TRACING THE COVENANT PEOPLE

'FROM SOLOMON TO THE CHRIST'     By   E.M.

 

 

As we follow the events in the lives of these Covenant people, comparing the book, "One Man's Destiny" with the scriptures, we find thus, this continuing story-----David------

'the man after YAHWEH'S own heart is getting ready to turn the reigns of the Kingdom over to his son Solomon, who will build the Temple for YAHWEH.

The appointment, the coronation, the celebration, the dedication of the contribution for the temple were all the work of David (I Chron: 28-29).  David is recorded as saying in his final dedicator prayer:--

"Blessed be thou LORD GOD of Israel, our Father, for ever and ever.  Thine O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the Glory, and the Victory, and the Majesty.  For all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the Kingdom, O LORD.  And thou art exalted as head above all.  Both riches and honor come from thee, and thou reignest over all;  and in thine hand is power and might, and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength to all.  Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy Glorious name.

But who am I, and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort.  For all things come from thee, and thine own have we given thee. For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners , as were all our fathers; our days on earth are as a shadow , and there is none abiding , Oh LORD our God , all this store that we have prepared  to build thee a house for thy Holy Name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own. I know also my God that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness, a for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee.

          Oh, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac and all Israel, our fathers keep this forever in the imagination , of the thoughts , and in the hearts of thy people. And prepare their hearts unto thee; and give unto Solomon, my son, a perfect heart,  to keep thy commandments, thy  testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all theses things , and to build the palace, for which I have made provisions. (II Chronicles 29)

             Thus David prayed and the people then came and worshiped their LORD and King. Then they put Solomon on the throne of the LORD instead of David his father, and all Israel obeyed him. David then died in a good old age, and his son Solomon reigned in his stead, and you will note particularly here that it is the LORD'S THRONE upon which Solomon sat.

                 Now; the Israelites enjoyed a glorious era under David and Solomon. YAHWEH'S statutes were administered more efficiently than any period of their history except when under the leadership of Moses. It was thru the insight of Samuel and Nathan as well as the work of David and Solomon that the Israel people developed National Strength, and acquired Spiritual power, never had the people experienced such prosperity, equity and happiness.                                                            

                Now; David was very human, and he sinned, but no man ever hated his sins more contritely. David's sins were chiefly of the flesh, he never turned away once from YAHWEH to idolatry.  This is why YAHWEH called him a 'man after his own heart' and could forgive him. David's greatness may have been that he sought FIRST the Kingdom of God  and his righteousness. Like the Apostle Paul, David was not ashamed to bear witness to his faith in YAHWEH, Samuel said that the spirit of the LORD would never depart from David, perhaps that was the source of his power. It was David's singular honor to be chosen as the fountain head of the LORD'S throne in Israel.  His chief glory reflects from his relation to that Greater Son who was born centuries later in a Bethlehem manger to the Virgin Mary, the noblest daughter of David's Royal line.

          During the reign of Solomon you get a glimpse of what it will be like  under the kingdom administration --just a glimpse for this time much advancement will be made for we are now much further along in this program of YAHWEH for this earth. During this reign of Solomon the Israelites prospered to an unprecedented extent.  There was no  restrictions on money under the economic laws of the LORD, thus no scarcity, either real or artificial of goods for the necessities and comfort of life.  The king made silver and gold at Jerusalem as plentiful as stones.  There were no high tariff barriers to interfere with the exchange of merchandise.  The ships of the Phoenicians sailed into the harbors with staple commodities and rare treasures from afar , and the people had money with which to buy them.

           King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches, and for wisdom. All the earth sought to Solomon to hear his wisdom which YAHWEH had put into his heart. (I kings) But then as time went on King Solomon loved many wives, and in his old age he also turned aside to the gods of his many wives.  Thus the greatness of Israel after reaching the pinnacle of success would fall because the statutes of YAHWEH were no longer being kept. But for David's sake and for Jerusalem which YAHWEH had chosen  then he would not take the kingdom from under the control of Solomon, but from his son. Tensions were running high in Israel and the House of Israel was getting restless, Jeroboam was their leader, picked by them thus he went to Egypt and stayed there until the death of Solomon.  Then would come this break up of the Kingdom of Israel into the two houses. One tribe of Israel, that of Benjamin would remain with the House of Judah. When Solomon died then his son Rehoboam reigned in his stead.  The people of the other

tribes were unhappy with the conditions and now Jeroboam came from Egypt and the House of Israel came to Rehoboam and said:---'Your father made our yoke grievous but if you will lighten this tax load we will serve you.' Well, young Rehoboam consulted with the elders of the House of Israel, and then with the young men who had grown up with him and he decided to follow the advice of the young men.

