Chapter Seven – Israel and Judah Go Into Slavery—and Why!

Understand again this critical point, now lost to the world. The Jews are only one twelfth of the tribes of Israel. They sprang from Jacob’s son Judah. There were eleven other sons. All but two grew into modern nations present on Earth today. (Simeon and Levi are scattered.)

From one son, Joseph, a great NATION and a COMPANY OF NATIONS sprang—out of his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, came modern Britain and the United States. The other tribes are, generally speaking, the nations of North-western Europe, plus a few others.

My book America and Britain in Prophecy explains how the overall picture of end-time prophecy centres on these nations. Understanding—grasping—the enormous truth of the identity of the modern-day descendants of ancient Israel is absolutely vital. It leads directly to the subject of the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is still binding on the LOST TEN TRIBES of Israel. God’s identifying SIGN was to be kept by these nations. But they have refused to observe it, believing themselves to be Gentiles, and have assigned the Sabbath obligation to “the Jewish people.”

Why Tribes Now “Lost”

The true story behind Israel’s loss of identity is astonishing, and known to almost none for many centuries. Yet, these modern nations need never have lost sight of their true identity. A choice they made caused this to happen.

While people denigrate and sneer at the Sabbath as merely “Jewish,” it is binding on far more people than the relatively small number of Israelites who have descended from the tribe of Judah.

Here is a great irony, known to almost no one. The Bible speaks of the term “Jew.” Of course, most think this term is synonymous with all the tribes of Israel, because they never investigate what the Bible actually says!

Consider.

The very first place in the entire Bible in which the term “Jews” is found describes a war occurring between the JEWS and ISRAEL! Let’s read it: “Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath” (2 Kings 16:5-6).

This was not Jews fighting Jews. Most people have no idea that the nation of Israel had become divided—into two different nations, representing two separate kingdoms. When Solomon died, Israel rebelled against the oppressive tax rates he had imposed. The price of Solomon’s luxurious lifestyle came on the backs of the Israelites he overtaxed. His son Rehoboam ignored the wise counsel of those who advised him that reducing taxes would stop a revolt developing under a high-ranking leader named Jeroboam, appointed by Solomon. Instead, Rehoboam listened to younger men who told him to actually raise taxes.

The result? Ten tribes rebelled, leaving only Judah and Benjamin still loyal to Rehoboam. These tribes pulled away from Jerusalem as their capital, much like the Old South seceded from the American Union in 1861. Two separate kingdoms—the KINGDOM OF ISRAEL and the KINGDOM OF JUDAH—emerged, with two separate capitals, Samaria (Israel) and Jerusalem (Judah).

Sin and Jeroboam

The Bible speaks continually of the “sins of Jeroboam.” Over and over, in the books of Kings and Chronicles, this term is found. We will learn what they were.

First, recognize that sin is sin—whether committed by Israelites or Gentiles (1 John 3:4). When people break God’s great spiritual Law, the penalty is always the same. They are robbed of peace, happiness, abundance, and prosperity. Because God loves all people, He punishes all for disobedience. Everyone must learn that sin cannot be taken lightly. All sin is serious! When people break God’s Sabbath, or any other point in His Law, a loving God must spank—PUNISH—them. Otherwise, what would be the point of keeping a law? Certainly everyone understands that if you break the law of gravity, by jumping from a cliff or a building, a terrible price will be paid. Hence, only those who are suicidal consider such an action. It is the same with God’s Law.

God hates sin. He understands that it steals happiness from the lives of all those who commit it. Therefore, He must punish for disobedience. His Law does that automatically—just as it brings automatic blessings for obedience!

Jeroboam Changes Israel’s Sign I live in Ohio. It is one of fifty states in America. While I am an American, as are all Ohioans, all Americans are not Ohioans. Some are Californians, others New Yorkers or Floridians, and so forth. Grasp the following point! All Jews are Israelites, but all Israelites are not Jews. The Jews are a comparatively small amount of the total number of Israelites.

Israel and Judah were totally separate kingdoms.

Following the split of the Twelve Tribes of ancient Israel, Jeroboam was king over the northern Ten Tribes. He had to find a means of consolidating his kingdom, insuring it would never reunite with Judah and Benjamin. He recognized the great danger of people returning to Jerusalem to keep God’s feast days (annual Sabbaths or Holy Days) and then deciding to leave him. He had to take specific—and swift—political actions to diminish the threat to his new solidarity over the Ten Tribes, and protect his power.

Since the Temple of God was in Jerusalem, the capital city of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, Jeroboam feared that his kingdom would rejoin itself to Judah. Notice what he did: “Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:26-28).

Does this sound far-fetched? Not only did it happen, but history records many millions bought the idea.

In quick succession, Jeroboam created a new religious system to distance the people in his kingdom from worshipping at Jerusalem. This included building the two large idols for worship in the towns of Bethel and Dan, at the far northern and southern points of his kingdom. He also established a festival to replace the Feast of Tabernacles—a God-ordained festival. In Leviticus 23:34, God ordained the keeping of this Holy Day and Feast: “The fifteenth day of this SEVENTH month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.” However, Jeroboam made the observance of his festival on the eighth month! (See 1 Kings 12:28-33.)

He made one other critical decision that eventually pushed most of the Levites back into alignment with Judah and Benjamin. Recognizing they were the most educated and were the leaders, Jeroboam demoted them, a pattern followed by modern Gentile dictators today. Also, because the Levites were supported by God’s tithes, they had been accustomed to receiving larger incomes. Jeroboam set baser, less-educated people to be Israel’s priests. The Levites became disgruntled and eventually many returned and intermingled with Judah.

2 Kings 17:16 records, “And they [the Israelites] left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.” The people of Israel followed Jeroboam’s lead, and worshipped the pagan god Baal, the supposed “sun god,” or “lord of the sun.”

Hislop’s The Two Babylons and Webster’s “Rest Days” explain how this “lord of the sun” was specifically worshipped on the day we now call SUNDAY. Israel’s example of worshipping on this day demonstrates how quickly the entire nation began to observe Sunday. They ignored God’s Sabbath command—“Remember the Sabbath day.”

How do we know that Israel disobeyed this command? 2 Kings 17:1-41 stated that they had “left all the commandments of the LORD their God”—this would have included the Sabbath!

Recall that, in Hosea, God warned Israel—almost 200 years after Jeroboam’s rebellion—about what will happen because of her Sunday-worship. Hosea 2:11 stated, “... her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.” God calls Sunday worship Israel’s sabbaths—not His! His Sabbath falls on Saturday—and identifies His people!

The true originator of Sunday observance is Baal, and God will punish those who participate in it: “And I will visit upon [punish] her [for keeping] the days of BAALIM, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot Me, says the LORD” (Hosea 2:13).

Jeroboam caused Israel to forsake God’s Sabbath day—the seventh day of the week, in order to worship Baal the lord of the sun, on Sunday—the false “lord’s day.” His proclamation, setting the “day of the sun” as the national day of worship, led ancient Israel to lose—and never return to—the observance of the true Sabbath!

The acceptance and observance of the “day of the sun god,” Sunday, is a deadly sin with grave repercussions. The result of Jeroboam’s decisions was that all Ten Tribes of Israel, through seven successive dynasties and nineteen kings, practiced the two basic “sins of Jeroboam”—SABBATH-BREAKING and IDOLATRY!

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