The Watchman's Voice

Note:  All dates are approximate

Jacob had a son called Joseph, who was his most favored son, and Jacob gifted Joseph with a coat of many colors.  According to Notes on the Bible by Albert Barnes (1834) this was probably a long coat, reaching to his hands and feet, the variegated coloring would have been either made at the loom, or by embroidery, meaning this coat was very well made.  In ancient times, such a coat was worn by those who were not predisposed to hard labor.  Such an outright display of their father’s higher regard for Joseph caused his brothers to hate him.

Joseph was gifted with prophetic dreams, and was able to give prophesy based upon interpretation of the dreams of others as well.  In one of his dreams, he and his brothers were binding sheaves of wheat, and when they were finished, the sheaves that his brothers had bound fell down, and bowed to the sheave that was bound by Joseph.  In a second dream, he saw the sun and moon and eleven stars giving obeisance to himself (he had eleven brothers).  These two dreams, when shared with his family, compounded the hatred that his brothers held for him.

Joseph’s brothers were tending the flocks, and Jacob asked Joseph to go and check on their well being.  As he approached them, far from their father’s sight, the brothers conspired to murder Joseph, but decided instead to throw him into a pit and leave him to die.  After throwing Joseph into the pit, they saw a trader’s caravan in the distance, traveling toward Egypt.  The brothers removed Joseph from the pit, and sold him to the traders as a slave (about 1711 B.C.).  Joseph’s prophetic visions caused him to rise above the station of slave, and he was named as the Pharaoh’s right hand, giving him rule over all of Egypt.  A great famine came, and all of the surrounding nations were starving, but Egypt was prospering because Joseph’s prophecies had led them to prepare for the famine in advance, storing away so much food that they had enough to spare that they could sell to their neighbors.  Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy some grain, Joseph forgave them for making him a slave, and brought his family into Egypt to live.  Because the Pharaoh held Joseph in such high regard, his family was given the finest land in Egypt, and were allowed to live by their own customs and worship God, rather than being forced to live as Egyptians and worship their gods.

Upon Jacob’s death, it became time to pass on his blessing and birthright that he had struggled so greatly for, against Esau.  Reuben was the oldest son, however Jacob refused to give him either, as he had defiled his father’s bed.  Because Joseph, besides being the favored son, had saved the remainder of the family from certain death through is power in Egypt, Jacob chose to give both to him instead.  Jacob, however, had no need of either, so they were passed on to Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, immediately by Jacob.  Since Joseph was entitled to a double portion of any inheritance as a benefit of the birthright, both Ephraim and Manasseh received a full portion, as if they were Jacob’s sons rather than grandsons, and they were also given the blessing that had been passed through the generations since Abraham.  Judah, however, as Jacob’s second oldest son, was destined to be the leader of the family, which eventually culminated in the crowning of King Saul, a descendant of Judah.

Eventually, after Joseph’s death (about 1640 B.C.),  a new Pharaoh came into power which had not known Joseph and his great contributions to Egypt.  This new Pharaoh realized that the Israelites were more prosperous, and outnumbered the Egyptians and this made him afraid that they might rise up and overthrow Egypt.  Under this Pharaoh, the Israelites became little more than slaves.  As time passed, the oppression became more severe, and this eventually led to the Exodus, one of the most fascinating and well known stories in history (about 1496 B.C.).

As the Israelites wandered through the Near East, searching for the promised land, they soon learned that the animosity that Esau had held for Jacob had been compounded after the death of the twins.  Now, rather than having one man who hated his brother, an entire nation, the Edomites, despised another entire nation, the Israelites.  This forced the Israelites to lengthen their journey as they had to go around the land of Edom, rather than passing through. (Numbers 20:14-21).  Shortly after their arrival in Canaan, the land that had been promised to Israel, the complete destruction of the Canaanites took place.  The few Canaanites who were not slaughtered fled to Edom, to Syria, or were assimilated into the people of Israel.

Under King Saul, Israel defeated Edom in battle (about 1100 B.C.), but they continued to vex.  Once King David took the throne (1060 B.C.), he did not stop at defeat, and a complete conquest of Edom followed.  Israel constructed forts in Edom, and soldiers stayed behind for six months, seeing to the death of every Edomite male, however at least one of the Edomite royal bloodline, Hadad the Edomite, escaped into Egypt along with a number of servants.  After the conquest of Edom, Israel was able to establish trade at the ports in southern Edom, at the Red Sea, and Israelite deputies were put in place to oversee the cities.  In 1 Kings 11:14 Hadad the Edomite returns and becomes a source of trouble for King Solomon, the son of King David (1020 B.C.).  We are never told of any certain victory by Solomon or Hadad, only that the struggle lasted throughout Solomon’s reign.

King Solomon had succumbed to earthly temptations and taken wives from neighboring lands, a very serious offense, since God had strictly forbidden miscegenation.  This soon led to the worship of idols, devils etc as Solomon began to be influenced by the traditions of his foreign wives.  After Solomon’s death (980 B.C.), the kingdom divided, with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin forming the land of Judah or Judea, while the remaining ten tribes retained the name of Israel.   Those who are familiar with Biblical history are quite aware that this was a pivotal point in ancient history.  Many, however, do not understand the full magnitude of this event, and the events that were set into motion afterwards.

In our next chapter, we will see how the Edomites saw this as an opportunity to try and regain the birthright that their ancestor, Esau, had traded away.  The events that follow will prove to shake mankind to it’s very foundation, and create a web of deception that is woven even tighter today than it was three thousand years ago.  This deception has gone on for so long, that most of the deceivers, themselves, are not even aware that they are cultivating a wicked harvest.  This web of lies is so strongly woven that the vast majority of mankind still has not noticed the few loose threads so that it can be unraveled, in spite of the fact that some of history’s most respected, and well known men have pointed out those loose threads.  John the Revelator, St Paul of Tarsus, Jesus Christ and Martin Luther, among others, did not discreetly point out this web of lies. They pointed at it, and shouted at the top of their voices describing what they were showing us, jumping up and down, and waving their arms, begging us to pay attention.

End Chapter 3

Note:  In the last words of this chapter, I made note of warnings that have been left for us, so that we will see the lies that have been created.  For the most part, these first three chapters have been for the purpose of presenting the background that led to these lies.  In chapter 4 we will finally get to the heart of the matter, and those warnings will begin to come forth.  For various reasons, those warnings have been either disregarded, misinterpreted or gone unnoticed by most of mankind.  I pray that I will be able to present those warnings in a way that will make them perfectly clear, as proper notice and interpretation are more important now than ever.