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Thursday, November 24, 2011
HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY !
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Saturday, June 18, 2011
Right Wing Politics
Christian Zionism in Action
JAZ002
Douglas LeBlanc
This article first appeared in the News Watch column of the Christian Research Journal, volume 29, number 6 (2006). For further information or to subscribe to the Christian Research Journal go to: http://www.equip.org
Evangelist and megachurch pastor John Hagee does not merely talk about being a Christian Zionist, but also applies his time, talent, and treasure toward the cause. As the founder of Christians United for Israel, Hagee—pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas—is a favored target for Christians who oppose Zionism and for non‐Christians who are suspicious of his end-times theology.
Hagee has celebrated “A Night to Honor Israel” events for 25 years, raising more than $12 million for Israeli causes. Speakers at these pro-Israel rallies, whether held in Washington, at Hagee’s church, or in Israel itself, stand on a platform beneath massive American and Israeli flags.
Hagee’s affection for Israel spills over into the design of Cornerstone Church. Guy Raz of National Public Radio reported in July that a small wall near the entrance to Cornerstone bears a citation from Psalm 122:6: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.”
“Each of these stones is from Jerusalem, and we left a gap just like there happens to be at the Western Wall, so people can put their prayer requests on paper and push it in there,” Hagee told Raz.
Raz described the corridor that leads to Hagee’s office as being lined with framed paintings of Israel’s former prime ministers. “The entire Cornerstone campus is a tribute to Israel,” he reported. “The country’s flag adorns the walls and halls, and affixed to the frames of many doors are Mezuzahs, cases [each of which is] filled with a prayer and usually found in Jewish homes. The banners of the 12 Tribes of Jacob decorate the prayer sanctuary.”
Through Exodus II, a program sponsored by John Hagee Ministries, Christians may donate funds to help Jews move from around the world—most from Russia, in the years after Communism’s collapse—to Israel. The program mixes humanitarian concern with the promise of helping Jews fulfill prophecy by living in modern Israel.
“Today, Jewish children, parents and grandparents from around the world have a window of opportunity to return to Israel to live out their destinies according to the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah—a window of opportunity that could close tomorrow because of the ever‐present threat of rising anti-Semitism, and political and social upheaval,” says an ad for Exodus II published in John Hagee Ministries’ JHMagazine.
The ad continues: “As Christians, we must recognize the critical importance of the Jewish people in God’s plan for us all. We must, in direct fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy, help bring God’s people home to Israel.”
John Hagee Ministries says it has raised more than $8.5 million for this cause and has helped more than 10,000 Jews move to Israel. The ministry also helps support Migdal Ohr, an orphanage in Israel for immigrant children from around the world.
A Hidden Evangelical Agenda? Hagee treads carefully on the issue of evangelizing Jews. Evangelist Jerry Falwell once criticized Hagee publicly after becoming convinced that Hagee believed in “dualcovenant[nkp1] ” theology, which says God’s historic covenant with Jews exempts contemporary Jews from any need to accept Jesus as Messiah. Falwell, after hearing Hagee disown dual‐covenant [nkp2] theology, now sits on the board of Christians United for Israel, which unites about 400 evangelical leaders.
Some Jews “are concerned that if evangelical Christians have a hidden agenda that we’re going to gather them in one massive auditorium somewhere, lock the doors, and give them a ‘come to Jesus’ speech,” Hagee told two BBC journalists who interviewed him in 2002. “What we’re saying to the Jewish community is, what we have in common is far more important than what we have that separates us. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. You do not. Let’s accept that difference and go forward.”
Hagee added: “I say to my Orthodox Jewish friends, when we’re standing on the streets of Jerusalem and the Messiah is coming down the road, one of us has a big theological adjustment to make. Until then, let’s work in common cause for the State of Israel to help them secure their freedom, self-determination, and hope that Zion shall live forever.”
A Helping Hand for God’s Plan. Hagee has steered clear of one unusual end-times project: an effort, through animal husbandry, to develop a red heifer that can be shipped to Israel. Some believe that they can help fulfill prophecy by providing orthodox Jews with a red heifer to sacrifice in a restored Temple at Jerusalem.
Clyde Lott, a Pentecostal evangelist and cattle farmer living in Mississippi, has worked on the red-heifer project since 1990. Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute, which operates a museum in Jerusalem, has helped Lott make connections in Israel and accompanied Lott on fundraising trips to American churches.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Lott and Richman placed their project on hold because of a “maze of red tape and testing involved in shipping animals overseas—and rumors of threats from Arabs and Jews alike who say the cows would only bring more trouble to the Middle East.” Lott told the Los Angeles Times in June that he hopes to resume his project. “If there’s a sovereign God with his hand in the affairs of men, it’ll happen, and it’ll be a pivotal event,” he said. “That time is soon. Very soon.”
A Novel End-Times Theology. Tim Weber, author of On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend, told the Journal that a great majority of American evangelicals are pro-Israel. He estimates, however, that only one-quarter to one‐third [nkp3] of evangelicals believe in premillennial dispensationalism, with its strong emphases on the great tribulation and Israel’s role in the end times.
For years dispensationalists were known for detailed arguments in defense of their end‐times [nkp4] theology. It strikes Weber as significant that today the most-recognized proponents of dispensationalism present their case through novels, such as those in the Left Behind series. “I don’t think they have the institutional power that they used to, but they certainly have the pop-culture power,” Weber told the Journal, citing Left Behind’s latest incarnation as a violent video game.
Weber said that the political and social consequences of dispensationalism were primarily what drove him to write On the Road to Armageddon. Some dispensationalists, for instance, donate to groups that push for Jewish control of the Temple Mount and are willing to use violence in that cause.
“The vast majority of dispensationalists are not extremist in their behavior or their views,” he said. “I think Zionists have been able to keep one step ahead of the chaos. They’ve been denying that [Arab- Israeli] peace is possible for 60 years, and so far they’ve been right. They’ve never had to completely repudiate their perspective. For that reason, they endure.”
— Douglas LeBlanc
http://www.equip.org/articles/christian-zionism-in-action
JAZ002
Douglas LeBlanc
This article first appeared in the News Watch column of the Christian Research Journal, volume 29, number 6 (2006). For further information or to subscribe to the Christian Research Journal go to: http://www.equip.org
Evangelist and megachurch pastor John Hagee does not merely talk about being a Christian Zionist, but also applies his time, talent, and treasure toward the cause. As the founder of Christians United for Israel, Hagee—pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas—is a favored target for Christians who oppose Zionism and for non‐Christians who are suspicious of his end-times theology.
Hagee has celebrated “A Night to Honor Israel” events for 25 years, raising more than $12 million for Israeli causes. Speakers at these pro-Israel rallies, whether held in Washington, at Hagee’s church, or in Israel itself, stand on a platform beneath massive American and Israeli flags.
Hagee’s affection for Israel spills over into the design of Cornerstone Church. Guy Raz of National Public Radio reported in July that a small wall near the entrance to Cornerstone bears a citation from Psalm 122:6: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.”
“Each of these stones is from Jerusalem, and we left a gap just like there happens to be at the Western Wall, so people can put their prayer requests on paper and push it in there,” Hagee told Raz.
Raz described the corridor that leads to Hagee’s office as being lined with framed paintings of Israel’s former prime ministers. “The entire Cornerstone campus is a tribute to Israel,” he reported. “The country’s flag adorns the walls and halls, and affixed to the frames of many doors are Mezuzahs, cases [each of which is] filled with a prayer and usually found in Jewish homes. The banners of the 12 Tribes of Jacob decorate the prayer sanctuary.”
Through Exodus II, a program sponsored by John Hagee Ministries, Christians may donate funds to help Jews move from around the world—most from Russia, in the years after Communism’s collapse—to Israel. The program mixes humanitarian concern with the promise of helping Jews fulfill prophecy by living in modern Israel.
“Today, Jewish children, parents and grandparents from around the world have a window of opportunity to return to Israel to live out their destinies according to the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah—a window of opportunity that could close tomorrow because of the ever‐present threat of rising anti-Semitism, and political and social upheaval,” says an ad for Exodus II published in John Hagee Ministries’ JHMagazine.
The ad continues: “As Christians, we must recognize the critical importance of the Jewish people in God’s plan for us all. We must, in direct fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy, help bring God’s people home to Israel.”
John Hagee Ministries says it has raised more than $8.5 million for this cause and has helped more than 10,000 Jews move to Israel. The ministry also helps support Migdal Ohr, an orphanage in Israel for immigrant children from around the world.
A Hidden Evangelical Agenda? Hagee treads carefully on the issue of evangelizing Jews. Evangelist Jerry Falwell once criticized Hagee publicly after becoming convinced that Hagee believed in “dualcovenant[nkp1] ” theology, which says God’s historic covenant with Jews exempts contemporary Jews from any need to accept Jesus as Messiah. Falwell, after hearing Hagee disown dual‐covenant [nkp2] theology, now sits on the board of Christians United for Israel, which unites about 400 evangelical leaders.
Some Jews “are concerned that if evangelical Christians have a hidden agenda that we’re going to gather them in one massive auditorium somewhere, lock the doors, and give them a ‘come to Jesus’ speech,” Hagee told two BBC journalists who interviewed him in 2002. “What we’re saying to the Jewish community is, what we have in common is far more important than what we have that separates us. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. You do not. Let’s accept that difference and go forward.”
Hagee added: “I say to my Orthodox Jewish friends, when we’re standing on the streets of Jerusalem and the Messiah is coming down the road, one of us has a big theological adjustment to make. Until then, let’s work in common cause for the State of Israel to help them secure their freedom, self-determination, and hope that Zion shall live forever.”
A Helping Hand for God’s Plan. Hagee has steered clear of one unusual end-times project: an effort, through animal husbandry, to develop a red heifer that can be shipped to Israel. Some believe that they can help fulfill prophecy by providing orthodox Jews with a red heifer to sacrifice in a restored Temple at Jerusalem.
Clyde Lott, a Pentecostal evangelist and cattle farmer living in Mississippi, has worked on the red-heifer project since 1990. Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute, which operates a museum in Jerusalem, has helped Lott make connections in Israel and accompanied Lott on fundraising trips to American churches.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Lott and Richman placed their project on hold because of a “maze of red tape and testing involved in shipping animals overseas—and rumors of threats from Arabs and Jews alike who say the cows would only bring more trouble to the Middle East.” Lott told the Los Angeles Times in June that he hopes to resume his project. “If there’s a sovereign God with his hand in the affairs of men, it’ll happen, and it’ll be a pivotal event,” he said. “That time is soon. Very soon.”
A Novel End-Times Theology. Tim Weber, author of On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend, told the Journal that a great majority of American evangelicals are pro-Israel. He estimates, however, that only one-quarter to one‐third [nkp3] of evangelicals believe in premillennial dispensationalism, with its strong emphases on the great tribulation and Israel’s role in the end times.
For years dispensationalists were known for detailed arguments in defense of their end‐times [nkp4] theology. It strikes Weber as significant that today the most-recognized proponents of dispensationalism present their case through novels, such as those in the Left Behind series. “I don’t think they have the institutional power that they used to, but they certainly have the pop-culture power,” Weber told the Journal, citing Left Behind’s latest incarnation as a violent video game.
Weber said that the political and social consequences of dispensationalism were primarily what drove him to write On the Road to Armageddon. Some dispensationalists, for instance, donate to groups that push for Jewish control of the Temple Mount and are willing to use violence in that cause.
“The vast majority of dispensationalists are not extremist in their behavior or their views,” he said. “I think Zionists have been able to keep one step ahead of the chaos. They’ve been denying that [Arab- Israeli] peace is possible for 60 years, and so far they’ve been right. They’ve never had to completely repudiate their perspective. For that reason, they endure.”
— Douglas LeBlanc
http://www.equip.org/articles/christian-zionism-in-action
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Learning Disabilities - Written Test # 2
Modal Final Test
Multiple Choice Exercise
Choose the correct answer for each gap below, then click the "Check" button to check your answers.
1. Ted's flight from Amsterdam took more than 11 hours. He musthad bettercan be exhausted after such a long flight.
2. The book is optional. My professor said we could read it if we needed extra credit. But we cannotmust notdon't have to read it if we don't want to.
3. Susan can'tcouldn'tmight not hear the speaker because the crowd was cheering so loudly.
4. The television isn't working. It must bemust have beenmust damaged during the move.
5. Kate: Might youAre you able toCan you hold your breath for more than a minute?
Jack: No, I can't.
6. You shouldn'tcan'tdon't have to be rich to be a success. Some of the most successful people I know haven't got a penny to their name.
7. I've redone this math problem at least twenty times, but my answer is wrong according to the answer key. The answer in the book shouldmusthave to be wrong!
8. You couldn'twon't be able tocan't do the job if you didn't speak Japanese fluently.
9. You don't have toshouldn'tcan't worry so much. It doesn't do you any good. Either you get the job, or you don't. If you don't, just apply for another one. Eventually, you will find work.
10. You ought tohave toshould be kidding! That can't be true.
11. You wouldmaymight leave the table once you have finished your meal and politely excused yourself.
12. Jenny's engagement ring is enormous! It must have costmust costmust be costing a fortune.
13. ShallWillMust we move into the living room? It's more comfortable in there and there's a beautiful view of the lake.
14. If I had gone white water rafting with my friends, I would floatwould have floatwould be floating down the Colorado River right now.
15. At first, my boss didn't want to hire Sam. But, because I had previously worked with Sam, I told my boss that he ought tohas tomust take another look at his resume and reconsider him for the position.
16. You has tohad bettercan take along some cash. The restaurant may not accept credit cards.
17. The machine can be turnedmay turncould be turning on by flipping this switch.
18. I can't stand these people - I mighthad betterhave got to get out of here. I'm going to take off for awhile while you get rid of them.
19. You don't have tomustn'tcouldn't forget to pay the rent tomorrow. The landlord is very strict about paying on time.
20. Do you always have to say the first thing that pops into your head. Can'tCan notDon't can you think once in a while before you speak?
21. Terry and Frank said they would come over right after work, so they canhave toshould be here by 6:00.
22. Yesterday, I shouldhad tomust cram all day for my French final. I didn't get to sleep until after midnight.
23. We shallmightwould no longer suffer the injustice of oppression! Freedom shall be ours!
24. If I had gone to the University of Miami, I could becouldcould have participated in their Spanish immersion program.
25. The lamp must notcould notmight not be broken. Maybe the light bulb just burned out.
Multiple Choice Exercise
Choose the correct answer for each gap below, then click the "Check" button to check your answers.
1. Ted's flight from Amsterdam took more than 11 hours. He musthad bettercan be exhausted after such a long flight.
2. The book is optional. My professor said we could read it if we needed extra credit. But we cannotmust notdon't have to read it if we don't want to.
3. Susan can'tcouldn'tmight not hear the speaker because the crowd was cheering so loudly.
4. The television isn't working. It must bemust have beenmust damaged during the move.
5. Kate: Might youAre you able toCan you hold your breath for more than a minute?
Jack: No, I can't.
6. You shouldn'tcan'tdon't have to be rich to be a success. Some of the most successful people I know haven't got a penny to their name.
