by haRold Smith
from Jerusalem, Israel
"Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His Name): If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the LORD, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever." (Jeremiah 31:35-36)
When Moses brought the children of Israel out of Egypt the scripture says that with them came a “mixed multitude” (Exodus 12:38 CLICK on highlighted verse to view scripture), and that this host remained with them through all the experiences they encountered in the wilderness. Jephunneh was a Kenezzite sojourning in Egypt during this time when God began moving His People into freedom. The Kenezzites were one of ten tribes of people referred to in the covenant God made with Abraham whose lands were to be given to Abraham‘s descendants (Genesis 15:18-21). Thus, it is clear that their linage was not one of Hebrew origin - they were Gentiles. Jephunneh was one of those whose family, serving as slaves to the Egyptians, had become attached to this move of God, this Exodus, out of Egypt, out of bondage and into freedom.
Jephunneh, the Kenezzite, had a son whom he named Caleb (Numbers 32:12). In the course of time, growing up witnessing the mighty acts of God during the 40 years of wandering, Caleb became an avid believer in this One True God of the Hebrews. Over the years, Caleb wove himself into the fabric of the people he was among, gaining their trust and recognition through strength of character, rising to a position of prominence among them. When the day came to spy out the Promise Land God had declared to be theirs, so impressive had his stature become that out of the three million or so people in this entourage in the wilderness, Caleb was chosen as one of twelve men to represent a tribe of Israel, the tribe of Judah, to see what lay beyond. (Numbers 13).
Because of their intense belief in the goodness of this God whose exploits they were seeing accomplished before their eyes every day, Caleb and Joshua, the son of Nun (a Hebrew), were able to bring back a declaration that this land that they had seen was one flowing in milk and honey instead of obstacles to overcome as the others did
(Numbers 14:6-8).
They said, 'We can do this'. It was not by chance or happenstance that, as a result of their steadfast faith, of all those who left Egypt to enter into the promised land, only Joshua and Caleb, this one Jew and this one Gentile, were eventually allowed to enter into the Land Promised of God
(Numbers 32:11-12).
Under Caleb, during the wars of conquest, the Hebrews conquered that portion of the country which was afterwards assigned to Judah as their inheritance (Numbers 14:24, Numbers 34:18-19), This was the only case in which any tribe had its inheritance thus determined, all the rest were chosen by lot (Joshua 14:6-15, Joshua 15:13-19), Here we have in the Old Testament, the record of a physical inheritance in the Land of Israel deliberately given to a Gentile by God because he "wholly followed the LORD."
Thus, Judah became known as the “southern kingdom” with Israel being known as the “northern kingdom” and, except for a brief time under King David, the two have never been reunited. This is significant because of the creation of this “One New Man” described in Ephesians 2:12-19) between both Jew (Israel) and Gentile (Judah) that we see being formed out of the heart of God. It was no accident, then, that Yeshua was born out of the tribe of Judah - the tribe that was led of and established in the Land by a Gentile. In His Wisdom, the God of Abraham pre-ordained this King of the Jews to also be the King of the Gentiles and by His Life, united the two in spirit.
By now, you are probably asking, "So, what does this mean to me." An inheritance is something that is passed on to subsequent generations. Many of you have probably been the beneficiary of inheritances received from your parents, grandparents or other ancestors related to you. Since Yeshua was born out of the tribe of Judah and is a direct descendent of Abraham, He is the rightful heir to the land given to His ancestors under Caleb. When we embrace Yeshua, we become grafted into, not only the spiritual house of Israel, but also the physical house of the tribe of Judah (Romans 11:17-24), and we become the beneficiaries for all the rights of inheritance that lie therein (Galatians 3:28-29),
The boundaries of the territory given to Caleb and the tribe of Judah are described in
Joshua 15:20-63.
Look closely on a map of Israel. The portion of the country described in that scripture is what is roughly considered the land of Judea & Samaria today, more commonly referred to as Jerusalem and the West Bank. This is the same land that those who wish to destroy Israel are clamoring for her to give up today in the hopes of bringing peace to the region. But there will be no peace
(Matthew 10:34,
Mark 13:7-8),
This fact has already been proven in the Gaza, given up by Israel in 2005 in hopes of bringing peace to the region. All that exists there today is anarchy and ruin. All that was accomplished was to give Israel's enemies a closer vantage point to fire rockets at her.
We are living in the day that God has chosen to fulfill many prophecies. One of the signs of fulfillment spoken of in scripture is Israel returning to the hands of the Jewish people (November 29, 1947) and Jerusalem once again under the rule of the nation of Israel (the 1967 war) - no longer trodden under the feet of the Gentiles. Yeshua tells us that when we see these things happen we need to stand up and lift up our heads, because our redemption is drawing near. What exciting days! We are privileged to be living in the age that all the patriarchs of old longed to see. We have become witnesses to this final, glorious hour and to become participants in bringing the Kingdom of God into this earthly realm (Isaiah 49:22-23).
As the God of Abraham is bringing his ancient people back home, we also see this same God turning the heart of His Church back to these people and their land. Through the blood of Yeshua, we have been brought near to the covenant of promise and we are no longer aliens and strangers. We have been made joint heirs to those promises and in the same way that God is bringing His chosen people from the four corners of the earth to return to Israel, He is bringing His church out of the darkness to be a vital part of what is happening in Israel. The Lord wants the Church to appreciate her Jewish foundation as the root of the tree into which she is grafted. She must understand why Israel and the Jewish people are center stage in world history again. It is time for the Church to stop "stealing the fruit and destroying the root" of our heritage, to lay claim to our inheritance, to rise up and stand, shoulder to shoulder with His chosen people - our brothers in this family of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - the same One True God whom we worship.
| “Wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” (Ruth 1:16) |
Caleb was chosen to 'represent' the tribe of Judah to spy out the Land in Numbers 13. After their entry into the Promise Land, Caleb continued as the leader, again, 'representing' the tribe of Judah, in their conquest of the Land and their subsequent apportioned inheritance (Numbers 14:24, Numbers 34:18-19, Joshua 14:6-15) and, finally, in Joshua 15:13-19 the scripture says "And unto Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, He gave a part among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the LORD to Joshua".
Caleb was honored thusly because he 'wholly followed the Lord', not because he was born Jewish. But he never 'replaced' that Hebrew linage. Judah was totally Jewish, born one of the twelve sons of Jacob. Caleb married a Jewish woman of the tribe of Judah which caused his descendents to be born Jewish, of which Yeshua was one - but he, Caleb, was not.