MICHAEL FREUND: Ezekiel is commanded by God to take two sticks. On one, he is to write "For Judah," and on the other "For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim." Then comes the crucial instruction: "Bring them together into one stick so that they become one in your hand" (37:17). Ezekiel's vision is not one of uniformity. The two sticks do not cease to be what they are. Judah remains Judah; Joseph remains Joseph. Unity does not erase difference – it sanctifies and elevates it by placing it within a larger shared destiny.
Ketriel Blad: In other words, in order for a total restoration to take place, the restored Ephraimites from among the nations will have to become Jewish, in the legal sense of the word, thus accepting the Jewish authorities and becoming obedient to Jewish halachah. In the prophecy of Ezekiel 37:19 the Hebrew text can be understood as HaShem giving Yehuda's stick the function of being over Ephraim's stick and this way both sticks will become one. This teaches us that the Ephraimite movement that comes from heaven cannot rise apart from the Jewish people without submission to the Jewish leaders' authority. This is not for all the gentiles.
WIKIPEDIA: As part of the Persian Empire, the former Kingdom of Judah became the province of Judah (Yehud Medinata) with different borders, covering a smaller territory.
WIKIPEDIA: Certainly, the descendants of the Davidic line occupied an exalted position among their brethren in Babylonia, as they did at that period in Judea.
YOSEF EISEN: Many Jews abandoned the fields and farms of Babylonia, which they had tilled for centuries, and went forth to take advantage of many new and exciting opportunities.
Caroline Glick - קרולין גליק: Iran's new alliance with China will provide it with new options for developing nuclear weapons. China after all is no stranger to nuclear proliferation. It played a central role in Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. As for North Korea, at a minimum, China facilitated its nuclear weapons program by preventing effective international action to stop North Korea's race to the bomb.
WIKIPEDIA: Shawarma is an Arabic rendering of Turkish çevirme 'turning', referring to the turning rotisserie.
AYSU BICER: At 14.5%, Iraqis made up the largest group among Turkey’s foreign immigrants, followed by citizens of Turkmenistan at 13.8%. Afghans, Syrians, and Iranians accounted for 8.2%, 7.5%, and 7.3% of the total, respectively.
محمود احمدینژاد: O Mighty Lord, I pray to You to hasten the emergence of Your Last Repository, the Promised One, That Perfect and Pure Human Being, The One that will fill this World with Justice and Peace.
Persian Asa Soltan Rahmati~Jackson Directed by Filipina Tiffany Limos
DAVID COOK: In every way, the appearance of the Mahdi will cause a sharp and total break with existing Islamic norms. Mahdi’s return will usher in revolutionary social and political change.
JEWISH VIRTUAL LIBRARY: Cyrus the Great became the king of Persia, a small state in the Middle East, and within 30 years had replaced the Babylonian empire with his own.
KRISTA DALTON: Throughout the process, we talked about ritual efficacy, ways of knowing in the world, and legal expertise, and religious piety in the Jewish Babylonian context.
"So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations" (Matthew 1:17). From Christ's Resurrection to Babylon 56 generations. 1994 marked 56 generations plus 33 years since Christ was crucified. 7 years later the Fall of Babylon commenced on September 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center was destroyed within 1 hour. 7 years later the U.S. was in the middle of the Great Recession in 2008. 7 years later the U.S. legalized Same Sex Marriage on June 26, 2015.
KEN SPIRO: They even appoint a community leader who is the representative to the Babylonian authorities for the Jewish community, beginning not long after the exiled King of Judah, Jehoiachin (2 Kings 25:27). He is given the title of Resh Galusa in Aramaic.
This word Resh Galusa means in Hebrew Rosh Galut, and in English, "Head of the Diaspora." (Diaspora, incidentally, is a Greek word, meaning "dispersion.") The Resh Galusa is a person who is a direct descendant of the House of King David.
JEWISH VIRTUAL LIBRARY: The Persians resisted any Jewish efforts to restore the monarchy, but allowed them a high degree of autonomy under the High Priest, whose power was partially checked by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Court, and the Popular Assemblies.
Neil Asher Silberman, Israel Finkelstein, David Ussishkin, and Baruch Halpern: The Book of Joshua (12:21) specifically mentions the defeat of the king of Megiddo and the allotment of his territory to the tribe of Manasseh;
NETANYA MUNICIPALITY: thanks to the Lord for giving them {Netan~ya, lot. "gift of God"} the ability to continue the legacy of the 12 tribes who settled in the Land of Israel, and particularly of the half~tribe of Manasseh, which settled in the region.
Stephen Epstein: Some went down the Mekong River into Vietnam, the Philippines, Siam, Thailand and Malaysia, while some of the Israelites moved to Burma and west to India.