Scout (a regular commentator on Banned by HWA) has written several excellent articles on the DNA evidence which refute Anglo-Israelism. Today, I want to zero in on one of the key teachings of A-I that can be definitively shown to be a gross misinterpretation of Scripture and history.
Like J.H. Allen before him, Herbert Armstrong's version of Anglo-Israelism insisted that God's promise to David of an eternal dynasty could NOT have been fulfilled by Christ alone. He taught that David's throne must continue to exist somewhere on earth until Christ returned to claim it! For Armstrong, that throne continued to exist in Great Britain, and he firmly believed that God had directed Jeremiah to transplant it there.
In The United States and Britain in Prophecy. Herbert Armstrong wrote:
The Eternal first spoke to Jeremiah when he was but a young lad about, some evidence indicates, seventeen years of age. By the time his mission was completed he was an aged, white-haired patriarch.
This vital yet little-known call and commission is described in the opening verses of the first chapter of the book of Jeremiah. "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you," the Eternal said to him, "and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations" (Jer. 1:5, RSV).
But Jeremiah was frightened-afraid! "Ah, Eternal God!" he replied. "Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth."
But the Eternal answered, "Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all to whom I send you you shall go, and whatever I command you you shall speak. Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you" (verses 6-8).
Then the Eternal put forth His hand and touched Jeremiah's mouth. "See," said God, "I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, TO BUILD AND TO PLANT" (verses 9-10). Or, as this tremendous commission is worded in the Authorized Version: "to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to BUILD, AND TO PLANT."
Armstrong continued to weave the tale. He wrote:
Now consider a much misunderstood passage of prophecy. If you will begin reading at the 18th verse of the 21st chapter of Ezekiel, you will see plainly that the Eternal is here speaking of the captivity of Judah by the king of Babylon. And, beginning in the 25th verse, He says: "And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel [Zedekiah], whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the Lord God; remove the diadem, and take off the crown [as did happen, through the first half of Jeremiah's commission]: this [the crown] shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him."
Let us understand that clearly. "Remove the diadem, and take off the crown." King Zedekiah, of David's dynasty, had the crown. This says it is to be removed. It was removed. He died in Babylon; his sons and all the nobles of Judah were killed.
"This shall not be the same." The diadem is not to cease, but a change is to take place-the throne is to be overturned-another is to wear the crown. God's promise to David is not to go by default!
Later, in the same book, Armstrong wrote:
The strange truth of the PLANTING and the REBUILDING of David's throne is revealed in "a riddle and a parable" couched in symbolic language never understood until this latter day. Yet it stands today so clearly explained a little child could understand!
It fills the 17th chapter of Ezekiel's prophecy. The whole chapter should be carefully read. Notice, first, this prophetic message is addressed, NOT to Judah, the Jews, but to the house of Israel. It is a message to give light to the lost ten-tribed house Of ISRAEL in these latter days!
First, Ezekiel is told to speak a riddle, and then a parable. The riddle is found in verses 3 to 10. Then, beginning in verse 11, the Eternal explains its meaning. "Say now to the rebellious house [God says, the "rebellious house," being ten-tribed ISRAEL (Ezek. 12:9), to whom Ezekiel is sent a prophet (Ezek. 2:3; 3:1, etc.)]. Know ye not what these things mean? tell them ... " and then the riddle is clearly explained.
A great eagle came to Lebanon and took the highest branch of the cedar. This is explained to represent King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon who came to Jerusalem and took captive the king of Judah. The cropping off of the cedar's young twigs and carrying them to a land of traffic is explained to picture the captivity of the king's sons. "He took also of the seed of the land" means Nebuchadnezzar took also of the people, and the mighty of the land of Judah. He "set it as a willow tree. And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature" means the Jews were given a covenant whereby, although they were ruled over by the Chaldeans, they might live in peace and grow. The other "great eagle" is explained to represent Pharaoh of Egypt.
Thus the riddle covers the first half of Jeremiah's commission. Now notice what is revealed concerning the second part-the PLANTING of David's throne! It comes in the parable, verses 22-24: "Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar." From God's own explanation we have learned that the cedar tree represents the nation of Judah; its highest branch is Judah's king. The riddle told us Nebuchadnezzar took the highest branch-the king. The parable now tells us God-not Nebuchadnezzar, but God-will take of the highest branch. Not the branch, but OF the branch-of Zedekiah's children. But Nebuchadnezzar took, and killed, all his SONS.
