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Long, long ago, in a land not so far away, Isaac the son of Abraham, married Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian. When she conceived the children struggled together within her causing her to question ‘Why am I thus’, When she enquired of The Lord, He told her:

Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of peoples shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. [Gen 25:23]

The two children were named Esau and Jacob concerning whom The Lord promised Isaac:

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God hated Esau, but Isaac loved him. Rebekah loved Jacob. When Isaac was old and about to die, Rebekah, by devious means persuaded Isaac to give Esau’s inheritance, as the elder son, to Jacob the younger:

Because Isaac was blind, Jacob deceived him when he told him I am Esau your firstborn…..and Isaac said Are you my very son Esau? And Jacob said I am…..Therefore Isaac blessed Jacob in the belief that he was blessing Esau:

God give you of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve you and nations bow down to you: be lord over your bretheren and let thy mother’s sons bow down to you: cursed be every one that curses you, and blessed be he that blesses you. [Gen 27:28]

Consequently Esau hated Jacob his brother and said in his heart: I will slay my brother Jacob. From that time in 2000bc, the descendents of Esau have sought to eliminate those of Jacob. Their constant animosity and judgement has been recorded by the prophet Obadiah.

Following Jacob’s first marriage to Leah, the Lord blessed Leah with six sons. Jacob also married Rachel, Leah’s sister. She was barren so she gave her maid Bilhah, to Jacob who bore him two sons. Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob two sons. Later, God opened the womb of Rachel who then bore him two son. Leah also bore Dinah their sister.

Jacob prevailed when wrestling with The Angel of The Lord who therefore renamed him Israel. The angel could only overcome Jacob by shrinking the sinew of his thigh. Thus Jacob and his descendents are known as The House of Israel or The Israelites.

Israel’s son Joseph was exiled to Egypt where he gained the total trust of Pharaoh who established him as governor. In anticipation of a seven year famine, Joseph organised the storage of corn over the previous seven years of abundance

During the famine, In order to sustain their lives, Israel and his sons with their families and flocks entered Egypt and were given the land of Goshen in which to dwell. Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh who replaced Joseph as members of the House of Israel.

During the following 400years the tribes of Israel became a mighty people whom the Egyptians feared, treating them as slaves. God heard their cry for help and arranged to protect them and lead them out of Egypt to a land of His choice.

For 40 years they wandered in the wilderness of Paran after first refusing to enter Canaan, the land of God’s promise. Under God’s protection they built a Tabernacle for him where He faced their leader, Moses, giving them a law by which to live. The tribe of Levi were given priestly status and separated to guide the Israelites by: ‘Thus Saith The Lord’ Eventually, the tribes of Israel crossed the Jordan river into The Land under the leadership of Joshua and Caleb. God commanded them to eliminate all its idolatrous Nephilim. They failed to do this completely and dwelt in the land amongst the residue of its previous occupants. When they first planted seed in 1444bc their forty-nine year cycle of Jubilees began. The thirteen tribes of Israel entered their lots throughout the land of Canaan as shown on the accompanying map.

During this time God raised up leaders as their Judges, Ehud, Samson, Deborah and many others, but although chosen of God, they were a rebellious people. Eventually, during the priestly office of Samuel, they asked God to provide them with a king. Thus, In 1052bc the impressive man Saul was anointed. For various reasons he failed not only God but the people, causing God to instruct Samuel to seek a successor in the family of Jesse a Judahite.

David, Jesse’s youngest son was secretly anointed before Saul’s reign ended after 40 years. Until his death, David subsequently reigned for 40 years after which his son Solomon was anointed king over Israel. When he ascended the throne he asked God for wisdom to rule His people but he married many women from the local tribes who turned his heart from The God of David. Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem which replaced the Tabernacle.

When Solomon died after his 40 year reign, Rehoboam his son took the bad advice of his peers to increase the nation’s taxes. A confrontation arose therefore between the ten northern tribes led by Jeroboam the Ephraimite and the two southern tribes led by the legitimate king Rehoboam, the Judahite.

This division was activated in 931bc by God Himself. It resulted in splitting the whole of Israel into two nations. The northern ten tribes were named The House of Israel, The Israelites. The southern two tribes were named The House of Judah, the Judahites. There was war between the two nations all the days of Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

Because the tribe of Ephraim had led the rebellion, the ten northern tribes are sometimes called The House of Ephraim. However, henceforth until God again joins the two nations together, whenever the name Israel is spoken by God it refers only to the ten tribe northern nation of Israel. The two tribe southern nation, Benjamin and Judah are henceforth named by God as the Judahites or Jews.

From this time onwards, God’s record separates the two nations. When the purpose of God’s division is completed in 2029ad, the resurrected King David, their Prince will rule over the resurrected and reunited Whole Tribe of Israel.

Following this division of Jacob’s descendents into two nations, God’s history tells us that during the following 343years both nations had faithful

faithful prophets, Elijah the Israelite and Isaiah the Judahite. Some kings, such as Asa, Jehoash and Josiah the Judahites, and Obadiah and Hezekiah the Israelites were also faithful.. But because both nations were rebellious peoples, God’s judgement and chastisement was applied to teach them to turn their hearts and minds to worship and respect their true God and Protector.

