The Mystery of the Twelve Disciples in the Old Testament

Many atheist and other groups who deny the Deity of Jesus look for reasons and fault in scripture to prove that Jesus was either just a man or imaginary person. One of their major points to challenge his existence and authority is that they say that the Old Testament does not make any mention or reference of the Twelve Disciples. Their argument being that as important as the role the Twelve disciples were to play that there would certainly be some kind of mention of them in the Old Testament Scriptures. To most theologians there is no mention of them, but when we truly believe what the scriptures say and understand the meaning of many things that have simply been discarded as being unimportant we will find that they were there all along.

It is necessary to realize that the birthright, or inheritance in the Old Testament teachings and the Gospel are linked together working hand in hand. As we go into understanding the mystery of the 12 Disciples being revealed in the Old Testament we must first refresh our mind with the Promise that God made to Abraham.

Galatians 3:

7: Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8: And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
14: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
18: For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

The inheritance is Jesus Christ, salvation through him and the fact that we are given the gift of eternal life. Because we are made joint heirs with Jesus we are legally entitled to everything he has provided through the New Covenant. Every thing that Jesus purchased for us on the cross is ours. Paul said in the above scripture that the promise itself was that we would receive the Spirit of God by faith. We could not receive the Spirit of God if it were not for the fact that Jesus went to the cross to forgive us and wash us from our sins. He sends the Spirit of God into every believer because of his promise. This is what the inheritance is all about.

But the birthright itself is not the inheritance, Christ is. He is the inheritance to everyone that will receive him. The birthright is the privilege to share Christ with others, to take him to the world through the authority of God as ambassadors. To take him and share him with the world. The birthright is a special possession and or privilege that was given to the person that held the title of primogeniture (birthright holder). Stongs Concordance said this about the meaning of it. This was taken from the word birthright in 1st Chronicles 5:1.

birthright: 1062 hrwkb B@kowrah (bek-o-raw');
Noun Feminine, Strong #: 1062
1. birthright, primogeniture, right of the first-born.

The Dictionary says:
birth·right (bûrth“rºt”) n. 1. A right, possession, or privilege that is one's due by birth.
See Synonyms at right. 2. A special privilege accorded a first-born.
pri·mo·gen·i·ture (prº”m½-jµn“¹-ch‹r”) n. 1. The state of being the first-born or eldest child of the same parents.
2. Law. The right of the eldest child, especially the eldest son, to inherit the entire estate of one or both parents. [Late Latin prºm½genit¿ra : Latin prºm½, at first (from prºmus,

The promises that were given to Abraham became the birthright to be passed down to the primogeniture in each generation. It was given by promise to Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and then to Ephraim, Joseph's youngest son. It is interesting to know that the Abraham's promise appeared to become divided at the time Jacob blessed his sons. There were two major things that were promised that pertained to Abraham's promise that affects us as Gentiles, there are several things given to the Jewish people. For example God had said that the Land of Israel would be theirs forever. But when it comes to the promises made to the world it would be given to Israel in two parts. One was that Jesus the Son of God would be born from Abraham and become a blessing to all nations; the other was that God would make Abraham the father of many nations.

When Jacob blessed his sons Judah was promised that out of him would come the great king and that His scepter would never depart from Judah. But God didn’t tell Judah that he would become the father of many nations but passed this promise to Joseph and his two sons. The greater part of this blessing would rest on Ephraim, Joseph's youngest son. Ephraim became primogeniture or birthright holder. Jacob told Ephraim that he would become a multitude of nations. This promise given to Ephraim was Abraham's promise in it's entirety. The promise given to Judah was that out of him would come the chief ruler, but Abraham's birthright was passed down to Ephraim. He was the primogeniture, he possessed the entire birthright.

The birthright was given to Joseph (Gen. 49:26) then to Ephraim and Mannaseh (Gen.48:13-20).
13: And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him.
14: And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.
15: And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,
16: The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
17: And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.
18: And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
19: And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
20: And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

1Chron: 5:1: Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.
2: For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's:)

Even though Manasseh was blessed, Ephraim possessed the birthright as primogeniture because of the right hand blessing from Jacob and was blessed over Manasseh. This was done when Jacob crossed his arms and blessed Ephraim, who was the youngest, over Manasseh, who was the oldest. Joseph tried to correct Jacob but Jacob said that it was done.

