Information Related to "Britain and the United States Inherit Joseph's Birthright"
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Chapter 5 : |
After
about five centuries of existence on the Eurasian steppes following the destruction
of the northern kingdom, Israel's nomadic descendants, now called Scythians, began
another forced migration.
This time their enemies-from Asia and the Near East-and a dramatic change of climate
on the Eurasian steppes began moving them westward, just as the biblical prophets
had said would happen (1Kings 14:15; Isaiah 49:12; Hosea 12:1). This major westward
migration began about 200 B.C. and continued into the fifth century A.D.
Yet during this time, in the first century, when Christianity was in its infancy,
the Jewish historian Josephus confirmed that many deported Israelites were still
living beyond the Euphrates River.
Josephus wrote that, in his day, "the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till
now (the first century), and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by
numbers" (Antiquities of the Jews, Book XI, Chapter V, Section 2).
The apostle James also plainly confirms that the missing tribes hadn't been reunited
with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin in Palestine. He addresses his epistle "to
the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad" (James 1:1).
Though God had promised that all of the lost 10 tribes of Israel would continue to
exist, He also promised to sift them among the nations (Amos 9:9). This He did until
He brought them to the land that was north and west of ancient Israel, where He had
promised to resettle them.
It was as though a powerful, unseen hand inexorably herded them-with all their tribes
and clans-across the Eurasian plains, the Scythian steppes, to Northwest Europe,
where the Celts, another group of related tribes, were already settling.
Although not as well understood as the great European migrations beginning in the
16th century-when emigrants established colonies in North America, Australia, New
Zealand and South Africa-the earlier migration was similar in many respects.
Although many clans from many tribes converged on Europe at the same time, most of
those that finally settled in Northwest Europe were related and shared a culture.
Many historians have acknowledged that the Anglo-Saxon peoples provided the racial
stock that founded several modern Western nations, including Great Britain and the
United States. This information can be found in many history books.
What isn't widely understood is the Celtic-Scythian link to the ancient Israelites.
In the previous chapter we briefly discussed this connection. Now we turn our attention
to God beginning to fulfill His promises to the descendants of Israel's presumably
lost tribes after they had migrated to northwestern Europe and the British Isles
and from there to America and the other British colonies around the world.
Promises of greatness
for Joseph's descendants
Before his death the patriarch Jacob, through God's inspiration, prophesied what
would happen to the descendants of his 12 sons in the "last days" (Genesis 49:1). Our focus in this chapter is on Jacob's prophecy concerning Joseph.
Joseph's modern descendants are the easiest to identify of all the lost tribes of
Israel because the specific blessings they were to receive stand out so distinctly
from those of the other tribes. God promised to Joseph's descendants-through his
sons Ephraim and Manasseh -all the benefits of the birthright promises of national
greatness and overflowing prosperity.
Notice Jacob's prophecy about Joseph in the last days: "Joseph is like a grapevine
that produces much fruit, a healthy vine watered by a spring, whose branches grow
over the wall. Archers attack him violently and shoot at him angrily, but he aims
his bow well. His arms are made strong. He gets his power from the Mighty God of
Jacob and his strength from the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.
"Your father's God helps you. God Almighty blesses you. He blesses you with
rain from above, with water from springs below, with many babies born to your wives,
and many young ones born to your animals. The blessings of your father are greater
than the blessings of the oldest mountains, greater than the good things of the long-lasting
hills. May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, on the forehead of the one
who was separated from his brothers" (Genesis 49:22-26, New Century Version).
Joseph's descendants, he said, were to be especially blessed-like a fruitful vine
with a never-ending supply of water, insuring their constant growth. Their populations
would multiply rapidly. They would expand to lands beyond their original borders,
grow militarily strong and reap the choicest physical blessings of the earth. They
would produce and prosper. These were the birthright blessings (1Chronicles 5:1-2)
God promised to Joseph's descendants. Because of these divine blessings, Joseph's
descendants were to stand out among Israel's other tribes (Genesis 49:22-26).
Before his death Moses repeated the special blessings that would flow to Joseph's
descendants. "And of Joseph he said: 'Blessed of the LORD is his land, with
the precious things of heaven, with the dew, and the deep lying beneath, with the
precious fruits of the sun, with the precious produce of the months, with the best
things of the ancient mountains, with the precious things of the everlasting hills,
with the precious things of the earth and its fullness, and the favor of Him who
dwelt in the bush. Let the blessing come 'on the head of Joseph, and on the crown
of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.'
"His glory is like a firstborn bull, and his horns (military might) like the
horns of the wild ox; together with them he shall push the peoples to the ends of
the earth; they are the 10 thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh'"
(Deuteronomy 33:13-17). God had promised to take a direct hand in delivering magnificent
physical blessings to Joseph's descendants.
