What Two Nations Today
Fulfill The Prophecy Jacob Gave To Ephraim & Manessah?

 

In the book of Genesis chapter 48, Jacob blesses the two sons of Joseph in verses 15-20, (NIV)

 

"Then he blessed Joseph and said, "May the God before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly upon the earth." When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim's head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. Joseph said to him, "No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head." But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.' He blessed them that day and said, "In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing:'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh." So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh."

 

So we see here in this passage that Ephraim was to become a league of nations and Manasseh was to become a great nation. Ephraim, being the receiver of the first-born blessings, took over Joseph's inheritance and Manasseh made the Thirteenth Tribe. The Tribe of Levi was not usually counted because they were selected to be the priestly tribe and were not allotted a land inheritance. Thus, they became known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel. All of this is important when we look at the heraldry of our national symbols. The Heraldry of our nation is a very interesting subject. Most of the symbols used by the tribes of Jacob's descendents are derived from the blessings and prophecies that were given to his sons in Genesis 49. For instance, the Wolf is the primary symbol of the tribe of Benjamin (verse 27, "Benjamin shall raven, ["eat voraciously"] as a wolf). Reuben's two symbols are a Man and Water. Judah's symbols are a single Lion and three Lions respectively. These may be resting or rampant, meaning reared up on it's hind legs.

From the prophet blessings passed on by the dying Jacob, it is apparent that Ephraim and Manasseh were in a large measure to inherit the birthright jointly; to remain together for a long time, finally separating. In Genesis 48 Jacob first passed the birthright on to the two sons of Joseph jointly, speaking of them both together. Then, finally, he spoke of them separately. Manasseh was to become great; Ephraim, greater still, the company of nations. And in his prophecy for these latter days Jacob said, "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall" (Gen. 49:22). In other words, Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) jointly and together was to be a colonizing people in this latter day, their colonies branching out from the British Isles around the earth. 

Together Ephraim and Manasseh grew into a multitude, and then separated, according to Jacob's prophetic blessing of Genesis 48. It should be noted that certain regions of Britain contributed more heavily to the migration of those who became permanent settlers of the colonies, which later became the United States. For example, a large percentage of Americans of English ancestry when the United States began were from families originating in Norfolk and Suffolk in East Anglia. Evidently the people of this region were somewhat culturally distinct and were more driven to establish their own separate nation across the Atlantic Ocean. 

Manasseh was separating from Ephraim! How can we be Manasseh when large parts of our people have come from many nations besides England? The answer is this: A large part of Manasseh remained with Ephraim until the separation of the thirteen colonies. But our forefathers were to be sifted through many nations, as corn through a sieve, yet not a grain to fall to the earth or be lost (Amos 9:9). Our people did filter through many nations. 

Ephraim and much of Manasseh finally immigrated to England together, but many others of Manasseh who had filtered into and through other nations did not leave them until they came, as immigrants, to the United States after the colonies had become a separate nation.

 

During the Scottish English troubles of the 1600's and the early 1700's many thousands of Scots moved by clan groups to European regions and from there came great numbers of colonists to America. This does not mean that all foreigners who have immigrated into this country are of the stock of Manasseh, but undoubtedly many are. Israel, however, always did absorb Gentiles, who became Israelites through living in Israel's land, adopting its customs and sometimes inter-marrying. Thus we have become known as the "melting pot" of the world.

The proof that the United States is Manasseh is overwhelming. Manasseh was to separate from Ephraim and become the greatest, wealthiest single nation in earth's history. The United States alone has fulfilled this prophecy. Manasseh was in fact the thirteenth tribe. There were twelve original tribes and Joseph was one of these twelve. But when Joseph divided into two tribes and Manasseh separated into an independent nation, it became a thirteenth tribe. Could it be mere coincidence that the United States started, as a nation, with thirteen colonies?

But what about the other tribes of the House of Israel? While the birthright was Joseph's, and its blessings have come to the British Commonwealth of Nations and the United States of America, yet the other eight tribes of Israel were also God's chosen people. They too, have been blessed with a good measure of material prosperity, but not the dominance of the birthright. These northwestern European nations are Holland, Belgium, and Denmark. We lack space for a detailed explanation of the specific identity of all of these other tribes in the nations of our twentieth century. There is evidence that these other eight tribes, along with elements of the tribe of Benjamin, which were swept up in the Assyrian conquest of most of the biblical land of Israel, have migrated into, Iceland, northern France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Finland. The political boundaries of Europe, as they exist today, do not necessarily show lines of division between descendants of these original tribes of Israel.

