Israel AND Jew-dah, what part of “AND” do you not understand?
Posted on January 27, 2008
Filed Under Ephraim (Multitude of Nations), House of Joseph (Joes), House of Judah (Jews), Torah and Prophets, Two House (Reality) Theology
What does “AND” mean? It means “in addition to”, right? It certainly means more than a single entity.
Remembering back on my younger years when I feverishly poured over the scriptures, it causes me to ask myself: why didn’t I see the “AND” in between “Israel AND Judah” when it was put in plain view before my eyes in so many places? They appear together more than 200 times. Thinking back on that now, it really frustrates me and boggles my mind that I didn’t connect the dots, primarily that the Jews do NOT represent all twelve tribes of Israel, but only a much smaller portion of the whole House of Jacob.
For behold, days are coming,’ declares יהוה
, ‘when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah’. יהוה says, ‘I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers and they shall possess it.’” -Jeremiah 30:3
My blindness to this dual reality (Israel and Judah) must have been the Most High closing my eyes for a later date for some cause unbeknownst to me at the time or now. Or maybe it was ha-Satan (the-Adversary), or maybe it was just my own intellectual laziness. I’m not sure, but it was probably the latter. Never the less, it is very befuddling to see how much Scripture I was blinded to because I didn’t see the entire picture, the historical and prophet context. Granted, it is hard to compute the Two House reality when you have no historical knowledge of the different Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. The historical reality prior to Yeshua (Jesus) are not commonly communicated in Sunday school… for whatever reason.
Below are a few more places where a clear distinction is made between Israel AND Judah:
Then Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab and from all the hill country of Judah and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. -Joshua 11:21
He numbered them in Bezek; and the sons of Israel were 300,000, and the men of Judah 30,000. -I Samuel 11:8
The men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines as far as the valley, and to the gates of Ekron And the slain Philistines lay along the way to Shaaraim, even to Gath and Ekron. -I Samuel 17:52
But all Israel and Judah loved David, and he went out and came in before them. -I Samuel 18:16
Judah became His sanctuary,Israel, His dominion. -Psalm 114:2
And He will lift up a standard for the nations and assemble the banished ones of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. -Isaiah 11:12 (End Times)
“Behold, days are coming,” declares יהוה, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,” -Jeremiah 31:31
As I said earlier, there are approximately 200 places in the scriptures where a distinciton is made between Israel and Judah within a single verse, and many other places where the distinction is implied or where Israel is instead called “Ephraim” or “Joseph” (adding those up, the occurence happens far more than 200 times). Search by keyword for yourself using BibleGateway.com or whatever bible program you may have. You’ll be amazed at what you find. The Two House reality not only existed in antiquity, it exists in prophecies regarding the End Times, also called the Latter Days, sometimes considered the Right Now.
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2 Responses to “Israel AND Jew-dah, what part of “AND” do you not understand?”
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Shalom Hanok, have you read Angus Wooten’s book Israel’s Kingdom Restored? He has a theory - biblically supported — why the eyes of Ephraim and Judah were blinded to certain truths plain in the Scriptures until an appointed time.
Shalom in Yeshua — Christine
Thank you for your comments, Christine.
I’ve read much of his and his wive’s material. Really enjoy their thoughts and like you say, they support it all well with scripture.
I believe I have most of their books listed here: Two House Book list