7. I've redone this math problem at least twenty times, but my answer is wrong according to the answer key. The answer in the book shouldmusthave to be wrong!
8. You couldn'twon't be able tocan't do the job if you didn't speak Japanese fluently.
9. You don't have toshouldn'tcan't worry so much. It doesn't do you any good. Either you get the job, or you don't. If you don't, just apply for another one. Eventually, you will find work.
10. You ought tohave toshould be kidding! That can't be true.
11. You wouldmaymight leave the table once you have finished your meal and politely excused yourself.
12. Jenny's engagement ring is enormous! It must have costmust costmust be costing a fortune.
13. ShallWillMust we move into the living room? It's more comfortable in there and there's a beautiful view of the lake.
14. If I had gone white water rafting with my friends, I would floatwould have floatwould be floating down the Colorado River right now.
15. At first, my boss didn't want to hire Sam. But, because I had previously worked with Sam, I told my boss that he ought tohas tomust take another look at his resume and reconsider him for the position.
16. You has tohad bettercan take along some cash. The restaurant may not accept credit cards.
17. The machine can be turnedmay turncould be turning on by flipping this switch.
18. I can't stand these people - I mighthad betterhave got to get out of here. I'm going to take off for awhile while you get rid of them.
19. You don't have tomustn'tcouldn't forget to pay the rent tomorrow. The landlord is very strict about paying on time.
20. Do you always have to say the first thing that pops into your head. Can'tCan notDon't can you think once in a while before you speak?
21. Terry and Frank said they would come over right after work, so they canhave toshould be here by 6:00.
22. Yesterday, I shouldhad tomust cram all day for my French final. I didn't get to sleep until after midnight.
23. We shallmightwould no longer suffer the injustice of oppression! Freedom shall be ours!
24. If I had gone to the University of Miami, I could becouldcould have participated in their Spanish immersion program.
25. The lamp must notcould notmight not be broken. Maybe the light bulb just burned out.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
American Literature Sites
General
Paul P.Reuben's Perspectives in American Literature Pages. This major site includes extensive bibliographies of American authors as well as study questions about their major works.history; its SiteScene reviews are extensive and thorough.
Literary Resources on the Net. Jack Lynch maintains this excellent site at Rutgers; the entries are current, searchable, and annotated.
American Studies Web at Georgetown University. Sponsored by the American Studies Association, this site features web syllabi in American literature and American studies from 1994-1999. The Encyclopedia of American Studies, also at the site, is not accessible to non-ASA members.
Crossroads: An American Literature Hypertext Site at the University of Virginia. Recently redesigned, this well-established site contains information about and texts by Henry Adams, Charles Brockden Brown, Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Harriet Wilson, among others.
American Studies Links. Richard Horwitz, Professor of American Studies at the University of Iowa, has compiled this very useful cross-disciplinary list of recommended links in an easy-to-use tabbed format.
Early American
The Society of Early Americanists Home Page includes information about the Society as well as a syllabus archive, bibliographies, teaching resources, and a host of useful links, including several to repositories of primary documents.
Early Americas Digital Archive at the University of Maryland is searchable and includes "electronic texts and links to texts originally written in or about the Americas from 1492 to approximately 1820."
Common-Place is an online journal sponsored by the American Antiquarian Society; it features excellent articles on American history and culture.
Women Writers
The Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers Web. This major site features links from the journal Legacy,pictures of American women writers, online texts, and other resources.
Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers of Color. This site includes biographical information and bibliographies on contemporary writers, but some nineteenth-century subjects are covered as well.
Early American Women Writers, a new site edited by Sharon Harris, contains headnotes, information, and scholarly biographies.
The Poetess Archive at Miami University includes works by men and women from 1785-1900.
Older Sites
Project Crow. This site by Michael O'Conner, Millikin University (of American Literature Online, a site no longer available) contains links to and reviews of American literature sites. (from 2003).
Akahito Ishikawa's Site includes extensive links to American literature texts (from 2001).
Outline of American Literature. A publication of the U.S. Department of State, this online book by Kathryn VanSpanckeren provides descriptions of periods in American literature.(from 1998)
American Authors on the Web. Mitsuharu Matsuoka (Manchester University) has arranged American authors by date of birth
General Literature Sites
Victorian Web. George Landow, one of the foremost authorities on literary hypertext, created this rich site. See also the many links at the Victoria Research Web, a site associated with the VICTORIA discussion list.
The NINES Project is a peer-reviewed site that uses special software (Collex) to enhance the usability of current literary digitization projects on the web. It also sponsors annual workshops on creating these projects (Application deadline: October 15.)
Voice of the Shuttle. One of the first such sites on the Web, Alan Liu's comprehensive site covers literary theory as well as various periods of literature. The appearance of the site has recently been updated, and a search feature has been added.
Modern American Poetry. This companion site to Anthology of Modern American Poetry, edited by Cary Nelson, includes biographies, links, and excerpts from literary criticism on the poets.
Museum of American Poetics. This site focuses primarily on modern poetry and includes links to poetry sites as well as RealVideo presentations by and about contemporary authors.
$ FindArticles.com provides free access to a limited selection of peer-reviewed journals. Other articles are available for a fee. This is the principal site for those without access to Project Muse and other university-based subscription services.
Literary History. This easy-to-navigate site maintains a collection of annotated links on 19th-century British and 20th century British and American writers.
Literary Criticism on the Web from the Internet Public Library. This site features links to selected online criticism of major authors in American and British literature. Note: Links to Northernlight.com will not work.
Guide to Special Collections (Columbia University). This site contains links to archives and special collections (many searchable online) across the country.
$ Literary Encyclopedia. This resource provides the first 600 words of an article for free; users must pay to see the rest. It includes biographical essays written by literature scholars; it also has a feature that permits visitors to create a timeline.
Books Online
Note: Because of copyright restrictions, only works published prior to 1923 and those made available by the copyright holder are available for free online. Before you pay to read something published before 1923, such as the e-books available at Amazon.com, alibris.com and other sites, check these sites for links to the free versions of the texts. In most cases, the only pre-1923 books offered for sale are those also offered without charge by Project Gutenberg or other sites.
Google Books. This site has full versions in .pdf format of a lot of out-of-copyright books; it's a great resource. To find the complete version and not the snippet version, use Advanced Search. Note: for-profit print-on-demand publishers have locked up some of these these out-of-copyright books so that Google can't provide a full view. If you can't find them at Google Books, try archive.org or Project Gutenberg.
Archive.org. This site has books as well as sound and film media, including some that are not available at Google Books.
On-Line Books Page at the University of Pennsylvania. This searchable index includes books not located at the site as well.
A Celebration of Women Writers. Mary Mark Ockerbloom's comprehensive site includes links to texts, pictures, and bibliographies for American women writers as well as authors from many other countries.
Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg has been putting texts online in plain text or zipped form for several years. The site includes a searchable index. The Project Gutenberg site now also has an RSS feed (for Bloglines or other rss feed readers) so that you can see what texts have been added.
Project Bartleby Archive. This searchable archive of online texts at Columbia University includes reference books on American literature.
The University of California Press has made some of its scholarly books available online (free).
The Open Library project reproduces the page images of the edition and allows viewers to "turn the pages" just as they would with a regular book. Among the books included are some by Stephen Crane, Henry James, James Fenimore Cooper, and Gertrude Atherton.
Wright American Fiction, 1851-1875.This searchable site features works 1752 texts by 842 authors; its object is to include every novel published from 1851-1875 in the United States. Some familiar works are included, but many are rare or otherwise unobtainable online.
Documenting the American South: Beginnings to 1920. This site at the University of North Carolina has many texts, including Charles W. Chesnutt's The Conjure Woman.
Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia. Although some texts at this major repository are restricted to local users, many are not. See also The University of Virginia E-Book Library. This section of the Electronic Text Center offers free Palm and MSReader versions of many of its classic texts.
Perseus Project. Although this site's principal focus is ancient and Renaissance literature, the Perseus Project at Tufts University has a significant collection of California and Midwestern online texts.
Modernist Journals Project at Brown University includes .pdf image files of The New Age(1907-1922) and Cine-Tracts (1977-1982). New to the collection: December 1910.
The American Verse Project at the University of Michigan. Includes works by lesser-known authors such as John Hay and Lydia Sigourney.
The Internet Public Library Online Texts Collection. Links, information, and timelines about literature for librarians and students of literature.
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture includes online versions of texts by African American women writers.
MemoWare PDA Document Repository. This site has many classic works by Twain, Howells, Wharton, Crane, Melville, Alcott, Emerson, Thoreau, and a host of other authors available as free downloads for those who use various types of handheld computers (PalmPilots and so forth).
Archive.org includes audiobooks and other media types.
Nineteenth-Century Periodicals and Primary Sources
Cornell University's Making of America site is an extensive, searchable collection of major periodicals of the nineteenth century. The full collection lists 114 books and 24 periodicals, including Harper's, The Atlantic, Scribner's, and many other important journals. Files are now available in several formats: page images, .pdf (Adobe Acrobat), and uncorrected plain text.
Making of America: American Social History Documents at the University of Michigan. This site also contains links to nineteenth-century periodicals such as Appleton's, The Southern Literary Messenger, and The Overland Monthly. Note: Files at this site are graphics files rather than text or HTML.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. This new site from the Library of Congress provides a searchable database of page images from selected American newspapers from 1900-1910 and information about other newspapers not online.
The New York Public Library, which has the Schomburg Collection of nineteenth-century African American women writers, has just made a number of other digital collections of images available online; it is especially rich in text and images about New York, maps, the performing arts, and African American history.
The FictionMags index provides tables of contents for popular periodicals of the twentieth century such as The Saturday Evening Post; it is cross-indexed by author and periodical. Although it focuses on genre fiction (science fiction and mysteries, primarily), it provides useful information on other types as well. ( URL)
The Women Working, 1870-1930 archive (Open Collections Program) at Harvard University includes "[d]igitized historical, manuscript, and image resources selected from Harvard University's library and museum collections that explore women's roles in the US economy between the Civil War and the Great Depression." The site provides free, searchable access to the collection's "2,396 books and pamphlets, 1,075 photographs, and 5,000 pages from manuscript collections."
Godey's Lady's Book. Selected issues of an important nineteenth-century periodical; includes illustrations. Note: $ Accessible Archives has the full run of this periodical, but it costs $60 a year for individual subscribers.
Internet Library of Early Journals.This site at Oxford includes a search feature and online versions of important British periodicals including Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Gentleman's Magazine, Notes and Queries, and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
The Freedmen and Southern Society Project at the University of Maryland contains online versions of primary sources such as proclamations, letters from slaves, court testimony, and other documents from the National Archives as well as essays on the period 1861-1867.
$ HarpWeek. Although most of this collection of Harper's Weekly magazines is not available to anyone but institutional subscribers, it does contain a few free sites, including the following: Immigrant and Ethnic America, The American West, Black America: 1857-1874, The World of Thomas Nast, and American Political Prints.
The Research Society for American Periodicals (RSAP) maintains an excellent collection of links for study in the field.
Miscellaneous Resources
Copyright finder. The WATCH File for Artists, Writers and Their Copyright Holder is an excellent resource for finding out who holds the copyright on works by U.S. and U.K. authors.
The Library of America is a nonprofit organization devoted to publishing authoritative editions of American authors. Its site includes information not only about its products but also about the authors whose works it publishes.
The American Memory Home Page at the Library of Congress. This popular site is rich in various kinds of content; it includes exhibitions, photographs, movies,and soundfiles.
National Endowment for the Humanities. This site provides links to and information about what the NEH considers to be the best literature sites on the web for K-12 educators and students, including American literature sites.
American and British History Resources on the Internet. and American Literature on the Net (Rutgers). These comprehensive sites at Rutgers University are logically organized with hundreds of links.
The Scout Report.A well-respected weekly online publication from the University of Wisconsin, the Scout Report selects and reviews sites of interest to researchers.
Infomine. Developed by librarians at the University of California at Riverside and other academic libraries, this useful site includes "expert-selected and described links" in a variety of disciplines.
Web Museum at Ibiblio.org. Not a literature site, but there are some great paintings here.
History Matters. Primarily designed for teachers of U. S. history, this site at George Mason University also reviews links to many sites dealing with American cultural history and has a search feature.
H-NET Humanities and Social Sciences Online. This searchable site includes reviews, teaching resources,discussion networks, and links for literature and history research.
Librarians' Index to the Internet reviews and annotates lists of sites in all disciplines.
Reference and Map Sites
Silva Rhetoricae.. This site provides a guide to classical rhetorical terms, including definitions and examples.
Currency Values. This site will convert the value of money in earlier centuries into the approximate value today. http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/current/howmuch.html
Measuring worth compares values today with those in the past.
Roman Numeral and Date Converter. This site also converts Gregorian to Julian dates and vice versa.
Authors' Pseudonyms. This site lists 11,500 real names and pseudonyms.
Literary map of New York City. This interactive map from the New York Times includes quotations and pictures of writers.
Literary Locales.San Jose State University's Department of English has a page with links to sites associated with many authors, including Louisa May Alcott and Edith Wharton
Paul P.Reuben's Perspectives in American Literature Pages. This major site includes extensive bibliographies of American authors as well as study questions about their major works.history; its SiteScene reviews are extensive and thorough.
Literary Resources on the Net. Jack Lynch maintains this excellent site at Rutgers; the entries are current, searchable, and annotated.
American Studies Web at Georgetown University. Sponsored by the American Studies Association, this site features web syllabi in American literature and American studies from 1994-1999. The Encyclopedia of American Studies, also at the site, is not accessible to non-ASA members.
Crossroads: An American Literature Hypertext Site at the University of Virginia. Recently redesigned, this well-established site contains information about and texts by Henry Adams, Charles Brockden Brown, Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Harriet Wilson, among others.
American Studies Links. Richard Horwitz, Professor of American Studies at the University of Iowa, has compiled this very useful cross-disciplinary list of recommended links in an easy-to-use tabbed format.
Early American
The Society of Early Americanists Home Page includes information about the Society as well as a syllabus archive, bibliographies, teaching resources, and a host of useful links, including several to repositories of primary documents.
Early Americas Digital Archive at the University of Maryland is searchable and includes "electronic texts and links to texts originally written in or about the Americas from 1492 to approximately 1820."
Common-Place is an online journal sponsored by the American Antiquarian Society; it features excellent articles on American history and culture.
Women Writers
The Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers Web. This major site features links from the journal Legacy,pictures of American women writers, online texts, and other resources.
Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers of Color. This site includes biographical information and bibliographies on contemporary writers, but some nineteenth-century subjects are covered as well.
Early American Women Writers, a new site edited by Sharon Harris, contains headnotes, information, and scholarly biographies.
The Poetess Archive at Miami University includes works by men and women from 1785-1900.
Older Sites
Project Crow. This site by Michael O'Conner, Millikin University (of American Literature Online, a site no longer available) contains links to and reviews of American literature sites. (from 2003).
Akahito Ishikawa's Site includes extensive links to American literature texts (from 2001).
