Levites and the Exodus Multitude (2)

This Part 2 is the continuation and conclusion of “Levites and the Exodus Multitude (1)”.  Part 1 should be read first.  Little of the background material in (1) will be repeated here in (2).

In Part 1, three questions were posed:

#1. How did the lineage branch of Levi’s son Koháth (Jacob’s grandson), reckoned from that 1 man, become 8,600 male descendants early in the wilderness…after only 4 generations?!  Nu.3:27-28 “Of Kohath…the numbering of all the males from one month old and upwards, was 8,600.”  That’s an astounding increase in so few generations!  cf. 1Ch.6:1-3.  The lineage was traced in (1).

Levi and his 3 sons Kohath, Gershón, Merarí and their families moved with Jacob/Israel from the Land of Canáan to Egypt (Ge.46:6, 11) circa/c 1827 BC.

#2. How did the tribe of Levi, grown from his 3 sons, become 22,000 or 22,300 males from age one month and up…during that same period (215 years)?!  Nu.3:39 “All the numbered men of the Levites, from a month old and upward, were 22,000.”  An astounding increase!

Furthermore, during that same period, the initial 75-85 males (Ge.46:27 Septúagint/LXX) with Jacob & Joseph in Egypt increased to 603,550 non-Levite warriors age 20 and up, early in the wilderness (Nu.1:45-47)!  Exiting Egypt, Ex.12:37-38 “The sons of Israel journeyed…600,000 men on foot. And a mixed multitude went with them.”  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 2:15:1 “The entire multitude of those who went out, including the women and children, that were of a fit age for war, were 600,000.”  Philo On the Life of Moses 1:27:147 “The men of age to bear arms were more than 600,000 men.”

#3. How did the 75-85 males become 600,000 after only 4 generations?!  Another astounding increase in only 215 years!  (ref Part 1 for the timeline.)  Could near 600,000 be accurate?  also see the topics “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus” and “Israelites Identification”.

Following Jacob’s move into Egypt, Ge.47:27 “Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the Góshen region, and became very numerous”.  Egypt’s Pharaoh said in Ex.1:7-9, “The people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we”.  ref Ps.105:23-24.  Perhaps they really did outnumber the Egyptians!?  Ex.1:22 so Pharaoh commanded for all Hebrew male babies to be cast into the Nile River.  Ex.2:2-3, 10 when Moses was three months old, his mother placed him in a basket and put him in the Nile.  Ac.7:19-21 confirms the infants were put out to die.  (Infanticide reduced somewhat the Hebrew population.)

Ex.18:21 Moses, early on the way to the Promised Land, was advised by his father-in-law Jethró  to divide all the departees according to thousands of people, or clans.

Yet in Ex.23:29-30 the Lord told Moses that He would drive out the wicked inhabitants of the Land of Canaan little by little, so the Land wouldn’t become desolate and wild animals be too numerous.  Apparently the approximately 2 million people (including women & children) coming in from Egypt to replace the wicked occupants wouldn’t fill the Land area.  Comparatively, in 2020 AD the population of modern Israel was 8.5 million…6 million more than the total exodus population approaching that Land.  Though ‘Hebrews’ had outnumbered Egyptians, the Canaanites outnumbered the exodus population.

Prior to entering the Land, in De.11:23 Moses told the next two generations, “The Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you”.  In those days, a force of 600,000 men would itself be a great army!  But others had greater renown.  The combined armies/peoples of the seven “nations” were greater (De.7:1).  Nu.13:31 the Israelite spies said, “We can’t attack those people, for they are stronger than we”.  So they feared the Land occupants.

In Nu.20:17 & 21:22, it seems unrealistic that 2 million people (including women & children) could’ve traveled on the King’s Highway en masse.  Even if they walked on the road plain in ‘rows’ of seventy, the line of people would have stretched for miles!

Nu.3:16-20, Ex.6:16-25 and 1Ch.6:1-4 attest to the same number of few Levite generations, beginning with Levi.  There’s no indication that any generations were omitted/skipped.  see Part 1.

So, in light of the above passages (and those referenced in Part 1)…were there really 600,000 Israelite warriors, 22,000 Levite and 8,600 Kohathite males early in the wilderness?  That many?!  It is somewhat disconcerting that to date little or no evidence of a mass exodus totaling 2 million people in the wilderness has been found.  Perhaps continued archaeological efforts will unearth more evidence?

Following are three possible explanations for the large population numbers in the exodus/wilderness:

1.) Biblical numbers could’ve been misread or misunderstood by translators.  If so, there weren’t really as many as 8,600 Kohathites, 22,000 Levites, plus 600,000 soldiers then.  The Hebrew term for thousand is éleph (Strongs h505).  Eleph is also translated family in Jg.6:15 KJV.  But Jg.6:15 LXX, “Gideon said to Him, ‘My thousand [family KJV] is weakened in Manasseh”.  Did eleph really refer to a troop/family (instead of 1,000)?  For detailed analyses of this possibility, ref: John W. Wenham Large Numbers in the Old Testament, Colin J. Humphreys The Number of People in the Exodus From Egypt, Jim Snapp The Quest for the Historical Census, Clark Morledge Did An Army of 600,000 Israelites Conquer the Land of Canaan?, David M. Fouts A Defense of the Hyperbolic Interpretation of Numbers in the Old Testament, Ben-Zion Katz Recounting the Census.  It’s possible the numbers 600,000, 22,000, 8,600 were mistakes in translation from the ancient Hebrew.  However, 2,000 years ago the Jewish historians Josephus & Philo both said the number of exodus soldiers was 600,000.

2.) There were brothers or half-brothers in the generations, not listed by Moses in the Péntateuch.  For example, the later 1Ch.23:20 listing of Issiáh as a son of Moses’ uncle Uzziél may indicate that was the case.  Ge.5:3-30 said the ancient antediluvians had other unidentified sons & daughters.  Abraham had at least 6 additional identified sons not born to Sarah (Ge.25:1-2).  Some Bible historians and yeshíva teaching think the large population in the exodus resulted from polygyny.  e.g. c 1300 BC, Jg.8:30-32 “Gideon had seventy sons, for he had many wives. His concubine in Shechém also bore him a son, Abimélech. Gideon died at a good old age.”  (see “Polygyny – Lawful in God’s Eyes?”.)

3.) There were others besides Israelites in the exodus.  Included with the approximately 600,000 fighting men leaving Egypt (Nu.11:21) was a mixed multitude of people.  Adding women & children would’ve brought the total to 2,000,000 or so!  Nu.1:45-47 “All the numbered men were 603,550. The Levites weren’t numbered among them.”  Who all comprised this mixed multitude?

Ex.12:37-38 “A mixed multitude of people went up with them, along with flocks and herds.”  Others also left Egypt with biological Israelites.  JFB Commentary Ex.12:38 “A great rabble’ (see also Nu 11:4; De 29:11); slaves, persons in the lowest grades of society, partly natives and partly foreigners, bound close to them as companions in misery, and gladly availing themselves of the opportunity to escape.”  Ellicott Commentary “Some may have been Egyptians, impressed by the recent miracles; some foreigners held to servitude, like the Israelites, and glad to escape their masters.”  LXX NETS “A great mixed crowd went up with them.”  So many non-Israelites also left Egypt in the exodus.

Cambridge Bible Note “Non-Israelites of various kinds are meant; e.g. Egyptians who had intermarried with Israelites.”  Since Israelite newborn males were thrown into the Nile River, there’d be a surplus of Israelite females to marry Egyptians or others.  In Le.24:10, Moses wrote of a man in the camp whose mother was an Israelite but whose father was an Egyptian.  So, Egyptian blood was present in Israelites.

The Bible uses patrilineal reckoning from the fathers (not the traditional Jewish matrilineal reckoning from mothers).  Nu.1:18 “They registered by ancestry in their families, by their father’s households, according to the number of names.”  Not according to the mothers.  Philo op.cit. “Among the mixed multitude were those born to Hebrew fathers by Egyptian mothers, who were enrolled as members of their father’s race. And some, also, who had come over to them by reason of the magnitude of the incessant punishments which had been inflicted on their own countrymen [Egyptians].”

Also, we read of intermarriage by Joseph c 1837 BC, 225 years prior to the exodus.  Ge.41:45 Pharaoh had given Joseph an Egyptian wife named Asenáth, the daughter of the priest of On (LXX Heliópolis).  So Joseph’s sons Ephráim & Manasséh were both half Egyptian (Ge.46:20).

Did Ephraim & Manasseh likewise take Egyptian wives?  If so, then Joseph’s grandchildren had mostly Egyptian blood!  (Ephraim & Manasseh were first cousins of Kohath, the son of Levi.)  Ge.46:27 LXX says Joseph had nine sons.  Jacob prophesied that the names of Joseph’s other (half-Egyptian) sons would be attached to the inheritances of Ephraim & Manasseh (Ge.48:5-6).  Early in the wilderness, the soldiers of Ephraim & Manasseh numbered 72,700 men (Nu.2:18-21).  Although they became two of the twelve tribes of Israel in the Land of Canaan, there was (much) Egyptian blood in their ancestry.

Note: Ge.50:23 Manasseh’s son was Machír.  Machir’s son Gilead (Joseph’s great-grandson) was of the same generation as Moses & Aaron.  Nun, the father of Joshua, was the same generation as Gilead.  Zelophehád (son of Hépher) was Gilead’s grandson. (see 1Ch.7:14-27, Nu.26:28-37, 27:1, Jsh.17:3.)

Ex.30:11-16 Moses was to levy a poll tax on the men of military age.  (This became the basis for the later temple tax.  cf. Mt.17:24-27.)   Ex.38:25-26 “The silver from those of the community who were numbered was 100 talents and 1,775 shekels. A half-shekel a head for those who were numbered from age 20 and up, for 603,550 men.”  This half-shekel tax for the tabernacle was taken from all non-Levite soldiers. (A shekel weighed approximately ½ ounce.)  Barnes Notes “The talent contained 3,000 shekels.”  So 100 talents of silver = 300,000 shekels.  Add the 1,775 shekels, and the total = 301,775 shekels.  This amount is exactly 603,550 half-shekels (békahs)!  It matches the population figure of Nu.1:45-47.  The amount of silver taken as tax appears to confirm the number of Israelite/mixed multitude fighting men.

{Sidelight: However, the 1,000,000 talents in 1Ch.22:14 would equal 3 billion shekels (at the rate used in Ex.38:25-26)!  But 1½ billion ounces of silver is unrealistic…it would be enough to build Solomon’s temple of solid silver!  Also, the 10,000 talents of silver in Est.3:8-9 would equal 30 million shekels!  That’s 15 million ounces or nearly 1 million lbs. of silver personally owned by Hamán!  An unrealistic amount.  It’s likely the weight of the shekel or talent had changed since Moses wrote Exodus.}

Early in the wilderness is Nu.3:39-43. “All the Levites from one month old and upward were 22,000….All the firstborn males from one month old and up were 22,273.”  The difference was only 273 males.  v.44-45 “The Lord spoke to Moses saying, ‘Take the Levites instead of the firstborn among the sons of Israel.”  The firstborn, who had belonged to the Lord (Ex.13:1-2), were redeemed…replaced by the 22,000 Levites.

