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A MONTHLY TEACHING LETTER
Letter #20
This is the twentieth in a series of teaching letters. With the last few teaching letters (13 through 19), I have been bringing you a series on the early Celtic church. If you don�t have all of these lessons, you will have missed part of this important story. You will need to contact me and get the missing issues. To understand the entire story of Judah, you will need all the lessons since #1. Today the enemy is pulling every deceitful trick in order to destroy the White race. Recently they have run a miniseries (10 hours) on PBS called An American Love Story consisting of a white woman who married a black and all the problems they encountered with society with their (mamzer) mulatto daughter. Not only was this series broadcast for the original 10 hours, but it was repeated two times, so there was a total of 30 hours of television time. The enemy is investing a lot of money into this sort of thing in order to promote multi-cultural race mixing. If we think race mixing is bad now, we haven�t seen anything yet! There was another subversive program broadcast over PBS called Not In Our Town. The object of this program was to incite communities to revolt against any kind of so-called �hate.� If you believe that the White people are Israel, you are automatically considered a member of a �hate� group. There was another mind-altering program aired called Seeking Solutions which very cleverly promoted a concept, the idea that there is less crime in diverse (racially mixed) neighborhoods. At one point in this broadcast they used uptown Chicago as an example of a low crime area, citing one schoolteacher who taught a class where he had children from 26 countries speaking 24 different languages. Recently on C-Span2 there was a program called TV Book, where a black author was giving a review of a book he had written. During a question and answer session a white woman made a comment similar to this: �It is desirable that every white woman have just a little Afro-American in her � not a lot � just a little.� How many of our young people will cave-in to race mixing thinking they are doing �God� a favor by helping to stop crime? How many of the members of your family have you notified that you will disinherit them if they do such a thing? Have you announced to them unequivocally that they needn�t bring home a mulatto or whatever to set their feet under your table? It is past time we draw a line in the sand on these racial issues.
Now Continuing The Topic: JUST WHO IS THIS PATRIARCH, JUDAH? (Part 20)
JUDAH AND TWO SEEDLINE DOCTRINE
You may wonder: �What does Two Seedline have to do with Judah?� It has everything to do with Judah! This is going to be the most difficult lesson I have yet attempted. We are going to explore an area of the Scriptures, which few people have ever contemplated, to any degree. You may not want to agree with the conclusions, which I am going to bring forward, but you will have to acknowledge that they are very serious. To quickly get your attention, the Bible and most all Bible commentaries indicate that Jezebel was one of the ancestors of Yahshua the Messiah. This may seem like a very strange topic to consider, but it is extremely important to do so. With this lesson, I am going to demonstrate, and make a strong circumstantial case, that Jezebel was not in the lineage of Yahshua. We will start this dissertation by quoting a passage of Scripture which most all Two Seedline teachers use in their presentations of the subject, Matthew 23: 35:
That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
If you have a King James Version Bible with a good center reference or The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge by Jerome H. Smith, it will take us to II Chronicles 24:20-21. When we are quoting a Scripture, it is always advisable to know its context and its frame of reference. To my knowledge, no one I have ever heard of or read, who quoted this passage, ever took the time to explain what it was all about. This is what I am now going to attempt to do. First, we will read II Chronicles 24:20-21:
20 And the spirit of Yahweh came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith Yahweh, Why transgress ye the commandments of Yahweh that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken Yahweh, he hath also forsaken you. 21 And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king (Joash) in the court of the house of Yahweh.
In order to understand who and what was going on here, we have to grasp the rest of the story. Because there are so many crooks and turns to this account, it is not going to be an easy chronicle to relate. What it all boils down to is this: as long as the priest Jehoiada lived, King Joash and the people refrained from worshipping Baal, but upon his death things changed (II Chronicles 24:17-18):
17 Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king (Joash). Then the king hearkened unto them. 18 And they left the house of Yahweh El of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.
The Adam Clarke�s Commentary on the Bible, Abridged By Ralph Earle, page 404 has this to say on verse 17:
After the death of Jehoiada, the great men of Judah came and adored King Joash, and seduced him; and then the king received from them their idols.
