Watchman's Teaching Letter #168 April 2012
This is my one hundred and sixty-eighth monthly teaching letter and continues my fourteenth year of publication. I started this series entitled The Greatest Love Story Ever Told with WTL #137, giving a general overview, which I am expanding on with a more detailed seven stages of the story, as follows: (1) the courtship, (2) the marriage, (3) the honeymoon, (4) the estrangement, (5) the divorce, (6) the reconciliation, and (7) the remarriage.
THE GREATEST LOVE STORY EVER TOLD, Part 27:
“THE ESTRANGEMENT”:
In the last lesson we discussed how Yahweh preserves the family lines of the twelve tribes of Israel by His levirate law. This is something which we don’t hear much about today. Had we known we were of the lost tribes of Israel, surely some could have taken advantage of it after World Wars I & II. I do know of one family, whom I will not identify, who did take advantage of it. With this family, the older brother was already dead (and I don’t know the circumstance), so I never met him. I only got acquainted with the younger brother and the older brother’s wife, and their children by the levirate law. And, back in the 1930’s and 40s, I know of no one who spoke objectionably of this marriage.
With this lesson we shall take up the subject of “The Estrangement Of The Wife”. Of course, we are speaking of the estrangement of the twelve tribes of Israel (the Cinderella wife) from her Husband, the Almighty Yahweh. Jeremiah 2:4-23 presents a very graphic illustration of what is about to take place to the married wife following her honeymoon and marriage:
“4 Hear ye the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel: 5 Thus saith Yahweh, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? 6 Neither said they, Where is Yahweh that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt? 7 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination. 8 The priests said not, Where is Yahweh? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. 9 Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith Yahweh, and with your children’s children will I plead. 10 For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. 11 Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. 12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith Yahweh. 13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. 14 Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled? 15 The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant. 16 Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head. 17 Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken Yahweh thy God, when he led thee by the way? 18 And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? 19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken Yahweh thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith Yahweh God of hosts. 20 For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. 21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? 22 For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith Yahweh God. 23 How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways ...”
I would like to amplify vss. 21-22 for a better understanding:
“21 Yet I had planted thee a noble [pure White racial] vine, wholly a right [genetic] seed [2233 zera]: how then art thou turned into the degenerate [race-mixed] plant of a strange [5237 nokriy-prick] vine unto me? 22 For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much [strong lye] soap, yet thine iniquity [your half-breed offspring’s countenance] is marked before me, saith Yahweh God.”
It is important to understand the deteriorated social environment that existed among the twelve tribes, which caused Yahweh to have them led away into captivity. You will notice in this passage at v. 4, that Jeremiah was addressing all twelve tribes of Israel. At v. 13, Yahweh accused the twelve tribes thusly: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. William Finck, in his brochures Broken Cisterns, #’s 1 & 2, goes into exhaustive detail on this subject and it can be found on his website both in text and audio podcast.
Additional evidence for these assertions is found in The Interpreter’s One Volume Commentary On The Bible by Charles M. Laymon, on page 455, which makes the following comment concerning Hosea 4:10-19: “The Absurdity of Baal Worship. The whole harlotrous system of Baal fertility rites is utterly ineffectual as well as degrading. Its purpose is to provide fertility for human beings, flocks, and crops; but though the people play the harlot, i.e. carry on the sexual fertility acts at the shrine, they do not multiply ... Despite woman’s usual secondary place in ancient society, there will be no double standard, for the men are responsible for the shame of cult prostitution. It is they who require their daughters to become cult prostitutes, lit. ‘holy women’...” And further on concerning Hosea 5:7: “In their Baal worship they give birth to alien children (vs. 7), the offspring of sexual cult rites ...” For Hosea 5:7 says: “They have dealt treacherously against Yahweh: for they have begotten strange children ...”
While Laymon here is commenting on Hosea, which applied to the northern house of Israel, later the southern house of Judah played the harlot to a greater degree. The half-breed children born as a result of these illicit unions became Jeremiah’s “naughty figs”. Jeremiah said at 24:2: “... the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.” Here Jeremiah is using figurative language having sexual connotations. In essence, he is saying that because some of the Judahites engaged in sexual union with the Canaanites, one dare not marry and have children with such mixed offspring, as every generation down-line, they are just as rotten, with no hope of cleansing. On the other hand, the good-fig-Judahites are those who didn’t engage in sexual union with the Canaanites. Because of the general misunderstanding of the [non-word] term “jew”, I would advise that we start to designate the “naughty figs” as “bad-fig-jews” and the pure blooded members of the tribe of Judah as “good-fig-Judahites”.
