Grafted into Israel?

 
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Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

August 21, 2021

Scripture Reading Romans 11:17, 18:

17) “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakes of the root and fatness of the olive tree:

18) Boast not against the branches.  But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.”

These two verses are a portion of the mystery of God that is mentioned, seven verses later, that pertains to the grafting of the branch of the wild olive tree into the good olive tree:

Romans 11:25“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles [nations] be come in.”

There are five important questions that need to be answered correctly in order to understand the mystery of the verses in Romans chapter 11.  Who does the following represent?

  • The good olive tree?
  • The wild olive tree?
  • The branch of the “wild” olive tree?
  • The natural broken branches of the good olive tree?
  • The natural unbroken branches of the good olive tree? 

I decided to give this sermon after I read Dr. Schaser’s article entitled, “Are You Grafted into Israel?” that came to me in an email from the weekly, “Israelbiblecenter.com.”  This is a messianic Jewish website that depicts this “mystery” as being that the Gentiles (non-Jews) are grafted into the olive tree (Jews) but are still not Israel (Jewish).  It is what the perfect Judeo-Christian church believes.  I have reproduced the article in its fullness.  Let us look at what is wrong with this article:

“Are You Grafted into Israel?”

By Dr. Nickolas J. Schaser
July 2, 2021

“With reference to Paul’s olive tree metaphor in Romans 11, it’s common to hear that Gentiles who follow Jesus have been ‘grafted into Israel.’ Based on this assertion, non-Jews are assumed to have become a part of Israel and, therefore, should follow the Torah commands given to God’s people at Sinai. Yet, this reading of Romans is imprecise. While it’s true that Paul describes the nations being ‘grafted in’ to a metaphorical olive tree (11:11-24), this image does not suggest that non-Jews are now ‘Israel.’ Instead, Paul proclaims that Gentiles share the blessings of God alongside Israel, but not as Israel.”

[Dr. Schaser’s position is based on the following:

  • Who is the olive tree? 

    Dr. Schaser says that it is the Jewish nation which he sometimes refers to as Israel.  He wrongly uses the two enemies, Jewish and Israel, interchangeably, saying that they are the same. 

  • Who is the wild olive tree? 

    He instructs his readers that the wild olive tree represents the rest of all the non-Jewish nations.  In other words, it is everyone besides a Jew.

  • Who are the branches of the wild olive tree? 

    He answers that this represents a portion of all the rest of the nations of the world which are called Gentiles or (non-Jews) who join with the Jews in acceptance of their Savior.

  • Who are the natural broken branches of the good olive tree? 

    He says that they were Jewish.  I guess he includes the Kenites, Canaanites, Edomites, Ashkenazim, the Sephardic, the Hasidic, the Black Jews, the Indian Jews, the Chinese Jews, the Reformed, the Orthodox, etc.  All are the different sects of Jews; he doesn’t say which one.

  • Who are the natural unbroken branches of the good olive tree? 

    Dr. Schaser says that both sets of branches, the broken and unbroken, are the Jewish people.  This would be the Jews who remained faithful.

And I think that most Bible commentators and Judeo-Christian churches would have no disagreement with these definitions.  That is because they are either unaware of the historical setting that was taking part at the time, or they are aware but want to keep it hidden.  Anyone who has gone to a Bible seminary should know this, but most seminaries no longer teach it.

First, what does Dr. Schaser mean when he implies that the olive tree are the Jewish people? There are different kinds of Jews, just as there are different kinds of Christians.  They are not all the same.  In fact, many of the Jews hate each other.  But they unite when they fight against Jesus, the Son of God and His followers.

For example, does he mean the olive tree represents the:

  • Ashkenazi Jews?

    The Ashkenazim are, by Jewish books and periodicals, the most prominent of all the Jewish people in today’s world.  They make up over 90% of all Jewish residents in the world.  The strange thing about the Ashkenazim is that, until only about 1300 years ago, they were not Jewish.  They were a Turkish people descended from Japheth and not Shem.  History teaches that they converted to Judaism, as they were surrounded by both Islam and Christianity in southern Russia where most of them lived.  They choose a religion that would serve as a buffer between the two other main religions.  Many have intermarried with the Kenite, Canaanite and Edomite Jews.

  • Sephardic Jews? 

