Behold Thy God, Oh Jerusalem: Judah’s Journey from Exile to Redemption
When Christ ascended into Heaven from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:9), there was a plethora of Jewish sects left behind besides Jewish Christians. All belonged to Israel and all thought of themselves as “the covenant people”. Here are just some of them:
Hellenistic Jews: Academics and scholars, they were heavily influenced by the Greek thinkers and philosophers of Alexandria.
Samaritans: Mixed tribal decedents of those who had escaped as refugees from the Assyrian conquest of Israel in 721 B.C. They were not accepted by Judah as pure-blooded Israelites.
Galilean Rabbis: Most religious of the Jews, later consolidated the teachings of the rabbis into one set of uniform rules, the Mishnah.
Pharisees: Middle class businessmen by trade. Agreed with Sadducee to the execution of Christ.
Sadducee: Aristocrats and members of the ruling class, from whom the members of the Sanhedrin were chosen.
Nazarene: Title given because of a person’s birthplace. Christ was labelled a Nazarene.
Nazarite: A consecrated man who took a vow to abstain from wine, from cutting his hair and from contact with any dead. Samson and Samuel were Nazarites.
Publicans: Tax collectors for Rome. They were despised by everyone.
Scribes: More than transcribing clerks, they were officially recognized as teachers, scholars, editors and interpreters of the scriptures. Many were also authors, writers and journalists.
Zealots: Ruffians, wild, prone to violence and unreasonable thinking. Saw force as the only means of throwing off Roman dominance. Became a political movement.
Jerusalem Jews: Isolated in the mountains, they were more concerned with the Temple and were influenced by the Temple Priests.
Priests: Responsible for the daily operations of the Temple. Most were corrupt and had made themselves rich through their Priesthood Positions. Hated by the majority of Jews.
Judean Jews: Influenced by Greek paganism. Apostate and unwilling to change.
Essenes: A community of devout Jews who had retreated into the desert near Qumran to remain pure from the corrupt influences of their fellow Jews living in the cities. Here they planned to purify themselves while they awaited the arrival of the Messiah and the end of times. Unfortunately, they were caught up in the wars of extermination by the Romans but not before they had sealed up their records and buried them in caves near the Dead Sea. They were annihilated but their scrolls remained hidden in caves until discovered in 1947.
Jewish Christians: Those Jews who accepted Christ as their Messiah.
Gnostic Christians: Those that believed they had secret knowledge that allowed them access to Heaven. Beliefs regarding God the Father, Christ, Holy Ghost and Satan were very different and inconsistent with Jewish or mainstream understanding of roles of the Godhead, the Messiah or Satan.
When we see the melting pot into which the new Christian movement was attempting to establish itself, we have some idea of the problems Paul later faced. Most of the epistles written by Paul, which are included in the New Testament, were written to correct errors that were creeping into the practices of those who claimed to be believers in Christ.
The first Christians were all Jews. Christianity was not a new religion as far as those first converts were concerned. It was in fact the extension and fulfillment of the Jewish religion’s hopes and aspirations. It was the culmination of almost 600 years of prayers since the fall of Jerusalem. They had hope that their Messiah would deliver them from their oppressors. But their short-sightedness had blinded them. Their problems did not start with Assyria, Babylon, Greece or Rome. It roots went back to the days of Samuel, when the Israelites, as a nation, had demanded to have a “…king to judge us like all the nations”, rather than have God rule over them.
1 Samuel 8: 4-5, 7
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
7 And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
Could they not see that they already had the Lord as their King and that he had preserved them through battle after bloody battle? Samuel warned what would happen should they chose worldly kings instead, but they were deaf and blind to reason.
1 Samuel 8: 10-18
10 And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king.
11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.
As predicted, horrible results were heaped on their heads. Even now they are still reaping the whirlwinds of the foolish decision they had sown.
Also misunderstood was what oppressor their Messiah would deliver them from. The enemy their Messiah would confront was not their outward oppressors. Instead, his efforts would be directed at the war that rages within us and his offer of deliverance would be to all – not just the Jews.
And what battle was that? The one between good and evil. Then, as now, obedience to God is the only way to freedom. We can only rise above worldly kings, or thoughts, or temptations when we have the Lord as our king.Without the Lord, peace is not sustainable.
Unfortunately, the lessons from the past were not learned by Israel. In spite of all the evidence, the Jews of Christ’s day made the same wrong choice again. They chose The Law of Moses over the Law of the Gospel, they chose the sayings of the Rabbis over the saying of their Messiah, and they chose to stay in darkness of the past rather than to move into the light of the future.
It is difficult to understand how they had turned away from God in the first instance, but after having tasted the bitter results for so long, it is almost inconceivable how they could reject him again! What a lesson for all of us to recognize that unimaginable consequences often come from what we perceive as inconsequential decisions. The Jews’ relationship with God had just undergone a tectonic shift that would last until Christ’s second coming. Is this what Christ was referring to when he said:
Mark 10: 31
But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.
To this day, the restored gospel has not been preached to the Jews. The new State of Israel was formed in 1948 and since then many have begun to gather back to their ancestral homeland. Yet, as a people they have not recognized Jesus as their Messiah. Perhaps that will not happen until the Saviour returns the second time.
The gospel of Jesus had been brought to his covenant people, the House of Israel, starting with Judah. But they (the first covenanted) refused him. Now it was to go instead through Paul, to the rest of the House of Israel, and those considered the last, the Gentiles.
D&C 45: 51-52
And then shall the Jews look upon me and say: What are these wounds in thine hands and in thy feet? Then shall they know that I am the Lord; for I will say unto them: These wounds are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. I am he who was lifted up. I am Jesus that was crucified. I am the Son of God.
We can see how Christ’s rejection by the very people he came to save could pose a problem. How might that effect the status of these descendants of Abraham and their pervious covenant to support and obey God?
Here are some other questions to consider:
1/ What happens to the Jews now?
2/ Has the original covenant between God and Judah been repealed, severed or annulled?
3/ If Judah is to be last, who among the Christian gentiles is to be first?
4/ Where is Israel today? Does she recognize the rights and accept the responsibilities associated with the Abrahamic covenant?
5/ What is the Christian Church’s status with God now so far as the covenant is concerned?
To fully appreciate the answers to these questions, we must first understand what the covenant was, when it was first introduced and what it has since become in these last days. To do that we must go all the way back to the time of the Garden of Eden and the beginning of human history.
The part we need to look at specifically is when Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden because of their disobedience. The pair find themselves in an extremely hostile world. They have to learn how to protect themselves from heat and cold by making clothing from animal skins. Food must be grown or killed and prepared. Shelter must be found or built. They have to expend great amounts of energy and learn new skills just to survive. But they are obedient to all God’s other commandments even though they are no longer able to talk with him. After many days, meaning a long while, and having had their faith tested, they are visited by an angel who instructs them regarding their future relationship with God. The law of sacrifice is introduced in similitude of the sacrifice of the Saviour would make for them. The commandment to repent is given. Almost immediately following their willingness to repent, God himself begins to speak directly to Adam.
Moses 6: 51-52
And he called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying: I am God; I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh.
And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son … ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost…
Baptism is an ordinance involving a covenant. According to the account given by Moses:
Moses 5: 59
And thus all things were confirmed unto Adam, by an holy ordinance, and the Gospel preached, and a decree sent forth, that it should be in the world, until the end thereof…
Here we have the first indication of a covenant between man and God. This information was made known unto everyone, but we know that not everyone was willing to enter into the covenant with God. We hear of successive Priesthood leader making great attempts to teach people the gospel, the most successful being Enoch. According to Moses, Enoch heard a voice from Heaven saying:
Moses 6: 27-30
…Enoch, my son, prophesy unto this people, and say unto them—Repent, for thus saith the Lord: I am angry with this people, and my fierce anger is kindled against them… ever since the day that I created them, have they gone astray… and have not kept the commandments, which I gave unto their father, Adam. Wherefore, they have foresworn themselves, and, by their oaths, they have brought upon themselves death; and a hell I have prepared for them, if they repent not… And this is a decree, which I have sent forth in the beginning of the world, from my own mouth…
From this we learn that God considered the oath (covenant) to still be in effect during Enoch’s lifetime. It appears the people who had foresworn themselves had not been living their covenant. Enoch then called the inhabitants of the land to repent and to recommit to God by baptism. Eventually the whole City of Enoch become righteous and was removed from the Earth.
Still, there were many who did not repent or renew their covenant. Enoch was permitted to see what would happen to these people. He saw the great flood. Enoch also beheld the future of the whole Earth, including the days of Christ, and witnessed the Messiah lifted upon the cross. Despite the sorrow caused by this great wickedness, God promised to carry on the covenant by send righteous leaders. Thus, the covenant would remain intact for those obedient followers who chose to uphold it.
God explained, “This is my work and my glory — to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (Moses 1: 39)
Adam and Eve understood:“Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good from evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.” (Moses 5: 10-11)
With the catastrophic end of the first period of the world by flood, a new beginning emerges for Noah’s children. It isn’t long before that individual who is to relight the covenant torch appears on the world stage. From the ninth descendant of Shem, Son of Noah, Abram is born.
Because of his faithfulness and willingness to sacrifice even his birthright son, Abram is called by God to start a new line of covenant priesthood holders willing to bring the Gospel and salvation to God’s sons and daughters. It is through this lineage, that Jacob is born. Each party who is brought into the covenant is given a new name. The new name given to Abram was Abraham. (It is to this Abraham, the Jews trace their lineage, uniqueness and authority.)
Genesis 17: 7
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
The promised blessings of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) can be listed under three headings:
Accordingly, the covenant was passed on from Abraham to his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob. When the covenant was renewed through Jacob, the new name given to him was Israel.
1/Priesthood
This is the authority to grant the blessings of the covenant to others, such as
the priesthood, temple ordinances and celestial marriage.
2/Posterity
The blessing of children, or eternal increase. The strength of the tribe was in its members. Without children you had nothing permanent. Without righteous children, your legacy was chaos.
3/ Promised Lands
A land of Inheritance, given from God, upon which they may live their
religion and raise their families in peace and comfort.
