BEFORE THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL were settled in the promised land, they were warned by the God/s that had created and fashioned them into a people of thirteen tribes, that they were not to commit idolatry or evil against themselves or their neighbours – if they were to do so, then God’s warned that they would be scattered out of the land that was given to them. But as they were punished forty years in the desert for idolatry, this time once in the promised land they would be punished seven times. A ‘time’ in the Hebrew calendar is 360 years, so 7 x 360 years = 2520 years. 2520 years, was to be Israel’s punishment years if they go against the laws laid down for them! Israel split into two nations in the year 970 BC, ten tribes in the North, and two tribes in the South.
The ten tribes in the North were called the ‘House of Israel’; the two tribes in the South were called ‘The House of Judah.’ The House of Israel in the North did decline into idolatry, and the Assyrians in 720/722 BC invaded the territory of Ephraim, Ephraim’s punishment period had begun. Manasseh’s punishment period began when their territory was besieged a little earlier in 731/733 B.C.. Although they deceived God’s with their backsliding, all the Tribes would fulfil the covenant – especially Ephraim, who received the full covenant from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel).