Here at Netzarim Yisrael (Nazarene Israel) we are unashamedly deeply strong advocates of `2 House Theology`.
`2 House Theology`
is the teaching and belief that the House of Yisrael (12 Tribes of Israel) which was divided into 2 groups, The House of Judah (Southern Kingdom) and The House of Israel (Northern Kingdom) during the reign of King Solomon`s son Rechavam (971 bce), has never as yet been rejoined as One Nation.
The House of Judah
(2 Tribes of Israelites: Judah and Benjamin) eventually were carried into captivity in Babylon in 586 bce. and then in several acts of Aliya returned to Yahrushalayim until 70 ce when they were again dispersed by the Romans under Titus, yet nevertheless, for the most part held true to Yahweh, Torah-Observance and separation from idolatory in all their host Nations.
The House of Israel
(10 Tribes of Israelites: Chief Tribe `Ephraim`) on the other hand, being carried into captivity by Assyria in 721 bce became dispersed throughout the vast Assyrian empire and carried both into Northern and Western Europe and eastwards also into the Asiatic continent, and as prophesied, became fully assimilated into and on innumerable occasions, with, the idolatory and traditions of their host Nations.
The Coming Re-Union
Nevertheless, the Tanach is clearly abundant in prophetic teaching that this Re-Union will one day take place and many of the ancient Hebrew Neviim placed this Re-Union at the End of the Ages, and Hoshea the Navi in his Scroll placed it in this 3rd millennium (3rd day) in which we now live (Ch.6), and at a time when the House of Israel (Ten Lost Tribes) would recognise who they truly were and would begin to become fully Torah Observant as the House of Judah (2 Tribes) has continued to be, through the millennia.
Naturally, the 2 Houses can never become One until the returning House of Israel (blood-washed Ten Tribes) become fully Torah-Observant for as Yahuweh declares through Navi Ahmos
"how can 2 walk together unless they be agreed".....
How can we walk with Yahuweh unless we are agreed with Him?
and how can we of returning Yisrael walk with Brother Judah unless we are agreed with him?....
and I think we all can agree that Judah are never, ever going to give up Torah-Observance.
It is therefore incumbent upon returning Yisrael (10 Tribes) to "humble ourselves, show teshuvah, pursue the Knowledge (Torah) of Yahuweh and after 2 days (2 millennia) He will revive us and in the 3rd day (3rd millennia) He will raise us up"...Hoshea chs. 5 & 6.
JUDAH RETURNS HOME FIRST
In the scroll of the Navi ZecharYah ch. 12 it is prophesied that Yahuweh would show Mercy to the House of Judah first by having them return to Eretz Yisrael and Yahrushalayim before the return of the House of Yisrael. This was to stop the innumerable returning Ten Lost Tribes (Northern Yisrael) from overwhelming the few of the House of Judah.
"Yahweh also shall save the tents of Yahudah first.....so that the tifereth of the House of David (non-Jewish Israelites).... do not magnify themselves against Yahudah"
The Coming of Moshiach brings Full Restoration
Certainly it is Scripturally clear that the Full Re-Union of the 2 Houses takes place at the appearing and revealing of Yahushua HaMoshiach to the House of Judah in Yahrushalayim at His 2nd Advent at the End of the Ages and the Navi Zecharyah in his Scroll, chs. 11-14 clearly shows that the Brotherhood between Yahudah and Yisrael would not be fully healed until Moshiach`s Return.
We at Nazarene Yisrael believe that that healing process has now begun, especially since the veil has begun to be removed from the eyes and hearts of the Ten (Lost) Tribes of the House of Israel who are Blood-washed by Moshiach Yahushua.
Also, many thousands from the House of Judah and among them many famous Rabbis and Historians , past and present, believe that the 2 Houses have never as yet been rejoined, but are prophetically destined to be so.
We understand also that not all of the vast returning (toTorah-Observance) multitudes of the Blood-Washed Northern House of Yisrael will take up residence in Eretz Yisrael after the Great Re-Union, but the Remnant of Yahuweh, at least 120.000, no doubt will.
Replacement Theology
Along with the many tens of thousands of both Jews and Christians, we of the Nazarene Israel Faith fully and totally reject the Teaching of Replacement Theology, ie, that is that the Ancient Houses of Israel and Judah have been replaced by an entity called `The Church` or some other Entity or Nation.