Solomon had not made Israel's yoke heavy until he departed from the statutes of the kingdom. Rehoboam spurned the council of men experienced in statesmanship, and followed the course outlined by the young radicals of his day. We to have seen the painful results of unduly exalting youthful egotists to high places in this nation. No doubt the 'strange', (non-Israel) women in Solomon's later years paved the way for this installation of strangers in strategic governmental and educational positions. No doubt it  was easy then as it is today to find people to serve as 'respectable fronts' for the real power behind the throne. Actually young people do not become revolutionaries, atheist, or idolatrous unless guided in that direction by SUBVERTERS from the generation preceding them. Take Rehoboam for instance; the path of brutal subjugation was not his for he was calling for advice as to what to do. you may be sure that these youthful advisors were only advocating the course to pursue which they had learned from older men.

An understanding of this division in the Covenant race now pending is very important for you to grasp. From now on there will be two parts to this kingdom in earth.  The citizens of both kingdoms are Abraham's posterity.  The house of Judah's history as a nation thus began with Rehoboam  on the throne.  The new nation of the House of Israel would be led by Jeroboam, from the house of Ephraim.

The House of Israel was headed by a son of Ephraim from the line of Joseph who was to retain the Birthright forever. (Gen. 48: and  49--and I Chron. 5:1-2) All however were Abraham's children, thus Jacob's children and racially all were Israelites.  But their prophecy and  history would now be vastly different. From now on we must trace these two houses of the covenant people separately, however you must also remember that this splitting of the Kingdom was also the work of YAHWEH,  for now we see the moving on of these people, out of the old land of promise, for no more will this old land hold the people of the kingdom.  That was never the promise or the purpose of this continuing story.

The books of the scripture which narrates this story are "Kings " and "Chronicles".

The Judah kingdom altho now small would have some advantages for the Judah kingdom was permitted to retain the throne and the house of David, as well as Jerusalem where YAHWEH HAD  CHOSEN TO PUT HIS NAME. Thus the throne, the temple, and the city of Jerusalem were tremendous assets for the preservation of both National and spiritual welfare.  Thus the first thing that Rehoboam did was to assemble all the house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin and they planned to fight the house of Israel under the leadership of Jeroboam , and in this way force the House of Israel to come back to the course of the king Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. But before they could try this strategy again came the voice of YAHWEH to the Priest for him to tell Rehoboam and all those assembled men to return to their homes for this splitting of the kingdom was from HIM.

However as soon as Rehoboam had strengthened his kingdom  he forgot what YAHWEH had said and there was war between the two houses of the kingdom. But since the  House of Judah did not stay with the laws then of course they would soon be in trouble . The king of Egypt and his armies then came against the Judah kingdom and did a lot of damage. One thing the Covenant people never seemed to forget was to call on YAHWEH when they could no longer make it on their own.  This happened time after time in their history and always when the cry came then YAHWEH HEARS and turns to help them. It seems to be that this has to happen ever so often for we find these so called 'stiff necked' people do the same thing over and over, never learning anything from history. King Asa in the beginning of his reign did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD, his God , for he took away the altars of the strange gods, and broke down their images, and things like that, and he had no wars in all the time he was king of the Judah Kingdom , until He grew old, then he like the others before him relied on man for help instead of YAHWEH, AND THE WARS CAME AGAIN.


JEHOSHAPHAT  was another good king over the Judah kingdom .Then there would be a bad one and we come down to Ahaz who even went so far as to burn his own children in the fires of heathen altars. Thus the Judah kingdom even tho they still held on to Jerusalem and the old places, still this part of the over all kingdom of Israel would fall. Then came Hezekiah and he restored all that was wrong , and when the Assyrians attacked, then outside the gates of Jerusalem they died and the people round about then wondered again about the power of the God of this Judah kingdom. Under king Manasseh again the people returned to idolatrous behavior and to witchcraft and again the Assyrians came, and they took Manasseh captive, but when he prayed and pleaded then YAHWEH returned him to Jerusalem.

Josiah was a good king and he tried very hard to remain a good king. But events were moving swiftly at the end of Judah's National Independence. The Leaven of sin of course had done its work and the wages of sin is death. "I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down." (II Kings 21;12-13)----Egypt and Babylon would be the weapons of destruction ---for Zedekiah did evil in the sight of the LORD and humbled himself not before the LORD.  The House of the LORD was also polluted, and then came the Babylonian king and Judah's 70 years of captivity began. In the reports on the books written by Col Totten we have given you an outline of some of the events that took place at the time of the fall of the Judah kingdom, so will not repeat here for those reports are available.  For the story of the transfer of the Kingship and the throne to the west is in those reports, many of the stories helping to trace the Covenant people to the west are in those writings of Col. Totten.

