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punishment mus t be inftícted,
God does 1101 break any of
His promises.
David's Dynasty Rules Over Judah
God had promi scd that " the sceptre SIIALL NOT DEPART
FROMJ UDAH." He did no t break tha t promise. Now note
ca refu lly tha t the ten tribes. rc nt away, a re called by the
title
" 1
racl." a nd that the one tribe remaining under
Rehoboam. Solomon's son. is merely callcd " J udah" o r
the "housc of Judah." They go by their tribal name,
whi le thc tcn-tribed kingdom cont inues to carry the
national name " Israel."
Actually, Israel rejected its king a nd set a
new
kíng,
Jeroboam, o n lsrae l's throne. The tribe of Judah
seceded
from thc nation Israel in order to retain Rehoboam as
their
king. 13ut now Rehoboam, David's g ra ndson, be–
carn e king of a
new
nation. That new natio n was
not
the
kingdom of Israel.
lt
was the kingdom of
Judah!
Now
see how it happened.
When Solomon's son. Rehoboam, succeeded to the
throne. thc pcoplc at once demanded that the heavy
taxes imposed by So lomon be reduced. They sent their
leader. J eroboam, as spokesman. to Rehoboam .
Pleaded Je roboam: "Thy father made o ur yoke griev–
o us: now the rcfore ma ke tho u the g ri evo us service of thy
father, and hi s hcavy yoke which he put upo n us, lighter,
and we will se rve thee" ( I Kings 12:4).
The reply was: " My fath e r chas tised you with whips,
but
1
wi ll chas ti se you with scorpions" (verse
11 ).
Israel rebclled. Thc comma nd to the people was: "To
your tcnts. O Israel!" T he challengc
10
the royal family
was "Now see to thine own house"! (Vcrse 16.)
"So Israel rebelled aga ins t the house of David unto
thi s day [thc day this was written) . And it carne to pass,
when
al! Israel
hea rd 1hat J eroboam was come again,
that they scnt a nd called him unto the congregation, and
made him king over
ALL ISRAEL: there was none 1ha1
followed th c ho use of David,
but the tribe of
J UDAH
only"
( 1 Kings 12: 19-20).
Then " Rehoboam ... assembled a ll th e IIOUSE OF Ju–
DAH.
wi1h the tribe of Benjamín"
(verse 21 ). Rehoboam
commenced 10 fight lo subd ue a nd bring back 1he house
of Israel, bul God said, " Ye shall not ... figh1 agai nst
your brethrcn thc
children of Israel ...
for this thing is
from me" (verse 24).
Israel Divided lnto Two Nations
Did you notice that it is now the te n- tribed kingdom
(headed by the Ephra im-Manasseh t ribes with an Eph–
ra imite as th cir king), the inherito r of the birthright
promiscs, which is called tbe HOUSE OF ISRAEL?
The tr ibe of J udah lefl to Rehoboam, a lo ng with the
Benjamites and later, after J eroboam kicked them out of
office in Israel , the priestly tribe of Lcvi. is called in
Scripture.
no1
Israel. but
1lze house ofJudah.
They a re all
actua lly children of Israel but are no lo nger called by
14
tha t national title. This is emphasized so much because
the common conception is exact ly the opposite.
The average conception today seems to be that the
tribe of Judah wh ich rema ined carried the t it le " Israel."
Most people seem to think of the T en Tribes as merely
certain tri bes driven
outfrom
the natio n Israel.
But it is ISRAEL which now sets up its kingdom under
the Ephraimite Jeroboam, in the land of Samaria, no rth
of Jerusalem. I t is not Israel, but
Judah- a
mere three
tribes broken off from lsrael - which is left behind in
Jerusa lem.
The Ten Tribes were not broke n off from Israel. Israel
did no t rema in in J erusalem. lns tead,
Judah was broken
offfrom Israel.
Israel at War wlth the Jews
Notice it ca refully! The house of Judah , now including
the tri be o f Benjamín under K ing Rehoboam o f David's
dynasty. was about to fight agai ns t the nation Israel–
with its te n tribes headed by Ephraim and Ma nasseh.
Now Je t us have scriptura l
proof
that the ten- tribed
people called Israel, often prophetically spo ke n of as
Ephraim, are not Jews and
never were Jews!
Remember
that the term "J ew" is merely a ni ckname for " J udah ."
Hence, it applies
to
the one natio n, or house of J udah
only- never to the house of Israel.
From any exhaustive concordance you can learn tha t
the firs t time in all the Bible that the word " Jew" occurs
is in
ll
Kings 16:6. Nowhere in all the Bible before this
does the name " Jew" appear. Notice it!
Ahaz began to reign as king of J uda h (verse 1). He sat
on David's thro ne (verse
2).
At this time, a man named
Peka h was king of Isr ael. King Pekah o f Israel formed
a n a lliance with Rezin, king of Syria.
against
Judah. a nd
together the armies of
Israel
and Sy ri a, allied, carne up
agaíns t Je rusa lem. T hey besieged King Ahaz of Judah,
bu t cou ld not overcome him (verse
5).
"At that t ime."
says ve rse 6, " Rezin king of Syria (the a lly of Israel,
fi ghting with Israel against J udah] recovered Elath to
Syria, a nd drove the JEws from Elath" (verse
6).
The
first place in the Bible where the word " Jew" is used. we
find
Israel at war againsc tlze J ews!
Who drove the
Jews
out o f Ela th? The
al/y
of King
Pekah of Israel! T he army fighting
with
Israel
againsl
Juda h. And the children of J uda h who resided in the
town o f Elath are called Jews in a ma nner which distin–
guished them from the house of Israel, with whom these
J ews werc at war! Observe the significance of that!
The firs t p lace in Scripture whe re the name Jew ap–
pears, the
J ews were at
WAR
against
ISRAEL! They are of
a different na tio n a ltogether. They a re, individuaJly,
childre n of Israel. But they do no t have that
nacional
títle- ho use o f Israel.
lt
is wrong tocall the J ewsoftoday " Israel." They arenot
the nation Israel- they are
Judah!
And wherever Israel is
today, remember that Israel
(Continued on page 36)
The
PLAIN TRUTH
January
1979