The names of Abraham and Israel have become synonymous with the covenant and the covenant people. Yet, as an aging Jacob prepared to die, disputes arose as to which of his twelve sons (known as the 12 Tribes of Israel) would inherit the priesthood and covenant.
Normally the firstborn son would be the heir to the birthright. To him would go the responsibility of caring for the family after the patriarch’s passing. This inheritance was not just about receiving more of the father’s wealth. It was also the responsibility to provide for everyone’s survival and economic wellbeing. This included the spiritual and physical care for his father’s widow, all other single women and dependants who could not maintain themselves in the tribe. And of course, this son would also have his own wife and children to support. To compensate him for this extra economic burden, he would be given an extra portion of inheritance. For instance, in the case of a family of 12 sons, the estate would be divided into 13 portions. The eldest son would receive 2 portions and all others 1 each. The son who received this double portion would be held accountable for using the second portion wisely and equitably. In the event the eldest son could not be trusted or would not agree to the terms of the birthright responsibilities, another son could be named in his place. This was often the case and many problems resulted because of jealousy and competition between sons who had the potential to be heirs. Such was the situation in the family of Israel.
Because unrighteousness disqualified the usual heirs, Joseph inherited the birthright blessing over of his brothers. In turn the birthright was passed onto Joseph’s sons (Israel’s grandsons) Ephraim and Manasseh. (To read more about the specific blessings of the remaining brothers of the house of Israel see Genesis 48 and 49.)
This “birthright” arrangement worked well within the Kingdom of Israel for many centuries, until the death of King Solomon. Although noted for his wisdom in governing, Solomon failed miserably in his family affairs. His sons were pampered and there was obvious favouritism. Rehoboam, the son expected to replace Solomon, enjoyed a lifestyle that needed a substantial income to sustain. When he succeeded to his father’s throne, the ten tribes located in the northern part of the country feared higher taxes, so they rebelled and separated. That left only two tribes remaining in Judah, or the Southern Kingdom. The divide weakened both groups immediately. Eventually, the Northern Kingdom was conquered and absorbed into Assyria. The Southern Kingdom remained viable for a couple additional hundred years before being destroyed by Babylon. That extra time was enough to proclaim Judah, by default, as the birthright heir of the House of Israel.
Judah remained in captivity to Babylon for seventy years. Then King Cyrus allowed them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the remains of Solomon’s temple. Cyrus’ gracious permission returned the promises of the covenant to the children of Israel.
1/ They were in possession of and living in the land promised to them by the Lord.
2/ They had regained the temple and the priesthood to administrate the ordinances performed within it.
3/ They had plenty of posterity. Although the ten tribes had been lost, and what few refugees remaining from the Assyrian invasion (such as the Samaritans) were disqualified as pure Israelite because of inter-marrying with indigenous tribes, there was a distinct group of descendants from Judah. And they now had exclusive claim to the blessings of the covenant of Abraham.
That was the situation when Christ was born. Every Jew believed to the core, that they were the chosen people, the “Children of Abraham”. But not everyone agreed with each other about what they individually believed. Factions had formed within their religious community: Pharisees, Sadducees and other groups contended with one another. Even Christ denounced them for their corruption, apostate priesthood and obvious hypocrisy.
After the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, unsettling questions began to form in the troubled minds of both Jews and Christians. Was there still a birthright blessing? Who would God choose as the legitimate heir to the covenant? Must that person be a descendant of Abraham? During the first century after Christ’s departure the answers would continue to elude at the same time as Judah was destroyed as a nation and its people were disburses throughout the world.
Events affecting Palestine and the Jews
1st Century A.D.
6 A.D. Provence of Roman Judea created.
33 A.D. Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ carried out by Romans by insistence of Jewish Leaders: Annas , Caiaphas and the Chief Priests.
30 -70 A.D. Helena of Adiabene, vassal kingdom of Mesopotamia, coverts to Judaism. Significant numbers of her followers also join and supply support for Jewish Roman wars.
30 –70 A.D. Differences between Jews who accept or those who reject Christ causes a schism during Second Temple era.
66-70 A.D. First Jewish Wars / The Great Revolt between the Jews and Romans results in destruction of Second Temple and the fall of Jerusalem.
73 -74 A.D. Final wrap up of the Roman and Jewish wars. Fall of Masada.
70-200 A.D. Christianity formally splits from its Jewish roots, establishes its own texts and ideology to become its own religion.
2nd Century A.D.
115-117 A.D. Kitos War, revolt against Trajan involving communities of Cypress, Cyrene (Libya), Egypt, Mesopotamia (Syria and Iraq), against Emperor Hadrian. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed. Jewish rebels are defeated and totally exterminated in Cypress and Cyrene.
131 A.D. Emperor Hadrian renames Jerusalem “Aelia Capitolina” and the province of Judea “Syria Palaestina”. Most of the Jewish population (about 580,000) is annihilated.
138 A.D. Emperor Hadrian dies. Jewish persecution is eased, and Jews allowed to visit Jerusalem on Tusha B’av. The Jewish centre moves to Galilee. And thus ends the Kingdom of Judah.