About a week ago, I introduced Commonwealth of Yisrael to you. Following is an article about the project with many comments by co-founder, Kellen Davison. As a matter of full disclosure and to help my readers put pieces together there are three items you need to know:
- I am on the board of Commonwealth of Yisrael and covet your fervent prayer as we undertake this project.
- I am heavily involved in the leadership of B’ney Yosef North America (BYNA), a fledgling organization that seeks to bring unity to the House of Joseph in North America as part of a larger project that is international! All readers in North America should be considering getting involved with BYNA as I indirectly represent them to Commonwealth of Yisrael. (Strength in numbers…)
- My stance and that of BYNA is that those of us from the nations who seek to be united to Judah as part of Kol Yisrael only have rights through the restored covenant in Messiah Yeshua, He who came for the lost sheep of the House of Yisrael. I.e., We will not deny Him and He comes with us… (More on this later.)
Is Ezekiel 37 Being Fulfilled Right Before Our Eyes?
“’And thou, son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it: For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions; then take another stick, and write upon it: For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and of all the house of Israel his companions; and join them for thee one to another into one stick, that they may become one in thy hand.” (Ezekiel 37:16-17)
During the recent Jewish holidays in September 2015, the Reconciliation with Israel Conference in Jerusalem, hosted by Kellen Davison, focused on recognizing the commonalities and addressing the areas that divide the two Abrahamic religions: Judaism and Christianity. As a result of conclusions made at the conference, Davison initiated the Commonwealth of Yisrael Project to help non-Jews join together in their common goal of bringing the Messiah Ben David, alongside the Jewish people, in a way that is mutually acceptable, conforming to Jewish law and Christian beliefs, and beneficial to all concerned.
The Commonwealth of Yisrael Project is intended to bring together non-Jews that love the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and recognize God’s eternal covenant with Israel, unifying them with each other and connecting them with the Jews. Davison spoke to Breaking Israel News, explaining that in order to succeed, the project must focus on the strong points that join people together.
Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/60606/commonwealth-israel-project-aims-fulfill-ezekiel-37-today-biblical-zionism/#EftLHqB2xIRycJiu.99
11:3 Restoration 
Thanks for your work and site that promotes learning and growing in our identity as Ephraim and learning Yah’s Word according to the Hebraic context and culture.
I read the BIN article. In the fourth paragraph, Kellen Davison states, “I believe in what the Bible says; that the Jewish people are in covenant with the God of Israel and have never been out of
covenant with Him”. I see in Jeremiah 4:3:…..says YHVH to the men of Judah and Jerusalem…..
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and take away the foreskins of your heart….(Romans 2:29:..but
one is Jewish INWARDLY, and circumcised in his heart..)…..This is your wickedness because it is bitter (v.18)…My people are foolish, they have not known Me (v.22)…they have refused to return (5:3)…they have committed adultery (5:7)….They are foolish, for they do not know the Way of YHWH (v.4)….STILL speaking of Judah…(Yeshua said, ” I am THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE, NO MAN COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME”.)
Jeremiah 8:5: Why then has this people of Jerusalem slid back by perpetual backsliding?…they refuse to return…v.8: How do you say, “We are wise and the Torah of YHWH is with us……v.9:….See they have rejected the Word of YHWH (Yeshua is the Word, John 1:1) and what wisdom is in them?
It appears that there is a way to have Torah, and still not KNOW Him, still not have His WORD, still not have circumcised hearts.
Jeremiah 11:17: For YHWH …has pronounced evil against you, …the House of Israel AND the House of Judah….in offering incense to Baal.
According to what I understand in Scripture, we have all committed adultery against YHWH. It tells us He divorced the Northern Kingdom and not the Southern. Since they both were/are adulterous, don’t they both need a renewed covenant because of His Torah? YHWH, Messiah Yeshua, obeys His own Torah, as we all know. In Numbers 5, the woman guilty of adultery is given the bitter cup and she is defiled and a curse among her people. In my understanding, Yeshua drank that cup and gave His life in place of ALL of us, so He bore the cup and the curse that was to be on us. It is through Him we are delivered, He is the renewed covenant for ALL OF US. How can one cursed be in covenant with YHWH? How can that one not need the mediation of Messiah Yeshua?
