The Tents of Shem ~ Part One The Two Will Become One

The Tents of Shem ~ Part One

The Two Will Become One

The Tribes of Israel were, at one time, the most powerful Kingdom on earth.  They were ONE unified people.  The Kingdom of Israel split into two “Nations” or “Kingdoms.”  This happened shortly after the reign of King Solomon.  Since those days until the present time Israel has been TWO groups of people.  In this article we will look at how this happened, and find out how Yahweh, at this present time in history is bringing the TWO back together.

Jews and Christians come from Noah

and one day dwell together

Noah is one man, his name means “Rest.”  He has three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  Let’s look at a Prophecy in these sons of Noah.  It is from one of these three men that all the Nations of the earth can trace their genealogy.  The word Shem means “name” and from Shem comes the Semites, who most scholars identify as the Jewish people of today.  The word Japheth means “to Enlarge” or “Spread out,” which refers to people from the Nations, who are “God fearers” and are friends with the Jewish people.  The word Ham means “to Burn Hot” and refers to the “ites” that hate God and the Jewish people.  On Judgment Day all the “ites” will “Burn Hot” in the Lake of Fire.

Gen 9:27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem;

יַפְתְּ אֱלֹהִים לְיֶפֶת וְיִשְׁכֹּן בְּאָֽהֳלי שֵׁם

The first word in this phrase is יַפְתְּ Yafet (Japheth), which means “to enlarge/spread out,” which has the root word פָּתָה Patah, meaning “to entice.” The second word is אֱלֹהִים Elohim, God.  The next word is לְיֶפֶת which is Yafet (Japheth), with a lamed which means “to Yafet.”  Then we have the word וְיִשְׁכֹּן which is actually four words; and, he will, dwell.  Next is the word בְּאָֽהֳלֵי is which is two words in Hebrew “in,” and “tents.” And the last word is שֵׁם Shem, which means “name,” and is the name of one of Noah’s sons.  The Matthew Miller Translation (which is not authorized by anyone) would say “Elohim will entice and draw Japheth into the tents of Shem.”  So how does this apply to us today?  Let’s put the modern spiritual descendants of Japheth and Shem into this phrase.  God is going to entice and draw the true Christians into the “tents” (a place of family fellowship) of believing Jews, to live and worship together.   

    

Eze 37:15-17 Again the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: For Judah (Shem) and for the children of Israel, his companions. Then take another stick and write on it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, (Japheth) and [for] all the house of Israel, his companions. Then join them (the two sticks) one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.

Ephraim means “double fruitful” and Japheth means “to grow, increase, or spread out,” both of these names have similar meaning.  These two names are pictures of the Christians of today.

Judah means “to praise Yah with your hands” and Shem means “name,” these two names are a picture of the Jewish people of today.  These two groups of people were one, in the genetic makeup of the man Noah.  Noah means rest, and Shabbat means “to rest” or “cease.”  The Millennium is a 1000 years of rest or also called 1000 years of Shabbat.  During this time, the two (Shem/Judah and Japheth/Ephraim) will be “one in His Hand” for the 1000 year Shabbat/rest, the “time of Noah.”  

Yeshua teaches that Christians are

a part of the lost tribes of Israel

Mat 15:24, But He answered and said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Yeshua came for the “lost sheep of the House of Israel.”  The “New Covenant” (Jer 31:31) was only made with the House of Israel and the House of Judah.  The scripture (Ezk 37:15-22) speaks of people from the “nations” being joined to one of the two houses.  Ezekiel uses the word “companions” to describe these people.  The way I understand Scripture, Yahweh only has two groups He made a “New Covenant” with, Israel and Judah.  In order for a person who is not biologically from one of these lines to enter into the “New Covenant” they must be joined to the House of Judah or the House of Israel.  The only WAY into the “New Covenant” is through the Messiah Yeshua, in saying that one still must be joined to Israel through one of the Houses.  If you are a Christian and are being drawn to Shabbat and the Feast of Yahweh, this understanding will radically change your life, how you identify yourself, and how you read the Scriptures.  According to Scripture you are no longer a “gentile,” (Eph 2:11, 12&19) you are a member of the “Commonwealth of Israel”, and Yahweh sees you as the House of Israel.  Yeshua was talking about YOU when He spoke of “another flock” and the “lost sheep from the House of Israel.”  If you consider yourself a Christian and you were not raised in Jewish home, according to the way Jeremiah explains the “New Covenant” you are seen as the “House of Israel” or a “companion” of the House of Israel.  Both groups are viewed as members of the Tribes of Israel.

