Israel: Where's Joseph? (New Book)

It was God that created the nation of Israel. He is the same God that divided the Red Sea, parted the Jordan River, smashed the walls of Jericho, and plagued the mightiest nation on the face of the earth—the Egyptians—because Pharaoh would not set God’s people, the children of Israel, free. How is it, then, that this same apple in God’s eye as a nation that God has established—and recreated in 1948 according to the prophetic Scriptures—can seek to establish its own peace and security in these troubled times without returning to these same holy writings to determine whether God has provided the answers for Israel 2,500 years before she had the problem?

This book is written entirely from Old Testament Scriptures, which have been validated as being accurate by the Dead Sea Scrolls[1]. The book simply traces the promises that God made to Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Joseph and Hagar; and then establishes from the writings of other Hebrew prophets which prophesies have been fulfilled, where can we find their fulfillment in the earth today, and what is lacking to be fulfilled—for the sole purpose of making a determination of where the Israel of today is on God’s prophetic clock.

What we will establish totally from the writings of Moses and the other Hebrew[2] prophets is that God has promised Israel a season of great material prosperity and peace for the days in which we now live, if she only meets one condition. But, in order to reach this season of abundance, the tribe of Judah must come to the realization—however reluctantly—that all of the promises that God has made to Israel He will honor and faithfully execute; but that each of these promises have been given to a Hebrew nation, and not to one that is exclusively Jewish.

One of the critical points of this book is that Abraham was a Hebrew[3], and not a Jew; and that all of the seed of Abraham through Isaac are Hebrews—every one of which is a full heir to all of the provisions and promises of the Abrahamic Covenant, including the right to possess the land of Canaan. But, only a relatively few of the Hebrew natural seed of Abraham are the Jewish heirs of these promises; and who presently and rightfully occupy the land of Israel.

The first Bible reference to a “Hebrew” is used of Abram in Genesis 14:13…”Abram the Hebrew”.

God changes Abram’s name to Abraham (Genesis 17:5); and His covenants of promise are to flow through Abraham’s son of promise, Isaac; and Isaac’s son, Jacob: whose name God also changes to Israel (Genesis 32:28). Israel had 12 sons: who became the 12 tribes of Israel.

One of Israel’s sons, Joseph, is described as being a Hebrew (Genesis 39:14, 17 and 41:19); and his brothers are referred to as Hebrews (Genesis 43:32). The midwives of the house of Jacob[4] (or children of Israel[5]) while in Egyptian bondage are called Hebrews (Exodus 1:15 and 17); as are the Israelite women giving birth also described as Hebrews by Moses’ sister, Miriam (Exodus 1:19). She calls these new mothers “Hebrews”, although Moses was of the tribe of Levi (Genesis 2:1-7).

When Moses was grown, he became grieved to the point of murder when he saw an Egyptian attacking one of his Hebrew brethren (Exodus 2:11 and 12). Forty years later after God had delivered the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage, Moses gave the people commandments from God concerning the purchase of a Hebrew slave (Exodus 21:2); which Moses reiterated after 40 years in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 15:12) … and which commandment Jeremiah also confirmed during the times of a divided kingdom (Jeremiah 34:9 and 14).

Joseph refers to himself as a Hebrew from the “land of the Hebrews”[6] (Genesis 40:15). Moses gave repeated testimony of his relationship to the Lord God of the Hebrews (Exodus 3:18; 5:3; 7:16; 9:1 and 10:3); and Jonah also referred to himself as a Hebrew (Jonah 1:9).

The point of all of this is that the covenant and promises that God gave Abraham must be fulfilled in a Hebrew nation, and not one that is solely Jewish. I give deference and honor to the Jews of the earth for their struggles and sufferings over the centuries and in many lands, as well as to the nation of Israel … and I lift up to God the destinies of each—but I submit that no one can fairly and honestly trace the Abrahamic Covenant, and the natural seed to which is applies, without realizing that—all Jews are Hebrews, but not all Hebrews are Jews.

This is not an anti-Israel or anti-Jewish book. On the contrary, it is both pro-Israel and pro-Jewish in my love for the Jewish people. But, as a Christian, one thing that I have learned about the God of Israel, Jehovah, and about His Jewish Son, Jesus (Yeshua ben Yosef / Yeshua ben David), is that no person or nation can receive anything that is not first given by God—“A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven”[7]—and if an individual or nation is able to achieve or secure by natural means or on their [its] own initiative what God has not given or promised, then this self-generated ‘blessing’ comes with multiplied grief and sorrows.

There is a season of great material prosperity and peace that is now within grasp of Israel and its people.

But, this prosperity and peace (as well as solution to the Palestinian issues that have plagued Israel since 1948) is not in the recognition of Israel as an “all-Jewish state”: by the Arabs or the world—for Jehovah has nowhere promised an all-Jewish state to the tribe of Judah.

Prophetically, then, by the authority of the Hebrew Bible, the prerequisite for entering this season of abundance is for Israel and its Jewish people to return to the destiny that God has foreordained for this time—which is that the “stick of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows” to be joined with the “stick of Judah”, as “one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel” (Ezekiel 37:15-22).

But, here is a clue and the rub—Joseph and Ephraim were not, are not, and will never be Jewish in their ethnic stock; but are unto this day the son and grandson of Jacob, the Hebrew (who also had a son named Judah); and who are full blooded heirs to the Covenant that God made with Abraham. Joseph, over the years, has become a company of nations in the middle of the earth: whose people are as the dust of the earth, stars of heaven, and sand of the sea.