Outline of American Literature. A publication of the U.S. Department of State, this online book by Kathryn VanSpanckeren provides descriptions of periods in American literature.(from 1998)
American Authors on the Web. Mitsuharu Matsuoka (Manchester University) has arranged American authors by date of birth
General Literature Sites
Victorian Web. George Landow, one of the foremost authorities on literary hypertext, created this rich site. See also the many links at the Victoria Research Web, a site associated with the VICTORIA discussion list.
The NINES Project is a peer-reviewed site that uses special software (Collex) to enhance the usability of current literary digitization projects on the web. It also sponsors annual workshops on creating these projects (Application deadline: October 15.)
Voice of the Shuttle. One of the first such sites on the Web, Alan Liu's comprehensive site covers literary theory as well as various periods of literature. The appearance of the site has recently been updated, and a search feature has been added.
Modern American Poetry. This companion site to Anthology of Modern American Poetry, edited by Cary Nelson, includes biographies, links, and excerpts from literary criticism on the poets.
Museum of American Poetics. This site focuses primarily on modern poetry and includes links to poetry sites as well as RealVideo presentations by and about contemporary authors.
$ FindArticles.com provides free access to a limited selection of peer-reviewed journals. Other articles are available for a fee. This is the principal site for those without access to Project Muse and other university-based subscription services.
Literary History. This easy-to-navigate site maintains a collection of annotated links on 19th-century British and 20th century British and American writers.
Literary Criticism on the Web from the Internet Public Library. This site features links to selected online criticism of major authors in American and British literature. Note: Links to Northernlight.com will not work.
Guide to Special Collections (Columbia University). This site contains links to archives and special collections (many searchable online) across the country.
$ Literary Encyclopedia. This resource provides the first 600 words of an article for free; users must pay to see the rest. It includes biographical essays written by literature scholars; it also has a feature that permits visitors to create a timeline.
Books Online
Note: Because of copyright restrictions, only works published prior to 1923 and those made available by the copyright holder are available for free online. Before you pay to read something published before 1923, such as the e-books available at Amazon.com, alibris.com and other sites, check these sites for links to the free versions of the texts. In most cases, the only pre-1923 books offered for sale are those also offered without charge by Project Gutenberg or other sites.
Google Books. This site has full versions in .pdf format of a lot of out-of-copyright books; it's a great resource. To find the complete version and not the snippet version, use Advanced Search. Note: for-profit print-on-demand publishers have locked up some of these these out-of-copyright books so that Google can't provide a full view. If you can't find them at Google Books, try archive.org or Project Gutenberg.
Archive.org. This site has books as well as sound and film media, including some that are not available at Google Books.
On-Line Books Page at the University of Pennsylvania. This searchable index includes books not located at the site as well.
A Celebration of Women Writers. Mary Mark Ockerbloom's comprehensive site includes links to texts, pictures, and bibliographies for American women writers as well as authors from many other countries.
Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg has been putting texts online in plain text or zipped form for several years. The site includes a searchable index. The Project Gutenberg site now also has an RSS feed (for Bloglines or other rss feed readers) so that you can see what texts have been added.
Project Bartleby Archive. This searchable archive of online texts at Columbia University includes reference books on American literature.
The University of California Press has made some of its scholarly books available online (free).
The Open Library project reproduces the page images of the edition and allows viewers to "turn the pages" just as they would with a regular book. Among the books included are some by Stephen Crane, Henry James, James Fenimore Cooper, and Gertrude Atherton.
Wright American Fiction, 1851-1875.This searchable site features works 1752 texts by 842 authors; its object is to include every novel published from 1851-1875 in the United States. Some familiar works are included, but many are rare or otherwise unobtainable online.
Documenting the American South: Beginnings to 1920. This site at the University of North Carolina has many texts, including Charles W. Chesnutt's The Conjure Woman.
Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia. Although some texts at this major repository are restricted to local users, many are not. See also The University of Virginia E-Book Library. This section of the Electronic Text Center offers free Palm and MSReader versions of many of its classic texts.
Perseus Project. Although this site's principal focus is ancient and Renaissance literature, the Perseus Project at Tufts University has a significant collection of California and Midwestern online texts.
Modernist Journals Project at Brown University includes .pdf image files of The New Age(1907-1922) and Cine-Tracts (1977-1982). New to the collection: December 1910.
The American Verse Project at the University of Michigan. Includes works by lesser-known authors such as John Hay and Lydia Sigourney.
The Internet Public Library Online Texts Collection. Links, information, and timelines about literature for librarians and students of literature.
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture includes online versions of texts by African American women writers.
MemoWare PDA Document Repository. This site has many classic works by Twain, Howells, Wharton, Crane, Melville, Alcott, Emerson, Thoreau, and a host of other authors available as free downloads for those who use various types of handheld computers (PalmPilots and so forth).
Archive.org includes audiobooks and other media types.
Nineteenth-Century Periodicals and Primary Sources
Cornell University's Making of America site is an extensive, searchable collection of major periodicals of the nineteenth century. The full collection lists 114 books and 24 periodicals, including Harper's, The Atlantic, Scribner's, and many other important journals. Files are now available in several formats: page images, .pdf (Adobe Acrobat), and uncorrected plain text.
Making of America: American Social History Documents at the University of Michigan. This site also contains links to nineteenth-century periodicals such as Appleton's, The Southern Literary Messenger, and The Overland Monthly. Note: Files at this site are graphics files rather than text or HTML.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. This new site from the Library of Congress provides a searchable database of page images from selected American newspapers from 1900-1910 and information about other newspapers not online.
The New York Public Library, which has the Schomburg Collection of nineteenth-century African American women writers, has just made a number of other digital collections of images available online; it is especially rich in text and images about New York, maps, the performing arts, and African American history.
The FictionMags index provides tables of contents for popular periodicals of the twentieth century such as The Saturday Evening Post; it is cross-indexed by author and periodical. Although it focuses on genre fiction (science fiction and mysteries, primarily), it provides useful information on other types as well. ( URL)
The Women Working, 1870-1930 archive (Open Collections Program) at Harvard University includes "[d]igitized historical, manuscript, and image resources selected from Harvard University's library and museum collections that explore women's roles in the US economy between the Civil War and the Great Depression." The site provides free, searchable access to the collection's "2,396 books and pamphlets, 1,075 photographs, and 5,000 pages from manuscript collections."
Godey's Lady's Book. Selected issues of an important nineteenth-century periodical; includes illustrations. Note: $ Accessible Archives has the full run of this periodical, but it costs $60 a year for individual subscribers.
Internet Library of Early Journals.This site at Oxford includes a search feature and online versions of important British periodicals including Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Gentleman's Magazine, Notes and Queries, and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
The Freedmen and Southern Society Project at the University of Maryland contains online versions of primary sources such as proclamations, letters from slaves, court testimony, and other documents from the National Archives as well as essays on the period 1861-1867.
$ HarpWeek. Although most of this collection of Harper's Weekly magazines is not available to anyone but institutional subscribers, it does contain a few free sites, including the following: Immigrant and Ethnic America, The American West, Black America: 1857-1874, The World of Thomas Nast, and American Political Prints.
The Research Society for American Periodicals (RSAP) maintains an excellent collection of links for study in the field.
Miscellaneous Resources
Copyright finder. The WATCH File for Artists, Writers and Their Copyright Holder is an excellent resource for finding out who holds the copyright on works by U.S. and U.K. authors.
The Library of America is a nonprofit organization devoted to publishing authoritative editions of American authors. Its site includes information not only about its products but also about the authors whose works it publishes.
The American Memory Home Page at the Library of Congress. This popular site is rich in various kinds of content; it includes exhibitions, photographs, movies,and soundfiles.
National Endowment for the Humanities. This site provides links to and information about what the NEH considers to be the best literature sites on the web for K-12 educators and students, including American literature sites.
American and British History Resources on the Internet. and American Literature on the Net (Rutgers). These comprehensive sites at Rutgers University are logically organized with hundreds of links.
The Scout Report.A well-respected weekly online publication from the University of Wisconsin, the Scout Report selects and reviews sites of interest to researchers.
Infomine. Developed by librarians at the University of California at Riverside and other academic libraries, this useful site includes "expert-selected and described links" in a variety of disciplines.
Web Museum at Ibiblio.org. Not a literature site, but there are some great paintings here.
History Matters. Primarily designed for teachers of U. S. history, this site at George Mason University also reviews links to many sites dealing with American cultural history and has a search feature.
H-NET Humanities and Social Sciences Online. This searchable site includes reviews, teaching resources,discussion networks, and links for literature and history research.
Librarians' Index to the Internet reviews and annotates lists of sites in all disciplines.
Reference and Map Sites
Silva Rhetoricae.. This site provides a guide to classical rhetorical terms, including definitions and examples.
Currency Values. This site will convert the value of money in earlier centuries into the approximate value today. http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/current/howmuch.html
Measuring worth compares values today with those in the past.
Roman Numeral and Date Converter. This site also converts Gregorian to Julian dates and vice versa.
Authors' Pseudonyms. This site lists 11,500 real names and pseudonyms.
Literary map of New York City. This interactive map from the New York Times includes quotations and pictures of writers.
Literary Locales.San Jose State University's Department of English has a page with links to sites associated with many authors, including Louisa May Alcott and Edith Wharton
Thursday, March 10, 2011
The Census of Fighting Age Men
Thursday, March 10,2011
Numbers 1-4
Chapter 1: The Census of Fighting Age Men.
Census in the wilderness of Sinai of fighting age men (20 years old and above - Excludes the Levites):
1.Reuben: 46,500 - leader was Elizur which means "God is a Rock."
2.Simeon: 59,300 - leader was Shelumiel meaning "at peace with
God."
3.Gad: 45,650 - leader was Eliasaph, meaning "God has added."
4.Judah: 74,600 - leader was Nahshon which means "a diviner."
5.Issachar: 54,400 - leader was Nethanel, meaning "the gift of
God."
6.Zebulun: 57,400 - leader was Eliab, meaning "God is a Father."
7.Ephraim: 40,500 - leader was Elishama, meaning "God has heard."
8.Manasseh: 32,200 - leader was Gamaliel, meaning "God is a Rewarder."
9.Benjamin: 35,400 - leader was Benjamin, meaning "My father is
judge"
10.Dan: 62,700 - leader was Ahiezer, meaning "brother of help."
Genesis 49:17, "Dan will be a snake beside
the road, a poisonous viper along the path that bites the horse’s
hooves so its rider is thrown off."
11.Asher: 41,500 - leader was Pagiel, which means "event of God."
12.Naphtali: 53,400 - leader was Ahira, meaning "brother of evil."
13.TOTAL: 603,550 (same number as in Exodus 38:26)
The Levites are counted in chapter 3, but not here. The tribes are to pitch their tents by their tribes. Chapter 2 specifies how the camp is to be arranged and how they to be arranged when on the march.
Notice that instead of the tribes of Levi and Joseph being named and counted, the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, are named and counted as the 12. Joseph was given the "double portion":
1 Chronicles 5:1-2: The oldest son of Israel was Reuben. But since he dishonored his father by sleeping with one of his father’s concubines, his birthright was given to the sons of his brother Joseph. For this reason, Reuben is not listed in the genealogical records as the firstborn son. The descendants of Judah became the most powerful tribe and provided a ruler for the nation, but the birthright belonged to Joseph.
Chapter 2: The Order of Encampment and Marching.
This chapter prescribes how the camp was to be arranged
and the order in which the tribes were to march. Surrounding the tabernacle
are the Levites: their arrangement is more closely described in chapter
3. They guarded the sanctuary from intrusions by unauthorized laypeople.
Beyond the Levites, the lay tribes are encamped.
The 12 tribes were divided
into four groups of three:
1.In premier position, east of the tabernacle
camp, were Judah with Issachar and Zebulun (2:2–9).
2.Next in rank
came the tribes camping to the south of the tabernacle, Reuben with Gad
and Simeon (2:10–16).
3.After them on the west came Ephraim with Benjamin
and Manasseh (2:18–24).
4.Finally, on the northern side of the tabernacle
camp were Dan with Asher and Naphtali (2:25–34).
The same sequence
was to be maintained on the march. The Judah group headed the march, followed
by the Reuben group. Then followed the Levites carrying the tabernacle.
After them came the Ephraim group of tribes, and the Dan group brought
up the rear (verse 31). It is not known what Israel's tribal banners and
standards looked like. A gap had to be kept between the lay tribes and
the tabernacle. From the English Standard Version Study Bible.
According to Rabbinical tradition, each had its own
standard with the crests of its ancestors:
•On the east, above the tent of Nahshon, there shone
a standard of green, because it was on an emerald (the
green stone) that the name of Judah was engraved upon the breastplate
of the high priest. Upon this standard was a lion,
according to the words of Jacob, "Judah is a lion's whelp."
•Towards the south, above the tent of Elizur, the
son of Reuben, there floated a red
standard, the color of the Sardius, the stone upon which Reuben's name
was written. Upon his standard was a human head, because
Reuben was the head of the family. And Reuben means, as we saw in Exodus,
"Behold a son," typical of Him who became the Son of man.
•On the west, above the tent of Elishama, the son
of Ephraim, there was a golden flag
on which was the head of a calf, because it was through
the vision of the calves or oxen that Joseph had predicted and provided
for the famine in Egypt; and hence Moses, when blessing the tribe of
Joseph (Deuteronomy 33:17) said, "Joseph has the majesty of
a young bull..."
•Towards the north, above the tent of Ahiezer, the
son of Dan, there floated a motley standard of red
and white, like the jasper, in which the name of Dan was engraven
upon the breastplate. In his standard was an eagle,
the great foe of serpents, because Jacob had compared Dan to a serpent. But Ahiezer had substituted the eagle.
Arrangement of the tribes:
•The tabernacle and its attendants were in the center.
•On the East side were Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The standard of
Judah was always in the lead when the tribes set out to march.
•On the South side were Reuben, Simeon, and Gad.
•On the West side were Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin.
•On the North side were Dan, Asher, and Naphtali.
•Each tribe had its own standard and leader, or prince.
The Lord arranged the camp, with Judah facing
towards the sunrise; this indicates the promised goal and also
reminds us of the rising of the Sun of Righteousness, the coming of the
Lord, when the wanderings of His people will end. And Yahweh
was in the midst of His people to guide and protect them, to
supply their needs.
Chapter 3: Two Censuses of the Levites & Chapter 4: Duties.
The two censuses in chapter 3 count two different groups
of Levites: the first (3:1–51) counts every male Levite over one
month old, whereas the second (4:1–49) counts those between 30 and
50 years of age. The male Levites took the place of the firstborn males
of the other tribes in order to serve the Lord, so the first census ensures
that the number of the former matches the number of the latter. Transporting
the tabernacle requires strength, so the second census aims to find if
there are enough able-bodied male Levites for this task.
Luke 3:23: Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry...
John 8:57: The people said, “You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?