By all appearances to most people it is believed that God blessed Judah above everyone else because out of him would come the chief ruler. This would eventually become the reason for so much strife between the tribes of Ephraim and Judah. After Israel was delivered from the land of Egypt they were to go to the Promised Land. The reason they called it the Promised Land was because it was promised to them through the birthright that the Land of Canaan would become part of their inheritance. This birthright was now in the hands of Ephraim.

Afterwards Israel would go into bondage in Egypt. During this time each of the firstborn sons from Ephraim's immeditate family would become the birthright holder. This went on for four hundred years. This birthright would eventually be passed to Joshua the son of Nun. Joshua would then become the leader of the tribe of Ephraim.

When Moses delivered Israel, it was already established in Heaven that he would not be the man to take the children of Israel into the Promised Land. Why? Because he was a Levite and did not possess the birthright that was handed down to Ephraim. Moses had the Law but was not the primogeniture, or birthright holder. God is a very legalistic God. And God will use legal reasons to cause things to happen. The Lord determined that Moses would not lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land because of his disobedience. But there was a reason behind this that most of us do not realize. It was impossible for Moses to take the children of Israel into the Promised Land simply because he was not of the tribe of Ephraim. The Birthright holder must be the one to divide the inheritance. At this time we are only looking at one part of the inheritance which was that God had promised the Land of Canaan to the children of Israel and they were about to receive this promise. Remember this is only part of the promise that God gave to Israel through the birthright given to Abraham, the rest would come at the time Jesus began his ministry and would eventually be crucified which would provide the New Covenant. This is the other part of the inheritance.

When the time came for Israel to enter into the Promised Land Moses had to make a choice between two men who had been very faithful to follow him in everything that God had asked. They were Joshua and Caleb. Joshua was the leader of the tribe of Ephraim and Caleb was the leader of the tribe of Judah. According to the will of God Moses chose Joshua to be the one. Question: Why didn’t God choose Caleb? He was from the tribe of Judah? Wouldn’t that be more appropriate? Especially since God had said that out of Judah would come the chief ruler. God couldn’t do that because Judah did not possess the promise that we call the birthright or inheritance. God chose Joshua because he was the holder of the birthright and it was he who divided the land of Canaan and gave to each tribe their possession.

When God himself chose the first King of Israel he surprisingly didn’t choose one from Judah or Ephraim He chose Saul who was from the tribe of Benjamin to be King because of his humility. At that time he did this because of the continual strife in Israel over the inheritance, question being, who should rule Israel? Should our rulers come from Judah or from Ephraim? Judah had the promise of the chief ruler but Ephraim held the Birthright as the past had demonstrated by Joshua leading the children into the Promised Land. This strife was caused by the confusion of the way the promise was given.

This is what they said at a latter day at the time that God divided Israel. Note this: "1st Kings 12: 16: So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents." God understood the promise but they didn’t.

Saul lost his humility and became rejected of God. At this time God decided to put the "chief ruler" part of the promise concerning Judah into action. He made David king of all of Israel and it would be of his lineage that Christ would be born. The promise that from David a King would be born, a special King who would rule over the whole world began to be revealed through promises made to David and his house. Remember David is from the tribe of Judah. The same promise went to Solomon and would be passed down to his descendants.

It is hard for us to see how God did this because he allowed it to become obscured by allowing Samuel to anoint Saul first. He made promises to Saul but knew as he was giving them that Saul would fail the same as Moses and later Judas, all of who were men who were called but not chosen for the inheritance. Looking at 1^st Samuel 10:1 when God anointed Saul it was to make him captain over the Lord’s inheritance. This is speaking of Christ but it doesn’t appear that way until we read 1^st Samuel 13:13. For now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. Remember, This is the promise that God made to Judah when he said that the Scepter would never depart from him and the Scripture said that out of him would come the Chief Ruler. This is speaking of Jesus. Then God takes this promise away from Saul and gives it to David (1^st Samuel 15:28). God had planned to do this all along but he allowed this interruption to occur so that we would not be able to see the plan of God until the time that it should be revealed and that is now.

When Samuel anointed David all of these promises became his. He became the one that God would establish his kingdom upon Israel forever. He would become the captain of the Lord’s inheritance (this is speaking of all of God’s children then and now and in the future who are saved and become children of God). And the Spirit of the Lord would rest upon him from then on (1^st Samuel 16:13).

