In 718 BC the last of the Israelite tribes were carried off captive to the nation of Assyria, who resettled them on the fringes of the Assyrian Empire along the northern edge of what is now central Asia. There they disappear from history, and few historians even bother searching for them.

We could trace them, for we know how to look – but we won’t, not now. We’re going to search for them in another direction. Starting today, and working backwards. We know precisely what God promised Israel would grow into in the latter days; and when you add those things up and look around the world, there is only one possible answer to the question “where is Israel today?”

I’m going to ask questions regularly through this lesson that relate these scriptures to well-known history. Most people will get most of them – but if you don’t, you will find the answers at the end of the lesson, given as a footnote that looks like this [0].

I suggest you don’t look these footnotes up until after you’ve finished the lesson; try to answer the questions based on your own knowledge alone; don’t let me color your opinions too much.

Lesson 48: Joseph’s Birthright

Joseph had two sons in Egypt before Jacob and his family moved there. Jacob legally adopted these two sons in place of Joseph (Genesis 48:5), giving each of them a full measure of the inheritance that was divided among the twelve sons – thus, in effect, giving Jacob thirteen sons. Or, looking at it another way, giving Joseph a double portion.

Even though Manasseh was the oldest, Ephraim received the greater blessing of the birthright (verses 13-14). And Jacob gave these sons – and them alone – the right to bear his name (verses 15-16). The sons of Joseph – NOT the Jews! – were to carry the name of Jacob, the name of Israel, and the names of Isaac and Abraham.

They were the legal inheritors of the birthright, and they would later form, and become the leaders of, the nation of Israel. They were to grow into a “great multitude” – not necessarily to exceed the blessing of Japeth of “expansion”, but certainly to exceed their brethren in the other tribes.

But of the two, Ephraim would be “before Manasseh” – with a dual meaning of being great earlier than Manasseh, and ALSO being greater and more important than Manasseh. Manasseh would be “a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother [Ephraim] shall be greater than he, and his [Ephraim’s] seed shall become a multitude of nations” (verses 17-20).

BUT WHEN?

Obviously, Ephraim and Manasseh did not form “a nation and a company of nations” that same day. They were to GROW into a great multitude. That takes time – this was speaking of the FUTURE! And yet even in Biblical history, which traces the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh down to 718 BC, Ephraim and Manasseh never formed separate nations! They were ALWAYS governed by a single king!

So only in the distant future, long AFTER they disappeared from history, would these prophecies be fulfilled! That’s important, so let me repeat it; the prophecies Jacob made to the sons of Joseph were never fulfilled in Biblical times! Small parts, types, of the blessings perhaps; but nothing close to the real fulfillment EVER happened in the Bible!

That leaves us the question, WHEN did God intend to fulfill these prophecies? Before giving the twelve tribes their inheritance, Jacob told them when they would receive them (Genesis 49:1). These prophecies were going to be fulfilled in “the last days” – that is, towards the end of the plan of God, not too long before Jesus’ second coming!

That means we need to look for the fulfillment of these prophecies, not a few thousand years ago, but NOW, for they were meant for the LAST DAYS! These are prophecies for TODAY, or the relatively recent past – say, a handful of centuries at most.

But we can do better than that! By carefully looking at a few detailed prophecies, we can actually nail down the precise year when these prophecies were to begin to be fulfilled!

In Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, in what is commonly called the “blessings and cursings chapters”, God gave the tribes of Israel a detailed list of the blessings for obedience and the punishments for disobedience. You’ve read a few of the verses in these lessons, but take the time now to sit down and read through both chapters.

In the first half of both chapters, God describes an obedient nation; how He protects it, how their warriors are feared by all and how five citizens of that nation are able to chase a hundred faithless barbarians.

If you know your history, you know this has only been true of one or two small groups of people in history. A hundred men of this faithful nation can chase ten thousand of their enemies – things like this have happened often in the relatively recent history of the world [1].

But in the second half, God shows the flip side of the coin – what happens to a nation that rejects Him. They flee when no man pursues; they are consumed with disease, they are ruled over by strangers; and so on. And if the nation will not repent, God will punish them “seven times more” (Leviticus 26:18).

In Hebrew, this phrase “seven times more” has a dual meaning; it means seven times greater intensity, as in Daniel 3:19. But it also means seven times greater duration or repetition of punishment. In other words, that the punishment would last seven “times”. So what precisely does that mean?

SEVEN TIMES

The word “times” is often used to refer prophetically to a specific time period. For example, in Daniel 12:7 the angel says these things would last “a time, times, and half a time”. The same expression was used in Daniel 7:25. Then Revelation uses the expression “42 months” (Revelation 11:2) which is the exact same length of time as “1260 days” (verse 3).

Which happens to be the same length of time the woman is protected in the wilderness (Revelation 12:6), where she is later said to have been protected for a “a time, and times, and half a time” – telling us that all these expressions are the exact same length of time! For in an idealized year of 12 months of 30 days each, there are 360 days; a year (time), two years (times), and half a year (half a time) works out to being 42 months or 1260 days!

This establishes two clear, simple principles; first, that the word “time” in this sort of prophecy is synonymous with the word “year”. Second, that an idealized prophetic year contains 360 days even though a true solar year is more like 365.25ish days, while twelve orbits of the moon around the Earth – a lunar year – is more like 355ish days. Interestingly, 360 is a very close average of the two types of years.

Now, back to Leviticus, when God says He will punish Israel for “seven times” – remember the principle of duality! – He means that He will punish them seven times more harshly, as the context clearly indicates, but ALSO that the punishment will continue for seven prophetic times! And according to what you just learned, seven prophetic times would equal 2520 days!

DAY FOR A YEAR

But remember another principle – in prophecy a day is often used to represent a year. The spies searched the promised land for 40 days, and as punishment for their lack of faith Israel wandered the wilderness for 40 years, a day for a year (Numbers 14:34).

Another example is in Ezekiel 4:1-8, where Ezekiel was commanded to bear the sins of Israel by laying on his side for 390 days, each day representing a year of their sin. 390 days is the precise amount of time from the division of the kingdom after Solomon, until the captivity of Jehoiachin, the time from which all dates in Ezekiel are measured (Ezekiel 1:2, etc.).

I’m not sure what the 40 years of Judah represents, as there were many sinful periods of Judah’s history that lasted longer than 40 years. It is possible that it represented the amount of time that would pass from that day until the day the first Jews would return from Babylon – but that’s speculation.

Regardless, the point is clear; God punishes Israel on a day-for-a-year principle. Therefore, if God says “I will punish them for seven times/2520 days”, it must mean “I will punish them for 2520 years”!

This means that from the time Israel’s punishment began until the time Israel’s punishment ended would be 2520 years. We can see quite clearly when it began, for God tells Israel the terms in Leviticus 26:31-35; compare that with 2 Chronicles 36:15-21.

That passage is speaking of Judah’s captivity, and when that happened Judah’s land “enjoyed her Sabbaths”. But Judah was a separate nation and their destiny was different from the nation of Israel, which was headed by the sons of Joseph – particularly Ephraim (Jeremiah 31:9). The rest of Israel was treated as Ephraim’s companions by God (Ezekiel 37:16).

So we are only interested in when Ephraim’s punishment began – when Israel’s land enjoyed its Sabbaths, which happened when the Assyrians carried away the last of the captives of Israel in 718 BC! At that point Israel’s punishment began! It would last 2520 years, and therefore it ended in the year 1803. That was the year God fulfilled David’s prophecy in Psalms 105:42-45.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We know that Ephraim and Manasseh did not inherit the blessings they were promised in Biblical times. And we know they were driven into other nations as well-deserved punishment for their sins. God certainly wouldn’t have given them all those wonderful blessings while punishing them, would He?

Of course not! Which means that after the punishment ended – after 1803 – is when we should look for the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We should be looking in the past 200 years to see the fruition of Jacob’s promises to Ephraim and Manasseh that their children would be “as the sand of the sea” and “possess the gates of their enemies” and have abundant blessings of the sky, earth, sea, hills, livestock, and so on.

