Abraham begot Isaac, and  Isaac  begot  Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel. Israel had 12 Sons who are called the 12 tribes of Israel. Judah or the Jews  are only one of these 12 Sons. All Jews are Israelites, but not all Israelites are Jews. As a  matter of fact, the first time the word “Jew” is mentioned in Scripture, Israel is at war with the Jews.

2nd Ki 16:5-6a Then Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war. And they besieged  Ahaz,  but they were not able to fight. At that time Rezin the king of Syria brought Elath back to Syria, and threw the Jews out of Elath;

This point cannot be stressed enough, if you are going to understand the most wonderful work that our Heavenly Father is doing today. Each tribe had their own personalities, and their own land allotments,  and  their own special covenant promises from Yahweh.

King Saul was the very first king of Israel. We know that he was humble before he was king, but then grew big in his own eyes afterward, and lost the throne. King Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. Yahweh then picked a shepherd boy, David, to be king over all Israel. David was from the tribe of Judah. We also know that the Messiah would come from Judah.

Mic 5:2 And you, Bethlehem Ephratah, being least among the thousands of Judah,  out  of  you  He shall come forth to Me to become One ruling in Israel; and His goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity

Yahweh made a promise to David that his Son would sit upon his throne forever and ever.

2nd Sam 7:11b-16 And Yahweh declares to you that Yahweh will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled, and you lie with your fathers, then I shall raise up your seed after you, who shall come out from your bowels, and I shall establish His kingdom (speaking of the Messiah). He shall build a house for My Name, and I shall establish the throne of His kingdom forever. I shall be a father to Him, and He shall be a Son to Me. When He takes iniquity, then I will chasten Him with a rod of men, and with strokes of the sons  of men. But My mercy shall not be taken from Him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And Your house shall  be  established,  and Your kingdom before You forever. Your  throne shall be established forever.

Many people have wrongly thought that this scripture was referring to King Solomon. That is not correct. King Solomon’s kingdom did not last forever; rather, it was ripped out of his hand and divided because of his worship of pagan deities. As a matter of fact, we know that this scripture can’t be talking about Solomon because Solomon’s descendant, Jeconiah, was told that he would never have a son to sit on the throne of Israel again.

Jer 22:30 So says Yahweh, Write this man childless, a man who will not prosper in his days. For not one from his seed will succeed, a man sitting on the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah.

Yet David promised Bath Sheba that her Son would sit on the throne. How could this be? The answer lies in the correct translation of 1st Ki 5:5.

1st Ki 5:5 And, behold, I am commanding a house to be built to the Name of Yahweh my Elohim, as Yahweh spoke to my father David, saying, Your son whom I will appoint (Nathan) in your place (to be rival with) on your throne, he shall build the house for My Name.

The Hebrew word for appoint in 1st Kings 5:5 is “Nathan.” Nathan was the brother of Solomon, and also son of Bath Sheba. So the prophecy of David’s throne being  forever was not through the line of Solomon and Jechoniah, but through the line of Nathan. Interestingly enough, Nathan was also in the genealogy of Yahshua.

Luk 3:31 the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,

Another Scripture proving the predominance of the tribe of Nathan over Solomon is in the book of Zechariah.

Zec 12:12-13 And the land shall mourn, each family apart: the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house  of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;

This is a Scripture talking about the tribe of Judah mourning when the Messiah, Yahshua, returns and they realize their rejection of Him the first time He appeared. Once again notice, though, that it contrasts the most predominant tribe “Nathan” with the least predominant tribe “Shimei.” Solomon is not even mentioned.

Solomon, because of his idolatry with foreign gods, disqualified himself for the kingly line of Messiah. This is a very important fact, not only to prove that the lineage of Yahshua through Nathan is the Biblically correct one, but also to show why the nation of Israel was divided. Because of Solomon’s sin, Yahweh allowed the nation of Israel to be divided into two parts.

1st Ki 11:4-8 And it happened, at the time Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with Yahweh his Elohim, like the heart of his father David. And Solomon went after Ashtoreth, goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites; and Solomon did evil in the sight of Yahweh, and did not go fully after Yahweh like his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem,  and for Molech, the abomination of the sons of Ammon; and so he did for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed to their gods.

