44 THE UNITING OF THE STICKS November, 2024

Judah plus Joseph = Israel

In Ezekiel 37, we are given the prophecy of the dried bones.  The prophet Ezekiel is taken to a valley filled with dried bones and asked if they can live again.  The LORD then tells him the bones are the whole house of Israel and that He will restore them.  In Ezekiel 37:19 He relates that He will take the stick of Joseph, the lost northern tribes headed by Ephraim, and the stick of Judah and make them one in His hand.  He will return them to the land of Israel.  And afterward, in Ezekiel 37:23, He will give them faith in Him. Of note, this reconstruction of ancient Israel is located in the section of prophecy delineating the destruction of the nations of Islam beginning with Ezekiel 25, when the nation of Jordan (Ammon, Moab, and Edom) and the Gaza Strip (land of the Philistines) are obliterated, and ending with the annihilation of the Russo-Muslim armies in Ezekiel 38 and part of 39, the prelude to the Great Tribulation’s 1260 days. I believe Ezekiel 39:17- 23 refers to the end of the battle of Armageddon of which little else of the Great Tribulation is written in Ezekiel 25- 39.

Now remember that circa 931- 930 B.C. shortly after the death of King Solomon (1 Kings 12), Israel was split into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah.  The northern kingdom of Israel (the so-called ten lost tribes) was carried off into captivity in 732 and 722 B.C. by the Assyrians and vanished thereafter.  The kingdom of Judah was destroyed by Babylon in 586 B.C. and Jerusalem by Rome in 70 A.D.

Ten lost tribes seems to make perfect sense.  After all, Jacob had twelve sons, each head of a tribe and thus twelve tribes of Israel. Also, the prophet Ahijah in 1 Kings 11:28- 39 came to see Jeroboam, a mighty man over the house of Joseph- Ephraim and Manasseh- during the latter days of Solomon’s kingdom.  The prophet took a new garment and tore it into twelve pieces giving ten to Jeroboam and telling him, God had reserved one tribe to go with Judah and Solomon’s descendants. However, there is a problem.  In Genesis 48:5, 6, 22, Jacob adopts Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, as his own.  This means there were actually thirteen tribes, just as America had thirteen colonies. This point is driven home in at least two places.  First, in Numbers 2, three tribes were placed around the tabernacle in the wilderness after the Exodus, in each direction (east, west, north, south) with the Levites in the center (1:53 & 2:17).  On the west side were Ephraim nearest the tabernacle followed by Manasseh and then Benjamin (2:18-23). On the east side was Judah and two tribes. On the south side was Reuben with two tribes; on the north side, Dan with two tribes.  No Israelites were northeast, northwest, southeast, or southwest.  The largest number of persons was with Judah, the smallest with Ephraim.  In between these two numbers, were the essentially equal numbers to north and south.  Had you viewed the Israelite camp from a height in the east, it would have appeared as a giant cross.  Not very good for defense, but if God is with you, you would not need a defense. 

Likewise, in Revelation 7, 144,000 of all the 12 tribes of Israel are sealed, 12,000 from each tribe, but Dan is omitted, and Joseph is listed along with Manasseh, but the tribes of Joseph are Ephraim and Manasseh. Apparently, God is angry at Ephraim (Less than 6% of the English profess Christianity now, less than a century after the British Empire was dismantled. Of course, this was an ongoing process, and it is why the Empire ended.  Ain’t evolution great?) and Dan (Dan brought idolatry into the land of Israel per Judges 18. Likely for this reason the entire tribe is omitted from the genealogy of 1 Chronicles 5-8 per Deuteronomy 29:18-20, where all the other tribes are noted.). There are only twelve tribes with Dan omitted.  Hence, there were thirteen tribes.

The word Jew refers to the descendants of the kingdom of Judah.  Judah is generally considered to be the tribes of Judah plus Benjamin (2 Kings 12:21).  However, maps in the Bible show the tribe of Simeon within the land of Judah.  In Genesis 49:7, Jacob prophesied regarding Simeon and Levi, “I (God) will disperse them in Jacob and scatter then in Israel.” See also Joshua 19:1,9, where their land is within that of Judah.  I suspect that after almost 500 years together, the Simeonites were considered to be part of Judah.   With three of the thirteen gone, that would leave the so-called ten lost tribes to include Ephraim and Manasseh. However, the Levites of the priestly tribe were dispersed throughout Solomon’s kingdom with most in Israel, the northern tribes, and a lesser number in Judah. But King Jeroboam of northern Israel set up golden calves in Bethel and Dan per 1 Kings 12:28,29, apparently in gratitude for YHWH, the Jewish and Christian God, for giving him a kingdom, not wishing his subjects to worship in the Jerusalem Temple.

