October 17, 2006
Dry bones
Yeshua's mission statement is often misquoted and misunderstood within Christianity. The gospel writers point out that Messiah came to save that which was lost, but we need to know who or what was lost and why the ransom price was so high.
The Lord makes clear His purpose in Matthew 15:24. He tells a Canaanite woman that He was "not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." It is critical that we know the identity of this house. Israel consisted of 12 tribes early in its history and is referred to repeatedly in the books of Moses as the house of Israel. When the kingdom divided following the death of Solomon in 975 B.C., the 10 northern tribes continued to be called the house of Israel. The southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, were identified as the house of Judah. The term Jew is derived from the name Judah, one of Jacob's 12 sons. People from the southern kingdom were called Jews. Yeshua was addressing the northern kingdom in the Matthew passage, not Judah.
If all mankind needed redemption, and it did, why would God single out Israel and call her lost? Our answer is found in an often-overlooked verse, Jeremiah 3:8. God granted a get, a bill of divorce, to the northern kingdom because of her spiritual whoredom. She took another husbandman, the pagan religions of the world (Hosea 2:7). 
Because Deuteronomy 24 forbids a divorced woman who has remarried to return to her first husband, Israel had no chance to be reconciled to God. Judah also played the harlot but did not ask for a get (Hosea 11:12). Its Babylonian exile was, in a sense, a marriage separation.
The famous dry bones reference in Ezekiel 37 describes the spiritual condition of the northern tribes – cut off and lost. In Jewish synagogues, the dry bones passage is read during the Sabbath that falls within the weeklong celebration of Passover. That is prophetically significant since Yeshua redeemed the 10 tribes – the dry bones – through His death and resurrection at Passover. Israel was released from the divorce law by the death of her first husband, Yeshua, who came to earth in the fullness of YHVH. Yeshua's atoning sacrifice on the tree – He was crucified the very hour Passover lambs were slaughtered in Jerusalem – satisfies the Father, who says in Isaiah 50:1, "Where is the certificate of your mother's divorce, whom I have put away?" Isaiah 53:3 declares that by Messiah's stripes Israel is healed spiritually.
The plan to redeem the northerrn tribes – as well as all mankind – is stated plainly in Isaiah 49:5-6 – "And now the LORD says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him . . . . Indeed He says, 'It is too small a thing that You should be my Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth." Before ascending to the Father following His death and resurrection, Yeshua transfers that commission to His disciples, many of whom are Israelites. Because the northern tribes were exiled to Assyria and scattered later around the globe, when the gospel reached them, it reached the world.
But what about Judah? Did the Lord forsake His covenant people who, despite their iniquity, kept Torah, the priesthood and sacrificial law? Certainly not! Both Yeshua and the apostle Paul followed Biblical protocol by going to the Jew first (Romans 1:16) with the Good News, then the Gentile population. The Greek word for Gentiles, ethnos, refers to a tribe or race of people and includes the northern kingdom. A few verses after detailing his plan to rescue Israel in Isaiah 49, God offers words of comfort to Judah:
But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me." Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.
Is this not a picture of the prodigal son parable in Luke 15? The 10 northern tribes are the prodigal, leaving the father and squandering his inheritance. Broken and destitute, he repents and returns humbly to his father, who welcomes him back joyfully. The older son, who did not leave the father nor transgress his commandments, is angry that his wayward brother receives special treatment. Judah is the older brother. The father responds to his older son in language similar to the Isaiah 49 passage above – "Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive, and was lost and is found."
In the process of restoring ethnic Israel, God offers redemption to all mankind. Although many Jews recognized and received Yeshua as Messiah in the first century, Paul beckons Gentiles, including redeemed Israelites, to provoke Judah to jealousy so that the natural branch can be grafted back in. Judah was broken off because of unbelief (Romans 11:20). As he penned this passage of Romans, Paul certainly was mindful of Ezekiel 37, how in the end days God will join the two sticks, Israel and Judah, and make them one stick in His hand. They will return to the land of Israel and no longer defile themselves with idols. David His servant – Yeshua – will be their King and His sanctuary will be in their midst forever.
The above illustration, "The Valley of Dry Bones" by Barry Moser, is used with permission from Pennyroyal Caxton Press and Viking Studio. The use of images does not reflect, tacitly or implicitly, Mr. Moser's personal, political, theological or Biblical perspectives.Posted by Jeff King at October 17, 2006 11:18 AM