"[Pharaoh] gave [Joseph] as a wife Asnat (Asenath), the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On...And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asnat (Asenath), the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: 'For Elohim (God) has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house.' And the name of the second he called Ephraim: 'For Elohim (God) has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction'" (Gen.41:45,50-52 NKJV).

Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and may the grace of our Master Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) be with us all on this the last sabbath of the month of Aviv and the second of seven sabbaths of the Omer Count.

As today's passages from Genesis indicate, the subject of our study this sabbath is the mysterious Asenath, or Asnat in Hebrew, the wife of Joseph of Egypt and the seventh matriarch of Israel. The very fact that so little is said about her ought to pique our interest because the 'other half' of so great a man is of no mean consequence. She is unique in the annals of Israelite history and is an important prophetic picture of these end-times, of the Second Exodus and of the glorious marriage between the House of Joseph and the Redeemed House of Egypt. She is a picture of the African qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) and of the amazing interracial mix that are her two children, Ephraim and Manasseh.

As we proceed through this study you will notice how the the number seven crops up. Seven is the number of completion and of spiritual perfection. It is the satisfaction of having created something wonderfully good and being able to rest in that satisfaction afterwards. The number itself has two principal components, the number three - representing the divine perfection of Father, Son and Mother - and the number four, which the number of beginning and of creation, the four points of the compass and of earthiness - the four dimensions of length, breadth, height and time. The number seven is that unique combination of the Divine and the Material, of the Divine Three creating something out of the Earthy Four in Their own image.

Frequently in scripture, Yahweh is described as the Elohim (God) of Abraham, Issac and Jacob (e.g. Ex.3:6), the three primary patriarchs or Men of Elohim (God) who are reflective of the Elohimhead (Godhead). Men occupy the 'female' or 'four' number relative to Elohim (God) when they are under submission. Thus on the first level, Elohim (God) is represented by the triangle of Father-Yah'shua-Ruach, and the four patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph - ocupy the 'female' position of surrender (see Fig.1).

Linked to the three primary Patriarchs are the four primary Matriarchs or Women of Elohim (God) who are Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah (see Fig.2). Together - these three men and four women - traditionally make a qodesh (holy, set-apart) seven - a triangle of masculine beauty like a roof or covering over a square or walls of feminine beauty. As the female is subject to the male in divine marriage, so the four is subject to the three, as man is subject to the Elohim (God).

However, as the Mystical Bride of Messiah consists of both men and women - of male and female - as represented by the seven women seeking to marry a man with a tov shem or good name in Isaiah 4, so there is a body of seven matriarchs - Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, Zilpah and Asenath - the principle brides of the three grand patriarchs by whose name we address the Most High. And I want you to notice that Asenath is the seventh of these brides, presenting Sukkot (Tabernacles) and Shabbat (the Sabbath).

We must never succumb to the evil of racism and suppose that, with few exceptions, nations are either 'all good' or 'all bad'. Out of such foolish notions have arisen the racial supremacist doctrines of such evils as Nazism and Zionism, or the idea that one class of society is superior to the other, whether feudalism or communism. These philosophies have brought such misery to the world. And whilst it is true that symbolically certain nations have come to represent 'good' and 'evil' - like 'Israel and 'Egypt', respectively - we must not confuse prophetic types with actual flesh-and-blood people. It would be wrong to extrapolate a prophetic type by claiming that all Israelites are 'good' and all Egyptians are 'evil'. In every mix of people, from every race, tribe, kindred and tongue, you will find the good and the evil. Israel produced its Joseph's as well as its Ahab's, its Sarah's as well as its Athaliah's. When we look at Egypt - which is also one of two symbols of Africa (the other being Ethiopia or Cush) - we find the same.

In the life of the patriarch Joseph we find an evil black woman - a seductress, the married woman of an important official - who tried to rob a chaste Man of Elohim (God) of his chastity, a man born to be a Prime Minister but having to first learn humility and surrender in the crucible of suffering and unrighteous judgment. Unwilling to confess to her evil design, she lied and had innocent Joseph cast into Pharaoh's dungeon. However, the wife of Pottiphar is only half the Egyptian story.

The other half is a magnificent black woman who is to become the Seventh Matriarch of Israel - for, yes, Israel is multi-racial - always was and always will be - a woman who is to bring forth two of the tribes of Israel whose destiny is to become three of the world's great powers in history responsible for nurturing the Besorah (Gospel) and spreading it around the world. And though these nations have fallen into infamy and done much evil too - just as Israel rose into the heights and fell into ignominity - they have been nations of destiny, fulfilling the patriarchal blessing given to the Patriarch Joseph that he would be a vine that would spread over the walls and into the world (Gen.49:22-26). I speak of Great Britain and Ireland (Ephraim), and the United States and Germany (the two Manasseh's, West and East, respectively). Though the glory of these formerly Christian nations is at an end, and as we await the imminent fall of West Manasseh - the last of the great Israelite superpowers - men and women of Elohim (God) from them are uniting and are symbolically taking as wives end-time Assenath's from the land of Egypt-Ethiopia - Africans.

I should perhaps interject a word of warning here not to follow the pied-pipers of the white and black supremacist groups who are turning once godly men and women into racial bigots and bringing disrepute and disgrace upon the Name of Messiah who is the Saviour of All Nations. I have spoken of these before, be they groups like so-called 'British Israel' or 'Black Israelites'. As will become very clear by the time we have finished today, the glory of Israel is in its spirituality and racial diversity.

The Israel that left Egypt on the First Exodus was, as we know, a "mixed multitude" (Ex.12:28, NKJV) of all kinds of races, including Egyptians, who chose to be grafted into Israel and be adopted into the 12 Tribes.

Even the famous Caleb, who is recorded as being of the Tribe of Judah, one of the two faithful spies with Joshua, was not related by blood to Judah - he was related by blood to the despised Esau! Yet he was adopted fully into Israel and came to represent the tribe he wasn't even related to by blood. Why?

"'Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed Yahweh'" (Num.32:11-13, NKJV).

The Kennizites are identified here:

"These were the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, and Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. Now Timna was the concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz" (Gen.36:10-12, NKJV).

It astonishes many that a descendent of Esau would represent the whole Tribe of Judah! Why not! The only qualification to receive the name 'Israel', or any twelfth tribal part thereof, is to "whole-heartedly follow Yahweh". There are no other qualifications to being an Israelite, either before or after the B'rit Chadashah (New Covenant) in Messiah!

It doesn't matter where you come from, or what your former status was, what your skin colour is, or your caste or class - all that matters is that you now "love Yahweh your Elohim (God) with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength" (Deut.6:5, NKJV) to be accepted into Israel. And then, as proof, that you show that you "love your neighbour as yourself" (Matt.22:39, NKJV).

If you look up the word 'Caleb' in lexicons you are going to discover all kinds of meanings. Some say it means 'dog', others 'bold' or 'impetuous'. I say this now as a warning not to regard lexicons as scripture - they are the works of men and must be checked carefully. According to Brad Scott, Caleb "is a contraction of kal (lk), which means 'all' and leb (bl, pronounced 'lev'), which means 'heart'" [1]. Why was Caleb given this name? Because he followed Yahweh with all his heart! It doesn't matter that he was a descendent of Esau whose tribe would later found the hostile nation of Esau, that same Moloch-worshipping nation that now pretends be be both Judah and Israel today! [2] And it doesn't matter if this counterfeit race styling itself as 'Jewish' comes to Messiah Yah'shua (Jesus) provided they truly love Him, and serve Him with all their hearts. The point is, the Kingdom is open to everyone who repents and comes in at the true door.

There is only one race that matters now, the human race, the Adamic race, representing all the people of the earth. We are counted as belonging to Yahweh not by our racial origin but whether we love and obey Yahweh or not! Israel is the 'whole-hearted ones' which was why Jacob's name was changed so that we should focus on character and not on genes genealogy (Titus 3:9). We are of the Order of Melchizedek which is not established by genealogy because to be an Israelite is to be "without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but [we are] made like the Son of Elohim (God)" (Heb.7:3, NKJV).

