Sabbath Message by Wade Cox

Sabbath 15/08/26/120

Dear friends,

The world is now abandoning the concepts of marriage and family. Children are fathered out of wedlock and the family is in decline. Nowhere is it more prevalent now than in modern “western” society except for the pagan tribals in some African nations. The records are declining and exist now in the states’ archives and depend much on the continual function of the administration.

Given where we are now, it is appropriate for us all to consider from where we have come. We will place a series of papers on this text, which are being loaded into the revamped Abraham’s Legacy site at www.abrahams-legacy.org.

The site is under reconstruction and much detail of the history of the nations will come out on that and in the related sites.

Just remember that these families recorded their lineages and remembered what they were and who they belonged to for millennia. I have been able to reconstruct these texts from the known Bible and historical sources. The detail has been there for a long time and could have been correctly done years ago, but has not been done until this restoration. The work the United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy published by Herbert Armstrong and WCG was a plagiarism of J. Allen’s Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright. Like all theft, when you steal something and don’t work for it, you steal all the problems as well. Herbert Armstrong was unable to tell the difference between truth and error and, as such, misled a lot of the brethren calling these sound biblical promises into disrepute.

Let us see the real story of the Sons of Abraham and the real spiritual purpose of the Covenants God made with Abraham, and the bounty He gave to the world through the stewardship of Israel. There were a number of promises He gave to us through the sons of Abraham. Those promises will be unfolded now over the next few weeks. This message then goes to Israel, Ishmael, the Sons of Keturah, and all the nations with whom they have mingled and associated over the last four thousand years. These promises centre on Jesus Christ.

As we proceed over the next few weeks, we will all see the restoration of the History of the Nations, not as the silly trite and unsubstantiated work which has appeared as the US and BC in Prophecy and associated works but, as a sequential historical account of the spread of our people over the world. Let us start now at the beginning and I hope you are all able to enjoy the Bible study that these accounts afford. Come with me now back to Adam and we will start the account of our people. We will also see the importance of family and the role of fathers and mothers in the raising of families and nations according to sound moral and ethical principles.

The appendices to this document are:
Appendix 1: The Generations of Adam
Appendix 2: The Sojourn in Egypt and the Exodus
Appendix 3: The Line of Judah and the Kingship
Appendix 4: The Davidic Kingship in Judah
Appendix 5: Generations of Terah, Isaac and Jacob

Maps are available on Abraham’s Legacy web site.

Wade Cox
Coordinator General

Copyright Paper and Appendices Wade Cox and CCG All Rights reserved.

Appendix 1

The Generations of Adam

The date for Abram is the latest possible date and the correct one according to Bullinger and other works.This is exactly 2000 years before Christ’s entry to the Temple as a youth to speak with the elders in 7 CE. The significance is that one symbolised or pointed to the other in the birthright sequences. God’s anointed came to mankind and his progeny took its place among the teachers of mankind some forty jubilees later in the 30th year of the jubilee. God spoke out of the mouth of a child.

Wade Cox

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Appendix 2

Abraham’s Legacy (Copyright CCG)

The Sojourn in Egypt and the Exodus

Jacob, or Israel, was 135 years old when he entered Egypt in the famine with his sons (Gen. 47:9). Thus, the famine commenced from ca. 1703 and ended ca 1696 BCE.

Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt at 17 years of age. At 30 he became the viceroy of Egypt (Gen. 41:46) to prepare for the famine. There were seven years of plenty and he had two sons with Asenath, the daughter of Potphera, priest of On. These were Manasseh and Ephraim who were both born before the famine. He was 37 years old when the famine began in Egypt.

The captivity can be measured in a number of ways. It can be measured from Joseph’s move into Egypt or as part of the sojourn of Abraham.

It was listed as four hundred and thirty years (Ex. 12:40; Gal. 3:14,17). If this was the total time from Joseph, which was we see from the texts, commenced in 1723 BCE (Bullinger gives 1724); or even if it was from 1703 BCE at the latest, then we are at the time of the Hyksos invasion of Egypt which was ca 1720 BCE based on the extended time frame (cf. notes to the Annotated Oxford RSV to Ex.12:40). If Abraham was born earlier than 1996 BCE, then the Hyksos came as a result of Joseph’s work. Stephen loosely calls it “Four Hundred Years” (Acts 7:6) and that was the figure given to Abraham (Gen. 15:13), but 430 years is the total figure of years given after the Exodus and thus, the more final of the texts. The 430 years probably combines the time of Joseph and the free time with the decision to stay after the famine. The forty years in the wilderness are seemingly also included.

