Whose side are you on?-2
After David, Solomon led Israel to follower other gods and the kingdom became divided.
God said He would scatter them among the nations, if they didn’t follow his instructions, in the Covenant made at Moab. Just as he scattered Babel.
DEUTERONOMY 4 : WARNING AGAINST IDOLATRY
25When you shall beget children, and children’s children, and you shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD your God, to provoke him to anger: 26I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto you go over Jordan to possess it; you shall not prolong your days on it, but shall utterly be destroyed. 27And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and you shall be left few in number among the heathen, where the LORD shall lead you. 28And there you shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29But if from there you shall seek the LORD your God, you shall find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30When you are in tribulation, and all these things are come on you, even in the latter days, if you turn to the LORD your God, and shall be obedient to his voice; 31(For the LORD your God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake you, neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them.
After Solomon died, He gave: 10 tribes of Israel to Jeroboam (who was from the Tribe of Ephraim) and 2 to Judah.
The Northern Kingdom (Israel) did nothing different than what Solomon did under his rule. In 721 BC God had Assyria conquer Sumeria and take the Northern Kingdom captive to Assyria.
God divorced the Northern Kingdom because they hardened their hearts and rejected God’s Law in pursuing other gods. They were truly, no longer His people. Just like the US, Israel became divided in two into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, but unlike the US, Israel never came back together.
Both Kingdoms ended up being banished from their land and taken into captivity.
The “Northern Kingdom”, the House of Israel was taken by the Assyrians.
The “Southern Kingdom”, the House of Judah led into exile in Babylon for 70 years before returning back to Jerusalem.
Only a portion of the Southern Kingdom were led back to Israel.
2 KINGS 17 : ISRAEL EXILED BECAUSE OF IDOLATRY
5Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. 6In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. 7For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
8And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel , and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. 9And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. 10And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: 11And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and worked wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: 12For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said to them, You shall not do this thing. 13Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn you from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. 14Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God. 15And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.
16And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God,
and made them molten images, even two calves,
and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
17And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire
, and used divination and enchantments,
and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
18Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
19Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. 20And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. 21For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. 22For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; 23Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day.
Just as the nations are seeking to restore the “Lost City”
Jesus came to seek out His “Lost Sheep”
For a deeper study into this : The “LOST SHEEP”
God said he would rescue the sheep the were scattered
JEREMIAH 50 : HOPE FOR ISRAEL AND JUDAH
4In those days, and in that time, said the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God. 5They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.6My people has been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.7All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.
11For thus said the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 12As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and
will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them on the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14I will feed them in a good pasture, and on the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed on the mountains of Israel. 15I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, said the Lord GOD. 16I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.
DEUTERONOMY 24 :Law of Divorce (Matthew 5:31-32; Luke 16:18-18)
1When a man has taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, because he has found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorce, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. 2And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. 3And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorce, and gives it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; 4Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and you shall not cause the land to sin, which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.
So how can God search for his Lost Sheep, after he has already divorced her?
This was a great mystery to the Priest’s and Rabbi’s. They wondered how can He remarry the very one He divorced and declared to have given herself over to prostitution. God can not break the very righteous laws that define his own Righteousness.
Breaking the law of God is Sin, the law defines sin according to God’s own words.
GOD CANNOT SIN.
How then can God remarry THE LOST SHEEP OF ISRAEL without breaking His own Law?
This is what Paul referred to as THE GREAT MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL
ROMANS 7 : RELEASED THROUGH DEATH
Paul goes onto say that we die in Christ, when we come into the faith. Releasing both us and God from the requirement of the law as it relates to divorce and remarriage. So Christ came down and died for the Lost Sheep in order to bring them back into the fold.
This is why we are referred to as the Bride. God considered Israel as His wife.
ROMANS 6 : DEAD TO SIN, ALIVE TO GOD 
1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that from now on we should not serve sin. 7For he that is dead is freed from sin.
EPHESIANS 3 : THE MYSTERY OF THE GOSPELEPHESIANS 6 : PRAY CONTINUALLYTHE GREATEST LOVE STORY NEVER TOLD.
Just as Egyptians left with the Hebrews in the Exodus by way of the Passover lamb, Christ has opened the door that whosoever calls upon Him will be saved.
10For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost.
WHAT WAS LOST? His people.
JOHN 15 : GREATER LOVE HAS NO ONE THAN THIS
13Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
HOSEA 13 : Ephraim’s Glory Vanishes
1When Ephraim spoke trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died.2And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.3Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud and as the early dew that passes away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
9And the LORD said, “Call his name Not My People,b for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”c
In the eyes of God, they were dead because they were not longer His.
13And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
Meaning out of covenant. Circumcision represents covenant.
EPHESIANS 21And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins,
This is what ‘the Prodigal Son ’ is all about.
: 24For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
The Prodigal Son is Ephraim who was considered DEAD.
The son of Joseph who was the son of Rachel, the son and wife Jacob loved most.
It wasn’t until the perfect son, Jesus, came and died as the son of God to annul the covenant. To establish the new. He died in our place. He came as the Son of God, Israel.
Israel was no longer son because of disobedience. Jesus was son because of obedience. When He died on the cross, the marriage covenant was made void because He died as the true son, Israel. So now we can be reunited with Yahweh if we are in Him.
MATTHEW 5 : JESUS FULFILLS THE LAW
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.18For truly I say to you, Till heaven and earth pass, one stroke or one pronunciation mark shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.19Whoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 22 : Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives
39And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. 40And when he was at the place, he said to them, Pray that you enter not into temptation. 41And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 42Saying, Father, if you be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done. 43And there appeared an angel to him from heaven, strengthening him. 44And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.45And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, 46And said to them, Why sleep you? rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.
