“Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick: and they shall become one in thine hand… Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand…”. Ezekiel 37:16-19

“Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them:… I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”   Ezekiel 37:,26,27

It was Judah that prevailed above his brethren (1 Chronicles 5:2), as it was the tribe of Judah that enlarged, seen in Judah’s first king, Rehoboam, meaning a people has enlarged, the tribes of Israel dispersed in 722.  It is not only the tribe of Judah that has enlarged.  It is the religious doctrine of a Gentile Judah.  The first book of Kings reveals that Judah and Israel became as one (1 Kings 22:4).

“… take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions…”  

This Gentile Israel became Judah by accepting the born again Pentecostal doctrine.  Judah proclaims to have the birthright.  But God’s Word plainly tells us that  “…the birthright was Joseph’s” (1 Chronicles 5:2).

Let’s go back in biblical history and look at the relationship between Judah and Joseph.  It was Judah, and his brothers (the tribes of Israel) that threw Joseph in the pit.  It is the Christian religion that has thrown the spiritual teachings of Jesus in a metaphorical pit or prison by accepting the carnal teachings of Paul.  But when the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt, symbolizing the World, the brothers are forced to go down into Egypt and humble themselves before Joseph, just as Joseph’s dream had predicted (Genesis 37:9,10).  The corn that Joseph stored up during the seven good years symbolizes spiritual truth, which is feeding those that are spiritually hungry. Those that have entered the spiritual famine of which Amos prophesied (Amos 8:11).

Fast forward some 2000 years to the Jews of Judah and Jesus, the son of Joseph. Jesus is allegory to Joseph, as we see through their parallels.  Both were hated by their brothers, Joseph by his biological brothers and Jesus by his religious brothers. Both were falsely accused and thrown into prison. Both entered Egypt in order to preserve their lives.  And both would bring salvation to the people.  

Judah is companions with the children of Israel— the children symbolizing those that are unskilled.  Christians, the Gentile Judah, are unskilled in the spiritual Word of God.  Joseph is companions with all the house of Israel.  The house of Israel are the sons of Jacob, as Jacob was called Israel (Genesis 32:28). The sons of Jacob are the tribes of Israel (Genesis 49:28), the twelve tribes symbolizing the spiritual judgment through which one obtains true salvation (Matthew 19:28). Christians have accepted a lie when it comes to their salvation, and according to the Prophet Jeremiah, they shall come to know it (Jeremiah 8:20).  Jeremiah’s prophecies pertain to Judah.

The stick of Judah is joined to the stick of Joseph when Christians renounce the carnal teachings of Paul and accept the spiritual teachings of Jesus, which is to eat of the corn.

“I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand…”   

Ephraim, in the literal sense, was the leading tribe of the northern kingdom, which was Israel.  Ephraim means double-fruit.  What we think we are and what we are— a teaching of the first revelation.

 “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:” Revelation 3:17

We become Ephraim when we become aware of this.  Those that thought they were born again and saved, now think differently. Now they are ready to do the works of the first six churches, which they have skipped over, through which they will experience true salvation. 

“ I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire…” Revelation 3:18

The fire symbolizes the spiritual judgment, through which the mind and heart are made pure, which the gold symbolizes. Christians have unwittingly chosen religious iniquity over spiritual truth, which they have become quite firm in (the meaning of the word “stick”).  But through repentance, which means to think differently, they will become firm in spiritual truth, which the stick of Joseph symbolizes.  This is the joining of the stick of Judah to the stick of Joseph.

Written by Sandra L. Butler © 2015