We only have to go to verse 7 of this chapter (II Chronicles 24) to find out who �these great men of Judah� were, for they were the ones who were formerly contending for the house of Baal:
For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of Yahweh; and also all the dedicated things of the house of Yahweh did they bestow upon Baalim.
We now know who Yahshua was talking about in Matthew 23:35. He was speaking about the sons of Athaliah who was the daughter of Jezebel, who was the daughter of Ethbaal who murdered Phelles (Pheles), a descendant of Hiram to become King of Tyre (Josephus, Against Apion, 1. 18). As we begin to list all the various murders committed by this Cain satanic seedline through Ethbaal, Jezebel, Athaliah and Ahaziah and the sons of Athaliah, we will begin to understand the marks of Cain upon them. Who else but Cain could have been responsible for the blood of Abel? We will also understand who is meant by the �prince of Tyrus� who had �been in Eden�, Ezekiel 28:2, 12. Now that we have laid the foundation for our narrative, we will explore the details of the various intrigues that developed from time to time. We will investigate this wicked woman, Athaliah, from The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, volume 1, page 401:
ATHALIAH ... The wife of Jehoram, king of Judah, and daughter of Ahab, king of Israel, and granddaughter of Omri (2 Kings 8:18, 26; 2 Chr. 22:2). She reigned from 841-835 B.C. Because peace prevailed in her time between the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, she married Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat of Judah (2 Kings 8:16, 17). It was a marriage of political convenience with disastrous spiritual results. She inherited the unscrupulous nature of her mother Jezebel. Her influence over her husband and her son Ahaziah was for evil. She introduced into Judah the worship of the Phoenician Baal. When Jehoram ascended the throne, she showed her zeal for the cult of the Sidonian Baal.
She was widowed after eight years on the throne. And her son Ahaziah succeeded his father (2 Kings 8:26; 2 Chr. 22:2) Within a year Ahaziah [along] with Joram of Israel was murdered (executed by divine order) by Jehu, at which time Athaliah destroyed all her grandchildren except Jehoash (Joash), who was stolen away and hidden by his aunt, Jehosheba (2 Kings 11:2; 2 Chr. 22:11). Athaliah usurped the Davidic throne for six years, the only woman in history to do so. Under her sponsorship Baal worship was vigorously promoted (24:7).
Jehoiada, high priest and husband of Jehosheba (22:11), led the revolt against Athaliah in her seventh regnal year (23:1ff.). Using as the occasion the changing of the palace guards on the Sabbath, and aided by the guards, Jehoiada had Joash proclaimed king. When Athaliah tried to thwart the uprising, she was evicted from the Temple courts and killed at the horses� entrance to the palace (2 Kings 11:1-16; 2 Chr. 22; 23). She died at the hands of the guards. Scripture characterizes her as a wicked woman (24:7).
�The sons of Athaliah� (24:7) create no discrepancy when they are understood as Ahaziah and his brothers before they were removed (21:17...).
This last paragraph cannot be correct because verse 10 of 2 Chronicles 23 indicates that Athalaih, when she saw Ahaziah (her son) was dead that she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah. It says nothing here to indicate that all these were Athaliah�s, or Ahaziah�s children or grandchildren. They very well may have been children of Jehoram by his other wives. I am aware that II Chronicles 21:16-17 indicates that the Philistines and the Arabians carried away all the substance that was found in the king�s house and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz (Ahaziah) the youngest of his sons. All this simply suggests that when a new king was to take the place of Jehoram, Ahaziah, the youngest by Athaliah, was the only one available at the time. The problem is: if Joash were Ahaziah�s son and Athaliah�s grandson, then Jezebel is an ancestor of Yahshua the Messiah. Another problem is: Jehu was commissioned by Yahweh to destroy the entire house of Ahab, which included any of Jezebel�s offspring. For anyone who knows the story, Jehu did indeed execute Ahaziah (Athaliah�s son). Therefore, Joash could not have been Ahaziah�s son and Athaliah�s grandson or Jehu would have executed Joash too. Joash, therefore, could not have been of the house of Ahab as Athaliah and Ahaziah were. Although Jehu did not execute Athaliah, she was nevertheless executed by divine order.
