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

Reunification
A fresh look at the prodigal son parable

Luqa (Luke) 15:17
“But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father&rsquos; hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with hunger!’”

Here is the truth as it presently stands: anyone can join with Yehudah (Judah) at any time as long as it is according to Yehudah’s terms; namely, going through conversion and denying Mashiach Yeshua.

Many within the ranks of Ephrayim have attempted to negotiate with Judah hoping to formulate a plan for Ephrayim to return home en masse. This almost always ends with the Ephraimite in negotiations joining Yehudah (Judah) and denying Mashiach. It is sad and woefully unnecessary. This happens over and over again. In our view, this happens simply because Ephrayim gets things out of order.

There are a couple of items within this parable which seem to be ignored or not understood in light of the prophetic return of Ephrayim to his Father's house. As Yeshua states in this parable in the passage above, it was the son who had gone out into the world and wasted his inheritance who came to himself. He did not go to his brother. He returned to his father. Notice the reaction of the son who stayed home.

Luqa (Luke) 15:28
“But he was angry, and would not go in: and his father came out, and entreated him.”

The truth is, Yehudah (Judah) is not happy about the prospect of Ephrayim returning home. He will resist it until long after Ephrayim is already home. Ephrayim needs to get this reality solidly fixed in his mind and heart and stop pandering to Yehudah. Yehudah will accept Ephrayim as a nation one day, but that day is far off. Furthermore, the acceptance of Yehudah will only come after Ephrayim is home and Father Yah entreats Yehudah to come and join them. It will not be the entreaties of Ephrayim which change the mind of Yehudah, but rather it will be our heavenly Father.

Please take note of the following passage.

Yirmeyah (Jeremiah) 31:9-10
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 Ephraim is My first-born.
10 Hear the word of YHWH, you nations, and declare it in the isles afar off; and say, ‘He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.’”

These words are the words of YHWH as recorded through the prophet Yirmeyah. YHWH states quite clearly that Ephrayim is His firstborn. Why is the younger grandson of Ya’aqov elevated to the position of firstborn in the kingdom of YHWH? Most likely it is because Ephrayim was first to accept en masse Yeshua as Mashiach. Yehudah (Judah) will not accept Yeshua as Mashiach en masse until later, after Ephrayim has been reformed into a nation in the land and has been provoked by Ephrayim to jealousy. And why does Yehudah get jealous of Ephrayim? Simply because these upstarts are keeping Torah better with more joy, more happiness, and it is in the spirit of Torah and the love of Mashiach Yeshua. They can readily see this and it provokes them into accepting Yeshua as Mashiach. Please understand, what we are discussing here is at the national level. Ephrayim is keeping Torah as a nation. Yehudah accepts Yeshua as Mashiach as a nation. In order for this to happen, both must be a nation. At present only one is a nation. Joining that one nation does nothing to bring into existence the second nation.

As the firstborn of YHWH, Ephrayim needs to start acting like His firstborn and set the example instead of attempting to bow at the feet of Yehudah (Judah). Ephrayim has lost many good men and women, those who have ended up denying Yeshua as Mashiach because they wanted to be like Yehudah. Ephrayim needs to stop acting like this. He needs to stop trying to bring these two sides together, when it is out of order.

Yechezqel (Ezekiel) 37:21-22
21 “And say unto them, ‘Thus says Adonai YHWH, “Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land;
22 and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all;”’”

The prophet Yechezqel, a priest, is commanded by YHWH to take two sticks. On one stick he writes it is for Yehudah (Judah). On the other stick he writes it is for Ephrayim. He is then commanded to join these two sticks. Please note, a stick according to the passage above, in context, is symbolic of a nation, a kingdom. However, while at the present time Yehudah is a nation, Ephrayim is not. Therefore, it is not possible for these two to be joined together at this time!

This reunification cannot happen until after Ephrayim is a nation in the land. Furthermore, as was pointed out in the parable Yeshua gave concerning the return of Ephrayim, Yehudah (Judah) shall resist this return and subsequent reforming of the nation of Ephrayim.

If Ephrayim truly wants to go home, then he needs to work at forming himself into a nation. He needs to come to himself and then return to his Father, not to his brother. He needs to stop attempting to reunify with Yehudah (Judah). It is not time and makes this out of order.

Furthermore, joining with Yehudah (Judah) at this time is simply increasing the stick of Yehudah and does nothing to form the stick of Ephrayim. There must be two sticks-two nations before the two nations can be joined together.

Shabbat Shalom
Zerubbabel ben Emunah
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