This part of the promise was passed down to Solomon, David's Son. God allowed Solomon to build the Great Temple and blessed him with wealth and wisdom. In the Temple God through the articles of design created prophecy by the images that were placed there. Two things stand out when it comes to these images. There were many Oxen and Lions. The Ox was the symbol of Joseph and his sons, which was passed on to Ephraim; the Lion was the symbol of Judah.

At Solomon’s Porch there were 12 Lions on the six steps that led to the throne. This is symbolic that down through time, or step by step Israel would eventually have a King who would be the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. This was a prophecy that revealed Judah’s inheritance from Abraham. Out of the Southern Kingdom of Judah would come the Messiah. Jesus was all of these things He was the Son of David, the Chief Ruler, the Messiah and the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who would reign on the throne of David. Jesus was born in the city of David, Bethlehem Judea which was in the old Southern Kingdom called Judah. Joseph and Mary were both of the tribe of Judah and lived in the old Northern Kingdom of Israel. The northern part of this region was known as Galilee and in Galilee in the city of Nazareth he was to live until the time for his ministry.

In the court yard of Solomon’s Temple was a large bronze tank, like a bowl, that held ten thousand gallons of water. It was called a Sea. It was there for the priests to wash their hands and feet before entering the Temple to do service to God. This tank of water was supported on the back of 12 bronze Oxen, three facing to the North, three to South, three to East and three facing to the West. These 12 Oxen are the only prophecy in the Old Testament about 12 men who would come from Ephraim. This tank or Sea sitting on the backs of these Oxen is a shadow of the Birthright, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or the New Testament. It is the New Covenant that God had promised Israel and the world. It was a symbol of the cleansing of Israel along with all the nations of the world.

The 12 Oxen that this Bronze Sea rested on was a prophecy of the 12 Disciples who would bear the burden of the New Covenant by taking it to the North, South, East and West. Jesus told them to go into the entire World and preach the Gospel to every creature, and this they did to the entire World that they knew about. It is still going to the World today through the preaching of the Gospel; they are still speaking to us as we preach their message and the account of their experience from the Bible.

Well, if this is true how did the 12 Disciples become the birthright holders? It happened at the time Solomon sinned against the Lord. God used the prophet Ahijah to speak the Word of the Lord and God divided Israel into two nations. The Northern Kingdom later called Israel ruled by kings from Ephraim and the Southern Kingdom known as Judah, later as the land of Judea would be ruled by Kings from Judah. When this happened, God separated the birthright from the Southern Kingdom. God knew that both of these Kingdoms would come to destruction because of sin but he also knew that this was the perfect time to separate them. The birthright from Ephraim went to Jeroboam who was the leader of the tribe of Ephraim at that time. Remember Ephraim's birthright was the same as Abraham's and God had said that Ephraim's children would become a multitude of nations. The promise of the coming King being born from David's family stayed with the Southern Kingdom being passed down to Rehoboam Solomon's son.

Then God used the prophet Jeremiah to remind us that Ephraim was still the holder of the birthright. In Romans 11: 29 it says that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Which means that the promise that God made to Israel was unchangeable. Jeremiah was a prophet during the time that Jerusalem and Judah was taken by the Babylonians. During his ministry he prophecied about many things that were to come to pass. One of these was the prophecy of the New Covenant that God would give to Israel (Jeremiah 31:31-34). this is the same Covenant that we are in today. But in this same chapter God revealed the primogeniture, the birthright holder.
Jeremiah 31: 9: They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

Jeremiah was speaking promises that God was making to both Judah the Southern Kingdom and Ephraim the Northern Kingdom in these Scriptures. He was telling us that he had made Ephraim the Northern Kingdom joint heirs with Ephraim's birthright. Which means that everyone or anyone who lived in the Northern Kingdom called Israel or Ephraim was a birthright holder. It is the same thing as being joint heirs with Christ. God has placed us with Jesus and because of this we become joint heirs in all the promises.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel belonging to the ten tribes under Ephraim was known by several names. It was called Israel, Ephraim, sometimes it was called Joseph but what I didn,t understand was that it was called Samaria while only occupied by the ten tribes long before they were taken captivie by the Assyrians. There is one thing that we must bear in mind and that is that God still saw that region as Ephraim no matter what had happened to it over a period of time. It was the inheritance that Joshua had given to them. God still had a promise to fulfill to the people that lived in that region.

