Who Are Jeremiah's Prophesied Hunters, #1

For those who are unfamiliar with this subject, it is found at Jeremiah 16:14-16, especially v. 16:

“¹⁴ Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Yahweh, that it shall no more be said, Yahweh liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; ¹⁵ But, Yahweh liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. ¹⁶ Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith Yahweh, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.”

First of all, it is paramount that we establish just where “... the children of Israel from the land of the north ...” is a reference to! Surely, as we shall see, it wasn’t old Palestine. All of this becomes obvious when we consider 2 Sam. 7:10:

“Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime ....”

In the time of Samuel, the children of Israel were already located in what the Greeks later called Palestine, so the phrase “... and will plant them ...” has to refer to some place other than Palestine! Not only were the children of Israel to be planted some place other than Palestine, but when they had finally settled down in that new location they would “... move no more ...”! Hence, all this malarkey about the Edomite-Israeli-jews returning to the Holy Land, and fulfilling prophecy is nothing more than a nauseating discharge of feces!

To get back to our subject, we have to ask the question: Who else goes out rummaging through the “... holes of the rocks ...”, other than some snoopy, inquisitive archaeologists? That’s right! And they are on the same level as the “fishers”! To get the archaeologists’ point of view, I will quote the “Introduction” from Werner Keller’s book The Bible As History, pp. xxi-xxv:

“INTRODUCTION

“THE GREATEST HAPPINESS OF THE THINKING MAN IS TO HAVE FATHOMED WHAT CAN BE FATHOMED, AND QUIETLY TO REVERENCE WHAT IS UNFATHOMABLE. – Goethe

“When a nontheologian writes a book about the Bible, it is a rare enough occurrence to entitle the reader to ask for some explanation of how the writer managed to make himself master of his subject.

“As a journalist I have been for many years exclusively concerned with the results of modern science and research. In 1950, in the course of my routine work, I came across the reports of the French archaeologists Professors André Parrot and C.F.A. Schaeffer on their excavations at Mari and Ugarit. Cuneiform tablets discovered at Mari on the Euphrates were found to contain Biblical names. As a result, narratives of the patriarchs that had been for a long time regarded as merely pious tales were unexpectedly transferred into the realm of history. At Ugarit on the Mediterranean, evidence of the Canaanite worship of Baal had for the first time come to light. By a coincidence, a scroll of Isaiah discovered in a cave by the Dead Sea was in the same year dated as pre-Christian. These sensational reports – and, indeed, in view of the significance of these finds it is not too much to use the word ‘sensational’ – awakened in me the desire to come to closer grips with Biblical archaeology, the most recent and, generally speaking, least known province in the field of investigation into the ancient world. I therefore ransacked German and foreign literature for a comprehensive and intelligible summary of the results of previous research. I found none for there was none to find. So I went to the sources myself in the libraries of many lands aided in this bit of real detective work by my wife’s enthusiasm – and collected all the hitherto scientifically established results of investigations which were to be found in the learned works of Biblical archaeologists. The deeper I went into the matter the more exciting it became.

“The door into the historical world of the Old Testament had already been thrown open by a Frenchman, Paul-Émile Botta, in 1843. In the course of excavations at Khorsabad in Mesopotamia he suddenly found himself confronted by reliefs of King Sargon II of Assyria, who ravaged Israel and led its people off into captivity. Accounts of this conqueror’s campaigns deal with the conquest of Samaria, which is also described in the Bible.

“For a century now, American, English, French; and German scholars have been digging in the Middle East, in Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Egypt. All the great nations have founded institutes and schools specifically for this type of research. The Palestine Exploration Fund began in 1869, the German Palestine Association in 1877, the Dominican École Biblique de St. Étienne in 1892. The German Oriental Society followed in 1898; then in 1900 the American Schools of Oriental Research and in 1901 the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology.

“In Palestine, places and towns that are frequently mentioned in the Bible are being brought back once more into the light of day. They look exactly as the Bible describes them and lie exactly where the Bible locates them. On ancient inscriptions and monuments scholars encounter more and more characters from Old and New Testaments. Contemporary reliefs depict people whom we have hitherto known only by name. Their features, their clothes, their armor take shape before our eyes. Colossal figures and sculptures show us the Hittites with their big noses; the slim, tall Philistines; the elegant Canaanite chiefs with their ‘chariots of iron,’ which struck terror into the hearts of the Israelites; the kings of Mari, contemporary with Abraham, with their gentle smiles. During the thousands of years that divide us from them, the Assyrian Kings have lost nothing of their fierce and forbidding appearance: Tiglath Pileser III, well known as the Old Testament Pul; Sennacherib, who destroyed Lachish and laid siege to Jerusalem; Esarhaddon, who put King Manesseh in chains; and Ashurbanipal, the ‘great and noble Asnapper’ of the book of Ezra.

