The Foretold History of Israel
3
This history of "Israel" begins
and ends with Melchizedek. It begins
with Melchizedek bringing God's covenant to Abraham.
UB
1020 Said he to Abraham: ‘Look now to the heavens and number
the stars if you are able; so numerous
will your seed be.’ And
then Melchizedek told Abraham the story of the
future occupation
of Canaan by his
offspring after their sojourn in Egypt. This
covenant of Melchizedek with Abraham represents the
great
Urantian
agreement between humanity and divinity when
God
agrees to do
everything and man agrees only to believe God’s
promises and follow his instructions.
First note that Melchizedek knows the
future with certainty and tells it directly to Abraham. We will see that
Melchizedek knows a lot more than just this tidbit of "Israel’s"
future history. Also note that while the Bible views the covenant to be between
God and Israel; the Urantia Book
views the covenant to be between God and all humanity. As we will see, there is
no contradiction because "Israel" grows from a few tribes to include
Christians and Jews and finally all of humanity over time. God creates through
an organic evolutionary process we call history in retrospect. Now for some
very important family relationships.
Abraham and Sarah bring forth
Isaac. Isaac and Rebekah bring forth
Esau and Jacob. Jacob is chosen by Isaac to be the birthright son who inherits
the largest share of material wealth and receives the special blessings of God.
Jacob and Rachel then bring forth Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph is the chosen
birthright son. Jacob has six other sons by his other wife, Leah; two sons by
Rachel’s maid, and two sons by Leah’s maid. Jacob's grand total of sons, then,
is twelve. Jacob is later called Israel, because he is the progenitor of the
twelve tribes of Israel. Next, Joseph, Jacob’s son, has a dream wherein the
sun, moon and eleven stars bow down to him (Genesis). This prefigures Joseph’s
later status as the "chosen" birthright son of Jacob, wearing the
"crown" of the "elect." Joseph’s brothers become resentful
and jealous of him and conspire to throw him into a pit. They then sell him to
traveling Ishmaelites on their way to Egypt. Joseph is very capable and
intelligent. He also has a gift of interpreting dreams, as does Daniel later
on. Therefore, Joseph is very successful in Egypt and becomes the chief
administrator for all Egypt in his service to the king of Egypt. Joseph
predicts, by the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream, an upcoming drought and
famine and he stores up grain for several years in preparation. When this
drought affects Canaan as well as Egypt, Jacob, who is still living in Canaan,
sends a few sons to buy grain from Egypt. Joseph recognizes his siblings when
they arrive and he sends word to Jacob to come to Egypt with the rest of the
extended family. Thus, there is an
emotional reunion between Jacob and his favorite son, Joseph. In this manner, Jacob’s growing family
(children, grandchildren, etc.) spends several hundred years in Egypt, first in
the service of friendly kings and then later enslaved to progressively more
hostile Egyptian leadership. When Jacob
is on his deathbed, he calls Joseph and Joseph’s two sons Ephraim and Manasseh
to his side for his farewell blessing and instruction, as established by
previous tradition.
Genesis
48:3 And Jacob said to Joseph, ‘El Shaddai appeared to me and
said, ‘I will
make you fertile and numerous, making of you a
community of
peoples; and I will assign this land to your
offspring to
come for an everlasting possession.
This is, more or less, a repeat of the
Abrahamic covenant. Could El Shaddai
have been the semi-material Melchizedek?
Jacob then places his right hand
on Ephraim’s head (indicating his most favored status) and his left hand on Manasseh’s head (even
though he is the older of the two and would normally have been the most favored
son) and says,
Genesis
48:16 Bless the lads; in them may
my name be recalled and may
they be teeming multitudes on the earth.
Genesis 49:1 Subsequently, as per tradition, "Jacob called all his sons
together, that
Jacob may tell them what is to befall them in
the days to
come."
Jacob, after having blessed Joseph’s
children, who are his grandchildren, then goes through each of his other twelve
sons and their respective tribes, outlining their
future destinies and blessings.
Focusing here on Joseph, the eleventh son, Jacob says:
Genesis
49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough
A fruitful bough by a spring
Its branches
grow over a wall
Archers bitterly
assail him
They shot at him
and harried him
Yet his bow stayed taut
And his arms were made firm
By the hand of
the Mighty One of Jacob –
There, the
Shepherd, the Rock of Israel –
The God of your father who helps you
And Shaddai (? Melchizedek) who blesses you
With blessings
of heaven above. . .
Surpass the
blessings of my ancestors (Abraham and Isaac)
To the utmost
bounds of the eternal hills
May they rest on
the head of Joseph,
On the brow of
the elect of his brothers. (Joseph)
In Deuteronomy. 33, Moses also gives
Joseph, and his sons Ephraim and Manasseh, the highest blessings on his
deathbed. Moses says of Joseph,
Deuteronomy 33:13-17 Blessed of the Lord be
his land, with the bounty of dew
from heaven
and the bounteous yield of the sun,
and the
bounty of the earth and its fullness,
and the favor of the
Presence in
the Bush (? Melchizedek). May these rest on the
head of
Joseph, on the crown of the elect of his brothers. Like a
firstling bull
in his majesty, he has thorns like the horns of a
wild ox; with
them he gores the peoples to the ends of
the
earth. One
and all these are the myriads of Ephraim;
those are
the thousands of Manasseh.