The Israelites that still lived in the old Northern Kingdom of Israel were the descendants of the ten tribes that had been invaded by the Assyrians. When the Assyrians had taken the Northern Kingdom captive there was a certain amount of people from the ten tribes that escaped being taken. Later many of these people followed King Hezekiah's invitation to return to the God of Abraham and Isaac. Because they did this they were also spared during the invasion of Jerusalem by the Assyrians when they tried to take Judah at a later date. The descendants of this group of people were the people that God had chosen to fulfill his promise with Ephraim.

Jesus began his ministry in the old Northern Kingdom of Israel (Matthew 4: 12-25). All of the Lords disciples were chosen while Jesus ministered in the land of Galilee. There was only one man who stood out from the others, as not being a Galilean and that was Judas Iscariot.

Most of us would think that Iscariot would be Judas’ last name, But the name Iscariot only indentified the city that Judas was from. In the Hebrew the word Iscariot means "a man of Kerioth" or Carioth, which is a city of Judah (cf. Joshua 15:25). Judas was the only one of the twelve that was from the Southern Kingdom known as Judah, or the Land of Judea at that time. Which means that he was not a holder of the birthright. It is the same as the story of Moses in the wilderness, Moses was not qualified to share the Promised Land with Israel because he was a Levite and not a leader from Ephraim who was the holder of the birthright. Judas' purpose was to be a shadow of the betrayal and rejection of the Southern Kingdom known at that time as Judea. The name Judas is the Greek word for the same name as Judah in the Hebrew. God is going to redeem Judah's honor after he has saved all of Israel and the King from their tribe Judah sits on the Throne to govern the entire Earth.

Matthias was the man that replaced Judas and was numbered with the Twelve (Acts 1: 15-26). There are a number of arguments over this because some believe that the Apostle Paul should have been numbered with them. There are several reasons why this is not possible. There were several conditions that had to be met when it comes to this appointment. Remember that the birthright belonged to those out of Ephraim. Just as Judas did not qualify, neither did Paul. Paul was born of the tribe of Benjamin that was placed with the tribe of Judah at the time God separated the 12 tribes. The other reasons are this: In the book of Acts the Disciples knew that they had to choose someone that had been with them from the beginning, since the Baptism of John. The person they chose had to be a witness of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Paul was not a witness of the ascension of Christ he simply wasn’t there. In the book of Acts it says that the Disciples were Galileans.
Acts 12:
6: Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
7: And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?
This places all twelve of these men as being from the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which made all twelve men birthright holders through Ephraim’s birthright. They all became primogenitures of the promise. The oxen in the Temple were a perfect shadow of these men that would take the Gospel to the whole world that they knew about in their day.

Now we are able to see how the birthright came to these twelve men. The birthright was Abraham's promise that Ephraim's seed would become a multitude of nations. Abraham was promised that he would become the father of many nations. It worked like this. God had made David a promise that he would be the Chief over God's inheritance, that is God's children. The one who had this promise was Jesus himself who was born in Bethlehem of Judea from the seed of David. He gave the twelve Disciples the birthright in the form of the New Covenant and told them to preach it in all the nations of the World. It is known as the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You cannot be saved without it. This is how the inheritance is given to Jew and Gentile alike.

Paul said in Romans 10:
11: For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12: For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14: How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15: And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Moses led Joshua who was the birthright holder to the Promised Land. He showed it to him and then he layed his hands on Joshua and anointed him to possess the land and divide it. This part of Abraham's promise was fulfilled when Joshua did this. When Jesus came he led the 12 Disciples who were the birthright holders until they could hear and see the promises of God, then he commissioned them to possess it and divide it among the nations. This would happen through the preaching of the Gospel.

Today all Christians are primogenitures. When we receive the Gospel and believe it we also receive the inheritance who is Jesus by faith. At that moment we become joint heirs with Jesus. We become birthright holders and can share the inheritance, who is Jesus Christ, with any person we feel led to witness to, Jew and Gentile alike. We are saved by Jesus Christ who is the chief over the inheritance through the hearing of Ephraim's birthright, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been given an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, (1Pt:1:4). Jesus is that inheritance, He is the riches of the Gentiles. God has given to us the authority to share Jesus, who is the inheritance, because of Ephraim's birthright, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why he said whatsoever you bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven and whatsoever you loose on Earth will be loosed in Heaven. He has given us the authority just like Joshua to be primogenitures of the inheritance.

The Birthright is a spiritual thing and a natural thing. In order to explain this we will have to go to the writings of Paul who tells us so. The Birthright was that Abraham (natural) would become the father of many nations (spiritual). In Romans we are reminded of what God told Abraham in Genesis.

