Israelites were taken (between 745-700 B.C.) and became the so-called Lost Tribes of Israel. After a lapse of over 2,500 years, it might be thought that all hope of tracing the Israelites had been lost in the midst of antiquity. But archaeologists have, during the last hundred years, unearthed and published the original contemporary records of the Assyrians who took the Israelites captive, and it is from these records that vital clues have come to light. The clues, in the form of cuneiform tablets, identify the lost Israelites with the Assyrian name “Gimira.” They further recorded their migrations out of Asia Minor.
The Assyrian records reveal one group of Gimira (Israelites) escaped to the shore of the Black Sea during the second year of Esarhaddon, 679 B.C. After raiding Lydia and settling there for a while, the Israelites crossed the Black Sea to the Carpathian region, called in 2nd Esdras “Ar-sareth”. or “Mountains of Sereth”. The Greeks called these Gimira, “Kimmerioi”, translated into English “Cimmerians”. It is also mentioned in 2nd Esdras 13:40-44 that some of the tribes of Israel made their escape into the mountains of Asia Minor by way of the upper Euphrates gorge.
The larger body of Israelites, who had not escaped the Assyrians, were later allowed to establish colonies in Sacasene and Bactria. These colonies were first called “Gimira” but later “Iskuza” by the Assyrians. After the fall of the Assyrian capital Nineveh in 612 B.C. to the Medes and Babylonians, the Gimira colonies were driven out of Media. The colony of Sacasene passed through the Dariel Pass in the Caucasus mountains and occupied the steppe regions of South Russia. The colony of Bactria retreated across the Jaxartes River eastward into Central Asia, some going east as far as the borders of China.
A rock-hewn inscription at Behistun. in north Persia, shows the Persian equivalent for Gimira was Sakka, probably derived from Isaaca, or house of Isaac; the name by which the Israelites called themselves (Amos 7: 9, 16). Ancient historians tell us that the people whom the Greeks called “Scythians” were called “Sacae” or “Sakka” by the Persians. The Greeks got the Scythian from the Assyrian “Iskuza”, which is quite probably derived from Isaac. During the fifth century B.C. the Scythian Israelites began moving across the rivers Don and Dnieper, thus coming into collision with the Cimmerian Israelites who had earlier migrated round the west of the Black Sea. Knowledge of their kinship having been lost during the centuries of separation, battles ensued, forcing the Cimmerians west. Some moved away to the north-west into the sparsely inhabited regions of the Baltic, where they later became known, to the Romans, as Cimbri. The larger body of Cimmerians migrated, as scattered bands. up the Danube River arriving near its source in south Germany about 600-500 B.C. There they became known as “Celts” and “Gauls”. They gave the lower Danube the Celtic name “Ister”, meaning lowness.
About 390 B.C. some of the Cimmerian Israelites invaded Italy and sacked Rome. About 280 B.C. others invaded Greece and as they migrated back into Asia Minor, they were called “Galatians” by the Greeks. However, most of them spread west and north across France and began to cross the English Channel into the British Isles.
From the fifth to the fourth century B.C. the Scythian Israelites established themselves in south Russia as the great and prosperous kingdom of Scythia. They formed close trade relations with the Greeks whom they supplied with grain. Towards the end of the third century, however, a non-Israelitish people, the Sarmatians swept into South Russia from the east. By the end of the second century B.C. they had occupied all the Carpathian regions and the Danube. Only two small pockets of Scythians were left on the shores of the Black Sea; one in the Crimea and the other south of the Danube delta. Squeezed between Sarmatians and Celts the main body of Scythians were driven north-west, where they are later reported, by the Romans, as occupying the south coast of the Baltic and North Seas.
As the Sarmatian tribes moved into “Scythia” in south Russia, there was a tendency to confuse them with the Scythians, but the Romans introduced the name “German” for the genuine Scythians (germanus being Latin for genuine) and, except in outlying parts, the name Scythian was dropped in favor of Germans and Sarmatians. Nevertheless, the land south of the Baltic and eastern North Sea was still called Scythia, and as late as A.D. 800 the old Welsh historian Nennius called the home of the Anglo- Saxons, “Scythia”.
It is well known that the Anglo-Saxons who came to Britain were called Germans by the Romans, and that the Normans, the last to arrive in A.D. 1066, were of the same stock.
