The Enmity Between Judah and Israel
Ephraim is the nation that bears the fruit of the vineyard (Matthew 21:43), which include the gentiles-as they assimilate them!
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. (Isaiah 54:1-3)
Zechariah 11 prophesies that Judah would be cast off at Christ’s first advent.
And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. (Zechariah 11:10)
Furthermore, Zechariah prophecies that God would “break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel” (Verse 14). The enmity between Judah and Israel can only be coherently explained in the NT evidence that Ephraim is the nation that bears the fruit of the vineyard. This commences with the foundation that the descendants of the ten tribes fulfill the prophecy in Zechariah.
And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD. I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased. And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again. (Zechariah 10:7-9)
This was written after the return from the Babylonian captivity and prophecy of another diaspora, specifically for Ephraim, which is also the name in the OT for the ten northern tribes, as is Joseph, in contrast to Judah. In essence, God would hiss, or call Ephraim and gather them in Christ and then scatter them in the world to bring in the gentiles, which was not the plan for Judah. Judah was to be hardened in the age (Romans 11). The kingdom was taken from the Jews and given to the nation of Ephraim/Joseph (Matthew 21:43), which is what Peter confirms in his epistle.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)
Both Peter, and Hosea, from whence Peter quotes, are referring to the descendants of the ten northern tribes that were dwelling in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia at that time, which was affirmed by the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, who wrote, “the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers" (Antiquities of the Jews, 11.133). Zechariah 10:7-9 is the source for the parable of the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13. In bearing the fruit of the vineyard, by taking the gospel to the world, they gain the enmity of the Jews who reject Christ as their Messiah.
