23 June 2010 (Revee/Shavu'ot)
Day #100, 5934 AM
Israelite Errors
The Amplified Version of the Bible
In 1954 the Amplified Version of the Gospel of John first appeared to be followed by the whole New Testament four years later. By 1964 the entire Old and New Testaments became availale through Zondervan Publishers in the highly acclaimed and very readable Amplified Version of the Bible. Millions of copies have been printed, and deservedly so. It's a version I use a great deal.
But like all translations, the Amplified Version has its man-made biases. When the Gospel of John was translated, the newly formed Republic of Israel had only been around six years. As I explain at length in my Jacob's Trouble series, evangelicals were eagerly waiting for the fulfilment of numerous biblical prophcies after 1948. When the rapture and the 144,000 Jewish missionaries hadn't materialised by 1955, as expected by them, the scriptures started getting twisted to accommodate their errors, just as the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, the Seventh-Day Adventist leader Ellen White, and the Jehovah's Witness leadership had tried to explain away false prophecies concerning the Second Coming.
I own a 1965 edition (fourth printing) of the Old Testament of the Amplified Version which has a number of interesting footnotes. In Deuternonomy 33, where Moses blesses the 12 Tribes, the Lockman Foundation excitedly explains how some of the tribal blessings have been fulfilled in their day. For example:
"And of Zebulun he said, 'Rejoice, Zebulun, in your interests abroad; and you, Issachar, in your tents [at home]. They shall call the people unto Mount [Carmel]; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness, for they shall suck the abundance of the seas, and the treasures hid in the sand" (Dt.33:18-19, Amp.V.)
The translators claim that the first part of verse 18 in speaking of Zebulun was being fulfilled as the modern-day port of Haifa began to expand into an international port. However, it should be pointed out that in 1935 (when the harbour was expanded), and since, the Tribe of Issachar is nowhere to be seen. Haifa is predominantly an Arab and Jewish city. Then, speaking of Issachar, the translators make this astonishing claim:
"The great oil pipeline across Palestine was first opened in 1935. Until then this prophecy fell short of fulfilment. But 3400 years before, Moses sent out the inspired headlines: 'Zebulun...Issachar...shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of the treasures hid in the sand.' Our omnipotent God was 'declaring the end iand the result from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand' (Is.46:10)" (Footnote #p, p.633).
Needless to say this passage has nothing to do with any oil pipeline and concerns not merely the land that was occupied by the tribes concerned but is about these lands when settled by these tribes. The Tribe of Issachar has not returned to the Holy Land (indeed, no tribes have to date, a part from a few Judahtites here and there amongst the bulk of non-Abrahamic Asians and Europeans). This passage is all about the Tribe of Zebulun before the Assyrian captivity. Their "suck[ing] the abundance of the seas" speaks of the commodious sea-shore and fisheries of the Mediterranean and Sea of Galilee, respectively. What of the "treasures hid in the sand"? The sand of these areas came to be used for the manufacture of glass which was valuable, like a precious metal, in those days (Job 28:17). Last, but not least, the shore sand yielded the valuable Murex from which a highly-prized purple dye was extracted, being its only source.
A lot of pop theology has emerged trying to fit in the modern Republic of Israel with fulfilled biblical prophecy which does not exist. The same footnote commentary comments on another passage:
"Of Asher he said, 'Blessed above sons be Asher; let him be acceptable to his brothers, and let him dip his foot in oil" (v.24).
Here, the Amplified Version translators make a huge blunder. They claim:
"The maps of the territory of asher suggest sometimes the sole of a foot, sometimes the shape of a leg and foot; but in either case the Great International Iraq-Petroleum Enterprise, opened in 1935, crossed the area just as the toe of Asher's "foot". Oil brought nearly 1,000 miles across the sands from Mesopotamia began pouring through the pipes into the Haifa harbor a million gallons of oil a day. Jacob had said, "In the latter days...Asher, his bread shall be fat" (Gen.49:1,20), and here Moses says of Asher, "Let him dip his foot in oil"" (Footnote #r, p.633).
This is even worse pop theology! The expression, "dip his foot in oil" has got nothing whatsoever to do with fossil fuel which you certainly wouldn't want to dip your foot into! It is a Middle eastern idiom which means "let him become very prosperous". In the Middle East Olive Oil (which is being referred to here) was used as a medium of exchange - currency (money) and it was still used up until the Second World War. You could exchange it for silver and gold. The only other possible meaning of "oil" here is "butter". When Easterners describe a rich man, they say that "he bathes in oil and milk". The territory of Asher was especially plentiful in olives.