Scripturally-speaking, all who are Blood-washed talmidim of Yahushua are adopted into the family of Elohim and engrafted into the House of Yisrael and therefore as the Prophet declares, have become an integral part of the
"COMMONWEALTH OF YISRAEL"
(EphsiYah ch. 2 vs. 11-22)
We are not members or citizens of a `Church`
but we are Members of the Commonwealth of Yisrael the Body of Moshiach.
We are the Commonwealth (belong to)
of Yisrael and of Yisrael`s Elohim, and therefore we are duly obligated to support, strengthen and uphold that to which we belong and owe our redemption, and not despise and disregard Yisrael, for Yahuweh never has.
Kindly read these verses in EphsiYah ch.2 very, very carefully and with much thought in regard to the Apostle`s admonition that we are One Body (Yisrael) in Moshiach.
The Tanach of Elohim, First and Renewed Covenant is abundantly clear that Yahuweh has never replaced His Ancient First-Born Son, Yisrael (12 tribes, One Nation) with another. His abundant testimony of, "I have loved Thee with an Everlasting Love" and, "My People and My heritage Yisrael" in the First Covenant and in the Renewed Covenant Scroll speaking through the sholiach Shaul to the Beloved Yisraeli Diaspora of Yahweh at Romi`Yah in chapter 11 declares emphatically that "Yahuweh has not cast aside His People (Yisrael) whom He knew and chose beforehand".
The Division in the House between Brethren does not in any way indicate that Father has rejected one in favour of the other.
(Note the Father`s enduring Love for both of His sons, Judah and Yisrael, estranged from one another, in the Besorah of Luka ch. 15: vs. 10-32, a clear picture of the historical 2 Houses)
And of course, it is written in the Brit Chadasha,
"There is One Body and One Ruach, even as you are called in One Hope of your Calling; One Master Yahuweh, One Emunah, One Mikvah, One Elohim and Abba of us All, Who is above us All, and through us All, and in you All." (EphsiYah: ch 4)
SURELY THIS TEACHES US, IF ANYTHING DOES, THAT THERE SHOULD BE NO SCHISM OF ANY KIND BETWEEN THE `NOW-BLOODWASHED` TALMIDIM OF YAHUSHUA (WHO GENETICALLY BELONG TO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, 10 TRIBES)... AND THE HOUSE OF JUDAH!
In our web-page `The Kingdom of Yisrael` on this site, we give an in-depth biblical study of the reasons for the past Separation and coming Re-Union of the Ancient House of Yisrael (12 Tribes).
IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND AWAY!
______________________
BRITISH-ISRAEL
PLEASE NOTE:
2 HOUSE THEOLOGY IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH BRITISH-ISRAEL OR WITH THE TEACHINGS OF HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG OF THE WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD.
MANY PEOPLE, NOT KNOWING THE MINISTRY-TEACHINGS OF 2 HOUSE THEOLOGY OR THAT OF BRITISH-ISRAEL FOOLISHLY MAKE THE MISTAKE OF BELIEVING THAT THEY ARE ONE AND THE SAME.
THEY ARE NOT!
APART FROM A FEW SMALL SIMILARITIES WE REJECT THE OVERALL TEACHINGS OF THE BRITISH-ISRAEL MOVEMENT WHICH WE BELIEVE IS BASED MOSTLY ON MYTH AND LEGEND AND IN SOME PLACES ON WHITE SUPREMACY AND NOT ON THE WORD OF YAHWEH AND HISTORICAL EVIDENCE.
WE OF NAZARENE YISRAEL ALSO REJECT THE TEACHING THAT `GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COMMONWEALTH AND THE USA HAVE REPLACED JUDAH AND THAT JUDAH HAS NO LONGER COVENANT WITH YAHUWEH OR PURPOSE IN THESE LATTER-DAYS.`
WE ALSO REJECT THE BRITISH-ISRAEL TEACHING THAT OUR BELOVED MONARCH, `ELIZABETH II NOW SITS UPON THE THRONE OF KING DAVID AS A DIRECT DESCENDANT OF ISRAEL`S KING AND RIGHTFUL RULER OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH.`
QUEEN ELIZABETH II MAY WELL BE A DESCENDANT OF THE ROYAL HOUSE OF DAVID, BUT THERE IS ONE, YET ALIVE, WHO RIDING INTO YAHRUSHALAYIM ONE WEEK BEFORE HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION DECLARED TO ZION,
"BEHOLD YOUR KING...."
HIS NAME IS YAHUSHUA HAMOSHIACH,
HE IS THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH..
.`DAVID`S GREATER SON;`
HE IS YET KING AND THAT FOREVER MORE.
----------------------------------------------------------
NOW
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION WE HAVE INCLUDED SOME THOUGHTS TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA REGARDING 2 HOUSE THEOLOGY, IT`S PROPONENTS AND OPPONENTS AND A LITTLE OF THEIR DISPUTATIONS.
Do read on...............................
Two House Theology
The premise of Two House Theology is found in the Hebrew Scriptures and primarily focuses on the division of the ancient Kingdom of Israel into two kingdoms, Israel and the Kingdom of Judah (See History of ancient Israel and Judah).
The tenets of Two House Theology become controversial and disputed when the ancient reality of the two Israelite kingdoms is applied to modern peoples who are thought to be descendents of the two ancient kingdoms, both Jews and the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, the latter are believed to have become "the fullness of the nations" Genesis 48:19.
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The ancient empire of Israel, controlling lands from the Euphrates River to the Egyptian border, became divided after King Solomon's reign passed unto his son Rehoboam in about 931 BCE. Rehoboam refused to grant the northern ten tribes relief from Solomon's taxation and they subsequently formed their own autonomous nation in the north, making Jeroboam I their king.
The Kingdom of Israel, the northern ten tribes, were taken into Assyrian Captivity starting in 740 BCE, culminating in 721 BCE with the seizure of Samaria. Even after invitations to return, many years later, no large representation of the tribes ever returned to their former boundaries.
The Kingdom of Judah was taken into Babylonian Captivity between 597-586 BCE. The kings of Persia granted Judah permission to return to their lands, which they did, but they were subsequently exiled again by the Romans in 70 CE.
For greater detail, see History of ancient Israel and Judah.
The factions, in the Two House dispute, are not limited to any one religion or denomination. Advocates and opponents are found within the various sects and ranks of Judaism, Messianic Judaism, and Christianity. (See list of Various Authors) Advocates take the general position that the ten tribes of the Kingdom of Israel have become a multitude of nations since their exile by the Assyrian Empire (740-722 BCE) and lengthy migrations before and particularly after the decline of the Parthian Empire, 200-700 CE (also known as the Great Migration Period).
It is believed that the ten tribes are not yet re-joined to the Kingdom of Judah in any large representation, though some small reunifications with Judah are believed to have happened in antiquity and are well documented to be happening in recent history in the modern nation of Israel.
Many opponents of the theology claim that the lost tribes re-united with the Kingdom of Judah in the years leading up to and following Judah's return from their Babylonian Captivity in 537 BCE, hence they do not exist in the nations today other than in the form of the "Jews," those scattered by the Roman diaspora (70 CE) and subsequent Christian and Muslim exiles in later periods.
Some opponents take an agnostic position claiming that the lost tribes have been completely assimilated by and are unidentifiable in the nations of the world and hence could never have returned from their deportation by and into Assyria. Hence, "why dispute what is unknowable?"
Opposition also arises simply when Israelites are identified with people more "commonly" associated with Japheth, one of Noah's three sons. Interestingly, some Two House advocates won't deny some aspect of this argument, taking into account a prophetic verse: Genesis 9:27a "God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem" (RSV). (Shem was another son of Noah, but also the ancestor of the Hebrews, Arabs, and many other ethnic groups according to genealogies found in the Hebrew Scriptures.)
Three of the major international Messianic Jewish groups reject the Two House Theology as being misguided at best, or at worst a Gentile cult seeking to make themselves appear as Jews. The Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, the Messianic Jewish Association of America (which is an affiliation of the International Messianic Jewish Alliance[1]) and the Messianic Bureau International all proclaim the Messianic movement as a movement for Jewish believers in Yeshua and forbid the teaching that Gentiles may be of the lost tribes of Israel, or any reference to the two houses of Israel. This kind of thinking is best seen by the Ephraimite Error[2] white paper, produced in 1999, which several Two House proponents have responded to[3]. These attitudes may come as a reaction to the cult of British-Israelism that has long been with us and is best epitomized by the Worldwide Church of God founded by Herbert W. Armstrong, and its many offshoots.
The earliest documentation of the dispute can be found in discussions taking place sometime before the second century CE. The Mishnah records Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Eliezar disagreeing on various points in regard to the return of the lost tribes.
The Babylonian Talmud (Mishnah) Sanhedrin 110b:
"THE TEN TRIBES WILL NOT RETURN [TO PALESTINE], FOR IT IS SAID, AND CAST THEM INTO ANOTHER LAND, AS IS THIS DAY: JUST AS THE DAY GOES AND DOES NOT RETURN, SO THEY TOO WENT AND WILL NOT RETURN: THIS IS R. AKIBA'S VIEW.
R. ELIEZER SAID: AS THIS DAY — JUST AS THE DAY DARKENS AND THEN BECOMES LIGHT AGAIN, SO THE TEN TRIBES — EVEN AS IT WENT DARK FOR THEM, SO WILL IT BECOME LIGHT FOR THEM."[4]
The quote from Rabbi Akiva, however, should probably be understood in light of his disappointed belief that Simon ben Kosiba (surnamed Simon bar Kokhba) was the Messiah who would liberate the Jews from Rome, return the lost tribes and usher in the long-awaited Olam Haba. The failure of the Bar Kochba rebellion convinced Akiva that the lost tribes would not return at that time. It is probably a mistake to take Akiva's statement as a categorical denial of a return at any time.
According to many rabbis and historians, the Jews are largely descended from the House of Judah, the Southern Kingdom of Judah, chiefly consisting of the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Benjamin, with some of the tribe of Levi.
Some historians, and especially Two House advocates, believe the Hebrew Scriptures indicate that the Kingdom of Israel, sometimes referred to as the "House of Joseph", never returned from their Assyrian Captivity1 Chr 5:26.
The first century Jewish priest and historian, Josephus, writing near the turn of the second century AD, affirmed that the Jews knew where Israel lived:
While the multitudinous nature of the exiled ten tribes may be somewhat exaggerated in the opinion of many, it is highly unlikely that Josephus would pen an outright falsehood regarding the Median location of the ten tribes when such a statement could be vociferously denied by his fellow-countrymen if the ten tribes had at any time in the past reunited with the Jews following the Babylonian Captivity.
As shown previously, the Talmud has Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Eliezer discussing the eventual return of the ten tribes approximately 900 years after the deportation occurred. For the advocate of the two house ideology, this is weighty evidence which indicates that the Northern Kingdom tribes of Israel did not return and unite with the Southern Kingdom of Judah prior to the 1st Century.
Two House groups also believe many prophecies from the Hebrew Scriptures indicate that the descendant nations of the ancient Kingdom of Israel will be re-united with the descendants of the ancient Kingdom of Judah. They frequently reference Ezekiel 37 (as below) and similar prophecies:
"16 Son of man, take a stick and write on it, `For Judah, and the children of Israel associated with him'; then take another stick and write upon it, `For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him'; 17 and join them together into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18 And when your people say to you, `Will you not show us what you mean by these?' 19 say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (which is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him; and I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand" (vs. 16-19, RSV).
They also frequently quote from the Book of Hosea (chapters 1-3). In the first chapter (verses 2-9) God instructed this prophet of the Northern Kingdom to marry a prostitute (symbolic of the unfaithfulness of the northern tribes) and then gave two of Hosea’s children from this union Hebrew names signifying his rejection of the northern tribes: Lo-Ruchamah (Unpitied) and Lo-Ammi (Not my people).
In Hosea 2:3, the eventual reversal of this judgment was indicated by means of a change in these names; and an accompanying change in the meanings of the names: Ruchamah (Pitied) and Ammi (My people). Hosea was told (3:3-5) that the northern tribes would be scattered among the Gentiles, that they would be in seclusion for a long time and become too numerous to be counted; but that in the "latter days," they would return in repentance and come trembling to their God and his goodness.
Two House Theology probably becomes most controversial when the ramifications of the Hebrew prophets are taken literally. The prophecy most poignant in the controversy is Genesis 48:19 which indicates that the tribe of Ephraim, half-tribe of Joseph, would become a “multitude of nations” (peoples/goyim), sometimes translated as “fullness of the nations”:
"But his father refused, and said, "I know, my son, I know; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; nevertheless his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations" (RSV).