Joseph's marriage to Asenath is, in part, to remind us of these truths. If you're a racist or a white supremacist or a black supremacist you need to repent quickly. Joseph, the Messianic figure, married a noble black African woman and fathers the head tribe of Israel (Ephraim), to underscore that Yah'shua (Jesus) is the Saviour of all men and women everywhere. Egypt, then, represents not only Africa on one level, but every nation on the planet. This is a final gathering of all redeemed peoples who become one Israel no matter what the equence of base-pairs in the DNA is. And for those who are worried about 'blood', be comforted in the knowledge that everyone who comes to Messiah for real has a portion of the blood of Abraham in him. You'll never know how much and you don't need to know. Blood, in any case, disintegrates at death along with the rest of the body, and all that's left - all the matters - is whether your heart belongs to Yah'shua (Jesus) or not.

Asenath was a black African and all her in-laws were Israelite who were already a mixture of white, brown and black. Egypt had them all. When famine hit the Middle East where Jacob and his family lived, Yahweh provided refuge in Africa, in the land of Goshen in Egypt. Africa will yet provide a place of refuge for latter-day Jacob's seeking sanctuary from 'famine' in the north. The children of the family of Jacob and his four wives numbered 70 souls, of which 68 were males and two female - Asher's granddaughter and Jacob's daughter Dinah. Note the number seven again.

Asenath is a type of the New Covenant Israelite mother because Joseph is a type of Messiah. Asenath is a type of the Bride of Messiah, or the Messianic Community, consisting of a mixed company or multitude of nations! The goal of every Christian or Messianic wife and mother should be to be like Asenath and the goal of every Christian husband is to love her and embrace her as Joseph did - as Messiah does, as our Heavenly Father does. Joseph's praises of her are concealed in the names he gave by the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) to his two sons - "Elohim (God) has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house" (Manasseh) and "Elohim (God) has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction". His twin rewards for enduring faithfully was to be elevated from being a slave to being the second most powerful man in the known world and receiving a beautiful African wife whose love helped him forget his sufferings, turning his misery into simcha (joy). In a third passage of scripture Asenath is fully enthroned:

"And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asnat (Asenath), the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him" (Gen.46:20, NKJV).

What of Asenath's background? And her name? As is to be expected, her name is pagan, and means "she belongs to Neith (or Nut)", an Egyptian god of death and rebirth. And whilst our carnal gut instinct is to recoil and perhaps even demand that she be given a new, Israelite, Yahweh-honouring name, if we do that we will miss something of great importance which Yahweh has caused to be providentially hidden. Ignore the pagan deity and remember that these people, though once believers centuries before, were now largely ignorant of the emet (truth) about the true Elohim (God). You see, the paganism aside, Asenath brings into the Royal House of Joseph, both symbolic, priestly royalty and creation and so symbolically represents the marriage of Israel and Egypt - that is to say, righteous Israel and righteous Egypt.

This is perhaps best explained and illustrated by considering what it was that the seven matriarchs of Israel brought to the nation which was exalting of Yahweh. They brought with them an insistence of the continuity of the family, the foundation of any nation - and remember this is Yahweh's own Nation. They brought with them a demonstration of emunah (faith) - total faith in El Elyon (God Most High) even in the face of hardship. Between them they had to struggle with barrenness (Sarah and Rachel), fleshy jealousy (Leah and Rachel), marrying strangers (Rebekah and Asenath), moving to foreign lands (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah). They took risks and and bore multiple hardships for the sake of what Yahweh had called them to be - wives and mothers in Israel - and demonstrated that supreme quality of godliness, chesed - loving-kindness. They literally 'went the extra mile' because of this chesed and in so doing brought a revelation of the heart of Elohim (God) to their children and their community. They bring forth something of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) Herself, revealing the Heavenly Mother. And as we spoke the other days, one of their callings is to reveal the sons of Elohim (God) (Rom.8:19).

So we need not be distressed that Asenath came from a pagan background and had a pagan name. What is important is that she was Yahweh's choice and Pharaoh His unwitting instrument. As you read the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament) you soon become aware that the vast majority of converts outside Israel proper had pagan backgrounds and had pagan names. Incidentally - and this is something ultra-messianics need to make especial note of - most of these converts retained their old pagan names. Remember Apollo? That is not to say that they did not receive Messianic or Christian names too but it is to say that they retained their old names in public.