Then Jeroboam made priests from every tribe of people, and not just Levites per 1 Kings 12:31. The Levites also joined with Judah per 2 Chronicles 11:13-14, thus giving Judah four tribes and Israel nine. Jeroboam also changed the feast of Tabernacles, one of the Feasts of the LORD, from the fifteenth day of the seventh month to the eighth month per 1 Kings 13:32. The tribe of Joseph received the blessing or double portion from Jacob (Genesis 48:5,15,16) meaning Joseph's sons -Ephraim and Manasseh, were both considered as tribes of Israel (each received land in Israel after the conquest of Canaan circa 1406 BC), but that leaves us with nine lost tribes.  Some prefer the twelve tribes of Israel and explain it in this manner: When the tribes went to war, Levi could not go, but with the double portion for Joseph, there were still 12 tribes to go to war, i.e., Joseph became two.  When the tribes met with Levi as one, then the two tribes became Joseph, again giving a total of twelve.  However, the verses above clearly tell us that the bulk of the Levites left the northern kingdom of Israel for Judah. There were at least three and probably four, the fourth being Simeon, tribes that remained with Solomon’s son, Rehoboam.  Hence, the ten lost tribes of Israel are a myth as there could only be 9.

After the Levites left Israel for Judah, per 2 Chronicles 11:16, other members of the so-called ten lost tribes went south as well to worship in YHWH's temple in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 11:16- 17) rather than Jeroboam's calf idols and new feasts in his newly founded kingdom of Israel without Judah and without the God of the Bible per 1 Kings 12:25-33.  This was a severe hardship as likely they forfeited the land given to their family almost 500 years earlier when the united tribes invaded the land under Joshua.  Some authors write the lost tribes were never lost.  The faithful of them just went south.  In any event, the tribes of the north were headed by the tribe of Ephraim, and Ephraim is often used to refer to these tribes in the Bible.  They have been lost to history since their uprooting in 722 B.C. by Assyria.  But God says He will bring the whole house of Israel back.  This would include not only Judah, but also the lost tribes of Israel.  It seems likely to me that God purposefully allowed the faithless bulk of these tribes of Israel to be lost, and in His time, He will restore them to the Jews their brethren. Also keep in mind that Ephraim and Manasseh received the blessings of God, which would be great blessings, indeed the greatest in the world.

Genesis 17:1

When Abram was 99 years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before me and be blameless.  And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly."  Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying:  "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be a father of many nations.  No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.  I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come out of you.  And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you.  Also, I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."  (NOTE: Most of us perceive this promise to be the land of Israel as it is today -semiarid.  I believe it was far more productive with a far better climate at the time of Moses and Joshua, i.e., the best land in the entire world, a land flowing with milk and honey.  Remember Numbers 13:23 when the twelve scouts returned from Canaan the first time, after Sinai and the Exodus. Two carried a cluster of grapes so large that it was attached to a pole between them.  Some cluster!  The land of Israel will be the best land in the entire world with a great climate, but after the Great Tribulation’s 1260 days.)

Now Abraham is the ancestor of the Jews and the lost tribes.  But he is also the ancestor via Ishmael of the Arabs, and through his second wife Keturah in Genesis 25, other peoples as well.  Hence, he is easily the father of many nations.  Per Genesis 17:15, Then God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai you wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.  And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall come from her." (NOTE the plural nations and peoples)

Sarah's only son was Isaac.  Now I suppose this could be just the kingdoms of Israel and Judah after the death of Solomon.  But note what God says to Jacob at Bethel in Genesis 35:9;

   Then God appeared to Jacob again... and blessed him.  And God said to him.  "Your name is                         

   Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name."  So He

   called his name Israel.  Also, God said to him:  "I am God Almighty.  Be fruitful and multiply; a        

   nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body"

The above excludes the possibility that He was just talking about the two nations of Judah and Israel.  All twelve of the sons of Israel made the nation of Israel. United Israel is the nation He was referring to above. With the defection of the "lost tribes," it became Judah. But who is the "company of nations”? I can only conclude the so-called ten lost tribes are not lost to God and have been very important in HIStory. 

