“From the rising of the sun even to its setting, My Name will be great among the Gentiles,” says Yahweh Sabaoth.
(Malachi 1: 11)
_____________
#####
If you are on the SnyderTalk email distribution list, clicking on the title at the top of the email will open SnyderTalk. Emails don’t contain videos that are very informative.
#####
Ezekiel 37 and the Jewish State of Israel
We are approaching the time when Ezekiel’s prophecy about the dry bones (Ezekiel 37) will be fulfilled. I don’t know the day. I don’t know the sequence of events, either. If I did, I couldn’t divulge those things unless Yahweh told me to.
Ezekiel 37 deals with things that must come to pass before Yahweh returns. Israel and Judah will be united again. They have been divided since shortly after King Solomon’s death in 931 BC.
After Solomon’s death, Israel became the Northern Kingdom. It included all the tribes of Israel except Judah and Benjamin.
Judah became the Southern Kingdom after Solomon’s death. Benjamin was a small tribe. It was absorbed by Judah, so for all practical purposes, Benjamin and Judah became one tribe.
The Assyrians defeated the Northern Kingdom (Israel) in the 700s BC and took them captive. Eventually, they were scattered throughout the world. Over time, most of them lost touch with their Israeli identity. They became known as the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.
Israel (the Northern Kingdom) was never lost. It was assimilated.
Ezekiel 37 talks about a time when Yahweh will awaken the people of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) to their heritage as Israelites and draw them back to their ancestral homeland. It’s the land that Yahweh promised to Abraham’s descendants through Issac and Jacob. That’s why it’s called the Promised Land. Today’s modern Israel represents a small part of that heritage.
In the 500s BC, the Babylonians defeated the Southern Kingdom (Judah) and took them captive. After 70 years of captivity, King Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to the Promised Land and to rebuild Yahweh’s Temple.
Judaism and Jewishness
Most of the people living in Israel today think they are Jewish because they identify with Judaism, but many of them are not descendants of Judah.
Being Jewish is a matter of lineage, not religion. Either you are a direct descendant of Judah or you are not. If you are a descendant of Judah, you are Jewish. If you aren’t one of Judah’s descendants, you aren’t Jewish. It has nothing to do with religion.
I’ve spent a lot of time in Israel. I’ve gotten to know many Israeli people. They are proud of their Jewish heritage, but many of them are not Jews.
For instance, I know a man in Jerusalem whose last name is Cohen. He thinks he’s Jewish, but he knows that is a descendant of Levi. Levi’s descendants are Levites, not Jews. Mr. Cohen thinks he’s Jewish because Judaism is his religion.
Technically, Judah’s descendants are Yehudaites or Judahites. We call them Jews.
Dan’s descendants are Danites. Gad’s descendants are Gadites, and so on. Dan’s and Gad’s descendants are not Jewish no matter what their religion is. Even if they were atheists, they would still be Danites and Gadites. They can never be Jewish, because Jewishness is based on lineage, not religion.
All of Jacob’s descendants including Judah’s descendants are Israelites or the Children of Israel. Today, we call them Israelis. Yahweh gave the Promised Land to all of them, not to Judah alone.
I know from personal experience that this is a confusing subject for most Israelis. Rabbis in Israel teach that a person can become a Jew by converting to Judaism, but no one can choose to become a Jew. Either you are born a Jew, or you are not a Jew. It takes most Israelis a while to adjust to this logic, because it’s based on Yahweh’s word, not Halacha.
Halacha
Halacha is the Oral Law. Sometimes, it’s called “the traditions of the Jews”. In Judaism, Halacha takes precedence over Yahweh’s word in much the same way that Supreme Court decisions take precedence over laws passed by Congress.
Some will argue that Halacha originated with Moses (not Moses Maimonides, Rambam) during the Exodus and the 40-year wilderness journey, but that’s not true. Halacha and Judaism as we know it today started during the Babylonian Captivity.
The Babylonians destroyed Yahweh’s Temple in 586 BC and took Jewish people captive. Since the rituals that Yahweh required centered around animal sacrifice and worship in Yahweh’s Temple in Jerusalem, Jewish religious leaders in Babylon decided to come up with religious practices that didn’t require animal sacrifices, the Temple, or Jerusalem.
Synagogue worship and Halacha were the rabbis’ solution. They made those decisions. They did not come from Yahweh. In the rabbis’s religious system, they were at the top of the pyramid. They decided what was right and wrong. Halacha lays out their view of right and wrong.
For more about Halacha, see His Name is Yahweh: Revised Edition and The Trilogy.