    The Sephardic Jews, unlike the Ashkenazim, are descended from Shem, not his brother Japheth.  They are descended from Abraham, Isaac, but not Jacob.  It is not a pure seed line.  Most of this line is descended from Esau, the twin brother of Jacob.  Esau married into the line of Cain, via the Canaanites.  After marrying two Hittite women, Esau married a descendant of Ishmael after he saw how disappointed his parents were of his choices for a wife.  

    Most of the Sephardic Jews, unlike the Ashkenazim, are descended from ancestors who were living in the kingdom of Judah; but were enemies of Israel and were not Israel itself.  They were known as Idumeans or Edomites back then, but now have taken on the name Jews.

  • Hasidic Jews? 

    The Hasidic Jews didn’t come into existence until the 17th century.  They began as a subgroup of Haredi Judaism that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contemporary Western Ukraine.  It spread through Eastern Europe.  Today, most of this group of Jewish affiliates reside in Israeli and the United States. 

These are the three most important of the Jewish sects, but there are more.  Which one did Dr. Schaser mean when he identified the olive tree as being Jewish?  Did he mean the Ashkenazim, the Sephardic, the Hasidic, the Reformed, the Orthodox, etc.?  He just says that the olive tree was Jewish.

The second explanation that I have difficulty with is when Dr. Schaser gave his comment that the Torah commands were given by God to the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai.  The Torah is one of the Jewish faith’s “holy books.”  It is used, along with the Talmud and Kabballah, as major books of study in Judaism; ahead of the Old Testament.  They do not believe the New Testament.  There is one easy reason why the Jews did not receive God’s commands at Mt. Sinai.  The Jewish people were not there.  That is why God didn’t give them the Torah at Mt. Sinai.  God gave the Hebrew Israelites, not the Jews, the commands at Mt. Sinai.  In fact, it was the marriage vows that He gave, and Israel, his bride, accepted.

The third explanation that I would like to get from Dr. Schaser is his statement that everyone else, besides Jews, can be grafted into the olive tree.  He, along with most of the church-world and Bible commentators, are saying that the Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Negros, Eskimos, Incas, Koreans, Caucasians, etc. can be grafted into the Jewish olive tree, which consists of the Kenites, Canaanites and Edomites.  The people, who were not part of the covenant made with God, are now allowed to be in the same position as those that were.

He doesn’t mention anything about most of the Israelites – the 10 tribes of the former House of Israel.  They are not the rest of the nations that are not Israel.  They are Israelites too.  They were a part of the covenant the God made with the seed of their three “fathers”.  God refers to Himself as being the God of the three:  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

But Dr. Schaser says that even though the Gentiles are grafted in, they are not Israel.  He states that they worship God along with the Israelites but are not Israel themselves.  So, you must be grafted in, in order to worship God?  What about the worship of His Son?  The “Jewish Messiah” is not the Son of God!  What about the worship of the Holy Spirit?

The olive tree is not the Jewish people.  The “wild” olive tree is not the rest of the world.  All people of the world, including the Jews, are not olive trees; tame or wild.  Who are the fig trees?  Who are cedar trees? Who are the fir trees?  Who are the apple trees?  Who are the pomegranate trees?  Who are the palm trees?  Who are the pine trees?  Who are the almond trees?  Etc.

Dr. Schaser ignored verse 13 of the same chapter in Romans:

Romans 11:13“For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office.”

Paul was addressing the Gentiles, because he was an apostle of the Gentiles.  Dr. Schaser says that the Gentiles were the rest of the world, except for the Jews.  But Paul did not address the Eskimos, the Zulus, the Incas, the Polynesian Islanders, the Japanese, the Koreans, etc.  Who did the Apostle Paul address? He addressed the uncircumcised Israelites.  Dr. Schaser doesn’t mention them at all.]

Dr. Schaser continues:

“In Romans 11, Paul describes an olive tree with different branches. Some of these branches are ‘natural’ (φύσις; phúsis; Rom 11:21) and have been a part of the tree from the start. But Paul also mentions another kind of branch: a ‘wild olive shoot’ (ἀγριέλαιος; agriélaios; 11:17) that has been grafted into the plant from elsewhere. The wild branch is an individualized metaphor for Gentiles who have put their faith in the Jewish Messiah; these non-Israelite Jesus’ followers are now in the same ‘olive tree’ as the natural Jewish branches—grafted in ‘among them’ (ἐν αὐτοῖς; enautois; 11:17). Paul’s rhetoric leads some readers to conclude that believing Gentiles have been transformed into members of Israel and, as such, this gives all Jesus followers license to observe every aspect of the Mosaic Law—including commands like circumcision and dietary stipulations, whose function had been to set apart Israel from the other nations.”

