Israel – the firstborn who lost his birth right?

Maybe you haven’t noticed, but there is a new trend nowadays: to be part of the lost tribes of Israel. All of a sudden, everyone wants to be part of them. There is a growing movement in the US who claims that the Israelite were all black, Yahusha (Jesus) and all apostles included. They also claim that all the early kings of Europe were Israelite, therefore black. According to them, even King James (the one who translated the Bible) was black and history ‘white washed’ the paintings and stuff.

But this discussion is not limited to the black community in the US. Recently I came across several groups now claiming that the Israelite were actually ‘100% white’ and they became the Celtics, Scandinavians, early Germanic people and Saxons. In both cases, they use a few Bible verses to back their affirmations. Both groups boast about their so called ‘roots’. If we know that descendants carry the sins of their ancestors, it puzzles me as to why someone would ‘fight’ to be an Israelite given their apostasy and curse. As for me, I would be happy to be considered a simple gentile! Why? Let’s take a look at the history of Israel in a mega summarized summary.

As we know, Yahuah came to Abraham and made a promise, a covenant: that his seed would inherit a land with abundant milk and honey and they would be Yahuah’s ‘chosen’ people. This was Abraham’s inheritance to his seed with Sarah. In the Bible, the first born son is the one who takes his father’s inheritance and blessing. Keep this information in your mental drawer.

Abraham was married with Sarah, who was barren. She was so anxious about getting pregnant that she asked Abraham to lie with her maid Hagar and out of this Ishmael was born – therefore the first born of Abraham. Yahuah sent his angels (Yahusha among them) to tell Abraham that the covenant was still with him and Sarah, so Abraham would still have another son. Thirteen years later, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. Isaac was the one with the ‘birth right’ to have his lineage with the covenant with the Creator. Abraham married again after Sarah died and had many other sons, who spread around the world and mingled with other cultures. They basically became gentiles, or 'the nations'.

Isaac married Rebekah and she bore twins, the firstborn called Esau and the second born called Jacob, who had 12 sons which became the 12 tribes of Israel. And this generation was exiled in Egypt and their descendants are brought back to Canaan by Moses. These people received then the Torah from Yahuah. They saw the ocean open in front of them, they heard Yahuah speak, they were fed with manna and drank fresh water coming out of rock in the middle of the desert, their shoes did not wear out even after walking for 40 years in the wilderness and many other supernatural and amazing things, still they were not always obedient to Yahuah. Many were proud, obstinate and after only a few generations, they were worshiping idols, killing prophets of Yahuah and sacrificing their own children to Baal and other demons.

After Solomon’s slip into idolatry (and Yahuah knows what else), Israel was divided into two kingdoms: Judah and Israel. Judah had the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and Israel had Reuben, Simeon, Manasseh, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim, Dan, Asher, Naphtali and Gad. Both kingdoms had problems and even if Israel seemed to have a more impious path, both were at some time disobedient to Yahuah.

And finally after a lot of patience from the Father, he decided to turn his wrath against his people and Israel was conquered by foreigners and they were basically scattered around the world. The kingdom of Judah resisted a while longer, but it eventually fell to Babylonian empire. A lot happened, but for the sake of time this is the main aftermath.

Where did they go and can we tell if someone is from a tribe of Israel? If this was easy to tell, what would happen? I think history can tell us. One thing I realized in the Bible is that even what it omits is omitted for a good reason. The lack of obvious physical appearance description, the lack of information on skin color are important for our union as people of Yahusha (Jesus). If our most reliable source of knowledge is omitting clear information, should we care whether we have Israelite blood or not? Is this ancestry important now?

Let’s open that mental drawer and talk about firstborn birthright

Adam was the first human son of Yahuah. Yahusha (Jesus) was perfect because his Y chromosome came directly from the Father, therefore he was the second human son not contaminated by the sinful nature of the fallen Adam. Yahusha will come back to be 'the last' and bring the victory of the lamb in the 7th Millennia. We can also confirm in the Bible that Yahusha was way more than a human son, he was involved in the creation from the beginning, reason he says that he is the first and the last. While Adam represents the flesh, the fallen creation, Yahusha came to show us how humanity should be had we not transgressed at the Garden of Eden. Therefore, if Yahusha is the perfect human son of Yahuah, we can also assume that Yahusha replaced Adam and received the (human) firstborn inheritance

The lost and forfeited birth right can be found many other times throughout the Bible. Adam’s firstborn son was Cain. Cain lost his birth right to Seth because he murdered Abel. Abraham’s firstborn was Ishmael, but the birth right did not go to him, but to Isaac. Isaac had twins, but birth right is such a big deal for Israel that the first one out of the birth canal is the firstborn, there is no ‘sharing’ the inheritance or the blessing.

Esau was the one who came out first, but he lost his birth right when he sold it to Jacob for a plate of soup and he lost his father’s blessing when Rebekah and Jacob deceived Isaac so that he would bless Jacob instead of Esau. Esau, along with Ishmael’s descendants, became recurrent enemies of the seed of Isaac.

Now let’s take a look at Jacob. He met Rachael and falls in love with her, but her father makes him marry Leah first, Rachel’s older sister. But Jacob never loved Leah, he loved Rachel, the younger sister. And Rachel gave birth to Joseph, who received the birth right of Jacob, even when he was not the firstborn. Reuben, the first son, lost his rights when he slept with his father’s concubine.

Joseph had two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim. Guess who Jacob (Israel) said would be a greater nation?

But Joseph observed that his father had laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head. That displeased him, so he grabbed his father’s hand and started to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. “No, father, this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.”

But his father refused. “I know,” he said. “I know. He’s going to produce a large nation, and he’s going to be very great. However, his younger brother will become even greater than he, and his descendants will become a multitude of nations.” (Genesis 48:17-19)

Enough? Wait, there still one more:

Judah married his firstborn son to Tamar, but he was killed by Yahuah because he wasted his seed and tried to avoid getting his wife pregnant. Tamar then married the next brother and he did the same, because he didn’t want to have a son that would be considered his brother’s son. So he died as well. When Judah avoided marrying his next son to Tamar for the fear of losing another son, she tricked him and they slept together and the offspring was twin brothers. Now pay attention to the symbolism: The first child to put his hand outside the birth canal was Zerah and the maid put a red ribbon around his wrist so she could know who was first, but he pulled his arm back and then the one to come out was Perez. Perez as we know, is the ancestor of Joseph, Miriyam (Mary)’s father. Wow!

The whole Bible is the story of the firstborn forfeiting their inheritance in favor of the younger son. Israel is also Yahuah's firstborn son – the sinful, rebellious people of Yahuah who lost their rights until Yahusha comes back to restore his Kingdom. Yahusha symbolizes not only the perfect sacrifice and our salvation, but also the new covenant with both houses of Israel, Judah and the nations - a renewed people. The parable of the vineyard is clear – it was not a threat, it was the prophecy that would come to be after Yahusha’s death.

The reason the Israelite tribes are lost and mixed with the nations of the world with their ancestry lost and washed away means that for the next millennium there is not a chosen specific people that simply are lucky enough to be born in the right place. The resurrection of Yahusha is the point in time where the vineyard is for the elect – there is no longer ‘lost tribes of Israel’ – there are only ‘lost lambs’ who will eventually hear the voice of their Shepherd and come to Yahusha Ha’Mashiach.

The Parable of the wicked vinedressers

'A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time. Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out.

“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him When they see him.’ But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others.” (Luke 20:9-16)