Cross-Handed Blessing

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GENESIS 48 (part 2)
><
How many Tribes of Israel?
12 tribes – 1 tribe (Yosef) = 11 tribes
11 tribes + 2 tribes (Efrayim & M’nasheh) = 13 tribes

The affect of the cross-handed blessing would be manifested about 450 years later and the special treatment of the tribe of Levi.

>< v.13-20 Impact of the cross-handed blessing
Why did Israel cross his hands when blessing Efrayim & M’nasheh?
**v.19 “younger brother will be greater”Efrayim did indeed become the dominant tribe of the 10 northern tribes, eventually being used as the national designate for the 10 tribes in the prophets.

Efrayim would be a blessing to all the nations of the world…meaning Gentile nations.  Up to this point in Scripture, God viewed the world as composed of two basic groups:: Israel & the nations (Gentiles).

>< v.21-22 God will bring you back Dying Isra’el gives voice to his undying trust in God’s taking his descendants back to Kena’an.

ISRAEL CLAIMING THE PROMISED LAND
**Numbers 34:2 “When you enter the land of Kena’an. It will become your land to pass on as an inheritance…”
YHWH told Moshe exactly when the land of Kena’an would become the property of Israel forever!

READ::Numbers 34:13-29. Moshe divides the land of Kena’an amongst the tribes of Israel.  This occurs about 450 years after the cross-handed blessing.
—2.5 tribes (Re’uven, Gad & half M’nasheh) decided not to enter Kena’an and settled east of the Yarden River.
—9.5 tribes were given territories in the Promised Land.

WHAT ABOUT THE TRIBE OF LEVI?
READ:: Numbers 35:1-5
The first few chapters of Numbers record two censuses that were taken: one for only the tribe of Levi and one for all the other 12 tribes.  Yehoveh was removing Levi from Israel to make them a special group of people whose sole job was to be in service to Yehoveh for the sake of Israel.

The tribe of Levi was no longer seen as a part of Israel.  They were a tribe set apart for a special divine purpose.  They wouldn’t receive a named territory of their own like the other twelve tribes.  But they were to be given cities and a small amount of open land surrounding these cities to be used as pastureland as their portion.  These cities were to be within each of the territories legally ascribed to each of the twelve tribes of Israel.  These cities and land would be reserved for a special purpose and would be controlled by the Levites.

THE HOUSES OF ISRAEL
READ:: Jeremiah 33:23-26
Notice verse 24 that God refers to the “two families” which the Lord chose.  What people did the Lord choose?  Israel.  The “two families” are the two houses of Israel.
—What is God saying here through His prophet Jeremiah?  People of the world are saying the God has rejected the two houses of Israel and that He’s done with them and replacing them and transferring His blessings to other people…
BUT How does God respond to this false assertion? Israel will always be His chosen people…as long as day and night exist and the stars move in their regular routes in the heavens…nothing can change God’s decree.  Even if there is nothing left but a handful of Hebrews, the remnant of Israel, He will keep His promise to them.

READ:: Ezekiel 37:15-22 (The Two Sticks)
The “two houses of Israel” are identified as Y’hudah & Efrayim (Judah & Ephraim).  God is going to take these two houses…or two kingdoms of Israel, and make them into one united family that will never be divided again.  This will be accomplished through Messiah Yeshua.

But when did Israel go from being one united family into a divided family of two houses?

READ:: Hosea 6 & 7 When the word Efrayim appears in these passages, it refers to a conglomerate of 10 tribes. The powerful tribe of Efrayim came to rule over the other nine tribes and “their conduct is an outrage” (6:9).
This split of the nations occurred as a result of civil war after the death of King Solomon (around 925 BC).

—The Southern Kingdom was made up of Y’hudah and Binyamin and this was called the Kingdom of Y’hudah.
—The Northern Kingdom is what the Scriptures call “Israel” or the Kingdom of Efrayim.
—The Levites were in a special category and were not counted as part of either of the two houses of Israel.

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Transcript

				
					Shalom friends. Hey everybody. Welcome back to access. This is Timothy and it's so good to be back today, studying the scriptures together with you. May you Hovey God guide us into his truth. For those of you that have been studying along with me week by week, you would have noticed that I hadn't really been posting any access learned studies on this podcast for about two months now.

And truth be told sickness had fallen over my household, all my kids and myself, we'd all gotten. And for the first month I got to say it hit me pretty hard. Um, I'd been having respiratory issues and I was just coughing and hacking and my voice was hoarse. And, you know, nobody needs to sit through a study, listening to any of that.