Solomon, through unfaithfulness, broke the covenant with Yahweh and caused the dividing of Israel.

1st Ki 11:9 And Yahweh was angry with Solomon, for his heart had bent away from Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, Who had appeared  to  him twice,

1st Ki 11:10 and had given a charge to him concerning this thing, not to go after other gods; and with Solomon, for he did not keep that which Yahweh commanded.

1st Ki 11:11 And Yahweh said to Solomon, because this  has been done by you, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes that I charged on you, I shall surely tear the kingdom from you and shall give it to  your  servant.

1st Ki 11:12 Only,  I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your  father  David;  I shall tear it out of your son’s hand.

1st Ki 11:13 Only I will not tear away all the kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for my servant David’s sake, and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chose.

After Solomon died, Jeroboam, from the tribe of Ephraim, took over as King of Northern Israel. This Kingdom consisted of 10 of the 12 sons of Jacob (Israel). They were as follows: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Zebulon, Dan, Issacar, and Joseph, who was divided into two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (which we will discuss in detail later). The southern Kingdom of Judah (The Jews) consisted of Judah and Benjamin. Later, due to idolatry in the Northern Kingdom, Levi also joined the southern Kingdom of Judah.

There were two great promises that came along with the blood covenant. They were the promise of the birthright, and the promise of the scepter. The promise of the birthright was a promise of the firstborn. The promise of the scepter was a promise of kingship. We have already shown that the promise of the scepter for kingship was given to Judah because of the faithfulness of King David. This promise also was for the Messiah to come from the house of David.

The promise of the birthright was a special promise given to the firstborn, as the legal heir to the inheritance of the family. This right of the firstborn also included a double portion to his inheritance.

Deut 21:15-17 If a man has two wives, the one loved, and the other hated; and they have  borne  him sons, both the loved one and the hated one; and if the first-born son was of her who was hated, then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which is his, he is not able to cause to inherit the first-born son of the one loved before the first-born son of the  one  hated, who  is truly the first-born. But he shall acknowledge the first- born, the son of the hated one, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for he is the first fruit of his strength, the  right of the first-born is his.

So special was this right of  the  firstborn, that it could not be changed because of nepotism. But the promises of the birthright and the scepter were conditional upon obedience of the inheritors.

1st Ki 2:3-4 and keep the charge of Yahweh your Elohim, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commands, and His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, so that you may do wisely all that you do, and there wherever you may turn, so that Yahweh may establish His Word which He spoke to me, saying, If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth, with all their heart, and with  all their soul, saying, There shall not be a man to you cut off from the throne of Israel.

So the perspective covenant promise-holders, namely the birthright and scepter, had to obey the terms of the covenant to receive these blessings. Reuben, who was the legal firstborn of Israel, disqualified himself to be the legal heir of the birthright promise, and Joseph took his place.

1st Chron 5:1-2 And the sons of Reuben the  first-born  of Israel (for he was the first-born; but since he defiled  his father’s bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel; and the genealogy (kingship) is not to be counted according to the birthright; for Judah prevailed among his brothers, and from him was the chief Ruler (Messiah), but the birthright was Joseph’s);

Reuben slept with the concubine of his father, Israel, and lost his birthright promise, and it was given to Joseph. Joseph was not the next oldest in age, but Israel had two wives, Leah and Rachel. Although Reuben was the firstborn from Leah, Israel was tricked into marrying her, and Israel’s true covenant wife was Rachel, of whom Joseph was firstborn. So Joseph was truly the legal birthright holder in the eyes of Yahweh. We also see from this verse that genealogy is counted by the scepter promise, not the birthright. That is probably why most, through the ages, have focused on the kingship of Judah, but not the birthright of Joseph.

The birthright blessing was an exceedingly special blessing to have. It included great physical wealth and strength. So when the Kingdom of Israel was divided, even though there were still 12 tribes, Israel was known primarily as the Northern Kingdom (Joseph and the birthright), and the southern kingdom (Judah and the scepter). Please keep this in mind as we continue, so you will understand that when I mention the sons of Joseph, I mean all 10 northern tribes, and when I mention the sons of Judah, I mean the southern kingdom.