Jer. 31:30: Behold, the days are coming, says YHWH, that I will cut a renewed covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day…to bring them out of Egypt, My covenant which THEY (including Judah) BROKE, although I AM husbanding them (both)….
Is it accurate to say that Judah is in covenant with YHWH and has never broken covenant with Him? Can you share the Scriptures that state or imply this? If this is so, there must be something I am missing from the Scriptures. This is important for all of us in the Commonwealth of Israel to be clear on.
I will address these questions to Mr. Davison as well, I just wanted your take on it since you are on the Board and must know of his beliefs as stated.
Thank you ahead of time for you help with these questions.
Melody
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Melody,
Thank you for your comment, and as your opening sentence implies, we are all learning.
Kellen made a statement that can easily be misunderstood, so here are a few thoughts based on my understanding of Scripture and what I believe he meant.
Judah has not broken covenant with YHVH. Jeremiah 3:8 says,
The house of Israel is clearly given a bill of divorce, something Scripture never states about Judah. In fact, quite the opposite in Hosea 1:6-7.
So, in the sense that the only way for the Torah to be fulfilled and the house of Israel (previously married to YHVH, then divorced) to be rejoined to Him, one or the other party had to die. Yeshua did that for us, thereby fulfilling that law. (Deut. 24:1-4 and Romans 7:1-6) This aspect of Torah is not necessary for the house of Judah in a corporate fashion.
The New, or Renewed Covenant is with both houses, but that does not require that both houses be out of covenant to renew it. Married couple renew vows all of the time without having broken those vows. Further, the New Covenant is not even in effect yet… the sign of that covenant is that no one teaches his brother any more… We ain’t there yet.
Is Judah perfect? By no means. Like us, they have sinned and do need personal redemption, another facet of what the Messiah does for us. I.e., in ancient Israel, the people could walk in covenant, but when they sinned needed a sacrifice. Yeshua fills that role as well.
I do find this quote interesting,
Isn’t there a way to have Jesus and not know Him? To love Him and still not do what He says? Christendom has walked in that blindness for 1800 years!! Yet, I dare say, many who were blinded will be in the Olam because they walked the best they could in the blindness they had.
Can we not allow the Jews who have been presented countless times with a false Messiah at the tip of the sword the same luxury we had? Allow that the Ruach lead them in HIS timing instead of us forcing Judah’s eyes open while our own house is not yet in order?
We spend far too much time worrying about Judah and not enough time simply loving them. Maybe, loving our neighbor is just getting to know them and hearing their heart and loving them. Scripture promises that not one grain will fall when the whole house is sifted. The Father will take care of this.
If we can just be a brother and serve without scalp collecting, belt notching or other agenda, it is amazing how doors open to simply communicate as equals.
I am not against sharing the hope that is in me, but increasingly I believe the best thing all of Christendom can do is to back off and quit regarding the Jews as some sort of trophy.
The Commonwealth of Yisrael has no agenda to make Jews into Christians, or Christians into Jews. What we want is a safe place where leaders can lay down their arms and communicate, love, share and discuss. The interim leadership of BYNA agrees with this perspective to build relationships and trust. Certainly, what Christendom has been doing for the last 1800+ years is a disaster.
I hope that answers your questions, though I know I got on my soap box…
Blessings to you,
Pete
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Hi Melody,
Thank you for the question and for reading the article, and thank you Pete for your response, and I agree we are all learning. I do believe Yeshua to be the Messiah as prophesied of the Tenakh. I would first look at my entire quote for what I say as I lay out my response.
“I think that due to a lot of hatred for Jewish people, Christians have created a doctrine that is not in line with their own Christian Bible, which never says that Jesus’s mission was for Jews to accept him. I do not believe Jesus’s mission was towards the Jewish people. I believe in what the Bible says; that the Jewish people are in covenant with the God of Israel and have never been out of covenant with Him,” Davison told Breaking Israel News.