[Dr. Schaser writes that the branch of the wild olive tree is grafted into the non-wild olive tree.  This branch represents the Gentiles who have put their faith in the Jewish Messiah being grafted into the Jewish people.  Now, who is the Jewish Messiah that both Jews and Gentiles worship?

The Jewish Messiah is the Jewish people – it is not Jesus the Christ.  But he says that: “…non-Israelite Jesus followers are now in the same tree as natural Jewish branches—grafted in among them.”  

If the Gentiles were true followers of Jesus, as he writes, they would not be grafted into the tree of the Jewish people whose father is the devil.  This paragraph is implying that the Jews worship Jesus.  This is a lie.  They don’t.  They persecuted Him, tried at least seven times to murder Him, finally crucified Him, denied His resurrection and say in their Talmudic writings that He is now in hell being punished for His impersonation of Almighty God.

He once again writes that the Gentiles are “Jesus followers” and says that they are not allowed to follow all the Mosaic commands such as circumcision and dietary commands.  He said these last two commands, circumcision and dietary laws, were made to separate the Jewish people from the rest of the nations.  How can the Jewish people be separate from the rest of the nations if the rest of the nations, i.e. the Gentiles, are grafted into them?  This is a very confusing illustration that Dr. Schaser is making.]

Dr. Schaser continues:

“Though this reading of Romans may sound compelling, Paul does not assert that Gentiles have become part of Israel. Rather, Romans says that the wild olive shoot was grafted into the tree among the natural branches of Israel that had been there all along (11:17). Once the wild shoot has been grafted, however, it does not become ‘natural’—that is, Gentiles do not become ‘Israel.’ Referring to some of the natural Jewish branches that have been ‘broken’ (ἐκκλάω; ekkláo) due to unbelief, Paul tells Gentiles to consider their own position, saying, ‘If God did not spare the natural branches (φύσινκλάδων; phúsinkládon), neither will he spare you’ (11:21). In other words, it would be easier for God to break the olive tree’s wild, recently grafted Gentile branches than the natural branches of Israel. In this scenario, Paul calls Israelites the ‘natural branches’ and distinguishes them from ‘you’ (σοῦ; sou)—i.e., the representative Gentile whom he warns. Therefore, a distinction remains between those of Israel and those of the nations.”

[Dr. Schaser writes that once the branch from the wild olive tree is grafted into the tree with the natural olive branches that have been there from the beginning; means that the Gentiles are not a part of Israel.  He then writes for the Gentiles to beware.  For it would be easier for God to cast them off than it would be to cut the branches of the Jews, the remaining natural branches, off the tree.  Therefore, a distinction remains between those of the Jewish people and the rest of the non-Jews. 

There is a big distinction between the people who are God’s covenant people and the people who are not.  But who are God’s covenant people?]

Dr. Schaser continues:

“In fact, while the natural branches on the tree have been ‘broken’ (ἐκκλάω; ekkláo), Paul warns that the unnaturally grafted Gentile branches will be ‘cut off’ (ἐκκόπτω; ekkópto) if they aren’t careful (11:22). Though Jews and Gentiles in Jesus are all part of the same olive tree, some of its branches remain ‘natural,’ while others have been grafted in ‘against nature’ (κατὰφύσιν; kata phúsin; 11:24). More, Paul has ethnic Jews in mind when he notes that the metaphorical plant is ‘their own olive tree’ (τῇἰδίᾳἐλαίᾳ)—the tree belongs to Israel, and Gentiles have been lucky enough to be grafted onto that tree through faith.

[The warning is given that like the Jews, the Gentiles can be cut off if they are unfaithful.  The tree is the Jews, and the rest of the non-Jews have been “LUCKY” enough to be grafted onto that Jewish tree through faith.]  