But Nu.1:46 says there were 603,550 warriors from their tribes, age 20 and up.  If only 22,273 out of the more than 603,550 were firstborns…those were huge families!  603,550 ÷ 22,273 = 27.  Did each family average more than 27 sons?  Add an equal number of daughters, and that’s over 50 children per family!  But… most of those 603,550 weren’t ‘purely’ Israelites.

In the wilderness 39 years later is Nu.26:57-62. “These are those who were numbered of the Levites….23,000.”  So during 39 years, the number of Levite males increased from an approximate 22,000 to 23,000.  That’s an increase of only 1,000 in that generation.

Note: The male Israelites/mixed multitude age 20 and up (born in Egypt) died in the wilderness, except for Joshua & Caleb (Nu.14:27-30).  Excluded were Levites (Nu.1:47), males under age 20, and women.  Aaron’s grandson Phineás, in the 4^th generation of Kohathites after Kohath, was probably born around the time of the exodus.  Phineas’ bold intervention in Nu.25:7 didn’t occur until the 40^th year of their wanderings.  Phineas’ father Eleazár (Aaron’s son), the high priest, even outlived Joshua in the Land (cf. Nu.20:28 & Jsh.24:29-33).

What about past servants among the mixed multitude in the exodus?  Going back several generations….

In Ge.12:5, 16, 20:14, Abrám had many servants.  Ge.14:14 in Abram’s household (before the birth of Ishmaél) were 318 fighting men.  Plus he had other ‘house’ servants and those watching the livestock!

Ellicott Commentary Ge.14:14 “This large number of servants born in his house…added to the older men left to defend and take care of the cattle, proves that Abram was the chieftain of a powerful tribe.”  Barnes Notes “Abram had now a company of 318 trained men, born in his own house; which implies a following of more than 1,000 men, women and children.”  Pulpit Commentary “The children of his own patriarchal family, neither purchased nor taken in war, 318, implied a household of probably more than 1,000 souls.”  Abraham’s household was very large!  Ge.17:26-27 all the males were circumcised.

Ge.26:12-14 Isaac’s great substance.  Cambridge Bible Ge.26:14 “A large number of slaves and attendants.”  Ge.32:5-6 Jacob’s large household.  (Ge.34:13-15 indicates they’re circumcised.)  Ge.36:7 Jacob and Esau’s property was too great for them to dwell together.  Barnes Notes Ge.36:7 “What remained in the hands of Isaac was virtually Jacob’s, though he had not yet entered into formal possession of it.”

Ge.45:9-10 & 46:5-7, 26 “All the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt with him were 66 in number; this does not include the wives of Jacob’s sons.”  Gill Exposition Ge.46:7 “No mention is made of servants, though no doubt many came along with him.”  James B. Jordan The Moses Connection “Abraham had 318 trained fighting men in his sheikdom. Estimates range up to 3,000 or more for his complete household. These servants multiplied and became those of Isaac and Jacob. It might have been 10,000 people who moved to Goshen.”  So…numerous servants also went to Egypt c 1827 BC.

Francis Peloubet Select Notes, v.27, p.319 “Also the servants, ‘Who were reckoned as part of the household, and were admitted to the covenant [of circumcision, Ac.7:8], and recognized as Israelites.”

William R. Harper The Old Testament Student, v.6, p.248 “Jacob took to Egypt the whole body of his servants and retainers. These dependents…were all included in the covenant of circumcision, gradually blended while in Egypt, with the blood-kindred of Jacob, so that all alike were reckoned Israelites.”

Jacob’s entire household, including circumcised descendants and servants, had numbered perhaps 7,000 to 10,000 souls.  They too went with Jacob to his son Joseph in Egypt (Ge.47:11-12) c 1827 BC.  There they intermarried with Egyptians & other peoples, and “multiplied exceedingly” (Ge.47:27 KJV).

Jacob died 17 years after moving to Egypt (see Part 1 timeline).  A great funeral cavalcade, including Egyptian dignitaries, then traveled 300 miles to bury him east of the Jordan River (Ge.50:7-10).

The people multiplied in Egypt (Ex.1:5-9, 12, 20).  They became a great mixed nation (De.26:5).  The exodus “nation” of ancient Israel/mixed multitude was comprised of a motley group of people, not one pure race.  They’d increased to 603,550 soldiers, excluding Levites, early in the wilderness (Nu.1:46).

As for question #3 posed at the beginning: With mixed marriages, the assimilation of servants, concubines to bear children, Egyptians and others who left Egypt in the exodus…the 603,550 number of males early in the wilderness seems feasible.

The apostle Paul wrote in 1Co.10:1-5, “All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea”.  The entire mixed multitude, and their children, were symbolically “baptized” in the Reed Sea.  They ate the manna in the wilderness.  (Nu.11:4 is the last direct reference in the Pentateuch to the mixed group.)

There were 601,730 males 39 years later (Nu.26:51), after those over age 20 had died in the wilderness.

That younger generation of motley peoples (children of the mixed multitude) born during the 40 years in the wilderness, weren’t circumcised.  So after crossing the Jordan River, Joshua had all the males circumcised at Gilgál (Jsh.5:2-8).  Whatever their ancestry, the 601,730 males all became circumcised!  cf. Ge.17:26-27 Abraham’s large household of servants, etc., not of his ancestry, had all become circumcised.  (see the topic “Circumcision in the Bible”.)

The children of the circumcised mixed multitude then received tribal territory when Joshua apportioned the Land of Canaan for the tribes of Israel (Jsh.13–19).  There, more intermarriage ensued among tribes.

As for questions #2 and #1 about the number of Levites and Kohathites: With past servants and other peoples having been assimilated into Levite and Kohathite households (in Egypt)…it seems feasible the males among them could total approximately 22,000 and 8,600 respectively (Nu.3:27-28, 39).

In the Land of Canaan, the Levites/Kohathites (including Aaronide priests) would live within the various tribal areas (Jsh.21).  There, Levites intermarried with those tribes.  Samuel was a Kohathite (fostered or ‘adopted’ by the high priest Eli) who lived in Ephraim c 1100 BC (1Sm.1:1, 25-28, 1Ch.6:22, 26-28).  When the Lord split the united monarchy (1Ki.12:20-24) in the 900s BC, most Levites joined with Judah & Benjamin as the southern kingdom of Judah…the Jews.

Ro.3:29-30 Paul said that God is the God of both Jews and gentiles, circumcised and uncircumcised.  Again, Israel with the mixed multitude were all “baptized” in the Sea, and they all ate the manna (1Co.10:1-3).  The Lord didn’t discriminate in that regard.  Ga.3:27-29 “There is neither Jew nor Greek…you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed.”

Today Jewish Christians and gentile Christians are to be as one, all baptized in the name of Jesus.

As was the large ancestral mixture of peoples who exited Egypt, Christians today are a racial mixture. (see “Gentiles in the Bible”.)  And our numbers are increasing.

Re.7:9-12 “I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, and tribe, people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”  A mixed multitude from all nations cries out loudly, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. Amen.”

The mixed multitude with ancient Israel was a historical type of the great mixed multitude of humanity to whom our God is giving salvation.  Praise God!

Ark of the Testimony – Journeys (2)

This Part 2 is the continuation and conclusion to “Ark of the Testimony – Journeys (1)”.

The “Ark of the Testimony” (seen in Ex.25:16, Jsh.4:16, e.g.) was the most revered object in God’s portable tabernacle, constructed by Moses/Israelites.  The Hebrew term for “ark” is aróne, Strongs h727.  The term for “testimony” is aydúth h5715.  The Ark was also known as the “Ark of the Covenant” (h1285, Nu.10:33, e.g.), the “Ark of the Lord” (h3068, Jsh.3:13), the “Ark of God” (h430, 1Sm.3:3).  This Ark wasn’t the floating vessel ‘Noah’s ark’ so-called, seen earlier in the Flood account of Ge.6–8.

Christ was the God and good Shepherd of ancient Israel.  His glory ‘dwelt’ above the Ark, upon the mercy seat between the cherubim (cf. Ex.25:22, Ps.80:1, Jn.10:11.  see the topic “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”.)  The Ark represented the Lord’s Presence and Name!  2Sm.6:2 “The ark of God which is called by the Name, the very name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned above the cherubim.”

Using Dr. Martin Anstey’s The Romance of Bible Chronology, v.2, Israel’s exodus from Egypt occurred circa (c) 1612 BC and the sacred tabernacle tent & sanctuary was erected c 1611 BC.

“Ark of the Testimony – Journeys (1)” covered the time from the Ark’s construction in the aftermath of Israel’s exodus from Egypt…until the capture of the Ark by the enemy Philistines, c 1102 BC.

The Ark, a gilded rectangular chest, resided in the Holy of Holies innermost room (Ex.26:34) of Moses’ tabernacle for 500 years!  From c 1611 BC – c 1102 BC (except when it was in transport or taken into battle).  But after c 1102 BC, the Ark would never return to Moses’ tabernacle!

Now in Part 2, we’ll continue the account of the Ark’s journeys from when the Philistines’ captured it.

In the latter years of Eli the high priest & judge, Israel had become very backslidden.  The tabernacle of Moses and the Ark was at Shilóh, in the tribal territory of Ephráim.  1Sm.4:1-5 the Ark is carried into the battle of Ebenézer against the Philistines.  v.17-18 the Philistines sack Shiloh, and capture the Ark.  Eli dies when he hears the news.  v.22 “The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken.”

1Sm.5:1-7 the heathen Philistines took the captured Ark of God from Ebenezer to their city of Ashdód, into the temple of their pagan god Dagón.  But the idol of Dagon was then found fallen down before the Ark…and broken!  The Lord afflicted the Ashdodites with tumors and mice (LXX).  v.8-9 so the Philistines took the Ark to their city of Gath.  The Lord afflicted them there with tumors.  v.10-12 so they took the Ark to Ekrón.  The hand of God was heavy upon them in Ekron; many men died or were smitten with tumors.  At that point the Philistines didn’t know what to do with the Ark!

1Sm.6:1-12 after the Philistines had possession of the Ark for 7 months (c 1101 BC), they called for their heathen priests & diviners, to learn what should be done with the Ark.  It was decided the Ark should be sent away on a cart hitched to two milk cows.  Lo and behold…the cows didn’t go towards their calves in Philistia…on their own, the cows carted the Ark straightway to Bethshémesh in Israel!

