There Are TWO ISRAELS Per God's Word

[NoHype]

This is Bible History, so if one does not know about this it is a simple matter of confirming it as written in God's Word. Very few Churches cover this Bible history about the 2 parts of Israel written in God's Word. It would seem that the seminaries are against covering it because they deem teaching the 'milk' of God's Word is what we should concentrate on. That's all well and good for those souls that haven't yet heard The Gospel. But for those who have, and have believed on Jesus Christ, and been baptized, those of us are to mature in God's Word coming to the "strong meat" of God's Word, and thus becoming teachers (Hebrews 5:12-14).

So this is a "strong meat" teaching, and if you haven't studied your Old Testament history, you likely will not recognize this topic. It may take me several posts to cover it properly, so sorry then if you don't have enough attention span to read your Bible history and understand this matter which helps explain many Bible prophecies after the events of 1 Kings 11.

The Ezekiel 37 Chapter covers a time in the future when Jesus returns, and is about the gathering of the seed of Israel back to the lands in the middle east which God promised their fathers. This has not happened yet, and won't happen until Lord Jesus returns. This Scripture declares that when this does happen, only then will the children of Israel stop being "two nations".

Ezek 37:13-22
13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put My spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

Is there any doubt what time God is declaring the above event? It's about the last day of this present world with the resurrection that will happen with Lord Jesus' future coming.

15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, "For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions": then take another stick, and write upon it, "For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions":

Two sticks:
1. "For Judah..."
2. "For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim..."

What's that about? Why one stick for Judah, and another stick for Joseph and Ephraim? Ephraim was one of Joseph's two sons you know.

17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, "Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?"

19 Say unto them, "Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in Mine hand.

God says He will join the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel. What's that mean?

Per 1 Kings 11, king Solomon, David's son, rebelled against God by allowing his many wives to bring their idol worship in among the children of Israel. So God said He would rend the kingdom of Israel because of it, but would do it in the days of Solomon's son Rehoboam. Then God would give 10 tribes of Israel to Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim, and make Jeroboam "king of Israel" over the 10 northern tribes instead. Thus the original kingdom of Israel under Solomon then became divided into TWO KINGDOMS.


Per the 1 Kings 11 through 2 Kings 17 chapters, old Israel was divided into 2 separate kingdoms each being over a specific number of Israelite tribes, and each with their own capital city and region in the holy lands, and each with a different title:

1. "kingdom of Judah" = the southern kingdom under Solomon's son Rehoboam, of the house of David. This was made up originally at the split with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, located in the southern holy lands, with its capital city of Jerusalem. It would eventually include the tribe of Levi, and some small remnants of the northern ten tribes that refused Jeroboam's calf idol worship in the north. Other names for this kingdom in God's Word after the 1 Kings 11-12 split are: the "house of Judah", or just "Judah", or "Jerusalem".

2. "kingdom of Israel" = the northern ten tribes that lived in the northern portions of the holy land. King Solomon had originally setup Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim as governor over the northern 10 tribes. Ephraim was the larger of the ten tribes. These 10 northern tribes were: Ephraim, Manasseh, Dan, Gad, Issachar, Zebulun, Simeon, Asher, Napthtali, and Reuben. It's capital city was at Samaria in the north. Other names used to represent this separate "kingdom of Israel" from Judah was the "house of Israel", or just "Israel", or "Samaria", or "Ephraim", or "Joseph", or "house of Joseph".

When Scripture is pointing to original Israel as a whole, before the 1 Kings 11 split, it refers to it as the "whole house of Israel", put for all 12 tribes. Or with "Jacob" to represent all 12 tribes, or even just the name "Israel" put for all 12 tribes. But after God split old Israel, those above titles in no.1 and no.2 apply specifically to one 'house' or the other, but not both together. Because many do not study this Bible history in God's Word, they often make the mistake of wrongly applying Bible prophecies to both houses as one, when after the split historically the prophecies are specific to each house, and only apply to all 12 tribes together as one when the Scripture makes that plain (i.e., like "all the house of Israel" or the "whole house of Israel" = all 12 tribes together).

In the Ezekiel 23 prophecy about the two daughters for example, "Aholibah" represents the 3-tribe "house of Judah" kingdom at "Jerusalem". And the daughter "Aholah" represents the 10 northern tribe "house of Israel" at "Samaria".