“As they have done to Nineveh and Nimrod – old-time Calahor to Ashur and Thebes, which the prophets called No-Amon, the scholars have also awakened from its ancient slumber the notorious Babel of Biblical story with its legendary tower. In the Nile Delta archaeologists have found the cities of Pithom and Raamses, where the resentful Hebrews toiled as slaves. They have laid bare strata that tell of the flames and destruction that accompanied the children of Israel on their conquering march into Canaan. In Gibeah they found Saul’s mountain stronghold, the walls of which once echoed to the strains of David’s harp. At Megiddo they came upon the vast stables of King Solomon, who had ‘12,000 horsemen.’

“From the world of the New Testament reappeared the palatial edifices of King Herod. In the heart of Old Jerusalem the Pavement was discovered where Jesus stood before Pilate, as is mentioned in St. John’s gospel. Assyriologists deciphered on the astronomical tables of the Babylonians the exact dates on which the Star of Bethlehem was observed.

“These breathtaking discoveries, whose significance it is impossible to grasp all at once, make it necessary for us to revise our views about the Bible. Many events that previously passed for pious tales must now be judged to be historical. Often the results of investigation correspond in detail with the Biblical narratives. They not only confirm but also illumine the historical situations out of which the Old Testament and the gospels grew. At the same time the changing fortunes of the ancient people of Israel are woven into a lively, colorful tapestry of daily life in the age in which they lived. They were also caught up in the political, cultural, and economic disputes of the nations and empires that struggled for power in Mesopotamia and on the Nile, from which the inhabitants of the tiny buffer state of Palestine were never able completely to detach themselves for over two thousand years.

“The opinion has been, and still is, widely held that the Bible is nothing but the story of man’s salvation, a guarantee of the validity of their faith for Christians everywhere. At the same time it is a book about things that actually happened. Admittedly in this sense it has limitations, in that the Jewish [sic Israelite] people wrote their history in the light of their relationship to Yahweh, which meant writing it from the point of view of their own guilt and expiation. Nevertheless, the events themselves are historical facts and have been recorded with an accuracy that is nothing less than startling.

“Thanks to the findings of the archaeologists, many of the Biblical narratives can be understood better now than ever before. There are, of course, theological insights which can only be dealt with in terms of the Word of God. But as Professor André Parrot, the world-famous French archaeologist, has said: ‘How can we understand the Word, unless we see it in its proper chronological, historical and geographical setting?’

“Until now, knowledge of these extraordinary discoveries was confined to a small circle of experts. Only fifty years ago Professor Friedrich Delitzsch of Berlin was asking, ‘Why all this effort in these distant barren and dangerous lands? Why all this costly rummaging among the rubble of past ages when we know there is neither gold nor silver to be found there? Why this mad competition among different countries to get control of these dreary-looking mounds for the sole purpose of digging them up?’ The German scholar Gustav Dalman gave him the right answer from Jerusalem itself when he expressed the hope that one day all that the archaeologists had ‘experienced and seen in their scientific labors would be turned to good account and would help to solve the practical problems of school and church.’ This latter hope has so far, however, remained unfulfilled.

“No book in the whole history of mankind has had such a revolutionary influence, has so decisively affected the development of the western world, or had such a world-wide effect as the ‘Book of Books,’ the Bible. Today, after two thousand years, it has been translated into 1120 languages and dialects and gives no sign of having exhausted its triumphal progress. [with Whites]

“In gathering together and working over the mate- rial for this book, which I in no way claim to be com- plete, it seemed to me that the time had come to share with those who read their Bibles and those who do not, with churchmen and agnostics alike, the exciting dis- coveries which have resulted from a careful examina- tion of the combined results of scientific investigation along many different lines. In view of the overwhelming mass of authentic and well-attested evidence now available, as I thought of the skeptical criticism which from the eighteenth century onward would fain have demolished the Bible altogether, there kept hammering in my brain this one sentence: ‘The Bible is right after all!’ Werner Keller – Hamburg, September 1955.”

While Werner Keller did an excellent job of pre- senting his 452-page book, The Bible As History – and his “Introduction” is compatible with our Christian Israel Identity message (C.I.I.) – there is no evidence that he understood that the Anglo-Saxon and related White people were, and still are, the true lost tribes of Israel.

? WHAT DID THESE HUNTERS FIND ?

While all of these archaeologists found many things verifying Biblical places, times and events, prob- ably the most important of these were the cuneiform clay tablets found in the excavations of the Assyrian royal library at Nineveh. It might appear today, after a lapse of 2500 years, all hope of tracing the Israelites has been lost in the midst of antiquity. Archaeologists have, though, during the last 100 years, unearthed and published the original contemporary records of the As- syrians who took the Israelites captive. From these re- cords, in recent years, vital clues have come to light. These records consist of cuneiform clay tablets which can be found today in the British Museum. These tab- lets serve as archaeological evidence of Israel’s migra- tions. These clay tablets were frontier post reports of Assyrian spies, to the Assyrian king, keeping watch over the captive peoples. Among these tablets were over 1,400 different texts, including reports of how the cap- tive peoples (Israelites) were breaking away in small groups and heading northwest in the general direction of Europe. The texts of these Assyrian clay tablets were not deciphered until about 1930. These Assyrian reports were saying in ef- fect: “The last time we saw those sons of Omri (as the Israel- ites were called by the Assyrians), they were breaking away and heading in a northwesterly direction toward Europe.” Not to inquire about this evidence, found by the prophesied “hunt- ers”, would therefore be foolhardy; for there is nothing impru- dent in Scripture! After all, who are we to condemn, repudi- ate, disavow or scoff at Jeremiah’s inspired written prophe- cy? If Jeremiah predicted “hunters”, you can be assured there would come a time for “hunting.” To accept the “fishers” without the “hunters” is to embrace only half of Yahweh’s Word!