1Sm.6:13-19 the Ark arrived in Bethshemesh.  It was back in Israel.  But the Lord struck down men there because, without authorization, “they looked into the Ark of the Lord”.  (Nu.4:4-5 in transport, the Ark was to be covered by the inner veil; the Kohaththites in charge of holy articles weren’t to touch the Ark or see into it.)  1Sm.6:20-21 so they wanted it taken from Bethshemesh to Kiriáth-jearím in Judah.

1Sm.7:1-3 the men of Kiriath-jearim brought the Ark to the house of Abinadáb in Kiriath-jearim.

Although Israel repented after 20 years, the Ark remained in the house of Abinadab for approximately 70 years (c 1101 BC – 1030 BC).  JFB Commentary 1Sm.7:2 “20 years….the Israelites began to revive from their sad state of religious decline.”  Les McFall The Chronology of Saul and David “The actual time from the death of Eli to the deposition of the ark in Jerusalem by David was 68 years.”  The Ark remained at Abinadab’s house during the judgeship of Samuel and the entire reign of Saul.

When David was running from King Saul, Moses’ tabernacle (minus the Ark) was at the town of Nob.  Saul later had the residents of Nob killed, ref 1Sm.21–22.  Cambridge Bible 1Sm.1:3 “The tabernacle was removed to Nob (1Samuel 21), and the once holy place was utterly desecrated.”  After Nob, Gibeón became the site of Moses’ tabernacle, ref 1Ch.16:39-40 & 2Ch.1:3 (until Solomon’s time).

After David became king and subdued the Philistines, he wanted the Ark brought up to Jerusalem (c 1030 BC) in the tribal territory of Judah.  1Ch.15:1 “In the city of David [on Mt Zión] he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.”  (That Hebrew term for “tent” is óhel h168.)

2Sm.6:2-11 David brought the Ark from Abinadab’s house to Obéd-edóm’s house, where it remained for 3 months.  v.12-17 David then brought the Ark from Obed-edom’s house to the “tent of David” on Mt Zion in Jerusalem.  (see the topics, “Tent/Tabernacle of David” and “Zion in the Bible”.)

Jesuswalk.com/david “David can’t very well return the ark to the tabernacle at Shiloh. Shiloh had been destroyed! The tabernacle had been moved to the priestly city of Nob, but the ark had never been there and Saul had slaughtered the town’s priests and their families. The ancient tabernacle is now to be found at ‘the high place at Gibeon’ (1Ch.16:39-40, 21:29; 2Ch.1:3, 13; 1Ki.3:4), in a Levitical city where personnel continued sacrifices. David wants the center of Yahweh worship to be in the capital at Jerusalem, not in some priestly town. So he sets up a tent for the ark in Jerusalem, in hopes of eventually building a proper temple to house it.”  His son Solomon would later build the Temple there.

King David brought only the Ark into the tent.  The Ark still contained God’s law of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments (even during Solomon’s reign, 2Ch.5:1-2, 10).  See Part 1.  But absent (since c 1102 BC?) from Moses’ Holy of Holies at Gibeon was Aaron’s rod that budded (Nu.17:10) and the memorial jar of manna (Ex.16:32-34).

1Ch.17:16 David sat before the Ark!  2Sm.11:11 the Ark was again taken into battle.

2Sm.15:24-29 Zadók the priest took the Ark with David as he fled from Absalóm…but Zadok then returned it to Jerusalem.  Poole Commentary 2Sm.15:25 to “the tabernacle David had lately built for it.”

The Ark of God resided in the tent at David’s palace on Zion for 40 years (though he died c 1002 BC).  The only item in the Ark then was God’s eternal law (later seen in heavenly Mt Zion, Re.11:19 & 14:1).

After David’s death, King Solomon completed the temple c 991 BC.  1Ki.7:51 – 8:1-21 the original Ark (1Ki.8:9) was moved from David’s tent on Mt Zion into Solomon’s stationary temple “house of the Lord” on Mt Moriáh (2Ch.3:1).  1Ki.8:10-11 at the occasion, the temple was filled with the glory cloud of the Lord!  The Ark had been at a personal residence or palace for c 110 years (c 1101 BC – 991 BC)!

1Ki.8:8 KJV the projection of the poles/staves, by which the descendants of Koháth had carried the Ark during Israel’s journeys, was changed in Solomon’s temple.  Barnes Notes 1Ki.8:8 “A sign that the ark had reached ‘the place of its rest’, and was not to be borne about anymore.”  1Ki.8:4 the old tabernacle of Moses with its holy utensils was brought from Gibeon into the temple.  The journeying of Moses’ Ark (and portable tabernacle) was ended.

More than 300 years after Solomon, c 622 BC King Josiah made sanctuary repairs to Solomon’s temple, 2Ch.34:8-10.  The Ark was removed for those repairs, and was then put back.  Josiah said to the Levites in 2Ch.35:3, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built”.  The Ark then was either Moses’ original Ark, or else a copy that had been made (since Solomon, 1Ki.8:9).

2Ch.35:3 is the last occurrence in the Old Testament (OT) where we read of the Ark in the temple.

The final OT reference to the Ark of God is Je.3:16. “Declares the Lord, They shall say no more ‘The ark of the covenant’. It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they miss it, nor shall it be made again.”  God said the Ark of the Testimony/Ark of the Covenant, their most important object, reflecting His Presence…would no more be remembered or reproduced (or noted in the OT).

The Ark is later mentioned in the Apocrypha.  The book of 2 Maccabees was written in Greek c 124 BC.  God had warned Jeremiah to hide the Ark in the mountain from which Moses had viewed the Promised Land (Mt Nebó, De.34:1).  2Mac.2:4-8 KJV 1611 edition “When Jeremiah came thither, he found a hollow cave wherein he laid the Tabernacle, the Ark, the altar of incense, and stopped the door. Some of those that followed him came to mark the way, but they could not find it. Jeremiah blamed them, saying, ‘That place shall be unknown.”  Jeremiah hid that Ark in an unknown cave, prior to 587 BC when Nebuchadnézzar carried off other holy vessels from Solomon’s temple (2Ch.36:7-10).  Since Jeremiah was told to hide the Ark, he knew it couldn’t be seen and its memory would fade (Je.3:16).

1Esdras 1:54 KJV 1611 edition “They [Babylonians] took all the holy vessels of the Lord, both great and small, with the vessels of the ark of God, and the king’s treasures, and carried them away into Babylon.”  ref Je.52:17-23 for more item detail.  However, these passages don’t say they took the Ark itself.  (But 2Esdras 10:22 KJV 1611 edition “The Ark of our covenant is spoiled.”  The original Ark?)

Ezr.1:5-11 the Ark isn’t listed among the articles of Solomon’s temple which the Jewish returnees brought back from Babylon into the temple of Zerubbabél/Ezra, the 2^nd temple.  (see the topic “Temple of Zerubbabel”.)  2Ch.35:3 NASB footnote: “No reference is made to the ark by Ezra, Nehemiah, or even Josephus after the captivity.”

Later, neither was the Ark in Herod’s temple in the 1^st century AD.  Josephus Wars of the Jews 5:5:5 “The inmost part of the Temple…in this there was nothing at all…it was called the Holy of Holies.”  Nor was the Lord Christ ‘seated’ in the Holy of Holies chamber of Herod’s temple…Jesus was out walking the Land in His human body in the 1^st century AD!

The (physical) Ark chest disappeared from Israel’s history.  There are speculations today about the whereabouts of the Ark.  Some think the Ark ended up with the Jews in Elephántine, Egypt.  Or the original Ark possibly disappeared way back in the days of Solomon & the Queen of Sheba…and now remains in the possession of an Orthodox church in Ethiopia.  (If so, then the Ark hidden by Jeremiah wasn’t the original.)  I won’t elaborate on these speculations here.  (Many articles about the ancient Ark’s disappearance are available on the internet.  You might read Dean Smith’s What Happened To The Jewish Ark of the Covenant? and The Queen Of Sheba And The Jewish Ark.)

There are only two New Testament references to the “ark” (kibotós g2787, Greek) of the covenant.  He.9:1-7 briefly summarizes Moses’ tabernacle, its furnishings and service.  v.4 “…the ark of the covenant, covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant.”

He.9–10 shows the efficacious atonement of Christ’s blood for Christians…sprinkling animal blood at the Ark’s mercy seat on each annual Day of Atonement by the Aaronic high priest is no longer needed.  Nor do Christian ‘soldiers’ (figurative) follow a physical ark into battle against nations of this world.

John envisioned in Re.11:19, “The temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple”.  A heavenly Ark endures, not an earthly.  Again, the only thing in the Ark in the tent/tabernacle of David was God’s eternal law tablets.  God’s laws are now figuratively being written by the indwelling Holy Spirit on the minds & hearts of New Covenant Israelites (He.8:8-13) and gentiles grafted-in.  see “Two Covenants – Heart of the Matter”.  An earthly Ark is unnecessary.

As the Lord said in Je.3:16, the ancient physical Ark made for Israel need not be missed or made again.

 

Ark of the Testimony – Journeys (1)

The “Ark of the Testimony” (seen in Ex.25:16, Jsh.4:16, e.g.) was the most important object in God’s portable tabernacle which Moses/Israelites constructed.  The Hebrew term for “ark” is aróne, Strongs h727; “testimony” is aydúth h5715.  The Ark was also known as the “Ark of the Covenant” (h1285, Nu.10:33, e.g.), the “Ark of the Lord” (h3068, Jsh.3:13), and the “Ark of God” (h430, 1Sm.3:3).

Christ was the God and good Shepherd of ancient Israel.  His glory dwelt above the Ark, upon the mercy seat between the cherubim (cf. Ex.25:22, Ps.80:1, Jn.10:11.  see the topic “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”.)  The Ark represented the Lord’s Presence and Name!  2Sm.6:2 “The ark of God which is called by the Name, the very name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned above the cherubim.”

This two-part topic traces the journeys of the Ark of the Testimony/Covenant through the history of ancient Israel.  Part 1 covers the time from its construction in the aftermath of Israel’s exodus from Egypt…until the capture of the Ark by the enemy Philistines circa (c) 1100 BC.

Using Rev. Martin Anstey’s The Romance of Bible Chronology, v.2, Israel’s exodus from Egypt occurred c 1612 BC and the sacred tabernacle tent & sanctuary was erected c 1611 BC.

Ex.19:1 “In the third month after the sons of Israel went out from Egypt, they came to the wilderness of Sinai.”  While Moses was up on Mt Sinai for 40 days (Ex.24:18), the Lord gave him instructions for the tabernacle (mishkán h4908), its furnishings, and the Ark.  (also see “God Tabernacles With Humans”.)

Ex.25:1, 10-21 “The Lord spoke to Moses, ‘They [Israelites] shall construct an ark of acacia wood. Overlay it with pure gold. You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, and two cherubim of gold at the two ends of the mercy seat, their wings spread upward. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I shall give you.”

