Forgotten Not, Part I

Note: The numerous links of this post are for the historical passages of Scripture referenced.

"Pessimism is a luxury that a Jew can never allow himself."
~ Golda Meir

Forgotten Not, Part I

Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: "For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house." And the name of the second he called Ephraim: "For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction."
~ Genesis 41:51-52 (NKJV)

"I have formed you, you are My servant;
O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me!"
~ Isaiah 44:21 (NKJV)

The northern ten tribes of Israel—which seceded from the southern kingdom of Judah after the time of Solomon—were sometimes called "Ephraim" by the Lord. The name's favoritism is first evident in about 1830 B.C., when Jacob (Israel) lay on his deathbed and prophesied of the future for his sons. He gave the firstborn son's double inheritance not to Reuben (who had violated one of his father's wives), but to Joseph, and specifically to Joseph's younger son Ephraim.

Because of gross idolatry, the northern kingdom ("Ephraim") fell to Assyria in 722 B.C. The southern kingdom ("Judah," from which the name "Jews" is derived) would fall to Babylon in 586 B.C. for the same reason, with her people made Babylonian captives before returning to the land of Israel seventy-plus years later. But Ephraim was not made Assyrian captives. Instead, her people were "scattered among the nations," and did not officially return to Israel ("aliyah") until the nation's modern rebirth in 1948.

2,700 years is an impossibly long time to be away from home. Any other people would be long forgotten by the land, their existence preserved only by the annals of history.

Jacob once placed Ephraim, which means "abundantly fruitful," before Manasseh, which means "causing to forget." God's people were later spoken of as fruitful rather than as forgotten. Their survival, despite attempted annihilation by numerous persecutors throughout the millennia, testifies to the Lord's faithfulness.

He has made Israel fruitful and forgotten not, her restoration fulfilled in these, the latter days.

When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.
~ Deuteronomy 4:30-31 (NKJV)

Lord YHWH, thank You for Your love and mercy, new each morning, lasting throughout the ages. Please give us patience for the few hours we are upon the earth.

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