The Adam Clarke�s Commentary on the Bible, Abridged By Ralph Earle has an interesting comment along this same line of thought on page 403 concerning II Chronicles 22:10, and is worthy of quoting here:
10 All the seed royal of the house of Judah. Nothing but the miraculous intervention of the divine providence could have saved the line of David at this time, and preserved the prophecy related to the Messiah. The whole truth of that prophecy, and the salvation of the world, appeared to be now suspended on the brittle thread of the life of an infant of a year old (see chap. xxiv. 1), to destroy whom was the interest of the reigning power! But God can save by few as well as by many.
The Interpreter�s Dictionary of the Bible, volume E-J, page 972 gives an interesting comment of the account surrounding the invasion of Jehoram�s Judah by the Philistines and Arabs. Also the comments here are not favorable to the scribe who wrote this portion of Scripture:
Chronicles reports an invasion of Judah during Jehoram�s reign by Philistines and Arabs (2 Chr. 21:16-17). The whole section (vvs. 11-19) raises many questions regarding its historicity.
In all probability the Chronicler has based his account on certain historical data: (a) the sharp contrast between the characters of Jehoram and his father, Jehoshaphat � this manifested itself particularly in their differing attitudes toward the worship of Yahweh; (b) an attack on Judah by the Philistines and the Arabs; (c) the severe sickness of Jehoram which brought about his death. The Chronicler has woven around these data his own viewpoint. (Underline emphasis mine)
As against II Kings 8:24, which declares that Joram (Jehoram) �was buried with his fathers in the city of David�, the Chronicler records that �He departed with no one�s regret. They buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings� (II Chr. 21:20b). The Chronicler adds, further, that �his people made no fire in his honor, like the fires made for his fathers� (vs. 19b). The additions of the Chronicler here are of doubtful historical value. They give the impression of being assumptions. (Underline emphasis mine)
As we can see from this last quotation, the translated Bible record may not be entirely correct. So, too, I believe the translated Bible record may not be entirely correct concerning the royal seedline of Judah, especially concerning Joash. I believe that Ahaziah (son of Athaliah and Jehoram) was not the father of Joash as the translated Scriptures claim. After Jehoram had killed all of his six younger brothers at the behest of Athaliah his wife, he became the paternal father of the remaining royal seed that was left, which included children by his other wives (2 Chronicles 21:17). I contend that Jehoram and Athaliah were only paternal and maternal grandfather and grandmother to Joash. Other brothers, Jehoram assassinating his left the father-headship of the family in his hands. After both Jehoram and Ahaziah were dead, Athaliah took it on herself to destroy the remaining Davidic royal seed and proclaimed herself queen of Judah. For more on the story of Jehoram, I will quote from Insight On The Scriptures, volume 1, page 1270:
Jehoram... The firstborn son of Jehoshaphat who, at the age of 32, became king of Judah. (2 Chr. 21:1-3, 5, 20) It appears that for a number of years Jehoram was in some way associated with his father in the kingship. (2 Kings 1:17; 8:16) The eight years of ruler ship credited to Jehoram count from 913 B.C. (2 Kings 8:17) so during these years both the northern and southern kingdoms had rulers with the same name. They were also brothers-in-law because Jehoram of Judah married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and sister of Jehoram of Israel. � 2 Kings 8:18, 25, 26...
At least partially because of the bad influence of his wife Athaliah, Jehoram did not pursue the righteous ways of his father Jehoshaphat. (2 Kings 8:18) Not only did Jehoram murder his six brothers and some of the princes of Judah but he also turned his subjects away from Yahweh to false gods. (2 Chr. 21:1-6, 11-14) His whole reign was marred by both internal trouble and external strife. First Edom rebelled; then Libnah revolted against Judah. (2 Kings 8:20-22) In a letter to Jehoram, the prophet Elijah warned: �Look! Yahweh is dealing a great blow to your people and to your sons and to your wives and to all your goods.� Moreover, you, King Jehoram, �will be with many sicknesses, with a malady of your intestines, until your intestines have come out because of the sickness day by day.� � 2 Chr. 21:12-15.