The question was not if I believed Yeshua to be the Messiah, which the writer knows that I do. Over the past 2,000 years Jews have endured unimaginable persecution for keeping things like Shabbat and the Feasts instead of accepting Jesus and fleeing from those things. When I say that Yeshua is the Savior, I believe Him to be the same Savior in Isaiah 43 and Hosea 13, noted as Israel’s only Savior that brought them out of Egypt and also forgives Israel’s sins, especially as it relates to the harlot Northern Kingdom that forgot Him for idolatry in the book of Hosea.
As you quoted in Jeremiah, God divorced Israel. What did He divorce her from? His covenant which they forsook for Babylonian ways. While Judah is not without sin, He did not divorce or cut her off from covenant with Him however he did exile Judah for her sins too. But just as Israel’s Savior never changed from Sinai or in Ezekiel 18 when He said, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.”
Then when He says in the Gospels, “And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Thus I believe Israel’s Savior has not changed for (desiring) expecting all of Israel to repent and obey for eternal life, and be in correct alignment with Him.
Along those same lines of consistency, He established standards for divorce and remarriage that I believe He leveraged as part of His design for all of humanity in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 – “When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the Lord: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”
While He could’ve written Judah a bill of divorcement, He only did with the Northern Kingdom. My thought as to why this was is because of His greater plan of redemption for all mankind. He was going to come through Judah, if Judah was divorced that could cause a problem. He also chose to uphold His law through Judah; those in Judah who walked with circumcised hearts as is evident before Yeshua, there were those that did like David, Boaz. If God divorced Judah ,the protection for the ways He established with the divine mandate He gave them until Shiloh comes in Genesis 49 may be in jeopardy because Judah as a whole would also be cut off. Also in Genesis 49, at the beginning of the chapter He points to the period of the end of days or latter times before Jacob starts prophesying, indicating to me this has an end-times fulfillment. Well what does Jacob say about Shiloh?
Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
Now we recognize the first part as happening but what about the second part? Some just say it is Revelation 19, but in Isaiah 63 it says, “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me. “
The second half of Genesis 49, will be fulfilled in Isaiah 63 and Revelation 19. I show this point because part of Shiloh’s mission was complete, and I said the past tense part was not for the Jews. Shiloh said He was sent only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel see Matthew 15, He did bring in John 3:16 for the whole world and which tied into the other sheep that are not of His fold that He would bring in (the repentant Torah obedient Gentiles) in John 10.
Now the next part I want to draw attention to is the word “world”. In the Great Commission to go into all the “world”, did you know one of the meanings of that word in Mark 16 in the Strong’s is, kosmos, with one potential meaning as the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ, it also can mean “the Gentiles as contrasted to the Jews”. In Matthew 28:19 the word for nations is, “ethnos”, which can mean, “foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles”. The word Gentiles is also the word for pagan and nations which in both the Jewish and Christian Bible is noted as something Israel’s Savior does not want His people to be like, and Paul and Peter second this stance in multiple places that God’s people aren’t Gentiles.
So my comment that Judah was still in covenant plays in the above points that His conditions and ways have been the same with Abraham, Jeremiah, David, the righteous people that waited to see the Messiah before death who believed in Israel’s Savior before the crucifixion, these as Paul terms spiritual Jews were keeping God’s ways in faith and it was not a new thing from 2,000 years ago.
I would also note that Jeremiah 31 has not reached completion yet much like Joel 2 & 3, all of humanity has not had the Spirit poured out of them, there are some “Spiritual Jews” that have the Spirit just like David had it, but on a global scale it hasn’t occurred yet along with the unification of Israel which is also part of those passages. I think the process has started, but perhaps that is why He hasn’t drunk the cup yet. Please also note when Yeshua said the healthy do not need a doctor, that there in fact might have been some healthy then, not that healthy means without sin. It also says that “some” of the Pharisees, not all of them were against Yeshua. So I don’t throw out everyone, just like I don’t throw out the Christian who is still blinded to the Torah because God is working with him where he is at.
