IN SEARCH OF MORE RICHES

(Black History) 

GENESIS 41:46-52

          This is Black History Month and where others will concentrate their teaching during this month on the history of Black people after coming to America, I choose to focus on our Biblical History as a people of color.  The more I study the more I come to see that the history of the people of color is sort of like a diamond, gold or jewel mine.  You don’t find all the riches at one time.  You may find one or two jewels or nuggets at first; just enough to let you know that you should dig deeper.  But as you dig, more and more jewels are found and the history becomes richer and richer. Over the years we have studied the origin of race and focused on Ham the son of Noah who is noted as the Father of the dark races.  Our study of Ham introduced us to many Biblical groups that were people of color.  Through Ham’s Cush we met the Ethiopians, the Babylonians and those generally called Cushites in the Bible.  Through Ham’s son Phut we met the Libyan and Cyrenian people.  Through Canaan we discovered the Phoenicians, the Hittites, the Amorites, The Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites and the Jebusites.  Also through the Canaanite people we discovered three women of color in the lineage of Jesus, Bathsheba, Rahab and Tamar.  Finally through Ham’s son Mizraim we were introduced to the Egyptians and the Philistines.  However through the marriage of Semitic males with Egyptian females we saw the birth of the Arab and Edomite races.  Here in the Genesis 41 we see that Joseph who was Semitic in origin had two sons Ephraim and Manasseh by an Egyptian woman Asenath.

          I want to take some time today and talk about some of the outstanding people where from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.  Today we would call these people bi-racial, but we all know that in reality Black mama, non-black daddy, or non-black mama and black daddy, black mama and black daddy, all equal the same thing, -- Black.  The descendants of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim have Semitic ancestry on the father’s side but Hamatic ancestry on the mother’s side.  They to like the Arabs are people of color.

GENESIS 48:3-6

          Jacob adopts Joseph’s two sons and claims them as his own.  The are counted among the tribes of the Children of Israel, one replacing Joseph and the other replacing Levi.  The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh were given inheritance in the Promise Land.  Manasseh settled the area that included cities like Samaria, Shechem, Mt Carmel, Shiloh, Golan and Caesarea.  Ephraim settled the area surrounding the cities of Bethel and Gezer.

          There were prominent leaders in the Children of Israel that had roots in both of these tribes.

JUDGES 6:11-16

          Gideon, the 6^th judge of Israel was from the tribe of Manasseh.  This is the same Gideon who under the Lord’s instruction decreased his army from 32,000 men down to 300 men and led them against an army of over 135,000 Midianites (chapter 8:10) and defeated them.  The story of Gideon gives a splendid illustration of how God can use the least among men when that one is fully yielded to His will and able to believe Him for miracles.  Also Gideon tended to be fearful, but reliance upon God and empowering by the Spirit made him a might man of valor.  After defeating the Midianites the people wanted to make Gideon their king, but Gideon declined realizing that God was Israel’s king.  However, Judges 8 tells of an error in judgment made by Gideon.  He took the spoils gained by defeating the Midianites and made an ephod or priestly robe.  Though he probably meant no harm, the people made the robe an object of worship.  This just goes to show that those in leadership roles must be extra careful in their actions because it is so easy sometimes to lead others astray.

          Another major person from the tribe of Manasseh was Jephthah the 10^th judge of the children of Israel.

JUDGES 11:1

          Jephthah’s father was Gilead and Numbers 26:29 shows Gilead to be the grandson of Manasseh.   

JUDGES 11:29-34

          This is the same Jephthah that defeated the Ammonites but made a foolish vow that cost him his only child.  Jephthah judged Israel for 6 years and is included among the heroes of faith listed in Heb. 11:32.

Ephraim, the younger son of Joseph settled the regions around the cities of Shechem, Shiloh and Bethel.  A prominent person associated with the tribe of Ephraim is Joshua, the second leader of Israel, who led the people in bringing down the wall of Jericho and in invading the land of Canaan. Another noted person is Samuel, the first prophet of Israel, who God sent to anoint both Saul and David as kings over Israel.

Another person who belonged to the tribe of Ephraim was Jeroboam.  This is a name that some of you may not be too familiar with and will require a bit of history to explain.  

I KINGS 11:26-40

After King David died his son Solomon became king.  Now Solomon did very well in the beginning of his reign but near the end of his reign he became very harsh on the people.  He required very high taxes of the people and economically Israel was stagnant.  But the biggest problem with Solomon is explained in earlier in chapter 11. 

I KINGS 11:1-8

          Following after his heathen wives and trying to please them, Solomon allows idol worship in the kingdom and even sets up high place or temples to be used to worship these idol gods.  For this cause God declare that Jeroboam will be king over Israel at the death of Solomon.  Of course that did not go over too well with Solomon or his son Rehoboam who was next in line to be king so they sought to kill him. 

          When Solomon died Jeroboam and the elders of the 10 tribes came to Rehoboam and pleaded for him to give them taxation relief but Rehoboam refused.  This event spurred the splitting of the Children of Israel in to two kingdoms, the Southern Kingdom or Judah, and the Northern Kingdom or Israel.  The Southern Kingdom under the rule of Rehoboam was the tribes and territories of Judah and Benjamin.  The other ten tribes followed Jeroboam whom verse 26 describes as an Ephrathite.  Jeroboam, the first king of the Northern tribes of Israel was from the tribe of Ephraim.

          Jeroboam, during his reign instituted a new religion in Israel, calf worship and built shrines to worship these idols.  He reigned for 22 years but during the last two years of his reign Jeroboam was stricken with disease and his son Nadab was co-ruler.  Just as the idolatry of Solomon caused God to rip the kingdom from him so Jeroboam’s idolatry brought like consequences. 

I KINGS 14:7-11

         Of course all that was prophesized against Jeroboam occurred.  I Kings 15 tells us that Nadab, Jeroboam’s son only reigned two years after Jeroboam’s death.  Nadab and all of Jeroboam’s remaining family were killed by Baasha, who took over as king of Israel.

          In giving the kingdom to Jeroboam after Solomon’s idolatry and death God offered Jeroboam the opportunity to get the people back on the right track.  However, Jeroboam took the easy way out and plunged the people deeper into idolatry.  The Northern kingdom never recovered.

          Joseph, from the line of Noah’s son Shem, married Asenath, from the line of Noah’s son Ham, and had two sons Manasseh and Ephraim.  From these two sons came Joshua, Gideon, Jephthah, Samuel and Jeroboam; All great leaders who had tremendous impact on the history of the Jews.  People of color and their influence show up all throughout the Bible.  But just as we must dig in America to search out Black History in this country we must also dig in the scriptures to understand our history, accomplishments and downfalls there.  Our history is rich both in America and in the scriptures.  However both are jewels waiting to be discovered.