Second gathering of Israel

[Revelations won]

The scriptures speak of a coming latter day when the Lord God of Israel will set his hand again the second time to gather all Israel and fulfill his promise that they shall again inherit the lands of their inheritance.

It is obvious that most of these mighty events are yet to be fulfilled.

How and in what manner will all this be accomplished?

How will the tribes of Israel be identified?

Who will gather them?

Where are they today?

Where are the ten lost tribes of Israel today?

Are we now living in the “DISPENSATION OF THE FULNESS OF TIMES”?

The following scriptures give an interesting introduction to the latter day gathering of the House of Israel.


Ephesians 1:
10
That in the "dispensation of the fulness of times" he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

Ezekiel 11:
14
Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
15
Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.
16
Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
17
Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
18
And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
19
And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
20
That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.


Jeremiah 3:
17
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

18
In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.

Ezekiel 28:
25
Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.
26
And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.


Ezekiel 37:
12
Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13
And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14
And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.



21
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22
And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
23
Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.


Ezekiel 39:

6
And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7
So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8
Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
9
And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:
10
So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.
11
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
12
And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
13
Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14
And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.


25
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
26
After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
27
When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28
Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
29
Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

Kind regards,
RW

[JehovahsWitness]

Dear JW,

..You need to remember the it was the tribe of Judah who returned.

No, that is not true; representatives from all 12 tribes returned to Jerusalem. This was possible because evidently, individuals from the various ten tribes in the North, relocated during various periods to the two tribe southern kingdom (compare 1 Kings 12:17 ; 2 Chron 10:17 , 2 Chron 11 :13-17)

2 CHRON 15: 9, 10

And he gathered together all Judah and Benjamin and the foreign residents with them from Eʹphra·im and Ma·nasʹseh and Simʹe·on,j for they had deserted to him from Israel in great number when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him. 10 So they were gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month of the 15th year of Aʹsa’s reign

2 CHRON 11: 16
And those from all the tribes of Israel who had their heart set on seeking Jehovah the God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Jehovah the God of their forefathers.

The Assyrian destruction of the ten tribe nation then would not have effected the members of those tribe that lived in Judah. And when Jerusalem was later destroyed and they were taken into captive, some of their descendents would have been freed by Cyrus and returned to Jerusalas indicated by Ezra who spoke of "the sons of ISRAEL" offering 12 male goats (one for each tribe present) - see Ezra 6:16, 17

CONCLUSION The scriptural evidence clearly indicates that while the 10 tribes were never restored as a souvereign nation, thanks to their predecessors that survived in Judah, they retained their tribal identity and were restored to spiritual freedom when Cryus liberated the nation in the 6th century BC.

RELATED POSTS

Were any of the 12 tribes "lost" ?
viewtopic.php?p=1094390#p1094390

[Revelations won]

Dear JW,

I would have to agree with collins88x. You fail to follow the chronological tribe line more carefully. The Israelites were divided into two separate kingdoms. The House of Judah led by the Jews along with a few of the tribe of Benjamin.

The House of Israel containing the other 10 tribes was led by the tribe of Ephraim. The return of the house of Judah along with a few of the tribe of Benjamin returned to Jerusalem under the decree of Cyrus.

You cannot show where the other Ten tribes are today. Also it does not appear that you can show where the ten tribes went after their captivity.

I suspect you cannot show from the scriptures where the Lod led them after their captivity.

Can you show from the scriptures when the Lord will gather them again?

Can you show from the scriptures where the Lord will gather them from?

Kind regards.,
RW

[JehovahsWitness]

... You fail to follow the chronological tribe line more carefully.

Quite the contrary ...


Representatives from all 12 tribes returned to Jerusalem. This was possible because evidently, individuals from the various ten tribes in the North, relocated during various periods to the two tribe southern kingdom (compare 1 Kings 12:17 ; 2 Chron 10:17 , 2 Chron 11 :13-17)


REIGN OF REHOBOAM 997 -980 BCE

2 CHRON 11: 16
And those from all the tribes of Israel who had their heart set on seeking Jehovah the God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Jehovah the God of their forefathers.

Thus, at the time of the division INDIVIDUAL members from the TEN TRIBES emmergrated to Judah.

REIGN OF KING ASA OF JUDAH (977-937 B.C.E.)

2 CHRON 15: 9, 10

And he gathered together all Judah and Benjamin and the foreign residents with them from Eʹphra·im and Ma·nasʹseh and Simʹe·on,j for they had deserted to him from Israel in great number when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him. 10 So they were gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month of the 15th year of Aʹsa’s reign

A second wave of migration evidently occurred during Asa’s reign.

FALL OF SAMERIA 740 BCE

The Assyrian destruction of the ten tribe nation then would not have effected the members of those tribe that lived in Judah. And when Jerusalem was later destroyed [607 BCE ]and they were taken into captive, some of their descendents would have been freed by Cyrus [539 BCE ] and returned to Jerusalem as indicated by Ezra who spoke of "the sons of ISRAEL" offering 12 male goats (one for each tribe present) - see Ezra 6:16, 17

CONCLUSION The scriptural evidence clearly indicates that while the 10 tribes were never restored as a souvereign nation, thanks to their predecessors that survived in Judah, they retained their tribal identity and were restored to spiritual freedom when Cryus liberated the nation in the 6th century BC.

RELATED POSTS

Were any of the 12 tribes "lost" ?
viewtopic.php?p=1094390#p1094390

[JehovahsWitness]

You cannot show where the other Ten tribes are today.

So? So what?!

The point is that we have documented evidence that representatives of all 12 tribes were present when Cyrus liberated the former captives that wished to return to Jerusalem in 539 BCE. None of the tribes were "lost" in the sense that they ceased to be identifiable groups at that time.

.... it does not appear that you can show where the ten tribes went after their captivity.

After their captivity many went to Jerusalem and the surrounding areas

I suspect you cannot show from the scriptures where the Lod led them after their captivity.

EZRA 6:16, 18

Then the Israelites, the priests, the Levites,+ and the rest of the former exiles held the inauguration* of this house of God with joy. ...in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the book of Moses

Can you show from the scriptures when the Lord will gather them again? Can you show from the scriptures where the Lord will gather them from?

After their return to Jerusalem from captivity in the 6th century BCE , scriptures do not point to any further "gathering" of the descendants of Abraham. The diaspora would continue in their various locations around the then known world and, along with their brethren in Palestine, await further instructions from the promised Messiah.


As it turns out the Messiah did NOT call the diaspora to gather in any physical location nor did he point them to a restablishment of a political State of Isarael. Instead (and perhaps contrary to their expectations) Jesus pointed them to the promise of a heavenly kingdom in a spiritual location.