The dimensions of the Ark were about 45 in. wide, 27 in. deep, 27 in. high.  It was a gilded rectangular chest.  The Ark had rings on the sides through which two long poles were inserted to carry it from site to site.  (The Lord said the descendants of Levi’s son Koháth were to carry it, Nu.4:4-6 & 7:9).

Continuing with Ex.25:22, “There I will meet with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony”.  The Lord Christ would seat Himself atop the mercy seat, from where He would command Moses and Israel’s high priests of His principles & ways.

It was called the “Ark of the Testimony” because God’s own testimony of moral principles against sin, written on tablets, was placed inside.  Gill Exposition Ex.25:16 “This was put into the ark…which may signify the law was in the heart of Christ.”  The law reflected the character of Christ, ‘seated’ above.

Ex.31:18 “When He [the Lord] finished speaking with him [Moses], He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, inscribed with the finger of God.”  These principles were the Ten Words (h1697 dabarim), called the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue.

Moses recounted in De.10:4 LXX NETS, “He wrote on the tablets the Ten Words (g3056 lógos, Greek), which the Lord spoke to you in the mountain out of the midst of the fire [Ex.20:1-18], and the Lord gave them to me”.  Also cf. De.4:13 LXX, where the Greek term for “words” is g4487 rhéma.  The Decalogue was both logos and rhema.  In addition…a jar of manna (Ex.16:32-34), Aaron’s rod (Nu.17:10), and later God’s book of the law (De.31:26, 2Ch.34:14-15) were placed in or by the Ark.

The Ark with the mercy seat resided in the Holy of Holies room of the tabernacle (Ex.26:34).  Aaron the high priest was authorized to enter that compartment only once each year, on the Day of Atonement.  There he would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat of the Ark, to atone for Israel’s sins (Le.16:2, 14-17).  The Ark with the mercy seat signified God’s judgment and mercy.

Ex.30:26 initially Moses was to mix holy anointing oil and “anoint the tabernacle and the ark of the testimony”.  Ex.40:17-21 the Ark was brought into the completed tabernacle at Sinai 11 ½ months out of Egypt.  v.34-35 the Holy Spirit glory cloud filled the tabernacle on the occasion!  v.36-38 “In all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up, the sons of Israel would set out.”  They weren’t to leave a site until the Shekínah glory lifted; Nu.9:21-22 “Whether it was after two days, a month, or a year.”

For much of ancient Israel’s BC history (subsequent to Egypt), the Ark and the tabernacle were together at the same site/location.  But they weren’t together during all that period of time, as we’ll see.

Nu.10:11-13, 33 in the 2^nd month of the 2^nd year, they departed Sinai with the ark for a 3-days’ journey to the Parán Wilderness.  Nu.11:3, 34-35 their first stops after Sinai were Taberáh/Kibróth-hattaváh and Hazeróth.  De.1:1-3, 19 it was an 11-day march by way of Mt Seir from Horéb/Sinai to the Kadésh-barnéa spring/oasis in Paran (Ge.14:6-7 spring of judgment, Nu.12:16, 13:3, 26, 32:8).  De.1:46 “They remained in Kadesh many days.”  Nu.14:33-34 they won’t enter the Promised Land until the 40^th year!

Nu.20:1-2, 13-14, 27:14, 33:36 in the 40^th year, they camped at Meribáh Kadésh (not an oasis!) in the Wilderness of Zin.  Nu.33 lists in order their 40–45 encampments made during the 40-year journey to the promised Land of Canáan.  Moses died just before they entered-in (De.34:5).

Jsh.3:3-ff after 40 years, priests with the Ark went before Israel as they finally crossed the Jordan River, c 1572 BC.  Jsh.4:19 “The people came up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgál on the eastern edge of Jericho.”  The Ark is at Gilgal in the Promised Land.  Jsh.6:1-20 in their conquest of Jericho, Israelite warriors marched behind the Ark, circling Jericho for 7 days.  Jsh.14:6 Joshua’s HQ location is Gilgal.

Then Jsh.18:1, “The sons of Israel assembled at Shilóh and set up the tent of meeting there.”  God’s tent of meeting/tabernacle and Ark were moved from Gilgal to Shiloh.  Centuries later the Lord recounted in Je.7:12, “…My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My Name dwell at the first”.  Christ ‘dwelled’ atop the Ark at Shiloh.  Jsh.22:9 Israel had “gathered together at Shiloh.”  (Jsh.24:1, 25 the LXX and Arabic versions have “Shiloh”.)  Joshua’s HQ became Shiloh; it means ‘place of rest’.

Jg.2:6-9 Joshua died c 1547 BC.  (see “Chronology – the Exodus to Samuel”.)  Jg.2:1 LXX “The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal…to Bethél, to the house of Israel.”  Jg.2:5 Israel sacrificed there (Bethel/‘Bochím’, where they ‘wept’).  The Divine Captain of God’s host had earlier appeared to Joshua while Israel was camped at Gilgal (Jsh.5:10-15), prior to Shiloh.  Shortly before Joshua’s death, the Ark and tabernacle where sacrifices were made were moved from Shiloh to nearby Bethel (the Luz of Ge.28:19, Jg.1:23).  Cambridge Bible Jg.2:1 “A transference of the sanctuary [to Bethel] (Jdg 2:5b).”

{Sidelight: Jg.17–21 these ending chapters of Judges are a flashback to side events which occurred earlier in the book, but weren’t inserted then (to not interrupt the timeflow).  Henry Commentary Jg.17:1 “What is related in…the rest of the chapters to the end of this book, was done soon after the death of Joshua.”  Pulpit Commentary “Two detached histories [Jg.17–21], which fill up the rest of the book, are long prior to Samson [Jg.13–16].”  In Jg.20:28, Aaron’s grandson Phineás the high priest is still alive (cf. Nu.25:7)!  Gill Exposition Jg.17:1 and Barnes Notes connect Jg.17:1 & Jg.18:1-2 “Dan” to Jg.1:34 “Dan”.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 5:2-3 places Jg.17–21 before Othniél’s early judgeship of Jg.3.  Jg.3:8-11 the warrior Othniel judged Israel 40 years, c 1524 BC – 1484 BC.  Caleb’s nephew Othniel acceded a few years after the time of the “elders who outlived Joshua” (Jg.2:7), c 1547 – 1532 BC.}

Jg.18:31 echoes the tabernacle had been at Shiloh earlier.  Jg.20:18 LXX “They went to Bethel and inquired of God.”  Not long after Joshua’s death, the Ark was at Bethel.  Pulpit Commentary Jg.20:18 “At this time the ark of God, with the tabernacle, was at Bethel, only 7–8 miles from Shiloh.”

Jg.20:27 “The sons of Israel inquired of the Lord, for the ark of the covenant of God was there [Bethel] in those days.”  Ellicott Commentary Jg.20:27 “At Bethel.”  Again, Bethel was near to Shiloh.  Jg.21:19 an annual pilgrim feast was held at Shiloh, “on the north side of Bethel”.  Situated in the tribal territory of Ephráim, Shiloh-Bethel became the Ark & tabernacle location (after Gilgal).  350 years elapse….

Jg.16:30-31 Samson the warrior-judge died, c 1142 BC.  Eli and Samuel then conclude the long period of the judges.  1Sm.1:1-3 Elkanáh (Samuel’s father) annually went to Shiloh to sacrifice to the Lord.

The Ark is again at Shiloh.  Ellicott Commentary 1Sm.1:3 “Shiloh was the religious center of Israel during the whole period of the judges. On rare occasions the sacred tent, and the holy furniture, seems to have been temporarily moved to such places as Mizpáh and Bethel, but its regular home was Shiloh.”  1Sm.3:3, 21 the Ark is at Shiloh, where the Lord revealed Himself to young Samuel.

In the latter years of Eli the high priest & judge, Israel had become very backslidden.  1Sm.4:1-5 the Ark is carried into the battle of Ebenézer against the Philistines, c 1102 BC.  v.17-18 the heathen Philistines sack Shiloh, and capture the Ark.  Eli dies when he hears the news.  v.22 “The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken.”

The Ark would never return to Moses’ tabernacle!

Cambridge Bible 1Sm.1:3 “It [Shiloh] ceased to be the national sanctuary. Samuel sacrificed at Mizpeh, at Ramáh, at Gilgal, never, so far as we read, at Shiloh.”  Barnes Notes Ps.78:60 “The place of worship was finally and forever removed from the tribe of Ephraim, within whose limits Shiloh was.”

The Ark had resided in the Holy of Holies innermost room (Ex.26:34) of Moses’ tabernacle for 500 years!  From c 1611 BC – 1102 BC (except when it was in transport or taken into battle.  cf. Nu.10:35 “Rise up, O Lord! And let Thy enemies be scattered.”)

The Ark now will reside elsewhere, apart from God’s tabernacle, for 110 years (til c 991 BC).  During these 110 years, the Holy of Holies compartment of Moses’ tabernacle was entirely empty!

1Sm.5:1-7 the Philistines took the captured Ark of God from Ebenezer to their city of Ashdód, to the temple of their pagan god Dagón.  But the idol of Dagon was then found fallen down before the Ark…and broken!  The Lord afflicted the Ashdodites with tumors and mice (LXX).  v.8-9 so the Philistines took the Ark to their city of Gath.  But the Lord afflicted them there with tumors.  v.10-12 so they took the Ark to Ekrón.  The hand of God was heavy upon them in Ekron; many men died or were smitten with tumors.  At that point the Philistines didn’t know what to do with the Ark, they cried out to heaven!

This topic is continued and concluded in “Ark of the Testimony – Journeys (2)”.

 

 

 

Israelites Identification (2)

Foundational scriptures for this topic were covered in “Israelites Identification (1)”.  This Part 2 is the sequel.  Part 2 won’t contain a full recap of what was covered in Part 1.  Verses referenced in (1) are essential for (2).  Also see the topic “Israelite Deportations by Assyria” for more background.

Part 1 ended with Hoséa’s prophecy.  The Lord told Hosea to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel.  Ho.1:4-11 “I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. For you are not My people and I Am not your God. Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sands of the sea which cannot be measured or numbered. And it will come about that it will be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’ And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together.”  The disobedient 10 tribes of Israel would be exiled from the Holy Land, and become a multitude in Assyria, Persia, and elsewhere.  But Ho.2:23 “And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!”  Yet eventually in the future, descendants of the 10 tribes would become the people of God again!  Israel gathered to Christ together with the descendants of the southern kingdom of Judah, the Jews (ref Ezk.37:15-22)…all 12–13 tribes together.

“Israelites Identification (1)” noted Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews 11:5:2. “There are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the 10 tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.”  In 94 AD, the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel were still gone!  Talmud Yebamot 17b “The 10 tribes of scattered Israel in their places of exile are legally gentiles for all intents and purposes.”