This is why Brenton’s LXX translates Proverbs 5:15-20 thusly: “15 Drink waters out of thine own vessels, and out of thine own springing wells. 16 Let not waters out of thy fountain be spilt by thee, but let thy waters go into thy streets. 17 Let them be only thine own, and let no stranger partake with thee. 18 Let thy fountain of water [i.e., sperm] be truly thine own; and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. 19 Let thy loving hart and thy graceful colt company with thee, and let her be considered thine own, and be with thee at all times; for ravished with her love thou shalt be greatly increased. 20 Be not intimate with a strange woman, neither fold thyself in the arms of a woman not [of] thine own [race].”
The KJV renders this same passage: “15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. 16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. 17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee. 18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. 19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. 20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?”
With such Biblical instructions inspired by The Almighty Yahweh Himself, how in hell can anyone professing themselves to be Christian Israel Identity pastors teach the damnable LIE of universalism?
To give the reader a better idea of what Jeremiah was concerned with and prophesying about in chapter 2, I will quote from The Interpreter’s One Volume Commentary On The Bible by Charles M. Laymon, on page 376:
“Jer. 2:1-3. Israel’s Original Devotion. This is the 3rd of the messages from Yahweh with which Jeremiah illustrates and clarifies his mission. The prophetic tradition looked back on Israel’s desert period as the golden age of religion – it was the priestly tradition which thought of the desert generation as apostate (cf. Ps. 95:8-11) – and Jeremiah pictures the Israel of that time as Yahweh’s wholly devoted young bride. In those days no one dared lay a finger on Israel! Anyone eating first fruits instead of offering them in sacrifice was guilty of sacrilege. Similarly anyone attacking Israel in those golden days was despoiling Yahweh’s sacred preserve and woe betide him! Now, however, Israel is disloyal and no longer holy to the LORD; therefore anyone may attack her with impunity. This is the grim message which Jerermiah has been called to proclaim.
“Jer. 2:4-4:4. The Indictment of Israel. 2:4 is an introduction to the section. As a man with strong northern ties – Benjamin (cf. 1:1) was originally allied to the Joseph tribes, as indicated by the tradition that Joseph and Benjamin were Rachel’s sons – Jeremiah often thinks of the nation under the northern terms of Jacob and Israel, and sometimes even addresses Judah thus (cf. e.g. 2:26-28). At other times he uses Israel especially for the northern kingdom (cf. e.g. 3:6-14). Here he mostly has Judah in mind.
“Jer. 2:5-13. A Contention Oracle. This oracle is modeled on law-court practice. Jeremiah makes his point by presenting the plaintiff’s contention in the case ‘Yahweh verses Israel.’ The defendant is challenged to say why he has deserted Yahweh for other gods – in the full confidence that no sound reason can be produced. On vs. 5d cf. Ps. 115:1-8.
“Jer. 2:7-8. Israel is perversely unmindful of her salvation history (cf. Mic. 6:4-5) and has defiled her inheritance. The priests do not understand their own law tradition. The rulers, i.e. the aristocracy, have transgressed, literally ‘rebelled,’ against Yahweh’s guidance. The prophets allow themselves to be inspired by Baal rather than Yahweh.
“Jer. 2:9-13. What other nation has ever deserted its own gods, however worthless, to adopt those of another people? Cyprus represents the far west, while Kedar refers to northeast desert tribes (cf. 49:28 ...), and the two probably represent the prophet’s geographical horizon. Vs. 13 is an especially forceful image in a city where spring water was at a premium and the population must rely on cisterns and reservoirs.
“Jer. 2:14-23. Israel’s Apostasy. A man enslaved had few rights, and one born a slave could not hope for redemption; but at least he was protected as property by his owner. Israel is Yahweh’s servant, as close to him as a homeborn servant (cf. Gen. 15:3; Ps. 116:16); and yet Yahweh is allowing her to be despoiled. This would not have happened if she had remained loyal to Yahweh as a servant should. But Israel has to learn that apostasy is evil in itself and bitter in its results (vs. 19).
“Jer. 2:16-19. This oracle must be dated soon after the summer of 609, when Pharaoh Neco’s army invaded Palestine and slew King Josiah, to whom crown – i.e. scalp, not royal headdress – of your head may refer [to]. Memphis [which] was the Egyptian capital and Tahpanhes the frontier town through which communication with Egypt flowed ... Vs. 18 refers to the futility of relying on political alliances with Egypt and the declining power of Assyria, which Neco was trying to bolster against the Babylonians. Here fulfilling his role as prophet to the nations – he can assess their motives and dependability – but his main concern is Israel’s wanton behavior.
“Jer. 2:20-25. Israel refuses Yahweh’s service and worships the local divinities. Canaanite worship was sexual in character – hence the frequent use of the metaphor of adultery and prostitution. This image leads Jeremiah to a vivid interpretation of Israel’s character. After describing her as a cultivated vine which has reverted to the wild strain and saying that her guilty stain is indelible, he returns to the sexual metaphor; like an animal in heat (vs. 24) she is in the grip of forces she cannot control – she is revolted by her own promiscuity but cannot break free from her degraded way of life ...”
For more evidence concerning the “estrangement” of the twelve tribes of Israel, we will go to Jer. 3:6-14:
“6 Yahweh said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. 7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. 9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. 10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith Yahweh. 11 And Yahweh said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith Yahweh; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith Yahweh, and I will not keep anger for ever. 13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against Yahweh thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith Yahweh. 14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith Yahweh; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion ...”
While The Interpreter’s One Volume Commentary On The Bible by Charles M. Laymon is not written from an Israel Identity perspective, I will cautiously quote again from page 377:
“Jer. 3:1-5. An Irretrievable Situation. Cf. Deut. 24:1-4. Probably this law was a further definition of the Hebrew marriage code, and Jeremiah uses the new strictness of interpretation to emphasize the perversity of Israel’s behavior toward Yahweh. She is making their ruptured relationship irreparable. Rain was believed to be given or withheld by God as he was pleased or displeased with Israel, but not even drought has been effective in breaking down Israel’s shamelessness. Israel talks to God and about God in aggrieved tones (vs. 4) as if she were the injured party – but she has done all the evil possible.
“Jer. 3:6-20. Faithless Israel, False Judah. The original oracle is in the poetical material (vss. 12b-14, 19-20) and was composed in Josiah’s reign. But in order to make it serve his purpose at the time of dictating his book to Baruch in the reign of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah composed vss. 6-10 as a prose introduction ... .
“Jer. 3:6-10. The contemporary explanation of the disappearance of Israel – i.e. in this passage the former northern kingdom – was that the northern tribes were disloyal to the covenant while Judah, at least by comparison, was faithful. But Jeremiah denies this. Judah should have learned her lesson from the severity of the punishment which fell on Israel. The dissolution of that kingdom and the subsequent disappearance of the 10 tribes is expressed as a divorce (vs. 8) – but Yahweh’s other ‘wife’ has not taken the lesson to heart. To continue after such a warning is to compound the crime Judah as yet unpunished is more guilty than Israel, who paid the price dearly for her folly. How great a punishment must therefore be impending over Judah!
“Jer. 3:11-14. The oracle itself is a feeling comment on the fortunes of the northern kingdom. Yahweh’s pity will yet lead him to gather the scattered one and two at a time and restore them to what is left of Israel, i.e., to Judah with its central shrine on Mt. Zion”. [Rather, the twelve tribes would ultimately migrate and become the “mountains (meaning “nations”) of new Zion. C.A.E.].
At this point, it should be made very clear that Yahweh divorced both the house of Israel and the house of Judah. There are many less-than-knowledgeable imbeciles making the outrageous claim that the house of Israel was divorced, but the house of Judah wasn’t! But such a flagrant assertion absolutely does not square with Scripture at Jer. 33:24 which clearly states:
“24 Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families [Israel & Judah] which Yahweh hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.” All right, all of you “wise-guys”, if Israel and Judah weren’t the “two families” who were cast off, please name the two families who were! Also, please name the unknown family that was “chosen” instead of Judah! Maybe these jerks should have read the entire chapter of Jeremiah 33 for the context, for verse 7 emphatically states:
“And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.”