To find them today, we need only look for a nation AND a company of nations which, beginning about 1800, had a tremendous explosion of wealth, territory, population, and industry. If you know much about that period of history, you just figured out precisely who Ephraim and Manasseh are today. If not, keep studying.

After blessing most of the other tribes, Jacob was inspired to prophesy of Joseph’s future in Genesis 49:22-26. We’ve covered most of these scriptures, but now I want you to look at it in a new way. Rather than looking at them as vague, perhaps only spiritual promises, I want you to look back over the past few hundred years, with what you already know of history, and see whom these promises could be describing?

Remember in Lesson 45 we have already eliminated African and Asian cultures from any possibility of being modern Israel. It must be a Caucasian nation, or group of nations, that fulfills these prophecies. And it must have been fulfilled relatively recently; if not in the last few hundred years, then at least in the centuries leading up to the end of Israel’s punishment.

With that in mind, as you read these prophecies of Joseph’s descendants, ask yourself which Caucasian nation, in the past few hundred years, has best fulfilled this description or that one; you’ll be surprised at how WELL it fits only one group!

Go back to that last scripture; look at the description of Joseph’s blessings. Since Ephraim inherited Joseph’s birthright, normally when “Joseph” alone is mentioned, it refers to Ephraim alone (Revelation 7:6-8), since Manasseh is mentioned separately from “Joseph”.

But in Genesis 49 it clearly refers to both sons – because as Genesis 48:16 implied, they would grow together into a great multitude, THEN divide into a “great nation” and a “company of nations” (Genesis 35:11). So since they were going to be growing together for a long time, it makes sense to address them both together in Jacob’s prophecy (and later Moses’ as well).

Now look at the specifics; in Genesis 49:22, Jacob said that Joseph’s (Ephraim’s and Manasseh’s) nations would be “a fruitful branch”. Obviously, that means their populations would grow quickly. Historically in the nation of Israel this was true, because the tribe of Manasseh alone had a territory nearly twice the size of any other tribe. So big in fact, that Manasseh had to divide, and half the tribe lived beyond the Jordan river (Numbers 32:33).

But look at the next part of that prophecy: “even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall”. Look at how that was fulfilled in ancient Manasseh; that was an early type of this prophecy: Manasseh was populous, but they could not expand any farther because there was a wall – a natural barrier that prevented them from growing. In this case, a river. So their branches grew OVER the “wall” and spread out on the other side of the Jordan.

But this was a prophecy for the end times; which means in the past few hundred years, Joseph’s children found their land too small, so they spread out “over the wall” and planted colonies in other places. This eliminates all of eastern Europe, from Italy to Poland and eastward, for not one of them was a colonizing empire.

In Genesis 49:23-24, we are told the sons of Joseph would be famous archers, whose hands were “made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob”. Who, in medieval history, was most famous for archery? And while God miraculously delivered Joseph many times during that period, this blessing is dual; not only did God do it miraculously, God gave Joseph the best quality materials for making bows in his own land [2].

In verses 25-26, Joseph is promised blessings from heaven (literally, “from the sky”) – this is plenty of rain and sun, a climate good for growing. This eliminates all Arab countries and most of Russia, which either don’t get rain or are quite inhospitable.

The blessings of the deep is good fishing waters and minerals, blessings of the breasts and womb means fertility – both with children, and with farm animals quickly multiplying. At the time of the first census in Numbers, Joseph – counting Ephraim and Manasseh together – numbered 75,900 men (Numbers 1:33-35), more than any of the other tribes. By the time of the division of the land under Joshua, they had grown so much that they complained that their original allotment of land was now far too small to support their massive populations (Joshua 17:14-18).

Back in Genesis 49:26, Jacob’s final promise to Joseph’s children was that these blessings would spread “to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills”. This means Joseph’s children would have a GLOBAL empire. That’s the only way you can truly receive blessings “to the UTMOST bound” of the hills. And in all of history, there has only been ONE nation that had a truly global empire! [3]

This ties in perfectly with Genesis 22:17 and Genesis 24:60, both of which are physical blessings inherited by Ephraim and Manasseh, where they would inherit the gates of their enemies. Think about what that means; a gate is a narrow passageway into a certain area, such as a narrow ocean passage that saves thousands of miles on an ocean trip. Did you know that every significant ocean or land route has been controlled by only one group of people for the last 200 years? [4]

Moses was inspired to prophesy of Joseph’s future in Deuteronomy 33:13-16 the blessings of great wealth; here given in great detail to indicate mineral wealth, fertility, a temperate climate with plenty of rain, vast natural resources of every sort. These all came to Joseph. Now look around the world today; who has inherited this blessing?

What country, or group of countries, has inherited this great wealth? Who controls, and has controlled for the past 200 years, the greatest deposits of coal, gold, tin, oil, diamonds, silver – practically every mineral resource known to man is monopolized by two nations today, and they have held these resources for two centuries, although they have recently been overtaken by other nations due to their disobedience (the second half of Leviticus 26 is coming into play) [5].

Verse 17 adds another interesting fact, by comparing Joseph to a bull and a unicorn. “Unicorn” is a mistranslation, it actually refers to some type of wild ox and not the mythical unicorn, but it is interesting that there is a country in western Europe popularly personified as a bull, which has a unicorn on the royal seal.

This same country has a lion on top of the seal, ruling over the unicorn – and everyone knows which tribe was associated with both a lion, and ruling over the tribes of Israel (including Ephraim)... Genesis 49:9-10. [6]

Incidentally, Deuteronomy 33:17 adds that this bull would “push the people together to the ends of the earth” – could God have stated any plainer that this would be a world-wide empire? Not that it would RULE the world, but that it would have colonies across the entire world? [3 again].

Finally, as you learned in the last lesson, these people would be ruled over by a descendant of David (Ezekiel 17:22-24, etc.); and since David’s throne was to be PERPETUAL, Israel, of whom Ephraim is chief, must be one of the few nations today that is, and always has been, ruled over by a monarchy. This alone narrows it down to less than a half-a-dozen possibilities.

But there is another identifying fact of David’s descendants; as you learned in Lesson 45, David had red hair (1 Samuel 16:12, etc.). This is a genetic trait, and it so happens that the royal family of a certain kingdom in Europe carries a strong probability of red hair [7].

WHERE WOULD THEY LIVE?

When God drove them out of Israel, God had a plan. He wasn’t just scattering them at random; before they ever left their land, God had already picked out a definite place for them to live, when they had wandered enough (2 Samuel 7:10). This was obviously a future prophecy, because it plainly said when they reached this place where God would plant them, they would “move no more”!

Israel MOVED from Palestine – they were forced to! But in 1 Chronicles 17:9 God clearly said when they reached the place He had ordained for them to live, “they shall be moved no more!” This is important because it means that when they reached this place, some 2,500 or more years ago, they would never leave again! So wherever they ended up then, they remain there to this day!

Remember that God had appointed Jeremiah to PLANT the throne of David in a new, far away land, and remember also that Zedekiah’s daughters were going to find Israelites there and rule over them! The story is beginning to come together!

So where is that land? The Bible is full of directional clues. Where is Ephraim, according to Hosea 12:1? He follows “the east wind”. Now the east wind blows west; so if Ephraim was carried by the east wind, he would have moved WEST from his Assyrian captivity, west across Europe!

But in Jeremiah 3:12, God commanded Jeremiah to speak to Israel (who had been in captivity for well over 100 years), and He told him to speak “toward the north”. In verse 18, God promised that at His second coming, Israel and Judah would return to the promised land FROM the north.

Speaking to Ephraim, God says that they will be trembling “from the west” (Hosea 11:8-10). Jeremiah says that Israel will return from the north (Jeremiah 31:8). He also says in that same verse that they are dwelling in “the coasts of the Earth” – this means a people living in a land with a large coastline. The whole context is about Ephraim and Israel.

In verse 7, God calls Jacob “the chief of the nations”. So Jacob – Israel, in particular Ephraim – is not some insignificant little country like Monaco or Luxembourg, these prophecies refer to him being one of the CHIEF nations – one of the most important nations on the planet!