The most remarkable fulfillment of biblical prophecy in modern times was the sudden sprouting forth of the two mightiest world powers, one, a commonwealth of nations forming the greatest world empire of all time; the other, the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth today. These birthright peoples came, with incredible suddenness, into possession of more than two thirds, nearly three quarters, of the cultivated wealth and resources of the whole world! This sensational spurt from virtual obscurity in so short a time gives incontrovertible proof of divine inspiration. Never, in all history, did anything like it occur. But why did this unprecedented national wealth and power come to our birthright inheritors beginning about A.D.1800? Why did not this national dominance come to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh ages ago in the days of Moses, or Joshua, or David, or Elijah?

The birthright promise was given to the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, not to the other tribes or their descendants. These two birthright tribes were part of the northern Nation of Israel, The House of Israel. Notice again the original promise: "A nation and company of nations shall be of thee" (Genesis 35:11).

Remember, in passing on the birthright promise the dying Jacob (Israel) said of Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph, "...let my name be named on them" (Genesis 48:16). Therefore it is they, the descendants of Ephraim (the British) and Manasseh (Americans) who are primarily referred to in prophecy under the names of Jacob or Israel. Continuing, Jacob added, ..... and let them grow into a multitude." Then, speaking of Manasseh and his descendants alone, Jacob said prophetically: ..... he also shall become a people [nation], and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother [Ephraim] shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude [a company, or commonwealth] of nations" (Genesis 48:19).

In A.D. 1800 the United Kingdom consisted of the British Isles, a small part of India and of Canada and numerous little islands. The United States consisted of the original 13 colonies and three added states plus wilderness territory. Neither possessed great wealth or power, by comparison with later standards. But beginning in 1800 these two little nations began to sprout and to grow into vast national riches and power such as no people ever possessed. Soon Britain's empire spread around the world, until the sun never set upon her possessions.

Canada, Australia, South Africa were given dominion status, made free and independent nations, ruling themselves independent of England, a company, or commonwealth, of nations joined together, solely by the throne of David!

But why was that tremendous birthright, which was promised unconditionally to Abraham, repeated to Isaac and Jacob, never bestowed for millennia of time, until after A.D. 1800? The answer is amazingly exciting! To understand this miraculous burst into world dominance, it is necessary to examine the very pivot of the Old Testament prophecies, the 26th chapter of Leviticus.

In this central prophecy, God reaffirmed the birthright promise but with conditions for the people of Moses' day! The birthright tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh were then with the other tribes, as one nation. Obedience to God's laws would bring the vast national wealth and blessings of the birthright not only to Ephraim and Manasseh, but the whole nation would automatically have shared them at that time. Notice carefully that two of the Ten Commandments are mentioned for emphasis. These were the main test commandments! They were the test of obedience, and of faith in and loyalty to God. God said: "You shall make you no idols nor graven image... to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God. You shall keep my Sabbaths..." (Verses 1-2).

There was a condition, a great big "if", to their receiving actual fulfillment of this stupendous birthright promise in their time! God said: "If you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase..." (verses 3-4). All wealth comes out of the ground.

They would enjoy bumper crops the year round, one harvest on the heels of another. Verse 6: "And I will give peace in the land... and none shall make you afraid... neither shall the sword [of war] go through your land." What a blessing! Which nation enjoys continuous peace, without fear of invasion? Of course, in this world, every nation has enemies. What if enemy nations attacked? Verses 7-8: "And you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight....".

But here comes the alternative, if the conditions are not met: if you will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments ... I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague [fever], that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of the heart [RSV: waste the eyes and cause life to pine away]: and you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you, (verses 14-17). They would be invaded, conquered, become once again slaves, as they had been in Egypt before God freed them.

In the second year after leaving Egypt, God had moved the Israelites to a new camp in the wilderness of Paran (Numbers 10:11-12). Moses sent twelve men, one leader or ruler from each tribe, to spy out the Promised Land and bring back a report on the land and its inhabitants (Numbers 13:1-2). These men were gone 40 days. On their return, all but two, Joshua and Caleb, misrepresented what they had seen, giving an evil report. When Joshua and Caleb reported the truth, the people tried to stone them. They accepted the evil report, complained against God, doubted, rebelled, and disobeyed.

Have you ever wondered why these Israelites were 40 years in the desolate, barren, desert and mountain wilderness getting to the Promised Land? It was not because it required 40 years of travel. These men sent to report on it, journeyed to it, walked all over it from one end to the other and returned, round trip, in 40 days. But the people griped, disbelieved God, disobeyed, and refused to go forthwith to possess it instead of deciding to march ahead and possess this great prize God wanted to give them, they despised it, lacked faith to go in and possess it, refused to march forward.

This Promised Land is a type of the glorious Kingdom of God, which the living Savior, Jesus Christ, offers us. But today we, the descendants of those Israelites, despise it and prefer the slavery of sin, fail to exercise the faith to go on and possess God's Kingdom. We, too, rebel. We are sitting around waiting for Jesus to come back and do our job for us.

