Discussion page 1

"A nation and a company of nations shall be of thee"

The statement below is perhaps the traditional one with many of the British-Israel, Anglo-Israel, Israel-Identity, Identity and Christian-Israelite groups in their interpretation of the statement made in Genesis 35:11. However, the question is asked - is this the correct interpretation of the source reference mentioned?

�Israel has become "a nation and a company of nations" (Genesis 35:11) - the United States of America became the nation, and the British Empire/Commonwealth became the company of nations."

The source reference - Genesis 35:
10: And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
11: And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;
12: And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

This begs the question. What about the other nations that also constitute the modern Commonwealth of Israel? - 'Norway, Ireland, Sweden, Netherlands, Iceland, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Finland, Germany, Greenland etc - to name just a few, and when you think of it, a large portion of modern Israel nations are they not! These of our kindred have unfortunately been left out of the picture.

Another interpretation:
When God made the promise to Jacob/Israel the nation of Israel had not yet been formed. Later when Israel moved into Canaan/Palestine they eventually established a United Kingdom under King David and then Solomon:

This was obviously the first part of the promise - "a nation".
The "nation" then divided into two constituent parts - Israel and Judah.
After a while Israel and a large portion of Judah was taken into captivity by the Assyrians.
They then formed a larger number of nations - a company of nations.

These nations were known by different names historically, and the nations they formed sometimes only lasted for a short time. Generally we can identify them under these names - the list below is not exhaustive by any means :

Parthia, Sparta (plus the other Greek states), Milesians, Troy, Carthage, Vandals,
Goths, Ostragoths, Visigoths, Cymru/Welsh, Germans, Normans, Bretons, Britons,
Irish, Scots, Galatians, Khumri, Massagetae, Alba, Kernow, Etruscans, Norway,
English, Tocharians, Scythians, Netherlands, Angles, Veneti, Scuths, Albany,
Sweden, Norway, Belgium, France, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, USA - etc, etc.

This view covers all the different groups that have made up the "company of nations" that have constituted the Israel nations over the 2,500 + years.

Conclusion: The alternative interpretation of the source reference presented here, is faithful to the evidence of the historical records that we have access to. It avoids any interpretation based on political or religious bias of the time, and gives a better understanding of the overall context of the source reference.