Subject: Re: Galilee of the Gentiles
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 23:19:09 +0000
To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>

 

From:         Batya Wootten
To:            heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject:       Re: Galilee of the Gentiles

In a message dated 98-02-12 00:52:22 EST, you write:

<< Why is Galilee called Galilee of the Gentiles? >>

Those of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, or Ephraim, were slowly assimilated
into, and finally the ruling class of Israel's capital, Samaria was taken
captive by, Assyria, around 722 B.C.

To answer your question, I submit the fourth chapter of my forthcoming new
book, Who Is Israel?  And Why You Need To Know (footnotes will not come
through).

Ephraim's name, as an individual, is mentioned only fourteen times in
Scripture.  We are told he was born in Egypt, being the second son of Joseph
and Asenath (daughter of Potiphera, priest of On).  And, Joseph said he named
him Ephraim, because, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction"
(Genesis 41:52).  Ultimately, Ephraim was brought before his grandfather and
pronounced heir of Israel.  He is last mentioned in Genesis 50:23: "And Joseph
saw the third generation of Ephraim's sons."  After that, the man named
Ephraim disappears.  The one whose name meant "doubly fruitful" fades away,
leaving no record of his ever having passed his rich blessing on to another.
 
A House Divided
After Jacob blessed Ephraim, Ephraim's descendants were thereafter regarded as
a single tribe.  Years later, ten of the twelve tribes of Israel collectively
became known as "Ephraimites" (1 Kings 11:31; Judges 12:5).
This came to pass because some time after the children of Israel entered into
the land of Canaan, they divided into two houses: Judah and Ephraim.
While all twelve tribes were Jacob's descendants (2 Kings 17:34), the northern
kingdom of Ephraim was called "Israel," and the southern kingdom was called
"Judah" (1 Kings 12:21).
 
The Lost Tribes
The Northern Kingdom of Israel consisted of ten tribes (1 Kings 11:35), and it
lasted for about two hundred years (975-721 B.C.).  But because Ephraim most
often followed after the pagan customs of their Gentile neighbors, for a
season, some Ephraimites joined the more Godly people of Judah.  During this
time, they were subjects of Judea:  "But as for the sons of Israel who lived
in the cities of Judah, Reheboam [Judah's king] reigned over them" (1 Kings
12:17).  But sadly, Judah fell into the same sins (Ezekiel 23:1-49).  So the
Ephraimites returned home (2 Kings 16:3; 17:19).

Scripture speaks of some intermingling and intermarriage between these two
kingdoms.  However, while a man from one tribe was free to move to the
territory of another, he could not take his land inheritance with him.
Further, land inheritance could be "sold" on a "lease" basis, but could not be
"permanently sold" (houses in walled cities could be sold: Leviticus
25:13,29-31).  This law limited tribal intermingling.  Moreover, if one did
move to the territory of another tribe, that move would not, could not, change
ones tribal lineage.

Thus, in all probability, each "house" included at least a small
representation of each tribe, but still, each remained a distinct entity until
the very end.  In fact, there was continual warfare between Israel and
Judah-which warring ceased only when Ephraim's northern foe, Assyria, carried
the people of Ephraim away into captivity. Thus, they became known as 
The Ten Lost Tribes.
 
Ephraim And The Samaritans

Of the Israelites taken captive by Assyria, the New International Version
Study Bible tells us:

"There is some evidence that Israel experienced its first deportations under
Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 B.C.), a cruelty repeated by Sargon II (722-705
B.C.) at the time of the fall of Samaria.  The latter king's inscriptions
boast of carrying away 27,290 inhabitants of the city as booty []....they were
sent to Assyria, to Halah (Calah?), to Gozan on the Habor River, and
apparently to the eastern frontiers of the empire (to the towns of the Medes,
most probably somewhere in the vicinity of Ecbatana, the modern Hamadan)." 
During this time, the Assyrians practiced a unique method of controlling newly
conquered lands.  They scattered the leading citizens among other nations and
then moved other conquered leaders into the newly subjugated land.  Thus, all
were destabilized and so were less likely to unite and revolt.

Assyrian records indicate noble families were taken captive, while
agricultural workers were left behind to care for the crops.   The Israelite
farmers and fishermen left behind to feed their conquerors's, ultimately were
assimilated into the Assyrian Empire.