It all occurred just that way. Yahweh allowed Arabs and Philistines to overrun the land and take Jehoram�s wives and sons captive. God permitted only Jehoram�s youngest son, Jehoahaz (also called Ahaziah), to escape, a concession made, however, only for the sake of the Kingdom covenant made with David. �After all this Yahweh plagued [Jehoram] in his intestines with a sickness for which there was no healing.� ... He was buried in the City of David, �but not in the burial places of the kings.� Ahaziah his son became king in his stead...
Another account of the story can be found in The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, volume 1, pages 84-85 under the subtitle �Ahaziah�. This is one of the better references I was able to find on this subject as it brings out the truth about the Canaanites and the forbidden marriages of Israelites with them:
The later Ahaziah, nephew of the earlier Ahaziah, was the eighth Davidic king reigning in Judah for less than a year in 842 B.C. He suffered chiefly from the baleful influence of that same wicked queen mother Jezebel, whose idolatries the older Ahaziah had imitated, and who was also the grandmother of the younger Ahaziah. For Jehoshaphat (king of Judah 873-849), good man that he was, made the disastrous mistake of espousing his son Jehoram (father of the younger Ahaziah) to Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. He is called Azariah (2 Chr. 22:6, though RSV gratuitously changed this to Ahaziah for reasons unknown) and Jehoahaz (2 Chr. 21:17, cf. 22:1) by simple transposition of the elements in his name. He lived to reign but one year (2 Chr. 22:2-5). His age at accession is given in 2 Kings 8:26 as twenty-two years while in 2 Chr. 22:2 as forty-two years. Second Chronicles 21:5 and 20 show that his father was only forty years old at Ahaziah�s accession, so the lower figure is undoubtedly correct. ...
Providence allowed Ahaziah only one major military error, one purely personal error, and one spiritual error. The military error was to join his Uncle Jehoram, king of Samaria, in an expedition to conquer Ramoth - Gilead in the Trans-Jordan (2 Kings 8:27, 28; 2 Chr. 22:6), a contested city between the house of Omri and the kings of Syria through several generations. Jehoram (Joram) was badly wounded in the evidently otherwise successful encounter and went to Jezreel (a city south of Lake Chinnereth safely within uncontested Israelite territory) to recover. In this connection Ahaziah made his great personal mistake: he traveled from Jerusalem to Jezreel to visit the ailing Jehoram. The story of the result of their visit as reported in 2 Chronicles 22:7-9 cannot be improved upon and may not wisely be abbreviated: �But it was ordained by God that the downfall of Ahaziah should come about through his going to visit Joram (Jehoram). For when he came there he went out with Jehoram to meet Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab. And when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, he met the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah�s brothers, who attended Ahaziah, and he killed them. He searched for Ahaziah, and he was captured while hiding in Samaria and he was brought to Jehu and put to death.� His spiritual mistake was to follow the pernicious religious customs of his ancestors through his mother Athaliah, daughter of Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre (viz. Jezebel, Ahab, Athaliah). �His mother�s name was Athaliah; she was a granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. He also walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done ... (2 Kings 8:26, 27).
The pervasive depravity of mankind, which renders evil more easily propagated than good makes the intermarriage of a member of a godly family with an ungodly one almost invariably disastrous. Ahaziah was the miserable fruit of the error of Jehoshaphat, his otherwise righteous grandfather, in securing Athaliah the morally depraved daughter of a morally depraved daughter of the vile Ethbaal, king and priest of the soused-with-sexual-depravity religion of ancient Canaan as bride for Ahaziah�s father. There were strong reasons, indeed, for the Mosaic command to exterminate the Canaanites and the prohibition of intercourse with them on all levels. (Underline emphasis mine)
WHO KILLED WHO?