Numbers 3:1–4 The Sons of Aaron. This census begins
with the priests, the most holy family of the Levites. The priests
were descended from Aaron, who belonged to the Kohathite clan within the
tribe of Levi (Exodus 6:16–25). Because of their high status,
they camped to the east of the tabernacle, guarding its entrance (Numbers
3:38); the tribe of Judah camped farther out (2:3). Despite their privileges,
two sons of Aaron (Nadba and Abihu) died as a result of giving an unauthorized
incense offering (3:4; see Leviticus 10:1–20). The remaining sons
of Aaron (Eleazar and Ithamar) served as priests of the Lord.
1 Chronicles 6:1: The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
Numbers 3:11–13 Reason for the Levitical Census. In the last plague, every firstborn male Egyptian and every firstborn of their cattle died, but the Israelite boys and cattle were spared. So after this, all Israelite firstborn boys and cattle were dedicated to God. That meant the cattle were sacrificed and the boys should have served God in the sanctuary (Exodus 11:4–13:15). But after the golden calf incident, the Levites took the place of the firstborn boys (Exodus 32:25–29).
Numbers 3:14–39 The Clans' Numbers, Positions, and Responsibilities. The census results are listed by clan, specifying which parts of the tabernacle each clan was responsible for carrying and which side they had to guard:
•Moses and the priests camped on the east, guarding the tabernacle sanctuary and protecting Israel.
•Most privileged were the Kohathites (8,600), camping on the south side and responsible for guarding, carrying and placing the Ark of the Covenant, the Veil, the Golden Incense Altar, the Lampstand, the Showbread Table, the Laver and the Burnt Offering Altar, together with all the utensils these required (Numbers 3:31).
•Next in privilege were the Gershonites (7,500), camping on the west side and responsible for carrying and setting up the curtains of the Outer Court, the Coverings of the Tabernacle, the curtain Door to the Sanctuary, the curtain Door to the Outer Court, together with all the ropes and fixings required for securing these curtains (Numbers 3:25-26)
•Finally came the Merarites (6,200), camping on the north side and responsible for carrying and setting up the Boards, the Bars and the Pillars and Sockets of the Outer Court (Numbers 3:36-37)
The Kohathites were entrusted with carrying the furnishings of the Holy Place and Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle. While the Israelites were encamped, the Kohathites would encamp to the south of the Tabernacle, except for Moses, Aaron, and their households, who would encamp directly to the east.
The Gershoniteswere to take care of the outer coverings of the tabernacle and the curtains that marked the outer court and the altar (Numbers 3:25-26). Gershon is called Gershom in 1 Chronicles 6:16. The name means "exile".
The Merarites were charged with the care of the boards of the tabernacle & related items as well as the pillars of the court all around & related components. Merari means sad/bitter.
1 Chronicles 6:49-50: Only Aaron and his descendants served as priests. They presented the offerings on the altar of burnt offering and the altar of incense, and they performed all the other duties related to the Most Holy Place. They made atonement for Israel by doing everything that Moses, the servant of God, had commanded them. The descendants of Aaron were Eleazar, Phinehas, Abishua,
The total number of Levites (verse 39) is 22,000. The location of the priests at the east side of the tabernacle guarding its entrance (verse 38) may anticipate the role of Jesus as high priest, giving his people access to God's presence in heaven (Hebrews 9–10).
Numbers 3:40–51 Redemption of the Firstborn. The census showed there were 273 fewer Levites than firstborn males in the other tribes. To redeem these 273 Israelites who had no Levite to take their place, five shekels (verse 47) per person had to be paid. This is the tariff prescribed in Leviticus 27:6 for boys under five. Five shekels would have been about a year's pay for a herdsman.
Numbers 3:43 all the firstborn males . . . were 22,273. If the total population was over 2 million, as some hold, then this number would only represent the number of firstborn males born since the exodus. Other interpreters understand this figure as the total of all firstborn in Israel, which would then indicate a much smaller total population.
Who were the Levites? Levites are the descendants
of Levi. The term is generally used, from the perspective of
The Bible, to identify the part of the tribe that was set apart for the
secondary duties of the sanctuary service (1 Kings 8:4, Ezra 2:70), as
assistants to the priests, who were also Levites. Although all priests
were Levites, not all Levites were priests. There were three divisions
of the Levites, names for Levi's three sons, Gershon, Kohath and Merari.
Gershon had two sons, Kohath four, and Marari two.
Prior to the Exodus, when the Israelites escaped the slavery of the Pharaoh of Egypt (see Who Was The Exodus Pharaoh?), the ancient way of worship was yet observed, with the firstborn son of each household inheriting the priest's office. That was changed at Sinai when an hereditary priesthood from the family of Aaron was established (Exodus 28:1). The Levites were formally set apart after the now-infamous incident with the golden calf idol that the Israelites made while Moses was away receiving The Ten Commandments from The Lord (Exodus chapter 32). The Levites did not take part in the idolatry, and actually killed 3,000 of those who did, as ordered by Moses (Exodus 32:25-29). After the incident was over, Moses said of the Levites, "Then Moses told the Levites, “Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the Lord, for you obeyed him even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers. Today you have earned a blessing.”" (Exodus 32:29). The Levites were natural allies of Moses because Moses himself was of the tribe of Levi (Exodus 2:1-2,10). Levi had 3 sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. From those branches of the family, the Levites were organized into 3 levels of service:
•The first level was composed of Aaron and his offspring, who were descended from Levi's son Kohath. They formed the priesthood.
•The second level was made up of all of the other descendants of Kohath who were not descendants of Aaron. They were in charge of the most sacred parts of the Tabernacle (Numbers 3:27-32, 4:4-15, 7:9).
•The third level consisted of all of the descendants of Gershon and Merari, who were given lesser duties (Numbers 3:21-26,33-37).
The Levites served at the Tabernacle from age 30 to 50 (Numbers 4:3,23,30). They were not counted for military service in the armies of Israel, but were set apart for service to God (Numbers 1:45-50, 2:33, 26:62).
According to Numbers 20:28, the office of the high priest was transmitted upon death to the oldest living son of the high priest: "Moses removed Aaron's garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain." And according to Numbers 25:10-13, God made a covenant with Phinehas, the eldest son of Eleazar, which guaranteed a lasting priesthood with the Aaronic line.
With their consecration to The Lord's service, the Levites were allotted no territorial inheritance of their own at the Division Of The Land; God was their inheritance (Numbers 18:20, 26:62, Deuteronomy 10:9). Once established in the Promised Land, they were supported, in the agricultural economy of the time, by the tithes of the produce of the land paid to The Lord by the other tribes.
The Levites were assigned towns to live in from the inheritance of the other tribes - forty-eight cities, thirteen of which were for the priests along with their other inhabitants (Numbers 35:2-5). Nine of these cities were in Judah, three in Naphtali, and four in each of the other tribes (Joshua chapter 21). Six of the Levitical cities were designated as Cities Of Refuge.
In Joshua, as in Numbers, the Levites consist of the clans of Kohath, Gershon, and Merari, and to each clan a large number of cities is assigned (Joshua 21). The Levites, as the servants of the Temple, appear next in I Chronicles, where David is represented as dividing them into "courses" to wait on the sons of Aaron by doing the menial work of the Temple because they were no longer needed to carry the Tabernacle (I Chronicles 23, especially verses 26-28). He also appointed some to be doorkeepers of the Temple, some to have charge of its treasure, and some to be singers (I Chronicles 25-26).
Chapter 4: Census and Duties of the Kohathite, Gershonite and Merarite clans.
Preparation of the tabernacle for travel:
1.Aaron and his sons take down the veil and cover the ark (no one else allowed to look at or touch these items).
Eleazar (Aaron's son) had charge of the fragrant incense, the grain offering, the anointing oil and had oversight of the whole tabernacle.
The immediate consequence of touching any of these objects out-of-turn, especially the ark of the covenant, was death.
The Kohathites were to carry these items:
◦The ark is then covered first by the veil, then by a covering of goatskin and then a blue cloth. Then the carrying poles were inserted.
◦The table of the bread of the presence is covered with a blue cloth, then the plates, etc and showbread are placed on it, the entire thing is covered with scarlet cloth and the goatskin and the carrying poles inserted.
◦The lampstand and its vessels are covered with a blue cloth and then covered with goatskin and put on a carrying frame.
◦The golden altar was covered with a blue cloth and then goats skin and then its carrying poles inserted.
◦The ashes from the altar are covered with a blue cloth and then all the utensils are put on it. Then it is all covered with goatskin and put in its poles.
2.The Gershonites were to carry:
◦The curtains of the tabernacle with its covering and the covering of goatskin and the screen for the entrance of the tabernacle and of the court gate (on two oxcarts per 7:7).
3.The Merarites were to transport the planks, poles, bases, etc (requiring four oxcarts per 7:8).
•The Kohathites between 30 and 50 years old numbered 2,750.
•
The Gershonites between 30 and 50 years old numbered 2,630.
•
The Merarites between 30 and 50 years old numbered 3,200.
•Total was 8,580.
Kohathites: While the Israelites were on the march, the Kohathites would march between the second and third ranks of the tribes and carry the ark of the covenant, the table of showbread, the seven-branched lampstand, the various altars, and the vessels of the Holy Place (Numbers 3:29-31). They needed to take care not to touch any of those articles until Aaron and his sons had prepared them properly for transport. The immediate consequence of touching any of these objects out-of-turn, especially the ark of the covenant, was death. (Numbers 4:15,17-20). Kohath's descendants included some of the most famous of the Israelites, and also some of the most infamous. Moses and Aaron were, of course, two of Kohath's grandsons. From Aaron came a line of high priests that continued nearly unbroken through the ages of the Judges, the United Kingdom of Israel, the Kingdom of Judah, the Babylonian Captivity, and the Restoration. Judge Samuel was another famous Kohathite. Yet another grandson of Kohath, Korah, led a mutiny against Moses; for that he was executed directly by God Himself. Two of the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, died after they offered "strange fire" to God (in the Holy of Holies itself, the most serious breach of duty and discipline of which they were capable). Jonathan, a great-grandson of Kohath, established an illegal priestly line for the Danites that lasted until the land was captured by Tiglath-pileser III (Judges 17-18). The meaning of Kohath's name is unknown, although it may be related to an Aramaic word meaning "obey".
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Numbers 1-4
Chapter 1: The Census of Fighting Age Men.
Census in the wilderness of Sinai of fighting age men (20 years old and above - Excludes the Levites):
1.Reuben: 46,500 - leader was Elizur which means "God is a Rock."
2.Simeon: 59,300 - leader was Shelumiel meaning "at peace with
God."
3.Gad: 45,650 - leader was Eliasaph, meaning "God has added."
4.Judah: 74,600 - leader was Nahshon which means "a diviner."
5.Issachar: 54,400 - leader was Nethanel, meaning "the gift of
God."
6.Zebulun: 57,400 - leader was Eliab, meaning "God is a Father."
7.Ephraim: 40,500 - leader was Elishama, meaning "God has heard."
8.Manasseh: 32,200 - leader was Gamaliel, meaning "God is a Rewarder."
9.Benjamin: 35,400 - leader was Benjamin, meaning "My father is
judge"
10.Dan: 62,700 - leader was Ahiezer, meaning "brother of help."
Genesis 49:17, "Dan will be a snake beside
the road, a poisonous viper along the path that bites the horse’s
hooves so its rider is thrown off."
11.Asher: 41,500 - leader was Pagiel, which means "event of God."
12.Naphtali: 53,400 - leader was Ahira, meaning "brother of evil."
13.TOTAL: 603,550 (same number as in Exodus 38:26)
The Levites are counted in chapter 3, but not here. The tribes are to pitch their tents by their tribes. Chapter 2 specifies how the camp is to be arranged and how they to be arranged when on the march.
Notice that instead of the tribes of Levi and Joseph being named and counted, the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, are named and counted as the 12. Joseph was given the "double portion":
1 Chronicles 5:1-2: The oldest son of Israel was Reuben. But since he dishonored his father by sleeping with one of his father’s concubines, his birthright was given to the sons of his brother Joseph. For this reason, Reuben is not listed in the genealogical records as the firstborn son. The descendants of Judah became the most powerful tribe and provided a ruler for the nation, but the birthright belonged to Joseph.
Chapter 2: The Order of Encampment and Marching.
This chapter prescribes how the camp was to be arranged
and the order in which the tribes were to march. Surrounding the tabernacle
are the Levites: their arrangement is more closely described in chapter
3. They guarded the sanctuary from intrusions by unauthorized laypeople.
Beyond the Levites, the lay tribes are encamped.
The 12 tribes were divided
into four groups of three:
1.In premier position, east of the tabernacle
camp, were Judah with Issachar and Zebulun (2:2–9).
2.Next in rank
came the tribes camping to the south of the tabernacle, Reuben with Gad
and Simeon (2:10–16).
3.After them on the west came Ephraim with Benjamin
and Manasseh (2:18–24).
4.Finally, on the northern side of the tabernacle
camp were Dan with Asher and Naphtali (2:25–34).
The same sequence
was to be maintained on the march. The Judah group headed the march, followed
by the Reuben group. Then followed the Levites carrying the tabernacle.
After them came the Ephraim group of tribes, and the Dan group brought
up the rear (verse 31). It is not known what Israel's tribal banners and
standards looked like. A gap had to be kept between the lay tribes and
the tabernacle. From the English Standard Version Study Bible.
According to Rabbinical tradition, each had its own
standard with the crests of its ancestors:
•On the east, above the tent of Nahshon, there shone
a standard of green, because it was on an emerald (the
green stone) that the name of Judah was engraved upon the breastplate
of the high priest. Upon this standard was a lion,
according to the words of Jacob, "Judah is a lion's whelp."
•Towards the south, above the tent of Elizur, the
son of Reuben, there floated a red
standard, the color of the Sardius, the stone upon which Reuben's name
was written. Upon his standard was a human head, because
Reuben was the head of the family. And Reuben means, as we saw in Exodus,
"Behold a son," typical of Him who became the Son of man.
•On the west, above the tent of Elishama, the son
of Ephraim, there was a golden flag
on which was the head of a calf, because it was through
the vision of the calves or oxen that Joseph had predicted and provided
for the famine in Egypt; and hence Moses, when blessing the tribe of
Joseph (Deuteronomy 33:17) said, "Joseph has the majesty of
a young bull..."
•Towards the north, above the tent of Ahiezer, the
son of Dan, there floated a motley standard of red
and white, like the jasper, in which the name of Dan was engraven
upon the breastplate. In his standard was an eagle,
the great foe of serpents, because Jacob had compared Dan to a serpent. But Ahiezer had substituted the eagle.
Arrangement of the tribes:
•The tabernacle and its attendants were in the center.
•On the East side were Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The standard of
Judah was always in the lead when the tribes set out to march.
•On the South side were Reuben, Simeon, and Gad.
•On the West side were Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin.
•On the North side were Dan, Asher, and Naphtali.
•Each tribe had its own standard and leader, or prince.
The Lord arranged the camp, with Judah facing
towards the sunrise; this indicates the promised goal and also
reminds us of the rising of the Sun of Righteousness, the coming of the
Lord, when the wanderings of His people will end. And Yahweh
was in the midst of His people to guide and protect them, to
supply their needs.
Chapter 3: Two Censuses of the Levites & Chapter 4: Duties.
