Kingdom Come

“Now Israel loved [in the sense of marriage, joined identies with] Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his [maturity, wisdom] old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.”

Undoubtedly the sign of his choice of Joseph being his Melchizedekian heir, confirmed by the dreams God had given Joseph. 

And when his brethren saw that their father loved / felt one with him more than all his brethren [i.e. as the LORD God had when he made Jacob his heir over Esau] they hated / repudiated identity with him.” (Genesis 37)

And it was into this exact dangerous and lawless condition that Jacob sent Joseph to check on his erratic older brothers.

“And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them.”

Jacob was acting on his appointment, providing leadership training, especially trust in Almighty God. Jacob had no idea just how much leadership training Joseph would be getting when his brothers human trafficked him into Egypt.

If you’ve ever been assigned leadership responsibility you understand that it’s lonely at the top.

And when they saw him afar off…they conspired against him…Come, and let us sell him…Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.” (Genesis 37:13-28)

The 13th Egyptian dynasty, beginning around 1786 BC, marked the beginning of a chaotic period in Egyptian history. This is consistent with population growth, the expansion of warring nations and even the hybrid giant nations contributing to famine. Just a dry spell would completely wreck the ecology.

As it turned out, Joseph was literally a God-send when he became Prime Minister around 1750 BC., “to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” (Genesis 50:20).

“And Joseph was thirty years old when he…went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt…in the seven plenteous years…and laid up the food in the cities…..And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the storehouses. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.” (Genesis 41:46-57)

In Manetho’s account the First Dynasty of Egypt (c. 3150 – c. 2900 BCE), i.e. pre-flood, was founded by Menes/Narmer. A recognizable Egyptian culture, including the development of writing, arts, and sciences developed. A sizeable set of stone art objects contain scenes of war and fighting

These images include depictions of gods, giants and what appear to be dinosaurs, consistent with the written documentation in Genesis 6 and Job 40 of the circumstances that brought about destruction by flood.

Early Egyptian records report that the sun god, Ra, recoiled from humanity’s wickedness and killed almost everyone. This is evidence of the cross-cultural knowledge of YHVH, available through written records, revealed in the Torah’s account of Joseph son of Jacob’s involvement with the Egyptian religion.

Notice that the long-lasting dire circumstances of this disaster brought many nations under Egypt’s protection. These people willingly submitted themselves to Pharaoh – wait, no, that’s Joseph’s – rule.

“And the seven years of dearth began to come…in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread…the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do…And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.” (Genesis 41:55-57)

“God…hath made me a father / spiritual authority to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house [including his priests], and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.” (Genesis 45:8)

Joseph is unquestionably the next in the series of Melchizedeks. 

“And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar…an Egyptian, bought him…And the LORD / YHVH was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man…And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And…he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.…his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me…how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against [note the singular] God?…And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife…spake unto them, saying, See, he [master of the house] hath brought in an Hebrew to mock us. ” (Genesis 39:1-14)

This concept of a Hebrew mocking the Egyptians becomes significant when we apply the fact that all nationalities were identified by their religion. To some extent this is still true today – Italians are for the most part Catholic, Arabs are Muslim, etc. The Hebrews were identified by their priest / father Abraham who taught them to worship only “the most High God, possessor of heaven and earth.” The other nations’ experience with their lesser gods led them to understand, correctly, that each of their gods had only finite power, so they needed many gods to cover all their bases for food, fertility, and fighting. Joseph’s master acknowledged that Joseph was empowered by his God, and his wife was blame-shifting her disrespect for her husband onto him as disrespecting their gods for doing so.

Joseph was 57 years old at this time and had trained for 27 years as Prime Minister of the world-wide empire. Some time later, at Jacob’s death:

Joseph is publicly confirmed.

“And Jacob called unto his sons…

1. 1. Joseph is fruitful...and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob… 
   2. the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee…The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.” (Genesis 49)

^“And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty…blessed me, And said unto me,

1. I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.
2. And now thy two sons, Ephraim / אֶפְרַיִם and Manasseh…are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.