To this rebellious people of Moses jurisdiction God said: "Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness... ye shall not come into the land... save ....... and Joshua... But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised" (Numbers 14:29-31). "And," continued God, "your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness" (verse 83).

And now comes the "day-for-a-year principle": "After the number of the days in which you searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall you bear your iniquities, even forty years (verse 34). And this punishment was, in fact, a withholding of the promised blessing for this duration of forty years.

 

Now continue in Leviticus 26: "And if you will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins" (verse 18). It is important to understand this! "Seven times" is an English expression translated from the Hebrew word sheva', simply meaning the number seven. Usually this word is used as an adjective, for example, "seven cows" or "seven days." However, in Leviticus 26:18, the word sheva' (seven) stands alone-as an adverb-and modifies the verb "punish." Now, when "seven" stands alone as an adverb, it may have either one (or both) of two separate and independent meanings.

The word sheva' can convey the sense of increasing intensity in the action. But sheva' can also refer to the duration, continuance or especially repetition of the action over a period of time. Read Psalm 119:164 "Seven times a day do I praise thee" and Proverbs 24:16 "For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again." The Hebrew for "seven times" in both verses is simply sheva', exactly the same word, used in exactly the same way (as an adverb), as it is in Leviticus 26!

Now, let's understand the "seven times" of Leviticus 26. The context is corrective punishment-punishment for a purpose. Has God many times used the prescription of seven times for the corrective punishment of a person or nation, in a place other than Leviticus 26? For example, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the greatest world ruler at his time, was punished seven times, literally seven years, for exalting himself above God (Dan. 4:32). The seven times punishment represents seven years of punishment in Leviticus 26 just as in Daniel 4! But there is a difference. Whereas Daniel 4 tells of seven literal years of punishment, which befell a certain individual, Leviticus 26 tells of seven prophetic years, which befell the nation of Israel.

Now understand the "seven times" or seven prophetic "times." For this is a prophecy. In prophecy, as we will later demonstrate, a "time is a prophetic 360-day year. And, during Israel's punishment, each day represented a year being fulfilled. This "day-for-a-year" principle is explained in two other passages dealing with the duration of Israel's punishment. One of these we have already covered. God punished that generation of Israelites Moses had led out of Egypt, by withholding from them entry into the promised land forty years. That promised land was a beginning part of the birthright.

 

God punished them on the principle of a year for every day, forty years duration of punishment for the 40 days of transgression (Ezekiel 4:6; Numbers 14:34). Now we come to the expression "then I will punish you seven times more for your sins" in Leviticus 26. It is evident both by its manner of wording in the sentence and by the fact of actual fulfillment that it was speaking of a duration of seven prophetic "times," or years-seven 360-day years is a total of 2,520 days. And when each day is a year of punishment in this case, as in Numbers 14:34, which was a withholding of a promised blessing, the punishment becomes the withdrawing and withholding of the promised blessings. On the "day-for-a-year" principle it would be for 2,520 years! And that is precisely what did happen!

But now did you notice we said that a prophetic "time" is a 360 day year? Why not a year of 365 days? Why not a solar year? In ancient biblical times, a solar year was figured on basis of twelve 30-day months. Notice Genesis 7:11: "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened." Now verse 24: "And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days." Next, Genesis 8:3-4: "And the waters returned from off the earth continually and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat."

So notice-the Flood started on the 17th day of the second month. At the end of 150 days, the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat, on the 17th day of the 7th month. That was five months to the day. Five 30-day months are 150 days. We find it definitely figured this way in both Daniel and Revelation. In Revelation 13:5 a period of 1,260 days being fulfilled in 1,260 solar years (A.D. 554-1814) is spoken of as "forty and two months."

Now 42 calendar months, according to the calendar now in use, would not be 1,260 days, but 1,277 days or if no leap year occurred, 1,276. Or, if the extra half-year happened to be the last half of the year, it would be 1,278, 1,279 or 1,280 days. So the 42 months were 30-day months. In Revelation 12:6, a prophecy of an event which in actual history did last 1,260 solar years (A.D. 325-1585) is spoken of as "a thousand two hundred and threescore days."

 

So here, again, we see that a prophetic day was a year in fulfillment. The 42 months mentioned in Revelation 13:5 is the same amount of time (referring to a different event but the same amount of time) as the 1,260 days mentioned in Revelation 12:6. The same amount of days is spoken of in still different language in Revelation 12:14. Here it is described as "a time, and times, and half a time." By comparing Daniel 9:27 and 12:7 with this verse, we learn that a "time" is one prophetic year; the "times," two more prophetic years; and the whole expression is 3 and one half prophetic "times," which is a literal 1,260 days-or 3 and one half years of thirty day months. Seven of these "times" then would be 2,520 days-and on a day-for-a-year basis, 2,520 years! These "seven times" bring us to the year A.D. 1800.

