“Our Fathers Have Inherited Only Lies!”
Who made this confession: “Our fathers have inherited only lies” and why? While most of the commentators consider them to be the heathen nations, who will come to the faith of the true Elohim, what should give us pause, however, is that this interpretation is problematic. This interpretation fails to explicitly mention what would make the heathens convert so quickly.
Moreover, those interpreters who advance this view are under the necessity of explaining another term we find in the Scripture: “the completeness of the nations”. That said, we will address the term later on in this study.
We will address the former of these questions hereafter and offer our opinion on the latter for the reader’s consideration. The reader has therefore to expect that the subjects mentioned in this introduction will be explained in the following vein.
The moment of truth for the nations
The coming Ya’akov’s trouble in the last days will result on the nations, so that the nations will come to the realization that they have inherited nothing but lies from their fathers. By coming to this moment of truth—”Our fathers have inherited only falsehood, futility, and there is no value in them”—the nations will turn to YHVH.
O Yehovah, my strength and my stronghold and my refuge, in the day of distress the nations shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited only falsehood, futility, and there is no value in them”. (Jer 16:19)
A Torah scroll. Will the nations learn the ways of YHVH?
How this knowledge is to be awakened in the nations, the prophet does not tell, but it may be gathered from this solemn statement,
So, I shall throw you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers. And there you shall serve other mighty ones day and night, where I show you no favor. Therefore see, the days are coming, declares Yehovah, when it is no longer said, ‘Yehovah lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt’, but ‘Yehovah lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them’. For I shall bring them back into their land I gave to their fathers. (Jer 16:13-15)
By this deliverance of both houses of Israel and Yehudah, the nations will be made aware both of the true Elohim and His Torah and of the nothingness of their own elohim.
Note: It was the blindness of the Church to see this prophecy in Jeremiah. The Christian militants seeing that Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed, and that the Jews were dispersed to the four corners of the world, read the prophecy of the restoration of Israel through the prism of the replacement theology that the Church had replaced Israel, i.e., the Church is the “New Israel”, and started persecuting the exiled Jews among them–murders, pogroms, rapes, forceful conversions, and expulsions in the last two millennia–all because “they killed our God”.
Since the nations were and still are so blind that they preferred vain teachings of men to the living Word, the Torah of YHVH, He will so show them the might of His hand and the chastisement on them, that they will know His Name, and that He alone is Elohim and there is none other,
Would a man make elohim for himself, which are not elohim? Therefore see, I am causing them to know, this time I cause them to know My hand and My might. And they shall know that My Name is Yehovah! (Jer 16:20-21)
YHVH will open to the nations a view of ultimate redemption of Israel from the affliction amidst them, into which they were cast for their sin. This second and last redemption of Israel will be a grandeur which will outshine the former deliverance of Israel from Egypt.
By this deliverance, the nations will be made aware this time both of the true Elohim of Israel and of the nothingness of the counterfeits they have created in their own religions, as if they were from YHVH. By coming to this moment of truth, they will also learn His true Name “Yehovah” and turn to Him with earnest confession, “Our fathers have inherited only falsehood, futility, and there is no value in them”.
This earnest confession of the nations will continue into the desire to come and seek YHVH Elohim of Israel in Jerusalem and pray before Him, as YHVH further says,
Peoples shall yet come, inhabitants of many cities, and the inhabitants of the city shall go to another, saying, “Let us go speedily and pray before Yehovah, and seek Yehovah of hosts. I myself am going”. And many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek Yehovah of hosts in Yerushalayim, and to pray before Yehovah. (Zec 8:20-22)
Time will come when YHVH will so glorify His city Jerusalem that not only will Israel live there and rebuild it, but many people will call upon each other to go up to the city and offer help.
There, ten men people of each of the seventy nations will hold on to the fringes on the garment of each child of Israel begging to be allowed to go with him, as YHVH says,
In those days ten men from all languages of the nations shall take hold, they shall even take hold of the edge of the garment of a man, a Yehudi, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that Elohim is with you”. (Zec 8:23)
It will not be necessary to prophesy to the nations any longer, for they will come to their own senses to learn that YHVH has always been with Israel in exile and never abandoned them.
And not only will the nations flow to Jerusalem to seek YHVH, but they will join Israel (see also Isa 2:3, Zec 2:10-11, Isa 14:1, Isa 56:6-8, Eze 47:22-23) to be received into fellowship with them as one nation.
Who are the ten men of the nations?