It is a hard thing for the fanatics to understand that Yahweh sometimes brings brides out of paganism for His heroes to marry. But think about it. We live in virtually a post-Christian age in the West where most are raised as heathens. A century ago one could marry into a Christian family but these days - and during the Second Exodus in particular - most converts will come from pagan backgrounds. Most will be Asenath's and the Joseph's of the Final Gathering will have to find Asenath's and teach them the Besorah (Gospel) and lead them to salvation and Torah-obedience them before they marry them. The men of the Remnant with a shem tov (good name) are going to have to work hard for their wives by converting them first. Don't expect your spouses to be served to you on a silver spoon. In fact, expect to be an evangelist to them too. And be pleasantly surprised - after all, Yahweh provided Joseph with an Asenath, and Asenath with a Joseph! Can we be in any doubt that both rejoiced?

In the case of Asenath, we may assume that her conversion came afterwards. Though this is not the way we recommend believers marry in general, for all the obvious reasons, Yahweh had this particular union sown up. This marriage was, like Isaac's, His choice. I should, I suppose, bring to your attention at this point the existence of an apocryphal writing, the Book of Joseph and Asenath, which some of you have doubtless already come across and may even be familiar with. It's another of those 1st or 2nd century BC Pharisee pseudepigraphic expansions like the Book of Enoch and Book of Jasher and is absolutely not reliable even if it may possibly contain some authentic historical elements. The purpose of the book is without a doubt to explain to pious Jews of the time immediately before Messiah how an upstanding descendant of Jacob could have married a pagan in violation of what would become Torah. You can judge for yourself how credible this account is based on what is known about the Pharisees and their belief system. It shows definite Christian additions too, the earliest known manuscript of it dating from the 6th century AD. Personally I think it is the product of a vivid imagination and lacks little, if any, historical credibility. Indeed, it contradicts the Biblical account in several places. The story line [3] runs something like this:

The twenty-nine chapters of Joseph and Aseneth narrate the conversion of Aseneth, from idolatry to monotheism and the worship of Yahweh. Aseneth, a virgin who has rejected numerous worthy suitors, falls in love with Joseph when he, as vizier of Egypt, visits her father. Joseph, however, rejects her as an unworthy idol worshipper.

Aseneth then secludes herself in her tower, repents of her idolatry, confesses her sin, and embraces the Elohim (God) of Joseph. Begging for Yahweh's acceptance, she then receives an angelic visitor (looking like Joseph), who assures her that her prayers are answered and that she is now a new creation. There follows a strange and extended ritual, where in order to confer on her immortality, the malakh (angel) shares with Aseneth a magical honeycomb, and is told of her heavenly counterpart Metanoia (Repentance).

The honeycomb, which the malakh (angel) marks with a cross, causes a swarm of bees to surround her, and some return to heaven though others die. The meaning and significance of this episode of the bees is uncertain, and appears to have some sort of connection to initiation rites of mystery religions. There may also be a connection with the otherwise mysterious name of the prophetess Deborah, which literally means 'bee', from one of the oldest parts of the Book of Judges. It is uncertain whether the involvement of a cross indicates a Christian influence or not.

Aseneth, promising to love, honour, and obey Joseph, is now seen as a potential wife by him, and the two marry and she bears him Ephraim and Manasseh. Then in the final chapters of the book, Pharaoh's son, in love with Aseneth himself, attempts to seize her, persuading Dan and Gad to assist him and kill Joseph. However, Benjamin, Joseph's loyal brother, foils the attempt, and Pharaoh's son receives fatal wounds. Aseneth forgives Dan and Gad, and Joseph and she go on to rule over Egypt. Enmity between Joseph and Dan and Gad is not recounted elsewhere, and nor is any between the tribes of which they are eponyms, so it is uncertain why they are mentioned in this manner by the author, unless it was due to a personal grudge.

Whatever the origin of this apocryphal work may be, it is a fake and unreliable. However tantalising the absence of any real historical infortmation on Asenath may be, this does not give anyone to invent scripture for whatever reason. This was an arranged marriage by Pharaoh himself. It was exogamous marriage as far as the later Torah is concerned but at the time this was clearly not prohibited. But Asenath was not, in all likelihood, Jacob's only foreign daughter-in-law. Most of the Patriarchs apparently had no difficulty marrying Canaanite and Egyptian women - did not Abraham marry Hagar the Egyptian? So Yahweh does not apparently care less about ethnicity. But what of their religious and value systems? Since nothing further is said about the matter, we cannot possibly comment further. Asenath's background didn't bother Jacob who had no trouble blessing Joseph's two sons so it not unreasonable to speculate that she converted, as the ancestor of Yah'shua (Jesus), the Canaanite harlot Rahab.