When we understand that the modern descendants of Joseph are the people of the United
States and Britain, we see that over the past three centuries God has been true to
His promises. He has granted the physical birthright blessings of Joseph's sons,
Ephraim and Manasseh, to their modern descendants-the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic people of
Britain and the United States. The Anglo-Saxon and Celtic descendants have been the
primary founders and shapers of British and American culture.
God also has made available to them opportunities to shine as spiritual beacons within
a confused and darkened world. Regrettably, as with the ancient Israelites, only
a few among them have been willing to accept their responsibility and God's calling.
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God assigned a role
to Joseph's descendants
God's grand purpose-anciently, today and tomorrow-for Abraham's descendants has never
varied. He selected them to be a blessing to "all the families of the earth"
(Genesis 12:3). To make this possible He promised them every material advantage they
would ever need.
Yet God did not give them national prominence and prosperity at the expense of other
peoples and nations. Rather, God's far-reaching purpose has always been to lead all
people into a permanent relationship with Him (Acts 17:30; 1Timothy 2:4; 2Peter 3:9). Only then can they receive the power to change their human nature and receive
the ultimate blessing of eternal life (Acts 4:12).
God had designated Abraham's descendants-by a promise, long before they existed as
a people-to be His instruments in accomplishing important aspects of His purpose.
He has used them in ways even they have not always discerned.
At the heart of God's relationship with the ancient Israelites was His covenant with
them and their descendants. That agreement defined the rules and responsibilities
of the relationship between God and the Israelites. It set forth the obligations
God imposed on Himself and His expectations of the nation He had created to be His
holy people and a model nation to the world (Leviticus 20:26; Deuteronomy 4:5-8;
7:6).
God gave the promised birthright blessings to Joseph's modern descendants in Britain
and America. At the same time He has made available to Israel's descendants-and indeed
the whole world-the knowledge of what He expects of them spiritually. He has accurately
preserved this knowledge in the Bible, and today that knowledge is available to anyone
willing to read it-whether ethnically Israelite or gentile.
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God makes His Word available
The British and American people have been the instruments used to spread God's Word
to most of the known world. Although we often take the Bible for granted, and many
U.S. and British homes now have several copies, it wasn't always this way.
For many centuries virtually the only copies available outside of the original languages
were in Latin, with the Roman Catholic Church tightly controlling the common people's
access to the Scriptures. "Yet it was in England, so long deprived of the living
Word, where the battle was fought and won for the right of the common man to have
his Bible in his own language" (Neil Lightfoot, How We Got the Bible, 1986,
p. 76).
After several attempts to produce English-language versions in the 1500s, in 1611 the king of England officially approved the publication of what has become known
as the King James Version of the Bible. Its translators, by order of King James,
produced it from its original languages by a large team of Hebrew and Greek scholars.
It quickly gained the reputation of being the most accurate translation of the Bible
ever attempted up to that time.
For almost 400 years it has remained the best-known Bible translation of the English-speaking
world. It has been the model for Bible translations for practically all other languages.
No single book has affected the history of the English-speaking people like the King
James Bible.
The Bible has since been translated into thousands of languages, virtually every
tongue, with the British-descended people printing and distributing hundreds of millions
of copies all over the globe.
The policies and resources of America and Britain have both encouraged and enabled
the true gospel of the Kingdom of God to be proclaimed around the world in recent
years. They have provided the climate of religious freedom, the financial resources
and most of the laborers that were needed to disseminate biblical knowledge to all
nations.
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The Bible's role in
society and law
Biblical principles even became the basis for much of English common law. English
common law in turn heavily influenced American constitutional and regional law. In
this manner the Bible has had a greater influence on the United States and the British
Commonwealth nations than on any other people in recent centuries.
The Bible formed the foundation of these nations' professed ethical values and morality.
Laws the nations established on biblical principles became the basis of a huge part
of their legal judgments. The United States in particular became the most biblically
oriented nation in the world (with the possible exception of the modern state of
Israel, founded in 1948).
Through the widespread availability of the Bible, God gave the English-speaking peoples
essential information they needed to know what God expected of them. In addition,
many were exposed to their true identity as descendants of Joseph through his sons
Ephraim and Manasseh (see "Advocates of British-Israelism," page 38).
However, God has never forced the British and American peoples to accept their biblically
ordained role. Like ancient Israel, He has given them a choice (Deuteronomy 30:15,19).
Only a small proportion of them have sincerely responded.
Why did all of this happen? What purpose is God working out for the last days? How
has He been accomplishing the essential elements of His plan?
Let's review some of the significant international contributions Britain and America
have made to the modern world. Then let's compare those to the promises God made
to the descendants of Joseph.
If we find that the British and American people have received the biblically predicted
benefits and blessings, we then have further evidence to substantiate that they are
indeed the modern descendants of Joseph.
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Have Britains and Americans
perceived the hand of God?
