The "Lost" Tribes of Israel
The “Lost” Tribes of Israel
I’ve always been interested in the origins of nations and the etymology of words. For instance, why is the Iberian Peninsula called such when there are no Iberians there? Why do so many northern European places have the consonants D and N in them like Denmark, Dniester, Danube, Danzig, the Danes or the Dnieper?
Tied into this curiosity was the mystery of the “lost” tribes of Israel. The Bible loses them after their Assyrian captivity in 721 B.C. and mainstream history fails to recognize the origins of many of the early European settlers.
It’s also impossible to understand many of the prophecies of the Bible unless you make the distinction between the House of Israel and the House of Judah, the Jews. This has nothing to do with the land of Israel, but the peoples of Israel.
Most people of the Judeo-Christian faith assume that all Israelites are Jews. The fact is, all Jews are Israelites but most Israelites are not Jews. I’ve heard Christians talk about the 144,000 that are sealed by God in Revelation 7:3-8 as 144,000 Jews, but this simply is not the case.
Today Jews are a combination of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin which blended together when the kingdom of Judah was formed in 975 B.C.
The Bible refers to the other tribes of Israel as the House of Israel, House of Jacob, House of Isaac or simply uses the names Ephraim or Joseph in regards to the nation of Israel.
Once this distinction is made between the Jews and the lost tribes of Israel, verses such as II Kings 17:18 make more sense, “Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.”
This verse is specifically referencing those lost tribes.
Confirmation of this is seen in Ezekiel 37:16, “Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:”
Skip down to verse 19, “Say unto them, 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.” This verse looks forward to the unification of all the tribes that will take place at Jesus’ return.
These verses clearly show a distinction between Judah, the Jewish people, and the House of Israel/Ephraim/Joseph and the scattered tribes of Israel.
It all started with God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 17:3-6:
3. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4. As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
5. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
6. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
Notice God said “nations” not just one nation, as the Kingdom of Israel would become in the Holy Land.
God then speaks of the House of Israel being scattered in Amos 9:9, “For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.”
When God said “yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth” He’s telling you that He didn’t lose them but they lost themselves. Some have left markers during their migrations and settlements but they no longer remember who they are as seen in Deuteronomy 32:26, “I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:”
The question then becomes where are these people today?
There is ample evidence as to where these people are today. They need to realize who they are and seek out the Lord as it states in Isaiah 8:17, “And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.”
At the time of the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt, a large portion of the tribe of Dan set sail for Greece rather than the promised land. The tribe of Dan were the seafarers of the Israelites.
In the Greek History of the World by Petanius, he tells of a man named Danaus, the son of Bela, coming from Egypt and settling three cities in Greece, Argos, Mycenae and Tiryns.
Historian Hecatoeus of Abdera in the 6th century B.C. stated, “The most distinguished of the expelled foreigners (from Egypt) followed Danaus and Cadmus into Greece…”
Ethnologist Dr. Latham stated in his Ethnology of Europe, “The eponymus of the Argive Danai was no other than that of the Israelite Tribe of Dan.”
Just as Columbus set sail for the New World in 1492, many of the Danites set sail for the New World of Europe circa 1492 B.C.!
The Danites had a very close relationship with the Phoenicians. Wherever the Phoenicians explored, the Danites were right there with them.
The Danites established Iberian settlements and trading posts along the Mediterranean coasts eventually settling in Ireland. The term Iberian comes from Noah’s great-great grandson, Eber, which is where we also get the term Hebrew. It’s also how the Iberian Peninsula got its name.
The Iberians, or Iberii as they were also called, arrived in Ireland circa 1700 B.C. calling it Iberne, later abbreviated to Erne. It was then Latinized by the Romans to Hibernia, which is a name still used by the Irish today.
Once in Ireland they became known as the Tuatha de Danaan (tribe of Dan) by the inhabitants of Ireland.
The Psalter of Cashel wrote “The Tuatha de Danaans ruled in Ireland for about two centuries…from their long residence in Greece, and their intercourse with the Phoenicians.”
Keating, in his History of Ireland states “ The Danaans were a people of great learning and wealth; they left Greece…and went to Ireland, and also to Denmark and called it Danmark, Dan’s country.”
This explains why so many places in Europe have D and N in their names. The tribe of Dan had a penchant for leaving their name as markers during their wanderings.
This was just the first wave of Israelites that would settle Europe.
Next was the tribe of Simeon. The tribe had its God given land allotment to the south of the Kingdom of Judah. Even though they were geographically detached from the kingdom of Israel in the north, they were none the less a part of the northern kingdom and not of the kingdom of Judah.
The Assyrian captivity of the northern kingdom of Israel took place circa 721 B.C. The entire population of the ten tribes, including the remnant of the tribe of Dan, was taken back to Assyria where they settled near the Caspian Sea.
God predicted this captivity in I Kings 14:15, “For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river (Euphrates), because they have made their groves, provoking the LORD to anger.”
Fulfilment of this is seen in II Kings 17:23, “Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.”
Once in Assyria, the tribes of Israel became known as the Khumri or Kumri by the Assyrians. The Babylonians called them Ghimiri or Gimirri. The Greeks called them Scythians which meant wanderers in Greek which is exactly what they would do.
Fearing they would be next to be taken captive by the Assyrians, the tribe of Simeon migrated northward eventually settling near Lake Van, south and between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
In the Annals of Esarhaddon, an Assyrian king that reigned after the captivity of Israel, he’s said to have attacked with a group of Babylonian soldiers defeating a roving tribe of Israelites near Lake Van. He called them Gimirri, Babylonian for Israelites. Since the other ten tribes were still in captivity, this tribe of Israelites could be non other than the tribe of Simeon, the only Israelites not in captivity at the time of the attack. These Israelites were called Sakae, Saka, Sakka by the Persians but were of the same stock as the Khumri as called by the Assyrians.
Ptolemy would later call the Sakae Saxons and stated “The Saxons were a Scythian nation, and were called Saca, Sacki, Sachsen.”
Historian Albinus stated “The Saxons were descended from the ancient Sacae from Asia and in the process of time they came to be called Saxons.” The term Saxons is a contraction of what they called themselves, Isaac’s sons.
At the end of the 7th century B.C. the Kimmerians, Cimmerii, Saka or Sakka were pushed out by the first wave of Scythians that had broken away from their Assyrian captivity. They migrated across Europe to Britain becoming the ancestors of the ancient Britains, especially the Welsh or Cymry.
Even today the Welsh call themselves Cymry from their origins as Kumri.
Though the books of The Apocrypha are not considered inspired by God, they do hold valuable historical information. These migrations are shown in the book of II Esdras 13:40-45:
40. Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land.
41. But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt,
42. That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land.
43. And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow places of the river.
44. For the most High then shewed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over.
45. For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half: and the same region is called Arsareth.
Ar-Sareth was an area north of the Black sea. A region called Sareth exists there to this day.
This account in II Esdras is verified by the Greek historian Herodotus in Books IV and VII where he states that the 10 tribes of Israel began migrating into Europe in 7th century B.C.
This was the second influx of Israelites into Europe.
After separating from the Assyrians, another branch of Scythians separated into a people called the Massa-getae, which later divided into two tribes called the AEglae and Angae. They would later merge into one people called Angles. This group, pushed out of the region by another wave of Scythians, also migrated to Britain which they called Angleland, or England
Historian M.H. Gayer states, “The general name of the Massa-getae before migrating to Britain was Angles.”
Saxon historian Sharon Turner states, “The earliest inhabitants of the north of Europe were the Kimmerians or Kimbri; they spread over it from the Kimmerian Bosphorus to the Kimbric Chersonesus; that is, from Thrace and its vicinity to Jutland and the German Ocean: to that Ocean from which the passage is direct to Britain.”
The Welsh Triads state that the Kelts or Celts were “the first race of the Kymry.” The Kelts, Celts, Kimmerians, Cymry and Cimmerians are all the same people.
British historians agree that the Celtic race came to Britain from Gaul (modern France). Historian Sharon Turner states, “The Armorican emigration was of the tribe called Brython…” The people were called Britanni in Gaul and over several generations mixed with their brethren the Kymry. Armorica was a colony in Gaul, modern day France.
The Brythons were called Bryth y Brithan in ancient Welsh. It was contracted to Brithish and then British. Not surprisingly this is a Hebrew word. Brith means covenant and ish is the Hebrew word for man thus British means “covenant people”.
Historian P.H. Pritchett of New Zealand stated, “Whether it was only blind instinct impelling them, or that they had still remembered some faint tradition or prophecy, no one can tell, but the remarkable fact remains that they had begun to call themselves in Hebrew ‘The Covenant People’ when they reached their appointed place.”
This was the third influx of Israelites into Europe. In order to differentiate between the two groups of Scythians, those migrating into northern Europe and those in the Black Sea region, the Romans called the Saxons, Angles or first group of Scythians, Germanus meaning original. This is where we get the English term Germans.
The final influx of the “lost” tribes into Europe occurred when another branch of the Scythians, then known as the Getae, filtered into northern Europe becoming the various Gothic tribes. Some of them in time settled in Scandinavia and became known as Northmen which evolved into Norsemen, thus Norway.
In the early years of Christianity, most of the House of Israel now occupied northern Europe and the British Isles as Saxons, Angles, Goths, Jutes, Kelts, Norsemen and Normans.
John 10:16 makes more sense now that we know where Israel actually settled, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” This verse is specifically referencing those lost tribes and the Christian nations they became.
These Christian nations of the West that are Israel have been hidden from themselves but are being used as a tool for God and His glory as seen in Isaiah 49:1-3
1. Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.
2. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;
3. And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
It’s time for the House of Israel to wake up and realize who they are. Seek ye the Lord, you are no longer “lost”
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