As the Scythians were driven west by the Sarmatians they in turn drove the Cimbri across the Rhine into France. The Cimbri in search of living area, went roving and pillaging as far as Spain and Italy, but were almost entirely wiped out in battles with the Romans. One group did reach north Britain, by ships, and became known as the “Picts”.
Between 400-100 B.C. the Celts continued to pour into Britain to form the “bed-rock” of the British race. One group in Spain, known as “Iberes” (the Gaelic name for Hebrews) moved into Ireland as “Scots”, naming the island “Hibernia”; a name that still exists. Some Celts remaining in Spain, became known as “Basques”; others, in France, became known as “Bretons”. During the succeeding centuries the Scythian Germans broke up into many divisions, possibly in some instances into their original Israel tribal families. One group settled around the shores of the Baltic Sea as “Goths”. Others became the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes and Vikings, to name just a few. Later, other Germanic tribes poured into the lands vacated by the Celts and established the Gothic nations of the Vandals, Lombards, Franks, Burgundians and Ostrogoths.
The tribes, as they migrated westward, in-mixed with a great number of Israelites who had left their homeland long before the captivities began. They had migrated due to overpopulation of their homeland, and later for fear of the then rising Assyrian Empire. The people of Dan were explorers and settled in new places. Centuries before the captivities they founded colonies in Greece, which attracted immigrants from the other tribes. The Bible speaks of Zebulun and Naphthali as being great warriors. The blond Hellenes (early Greeks) were noted for strong, healthy bodies. It was only long afterward. when Greece brought home dark skinned slaves and intermarried with them that the modern olive to dark skinned, black haired Greek was developed. Early Troy was founded by Hebrews that came from Egypt before the Exodus (1453 B.C.). From Troy came the Romans who settled in Italy.
The Israelites, when reaching the “Isles of the West”, found that descendants of Judah’s twin son Zarah (Zarahites who had never entered the land of Palestine) had preceded them. The authenticated arrival to the isles of Brutus the Trojan in 1103 B.C. and the founding of the ancient city of London, first called New Troy is of the branch of Judah. They too had previously absorbed peoples known as the early Aryan-Phoenicians who had settled in the isles over a thousand years prior, under the leadership of Hu Gadarn. Besides their stone monuments (among which are Stonehenge and Avebury) and their names, we have only traditional records of them.
The similarity of stone groupings and the astronomical alignments of the monuments found in Brittany with those of the peoples of early Asia is one link in the mass of evidence unearthed by biblical archaeologists in tracing these older Hebrew-Phoenicians to the area where the Adamic or Aryan race originated, near the Pamir plateau in Central Asia. an area that satisfies the geography of the first chapters of Genesis. These early Hebrew-Phoenicians were referred to as “Tarshish” by ancient records as well as Bible Scripture. Isaiah wrote “Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from afar.” (Isaiah 60: 9) and again “I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul. and Lud. (Lud was an old name for London) that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off.” (Isaiah 66: 19) Ezekiel also wrote of the “merchants of Tarshish” (Ezekiel 38: 13).
Going back to God’s warning of the seven times punishment to be meted out to Israel if she persisted in the sinful ways, it is logical to assume that the starting date of that punishment period would start from the date of the removal of Israel from her homeland in Palestine.
A study of the dates when the various tribes were taken into captivity will show that they were not all taken captive at one time. In fact, many years difference was recorded between their captivities. Thus, the punishment period of 2520 years would start and end at different times depending on the tribe of Israel. Now by adding 2520 years to the starting date of each of the tribes of Israel going into captivity, where such dates are available, one can establish the ending date of the punishment period. Not all the exact starting dates can be ascertained. However, in the cases where dates can be determined, we find that by adding 2520 years to the starting date of a tribe’s captivity, one comes to the date of the founding of an independent nation or kingdom.
The first Israel tribe to be conquered by the Assyrians was Manasseh, in 745 B.C. Exactly 2520 years later America became a nation on July 4. 1776. In the case of Ephraim we start with 721 B.C. when Samaria, the capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel, fell to the Assyrians. Exactly 2520 years from that date. Great Britain became a Commonwealth (Jan. 1, 1881). The last tribe to go into captivity was Benjamin. Remember Benjamin was “lent as a light unto Judah”. so that they would be light bearers before Judah for all times. And, as their captivity started later than any of the other tribes, we would expect it to end last, which proved to be the case.
The great Scottish Pyramidologist and Bible Chronologist. Dr. Adam Rutherford. F.R. G. S. told the Icelandic nation many years ago that on a certain day and certain year they would become an independent nation. They laughed at him and said it would be impossible since they were under the control of Denmark. Exactly 2520 years from the exile of Benjamin. Iceland became an independent nation. When invited by the Icelandic Parliament to address them after their independence. Dr. Rutherford reminded them of his prediction, and many members of the Parliament acknowledged they were of Benjamin.
It is difficult to determine with certainty which Anglo-Saxon – Scandinavian – Lombard – Germanic – Celtic nation of today is basically from which particular Israel tribe. There has been much intermingling among the tribes in their westward migrations. In God’s plan of the ages they progressively became “many nations” in Europe and a “company of nations” (the Commonwealth of Great Britain) with colonies and daughter nations. Today, certain European and Scandinavian nations appear to possess certain characteristics of the individual tribes of Israel which may well indicate the people of those nations are predominately of that particular tribe (i.e., Denmark – Dan; Holland – Zebulun; Germany (in part) – Judah). Great Britain, although it can be identified with Ephraim. has a large infusion of Judah as well as other tribes. America, possessing the “birthright marks” of Joseph, can only be identified as modern Manassah (the thirteenth tribe). However, it is today, peopled by a gathering of all the other tribes of Israel. This is in fulfillment of the prophesy of Jeremiah. “In those days the house of Judah (tribes of the southern Kingdom) shall walk with the house of Israel (tribes of the northern Kingdom), and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance (appointed land – II Sam. 7:10) unto your fathers (Jer. 3:18). Ezekiel also prophesies the joining of Judah and Israel into one nation, “thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand… Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king (head) shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:” (Ezek. 37:19-22).
Little has been said heretofore of the portion of Israel remaining in Palestine as the remnant of the Southern Kingdom of Judah after the removal of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (with a greater part of Judah) into Assyrian captivity.
Josephus records that the portion of the nation of Judah carried into Babylon captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar was a million and a half (Neh. Chapter 7). Seventy years later, when Judah was allowed to return to their homeland, although still in subject, only some forty -two thousand (Neh. 7:66) went back into Jerusalem, rebuilt the temple and set up the nation, later to be called the nation of the Jews. While in Babylon, many of the forty-two thousand intermarried with Babylonians, adopted the Babylonian financial, political and ecclesiastical systems.
Josephus further reports that many non-Israelites joined themselves to the returning Judahites. Later, Christ identified these people, also called Jews, as not of Galilee, (John 7: 1 – 13) not of Abraham or of God, (John 8: 39 – 47) and not His sheep (John 10: 26 – 30). These Jews themselves testified to not being a part of Israel by their answer to Christ’s words, “the truth shall make you free,” that they “were never in bondage to any man” (John 8: 33). All bible students know every tribe of Israel was in bondage in Egypt (Deut. 5: 6).
It was this mixed remnant of Judah, upon returning from the Babylon captivity in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, that became known as the nation of the Jews; a name not applied to Judah prior to the Babylonian captivity. Included in this nation were the Edomites (known to the Greeks as Idumeans) who had occupied Jerusalem during the captivity period. King Herod the Great was an example of this as he was of Idumean (Edom) origin and thus not an Israelite. King Herod filled the ranks of the Sadducees with his own kind. This explains why the Sadducees did not believe in resurrection and said there was no angel, nor Spirit (Acts 23: 8).
By the time of Christ, continued mixing with Amorites, Philistines. Canaanites. Babylonians and Hittites esulted in a racially mixed nation. From the Hittite infusion came the so-called ‘Jewish nose” (Hammonds World Atlas 1954 – page 266). Modern Jewry includes a further in-mixing with Mongolians. “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one” (John 10: 26-30).
John, recording God’s word in Revelation, writes, “and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, (of Judah) and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.” (Rev. 2: 9) and “Behold I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, (of Judah) and are not, but do lie; Behold. I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee” (Rev. 3: 9). Christ clearly shows the separation of the people of Palestine into two classes in His answer to the question as to why He spoke in parables. “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it is not given” (Matt. 13: 11).
