Archive for the ‘Prophetic’ Category

The book of Hosea/Hoshea’ is the book of all books when it comes to the deeper prophetic vision of the fate and future of the so-called Northern Kingdom, or “house of Israel,” in contrast to the “house of Judah,” to use the Biblical terminology. It is seldom read with much discrimination by either Jews or Christians in terms of these two “houses,” but anyone who spends a bit of time with it, even the first chapter, will quickly realize it is addressed almost exclusively to the northern house of Israel, also called by the name of the tribe “Ephraim” who became the head/birthright tribe of ALL Israel, notice carefully:

Reuben was the firstborn but his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, “For Judah became strong among his brothers and a Nagid (chief, anointed one) was appointed from him, but the birthright belonged to Joseph” (1 Chron 5:1-2).

As such the there was, is, and will be a bit of “jealousy” and “hostility” between the two houses, as Isaiah 11:13 makes clear, particularly as the two houses are drawn back to the Land.

Hosea really tells it all, and as Zechariah is very much the Prophet focused on the return of Judah to the Land, Hosea is focused on Israel/Ephraim. Accordingly, their destinies are quite different as are their specific roles and experiences in final return to the Land. The Prophets of Isaiah and Jeremiah “broad brush” the overview but it is specifically in Hosea that the sharp detailed future of Israel/Ephraim is projected.

There is much to absorb in that regard, as Israel (not Judah) becomes “Not my People,” and “No Mercy,” her two new names, and thus loses its identity as Israel. The image Hosea is given is that of a formal divorce of a husband to sends away an adulterous wife, and based on Torah such a banning is to be permanent not temporary (Deut 24). This means that the northern kingdom, for all practical purposes “become Gentiles” to put it in plain English, or as Hosea puts it, “they shall be wanderers among the nations” and will number as the “sands of the sea.” They follow an “east wind” to the West. During their “many days” of separation they are essentially cut off from the access to and knowledge of YHVH, which Judah continues to experience through king and priest as well as the revelation of Torah and Prophets.

The way in which Israel/Ephraim finally is brought back is most interesting. The main passage in Hosea that sketches this out, also using a “marriage” image, is the following, and the details and language are most instructive and complex:

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. (15) And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. (16) And in that day, declares YHVH, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Lord” (Baal) (17) For I will remove the names of the Lord (Baalim) from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. (18) And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. (19) And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. (20) I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know YHVH. (21) “And in that day I will answer, declares YHVH, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, (22) and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, (23) and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People,‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’” (Hosea 2:15-23; but 2:14ff in Christian Bibles).

Both what proceeds and follows this key central passage on the “return” and re-marriage of Ephraim/Israel to YHVH is vital to follow but here I focus just on three key elements of this section. Notice:

How: The means of the regathering:YHVH will “allure” Ephraim. This is an most interesting and important one, the Hebrew word “patah” (different but related to patach “to open”). It is usually a negative term, for one who is so “open” as to be simple and thus easily fooled or enticed, but it can mean, in a certain context such as this, to draw one in, thus “allure” is a good translation. Some translations, picking up on the context of YHVH as lover, use the verb “to woo” her. What is implied is that an attachment to another/s, in this case “Lords” is dissolved and a renewal of vows toward YHVH takes place. Israel is actually “in love” and drawn to YHVH.

Where: The setting is “in the wilderness,” and specifically identified with the “door” of entry at Achor, down toward the Dead Sea in the Judean desert and southward to the Negev. It is the same “route” ancient Israel used in coming up out of Egypt in entering the Land across from Jericho. How literal one is to take this is an open question but the description is “alluring” to say the least.

When: It is a time of the bow, sword and war in the Land where there is no safety.

To understand how the “alluring” takes place, that is, its setting, one has to read carefully Hosea 2:1-13, where a rich, and prosperous Ephraim, tied to and happy with her lovers/Baalim, is stripped naked and loses everything, and thus ends up in the “desert” situation Hosea addresses, whether literally or figuratively.

Much to ponder here but if you have not read through Hosea lately it might prove quite instructive in evaluating the situation today of Judah in the Land.

Today’s Torah reading, Vaychi, lit. “and he lived”: Genesis 47:28-50:26, ends the book of Genesis. It contains many fascinating elements, including the death-bed scene of the last hours of Jacob with his special blessing of the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, as well as prophetic says regarding his twelve sons and what would befall them in the “latter days.” If one reads carefully the language, although it is recorded in the mouth of Jacob, the first person references seem to fit better as YHVH speaking through him. Also, even though this section is often referred to as the “blessings of Jacob” upon his sons, the text does not say that. Rather it says that Jacob tells them what will “befall them in the afterward days…” In fact, these sayings actually contain curses, at least in the cases of Reuben, Simon, and Levi–the three eldest of the twelve sons.