Jewish Virtual Library “The belief in the continued existence of the ten tribes was regarded as an incontrovertible fact during the whole period of the Second Temple and of the Talmud.”  Jewish Encyclopedia: Tribes, Lost Ten “Those of Judah and Levi [and Benjamin] returned with Ezra and Nehemiah. If the Ten Tribes have disappeared, the literal fulfilment of the prophecies would be impossible; if they have not disappeared, obviously they must exist under a different name.”  Only the 2–3 tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Levi, not the 10, returned to the Land from Babylonian captivity.

In the 60s AD, Peter wrote to scattered people living among gentiles in the area of Asia Minor, north from the Holy Land (1Pe.1:1).  1Pe.2:9-12 “You are a chosen stock, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. You were once not a people, but now you are the people of God. Conduct yourselves honorably among the gentiles [nations].”  The scattered resident aliens to whom Peter wrote included those who were “not a people”, but had now become the people of God.  Peter tied them to the ancient northern Israelites of Ho.1:10 & 2:23.  Israelites migrated from captivity.  Jews did too.  Peter continued, 1Pe.4:16 “If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed”.  Recipients of 1Peter had become Christians of God!

Paul wrote in Ro.9:6, “They are not all Israel who are of Israel”.  There was a spiritual remnant.  v.24-27 “Even us whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among gentiles. As He says in Hosea, ‘I will call those who were not My people, My people. Though the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant will be saved.” (Paul here also quotes Is.10:22 LXX).  Paul too relates the 10 tribes of Israel to…gentiles. (also see the topic “Gentiles in the Bible”.)

Paul continues in Ro.11:13, addressing gentiles, “I am speaking to you gentiles”.  v.17-26 RSV “I want you to understand this mystery, brethren; a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved.”  JFB Commentary Ro.11:25 “Blindness (hardness) has come partially, or upon a portion of Israel.”  Meyer’s NT Commentary “A part of Israel is hardened, until the gentiles collectively shall have come in.”  Jews and gentiles, including the 10 tribes, together the people of God.  All Israel.  Judah and Joseph as “one stick” (Ezk.37:15-ff).

Paul spoke his defense before King Agríppa in Ac.26:6-7. “Now I’m standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers; which our 12 tribes hope to obtain, as they serve God night and day. For this hope, O King, I am being accused by the Jews.”  Does Paul here differentiate the 12 tribes from the Jews, or are the “12 tribes” representative of “Jews”?  Cambridge Bible Notes Ja.1:1 “The ten tribes of the Kingdom of Israel, though they had been carried into a more distant exile than Judah and Benjamin, were thought of, not as lost and out of sight, but as still sharing the faith and hope of their fathers. So St Paul speaks of ‘the twelve-tribed nation’ as ‘serving God day and night’ (Ac.26:7), and our Lord’s promise that His twelve disciples should sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt.19:28).”  1Clement 22:24 “Nor did Esther expose herself to any less hazard, for the delivery of the 12 tribes of Israel, in danger of being destroyed.”  After the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, Israelites of the 12 tribes were in Persia too at the time of queen Esther (400s BC).

By the 1^st century, many Jews saw the restoration of the 12 tribes as part of the eschatological work of Elijah or Messiah (ref Mt.19:28).  Ja.1:1 “James, a bondservant of God, to the 12 tribes who are scattered abroad, greetings.”  Benson Commentary Ja.1:1 “James very properly inscribed his letter to the twelve tribes which were in the dispersion, seeing the twelve tribes really existed then, and do still exist, although not distinguished by separate habitations, as they were anciently in their own land.”  Gill Exposition “They were the posterity of those who had been dispersed in former captivities, by the Assyrians and others, and who remained in the several countries whither they were carried, and never returned. We read of 144,000 sealed of all the tribes of Israel, Re.7:4.”  Those weren’t just the Jews.

Rabbi A.H. Fink from Spokane, WA, “The Jews do not claim to represent the twelve tribes, for the ten tribes never returned from captivity and are lost to history.”

In 1Co.10:18, Paul speaks of “Israel according to the flesh”, the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel.  Yet Paul’s writings reflect both a fleshly and a ‘spiritual Israel’.  In Ga.6:15-16, Paul doesn’t restrict the “Israel of God” to those physically circumcised (Jews).  Ellicott Commentary “By the ‘Israel of God’ is here meant the ‘spiritual Israel’, not converts from Judaism alone.”  JFB Commentary “Not the Israel after the flesh, but the spiritual seed of Abraham by faith.”  Paul wrote in Ga.3:28-29, “There is neither Greek nor Jew, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed.”  Gentiles are grafted-in, as Paul puts it in Ro.11:17.

The New Covenant is with descendants of Israel and Judah, God’s two ancient kingdoms.  In He.8:8-10 the writer quoted God’s words to Jeremiah. “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be My people.”  According to Paul, gentiles share in the new covenant by being grafted-in, becoming part of spiritual Israel.  God writes His laws on their hearts & minds via the Holy Spirit.

In Mt.12:3-4, Jesus spoke of the time David had “entered the house of God”.  The Old Testament house of God was the tabernacle/temple (e.g. Jg.18:31, 2Ch.3:3).  Later He.4:14, 10:21 “We have a great priest over the house of God”.  Now Jesus is High Priest over the house of God (in the order of Melchisedek, He.5:6).  Paul wrote in 1Ti.3:15, “The house of God, which is the church of the living God”.  There’s no more physical temple…the house of God is the church of God!

God’s kingdom and temple “house” was taken from those Jewish leaders…and is given to others.  Jesus proclaimed in Mt.21:42-46, “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation bearing the fruit of it. The chief priests and Pharisees understood He was speaking about them.”  Accordingly, in 70 AD the kingdom was taken from the physical ‘nation’ of Judaea, and given to a spiritual “nation” bearing fruit.  1Ch.28:5-6 the old kingdom.  De.4:23-27 if the ancient Israelites ignore or violate God’s covenant, they wouldn’t remain in God’s Land!  So God exiled them to other nations.  Paul spoke of them in Ro.10:19 (ref De.32:21 LXX), “I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation”.  The “nation” bearing fruit isn’t a singular national entity.  Again 1Pe.2:9-10 “You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation.”  Peter wrote to a holy “nation”, Christians (1Pe.4:16)…the house of God.

So where are the 10 or 12 tribes of Israel located, since Christ?  Josephus Wars of the Jews 2:16:4 is Herod’s 1^st century speech about Israelite tribes then beyond the Euphrates in Ádiabene (central old Assyria).  Then around 300 years after Josephus, Jerome said the ten tribes were “Still beyond the Euphrates, in the land of their captivity. Nor has their captivity ever been loosed” (Opera 6:780).  They were still  ‘lost’, gone from the Holy Land.

Asahel Grant wrote The Nestorians in 1841.  Grant had missionary experiences in Assyria & Persia.  He there encountered a people who displayed an Israelite culture and claimed to be descendants of ancient Israel.  We’ve also heard of Ethiopian Jews.  The Lemba people in Zimbabwe observe Jewish customs.  In northeast India are a people who exhibit a surviving Israelite culture and claim descent from the tribe of Manasséh.  Some think even Queen Elizabeth of England looked Jewish!?

Dr. J.H. Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, said in 1918: “The people known as Jews are the descendants of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with a certain number of the tribe of Levi. So far as is known, there is not any further admixture of other tribes. The Ten Tribes have been absorbed among the nations of the world. The Jews look forward to the gathering of all the tribes at some future date.”

So the ancient 10 tribes of northern Israel, and the Jews too, are for the most part now assimilated into the various nations.  And intermarriage is increasing!  In 1900 AD, only 2% of married Jews worldwide were wed to non-Jews or gentiles.  In 1975 that figure was 25%.  But by 2004, 50% of marrying Jews intermarry with non-Jews.  And among non-Orthodox Jews in the USA, in 2013 the intermarriage rate is 70%.  And beyond Jews, it’s speculated that by now at least a small fractional % of our father Abraham’s ‘blood’, so to speak, is existent in most nations, if not in most people on earth!

Who is a real Jew today?  Regardless of descent, some consider a Jew to be anyone who practices Judaism.  But the religion or oral tenets of Judaism wasn’t that of ancient Jacob/Israel’s son Judah.  Judaism isn’t ‘Judah-ism’, so to speak.  Many say a (genetic) Jew is anyone who has a Jewish mother (some add, ‘and who hasn’t adopted another faith’).  Sects within Judaism have differing views on this issue.  However, in scripture, genealogies are patrimonial; not reckoned from the mother, whose name often isn’t included.  (a related topic is “Levites and the Exodus Multitude”.)

Some Jews say physical circumcision is unnecessary.  Joseph Jacobs wrote in 1905, Jew. Enc. X, 283. “The question whether the Jews of today are in the main descended from the Jews of Bible times, and from them alone, is still undecided.”  And after 3,500+ years of intermarriage & proselytizing, today it’s difficult to ascertain who’s really of the Abraham–Isaac–Jacob–12 tribe line anyway!

Genetic studies have produced mixed results…“No test can give you unambiguous proof.”  Some results may seem surprising.  Wikipedia: Genetic Studies on Jews “Many genetic studies also found substantial genetic overlap between Muslim Palestinians and Ashkenazi and Sephárdic Jews.”  Wikipedia: Canaanite Religion “The DNA [50%] of the modern Arab and Jewish people matches the DNA of the ancient Canaanites.”  Patheos: “Y–chromosome haplotypes revealed that Arabs and Jews are essentially a single population. Palestinians and Jews are virtually indistinguishable.”

Semites are a language group, not a racial group.  Today 340 million people speak Semitic languages (Shem, Ham, Jápheth were the three sons of the patriarch Noah, Ge.10:1).  Of those: 300 million speak Arabic, 22 million Amháric (Ethiopia), 7 million Tigrínya (Horn of Africa), 10 million speak Hebrew.  (Yiddish was mostly a Germanic language, not a Semitic.)  By definition, anti-Semitic opposes Arabs, Ethiopians, Jews/Hebrew speakers.  But usually the term is used wrongly, with racial implications.  Dr. Benjamin Freedman (Facts Are Facts, 1954) thought the term anti-Semitism doesn’t apply to Jews in the sense its most commonly used, and even “should be eliminated from the English language”.

The question continues to be raised as to whether some secular Zionist Jews who founded the modern Israeli state were really Semites (‘Shemites’, descended from Shem)?  Their Yiddish language wasn’t Semitic.  They’re Ashkenazi (German) ‘Jews’.  Ge.10:1-3 but Ashkenáz descended from Noah’s son Japheth, not Shem.  If so, possibly they’re non-Semitic (and pre-1950 had a non-Semitic language, Yiddish), perhaps descending from East European Slavs; i.e. Kházars who settled in Russia & Ukraine.  In 740 AD, the ruler of Khazária adopted Judaism as their official state religion.