Again, the Tribe of Asher has not relocated to the Holy Land yet. It hasn't even been positively identified! It's inhabitants today are largely Jews (all kinds of races with a small smattering of Judahites) and Arabs.
A great many theological errors have arisen because of the mistaken identity of the modern Jew and the establishment of a secular state in the Middle East called 'Israel'. It's a big subject that I don't have time to go into today. Please read my series on Jacob's Trouble. A lot of time has been wasted by Christians and Messianics who have had their eyes on an Illuminati-sponsored state created to destablisise the Far East and the World and to make it look as though Bible prophecy is being fulfilled in order to lend credibility to the Whore Church. In this way, Satan hopes to get Christians and Messianics off their guard and looking in all the wrong places when their eyes should be on YAH'SHUA (JESUS) alone.
I want to finish wish a passage in Romans which I have been asked to comment on:
"Lest you be self-opinionated - wise in your own conceits - I don't want you to miss this hidden truth and mystery, brethren: a hardening (insensibility) has [temporarily] befallen a part of Israel [to last] until the full number of the ingathering of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved. As it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob" (Rom.11:25-26, Amp.V.).
Who is Paul talking to here? What is the context? The context is the preceeding verses in which he explains who Israel is now in the New Covenant. In summary, he says that Israel consists of those blood descendants of Abraham and Jacob (Israel) who accept the Messiah Yah'shua as King. Those who do not are as branches cut off from the vine (Yah'shua being the vine) in whose place those Gentiles who accept Messiah are grafted in. In other words, believers in Yah'shua the Messiah - Jesus Christ - are now the True Israel: All those who in Yah'shua's and the apostles' time who were Judahites ('Jews') who rejected Him cease being Israelites. They are the blood descendants of Jacob the deceiver but not Israel the overcomer!
The Israel Paul speaks of in verses 25-26 is therefore to be understood to be the descendants of Jacob plus the Gentiles who have accepted the Messiah and are the new citizens of Israel. Note, please, that the old Israel has not ceased - it is the same nation with the same laws only those who have not accepted the Messiah have been expelled from it. They are no longer citizens of the Commonwealth of Israel.
Paul intimates that a time will come when once all the Gentiles predestined to salvation have been grafted in, then the remnant of Israel (the natural brances) will return and be grafted into the Vine which is Messiah. Notice that Paul speaks of all Israel, not just the Judahites (wrongly described as 'Jews'). All Israel refers to all Twelve Tribes not every living and dead Judahite. It doesn't mean that every descendant of Judah will be saved, which is impossible, since some (like Judas) are devils and beyond redemption. This is not just about so-called 'Jews' (actually Judahites) but also about the Ten Tribes under the headship of Joseph. What this passage means is that the rest of the tribes will not be gathered until the full compliment of non-Israelietes - Gentiles - has been saved.
Sadly, the Amplified Version (and many others) perpetuates the error that modern Jews are the people being spoken of. They are not. The Judahites (or 'Jews') of Yah'shua's day are not the same people as the modern Jew. Modern Judaism is a religion, not a race of people. And though there are bona fide Judahites, Levites and a tiny smattering of the other tribes amongst them, the vast majority of them have no connection to the House of Israel whatsoever. They are converts from other races - Khazars, Ethiopians, Indians, Chinese, and so on. Today's Jew is a pot pourri of all races. Judah has been mixed in with the Gentiles along with all the other Tribes. There is no pure-blooded Israelite alive today. Rather, the blood of Israel is hidden up in the nations but is being revealed by divinely-guided genetic recombination. The 'lost' tribes - all twelve of them - are all around us and are manifesting themselves in the last days. And they are manifesting themselves by accepting Yah'shua as their Messiah along with the Gentiles, with there being no racial distinction between them, there being neither "Jew nor Greek (Gentile)" anymore (Gal.3:28; Col.3:11).
That means that in a genuine congregation of New Covenant Israel there is no such things as a 'Messianic Jew' any more than there is something called a 'Messianic American' or a 'Messianic Englishman'. We are all one family in Christ with one identity. Yes, there are Twelve Tribes but the designation really has little meaning until they return to the Holy Land together as the prophets teach. And this they have not yet done.
Please don't be caught up in the Middle Eastern Deception. Get your eyes on Messiah and the Heavenly Jerusalem and off the earthly one, like Paul says. The earthly one belongs to Hagar, the bond-woman and a covenant long gone (Gal.4:23-26). We belong above, not below.
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