In the last Manasseh Study we covered the separation of Israel under King Solomon’s son Rehoboam, into two distinct Kingdoms, one in Jerusalem to include the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, and the other Kingdom with Jeroboam as its king in the northern territory of Israel, which included all the other tribes, with Ephraim being the largest, which was also the tribe of this Jeroboam. The capital city over the northern ten tribe Kingdom of Israel was in Samaria, which is also referred to in Scripture as ‘Ephraim’, ‘Joseph’, and the ‘house of Israel’. The southern Kingdom of Judea was called the ‘house of Judah’.
If you’ll remember in the previous Manasseh studies, verses that point out the difference between these two Peoples, with this study, I’ll now cover more examples to that same effect in Scripture as we ask a word of Wisdom from our Father in Christ’s Name, Amen.

The Levites move to Jerusalem

II Chron.11:5   And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defence in Judah.

     Just in case I didn’t cover from the last study that the tribe of Levi left the northern tribes of Israel and moved to Jerusalem, here are the verses so there will be no doubt. Here Rehoboam is defending Judea and Jerusalem, but from whom? From the northern Kingdom of the ‘house of Israel’, the ten tribes God gave to Jeroboam in Samaria. Let’s skip to verse 12:

Notice it is written that all those who didn’t agree with Jeroboam’s ‘golden calf’ worship also left the northern ten tribes and moved to Jerusalem to the ‘house of Judah’. Some would try to say this migration of some of the ten tribes to Jerusalem proves that all of them moved to Jerusalem, but they are in error, for The Word has a lot to say yet about this northern Kingdom under Jeroboam in Samaria, the ‘house of Israel’.

The Two Houses of Israel

Jer 33:7  And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.

I apologize for skipping around in verse, but that’s how it must be done when studying a particular subject or idea in God’s Word.
In this verse of Jeremiah, God is saying He will bring the captivity of His People back to the land He gave their forefathers. Many are taught this happened in 1948 in today’s nation of Israel, under U.N. Charter. You will note in this 7th verse of Jer.33 that God is making a distinction between the ‘captivity of Judah’ verses the ‘captivity of Israel’. I’m going to give more examples of God’s Word marking this difference, so bear with me.
     One should also note verse 8 with, “…and I will pardon all their iniquities…”. Has this happened yet? No, as the majority of the ‘house of Judah’ still haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as Savior. So you should realize Jer.33:8 here is yet future, when Christ returns to reign as KING and LORD.

Jer 30:3  For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’ ”

The final joining of the two ‘houses’ of Israel has not happened yet to our day. Those who believe it has are hanging their hats up too early when trying to understand what period we are in, according to God’s prophets. Well what am I talking about? This: many in Jerusalem of the ‘house of Judah’ are waiting for Messiah Jesus, for the first Advent, not the last and final return of Christ. The joining of the two ‘houses’ will happen as God gave us back in Gen.49:10, that is, when Shiloh (Jesus Christ) returns, and ‘to Him will the gathering of the People be’. So where will Christ return to when he comes in our near future?-

Acts 1:11    Which also said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, Which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.”

12    Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey.

Zech 14:4   And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

God will return ‘to earth’ is the main point I wish to establish with these verses. We are not going up in the sky, He is coming to earth, and to rule over the earth, setting up His Perfect Kingdom, an everlasting Monarchy Kingdom (Rev.11:15). The previous verses dealing with the ‘gathering’ of His People, the two ‘houses’ of Israel, will be back to the land God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It doesn’t take much common sense to see that the opposite events are now happening in and around Jerusalem, for the modern nation state we call Israel of today is dwindling away, with the U.N. chipping at it, and giving it to other peoples and nations. As Christ said in Mark 13:7, “And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.”  Well what’s the opposite of ‘wars and rumors of wars‘? It is peace, peace, peace, and there is no peace. That’s exactly what we’ve been hearing lately, so we are very, very close to Christ’s return.
Your probably wondering where I’m going with this. Those in Jerusalem are preparing for an earthly King because they of Judah and of the priesthood have the Hebrew manuscripts to help them interpret God’s Word rightly. The problem is that they believe this final Kingdom now being set up by Satan’s host, the ‘New World Order’ bunch, are bringing in God’s Kingdom. Because these ‘beasts’ (Kenites, i.e., sons of Cain) and their ‘beast’ one world order system is a false ‘material’ system to be set up on this earth, much like the false Babylon kingdom under Nebuchadnezzar during Daniel the prophet’s days; certain false ones (sons of Cain, i.e. the ‘false Jews’ Christ named in Rev.2:9 & 3:9) are purposefully misteaching and misrepresenting God’s Word to the world. Some of the nations mixed in the priesthood of Levi as recorded in Ezra, and they’re misleading many of the true bloodline tribe of Judah. Consider the following:

Zech 14:20   In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar.

21    Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.“

     This is why these false ones must make the world believe that both ‘houses’ of Israel are already together in the nation state of Israel today; so they can establish the ‘lie’, bringing in their king, Satan, as ‘a spurious Messiah’ (Matt.24:24 & Mark 13:22 in the Greek). If we listen to God’s side of the story, which I am partly covering with this Lost Tribe study, then we know the opposite is true, for both the ‘house of Judah’ and the ‘house of Israel’ are not back together yet.
     Another clue to this idea from some of these previous verses here deal with God’s use of the term ‘captivity‘. Did you notice back in Jer.30:3 God said He would bring the ‘captivity again‘ of both ‘houses’? What ‘captivity’? With this Lost Tribe study, we are working our way towards the first ‘captivities’ of both ‘houses’, the ‘house of Judah’ in captivity for 70 years to Babylon, and the captivity of the ‘house of Israel’ to Assyria. Thus God is also letting us know that as He punished both ‘houses’ with those ‘captivities’, He will again bring the ‘captivity’ of both ‘houses’ again, but the last time will be back to Him, specifically at the ‘gathering’ to Christ Jesus when He returns (see Gen.49:10).
     So what does the last statement in this verse mean: “…in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of host”?  The Kenites (sons of Cain; Strong’s no. 7014) had crept into the house of Judah at Jerusalem, as these Kenites were mixed in the sons of Canaan. Remember that Canaan was a son of Ham, the son of Noah? These Kenites eventually took over the priesthood after the return of the house of Judah from the Babylonain captivity. When our Lord and Savior comes, these ‘Canaanites’ who crept into Judah’s ‘stay’, will be cast out.
The reason why it’s important to grasp the different references to the separate ‘houses’ in God’s Word, is because it allows us to understand His Word that He gave us through His prophets. Those of you who now understand that split of the two ‘houses’ should now go back and re-study the Book of Jeremiah, which is mainly about and to the ‘house of Judah’ concerning the last days, and the Book of Ezekiel, which is to the ‘house of Israel’ concerning the last days. Both Books mention the two ‘houses’, but each have a separate Message specifically to each ‘house’. They were history, but are a type of repeating history, and reveal much of what is going on in our world today.

II Kings 1:3   But the Angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, ‘Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?

At this time, Ahaziah was king over the ‘house of Israel’, in Samaria. Because of this term “the king of Samaria”, you should consider closely how this term Samaria is used in the prophets, for it is here applied to the northern kingdom of the ten tribes, not Judah or Jerusalem. You will also see the terms ‘Joseph’ or ‘Samaria’ linked with certain cities that were only in the northern territory of Israel, such as Bethel (where Jacob’s Pillar was), and Mount Carmel.

God Scatters the House of Israel

Hosea 7:1   When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria:

     If you follow the lineage of kings from both ‘houses’ after the split of Israel into two kingdoms there in I Kings.11, you’ll find that many times both ‘houses’ were guilty of idol worship and turned away from our heavenly Father. Remember, this is the reason why God parted Israel in the first place, other than reasons for the fulfillment of His overall Plan. There were many cases where the future kings of the ‘house of Israel’ in Samaria followed the worship of the ‘golden calves’ as when Jeroboam first set it up. Jeroboam even placed one of the ‘golden calf’ idols in Bethel. Abram built an altar to God at Bethel (Gen.12:8), and this same Bethel was where Jacob had the vision and anointed the ‘Pillar’, so I hope you get the parallel, that this idol of a gold calf no doubt made God very angry. We’ll get more into the ‘spiritual significance’ of that ‘Pillar’ at Bethel later on.