Ezekiel 37:15

The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, "Moreover, you son of man, take one stick for yourself, 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.’

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

   And when the children of your people shall speak to you saying, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’  Say to them, ‘Thus says 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 my hand.”’

   And the sticks whereon you write shall be in your hand before their eyes

   And say to them, Thus says the LORD God; “Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, wherever they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land.

   “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.

   “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 transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them; so shall they be My people, and I will be their God.

   “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.

   “And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers have dwelt: and they shall dwell there, they, and their children, and their children's children forever: and My servant David shall be their prince forever.

   “Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore.

   “My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they will be My people.

And the heathen shall know that I, the LORD, do sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forever.”’”

Most of the lost tribes of Israel were carried off by Assyria in 733-732 B.C. This would include all the most northern tribes (Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Zebulon and Issachar) of the kingdom of Israel and the entire east bank of the Jordan inhabited by a half-tribe of Manasseh plus Reuben and Gad. Only Ephraim and the other half-tribe of Manasseh remained of the northern kingdom of Israel. They retained their capital Samaria. They continued to defy God’s judgement by responding in arrogance to their peril per Isaiah 9:8- 10 The LORD sent a word against Jacob, and it has fallen of Israel. 9 All the people will know- Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria- Who say in pride and arrogance of heart: 10 “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.”  They refused to return to God, and ten years later Israel ceased to exist as a nation, when the Assyrians returned.  Curiously enough, these words were used to describe America’s response to 9/11 by the Senate leader, the highest elected official in Congress, Tom Daschle, that night.  In effect, Samaria said they had some reverses, but they would make it right with no thought of turning back to God, just like America after 9/11. The Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate, John Edwards, reiterated those words of Isaiah at the capitol during the election year of 2004. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done.”

The Twin Towers had been built on land previously owned by a church to which the Founding Fathers had retired to pray immediately after Washington took the oath of office for his first term as President.  The Federal Building where Washington took the oath suffered structural damage to the foundation, whereas the church was saved when a steel beam ejected from the fallen towers struck an American Sycamore and felled it. It was replaced by the Liberty Tree. In Hebrew, the word used for cedars In Isaiah 9:10 above is erez which is usually translated as cedars, but erez denotes a generic version for the pine family which includes the cedar, the spruce, the pine, and the fir, or evergreen conifers. The fallen sycamore was replaced by an evergreen conifer called the Liberty Tree which subsequently died.  The bricks did fall down and were replaced by a huge block of hewn stone that was subsequently removed from the foundation.  (See Jonathan Cahn’s 2011 book The Harbinger for much more information.)

In 722 B.C. Assyria returned for Ephraim and the remaining half-tribe of Manasseh. The Assyrians liked to separate their captives, so likely Ephraim and the half-tribe of Manasseh were not sent to the area where the other tribes had been placed a decade earlier, i.e., they were separate from their brothers (Genesis 49:26 & Deut 33:16). Over time they were lost to history.  Recently, the modern-day Israelis have noted the discovery of the tribe of Manasseh in India near Bangladesh. Remember that the two half-tribes of Manasseh were captured in two campaigns of Assyria about a decade apart. The articles did not mention Ephraim so I assume the half-tribe in India was removed in 732 BC, originally east of the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee. Most of the tribe of Joseph, who had the blessing of God, are still lost to history.  Yet God says He will bring them back to the nation and country of Israel and unite them with their brethren the Jews along with the rest of the lost tribes.  In other words, He knows who they are though they do not.  Hence, the lost tribes of Israel must be intact peoples or nations.  Islamic immigration to England and America may be the mechanism for this.  The two witnesses of Revelation 11:3 will call them home per Matthew 17:11 when Elijah (along with Moses) restores all things, i.e., the nation of Israel (Revelation 11:3-12). 

Amos 9:8

"Behold, the eyes of the LORD God are on the sinful kingdom,

And I will destroy it from the face of the earth;

Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob," says the LORD.

10 "For surely I will command,

And will sift the house of Israel among all nations

As grain is sifted in a sieve:

Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.

All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword.

Who say, "The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us."