Going back to Israel’s Savior’s principles on divorce, remarriage and death, for those that believe Yeshua is the Messiah, and I know there may be some that don’t and this is not a prosletyzing attempt, just answering a question, the only way He could bring the idolatrous Northern Kingdom fully back into covenant in a new covenant after they were divorced and whored and married after other gods like the woman at the well, was for Him to die. This is why I believe Paul talks about us being dead and alive in Christ. Also why Paul says in Ephesians we were at one time cut off from the promises but through His blood we have been brought back into the Commonwealth of Israel. This is also why I believe the Gospel is good news and why the woman at the well who was a Samaritan and a physical and spiritual representative of the Northern Kingdom ran excited because she recognized after saying there is no value in David, that David had come to allow repentance for Ephraim. It is also good news for the Gentile, pagan that wants to come in and share in God’s covenant with Israel.
I believe His mission as some Jews term Messiah ben Yosef was to bring back the idolatrous Israel into obedience to God’s ways and back into covenant. From my perspective that is exactly what Yeshua said He was sent to do and did. I believe that He made this entire design, which is why He said in 1st Kings after the split of Israel “Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the Lord, and returned to depart, according to the word of the Lord.”
He told Judah not to pursue Israel because the thing was from Him. Well in Hosea we see Israel was later mixed among the Gentiles and then you have Paul talking about Israel’s blindness (which I believe to be all 12, and more so especially the 10, but goes into my perspective on Deuteronomy 28 & Matthew 24), as a blessing for the world that they can come to repentance and be part of the one fold with One Shepherd. Now I believe you quoted the passages in Isaiah talking about who blinded Judah because of their wickedness, it was Israel’s Savior. So we have Him letting the Northern Kingdom mix among the Gentiles, He designed the principles for being able to marry them again, then we have Him blinding Judah and Paul saying when Israel’s blindness is lifted it is salvation of the world, aka Israel’s Savior comes.
Being that God in the beginning of the Bible said to Moses in Exodus 4 that He is the One who makes blind and makes those to see and then we have people in droves bringing Yeshua to heal the blind, He cares greatly for the blind and I do not think that He would throw away those He blinded when He says in Ezekiel 18 He would that none perish but that they repent. I personally believe and am not against any Jewish believer in the God of Israel who believes Yeshua is the Messiah, but I do not think all of Israel will come to clarity until we look upon Him who was pierced and mourn, when He removes all of our blinders. Until then, I do not think His Word can come back void and I do not believe as a people the Jews would intentionally deny the Messiah if they believed Yeshua to be Him. Especially understanding that He wasn’t the lawless rebel who’s followers were to condemn and murder the Jews.
So as I showed earlier Shiloh did part one of Genesis 49, which is the “was” in my statement, what “is to come” is what I believe everyone will finally be in alignment with all that Israel’s Savior is. I think this is why they asked Yeshua if He was going to restore the Kingdom then. But He didn’t, not because He couldn’t, but that He has a bigger plan, and for me that plans begins in the garden of Eden with commands in Genesis and ends with commands and the garden of Eden in Revelation 22:14
I just can’t see all of Judah being able to counter God’s divine calling for them and all of Israel. If they did forsake His divine call for Judah perhaps we wouldn’t be having this discussion about the Torah? We do not become Judah, we are all Israelites. We may disagree on who the Messiah is, but we have One God, King, Husband and Savior and one set of ways and nothing is too hard for Him (Jeremiah 32:27) including healing the blind in His timing.
This is also why I think there is a key in Matthew 23:37-39, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38″Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! “For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!'” .
I think He is talking of more than Judah, but all Israel here, well all Israel would imply that the Northern Kingdom would have to come back to Torah to even know His name, which is why He said to “go” into all the world. Perhaps this is why He sent Judah, in particular Spiritual Jewish fisherman to get the house of Israel in order?
“Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them;” Jeremiah 16:14-16.
I for one am glad He is taking His time to remove the blindness so that more of those who do not know the true God can come in.