This brings up another misconception which many people have, and that is Jeremiah’s six-fold commission. Jeremiah’s six-part commission was given to him by Yahweh, and is found at Jer. 1:10 thusly:
“See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” Scripture records fulfillment of all of this commission except “... to build, and to plant.”
Therefore, we have to look elsewhere to find what Jeremiah built and planted. The major object which Jeremiah was instrumental in “throwing down” was the male part of the Pharez-Judah king line, but the line would survive through the daughters.
This commission breaks down into six phases thusly: (1) to root out, (2) to pull down, (3) to destroy, (4) to throw down, (5) to build, and (6) to plant. You may search all the Bible commentaries, dictionaries, atlases or encyclopedias on this verse and find next to nothing worth repeating. It’s almost as if the verse didn’t exist, and this commission is probably one of the greatest ever authorized by Yahweh. All the great minds of nominal theology are stymied for an explanation. What few utterances these sources do have to offer are preposterous generalizations which have little, if any, application. It is only in British-Israel that a satisfactory answer can be found, especially on the “building and planting” as far as they go. All others are helplessly mute on the subject. Among a very few other key verses (including this one), the entire Bible stands or falls. If the “building” and “planting” cannot be explained, Israel Identity is a myth, as well as all Holy Writ. Without this verse, we might as well quit and join the world order. Some make the grievous mistake of claiming that the “building” and “planting” was fulfilled with the advent of Ezra and Nehemiah. “Grievous”, because this six-fold commission was to happen during Jeremiah’s lifetime! The “building” and “planting” phase started with Jeremiah in Britain and later expanded to several of England’s colonies, a portion of which became the United States. Had Yahweh wanted Ezra and Nehemiah to do the “building” and “planting”, He would have given those commissions to them, but He didn’t! How long is it going to take to stop reading things into Scripture that it doesn’t say?
At Micah 6:2-5, Yahweh reminds the twelve tribes of Israel of some of their past failures thusly:
“2 Hear ye, O mountains, Yahweh’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for Yahweh hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. 3 O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. 4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of Yahweh.”
To back this up, I will now quote 5½ paragraphs from Josephus’ Antiq. 4:6:7-12, pp. 92-93, as he spells out the episode at Baal-Peor better than most Bibles:
“7. So when the Midianites had sent their daughters, as Balaam had exhorted them, the Hebrew young men were allured by their beauty, and came to discourse with them, and besought them not to grudge them the enjoyment of their beauty, nor to deny them their conversation. These daughters of the Midianites received their words gladly, and consented to it and stayed with them; but when they had brought them to be enamored of them, and their inclinations to them were grown to ripeness, they began to think of departing from them: then it was that these men became greatly disconsolate at the women’s departure, and they were urgent with them not to leave them, but begged they would continue there, and become their wives; and they promised them they should be owned as mistresses of all they had. This they said with an oath, and called God for the arbitrator of what they promised; and this with tears in their eyes, and all other such marks of concern as might show how miserable they thought themselves without them, and so might move their compassion for them. So the women, as soon as they perceived they had made them their slaves, and had caught them with their conversation, began to speak thus to them:–
“8. ‘O you illustrious young men! we have houses of our own at home and great plenty of good things there, together with the natural affectionate love of our parents and friends; nor is it out of our want of any such things that we came to discourse with you; nor did we admit of your invitation with design to prostitute the beauty of our bodies for gain; but taking you for brave and worthy men, we agreed to your request, that we might treat you with such honors as hospitality required: and now seeing you say that you have a great affection for us, and are troubled when you think we are departing, we are not averse to your entreaties; and if we may receive such assurance of your good will as we think can be alone sufficient, we will be glad to lead our lives with you as your wives; but we are afraid that you will in time be weary of our company, and will then abuse us, and send us back to our parents, after an ignominious manner.’ And so they desired that they would excuse them in their guarding against that danger. But the young men professed they would give them any assurance they should desire; nor did they at all contradict what they requested, so great was the passion they had for them. ‘If then,’ said they, ‘this be your resolution; since you make use of such customs and conduct of life as are entirely different from all other men, insomuch that your kinds of food are peculiar to yourselves, and your kinds of drink not common to others, it will be absolutely necessary if you would have us for your wives, that you do withal worship our gods; nor can there be any other demonstration of the kindness which you say you already have, and promised to have hereafter to us, than this, that you worship the same gods that we do. For has anyone reason to complain, that now you are come into this country, you should worship the proper gods of the same country? Especially while our gods are common to all men, and yours such as belong to nobody else but yourselves.’ So they said they must either come into such methods of divine worship as all others came into, or else they must look out for another world, wherein they may live by themselves, according to their own laws.