Fanciful rabbinical stories about the origin of Asenath abound. Some say [4] she was the progeny of Dinah and Shechem which would have made Asenath his niece and a fellow Hebrew. The story is posited that she was adopted by the Egyptian Priest of On and Joseph recognised her because of an ID tag she wore around her neck placed there by Joseph's brothers. There are other silly stories too best left to Jewish novels which you can research for yourselves if you are interested.

We have, apparently, more than enough in the three references to Asenath in Genesis, and we must be content with that. Idle speculation and going into the unknown only bring unnecessary problems. I personally believe she was a pagan when she was married at Pharaoh's insistence to recently elevated Joseph, that it was in Yahweh's providence, and that she was converted. I believe that Joseph was her true home and that in returning to him, she fulfilled a psalm yet to be written:

"Elohim (God) sets the solitary in families (restores the lonely to their homes); He brings out those who are bound into prosperity" (Ps.68:6, NKJV).

Endnotes

[1] Brad Scott, Caleb
[2] See Jacob's Trouble
[3] Adapted from Wikipedia,
[4] Targum Jonathan; Sofrim, chapter 21

The racial origin of Caleb has in recent times become a heated matter for those of the Black Hebrew movement trying to prove that Americans of African descent (but not those who got 'left behind' in Africa) are the true Tribe of Judah. Caleb, as one of the three heroes of the Exodus, becomes of great symbolic importance to them in their attempt to prove they are the 'true Jews'. For us as Messianic Evengelicals for whom spiritual regeneration and character, not race, is everything, it does not frankly matter what race Caleb actually was. Rather, emet (truth) is the issue.

For those of the Black Hebrew sect trying to prove that the ancient Hebrews were blacks, maintaining Caleb's 'racial purity' becomes of great importance and so they are most anxious to disprove that Caleb was a Gentile Edomite grafted into the tribe of Judah rather than a Judahite of natural descent. However the Scriptures are clear that Caleb's father was "Jephunneh a Kenizzite" and we are told this three times (Num.32:12; Josh.14:6,14) and Kenizzite's were descendants of "Kenaz" (1 Chr.1:36). Additionally, supporting this contention we find that Caleb had a brother among Judah whose name was "Kenaz" after the founder of their clan. Additionally Caleb had a grandson by his son Elah who is also named "Kenaz" after his uncle and the founder of their clan. The contention of some Black Hebrew apologists is that the Chelubai (note the Hebrew spelling) of 1 Chronicles 2:9 and the Caleb (again, note the Hebrew spelling) of Numbers 3:6 are one and the same person.

First of all, these are two distinct names, with "Caleb" being the "root" of the name "Chelubai". Now even if, for the sake of argument, we were to grant the Black Hebrew apologists that "Caleb" and "Chelubai" were one and the same name, there is a larger issue: Chelubai's father was "Hezron" and Caleb's father was "Jephunneh". If we are to agree with the Black Hebrew apologists, then we must also claim, using their logic, that Hezron and Jephunneh are also one and the same person, which of course is nonsense. Indeed, these names have nothing in common in Hebrew:

"Several biblical genealogies denote that the Kenizzites, Calebites, and Othnielites were closely related tribal groups, and that from their tent encampments along the foothills of south Palestine, all three maintained intimate associations with their eastern Edomite neighbors. Caleb and Othniel are both recognized for their genealogical linkage with Kenaz. In Num.32:12 and Josh.14:6,14, Caleb is identified as "the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite," and in Judg.1:13 and 3:9, Othniel is said to be "the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother." Kenaz, in turn, takes his place in the Edomite genealogy of Genesis 36. Finally, in the Wadi Arabah, a region rich in mineral deposits to the south of the Dead Sea, the Kenizzites cultivated close ties with the Kenites, from whom they undoubtedly learned the art of mining and metallurgy (Glück 1940: 83). In due course, the Kenizzites and other neighboring southern tribal groups became thoroughly absorbed by Judah" (Kuntz, J. K. (1992). Kenaz (Person), in (D. N. Freedman, Ed.) The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, Doubleday, NY) .