So during the first month I received phone calls and messages each week in quieting, if I had posted any new studies and it's just encouraging to know that there are actually people studying along with me out there. So thank you for that. Normally I'd record while the kids are sleeping. But over the past couple of months, I had chosen to sleep at night and just rest and recover.

I had also been able to use this time to be still with God and gain new revelations and insights and just praying to follow where he's leading me next. I mean, even now I'm not back a hundred percent health wise, but I am thankful every morning that I get to wake up and just take that first. I'm still here and I'm offering myself to be used by God, whatever way he wills.

Just want to share how I was personally blessed by this two month long break, as it allowed me and Beverly more time to focus on and learn about, and even observe you. Hopefully God's fault. The feast of trumpets, the day of atonement and the feast of Tabernacles. And we're so excited to study more on your Javi's appointed times or the seven feasts with you all some time sometime soon.

I hope. But for today, we are, we are getting back to our study of the book of Genesis. Our study today is called cross handed blessing. If you need a hand up for today's access, learn study, please visit our Facebook group connexions, ministries of Canada, and you'll find all of our studies under the files tab.

Also visit our website at connexions, ministries.com. And if you haven't done so already, please subscribe to our podcast. So you don't miss out on any of our. As you listened today, I do recommend having a Bible handy to follow along, and I encourage you to take some time with your own access church communities or your small groups and view this study together.

Now let's get started cross handed. Bless. During our last study and my wife Beverly had read through Genesis chapter 48, and that study was called grafted in. We're not going to read the whole thing again today, but if you'd like to hear it, just go back to grafted in. Um, but for a quick review, um, Genesis 48 was where Yaakov was nearing the end of his life.

And he had called the son Yosef and his two sons Monashee and iframe and Yaakov recites God's covenant that was given to Abraham. Then Yaakov adopts a Monash and he frame giving them legal stuff. Which entitles them to their inheritance as sons of Yaakov. And we had studied how east rail or Yaakov had intentionally crossed his hands when he blessed Monesha and he frame so that his right hand would be on the younger son, each frame.

And that's where we're picking up our study today. But before we start reading any scripture, let's do a little bit of math and problem solving. Okay. And we're looking at the 12 tribes of Israel and each tribe is headed by Israel sons. So how many sons of Israel have 12? So how many tribes? Right. 12. So what happens here is Yosef tribe is in essence, removed and replaced by his own sons  so we have the original 12 sons, less Yossef leaving us.

11, but then you also, Tucsons are added in his place. So you have the 11 remaining sons. Plus two adopted sons gives us how many, right? 13 sons, 13 tribes. And we don't often hear about the 13 tribes of Israel, but we'll see how this math problem will work itself out within the following few centers. You see the effect of this cross handed blessing would be manifested about 450 years later.

And we'll see the special treatment of the tribe. Now let's open up the scriptures. We're looking at chances 48 and starting at verse 13, we read the Neilsoft, brought them both. He framed in his right hand toward Israel's left hand and Monashee in his left hand, toward Israel's right-hand and brought them near to him.

But Israel put out his right hand and laid it on the head of the younger one, he frame and put his left hand on the head of Manasseh. He intentionally crossed his hands, even though Menasha was the first. And let me see in the following verses, we see Israel bless Yosef with his hands on his two sons.

And you also saw his father's right hand on iframes head and it displeased him. So what does Joseph do? He physically, um, lifts up his father's right hand to remove it from the frame and place it on Monash. And he tells him no, don't do it like that father don't don't do it that way. Uh, this one's the first born.

Put your hand on his. Now keep in mind. Israel's eyesight was dim with old age and he couldn't see, but Israel intentionally crossed his hands. But why will we find out the reason here in verse 19, Israel refuses to do, as Yosef says until. I know that my son, I know it. He too will become a people and he too will be great.

Nevertheless, and this is a prophetic word that's spoken here. His younger brother will be greater than he and his descendants will grow into many nations. Then he added this blessing on them. That day. Israel will speak of you in their own blessings by saying, may God make you like iframe MNS. Thus, he put he frame ahead of Monashee.

And for sure later on in scripture, we see that each frame does indeed become the dominant tribe of the 10 Northern tribes. And eventually it's his name that's used as a national designate for the 10 tribes and the writings of the profits. So Eve rain would be a blessing to all the nations of the world, meaning the Gentile nations.

