Day of Reconciliation

Tu b'Av Celebration and Inter-Tribal Marriages

(August 4, 2020, 14 Av, 5780)

Contents:
1. What Day is it?
2. The Re-Acceptance of the Tribe of Benjamin and of Inter-Tribal Marriage.
3. King Hosea of Israel Removes the Barriers to go up to Jerusalem.
4. King Hezekiah of Judah
5. The attempt by King Hezekiah to Reconcile the Northern Ten Tribes
6. The Final Exile of the Remaining Ten Tribe Populace.
7. A Day of Re-unification and Reconciliation
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

1. What Day is it?
This year on August 5, 2020, falls the Hebrew day of 15 Av, 5780.
This is what one may term a minor Feast Day on the Hebrew Calendar.
See:
Day of Re-Union. Tu b'Av when the Tribes Came Together
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/18/reunion.html

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2. The Re-Acceptance of the Tribe of Benjamin and of Inter-Tribal Marriage.

On this day members of the Tribe of Benjamin were allowed to grab marriageable girls from Shiloh in the territory of Ephraim.
The girls were dancing in the vineyards in the Valley of Shiloh as was their custom every year at this time.
The other Tribes had sworn not to give their daughters to members of the Tribe of Benjamin. Following a vicious Civil War most of the Tribe of Benjamin had been wiped out (Judges chs. 19-21).
Only a few males from the Tribe of Benjamin remained.
There was a danger that the Tribe of Benjamin would die out. A council of all the other Tribes therefore decided to allow the Benjaminites to grab the maidens at Shiloh. After that they placated the families of the girls.

Different reasons are given for celebrating this day. The main ones seem to be this is the day when:

(1) The Tribe of Benjamin was allowed to intermarry with the other Tribes after the incident of the Concubine of Gibeah (see Judges chapters 19-21); and

(2) The day on which it was announced that henceforth intermarriage between the Tribes would be permitted, i.e. "the day on which the Tribes were allowed to marry one another" (Talmud Baba Batra 121;a). The two events seem to have been conflated. Apparently there was an association between them. It therefore involved not only Benjamin but all the Tribes.
There is a tradition implying that up unto the day of the dance at Shiloh it had been the practice for the different tribes not to intermarry with each other.
The Bible, especially in Chronicles, does give instances of people from different tribes always having intermarried with each other but apparently these were exceptions.
The Radak quotes from Tosefat Targum Yehonatan that even though there was no outright prohibition before the incident with Benjamin the custom had been for each Tribe to keep to itself.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
3. King Hosea of Israel Removes the Barriers to go up to Jerusalem.

In addition, on this day, King Hoshea of the northern kingdom removed the sentries on the road leading to Jerusalem, allowing the Ten Tribes to once again have access to the Temple.

Previously, the Ten Tribes under Jeroboam son of Nebat had separated from Judah and declared their Independence.
After that, Jeroboam set up two golden calves and commanded his people to worship them and not to go up to Jerusalem as they had previously done.

1-Kings (NKJV) 12:
26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, 'Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.'
28 Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, 'It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!' 29 And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. 31 He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

Apparently, Jeroboam had posted guards on the pathways to prevent Israelites from the Ten Tribes ascending to Jerusalem. This practice continued all the days of the Northern Kingdom until the last one, King Hosea. The guards preventing Israelites from going up to Jerusalem were then removed. At this time a portion of the Ten Tribes had already been exiled by the Assyrians. Hosea reigned over those who were left.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
4. King Hezekiah of Judah

After King Hosea had begun his reign in the northern Kingdom of the Ten Tribes, Hezekiah became monarch in the south, in the Kingdom of Judah.
King Hezekiah then reigned in Jerusalem.

2-Kings (NKJV) 18:
18 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 3 And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done.

King Hezekiah purified the Temple and re-instituted the Temple Service (2-Chronicles ch. 29).