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Thanks, Kellen. Great summation.
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Thanks Pete and Kellen for your time. I am going to re-read and study. My heart and goal in this
is to understand and you have given me a lot more to look at. Please know, that I am not AT ALL questioning your belief in Messiah and my questions are not to combat or argue a point. That is one of the problems with typed words, the heart and attitude are not easily interpreted. My only motive is to question, according to my present understanding, with the intent of learning and growing. Because unity among brethren is so important in the weightier matters, I consider this a matter of great importance. A foundation is crucial. With this being a foundational time as this huge movement of Ephraim is growing like a swelling wave, there needs to be this effort to allow questions and discourse for understanding with Scripture. I value your time to go into much detail and I will take time to be a Berean and study.
.
If, by my questioning and going to some Scriptures concerning Judah, it seemed that I was being anti-Semitic or any of the sort, please forgive my lack of proper wording or presentation. QUITE THE CONTRARY. I LOVE Israel, the whole House of Jacob and the land, and that began when I was first born again and continued in the Christian church for twenty something years.
My biggest “blockage” has been trying to understand how non-Messianic Judah is considered our
brothers, RIGHT NOW. It’s not that I don’t love them or want to be in relationship with them, I certainly agree with that and look for opportunities myself to be in a closer relationship.
I thought “brother” meant “in Messiah”, Light vs. darkness. Is that a churchy manmade thought?
My first thought about a non-Messianic Jew is they have the propensity to BECOME my brother, but right now they are a physical descendent of the tribe of Judah, historically and some of them just fall under that national description for other reasons.
I understand and support the getting together with Judah, loving them in a more personal way than from a distance: meetings, gatherings, discourse on our common ground……..) and I TRULY AM excited about that. It is building ground and relationship, just as most of us had learned in Christianity to do when we want His light and love to shine through us. All that we do, according to YHWH’s Ways, to love and support Israel, our Father is pleased. Many years ago, His Holy Spirit led me to repent on behalf of my forefathers of all crimes against His people; I didn’t even know at that time that also included the church fathers of the community of which I was a part of. He is faithful to bring us into His Truth when we seek Him with our whole heart.
I hope my true heart can be heard, I am trying to discern, to differentiate “who is Judah, my brother”, I am not trying to worry, to point fingers, to avoid unity,….I long to be united with our elder brother, Judah….I just want to recognize WHO IS that one, I am JUST CONFUSED about some of the topics presented and trying to gain understanding by those who seem convinced.
In regards to the adultery by Judah and Israel, I understand Israel was divorced, Judah wasn’t.
Does adultery not break a covenant? When we agree that YHWH is our God and we will have no other god before Him, and we sacrifice to those other gods and He says, we have committed adultery, I thought that meant they have broken the covenant that they said, “I do” to. When married couples renew their vows, some do it because there was a breach in their covenant and they want to re-establish the boundaries and love. Others do it for a continued commitment and various reasons. Is there no break in the marriage covenant vows if a man or woman commits adultery? OR is the covenant only broken if they are divorced? I understand that a divorce is the result OF an already broken covenant, not that divorce is the breaker of a covenant. The act of adultery is what breaks the covenant because what the spouse vowed was not kept. Is this wrong thinking?
According to what I know of Torah, when adultery was SUSPECTED the bitter cup was given to the woman. Her guilt was evidenced, the result was defilement and curse. The Scripture states that Judah has committed adultery as a nation. Individually, we have all committed spiritual adultery against YHWH. What is your understanding of how national Judah and individual Judah is restored from this state? Can we say they are our spiritual brothers if they have not accepted the Messiah Yeshua to deliver them from this defilement and curse? What is your take on this?
Again, I THANK YOU for your time. I am sure I am not alone in having these questions, so you are also helping others who are hoping to understand the foundational framework of this Ephraim movement; others have not been as generous with their time and call to teach, when I have questions.
I totally get that not all is manifested now in its fullness, the full manifestations will come at Messiah’s second coming and His appointed time. That be a glorious time!!
Shalom,
Melody
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