Jewish scholar Arthur Koestler wrote in The Thirteenth Tribe: “The Khazars came not from Jordan, but from the Volga, not from Canaan, but from the Caucasus. Genetically they are more related to the Hun, Úygur and Mágyar than to the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The story of the Khazar Empire, as it slowly emerges from the past, begins to look like the most cruel hoax that history has ever perpetrated.”

But Jewish scholar Yair Davidiy doesn’t think the Khazars came from Turkish stock. The Khazars, Tribe 13 “Early traditions spoke of the Lost Ten Tribes being in the Scýthian and Khazar areas. According to most Jewish sources, Khazars were a portion of the 10 tribes, especially Ephráim and Manasseh. All Jews are Israelites but not all Israelites are Jews, in the same way that all Texans are Americans but not all Americans are Texans.” (p.200)

Descendants from Japheth and Ashkenaz traditionally settled in Germany, but were driven out and established new communities elsewhere in Europe.  They called themselves Ashkenazi, following customs & rulings previously practiced by Jews in Germany.

The Sephardic Jews are in the minority.  ref Ob.1:20 “Sepharád”.  Sepharad meant Spain to rabbis.  Sepharim were Spanish Jews or those following customs & rulings of Spanish Jews.  Sephardics now dwell around the Mediterranean area and North Africa.  Any future DNA matching for the 10 tribes?

When the Land allotments were originally assigned to the tribes of Israel (Jsh.14–19), at least 50% of the West Bank area inheritance went to the tribes of Ephraim & Manasseh & Issachár, not all of it to Judah & Benjamin (who became the Jews)!  And in the north, the area of the Golan Heights within Israel went to Manasseh (and a fringe area to Naphtalí), not to Judah or Benjamin.  That’s Bible history and geography from Joshua, not so-called anti-Semitism.  Yet…if the Khazars descended from the tribes of Israel, adopted Judaism, intermarried with Jews, and some of their seed returned to the Land during the past 130 years…then some living in modern Israel are the seed of ancient Israelites?!

Who is a true descendant of Abraham and Jacob/Israel?  Ga.3:28-29 “There is neither Greek nor Jew, you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed.”  Paul includes all who are in Christ…Christians. (Ro.11:24 with Jews re-grafted.)  Ge.17:1-6 anciently God changed Abrám’s name to Abraham, because he would become father of many nations.  Ro.4:16-17 includes all who have the same faith as “Abraham, the father of us all”.  Ro.11:26 thus all Israel will be saved!

Paul wrote in Ro.2:28-29, “Neither is circumcision outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart [cf. De.30:6], by the Spirit.”  According to Paul, it’s spiritual; not based on physical circumcision or a % of Jewish blood ancestry.

To conclude: Re.7:4-8 “I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 from every tribe of the sons of Israel.”  John identifies 12 tribes (including the tribe of Judah).  Re.21:10-12 “It had a great and high wall with twelve gates; and names were written on them, those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.”  At the end of the Book…the names of the 12 tribes are on the gates of the Holy City!

Ps.22:23, 27-28 “You who fear the Lord, praise Him. All you seed of Jacob, glorify Him. All you seed of Israel. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations will worship before Thee.”  (Ge.32:28 God changed the man Jacob’s name to Israel, see Part 1.)  Eventually all the tribes will be saved.  All the nations will praise Christ, the God/Rock of Israel.  Praise the Lord!!

Israelites Identification (1)

Who were the ancient Israelites and the Jews?  The land area known as modern Israel is disputed.  For decades, even centuries, the Holy Land has been an area of strife & warfare over who are the rightful inhabitants.  This topic will trace the identity of the Israelite people from the Bible.

We’ll begin with Abraham the Hebrew.  God promised Abraham ca 2000 BC, Ge.17:3-5 “I will make you the father of many nations”.  (In Ro.4:13, 17-18 Paul referred to God’s covenant with Abraham.)

In Ge.25:8-9, 1-2 are recorded Abraham’s sons.  Isaac, Ishmaél…also Zimrán, Jokshán, Medán, Midián, Ishbák, Shúah (perhaps Eliézer, Ge.15:1-2 Septúagint/LXX).

Isaac then had twin sons, Jacob and Esau.  God’s covenant with Abraham passed down through Isaac, and then Jacob.  (see the topic “Circumcision in the Bible”.)

Ge.35:10-12 “God appeared to Jacob, ‘Israel shall be your name. A nation and an assembly of nations will descend from you.”  God ‘changed’ Jacob’s name to Israel.  Jacob thereby became the first Israelite.  There were no Israelites prior to Jacob.  Abraham and Isaac weren’t Israelites.

The man Jacob/Israel had 12 sons, whose descendants grew into the 12 tribes of Israel.  Ge.35:22b-26 “The twelve sons of Jacob: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachár, Zebulún, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtalí, Gad, Ashér.”  Jacob/Israel’s 4^th son was Judah (Yehoodáh, Strongs h3063 Hebrew).  Judah was the first Jew.  There were no Jews prior to the man Judah.  And Judah’s brothers weren’t Jews.

In Bible genealogy: Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Midian, the twins Esau & Jacob/Israel…none of them were Jews.  But they were all Hebrews, descendants of Héber (LXX Ge.10:21, 11:14-17).  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:4 “Heber, from whom they originally called the Jews, Hebrews.”  Ge.14:13 Abraham “the Hebrew” has been called the ‘first Jew’ by tradition, but not by scripture.

In scripture, all Jews are Israelites (Judah descended from Jacob/Israel); but not all Israelites are Jews.  Again, Judah’s 11 brothers weren’t Jews.  Joseph wasn’t Jewish, nor was Reuben, Zebulun, Gad, etc.

Ge.46:2-4 “God spoke to Israel [Jacob], ‘In Egypt I will make of you a great nation [goy].”  (goy h1471 is the Hebrew term.)  Israel’s descendants would become a great nation!  (see “Gentiles in the Bible”.)

Ge.37:3, 9 Israel’s son Joseph is to have preeminence over his 11 brothers, including Judah.  Ge.49:10 the Messiah Yeshúa/Jesus and kings would come from the tribe of Judah.  v.22-26 but the blessing went to brother Joseph.  Ge.48:15-20 the name Israel would be upon Joseph’s sons Ephráim & Manasséh; they’d become a “multitude of nations [goyim]”.  1Ch.5:1-2 “Though from Judah came the leader, the birthright belonged to Joseph.”  Again, Joseph was distinct from Judah/the Jews.  Jewish Encyclopedia: Tribes, The Twelve “Joseph and Judah typify two distinct lines of descent.”

By the time of Moses & Joshua, the sons/tribes of Israel with a “mixed multitude” had become a large people, 1550 BC.  (Ex.12:37-38, see “Levites and the Exodus Multitude”.)  The unified kingdom of Israel would achieve prominence in the Land during the reigns of David and Solomon (Jewish kings).

1Ki.11:11-13 after Solomon’s death, in the 900s BC Christ split the united nation of Israel into two (v.28-32).  See 1Ki.12:15, 20-24.  Thereafter the northern kingdom, consisting of 10 tribes, retained the name Israel.  The southern kingdom of Judah, consisting of the other 2–3 tribes, became known as the Jews.  The tribal territory of Benjamin (and most of the Levites) was given to Judah.

Donald Kauffman Dictionary of Religious Terms “The name Jew derives from Judah, the Israelite tribe whose name was transferred to the Southern Kingdom.”  2Ki.16:5-6 the first time the term “Jew” (Yehoodeé h3064) occurs in the Bible, they’re fighting against…Israel (and Syria)!  After Solomon, Israel and the Jews/Judah became separate nations.

Later, the kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria. (see “Israelite Deportations by Assyria”.)  2Ki.17:19-24 “Israel was carried away into exile from their own Land to Assyria until this day.”  v.6 “In the ninth year of Hoshéa, the king of Assyria settled them in Haláh and Habór, on the river of Gozán, and in cities of the Medes.”  Israel (also called Samaria) in the north, the 10 tribes, was removed from the Land (721 BC).  They were resettled in the area of old Mesopotamia, at the Tigris & Euphrates, and beyond.  They became the so-called ‘Lost 10 Tribes’ of Israel, living far away to the (north) east.  The northern kingdom of Israel ceased as a nation.  Samaria became an Assyrian province.

2Esdras 13:40 KJV 1611 edition “Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their owne land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria ledde away captive, and hee carried them ouer the waters, and so came they into another land.” (KJV Middle English spelling.)  cf. Tob.1:1 Tobit, from the tribe of Naphtali, was taken captive.

Josephus op. cit. 9:14:1 “Shalmanéser, the king of Assyria, besieged Samaria, and transplanted all the people into Média and Persia, among whom he took King Hoshea alive; and when he had removed these people out of this their land, he transplanted other nations into Samaria, into the country of the Israelites.”  The other peoples transplanted into the Land became known as Samaritans.

Assyria placed heathen foreigners into Israel to replace the Israelites (2Ki.17:24).  Probably not every last Israelite was removed from the Land.  (Earlier some had fled south to Judah to escape the Assyrian invaders.)  Over the decades, the imported foreigners were assimilated with any few remaining Israelites…as Samaritans.  Those Samaritans held pagan beliefs mixed with God’s ways (ref Je.41:5).

Over 100 years later, the southern kingdom of Judah went into captivity to Babylon.  The prophet/priest Ezekiel was taken captive in 597 BC.  In Ezk.8:1 & 20:1, Ezekiel interchangeably called the captive elders the “elders of Israel” and the “elders of Judah” (592–591 BC).  By this time, these descendants from the southern kingdom Judah were being referred to as descendants of Israel.  Since Judah/Jews did descend from Jacob/Israel, ancestrally Jews are Israelites too.  (But not all Israelites are Jews.)  Babylon went on to sack Jerusalem in 586 BC.  The southern kingdom of Judah ceased as a nation.

Some Jews were allowed to return to the Land of Judah with Zerubabbél ca 538 BC.  More returned with Ezra & Nehemiah between 460–440 BC.  From which tribes of Israel were those returning Jews?

Ezr.1:5 “Judah and Benjamin and the priests and Levites, everyone God had stirred to rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.”  Ezr.4:1 “The enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord.”  Ezr.2:64, 70 “The whole assembly together 42,360.”  In Ezra, the only tribes who returned were Judah, Benjamin, and the priestly tribe of Levi…the Jews.  Ne.11:3-4, 7 “In the cities of Judah lived each on his own property, Israelites, priests, Levites. And some of the sons of Judah and sons of Benjamin lived in Jerusalem. From the sons of Judah…From the sons of Benjamin.”  v.36 “From the Levites, some divisions in Judah belonged to Benjamin.”  In Nehemiah, as in Ezra, the only tribes of Israel mentioned are Judah, Benjamin, Levi!  Non-priests or laymen were referred to as common “Israelites”…Ezekiel too had referred to Jewish elders as “Israel”.