Ten in the phrase “ten men from the nations” might not be the cardinal number 10 but it might have been used to denote an indefinite number, or a complete multitude, after the manner of Gen 31:7 and 1Sa 1:8. And as seen in Lev 26:26, where the means of sustenance should become so scarce, that ten women could bake their bread in a single oven. In these three cases, the context allows and even requires a broader interpretation of “ten”, as we read,
When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back to you your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied. (Lev 26:26)
Therefore, an alternative reading of “ten men from all languages of the nations ” will be that these ten men could represent the multitude of the ten lost tribe of the House of Israel, as we will explain below.
In Romans 11, Shaul introduces to the reader two key elements in his message. First, he speaks of two olive trees: the “good olive tree” with natural branches and the “wild olive tree” that boasts against the natural olive tree. Then, he speaks of “the completeness of the nations”.
At this moment, we will introduce our reader to the prophecy in Hosea. There, YHVH Elohim told the prophet that He had no more compassion on the House of Israel to forgive them at all for the sins they committed against Him (Hos 1:6). Yet, YHVH continues in verse 10, the number of the children of Israel would be unmeasurable as the sand of the sea. Then, He cast them away, but they will still be known as “You are the sons of the living Elohim” despite His decree.
But concerning the House of Yehudah, He said that He would have compassion on them and save them (Hos 1:7), although their sins were even greater than those of the House of Israel (see also Eze 23:11). YHVH indeed punished the House of Yehudah, but He never divorced them, as He divorced the House of Israel.
And here comes the key moment in the prophecy in Hosea: the restoration of all Israel, the House of Israel and the House of Yehudah, that will be followed by their return to YHVH Elohim, as we read further,
And the children of Yehudah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and appoint for themselves one head, and shall come up out of the earth, for great is the day of Yizre’el. (Hos 1:11)
Returning to the two olive trees in Romans 11, we notice that Shaul exactly identifies whom he meant in his letter when he wrote “all Israel shall be saved”, namely, the two olive trees of Israel: both the House of Yehudah and the House of Israel,
For I do not wish you to be ignorant of this secret, brothers, lest you should be wise in your own estimation, that hardening in part has come over Israel, until the completeness of the nations has come in. And so, all Israel shall be saved, as it has been written, “The Deliverer shall come out of Tsiyon, and He shall turn away wickedness from Ya’akov, and this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” (Rom 11:25-27)
Shaul says that wild olive branches will continue to be grafted into the cultivated olive tree to replace those branches broken off until the completeness of the [ten] nations has been reached. Does the Bible tell us what this “completeness of the nations” is?
Our father Ya’akov told us what the “completeness of the nations” is in his blessing to Ephrayim and Menasheh,
… He also becomes a people, and he also is great. And yet, his younger brother is greater than he, and his seed is to become the completeness of the nations. And he blessed them on that day, saying, “In you Israel shall bless, saying, ‘Elohim make you as Ephrayim and as Menasheh!” Thus, he put Ephrayim before Menasheh. (Gen 48:19-20)
In his will regarding the fate of the tribes of Ephrayim and Menasheh, Ya’akov prophesied saying that Ephrayim’s offspring would become “the completeness of the nations”. And indeed, this blessing began to be fulfilled from the time of the Judges, when the tribe of Ephrayim so increased in size and power that it took the lead of the northern ten tribes and became their head.
Or, perhaps, the answer can be found in David’s words who wrote about being a “thriving olive tree in the house of Elohim”, where being an olive tree of YHVH connotes feelings of safety and security in His presence,
But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of Elohim; I trust in the mercy of Elohim for ever and ever. (Psa 52:8)
Or, in Jeremiah’s,
Yehovah has named you, “Green Olive Tree, beautiful, of goodly fruit.” With the noise of a great sound, He has set it on fire, and its branches shall be broken. And Yehovah of hosts, who planted you, has spoken evil against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Yehudah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me, by burning incense to Ba’al. (Jer 11:16-17)
The setting of fire to the green olive tree of Israel came about through its enemies, who broke up one part of the kingdom after the other, who had already destroyed the kingdom of the ten tribes and were now about to destroy Yehudah next. That the words apply not to Judah only, but to Israel as well, appears from the decree against both houses, Israel and Yehudah.
But we should not err and conclude that Shaul speaks exclusively in his letter to the Romans, as the Christian theologians do, but it will be proper to include in the wild olive tree of the House of Israel the converts from the other nations.
Rabbi Elazar interpreted Hosea 2:23 saying: “The Holy One, Blessed be He, exiled Israel among the nations only so that converts would join them, as it is stated: ‘And I will sow her to Me in the land’. Does a person sow a se’a of grain for any reason other than to bring in several kor of grain during the harvest? So too, the exile [Ed. of Israel and Yehudah] is to enable converts from the nations to join the Jewish people.”
And Rabbi Yochanan said that this idea of the converts joying Israel may be derived from the statement in Hosea 2:23: “‘And I will have compassion upon her that had not received compassion; and I will say to them that were not My people: You are My people’. Even those who were initially ‘not My people’, i.e., gentiles, will convert and become part of the Jewish nation.”
History confirmed that indeed the tribe of Ephrayim became a representative of the House of Israel, and as understood by Shaul, it became the wild olive tree in his letter thus quoting David, Hosea, and Jeremiah. So, either Shaul had misunderstood the prophecies in Genesis and Hosea, or the completeness of nations he was speaking of refers to the lost tribes of the House of Israel.
All Christian scholars universally equate the wild olive tree in Romans 11 with the Gentile Christian Church, while ignoring the foresaid important prophecies.
Such a claim of the Christian theologians seems quite astounding, but why did the apostle fail to mention this detail: the Church? Such an interpretation may work for the “New Testament” but contradicts Genesis, Jeremiah, and Hosea, and lastly it contradicts Isaiah 56, as we have explained in the following article.
However, if some were to argue that the Gentile Church was meant, there is no merit to such an argument. If the Church were “the completeness of the nations”, then the fact they must admit is that the apostle warns the Church that they are boasting against the natural branches—Israel—even though Israel is the root of their faith.
And this warning to the gentiles is best expressed in the words saying that if Elohim did not spare the natural branches, He might not spare them either and cut them off (Rom 11:21-22).
While this should be a subject of a different discussion, in Time of Reckoning Ministry we decided to introduce the reader to an alternative view on “the two olive trees” and “the completeness of the nations” and leave it to his or her consideration.
When the Torah will come out of Jerusalem
With all that considered, a solid foundation is thus established for the answer to the question: Who made this confession: “Our fathers have inherited only lies” and why?
And the word of YHVH came to Isaiah what will be in the latter days concerning Judah and Jerusalem that the mountain of the House of YHVH (Zion) is established on the top of all the mountains and be exalted above all, and what the nations will say,
Come, and let us go up to the mountain of Yehovah, to the House of the Elohim of Ya’akov, and let Him teach us His ways, and let us walk in His paths, for out of Tsiyon comes forth the Torah, and the Word of Yehovah from Yerushalayim. (Isa 2:1-4)
And YHVH will judge the nations, and will reprove many, so that no nation will ever wage war. But what urges the nations to go to the mountain of YHVH, that is in Jerusalem, is the desire for salvation expressed in the object of their journey to YHVH and His Temple to teach them “His ways” and “His paths”.
The Sages are all in agreement that “His ways” and “His paths” are metaphors for the Torah of the Most High, as it becomes obvious how they along with others have been used in the Torah Psalm 119, as it is said, “By them (the laws) you shall live”.
But by the desire of the nations to come in Jerusalem (also spiritually), they will not only wish to learn the Torah but to act accordingly expressed in “let us walk in His paths”, that is, to make the Torah their way of life.
The prophecy then adds the reason of this gathering of the nations in Jerusalem: “For Torah (the instruction) will go out from Zion, and the Word of Yehovah from Jerusalem” to fulfill the words of Yeshua the Messiah to the nations (represented by the Samaritans) that “salvation is of the Jews”
Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you shall neither on this mountain, nor in Yerushalayim, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because the salvation is of the Yehudim. (Joh 4:20-22) (see also Rom 9:4)
Note: “neither on this mountain (Gerizim), nor in Yerushalayim” was the prediction the Messiah made that the Temple one day would be destroyed, and all animosities between Jews and Samaritans would look vain and futile.
Having now completed our exposition in detail, if we take a survey of the substance of the entire matter, these two verses in Isaiah refer to the time when the nations will come to the realization that they have inherited nothing but lies from their fathers who have created their own religion and their own image of a “messiah”, as if they are from YHVH.
In those days of distress ten men from all nations shall take hold of the edge of the garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that Elohim is with you”. And to YHVH they shall say, “Our fathers have inherited only falsehood, futility, and there is no value in them”. And then they shall go up to the mountain of YHVH, to the House of the Elohim of Ya’akov, and say, “Let Him teach us His ways, and let us walk in His paths, for out of Tsiyon comes forth the Torah, and the Word of YHVH from Jerusalem, for they worship what they know because the salvation is of the Jews”.
These nations are neither the heathens, who do not recognize the Most High in the first place, nor are the converts, who already walk in His ways, but the gentiles, who have confessed with their mouths a faith to Elohim but have been in denial of the Torah for two millennia.
Ultimately, those gentiles will be made aware both of His Torah and of the nothingness of the images they have created in the place of the true Elohim.
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May we merit seeing the coming of our Mashiach speedily in our days!
Navah