1. ISRAEL IN PROPHECY: Where Are the Lost Ten Tribes? 2. Booklet Draft--Rick Sherrod--February 1997 3. Chapter 1 4. “I Am Your Brother Joseph” 5. or 6. Who and Where Are the Lost Ten Tribes? 7. “I am Joseph!” (Genesis 45:3) (Slide #2134, 3322--“Joseph Recognized by His Brethren” by Baron Francois-Pascal Gerard (1770-1837). 8. Few statements could have made a more startling impact. The eleven middle-aged men already stood uncomfortably as mere merchant-traders--tenders of flocks and herds-- before the most powerful prime minister in the world. Now they truly were astonished and speechless. Could it be? What must have passed through the minds of these shocked and frightened listeners who, incidentally, were the very ones responsible for selling this Joseph into captivity in the first place? 9. The last time they knowingly had seen their brother, Joseph, was an impetuous and outspoken 17 year old. They had watched as he disappeared into the distance, no doubt vigorously protesting his sale into the hands of Midianite slave-traders (Genesis 37:12-28). How could those brothers have known the incredible adventures--the remarkable ups and downs through which their younger sibling had passed during the intervening two decades? 10. Certainly, Joseph’s experiences had been incredible: transported against his will to Egypt, the dominant power of that region of the world (Genesis 37:36); sold as a slave to a high- ranking Egyptian official and officer in the very court of Pharaoh (Genesis 39:1-6); gaining respectability and position in his newfound place in life, only to find himself falsely accused and whisked away to become an inmate in an Egyptian prison (Genesis 39:7-20); experiencing yet another unlikely rise in station in the midst of his incarceration to become the chief assistant of the prison warden (Genesis 39:21-23); moving literally from the prison to the palace, assuming the office of prime minister under the Pharaoh (Genesis 40-41); and now finally, dramatically revealing his true identity before the very brothers who had sold him into captivity more than 20 years before. 11. A more unbelievable tale hardly could have been contrived. More significantly, Joseph’s remarkable story was to become a forerunner of the precise experiences that his many descendants would undergo on a national scale over the millennia which were to follow. It is a tale which remains in process. One purpose of this very booklet is to make that story clear. 12. Meanwhile, back in the 18th century B.C. court of Pharaoh, until Joseph identified himself before his brothers, they knew nothing of the reality of his life after his enforced departure from home as the slave of a foreign people. For all they knew, he had long since died (cf. Genesis 44:28). Even if he was still alive, what chance would there have been that he had escaped the dehumanizing experience of his enslavement--of removal from the comfort of his homeland, denied the role of his father’s favorite son (slides #2138 (“Joseph Telling His Dream” by Rembrandt; #2133 “Joseph’s Coat of Many Colors” by Ford Madox Brown) to be treated instead as property to be bought and sold at the whim of his owner. Certainly, few things so remarkable have ever happened as Joseph’s ascent from slavery to become prime minister of the most powerful kingdom of that region, if not the entire world. 13. Why does the Bible record the story of Joseph’s trials and tribulations followed by his ultimate rise to unbelievable heights? The answer is multifaceted. In Israel’s traditions and history, the story of Joseph provides a captivating account of an ancient people’s pedigree and lineage. At a different level--, far more important to us today--, the life of Joseph was an acting out, thousands of years in advance, of one of the most distinctive and prominent threads of Western history. 14. Joseph’s story holds a key to locating the so-called “Lost Ten Tribes” of Israel--the descendants of him and nine of his 11 brothers. These Israelites disappeared from the historical record around the close of the 8th century B. C. when the Assyrian armies invaded and largely swept them from their homeland in Palestine. 15. More importantly, knowing the identity of Israel today equips us not only with critical understanding of end- time prophecies but also knowledge about the changes which God would require of the people of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth nations of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and, South Africa. 16. The Abrahamic covenant 17. This remarkable story begins in ancient Mesopotamia with the biblical patriarch Abraham (slide #1847), probably some time in the mid-19th century B.C. It hinges upon the most important and far-reaching promises and prophecies ever delivered by God to man. People even casually acquainted with the Bible are generally familiar with the monumental spiritual dimensions of God’s promise to Abraham. God told the patriarch that He would make of him “a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). 18. This blessing to come on all nations, we later learn from the apostles, was the blessing of eternal life (Acts 2:25-26; Galatians 3:8, 16, 29). Thus from the virtual onset of the biblical record we understand God’s intention to offer spiritual salvation to the whole of humanity. The fulfillment of this great promise was reached at one level on Passover A. D. 31 with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the consequent breaking down of the wall of partition separating humankind from God (Matthew 27:51). The sacrifice of Jesus Christ made it possible for people of all the nations of the earth to enjoy a relationship with Yahweh, the God of Israel, who until that time had dealt almost exclusively with the descendants of the patriarch Jacob, also called Israel. 19. Is the spiritual dimension of the Abrahamic promise the entire story? What exactly did God mean by his promise in Genesis 12:2 to make of Abraham a “great nation”? A closer examination of God’s relationship and dealings with Abraham reveals one of the most important and least understood aspects of the biblical record. 20. From Genesis chapters 12 through 22, we find seven different passages which describe God’s promises to Abraham. In the initial account (Genesis 12:1-3), God admonishes Abraham to leave his homeland and family--a condition preceding the promise--for which God promised to make of Abraham a great nation, would bless him and would make his name great. A few verses later, we read how God soon thereafter miraculously appeared to Abraham, promising his descendants the lLand of Canaan (verse 7). 21. In chapter 13, the Bible provides us even more details--information which implies a physical dimension tied to the Abrahamic promise. Following the dramatic account of Abraham’s willingness to give the fertile Jordan River plain to his nephew Lot (verses. 5-13), we see that God in turn promised all of Canaan to Abraham forever (verses. 14-17). Moreover, He promised to make the still childless Abraham a father with descendants “as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered” (verse. 16). 22. ____________________________ 23. TEXT BOX: 24. Abraham--Friend of God 25. What would it be like to be the very “friend of God”? That is what God considered the ancient patriarch Abraham (Js. 2:23). What was it about this remarkable man that so endeared him to his Creator? 26. Abraham was a man very much like you and me--given to human flaws and foibles (cf. Js. 5:17). Not long after God began to work directly with him, Abraham allowed fear and faithlessness to compel him to lie to preserve his own life (Genesis 12:11-13). Not once but twice, the Bible bears witness of Abraham giving in to this same temptation (20:1-2). Moreover, he grew impatient waiting on the promises of God to provide him with a child and heir (12:2, 15:5). Abraham even caved in to the pressures to solve his problem through his own culture’s ancient world version of surrogate parenthood--producing a son through the handmaiden of his lawful wife (16:1-4). 27. As we must do today, Abraham had to grow and overcome. He had to address his shortcomings and failings and literally become like God (Genesis 17:1, Matthew 5:48). Through very personal life experiences, Abraham saw that God was good to His Word--that His Creator could be trusted to fulfill His promises. 28. Today, Abraham is known as a man of great faith. Among Christians everywhere he is “father of the faithful” (Romans 4:12-21, especially v. 16). Many qualities made Abraham special to God. He was a man of instant obedience. He was willing to obey the voice of the Eternal--to do without question what he understood as the will of the mighty Yahweh (Genesis 12:1-4, 22:3, 26:3, 5--note also 17:23, 26 and Acts 7:8). Abraham was also a loving, compassionate, and humane man ever ready and willing to consider the interests and plight of others as well as himself (Genesis 18:23-32, 21:11, 24:32).