II Kings 15:27   In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years.

We now go to the reign of Pekah, king of the ‘house of Israel’ in Samaria. Notice that the false worship with the ‘golden calves’ that Jeroboam set up continued in the land? This ‘Tiglath-pileser’ means ‘thou will uncover the wonderful bond’ in the Hebrew (Strong’s no. 8407; Brown-Driver-Briggs). The areas and Peoples of the ‘house of Israel’ this Assyrian king took were: ‘Ijon‘- of the northern tribe Naphtali; ‘Abel-beth-ma’achah’ – some of Ephraim; ‘Jonoah‘ – some of Ephraim; ‘Kedesh‘ – Naphtali; ‘Hazor‘ – also Naphtali; ‘Gilead‘ – portions of the half tribe Manasseh; ‘Galilee‘ – Naphtali. This was the ‘first captivity’ of carrying the ten northern tribes to Assyria. None of the ‘house of Judah’ were involved in this captivity.

II Kings 17:4   And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.

This particular king of Assyria was Shalmaneser, but Sargon would be the one to win the siege of Samaria, the capitol city of the ‘house of Israel’. The fact that the king of Assyria could go through the land of northern Israel like this, and then siege Samaria for three years without much effort, let’s us know that many of the peoples of those ten tribes must have already been carried away to Assyria. Here this city capital of Israel, Samaria was the last stronghold of the then remaining ten tribes in the north.

II Kings 17:6-9
6    In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

I strongly suggest you read in this Chapter of II Kings 17 the remaining verses where God describes the sins of the ‘house of Israel’. That’s a list of abominations they were doing, and it still applies for us today. It hasn’t changed one iota.

II Kings 17:18-20
18    Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of His sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

This is very plain that God removed the ten tribes of the ‘house of Israel’ out of the land He gave them for their heritage, and instead to a foreign land under captors, to Assyria. Notice that the ‘house of Judah’ was following the same abominable worship as ‘Joseph’ ‘made‘. That word ‘made‘ is very important, for God had already laid out the Commandments and Statutes we are to follow. He doesn’t like mere mortals playing around with His Law, turning their backs on It. I hear there are some People in Alabama law who are pressing to allow a copy of The Ten Commandments to hang on the walls of school classrooms and courtrooms once again! Thank The Lord that He left us a ‘remnant’ that set good examples for all peoples everywhere. One more verse:

II Kings 17:23    Until the LORD removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

    Again, we know this ‘Israel’ is not referring to the ‘house of Judah’, because of the previous verses, and the captivity to follow the ten tribes. And I say unto our day also, for it is nowhere written in The Word that the ten tribes returned. Nor during the birth of the State of Israel in 1948 by U.N. Charter vote, for the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi are there in Judea. The rest are foreigners, which make up the majority of people in the land. You’ll find similarities to all these events here in I and II Kings also written in I and II Chronicles. The difference being that Kings is a historical point of view, and Chronicles give more reasons why these events took place. Study those four Books hand in hand together and you’ll reap much insight.

So God removed all of the ten tribes of Israel and allowed peoples from five specific nations to abide in their place. They all brought their own ‘gods’ with them also. This was the deeper message our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was alluding to in John 4 when dealing with the Samaritan (from Samaria) woman at the well who had ‘five husbands’. Christ told her “Ye worship ye know not what:…” (John 4:22). Each one of those ‘five husbands’ represents being ‘married’ to the wrong ‘bridegroom’ in false worship of idols. The deeper teaching in the Gospel there to us today, is to be careful in worship, know the difference in bowing down to idols and false pagan doctrines that can creep into the True worship of our Father Jehovah through His Son Jesus Christ. The Word of God is our guide, not man’s traditions.
This study covered the captivity to Assyria of the ‘house of Israel’, the lost ten tribes. They’re not really lost, because our Father knows where He placed them. Next time will cover the Babylonian captivity of the ‘house of Judah’, and their return to Jerusalem, as written in The Word, then the hard road dealing with how to discover in God’s Word His Messages where He would scatter the ten tribes of the ‘house of Israel’, and the path they took.

Peace to you in Christ Jesus,
Dave Ramey.