Sceptre at the call of Jeremiah the prophet,
which occurred at a period prior to the time when the Jews were
taken into the Babylonish captivity, but subsequent to the time
when Israel, the Birthright kingdom, was taken into captivity by
Shalmanesar, king of Assyria, and deported into the country of
the head-waters of the Euphrates-the country more generally known
as Medo-Persia.
It is certain that we can never understand the history of
this covenanted throne, kingdom and family, and the fact that
they have been thus far built up "unto all generations," unless
we understand the history and accept with unfaltering faith the
call and commission of Jeremiah the prophet, in relation to those
things which God has given his pledge shall endure forever. For
if to be taught the distinction between the two houses, and to
understand the difference between the kingdoms of Israel and
Judah, may be likened unto the key which unlocks the outer
sanctuary of our understanding of sacred history, then surely a
knowledge of the life and work of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah,
is the key which the Holy Spirit can use to open that inner
sanctuary, or Holy of Holies, of our understanding in these
matters upon which rest the vindication of God.
According to the Divine record, there have lived in this
world only three men who were sanctified before they were born.
The first was this same Jeremiah, who, in one of the darkest
hours in all the history of the Abrahamic nations which pertains
to them as a whole, was made the custodian of the sceptre, throne
and royal seed of David. The next was John the Baptist, the
forerunner and herald of the coming Prince of the House of David.
Then came the last and greatest of all - our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, the Son of David, that Prince of whom the angel
declared unto Mary at the time of the annunciation: "The Lord God
shall give unto him the throne of his father David." (Luke,
1:32.) When this blessed Prince takes his seat he will be the
last King to sit on that throne, or any other on this earth.
In the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in
the thirteenth year of his reign, while Jeremiah was still a
minor, a mere youth, only seventeen years of age, he received his
call as the "Prophet unto the nations," and was given his
commission, the details of which he himself has given in the
first chapter of his own prophecies, as follows:
"Then the word of God came unto me, saying: Before I formed thee
in the belly I knew thee - before thou camest forth out of the
womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the
nations. Then said I: Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak, for I
am a child. But the Lord said unto me: Say not, I am a child, for
thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I
shall command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their
faces; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. And the
Lord said unto me: Behold, I have put my words into thy mouth.
See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the
kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to
build and to plant." (Jer.1:4-10.)
Called as the prophet of God; the words of the Lord put into
his mouth with a touch from the Divine hand; and set by the
Divine One "over the nations, and over the kingdoms." What!
Surely he was not set over all the nations, neither all the
kingdoms of the earth? No, there is nothing said about all
nations; just simply and definitely - "the nations" and "the
kingdoms." So far as the word which is translated "nations" in
the text is concerned, it is the same word that is used when the
Lord said to Abraham, "I have made the father of many nations";
and when he said to Rebekah, "Two nations are in thy womb." He
now calls Jeremiah a "Prophet unto the nations," i. e., the "two
nations," the "two kingdoms," the two houses - Israel and Judah;
the "two families," the inheritors of the Birthright and of the
Sceptre. It is to these nations, not to all the nations of the
earth, that the Lord sends Jeremiah, his prophet, with a
commission to root out, tear down, and destroy, on the one hand;
but - hear it!---he was also Divinely commissioned to "BUILD AND
PLANT"!
The fact that Jeremiah was commissioned to overthrow the
commonwealth of Judah, destroy the Davidic kingdom, as it then
existed among the Jewish people, throw down the throne of David
which was in their midst, and root out that branch of the royal
family which occupied the throne at that time - all this is so
clear, so well known, that most, if not all, of the accepted
authorities of Christendom proclaim it. But those same
authorities do not seem to know, neither do they proclaim that
which follows as a natural sequence, i. e.. that if it was the
kingdom, sceptre, throne and seed of David which were to be
overthrown, then it follows that it is those very same things
which must again be planted and builded.
Hence we affirm that, as God is still holy, and did not lie
to David, and if he did not sanctify, call, and commission
Jeremiah in vain, then that throne of David was again set up, the
seed planted, and the kingdom builded before Jeremiah died.
Mind you, we do not say that these were planted and builded
among the Jews. That was not at all necessary in order to
fulfillment. Indeed, we will show that it was not planted nor
builded in Judah. For God "gave the kingdom over Israel to David
forever, even to him and his sons by a covenant of salt." Nine-
twelfths of the seed of Israel never were members of the Jewish
kingdom.
The great wrong of which the standard authorities of
Christendom have been guilty is that, with a wideopen Bible
before them, they should be in such ignorance of the declared
purpose of God, and have such a hesitating, apologetic
faithlessness in his covenant promises, wherein he has sworn by
himself, that they are blinded even to the necessity of
accounting for the building and planting which God gave Jeremiah
to do.
The great fault with their whole teaching, so far as the
outcome of Jeremiah's work is concerned, is that they have either
suffered, implied, or actually taught that the promises of God to
David were allowed to go by default. And when an honest
questioner would arise, as of necessity there must, he at once
becomes an irresponsible, irregular, unarmored stripling, upon
whom these regulars in the army of Israel insist on putting the
armor of Saul. But the "heavy" armor of the should-be leader will
not fit the bright young head and freer limbs of the little
irregular; so he must go forth alone to slay the giant of
infidelity, whose champions have been defying the armies of the
living God. Meanwhile, these "regulars" stand on the hill of
their self-importance and ask, "Who is this youthful stripling
whom we see down in the valley picking up pebbles with which to
meet the foe whose challenge has sent dismay among us for lo!
these many days?"
..........
To be continued