Verse 10 adds another clue, saying that Israel is in “the isles afar off”. Isaiah 49:1-3 is addressed to Israel – and remember, Ephraim is the only tribe entitled to call themselves Israel, for they inherited Jacob’s name in Genesis 48:16. So to Ephraim then, God says in Isaiah 49:1 “listen, O isles, unto me”. Ephraim dwells in islands, then!

God’s oath to David promised that the throne of David – which was to be the rallying point of Israel – would be planted with one hand in the sea, and his right hand in the river. This means his throne – that is, the nation’s capital – would be both on a major river AND on the ocean!

We have heard that he was north of Palestine several times, and west of Palestine several times. Is there a contradiction? Read Isaiah 49:12. This harmonizes all those passages, saying that Israel – Ephraim and his companions – would return to Jerusalem from the NORTH and WEST.

The key is... Hebrew has no word for “northwest”.In Hebrew, to express the direction NW you have to say “to the north and west”, exactly as God does here! 

So go to a globe or a map; take a straight ruler, put one corner on Jerusalem and draw a line exactly NW of Jerusalem. Keep going until you spot a nation that is entirely composed of islands; surrounded by the sea; a nation known in history for its powerful navy that ruled the waves.

A nation known for colonization, a nation known for archery and spreading Christianity, a nation with a capital city on a great river and on the ocean. A nation that is among the “big five” on the UN council. A nation ruled over by an ancient monarchy, with a unicorn on its seal ruled over by a lion. Find that nation, and you’ve found Ephraim.

THE BRITISH ISLES

Any one of the dozens of clues we’ve used would be conclusive proof that Britain inherited the blessings God promised to Ephraim. All of them together is beyond iron-clad. But now that we know the answer, let’s fill in the pieces.

Everything you’ve read leads to one conclusion: the British Isles were settled by Ephraim. The prophecies simply will not allow any other conclusion. No nation in history has owned so many footholds in so many hostile nations – the gates of her enemies.

Britain and her (ex-)colonies like the USA, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and so on have owned literally every significant sea port and ocean strait in the world – vital strategic points like the Panama Canal, Singapore, Gibraltar and Suez; the Falklands, Hong Kong, Guantanamo, Guam, and dozens more.

No other nation has consistently defeated the odds in war after war. No other nation has amassed such a large proportion of the world’s natural resources. Even to this day, the average American has luxuries the richest nations in the world envy. If you don’t believe that, travel in France or Italy – relatively rich countries compared to the rest of the world – and compare your lifestyle with the average person who lives there.

Truly, as He promised Abraham, “...in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice” (Genesis 22:17).

It is not an accident that the English Bible was published in 1611 by King James of England. This was an absolute necessity! Before God could bless Israel, they had to be obedient to Him. He could not give the massive blessings, and the power it would bring, to an evil people. God asked Himself this rhetorical question, and answered it, in Jeremiah 3:19.

Ephraim and the rest of Israel were going to be scattered among all nations, and would take their sinful practices with them no matter where they went. And before God could bless them physically, He had to teach them at least basic righteousness, so they wouldn’t completely abuse the blessings of Abraham.

As you look back through history, do you see a point where the darkness of false Christianity lifted, at least in part? Of course you do – at the end of the “dark ages”, and the beginning of Protestant Christianity, at the end of the 15th century.

But this age of enlightenment did not go everywhere – it was targeted to certain regions in Europe. Specifically, it went to “north and west” Europe: Britain, Scandinavia, the low countries, parts of Germany and parts of France. Most of Europe like Spain, Italy, Austria, and Russia and all of Eastern Europe remained unaffected by the Protestant Reformation.

Look at history with the attitude that God had a plan, and ask yourself “what was God doing?” God was preparing a people who would “call me Father, and not turn away”. He was preparing the “lost” tribes of Israel to receive the blessings of Abraham. For that, they HAD to have an affordable, reliable, understandable Bible.

THE END OF THE PUNISHMENT

The first popular English Bible for the common man was the Geneva Bible, which was printed in 1557 by Protestant English exiles in Switzerland who had fled there from the last Catholic queen of England. It was the first English Bible to include study aids like maps and references, and be written in the language of the common people.

Up to this time, England had been an insignificant country on the world stage which spent most of its time battling with the other nations on its own island – Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. It wasn’t until the 1600s that the island was more or less united under one crown with King James in 1603.

He immediately set about having the Geneva Bible improved and the result was finished in 1611 – the most affordable, readable, useful, and faithful Bible ever translated by man. And as a result, the most widely published book in history. God had to prepare His people to receive the blessings, and the first step in that plan was making sure that all of His people could understand, and afford to read, His word.

England started to have military and cultural successes in the late 1500s, and the sinking of the Spanish Armada in 1588 was the beginning of their rise to power. And God had a direct hand in it – Britain’s horribly outclassed fleet defeated the enormous Spanish Armada, literally the greatest fleet that had ever sailed, without losing a single ship! Five of them chased a hundred, you might say.

This was due in part to good tactics (God raised up great men to deliver them, just as He had raised up judges like Gideon and Samson), but largely because of unexpected weather that played right into the British hands. The Spanish fleets were plagued by bad weather for weeks, and according to some historians the weather – God – defeated the Spanish Armada before any English ship was even sighted.

This was only the beginning of Britain’s successes on the world scene, but it would be a long road and they would lose a lot of battles before they found their place in the world. This was unavoidable because there were a lot of wicked English kings and a lot of moral growth that had to happen before they could be trusted with real power.

King James himself lacked a great deal of being a worthy heir to David’s throne, but he did help set the stage for the moral growth of the English-speaking people of the world. It took 200 years of gradual training and growth before England was ready to be a world empire.

England had no real colonies until Jamestown in 1620 (or possibly Newfoundland in 1610, but that’s debatable); their attempts to get a piece of the oriental spice trade were mostly a failure that century, losing out to the Dutch and Portuguese. They did successfully establish small footholds in India, mostly useless at the time, but that was about all in Asia.

In the 1700s, they met with more success, but spent most of the century fighting the French and at the end of the century, they lost most of their American colonies. However, British loyalists fleeing the newborn USA wound up in Canada, helping to firm up Britain’s claim on that country; about the same time, Britain was having victories in India – but while Britain was a major world player, it had not yet established dominance in any field. The 1800s – when Israel’s punishment ended – would change all that.

THE 19TH CENTURY

At first, it opened much as the last century had; with Britain grappling with France for control of the world’s resources. But Britain had many advantages this time; an impressive navy, a fast-growing industrial revolution that was far ahead of anything else in the world; and a population that was not staging a revolution (England was perhaps the only nation in Europe that did not revolt during the 1800s).

The Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 secured Britain’s absolute dominance over the ocean; not until 1915 would another nation challenge that, and even then Britain maintained its hold. It was because of this power over the waves, the “Rule Britannia”, that Britain was able to capture basically every desirable port and island in the world. These were all won as a direct result of a battle that took place only two years after the promised 2520 years of punishment.

It was over the next century and a half that the British Empire reached its peak. Counting all the territories that were colonized or controlled by the British Empire, there were 700 million British subjects in 1945. Considering there were a little under 2.5 billion people in the world at the time, nearly one-third of the world’s population was part of the British Empire!

This figure does not include the significant population, wealth and control of America and its own significant overseas territories – the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Hawaii (not then a state), Guam, the Marshall Islands, and many more. Nor does it include Canada, South Africa, or Australia and New Zealand.

At that time, after WWII, the native English-speaking peoples of the world – with a population of about 6% of the world’s total at the time – controlled well over half of the world’s resources, wealth, and land area. Almost three fourths, depending on how you count.

WHY?

Schools gloss over these parts of history, sweeping them under the rug as a dark reminder of our imperialistic past; but the fact is, the United States and British Commonwealth nations were quite literally the richest nations, with the best lands, the best education, the most righteousness, and the happiest citizens in the history of our planet.

No violent political revolution has occurred in Britain since the civil wars of 1642-51. Yet in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries virtually, if not literally, every other state in Europe experienced at least one forcible overthrow of government and its replacement by another, from the French Revolution of 1789 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. Why was Britain different?