The expression "God is an Englishman" mirrored the views of many people
both in and outside the British Isles in the 19th century. What precipitated this
startling point of view?
Britain's status in the world is only a shadow of what it was a century ago. You
might have had difficulty convincing many people who lived in the 19th and 20th centuries
that God was not somehow miraculously prospering the politicians, statesmen, diplomats,
explorers, generals, admirals, soldiers, architects, engineers, scientists, inventors,
bankers, businessmen, shopkeepers and entrepreneurs of the British Isles.
To many observers, both in and out of Britain, it appeared that success came to the
British people whether they even pursued it-whether they made wise or foolish choices.
It was as though certain blessings were overtaking them.
It was the perceived inevitability of success that inspired John Robert Seeley, Cambridge
professor of modern history (1834-1895) and author of The Expansion of England (1884),
to make the famous quip that England acquired her globe-spanning empire "in
a fit of absence of mind."
The 1800s were certainly Britain's century. To their own astonishment the people
of the relatively tiny British Isles found themselves ruling over a mighty empire.
As the 19th century drew to a close, the British Empire was "the largest empire
in the history of the world, comprising nearly a quarter of the land mass of the
earth, and a quarter of its population" (James Morris, Pax Britannica: The Climax
of an Empire, 1968, p. 21).
Yet the empire would continue to expand. "It continued to grow until 1933, when
its area was 13.9 million square miles and its population 493 million ... The Roman
Empire in its prime comprised perhaps 120 million people in an area of 21/2 million
square miles ..." (ibid., pp. 27, 42).
The British Empire, then, spanned 51/2 times the territory of the Roman Empire, with
more than four times the subjects. British rule extended over not just ordinary regions
but some of the choicest and most fertile territories on earth.
It is hardly surprising that educated people of the day perceived the hand of God
in the process. To them it seemed too obvious to ignore.
For example, Lord Rosebery, a British foreign secretary (1886, 1892-1894) and prime
minister (1894-1895), spoke in November 1900 to the students of Glasgow University
about the British Empire:
"How marvelous it all is! Built not by saints and angels, but by the work of
men's hands ... and yet not wholly human, for the most heedless and the most cynical
must see the finger of the Divine.
"Growing as trees grow, while others slept; fed by the faults of others as well
as the character of our fathers; reaching with a ripple of a restless tide over tracts,
and islands and continents, until our little Britain woke up to find herself the
foster-mother of nations and the source of united empires. Do we not hail in this
less the energy and fortune of a race than the supreme direction of the Almighty?"
In those more biblically literate times, people like Lord Rosebery perceived the
remarkable circumstances of the British people. God seemed to be blessing them much
as He had promised to bless the ancient people of Israel. Therefore, to them it hardly
seemed outrageous to regard the British people as chosen of God. Was their perception
merely an expression of human vanity? Or were they truly observing the hand of God
blessing their people and nation?
The builders of the British Empire aspired to weld together a peaceful, productive
domain ruling over a quarter of the world's population. A great achievement of British
administrators was the establishment and extension of law and order in Britain's
colonial and imperial territories around the globe. This alone brought untold blessings
to the people of these territories.
This Pax Britannica bequeathed peaceful conditions to many regions formerly plagued
by war and long-term ethnic hostilities. The British presence also stimulated territorial
economic development and introduced many areas to Western technological advances.
British missionaries became the bearers of biblical literature and knowledge to people
from one end of the globe to the other. Both physical and spiritual blessings were
freely distributed around the globe.
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The British century
Great Britain had not always been great. Indeed, most of the rise of both Britain
and the United States came after 1800. Only a couple of centuries before becoming
the world's premier power, England's status was similar to that of all the other
nations in Europe.
The Hapsburg Holy Roman emperor, Charles V, characterized the relative place of England
among European nations on the eve of the 16th century. He is said to have remarked,
"I speak Latin to God, Italian to musicians, Spanish to ladies, French at court,
German to servants, and English to my horses."
|
Click here to see full view of map The United States doubled its size with the 1803 Louisiana Purchase and within a few decades expanded across the continent. In less than a century the young nation added some of the world's richest farmland and most valuable natural resources. |
 Click here to see full view of map A great nation and a multitude of nations: This ancient prophecy perfectly fits the United States and British Commonwealth. At the peak of their possessions, the British and American peoples controlled vast swaths of the world's most fertile farmlands and mineral-producing areas as well as strategic passages and ports controlling crucial military and trade routes. |
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Related Information on Our Site:
Sidebar: Advocates of British-Israelism
Sidebar: Benjamin Disraeli: Maestro of Empire
Sidebar: The Bible in British and American History
Table of Contents that includes "Britain and the United States Inherit Joseph's Birthright"
Origin of article "Britain and the United States Inherit Joseph's Birthright"
Israel, ten tribes:
