Any Bible students would find it most useful, because greatly
facilitating their reading and understanding of Scripture, if they would
underline in red ink all parts of the Bible having a direct reference to
Israel only, and to underline, in blue ink, those parts referring to
Judah alone, and also, in green ink, those parts that refer directly to
the Gentile World, apart from Israel or Judah.
By doing this they would arrive at the readiest method of
ascertaining the positive fact, that seven-eighths of the entire Bible
have reference only to the literal, social, and historical affairs of
Israel and Judah, that only about one-eighth of the whole Bible has any
real bearing upon the Gentiles, and that those parts marked red, as
referring to Israel, largely predominate.
It follows that, not to understand the distinction of Israel from
Judah, is positively to misunderstand seven-eighths of the Bible, and
yet, it is an undeniable fact, that 99 per cent, of our people do not
recognise any difference as existing between Israel and Judah, and that,
when you speak to them about Israel, they immediately think you are
referring to the Jews, and read their Bible with this same false
impression. Nationally, to this day, both Oxford and Cambridge are under
this delusion, as well as all the Dissenting Colleges of the land; how,
then, can we be surprised at the amount of stupid blundering and
erroneous statements issuing from our pulpits, or wonder at the fact,
that our pulpit ministrations do not gain the respect of the masses, so
that, while the thousands regard the Church as a venerable Institution,
the millions are really outside its influence?
Brethren! is it not a lamentable assertion to make in 1876, that
seven-eighths of the Bible are misunderstood? yet it is, too truly, a
fact. By not distinguishing Israel from Judah, we set all the
prophetical books at variance with each other; we make one prophet give
the direct falsehood to another; we make Isaiah call into question the
prophecies of Jeremiah; and Jeremiah impugn the statements of Hosea. We
set Joel against Amos, Zephaniah against Zechariah, and make Ezekiel
contradict them all.
Hundreds of proofs are at hand to substantiate these statements, but
a few must suffice. Isaiah, Hosea, and Christ declare Israel to be Lost.
Isaiah 7:8; Hosea 1:10; 6:2; Matt. 15:24. Jeremiah and Ezekiel declare
Judah to be Known. Jer. 24:9; Ezek. 22:4. Hosea declares Israel to be as
the sand for Multitude. Hos. 1:1 0. Jeremiah declares Judah to be Few in
number. Jer. 15:7. Isaiah, David, and Micah declare Israel to be the
Strongest War Power upon earth. Isa. 41:11; Psa. 105:24, Micah 7:16.
Whereas Jeremiah declares Judah to be Without Might. Jer. 19:7. God
Almighty, Samuel, David, Isaiah, and Jeremiah declare Israel to be a
Monarchy. H Sam. 7:12, 13; Psa. 89:4; Isa. 37:31; 49:23; Jer. 33:26.
Jeremiah states Judah to be without Government, 17:4. Isaiah and Obadiah
state Israel to be an Island Nation with large Colonies, 49:1, 8; Obad.
17. Jeremiah and Ezekiel state Judah to be strangers in all countries,
without geographical inheritance. Jer. 24:9; Ezek. 22:16. Isaiah, Hosea,
Micah, Habakkuk, and Paul declare Israel to be a Christian People. Isa.
44:23; Hos. 2:19; Micah 5:7; Hab. 3:13; ROM. 6:14. Whereas Ezekiel,
Nahum, Zechariah, Christ, and Peter declare Judah to be under the Mosaic
Law. Ezek. 43:18-27; Nahum 1:15; Zech. 9:11; Mark 7:9; Luke 13:35; 1
Peter 2:8. Many scores of such illustrations might be given. These
statements are, in reality, perfectly harmonious.
It is only when we read Scripture in our blindness, under the
impression that each statement refers to one and the same people, that
it becomes contradictory; then it is that the whole Bible seems one mass
of confusion, defying the genius of man to bring forth a shadow of
reconciliation, without doing material damage to other parts of the
Book. Tom Paine fell into the common error of looking at the Jews as the
House of Israel, and states boldly in his writings that he was led into
infidelity because he saw that the Jews could never verify the promises
given to Israel; he therefore gave the Bible up as a myth.
Honestly, I cannot blame the man; for he did but exercise an acute
judgement; and I frankly avow, that if my eyes had not been opened, and
my mind instructed, to see that Israel and Judah are not the same
people, I could have come to no other conclusion. I can never be too
thankful to the Almighty, that in my youth He used the late Professor
Wilson to show me the difference between the two Houses. The very
understanding of this difference is the key by which almost the
entire Bible becomes intelligible, and I cannot state too strongly, that
the man who has not yet seen that the Israel of the Scriptures are
totally distinct from the Jewish people, is yet in the very infancy, the
mere alphabet of Biblical study, and that, to this day, the meaning of
fully seven-eighths of the Bible is completely shut out to his
understanding.
I close this chapter by a short and powerful description of the
difference between Israel and Judah, given forth by God Himself: "Therefore,
thus saith the Lord God, Behold, my servants (Israel) shall eat, but ye
(Judah) shall be hungry,. behold, my servants (Israel) shall drink, but
ye (Judah) shall be thirsty; behold, my servants (Israel) shall rejoice,
but ye (Judah) shall be ashamed; behold, my servants (Israel)
shall sing for joy of heart, but ye (Judah) shall cry for sorrow of
heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit,. and ye (Judah) shall
leave your name for a curse unto my chosen (Israel); for the Lord God
shall slay thee (Judah), and call His servants (Israel) by
another name" Isa. 65:13, 14, 15.
I again recommend my readers the plan of underlining their Bibles in
red, blue, and green inks. If they would try the red and blue in the
quotation just given, they would see its service. There are hundreds of
verses like the above, that in part refer to Israel, and in part to
Judah, and by this method of employing different colours to distinguish
the parts, the intellect is immediately instructed, saving an immense
strain upon the mind in study. I live in the hope of seeing the day when
our Oxford and Cambridge Presses, with the British and Foreign Bible
Society, will facilitate study by using different classes of type to
discriminate readily these distinctions, and at the same time sponging
out the absurd and abominably false Head Lines that both disgrace and
disfigure nearly all their Editions.
