Brit-Am Note on Judah and Israel as
Separate Entities.
We agree with the above remarks by Alex Zephyr in principle but a few niceties of detail should
be noticed.
(a) Judah and Israel Always Separate?
Judah is mentioned in Scripture as a separate entity long before the
division.
A degree of distinction existed from the very beginning.
...set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah (2-Samuel 3:10).
'...Go, number Israel and Judah' (2-Samuel 24:1).
"For I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah' (1-Kings 1:35).
cf Ezekiel 23:2-3 "TWO WOMEN, THE DAUGHTERS OF ONE MOTHER".
And so on.
This to our mind foreadumbrated the destined separation and separate tasks of
the two halves of the Hebrew Nation.
(b) Judah as well as the Ten Tribes may
also be referred to as Israel.
The term "Israel" when used in juxtapostion with "Judah" does mean the
Ten Tribes.
Otherwise "Israel" may refer to all the 12 tribes, or to the Ten Tribes only, or
to just Judah.
It depends on the context.
In the Books of Ezra and Nechamia the term "Israel" refers mostly to the Jews
who returned from Babylon.
In the Book of Ezekiel the term "House of Israel" can refer to either Judah or
"Joseph" or both of them together..
In the other Prophetical Books "House of Israel" usually refers to the Ten
Tribes especially when the expression is juxtaposed to "House of Judah".
(c) Judah ALSO Includes Members from ALL
the 12 Tribes!
Members of ALL the Twelves Tribes are to be found amongst the present-day Jews
even though contingents from the Lost Ten are minorities
and do not express their Tribal distinctiveness.
See Nachmanides, "Sefer HaGeulah":
# Those from the Tribes of Ephraim and Shimeon from Israel that were present (2-Chronicles 35;18)
with Judah were they who dwelt in the Land of Judah or perhaps to some degree also those who had dwelt in their
own territories adjoining Judah and had fled to Judah. They are referred to in a general sense as “from Israel”
(in 2-Chronicles 35;18) and not by their specific tribes since they represented only a small portion of their tribe.
These are they who returned under Ezra with the Jews from Babylon.
They were not expressly mentioned by their tribes since they were attached to Judah.
They all settled in the cities of Judah. There was no Redemption for the Ten Tribes who remained in exile.#
In a sense the presence of the other Tribes in Judah may be considered a
contingency reserve.
Judah at some stage in the future should go out and call to Joseph to return.
[ We doubt very much that this should be done now. As we explained above, more
knowledge is needed and more needs to be done.]
(d) The Onus to Respond will be on the
Ten Tribes! And to some degree this is already the case!
When Judah does go out, it will be the obligation of Joseph to respond.
The ball will be in the field of Joseph.
To some degree that is also the case at present.
Brit-Am sends out its message mainly to Joseph and needs help in doing so.
The Commentator Tifereth Yisrael, explained the conclusive and authoritative opinion of Rabbi Eliezer (Sanhedrin chapter 11) that the Ten Tribes would return as being based on the prophecy of Ezekiel 20:33, “As I live, says the LORD God, surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, will I be King over you.”
The Almighty, in HIS time, will force the Israelites to repent and return.
See Also:
Will the Lost Tribes
Return?
An Analysis of the Lost Tribes in Rabbinic Literature
by Dennis Jones
In the End Times:
...the Gentile nations will bring the Jews and Israelites who live amongst them to the King Messiah as an offering of acknowledgement (Isaiah 66:18-22).
We understand this to mean that some of the so-called "Gentile" Nations will help the Jews return to the land of Israel
to prepare the way of the Messiah.
Manyn of the "Gentiles" who offer such assistance will themselves be revealed as Israelites who had lost trace of their ancestry.
The Midrash (Yalkut Shimeoni on Psalm 89) says:
# And I will also take of them for Priests and for Levites # (Isaiah 66:22). God will take from the Gentiles who
are bringing Jews to the King Messiah [i.e. helping them return to the Land of Israel]. . HE will sort out from amongst them all those who are Israelites. Rabbi Pinchas bar Chama said: “ ...the secret things belong unto the LORD our God” (Deuteronomy 29:28). God will count as Israelites those of the Gentiles who help the Israelites return. They too will be counted as Israelites as if that very minute they had been reborn.
(e) The Ten Tribes When they Return Will (at least initially)
go First to Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan!
According to tradition based on Prophecy a Divinely Appointed Leader ("Messiah Son of Joseph") will lead
the Ten Tribes when they return. This leader will be Divinely Inspired and have the status and authority of a Prophet.
No-one like that exists today as far as we know. The Ten Tribes when they come back will do so as one main group.
They will settle at first along the outskirts of the Promised Land i.e. areas such as parts of Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon.
Zechariah 10:
7 Those of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man...
8 I will whistle for them and gather them, For I will redeem them; And they shall increase as they once increased.
9 I will sow them among the peoples, And they shall remember Me in far countries;
They shall live, together with their children,
And they shall return.
10 I will also bring them back from the land of Egypt [in Hebrew "Mitsrayim" which can also connote regions in the north]
And gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon,
Until no more room is found for them.
Micah 7:
12 In that day they shall come to you From Assyria and the fortified cities...
14 ... Let them feed in
Bashan and Gilead, As in days of
old.
15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them
wonders.
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