11 "On that day I will raise up

The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down,

And repair its damages;

I will raise up its ruins,

And rebuild it as in the days of old.

12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom,"

NOTE: I believe Edom = Esau = Mount Seir = Arab Islam.  Per Genesis 28:9, Esau's third wife was a daughter of Ishmael.  Esau was Jacob's brother. The land of Edom is presently southern Jordan.

9:12 continued  "And all the Gentiles who are called by My name (i.e. Christians),"

Says the LORD Who does this thing.

The above verses indicate to me that God knows where the lost tribes are and that in His time, He will bring them back to Israel.  Now I had always figured that God would bring the Jews home as He is now doing.  But I did not guess that He would do the same for the lost tribes, once headed by Ephraim. 

Jacob, the patriarch, became Israel (prince with God).  He had 12 sons through 2 wives who were sisters, and 2 concubines.  He loved most Rachel, who gave him two sons, the beloved Joseph and also Benjamin.  Near his death, Israel (Jacob) prophesied that Judah would have the throne in Genesis 49:10:  "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (Christ) comes; and to him shall the gathering of the people be."  I had presumed this to also be the blessing, but I was wrong.  The blessing or double portion was given to the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, but especially Ephraim, whose name means "fruitfulness," per Genesis 48.  Both Ephraim and Manasseh, "making forgetful," were made tribes of Israel per Genesis 48:5,6 (Israel speaking to Joseph) “And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.”   Israel, in effect, is adopting the first two sons of Joseph.   6 “Your offspring whom you beget after them shall be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance.”    Any further children of Joseph must come under one of the two tribes of their two older brothers.  Hence, there were 13 tribes as already noted. 

Genesis 49:22  (Israel prophesies on Joseph)

   Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall.

          (NOTE:  Joseph is by water, and his influence goes far beyond the normal range of his territory.)

   The archers (Per Genesis 21:20 [Ishmael] and 27:3 [Esau or Edom].  I believe this refers to the Arabs of Islam, or by my study in the Bible- Edom.  Genesis 36:3 describes Esau's marriage with the daughter of Ishmael, intertwining their two destinies as enemies of Israel.  The fate of Edom and Islam is described in Ezekiel 25 to 39. The third archer per Genesis 48:22 is Jacob.) have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him.           (When did Esau and Ishmael hurt Joseph?  Is it future, as in the immediate future?  As in 9/11 and the London subway bombings, with more to come?)

   But his (Joseph's) bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob;

   (From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel)"

            (I believe this indicates that the descendants of Joseph's sons will become Christian nations, as the shepherd and stone of Israel is Christ.  At some point after becoming a Christian nation(s), I believe God's blessings would fall on Ephraim and Manasseh.  The stone of Israel could also mean the Stone of Destiny mentioned subsequently- Liafail.)

   Even by the God of your father, Who shall help you; and by the Almighty Who shall bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep (the ocean?) that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.

26 The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitor to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. (See also Deut 33:16)

Certainly, Joseph was separate from his brethren when he was sold into slavery.  Per Genesis 41:45, he was given an Egyptian priest's daughter to marry, so there may well have been physical differences in his children and those of his brothers.  This could also refer to the separation of the northern tribes, headed by Ephraim, from Judah, but more likely it refers to Ephraim and the half-tribe of Manasseh separated from all the other tribes when Samaria fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. 

Genesis 48:8

   And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, "Who are these?"

9  And Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place."  And he said, "Bring them, I pray you, to me, and I will bless them.

10  Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see.  And he brought them near to him: and he kissed them and embraced them.

11  And Israel said to Joseph, "I had not thought to see your face; and, lo, God has showed me also your seed."

12  So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth.

13  And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near to him.    

14  And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

(Curiously, Israel crossed his arms, making the sign of a cross, again indicating they would be Christian nations in God's time.)

15  And he blessed Joseph, and said:  "God, before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God Which fed me all my lifelong to this day.