Ezek 23:4
4 And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were Mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.
KJV

If you didn't know after the 1 Kings 11 split of the old nation of Israel, that "Jerusalem" represents the southern "kingdom of Judah", and that "Samaria" represents the northern 10 tribe "kingdom of Israel", then you would wrongly think all those Ezekiel 23 prophecies was to and about just the one nation Israel.

Ezekiel 37
20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.

21 And say unto them, "Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
KJV

When God will do that is with Christ's future return. Notice He said He will join the 2 sticks back together, and they "shall be no more two nations"!

The further Ezekiel 37 verses make these events emphatic that they are for the future with Christ's future return...

Ezek 37:23-25
23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be My people, and I will be their God.

24 And David My servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them.

25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and My servant David shall be their prince for ever.
KJV

That "one shepherd" of course is about our Lord Jesus Christ.

I recognize that verse 24 passage about David as king put for the 'house of David' that Lord Jesus Christ, our True KING, was born from. And the later verse 25 passage about David as prince forever to mean resurrected David will be a prince under Christ Who is David's KING and LORD also. Anyway, we definitely know those events are still future to us today.

(Continued...)

 

[NoHype]

When you continue to read in 1 Kings, and into 2 Kings, you will find how the two separate kingdoms then began to war against each other, and were often at odds with each other when they weren't fighting each other (1 Kings 14:30).

One of the things Jeroboam, king of Israel over the northern 10 tribes did after the split, was to setup two gold calf idols in false worship, putting one in Bethel, and the other in Dan. Jeroboam (of Ephraim) was afraid that the northern 10 tribes would go south to Jerusalem to worship, and thus join with the "kingdom of Judah". So he made two calf idols in the north for the 10 tribes to worship instead, and he also made common priests of the people. This caused the Levites in the north to leave, and instead go south and join with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (1 Kings 14; 2 Chronicles 11). Then some remnants out of the 10 northern tribes refused Jeroboam's calf idols and instead went south and also joined with Judah.

2 Chron 11:12-17
12 And in every several city he put shields and spears, and made them exceeding strong, having Judah and Benjamin on his side.
13 And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts.
14 For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest's office unto the LORD:
15 And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made.
16 And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the LORD God of their fathers.
17 So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years: for three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon.
KJV

After a while, God's patience with Jeroboam's calf idol worship wore thin, as later kings of the house of Israel allowed the practice to continue in the north among the 10 tribes. Thus by the time of 2 Kings 17, God had brought the kings of Assyria in stages against the northern 10 tribes and Samaria, and took them all captive to Assyria and the lands of the Medes.

In the below Scripture of 2 Kings 17, God is mainly pointing to the northern 10 tribe "kingdom of Israel"...

2 Kings 17:5-18
5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

Once again, "Samaria" is put for the capital city of the 10 northern tribe "kingdom of Israel", or "house of Israel", under Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim. This is who God is pointing this to.

7 For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
8 And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

The "children of Israel" here is put for the northern 10 tribes which God brought the kings of Assyria upon and removed them from the holy land. Judah's captivity to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar would come around 120 years after this. Thus the "kingdom of Judah" was not taken captive by the kings of Assyria; this captivity is about the 10 northern tribes only.

9 And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
10 And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:
11 And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:
12 For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, "Ye shall not do this thing."

13 Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, "Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets."

"Judah" is included above because the "kingdom of Judah" would also fall into those things later, and God would bring Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, upon the southern "kingdom of Judah", and take them captive to Babylon. But that event did not yet happen to Judah at this point.

14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.
15 And they rejected His statutes, and His covenant that he made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.
16 And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

The "two calves" were made by Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim in the northern holy lands, whom God made king over the 10 northern tribes.

17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.

Both kingdoms were guilty of pagan sacrifices of their children through the fire.

18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of His sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
KJV

That "Israel" is put for the northern 10 tribe "kingdom of Israel". The kings of Assyria removed all of the northern 10 tribes captive out of the land instead to Assyria and the lands of the Medes. Only the 3-tribe "kingdom of Judah" remained in the holy land at that time. Judah was still faithful to The LORD for a while, and then they too would fall away like the ten northern tribes did.

Once again, if you had not yet recognized God's split of the original nation of Israel back at 1 Kings 11-12, into 2 separate kingdoms, then you likely would not have properly understood these 2 Kings 17 events, and wrongly think that the "kingdom of Judah" also went captive to Assyria when they did not.