The greater likelihood was that the famine on the Middle East caused the Hyksos or Shepherd kings to move into Egypt on mass, as Joseph had prepared the country and they could and did support the tribes. Thus, we have an historical account, which now conforms perfectly with the Bible account.

The four hundred years, if we took the 430 years from these dates, ended at the latest in 1293 BCE, and the Exodus and Passover might appear to have occurred in 1293 BCE with the giving of the Law at 1293 BCE at Sinai.

However, the modern construction put on the records indicate that there were four hundred and fifty years to Samuel and Saul’s commencement of the kingship (Bullinger says 450 and 490 years but the total seems to be 470 only with 20 years of that the dual rule of Samson and the Philistines). The New International Bible Dictionary in the article "Chronology, Old Testament"; beginning in section IV: “The Conquest to the Kingdom" lists all of the judges in an attempt to set dates and then says:

"The sum of the above numbers is 470 years. However, it seems clear that we can subtract the 20 years of Samson's judgeship, because that period is included in the 40 years of oppression under the Philistines - he 'led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines' (Judg 15:20). This results in the grand total of 450 years for the period of the judges, the same number given by the apostle Paul when he spoke of this period in his speech in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:20).”

Now, Saul commenced to reign in 1052 BCE shortly after the fall of Troy. The Trojan War occurred while Eli was judge in Israel. The exposure to Israel in Egypt and the activities of the Milesians from this time are recorded in MacGeoghegan’s History of Ireland (Catholic Emancipation Edition, Sadlier, 1868) and in the Early British Histories. Samuel was prophet while Eli judged Israel. He continued under Saul, anointing David. He was never judge as the people rejected him in favour of a king. God said they did not reject Samuel, they rejected Him.

The Bible says that the fourth year of Solomon’s reign was the 480th year from the Exodus (1Kgs. 6:1). Thus, the sum of the judges rule is inconclusive when taken against the Bible account of the actual years here in Judges. The fourth year of Solomon’s reign was 974 BCE. Thus, the Exodus on that record was 1454 BCE if the actual move out of Goshen was meant. If the end of the Exodus is meant, then Abraham would have been 72 when the sojourn commenced or perhaps 75 at the call from Haran. However, the prophecy concerns his seed.

Thus, the year of the Exodus from this account would be 1454 BCE, with the occupation and end of the Exodus in 1414 BCE. Thus, there were 269 years in Egypt itself and forty years in the wilderness. Thus, the sojourn began from 1884 BCE. This would count from his call at the earliest. The first call occurred when he was in Ur of the Chaldees (Acts 7:1-4). The second call occurred when he was in Haran at age 75 (Gen. 12:4). Thus, the time frame from Solomon, places the Exodus in 1454 BCE and the sojourn in 1884 BCE, which makes him 112 years old at the commencement of the sojourn. His birth was in 1996 BCE. Bullinger (Companion Bible) says his first call was at fifty years of age (at Appendix 29). Thus, the first part of the sojourn was when Isaac was 13 years of age. Thus, Abraham’s seed was counted as being under foreign dominion from Isaac’s teens, and the entire time of the patriarchs in the wilderness under the Amorites and the Canaanites, and on to Joseph in Egypt.

The period thus goes from 1884 to 1723, which was 161 years in lands of other peoples. The actual captivity in Egypt was then 269 years plus 40, much of it under forced bondage. The movement of the patriarchs was probably enforced, so the historical accounts argue, by Amorite invasions of the basin from the Arabian Desert. The patriarchs Peleg, Serug, Terah and Nahor gave their names to places in the region, variously called Paddan-aram or Aram-naharaim. The archaeologists now argue that the places gave rise to the names of the Patriarchs rather than the reverse (cf. An. Ox. RSV, fn to Gen 11:27).

Of the sons of Issachar, Job also went into Egypt (Gen. 46:13). However, we know he did not remain there as shown by the book of Job. He left and established himself among the sons of Keturah, as we know by the names of the persons in that text. Moses was given these details when he joined Midian in the middle forty years of his life.

It seems logical that the sons of Keturah also came down for food during the famine, but returned afterwards as they were not the family of Joseph. The household of Job followed them. The Ishmaelites had obvious contact with Egypt over this time as they took Joseph there to be sold. Ishmael and the sons of Keturah were intermingled and stretched to the Yemen from this time. Some moved further north and we will examine that in the charts. The Hyksos were obviously desert tribes from the Middle East, who were probably associated with the Amorite and other invasions.

The map shows the movement of the tribes of the Middle East from the famine. The sons of Job of Issachar were to become part of the tribes of Keturah and seemingly moved into Europe with the Huns. That is why there are two nations that claim descent from Issachar, namely the Fins of Finland, and the Freis of the Northern Netherlands and Northwest Germany. The Fins would thus appear to be from the household of Job, and the Freis are from Issachar of the Exodus.