16  The angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac (Saxon= son of Saac? or son of Isaac?); and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

17  And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.

18  And Joseph said to his father, "Not so my father, for this is the firstborn; put your right hand upon his head."

19  And his father refused, and said, "I know it, my son, I know it; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

20  And he blessed them that day, saying, "In you shall Israel bless, saying, God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh," and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

21  And Israel said to Joseph, "Behold, I die, But God shall be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers.

22  Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

Again, I had always presumed that the blessing passed to Judah, the reigning tribe, but it passed to Joseph instead.  Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, each became a tribe of Israel per Genesis 48:5, 6, 22.  They obtained the double portion of the inheritance.  Israel also gave Joseph great blessings which do not seem to me to have materialized during the kingdom period before they were carried away by Assyria in 722 B.C.  Manasseh would be a great nation, but Ephraim would come first and become a multitude of nations.  Indeed, I have read the precise language is like a school of fish, a reference to the sea or deep.  1 Chronicles 5:2 confirms the birthright blessing as Joseph's.

Now on to Deuteronomy 33:13 

   And of Joseph he (Moses) said:

"Blessed of the LORD is his land,

With the precious things of heaven, with the dew, and the deep (the ocean? Or oil and minerals underneath the land? Or both?) lying beneath,

14 With the precious fruits of the sun,

With the precious produce of the months,

15 With the best things of the ancient mountains,

With the precious things of the everlasting hills,

16 With the precious things of the earth and its fullness,

And the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush (the burning bush beheld by Moses in Midian). 

Let the blessing come on the head of Joseph,

And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.

17 His glory is like a firstborn bull,

And his horns like the horns of the wild ox;

(It is of interest to note the symbol of the tribe of Joseph was a young ox, hence the golden calves of Jeroboam, first king of the northern kingdom of Israel.)

Together with them

He shall push the people to the ends of the earth; (This would seem to indicate that the tribes of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, will be together till God sends them to the ends of the earth. Where did the British Empire go?)

They are the ten thousands of Ephraim,

And they are the thousands of Manasseh."

These blessings are extraordinary.  As these blessings do not seem to have occurred before the lost tribes were carried off in 722 B.C., I would assume God would grant these blessings in the future.  I doubt He would grant them to a pagan nation, but only to a Christian nation, one under Jesus.  As in the aforementioned blessing of Israel, there will be blessings of the deep meaning the ocean or oil and minerals underneath the land.  I assume this means Ephraim will be a great maritime power.  God shall push the people to the ends of the earth.  After Abraham placed Isaac on the altar, God confirmed His blessings on Abraham in Genesis 22:17 where He states He will multiply his descendants and they shall possess the gates of their enemies.  Gates could well refer to ports.  Denmark probably peopled Norway and Sweden.  The Vikings were a great force in their time, a maritime power that captured many ports or gates of their enemies.  However, they did this as pagans.  Also, I have read Denmark means Dan's mark, so perhaps they could be the tribe of Dan, but I doubt Ephraim.  The Scandinavian nations may have been of the original “ten lost tribes.” The Vikings raided and invaded the British Isles many times with many staying as settlers.  The last conquest of England in 1066 A.D. was by the Normans, who were the north men (Vikings) who had settled in northwest France.  Perhaps all these Viking raids and settlements in the British Isles were a mixing of the lost tribes.

The Spanish had a great world empire on which the sun never set.  They were Christian, but the conquistadors usually married the women of the people already in South and Central America.  They did not send their families out. 

My vote for Ephraim would be England which became Great Britain.  Nominally a Christian nation for over a millennium before the 1700s, they were made truly a Christian nation by the efforts of the Wesley brothers and George Whitefield and William Wilberforce among others in the 18th century.  Whitefield was also instrumental in evangelizing and uniting the American colonies.  The symbol for England was John Bull, and America’s was Uncle Sam.  Joseph’s (Ephraim's) symbol was a young ox; his sign of the Zodiac, Taurus, the bull.  It is curious to note the great symbol of American financial and economic power was a single giant bronze bull near Wall Street erected in the 1980s as a symbol of our prosperity to worship just like the golden calves of Jeroboam. The British were a great maritime power possessing the gates (ports) of their enemies (Genesis 22:17), e.g., Hong Kong, Bombay and Calcutta and the Khyber Pass in India, Singapore, the Suez Canal, Gibraltar, Malta, and Cape Town.  In the same light, the United States controlled the Panama Canal.  Great Britain was a great Christian nation that sent out her people as families to the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. -to the ends of the earth.  They ruled many nations for a time.  Indeed, they once ruled over a quarter of the earth's land surface, the largest empire of all time, plus close to a quarter of the world’s population.  The sun never set on the British Empire.  At the same time, no peoples ever had the blessings in material goods and freedom given Britain and America the last two centuries.  The blessings given them are what I would expect from the God of the Bible.  It seems unlikely to me that He would grant any other nation the blessings He has granted America and Britain except for the association with the blessings of Israel and a vibrant Christianity within these nations. The nineteenth century was the British century when Britain truly became great fighting the godless French Revolutionaries under the banner of a trinity of Christian crosses, better known as the Union Jack.  William Wilberforce became a Christian in 1787 and began the long fight against slavery in Parliament that same year. The British banned the slave trade circa 1807 A.D. during the Napoleonic wars at a time when slavery brought them great profit throughout their economy, and they then freed the slaves in the British Empire in 1834.  The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain, and at the same time their navy controlled the world's oceans giving their superior products of the Industrial Revolution access to the entire world.  They became the greatest and wealthiest nation of their time.  The rabbis say "Coincidence is not a kosher word."