Halacha Prevails in Judaism
The issues I’m addressing here are foreign to most of the people living in Israel today. They have never considered the possibility that Halacha did not come from Yahweh and that it is not endorsed by Him.
Why would they? They don’t hear about this in synagogues where Halacha prevails.
Stated simply, Halacha is a man-made religion. Many of it’s basic precepts contradict Yahweh’s explicit commands. That’s something Yahweh does not condone and will never endorse.
Typically, synagogue worship begins with a reading from the Torah. Then the rabbi lays the Torah aside and teaches Halacha. The focus is on Halacha, not Yahweh’s word. From Yahweh’s perspective, that’s a act of rebellion and betrayal.
Details Matter
Most Israelis don’t differentiate between the line of Judah and people who practice or identify with Judaism and call themselves Jews, but Yahweh does. To understand what Yahweh told Ezekiel, you must make that distinction.
To Yahweh, details matter. Even minute details. His promises are loaded with details that have to be taken into account. Ezekiel 37 is no exception.
I have no way of knowing how many people from the Northern Kingdom (Israel) who were scattered throughout the world refused to assimilate and decided to associate with Judaism. I’ll bet the number is substantial. They think they are Jewish, but they are not.
World War II brought death and misery to people who practiced Judaism. Many of those who were persecuted were not Jewish. They simply practiced Judaism and were considered Jewish.
Following the war, Israel was declared an independent state. This statement appears in Israel’s Declaration of Independence:
“By virtue of our natural and historic right and on the strength of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, [we] hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel.”
In Israel today, the Jewishness of the State of Israel is a big deal politically. Israel can’t be a Jewish state no matter what the Knesset decides. Yahweh gave the Promised Land to Jacob’s descendants—all 12 tribes, not Judah alone. Making things even more complicated, Joseph got a double portion. That’s what Yahweh said and He is Sovereign.
Judah will control part of the Promised Land by Yahweh’s decree, but not all of it. When Yahweh brings the rest of Jacob’s descendants home to Israel, they will encounter stiff resistance from some of their relatives because of the influence of Halacha and because of their lack of understanding of Yahweh’s promises.
The distinction between the line of Jacob and the line of Judah is key. It has nothing to do with Judaism the religion.
This subject is a lot more complicated than I have suggested here. I’ll stop there for now, though, because this is an editorial, not a book. With those thoughts in mind, read Ezekiel 37. I hope my explanation helps you understand what Yahweh is about to do.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son
Before you read Ezekiel 37, take a few minutes and read The Parable of the Prodigal Son. It’s in Luke 15: 11–32.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son tells about what will happen when Yahweh reunites Israel and Judah. Judah will resist reunification. Yahweh will have to solve that problem.
Ezekiel 37
A Valley of Dry Bones
Yahweh took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of Yahweh to a valley filled with bones. He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Then He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”
“O Sovereign Yahweh,” I replied, “You alone know the answer to that.”
Then He said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of Yahweh! This is what Sovereign Yahweh says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.’”
So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.
Then He said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what Sovereign Yahweh says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’”
So I spoke the message as He commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.
Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am Yahweh. I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, Yahweh has spoken!’”
Reunion of Israel and Judah
Again a message came to me from Yahweh: “Son of man, take a piece of wood and carve on it these words: ‘This represents Judah and its allied tribes.’ Then take another piece and carve these words on it: ‘This represents Ephraim and the northern tribes of Israel.’ Now hold them together in your hand as if they were one piece of wood. When your people ask you what your actions mean, say to them, ‘This is what Sovereign Yahweh says: I will take Ephraim and the northern tribes and join them to Judah. I will make them one piece of wood in my hand.’
“Then hold out the pieces of wood you have inscribed, so the people can see them. And give them this message from Sovereign Yahweh: I will gather the people of Israel from among the nations. I will bring them home to their own land from the places where they have been scattered. I will unify them into one nation on the mountains of Israel. One king will rule them all; no longer will they be divided into two nations or into two kingdoms. They will never again pollute themselves with their idols and vile images and rebellion, for I will save them from their sinful backsliding. I will cleanse them. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their Elohim.
“My servant David will be their king, and they will have only one shepherd. They will obey My regulations and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave my servant Jacob, the land where their ancestors lived. They and their children and their grandchildren after them will live there forever, generation after generation. And my servant David will be their prince forever. And I will make a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant. I will give them their land and increase their numbers, and I will put My Temple among them forever. I will make My home among them. I will be their Elohim, and they will be My people. And when My Temple is among them forever, the nations will know that I am Yahweh, who makes Israel holy.”
#####
_____________
#####
#####
_____________
#####
“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)