The Prime Minister of England in the 1890s said “the most heedless and cynical must see the finger of the divine” in the creation of the British Empire. In 1894 another notable English politician, Lord Curzon, stated that Britain ruled, under God, “the greatest empire for good that the world has seen”.

For all their (many) faults, it is because of Britain that the English Bible is the bestselling book in the world and has been for hundreds of years. Despite their selfishness and greed, they enforced righteousness of a sort upon the strangling cults of India and the cannibals of Africa and the Pacific Isles.

They abolished, or at least greatly discouraged, idolatry in their colonies, they established law and order; not perfectly, but better than the savages who were there before them. To anyone who doesn’t believe that, compare the prosperity, happiness, and safety of the citizenry in any of their former African colonies in say, 1930, with their present situation after their self-proclaimed independence.

Britain made many mistakes which I won’t defend – in fact, that’s precisely WHY their empire has all but come to an end, exactly as prophesied in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. But in spite of all that, the British Empire was unarguably the most benevolent and truth-spreading empire in world history.

Because it was through the sons of Abraham, particularly the birthright sons of Joseph and the blessing sons of Judah, that all nations would be blessed. English-speaking missionaries took Protestant Christianity to every corner of the planet; they spread civilization to darkest Africa and the most remote regions of China and South America. And for all of the doctrinal flaws they took with them, they also took Bibles with them – and left those behind when they left. And the people who read them were blessed, and their lives were improved as a result.

Why? Because Britain inherited the largest portion of the blessings of Joseph. They inherited the “famous name” of Shem. The abundant blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; in them was concentrated the best of the physical blessings bestowed upon the most righteous and beloved men in history.

And on top of that, they have been continuously ruled over by the descendants of King David, which adds all the blessings God gave to him to those God gave to Ephraim.

THEIR COLONIES

If you search history for “a company of nations”, it is difficult to find a single one. How often have nations voluntarily joined together for any length of time? How often have they been able to share rule with other nations for more than a few years? The British Commonwealth is perhaps unique in all of history – when else did a group of many different nations consider themselves one people?

Then search history for an example of any single nation who, based on a referendum or a non-violent popular vote, GAVE a territory independence. And gave it cheerfully, and remained friendly with that nation afterward.

How gracefully did Russia give up the states in the former Soviet bloc? How brutally did France try to retain its colonies in the 1960s? Reaching further back, through the Hapsburgs and Charlemagne, Rome and Persia, how many empires accepted the will of a people to be independent? I can find no good examples... except England. They may well be the only “company of nations” in world history.

MANASSEH

But Ephraim was only one son of Joseph. Joseph had several, apparently. We all know of Manasseh, but Joseph had others who were totally eclipsed by their brothers (Genesis 48:5-6). Ephraim was to become a company of nations; we have thoroughly identified that as the British Commonwealth; Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, etc. Basically, the English-speaking people of the world.

But there was another curious fact about Ephraim; his brothers, excepting Manasseh, were all going to be called by his name! So if Joseph had, say, four more children, they would have been considered not by their own name, but as EPHRAIMITES! Remember this fact!

Manasseh was also to become a great nation; a separate nation, one not part of the British Commonwealth (verse 19). Manasseh was never to compare to Britain’s greatness; but he was to become a great nation. So who can that be today?

Manasseh was not to be as numerous as Ephraim’s empire (Deuteronomy 33:17), only having thousands to his brother’s ten-thousands. But Manasseh and Ephraim would grow into a multitude together and then separate into distinct nations. Therefore, Manasseh and Ephraim once dwelt in the same place – in Britain. But at some point, Manasseh left and Britain stayed. Obviously, we’re talking about the USA.

All of Britain’s other colonies retain, to this day, at least symbolic reverence to the crown of England. Canada, though independent for 100 years, still considers the English monarch their ruler, even though the English crown has no authority to do anything in Canada. The USA was the only colony to sever ties completely with England. It is also the only colony of European descent to ever rebel against England.

The most astonishing part is, God prophesied ALL of that 2,800 years ago! Read Isaiah 49:20. This prophecy, like most, is dual. Spiritually it refers to Jesus’ return and the world seeking to learn the truth from the true Christians. But we’re interested for now in the physical aspect.

The context is in verse 1 – it’s addressed “o isles”. You’ve identified the isles as a Biblical symbol for Ephraim, because Ephraim was destined to end up in the British Isles after his wanderings. To Ephraim then, to the British Empire, this chapter is addressed.

Verse 6 speaks of their missionary works. Obviously, this was a prophecy of Christ; equally obviously, it was dual. Now read verses 7-12. Does this fit the British Empire? A small nation, one despised by the rest of Europe? During the Middle Ages, Britain was considered barbarous and uncivilized by Europeans.

But God – because of a covenant – was going to cause them “to inherit the desolate heritages”. Much of the British Empire was desolate (look at pictures of the Punjab, the Outback, the Crimea, and Egypt for example – or anywhere in Africa), and almost all of it was savage and uncivilized when they arrived (read about the “culture” of the Zulu, the Thuggees, and the Maori).

Why did God give them these “desolate heritages” full of barbarous savages to rule? He told us! So they could say “...to those who are in chains, Go free; to those who are in the dark, Come out into the light”.

This is clearly prophesying British missionaries going to the savages in the desolate places of the world, such as “darkest Africa”, and taking His word to them. And God didn’t expect them to work for free; in exchange “They will get food by the way wherever they go, and have grass-lands on all the dry mountain-tops” (BBE).

The world thought God had forgotten the lost ten tribes, and His promises to Abraham (verses 13-17). Notice the prophecy of “yourBUILDERSare coming quickly”. It’s not a huge stretch to call this a prophecy of the industrial revolution, which beyond argument began in Britain.

It also tells us this prophecy is set before the year 1800, because the empire had not yet been built; and because God was just then remembering His promises to Ephraim – and promising that the builders of that empire were on their way!

In verse 18, God speaks of “all these” who “gather themselves unto thee”. Who can that be? Genesis 49:10. The throne of Judah/David – now in London – was to be a rallying-point of the tribes of Israel. That’s why only NW Europe was affected by the Protestant Reformation. They had been sifted through eastern Europe and western Asia “but not a grain fell to the ground”.

And they had gathered as close as possible to the throne of David, and most of western Europe was ruled by descendants or blood relatives of the British royal family – thus, descendants of Judah and David.

That is why NW Europe was most benefited by the Reformation, by the age of discovery, by the age of colonization, by industrialization, by civilization. Because while the bulk of the inheritance went to Judah, Ephraim, and Manasseh, ALL the sons of Israel received a portion of the inheritance. And when God lifted up Ephraim, He lifted up all western Europe with them.

The details on which tribe became which of the nations of Europe is a complicated and lengthy study. And for now, not too important. I will just point out that modern national borders do not necessarily represent Biblical tribes; just as in Israel, Manasseh split into two tribes, so in modern times some tribes are split among several nations, and some nations may contain more than one tribe, as Judah/Benjamin did.

THE PROPHECY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Continue reading, this time in Isaiah 49:18-23. Those who gathered around the British throne were the nations of western Europe – the rest of the tribes of Israel. But God – speaking to Britain in, say, the early 1700s – said that the place God had given them was not large enough for all the people (verse 19).

Then in verse 20 He says “the children you shall have after you have lost the other [children] shall say...”. This says that England was going to LOSE children!In Biblical symbolism, children are nations or churches who descend from the parent country. Daughters are churches, sons are nations. But this included BOTH kinds of children – religions that left England and broke away from their church, AND people who left England and broke away from their rule!

And in all its history, Britain only LOST one group of colonies. It gave many away voluntarily, but only ONE batch was LOST. And they left largely over complaints about religious freedom, because most of the new American colonies were formed to foster different religions from Mother England’s church!

But in that prophecy, God said that after the USA declared independence, and Britain “lost” those children, Britain would have many OTHER children! And these other children would say to England “I need more room”, so they would have to start other COLONIES!