Manasseh, at least the half-tribe that was exiled with Ephraim in 722 BC, would be America, the USA.  In 1628, the Puritans decided to follow the Pilgrims to Massachusetts, and over 20,000 left England during the next 16 years.  After deciding to leave, they had a farewell sermon based on 2 Samuel 7:10 (KJV) “Moreover I (God) will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them anymore, as before time.”  If the rapture of the church removed all the true Christians from England and America, would this be fulfilled?  Those left behind would be nominal, but not true, Christians. Those left would certainly be afflicted in the years ahead, but all the lost tribes must return to Israel, and only unbelievers would be left after the rapture, perhaps explaining Zechariah 13:8 where 2/3ds of Israelis are killed during the end times. Some of these would turn to Christ during Daniel’s final or 70th week, likely due to the pouring out of the Spirit in Joel 2:28- 29. One gentleman told me that if the Anglo-Saxons were the lost tribes and all the Jews and other lost tribes returned, Israel would be swamped.  He would seem to have a point.  The total population of Israel, according to Wikipedia is about 9 million with 75.5% being Jewish or about 6.7 million Jews with the population of world Jewry at 14.6 million per Wikipedia.  I suspect the Jewish state of Israel will expand because the nearby states will attack them and lose.  Surrounding populations include: the Gaza Strip 1.8 million, Lebanon 6.8 million (2020), and Jordan 10.5 million (2019).  There are also 1.89 million Muslims living in Israel in 2019.  Hence, the number of Muslims in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip would be about 21 million total.. Should these nations attack Israel with multiple missiles (Hezbollah has over 100,000) in concert with the intent of overwhelming the Iron Dome defense, Israel could well respond with neutron bombs that kill living things, i.e., people, but the buildings remain intact and the radiation dissipates quickly.  This would give immigrants to Israel significantly more space. 

However, the potential numbers to return of just the lost tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh and a few others are rather staggering.  I believe this includes most of the British (England, Scotland and Northern Ireland [Judah and Dan for the latter two]) 42.6 million plus another 4.1 million from Ireland equaling 46.7 million. Then 23 million from Australia, 3.4 million from New Zealand, 27.4 million from Canada for an additional 53.8 million for a total of 100.5 million.  In 2019, the U.S. population was estimated at 330 million.  According to Wikipedia, 73% of the population was white, with 61.5% non-Hispanic whites, about 203 million persons.  In 2005, 26% of non-Hispanic whites had all or some German ancestry.  Subtracting this from 203 million would leave about 152 million persons from Manasseh.  These are only the roughest of estimates quickly gleaned from the internet. The total would be about 257.5 million.  Does a person have to have entirely of the lost tribes or will 51% DNA or even 10% or 1 % do?  I have no idea, but there are several companies that can evaluate your DNA, e.g., Ancestry.com, 23 and Me, etc, who can tell you where your ancestors came from.  Perhaps, there is a purpose to the rise of such companies at this particular time in history.  The Israelis say there is a certain gene in all the priests of Levi, and it can be used to determine if your heritage is that of Levi.   