“9. Now the young men were induced by the fondness they had for these women, to think they spake very well; so they gave themselves up to what they persuaded them, and transgressed their own laws and supposing there were many gods, and resolving that they would sacrifice to them according to the laws of that country which ordained them, they both were delighted with their strange food, and went on to do everything that the women would have them do, though in contradiction to their own laws; so far, indeed, that this transgression was already gone through the whole army of the young men, and they fell into a sedition that was much worse than the former, and into danger of the entire abolition of their own institutions; for when once the youth had tasted of these strange customs, they went with insatiable inclinations into them; and even where some of the principal men were illustrious on account of the virtues of their fathers, they also were corrupted together with the rest.
“10. Even Zimri, the head of the tribe of Simeon, accompanied with Cozbi, a Midianitish woman, who was the daughter of Sur, a man of authority in that country; and being desired by his wife to disregard the laws of Moses, and to follow those she was used to, he complied with her; and this both by sacrificing after a manner different from his own, and by taking a stranger to wife. When things were thus, Moses was afraid that matters should grow worse, and called the people to a congregation, but then accused nobody by name, as unwilling to drive those into despair who, by lying concealed, might come to repentance; but he said that they did not do what was either worthy of themselves or of their fathers, by preferring pleasure to God, and to the living according to his will; that it was fit they should change their courses while their affairs were still in a good state; and think that to be true fortitude which offers not violence to their laws, but that which resists their lusts. And besides that, he said it was not a reasonable thing, when they had lived soberly in the wilderness, to act madly now when they were in prosperity; and that they ought not to lose, now they have abundance, what they had gained when they had little:– and so did he endeavor, by saying this to correct the young men, and to bring them to repentance for what they had done.
“11. But Zimri arose up after him, and said, ‘Yes, indeed, Moses, thou art at liberty to make use of such laws as thou art so fond of, and hast, by accustoming thyself to them, made them firm; otherwise, if things had not been thus, thou hadst often been punished before now, and hadst known that the Hebrews are not easily put upon; but thou shalt not have me one of thy followers in thy tyrannical commands, for thou dost nothing else hitherto but, under pretense of laws, and of God, wickedly impose on us slavery, and gain dominion to thyself, while thou deprivest us of the sweetness of life, which consists in acting according to our own wills, and is the right of free men, and of those that have no lord over them. Nay, indeed, this man is harder upon the Hebrews than were the Egyptians themselves, as pretending to punish, according to his laws, everyone’s acting what is most agreeable to himself; but thou thyself better deservest to suffer punishment, who presumest to abolish what everyone acknowledges to be what is good for him, and aimest to make thy single opinion to have more force than that of all the rest: and what I now do, and think to be right, I shall not hereafter deny to be according to my own sentiments. I have married, as thou sayest rightly, a strange woman, and thou hearest what I do from myself as from one that is free; for truly I did not intend to conceal myself. I also own that I sacrificed to those gods to whom you do not think it fit to sacrifice; and I think it right to come at truth by inquiring of many people, and not like one that lives under tyranny, to suffer the whole hope of my life to depend upon one man; nor shall anyone find cause to rejoice who declares himself to have more authority over my actions than myself.’
“
With this lesson we can begin to comprehend some of the reasons for the estrangement in the marriage relationship between Yahweh and His Cinderella bride, the twelve tribes of Israel. Had Yahweh not taken drastic measures when He did, we would have become a bastard-mixture, negating any reconciliation and remarriage forever!