And about that time many people left Britain to found and settle new colonies in places like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, etc. And remember how Joseph’s other sons would be called by Ephraim’s name?

As you travel the former British Empire, you find each nation is dramatically different – for example, everyone knows Canadians are polite. But South Africans, New Zealanders, and Australians are all unique and distinct from British or Americans.

This is almost certainly because they each represent one of the nameless sons of Joseph who were called after Ephraim’s name, and they reflect the character of their nameless ancestor, and live in the shadow of their uncle Ephraim just as Jacob prophesied... 3,700 years ago.

But God isn’t done! In Isaiah 49:21, He said Britain would wonder where all these colonies came from – because let’s face it, England is a tiny little island! But God said the Gentile nations would bring Ephraim’s sons to him! (Verse 22). These other nations would be nurses, caregivers for their children while they were young – and then deliver those children to Britain!

Could there be a plainer prophecy of immigration! God said He would SIFT the house of Israel among all nations but not one person would be lost! (Amos 9:9). And when the time came to bless Ephraim and Manasseh, God set up a banner announcing “give me your tired, your huddled masses...” and they came flooding towards their ancestral home, promised to them three millennia ago!

And God promised to protect them, and fight their battles for them. Remember that scripture the Jews appropriated, that “I will bless him that blesses you, and curse him that curses you”? The promise that really applied to Abraham? Isaac inherited that. Jacob inherited it. Jacob gave that birthright to Joseph, and Joseph gave it to Ephraim! 

Here God applies it directly to him, saying “I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children”. Had it not been for God’s active intervention in a hundred battles, the English-speaking peoples of the world would be speaking German, Russian, or French. God has been the enemy of our enemies and the friend of our friends.

That’s all changing now, and we’ll talk about that a lot more in the next lesson, but the facts of history are unarguable. God blessed us, with more abundance than any nation in the history of this planet has ever enjoyed. Saying “God bless the USA” is foolish. God DID bless the USA, and we squandered it.

BRITISH TRIVIA

There are a few interesting things that should be mentioned. A curious story in the Bible is when Ephraim was at war with the other tribes, and they lost. To sort out who was an Ephraimite they used a simple verbal test: Judges 12:6.

For whatever reason, the entire tribe of Ephraim was unable to say “sh”. When they tried, it came out “s”. That this trivial story was preserved for us is strange – and implies that it would be useful to us. So go to London, and apply this test to Londoners. You’ll find that a great many of them fail this test.

Another interesting fact is the name “British”, or the singular, “Brit”. Ephraim is the son who inherited the physical covenant of Abraham. His children are literally the covenant tribe. As we’ve said before, Hebrew has no vowels; so to spell Brit in Hebrew it would be BRT.

It so happens that the word “covenant” in Hebrew is BRT, which you can see in your Bible in Judges 8:33. Baal-Berith, your margin may tell you, means “Lord of the covenant”. Berith is just BRT with the other letters added in to make it pronounceable. It would be just as correct to say “Baal-Brit”.

As you might remember, the Hebrew word for Man is “ish”. Most Bibles mention this in the Margin to Genesis 2:23. So if you were to say “Brit-ish” in Hebrew, you’d literally be saying “the man of the covenant”, or “the Covenant People”. This may be a coincidence, and certainly secular historians do not trace the term British to that source; however, it’s certainly an odd coincidence.

CONNECTING THE LAST LINK

Another interesting fact, is that the British race are descended from the Angles and the Saxons. That’s why they’re called “Anglo-Saxons”, as the Angles and Saxons were two separate but similar tribes who migrated across Europe from somewhere east of modern Germany and eventually they merged (they may represent the distinct tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh).

But the origin of the word “Saxon” is quite interesting. Scholars today have no clear answer on the origin, except that it was the name of a group of people who lived in what is now Germany several hundred years BC; they just showed up there, and no one knows where they came from.

Languages change over time; to illustrate that, the Latin word for heart was “cor” 2,000 years ago. But as the uneducated people of Italy, Spain, and France used the word over time it changed – particularly the vowels. In modern French, the word is coeur. In Spanish, it is corazon, Portuguese is coração. In Italian, it is coure. In each of these, you can see clearly that while the vowels change wildly, as do the endings, the core letters CR do not change.

But now comes the cool part; at the same time as Latin was spoken, the Greek word for heart was “kardia”, from a shorter root word with the same origin as the Latin, “kar”. Many peoples do not pronounce hard letters like K and tend to soften them; others tend to harden Rs, particularly the Germanic peoples.

To make a long story short, the K became pronounced with an H sound, like Khardia. Gradually the H became more pronounced and the K disappeared. On the other end of the word, the D slowly changed to a T. Try it yourself – say “card” really fast over and over, and soon the “d” will start to sound like “t”.

So by this process, the Greek word “kar” became the English word “heart” via Germany. At the same time, the root word “cor” became coeur and corazon via the Romance languages. Modern English retains both roots, in such words as cordial, cardiologist, hearty, etc. Both kar and cor came from an earlier common root, probably something like kerd.

The point of that is that words change over time, but usually in quite predictable ways. For example, suppose you wanted to say “Isaac’s sons”. Say it really fast a few dozen times, and you can simulate what happens over hundreds of years of everyday usage. Quickly, Isaac’s sons becomes Isaacsons, and then Isaxons, and then simply Saxons. This isn’t what happened in history, but it conveys the idea in a fashion you aren’t likely to forget.

To Abraham God said “In ISAAC shall thy seed be called”. This implies that Isaac’s name would be important for Abraham’s children one day but it never has been! Isaac’s name was rarely used in the Bible, Israel’s name was almost always used instead. However, in Amos 7:16 Israel was called “the house of ISAAC”, in direct context with them being sent into captivity (verse 17). This strongly implies that Isaac’s name would be used to describe the nations of Israel as they wandered across Europe.

SAXON MIGRATIONS

Western Europeans can be traced fairly well back to Eastern Germany; beyond that it gets pretty hazy to modern historians. However, the facts are staring them in the face, and the etymology of “Saxon” makes it easier. Spelling changes over time, and they were first called Sakhs, Sacae, and most famously, the Scythians, among other variations and names.

I should preface this by warning you that although no one knew that the Scythians were actually Israel, the facts you’re about to read were widely accepted in the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, these facts – and they are historical facts – have fallen out of favor in the past 75 years because the massive Scythian migration did not fit with the evolutionary out-of-Africa theory, nor the 40,000-years-of-tribes-in-France theories.

Modern theories involve a myriad of hunter-gatherer tribes popping up and forming separate civilizations, and they ignore any (of the many) facts that refute that. Most of the 19th century theories were based upon linguistic evidence, mythological evidence, and actual statements from ancient historians that plainly said, to paraphrase, “Western Europeans are Scythians”. Those are dismissed today as rumor, legend, and unscientific. But it is hard to dismiss a rumor when all the rumors agree with the facts – and each other.

That said, I won’t go into the details here because there isn’t space. But the basic idea is that all of the nations of western Europe are descended from different branches of the Scythian tribes. You can read any history of the Scythians, and what you will find is that a massive nation of millions of people, with a developed culture and religion and several distinct tribes, appeared apparently out of nowhere and burst onto the world scene.

Sometime between 800-600 BC, along the shores of the Black and Caspian Seas in what is now Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, the Ukraine and several of the central Asian ‘stans, the Scythians just suddenly appeared, as if by magic. No one, to this day, can offer a reasonable explanation of where they came from. But think about it; we just found a large nation of unaccounted-for people in 800-600 BC!

And at the same point in history, we LOST a large nation of accounted-for people! AND LOST THEM IN THE EXACT SAME PLACE WE FOUND THE SCYTHIANS! The northern kingdom of Israel was deported to the northern frontiers of Assyria; specifically, to the southern shores of the Black and Caspian Seas, between 750-700 BC!

There they lost their identity and their language in this new nation, but managed to hang on to the name “Saca” [Isaac]. The Assyrian grip on the frontier was weak, and within 50 years it faced severe internal strife; the Israelite tribes, by then called Saca or similar names, rebelled and started migrating away from the Assyrians in the only directions open to them – north and west!