The Milesians, a branch of the Celts who were part of the Hittite alliance, claim also that they took their entire battle system of identification from their exposure to Israel in Egypt at this time (MacGeoghegan ibid), and the Tuatha De Danaan were some members of the tribe of the Danites or Dan from their name. They appear to have left for the isles of the west at the end of the famine. An identifying sign of Dan was to dwell in ships. Their identification with a goddess “Dana” is without foundation and anti-semitic propaganda of the post 1175 CE English and Roman Catholic occupation of Ireland. They were monotheists who adored the God of Israel but their idolatry spread from the encampments later in Israel. Thus, three divisions of Israel occurred at the beginning of the captivity in Egypt while they were still free to move and Joseph was alive.

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Appendix 3

The line of the Sceptre runs from Abraham to Judah and through the clan of Bethlehem Ephratah to David and ultimately Messiah.

Mathew is the book of the line of Messiah by adoption through Joseph and declaration by God. Matthew 1:2 shows the line as:
Abraham
Isaac
Jacob
Judah.

The line continues then in the line of Perez and we hear no more of Zerah or Zarah in this lineage.
Matthew 1:3-6 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Ammin'adab, and Ammin'adab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Bo'az by Rahab, and Bo'az the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uri'ah, (RSV)

The women mentioned are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba who was the wife of Uriah. The significance of these women demonstrates specific lessons in the genealogy. Sarah was not mentioned. She was undoubtedly more significant than all. The women were gentiles and guilty of sexual sins. Tamar was guilty of incest with Judah through his breach of the Law. Rahab was a descendent of Ham and guilty of prostitution. Bathsheba was a Hittite and guilty of adultery. This genealogy shows that the lineage of the Messiah was constructed to show that the Gentiles were involved and that he was to be sent to save sinners. This whole matter has been examined in the paper Genealogy of the Messiah (No. 119) (CCG).

The split in the lines of the Sceptre promises between Perez and Zarah, the sons of Tamar, are carried on in the diagrams.

The lines of the Messiah are in two lines from David also. One line goes to Joseph, his mother’s husband and his earthly parent through Solomon, as we see in the gospel of Matthew. The second line goes to his mother, Mariam or Miriam from David through Nathan, as we see in Luke Chapter 3.

Wade Cox

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Appendix 4

Abraham’s Legacy (Copyright CCG)

The Davidic Kingship in Judah

The Royal Line of Solomon The Line of Nathan the elder brother of Solomon.
Solomon Nathan
Rehoboam Mattatha
Abijah Menan (Menna)
Asa Melea
Jehoshaphat Eliakim
Jehoram Jonan
Ahaziah * (2 Kgs 8:27; 2Chron. 22:1-9) Joseph
Slain after one year because he was evil. Judah
Joash (Jehoash) * (2Kgs. 11:2 -12:20; 2Chron 24:1-25) Simeon
Amaziah* (2Kgs.14:8-20; 2Chron. 25:1,8) Levi
Azariah * (2Kgs. 14:21; 15:1-28; 1Chron. 3:12) Matthat
Uzziah Eliezer
Jotham Joshua
Ahaz Er
Hezekiah Elmodam
Manasseh Cosam
Amon Addi
Josiah Melchi
Jehoahaz Neri
Jehoiakim (Eliakim)* (2Kgs. 23:36-24:6; 2Chron. 36:5-8) Salathiel **
Slain. Zorobabel **
The Babylonian Captivity Rhesa
Jechoniah Joanan
(Assir) Judah (Joda)
Shealtiel Joseph
Zerubbabel (Levirate son of Pedaiah (1Chron. 3:19)) S(h)emei
Abihud Mattathias
Eliakim Maath
Azor Naggai (Nagge)
Zadoc Esli
Nahum
Achim Amos
Eliud Mattathias
Eleazer Joseph
Matthan Janna(i)
Jacob Melchi
Joseph husband of Mariam the mother of Christ Levi
Matthat
Heli
Mariam the wife of Joseph and Mother of
Yehoshua the Messiah called Jesus the Christ
* names omitted in the stylised list of Matthew chapter 1. All died violent deaths. Azariah may have been meant and Uzziah omitted.
** This list seems to have the duplicate of Shealtiel and Zerubbabel at more or less the time of the captivity. Shealtiel means I have asked God. Zerubbabel and Zorobabel mean descended of Babylon hence all are period names of the Captivity.

Wade Cox

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Appendix 5

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Wade Cox

Coordinator General

© Copyright 2003 Christian Churches of God, All Rights Reserved