There are several things that changed while the Jews were in Babylon. The written language, and the Talmud, oral Torah, to name a couple.
The written language changed from what’s known as Paleo-Hebrew to today’s modern Hebrew. Here is an example of Paleo-Hebrew in written form. Read right to left is the Name Yahweh.
Paleo
& Modern
Secondly is the Oral Torah or Babylonian Talmud began. I will not go into this in this article but will save it for a future article. Now let’s get back to the 2 Houses of Israel. Let’s look at Ezekiel 37:15-28.
“And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, “And you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it, ‘For Yahudah and for the children of Yisra’el, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Yoseph, the stick of Ephrayim, and for all the house of Yisra’el, his companions.’ “Then bring them together for yourself into one stick, and they shall become one in your hand. “And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Won’t you show us what you mean by these?’ say to them, ‘Thus said the Master Yahweh, “See, I am taking the stick of Yoseph, which is in the hand of Ephrayim, and the tribes of Yisra’el, his companions. And I shall give them unto him, with the stick of Yahudah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in My hand.” ’ “And the sticks on which you write shall be in your hand before their eyes. “And speak to them, ‘Thus said the Master Yahweh, “See, I am taking the children of Yisra’el from among the gentiles, wherever they have gone, and shall gather them from all around, and I shall bring them into their land. “And I shall make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Yisra’el. And one sovereign shall be sovereign over them all, and let them no longer be two nations, and let them no longer be divided into two reigns. “And they shall no longer defile themselves with their idols, nor with their disgusting matters, nor with any of their transgressions. And I shall save them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and I shall cleanse them. And they shall be My people, and I be their Elohim, while David My servant is sovereign over them. And they shall all have one Shepherd and walk in My right-rulings and guard My laws, and shall do them. “And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Ya’aqob My servant, where your fathers dwelt. And they shall dwell in it, they and their children and their children’s children, forever, and My servant David be their Prince forever. “And I shall make a covenant of peace with them – an everlasting covenant it is with them. And I shall place them and increase them, and shall place My set-apart place in their midst, forever. “And My Dwelling Place shall be over them. And I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be My people. “And the gentiles shall know that I, Yahweh, am setting Yisra’el apart, when My set-apart place is in their midst – forever.” ’ ”
Are you understanding that this is a prophecy that has not yet happened? The 2 Houses of Israel have not yet come together nor has the Messiah Yahshua come to rule over them as King. Yahweh’s covenant and His promise is to the descendants of Abraham. His plan from the beginning, His promise, is to multiply Abraham’s seed and give them the Land Grant. That’s what all the fighting is about in the Middle East. The Arabs are also descendants of Abraham through Ishmael but they are not the children of promise. They have surely multiplied but they are not promised the land! There are churches today who also claim that the promise has been taken from the “Jews” and that the covenant is now made with them. This is called “Replacement Theology”. This is not what Scripture states. Ezekiel is only one prophet who talks about the regathering of the 2 Houses. Read Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Obadiah, Amos, etc. Yahweh is not a man that He would break His promises. And we praise Him for that!
The Land Grant pictured below is much larger than the current Land of Israel. Israel has never yet possessed this portion of land, but the promise to Abraham is, that they will! Ouch! Now you know why the Arabs hate Israel. This portion of land goes into Iraq, part of Egypt, Jordan,
Lebanon, Syria, etc!So even though the current Israeli government is giving away portions of land today to the Arabs, when Yahshua re-gathers the Tribes, the promised land will be given to the whole House of Israel and Yahshua will be King! No man will be able to stop this!
Back to the House of Israel. After the Assyrian Empire declined, they began to migrate further away from Assyrian lands. The largest portion of the Israelite refugees moved north toward the European areas to eventually settle. In the nations, they would accept Gentile cultures and adopt heathen religions. They would so thoroughly assimilate that they would become like Gentiles, thus they became "invisible" in the world and were believed to be "lost." They would look like Gentiles, act like Gentiles, eat pork and break the Sabbath like Gentiles, but are in fact nothing more than the lost physical sheep of the house of Israel who became as Gentiles. They continued to move from lands to lands to eventually migrate throughout all the world (Hosea 9:17). They would lose their identity as Israelites, and their conscience would be seared (Hosea 7:8, 8:8). The Israelites would not return to their land in Israel as the House of Israel, or the ten tribes, until their hearts returned to Yahweh (Deuteronomy 4:29- 31), and the prophecies of restoration would be fulfilled Ezekiel 37:21-22; Hosea 2:22-23). The House of Israel will be reunited with the House of Judah under one leader, Yahshua HaMashiach (Jeremiah 3:18; Ezekiel 37:15-28; Hosea 1:11). They will come up out of the land in the Day of Jezreel. The word Jezreel means “to re-gather”. The Israelites along with the Jews will be taken from the four corners of the earth to be re-gathered in Eretz Israel in the near future (Isaiah 11:12).
Now let’s look at when Yahshua came to walk among men. When Yahshua comes He is born a Jew, from the line of David. He is living among other Jews. But who does He state He came for? Matt 15:24 "And He answering, said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the House of Yisra’el."
This is who Yahshua came for. WHAT?? Now ponder this for a moment, if you know the laws of divorce according to Scripture you will see that the woman who is divorced cannot remarry unless the husband dies. There is more to it than this but let’s get the picture. When he dies, she is free to remarry. Remember Yahweh divorced the House of Israel. The only way for the House of Israel to be remarried, is for Him to die. What did Yahshua come to do? He came for the lost sheep of the House of Israel to die so that she can become the bride of Yahweh! Yahshua becomes our sacrifice for our sins, He is our Passover Lamb, He is our Redeemer, He is our Savior, but not only from our sins but in order to reconcile us back to Yahweh!
These are the ones who have been "lost" not only physically because they no longer know who they are but "lost" because they have lost the commandments of Yahweh. They have embraced every pagan way and religion and have lost what Yahweh set up for them to follow. They broke the marriage covenant and now must remarry the Bridegroom and come back to the marriage vows they took long ago.
What does Yahshua tell his followers to do? Matt 10:6 …”but rather go to the lost sheep of the House of Yisra’el.” Luke 15:4-6 “What man among you, having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? “And having found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. “And having come home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’
So if Yahshua calls the House of Israel the “lost sheep” who is He telling Peter to feed? John 21:15-17 …“Yahshua said to Shimon Kepha, “Shimon, son of Yonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yea, Master, You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” He said to him again, the second time, “Shimon, son of Yonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yea, Master, You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Shimon, son of Yonah, do you love Me?” Kepha was sad because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Master, You know all, You know that I love You.” Yahshua said to him, “Feed My sheep.”
I’ll continue next month with more about the 2 Houses of Israel! However before I end this article, I need to tell you all as my family, that there are prophetic events that are now in play that may be ushering in the time of the re-gathering of the 2 Houses and Yahshua’s return. Currently world leaders are meeting to announce the creation of a PLO state. This would mean a division of the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem. When this happens, the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zachariah, etc. talk about the day of Yahweh beginning. This could very well be the covenant of death described and the beginning of what we call the Tribulation. We will have to watch and see how these events play out and how it fits with prophecy. Regardless, we must daily examine our hearts and pray for Yahshua’s return! Blessings.