Many moved through western Turkey into Bulgaria and up into Europe; others went up across the Caucasus Mountains and turned west into the Ukraine, through Poland and into Germany. A few lucky ones had ships and migrated west that way.

Many others followed different routes, according to the destiny God had mapped out for them, and many people have tried to map this out – some with more success than others. To be fair, it’s a hard task to reconnect the details of history after this much time. But there is one simple way to track the general migrations of Israel, and that is through the key of Dan.

DAN – THE GRAFFITI ARTIST

When Jacob was blessing the sons of Israel, he said “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward” (Genesis 49:16-17). This happened in Biblical history, as Dan was one of the first tribes to set up idols (Judges 18:30-31). Dan also hosted one of the idols of Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:26-33).

So in this sense, Dan did indeed become a snare to Israel, a serpent that bit their heels when they weren’t looking. It is likely because of this fact, and Jacob’s prophecy in Genesis 49:18, that Dan is not mentioned as being in the first resurrection in Revelation 7. Dan must “wait” for salvation.

But there is another possible translation to Genesis 49:17, and in the principle of duality, both may be accurate. In Hebrew, it literally says “Dan – Serpent – Trail/Path”. That’s all. Almost all translators render it “a serpent by the way.”. But it would be just as plausible to translate it “Dan shall be a serpent’s trail.” – that is, that Dan shall leave a trail behind him, as a serpent leaves a trail behind him.

This might be a bit of a stretch if we didn’t have so much evidence that Dan did precisely that. Dan’s children showed an unusual tendency in the Bible to name everything after their father, Dan (Joshua 19:47, Judges 18:12, 29). No other tribe seemed so ego-centric as to name everything they touched “after the name of their father Dan”.

God told Ephraim in Jeremiah 31:20-21 to set up “waymarks” to blaze the trail and leave a record of the path he took in his journeys across Europe. Remember, Ephraim was the head of the northern kingdom of ten tribes, one of which was Dan. So speaking to Ephraim often meant speaking to the entire nation.

Given Dan’s unusual tendency towards graffiti, and the fact that he traveled with Ephraim across Europe, and the fact that he was to leave “a serpent’s path” across Europe... we would expect to find an unusually high number of “Dans” scattered across Europe forming a rough path from the Black Sea to the Atlantic.

Remember what you learned about languages and how they change; vowels change a lot, but the D-N will not have changed much. It may have an ending on it, but the DN root will be evident. DN is not a common word structure in most European languages, so if we find it at all, it should be significant.

Given what we know of the Danites, we would expect that, every time they crossed a river “they named the river of Dan, after the name of Dan their father”. Every time they founded a city, they would name it “Dan’s town” or “Dan-by-the-river” or something along those lines.

So is that indeed what happened? You can find out for yourself! Go get a detailed map of Europe – one that goes from the Ukraine to Ireland. And get a box of pins or a magic marker. Study the map – find all the towns, rivers, and mountains that have DN in them separated only by vowels. Put a marker on each one, and see if they form a distinct path across Europe.

You will find rivers like the Dnieper, the Dniester, and the Don. You will find cities like Donegal and Dundee and Dunkirk. Denmark was named after an ancient, “mythical” king named “Dan”. Coincidence? Let your pins and the waymarks Dan set for us be your answer.

But there were two groups of Danites in Israel, one in the north by Laish, and one farther south. One was principally seamen (Judges 5:17), and Moses prophesied that group would escape the Assyrian captivity (Deuteronomy 33:22). So two distinct groups of Danites left Israel; one by land, leaving their name across Europe; one in ships, heading for parts unknown.

If you look at any ancient Irish history, you will read about the “Tuatha De Dananns” who invaded Ireland from ships. Tuatha De Dananns in ancient Irish means, literally “Tribe of Dan”. More coincidence? The dating on their invasion is debated, but it was certainly many, many centuries BC.

HEBREWS

Israelites went by many names, but never lost their most ancient name, the Hebrews – not even in NT times (Acts 6:1, 2 Corinthians 11:22, the BOOK of Hebrews... etc.). In Hebrew, the name Hebrew is spelled something like HBR, and actually pronounced more like “ee-bree”, though with a different vowel inserted, it could also be “ee-ber-ee”. It also means, curiously, “one from beyond”.

But variations of this name pop up in some of the oddest places. For example, in what is now the Republic of Georgia, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea in the 6th century BC, a nation appeared called IBERIA.

If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice that is identical to the word Hebrew, or “Ibree”. And this nation was composed of Scythians – Isaac’s sons – who were ALSO Ibree, Hebrews!

And this is precisely where the Scythians, whom we have already identified as exiled Israelites, appeared in the 7th century BC! And in a place where Caucasians got their name – and in a place where, to this day, the people are racially similar to any western European nation.

But that’s not all! One of the ancient names for Ireland is Hibernia. As far back as 320 BC it was called by the Greeks “ierne” and by the Romans in AD 98 “hibernia”. These are both recognizable adaptations of “land of the Hebrews”, where the Tuatha de Danann, the “tribe of Dan” lived! For Dan was ALSO an Ibree, and so he naturally dwelt in Hibernia!

But there’s also another “Hebrew” in Europe! The Iberian peninsula, the name of the land where Spain and Portugal are today. As far back as 500 BC, the Greeks called it Iberia; Romans called it Iberia and the people who lived there were the Iberi – which is literally identical to the Hebrew word for “Hebrew”!

This name was what the people of the Iberian peninsula called themselves in ancient times. The most ancient residents were today called the Basque people, who lived there before the Spanish/Portuguese race occupied the whole land. Curiously – and this is attested by secular historical linguists – the Basque language shares many remarkable similarities with Hebrew! 

Why should such an unimportant name as “Hebrew” show up in three such dissimilar places unless descendants of Hebrews passed through these areas?

GOD’S SHEEP

Meanwhile, though few realize it, God specifically identifies, by name, the tribes of Israel after their exile. But I have to get to that in a rather roundabout fashion. Remember how God told the disciples not to go to the Gentiles? Matthew 10:5. Who were they sent to? Verse 6. Who was Peter, in particular, sent to? John 21:15-17.

When Jesus said to Peter “feed My sheep”, according to His own interpretation of the symbol, He meant that Peter was to preach to the Israelites. The LOST Israelites, the “lost sheep” of the house of Israel. But remember – I can’t repeat this too often, because so many people don’t realize it! – Jesus was not in Israel! He was with the Jews.

Jesus well knew that the house of Israel was long gone, scattered as He, Himself, had foretold! Where were they? James 1:1. Did the Jews know where they were, in general? John 7:35. So Jesus sent the twelve apostles specifically, AND ONLY, to the “dispersed among the Gentiles”.

Did you ever wonder why, after the first few chapters of Acts, most of the twelve apostles simply disappeared? Most of them we know by name only – yet these were all great men, all destined to sit on thrones with Jesus, judging the twelve tribes! (Matthew 19:28).

How can the least of these great men deserve just no more than a single mention in the Bible?! How can we know so little about Thaddaeus and the other Simon and Matthias? Because they had other work to do that took them out of the sphere of Jewish writings! 

The history that we have access to today all came from Jewish, Greek, Egyptian, or Roman sources. The places the Israelites were at the time were uncivilized – the Germanic and Slavic tribes they were traveling among preserved no written histories for us today.

Those who did write histories of the missing apostles were mostly Romans; and their histories are of very dubious value considering that Rome was seething with evilness from the earliest times. These apostles disappeared because they had been sent to peoples who were, at that time, uncivilized! The lost sheep of Israel! We hear no more of them, because no more was written of them! They were too busy doing the job God gave them to do in taking the gospel to the dispersed among the Gentiles.

Peter, most especially, was sent to whom? Galatians 2:7-8. So in 1 Peter 1:1, he addresses his letter to the strangers scattered. Peter was not allowed to take the gospel to the Gentiles! So these STRANGERS could only be the lost tribes of Israel! And where did he said they were? “Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia”. These were mostly places in the area around modern Turkey. These are also places where the Assyrians had left the deported Israelites.