Read again the prophetic promises of Genesis 22:17', and 24:60. Since the birthright pertains to nations, the "gate" of other people would be such passes as Gibraltar, Suez, Singapore, Panama Canal, etc. Britain and America came into possession of every such major "gate" in this world! So we must be modern Israel. World War II hinged on these "gates." They became not only strategic passes, but also the world's greatest fortifications.

Notice Genesis 39:3-23: "The Lord was with Joseph, and he was prosperous .... . The Lord was with him, and that which he did the Lord made to prosper." And God has continued to be with, and to prosper Joseph.

Consider now Moses' dying prophetic blessing, foretelling what would happen to each of the tribes in these latter days. "And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that croucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and the fullness thereof... let the blessings come upon the head of Joseph [Ephraim and Manasseh both] ... His glory is like the firstling [firstborn-birthright holder] of the bullock, and his horns are like the horns of Unicorns [Great Britain's national seal today]: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh" (Deuteronomy 33:13-17).

Whoever is Ephraim and Manasseh today must be in possession of the earth's choicest agricultural, mineral, and other wealth-the great gold and silver mines; iron, oil, and coal, timber and other resources. Which nations fulfill these prophecies? Why, only Great Britain and America! At one time more than half of all tillable, cultivable temperate zone lands of this earth were in the possession of these two great powers alone! The rich agricultural lands of the Mississippi Valley; the vast wheat and grain fields of the Northwest, of Canada and Australia; the great forest lands of the Pacific Northwest and many other parts of the world; the gold fields of South Africa, Australia, Alaska and the United States; the great coal mines of the United States and British Isles; the natural waterfalls and means of power and motivation, and consequent prosperous industrial and manufacturing districts of England and the eastern United States; the choicest fruit lands of the Pacific Coast and Florida. What other nations combined ever possessed such material wealth? And nearly all this incredible wealth has come since AD.1800!

Just to what extent has Almighty God fulfilled his promises to the descendants of Joseph in these latter years since 1800 A.D. promises of "the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, ... the chief things of the ancient mountains, ... and the precious things of the earth"? Said Charles M. Schwab, steel magnate, before the Massachusetts Bankers Association, "Our United States has been endowed by God with everything to make it and keep it the foremost industrial and commercial nation of the world."

Although the birthright has come to the British Commonwealth and the United States, yet the other tribes share in the blessings. Next in order in per capita income were Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway while most Gentile nations have from one tenth to one fiftieth the income! Now how did they come into possession of all this vast wealth of the earth? Did they acquire it through their own human wisdom, foresight, energy, ability and power? Let United States President Abraham Lincoln answer this :

"We find ourselves," he said, "in the peaceful possession of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards to fertility of soil, extent of territory, and salutary of climate... We ... find ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or the establishment of them." Again, in his proclamation of April 30, 1863, for a Nation-wide day of fasting and prayer, this great president said: "It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God... and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. We have been the recipients of the choicest blessings of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation ever has grown; but we have forgotten God! We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own."

Abraham Lincoln knew these great material blessings had not been earned, but had been given to the people by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel. And the nations should face the facts today and know that the United States and the British peoples have been given all this vast unprecedented material wealth because God promised it, unconditionally, to Abraham. And he promised it to Abraham because Abraham obeyed God, kept God's laws and commandments. The birthright blessing was denied the forefathers after Moses' day because they refused to live by the laws of Almighty God.

What happened in 1803 in the world that was of any prophetic significance? What great blessing occurred in that year? Who received it? In 1803 Thomas Jefferson, the third US president, purchased the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon of France -- all the land stretching from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.  This vast tract was bought for pennies to the acre.  The Lewis and Clark Expedition traversed this huge tract, finally arriving on the Pacific Coast, at the mouth of the Columbia River. Never in history has a nation expanded so quickly, so vastly, and for so little. 

And today God warns Britain and the United States, through many prophecies in the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Micah, and numerous others whose writings are preserved in the Bible that unless the people of this generation repent of there sins and turn to him with fasting and with weeping and earnest prayer, he will destroy their cities, all their fortresses, by the hand of the foreign sword; that he will punish them at the hand of a cruel one; that the people shall be invaded, defeated, reduced to slaves! God help these nations to heed that warning and wake up in time!

 

I may not have all the answers to the mysteries of the Ten Lost Tribes but I think you will have to agree with me that this is a very interesting subject. Can't you see from what is happening today among the European nations, the continual jalousies of the other tribes? The half brothers of Joseph have always fought. France and Germany never want to go along with Britain and the United States.

 

Taken from the writings of Yah www.yahtruth.net