Now then if the Jordan River we know today as the Orange River, and its tributaries - the joining rivers - Vaal River and Caledon River (called fords in our beloved Scriptures). If these Rivers did indeed make out parts of THE border of The Promised Land with most of the Tribes living on one side and the rest on the other. Working effectively as both a border and divider of land, having respectively 9 and 1/2 half Tribes on one side and the rest of the 2 and 1/2 Half Tribes on the other side. As described to us in Joshua and other books. If it is so, and please check your Scriptures and let us know if you come to ANY other conclusions. We enjoy input from people who have taken the time to do the research. We read all your emails rest assured. Now if it is indeed so, keeping all these locations in mind, would it not be a good point to argue that this River Jordan (Orange River) also gives us the positions of the tribes, even today? We sure think so. That means the 12 Tribes would fit, almost all, within the area of what we can call Southern (or today's South) Africa. Now keep in mind, that while under the reign of Solomon the lands were stretching into its neighbouring countries of South Africa, including large parts of countries like Namibia, Botswana, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. With the Zambezi (The Euphrates), as the most northern Border. We think one could easily draw lines from this knowledge.
Now how far up and into Central Africa this border would have stretched in its prime, is hard to say. Because we must remember that these borders have been far from static throughout the ages. We can see that the borders have expanded and contracted, like in the times of Solomon where they went the farthest up and inland along the Zambezi. It would have been at its peak and largest size as the United Tribes of Israel, UTI. After that, these borders have been breathing almost like the lungs of a human being. Expanding and contracting. So therefore We will only try to put the 12 Tribes back on the map again, mostly according to The Book of Joshua. The Descendants of Abraham though, will have land rights according to Scripture, from The River Nile and all the way down the full length of Africa. This article on the 12 Tribes is coming soon, and is a long piece, probably not 100% correct but that does not matter at this point. The importance is to get the word out, so new borders can be considered from this at a later stage. But perhaps not crucial to us now, it is still imperative to know the past.
Now note this, a message for anyone who will take this information and the coming research in our coming article on the 12 Tribes possible locations, those who seek to use it for the drawing up of new country borders. Claiming either to be of historical Hebrew / aBantu (while most likely not), then also Claiming land rights for filling up their own levels of greed or otherwise someone's political agendas. This is not a call for corporate things, but a call to the people. A plead to the people. And hear, This is not a calling to go back to these old borders, or old and archaic testament laws the Paul spoke out against or getting tribal saying these lands only belong to Reuben (Roboni) or Simeon (Somoni), not at all. It is a reminder of what was back then, since aBantu have long since forgotten who they are and where they came from. For, it is when all the tribes remember the past and what happened, realising who they are, that is when mountains will move. That is when SoNiNi again will lend His ear to His people, and hear their prayers immediately. His words will then be a healing balm to the people praying. No longer will you fin yourself in the outer darkness. So with this information, it is time The People must remember again. Remember who they are and what magnificent people SoNiNis people used to be. Defenders of the Law of SoNiNi and of the foreigners in their lands. Agricultural specialists, with a keen focus on animal husbandry. Keepers of the Sabbaths, Representatives of SoNiNi on this earth.
Now note this again, the Lands were given to the descendants of Abraham and anyone not of the tribes should be grateful of being able to stay with the tribe in question. And, they should do what they can to help, not to subdue or take advantage. Either bless the children of Abraham and receive a blessing, or curse them and receive a curse (Genesis 12,3). This is for the discerning foreigner. Its all about grace. So without argument, these Lands we have included here and will include in the coming article, every piece truly belongs to the Children of Abraham, by Law. Given by SoNiNi. But who has wisdom enough to judge rightly the imposter or the unworthy of staying in the lands? We would say none but SoNiNi has that right. So then, what comes now people, a search for purity? Who can be Zulu enough? Did you bind your ukuthwala enough? Who can be Sotho enough? Did you cut your koma deeply enough? And as for you followers and teachers of the Law, which one of you is to say they are Juda enough? Who can be righteous enough? Indeed, who can be English enough? Think about these things and what we are saying. Adhere to the Tribes of the Earth, and not to the One Great Tribe of SoNiNi, you are bound to get lost as these things are ways of thinking truly are the devil's territory. Racism is classicism. Dont fall for these creations of man. The 12 Tribes was created because Christ was coming and it was part of SoNiNis plan for all of mankind to be saved through His son. We are one in Christ and therefore One in the Father, SoNiNi naNiNi. Anyone that tells you differently, are seeking to enslave your mind, and get you to believe another doctrine. Another Gospel. Not the one that saves and sets free, but the one that enslaves and leads the many astray.