Some of them had no doubt lingered in these areas even 800 years later, although the faster-moving tribes had already found their way to England, France, and the Scandinavian countries long ago. But a much more specific reference comes from Paul in Colossians 3:11.

Look at this verse carefully; what is Paul doing? He contrasts “Greeks and Jews”. That is, Gentiles and Israelites. Then He contrasts “circumcision and uncircumcision” – again, comparing Israelites and Gentiles. Skipping one, he then contrasts “bond nor free” – that is, those in bondage to sin and those free from sin – in this case, spiritual Gentiles and spiritual freedmen (John 8:31-37).

But pay close attention to the last verse! The sons of ABRAHAM were free! Why? Verses 38-40. Because Abraham obeyed Jesus’ words. The point is, Paul presents four clauses in Colossians that compares two groups of people; Gentiles and Israelites. The only one we didn’t look at is the one we’re most interested in – “Scythian and Barbarian”.

To fit the rest of these contrasts, Barbarians are Gentiles and Scythians are Israelites! Which only serves to support what we’ve already concluded from the evidence before us. Scythians in Greek is “Skuthos”. Curiously, the later Romans called those whom we call the “Scotch” the Scoti. Using what you’ve learned of the ways languages change, you can see that SCyThian, SKuThos, and the SCoTch are all linguistically related.

Sometimes, these are coincidences. But how many coincidences does it take to stack up to overwhelming proof? Scythians are the ancestors of most western European nations. And according to the Bible, Scythians are Israelites. According to history, Scythians showed up in the exact spot that Israel disappeared, and in similar numbers with similar culture.

And by several other unrelated lines of evidence we’ve shown they must be Israelites, called after their father Isaac. And the Hiberians, called after their father Eber. And the Danish, called after their father Dan. And the British, the covenant people who cannot properly pronounce “Shibboleth”, with their red-headed Davidic royalty.... There is much, much more, but that properly belongs in a book, not in this lesson.

EPHRAIM AND THE THRONE OF DAVID TOGETHER

God prophesied the destruction of Assyria by Nebuchadnezzar in Micah 5:5-6, but more importantly He prophesied that the Israelites would travel among many nations (verses 7-9), would be victorious in their travels. The Scythians/Scoti/Sacae/Sarmatians/Cimmerians/Celts and other names for Israelites were all renowned as fierce warriors – because God said they would be “as a lion among... beasts of the forest”. Few successfully resisted the Scythians as they marched across Europe.

But that passage also talks of the “remnant of Jacob”, reuniting with the remnant of the Jews that Jeremiah transplanted in verses 2-4. Of course, this whole chapter is also talking about the return of Christ; but the majesty of the British throne, the throne of David, ruling under God, was a small type of that (Isaiah 9:6-7).

In Jeremiah 16:14-21 God makes a prophecy not to Judah, but to Israel. He says that in the future, when God saves Israel out of the nations where He scattered them, it will be a more impressive miracle than when He delivered them from Egypt.

He says after they have been sufficiently punished – which we know would take 2,520 years – He will send fishers and hunters, and they will find the lost Israelites out of the holes in the rocks in every mountain, so that not a grain will be lost.

In Hosea 3:1-5, God prophesied that Israel would be “many days” without a king. But after that, Israel would return and David would be their king. This is dual, and David WILL be their king again one day; but in another sense, David’s descendants would rule over Israel again BEFORE Jesus’ second coming. The time is in “the latter days”, the precise time frame Jacob gave his sons in Genesis 49 for the fulfillment of the greatest blessings the world has ever seen.

The throne of David was the rightful throne of all Israel; the throne of Jeroboam was never truly a throne over all Israel, even though it ruled over the house of Israel (Hosea 3:5 again). So in one sense, Zedekiah was a prince of Israel because he inherited the throne of David and the right to rule Israel, even though he never did personally rule over Israel. That said, read Ezekiel 21:25-27.

Remember what you learned in the previous lesson, about exalting the dry tree and abasing the green tree. This is an overlay of that same prophecy, with different details added. The crown was to be removed from Zedekiah and Pharez and “this shall not be the same”; the throne was going to a different branch of the family, and David’s female heir was married to Zerah’s heir giving Zerah the crown.

Now, in this same context, God said “I will OVERTURN, OVERTURN, OVERTURN, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him”. Read that carefully. God doesn’t st-st-stutter! He said “overturn” three times and He M-M-MEANT three times.

Before we look at what it means, let’s look at what we already know. The phrase “he...whose right it is” you may remember from Genesis 49:10, where “Shiloh” is Hebrew for “He to whom it belongs”. This was also promised by Balaam in Numbers 24:15-19 and Luke 1:32-33 and Revelation 11:15.

So then the scripture means “it shall be no more until Jesus returns”. Does that mean it shall cease to exist? Jeremiah 33:20-26. So since it doesn’t mean it shall exist no more, it can only mean – from the context – that after the third “overturning”, “it shall be no more OVERTURNED until Jesus’ second coming”!

So what does it mean to “overturn”? From the context, it is clear that the throne was to be moved to a different place! Now that we understand this verse, with its context of the throne of David, we can translate the symbols and understand it clearly! It says “I will move the throne of David three times, and then it shall not be moved again until Jesus returns!”

Overlay that with the history we know. The throne of David is in London today. Before that, the dynasty ruled in Scotland. Before that, in Ireland. Before that, in Jerusalem. It was overturned, moved, three times, and will not be moved again until Jesus returns. Whatever happens, the English will be ruled over by a monarch descended from David until Shiloh returns to claim His inheritance.

Although I didn’t prove it in this lesson, we know that various tribes of Israel, mostly Danites and Jews, migrated into Ireland over several periods in history, which is why it is called Hibernia, “Land of the Hebrews”. And that is where Jeremiah took Zedekiah’s daughters and married them into the royal line of the tribes of Israel already living in Ireland – who, thanks to God’s watchful eye, “happened” to be of the line of Zerah.

They ruled there for over a millennium until they conquered Scotland around AD 500, and the dynasty was moved there. It remained in Scotland until King James moved it to England in 1603 where it has remained ever since, and WILL remain until Jesus returns. No power in heaven or Earth can depose the English monarchs until that happens!

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

As with all subjects, once you understand the big picture it’s absurdly simple. When God drove Israel out of the Promised Land and began their 2,520 years of punishment, He specifically told them they would lose their identity because of their sins (Isaiah 65:11-15), and their Hebrew language as well (Isaiah 28:11).

He also said the world would lose them as they were sifted among all nations, but that He never would. Read Isaiah 27:1-6. God promised that when the time of punishment was ended, He would slay the dragon that held them in captivity. Who is that? Well, where is the Dragon’s seat? Revelation 13, (and the proof in Lessons 10, 12).

The Dragon gave Rome its power, and Rome had absolute power and ruled Europe with an iron fist for 1,260 years... a power that was finally and completely BROKEN in 1798! Just in time for Israel’s blessings to be given! Just in time for the tribes of Israel to “blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit”!

It is fitting to close this lesson with the parable of the two sticks in Ezekiel 37:16-28. This, as always, is a dual prophecy. It refers to the future after the return of Christ; but it is also fulfilled in type by the gathering together in Europe of the sons of Isaac.

God uses two sticks to represent two nations; the first stick is for the nation of Judah and his companions of the CHILDREN of Israel – this is Benjamin and Levi. Notice that his companions are from the CHILDREN of Israel – sons of Jacob – but not from the HOUSE of Israel, the NATION of Israel with the 10 tribes.

So the first stick is for Judah and his companions, and the second is for “Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the HOUSE of Israel his companions”. What does a stick represent in the Bible? Numbers 17:1-10. The rod of Levi was given to show the authority of leadership; and throughout history, kings have always had a stick of some sort to show authority; a scepter, staff, a spear, trident, lightning bolt... something.

These sticks represent the distinction of the two nations of Israel and Judah and their respective “companion” tribes. Back to Ezekiel 37:17, God says these sticks will be joined into ONE stick again – one nation. Verses 21-28 carry on the prophecy. The true fulfillment of this will not happen until Jesus returns and sets up righteous world government, with that one stone that smashes all kingdoms into pieces (Daniel 2:44-45).