Romans 4:17:
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
18: Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

Paul explained that in order for Abraham to be a father of many nations that they had to become his children.

Galatians 3:
6: Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
7: Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
He goes on to say in verses 8-14 that this blessing was to come to the Gentiles and that it was spiritual.
8: And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
9: So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Genesis 49: 17: And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.
18: And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
19: And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
20: And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Galatians 3: 16: Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

This is the same promise the only difference in this is who the seed is. In the promise to Abraham thy seed was speaking of Christ. In the promise made to Ephraim Jacob was speaking about the actual children of Ephraim. This being that Ephraim’s descendants would eventually become a multitude of nations. But the promise of becoming a multitude of nations is the same birthright promised to Abraham and it has a spiritual meaning as well. The Birthright itself is spiritual not natural. Abraham became the nation of Israel through Isaac and the nation of Arabia through Ishmael. Which are only two nations, not a multitude. Ephraim has never become a literal multitude of nations. As I said this is a spiritual thing that we are looking at.

The bottom line of all of this is that Jesus himself is the inheritance and Ephraim was and still is the primogeniture of the Birthright and it is Ephraim’s job to share the inheritance (Christ). It is through this birthright that a multitude of nations will come to salvation through the preaching of the Gospel. Abraham's seed, Jesus, has become a multitude of nations. To understand it is like this; Jesus said that he was in us and that we are in him. When we are born again Jesus comes into our hearts. But when Jesus was being crucified God placed or positioned all the believers that were ever to be in Jesus. When Jesus died our old man of sin died as well, when Jesus was in the tomb our old man was buried with him to be remembered no more. Likewise when Jesus resurrected from the tomb we were resurrected as new creatures in him. When he ascended into Heaven we were in him. Today we are still in him as he is seated at the Father’s right hand. We are in Christ as individuals but all together in Christ we make up a multitude of nations in him. This was the promise to Abraham and it is spiritual.

All of the disciples were Galileans, the angels identified them as such (Acts 1:9)as well as the Jews(Act 2:5). Jesus did most of his miracles in Galilee. His first miracle was in Cana of Galilee where he turned the water into wine. But, he moved from Nazareth to Capernaum where he lived and He used that city as a home base for his ministry while he was here. In fact the scriptures call it as his own city (Matthew 9:1,4:13). He lived there and he began his ministry of preaching and teaching there. The question that comes to our mind is why did Jesus use Capernaum has his home for his ministry? It would seem that he should have begun in Bethlehem or Jerusalem. If he had it would have been a lot easier for the southern kingdom of Judah to receive him. In John it says that he came unto his own and his own received him not (John 1: 11). His own was speaking of the land of Judea, the Jews from the southern kingdom of Israel. Jesus himself was a Jew from the line of Judah, through David etc. Why did he begin his ministry in Capernaum? Why, because God had promised it. Capernaum was a city on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was situated on the border between Zebulun and Naphtali.

God had chosen this to be the place to begin because it was located right in the heart of the old land of Israel the Northern Kingdom that had been at one time under the headship of the tribe of Ephraim. These people were the ones that the promise of the Birthright belonged to, they were the heirs of God’s plan. They were to be the firstborn, in other words they would be the first to get the promise. Since they were the heirs it would be their responsibility to share the inheritance others. This they were to do by the preaching of the Gospel. God had not only chosen Capernaum as the place to begin the ministry of Jesus but had already chosen the men that he wanted to use to get it started. These men were the 12 Disciples and I believe that they were descendants of the tribes of Israel that remained in the land of Samaria after the Assyrians had taken most of the ten tribes of Israel captive. In Hezekiah's days many of them came to Jerusalem and renewed their committment to God and the Law of Moses. This caused them to be spared from the Assyrians that were about to take Jerusalem and Judea captive (Chronicles 30: 1-20). Later their descendants were taken captive right along with Judea by the Babylonians. But a very large amount of these returned with Judah when they were allowed to return to the land. An example of this is found in the New Testament.
Luke 2: 36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;
The word Aser was the New Testament name for Asher in the Old Testament. She was a descendant of the ten tribes and her ancesters had returned to Judah from the Babylonian captivity. So it is only reasonable to believe that the 12 Disciples were descendants in the same way.