None of the other 10 tribes returned from deportation/captivity…not Reuben, Simeon (other than those who’d moved to Judah centuries earlier & intermarried), Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, nor Joseph (Ephraim & Manasseh).  Those tribes weren’t Jews.  They remained long gone from the Land!

However, after the Babylonian captivity, many Jews were living east in Persia.  They were descendants of Judah/Benjamin/Levi from the southern kingdom.  It’s likely some descendants of the resettled 10 tribes (and others) living in Medes cities and Persia intermarried with Jews there in the days of the Jewess Esther (400s BC).  The Persian king married her (Est.4:13-14).  Est.8:17 “Many among the peoples of the land (Persia) became Jews.”

In New Testament (NT) times, Judaea was a Roman province.  Few tribes of Israel are identified in the NT.  He.7:14 Yeshua/Jesus is from the tribe of Judah.  Lk.1:26-33 His mother Mary/Miriam and legal father Joseph were Jews descended from David.  Lk.1:5, 13 John the Baptizer was from the priestly tribe of Levi.  Ro.11:1 the apostle Paul was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin.  Those were the 3 tribes (comprising the old southern kingdom of Judah, the Jews) who’d returned from Babylonian captivity.

However, Anna was from the tribe of Asher (Lk.2:36).  Asher had been part of the northern kingdom of Israel (one of the 10 tribes), not aligned with the Jews of the southern kingdom.  Lk.2:36 Cambridge Commentary indicates some individuals from the lost 10 tribes had preserved their old genealogies.  Ellicott Commentary “Some, at least, of its [the ten tribes] members survived and cherished the genealogies of their descent.”  Sometime in the past, Anna’s ancestors of Asher had begun dwelling with Jews.  But the vast majority of the 10 tribes were gone from the Land.  Ac.2:22 Peter addressed diaspora Jews as Israel.  Such verses don’t mean all Israelite tribes had returned or mixed with the Jews.

Josephus op. cit. 11:5:2 (written 93–94 AD) “Wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the 10 tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.”  In 94 AD, the 10 tribes were still gone!  Talmud Yebamot 17b “The 10 tribes of scattered Israel in their places of exile are legally gentiles for all intents and purposes.”  As Hoséa had foretold, 755–725 BC…Ho.8:8 “Israel is swallowed up; they are now among the nations.”  It happened.  The bulk of Israel remained in lands of the gentiles/nations.

Let’s tie-in more Old Testament prophecies which help to further identify NT Israel.  Am.1:1 Amos was a Jew in Judah who the Lord had sent to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel around 750 BC.  Am.7:10-17 Amaziah, the “priest” at the Bethél shrine in Israel, expressed animosity and told Amos to leave Israel and return to his people in Judah, the Jews.  Am.9:8-12 LXX Amos prophesied the future of the northern kingdom. “Saith the Lord, ‘I will sift the house of Israel among all nations [gentiles]. In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David which is fallen, and will rebuild the ruins of it. That the remnant of men and the gentiles upon whom My name is called may earnestly seek Me.”

The breach of the ancient divided kingdom is to be closed. (cf. KJV Jdg.21:15.)  see “Tent/Tabernacle of David”.

James spoke of the above old Greek/LXX passage regarding the northern kingdom Israel by referring to God having now taken from among the gentiles/nations a people for His name and salvation.  Ac.15:13-18 “I will rebuild the tabernacle of David. That the rest of men may seek the Lord, and all the gentiles upon whom My name is called,’ saith the Lord.”  Acts 15 council leaders tied ancient Israel to…gentiles!

Ezk.37:15-22 “The word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Take one stick for Judah, for the sons of Israel his companions; then take another stick for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim [Joseph’s son, to whom was given Jacob’s name Israel, Ge.48:16] and all the house of Israel, his companions. Then join them, that they may become one.”  Again, Joseph wasn’t Jewish.  Yet Judah and Joseph…the Jews (who also are Israelites) and the northern kingdom of Israel/Ephraim…are to be reunited under King Jesus!

The Lord told Hosea to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel.  Ho.1:4-11 “I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. For you are not My people and I Am not your God. Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sands of the sea which cannot be measured or numbered. And it will come about that it will be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’ And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together.”

The disobedient 10 tribes would be exiled from the Land, and become a multitude in Assyria, Persia, and elsewhere.  But then Ho.2:23, “And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!”

Eventually in the future, descendants of the 10 tribes would become people of God again!  Israel gathered together to Christ with the descendants of Judah.  Praise the Lord!

This topic is continued and concluded in “Israelites Identification (2)”.

Israelite Deportations by Assyria

The Lord God is to be obeyed.  Humanity’s first sin was an act of disobedience to God (Ge.3:1-ff).  The result…Adam & Eve were cast out, away from their garden home and God’s Presence (Ge.3:22-24).

Anciently, the nation of Israel was the people Christ loved above all other peoples.  Moses said of them rhetorically in De.4:5-8, “What great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God? What great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law?”  None other!  Christ was their God YHVH, their Rock, 1Co.10:4. (see the topic “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.)  Christ their Passover (1Co.5:7) ‘passed over’ Egypt and freed the Israelites from bondage.  Years after the exodus, as Israel (then consisting of 13 tribes) was entering the Promised Land, the people were given God’s conditions which they must obey to remain in their new home-Land.

De.28:1-2 “If you will diligently obey the Lord your God, the Lord will set you above all the nations of the earth. Blessings will come upon you, if you obey the Lord.”  Blessings were promised to Israel for obedience.  v.15-16 “But if you will not obey the Lord your God, then all these curses shall come upon you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed in the country.”  Many curses for disobedience follow.  v.32-33 “Your sons and daughters shall be given to another people you do not know. And you shall be oppressed and crushed.”  Captivity!  v.36 “The Lord will bring you to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known.  Exile!  v.49 “The Lord will bring against you a nation from afar.”  Invasion!  v.63-64 “You shall be torn from the Land you are entering to possess. Moreover, the Lord will scatter you among all peoples.”  If Israel disobeyed Christ their God, they would be cast out of the Holy Land.

After the death of King Solomon, in the 900s BC Christ divided the united nation of Israel into two (1Ki.12).  The northern kingdom retained the name Israel, the southern kingdom was called Judah, the Jews.  (In 2Ki.16:5-6, the Jews/Judah were actually fighting against an alliance of Israel and Syria!)

The northern kingdom of Israel disobeyed Christ!  The prophet Hosea lived in Israel, and prophesied to them circa (c) 755–725 BC.  The northern kingdom was also known as Ephráim (son of the patriarch Joseph), and Samaria (the capital city, located in the area of Israel allotted to Ephraim’s descendants), and the Ten Tribes.  Ho.5:3, 9 “Ephraim has played the harlot. Israel has defiled itself. Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel I will declare what is sure.”  God would bring upon Israel the curses of De.28!  Ho.11:1-6 “When Israel was a youth I loved him, out of Egypt I have called My son. They kept sacrificing to Báal and burning incense to idols. Assyria will be their king. The sword will whirl against their cities, and consume them.”  When Hosea prophesied, their captivity to Assyria was imminent!  Ho.13:16 “Samaria will be held guilty, for she has rebelled against her God.”  Christ the Lord proceeded to cast out Israel from the Land.

Between c 734 and c 669 BC, in four periods of invasion the Assyrians removed the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel (and took many cities of Judah the southern kingdom).  Later c 610 BC, Christ told Jeremiah to write to Judah, Je.7:15b “I have cast out all your brothers of Ephraim.”  Most of the northern kingdom of Israel didn’t return to the Land!  (1^st century AD Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 11:5:2 “The ten tribes are beyond [east of] Euphrates until now, an immense multitude.”)

Is.7:8 is a significant prophecy. “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Within another 65 years Ephraim will be shattered.”  Isaiah prophesied the removal of Israel would be complete in 65 years.  It happened between c 734 and c 669 BC.  Targum of Isaiah 7:8 “At the end of 65 years, the kingdom of the house of Israel shall cease.”  Adam Clarke Commentary “It was 65 years to the total depopulation of the kingdom of Israel by Esarháddon, who carried away the remains of the ten tribes which had been left by Tíglath-Piléser and Shalmanéser.”  International Standard Bible Encyclopedia “It appears certain there were various episodes of deportation and repopulation connected to the Northern Kingdom.”

The Assyrian invasions and subsequent exile of most in the ten tribes took place during the time of Israel’s last four kings. Menahém, Pekahiáh (no invasion during his two-year reign, 2Ki.15:23-24), Pékah, Hoshéa.  Hoshea would be their final king.  The northern kingdom of Israel would cease being a nation.  Ho.1:4 “The Lord said, ‘I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.”

Following are the four main invasions and four deportations in the prophesied 65-year period:

Deportation #1: The first period of invasion and first deportation of Israelites occurred near the time of Isaiah’s prophecy.  The progressive captivity of Israel began with King Tiglath Pileser III (an assumed name) of Assyria, who ruled from c 745–727 BC.  He was a great military leader and conquered much of the known world.  His birth name was Pulu or Pul.  2Ki.15:19 “Pul, king of Assyria, came against the Land, and Menahem gave him 1,000 talents of silver.”  In Pul’s invasion, he exacted tribute from King Menahem of Israel.  Pekah (after Pekahiah) then succeeded Menahem as king in Israel.

Pul lessened the chances of revolts against Assyrian rule by forcing deportations of peoples across his empire.  He continued his attacks.  2Ki.15:29 “In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came and took…Hazór, Gileád and Galilee, all the land of Naphtalí; and carried them captive to Assyria.”  1Ch.5:26 “The God of Israel incited Pul, king of Assyria, even Tiglath Pileser. He carried them away into exile; namely Reuben [v.6], Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasséh.”  Those 2 ½ Israelite tribes east of the Jordan River plus the tribe of Naphtali were deported initially, c 734 BC.  These weren’t reunited later with Judah.  (ref 2Ch.29:1-3, 30:1-12, 18 this later letter from King Hezekiah of Judah went to other tribes not taken by Tiglath Pileser III in the first deportation.)

Deportation #2: Progressive captivity continued during the reigns of the Assyrian kings Shalmaneser V (727–722 BC) and Sargón II (722–705 BC).  Hoshea was king in Israel (730–721 BC).  2Ki.17:1-7 “Shalmaneser king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, so the king of Assyria bound him in prison. He then invaded the whole Land and besieged Samaria 3 years. In the 9^th year of Hoshea he captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and settled them in Haláh and Habór on the River of Gozán, and in the cities of the Medes.”  v.23 “The Lord removed Israel from His sight, as He spoke through His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away into exile from their Land to Assyria until this day.”  This Assyrian invasion led to the second deportation.  The accepted date is 721 BC.

Josephus op. cit. 9:14:1 “Shalmaneser, king of Assyria besieged Samaria three years, quite demolished the government of the Israelites, and translated all the people into Média and Persia.”  Shalmaneser V began the attack, but died toward the end of the siege.  Most of the remaining tribes of Samaria were removed by Shalmaneser before he died.  His successor Sargon completed this in 721 BC.