Do you recognize that this was a means of Jacob giving a double portion of his Melechizedekian blessing of fruition to Joseph over his brothers?

1. My children are my greatest blessing in life. I have two children of my own but four grandchildren through them. My fruitful blessing of children was doubled.
2. Generation A grandparent dies. His estate worth 36 million shekels leaves equal portions to each of his Generation B children.
   1. Option 1: Generation B inherits 3 million shekels each including Joseph, each of 12 sons distributes equally to  their 3 Generation C sons.
      • Each Generation C son inherits 1 million shekels each, including Ephraim and Manasseh.
   2. Option 2: Jacob replaces Joseph with Ephraim and Manasseh, now 13 Generation B sons each inherit 2.8 million shekels, including Ephraim and Manasseh, i.e. the equivalent of Joseph having received twice as much as his brothers.

It seems that, in compensation for Jacob taking half the blessing from Joseph to give to Judah, he doubled up Joseph’s share of his wealth. As if Joseph needed it! The Prime Minister of Egypt!

Wait, Joseph didn’t use his wealth and power to indulge himself. He used his resources to take care of others.

“For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required:” (Luke 12:48)

“For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.” (Matthew 13:12)

Ephraim’s descendants fail at their Melchizedekian responsibilities, details in a later post.

“Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people…

But true to his word, God’s covenant never fails.

How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?…I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee…

They shall walk after the LORD…

As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.” (Hosea 7:8, 11:8-10, Romans 9:25-26)

Jacob / Israel chose Judah as his Melchizedekian heir.

“Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise… thy father’s children shall bow down before thee [as they had to Joseph]…The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” (Genesis 49:8-11)

We recognize Judah’s legacy in the name of the Jews. But what on earth did Judah do to inherit the right to rule? We would expect Melchizedek Joseph’s son Ephraim, whom Israel had adopted as his own, to be next in line. Especially in view of the fact that when Judah joined himself and his sons to Canaanite women he appears to be rejecting his identity as a son of Jacob. East of Eden all over again. Judah was far more Cain than Abel.

Six chapters out of a total of 50  – over 1/10th of the entire book of Genesis – devoted to the backstory of Judah’s inheritance of the right to rule.

Due to their sexual and violent nature, these were not put there for use in children’s Sunday School.

Continue reading “124) Melchizedeks Are Converted: Judah”

Jethro? Who is Jethro?

A significant character in biblical history who is typically overlooked.

“And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit YOU / the fourth generation, and bring YOU out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying…YE shall carry up my bones from hence.” (Genesis 15:15,  50:24-26)

And young Moses, filled with vigor and zeal, was up for it.

“When Moses was grown…he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And…he slew the Egyptian. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses.

Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian…Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them [one against many], and watered their flock…And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.” (Exodus 2)

De ja vu of Jacob watering Laban’s flock! Bear in mind that what is also repeated is that when Moses joined Reuel’s household, Reuel had complete authority over him, just as Laban had over Jacob.

Continue reading “125) Melchizedeks Overcome Curses – Jethro”

In 612 BCE Nineveh was sacked and burned by a coalition of Babylonians, Persians, Medes, and Scythians, among others. The destruction of the palace brought the flaming walls down on the library of Ashurbanipal and, although it was far from the intention, preserved the great library, and the history of the Assyrians, by baking hard and burying the clay tablet books…the destruction of the great Assyrian cities was so complete that, within two generations of the empire’s fall, no one knew where the cities had been. The ruins of Nineveh were covered by the sands and lay buried for the next 2,000 years.

Tiglath Pileser III introduced Aramaic to replace Akkadian as the lingua franca of the empire to regions as near as Israel and as far as Greece. Older documents collected by kings such as Ashurbanipal were translated from Akkadian into Aramaic. This allowed later scholars to translate Akkadian writings and then decode Sumerian cuneiform.

The result was that thousands of years of history and culture were preserved for future generations.

In 605 BCE at a historical turning point in the power dynamics of ancient Near East, the Assyrian Empire and its ally Egypt were crushed at the Battle of Carchemish.