Dr. Schaser continues:

“But if Gentiles don’t become ‘Israel,’ into what have they been grafted? Paul states that Gentile newcomers ‘share in the rich root (ῥίζα; rhíza) of the olive tree’ (11:17). This ‘root’ is not the nation of Israel, but rather Yeshua himself. Near the end of Romans, Paul quotes from Isaiah 11:10 LXX to show that Jesus emerges from the house of David and governs all the nations:  ‘The root (ῥίζα) of Jesse will come; he who arises to rule the Gentiles’ (Rom 15:12). Thus, when Paul mentions the ‘root’ of the olive tree, he’s talking about Jesus. It is this messianic root that Gentiles now share with Israel, and Paul underscores this reality with a further quotation of Deuteronomy 32:43: ‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’ (Rom 15:10).  Jesus’ Gentile followers worship God with the people of Israel, but not as Israel.  The nations are adopted into the family of God alongside the biological children, and Paul assures Gentiles that this adoption will instill them with ‘hope by the power of the Holy Spirit’ (Rom 15:13).”

[We now get the heart of the article.  Dr. Schaser says that the root of the olive tree is the messianic root that the Gentiles now share with Israel.  That the root, who he says is Jesus, will rule over all the Gentiles.  Dr. Schaser then makes an astounding statement: 

“The nations are adopted into the family of God alongside the biological children, and Paul assures Gentiles that this adoption will instill them with ‘hope by the power of the Holy Spirit’ (Rom 15:13).”

Dr. Schaser quietly asserts a very important heresy.  The Gentiles are the ones that are adopted into the family of God while the Jews are the biological children of God.  But the Jews are not the biological children of God; they are the exact opposite.  Their father is the devil.  What he omits is that the Jews say that they will rule with their father (the devil) and will have 200 non-Jews as their servants for each Jew.  It will be a world-wide rule.  The last One World Government!

Why do Christians believe in what the Jews believe about the Bible?  Our Savior, Jesus the Christ, told us that they are liars.  Don’t we believe Him?

They attempted to murder Him from His birth until He was an adult.  They plotted His murder.  They eventually couldn’t find Him guilty of anything, but charged Him with blasphemy anyway.  They lied about His resurrection.  They bribed the guards who were guarding His tomb to lie.  They have plotted the murder of the descendants of the seed of Jacob.  Our Kinsman Redeemer wasn’t of their seed line; He was of ours.]

Now let’s get to the heart of the article:

  • Who is represented by the olive tree?  This article says that the olive tree represents the Jewish nation. 

    [The olive tree does not represent the enemy of Jesus the Christ.  It represents His people, who are the descendants of Jacob/Israel.  This is not the Jews.  Jews and Israel are not the same people.  The Jews have always hated Jesus the Christ.  Remember, they say in their “holy books” that Jesus the Christ was an imposter and is now in hell boiling in a hot pot of semen.

    The olive tree does not represent the Ashkenazi Jews, who are descended from Japheth, not Shem; it does not represent the Sephardic Jews, who are descended from Esau, not his twin brother Jacob/Israel. It also does not represent the Hasidic Jews who didn’t come onto the scene until many centuries later. It does not represent the Reformed or the Orthodox Jews.  It does not represent any of the other sects of Jews.  The olive tree is not Jewish.

    The olive tree represents the pure seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -- Israel.   Jacob’s twin brother despised the blood line of the covenant.  He forsook the covenant that God had made with his father, grandfather and great-grandfather.  Esau took racial aliens as wives and spread the blood of the devil worldwide.  Esau married into the forbidden line of Cain.  Most Adam/Man do not believe, as their ancestors did, that there are children of the devil alive in the world in which they live.  They believe incorrectly that there is only one race; i.e. the human race.  This is one of the destructive heresies that many of the deceived Christians believe and it is causing their future extinction.

    The olive tree represents, when the Apostle gave it, only part of the covenant people of God.  It originally represented the entire kingdom of God; but after the House of Israel was divorced, it only represented the Kingdom of Judah.  This kingdom included the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi.]

  •   Who are the branches from the “wild” olive tree? 

    The article says that it is all the non-Jewish people, i.e. Gentiles.

    [The word “Gentile” means nations.  One person cannot be a “Gentile.”  It first meant “non-Roman” but has now been given the meaning of being “non-Jewish.”   Both latter two meanings are wrong.  Gentile means nations.  But what nations are they?  The article says that it means all the nations of the world, except the Jewish nation.  But the word “Gentile” generally means the “nations of Israel; or the 10-tribes that were divorced for seven centuries.”

    Each son of Jacob became a different nation.  Does anyone know of 13 Jewish nations?  But I bet they would know most of the 13 Israelite nations.  The context of the verses where Gentile is used would indicate that the word usually meant the 10 tribes of Israel, the former House of Israel.