The two censuses in chapter 3 count two different groups
of Levites: the first (3:1–51) counts every male Levite over one
month old, whereas the second (4:1–49) counts those between 30 and
50 years of age. The male Levites took the place of the firstborn males
of the other tribes in order to serve the Lord, so the first census ensures
that the number of the former matches the number of the latter. Transporting
the tabernacle requires strength, so the second census aims to find if
there are enough able-bodied male Levites for this task.
Luke 3:23: Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry...
John 8:57: The people said, “You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?
Numbers 3:1–4 The Sons of Aaron. This census begins
with the priests, the most holy family of the Levites. The priests
were descended from Aaron, who belonged to the Kohathite clan within the
tribe of Levi (Exodus 6:16–25). Because of their high status,
they camped to the east of the tabernacle, guarding its entrance (Numbers
3:38); the tribe of Judah camped farther out (2:3). Despite their privileges,
two sons of Aaron (Nadba and Abihu) died as a result of giving an unauthorized
incense offering (3:4; see Leviticus 10:1–20). The remaining sons
of Aaron (Eleazar and Ithamar) served as priests of the Lord.
1 Chronicles 6:1: The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
Numbers 3:11–13 Reason for the Levitical Census. In the last plague, every firstborn male Egyptian and every firstborn of their cattle died, but the Israelite boys and cattle were spared. So after this, all Israelite firstborn boys and cattle were dedicated to God. That meant the cattle were sacrificed and the boys should have served God in the sanctuary (Exodus 11:4–13:15). But after the golden calf incident, the Levites took the place of the firstborn boys (Exodus 32:25–29).
Numbers 3:14–39 The Clans' Numbers, Positions, and Responsibilities. The census results are listed by clan, specifying which parts of the tabernacle each clan was responsible for carrying and which side they had to guard:
•Moses and the priests camped on the east, guarding the tabernacle sanctuary and protecting Israel.
•Most privileged were the Kohathites (8,600), camping on the south side and responsible for guarding, carrying and placing the Ark of the Covenant, the Veil, the Golden Incense Altar, the Lampstand, the Showbread Table, the Laver and the Burnt Offering Altar, together with all the utensils these required (Numbers 3:31).
•Next in privilege were the Gershonites (7,500), camping on the west side and responsible for carrying and setting up the curtains of the Outer Court, the Coverings of the Tabernacle, the curtain Door to the Sanctuary, the curtain Door to the Outer Court, together with all the ropes and fixings required for securing these curtains (Numbers 3:25-26)
•Finally came the Merarites (6,200), camping on the north side and responsible for carrying and setting up the Boards, the Bars and the Pillars and Sockets of the Outer Court (Numbers 3:36-37)
The Kohathites were entrusted with carrying the furnishings of the Holy Place and Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle. While the Israelites were encamped, the Kohathites would encamp to the south of the Tabernacle, except for Moses, Aaron, and their households, who would encamp directly to the east.
The Gershoniteswere to take care of the outer coverings of the tabernacle and the curtains that marked the outer court and the altar (Numbers 3:25-26). Gershon is called Gershom in 1 Chronicles 6:16. The name means "exile".
The Merarites were charged with the care of the boards of the tabernacle & related items as well as the pillars of the court all around & related components. Merari means sad/bitter.
1 Chronicles 6:49-50: Only Aaron and his descendants served as priests. They presented the offerings on the altar of burnt offering and the altar of incense, and they performed all the other duties related to the Most Holy Place. They made atonement for Israel by doing everything that Moses, the servant of God, had commanded them. The descendants of Aaron were Eleazar, Phinehas, Abishua,
The total number of Levites (verse 39) is 22,000. The location of the priests at the east side of the tabernacle guarding its entrance (verse 38) may anticipate the role of Jesus as high priest, giving his people access to God's presence in heaven (Hebrews 9–10).
Numbers 3:40–51 Redemption of the Firstborn. The census showed there were 273 fewer Levites than firstborn males in the other tribes. To redeem these 273 Israelites who had no Levite to take their place, five shekels (verse 47) per person had to be paid. This is the tariff prescribed in Leviticus 27:6 for boys under five. Five shekels would have been about a year's pay for a herdsman.
Numbers 3:43 all the firstborn males . . . were 22,273. If the total population was over 2 million, as some hold, then this number would only represent the number of firstborn males born since the exodus. Other interpreters understand this figure as the total of all firstborn in Israel, which would then indicate a much smaller total population.
Who were the Levites? Levites are the descendants
of Levi. The term is generally used, from the perspective of
The Bible, to identify the part of the tribe that was set apart for the
secondary duties of the sanctuary service (1 Kings 8:4, Ezra 2:70), as
assistants to the priests, who were also Levites. Although all priests
were Levites, not all Levites were priests. There were three divisions
of the Levites, names for Levi's three sons, Gershon, Kohath and Merari.
Gershon had two sons, Kohath four, and Marari two.
Prior to the Exodus, when the Israelites escaped the slavery of the Pharaoh of Egypt (see Who Was The Exodus Pharaoh?), the ancient way of worship was yet observed, with the firstborn son of each household inheriting the priest's office. That was changed at Sinai when an hereditary priesthood from the family of Aaron was established (Exodus 28:1). The Levites were formally set apart after the now-infamous incident with the golden calf idol that the Israelites made while Moses was away receiving The Ten Commandments from The Lord (Exodus chapter 32). The Levites did not take part in the idolatry, and actually killed 3,000 of those who did, as ordered by Moses (Exodus 32:25-29). After the incident was over, Moses said of the Levites, "Then Moses told the Levites, “Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the Lord, for you obeyed him even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers. Today you have earned a blessing.”" (Exodus 32:29). The Levites were natural allies of Moses because Moses himself was of the tribe of Levi (Exodus 2:1-2,10). Levi had 3 sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. From those branches of the family, the Levites were organized into 3 levels of service:
•The first level was composed of Aaron and his offspring, who were descended from Levi's son Kohath. They formed the priesthood.
•The second level was made up of all of the other descendants of Kohath who were not descendants of Aaron. They were in charge of the most sacred parts of the Tabernacle (Numbers 3:27-32, 4:4-15, 7:9).
•The third level consisted of all of the descendants of Gershon and Merari, who were given lesser duties (Numbers 3:21-26,33-37).
The Levites served at the Tabernacle from age 30 to 50 (Numbers 4:3,23,30). They were not counted for military service in the armies of Israel, but were set apart for service to God (Numbers 1:45-50, 2:33, 26:62).
According to Numbers 20:28, the office of the high priest was transmitted upon death to the oldest living son of the high priest: "Moses removed Aaron's garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain." And according to Numbers 25:10-13, God made a covenant with Phinehas, the eldest son of Eleazar, which guaranteed a lasting priesthood with the Aaronic line.
With their consecration to The Lord's service, the Levites were allotted no territorial inheritance of their own at the Division Of The Land; God was their inheritance (Numbers 18:20, 26:62, Deuteronomy 10:9). Once established in the Promised Land, they were supported, in the agricultural economy of the time, by the tithes of the produce of the land paid to The Lord by the other tribes.
The Levites were assigned towns to live in from the inheritance of the other tribes - forty-eight cities, thirteen of which were for the priests along with their other inhabitants (Numbers 35:2-5). Nine of these cities were in Judah, three in Naphtali, and four in each of the other tribes (Joshua chapter 21). Six of the Levitical cities were designated as Cities Of Refuge.
In Joshua, as in Numbers, the Levites consist of the clans of Kohath, Gershon, and Merari, and to each clan a large number of cities is assigned (Joshua 21). The Levites, as the servants of the Temple, appear next in I Chronicles, where David is represented as dividing them into "courses" to wait on the sons of Aaron by doing the menial work of the Temple because they were no longer needed to carry the Tabernacle (I Chronicles 23, especially verses 26-28). He also appointed some to be doorkeepers of the Temple, some to have charge of its treasure, and some to be singers (I Chronicles 25-26).
Chapter 4: Census and Duties of the Kohathite, Gershonite and Merarite clans.
Preparation of the tabernacle for travel:
1.Aaron and his sons take down the veil and cover the ark (no one else allowed to look at or touch these items).
Eleazar (Aaron's son) had charge of the fragrant incense, the grain offering, the anointing oil and had oversight of the whole tabernacle.
The immediate consequence of touching any of these objects out-of-turn, especially the ark of the covenant, was death.
The Kohathites were to carry these items:
◦The ark is then covered first by the veil, then by a covering of goatskin and then a blue cloth. Then the carrying poles were inserted.
◦The table of the bread of the presence is covered with a blue cloth, then the plates, etc and showbread are placed on it, the entire thing is covered with scarlet cloth and the goatskin and the carrying poles inserted.
◦The lampstand and its vessels are covered with a blue cloth and then covered with goatskin and put on a carrying frame.
◦The golden altar was covered with a blue cloth and then goats skin and then its carrying poles inserted.
◦The ashes from the altar are covered with a blue cloth and then all the utensils are put on it. Then it is all covered with goatskin and put in its poles.
2.The Gershonites were to carry:
◦The curtains of the tabernacle with its covering and the covering of goatskin and the screen for the entrance of the tabernacle and of the court gate (on two oxcarts per 7:7).
3.The Merarites were to transport the planks, poles, bases, etc (requiring four oxcarts per 7:8).
•The Kohathites between 30 and 50 years old numbered 2,750.
•
The Gershonites between 30 and 50 years old numbered 2,630.
•
The Merarites between 30 and 50 years old numbered 3,200.
•Total was 8,580.
Kohathites: While the Israelites were on the march, the Kohathites would march between the second and third ranks of the tribes and carry the ark of the covenant, the table of showbread, the seven-branched lampstand, the various altars, and the vessels of the Holy Place (Numbers 3:29-31). They needed to take care not to touch any of those articles until Aaron and his sons had prepared them properly for transport. The immediate consequence of touching any of these objects out-of-turn, especially the ark of the covenant, was death. (Numbers 4:15,17-20). Kohath's descendants included some of the most famous of the Israelites, and also some of the most infamous. Moses and Aaron were, of course, two of Kohath's grandsons. From Aaron came a line of high priests that continued nearly unbroken through the ages of the Judges, the United Kingdom of Israel, the Kingdom of Judah, the Babylonian Captivity, and the Restoration. Judge Samuel was another famous Kohathite. Yet another grandson of Kohath, Korah, led a mutiny against Moses; for that he was executed directly by God Himself. Two of the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, died after they offered "strange fire" to God (in the Holy of Holies itself, the most serious breach of duty and discipline of which they were capable). Jonathan, a great-grandson of Kohath, established an illegal priestly line for the Danites that lasted until the land was captured by Tiglath-pileser III (Judges 17-18). The meaning of Kohath's name is unknown, although it may be related to an Aramaic word meaning "obey".
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The United States as Ephraim
The United States as Ephraim
by William F. Dankenbring
"Although virtually no one has noticed it, God has left the identity of modern Israel in the most obvious place one could imagine -- in the very name of our great nation! Our nation is the only nation in the world directly named 'company of nations'! "Not only that, but Manasseh was to become a great nation, and only one modern nation is known as being 'great' in its very name -- Great Britain! "The official name of Great Britain is of course the United Kingdom -- a single great nation. The United Kingdom and the United States. A nation and a company of nations. "To those of us who have strongly believed that the United States is Manasseh this requires some adjustment in thinking. But if the reader will withhold judgment until all the evidence can be considered, it will be seen that the United States is Ephraim, and that once the mental adjustment is made, this understanding makes many times more sense than believing our nation to be Manasseh! "The important thing to grasp is that the United States fits both the type and the biblical interpretation of 'company of nations.'
The house of Israel was a company or union of equal members, none of whom were sovereign. This fits the United States. It does not fit Great Britain or the British Commonwealth. The British Commonwealth has never been a company of equal states. Britain has always been one great nation. Whereas the British Commonwealth is a collection of scattered, independent, satellite nations around the world under the authority of the single great nation Britain. The United States is an assembly of fifty united states who have given up their sovereignty in the interests of collective political union and are, for the most part, united geographically, as was the house of Israel anciently. The United States began with thirteen states. When we reached the West Coast we had 'filled up' our land with forty-eight states, perhaps paralleling the forty-eight cities for the Levites in ancient Israel. Then we added two more to reach a 'fullness' of fifty, or five times the number in the house of Israel of old [and the Jubilee number!]. The United States is the company, fullness, assembly, or convocation of states that Ephraim was to become" (ibid., p.87).
On the other hand, if Ephraim were the nations of Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc., then when the prophecies of Hosea speak of Ephraim "calling to Egypt" or "going to Assyria," which of those nations would be meant? (Hos.7:11). If Ephraim were composed of widely scattered nations, the prophecies of Hosea would be inexplicable; it would be impossible to determine to which "part" of Ephraim they applied, or how they could possibly apply to every "nation" of Ephraim! Obviously, the prophecies directed toward Ephraim in the Bible are directed to ONE UNITED COUNTRY, one sovereign nation, UNITED TOGETHER -- as Ephraim was historically, and as the United States is, today! The very words of the U.S. Constitution reveal our national identity! The Constitution begins, "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union…"
The U.S.A. -- A Union of "Nation-States" Ephraim was to become a united company or assembly of peoples. Isn't it interesting that the United States is famous around the world for being the "melting pot" of the nations? The United States has more emigrants from more diverse locations, than any other nation on earth! This is both a strength, and a fatal weakness. The prophet Hosea foretold this condition would describe Ephraim in the last days! Hosea wrote, "Ephraim MIXES with the nations; Ephraim is a flat cake not turned over [white on one side, baked black or brown on the other side!]. Foreigners sap his strength, but he does not realize it. His hair is sprinkled with gray, but he does not notice" (Hosea 7:8-9).
The United States began with thirteen colonies, and a flag of thirteen stripes and thirteen stars. Ephraim was the "thirteenth tribe" of ancient Israel! Mere coincidence? Ephraim's very name means "double fruit." It is the United States which exploded onto the world scene, becoming a world power in the days of Theodore Roosevelt at the turn of the century, and the twentieth century has been hailed as "America's Century," and world peace "Pax Americana." In a very short time, historically speaking, the United States grew, burgeoned, with rippling muscles, and grew past his older brother Manasseh, yet they are united by language and cultural ties unlike that of any other separate nations on the face of the earth! They are true brothers, sometimes arguing, squabbling, fighting, but back-to-back against any common enemy from the outside!
The Greatness of Ephraim
Jacob prophesied that the younger brother, Ephraim, was to be greater than his older brother, Manasseh. Manasseh, the firstborn, was the older brother. Which nation is older -- the United States or Great Britiain? That fact alone should tell us that Great Britain was the older brother, Manasseh, which was to be "great," and even has the word "great" in its name, unlike any other country on the earth today! But what about the United States? Is it greater than Great Britain, even as Ephraim was to be greater than Manasseh? Let's face this question honestly and squarely, without pride, pretence, or hypocrisy. The United States is the wealthiest nation in the world in terms of resources, business and assets, and gross national produced -- although we have also become the world's biggest debtor nation by far due to our sins and living beyond our means during the past decade. We comprise only six percent of the world's population, and yet we control over 40 percent of the world's wealth! We are the breadbasket of the world. Our gross domestic product is over $14.6 billion dollars annually. Either California or New York could be the world's fifth or sixth richest nation in the world. The state of Illinois produces more than the entire continent of Africa! The eight industrial states from New York to Illinois produce as much as the Common Market, the Soviet Union, or all of Latin America, Africa, most of Asia except Japan, and the Middle East combined! Gred Doudna writes concerning the greatness of America, versus that of Great Britain: "Jacob plainly, clearly, says Ephraim was to be greater than Manasseh.