Their destruction is detailed in the Bible.

“The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles…against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah…

For this is [prophetically a preview of the ultimate] the day of the LORD God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries...Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him: And I will deliver them into the hand of…Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon…

But! fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee” (Jeremiah 46)

We do realize that “my servant” and “Prince of El” are the key identifiers of those who are saved, right? To be specific, the ungodly nation of Israel under wicked leaders are NOT PROMISED SALVATION SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THEIR NATIONALITY!

“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16)

The whole point in reviewing Assyria’s history is to recognize its use as an instrument of destruction against wicked Israel!

 In modern terms, “Assyria” can be identified with northern Iraq, northeast Syria, and southeast Turkey, with areas of northwest Iran. Can we not recognize current Mesopotamian warfare recycling biblical prophecy?

“The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of ___ …Hear, all…earth…let the LORD God be witness against you…for the sins of the house of Israel…the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.

Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil…In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled…

 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace…and prepare war against him….They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will…say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.

Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps.” (Micah 1-3)

Continue reading “127) The Gentiles Consolidate The Nations”

We find all the requisites of a godly society included with the establishment of YHVH’s prototypical nation of Israel under Moses:

• political law and order for safety from danger within and without,
• A national language unifying the mixed multitude that joined the Hebrew exodus from Egypt and steadily amalgamated into Israel, 
• a moral code in an interdependent web of society 
• detailed functions of government leaders
• requirements for citizenship in God’s holy nation.

We can understand this by comparison to the American founders’ Constitution of the United States describing how the government is structured and operates.

Continue reading “128) The Law Of Melchizedek Codifies Freedom And Justice For All”

“God’s Word affirms that the Jews are God’s chosen people: “You are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession” (Deuteronomy 7:6)…The Old Testament tells the story of how God set about creating, distinguishing, and preserving that race…The fact that God has an eternal future for Israel is evident in that five sixths of the Bible bears directly or indirectly upon them—Jesus being the central figure who brought the Jews and Gentiles together (Ephesians 2:14).

The concept of Israel as God’s Chosen People has, understandably, given America’s secularized Christianity, shifted from a spiritual perspective of harboring and producing the Seed of the Woman as YHVH’s Savior of the World, to enjoying special privileges over the rest of the world, with American alliance and support of Israel for the purpose of ensuring a stream of oil-based wealth flowing from the Middle East. In November 2017, Steve Bannon headlined a Zionist Organization of America dinner. In his remarks, Bannon praised the organization’s “unapologetic” defense of Israel, and proclaimed himself “a proud Christian Zionist,” invoking the Bible as a basis for supporting Israel.

“ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God…being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them…because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear…if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” (I Peter 2:9-10, Romans 11:17-22)

“said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel…Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail…even they shall fall, and never rise up again…I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.” (Amos 9:8)

Continue reading “129) The Law Of Melchizedek Defines Salvation By Grace”

And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me.

Yet thou hast said:

1. I know / define THEE by name / way – i.e. exactly as Moses’ mother had defined him as belonging to her by identifying him by her attributes of rescuing him from certain death by her way of drawing him out of the water, safeguarding him from all of Pharoah’s subjects who would have thrown him back in.
   • Now therefore…shew me now THY way, that I may know THEE: “He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.” (Psalm 18:16-17)
2. AND thou [Moses] hast also found grace in my [YHVH’s] sight – exactly as Moses had found grace in Pharaoh’s daughter’s eyes when she raised him up as a prince of Egypt. 
   • that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that THIS [my] nation is THY people: “Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God…Esteeming the reproach of The Promised Savior greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.” (Hebrews 11:24-26)

For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that THOU goest with US?  

Exactly as his mother accompanied him into a Hebrew’s most dangerous place on earth – Pharaoh’s presence.

And YHVH responds in the affirmative:

• I will make all my goodness pass before thee,
• and I will proclaim the name / attributes / way of the LORD / YHVH / Infinite Power before thee;

[But, by the way] Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live… 

Continue reading “SECTION XXIV: Melchizedeks Show The Way To An Unapproachably Holy God: Moses”