After this, before Israel died, he called Joseph and his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and literally adopted the two sons of Joseph as his own.

Gen 48:3-5 And Jacob said to Joseph, Elohim Almighty appeared to me in Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and will multiply you, and will make you a multitude of peoples. And I will give this land to your seed after you as a continual possession. And now your two sons, those born to you in the land of Egypt before my coming to you in Egypt, are mine, Ephraim and Manasseh, like Reuben and Simeon, even they shall be mine.

Then he went on to give the birthright promise to Ephraim.

Gen 48:14 And Israel sent  forth  his  right hand and put it on the head of Ephraim; and he was the younger. And he put his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands; for Manasseh was the first-born.

Gen 48:15 And he  blessed  Joseph  and  said, The Elohim before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the Elohim who has fed me since I was born until today;

Gen 48:16 The Messenger that redeemed me from every evil, may He bless the youths; and may my name be called on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they like the fishes increase  into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

Gen 48:20 And he blessed them in that day, saying, In you shall Israel bless, saying, May Elohim make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.

Gen 48:22 And I will give to you one spur of land beyond your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

Notice that the birthright promise went to Ephraim, the younger. As a matter of fact, if you search the Scriptures, you will find in almost every case the firstborn lost his earthly inheritance. And in almost every case, without fail, it was for a worldly, fleshly reason. Esau lost his birthright promise for a bowl of soup. Scripture also states that we are called first-fruits or firstborn to Yahweh.

Rev 14:1 And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion! And with Him were a hundred and forty four thousands, with the Name of His Father having been written on their foreheads.

Rev 14:4 These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones following the Lamb wherever He may go. These were redeemed from among men as a first fruit to Yahweh and to the Lamb.

It should be quite sobering to us to see how many firstborn have sold out their inheritance for earthly desires. What does it mean to you to be a first fruit or firstborn? How much do you cherish  that  position, or are you like Esau, selling out your inheritance for some worldly desire? Remember the requirement of the blood covenant: to forsake  all you have to your covenant Partner, and live totally for Him.  Israel never did this, and as we will see, they went into captivity for it.

So now we can understand why in Scripture, when it is referring to Ephraim, it is referring to the whole Northern tribe of Israel, because they possess the right of the firstborn or birthright promise. We can also see that although these are physical promises, they are ultimately spiritual and Messianic in nature.

Joseph, who has the birthright promise, represents the suffering Messiah. We see that Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, who rejected him. This is an anti- type of Judah rejecting Yahshua as the Hebrew Savior. Joseph was stripped of his garment before being laid in a pit, typical of the  first step of the blood covenant, taking off the robe. Yahshua likewise was stripped of His robe before He was crucified. In the writings of the rabbi’s of today, and even in the Dead Sea scrolls, they speak of two Messiahs, Messiah Son of Joseph, and Messiah Son of David, because Scripture is so clear about the two aspects of the Messiah. One aspect is as a suffering servant, as Isaiah 53 shows us, and one is as a reigning King, as we see in Isaiah the 9th chapter. When the Messiah returns He will possess both the birthright and scepter promises.

Yet, if we closely look into the history of Israel, we will see that the descendants of Ephraim (Joseph) and the descendants of David (Judah) have been at odds continually, trying to take each other’s blessing.

The twenty-third psalm typifies these two very important aspects of the Messiah of Israel.

Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

If you look at the cover of this book you will see a lion representing Judah holding a rod and a shepherd’s staff crossing next to the palm tree which  represents  Joseph and the house of Ephraim. This again shows the two aspects of the Israelite Messiah; One as a suffering servant which shows the birthright promise through Joseph and the other showing the scepter promise through David as a reigning King.

The other aspect of the rod and the staff are to typify the two covenants. The rod shows the disciplinary action through the  old  covenant  as the book of Hebrews shows us that every child of Yahweh must be chastened because of his love for us. The rod also protects us  against predators.

