The Association of the Covenant, Burnaby, B.C. Frebruary 2011
THE UNKNOWN EXILE
by PASTOR JORY STEVEN BROOKS
Mainline Christians generally know something about the Old
Testament fall of Jerusalem and Babylonian exile of the House of
Judah, but there was another exile of Judah that is almost
universally ignored, even by many Biblical scholars. We read
about this "unknown exile" in the book of Second Kings 18:13:
"Now in the four teenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib
king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah,
and took them."
Historians date this event to 701 B.C., which is about two
decades after the fall of the House of Israel and its capital,
Samaria. The Scriptural account tells us that all of Judah's
cities except for Jerusalem itself fell to the Assyrians, with
the exile of most of the conquered citizens.
As the Assyrian army prepared to attack Jerusalem itself,
Sennacherib sent a pompous letter to Jerusalem's officials,
declaring: "Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her
idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?" (Isa. 10:11) The
inspiring story of Jerusalem's deliverance is told in 2 Kings:
"And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers,
and read it. and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and
spread it before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD.."
2 Kings 19:14-15)
God answered Hezekiah's prayer and promised to deliver
Jerusalem from the Assyrian army. "Then Isaiah the son of Amoz
sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, That
which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria
1 have heard. " (2 Kings 19:20) Even though God spared Jerusalem,
the capital of Judah, all of the other cities of Judah were
conquered and their people exiled.
A remnant who escaped the Assyrian conquest of the cities of
Judah would continue a small presence in the land. "And the
remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again
take root downward, and bear fruit upward ... the zeal of the
LORD of hosts shall do this. Therefore thus saith the LORD
concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city,
nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor
cast a bank against it." (2 Kings 19:30-32)
The prophet Isaiah also recorded these momentous events. God
declared, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the
remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob,
shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay
upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth." (Isa. 10:20)
Notice that this verse refers to two sections of Israel.
First, "the remnant" includes those few who had escaped the
Assyrian conquest and exile, including the elderly and others too
weak to travel. The fact that they are a "remnant" indicates that
these individuals were not a majority of the population. Second,
"such as are escaped," would include an additional unknown number
who may have taken to the hills and hid out from the enemy, as
well as those safe in the city of Jerusalem.
In spite of the clear account given in Scripture, some Bible
commentaries want to promote an entirely different view of
events, and deny the exile of any Israelites at all. The popular
Jamieson, Faucett and Brown Commentary says this concerning the
events of Isaiah 10: "...the Assyrians in Sennacherib's reign did
not carry off Judah captive..." This would lead a reader to
suppose that there were absolutely no Israelites of the House of
Judah taken into exile, when the Bible instead labels those few
who remained, "a remnant." One wonders if the reason for this
false history is to dispel any ideas of exiled Israel becoming
"lost tribes."
Just as worrisome is the same commentary's interpretation of
a following verse in Isaiah, which states: "For though thy people
Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall
return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with
righteousness." (Isa. 10:22) Here we are told that Israel in
exile was a vast multitude "as the sand of the sea," certainly
indicating that most of God's people were exiled from the land.
Not only does the commentary's view above contradict this
Scripture, but they then also follow with an even more surprising
error of interpretation:
"Though Israel be now numerous as the sand, a remnant only of
them shall return - the great majority shall perish. The reason
is added, Because the consumption (fully completed destruction)
is decreed..." (Jamieson, Faucett and Brown Commentary on Isaiah
10:22)
Nowhere in the text does the prophet tell us, "The great
majority of Israel shall perish." Quite the opposite! Nowhere, in
fact, does Scripture overturn the Abrahamic Covenant's promise of
great multiplicity of seed. If that were the case, then Israel
would not have been as numerous as the sand of the sea! The Bible
instead is telling us that there was a great diminishing of the
number of Israel in Palestine due to the great numbers exiled.
The Preacher's Commentary of Isaiah 10:6 states, "Isaiah
tells us that God gave Assyria the charge to attack His people,
seize their wealth, march them into exile, and trample through
their streets. (Isa. 10.15-16) As total as the destruction was to
be, the charge was still limited to Judah and within the
sovereignty of God." This does reveal the truth that Assyria took
Judah into exile, which few commentaries seem to admit. However,
it incorrectly claims that this exile "was still limited to
Judah." Instead, some of the House of Israel that had escaped the
Assyrian conquest of 722 B.C. had resettled in the cities of
Judah and faced exile by Sennacherib.
Anti-British-Israel writers often will claim that all or
most of the House of Israel escaped exile in 722 B.C. by fleeing
to Judah where they resettled. If so, most of these individuals
were exiled later during Sennacherib's invasion of Judah.
The combination of misguided commentaries and even difficult
to understand Hebrew expressions sometimes provide a roadblock to
the average person coming into an understanding of British-Israel
truth on their own. For example, in Isa 10:13 we read, "For he
saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my
wisdom; for I am prudent. and I have removed the bounds of the
people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the
inhabitants like a valiant man." Although it may not be clear to
us in English, the phrase, "removed the bounds of the people," is
an idiom indicating exile beyond the borders of Israel. In
addition, the Hebrew expression translated, "put down the
inhabitants," is also an indication of exile and removal from the
land (as confirmed correctly by the Jamieson, Faucett and Brown
Commentary on this verse).
This may be part of the reason that the Apostle Paul
advised, "...how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Rom.
10:14) It is important for each of us to be witnesses to others
in order to overcome such obstacles and help them better
understand Biblical truths!
..........
Note:
Ah such is the silly ideas of men when they do not take all the
Scriptures on any given subject in the Bible. There is the
prophecy in Amos 9:8,9 that the house of Israel would be sifted
through the nations but not the least grain would fall to the
ground. God would always know who His people Israel were at all
times and in all ages. He would work out His plan for them in the
ages to come after being taken into captivity by the Assyrian.
The promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (especially Genesis 48
and 49) would be fulfilled during and after the start of the end
times as the NT calls the times after the death and resurrection
of our Lord. And so it has been that Joseph would rise to be the
greatest people in physical blessings and military might the
world has ever seen - a nation and company of nations came from
Jacob through the line of Joseph. Prophecy is fulfilled right
before your eys in the peoples of the British Commonwealth and
the United States of America - brother peoples - with a combined
Empire that has known no equal in the history of mankind on
earth.
Keith Hunt