A few random observations…

Joseph is told that he would “become a assembly of peoples,” which is echoed by the general prediction that Jacob subsequently offers–Joseph will be a “fruitful wine” whose branches run over the wall, as watered by a well. He is made strong by the “hand of the Might One (‘Avir) of Jacob” (49:22-24). Most surprising then is the statement that “from thence (Joseph’s line) comes the shepherd the Stone of Israel (v. 24). This blessings seems to anticipate some redemptive role for one of the descendants of Joseph, whereas one normally thinks of Judah as the tribe bringing forth the messianic line. This might be our earliest hint of the notion of two “messiahs,” one of Judah and the other of Joseph…

Ephraim the younger son of Joseph, receives the “birthright” over Manasseh his older brother, to whom the blessing would normally come as firstborn. Both are to become great, but the younger Ephraim is to be even greater, as he will become a “fullness of nations.”

This is explained in 1 Chronicles 5:1 as the “birthright” being given to “Joseph” over Reuben, the firstborn, because of the latter’s sexual sins. Even in Gen 49 Jacob says to Reuben “You shall not excel.”

A similarly negative evaluation is put upon Simon and Levi, despite the honor that is given to the tribe of Levi, and the priests as sons of Aaron, among the Jewish people to this day. What Jacob says of them is rather shocking–”Let my soul not come into their council.” He then curses them and declares “I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel,” indicating, that these prophetic words of Jacob are understood to really be the words of YHVH through him.

Judah is blessed but his blessing contains the interesting and mysterious line: “The staff shall not depart from Judah, nor the sceptre between his feet, until Shiloh come, and to him shall the obedience of the peoples.” I have translated this rather literally here, making Shiloh a proper name, as I think it likely is. Others render this phrase “until he comes to Shiloh,” or “until he comes to whom it belongs,” or even “until tribute come to him.” One is tempted here to bring in the similar phrasing of Ezekiel 21:27 “…until he comes whose right it is,” which is connected to the ending of the Solomonic line Judean kings in the person of Jeconiah (compare Jeremiah 22:24-30), with some future rightful heir to take the rulership.

It is worth noting, perhaps, that the gematria of Shiloh is 358–the same as the Hebrew word “Moshiah” or messiah. Indeed, it seems likely, given the close context in this passage of Jacob’s sayings, that the idea of the “sceptre” departing from Judah, and perhaps then being given to Joseph is a definite possibility, given the language of 49:24.

The death and burial of Jacob in his own land are moving and poignant, and the book of Genesis ends with the death of Joseph at 110 years old. Notice, he is put in a “box,” (Hebrew ‘aron), or coffin, the same word used for the “ark” or box that holds the stone tablets with the ten words in Exodus–so much for any holy or special meaning for the word “ark.”

As we slowly work through the thousands of pages of documents in the David Horowitz archive there are multiple surprises around every corner. What we are uncovering is truly amazing. Mr. Horowitz never discarded anything and we have his papers going back to about 1924, with a few things earlier. He was in touch with just about every President, King, diplomat, and world leader you can name, and often worked behind the scenes in ways that are only now coming to light. We are carefully copying and filing all the materials and putting them into topical and chronological order. I would estimate there are at least 100,000 separate items.

What we have found so far seems to easily lend itself to a biography that someday should be written. A good title might be:The Life of David Horowitz: The Untold Story. Back in 1949 David did publish an early autobiography titled Thirty-three Candles that covered his life up to the founding of UIWU in 1944. Copies are still available from our office for a modest donation to the David Horowitz Memorial Library. However, David lived through the end of the century, past his 99th year, so that volume covered only “half” his story. The best was yet to come.

There is a “behind the scenes” tale that has never been told. We recently came across this letter, written in August 1948, to Abraham Fuhrman, who was a loyal supporter of UIWU and David’s work in the early days. We found this profoundly moving and inspiring. The biblical Hebrew Prophet Joel speaks of the former and latter rains, prophetically, as does Hosea (see Joel 2-3; Hosea 5-6), and he says “afterwards” it will be that “your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions.”

David fervently believed that the inauguration of the prophetic “last days,” the “footsteps of the messiah,” as the rabbis call it, did indeed begin in the late 1880s with the “return to Zion,” and more particularly in 1927 with various prophetic events in the Holy Land. David recorded hundreds of his dreams and we are collecting them as we work through the archives, but dreams are dreams, often vague and subject to varied interpretation. Rarely does one get as clear as this one. And notice the date of the dream–the 9th of Ab!–an historically fateful day in Jewish history.

This was months before the November, 1948 election, where everyone predicted Republican Thomas Dewey as the winner. Horowitz had already been involved in the Spring of 1948 in some behind the scenes moves in both the newly constituted UN (influencing three Central American votes) and with President Truman via his staff, to influence things in favor of the establishment of the State of Israel. President Truman recognized the fledgling “State” the morning after its declaration of Independence, to the chagrin of most of those in his State Department.

We hope you will find this dream, which came on the “9th of Ab,” as significant as we have. For those too young to remember or who have forgotten their history you might want to refresh your memory on the Presidential election of 1948 when even major newspapers, such as the New York Times declared, “Thomas E. Dewey’s Election as President is a Foregone Conclusion.” Top pollsters predicted a Dewey win, as did leading national political writers. In fact, with the exception of Truman, everyone else was certain Dewey would be elected. Months before the election, Life magazine ran a cover of a picture of Dewey with a caption that read, “The Next President of the United States.” Headline after headline screamed Dewey as President. The election became known as “The Great Truman Surprise.”