The parable of the tares (Matt. 13: 24-30) again points up to classes of people, and Christ’s explanation (Matt. 13: 37-43) identifies one class (the good seed) as the children of God, and the other class (the tares) as the children of the wicked one (devil).
There are many so-called Jews today that are not descended from Abraham, that claim to be God’s people “Israel”, because some of them are of Judah. However, being of Judah does not necessarily mean they are still His people, for some of Judah were cut off from the promises to Israel. In Jeremiah we find God showing the prophet how He separated the bad figs (mixed seed) from the good figs of Judah who were to be Christian people for only of them could God say, “I will give them a heart; to know me that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart” (Jer. 24: 7).
Of the bad figs God says. “And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt, and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.” (Jer. 24: 9)
Keep in mind that although later historians, in writing about the people of Palestine, refer to them collectively as “Jews”, there were some of all the other tribes present. They had come to help rebuild the Temple along with many Benjaminites who had been “lent as a light unto Judah”. Christ chose all but one of His twelve disciples from Benjamin. Thus we find the word “Jew” being applied to more than one kind of people. This has caused confusion in our understanding of the Scriptures dealing with the Jew.
To add to this confusion the translators of Scripture often mistranslated the word Jew from such words as “loudaios” (meaning from, or being of: as a country, Judean) and “loudaismos” (meaning Judaism, as accepting the Jewish faith and usages). Scripture refers to those that “became Jews for fear of the Jews” (Esther 8:17), and even Paul said “And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews” (I Cor. 9: 20).
As it is important to understand that in Scriptures, the terms “Israel”, “Judah” and “Jew” are not synonymous, it is equally important to understand that the House of Israel is not synonymous with the House of Judah. The course of history is widely divergent for the peoples properly classified under each of these titles. When God speaks in prophecy to the House of Israel or the House of Judah, He does not refer to the modern “Jewish” nation of Israeli.
The prophets display meticulous care in their address to the “House of Israel” and the “House of Judah”. To apply to one “House” a prophecy which refers to the other is clearly to misapply the message and confuse the issue. By failing to treat the House of Israel and the House of Judah as separate entities, the prophetic books of the Bible are set at variance with one another. Without this distinction the words of one prophet nullify the pronouncements of a fellow prophet. It makes Isaiah call into question the prophecies of Jeremiah, also causing Jeremiah to impugn the declarations of Hosea. It sets Joel against Amos. Zephaniah against Zechariah and makes Ezekiel contradict them all. Examples of such failure to make a distinction between the two Houses are found in the paraphrasing of the Living Bible which leaves the truth seeker bereft of understanding.
It is clearly shown that the House of Israel is separate from the House of Judah in the prophecy regarding the future names of each. Of the Jews (mixed Judah) it was prophecies “And ye shall leave (retain) your name (Israel) for a curse unto my chosen for the Lord God shall slay thee and call his servants by another name” (Isaiah 65: 15). This has been fulfilled: The Jews have retained the name “Israel” for “a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse” (Jer. 24: 9). while true Israel is no longer called by its old name. In fact Israel is blind to their identity. Paul wrote, “blindness in part is happened to Israel” and Isaiah wrote God’s word, “Who is blind, but my servant” (Isa. 42: 19) and “and thou shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name” (Isaiah 62:2).
God explains what that name is, “If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin. and will heal their land” (II Chron. 7: 14). His people are today called Christians; the nations of Israel are known as Christian nations.
There are those that claim that America is not a “Christian nation” as this would be discriminatory against other religions. However that may be, the records of the group of men that gathered in Philadelphia in 1776 -Washington. Franklin. Jefferson – show they did establish this nation under God (Christ).
The concluding words of our National Anthem summarize the fact that the United States of America was born of a commitment to God and His principles.
Also, America has been legally declared a Christian nation many times by the Supreme Court of the United States. Foremost was the declaration February 29, 1892 in a case involving a church and certain taxes. (Holy Trinity Church vs. United States, 143 U.S. 471) The highest court of the land, after mentioning various circumstances, added the following words: “and these and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian Aryan Nation.
