JUDAH'S SEPTRE AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT #8
by Allen (1917)
CHAPTER VIII.
SAMARIA-ISRAEL CAST OUT AND CAST OFF
Concerning the casting out of Israel, it is written "And it
came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah (the king of
Judah) which was the seventh year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of
Israel, that Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against
Samaria and besieged it, and at the end of three years they took
it; even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year
of Hosea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken. And the king of
Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in
Halah, and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of
the Medes. Because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their
God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses, the
servant of the Lord, commanded, and would not hear them, nor do
them." (2 Kings 18:9-12.) "For the children of Israel walked in
all the sins of Jeroboam which he did, they departed not from
them; until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight (literally
his fore-front regard, or fore-front favor; such as is expressed
in other places by the use of the words face and countenance), as
he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel
carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from
Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and
placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of
Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities
thereof." - (2 Kings 17:23-24.)
If, as it is herein affirmed, the king of Assyria did take
this ten-tribed kingdom out o f their own land, which land is
called Samaria, and then place another people there instead o f
the children o f Israel, then Samaria is the lawful home of those
pre-Samaritans, THE EGYPTO-ISRAELITES of the Ephraimitish or
Birthright kingdom, while those mongrel post-Samaritans, who were
gathered up from various places, were but strangers and
foreigners in that portion of the Abrahamic land grant known as
Samaria.
Following this record of the removal of Israel and the
placing of these strangers in their former home, we have the
following: "And so it was at the beginning of the dwelling there,
that they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions
among them which slew some of them. Wherefore they spake to the
king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed and
placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God
of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and,
behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the
God of the land. Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying,
Carry one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let him
go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God
of the land. Then one of the priests whom they carried away from
Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should
fear the. Lord. Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and
put them in the houses of the high places which the (former)
Samaritans (Israelites) had made, every nation in their cities
wherein they dwelt; the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth (an
idol), and the men of Cuth made Nergalm (another idol), and the
men of Hamath made Ashima (still another). And the Avites made
Nibhaz and Tartak (still others), and the Sepharvites burnt their
children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of
Sepharviam. So they feared the Lord and made unto themselves of
the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed
for them in the houses of the high places. They feared the Lord,
and served their own gods, after the manner of nations
(Joseph-Ephraim-Samaria-Israel whom they, carried away from
thence. Unto this day they do after the former manners." (2 Kings
17:25-34.)
Yes: "after the former manner" of idolatrous Isreal. Yes;
after the former manner of Israel, who feared-was afraid of-the
Lord, but served their own idol-gods. Yes; after the former
manner of Israel, who built those same high places-the groves,
temples and altars-and in them worshiped the works of their own
hands. Yes; after the former manner of Israel, who rejected the
priests of the Lord, and made priests of the lowest of the
people. Yes; here is a perfect flower, produced from the pollen
of example, and grown upon the plant of "after the former
manner." Yes; here is a clear case of gathering thistles when
they should have had figs. And yet that poor priest whom they
sent back was not to blame, for he himself was one of the lowest
of his race. The blame lay behind him-Israel!
The charge against the people of Israel is, "Surely as a
wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt
treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord." (Jere.
3:20.) And the Lord cried out, "O Ephraim, thou hast committed
whoredom. Israel is defiled." (Hosea 5:3.) Hosea is also used of
the Lord to declare "Ephraim is smitten. * * My God shall cast
them away, because they did not harken unto him." Thus the Lord
declares, "I will love them no more;" but in the bitterness of
his disappointment, for this is the same Lord that wept over
Jerusalem, he cried out, "O Ephraim, how shall I give thee up?"
No! No! That loving One did not want to cast them off; but they
forsook him; they would not have him to reign over them; they
would no longer ask counsel of him after the judgment of Urim and
Thummim, for the faithful but rejected One declares, "My people
ask counsel at their stock (cattle, calves), and their staff
(support or stay) declareth unto them for the spirit of whoredom
hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under
their God." (Hosea 4:12.)
Still he cries after them, "Return, O backsliding Isreal,
return! Return unto me and I will return unto you, for I am
married unto you. I will heal your backslidings and love you
freely." But they would not. Previous to this the Lord had said
that he was a husband to Israel; but now, disappointed, he turns
his heart more to the other kingdom-that of Judah-and says:
"Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah
offend." (Hosea 4:15.) But as the story unfolds we find that
Judah offended worse than Israel, and that one hundred and thirty
years after the driving out of Israel they, too, were carried
into captivity,-the captivity in Babylon.