This being God’s purpose according to His Word, the two nations, the Judahites and the Israelites, have distinctly separate histories:

Following the rebellion in 931bc, these ten northern tribes under the leadership of Ephraim set up their own altar in Bethel against the House of David, the Judahites, disobeying the law of Israel. They made golden calves to worship as their god.

As a people they continued to rebel against the God of David until in 774bc God, in His anger, caused the prophet Hosea to demonstrate and announce that God ‘would cause to cease the kingdom of the House of Israel’ and that they would no longer be His people, nor He be their God.

Consequently. in 720bc, the king of Assyria besieged Samaria and carried the ten tribes of Israel away out of their own land to Halah by the river Gozan in Assyria. Many years later the Israelite exiles left Assyria but only a small remnant returned to their original home in the northern area of Canaan. They were scattered abroad amongst the nations [2Chro 18:16], .

To this day in the beginning of the 21st century AD the people of the tribes of Israel cannot be identified.

The Judahite nation, the tribes of the House of Judah and Benjamin, dwelt in the south of Canaan with Jerusalem as their capital. Although they continued as a rebellious people they remained the chosen of God.

God’s servant Nebuchadrezzar invaded the land of Judah, taking them all captive to Babylon where they remained for a number of years until the new king Artaxerxes, activated the the decree of a previous king Cyrus

permitting the Judahite exiles to return to Judea. Their leader Nehemiah with Ezra the priest, gained the full support of Artaxerxes. They travelled to Jerusalem where Nehemiah surveyed the structure of the walls and with the support of the Judahite remnant, rebuilt, restored and repopulated Jerusalem. During the years that followed, many of the Judahite exiles in Babylon returned to re-occupy Judea.

God had given Esau, Jacob’s brother, all the land surrounding Mount Seir to the south of Canaan. The tribe of Esau is the Edomites who remained antagonistic, continually opposing Jacob’s descendents, believing that they were the legitimate beneficiaries of their fathers’ Abram and Isaac’s inheritance. Over the years, they infiltrated the land of Judah gaining authority over the Judahites. During the time of Messiah’s ministry under the Roman government, their king Herod, the ruling Sanhedrian and many people were Edomites, the sons of Esau. These Edomites called themselves Jews.

The Judahite nation did not learn from their experience as exiles in Babylon, continuing to be a rebellious people. After a further 400years, when their prophesied Messiah, Jesus appeared, most of them refused to accept Him as their king, denying His kingdom. Although He authorised apostles to carry this good news throughout Judea, after His atoning death only a small number were called out of Him, groups of them becoming known as ‘churches’. enjoying the Justification and Salvation which, through obedience, The Messiah suffered as The Lamb of God.

One special apostle, Paul, was given the responsibility to travel throughout the world telling all who would listen, but particularly Greek Speaking Israelites, that a new kingdom in Israel was being prepared by their Messiah and would shortly be activated following resurrections and the establishment of king David upon its throne.

However: In 62ad, in the capital of the Roman world, Paul spoke to the exiled Judahites concerning The Hope of Israel. but many of them still refused to accept their true king and His kingdom. Before dismissing them, Paul told them that God would remove from the Judahites, as a nation, any Spiritual ability to perceive or discern this Truth. They had been the source of Salvation for all mankind, but this responsibility would now pass to the distribution of the written word of God’s Salvation, prepared by the apostle John. Their Spiritual blindness will remain until they are again given understanding by God [Isaiah 35:4-5]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------THE SITUATION EARLY IN THE 21st CENTURY

The Israelites The Ten Tribes scattered and lost amongst the nations in 720bc, where their generation remains at this time having been told by God that they are not His People, neither is He their God. In the near future, God intends to resurrect them all and gather them in the wilderness before re-entering The Land of Canaan. There He will tell them that they are again His People and He is their God

They should not be confused with the present occupants of Canaan calling themselves Israelis. True Israelites cannot identify themselves. It is known that the present occupants of Canaan are mainly Gentile converts, Ashkenazi Jews, some Judahites and many Edomites. Because of God’s silence during this present Administration of His Grace, there are no Israelites fulfilling any prophecy of God. The result of the Geneva convention of 1948ad was not an act of God.

The Judahites Following their provocation of the Roman government in 69ad, Jerusalem and its Temple were almost completely destroyed, some stones remained upon others. The population fled and was dispersed in the rest of the Roman empire. However, as a tribe they have maintained their identity living in groups or ghettos and worshipping Jehovah in synagogues. To-day, the majority of Judahites remain dispersed throughout the world. They also await resurrection before being gathered with the resurrected Israelites and entering their land to initiate the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Nations. The seventy peoples and tribes excluding those chosen of God, i.e. The children of Righteousness and The Elect of The World. They worship themselves, mankind, demons, angels, animals, inanimate objects or any god with any other name Satanically authorised by false prophets.

Christians. They are identified by acknowledging that The Lord Jesus Christ is both the manifestation of their God, their Saviour and Restorer. Being empowered by God’s Spirit unto resurrection, in the assurance of The God Authorised Record of their Scriptures, they understand their relationship to God as His sons, carrying His authority and purposes throughout His creation.

They should not be confused by many gentiles who claim the title of Christian, but deny The deity of The Lord Jesus Christ. Although claiming otherwise, these are without the power of God and without understanding.