Now, we will demonstrate just how wrong-headed Mr. Armstrong's interpretations of these Scriptures and subsequent history turned out to be! Like Herbie, we will begin in the first chapter of the book of Jeremiah, but we will look at the entire context - not lifting out a few verses to serve as prooftexts!
First, we notice the context of Jeremiah's ministry. We read: The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month. -Jeremiah 1:1-3, ESV Notice, that Jeremiah's work as a prophet began in the reign of King Josiah and spanned the reigns of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah and into the Babylonian Captivity! In other words, Jeremiah's work covered a very important period in the biblical history of the Kingdom of Judah. This is also crucial to understanding the remarks which Armstrong referenced in his book.
Herbie zeroed in on this verse: "See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." The question then becomes: What does that mean? What exactly did God intend for Jeremiah to do? For the answers to those questions, we need to take a closer look at some of the other content in this important book and compare it to some of the biblical historical books (I & II Kings and I & II Chronicles) related to the kingdom period of Israel's history.
Now, in terms of the passage which Mr. Armstrong focused on, we have this context: The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.” Then the Lord said to me, “Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah. And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.” -Jeremiah 1:13-19, ESV
Clearly, this context reflects the reality that God was very displeased with the sinfulness of the Kingdom of Judah in terms of both its people and leadership, religious and political. Moreover, through Jeremiah, God warned the people that he was about to allow the Babylonians to destroy the kingdom and uproot the people from their homeland as a punishment for their failure to abide by the terms of his covenant with them. He also warned Jeremiah that everyone would be against him and his message but also assured him that God would not allow them to triumph over him.
In the prophecies which follow this first chapter, the work of Jeremiah unfolded. Jeremiah delivered a series of messages in which he discussed Judah's sins, that Judah had ignored what had happened to Israel, that Judah was continuously backsliding, and that Judah's punishment would come from the great empire to the North. He went on to predict that Jerusalem would be destroyed, and the people would be punished for their blatant hypocrisy and superficial religion. Jeremiah went on to talk about Judah's idolatry, and their violation of God's covenant with them. Jeremiah also continuously called for Judah to repent and lamented the failures of the political and religious leadership of the kingdom. Jeremiah also personally addressed each one of the kings of Judah who had reigned during his tenure as a prophet (Jehoiachin, Jehoiakim, Shallum, and Zedekiah). He went on to also give an account of the fulfillment of his prophecies against the kingdom, Jerusalem, the people, and their leaders. In addition to this focus on Judah, Jeremiah also delivered prophecies against Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, and Babylon. Thus, in this account of Jeremiah's work, we see how God had set him "over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow."
Even so, as Herbie pointed out, God had also commissioned Jeremiah "to build and to plant." How did Jeremiah do that? In addition to all of that destruction and upheaval, Jeremiah also wrote: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’" -Jeremiah 23:5-6, ESV Jeremiah went on to predict that God would one day restore his people to their homeland and bless them again (see Jeremiah 33:1-13).
He continued: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ “For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel...Thus says the Lord: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.” The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two clans that he chose’? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight. Thus says the Lord: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.” -Jeremiah 33:14-26, ESV
Did you catch that? Jeremiah predicted that God would one day plant "a righteous Branch" and have it "spring up for David." This is clearly a reference to Jesus Christ, and the future restoration of Judah and Israel! This is what Mr. Armstrong used to refer to as allowing the Bible to interpret itself! Moreover, you will note that this biblical interpretation does NOT require a secret trip to Ireland with a Jewish princess in tow! Now, this interpretation may not be as exciting as Herbie's imaginative narrative about Tea Tephi and King Heremon, and it requires a little more reading and study; but we can see that it is much more consistent with the context and entire content of the book of Jeremiah.
Unfortunately, Mr. Armstrong continuously devalued the role of Jesus Christ in Scripture. He simply could not accept that the Law, Prophets, and Writings of the Hebrew Scriptures pointed to Jesus of Nazareth, and that he FULFILLED them. For Herbie, the physical was more important than the spiritual. For him, Christ had to inherit a physical throne which was still occupied by a physical descendant of David's dynasty! Mr. Armstrong simply could not believe that Jesus alone could fulfill God's promises to Abraham and David - there had to be physical elements to their fulfillment! Hence, it was essential that he create a viable explanation about how God had PHYSICALLY fulfilled his promises to them!