The United States is greater than Britain by far. Britain is now no more than a second-rate power on the world scene. It is the United States which is the greatest and most powerful nation the world has ever seen. "Younger Ephraim was to be greater than older brother Manasseh. This alone, apart from anything else, should conclusively settle the question of which is Ephraim and which is Manasseh" (p.89). Ephraim's national wealth and prosperity in the End Time was prophesied by Hosea. The prophet foretold, "Ephraim boasts, 'I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin'" (Hos.12:8). It has been the United States which has soared to the status of the richest of nations during the end times -- not Great Britain. The comparison in national wealth is meaningless -- there is no comparison. The economy of the United States has been the engine that has driven the free world since the end of World War II. It has led to postwar recovery of the entire Western World. Further, there is no comparison in military power between the two nations in the last days.
Hosea prophesied of Ephraim -- or the United States of America -- "When Ephraim spoke, men trembled; he was EXALTED in Israel. But he became guilty of Baal worship and died. Now they sin more and more; they make idols for themselves from their silver, cleverly fashioned images, all of them the work of craftsmen" (Hos.13:1-2). Some have suggested that since the United States is obviously greater than Britain, when Ephraim was prophesied to be greater, can be explained by the fact that Ephraim was to be a company of nations, whereas Manasseh was to be the greatest single nation. But that is NOT WHAT THE PROPHECY SAID! Jacob plainly said, without equivocation: "Nevertheless, his younger brother will be GREATER than he" (Gen.48:19). Now notice the time sequence of Jacob's blessing. Manasseh he mentioned first, that he would be great. THEN he mentioned Ephraim would be greater than his brother. Time wise, therefore, we see that Manasseh was to shoot to greatness first, even as Great Britain did. But then, later, his younger brother Ephraim was to shoot past him, and surpass him in greatness, wealth, and military might! This is just what happened! Britain became a great country, and colonizer, first; but then America suddenly grew up, burst her bonds, and became the economic, industrial, and military colossus of the world -- the greatest UNITED STATES the world had ever seen in all its history! What an amazing, incredible fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy, uttered almost 4,011 years ago, shortly before his death! In Genesis 35:11
God told Jacob that his progeny would become "a nation and a community of nations." Notice which came first -- the single nation. Then the community of nations, or "united states," were to follow. Again, this is exactly what history records. The single nation -- Great Britain -- came first historically and was great, and Britain "ruled the waves," the British pound was the international currency, and the "sun never set" on the British Empire. But then the "company of nations" or "united states" followed, and surpassed the greatness of the British Empire at its height. After World War II, no nation and no empire could compete with the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! It ruled the sea lanes of the world; its currency, the dollar, was the foundation of international trade. Thus Ephraim, the United States, surpassed his older brother, Manasseh, or Great Britain.
It was all prophesied long ago! Says Gred Doudna: "The British Empire used to rule the seas and the world, but God is concerned with the end-time in Bible prophecy, the time we are living in, the time the Bible was written for. That's now -- not 100-200 years ago or more. To explain Britain's supposedly being Ephraim by saying that Britain was at one time greater than the United States, that she used to be greater in the 1800's, is entirely unsatisfactory. What about now? Prophecy was written for the twenty first century, not the eighteenth or nineteenth. One of the strongest and most persistent objections to the whole 'Anglo-Israel' theory is this fact of Britain's ignoble decline and current second-rate status. Yet it confirms modern Israel's true identity and the truth of Jacob's words if we but realize that our nation, the United States, is Ephraim!" (p.90). Population Explosion! One of the tremendous blessings God promised the descendants of Israel in the end-times was great fertility and fruitfulness, the blessings of the womb (Gen.17:6, 22:17, Deut.28:4).
Jacob referred to Joseph as a "fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall" (Gen.49:22). The descendants of Israel in the End Time were to be "as the sand of the sea" (Isa.10:22). "Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel?" (Numbers 23:10). The population of Britain is 62 million. The population of the United States is 310 million -- five times as much! The prophet Hosea indicated that of all the Israelite nations, Ephraim was to become the most fruitful; "even though he thrives ["be fruitful," KJV, "flourishess," Tanakh] among his brethren," God foretold, "an east wind from the Lord will come, blowing in from the desert; his spring will fail and his well dry up. His store house will be plundered of all its treasures" (Hos.13:15). "The more they increased, the more they sinned against me," God foretold (Hos.4:7, Tanakh). These Scriptures show that Ephraim was to be the MOST FRUITFUL of the tribes of Israel -- the MOST POPULOUS! The only nation descended from ancient Israel which can truly fit this description today in the United States!
Ephraim -- "Doubly Fruitful" If the United States is NOT Ephraim, the most populous, "doubly fruitful" Israelitish nation -- then who is? Fruitfulness, flourishing population, can also refer to the rate of growth. The growth rate of the United States has been nothing short of phenomenal -- from virtually nothing to 310 million in 411 years! During that time Britain has grown to 62 million. But the United States has grown from a population of 3,240,000 in 1784 to 310,000,000 in 2011 -- an exponential population growth of nearly 96 times over! No country in history has, like the United States, literally come from out of nowhere, and literally EXPLODED in population growth and power, both military and economic! Truly, the United States -- modern "Ephraim" -- has experienced a dramatic population increase. Truly it has lived up to its name -- and is "DOUBLY fruitful"! Vast Natural Resources Promised Recall that God promised outstanding natural resources and blessings to the descendants of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, with Ephraim receiving the "double portion" as the "birthright son" of the two. This promise of the choicest gifts of heaven above, of the deep below, of the everlasting hills and valleys, and most fertile fields, and precious metals, has been fulfilled nowhere like it has in the United States. God also promised national greatness, and prestige and honor among the other nations. Again, this promise has been fulfilled nowhere as much as in the United States! God said of Isaac's descendants, "May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness -- an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed" (Gen.27:27). Although these blessings would accrue to all the children of Israel, as the primary inheritor of the BIRTHRIGHT, they would accrue to Ephraim most of all! For we read in I Chronicles 5:2, "the rights of the FIRSTBORN belonged to Joseph.
Balaam prophesied of Israel, "How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel! Like valleys they spread out, like gardens beside a river, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters" (Numbers 24:5-6). Isaiah was inspired to prophesy of Ephraim, "Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley -- to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine" (Isa.28:1). A land of hills and mountains, lakes and rivers, and fertile vast valleys, Ephraim is characterized. What land fits that Biblical description more than the United States? The KJV translates this passage "fat valleys," the Living Bible has "rich valleys." Either way, no nation on earth has richer, fatter, more fertile and vast valleys than the United States of America! "Fat valleys" is a symbol of rich agricultural bounty. Of the two, the U.S. and Britain, which is known as the "breadbasket of the world"? Of the two, which is known for its abundant wine production? Britain is famous for its ales and beer, and Scotland for its whiskey, but the United States is world famous for its wines -- especially California wine!
The United States has such world renown agricultural valleys as the San Joaquin, San Fernando, Oregon, Ohio, Cumberland, Shenandoah, etc. This passage in Isaiah 28:1 also speaks of the "flower" of Ephraim's "glorious beauty." What nation on earth is more famous for its "glorious beauty" and natural scenery than the United States? From sea to shining sea, from the redwoods and Sequoias of California to the majestic waters of Niagara Falls, to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee to the Mojave Desert, from the Grand Canyon of the Colorado to the paint pots and geysers of Yellowstone, from the Grant Tetons of Wyoming to the towering granite spires of Yosemite, from the Everglades of Florida and the Texas Big Bend Country to the waters of Waikiki, Hawaii, you name it -- no country on the face of the earth can compare with the glorious beauty of Ephraim -- the United States of America! We sing the song, "O beautiful for spacious skies, for ambers waves of grain; for purple mountain majesties, above the fruited plain -- America, America, God shed His grace on thee; O crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!" We sing the song, "God bless America, land that I love; stand beside her, and guide her, with the light from the light from above." We sing, "This land is your land, this land is my land, From the Gulf Stream waters, to the New York island, this land is made for you and me." But as we sing these inspiring, rich, bountiful songs, little do we realize that we are singing the songs of Ephraim -- the youngest son of Joseph, who was to inherit the blessings of the FIRSTBORN! The "glorious beauty" of Ephraim in the glorious and awe-inspiring beauty of the United States!
You can go on a summer trip. You can go to the National Parks of Mount Rainier, the Northern Cascades, Glacier in Montana, Yellowstone and Grant Tetons in Wyoming, and dropped down to the Canyon lands, Arches National Monument, Bryce Canyon, and Zion National Park. There is also Yosemite, Sequoia, King's Canyon in northern California, or Crater Lake in Oregon. Also the Big Sur country along the California coastline, or the beautiful Oregon coast. You get overwhelmed by the greatness of the heritage of the beautiful places God has bequeathed to the children of Joseph, Ephraim in particular! The United States has the Great Plains, the Mississippi River system, the Great Lakes -- the finest breadbasket and grazing land, commercial water base and drainage system of the whole world. The Great Plains are the greatest area of useful land in the world. Half the fresh water of the world is contained in the Great Lakes system. Incalculably rich deposits of iron ore, coal and limestone lie along this great waterway. In this region was erected the world's greatest steel industry that helped make America the strongest and richest nation on earth. The famous words of Abraham Lincoln express the truth: "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
"It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness" (quoted in Ascent to Greatness, Raymond F. McNair pg.196). Hosea the prophet further describes the blessings that would come to Ephraim as the recipient of the blessings of the firstborn of Israel, and then to all Israel. God says of Ephraim, "I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place" (Hos.9:13). What nation on earth has a more "pleasant place" than the United States? What mercantile city today more resembles ancient Tyre, the mercantile hub of the ancient world, than New York City? Here again are further allusions to the identity of modern Ephraim -- the United States! Why were the vast, far flung resources of North America left virtually untapped and unused for millennia until the arrival of the Anglo-Saxon descendants of ancient Jacob, or Israel -- the peoples of Ephraim, and Manasseh? Was it all "manifest destiny," as our forefathers believed? Moses was inspired to write: "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel" (Deut.32:8, NIV). God reserved the choicest portions of the earth for the birthright tribe of Israel. He gave the beautiful North American continent to the sons of Joseph -- Ephraim the part belonging to the United States, and Canada the portion He reserved for Manasseh, and some of the children of Reuben. Interestingly, it was Joshua -- an Ephraimite -- who led the children of Israel into the Promised Land.
Today America is a new "Promised Land" of our time. Millions of foreigners strive to emigrate here, legally or illegally, regarding this fair land as the "last best hope for mankind." Interesting, also, that Joseph was the brother that was "separated from his brethren" (Deut.33:16, KJV). Modern Joseph, also, is "separated" from his brothers -- other Israelitish nations -- by the Atlantic Ocean! Only Ephraim, and a portion of Manasseh, are located on the North American continent, thus "separated" from their brother nations in northwestern Europe! Hosea says of Ephraim, "like a wild donkey wandering alone" (Hos.8:9). Balaam said of Israel, "I see a people who LIVE APART and do not consider themselves one of the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel?" (Num.23:9-10). When Ephraim was born, Joseph gave him that name, saying, "It is because God has made me FRUITFUL in the land of my suffering" (Gen.41:52). Like his father Joseph, Ephraim has been fruitful in the land of his affliction or early suffering. The early colonists in North America underwent extreme privation and troubles, before the foundation was laid for a new land, a new nation.
The exploits of the voyagers on the Mayflower, most of whom perished en route to the New World, and the harrowing difficulties of the Pilgrims, and the settlers at Jamestown, in a sense duplicate the earlier sufferings of their forefather Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers, and cast into the dungeon of Pharaoh and virtually forgotten there. On the other hand, Manasseh means "Causing to forget." When he was born, Joseph said he named him that, "Because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household" (Gen.41:51). Notice how this name reveals the nature of Manasseh. Britain, the older of the two sons, has truly "forgotten all his father's household" -- and even his national identity, despite all the evidence around them! There are the historical records and legends of Jeremiah bringing the king's daughters to Ireland, where Princess Tea married into the royal line already established by early Israelites. There was the name of Tara, the ancient Irish capital, meaning "Torah." There was the Stone of Scone, or Jacob's Pillar Stone, and its traditions and history. There were the royal genealogies, which trace the British monarchy back to the line of King David! There was the very name "British" itself -- which is Hebrew for "Covenant man." And the very name "Saxons," which derives from "sons of Isaac." Over the centuries, God caused ancient Israel to go into captivity. While there, they eventually lost their true identity, being far removed from the land of Palestine. God later released their captivity, and led them to their new inheritances, in Western Europe, the British Isles, and the New World. He blessed them, and caused them to become great. But Manasseh, despite all the legends, history, and evidence, lost the knowledge of his own identity, and "forgot" who he really was, just as his name implies! Here then is more evidence that Manasseh is Great Britain, and Ephraim the United States of America!
These Biblical allusions would fit perfectly to two peoples, both descended from Joseph, both dwelling apart as he did from his brethren -- who was "separated from his brethren" (Deut.33:16, KJV) -- dwelling apart from the Old World countries -- in the island of England, and in the "New World," the Western hemisphere! The "Coastlands of Ephraim" The prophet Isaiah was inspired of God to write, "Ephraim is MY FIRSTBORN" (Jeremiah 31:9). He was to dwell in the "north lands" and "the ends of the earth" (verse 8). He was to dwell in the "isles afar" (v.10), and the "coastlands" (Isa.49:1, Tanakh). What description better fits the United States, with the longest habitable coastline of any nation? It is in the northern hemisphere; it is "far off" and at the "ends of the earth" from Jerusalem; and it is a long and valuable "coastland." No other land can combine all these qualifications, like the United States -- modern Ephraim! When God scattered His people in 718-721 B.C., he drove them among the peoples of the earth; "yet in DISTANT LANDS they will remember me," He foretold (Zech.10:9). He prophesied of them, "Stand silent before me, coastlands, And let nations renew their strength" (Isa.41:1). Did not the United States, free from the yoke of European wars and oppression, and the weakening influence of pagan religion, receive a NEW BIRTH in a NEW LAND of pristine opportunity and magnificent wealth -- free from the stifling influences of paganism and heathen customs?
