One Torah For All

One Torah shall be to him that is home-born, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
Exodus 12:49

Covenantal Relationship - part 2
Where does Judah stand in the covenant?

Matithyah 15:24
But He answered and said, “I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

On at least two occasions Yeshua stated that He came for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. What does such a statement mean in its historical context? The answer may be surprising as well as informative. First, a short Scriptural history lesson:

Melek Aleph (1st Kings) 11:30-36
30 And Achiyah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces.
31 And he said to Yeroboam, “You take ten pieces; for thus says YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, ‘Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to you
32 but he shall have one tribe, for My servant David’s sake and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel;
33 because they have forsaken Me, and have worshipped Ashtoret the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways, to do that which is right in My eyes, and to keep My statutes and My ordinances, as did David his father.
34 However, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand; but I will make him prince all the days of his life, for David My servant’s sake whom I chose, who kept My commandments and My statutes;
35 but I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand, and will give it unto you, even ten tribes.
36 And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David My servant may have a lamp always before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen to put My name there.’”

Please notice that YHWH through His prophet informs Yeroboam that he is about to become king of ten of the tribes of Israel. This would happen because YHWH is “tearing” these ten tribes away from Yehudah (Judah) and forming them into their own kingdom/nation. When this happens, YHWH would leave one tribe with Yehudah, which happened to be the tribe of Benyamin. One of the reasons the tribe of Benyamin was chosen to stay with Yehudah was because of the promise he made to his father Ya’aqov when Benyamin was taken down into Egypt to see Yoseph.

YHWH promised Yeroboam a perpetual throne for him and all his sons, if he would serve YHWH and keep and do all His commandments. He did not. In fact, the very next festival which came up, Yeroboam became afraid that all the people would leave him and return to the king of Yehudah. Thus, Yeroboam made idols and changed the feast days in order to keep the people of the ten tribes away from the king of Yehudah, which also kept them away from YHWH.

Yirmeyah (Jeremiah) 3:8
“And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet treacherous Yehudah her sister feared not; but she also went and played the harlot.”

The result of this idolatry/spiritual harlotry was YHWH divorcing the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel. YHWH caused the king of Assyria to come and take these ten tribes into captivity. As a whole, these ten tribes have never repented of their idolatry and thus have not yet returned to YHWH.

As the verse above states, Yehudah also played the harlot as well. While this is true, YHWH never divorced Yehudah. He did send them away into captivity, however. Then after seventy years, these two tribes repented and a remnant of the two-tribe nation of Israel returned back to the land promised to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya’aqov.

The fact that nowhere in Scripture is it recorded that YHWH divorced Yehudah, is an important bit of information. What one needs to understand at this point is, when YHWH brought Israel out of Egypt and brought them to the mountain of Sinai, He offered them a marriage covenant, a ketuvah. They accepted. This ketuvah is known as the Torah Moshe. However, the ten-tribe kingdom’s idolatry was so grievous to YHWH that He divorced them. They were no longer in a covenant relationship with YHWH. The marriage was over, but He still loved them. However, Yehudah had her spiritual problems as well, but after having received the discipline of YHWH via captivity, they returned to Him. Thus, they are still in a covenant relationship with Him. The marriage is still intact.

At this point in this study, we need to examine the words and concepts of being saved and salvation. It is one of those things that has a specific Scriptural meaning, but has a lot of other man-made baggage added to it.

The Hebrew word which is translated into English as “saved” is ישע yasha - to be open or free, by extension, to deliver. Salvation is simply a form of the root save or saved. Thus, one goes from ישע - yasha to ישועה - yeshuah which means deliverance or someone who has been saved.

Therefore, when one is discussing salvation or being saved, one must remember the context of Scripture to keep oneself from going off into man-made ideas. To be saved or to have salvation simply means that one has been delivered or set free. In this case, Mashiach Yeshua came for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, “to save” them, or to deliver them. Why do they need this? The house of Israel (ten tribe nation of Israel) needs this because they had been removed from the covenant they were in with YHWH by YHWH. Thus, they need to be restored back into a covenant relationship with YHWH. This is something that the two tribe nation of Israel does not need since they have always been and still are in a covenant relationship with YHWH.

This does not mean that the members of the two-tribe nation of Israel do not need Mashiach Yeshua, because they do need Him. They just do not need Him in the same exact fashion as the members of the ten-tribe nation of Israel need Him. In this sense then, the members of the two-tribe nation of Israel do not need to be saved because they are already in a covenant relationship with YHWH. It might be pointed out here that that relationship is not in the best of condition. This is where Mashiach comes in for them. He can and will make their relationship with the Almighty YHWH better, if they turn to Mashiach Yeshua.

There is one more point to discuss in this study, and that is the concept of Ephrayim (ten-tribe nation of Israel) being the first born of YHWH. What does this mean?

Yirmeyah (Jeremiah) 31:9
“They shall come with weeping; and with supplications will I lead them; I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephrayim is My first-born.”

Why is Ephrayim the first born of YHWH? It is because it is the house of Ephrayim which accepts Yeshua as Mashiach first, thus, being born again. For a fuller treatment of this please see the study Ephrayim: The Firstborn of YHWH.

YHWH has two different paths for the house of the ten-tribe nation of Israel and the house of the two-tribe nation of Israel.

May YHWH give us wisdom in dealing with the members of each house as well as respect for His plan in discussing these matters with those who do not yet see these truths.

Shabbat Shalom
Zerubbabel ben Emunah
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