Before I press on with the main theme, of this, my second article, on this crucial Biblical history, we need to establish or determine what a Patriarch is. First and foremost Patriarchs were very important people. How and why were they important? They were important because The Godhead made them important and it is fundamental that we understand that, they did not make themselves important. They did not set themselves up as Patriarchs, they were not little egotistic dictators or tin pot megalomaniacs or tyrants. The title 'Patriarch' is a bestowed gift; an honour or blessing from The Lord, all part of His glorious Grace.
OK, but why were they important and why are they important to us today in the 21st century? They were and are important because they were the original forefathers or Progenitors of family dynasties, tribes or clans that grew to become, in this age today, thirteen of the nations of the world we live in. If we are of Celtic-Anglo-Saxon-Judahite blood then The Patriarchs are our original forefathers.
Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah's sons, were Patriarchs too, and it's from Shem that we get Abraham's lineage plus the lineage of all white peoples. Now The Lord called Abram and gave him a new name - Abraham, and made him a Patriarch, and The Lord told him that nations, plural, would come from his loins.
Genesis 35:11 (KJV) And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.
Not only one nation, as the erroneous brainwashed majority would have us believe, but a COMPANY OF NATIONS and kings too. As a Patriarch, Abraham would produce other Patriarchs - Isaac and Jacob/Israel his son and grandson were also Patriarchs. Before I move on, just ask yourself this question: when were The Jews ever a company of nations with kings ruling over them? Answers on the back of a postage stamp - thank you!!
Now, after Jacob, who was renamed Israel by The Lord, was that the end of the Patriarchs? NO, and I ask this, because many, especially those of the Cainite-Judeo-Christian Religion, believe that to be the case, but they are catastrophically wrong. By being so seriously wrong they create a gaff of monumental proportions - a chasm of ignorance and error that totally distorts Biblical history and its whole message. Even the Gospels, and the identity of many of the intended recipients of that Good News message, are misunderstood. All the evidence is there in both Old and New Testaments, if only people would read and learn, but they don't, they prefer blindness and deceptions, so I will now begin to reveal this awesome Truth.
Back to the Patriarchs, and as I was saying, was Jacob/Israel the last of the Patriarchs? The answer to this question is a decisive and resounding NO!! And as always we will go The Holy Scriptures for our proof and evidence. It's strange, really, because the word 'Patriarch' is nowhere to be found in the Old Testament but, rather, in the New Testament and yet all the Patriarchs that ever lived, lived in Old Testament times. There are only four verses of Holy Scripture in the KJV that contain the word Patriarch(s) so I will copy them here:
Acts 2:29 (KJV) Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of The Patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. (Emphasis mine)
Straight way we have evidence that, even hundreds of years after Jacob, King David is referred to as a Patriarch, and he was a Patriarch, but in a very different way from the original Patriarchs. I will return to explain this difference in a future study.
Hebrews 7:4 (KJV) Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even The Patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
Acts 7:8-9 "And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat The Twelve Patriarchs. 9 And The Patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him. (Emphasis mine)
Now here we have it in these last two verses of Acts - Jacob begat The Twelve Patriarchs, i.e. Jacob or Israel's twelve sons by his four wives. We must understand, that these twelve sons were The Patriarchs of Twelve Family Dynasties that became The Twelve Tribes or clans, that became twelve independent nations, and these twelve nations are still with us today. The Judahites and Jews are descendant from only one of these Twelve Patriarchs and being known as Judahites and Jews they carry a derivation of their forefather's name - Judah. Judah is The Patriarchal forefather of the Judahites and Jews only. He was not the forefather of The Israelites. Judah's eleven brothers were his fellow Patriarchs and were separate individual progenitors in their own God given right to father their own identities as tribes, clans and then nations. Hence all Judahites are Israelites, but not all Israelites are Judahites. In fact the Judahites are a minority in Israel. You will notice that I have not included The Jews here as Israelites only Judahites.
OK, having got this far, and already hinted, we now need to understand that the Jewish line from Judah is a little more complicated than the lineages from other eleven Patriarchs. Judah had a problem of not being able to keep it in his trousers (pants) and he took a fancy to an Adullamites' daughter (A Canaanitess) named Bathshuah and sired three sons from her, two of whom were killed by The Lord for their wickedness, but the third son survived and he married yet another Canaanitess thereby starting the non-Israelite line known as the Canaanite Jews i.e. non-Jews or what some people erroneously call crypto-Jews, which they are not.
As already stated, the issue we now have to come to terms with is this, of all the Israelites, the Judahites/Jews are only a small part - one tribe only. Moreover, up until 1947 they were not a nation at all due to The Lord's punishment and were dispersed around the globe. The first diaspora took place in circa 515 BCE (BC) when they were released from Babylonian captivity by King Cyrus of Persia and again in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem completely. So the Judahites a long with their half-relations The Canaanite Jews, although a tribe of Israel, have never been a proper geographical nation known as Israel. Most of their existence has been spent as citizens, often persecuted citizens, of other nations. Is that important, most definitely, as we shall see?
We can now clearly see that there were eleven other Patriarchs who were not Judahites/Jews and I will list their names. Yes they were all brothers but not all full brothers. Jacob/Israel had four wives. Two of them were sisters - Laban's daughters Leah and Rachel and the other two were the hand maids of the sisters - Bilhah and Zilpah.
Leah the elder sister had six sons - Rueben (the eldest son), Simeon, Judah, Levi, Issachar and Zebulon.
Rachel, the wife Jacob loved, had two sons - Joseph and Benjamin (the youngest son)
Zilpah, Leah's hand maid had two sons, Gad and Asher.
Bilhah, Rachel's hand maid had two sons also, Dan and Naphtali.
Here listed above are The Twelve Patriarchs and each of whom sired their own Israelite tribe, clan and nation. Now only one of these was Judah who was the Patriarch of the Royal Judahites and the Canaanite Jews. The other eleven Patriarchs were Israelites but they were not Judahites or Jews. Judah was the first Judahite/Jew and his offspring only were Judahites and Jews.
Now there was one final twist to this fascinating story of historical Israel and that twist lay in the story of Joseph's trials at the hand of his wicked jealous brothers which I will continue with in the next article. Please stay with it.
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