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
5. The attempt by King Hezekiah to Reconcile the Northern Ten Tribes

Hezekiah attempted to reconcile the remnants of the Ten Tribes who still remained in the Land of Israel. He sent messengers throughout the Land of Northern Israel. Most of the Israelites mocked these emissaries and refused to go up to Jerusalem. Neverthetheless, there was also a large minority who did answer positively.

2-Chronicles (NKJV) 30:
1 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel. 2 For the king and his leaders and all the assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to keep the Passover in the second month. 3 For they could not keep it at the regular time, because a sufficient number of priests had not consecrated themselves, nor had the people gathered together at Jerusalem. 4 And the matter pleased the king and all the assembly. 5 So they resolved to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem, since they had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner.
6 Then the runners went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his leaders, and spoke according to the command of the king: 'Children of Israel, return to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; then He will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. 7 And do not be like your fathers and your brethren, who trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers, so that He gave them up to desolation, as you see. 8 Now do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD; and enter His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you. 9 For if you return to the LORD, your brethren and your children will be treated with compassion by those who lead them captive, so that they may come back to this land; for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him.'
10 So the runners passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun; but they laughed at them and mocked them. 11 Nevertheless some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. 12 Also the hand of God was on Judah to give them singleness of heart to obey the command of the king and the leaders, at the word of the LORD....

26 So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. 27 Then the priests, the Levites, arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard; and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.

This happened.

See:
Lost or Found? Did the 10 Tribes Really Lose Their Identity?
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/biblical-proof/lostorfound.html

Hezekiah celebrated the Passover with "All Israel" and with "Ephraim and Manasseh" (2-Chronicles 30:1, 9, 10, 11, 18). Pilgrims from the Tribes of Asher, Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulon, and Issachar are mentioned as coming to Jerusalem. Many from the northern kingdom indeed came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. After keeping the Passover in Jerusalem they presumably returned to their homes in the north. Some may have stayed but most probably did not. This event occurred at the beginning of the reign of King Hezekiah who reigned from ca. 726 or earlier to ca 697 BCE the dates being uncertain.
This was before the Assyrian Exile of the Northern Tribes was completed. It was in the first year of the reign of King Hezekiah (2-Chronicles 29:3).
The Final Exile of Samaria occurred about 6 or more years after this event (2-Kings 18:10).

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
6. The Final Exile of the Remaining Ten Tribe Populace.

Hezekiah had become king of Judah after most of the Ten Tribes had already been exiled by Assyria. Some remained. They were ruled over by King Hosea son of Elah.
In the first year of his reign, King Hezekiah attempted to reconcile the Ten Tribes (2-Chronicles 29:3). He had some limited success but most of the Israelites rejected his overtures.
About 6 or more years later all the rest of the inhabitants of the northern Israelite polity were also exiled (2-Kings 18:10).
The remnant of the Ten Tribes were all exiled joining their brothers who had already gone into Exile before them.
In fact we saw above that Hezekiah had pleaded with those who were left from the Northern Tribes to repent in order that their brothers who were already exiled might return.

2-Chronicles (NKJV) 30:
9 For if you return to the LORD, your brethren and your children will be treated with compassion by those who lead them captive, so that they may come back to this land; for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him.

The Ten Tribes on the whole did not repent. The few that remained in the north in the time of King Hosea ben Elah were also exiled.

2-Kings (NKJV) 18:
9 Now it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. 10 And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 11 Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12 because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

7. A Day of Re-unification and Reconciliation

At all events, this day, the 15th of Av is a day of celebration and of moderated happiness. It is the day when the Tribe of Benjamin was allowed to take wives from the other tribes following which ALL the Tribes permitted themsleves to take wives from each other. It was ALSO the day on which King Hosea ben Elah of Israel allowed his subjects to go up to Jerusalem to serve the God of Israel in the Temple at Jerusalem.
This day commemorates and honors the will for, and the attempt at, re-unification and reconciliation between the Tribes.
This is what the Bible wants of us.

Brit-Am, Movement of the Ten Tribes, and of Judah and Israel, works for this cause.
We are in need of funding.

They who can help us are urged to do so. See: Publications. Contributions and Offerings.