Since "the head of Ephraim is Samaria," (Isa.7:9) there need
be no difficulty in understanding why the Lord should declare e
that "the inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves
of Beth-aven." (Hosea 10:5.) Beth-aven is defined as "House of
Vanities"; "vain emptiness." When Jeroboam set up the two calves
for Israel to worship he set one in Bethel, which means "God's
house;" and by worshiping those idols they turned the house of
God into a house of vanity, or of vain, hollow, unsatisfactory
emptiness. "Thus provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger
(passionate suffering) by their vanities." Hence the wail of the
prophet, "They trust in vanity and speak lies."
Let us note carefully, and we will get still clearer light
concerning the calf question. "Israel hath cast off the thing
that is good (God and his care): the enemy shall pursue him
(because they had cast off the protection of God). They have set
up kings, but not by me (their own, not the Lord's, choice) they
have made princes (feudal princes, not of royal line), and I knew
(Heb, yada, appoint, recognize) it not: of their silver and their
gold have they made them (selves) idols (calves, etc.) that (as a
result) they may be cut off.
"Thy calf (the cause), O Samaria, hath cast thee off (the
result): mine anger (long-suffering passion) is kindled against
them: how long will it be ere they (Israel) attain to innocency?
( i. e., lack of guilt through the power of the calf to forgive,
or take that guilt away.)
"For from Israel was it also: The workmen made it, therefore
it is not God. But the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind:
it hath left no standing corn (R. V.); the bud shall yield no
meal: if so be it yield, the strangers (Post-Samaritans) shall
swallow it up. Israel is swallowed up; now shall they be among
the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure. For they are
gone up to Assyria a wild ass alone (without God) by himself:
Ephraim hath hired lovers (Marginal reading: loves, i. e., having
no loving care from the Lord, they hire some one to love them).
Yea, though they have hired (lovers) among the nations, now will
I gather them, and they shall begin to sorrow in a little while
(marginal reading) for the burden of the king of princes. Because
Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be to him a
sin. I have written to him the great things o f my laws, but they
were counted as a strange thing. They sacrifice (other) flesh for
the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the Lord
accepteth them not: now will he remember their iniquity, and
visit their sins; they shall return to Egypt. (Figurative to them
of captivity and bondage). For Israel hath forgotten his maker."
Isaiah fully explains the expression, "They shall begin to
sorrow in a little while, for the burden of the King of Princes,"
in the following: "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the
staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against
a hypocritical nation and against the people of my wrath will I
give him a charge, to take the spoil and to take the prey and to
tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth
not so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not
a few. For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?" (Isa.
10:5-8.) This last expression was an Assyrian boast. The Assyrian
king really expected to destroy Israel and cut them off, but the
Word of God has gone forth that they shall never be destroyed.
In order to punish them he allowed the Assyrian to "tread them
down like mire of the streets." And further on he refers to the
Egyptian bondage, and says that the Assyrian shall smite them
with a rod and lift up his staff against them, "after the manner
of Egypt."
It is high time for us, who live in the realm of faith, to
throw off our lethargy, arouse ourselves from our God-dishonoring
stupidity and ignorance and understand that the name Samaria has
a prophetic significance, as well as a historic one. Yes, and
that not only Samaria, but that the names of Ephraim, Joseph,
Rachel, Judah, Jacob, Israel and many others have the same
signification in the prophecies of the Bible that they have in
its historic portions. That is, if the names Israel, Samaria,
Ephraim, etc., are used in the history to designate the
ten-tribed Egypto-Israelitish Birthright kingdom; then, when
those names are used prophetically, surely the prophecy involved
must refer to the same people. This is also true of the terms
Judah and the Jews. True, the name Israel often includes the
Jews, for, racially speaking, it is their national name; but it
is used again and again and again when it has no reference
whatever to the Jewish people.
