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and peoples descending from these
men were cont inued th r ough
Isaac's son J acob.
1n Genesis 28: 13-14, we read
this: "'I am the Lord God of Abra–
ham your father and the God of
Isaac; the land on which you lie I
wi ll give to you and your descen–
dants. Also your descendants shall
be as the dus t of the earth; you
shall spread abroad to the west and
the east, to the north and the
south.... '"
The Hebrew word for "spread
abroad" has the sense of "break
forth," meaning there was no limit
on how far north, south, east or
west they would go. They would
become a people with worldwide
impact. Where do we find such
people today?
Genesis 35: ll is very important
in our search for the identity of
J acob's descendants today. "Also
God said to him: '1 am God
Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply;
a nation and a company of nations
Manasseh, the f ir stborn, and
Ephraim, the second. Joseph took
these two sons with him to visit his
fat her, who was ill.
Old Israel, now a man of many,
many years, made a major decision.
He said in Genesis 48:5: "'And
now your two sons, Ephraim and
Manasseh , who were born to you in
t he land of Egypt befare I carne to
you in Egypt, are mine.... ' "
What Israel did, in effect, was to
take Ephraim and Manasseh, his
grandsons, and legally make them
his sons.
When a formal blessing of the
children was made, J oseph guided
his two sons towards their grandfa–
ther Israel.
Expecting the birthright blessing
to go to the elder, Manasseh,
Joseph guided him toward Israel's
right hand and E phraim, the
younger, towards his left hand. But
Is rael su r p r isingly crossed his
hands a n d pronounced the
birthright on the younger,
Ephraim. This carne as a
shock to Joseph.
Here we begin to see a
developme n t o f t h e
promise t hat God was
giving to t his family be–
cause of Abraham.
If
we're to find these
peoples today, we have to
ask which nations fit the
descriptions God gave of
a company of nations and
a great nation.
W hat happened to
these t ribes between the
death of Israel and today?
Tbe patriarcb Jacob crosses bis hands as he
bestows the birthright on Joseph's sons Epbraim
and Manasseh.
History shows us that
the twelve tribes became
a vibrant nation in the
Middle East under Krng
David and King So"t–
omon. At the death of
Solomon the nation was
shall proceed from you, and kings
shall come from your body.' "
So Jacob's-or Israel's-descen–
dants were to be a nation and a
company of nations. lf these people
exist today- and remember Israel
is mentioned in many, many
prophecies for our time- then we
must look for them as a nation and
a company of nations in this world.
Jacob had a son Joseph. In
Egypt, Joseph had had two sons:
18
d ivided into two king–
doms. The most powerful t ribes in
the north were Ephraim and Ma–
nasseh, and in the south Judah. As
each of these peoples became less
ferven t in their desire to please
God, they were warned by the
prophets of punishment to come.
Eventually the northern kingdom
of Israel was taken captive by the
Assyrians.
The last you hear in the Bible of
the northern t ribes is in 11 Kings
17:5-6. I n verse 18 we read:
"Therefore t he Lord was very an–
gry with Israel, and removed them
from His sight; there was none left
but the tribe of Judah alone." And
there, effect ively, the nor t hern
tribes of Israel vanish from history.
But is that t he end of the story?
If
it is, what abou t the promíses
that were made, particularly to the
descendants of Ephraim and Ma–
nasseh, to be a company of nations
and a great nation? They didn't
come close to being that in the
Holy Land.
What did happen to them? A
prophet not read by too many pea–
pie today is Amos. He gives us a
clue to what happened to these lost
tribes of Israel.
"For surely 1 will command, and
wi ll sift the house of Israel among all
nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve;
yet not the smallest grain shall fall to
the ground" (Amos 9:9).
God is telling us that the north–
ern house of Israel would be pun–
ished, exi led, and wander through
various nations and yet still mirac–
ulously be preserved.
H istory shows that these tribes,
having lost thei r identity when they
forgot God's identifying sign, the
Sabbath, traveled in successive mi–
grations northwest, finally settling
in the area today occupied by the
democratic nations of Europe.
The c h ild r en of Joseph–
Ephraim and Manasseh-settled in
the British Tsles. Ephraim spread
all around t he world and became a
company of nations, known as the
British Commonwealth of Nations.
Among the Ephraimites were the
tribe or people of Manasseh. (They
were brothers, don't forget.) The
Manassites eventually began to
populate the United States. And
the United States has become one
of the greatest nations thís world
has ever known.
You need to prove for yourself
that these things are so. Our free,
fu ll-length book
The United States
and Britain in Prophecy
docu–
ments thoroughly the things I've
covered in outline in this
World
Tomorrow
program.
The prophetic identity of the
United States and British peoples
is
the
key to understanding what's
-ahead for you and for our na–
tions.
o
Th•
PLAIN TRUTH