The Legacy of Jacob "Israel"

Let's look at our family tree...our real inheritance. Perhaps the revelation of who we really are will bring us to real repentance.

"O Yahweh, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: 'Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.' " Who is Jeremiah (16:19) speaking to? Clearly, in the preceding verses the "fishers" and "hunters" are sent to find and bring back the whole of Israel.

Hosea words of indictment are addressed to the grandson of Jacob, that is Ephraim the son of Joseph. That indictment goes on and on verse after verse... And perhaps it is not too early in the recitation to suggest the possibility that these words of Yahweh apply to us... Similarly, using virtually an exact quotation from Hosea, the seventh and last letter to "the Churches" in the book of Revelation declares: "For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked." In Hosea (12:8) Ephraim says, "Ah, but I am rich, I have gained wealth for myself"; but all his riches can never offset the guilt he has incurred." Does the "tiger" change his stripes? Has the legacy of Jacob "Israel" been passed on down in the inheritance? From Abraham to Isaac to Jacob "Israel" to Jeroboam "Israel" to us?

4:1 No faithfulness, or kindness, no knowledge of God
4:2 They break all bounds, murder follows murder
4:6 Forgotten Torah
4:12 Spirit of harlotry
4:16 "Israel" (Ephraim) is a stubborn heifer
4:17 "Ephraim" is joined to idols
4:18 Drunkards (in spirit as well as body and soul?)
4:19 A Wind (Prince of the Power of the Air) has wrapped them in its wings
5:5 Pride in "Israel"
5:7 Borne alien children
5:11 Goes after vanity
5:13 Goes to the "world's powers" symbolized by Egypt and Assyria
6:4 Love that doesn't last---heat of sun on the dew---poof, the love evaporates
7:8 "Ephraim" mixes with people
7:11 "Ephraim" like a dove, silly without sense
7:13 Strayed and rebellious, speaking lies against me (Yahweh)
7:14 Gash themselves (cutting), devise evil
8:4 Make leaders, kings, princes but not through me (Yahweh) and without my knowledge
8:7 Sow to Prince of Power of the Air and reap whirlwind
8:9 A wild ass (to Assyria), hiring lovers
8:10 Hiring allies
8:11 Multiplying altars for sinning
8:13 Returns to Egypt
9:3 Not in Land of Yahweh, gone to Egypt, eating unclean foods, the "dainties" of Assyria
for their hunger only; not eating in the house of Yahweh, his food
9:9 Sin of Gibeah: homosexuality (see Judges 19:22)
9:15 Sin of Gilgal: every evil (see Judges 15:33, 1 Sam. 11:15, 13:8-11); Yahweh begins to hate them...
10:3 King...no king: double-mindedness
10:4 Empty oaths, vows, commitments... mere words
10:13 Eaten fruit of lies: trusted in chariots, armies, weapons, and skills
11:5 Return to Egypt (the land of fleshly satisfaction); Assyria shall be king (rule the spiritual)
11:11 "Ephraim" has encompassed me with lies
12:1 "Ephraim" herds the wind, pursues the east wind (desert); makes a bargain w/Assyria
12:2 Yahweh will punish Jacob according to his ways; Ephraim included?
12:7 "Ephraim": a trader with false balances, unequal weights and measures...
12:8 "Ephraim": Ah, but I am rich, I have gained wealth for myself...
12:12 Jacob "fled"...did (hard) service for a "wife" and "herded sheep"; does it apply today?
13:9 I will destroy you, O Israel: clearly not the old Jacob!!
13:12 The iniquity of Ephraim: no distinction between grandson and grandfather!

According to Paul "all Israel" will be saved when the fullness of the nations, the "wild" branches, are grafted back into the Olive Tree of Israel. But before "the rest of Israel" will be saved, perhaps the "East wind of Yahweh, out of the wilderness will dry the fountains, parch the springs, and strip the treasury of 'riches'... (Hosea 13:15)
"Samaria" shall bear her guilt---are we Samaria?---because she has rebelled against her God. Samaria's lineage is clearly traceable back to Jacob; Jeroboam's sin is Jacob's sin. Is not Jacob's "Israel" also Ephraim's "Israel"?
Many claim to be "Israel": will all "Israel" acknowledge the full legacy and inheritance which they have received from Jacob their father: the sin as well as the promises? Especially, the "Ephraimites"?

The much-used, churchy, catch-all phrase "to be born again" in Hosea receives Yahweh's light: "The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is kept in store. The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son; for now he does not present himself at the mouth of the womb." (13:12-13, 14:1-2) "Return, O Israel, to Yahweh your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to Yahweh; say to him "Take away all iniquity..." Ephraim needs to be born again, but because of the above stored-up "sin", which the Laodicean letter confirms, he is likely to be a Jacob-come-lately to birth. Likely requiring the reality of "Jacob's Trouble!"

Ephraim needs to be born again, "again"!