The numbers seem to fly in the face of Deuteronomy 33:17…They are the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh.  Perhaps descendants of Ephraim also went to America and represent a significant portion of the population at present. I agree that these numbers would seem to swamp Israel even if all the Arabs were removed. Keep in mind that I believe terrible things will happen to America for rejecting God. Abortions, equivalent to child sacrifice in the Old Testament, since 1973 are numbered at 65 million plus. Disease and natural calamities could lower these numbers substantially. For example, Yellowstone Park is a super volcano that could erupt greatly decreasing corn and wheat production. For years, Los Angeles has been expecting a large earthquake, and the faultline goes offshore in northern California up to the state of Washington, which could produce a large tsunami. Most Americans do not do well without electricity, and areas could have none for weeks, months, or even years. And Britain rejected God significantly longer than America.  Most persons do not leave their homelands if they are doing well.

There is also additional information on the Exodus in the uninspired book of Jasher, the Upright (Joshua 10:13 & 2 Samuel 1:18) 80:37 At that time (during the 3 day plague of darkness just before the Exodus from Egypt) died many of the people of Israel who had rebelled against the LORD and who would not hearken to Moses and Aaron (2 witnesses), and believed not in them that God had sent them. 38 And who had said, “We will not go forth from Egypt lest we perish with hunger in a desolate wilderness, and who would not hearken to the voice of Moses. 39 And the LORD plagued them in the three days of darkness, and the Israelites buried them in those days, without the Egyptians knowing of them or rejoicing over them.    

The seeds of our demise, like Britain before us, were sown from within by the publication in 1859 of Darwin's The Origin of Species, extolling the pseudoscience of evolution, which is still an unproven theory, except for high school textbooks, after 165 years.  Remember what evolution teaches: death is a good thing because the one-celled creatures evolve into us, and there were millions, or billions, or more deaths, till man evolved. These millions and billions of deaths are like the millions and billions of years.  They exist only in the minds of their creators (Note the little c!). The Bible teaches death was unknown in the world of Creation till Adam and Eve sinned (Romans 5:12).  All creatures, including man, were vegetarians (Genesis 1:29-30).  No carnivorous animals existed, although it is noted in the book of Jasher, that Abel complained that Cain, Adam and Eve’s firstborn and his brother, was eating of his flock, but man was only given the right to eat meat after the Flood (Genesis 9:2,3).  The first animal death in the world of creation was the one killed to provide Adam and Eve with tunics of skin to cover their nakedness (Genesis 3:21). At that time, the body of the animal was likely used as a sacrifice to God. Likely, though the text does not note, it was a lamb.  Undoubtedly, it was from the clean animals who entered Noah’s ark (Genesis 7:2).  As man was not supposed the eat meat till after the Flood, clean referred to animals fit for sacrifice before the Flood. 

One of the founding documents of America was the Northwest Ordinance that delineated how states could enter the Union.  One of its clauses was:  Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary for good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.  In our day, we would ask which religion they were referring to.  In their day, they would have answered "Christianity."  America was founded as a Christian nation until the Supreme Court separated church and state in the early 1960s for the first time in American history, when they removed prayer and the Bible from schools. This began when the universities, begun by the church to seek truth, discovered evolution and extrapolated to there was no truth, at least spiritually and in the Bible.

Romans 11:16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,

18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 

19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.”

20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 

21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.

22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God; on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness.  Otherwise you also will be cut off.

23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 

24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

Hence, my belief is that the Anglo-Saxons are the lost tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.  I wonder if when God told Abraham in Genesis 21:12 (repeated Romans 9:7) "In Isaac your seed shall be called," he was referring to the Saxons.  Saxon means son of Sax.  In linguistics over centuries, often the first letter is dropped.  I wonder if, in this case, it was initially son of Isaac. 

In any event, the Anglo-Saxons invaded England around the time the Romans were leaving.  Circa 600-800 AD, they became Christians. Per Romans 11:23 And they (the lost tribes) also, if they do not continue in unbelief will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. When the Anglo-Saxons were regrafted into the olive tree, they would, in God’s time, receive His great blessings. In 1290 AD, the Jews were kicked out of England by Edward I, the English king in the 1995 movie BraveHeart. Circa 1650- 1660 AD, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, received a letter from a Jewish rabbi, who noted that Cromwell was a strong believer in the Bible.  The rabbi related that the Jews had to be dispersed to all the nations of the world, and there were no Jews in England. Could the Jews return?  Cromwell wrote back that he would not pass n law allowing the Jews to return. If he did, someone might later pass a law to remove them.  However, if they wished to return, they could, and they did.  “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you” from Genesis 12:3 has never been repealed.