Up to this point in scripture, remember God viewed the world as composed of two basic groups. You have Israel and the nations or the Gentiles. So basically it's Israel and everybody else. That's not Israel. And Genesis 48 ends with the verses 21 and 22 where dying Israel gives voice to his undying trust in God, trusting in God's promises.

He was trusting him to take his descendants back to the land of his ancestors, back to the land of Canaan. At this point in our study, I'd like to cut straight to the book of numbers and I'll be reading directly from the introductory notes for numbers or in Hebrew, Bamidbar as reading in the complete Jewish Bible.

And you'll soon understand why we're heading. The book of numbers contains the history and lessons of the time when Israel camped and traveled in the Sinai peninsula, the Hebrew word, but mid bar, meaning in the wilderness comes from the first verse. I deny I spoke to Moshi in the Sinai desert and it's fitting for Israel's wilderness wandering.

This book is a historical overview and a brief summary of the main events that formed Israel. Join its time in Sinai when Moshe and her own led the people through dangerous trials and blessings. With the bigger picture of the first five books of Moshay in mind, the Torah, the reader sees how God continues to watch over bless and bring the descendants of Yaakov to their Homeland.

The land of Israel. This book is a bridge between the covenant promises of Genesis and Exodus and the entrance of the people into the promised land. While we read about the promise and Deuteronomy and the fulfillment of that promise in Joshua numbers gives us insight into the time period before Israel's entrance, chronically in their travel eastward and southward across the Sinai peninsula.

If you have your Bible handy, I'd like you to turn to numbers. Chapter 34. And starting at verse one, I, and I told Moshay to give this order to the people of Israel. When you enter the land of Canaan, it will become your land to pass on as an inheritance, the land of Canaan as defined by these borders.

Imagine that right there in verse two, we see your Hovey, God actually telling Moshe exactly when the land of Canaan would become the property of Israel for. It's when you enter the land of Canaan, it will become your land to pass on as an inheritance. Isn't that awesome. And the next few verses from three to 12, go on to define the borders of that land and continuing on at first 13, it reads well, she gave this order to the people of.

This is a land in which you will receive. Inheritance is by lot, which I deny has ordered to give to the nine tribes and the half tribe. The tribe of the descendants of Reuban have already received their land for inheritance according to their cleanse. And so have the descendants of GAD and the half tribe of Monashee.

These two and a half tribes have received their inheritance on this side of the yard in, across from Yuriko and eastward toward the center. I don't. I said to Moshay, these are the names of the men who will take possession of the land for you, a laser, the Cohen and your whole Shoua. The son of noon, also appoint one leader from each tribe to take possession of the land, and then verses 19 through 28, provide the names of these men, the descendants from the tribes of you.

Huda shaman, Binyamin, done yourself through Monash and iframe.  Asher and Netflix. And number's 34 ends with verse 29. These are the ones whom at, and I order to divide the inheritance among the people of Israel in the land of Canaan. So here a mushy divides the land of Canaan amongst the tribes of Israel.

And this occurs about 450 years after the cross handed blessing of Israel with Monash. But let's go and look at some of the math that was presented here in this chapter, it mentions two and a half tribes. Reuban GAD and a half tribe of Monashee. They decided not to enter Cain in. And so they settled on the east side of the yard in river of the Jordan.

So the nine and a half tribes that crossover on the other side of the garden were given territories in the promised land, in the land of. So let's do a little more math. Shall we? You have the two and a half tribes plus nine and a half tribes gives us 12 tribes. At the beginning of this study, we did some math that gave us 13 tribes.

So what are we missing here of all the tribes listed you might've noticed one name not mentioned. What about the tribe of levee? This is the very tribe that Moshay himself comes from the priestly tribe. Uh, it's the tribe of Moshay his brother or her own, the first high priest of Israel. And yet the tribe of levies not mentioned why let's continue reading numbers, 35 verses one to five to find out what happens to levee in the Plains of Moab by the yard and across from year ago, I did, I said to him, Order the people Israel to give to the levy EAM cities to live in from the heritage they will possess.

And you are also to give them levy IEM. Some of the open land surrounding the cities. They are to have the cities to live in while they're open land will be further livestock for growing crops and for all their animals. The open land around the cities you give to the levy aim is to commence at a line drawn around the city wall, 1500 feet outside it, and is to extend outward from there measure 3000 feet outward from the city wall to the east, south west and north the city in the center, the space between the 1500 foot line and the 3000 foot line will be there.