Besides, all this is substantiated by the ‘apocryphal’ book that used to be in the original King James version of the Bible before they removed it, 2 Esdras 13:39-45. I have a 1611 edition of the KJV and it is there:

“³⁹ And whereas thou sawest that he gathered an- other peaceable multitude unto him; ⁴⁰ Those are the ten tribes which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters and so came they into another land. ⁴¹ But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt. ⁴² That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land. ⁴³ And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow passages of the river. ⁴⁴ For the most High then shewed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over. ⁴⁵ For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half: and the same region is called Arsareth.” (Also check Josephus’ Antiquities, 8:11:1; 10:9:7 and 11:5:2)

At this juncture, we can no longer say no one ever told us who the “hunters” are, or the people for whom they were “hunting”! As a matter of fact, our Redeemer made it quite clear who the people were to whom He was sent when He instructed His disciples, Matthew 10:5-6:

“⁵ These twelve Yahshua sent forth, and command- ed them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles (heathen), and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: ⁶ But go rather to the lost sheep of the HOUSE of Israel.”

This passage is reinforced by Yahshua the Messiah Himself when He said, Matthew 15:24: “... I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

This coincides perfectly with Amos 3:2 where Yahweh speaks of Israel: “You (Israel) only have I known of all the families of the earth ...”

These passages also accord with Deuteronomy 7:6 where it states: “For thou art an holy (set apart) people unto Yahweh thy Mighty One: Yahweh thy Mighty One hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”

This is the same idea brought forth in, and conveys the same meaning as, 1st Peter 2:9 which says: “But ye are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a pecu- liar (set apart) people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” (check Exodus 19:5-6)

The same concept is expressed in Psalm 147:19-20: “¹⁹ He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. ²⁰ He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they (the non- Israelites) have not known them.”

Again, the same thought is advanced in Deuteronomy 14:2 which says: “For thou art a people set apart unto Yahweh thy Mighty One, and Yahweh hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the (oth- er) nations that are upon the earth.”

For another rendering of the same basic precept, Isa- iah 41:8 says the following: “But thou Israel, art my ser- vant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.”

Contrary to what some advance, Yahweh does not promote the doctrine of universalism.

MORE ON THE FISHERS AND HUNTERS

For this phase of this presentation, I will quote from Howard Rand’s Study in Jeremiah, pages 81-82 entitled “Fishers And Hunters” (I will use Yahweh (Tetragrammaton) instead of God):

“Yahweh sets forth the method by which He will bring Israel back to Himself. This is a most important prophecy, for in sending for fishers and hunters, the way in which Isra- el is to be awakened to spiritual values and to the need of obeying His Covenant is revealed to Jeremiah:

“‘Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith Yah- weh, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.’ (Jeremiah 16:16)

“Who are these fishers and hunters and what is the particular task each is to perform in the respective fishing and hunting periods? The sending of these two groups designated as fishers and hunters indicates that there are two entirely different methods by which an appeal would be made to Israel. A fisherman patiently waits as he undertakes to snare the fish in a net or catch it on a line, but the hunter tramps through the woods and over the hills and mountains exerting energy and strength as he travels in search of his especially selected prey. Actually Jeremiah prophetically referred to the two distinct phases of the Gospel in their respec- tive appeals to Israel for the purpose of bringing them back to covenant relationship with Yahweh. The first would require fishers and the period of their fishing is clearly defined by the events of the Gospel Age. The second would require hunters and the period of their activity would be at the end of the Gospel Age. This is demonstrated by the activities of those who have sought to establish the identity of Israel in these last days, hunting out the evidence and tracing Israel from Palestine, throughout her years of wanderings, to the present time. History reveals how faithfully the predicted fishing and hunting missions have been carried out by those chosen of Yahweh for each purpose.”

Throughout the centuries since the time of Yah- shua, there have been three distinct types of activity or periods involved: 1.- The Fishing Period, 2.- The Hunt- ing Period, and, 3.- The Watchman Period. We should understand that these periods are not entirely within strict chronological limits where each one stops abruptly and another one starts. Actually, these time periods can overlap each other to some degree. As the activity in one period diminishes, activity in the next period in- creases and comes to the forefront. Jeremiah the proph- et at 16:16, prophesied the fishing and hunting periods. The fishing period came with the apostles when Christ called them to become “fishers of men.” Later, came the Hunting Period, when the archaeologists became active finding lost Israel’s footprints of migration. (More to come.)