Hosea 6:1 Come, and let us return to the LORD;

For He has torn, but He will heal us.

He has stricken, but He will bind us up.

2 After two days He will revive us;

On the third day He will raise us up,

That we may live in His sight. 

Most people use this for the rebirth of the Jewish state of Israel.  Twice in the Bible it relates that a day is like a thousand years, so the above could refer to two days or two thousand years.  Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD, and the Jewish state of Israel came into being at midnight May 14-15, 1948 AD, or about 1878 years later, close to 2,000 years. Also Pompey took Jerusalem in 63 BC, or about 2,010 years earlier. 

However, Hosea was a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel, not Judah.  I believe the above prophecy is accurate, but it is a double prophecy also referring to the northern kingdom, which came into being 931 or 930 BC. Two thousand years later would be about 1070 AD.  Do we have a significant date at that time?  In 1066 BC, William of Normandy conquered England at the battle of Hastings, and the nation began to be a player in the affairs of Europe.

In Ezekiel 4:4-5, God tells His prophet to lay on his left side for three hundred and ninety days with each day representing a year for the iniquity of the northern kingdom of Israel.  This prophecy was given in the 590s BC.  The northern kingdom of Israel came into being circa 931 -930 BC.  They were destroyed in 722 BC or about 208 years later.  So what is the 390 years about? The LORD, in Leviticus 26:18 says if He chastises Israel, and they still will not obey Him, then He will punish them seven times more for their sin, repeated in verses 21, 24, and 28. Seven times 390 = 2,730 years.  Subtracting 931 and 930 yields 1799 and 1800 respectively. As there is no year zero, this would be 1800 and 1801 AD. Did anything happen to the Anglo-Saxons during this period.  1805 AD -Lord Nelson had a tremendous naval victory over the combined French and Spanish fleets, denying Napoleon the ability to invade England.  1787- The American Constitution.

But let us try one more possibility.  The Creation year was originally 360 days per year, twelve months of 30 days each.  We know this from ancient calendars all over the world- Japan, China, India, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome and the Mayan civilization. Likely, this is why there are 360 degrees in a circle.  Circa 630 AD, Mohammed conquered Mecca, and he destroyed a number of idols around their Ka’aba, the Black Stone felt to be a meteorite. That number was 360.  I suspect it worked like this:  today is day 100. For the best results for your prayer, pray to idol # 100.

I suspect the change to 365.2422 days occurred about 701 BC when Hezekiah asked God to make the sun dial’s shadow go back ten degrees (2 Kings 21:10). Start with 7 X 390 = 2,730 years.  However, if the northern kingdom of Israel in 931 BC and the change in calendars occurred in 701 BC, that’s 230 years of 360 days removed from the 2,730 leaving us with 2500 years.  360 days/year times 2500 = 900,000 to be divided by 365.2422 = 2,464.1183. Subtract 701 BC (when the calendars changed) yields 1763.12.  Add one year for no zero from 1 BC to 1 AD = 1764.12.  In January of 1763, the Treaty of Paris was signed. France could no longer garrison troops in India, and India went on to be the jewel in the crown of Great Britain.  The British also obtained Canada from France. It became the second largest nation in terms of area in the world. 

Regarding the prophecy in Hosea 6:1-2, I believe it to be a triple prophecy, referring not only to Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel, but also to the church. When was the Christian church founded? I believe it was 32 AD, though others favor 33 AD.  So two thousand years will be up in 2032 or 2033, and we still have the final week of Daniel, composed of seven years of 360 days per year, or 2,520 days to go.  This would be seven calendar years less 36 or 37 days depending on the number of leap years in the seven. If the final week of Daniel ends at the end of 2032, it should begin at the beginning of 2026; if the end of 2033, then the beginning of 2027. Perhaps, it will be a little early or a little late. We shall see.

I believe the British Empire became a Christian empire through the efforts of William Wilberforce who ended the slave trade, and he was told on his death bed that Parliament would end slavery the next year of 1834. They prospered greatly under Christianity and when it was supplanted by evolution and the vast ages it slowly died, ending its great power shortly after the end of World War II. The nineteenth century was the British century, and the twentieth century, the American. Now, America has given up Christianity for evolution and the vast ages which only occurred in the heads of the elites.   

NOTE: For a more accurate time scale of earth’s true history, see section 40 (forty)!