Repentance as a First Step in Repairing the Breach Between the Two Houses of Israel

by F. Scott Nickerson

The first B’ney Yosef Congress was held in Ariel, Israel in May 2015. The excitement was electric as people from 13 countries gathered in this growing town in Samaria.  The town of Ariel had only been around for about 37 years but already had a thriving population of 20,000 and a University of 10,000 students.  New housing was going up all along the route into town from the Eshel HaShomron Hotel where our Congress was taking place. From the hotel one could look out from the great 2nd level lounge picture windows upon the hills of Ephraim to the northeast.                                                    

The Congress was timed so that attendees could be in the Land for the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot). Many people car-pooled together for the 1-hour drive into Jerusalem that Sunday to celebrate Shavuot in a park area in the city. Also, before the meetings began, a day tour was offered to visit Shiloh to see where the Tabernacle once stood, and then to Itamar and an overlook viewing the city of Samaria (Nablus) and the Mounts of Blessings and Curses. We made our way to Har Bracha (Mt of Blessing) and the vineyard of Jewish friend Nir Levi where we had our bag lunches and shopped for wines to bring home to the states.  

The next day, the Congress began. It was a very emotional first meeting with Rimona and Ephraim Frank offering words of “welcome home” to people coming to the Land of their forefathers, the northern tribes of Israel’s old Nation of Ephraim or Northern Kingdom of Israel. Rimona exclaimed how important this first ever regathering of people reconnected to this old Kingdom was and wondered aloud if the Jewish people could only know our hearts for them and Israel and how we longed for our return as promised by the prophets.

I remember in the weeks before the Congress having a strong sense of the necessity of bringing a spirit of repentance to this first Congress. Repentance (to turn from your sins and do good) would be a first step in the healing process of an almost 3,000-year-old breach of brotherhood between the tribes of Israel. In the first meeting, there was a profound feeling of being on the threshold of something historic. Many were in tears as a spirit of humility and the presence of YHWH filled the meeting hall. As the Congress progressed, people got to know one another from the many countries, and a greater sense of the need for group repentance became apparent.

Ephraim Israel, the Northern Kingdom, didn’t just suddenly, without cause, cut themselves off from Yehudah, the southern Kingdom. The cutting-off that finally occurred was a result of the deterioration of relationship between the tribes of the north and the tribes around Jerusalem occurring over a time-span of centuries. The final cut-off is written about in 2 Chronicles 10:16,19  “Now all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them. So the people responded to the king, saying, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to your tents, O Israel; Now see to your own house, David.”  So all Israel went to their tents. …So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.”

I won’t get into the nuances of all that happened between the tribes and Kings, but there was much consternation and strife, hurt feelings, anger and eventually bitterness that drove the north to end their relationship with Yehudah (David) to the south.  The subsequent actions taken by the Kings led to increasing apostasy and rebellion among the people themselves.  This chain reaction could not be stopped, and the consequences of this rebellion became a stronghold from which the people could not extricate themselves. In our own personal lives, if these kinds of issues are not dealt with in a timely manner, our lives spiral out of control, chaos ensues and brokenness occurs. This is what happened to the whole nation.

Group repentance is a different sort of thing to contemplate, but that is where we found ourselves at the 1st Congress. Obviously the people who originally caused all this chaos in Israel are not around, so we now must assume the task and responsibility for dealing with the repentance of the people of Ephraim as our identity has been revealed to us and we take hold of a more corporate identity as a people.  Repentance is why the God of Israel has been preparing us as a remnant body of people, small as it may be, but large enough to repent for the entire nation of Ephraim.  Someone at the Congress mentioned that we had 133 people attending, more than enough for an assembly to represent a small nation.

The kings of both the houses of Israel failed their people. But our God uses these large failures of leadership to show us his sovereignty and that His master plan of redemption cannot fail.  It is our Righteous King Yeshua, the Eternal One, that is now calling us to repentance. Ephraim is not used to repenting as a group. We have an individualistic bent. But at the Congress, we all were led to repent together of the sins of Jeroboam and Ephraim Israel. So, what were the sins of Jeroboam?

1. He created a new religion with its own priests and holidays, falsifying the worship of the      

    eternal God for the advantage of his own earthly kingdom. Anyone could be a priest.

    1 Kings 13:33-34 The appointing of priests who are NOT OF LEVI, but anyone who wanted   

    to be a priest. This brought sin to the House of Jeroboam that would eventually cut it off and     

    destroy it from the face of the earth.

2. He built state temples with golden calves, one in Dan and the other in Bethel.

    Therefore, Jeroboam’s sin was idolatry. This set in place a permanent state of idolatry.

3. Division – would not allow Ephraim to go to Jerusalem for festivals as commanded in the 

    Torah.

4. Sowed bitterness and resentment among his people.  Long lasting impact toward Judah.

    Jeroboam leads Israel to completely rebel against the House of David.  

At the Congress, the delegation from Germany wrote a confession of repentance for all to sign.

As you can see in the above photo of it, it starts with Leviticus 26:40-42 and a confession of the iniquity of our father’s and hostility (toward Yehudah), and if we repent and humble ourselves, then our God will remember His covenant with Jacob, and will also remember His covenant with Isaac and His covenant with Abraham as well, and (then) He will remember the land. This signed scroll of repentance was rolled up and taken to Shechem and somehow buried somewhere near Joseph’s tomb I’m told, as a sign that the reviving of the House of Joseph is underway.

Our forefathers sinned against YHWH and Yehudah, yet unto us a child was born, unto us a Son was given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder (Shechem). In Hosea 6:1-2 we find these words;  “Come, let us return to Yahweh.  For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has struck us, but He will bandage us.“He will make us alive (revive us) after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him.”  Our Father’s complete plan of the revival and reconstitution of Ephraim Israel, her repentance and restoration, rebirthed under the new marriage covenant purchased and ratified by the blood of Yeshua, which leads us to return to His Torah is preparing us for a glorious reunion with not only our awesome King Messiah Yeshua, but also our brothers and sisters of the House of Yehudah.

Repentance brings a cleansing, a totally refreshing and new perspective on our lives, on our relationships and on our purpose for being alive. It renews our faith in Messiah Yeshua’s purpose in us and in the whole House of Israel, His chosen and redeemed Bride.  We patiently wait for the ultimate ingathering.  Meanwhile, let us persevere until the end, knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance. (James 1:4)                                    

Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Messiah Yeshua. (1 Peter 1:13)

Allow some of your time of repentance this season to be a collective repentance of the sins of Ephraim and then proclaim the healing of the tribes through the mercy and might of Messiah Yeshua. Amein!