Sargon II (Is.20:1) recorded his campaign on the palace walls at Dur-Shárrukin (Khorsabad). “In my first year of reign, the people of Samaria to the number of 27,290 I carried away. Fifty chariots for my royal equipment I selected. The city I rebuilt. I made it greater than it was before. People of the lands I had conquered I settled therein. My official I placed over them as governor.”  Sargon called his rebuilt city Samarina.  Assyrian records say they took captive the “House of Omrí”.  (Omri had been Israel’s king c 875 BC, ref 1Ki.16:23-24.)  The kingdom/government of Israel ceased to exist as such.

The 6 ½ tribes of Ephraim, Zebulún, Ashér, Issachár, Dan, Simeón, half of Manasseh (west of the Jordan), those not previously removed by Pul, were now also gone from the Land.  The Land of Samaria became an Assyrian province with an Assyrian governor.  2Ki.17:24 “The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cutháh, Avvá, Hamáth, Sepharváim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.”  The Land area of the ten tribes of Israel was repopulated with non-Israelites.

Some Bible historians think Sargon II didn’t remove all remaining peasants from northern Israel.  Over the years, any remaining peasants from the northern tribes became assimilated into the foreign peoples Assyria conquered and resettled in Samaria.  The (new) inhabitants of northern Israel became known as Samaritans.  The remaining southern kingdom consisted of Judah (some from Simeon lived in Judah), Benjamin, Levi.

The foreigners Assyria placed in the Land were a mongrel people who held various pagan beliefs.  2Ki.17:25-34 Assyria returned a captive (apostate) Israelite “priest” to the Land of Samaria to teach the new residents about God.  The result was mongrel religion which mixed corrupt pagan practices and superstitions with God’s ways.  e.g. 2Ch.34:6-7 many of the imported foreigners continued in their idolatry.  Je.41:5 these residents even gashed their own bodies (forbidden in Le.19:28 & De.14:1).

2Ki.18:9-12 is a recap. “In the 4^th year of [Judah’s] King Hezekiah, which was the 7^th year of Hoshea king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria besieged Samaria. At the end of 3 years they captured it [721 BC]; in the 6^th year of Hezekiah and 9^th year of Hoshea, Samaria was captured. The king of Assyria carried Israel away into exile, because they did not obey the Lord their God.”  Some think Hezekiah was co-regent in Judah with his father Aház for 12 years…the exact regnal dates are hard to pinpoint.  The northern kingdom of Israel was cast out because they continued to disobey Christ the Lord.  Over all their years of existence, the southern kingdom of Judah had a few good kings, e.g. Hezekiah.  But the northern kingdom of Israel had no good kings…they were all bad!

Deportation #3: Assyria’s third period of invasion of the holy Land was by King Sennacheríb (705–681 BC), who succeeded his father Sargon II. (Sargon may have been a son of Tiglath-Pileser III.)  2Ki.18:13 “In the 14^th year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria seized all the fortified cities of Judah.”  This invasion of the southern Land is dated 702 BC.  1Ki.18:1-2 Hezekiah’s 29-year total regency was possibly c 727–698 BC.  If there’d been an initial joint reign of Hezekiah with his father Ahaz within that time, then the 14^th year of Hezekiah’s remaining sole reign is c 702 BC.

Assyrian (Akkádian) annals claim Sennacherib sacked 46 cities of Judah and captured 200,150 people!  Mic.1:8-13 lists some of the cities.  It may have been a dual campaign.  A number of Jews were carried away into Assyria.  2Ki.19:14-34 but when Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem, it was spared due to Hezekiah’s prayers.  v.35 “That night the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 soldiers in the Assyrian camp.”  v.36 “Sennacherib departed, and returned home to Nineveh.”  He made Nineveh the capital of the empire, and it became the largest city in the world for 50 years.  There is no known deportation of any cities of Samaria (in the north) during Sennacherib’s rule.

2Ki.19:37 “Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.”  This is several years later.  Esarhaddon succeeded his father Sennacherib, and ruled for 12 years from 681–669 BC.

Deportation #4: The fourth period of invasion and deportation was by King Esarhaddon, during the reign of Manasseh (c 698–643 BC) king of Judah.  2Ch.33:10-13 “The army of the king of Assyria captured Manasseh and took him to Babylon. And when he was in distress he entreated the Lord his God and humbled himself. He was moved by his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.”  Barnes Notes 2Ch.33:11 “Esarhaddon mentions Manasseh among his tributaries and from time to time, held his court at Babylon.”

In 680 BC, Esarhaddon rebuilt Babylon and resided there.  He conquered Judah.  King Manasseh of Judah (he wasn’t from the tribe of Manasseh) was Esarhaddon’s vassal and became one of his deportees.  Manasseh then repented to God and was restored as vassal king in Jerusalem.  Talmud scholar David Kimchí said Manasseh was carried to Babylon by the king of Assyria’s captains in the 22^nd year of his reign.  Circa 676 BC.

Around 140 years later, more than 40,000 Jews (Ezr.2:64) returned to the Land from exile.  Ezr.1:5 & 2:1 “Judah and Benjamin and the priests…The people who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city.”  Pulpit Commentary Ezr.2:1 “Jerusalem wasn’t the only site occupied by the people on their return. Many took up their abodes in the neighboring towns and villages, such as Jericho, Tekoah, Gibeon, Mizpah, etc.”  In 538 BC, these Jews came back to the prior tribal areas of Judah and Benjamin.

In the 530s BC, descendants of the foreigners that Assyria had moved into the Land opposed the returning Jews’ new work of rebuilding the temple.  Ezr.4:1-3 “The enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord God. They said to Zerubbabél, ‘We have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon who brought us here.”  The mixed foreign peoples now assimilated in the Land were suspicious of the Jews who just recently returned from Babylon.  These local adversaries alleged they too worshiped the God of Israel, and demanded they be included in the rebuilding…v.10 “The people whom the great and noble Asnappár deported and resettled in the cities of Samaria and the rest.”  Peoples previously imported into Samaria (Samaritans), Judah, and elsewhere.  Asnappar’s identity is uncertain; most think he was either Esarhaddon’s crown prince Ashurbánipul or chief officer.  Ashurbanipul may have finished the deporting done by his father.

Besides Israelites, Esarhaddon replaced others from “the rest” of the general area with easterners.  Ernest Martin People That History Forgot, p.121 “Eastern peoples were brought by the Assyrians in the 7^th century BC into the whole region we now call Syria, and not into Samaria alone.”  James Pritchard Ancient Near Eastern Texts, p.290…After completely destroying Sidon, Esarhaddon said of the Sidonian king, “I drove to Assyria his teeming people which could not be numbered.”

Charles Fensham The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah “We know from a cylinder of Esarhaddon that he conquered Sidon [c 677 BC?]…and it is most likely that northern Israel (Samaria) was also involved in the rebellion against the Assyrians.”  A rebellion in the Land that had been inhabited by the northern tribes of Israel.  Ezr.4:10 indicates further repopulation of Samaria…Ashurbanipul brought in more foreigners to become Samaritans.

Ashurbanipul (669–628 BC) succeeded Esarhaddon.  Jnh.3:5-10 God had sent the prophet Jonah from the northern kingdom of Israel to warn Nineveh c 770 BC (prior to Tiglath Pileser III).  The king and his people repented of wickedness.  But it wasn’t lasting.  After the death of Ashurbanipul, Nineveh was sacked in 612 BC…and never rebuilt (Nah.1:1, 9).  The Assyrian empire existed from 911–609 BC.

Again, the Is.7:8 prophecy said the northern kingdom of Israel would be destroyed in 65 years.  Gill Exposition “Israel entirely ceased to be a people when new colonies were introduced by Esarhaddon, the son of Sennacherib. This being exactly 65 years…Esarhaddon, after he had settled all his affairs in Syria, marched into Israel and there took captive all those who were the remains of the former captivity (excepting only some few), and carried them into Babylon and Assyria.”  From Lifeway Explore the Bible Quarterly notes, “The 65 years of Ephraim probably refers to 670 BC, when the Bible records the last of the Israelites were exiled by Assyrian ruler Esarhaddon and foreigners were put into Israel/Samaria”.  An amazing fulfillment!  God fulfills His prophecies.

JFB Commentary Ezr.4:2 “On a large cylinder in the British Museum is inscribed a long and perfect copy of the annals of Esarhaddon, in which details are given of a large deportation of Israelites from Palestine, and a subsequent settlement of Babylonian colonists in their place.”  The Esarhaddon Prism was mentioned by Colonel Rawlinson (1861 AD) the English explorer.

In Is.7:8, Isaiah prophesied to the southern kingdom of Judah about the shattering that would befall the northern kingdom of Israel in 65 years.  v.9 the Lord continues with a warning to Judah. “If you will not believe, you surely will not be established.”  Gill Exposition “If ye will not believe; the Targum adds, ‘the words of the prophet’, surely ye shall not be established, that is, in their own land.”  If the Jews don’t believe the prophecies, including the destruction of brother Israel, then the Jews too won’t remain as a kingdom!  v.17-25 Sennacherib subsequently invaded Judah and Deportation #3 occurred.

Then in 597 BC, King Nebuchadnézzar II began his exiling of Jews to Babylon.  In 587-586 BC, he destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.  The southern kingdom of Judah ceased as a nation (2Ch.36:20, 2Ki.24:14-15, e.g.).  God’s word through Isaiah was fulfilled!

Previously we read Je.7:15b, where Jeremiah wrote to Judah.  To now quote the entire Je.7:15. “I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers of Ephraim”.  Christ the Lord said He would cast out disobedient Judah, as He had disobedient Israel.  That happened, as He said.  (For events of the next period, see the topic “Temple of Zerubbabel”.)

And our belief that Christ loves us and died for our sins doesn’t give us Christians a get out of jail free card if we were to continue to disobey God and adamantly refuse to repent!  Jesus said in Lk.6:46, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, and do not the things that I say?”  Christ requires the obedience of those who are His.

We began with God’s conditions & warnings to His people in De.28.  Let’s conclude with De.30.  v.1-2 “When all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, and you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart, then the Lord will restore you from captivity and have compassion on you.”

Yes, Christ is more than able to re-graft Israel (Ro.11:23), whom He loved!  De.30:6 “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord with all your heart.”  v.9-11 “Then the Lord will prosper you in the work of your hand and rejoice over you; if you obey the Lord your God.”  Christ concluded in v.19, “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live.”  (also see the topics “Two Covenants – Heart of the Matter” and “Repentance from Sin”.)

We can learn from the sad lesson of ancient Israel’s history…and can choose a life of obedience to the Christ who died for us!  Let’s us be among the blessed saints at the end of the Book who “Keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Re.14:12).  We’ll be with Him forever!  Jesus is Lord!