“An Everlasting Love...”

Could you be a lineal descendant of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob? Perhaps the idea strikes you as too incredible to take seriously, too far fetched to be true—much like a dream which is so good that you are sure it could never happen in reality. The possibility of your own physical descent from Abraham is such an overwhelming notion that it is easy for your rational mind to dismiss the thought as literally “too good to be true.” Yet, a careful reading of the Torah and the Prophets reveals that Abraham’s seed, particularly the descendants of the Northern Ten Tribes, are still in exile among the nations, and will soon be brought back to the LORD (YHVH) their God and to the Land of their ancestors. If you are experiencing an inner pull toward the God of Israel, and to His Torah, then the probability is high that you are, in fact, a descendant of the Tribes.

While the Divine scenario of the Northern House of Israel being taken captive by Assyria, scattered among the nations, and regathered to the LORD (YHVH) in the latter days is most specifically laid out in the Book of Hosea, chapters 1 and 2, one could argue that it is most passionately enunciated in Jeremiah, chapter 31. However, beware in your reading, since this vitally important chapter has often been misunderstood by both Christians and Jews, when they have failed to pay close attention to Jeremiah’s carefully chosen language. It is intriguing that the prophet himself tells us, “In the latter days you will understand this” (30:24b).

You will note that the prophesy recorded in Jeremiah 31 is directed to both the House of Israel, the Northern Ten Tribes, and the House of Judah. This point is forcefully made in chapter 30 verse 4 where this particular prophetic sequence of events is initiated with the statement, “Now these are the words which the LORD (YHVH) spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah....” Then follows the now familiar pattern of the need for punishment upon both Houses of Israel by military defeat and scattering in exile, but resulting in the complete accomplishment of the Holy One’s purposes by their eventual regathering. Both the scattering and the regathering are in the Wisdom and Providence of God; Jeremiah’s language is chilling here (again, 30:24): “The fierce anger of the LORD (YHVH) will not turn back, until He has performed, and until He has accomplished the intent of His heart; in the latter days you will understand this.”

These words bring to mind a parallel passage in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 27 verses 8 and 9, “By measure, by exile, thou didst contend with them; He removed her by His rough blast in the day of the east wind. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be atoned; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin....” It is worth noting that Isaiah here indicates that the exile would serve as an atonement for the sins of the people. Such an idea of atonement for sins might come as a surprise to those used to thinking in Christian terms.

Fortunately, the Almighty’s plan does not end with punishment and abandonment of His people, Israel. Jeremiah 31 starts out with the hopeful declaration of the LORD (YHVH), Himself, “At that time (that is, “in the latter days,” see the previous verse)...I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.” God promises the descendants of Israel that they will find “grace in the wilderness” (verse 2), followed by the most moving promise of all, “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (verse 3). It would be a grave mistake, at this point, to assume that these incredible promises are made only to the House of Judah, the Jewish people; on the contrary, read closely verses 5, 6, and 9b:

Again you shall plant vineyards
On the hills of Samaria;
For there shall be a day when watchmen
On the hills of Ephraim shall call out,
“Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
To the LORD (YHVH) our God.”
For I am a father to Israel,
And Ephraim is my first-born.

These clear statements, made by the LORD (YHVH), identify the primary audience. It was the Northern Ten Tribes who occupied Samaria/the hill country of Ephraim anciently, and who are prophesied to do so again. These Tribes, who are frequently referred to in Scripture collectively as Ephraim, are called the LORD’s (YHVH’s) “first-born” (possibly an allusion to Genesis 48:14-20 and I Chronicles 5:1).

The sure word of God to the descendants of Ephraim, the Northern Ten Tribes, is, “Behold, I am bringing them from the north country (Assyria), and I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth....” (verse 8a). And again, stated even more emphatically in verse 10, “Hear the word of the LORD (YHVH) O nations, and declare in the coastlands afar off, and say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’” Notice the interesting wording here. This declaration is to be made in the “coastlands afar off,” and the descendants of Israel are to be gathered from “the remote parts of the earth.” These locations certainly lend evidence to current efforts to identify the descendants of the Ten Tribes with the Northwest European peoples and their colonies. Other psychological, sociological, religious, and historical evidence, which we will be publishing in forthcoming articles, only serves to strengthen this connection.