Open land around the. Now, if we were to look back at the first couple of chapters of numbers, they're rediscovered that a census was taken of Israel soon after they left Egypt. And there actually, there were two censuses that were taken, uh, one for only the tribe of levee and another for the other 12 Israelite tribes.

And the reason for this is that God was effectively removing levy from. To make them a special group of people whose sole job was to be in service to your  for the sake of Israel. That just so you get a picture, the tribe of levy at this moment was no longer seen as part of Israel. They were a tribe set apart for a special divine purpose.

Therefore, the Levi it's would not receive a named territory of their own, like the other 12 tribes, partly because Canaan was exclusively for who? For Israel. And levy was no longer part of Israel. Like we see the other tribes were so in contrast, as we read that the Lee bites were to be given cities and a small amount of land, open land surrounding those cities to be used as pasture land, um, as, as their portion.

And these cities of Levi Heights were to be within each of the territories that were legally ascribed to each of the 12 tribes of. In fact believe it's where we were to be given what a total of 48 cities and the land surrounding each. So these cities and land, they were reserved for a very special purpose and would be controlled by the Levites.

So from that moment forward, even though, you know, we could count 13 tribes coming out of Israel, only 12 of them were to be considered as Israel for only 12 had been given territory. And one tribe levee had effectively been removed from Israel. Now follow me here just as Yaakov had adopted a way Ephraim and Manasseh from Yosef to be his own God, in essence, adopted away from Israel, the tribe of levy to be his own, his own tribe of priests until.

That even though the Levi's came from Israel, they were divinely moved into this unique category. So now with the removal of the tribe of levee, Israel goes back to being 12 tribes with the names of iframe and Monashee, essentially taking the place of levy and. Now, if we have any hope of understanding, the prophetic happenings that follow and the prophetic happenings of the end times, we're really going to have to get a, a handle on the tribal structure of Israel and how it evolved in order to understand it further.

We need to add another important piece of information. Even though there were 12 tribes of Israel. Plus the set apart priests, tribe of levee Israel would eventually be divided into two distinct groups that the scriptures call houses, each of the 12 tribes would eventually belong to one or the other of the two houses.

And the Bible often speaks about these two houses of Israel and of the whole house of Israel. Well, these two houses, when you combine them, they make up the whole house of Israel, but it's important for us to not only see the difference between the two houses versus the whole house, but also which tribes belong to which house.

Let's take a look at a couple important passages that are written in the profits that make mention of these two houses of Israel. The first one we're looking at is found in Jeremiah chapter 33, verses 23 to 26. Once again, Jeremiah 36. Versus 23 to 26, it reads this word of out. And I came to your, my Yahoo, Jeremiah haven't you noticed that these people are saying I deny has rejected.

The two families he chose. Hence they despise my people and no longer look at them as a nation. Here's what I, I say. If I have not established my covenant with day and night and fix the laws for sky and earth, then I will also reject the descendants of Yaakov and my servant, David, not choosing from his descendants people to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov for, I will cause their captives to come back and I will show them compassion.

So notice in verse 24, that refers to the two families, which you hope God. Well, what people did you hope he choose? Of course he chose Israel. So the two families or the two houses of Israel. And what is God saying here through his prophet? Jeremiah? Well, people of the world were saying that God has rejected the two houses of Israel and that he's like he's done with them and he's replacing them and transferring his blessings to other people.

But how does God respond to this false assumption? Well, Israel will always be his chosen people as long as day and night exist. And the stars move in their regular routes in the, in the heavens. Well, nothing can change God's decree. So even if there's nothing left, but you know, just a handful of Hebrews, the remnant of Israel, well, he will keep his promise to.

The next passage that we're going to be looking at from the profits is found in Ezekiel chapter 37 verses 15 to 22 is ETL 37 verses 15 to 22. And we're going to be having Beverly read this out for us today. The word of OD and I came to me, you human being, take one, stick and write on it for you. Huda and those joined with him, the people.

Next, take another stick and write on it for Yosef, the stick of iframe and all the house of Israel who are joined with him. Finally bring them together into a single stick so that they become one in your. When your people ask you what all this means, tell them that our deny Elohim says this. I will take the stick of yourself, which is in the hand of  together with the tribes of Israel who are joined with him and put them together with the stick of Yehuda and make them a single stick so that they become one in my hand, the sticks on which you write are to be in your hand as they will.