God literally brought His people Ephraim to "distant lands," and "coastlands." The same Hebrew word yam is translated "sea" and "west." Therefore, the "islands of the sea" or "coastlands of the sea" could just as readily be translated as "coastlands of the west." Needless to say, the United States is a "coastland of the WEST"! -- far west of Jerusalem! Isaiah writes, "Look! These are coming from AFAR, these from the NORTH and the WEST, and these from the land of Sinim" (Isa.49:12, Tanakh). If you draw a line due north of Jerusalem to the North Pole, and due west, and followed both of them till they intersected, the section of the globe carved out would include Europe, and North America -- the portion of the globe which includes most of the Israelitish nations of the earth -- The United States, Canada, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium and France! Hosea the prophet wrote, "Ephraim feeds on the wind; he pursues the east wind all day…" (Hos.12:1, NIV). The east wind blows WEST. Thus Ephraim was prophesied to move to the WEST of Jerusalem.
The United States lies in part due west of modern day Israel and Jerusalem! God says of His firstborn son Ephraim, "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?...I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man -- the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath. They will follow the Lord; he will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come TREMBLING FROM THE WEST" (Hos.11:8-11, NIV). When we look carefully at a map of the globe, we find that the Northern hemisphere and the western hemisphere -- North America -- most perfectly fulfills the description of "coastlands" afar off to the north and west of Jerusalem! To be candid, any reference which can apply to Britain applies with even more forcefulness to the United States! And to the far northwest from Jerusalem, we come to America's 49th state -- the state of Alaska, the largest state of all! In ancient times, Manasseh was divided into two parts -- one part dwelt on the other side of the Jordan river, and one part went with Ephraim, and settled near them. Isn't it interesting that in modern times, too, part of Manasseh chose to remain in England and Britain, while many others chose to come to the New World, and settled in Canada, near modern Ephraim?
The parallels are too striking to ignore! In ancient Israel, west Manasseh's southern border was Ephraim, and constituted the longest border between any two tribes of Israel. Even so, today modern Ephraim (the United States) still lies to the south of Manasseh (Canada), and the border between the two peoples is the longest unfortified, friendly border in the world! No passports are required to cross between the two countries. When Joshua gave each tribe its territory in ancient Canaan, we read, "There were towns belonging to Ephraim lying among the towns of Manasseh, but the boundary of Manasseh was the northern side of the ravine and ended at the sea. On the south the land belonged to Ephraim, on the north to Manasseh. The territory of Manasseh reached the sea…" (Josh.17:9-10). Isn't it also interesting that today the western borders of Manasseh and Ephraim STILL terminate at a western sea -- the Pacific Ocean? Greg Doudna points out: "West Manasseh had 'ten portions' of Canaan (Josh.17:5). Canada has ten provinces. West Manasseh's land area was larger than that of Ephraim's. Canada occupies a larger land area than the United States.
No geographic, social, or racial barriers separate our two nations. We speak a common language. We are each other's best trade partner. “We are just like brothers" (p.96). Moses said of Joseph's descendants, 'Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and such are the thousands of Manasseh' (Deut.33:17). The populations of the United States and Canada are about 310,000,000 and 34,000,000 respectively -- a ratio of ten to one -- just like the ratio or proportions used by Moses! Could anything be more striking? The 2,520 Years of Punishment The leader of the ten-tribed northern kingdom of Israel was the tribe of Ephraim, whose capital city was Samaria. The ten-nation kingdom went into exile in 718 B.C. by the Assyrians (I Kings 17). They were to be "punished seven times" for their sins (Lev.26:18, 21,24,28). A "time" equals a year in fulfillment of prophecy (Rev.12:6, 14-16). A promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and "Joseph." And it is our nation which has received these blessings! Writes Gred Doudna: "The ending of this seven times period of 2,520 years punishment marks the emergence of Ephraim alone as a separate nation in its own right -- apart from any other Israelite nations!" (p.112). Doudna continues: "It was not until the seven times were finished that God allowed Ephraim to rise to national greatness. It was our nation which has had to wait 2,520 years to receive the blessings, and it is also our nation which has received those blessings, abundantly, filled to the brim and running over. "At first Ephraim was just one of Israel's thirteen tribes.
After the split with Judah, Ephraim took its place as leader of the ten-tribe house of Israel. In the centuries following the captivity, Ephraim became particularly allied with his older brother Manasseh, as Jacob had predicted, and together they grew and prospered in Britain. "Britain before 1800 was Joseph -- both Manasseh and Ephraim combined. Why was Britain so great before 1800? Partly because Ephraimites were still there -- they had not yet migrated to America! "At this time of the ending of the prophecy of the seven times period, the final separation occurred in the process of several millennia. God set Ephraim apart as a sovereign and independent nation, signifying this by giving Ephraim the choicest land in the entire world on the very year ending the seven times period. After this, no further split or separation was possible. Ephraim was now by itself -- one indivisible nation. This is why the Civil War resulted in defeat for the Confederacy and victory for the Union. This is why the United States is one nation today, not many divided and conflicting, independent nations as it could have been. The history of the growth and preservation of the United States is a story of God's hand in history. "The separation of younger Ephraim from Manasseh occurred 235 years ago. The British nation continued as Manasseh and maintained its position throughout the 1800's as a great empire, as the fledgling United States struggled to survive, expand, produce, build, grow, and prosper in the new Promised Land. And prosper it has! "One day Britain woke up to realize her empire was gone, her prestige vanishing, and that she was no longer great. At the same time the United States grew until it found itself the greatest nation ever in history! "Manasseh had been surpassed by younger Ephraim!" (pp.
by William F. Dankenbring
"Although virtually no one has noticed it, God has left the identity of modern Israel in the most obvious place one could imagine -- in the very name of our great nation! Our nation is the only nation in the world directly named 'company of nations'! "Not only that, but Manasseh was to become a great nation, and only one modern nation is known as being 'great' in its very name -- Great Britain! "The official name of Great Britain is of course the United Kingdom -- a single great nation. The United Kingdom and the United States. A nation and a company of nations. "To those of us who have strongly believed that the United States is Manasseh this requires some adjustment in thinking. But if the reader will withhold judgment until all the evidence can be considered, it will be seen that the United States is Ephraim, and that once the mental adjustment is made, this understanding makes many times more sense than believing our nation to be Manasseh! "The important thing to grasp is that the United States fits both the type and the biblical interpretation of 'company of nations.'
The house of Israel was a company or union of equal members, none of whom were sovereign. This fits the United States. It does not fit Great Britain or the British Commonwealth. The British Commonwealth has never been a company of equal states. Britain has always been one great nation. Whereas the British Commonwealth is a collection of scattered, independent, satellite nations around the world under the authority of the single great nation Britain. The United States is an assembly of fifty united states who have given up their sovereignty in the interests of collective political union and are, for the most part, united geographically, as was the house of Israel anciently. The United States began with thirteen states. When we reached the West Coast we had 'filled up' our land with forty-eight states, perhaps paralleling the forty-eight cities for the Levites in ancient Israel. Then we added two more to reach a 'fullness' of fifty, or five times the number in the house of Israel of old [and the Jubilee number!]. The United States is the company, fullness, assembly, or convocation of states that Ephraim was to become" (ibid., p.87).
On the other hand, if Ephraim were the nations of Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc., then when the prophecies of Hosea speak of Ephraim "calling to Egypt" or "going to Assyria," which of those nations would be meant? (Hos.7:11). If Ephraim were composed of widely scattered nations, the prophecies of Hosea would be inexplicable; it would be impossible to determine to which "part" of Ephraim they applied, or how they could possibly apply to every "nation" of Ephraim! Obviously, the prophecies directed toward Ephraim in the Bible are directed to ONE UNITED COUNTRY, one sovereign nation, UNITED TOGETHER -- as Ephraim was historically, and as the United States is, today! The very words of the U.S. Constitution reveal our national identity! The Constitution begins, "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union…"
The U.S.A. -- A Union of "Nation-States" Ephraim was to become a united company or assembly of peoples. Isn't it interesting that the United States is famous around the world for being the "melting pot" of the nations? The United States has more emigrants from more diverse locations, than any other nation on earth! This is both a strength, and a fatal weakness. The prophet Hosea foretold this condition would describe Ephraim in the last days! Hosea wrote, "Ephraim MIXES with the nations; Ephraim is a flat cake not turned over [white on one side, baked black or brown on the other side!]. Foreigners sap his strength, but he does not realize it. His hair is sprinkled with gray, but he does not notice" (Hosea 7:8-9).
The United States began with thirteen colonies, and a flag of thirteen stripes and thirteen stars. Ephraim was the "thirteenth tribe" of ancient Israel! Mere coincidence? Ephraim's very name means "double fruit." It is the United States which exploded onto the world scene, becoming a world power in the days of Theodore Roosevelt at the turn of the century, and the twentieth century has been hailed as "America's Century," and world peace "Pax Americana." In a very short time, historically speaking, the United States grew, burgeoned, with rippling muscles, and grew past his older brother Manasseh, yet they are united by language and cultural ties unlike that of any other separate nations on the face of the earth! They are true brothers, sometimes arguing, squabbling, fighting, but back-to-back against any common enemy from the outside!
The Greatness of Ephraim
Jacob prophesied that the younger brother, Ephraim, was to be greater than his older brother, Manasseh. Manasseh, the firstborn, was the older brother. Which nation is older -- the United States or Great Britiain? That fact alone should tell us that Great Britain was the older brother, Manasseh, which was to be "great," and even has the word "great" in its name, unlike any other country on the earth today! But what about the United States? Is it greater than Great Britain, even as Ephraim was to be greater than Manasseh? Let's face this question honestly and squarely, without pride, pretence, or hypocrisy. The United States is the wealthiest nation in the world in terms of resources, business and assets, and gross national produced -- although we have also become the world's biggest debtor nation by far due to our sins and living beyond our means during the past decade. We comprise only six percent of the world's population, and yet we control over 40 percent of the world's wealth! We are the breadbasket of the world. Our gross domestic product is over $14.6 billion dollars annually. Either California or New York could be the world's fifth or sixth richest nation in the world. The state of Illinois produces more than the entire continent of Africa! The eight industrial states from New York to Illinois produce as much as the Common Market, the Soviet Union, or all of Latin America, Africa, most of Asia except Japan, and the Middle East combined! Gred Doudna writes concerning the greatness of America, versus that of Great Britain: "Jacob plainly, clearly, says Ephraim was to be greater than Manasseh.
The United States is greater than Britain by far. Britain is now no more than a second-rate power on the world scene. It is the United States which is the greatest and most powerful nation the world has ever seen. "Younger Ephraim was to be greater than older brother Manasseh. This alone, apart from anything else, should conclusively settle the question of which is Ephraim and which is Manasseh" (p.89). Ephraim's national wealth and prosperity in the End Time was prophesied by Hosea. The prophet foretold, "Ephraim boasts, 'I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin'" (Hos.12:8). It has been the United States which has soared to the status of the richest of nations during the end times -- not Great Britain. The comparison in national wealth is meaningless -- there is no comparison. The economy of the United States has been the engine that has driven the free world since the end of World War II. It has led to postwar recovery of the entire Western World. Further, there is no comparison in military power between the two nations in the last days.
Hosea prophesied of Ephraim -- or the United States of America -- "When Ephraim spoke, men trembled; he was EXALTED in Israel. But he became guilty of Baal worship and died. Now they sin more and more; they make idols for themselves from their silver, cleverly fashioned images, all of them the work of craftsmen" (Hos.13:1-2). Some have suggested that since the United States is obviously greater than Britain, when Ephraim was prophesied to be greater, can be explained by the fact that Ephraim was to be a company of nations, whereas Manasseh was to be the greatest single nation. But that is NOT WHAT THE PROPHECY SAID! Jacob plainly said, without equivocation: "Nevertheless, his younger brother will be GREATER than he" (Gen.48:19). Now notice the time sequence of Jacob's blessing. Manasseh he mentioned first, that he would be great. THEN he mentioned Ephraim would be greater than his brother. Time wise, therefore, we see that Manasseh was to shoot to greatness first, even as Great Britain did. But then, later, his younger brother Ephraim was to shoot past him, and surpass him in greatness, wealth, and military might! This is just what happened! Britain became a great country, and colonizer, first; but then America suddenly grew up, burst her bonds, and became the economic, industrial, and military colossus of the world -- the greatest UNITED STATES the world had ever seen in all its history! What an amazing, incredible fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy, uttered almost 4,011 years ago, shortly before his death! In Genesis 35:11
God told Jacob that his progeny would become "a nation and a community of nations." Notice which came first -- the single nation. Then the community of nations, or "united states," were to follow. Again, this is exactly what history records. The single nation -- Great Britain -- came first historically and was great, and Britain "ruled the waves," the British pound was the international currency, and the "sun never set" on the British Empire. But then the "company of nations" or "united states" followed, and surpassed the greatness of the British Empire at its height. After World War II, no nation and no empire could compete with the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! It ruled the sea lanes of the world; its currency, the dollar, was the foundation of international trade. Thus Ephraim, the United States, surpassed his older brother, Manasseh, or Great Britain.
It was all prophesied long ago! Says Gred Doudna: "The British Empire used to rule the seas and the world, but God is concerned with the end-time in Bible prophecy, the time we are living in, the time the Bible was written for. That's now -- not 100-200 years ago or more. To explain Britain's supposedly being Ephraim by saying that Britain was at one time greater than the United States, that she used to be greater in the 1800's, is entirely unsatisfactory. What about now? Prophecy was written for the twenty first century, not the eighteenth or nineteenth. One of the strongest and most persistent objections to the whole 'Anglo-Israel' theory is this fact of Britain's ignoble decline and current second-rate status. Yet it confirms modern Israel's true identity and the truth of Jacob's words if we but realize that our nation, the United States, is Ephraim!" (p.90). Population Explosion! One of the tremendous blessings God promised the descendants of Israel in the end-times was great fertility and fruitfulness, the blessings of the womb (Gen.17:6, 22:17, Deut.28:4).
Jacob referred to Joseph as a "fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall" (Gen.49:22). The descendants of Israel in the End Time were to be "as the sand of the sea" (Isa.10:22). "Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel?" (Numbers 23:10). The population of Britain is 62 million. The population of the United States is 310 million -- five times as much! The prophet Hosea indicated that of all the Israelite nations, Ephraim was to become the most fruitful; "even though he thrives ["be fruitful," KJV, "flourishess," Tanakh] among his brethren," God foretold, "an east wind from the Lord will come, blowing in from the desert; his spring will fail and his well dry up. His store house will be plundered of all its treasures" (Hos.13:15). "The more they increased, the more they sinned against me," God foretold (Hos.4:7, Tanakh). These Scriptures show that Ephraim was to be the MOST FRUITFUL of the tribes of Israel -- the MOST POPULOUS! The only nation descended from ancient Israel which can truly fit this description today in the United States!