You will notice the writer in the last paragraph above has no problem of identifying Jezebel and her relation as Canaanites (a people who had mixed their blood with the descendants of Cain). From four different passages of Scripture, we get two different stories of who killed Ahaziah�s brethren and Athaliah�s children. These passages are: II Kings 10:12-14; II Chronicles 22:8; II Kings 11:1 and II Chronicles 22:10; Let�s compare these passages now:
II Kings 10:12-14: 12 And he (Jehu) arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing house in the way, 13 Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they answered, we are the brethren of Ahaziah; and we go down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen. 14 And he said, Take them alive, And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of the shearing house, even two and forty men; neither left he any of them.
II Chronicles 22:8: And it came to pass, that, when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, and found the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, that ministered to Ahaziah, he slew them.
II Kings 11:1: And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal.
II Chronicles 22:10: But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed Royal of the house of Judah.
It is obvious from these passages, Jehu did his killing before Athaliah did hers, so the question is: who killed whom, when and where? These killings do not include the killings which might have happened when the Arabs and Philistines invaded Judah during the time of Jehoram, �And they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king�s house, and his sons also, and his wives� (2 Chr. 21:17). This also does not include the six killings of his brothers by Jehoram (2 Chr. 21:2, 4). A better question might be asked: who of the royal line, at this time, was left alive? I will now cite some more references, though not completely perfect in nature, to help bring this story into focus.
Adam Clarke�s Commentary on the Bible, Abridged By Ralph Earle, page 370 concerning II Kings 10:13:
The brethren of Ahaziah. The relatives of his family; for it does not appear that he had any brethren, properly so called. But we know that the term brethren among the Jews (Judeans) signified the relatives of the same family, and especially brothers� and sisters� children; and that these were such....
Adam Clarke�s Commentary on the Bible, Abridged By Ralph Earle, page 370 concerning II Kings 11:1:
Athaliah. This woman was the daughter of Ahab, and granddaughter of Omri, and wife of Joram (Jehoram), king of Judah, and mother of Ahaziah. Destroyed all the seed royal. All that she could lay her hands on whom Jehu had left, in order that she might get undisturbed possession of the kingdom.
Believer�s Bible Commentary, by William MacDonald, pages 457-458 concerning II Chronicles 22:10-12:
Having lost her husband and now her son, Athaliah seized the throne for herself by killing her own grandchildren (?)! Satan was the unseen motivator behind this ruthless slaughter of the royal family, attempting to cut off the messianic line as he had tried to do earlier and would try to do again. But since the promise of Genesis 3:15 guaranteed the Lord�s preserving the line through which the Lord Jesus would eventually come, Jehovah moved Jehoshabeath to hide her nephew Joash. He was hidden in the temple, where Jehoshabeath�s husband, Jehoiada the priest, took care of him for six years. (Underline emphasis mine)
Believer�s Bible Commentary, by William MacDonald, page 402 concerning II Kings 10:12-14:
On the way to the capital, Samaria, Jehu met ... forty-two of Ahaziah�s relatives, �Brothers� (v. 13) means cousins, nephews, etc., since Ahaziah�s brothers had been slain (2 Chr. 21:17). These people had come from Judah to visit the royal family of Israel. Realizing that they had ties with the house of Ahab, Jehu ordered them to be killed at the well of Beth Eked. [Note: 2 Chr. 21:17 does indicate there were no brothers left but �Jehoahaz the youngest� (Ahaziah), but it doesn�t say anything about grandchildren of Jehoram.]