    The article mentions nothing about this.  One reason is that none of the ten tribes of Israel are ever called “Jews” in any Bible.  The Jews themselves agree on this point.  Only the House of Judah, where the Edomites came to live and became dominant, was ever wrongly called Jews, instead of Judeans.  Judeans consisted of both true Israelites and imposters, known as Jews.  The word Jew or Jews was not even used in our Bibles until about two hundred years ago.  In fact, there was no letter “J” in the English language until then, either.  In fact, the first place the word “Jew” or “Jews” is used in the King James Bible is:

    2 Kings 16:5, 6:

    5). “Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war; and they besieged Ahaz, [king of Judah] but could not overcome him.

    6) “At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews [Judeans] from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.”

    These two verses describe the battle that was fought between the House of Israel and Syria against the House of Judah in Jerusalem. They couldn’t conquer the House of Judah, so, it says in verse six, that Syria drove the Judeans, not the Jews, from the town of Elath.  The House of Israel and Syria were fighting the House of Judah.  Only the House of Judah are ever wrongly called “Jews”.  The House of Israel were never identified as being Jews, as they weren’t in this verse. 

    To continue. if Jesus were a Jew, why didn’t He live where most of the Jews lived?   Most of the Jews during the first advent lived in Jerusalem.  Jesus didn’t live near the capital city very long.  The Bible indicates an Edomite (Jew) tried to kill Him, when he was a young baby, when He was a little bit under the age of two years old.  His parents took Him to safety in Egypt until the Edomite king died.

    When they returned, they decided not to live in Judea, as there was still the threat of His assassination.  Have most Christians ever thought much about this situation?  They hear the story every Mass of Christ day.  Why did the Edomite king desire to kill the baby Jesus?  What had He done?  Why had there been a caravan of men from Parthia that had come to honor His birth?  Who were the men of Parthia?  And what was so special about Him?  Was Jesus qualified to be the king?  The king of whom?  If Jesus was Jewish, then who was the Edomite king?  Where were the White men living at this time?

    Where did His parents take Jesus to live and save their young Son from being murdered once again?  They went north of Jerusalem, past Samaria, to live in Galilee.  Galilee was where most of the tribe of Benjamin of the House of Judah lived.  There were a few of the tribe of Judah and Levi who also lived there.  But:

    • Where was the home of Mary Magdalene?  In Galilee.
    • Where did Jesus do most of His teaching and healing?  In Galilee.
    • Where is the site of the Sermon on the Mount?  In Galilee.
    • Where did Jesus perform numerous miracles?  In Galilee.
    • Where did Jesus call eleven of His disciples?  In Galilee.
    • Where did Jesus feed the multitudes?  In Galilee.
    • Where did Jesus appear to His disciples on the Sea?  In Galilee.
    • What was the name of that Sea?  Sea of Galilee. 
    • Where did Jesus calm a storm on that Sea?  In Galilee. 
    • Where did Jesus heal a demonic?  In Galilee.
    • Etc.

    But the nation of Israel during the life of Jesus’ thirty-three years was in worse shape than it was in Germany a century ago ... and what it is in America today.  They were almost completely under the control of their enemy.  That was the case in Jerusalem.

    The writer of this article says that the men of Judah, Benjamin and Levi were the Jews.  He ignores the House of Israel who had been divorced by Almighty God for seven centuries.  The House of Israel was over three times the size of the House of Judah.  And he also has no comment about who the Edomites were.]

CONCLUSION

The “mystery” of this situation is explained by the Apostle Paul:

  • The olive tree originally was the Kingdom of God or Israel.  But after the divorce of the House of Israel, it became the Kingdom of Judah.  But later, even several of the branches of this tree were broken off because of the sin of miscegenation.  The Kingdom of God at this time was a very, very tiny remnant.

  • The “wild” olive tree was the divorced, former Kingdom of Israel.  They were referred to as being “wild” because they had been divorced by Almighty God for violating their covenant status.  There could be no longer any fellowship between the members of the two former kingdoms.  But they were still Israelites but were now a “wild” olive tree.

  • The writer of the article says the branch of the “wild” olive tree are all the rest of the people in the world who are not “Jewish.”  But that is false; it is the remainder of the kingdom of God; the former ten-tribes of the House of Israel, not the whole world.  