Ephraim was scattered "in Halah, at the [River] Habor, at the River  Gozan,
and in the towns of  Media." Then, "The king of Assyria brought men from
Hamath and Sephar-vaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of
the sons of Israel.  So they possessed Samaria [Israel's capital] and lived in
its cities"  (2 Kings 17:6,24, TNKH; 1 Chronicles 5:26).

These transplanted people, as well as those who lived among them, ultimately
became known as "Samaritans."  They were generally despised by those of
Judah-which lasting hatred was soon returned (Luke 9:52-53; John 4:9; 8:48).
 
Many Miles Apart-Generations Later
To understand what happened to Ephraim, we need to see that at the time the
Ephraimites were taken captive, they had their own king and were functioning
as a separate kingdom (2 Kings 17:1-3).  Also, the locations they were taken
to varied in distance from 250 to 350 miles basically north of Babylon-the
place where Judah was later taken (see map section, this book).  It was 135
years later, or several generations, before Judah was taken captive. Further,
Judah was settled "by the river Chebar" (Ezekiel 1:1), while Ephraim was
scattered "beyond the Euphrates River" (1 Kings 14:15).

This means there were many miles (considering the limited methods of
transportation), and several generations (assuming they had children by age
forty), between the deportation of Ephraim to Assyria, and the later
deportation of Judah to Babylon.  Further, these two peoples were openly
hostile toward one another when they occupied the Promised Land.  And yet, it
is as though most historians and their students have been "blinded" to the
differences between these two kingdoms.  It is as though they do not see their
different deportations and times, nor their different prophecies and promises.
 
Assimilated Into the Foreign Milieu

After Assyria conquered them, what happened to the Ephraimites as a people?
The Encyclopaedia Judaica says:

"It is evident that as a rule they did not possess the status of slaves or of
an oppressed population.  The exiles were first settled in Mesopotamia as land
tenants of the king...the craftsmen among them were employed in state
enterprises.  Eventually, some of the exiles achieved economic and social
status and even occupied high ranking positions in the Assyrian
administration....The striking of roots in Mesopotamian society by a large
part of the descendants of the Israelite exiles resulted in their eventual
absorption into the foreign milieu." 
 
All Jews Were Israelites
But Not All Israelites Were Jews

If we are to understand "Israel," we must realize that these Ephraimites were
Israelites, and not Jews.  During the time they lived in the land, they were
never once called Jews.  They were called Israelites.  When they were
scattered, they were Israelites who lived and worked in Assyria.  They struck
roots in Mesopotamian society.  They were absorbed.  For all outward
appearances, they became "foreigners."  As prophesied by Jacob, they became
"Gentiles" (Genesis 48:19).

The Judahites were taken captive more than a century and a quarter later.
These were the Jews.  The Jewish people always sought to maintain a separate
identity from the nations in which they lived. However, the Ephraimites wanted
to be like the Gentiles.  For that reason, the Father allowed them to become
lost among the nations. He allowed them to become "Gentiles."

So went the fate of Ephraim.
 
>From this brief history it appears the hallmark of the people of Ephraim is
that they are lost-which is hardly a picture of a great congregation of people
mightily blessed by God. 

A Second Birth?
Where are the Ephraimites today?

The Encyclopaedia Judaica says the first century historian, Josephus, stated
in his Antiquities:  "The ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and
are an immense multitude not to be estimated in numbers." 

Also, the late Jewish Believer and theologian, Alfred Edersheim, in his highly
respected work, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, says:  "The great
mass of the ten tribes was in the days of Messiah, as in our own, lost to the
Hebrew nation."   Edersheim also calls them, "Those wanderers of the ten
tribes whose trackless footsteps seem as mysterious as their after-fate."
And, in his study of rabbinical thought regarding the lost tribes, Edersheim
concludes: "As regards the ten tribes there is this truth underlying...that,
as their persistent apostasy from the God of Israel and His worship had cut
them off from His people, so the fulfillment of the Divine promises to them in
the latter days would imply, as it were a second birth to make them once more
Israel." 

As suggested by rabbinical thought, did the Ephraimites experience a "second
birth"?  Were the Divine promises made to them fulfilled?  Having become lost
among the Gentile nations, did they once again become "Israel"? 

Hope this helps.

You can find more info at our web site:  www.mim.net

Shalom,

Batya Wootten
House of David

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