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Commentary On The Whole Bible, page 277 concerning II Kings 10:12-14:
We are the brethren of Ahaziah- i.e., not full, but stepbrothers, sons of Jehoram by various concubines. Ignorant of the revolution that had taken place, they were traveling to Samaria on a visit to their royal relatives of Israel, when they were seized and put to death, because of the apprehension that they might probably stimulate and strengthen the party that still remained faithful in their allegiance to Ahab�s dynasty.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Commentary On The Whole Bible, page 278 concerning II Kings 11:1:
Jehoash (Joash) Saved From Athaliah�s Massacre. Athaliah ... She had possessed great influence over her son, who, by her counsels, had ruled in the spirit of the house of Ahab. Destroyed all the seed royal- all connected with the royal family who might have urged a claim to the throne, and who had escaped the murderous hands of Jehu (2 Chr. 21:2-4; 22:1; ch. 10:13, 14). This massacre she was incited to perpetrate - partly from a determination not to let David�s family outlive hers - partly as a measure of self-defense to secure herself against the violence of Jehu, who was bent on destroying the whole of Ahab�s posterity to which she belonged (ch. 8:18-26); but chiefly from personal ambition to rule, and a desire to establish the worship of Baal. Such was the sad fruit of the unequal alliance between the son of the pious Jehoshaphat and a daughter of the idolatrous and wicked house of Ahab. [I will include verse 2 here too.] Jehosheba - of Jehoshabeath (2 Chr. 22:11). Daughter of King Joram (Jehoram) - not by Athaliah, but by a secondary wife. Stole him from among the king�s sons, which were slain - either from among the corpses, he being considered dead, or out of the palace nursery. Hid him ... in the bedchamber - for the use of the priests. Which was in some part of the temple (vs. 3). And of which Jehoiada and his wife had the sole charge. (Underline emphasis mine)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Commentary On The Whole Bible, page 325 concerning II Chronicles 22:10-12:
Athaliah, Destroying The Seed Royal Save Joash, Usurps The Kingdom. Athaliah ... arose and destroyed all the seed royal ... Maddened by the massacre of the royal family of Ahab, she resolved that the royal house of David should have the same fate. Knowing the commission, which Jehu had received to extirpate the whole of Ahab�s posterity, she expected that he would extend his sword to her. Anticipating his movements, she resolved, as her only defense and security, to usurp the throne and destroy �the seed royal�, both because they were hostile to the Phoenician worship of Baal, which she was determined to uphold, and because, if one of the young princes became king, his mother would supersede Athaliah in the dignity of queen mother. (Underline emphasis mine)
Maybe we better read this last sentence again!!! In other words, if Joash were allowed to live, his real mother would have superseded Athaliah! This last writer understands that Athaliah was not Joash�s grandmother, nor was Ahaziah Joash�s real father! We can also know further that Ahaziah was not the father of Joash because Jehu killed all of Ahaziah�s relatives of an age to potentially take the throne. (II Kings 10:13-14). All that Athaliah was interested in, at this point, was killing all the royal seed of the house of David! It is unthinkable to imagine that Athaliah, Jezebel or Ethbaal were ancestors of our Messiah. Joash was an ancestor of Yahshua, and if either Ahaziah or Athaliah were his father or grandmother that would put Jezebel in the bloodline of our Redeemer. How many sons of Athaliah (relatives) were left alive by this time is uncertain.
Now to give you some background on Ethbaal, I will quote from Josephus, �Against Apion� book 1, section 18, page 612:
�Upon the death of Abibalus, his son Hirom (Hiram) took the kingdom; he lived fifty-three years, and reigned thirty-four. He raised a bank on that called the Broad place, and dedicated that golden pillar which is in Jupiter�s temple; he also went and cut down timber from the mountain called Libanus, and got timber of cedar for the roofs of the temples. He also pulled down the old temples, and built new ones: besides this, he consecrated the temples of Hercules and Astarte. He first built Hercules�s temple, in the month Peritus, and that of Astarte when he made his expedition against the Tityans, who would not pay him their tribute; and when he had subdued them to himself, he returned home. Under this king there was a younger son of Abdemon, who mastered the problems which Solomon, king of Jerusalem, had recommended to be solved.� Now the time from this king to the building of Carthage, is thus calculated: � �Upon the death of Hirom, Beleazarus his son took the kingdom; he lived forty-three years, and reigned seven years: after him succeeded his son Abdastartus, he lived twenty-nine years, and reigned nine years. Now four sons of his nurse plotted against him and slew him, the eldest of whom reigned twelve years: after them came Astartus the son of Deleastartus: he lived fifty-four years, and reigned twelve years; after him came his brother Aserymus; he lived fifty-four years, and reigned nine years: he was slain by his brother Pheles, who took the kingdom and reigned bur eight months, though he lived fifty years: he was slain by Ithobalus (another name for Ethbaal), the priest of Astarte, who reigned thirty-two years, and lived sixty-eight years: he was succeeded by his son Badezorus, who lived forty-five years, and reigned six years; he was succeeded by Matgenus his son: he lived thirty-two years, and reigned nine years; Pygmalion succeeded him: he lived fifty-six years, and reigned forty-seven years. Now, in the seventh year of his reign, his sister fled away from him, and built the city of Carthage in Libya.� (Underline emphasis mine)