Then say to them that I deny Elohim says I will take the people of Israel from among the nations where they have gone and gathered them from every side and it bring them back to their own land. I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel. And one king will became for all of them.

They will no longer be two nations and they will never again be divided into two kingdoms. So here in this passage, the two houses of Israel are identified. You Huda Judah and iframe, and God is going to take these two houses or these two kingdoms of Israel and make them into one United family that will never be divided again.

Now, this is referred to in the Bible as the whole house of Israel, and this would be accomplished through Messiah issuer as the catalyst for that coming unity. But when did Israel go from being one United family into a divided family of two houses? To answer this. I'd like to direct you to look into the book of Hosea now, Hosea, this is the first of 12 books referred to as a minor prophets minor because you know, they're shorter in length, the name Hosea or  in Hebrew, like Yehoshua Joshua and Yeshua.

It means salvia. And this book features a sort of Rocky love story with a faithful husband and an adulterous wife. So as we read about Hosea and Gomer, we kind of get a better picture or a description of God and Israel. You see how his marriage becomes a symbol of God's love for his adulterous people in our study today, we're looking at chapters six and seven, but we won't be reading that out together.

But please do you take time to read the passage on your own and appreciate the beauty of its poetic form? Once again, we're looking at chapters six and seven, looking at chapter six, verse four, it says Eve name, what should I do to you? You Huda, what should I do to you for your faithful love is like a morning cloud.

Like do that disappears. So here in this verse, it's mentioning the two houses of Israel. That's who we're talking about here, but keep in mind that when you see the name or the word  appear in these passages that it's referring to that, um, conglomerate of 10 tribes, remember the powerful tribe of rain came to rule over the other nine tribes and chapter six verse nine says that their conduct is an outrage.

When this prophetic scripture was written Ephraim and Huda had become two separate nations. Now these nations were referred to in the Bible as houses and families. In this context, the two nations, two kingdoms, two houses, and two families of Israel all mean exactly the same thing. So the tribes have been split the tribes of you Huda and Binyamin essentially formed the kingdom of Yehuda and all the other tribes essentially formed the kingdom of heaven.

Or as in our Bibles, it's often called east rail simply Israel. So remember the Levi's were in a special category all on their own and they weren't counted among this, the 12 tribes. Therefore they're not part of the two houses of Israel. So how did this split occur? Exactly. Well, sometime after king Solomon died about 925 BC, the nation of Israel divided in a horrible civil war.

And as a result of the split, although, you know, people of both kingdoms still thought of themselves as Israelites, it was only one kingdom that continued to refer to themselves as Israel. And that was a kingdom that came to be known as. The kingdom of Yehuda, however, um, not long after the civil war, they stopped calling itself Israel and called itself simply Huda or Judah.

Soon afterwards, the Northern kingdom that was dominated by iframe stopped calling itself Israel as well. And instead just began to call itself iframe. Now remember the patriarchy Yakov was also called Israel and the Bible would switch back and forth between these two names as well. Likewise. When the Bible speaks of the house of iframe in the house of Israel, it is speaking to the same point.

So this applies only after the death of Solomon and after the civil war, which split the nation into these two kingdoms. So when we get to this time period in scripture, we have to watch the context of the prophets writings because they, they do switch back and forth a lot calling the Northern kingdom Eve frame and Israel.

And when they refer to the kingdom of iframe or Israel, they're not including the kingdom of Yehuda. Which was seen as a separate entity entirely, and they're referred to as the Southern kingdom. All right. I think this is a good place for us to stop today and we'll pick up next time as we continue and conclude our study of Genesis 48, um, which focuses largely around each frame in our next study.

Uh, we're going to be looking closer at the whole house of Israel, but we'll also be getting a sneak peek. It's understanding the end times. Friends, we've covered a lot of information today, and I really hope that you would prayerfully reviewed the study and read through all the passages at your own pace.

Uh, go back to Hosea six and seven. Please know that I'm lifting you up in prayers and asking you how we got to shine his light on you. And aluminate the path he has set before you may he grow a desire in you to continue seeking him and his truth. Friends. Thank you so much for joining us for today's access learning.

As always, it's such a joy to be able to get around God's word and learn more about his plan and purposes and about his amazing love and promises. I'm so excited to see where he'll lead us next, may the grace of our Lord Yeshua and the Shalom of God. Our father be with all a man.
				
			

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