So then, bearing all this in mind. Lets start getting used to the fact that we can map the very rudimentary locations of the pieces of land given to the 12 Tribes of Ancient Israel. Look at the map and please understand, that its very difficult for it to look anything other than the below in the grand scheme of things. A lot of locations go into being able to state this as in the realms of highly probable.
So the key landmark in all this is The River Jordan. In Scripture, its referred to as THE source of fertility of a large plain, said to be as well watered as The Garden of SoNiNi (Genesis 13,10). This River has many tributaries BEFORE it turns into Orange River, Like the Vaal and the Caledon, even Fish River in Namibia mouths into River Jordan. These are called Fords in our Scriptures. They are All mentioned in the Bible. Now descriptions in the Bible of The River Jordan are not too frequent, all we have to go on are rather scattered and small-time references. Like we see Jacob crossing River Jordans Tributary Jabbok (could be parts of The Vaal River sometimes called the Jordan of Jericho), on his way back from Haran, as we can Read in Genesis 32,22:
"22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok."
We believe the smaller stream of Jabbok could be the Vaal (or Fish River in Namibia) or parts of The Limpopo River. Now more on Jordan, which the Vaal is a part of, it was according to Scripture a demarcation line between two Tribes and the half Tribe that settled to the East of Jordan (Numbers 34,13-15):
13 Moses commanded the Israelites: “Assign this land by lot as an inheritance. SoNiNi has ordered that it be given to the nine and a half tribes, 14 because the families of the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance. 15 These two and a half tribes have received their inheritance east of the Jordan across from Jericho, toward the sunrise.”
We see here that 9 tribes and the half tribe Manasseh led by Joshua settled to the West (Joshua 13,7):
6 “As for all the inhabitants of the mountain regions from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim, that is, all the Sidonians, I myself will drive them out before the Israelites. Be sure to allocate this land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have instructed you, 7 and divide it as an inheritance among the nine tribes and half of the tribe of Manasseh.”
You cannot go against Scripture people, and here it is. And we see the Scripture use the phrase Opposite Jericho, also called the Jordan of Jericho, it cant get much closer in descriptions of the Vaal River, as it goes up into to these areas we know today as Gauteng. We will make another article on that in the future. As we see Jordan had a number of fords (tributaries), as we can see a famous ford where Ephraim got may brothers killed by Jephthah (Judges 12,5-6):
5 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,” 6 they said, “All right, say ‘Shibboleth.’” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.
Fords of Jericho, or the crossings of Jordan opposite Jericho. We see here there are numerous places where you can cross there, where Ephraim was slain by Jehphtah. No further descriptions are that these fords were close to Beth-Arba (Caledon), the same place were Gideon lay in wait for the Midianites (Judges 7,24). This was said to be in the plain of Jordan between Succoth and Zarthan, a clay ground were Solomon had his brass mines (1. Kings 7,46). Now if we read on, and this will be important for later, the Jordan Valley was often referred to as a woodland area (2 Kings 6,1-4).
Now historically Jordan (Orange River), appears to be the scene and place of many miracles. And they seem to happen near Jericho, which would be the Jordan of Jericho (Vaal River today), and were indeed crossed there during Joshuas time (Joshua 3,15-17). And we can see again and again, two and a half tribe settled of the east of Jordan and we should even be able to find a witness (watchtower) there between these two and a half tribes and the other tribes (Joshua 22,10-26). So this would be a place of crossing. And two prophets did cross here, Elijah and Elisha, on dry ground (2. Kings 2,8-14). Interestingly Naamans leprosy, a black man that had what we call albinism today, went into the water and was healed by bathing in the waters (2. Kings 5,14). So these rivers have healing powers, water cleanses.
Now the Caledon, was of course not always called Caledon but in Sotho it is Mohokare, which means the one in the middle, the middle river or The Dividing River. It is a large river stretching from Drakensberg mountains on the Lesotho border, flowing southwest before it joins Orange River not far from Bethulie (Bathany?) in Orange Free State. This river was also called Prinses Wilhelminas Rivier in 1777, but that goodness that name did not stick. This river flows straight through Maseru, and forms the border between South Africa and Lesotho, and then flows into Gariep Dam. This is the primary water source for Maseru. Now, this valley of Caledon has been VERY central in Basotho history, with exceptionally fertile lands that did not need much irrigation, a cause of much distress between Boers and Sothos. Millies is now abundant in the region, know as Caledon Valley. Sound familiar folks? We will leave you hanging on that one. House of bread would not be far as Beth Le Hem, Betlahmi.
