The Amendments of the Constitution of the nation of the United States of America begins with “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
This is not true world-wide. Several countries offer citizenship through religious heritage including
- Israel to Jews, defined under the law as a person born of a Jewish mother, or the child or grandchild or spouse of any of the above, or who has converted to Judaism and is not a member of another religion.
- Germany to descendants of those stripped of citizenship by the Nazis on political, racial, or religious grounds, including Jewish, Sinti and Roma.
- Spain and Portugal to descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492 (Spain) and 1497 (Portugal).
No Christian, major Sunni Muslim, Buddhist-majority or Hindu-majority country operates a religion-based citizenship or “convert and become a citizen” program.
Monotheistic faiths are distinguished by the individual nature of the relationship between God and mankind, cited 69 times in just one phrase in the King James Bible as “if any man…“
“he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” (Hebrews 13:5-6)
A relationship with God requires being indwelt and controlled by his Holy Spirit.
“Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his..For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.. whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:8-9)
“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles.” (I Corinthians 12:13)
That body supersedes any single earthly national identity, with a multitude of nationalities identified as being part of it.
- “Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians / Cushites unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD.” (Amos 9)
- At the time of Amos’ ministry (c. 750 b.c.), an Ethiopian dynasty ruled autonomously, and prosperously, in the Upper Nile Valley, so this is comparing God’s blessings on his people.
- Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt?
- Confirming this is a reminder of the goodness of the LORD.
- “Thus saith the LORD…that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee...I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight,..I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.” (Isaiah 43:1-4) No question about it. God redeemed Israel with nations he highly valued.
- AND the Philistines from Caphtor /Crete?
- Comparison of saving from tribulation, as Crete was the centre of Europe’s most ancient civilization, the Minoans,. with complex urban settlements resurfacing after the flood around 2000 BC. i.e. subjugating peoples under tyrant kings.
- AND the Syrians from Kir meaning “Fortress” / in ancient Assyria
- another example of providing a new home for refugees.
- “Ahaz [king of Judah] sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and…the king of Israel…And the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.” (II Kings 16:5-9)
Genetic studies of modern Palestinians confirm Amos’ designation as ancient Mesopotamian peoples who have lived in this land for at least 3700 years.
Israel’s genocidal determination to wipe them out in order to appropriate their valuable land, especially the coastal Gaza strip, cannot be justified by scripture and will be dealt with by the LORD God, including judging the international agencies who deplore it but refuse to do anything to stop it and America which is funding it.
Why is the restoration of Israel a big deal but the saving of “all the heathen which are called by my name” ignored?
“I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.” (Isaiah 65:1)
The Philistine / Palestinian city-state of Gerar
“And Abraham journeyed from [Chaldea through Padan-Aram [into the land of Canaan and]…sojourned…in Gerar [a city of the Philistines where]…Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah [into his harem.]But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife. But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, LORD / YHVH, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? …in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this…Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him…what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin?…What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake…
Abraham was not taking dominion. If he had put aside his fear and trusted in the LORD he would have introduced himself and his God to Abimelech and avoided this fiasco by learning:
- his name, “Abi Melech” which means “My authority is Melech [zadok]”, i.e. Shem, the human priest-king of the monotheistic Creator God YHVH.
- he refers to YHVH as “God”, i.e. the one and only, monotheistic God, not as “my” or “your” God but the same God shared with Abraham.
- he followed the baseline Melchizedekian law of righteous, “Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 25:17)
Not only did a meet and greet prevent bloodshed, it created an alliance.
“Abimelech…spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest: Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. And Abraham said, I will swear…and both of them made a covenant.” (Genesis 20:21:22-27)
Hundreds of years later Abraham’s vow to treat Abimelech’s people as allies was honored by the Israelites. The land of Gerar is not among Israelite conquests listed in Joshua 15. Located in what came to be Philistine territory, but not named as one of the Philistine cities, Gerar would be rescued from the Philistines by first Samson, then Saul, and finally King David.
“do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.” (Leviticus 25:18)
The Egyptians are among those “called by my name”.
“The angel of the LORD said unto [Hagar, the Egyptian]…I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude…thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishma-el; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction...and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. And she called the name / attribute of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me [establishes a relationship with me]…And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.” (Genesis 16)
The Ethiopians
“And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married – united himself with – an Ethiopian woman…And the LORD heard it…And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth…wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses – WHO HAD UNITED HIMSELF WITH ME. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them.” (Number 12:5-9)
Our humanistic post-modern culture is simply oblivious to God’s ordinances and laws and the way to live as family, including the significance of Moses’ Ethiopian wife in her supporting role to Melchizedek Moses. We should absolutely understand that Moses and the Ethiopian woman were as much “two become one” as Adam and his wife. No offspring from that marriage are documented, but that does not exclude Moses from being the head of an Ethiopian household that maintained a loyalty to their “father Moses”.
“Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.” (Psalm 68:31)
They call themselves Beta Israel – the house of Israel – and use the Torah to guide their prayers and memories of the heights of Jerusalem as they lived in their thatched huts in Ethiopia. Little is known about the early origins of the Beta Israel beyond the fact that they represent one of the oldest Diaspora communities with ancient origins from southern Arabia. The Beta Israel have consistently viewed themselves as Jews and maintained a distinguishable culture.
As early as 2000 BCE the ancient Ethiopians can be identified as Semitic because they spoke South Semitic languages, in particular the oldest dialect, Ge’ez. Even now, the Ethiopian Semitic languages have by far the greatest numbers of modern native speakers of any Semitic language other than Arabic.
Anthropologists note that at this very early stage in history there was a merging of Semitic culture with Cushite Agaw culture in Ethiopia. It was clearly as a result of this merging that the Agaw peoples have historically practiced a “Hebraic religion”. With as much accuracy as any anthropologist we can conclude that Semitic people converted some of Cush’s descendants to the Hebrew faith.
Ethiopian culture has been influenced by Judaism. The Ethiopian Church, for example, adopted customs associated with Judaism, such as circumcision, dietary laws and the observance of the Sabbath. Ethiopians also believe that the Ark of the Covenant out of Jerusalem and brought to Aksum, the capital of ancient Abyssinia, for safekeeping.
And another royal Ethiopian was certainly responsible for helping to establish the Coptic Church about 42 AD.
“And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza…and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet… And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him…Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus…And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him / joined him to the body of believers.” (Acts 8)