Alchemic Potion Grinder ::::: Golden Cup of Abominations
This was the cup Jesus drank in the Garden of Gethsemene.
He had to drink from the cup, the cup of bitter water, that was to given to the wife, accused of adultery, as prescribed by the law
Numbers 5 : The Adultery Test
11And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, If any man’s wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him, 13And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner; 14And the spirit of jealousy come on him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come on him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled: 15Then shall the man bring his wife to the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD: 17And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water: 18And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causes the curse: 19And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say to the woman, If no man have lain with you, and if you have not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of your husband, be you free from this bitter water that causes the curse: 20But if you have gone aside to another instead of your husband, and if you be defiled, and some man have lain with you beside your husband: 21Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say to the woman, The LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD does make your thigh to rot, and your belly to swell; 22And this water that causes the curse shall go into your bowels, to make your belly to swell, and your thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.
23And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water: 24And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causes the curse: and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter. 25Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the offering before the LORD, and offer it on the altar: 26And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water. 27And when he has made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people. 28And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
29This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goes aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled; 30Or when the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute on her all this law. 31Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.
מְרִי mᵉrîy, mer-ee’; from H4784; bitterness, i.e. (figuratively) rebellion; concretely, bitter, or rebellious:—bitter, (most) rebel(-lion, -lious).
The Adulterous Woman was the Northern Kingdom of Israel who He divorced after they served Baal.
He knew what the outcome of the cup would bring, therefore he prayed for it be taken away, while in the Garden of Gethsemane… Matthew 26:39
COLOSSIANS 2 : BUILT UP IN CHRIST
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
It was these ordinances written on the scroll that were contrary to us or against us and that were washed off the scroll into the cup, Then nailed to the cross & Jesus.
He had to drink as prescribed in the law for the wife accused of adultery.
Jesus died not only so he could remarry his divorced bride, but he took the place of her judgement, Nailing that judgement to the cross.
He enabled his wife to be wiped clean of her guilt and be remarried at the same time.
She can now be justified. Justified – declared or made righteous in the sight of God.
Just-if-I’d never done it .
He came to redeem His people so they could come back into covenant relationship with Him.
21Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say to the woman, The LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people,
MATT 27:39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads.
when the LORD does make your thigh to rot, and your belly to swell;
The thigh is representative a person’s word or credibility, or even authority. Used in matters of keeping one’s word. This is why we see oath’s given why a man’s hand was under the others thigh.
GENesis 24
9And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning this matter.
GENesis 47
29And the time drew near that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found favor in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me: bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt;
The thigh wasting away was representative of ones credibility being useless.
When Jesus did not give the crowds proof of being the Son of God, His credibility meant nothing., if he desireth him: for he said, I am the Son of God
MATThew 27
40and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself: if thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross. 41In like manner also the chief priests mocking him , with the scribes and elders, said, 42He saved others; himself he cannot save. He is the King of Israel; let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe on him. 43He trusteth on God; let him deliver him now
The strongest muscle of the body is usually said to be the quadriceps located in the thigh. Though on the cross his strength appeared as weakness, there will be no question to His strength at His second coming. Though a spiritual understanding of the thigh is enough to get one’s attention, how did his thigh physically waste away while on the cross?
It was the thighs that one used in raising themselves up in order to breath when being crucified. After all his suffering and torture that happened before ever seeing the cross, and then after several hours of constantly lifting himself up on the cross just to struggle to breath, His thighs finally “wasted away”
This supports the many who contend that He actually suffocated after saying, “It is finished,” because, truly, His thighs could lift Him no more. There was no strength left. He suffocated as a result of His thighs wasting away. This is why the two thieves next to Yeshua had their legs broken. It was so they could push themselves up no more and would indeed suffocate.
He held no credibility with them. Yet there will be no mistaking his word, credibility, or authority, at his second coming. His thigh will make it very clear.
15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS
But what of His abdomen? For it says…NUM 5 and thy abdomen to swell;
Our lungs expand towards the least resistance given. In a relaxed state, that expansion is downward. Our Savior had been up all night in a mock trial, plus we know he was stressed because his sweat was mixed with blood, the night of praying in the garden. Luke 22:44
He didn’t enter this day on a good night’s sleep, on a nice mattress. So he has bee
n up over 24 hours,after being smacked around by the Pharisees, and having his beard pulled, he gets beat up by the Roman soldiers, then presented to his people, with a crown of thorns. Then he gets flogged to the point of hardly having human recognition.
Then he has to carry the weight of his own cross. Every breath he took on the cross was in weakness, not strength. His lungs filled with fluids while hanging on the cross why in the hands of the Romans. The shear weight of the lungs would have been enough to push down on the abdomen and push it out. His stomach was pushed out just like in the curse given to the unfaithful wife in Numbers 5:21.
And when he hath made her drink the water, then it shall come to pass, if she be defiled, and have committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her and become bitter, and her body shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.
He was brought before the Sanhedrin just like the woman was to be brought before the priest. No witnesses for proof with Pilate, and Pilate found no fault and declared it.
4 Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
Thus the need for Him to drink the cup – to prove the guilt
He endured the bitter suffering on the cross and the punishment of the unfaithful spouse who was defiled.
He took the curse mentioned in :
23 And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness
and nailed it to the cross, just like it was mentioned in
14Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross
13Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree:14That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Revelation 3 :Church of Sardis
Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; … and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.