Proceeding to the next major section of Jeremiah 31, we encounter the heart-rending passage, “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more” (verse 15). This passage was applied in the New Testament to Matthew’s report that Herod slaughtered infant Jewish children at the birth of Jesus. Most historians would agree that this can not be its intended original meaning. Jewish interpreters have most often understood it as a reference to the Holocaust, or to Jewish suffering throughout the ages. Yet even this reading, Page 2

which is certainly more to the mark, is too general and does not do justice to the highly specific language of Jeremiah. Remember, according to the historical books of the Bible, the Jewish people are primarily composed of descendants of the Tribes of Judah and Levi, and to a lesser extent Benjamin. Judah and Levi are the children of Leah, not of Rachel (Gen. 29:32-35). And while Benjamin was Rachel’s son, she never got the chance to know him, as she died during his birth (Gen. 35:16-19).

But Rachel did give Jacob a son, whom Jacob loved very dearly, Joseph (Gen. 37:3). Is it not this son for whose descendants Rachel is weeping in Jeremiah 31:15? Indeed, it must be! The Holy One instructs Rachel to stop weeping, promising her that her children will “return from the land of the enemy.” And, what children are these? Look closely at verses 18 and 20, where the LORD (YHVH) says, “I have surely heard Ephraim grieving, ‘Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for Thou art the LORD (YHVH) my God.’” The LORD’s (YHVH’s) reply is passionate:

“Is Ephraim My dear son?
Is he a delightful child?
Indeed, as often as I have spoken against him,
I remember him;
Therefore My heart yearns for him;
I will surely have mercy on him,”
Declares the LORD (YHVH).

Again, it is clear that it is The House of Israel/ Ephraim/the Northern Ten Tribes which is being referred to here, not the House of Judah/the Jews. If anyone is tempted to think that the term Ephraim is being employed here in a generic way to address all Israel, just glance down to verses 23, 24, and 27, where Judah is treated as distinct from Ephraim/the House of Israel.

Next follows the passage that is at once the most awesome and the most misinterpreted of all the promises recorded in the prophets—the “new covenant.” Most Christians have applied this amazing prophecy of a new covenant to the Church, and its mission to the Gentile nations. However, anyone who will carefully read what Jeremiah says, and whom he addresses, in context, will quickly see that such an application does serious injustice to the text. Unfortunately, the motivation Christians had in trying to claim this passage was the advancement of a “replacement” theory, in which the Jews were no longer the heirs to these promises. One can only say, in the face of such claims—read the text! What does Jeremiah actually say? It can be clearly seen from the context (verses 27-28) that at a time when the House of Israel (the Northern Ten Tribes) and the House of Judah (Judah, Levi, and Benjamin) have been restored to the Land promised to their ancestors, and are multiplying and prospering, the LORD (YHVH) will “make a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah....” (verse 31). Please note that this new covenant is not made with the Gentiles; neither is it made solely with the house of Judah, the Jews. Rather, it is an incredible future promise that is guaranteed to the Jews and to their brothers, the descendants of Joseph/Ephraim, after they have been reunited and are prospering in the Land of Israel. You well know the magnitude of the promise:

I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD (YHVH),’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD (YHVH), “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (verses 33-34).

Now, how sure are these promises? Could they be taken away from the physical descendants of Jacob/Israel and given instead to a group of Gentiles? The scriptural text addresses that possibility most plainly, when it says, “Thus says the LORD (YHVH), who gives the sun for light by day, and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night...,

If this fixed order departs from before me, ...then the offspring of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever (verses 35-36).

And, as if that wording were not strong enough, the passage continues,

“Thus says the LORD (YHVH), 'If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done'” (verse 7).

What further comment is needed?

Dennis Jones