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Acts 1:6
Adon, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Through an undesired twist of fate, the patriarch Jacob found himself married to two sisters, Leah and Rachel, thus creating two main factions within Israel. Jacob favored Rachel and gave her firstborn Joseph the mantle of leadership over his whole household. The other brothers, the children of Leah, rejected Joseph’s authority and position. Reuben was in fact the firstborn of Jacob through Leah, but his actions cause him to lose the right of first-born. The same happened to the next ones in line: Simeon and Levy. Leadership of Israel then fell on Judah, Jacob’s fourth born. Israel’s History is punctuated by the rivalry between the House of Joseph and the House of Judah. Prophets have expressed the World to Come as the time when the two Houses born from Israel are finally united in peace. Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. When Moses died, leadership of the newborn nation of Israel was given to the House of Joseph through Joshua the Ephraimite. Until the reign of Saul the Benjamite, leadership in Israel fell on Judges who were mostly from either the tribes of Ephraim or Manasseh, the House of Joseph. It is King David from Judah who united the tribes under one rule and started the Davidic dynasty that was to fulfill Jacob’s prophecy and usher in the Messiah (Genesis 49:8-12). At the end of the Solomonic reign, the country was again divided into two camps: the Ephraim and the Judah camps. Most of the tribes from the House of Leah joined with Ephraim and Judah was left alone with Benjamin. Ephraim became the Northern Kingdom, and Judah the Southern Kingdom, with Benjamin stuck in between the two. Eventually the Assyrian conquered and deported the Northern Kingdom and Nebuchadnezzar deported the Judeans to Babylon. At the end of the Babylonian exile, King Cyrus issued the order for all the captives of Israel from either North or South to be allowed to return to the Land. In his prophecies of the ‘two sticks’, the prophet Ezekiel speaks to us of the Messianic Age, the time when the two houses of Israel are again united under the Judean Davidic leadership (Ezekiel 34-37). This comes in fulfillment of the Psalms which tell us: He (Hashem) rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves (Psalms 78:67-68). Ezekiel’s prophecy of the two sticks united (Ezekiel 37) is actually an echo of the reunification of the two houses foreshadowed by Joseph when he embraces his brothers lead by Judah as he reveals himself to them (Genesis 45). The reunification of the two houses is and has always been one of the main signs of the Messianic Age and of the coming of Messiah. Before Yeshua ascended to the Father, His disciples asked Him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6)?" Which meant, “Will You at this time restore the twelve tribes as a sovereign nation? To which He answered, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority (Acts 1:7-8)." May it happen soon Abba, even in our days!
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Revelations 7:4
And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 14:1, 4: Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb. After the Ba'al Pe'or incident, five sisters come to Moses with an inheritance question Numbers 25-27). These events required the presence of hands-on leadership, so when God informs Moses that he will soon be gathered with his people, he anticipates the need for a new leader over Israel (Numbers 27:16-17). God's people are often compared to sheep or children. Sheep do not survive very well without the help of a shepherd. They do not know where the green pastures and the still waters are (Psalms 23). Also, not being equipped with a defense system, they need protection from predators. Children also are vulnerable and easily led astray, sometimes by others, but most often by their own inclinations. Time and again Moses saw that just having the commandments was not enough. A strong and faithful leader was always needed to embody these commandments and lead the people to them, without it, they are scattered each one towards their own ways (Judges 17:6). Our present leader-less day marked with divided theologies and many raising themselves as a self-appointed prophets or leaders, very much proves the point. From the times the original disciples of the Master died, the Congregation of Messiah has been plagued with teachers of all kinds teaching all sorts of things mostly through ignorance, but also through anti-Semitic rejection of the original teachings of the sages of classic Judaism, which following the sample of the Master, the disciples often referred to. We today are also in dire need of the 'appointed' leader over God's people. As we pray with Moses for the appointed leader over the congregation (Numbers 27:16-17), we pray for the return of Messiah. It is interesting that Joshua and Yeshua are the same name, the Master's name simply being a shorter Aramaic version. With the appointment of Joshua a military census was taken, and the children of Israel were reminded of their responsibilities towards the appointed festivals (Numbers 28-29). This census counts the fighting force of the congregation of Joshua. In the same manner, we see today a worldwide phenomenon of the followers of Yeshua being reminded of their responsibilities towards the Biblical festivals, and as the Master returns, a census of the tribes is also taken (Revelations 7:4-8). This census is of the Israelites believers who, as the ancient tribes followed Joshua over the Jordan on to the Promised Land, will follow Yeshua into the World to Come of the Kingdom of God on earth. These are the firstfruit, the 'omer' dedicated to God and representing the rest of the harvest of the world (Leviticus 23:10; Revelations 14:4). It is redemption by representation. It is no wonder that throughout generations the devil has tried to get rid of the Israelites: believers from the tribes are the 'omer' representation to be brought before Yeshua the High-Priest to represent the harvest of the world! |
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