    The natural branches are the tribes from the kingdom of Judah.  Some of them were “cut off” as they had disobeyed God and practiced interracial marriages.  Their “holy seed” was now mingled with the seed of the devil.  The children from this miscegenation were forever put out of the kingdom of God.

    The branch of the “wild” olive tree was grafted into the natural branches of the original olive tree.  The Israelites, who had been divorced for over seven centuries, had finally been rejoined with the rest of the covenant people; the kingdom of Judah.  This occurred after the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus the Christ.  He took His blood offering to pay the sin debt for His covenant people.  The House of Israel, called “Gentiles”, the people who the Apostle Paul was addressing, were reunited back into the covenant.

  • The writer says that the natural branches of the good olive tree are the Jewish people. He doesn’t mention which one; whether it is the Ashkenazi or Sephardic or Hasidic or any others.  He just says that the natural branches are the Jews.  And he leaves out ¾ of the Israelite people.  He doesn’t say one word about them.

  • Who were the natural branches of the good olive tree who were not cut off?  Dr. Schaser says that they were the Jewish people.  The Jewish people were both the natural branches that were cut off and the natural branches that remained.  He didn’t say anything about the Jewish people who were cut off and he totally ignores the former House of Israel.  He just glorified the Jewish people who remained.

The natural branches that remained on the good olive tree are the remaining members of the non-divorced House of Judah.  This was all that was left of the covenant people in Palestine; a very, very small remnant.  This included Joseph and Mary, the parents of the Messiah.  This was the royal branch from the family of David, from the tribe of Judah – this is one reason the Jews claim to come from this tribe; they lust for its power.

Dr. Schaser and all the Judeo-Christian pastors failed to answer this important theological question: Where were most of the House of Israel and the House of Judah when the Savior was performing as high priest for His covenant people?   They weren’t in Palestine.  They had been scattered into Assyria, Syria and Babylonia and had migrated to western Asia, Europe and northern Africa.  Jesus’ death and resurrection were the signal that He had not only forgiven their sins, but that He had restored their right to eternal life.  Praise God.

And here is the “mystery” explained. After about seven centuries, the House of Israel had been restored back into the covenant people of God.  The House of Israel and the House of Judah were reunited back together in the church of Jesus the Christ. 

It wasn’t all nations of the world that were grafted into the olive tree, as all nations of the world were not considered an olive tree, tame or wild.  But they had to be an olive tree and not any other tree.  It was a branch of a “wild” olive tree that was grafted into the “good” olive tree. You can’t graft branches from an apple tree or a fig tree or a cypress tree into an olive tree. 

The House of Israel had become a “wild” olive tree.  They had followed other gods.  Many of them had interracially married.  They were divorced by Almighty God.  They were “without hope” for seven centuries.

Jeremiah 3:8a“And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce;…”

Doesn’t this explain Ephesians Chapter two?  It was written by the Apostle Paul who was the apostle of the ten tribes of Israel who had been in a state of divorcement for over 700 years. 

Ephesians 2:11-14:

11)“Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;”

    • Who are the group of people called the “Circumcision” in this verse?   Most of the world, including Dr. Schaser, says that it is the Jews.  But that is incorrect.   It was the Kingdom of Judah.
    • Who are the group of people called the “Uncircumcision” in this verse?  Most of the world says that it is the Gentiles, meaning everyone except the “Jews.”  But that is incorrect. It was the former Kingdom of Israel or the House of Israel—the 10 tribes that were supposedly lost.

The Apostle Paul was explaining to the 10 tribes, who for over seven centuries were cut off from the covenant, that they were now being given the opportunity to be put back in. 

12) “That at that time ye were without Christ the anointed, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”

At this time in history, the House of Israel and the House of Judah had been separated, not just by distance, but by fellowship and covenant blessings.  The House of Israel had “no hope.”  The two kingdoms could have no fellowship together.  They were two separate nations that had different rituals and laws.  

13) “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”

The Apostle Paul tells his listeners the good news.  They had been far off for many centuries, but now were made near by the blood of Christ.

14) “For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.”

After the Messiah’s death, burial, resurrection and His sacrifice were accepted by Almighty God, the two former kingdoms were once again united and had peace.   Branches from the wild olive tree were placed into the natural olive tree.  The two kingdoms were reunited once again.

Blessed be the LORD God of Israel.