I believe that one of the things that confused me and possibly still confuses people is that the land of Israel, or Ephraim was called Samaria. I was under the mistaken view that Israel the Northern Kingdom was called Samaria after the ten tribes had been taken captive. The truth is that Israel was called by four different names in the Bible. It was called Israel, Ephraim, Joseph and Samaria. They were called Samaritans before the invasion of the Assyrians. The reason being is because the capital and religious center of the nation was the city of Samaria. Omri king of Israel built a city and named it Samaria.

I Kings 16: 24: And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria.
The kings of Israel all lived in this city and ruled from it. So people began to call the nation Samaria as well. But by the time Jesus arrived the southern half of Israel it was still called Samaria and the northern part of Israel or Samaria had become Galilee. We must remember that the name Samaria is interchangeable with Israel or Ephraim. God still saw it that way and so did those that were not prejudiced against the Samaritans or Galileans. To God it was still Ephraim and made that Northern Kingdom heirs with Ephraim's Birthright. So a Samaritan could be a true Israeli or a mixed group from the Assyrians invasion that remained in the land. I believe that the people that lived in Judah called them Samaritans instead of Israel. The Samaritans were given to the worship of idols taught to them by King Jeroboam. This continued for many years and was renewed from time to time by various kings in Israel. I believe that the people in Judah did not want to attribute the name Israel to them because of this and simply began to call them Samaritans because of the idol worship. They were ashamed of them.

Another thing that confused me was that the Northern Kingdom of Israel had been taken captive. This event happened about 250 years after Solomon’s reign and the dividing of the kingdom of Israel into two separate nations. The thing that is commonly taught is that every single person in the Northern Kingdom was taken and there was none left in Samaria. But thankfully that was not the truth. The answer to this is found in the Bible itself so there is no second-guessing about this.

The first invasion of the Northern Kingdom of Israel was invaded and taken captive by the Assyrians around 720BC and was occupied by people that the Assyrians had taken from other countries to occupy the land. Over the next 20yrs there had been one other captivity that had taken place in the land. The Southern Kingdom of Judah had been spared all of this heartache but had watched it take place. Hezekiah king of Judah had seen all of this happen, the first initial invasion in Samaria had taken place a few years before Hezekiah became king over Judah.

Hezekiah was a good king and led Israel back to worshipping God in the Temple, keeping the Passover and all the things that Moses had commanded them to do. Judah as well as Israel had drifted away from God. During this revival of the Law of Moses Hezekiah sent out letters decreeing the people to come to the newly restored Temple to worship and to offer sacrifices and to keep the Passover (2^nd Chronicles 30: 1-20). Hezekiah felt led to send the same letters to the ten tribes of Israel in Samaria. The scriptures say that many laughed him to scorn. But wonderfully many did not reject the message and came to Jerusalem to worship the God of Abraham in the Temple. There were people from all of the ten northern tribes plus some strangers. They came and were cleansed and there was great rejoicing in the land. After that gathering people from both Judah and the ten tribes returned to their lands and destroyed all of the high places and idols that they could find. It was a true turning to God.

One of Hezekiah’s motives in doing all of this was because he suspected that Sennacerib the Assyrians king would soon invade the land of Judah. He promised everyone that came to be cleansed that if the Assyrians returned to invade that God would protect them from being taken captivity by them. When the Assyrians came they conquered part of Judah but were unable to take Jerusalem along with other cities. I believe it was because of this return to God and the promise that Hezekiah had made that God would spare and protect those that returned to the Lord. An angel of God destroyed a very large portion of the Assyrians army and the Assyrians left the land.

By the time Jesus came old Israel had become two different nations. Galilee and Samaria, Samaria set between Judah and Galilee which set in the north. Jesus came to Galilee in the old land that was once called Israel and began his ministry of preaching the Gospel. Many of the people that lived there were direct descendants of those ten tribes that were spared from being taken captive by the Assyrians. There were also people living there that were descendants of the strangers that had came to the Lord during Hezekiah’s revival. I believe that the 12 Disciples with Matthias excluding Judas were all direct descendants from the ten tribes that had been spared by the Lord. It was a must for God to appoint heirs or progenitors of the promise given to Ephraim. These men were to carry the message of the Gospel. First the Gospel had to be taken to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and then to the rest of the world. It was to be done in that order and it was. Praise the Lord, God is faithful to do all that he says that he is going to do. This knowledge has been a real blessing to me and I hope to you as well.

God Bless You
Tommie Spurgeon