Here, in Deuteronomy 33, we have foretold
the material blessings and military might of the descendants of Ephraim and
Manasseh. The "bounteous yield of
the sun and the bounty of the earth" means plenteous yield from the best
crop lands. The "bull in his majesty," who "gores the
peoples," is symbolic of military might.
The "myriads of Ephraim" is a very large number and the
"thousands of Manasseh" is a less large number.
And so we reflect on who these
descendants might be if they were among us today. What peoples or nations of today have been blessed with the
greatest material blessings and military might? Is this prophecy fulfilled, yet
to be fulfilled, or a failure? Also
note the association of the elect (chosen) status with the crown; with reproductive and material fruitfulness; with the
bow of the triumphant archer; and with military prowess ("he gores the
peoples to the end of the earth"). These associations will be referred to
in other parts of this study. Before
returning to The Foretold History of
Israel, lets briefly consider some confusing terminology that we will meet
as we study the Biblical prophets.
After studying diagram #1-3 in the
appendix, we can begin to understand some of the references made in the Bible
regarding the various tribes of Israel.
First, the word Israel is a very
confusing designation. It is usually used to refer to the Northern
Ten Tribes of Israel who lose their identity and become the Lost Ten Tribes of
Israel. This lost remnant, is according to prophecy, re-gathered and re-united
with Judah at the end of the age and the story ends where it begins, completing
the age. Ephraim is also used to designate the Northern Tribes because Ephraim
comprises a majority of the population of Israel. Remember, Ephraim inherits the elect status, as indicated by a
crown, from his Father Joseph. Great
fruitfulness is bestowed on the elect. Therefore, over successive generations,
the tribe of Ephraim increases geometrically and becomes a larger and larger
proportion of the total population of the Northern Tribes and also of the whole
House of Israel as well (see diagram #2).
"Jacob" is also used sometimes to designate the whole House of
Israel; Judah plus Israel. It can also
be used to refer to just the Northern Tribes as well because most of Jacob is
made up of Northern Israel which in turn is made up of Ephraim. Judah, not being as bountiful remains a
small and shrinking percentage of the total population, as does all the other
tribes except Ephraim and, to a lesser extent, Manasseh who also inherits some
of the bounty bestowed by his Father Joseph. Again the context of the particular designation is our guide as the names
Israel and Jacob themselves can confuse. Now lets return to the Foretold History of Israel.
The growing families from Joseph’s
two sons and Jacob’s eleven sons remain in Egypt for several hundred years
until they become progressively enslaved by the Egyptian kings. They suffer
deprivation and debasement until Moses arises and is called by the Lord to be
His servant. Moses, with a supposed series of miracles, leads Jacob (all the
Israelites) out of Egypt in a 40-year trek back to Canaan, the land promised to
Abraham by Melchizedek. Once
established in the Holy Land, the House of Israel unifies for a period and then
divides into northern (Israel) and southern (Judah) factions. The Northern Tribes (Israel/Ephraim) turn
away from God first and become progressively depraved, sinful, and foolish,
even sacrificing their own children to pagan gods. Those in high positions, the power elite, become the most
depraved of all, absolute power corrupting absolutely. Having turned their backs on God, the
Northern Tribes drift farther and farther away from God and truth. Foolishly, the leaders of Israel try to
silence the prophets sent by God and succeed in leading the people into
destruction and captivity at the hands of the Assyrians. The surviving remnant
of Israel (the Northern Ten Tribes) first go into exile in Assyria and then
later migrate northward, never to return, losing their identify and becoming
the "Lost Ten Tribes" of Israel. Meanwhile, Judah is undergoing the
same corrupting process, also ignores her prophets, and is also destroyed
except for a remnant. The remnant of Judah is taken into captivity to (one city)
Babylon for the next seventy years. Cyrus of Persia-Media then conquers Babylon
and frees the Judah (Jews) remnant to return to Canaan and build the second
temple. Then the whole process starts over again. The people (Judah remnant)
turn away from God again; the elite leadership of "vipers" (as John
the Baptist called them) grow more and more arrogant and less and less wise.
They conspire to bring about Jesus’ death and fail to recognize their spiritual savior as portrayed by their
prophets. Then the leaders plunge their
nation once again headlong into war and inevitable destruction, this time
at the hands of the Roman army in 70 A.D. Most die, but a remnant of Judah is
scattered among many nations for the
next two thousand years while the Christians have their turn to carry the torch
of God during the presently ending "Age of the Gentiles". This is Israel’s history to the present
time.
The Biblical Prophets, the Dead
Sea Scrolls, and 1Enoch all
predict a final end of the age when the "Messiah" comes to put an end
to war and to reunite the Judah and Lost Israel remnants into one nation again
and forevermore. The Messiah also
judges the nations, the peoples, and establishes justice. He enters right after the onset of the
messianic war where "all the nations" come against Israel.
As it stands now, the remnant of
Judah (the Jews) has been and is being re-gathered into modern Israel, with
nationhood declared in 1948. The Lost
Israel (northern tribes) remnant is still unidentified and un-gathered, seemingly
lost to history. Also, for the first
time in the history of Israel, the world situation is entering a scenario that
could, for the first time, conceivably see "all the nations", (the
United Nations), as prophesied, come against modern Israel (remnant of Judah)
through the newly formed "global police force," NATO. If and when this "police force"
comes against modern Israel the Messiah is prophesied to intervene. Our
upcoming study of prophecy will fill in many details of what is about to
occur. Nevertheless, every individual
is free to choose their own part in
what is about to unfold.