Now in the New Testament, we see that John the Baptist did baptise unto Repentance in the Jordan River. There was also said to be Baptisms at a place called Bethabara (John 1,28). Now when locating Beth-Abara, its easy to get confused because the phrase Beyond the Jordan will take you either to the East or to the West side of the Jordan. Also the confusion of called the place Bethany will lead to even more confusion. Because one very important location is Beth-Abara, which was called House or Place of Crossing, and it was said to be beyond the Jordan, meaning east of the Jordan, meaning likely on the Vaal. However in this instance, we believe it was to the west of the Jordan. As towards the East often was said to be The Jordan of Jericho. Also this is the River in the Middle remember, The Dividing River, where you can cross more easily.
Now if we place John the Baptist there as the place where he did baptise and preach, things get interesting. But John could also have baptised in the smaller River, that goes by the name of Caledon today. And when you enter into Lesotho you will find a place that looks very likely both in terms of crossing with large numbers of people and of course baptising. So now, Jerusalem must be close by right? Remember Pharisees and Levites came to see him... Nazareth and Bethlehem is not far. And we can go to John and read for ourselves (John 1,28-29):
28 This all happened at Betharba on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
Some or other versions of the Bible, depending on what base text if the Bible you have in front of you will say Bethany. However, the Textus Receptus, supposedly the more trustworthy one, will read Beth Arba, Place of Crossing. Now Beth-Arba appears on another very old map called The Madaba Map, but here Beth-Arba is placed to the West of the Jordan, which is more likely to be the Caledon as it is below The Vaal and above The True Jordan that springs in Lesotho. This one is Smack in the middle.
If we see maps like Madaba Map, we can see that the place where John the Baptist was Baptising was indeed on the West side. Although the Map makes little sense otherwise, with a large lake or body of water at its end. Now we believe that it was on the West side of the Jordan that John was Baptising, not far from its mouthing, with some of the cleanest and most mineral-rich water on earth. Washing down the dark Lesotho mountains, rich with minerals, washed clean by SoNiNis washbasin that is the so-called Drakensberg mountains. Are these not the Mountains of Ararat?
Now if we go further down, we find the true source of the Jordan river, which runs down the mountains of Lesotho and down into the Eastern Cape (Qachas neck and areas around are of interest) before it goes into the Free State, joins with Caledon and joins up with the Vaal later on to form the Orange River. So this information on the Madaba Map does not line up at all. The Greek text says: Βέθαβαρά το τού άγίου Ιωάννου τού βαπτίσματος - which reads "Bethabara, the place of St. John's baptising", as we see to the west of the Jordan River. That may be the only accurate thing, unless we are looking at a crossing closer to a lake, as Lake Galilee was said to be close. So we are indeed missing a lake, or we are in the wrong spot. More likely is that the land has indeed dried up. Imvula Iyanetha. Get ready. We are seeing this already.
Now when reading the Gospel of John, we again find many references to Beyond the Jordan or Across the Jordan (John 10,40-41):
40 Then Immanuel went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed, 41 and many people came to him.
Now Bethany or Beth-Anani is the House of the Poor, and another town not far from the Mount of Olives shares the same name. Often this town is said to be on the East of Jordan, which then becomes true if you use this map as the main Jordan. Then the location would be to the east of the River Jordan, we today call Orange River. With the Caledon River (Mohokare) in the middle and Vaal as the Jordan of Jericho or the Jordan opposite Jericho. And we know that this was the place, Beth Araba that Immanuel came to John to be Baptised (Matthew 3,13 ; Mark 1,9 ; Luke 3,21), referenced many places in our Scriptures (Luke 4,1):
4 Immanuel, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
So is this the place where John was baptising? We can see that the desert or great wilderness would not be far off this location, the wilderness is a mere walk out towards the west from this River and Location. But listen to this Scripture from Isaiah tying in thee locations even more (Isaiah 9,1-2):
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan.
Is this saying he would honor the areas of Cape Town and the Galilee of nations currently staying there? Some parts are indeed blessed and well off. This needs research but historically this fits well with Isaiah. Anyways, we see here, plenty of quotes of the areas being these very ones. Like Matthew 19,1:
When Immanuel had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
Now here are more clues as to where Juda was located, and we will get back to that indeed. Because here it says on the other side of the Jordan, is this the Jordan above or the other side of the Orange River towards Namibia and Botswana? If it was Jordan of Jericho it would say Jordan of Jericho, we think. We can find more references in Matthew 4,25:
25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
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