But what of the House of Israel, this northern kingdom? Actually they were no longer in Samaria to the north by  the time that the Judah kingdom went into captivity. More than a century before the fall of the Judah Kingdom the king of the Assyrians--Shalmaneser came and transported them em masse from Samaria to Assyria (II Kings 18:9-12). Thus the Israel kingdom had nothing to do with the latter problems of the kingdom of Judah. Oh, you will read and hear that all these of the house of Israel plus many of the house of Judah just vanished and never were  heard of again after they went into Assyrian captivity . However any student of scripture or history will tell you that is not true. Esdras (Ezra) wrote many books and delivered them to his people who were now in migrations. In the second book of Esdras in chapter 13 we read of what happened to these people of the northern kingdom who had been taken captive and settled east of the Euphrates and in the cities of the Medes and the Persians. ---"And as for your seeing HIM (who?) gather to himself another multitude that was peaceful, these are the ten tribes which were led away from their own land into captivity in the days of Hosea', whom Shalmanezar , the king of the Assyrians , led captive, he took them across the river, and they were taken into another land. But they formed this plan for themselves, that they would go to a more distant region, where mankind had not lived , that there they might keep their own statutes which they had not been able to do in their own land.  And they went in by the narrow passages of the Euphrates river, and at that time the Almighty performed signs for them and stopped the channels of the river until they had passed over.  Thru that region there was a long way to go, a journey of a year and one half, and that country is called Arzareth (another land)Therefore you saw the multitude gathered together in peace, but hose who are left of your people, who are found with in my Holy Borders shall be saved."

Alright that is recorded in the book of Esdras for anyone to read.  Then where did the ten tribes go?, From the old records we also find that men from the ten tribes,  and those of Judah with them were sent out into the surrounding areas to see if more of Israel and the House of Judah wanted to go with them to the west, and many of them did.  The remnant of Judah and Benjamin and their quotas of Levi who were to go back to Jerusalem at the end of the 70 years would remain in the east. A few of the House of Israel were still in the mountains of Samaria, and they would not know of the migration at this time. You may trace this westward migration thru the old records and from the cemeteries and markings always left to lead their people on the trail as to these so called lost tribes.

Many are the books written tracing these covenant people to the lands of Western Europe and yes on across the great ocean.  There is thus no excuse for not knowing this except a blindness happened to lost Israel --until the fullness of all these nations e set in place in the Western Christian world.  This migration would take many , many centuries and lots of hardships but we now realize that this had to take place for YAHWEH was moving his people to their appointed places in history. In that old eastern world they would thus drop from view drop out of world history in the east.

During Judah's captivity then Babylon herself would be captured by the Medes and Persians, and Daniel tells you of this captivity. He also tells us that Cyrus , the king of the Persians was led by YAHWEH to issue the Proclamation ordering the rehabitation of Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple. he called for volunteers to do the work and ordered all Judahites who did not want to return to Judea and help  for them to contribute silver , gold and other resources.

Now; it is important to note and to remember just who returned to Judea for error has crept into the bible teachings which have been used to change the history of these two house of the Covenant people. Protestant theological text books teach that captive Israel  joined  Judah in the return to Judea, altho they do not say when or how, thereby uniting again the 12 tribes  into one people, and THEREAFTER  called Jews, and by this method they can claim --undisputed in Christendom, the dominion and inheritance of both the house of Judah and the House of Israel, this of course would terminate the two separate kingdoms in the sixth century B.C. Theologians then tried to reconcile this theory , substituting the church of the Christian age for Israel. In this way they set aside the work of YAHWEH, his prophets, as of no historical value.

At first Jewish historians said none of the 12 tribes returned to Judea , then as the picture was studied they began to claim that --yes that was all of both house of Israel who returned, then known as Jews, and by this method they can claim--undisputed by Christendom---the dominion and the inheritance of both the house of Judah, and the house of Israel.  Thus just who did return to Judea to rebuild the temple and try to hold on to this old land until Christ was born.  This is very important for you to know.                              Ezra 1:5 declares that  --"Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin and the Priests and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised up"----Almost a century later --the records show only families from the southern kingdom were mentioned as coming back to Judea --their whole families, besides servants, and maids, and actually only a small fraction of the house of Judah ever become a part of the Judah nation which became later called Jews

Yes Ezra, Nehemiah , others referred to these of the Judah kingdom as Israel, but they were only a part of the whole house of God's Israel, and this only notes the racial origin of these people.  The Benjaminites, and Levites included were not Judahites, they were referred to as Jews because they dwelt in Judea. The Apostle Paul would later call attention to this racial factor as he said --by race he was a Hebrew  thru Abraham, an Israelite thru Jacob-Israel, by tribe he was a Benjamite , by citizenship he was a Roman, by residence in Judea and by religious affliction he could be called a Jew (Judean) and by conversion he became a Christian. If these facts are not clear  the reader will not have the historic background  to understand the prophets and the New Testament.