According to advocates of Two House Theology, the passages above present a problem to those who think that the Jews are representative of all which is left of the twelve tribes of Israel. They argue, "the Jews have not become nor have they ever been a multitude of nations". For a Two House advocate, a common answer is: "no large contingents of Northern Kingdom tribes have been re-united with the Jews of the Southern Kingdom, thus they still exist as various nations/peoples in the world today". Also, someone sympathetic to the Two House ideals may say things like, "the problem is not: the Creator of the Universe lied about Ephraim becoming a multitude of nations/peoples, but simply: we have failed to unravel the mysteries of who is who in the nations today."
There are others, who are more moderate in their approach to the Two House controversy, who choose to see it as an overlooked element in the eschatological restoration of Israel. They disregard the speculation and "pseudohistory" from British-Israel and other Christian Identity groups, adhering to Paul's directive not to pay attention to "endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the divine training that is in faith" (1 Timothy 1:4, RSV). They leave scattered Israel as a matter to be determined by God, and prefer instead to recognize all believers as participants in its restoration. This growing position has gained sympathy with some in Messianic Judaism among those holding to the "One Law" position, where individuals can "agree to disagree" because the Two House teaching is a matter of eschatology, and thus not of a core theological nature.
Still others will contend that seven-eighths of scripture is undiscernable without first understanding the two house reality, certainly making it into a core theology, and not simply a matter of eschatology. For example, Prof. C. A. L. Totten [1851-1908], of Yale University, was quoted [6]:
"I can never be too thankful to the Almighty that in my youth he used the late Professor Wilson to show me the difference between the two houses. The very understanding of this difference is the KEY by which almost the entire Bible becomes intelligible, and I cannot state too strongly that the man who has not yet seen that Israel of the Scripture is totally distinct from the Jewish people, is yet in the very infancy, the mere alphabet, of Biblical study, and that to this day the meaning of seven-eighths of the Bible is shut to his understanding."
For students of the Lost Tribes of Israel, including some Two House advocates, the Behistun Rock Inscription has provided an invaluable missing link, which adds credibility to where and who the Northern Kingdom Israelites were in the fifth century BCE and where they subsequently went in the following periods of their history.
George Rawlinson, Sir Henry Rawlinson's younger brother (translator of the Behistun Inscription), connected the Saka/Gimiri of the inscription with deported Israelites:
“We have reasonable grounds for regarding the Gimirri, or Cimmerians, who first appeared on the confines of Assyria and Media in the seventh century B.C., and the Sacae of the Behistun Rock, nearly two centuries later, as identical with the Beth-Khumree of Samaria, or the Ten Tribes of the House of Israel.” -George Rawlinson, note in his translation of History of Herodotus, Book VII, p. 378
The Behistun Inscription connects the people known in Old Persian and Elamite as Saka, Sacae or Scythian with the people known in Babylonian as Gimirri or Cimmerian. This is important because the Assyrian's referred to the Northern Kingdom of Israel in their records as the "House of Khumri", named after Israel's King Omri of the 8th century BCE. Phonetically "Khumri", "Omri", and "Gimiri" are similar[7].
"It should be made clear from the start that the terms 'Cimmerian' and 'Scythian' were interchangeable: in Akkadian the name Iskuzai (Asguzai) occurs only exceptionally. Gimirrai (Gamir) was the normal designation for 'Cimmerians' as well as 'Scythians' in Akkadian."[8]
In the photo of the Black Obelisk (left), compare King Jehu's pointed Saka/Scythian style headdress, which is similar to the captive Saka/Scythian king seen to the far right on the Behistun Inscription. Note: King Jehu of Israel was son and heir to King Omri of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
Two House advocates generally agree on the big picture, but disagree on numerous details, especially when view points converge amongst Judaism, Messianic Judaism, and Christianity.
Because of the newness of this theological movement, many advocates point out that these issues will have to be worked out over time.
Advocates of Two House Theology wish not to be confused with Replacement Theology or Supersessionism.
They refute this label with statements like: “there are two houses, two ancient kingdoms, being discussed and identified, without one replacing the other. The two are brothers who should not trouble each other as they did in their ancient past.”
Replacement Theologians virtually make the claim that “the Jews have been replaced by the church”. Such persons may say things like, “We are Israel now.”
Two House advocates make no such claims and respectively identify the Jews as Israelites from the Kingdom of Judah.