But the smaller duality of this has already BEEN fulfilled! God ALREADY took the children of Israel from among the heathen and gathered them together into a land they could call their own.

He already united them under the family of David, descendants of whom ruled every Israelite nation in western Europe, and a few other nations as well. While David did not personally rule them all, those who came out of David’s loins DID, and DO, rule over Israel just as God prophesied.

This is not the ultimate fulfillment which will happen when God resurrects David with a just spirit made perfect to rule all Israel forever; but it IS a type of that fulfillment that we can see and touch today. God did join these sticks together under David’s rule in NW Europe, and He did bless them exactly as He promised He would.

God did gather them out of Catholicism and her idolatry, and He DID cleanse them; and He WAS their God, and everyone acknowledged that fact. Our cynical, skeptical, atheistic-leaning society today doesn’t realize that in the 19th and early 20th centuries – when these empires were built and the promises fulfilled – the English-speaking peoples of the world were STAUNCHLY Protestant, anti-Catholic, and relatively righteous.

Contrary to the modern Christian attitude towards the Ten Commandments, which mostly began after 1900, the Ten Commandments were considered the cornerstone of Christianity; the majority of our people obeyed God as best they could; taught the golden rule; they fasted regularly, as a nation.

They KNEW God was responsible for their victories and their sufferings, and acknowledged it – such as when Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national fast in the USA, to atone for our sins that caused the civil war, for instance. I quote an excerpt from it here – because it shows not only the character of some of the great men and women who built the blessings we enjoy, but also the fact that they KNEW they were the inheritors of unimaginable and unmerited blessings! 

...it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; 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 bounties 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 has ever 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... It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

If Abraham Lincoln could say, 150 years ago, “we have forgotten God”, what can we say today to do justice to the state of our nation? How could we forget that no other nation in history has grown as fast as we have, or received as much as we have? We – and by that I now mean my nation, the USA – have forgotten who it was that built our country.

How could we have forgotten? Well, that’s a funny story. Manasseh left Israel and began wandering west roughly 2,700 years ago, and promptly forgot who they were. They arrived in England and then, chafing under their brother’s rule, left for America. There, we once again forgot how we got here and the miraculous events that led us to be who we are.

The funny part? 3,700 years ago, under God’s inspiration, our ancestor Joseph was inspired to name us Manasseh... and in Hebrew, Manasseh means “causing to forget”.

It’s time we remembered.

APPENDIX

[1] For instance, The Alamo in Texas 1836, 189 Americans vs. 1800 Mexicans; even though technically a loss, the battle changed the course of the war. As a direct result, less than 2 months later at the next major battle, the numerically superior Mexican force was defeated in eighteen minutes at the battle of San Jacinto. The Mexicans had 630 killed in 18 minutes, while the Texans lost only 9 men in the battle.

The Battle of Rorke’s Drift 1874, 150 British defeated 4,000 Zulu warriors; at the battle of Agincourt in 1415, 6,000 inferior British troops defeated as many as 30,000 heavily armored French; and many other examples in history. While there have been surprise victories throughout history in many nations, God has often heavily favored British and Americans in battle, and a hundred have chased ten thousand.

Until 75 years or so ago, being an American or British citizen anywhere in the world meant you were untouchable by local governments. The might of the British and American forces, and their zeal to protect their citizens, often meant that one citizen could chase a hundred barbarians. Even though both nations lacked a great deal of being perfectly obedient, as most did not keep the Sabbath, holy days, unclean meats, etc.; still they did believe in the golden rule and most of the law, and that was a great start.

Also, since God began blessing Britain and the USA, and not counting civil wars (defined as wars between brethren, which includes the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the American Civil War), the USA and Britain have never lost a war. It is doubtful that any other nation in the world today can say that.

That is changing in recent years. It began when we were unable or unwilling to defeat Korea, then continued with Vietnam, and while we have not yet suffered a true loss in war... we will, and probably in the not-too-distant future.

[2] Britain’s archers have been famous throughout history, thanks in part to the yew trees which grew in England and gave them a great advantage in bow-making.

[3] The only truly global empire in history has been Britain. It was said “the sun never sets on the British Empire”, because their territories spanned all parts of the globe and at least one part was always in daylight.

No ancient world-ruling civilization like Rome, Alexander, Babylon, or Egypt ever TRULY had a global empire, and only one people in history have really spread out “to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills” to “fill the face of the WORLD”.

[4] Since 1800 until recently, every important military or economic passage in the world has been controlled by Britain or the USA. The Suez Canal, Panama Canal, South Africa, Guantanamo Bay, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, a wide variety of islands and colonies too numerous to name. Often these were footholds carved out of the lands of nations who hated them; Hong Kong for instance, was truly “a gate of their enemies” that England owned.

[5] By far the richest nations in history in terms of wealth are the United States and Britain and its ex-colonies. Today’s quoted statistics often misrepresent the real facts and tell us that Dubai or Luxembourg are richer than we; by some definitions, they are....

However, in the bigger picture, the relatively small populations of western Europe and their mostly-European-populated current-or-former colonies, as of 2000*, constituted less than 10% of the world’s population yet held just under 50% of the world’s assets (wealth).

We usually only see statistics for Europe as a whole, which obscures the true facts. Adding the mostly non-Israelite countries of Europe, such as Spain, Italy, Germany, Eastern Europe, etc., actually reduces the ratio between population and wealth.

But by including all the Israelite nations in the figures, I obscured the truth, too; for using the same figures, if you take only the sons of Joseph – primarily Britain, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the USA – comprise 7.33% of the world’s population and STILL they control 40% of the world’s wealth!

Joseph’s sons alone, despite their many sins, God’s punishments, and the fact that they have lost most of their wealth already, STILL control 40% of the world’s wealth even though they only have 7.33% of the population. The figures are even MORE impressive when you consider that probably close to half of that population is no longer of Joseph’s lineage.

And this is AFTER the British Empire has all but collapsed; after the USA has gone from the most financially secure nation in the world, to being (currently) 17.5 TRILLION dollars in debt to its own banks. Not counting our massive debts to other nations in the world. But God prophesied this as well in Deuteronomy 28:12, 43-44.

1944 was the peak of the Josephite nations; at that point 6% of the world’s population – the US and British Commonwealth – controlled 49% of the world’s wealth and owned or directly influenced nearly three-fourths of the land area of the world.

These facts are not dwelt upon in school today so most people do not realize the enormous, unbelievable, unprecedented wealth that was ours – and to some extent, still is, though it is fast dripping away, flowing into the hands of those more righteous than we, exactly as the last half of Deuteronomy 28 threatened.

In the past 50 years we have begun to be challenged by China, India, the Middle East, and Russia for the title, but we still cling to it, though barely. But all of them together do not come close to the wealth God gave us – and we thanked Him by worshiping a false Jesus, rebelling against His commandments, and saying to God “Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou” (Isaiah 65:5).

*(From a UN study published in 2006 on the world’s wealth at http://www.wider.unu.edu)

[6] England has long been personified as “John Bull”, representing the typical Briton somewhat like Uncle Sam or Yankee Doodle Dandy represents Americans. He is often pictured as a humanoid bull.

This is the coat of arms of the royal house of England, and has been this way, with minor changes, since 1603 (except for a brief period during the English civil war in the 1650s). The motto means “God and my right”, which is debated but seems to mean “God gave me the right to rule”. Notice how the Lion (Judah) and the unicorn (Ephraim) are side by side, with the smaller royal lion (David’s house) ruling over both?

[7] Notable British monarchs with the red hair of David included Elizabeth I, Richard the Lionheart, Henry II, Henry VIII, rumors of King Arthur, and many, many others. The disproportionate number of red-headed monarchs has long been an odd fact no one can explain properly... unless it’s because they’re descended from the ancient red-haired kings of Judah, precisely as the Bible promised – that David would always have a descendant ruling over Israel – and thus, Ephraim in particular.