Heb 12:6 For whom Yahweh loves, He disciplines, and whips every son whom He receives.”

We must be disciplined to prepare us for our position as a King (scepter promise through David) in Yahshua’s coming Kingdom (Rev 5:10). On the other hand the shepherd’s staff shows the gentleness of that discipline through the shed blood of the Son of Yahweh in the New Covenant and represents Joseph and the Messiah as the suffering servant. As the 23rd psalm shows both aspects of the Messiah are necessary, both the rod and the staff are comforting. Without the Torah (rod) we don’t have boundaries and will never feel the security that the law brings in our life, but also we need the gentleness (staff) to gently guide us through that needed correction.

Throughout the history of  Israel both Judah and Ephraim tried to take each others promise away. It was the idea of Judah to sell Joseph as a slave to steal his birthright promise.

Gen 37:26-27 And Judah said to his brothers, What gain is it that we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and do not let our hand be on him. For he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers listened.

Jeroboam (an Ephraimite) also tried to steal the scepter promise from Judah, when the nation of Israel was divided after the death of Solomon.

1st Ki 11:31 And he said to Jeroboam, Take ten pieces for yourself. For so says Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, Behold, I am tearing the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and giving to you the ten tribes.

1st Ki 11:37 And I will take you, and you shall reign according to all that your soul desires, and shall be king over Israel.

1st Ki 11:38 And it shall be, if you shall hear all that I command you, and shall walk in My ways, and do that which is right in My eyes, to keep My statutes and My commands, as My servant David did, then I shall be with you and shall build a sure house for you, as I built for David, and shall give Israel to you.

If Jeroboam had been faithful, which he was not, he would have taken the kingship or scepter from the house of Judah. If you read your Bible closely, you will see that this has been a trend with Judah and Ephraim since Israel became a nation, and – as you will see – even continues today. But once the Messiah returns and makes the two promises of birthright and scepter  into one, there will not be this vexation of Ephraim and Judah anymore.

Isa 11:10 And it shall be in that day, the Root of Jesse stands as a banner of peoples; nations shall seek to Him; and His resting place shall be glory

Isa 11:13 And the envy of Ephraim shall turn off; and Judah’s  foes shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not trouble Ephraim.

Israel was promised great wealth as a nation by the birthright promise, and they were also promised great royalty and kingship, through the promise of the scepter.

During the reign of King Solomon, before the kingdom of Israel was divided, Solomon controlled both the birthright (promise of prosperity) and scepter (kingship) promises. Solomon was an earthly type of the Messianic reign. It foreshadowed what Israel will be like when the true Messiah reigns during the millennium. Because of this, Israel experienced great wealth and prosperity during Solomon’s reign, just as Yahweh had promised Jacob that his sons would, under the birthright promise.

1st Ki 10:23 So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.

1st Ki 10:24 And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which Elohim had put in his heart.

1st Ki 10:25 And they brought every man his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, and armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

1st Ki 10:27 And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore-trees that are in the lowland, for abundance.

Solomon had all the earthly riches that the birthright could produce, and all the earthly wisdom that the scepter could produce, and still faltered due to worldly lust. It is a lesson showing us that, in the flesh, we will always fail, if we do not combine it with the spirit. This is also the great lesson that Yahshua, the true birthright and scepter Holder, came to show us, while He was on the earth.

What a wonderful time it will be when Messiah returns and there is peace seen between Judah and  Joseph, the likes of which the world has not seen  since the days of King Solomon.

Zec 10:6 And I will make stronger the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. And I will return to save them, for I have pity on them. And they shall be as though I had not cast them off, for I am Yahweh their Elohim, and I will answer them.

Zec 10:7 And Ephraim shall be like a mighty one, and their heart shall be glad as by wine. And their sons shall see and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in Yahweh.

Zec 10:8 I will whistle for them and gather them, for I have redeemed them. And they shall multiply as they were multiplied.

Zec 10:9 And I will sow them among the peoples, and they shall remember Me in far countries, and they shall live with their sons and return.

Zec 10:10 And I will return to save them out of the land of Egypt and gather them out of Assyria. And I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, for room shall not be found for them.