CAIN THE MURDERER
In the above paragraph we have recorded four generations of the descendants of Cain: (1) Ithobalus (Ethbaal), (2) Badezorus, (3) Matgenus and (4) Pygmalion. As I said before, Ethbaal was the father of Jezebel who was the mother of Athaliah who was the mother of Ahaziah, and like Cain, murder was their trademark. Recorded above is the record of how Ithobalus (Ethbaal) murdered Pheles in order to become King of Tyre followed by three of his sons. I am sure that I don�t have to go into detail of how Jezebel murdered many of the prophets of Yahweh, and with the foregoing evidence we can see very clearly that Athaliah was just like her satanic mother and grandfather. Not only this, but her son Ahaziah, followed right in his mother�s footsteps. This was nothing more than another failed attempt by the Cain satanic seedline people trying to work their way into the royal line of Judah, and therefore, if they had been successful, corrupting the line of the Messiah. (For further study reference to establish Athaliah�s relation to Jezebel and Ethbaal, check II Kings 3:1-2, 13 and Josephus, Antiquities 9:6:2.)
THE HOUSE OF DAVID
As we have been discussing events, which have affected the House of David, we should really take time to understand more about this subject. Because there was a special promise made by Yahweh to David and his posterity, we need to consider what all was involved in it. For information concerning this, I am going to quote excerpts from Study in Jeremiah, by Howard B. Rand, pages 207-210:
CERTAINTY OF THE COVENANT. God not only confirms the perpetuity of the Kingdom by referring to the ordinances of heaven but also to the continuity of the Davidic throne in the same way. �Thus saith the Lord; If you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.� (Jer. 33:20-22.)
ESTABLISHED IN PERPETUITY. If there were no other reason than this declaration on which to base our faith in the continued existence of the Throne of David, with a man somewhere upon the earth today reigning on that Throne over some portion of the House of Israel, this declaration by God to Jeremiah would be sufficient evidence to sustain our belief. The man of God will accept this confirmation of God�s promise as a fact, knowing it to be true, and await the revelation of time which he knows will certainly substantiate his faith. The original covenant God made with David was: �And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.� (II Sam. 7:16.)
God has promised three unconditional things to David (1st) The Continuity of David�s House. (2nd) The Endurance of his Kingdom. (3rd) The Perpetuity of his Throne. God confirmed the certainty of this covenant which he made with David as set forth in the Psalm: �I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations ... I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him ... My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.� (Ps. 89:3, 4, 20, 28-37)...
The covenant is made with the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and with His servant David, and He looks forward to the day of their deliverance from bondage: �Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.� (Jer. 33:25-26) Here we have a double witness to His promise that He will keep his covenant with David. The continuity of David�s House, Kingdom and Throne are assured and today there is a man of the line of David ruling over the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in fulfillment of these promises. Only the blindness of unbelief on the part of the Christian world prevents many from seeing the truth and recognizing these great and wonderful facts which, when understood and believed, fully substantiate God�s Word.
There are many who claim that Yahshua the Messiah took His Throne at His first advent, but this simply cannot be true, so there has to be someone of David�s line sitting somewhere upon a throne today if Yahweh�s promises are true. This treatise would not be complete if we did not include Revelation 2:20 which reads:
Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Undoubtedly this woman in Thyatira was not named Jezebel, but Yahshua using a play on words alludes to Jezebel, the wife of Ahab. It is apparent that our Redeemer was not very well pleased with this woman he dubbed by this name. It is also obvious that this woman had many of the bad qualities of the original Jezebel, and would suffer a similar fate. Jezebel is used simply as an adjective, to describe the woman. Therefore, it is absurd to believe or intimate in any way that Jezebel was a forebear of Yahshua our Redeemer!!!
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