Armstrong simply could NOT accept that David's dynasty failed with the invasion of the Babylonians and their execution of King Zedekiah and his sons (see II Kings 25:1-21 and II Chronicles 36:1-21). Notice too, what the Prophet Amos wrote about David's dynasty in relation to the future restoration of Israel: “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old..." Question: If David's tabernacle/house/dynasty didn't really fall, then why did God have to raise it up, repair its breaches, and rebuild its ruins?
Now, having dispensed with Herbie's Jeremiah delusion, we will address his Ezekiel delusions next. Once again, Mr. Armstrong made much of this passage from the twenty-first chapter of that book: “‘You profane and wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose time of punishment has reached its climax, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Take off the turban, remove the crown. It will not be as it was: The lowly will be exalted and the exalted will be brought low. A ruin! A ruin! I will make it a ruin! The crown will not be restored until he to whom it rightfully belongs shall come; to him I will give it.’" -Ezekiel 21:25-27, NIV Once again, it is clear from the context that this passage is referring to Jesus of Nazareth someday taking over the crown, and it makes very plain that it would NOT be restored until Christ inherited it!
Now, we should note that Herbie was very fond of the language of the King James Version when it came to this particular text. In that version, we read: Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him." Mr. Armstrong speculated that the overturning of this crown referred to God taking it away from Zedekiah, and transferring it to Ireland (one overturn), transferring it from Ireland to Scotland (second overturn), and then transferring it from Scotland to England (third and final overturn). He went on to twist the meaning of the passage to suggest that it was really saying that the crown wouldn't be overturned anymore until Christ took it over at his second coming!
Laying aside Mr. Armstrong's clear distortion of the final portion of this passage, for the sake of argument, let's admit the possibility that he is right about the "overturn" portion of his interpretation. We have to ask ourselves: Is his speculation about Great Britain the only plausible explanation of this passage? We will shortly demonstrate that the answer to that question is a resounding "NO!"
Earlier in this post, we referenced the Scriptural historical accounts of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Judah. Once again, in the thirty-sixth chapter of the book of Chronicles, we learn that the King of Egypt invaded Judah and remove the crown from Josiah's son and gave it to his brother (after changing his name to Jehoiakim). Do you think that this could explain the first part of Mr. Armstrong's prooftext (Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high)? Next, in that same account in the book of Chronicles, we are informed that the King of Babylon invaded Judah and took the throne away from Jehoiakim and gave it to Jehoiachin (one overturn). Then, he removed Jehoiachin and replaced him with Zedekiah (second overturn). Moreover, when Zedekiah rebelled against his overlord (the King of Babylon), the Babylonians returned to Judah and removed Zedekiah and killed all of his sons (third overturn). Now, isn't that more consistent with the facts on the ground and exceedingly more credible/plausible than Mr. Armstrong's fairytale?
Nevertheless, Mr. Armstrong was not yet done with his perversion of Ezekiel's text. He casually referred his readers to another text from that prophet and proceeded to employ it in the capacity of yet another prooftext to support his imaginative fairytale! In the seventeenth chapter of Ezekiel, we read about a highly symbolic prophecy which portrayed the King of Babylon as a great eagle, and the nation of Judah was represented by a tall cedar tree. In the account, the eagle takes sprigs from the top of the tree and brings them to Babylon (symbolic of the imprisonment of the princes of Judah). Then, we come, at long last, to the text which so excited Herbie's imagination: Thus says the Lord God: “I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar. And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest. And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.” -Ezekiel 17:22-24, ESV
Once again, Mr. Armstrong proposed that this text referred to one of Zedekiah's daughters, and Jeremiah taking her to Ireland to marry into the royal family who reigned there. Even so, I feel compelled to point out that the language of this passage fits the person of Jesus Christ so much better! Notice this Messianic prophecy from the book of Isaiah in this connection: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. - Isaiah 11:1-5, ESV Likewise, consider this passage from later in the same book: Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down...Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels. - Isaiah 53:1-12, NLT
Of course, as Mr. Armstrong used to say, "One convinced against his will is of the same opinion still!" We are all free to believe whatever we want to believe. I choose to believe Scripture and Jesus Christ. I believe that God had Jesus Christ in mind when he made those promises to Abraham and David, and I believe that Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel were referring to Jesus Christ in the passages cited herein. As I said before, you are free to believe in Herbie's fanciful fairytales if you want to - It's entirely up to you!
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