Michael Harris invites us to look at the whole question from a different angle, the Hebrew meanings of the names, and to consider this as it was Elohim (God) who determined the name of every person and in a few cases changes a person's name. Joshua's original name was Hoshea (Num.13:8) meaning 'God helps'. However, Elohim (God), through Moses, changes his name to 'Joshua' meaning 'God Saves'. Now, most people know the Latin form of this name quite a bit better... Joshua and the name Yah'shua (Jesus) are the same name.

Now this gets better. So, we have "Joshua the son of Nun." 'Nun' means 'perpetual', 'everlasting' or 'eternal'! Literally speaking, "Joshua the son of Nun" IS 'Yah'shua (Jesus) the son of Eternity.' Does this ring any bells? Now, Joshua is also an Ephraimite! That is, Joshua is a son of Joseph... and when Yah'shua (Jesus) came the first time He came as 'Mashiach ben Joseph', that is, the 'Anointed son of Joseph' to whom, by the way, "the birth right to be the King of Israel belonged" (1 Chr.5:2). Now Joshua (Yah'shua/Jesus) is the one who leads Israel into the Land of Promise! Now isn't that interesting? Hummm... so does Yah'shua (Jesus)! And who was at the side of "Joshua (Jesus) the son of Eternity?" That would be "Caleb the son of Jephunneh" (a Kenizzite). The name 'Caleb' means: 'bold', 'impetuous', a 'dog', 'whole-hearted' or 'hearty'. As for "Jephunneh" (je-fun'-neh) this means: 'He will be turned'. So, at Joshua's side in taking the Land of Promise was a fellow named 'Wholeheartedly He Will Be Turned". Further, if the Anchor Bible Dictionary is correct, this fellow was a 'Gentile' grafted into the tribe of Judah and the head of the tribe of Judah! And one more thing: John the Baptist's and Yah'shua/Jesus' (Joshua's) talmidim (disciples) in the B'rit Chadasha (New Testament) are said to be "the friends" of the "Bridegroom" (Mt.9:15; Mk.2:19; Lk.5:34; Jn.3:29). If these Jews, many of whom are of the tribe of JUDAH are the "friends" of the Bridegroom, who is it that the "Bride" of Messiah (Christ) is? Let's see: Yah'shua (Jesus) came the first time as 'Mashiach ben Joseph' and Joseph did take a 'Gentile Bride'. Then there is the lying prostitute 'Rahab'! She believed Elohim (God), saved the Israelite spies and became a 'Gentile bride' who married into the tribe of JUDAH. Furthermore, 'Rahab' means 'to be expanded'. Then there is Ruth the Moabite. Again, a 'Gentile Bride' who marries Boaz (the Kinsman REDEEMER) and, you guessed it, also of the tribe of JUDAH! And Ruth means 'Beautiful'. What a testimony! - three extremely visible Gentiles and all of them are 'grafted' into the tribe of JUDAH! And, two of these (Rahab and Ruth) are in the genealogy of Yah'shua (Jesus)! So, since Yah'shua (Jesus) is "the Lion of the Tribe of JUDAH" and The King of Israel of the tribe of Judah, what tribe do you suppose his GENTILE bride (those not of literal Israelite descent) will be grafted into? Harris is of the opinion that if you marry the King who is of the tribe of Judah you will probably not be a Reubenite,but be 'married' or 'grafted' into the tribe of Judah, though personally I believe Yah'shua (Jesus), who is the King of Kol Yisrael (All Israel) is the Bridegroom of all Twelve Tribes.

The best response 'Black Hebrews' are able to give to such material is, like all bad apologists who do not know - or do not want to know - their Scrtiptures because they are too busy defending a preconceived racial agenda, is to accuse people like Michael Harris of being 'liars', a prideful and presumptuous conclusion to arrive at to say the least. A liar is someone who KNOWS the emet (truth) but insists on something else for their own gain or purpose.

I believe Yahweh ordained that a gentile Edomite, Caleb, from whom many modern Jews are descended, be the leader of the Tribe of Judah to preclude all racial pride. Likewise the children Joseph, the father of the 'white' races, share African ancestry. We are all mixed, and good is that!

Acknowledgements

[1] All meanings of names were taken from The Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names, Smith, S., & Cornwall, J., North Brunswick, NJ: 1998
[2] With thanks to Michael Harris' for his comments on the Black Hebrew video, Caleb and Othniel Were Not Edomites