The Judah Kingdom was not an independent nation after this return from Babylon , the scribes and the prophets tried but the Judah old Testament history ends with the important documents of Ezra and Nehemiah.  The book of Esther has been determined to be a spurious book which sought to enforce this belief that now the remnant of the Judah kingdom became the nation of the Jews.

After the time of Ezra and Nehemiah the little nation of Judah in Judea began a steady moral and spiritual decline.  The puree laws of the religion of Abraham, Moses , and David and the prophets was displaced by the politico-religious doctrines known as Judaism.  This was not  the work of Ezra and Nehemiah---no--it was the outgrowth of the work of Priests and scribes who succeeded them. Under this blind leadership the 'Light of truth'  was departing from the people , with the exception of a few faithful witnesses in each generation---this remnant that continued to hold and treasure the word of YAHWEH. We have given you the report on the work of the Maccabee brother to try to keep their religion alive and to hang on to that nation, and will not repeat it here. However as the Maccabee brothers were killed the local administration was left to the high Priest since the nation was under the domination of Persia for 200 years, and then the High Priesthood became only a thing that was bought and sold, and regarded as political as well as religious.

 When Alexander the Great came to this land and it was then conquered by the Greeks  this influence became found also in Judea. In 320 B.C. then Alexander the Great died and Judea became subject to Syria and then to Egypt and finally once more to Syria and this was the time of the Maccabean revolt.  The Maccabeans being the true seed of Israel had tried to hang on to this old spot which would soon be in the news as of so much importance.  These people were looking for the coming of Messiah and hoping that he would once more establish the kingdom of Israel as it was in the peak of Solomon's reign. Thus they fought  and died for their faith, and you find this story in the book between the old and New Testament but not in your King James Version.    

 Thus during this period there developed in Judea those two religious groups, the  Pharisee who believed in the Resurrection, and the Sadducees who believed in reincarnation.   Religion was argued back and forth and gradually we find that some of the Sadducees began  to claim they were Pharisees , and thus claiming seats in the Israel Sanhedrin, and they began taking the place of Israel Priests in the temple as well.  The true Priests were being crowded out and the organization known as the Essenes came into being.  These Priests  and some of their families lived out in the caves outside off Jerusalem, along the Jordan river  stretching far to the north.  These Priests were busy

establishing their library to leave a record of what had happened , and they were also looking for the coming of their Messiah.                                                                         These people out in the caves were well aware of the events that were taking place in Jerusalem, much more so that the people even living in or coming out visit Jerusalem.  Some of the Sanhedrin men were also Essenes, as was Joseph of Arimathea.  And when men came to report, or any of the Essenes came and went from the city, then the shepherds would drive their sheep over the tracks and those trying to find the Essenes would not be successful.  Thus an underground movement was established at that time when the Edomite (Jews) were taking over in Jerusalem.


As Herod came to power, his place was bought by his wealthy family.  And the true Israelites were under more pressure.  Those of the wealthy families who were destined to play a part here in the picture of the coming of the Messiah were not bothered too much as they also held some power because of their wealth.  Into this picture now comes the lady Hannah.  She came from England.  And now after all these years, she is pregnant.  She had been shunned by some, because she had no child for the Kingdom of Israel.  Here in Judea she had a child, a girl child.  And she called her Mary.  And at the age of three, this child was delivered to the temple.  No. Not the one in Jerusalem.  For remember this is sort of a story behind the world order.  This little girl was dedicated to the part she would play in this on-going story.  And the mother, Hannah, then died there in Judea.  She had completed her part in this great drama which was taking place.

Thus who were these people who were playing such an important part in our story?  It was in the days of King Herod in Judea that there appeared certain constellations in the sky.  These were signs which men had been watching for all these many, many year. Immediately as they watched, much activity was beginning to take place in Egypt at eh Temple of On; in Britain as well, and far off in Asia, high in the Himalayan mountains.  Magi had been watching thru all these years.  For their ancestor, Enoch, called the perfect one of the race, had taught them and organized them for this purpose.  Enoch had said that 'a Star would come out of Aquila', this ancient symbol of the falling eagle form the Star Bible.   They would watch with expectation as they symbol of Virgo--the woman--would move into place and this star would from earth, look as tho it was in the head of Virgo.  Then would start moving toward the womb.  We have told you this story before.  How even the Romans gave orders that these Magi were never to be hindered or stopped in any way.  The Magi was a very wealthy organization.  And had been in the background for many years.  As the Romans tried now to rule this little state of Judea, they were also having trouble with those now in power, the Edomite people now called Jews.  The Romans, of course, were from the tribe of Gad and they had been in touch with these Israelites now almost crowed out of their own land.  This contact had taken place in the days of the Maccabees.