Ephraim -- "Doubly Fruitful" If the United States is NOT Ephraim, the most populous, "doubly fruitful" Israelitish nation -- then who is? Fruitfulness, flourishing population, can also refer to the rate of growth. The growth rate of the United States has been nothing short of phenomenal -- from virtually nothing to 310 million in 411 years! During that time Britain has grown to 62 million. But the United States has grown from a population of 3,240,000 in 1784 to 310,000,000 in 2011 -- an exponential population growth of nearly 96 times over! No country in history has, like the United States, literally come from out of nowhere, and literally EXPLODED in population growth and power, both military and economic! Truly, the United States -- modern "Ephraim" -- has experienced a dramatic population increase. Truly it has lived up to its name -- and is "DOUBLY fruitful"! Vast Natural Resources Promised Recall that God promised outstanding natural resources and blessings to the descendants of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, with Ephraim receiving the "double portion" as the "birthright son" of the two. This promise of the choicest gifts of heaven above, of the deep below, of the everlasting hills and valleys, and most fertile fields, and precious metals, has been fulfilled nowhere like it has in the United States. God also promised national greatness, and prestige and honor among the other nations. Again, this promise has been fulfilled nowhere as much as in the United States! God said of Isaac's descendants, "May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness -- an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed" (Gen.27:27). Although these blessings would accrue to all the children of Israel, as the primary inheritor of the BIRTHRIGHT, they would accrue to Ephraim most of all! For we read in I Chronicles 5:2, "the rights of the FIRSTBORN belonged to Joseph.
Balaam prophesied of Israel, "How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel! Like valleys they spread out, like gardens beside a river, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters" (Numbers 24:5-6). Isaiah was inspired to prophesy of Ephraim, "Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley -- to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine" (Isa.28:1). A land of hills and mountains, lakes and rivers, and fertile vast valleys, Ephraim is characterized. What land fits that Biblical description more than the United States? The KJV translates this passage "fat valleys," the Living Bible has "rich valleys." Either way, no nation on earth has richer, fatter, more fertile and vast valleys than the United States of America! "Fat valleys" is a symbol of rich agricultural bounty. Of the two, the U.S. and Britain, which is known as the "breadbasket of the world"? Of the two, which is known for its abundant wine production? Britain is famous for its ales and beer, and Scotland for its whiskey, but the United States is world famous for its wines -- especially California wine!
The United States has such world renown agricultural valleys as the San Joaquin, San Fernando, Oregon, Ohio, Cumberland, Shenandoah, etc. This passage in Isaiah 28:1 also speaks of the "flower" of Ephraim's "glorious beauty." What nation on earth is more famous for its "glorious beauty" and natural scenery than the United States? From sea to shining sea, from the redwoods and Sequoias of California to the majestic waters of Niagara Falls, to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee to the Mojave Desert, from the Grand Canyon of the Colorado to the paint pots and geysers of Yellowstone, from the Grant Tetons of Wyoming to the towering granite spires of Yosemite, from the Everglades of Florida and the Texas Big Bend Country to the waters of Waikiki, Hawaii, you name it -- no country on the face of the earth can compare with the glorious beauty of Ephraim -- the United States of America! We sing the song, "O beautiful for spacious skies, for ambers waves of grain; for purple mountain majesties, above the fruited plain -- America, America, God shed His grace on thee; O crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!" We sing the song, "God bless America, land that I love; stand beside her, and guide her, with the light from the light from above." We sing, "This land is your land, this land is my land, From the Gulf Stream waters, to the New York island, this land is made for you and me." But as we sing these inspiring, rich, bountiful songs, little do we realize that we are singing the songs of Ephraim -- the youngest son of Joseph, who was to inherit the blessings of the FIRSTBORN! The "glorious beauty" of Ephraim in the glorious and awe-inspiring beauty of the United States!
You can go on a summer trip. You can go to the National Parks of Mount Rainier, the Northern Cascades, Glacier in Montana, Yellowstone and Grant Tetons in Wyoming, and dropped down to the Canyon lands, Arches National Monument, Bryce Canyon, and Zion National Park. There is also Yosemite, Sequoia, King's Canyon in northern California, or Crater Lake in Oregon. Also the Big Sur country along the California coastline, or the beautiful Oregon coast. You get overwhelmed by the greatness of the heritage of the beautiful places God has bequeathed to the children of Joseph, Ephraim in particular! The United States has the Great Plains, the Mississippi River system, the Great Lakes -- the finest breadbasket and grazing land, commercial water base and drainage system of the whole world. The Great Plains are the greatest area of useful land in the world. Half the fresh water of the world is contained in the Great Lakes system. Incalculably rich deposits of iron ore, coal and limestone lie along this great waterway. In this region was erected the world's greatest steel industry that helped make America the strongest and richest nation on earth. The famous words of Abraham Lincoln express the truth: "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
"It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness" (quoted in Ascent to Greatness, Raymond F. McNair pg.196). Hosea the prophet further describes the blessings that would come to Ephraim as the recipient of the blessings of the firstborn of Israel, and then to all Israel. God says of Ephraim, "I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place" (Hos.9:13). What nation on earth has a more "pleasant place" than the United States? What mercantile city today more resembles ancient Tyre, the mercantile hub of the ancient world, than New York City? Here again are further allusions to the identity of modern Ephraim -- the United States! Why were the vast, far flung resources of North America left virtually untapped and unused for millennia until the arrival of the Anglo-Saxon descendants of ancient Jacob, or Israel -- the peoples of Ephraim, and Manasseh? Was it all "manifest destiny," as our forefathers believed? Moses was inspired to write: "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel" (Deut.32:8, NIV). God reserved the choicest portions of the earth for the birthright tribe of Israel. He gave the beautiful North American continent to the sons of Joseph -- Ephraim the part belonging to the United States, and Canada the portion He reserved for Manasseh, and some of the children of Reuben. Interestingly, it was Joshua -- an Ephraimite -- who led the children of Israel into the Promised Land.
Today America is a new "Promised Land" of our time. Millions of foreigners strive to emigrate here, legally or illegally, regarding this fair land as the "last best hope for mankind." Interesting, also, that Joseph was the brother that was "separated from his brethren" (Deut.33:16, KJV). Modern Joseph, also, is "separated" from his brothers -- other Israelitish nations -- by the Atlantic Ocean! Only Ephraim, and a portion of Manasseh, are located on the North American continent, thus "separated" from their brother nations in northwestern Europe! Hosea says of Ephraim, "like a wild donkey wandering alone" (Hos.8:9). Balaam said of Israel, "I see a people who LIVE APART and do not consider themselves one of the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel?" (Num.23:9-10). When Ephraim was born, Joseph gave him that name, saying, "It is because God has made me FRUITFUL in the land of my suffering" (Gen.41:52). Like his father Joseph, Ephraim has been fruitful in the land of his affliction or early suffering. The early colonists in North America underwent extreme privation and troubles, before the foundation was laid for a new land, a new nation.
The exploits of the voyagers on the Mayflower, most of whom perished en route to the New World, and the harrowing difficulties of the Pilgrims, and the settlers at Jamestown, in a sense duplicate the earlier sufferings of their forefather Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers, and cast into the dungeon of Pharaoh and virtually forgotten there. On the other hand, Manasseh means "Causing to forget." When he was born, Joseph said he named him that, "Because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household" (Gen.41:51). Notice how this name reveals the nature of Manasseh. Britain, the older of the two sons, has truly "forgotten all his father's household" -- and even his national identity, despite all the evidence around them! There are the historical records and legends of Jeremiah bringing the king's daughters to Ireland, where Princess Tea married into the royal line already established by early Israelites. There was the name of Tara, the ancient Irish capital, meaning "Torah." There was the Stone of Scone, or Jacob's Pillar Stone, and its traditions and history. There were the royal genealogies, which trace the British monarchy back to the line of King David! There was the very name "British" itself -- which is Hebrew for "Covenant man." And the very name "Saxons," which derives from "sons of Isaac." Over the centuries, God caused ancient Israel to go into captivity. While there, they eventually lost their true identity, being far removed from the land of Palestine. God later released their captivity, and led them to their new inheritances, in Western Europe, the British Isles, and the New World. He blessed them, and caused them to become great. But Manasseh, despite all the legends, history, and evidence, lost the knowledge of his own identity, and "forgot" who he really was, just as his name implies! Here then is more evidence that Manasseh is Great Britain, and Ephraim the United States of America!
These Biblical allusions would fit perfectly to two peoples, both descended from Joseph, both dwelling apart as he did from his brethren -- who was "separated from his brethren" (Deut.33:16, KJV) -- dwelling apart from the Old World countries -- in the island of England, and in the "New World," the Western hemisphere! The "Coastlands of Ephraim" The prophet Isaiah was inspired of God to write, "Ephraim is MY FIRSTBORN" (Jeremiah 31:9). He was to dwell in the "north lands" and "the ends of the earth" (verse 8). He was to dwell in the "isles afar" (v.10), and the "coastlands" (Isa.49:1, Tanakh). What description better fits the United States, with the longest habitable coastline of any nation? It is in the northern hemisphere; it is "far off" and at the "ends of the earth" from Jerusalem; and it is a long and valuable "coastland." No other land can combine all these qualifications, like the United States -- modern Ephraim! When God scattered His people in 718-721 B.C., he drove them among the peoples of the earth; "yet in DISTANT LANDS they will remember me," He foretold (Zech.10:9). He prophesied of them, "Stand silent before me, coastlands, And let nations renew their strength" (Isa.41:1). Did not the United States, free from the yoke of European wars and oppression, and the weakening influence of pagan religion, receive a NEW BIRTH in a NEW LAND of pristine opportunity and magnificent wealth -- free from the stifling influences of paganism and heathen customs?
God literally brought His people Ephraim to "distant lands," and "coastlands." The same Hebrew word yam is translated "sea" and "west." Therefore, the "islands of the sea" or "coastlands of the sea" could just as readily be translated as "coastlands of the west." Needless to say, the United States is a "coastland of the WEST"! -- far west of Jerusalem! Isaiah writes, "Look! These are coming from AFAR, these from the NORTH and the WEST, and these from the land of Sinim" (Isa.49:12, Tanakh). If you draw a line due north of Jerusalem to the North Pole, and due west, and followed both of them till they intersected, the section of the globe carved out would include Europe, and North America -- the portion of the globe which includes most of the Israelitish nations of the earth -- The United States, Canada, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium and France! Hosea the prophet wrote, "Ephraim feeds on the wind; he pursues the east wind all day…" (Hos.12:1, NIV). The east wind blows WEST. Thus Ephraim was prophesied to move to the WEST of Jerusalem.
The United States lies in part due west of modern day Israel and Jerusalem! God says of His firstborn son Ephraim, "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?...I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man -- the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath. They will follow the Lord; he will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come TREMBLING FROM THE WEST" (Hos.11:8-11, NIV). When we look carefully at a map of the globe, we find that the Northern hemisphere and the western hemisphere -- North America -- most perfectly fulfills the description of "coastlands" afar off to the north and west of Jerusalem! To be candid, any reference which can apply to Britain applies with even more forcefulness to the United States! And to the far northwest from Jerusalem, we come to America's 49th state -- the state of Alaska, the largest state of all! In ancient times, Manasseh was divided into two parts -- one part dwelt on the other side of the Jordan river, and one part went with Ephraim, and settled near them. Isn't it interesting that in modern times, too, part of Manasseh chose to remain in England and Britain, while many others chose to come to the New World, and settled in Canada, near modern Ephraim?
The parallels are too striking to ignore! In ancient Israel, west Manasseh's southern border was Ephraim, and constituted the longest border between any two tribes of Israel. Even so, today modern Ephraim (the United States) still lies to the south of Manasseh (Canada), and the border between the two peoples is the longest unfortified, friendly border in the world! No passports are required to cross between the two countries. When Joshua gave each tribe its territory in ancient Canaan, we read, "There were towns belonging to Ephraim lying among the towns of Manasseh, but the boundary of Manasseh was the northern side of the ravine and ended at the sea. On the south the land belonged to Ephraim, on the north to Manasseh. The territory of Manasseh reached the sea…" (Josh.17:9-10). Isn't it also interesting that today the western borders of Manasseh and Ephraim STILL terminate at a western sea -- the Pacific Ocean? Greg Doudna points out: "West Manasseh had 'ten portions' of Canaan (Josh.17:5). Canada has ten provinces. West Manasseh's land area was larger than that of Ephraim's. Canada occupies a larger land area than the United States.
No geographic, social, or racial barriers separate our two nations. We speak a common language. We are each other's best trade partner. “We are just like brothers" (p.96). Moses said of Joseph's descendants, 'Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and such are the thousands of Manasseh' (Deut.33:17). The populations of the United States and Canada are about 310,000,000 and 34,000,000 respectively -- a ratio of ten to one -- just like the ratio or proportions used by Moses! Could anything be more striking? The 2,520 Years of Punishment The leader of the ten-tribed northern kingdom of Israel was the tribe of Ephraim, whose capital city was Samaria. The ten-nation kingdom went into exile in 718 B.C. by the Assyrians (I Kings 17). They were to be "punished seven times" for their sins (Lev.26:18, 21,24,28). A "time" equals a year in fulfillment of prophecy (Rev.12:6, 14-16). A promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and "Joseph." And it is our nation which has received these blessings! Writes Gred Doudna: "The ending of this seven times period of 2,520 years punishment marks the emergence of Ephraim alone as a separate nation in its own right -- apart from any other Israelite nations!" (p.112). Doudna continues: "It was not until the seven times were finished that God allowed Ephraim to rise to national greatness. It was our nation which has had to wait 2,520 years to receive the blessings, and it is also our nation which has received those blessings, abundantly, filled to the brim and running over. "At first Ephraim was just one of Israel's thirteen tribes.
After the split with Judah, Ephraim took its place as leader of the ten-tribe house of Israel. In the centuries following the captivity, Ephraim became particularly allied with his older brother Manasseh, as Jacob had predicted, and together they grew and prospered in Britain. "Britain before 1800 was Joseph -- both Manasseh and Ephraim combined. Why was Britain so great before 1800? Partly because Ephraimites were still there -- they had not yet migrated to America! "At this time of the ending of the prophecy of the seven times period, the final separation occurred in the process of several millennia. God set Ephraim apart as a sovereign and independent nation, signifying this by giving Ephraim the choicest land in the entire world on the very year ending the seven times period. After this, no further split or separation was possible. Ephraim was now by itself -- one indivisible nation. This is why the Civil War resulted in defeat for the Confederacy and victory for the Union. This is why the United States is one nation today, not many divided and conflicting, independent nations as it could have been. The history of the growth and preservation of the United States is a story of God's hand in history. "The separation of younger Ephraim from Manasseh occurred 235 years ago. The British nation continued as Manasseh and maintained its position throughout the 1800's as a great empire, as the fledgling United States struggled to survive, expand, produce, build, grow, and prosper in the new Promised Land. And prosper it has! "One day Britain woke up to realize her empire was gone, her prestige vanishing, and that she was no longer great. At the same time the United States grew until it found itself the greatest nation ever in history! "Manasseh had been surpassed by younger Ephraim!" (pp.
Monday, January 17, 2011
http://www.slideshare.net/viswanadham/20090527-motivation-for-better-performance-in-workplaces-for-supporting-staff-nizams-college-hyderabad-38s
Motivation for better performance
All you need to know about it.
All you need to know about it.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
http://www.slideshare.net/arahimcal/communication-skills
Here you will find the key aspects about communication skills. In order for you to get to know them, you must be familiarized with what is needed to become a heck of a speaker worldwide.
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