Customer Reviews

Jacob's Dozen: A Prophetic Look at the Tribes of Israel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dr. Varner does an excellent job of outlining each tribes significance, which can be often overlooked. He skillfully and authoritatively ties each tribe in with events in the Bible and shows how the prophesies of God have been fulfilled. I have the special honor of having been a pupil under Dr. Varner for two semesters at The Master's College and can personally attest to his extensive knowledge of the Old Testament and Israeli culture. Both Dr Varner and his book are very inspiring.

I breezed through the book in a few hours. The book gave me a good introduction to Jacob and his twelve sons. A good book for beginners on the subject. The author did a good job in remaining objective and relying on as much "factual" knowledge as possible.

The price made this book an excellent bargain. You can't lose in purchasing this book.

I read everything I can find on this subject. Although I don't agree with him on many of his stances and comments, Varner does do a good job of defining the Tribes. If you are new to this subject, this book is a good place to begin. After you learn about the Tribes, then you can come to your own conclusions about his comments at the end of the book.

Readers looking for far-out, fanciful interpretions of Jacob's prophecy to his sons will be disappointed with this book. Varner sticks with the Bible when interpreting; it's a little boring and unimaginative, but probably more accurate. He refutes the theories of British Isrealites who say that Jews and Israelites are two different peoples by saying that they do not pay attention to 1st and 2nd Chronicles which states that the northern tribe, the Israelites, moved down to the southern kingdom of the Jews when the Northern Kingdom was destroyed. Isrealites and Jews are the one and the same. There ain't no lost ten tribes of Israel so shut up and go back to sleep. (That is my own smart-aleck response, he wasn't that impolite.) He also mentions that he thinks such theories are anti-semitic since they replace the Jews as the chosen people with some other ethnic group. He is a very pro-Jewish protestant.

This is a book made for a mostly Christian audience. Varner goes into each of the tribes' prophecies and shows what their future and characteristics were according to the prophecies. He also does a little preaching for the reader's moral improvement showing the failings and virtues of each tribe and how we should follow their good and eschew their evil.

This is a good book for reading the arguments against the fanciful theories. He mentions that if Jeremiah and his daughters did take a boat to England and settled there after the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D., wouldn't the New Testament have something to say about it? He doesn't deal with the other books that weren't included in the Bible or with the legends and traditions of England that support the theories of British-Israelism.

Not the most exciting reading or revelations in the world, but we have to listen to the boring voice of sanity and reason sometimes, don't we?

My children and I enjoyed this book very much; scholarly, but not at all boring.
Mr. Varner does a great job of accurately examining scripture.

Purchased for my stepson who is very interested in the 12 tribes of Isreal...he is 15! I am going to read it next!