On the death of Solomon the country and Tribes finally separated into two Houses, kingdoms, and governments. Nine Tribes went with Jeroboam, and three with Rehoboam—namely, Judah, Levi, and Benjamin. The nine-tribed House was called Israel, the three-tribed House Judah. This separation was about 975 b.c. (1 Kings xii.). From that day to this these two Houses have never been united; but they are to be, as scores of statements to that effect are in the good Book (Hosea i. 11). About 580 b.c. the House of Judah was taken captive into Babylon, remaining 70 years, then they returned to their own land and remained till the year of our Lord 70, when Jerusalem was destroyed and they were scattered.
Prophecies referring to the Jews are numerous and in striking contrast to those that refer to Israel. 1. The Jews were to be a scattered people. 2. A specially persecuted people. 3. To be without a nationality. 4. To be without government. 5. Not to be owners of landed property, though they will have money, until toward the latter days. 6. They were to be a proverb. 7. They were to be few in number. 8. They are to retain a special type of features. 9. They were to be repeatedly robbed. 10. They were to reject Christ. 11. To retain the Mosaic service till returned to their own land. 12. They are to keep their name, and many such distinctions, none of which should be applied to Israel. All these things have been and are fulfilled, or fulfilling, and though men are wonderfully given to spiritualising, few, if any, venture to spiritualise Judah’s curses. Men and ministers calling themselves Gentiles, are rude enough to spiritualise the blessings of Judah, and stealing them, apply them to themselves.
ISRAEL.
1. A name given to Jacob after wrestling with the Angel. 2. A term applied sometimes to all the descendants of Jacob. 3. In a spiritual sense, those who believe in Christ. 4. A name that covered and included the nine Tribes which went with Jeroboam and formed the kingdom of Israel. They remained a distinct kingdom, and till now a nationality. From 975 to 725 b.c. they had some 19 kings. They were finally carried captive into Assyria by Shalmanezer (2 Kings xvii.). From that captivity they have never returned; as a body they never can, only representatives, as stated in Jer. iii. 14, “One of a city, and two of a family.”
Now prophecy points out that it was Israel that was to be lost for a while, and come to light in the latter day. They are known in the Scriptures in contradistinction from others by such terms as the following: “All Israel,” “All the House of Israel wholly,” “The House of Israel,” “Men of Israel,” and God calls them His “Servants, Witnesses, Chosen People, Inheritance, and Seed.” The lot, course, and providential portion of this people are very marked from any other, especially from the Jew, with whom they are so often confounded. The history of the two peoples have been wide apart and as different as they well could be.
1. They were to be lost. 2. They were to be divorced from the Mosaic law. 3. They were to lose their name. 4. They were to lose their language. 5. They were to possess the isles of the sea, coasts of the earth, waste and desolate places, to inherit the portion of the Gentiles, their seed, land, and cities. 6. They are to be great and successful colonisers. 7. Before them other people are to die out. 8. They are to be a head nation. 9. To be a company of nations. 10. To be great in war on land or sea. 11. To be lenders of money. 12. To have a monarchy. 13. To be keepers of the Sabbath. 14. To have David’s throne and seed ruling over them. 15. They are to possess Palestine, and invite their brethren of Judah to return. And thus I might repeat some sixty positive marks and distinctions setting forth Israel; and yet men wilfully persist in confounding them with the Jews, or looking for this great and favoured people of the Lord among the lowest of human kind, Indians, Africans, and so on.
SAMARITANS.
The Samaritans were not Jews or Israelites, strictly speaking. They of course became Jewish in their customs and worship. Originally they were Assyrians. When the nine Tribes were carried captive, they were brought and put in their place. “And the King of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria, instead of the children of Israel” (2 Kings xvii. 24). The Jews and the Samaritans never wholly mixed; one was always distasteful to the other. They never were taken captive, and to this day they live in and about Mount Scychar, numbering between three and four hundreds.
BENJAMIN.
The Tribe of Benjamin has a singular and special place in the history of Israel and Judah. Neither the Old or New Testament can be well understood unless one understands the place of this Tribe in Providence. They were always counted one of the Ten Tribes, and reckoned with them in the prophetic visions. They were only loaned to Judah about 800 years. Read 1 Kings xi. They were to be a light for David in Jerusalem. God, foreseeing that the Jews would reject Christ, kept back this one Tribe to be in readiness to receive Him, and so they did. At the destruction of Jerusalem they escaped, and after centuries of wanderings turn up as the proud and haughty Normans. Finally they unite with the other Tribes under William the Conqueror. A proper insight into the work and mission of Benjamin will greatly aid one in interpreting the New Testament. He was set apart as a missionary Tribe, and at once set to work to spread the Gospel of Jesus. Most of the disciples were Benjaminites. Then, after 800 years of fellowship with Judah, they were cut loose and sent after their brethren of the House of Israel. It was needful that the Lion and the Unicorn should unite.
MANASSEH AND EPHRAIM.
The history of these two representative characters is worth your careful study. The whole of the circumstances of Jacob blessing them must be accepted as Divinely directed. Manasseh was to be a great people, and so I believe he is. In the United States I find this promise literally fulfilled. This is the Key to the settlement of this land; to the agitations of the Pilgrims and Puritans in England. The mission, work, and place of the United States may be found in the prophecies relating to this Tribe. Let anyone examine the great seal of the United States, and study its design, and surprise will fill the mind that facts, Providence, and prophecies do so wonderfully agree. Take the obverse side. Here you have an eagle with outstretched wings; the bird is perfect, not double headed and deformed, as in other cases where the eagle has been or is the national bird. The striped escutcheon on its breast, in its beak a scroll, inscribed with a motto, “E pluribus Unum”—one out of many, as Manasseh was, and as the country is building up a grand nationality and oneness out of all nations nearly. Over the head of the eagle there is a glory—the parting of clouds by light; in the opening appear 13 stars, forming a constellation argent, on an azure field. In the dexter or right talon is an olive branch, a symbol of peace; in the sinister or left talon is a bundle of 13 arrows. But it is on the reverse side of the great seal that we have a wonder. Here we have an unfinished Pyramid; a portion of the top is gone, exactly the same as the Great Pyramid in Egypt is at this day—anticipating this very day (Isa. xix. 19): “In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt.” Now it is somewhat singular that the Congress of 1782 should have adopted so remarkable a sign, one that would witness to God and tell of their origin. The