We have told you before that Hanna (Hannah or Anna, in some stories), had come to Judea and had this girl child named Mary.  From the old records, we learned that Hanna was the wife of the younger brother of Joseph of Arimathea, the man who will now play an important part in this story.  Hannah was of the lineage of ancient Aaron the Priest, thus a Levite.  And the Arimathea family were of the King line of Israel.  Hannah had gone thru an uncomfortable time, since she was looked down on because she had not produced a child for the Kingdom.  Hannah lived in Britain.  And from the old books, it appears that the Arimathea family had a sister who was Queen in Britain at that time.  Thus you begin to get the picture as to the ease of the acquiring of the 'hides of land' for the colony of Glastonbury.  For this colony would be the place for Joseph of Arimathea to establish, as we say, 'Christianity in the West.'

Thus to Judea, goes Hannah and her husband, on the ships of Joseph of Arimathes, the brother of the husband of Hannah.  And there the child, Mary, is born in old Judea.  And at three years of age, then this precious child is placed in the hands of the Priests.  The old books say that the parents of Mary placed her on the steps of this Temple at age three, and she waved good-by and climbed the steps and disappeared inside.  Mother Hannah then had played her part in this great drama and would now go on home before her daughter would step to center stage for her part in the story of the Messiah.                    Joseph who became the husband of Mary as she entered her teens, so as to protect her, had been picked by the elders of Israel, as they looked forward to the birth of Messiah.  This man Joseph was also a relative of the Arimathea family and he was of the Judah King line.  In fact, he was the brother of the father of Joseph of Arimathea.  Thus, you see once more, the close relationship of many who would be in this phase of the program of the Kingdom.  The state was thus set.  The Virgin Mary has been visited by the Angel.  She is now fourteen years of age.  And the Magi have seen the sign.  There is this star in the heavens.  A new age in Biblical history is dawning.  All prophets had foretold of the glories of a distant era when YAHWEH embodied as YAHSHUA (Savior) would reveal Himself to this Covenant race, coming as a tiny babe just like they had, into physical earth.

The manner of that visitation as related by Matthew, Mark and John fulfills all the details which the prophets gave for the purpose of identification.  Caesar, the Roman, then gave the decree for taxation and Joseph and Mary would come to Jerusalem to pay the tax.  You learn that Mary had inherited the land of the 'old threshing floor at the time of Boaz and Ruth.  And this decree by Caesar thus would bring Mary to pay her tax on this land  she held in trust for her first born son.  This was Mary's inheritance and also it would show her connection to this old land and this old inheritance.

Yes.  We know that scripture says that there was no room in the inn.  Actually meaning there was no room in the World Order for this child to be born.  But after all, He was the Great Shepherd of the 'old Star Bible'.  Was He now?  And there was a farm outside of Bethlehem where animals were raised for sacrifice at the Temple.  Here was plenty of room and this facility was kept very clean, as well as being away from the noise and carousing going on in Jerusalem.

Remember also that Mary had a cousin whom she had visited in Bethlehem not so long ago, the mother of John the Baptist.  Remember?  And Mary could have gone there.  But that would not have fit in our story.  It was at the facility where the animals were raised for sacrifice that Joseph would lead Mary.  Then he would hurry away looking as it says, for a Midwife.  And one is of course hurrying to the stable.  After all, when God is born in earth, would you not expect every little thing to be planned?  As Joseph and the midwife came back to the stable, the light was so bright inside that they could not see.  Then as the light faded there sat this Virgin Mary with a tiny baby boy in her arms.  Thus for us ---a child was born---for us (the Covenant people) a Savior had arrived to 'Save His people from sin---which is simply transgression of the law.

Today we believe that the time of this birth was around October 5.  It was the church which set the date of December 25 as the time of the birth of the Christ child.  No matter.  We know for a fact that the Savior arrived in earth.  And the World Order has tried to deny this for almost 2000 years.

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulders;  and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."

Thus He did not come to the 'world order'.  He came to the Covenant people.  And now they have been trying to give away this inheritance for all these years.  'Of the increase of His government and peace, there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even forever.  The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will perform this.'