What we will find in painstaking, minute detail in the pages that follow, which are written exclusively from Hebrew Old Testament Scriptures, is both a revelation and an understanding that Moses and the other Hebrew prophets have clearly revealed that:

n Abraham was Hebrew and not Jewish; as were Isaac, Jacob (who God named Israel), Joseph and Moses.

n All of the descendants of the twelve tribes of Israel [Jacob] are Hebrews, according to the promises of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

n The natural seed of Abraham through Isaac have been given a perpetual right to possess the land of Canaan; and all of the descendants of each of the 12 tribes of Israel have the same right to possess the land … wherever they are.

n The natural seed of Abraham through Isaac has already blessed all of the families of the earth.

n Both the birthright and the blessing of Abraham were given by Jehovah to Joseph, and not Judah.

n The greater manifestation of Joseph’s birthright and blessing is to be found in the descendants of Ephraim, and secondarily Manasseh.

n Ephraim and Manasseh—unto this day—are also to be known as sons of Abraham and Isaac: heirs to the Abrahamic Covenant.

n Ephraim has become a strong company of nations in the middle of the earth; as well as numberless multitude of people who are as the dust of the earth, stars of heaven, and sand of the sea.

n Ephraim has pushed the people—the children of Israel carrying the blessing of Joseph—to the ends of the earth: and has done so without knowing his true identity.

n Ephraim (and possibly Manasseh) shall possess, or have possessed, the gate of his [or their] enemies.

n There is gargantuan blessing in the area of land that is the “top of the head” or crown[9] of the parcel of land given to the tribe of Ephraim [which lies in the area designated for a proposed Palestinian state].

n Ephraim and Manasseh have lost their identity as Hebrews; but in the latter years each will come alive to their lineage and claim their inheritance in Israel.

n It is time on God’s prophetic calendar to allow the Creator to re-join the stick of Joseph with the stick of Judah; and to combine these two sticks into one nation upon the mountains of Israel: in fulfillment of the prophecy of Ezekiel 37.

n In order to align Israel with the center of God’s revealed will, it is the prophetic season and time for the Jewish leadership, people of Israel, and Jews across the world to recognize that as a Hebrew nation, God is requiring that all of the descendants of the 12 tribes of Jacob be encouraged to return to the land in fulfillment of Ezekiel 37.

n Such an invitation to return requires both the leadership and people of Israel, as well as Jews around the world, to invest the time, energy, and resources to locate Ephraim (and Manasseh)—who vastly outnumber the entire population of Israel [as well as all of the Arab nations put together]—and invite their brethren back into the land, as is repeatedly prophesied in the Scriptures written by Hebrew prophets of God.

n To return the nation to the revealed will of God by the pen of these Hebrew prophets is no threat to the viability of Israel as a Hebrew nation, for the scepter—the right to rule—was not given to Joseph or to his descendants, but is to remain with Judah until Shiloh (Messiah) comes; and that

n The fulfillment of Ezekiel 37—the joining of Joseph through Ephraim with Judah back into one nation—appears to be the last prerequisite to the building of the third temple … as, I submit, God will not allow Herod’s temple of a Jewish nation to be reconstructed, but only Solomon’s temple of a unified Hebrew nation to be resurrected on the Temple Mount: where Abraham offered Isaac; and David purchased from Araunah the Jebusite[10].

[1] All of the books of the Old Testament have been found and validated as almost identical to the Hebrew texts we have today:except for the Book of Ester.

[2] We do not know the tribes of all of the prophets, but Moses, Ezra, Nathan, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and maybe Zechariah were priests of the tribe of Levy; David and Solomon were of Judah; Joshua and Samuel were of Ephraim; Hosea is reported to be from either Ruben or Issachar; and Nahum came from the area of Iraq.

[3] Hebrew, from eber, meaning across or from the opposite side. Every reference to a Hebrew in the Bible is a reference to a nation whose roots are from the other side of the Euphrates River.

[4] The “house of Jacob” in the Bible is always a reference to the 12 tribes of Jacob, who God named “Israel”.

[5] The term “children of Israel” is: (1) sometimes a reference to the 12 tribes of Jacob (the whole house of Israel); (2) sometimes to the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel after the reign of David and Solomon; and (3) sometimes represents the “house of Judah” (the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, together with a representative sample of the other 10 tribes who stayed with Judah after the kingdom was divided)—and even after the relatively small number of Israelites (mainly Jews) returned to the land after 70 years of Babylonian captivity, under the rebuilding programs of Ezra and Nehemiah.

The best method that I have found to determine which group is referenced by the terms “children of Israel”, or “all Israel” is to gain an understanding of the passage under consideration—at the time it was given, and to its primary initial recipient(s)—and to read it as if the same statement was uttered by a television news broadcaster over the nightly news on the same day … as most of us believe everything we hear on the evening news in localized media talk.

[6] In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul describes himself as a “Jew born in Tarsus” (Acts 22:3); and “of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews” (Philippians 3:5). He also describes himself as a “Hebrew … Israelite … the seed of Abraham” in 2 Corinthians 11:22.

[7] John 3:27.

[8] Ezekiel 38 and 39 also describe further attacks against the nation of Israel, but which result in devastating losses for its aggressors. But what is generally glossed over by the readers of these chapters is the prosperity and wealth that the intruders are coming to get that provokes the attack. Israel is doing very good economically these days, but not like what is described by a more careful reading of these texts.

[9] The area of the crown is adjacent to the city of Nābulus [biblical Shechem] and Mount Ebal.

[10] Genesis 10:16; and 2 Samuel 24:18-25.