Matt 10:5&6, these twelve Yeshua sent out and he ordered them, saying, "Do not follow the lifestyle of heathens, and do not enter Samaritan towns. However, go more to the lost sheep of Israel”.

Who is Yeshua talking about in these scriptures? He was not talking about the Jews and He was not talking about the Nations.  He was referring to the 10 tribes of Israel called “the Northern Kingdom.”  They had been scattered and mixed into the Nations according to Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Hosea.  These 10 tribes are referred to in the scriptures as; the Northern Kingdom or the House of Israel, also Ephraim, and Joseph.  Each one of these titles from the Old Testament refers to the same group of people, who I see today as “shadow pictures” of those who call themselves Christians.  

Prophecies in Genesis speaks about Christians

As we will soon discover through a prophecy in Genesis (Gen 49:5&6, 13-20) Joseph’s two sons Ephraim and Manasseh are “shadow pictures,” of Christianity.  This story will take us all the way into the “New Testament” to the book of Romans.  Joseph, his sons, and his coat of many colors are “prophetic shadow pictures” of the Christian people.  It is a mystery that can only be unlocked through the power of the Holy Spirit and study of the Hebrew words in the prophecy Jacob gives to Ephraim and Manasseh.  These names are synonyms for the Christians, Joseph = to increase, Japheth = spread out / grow, Ephraim = double fruitful, Manasseh = to forget Moses.  Joseph’s coat of many colors is a picture of the many colors of skin we find among Christians.  Joseph’s coat of many colors provoked his brothers to jealousy and Paul says that the job of the “gentiles” or “Nations” to provoke the Jews to jealousy.  Joseph had two sons Ephraim and Manasseh, these two sons (double fruitful and forgetful) are adopted by their grandfather, “Israel” (Jacob had his name changed in Gen 32:28) and become “sons of Israel” according to inheritance.

Gen 37:3-5 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he [was] the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of [many] colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.  Now Joseph had a dream, and he told [it] to his brothers; and they hated him even more.  Joseph's dad loved him and gave coat of Many colors (Christians) made other brothers jealous

Paul connects Christians with the story of Joseph

Rom 10:19 First Moses says: "I will provoke you to jealousy by [those who are] not a nation,   (Christians made up many colors) I will move you to anger by a foolish nation."

 Rom 11:11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation [has come] to the Gentiles (Christians)

Joseph was a dreamer and visionary, so his descendants will also be people who have dreams and visions.  In Gen 37:15, Joseph is lost, wandering around looking for his brothers.  In these real life events, Scripture is giving us “shadow pictures” pointing to New Covenant believers called Christians.  These Christians are dreamers and visionaries, who are lost, wondering around without their brothers “the Jews.”  The first step in Christians being connected with their Jewish brothers is a deep love for Israel and the Jewish people, and a desire to keep Shabbat and the Feast.  Joseph is a Hebrew that becomes Egyptian looking, and his brothers can’t recognize him.  Christians have Hebrew/Jewish Roots, from being grafted into the Olive Tree (Rom 11:17-24), but to our Jewish brothers we have become Greek looking (because of Greek/Egyptian sun worship).  We like Joseph recognize our Jewish brothers as family and love them, but they see us (as Joseph’s brothers saw him) as Egyptian and pagan.  

Ephraim, Japheth, and Joseph are pictures

of Christians in the Torah

Gen 48:1 Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, "Indeed your father [is] sick"; and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

Gen 48:4 "and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you [as] an everlasting possession.'

Gen 48:5-6 "And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.” Your offspring whom you beget after them shall be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance.

Jacob’s name was changed to Israel (Gen 32:28), Israel adopted these boys into “The Tribes,” and his grandsons become sons.  Just as Ephraim and Manasseh take the name Israel, the Christians also, who are adopted and grafted into the Olive Tree (Rom 11:16-24), receive the name of Israel.

Isa 44:5 One will say, I [am] Yahweh’s; Another will call [himself] by the name of Jacob; Another will write [with] his hand, Yahweh’s , And name [himself] by the name of Israel.

Gen 48:9 And Joseph said to his father, "They [are] my sons, whom God has given me in this [place]." And he said, "Please bring them to me, and I will bless them."

Gen 48:14-13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought [them] near him.  Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid [it] on Ephraim's head, who [was] the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh [was] the firstborn.