THEOSISJerome of Stridon
And the Lord spoke to me, saying, Son of man, take for yourself a single tree and inscribe on it, "Judah, along with the children of Israel, his allies;" and take another tree and write on it, "Joseph, the tree of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel, his allies." You shall unite them into one tree, and they will be in your hand as one. When the children of your people ask you, “Will you not explain what you mean by this?” you shall respond, "This is what the Lord God says: Behold, I will take the tree of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, together with the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will add them to the tree of Judah, and they shall be one tree in My hand." The trees on which you have written shall be visible in your hand before their eyes.
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You shall tell them, "Thus says the Lord God: I will take the children of Israel from the nations where they have gone, gather them from all sides, and bring them into their own land, making them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king will govern them all. They will no longer be two nations or divided into two kingdoms. They shall no longer defile themselves with their idols, their abominations, or all their sins. I will rescue them from all their dwelling places where they have sinned, and I will purify them. They will be My people, and I will be their God. My servant David shall rule over them as king and shepherd. They will walk according to My ordinances, keep My statutes, and fulfill them. They will live in the land I gave to My servant Jacob, in which their ancestors lived, and they, along with their children and grandchildren, shall dwell in it forever. My servant David will be their prince eternally. I will establish a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant. I will strengthen them, increase them, and establish My sanctuary among them forever. They will have My dwelling, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. The nations will recognize that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel when My sanctuary is among them forever.
The history of the kings reveals that during the reign of Rehoboam, son of Solomon, the twelve tribes became divided. Judah and Benjamin, along with the Levites and priests, remained loyal to Rehoboam who ruled from Jerusalem, forming the Kingdom of Judah. The other ten tribes rejected the house of David, declaring, "What do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse." They pledged their loyalty to Jeroboam, son of Nebat, from the tribe of Ephraim, who had risen to power, and were labeled, as the majority, by their ancient name, Israel. For a time, Judah and Israel coexisted without conflict, each under separate kings. Eventually, the ten tribes were taken captive by the Assyrians, and, shortly thereafter, those identified as Judah were captured by the Babylonians. The tribe of Judah returned to their land seventy years later, yet the ten tribes, called Israel, remain captives across the lands of the Midianites.