In the thirty-first chapter of Jeremiah the Lord has made an
unconditional promise to the Birthright nation. This promise is
given in clear, definite and unmistakable language, which he
declares they shall consider in the last days; and in which he
uses the names of Jacob, Ephraim, Israel, and Samaria, together
with the name of Rachel, the mother of the birthright family. It
is in this prophecy that the Lord makes use of the expression, "I
am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born," in
connection with which he says, "He that scattered Israel will
gather him," and commands that this be told in the land where
Ephraim is living in the last days. He also says to them, in this
same promise, "Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of
Samaria," and to this he further adds: "A great company shall
return thither."
"Return thither." "Where?"
To the place from which they came--SAMARIA ! "Who?"
Jacob-Rachel-Joseph-Ephraim-Samaria-Israel ! ! !
It is a well-known fact that the Jews went into the
Babylonish captivity; but it is much more fully known that they
returned from that captivity and dwelt, for a short season, in
Judea, or Jewry. But, aside from that one priest who was brought
back from among the captives of Israel, and who dwelt in Bethel,
that he might teach those mongrel post-Samaritans the manner of
the God of the land, there is not one word of history, sacred or
profane, to show that any tribe, tribes, or remnants of tribes,
of those pre-Samaritans, the children of Israel, who composed the
northern kingdom, have ever returned to and dwelt in their former
home. That is, that portion of the land which the Lord God of
heaven and earth promised to their fathers, and which is known in
Biblical history as "Samaria," and "All Israel," in
contradistinction from that which is known as "All Judea" and
"Jewry," which was the home of the Jews.
In another chapter we have given the details of the
Babylonian captivity of the Jews, but just at present we desire
to call your attention to the fact that their captivity occurred
in 588 B. C. (Usher's Chronology, which is not correct by more
than eight years, but is sufficiently correct for our present
purpose), and the first prophecy uttered concerning that
captivity was 623 B.C. and the last one twenty-three years later,
i. e., 600 B.C. But the prophet Amos had prophesied concerning
the captivity and return from captivity of the ten-tribed kingdom
one hundred and sixty-four years prior to the first intimation
that the Jews would ever go into captivity, and one hundred and
ninetynine years before they were carried away into captivity.
In writing concerning the captivity of the ten tribes the names
which Amos used to designate them are, "Samaria," used four
times; "Joseph," used three times; "Isaac," used twice; "Bethel,"
used five times, and "Israel," used seventeen times.
Amos is the only one of the prophets who applied the name of
Isaac to either one of, the two kingdoms. But there can be no
possible doubt that Amos gives the name of Isaac to the
ten-tribed kingdom. The first verse in the book of Amos reads:
"The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he
saw concerning Israel, in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and
in the days of Jeroboam (this is Jeroboam the second) son of
Joash, king of Israel. He uses the title of Isaac as follows:
"And the high places (groves for worship) of Isaac shall be
desolate, and the sanctuaries (Bethel and Dan) of Israel shall be
laid waste, and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam
(king of ten-tribed Israel) with the sword. Then Amaziah, the
priest of Bethel (the place where they went to worship the calf),
sent to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired
against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not
able to bear all his words. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall
die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out
of their own land. Also Amaziah saith unto Amos, O thou seer, go
flee away into the land of Judah (Jewry) and there eat bread, and
prophesy there; but prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it
is the king's chapel." (Amos 7:9-15.)
In the days of Joshua, when the land of Canaan was divided
by lot, Bethel fell to the house of Joseph. Thus we find it in
possession of the; Birthright kingdom and used as the chapel of
this idolatrous king, for Jeroboam the first had polluted it with
one of the calves.
While it is true that this people were taken to Assyria, and
were given a promise that they shall eventually return, there is
something else which must first occur; for the Lord has said of
them that after they were cast out he would "sift the house of
Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet
shall not the least grain fall upon the earth." (Amos 9:9.)
Then, after giving this prophecy concerning the sifting of
the house of Israel among all nations, Amos prophesies concerning
their return, as follows: "And I will bring again the captivity
of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities,
and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the
wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of
them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no
more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them,
saith the Lord thy God." (Amos 9:14,15.)
But, in spite of the fact that this prophecy was written two
centuries before the Jews were sent into captivity, while they
were yet counted among the faithful saints, it having no
application to them whatever, and that, when fulfilled, the
people to whom it refers SHALL NO MORE BE PULLED UP out of their
land - there are theory-bound men who are so determined that
everything Israelitish shall be Jewish that they have the
audacity to tell us that this prophecy was fulfilled when the
Jews returned from the Babylonish captivity.
....................
To be continued
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