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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/38630-0.txt b/38630-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd875ff --- /dev/null +++ b/38630-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3178 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of The History of the Ten “Lost” Tribes, by David Baron + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: The History of the Ten “Lost” Tribes + Anglo-Israelism Examined + +Author: David Baron + +Release Date: January 20, 2012 [eBook #38630] +[Most recently updated: December 12, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: Jason Isbell, Jeff G., and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE TEN “LOST” TRIBES *** + + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). + + + + + +THE HISTORY OF THE TEN "LOST" TRIBES: + +Anglo-Israelism Examined + +by + +DAVID BARON + +Author of +"Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah," etc. + +FOURTH EDITION + +Morgan & Scott Ltd. +12, Paternoster Buildings, London, E.C. 4 + + * * * * * * + +Two Shillings Net +The History +of the +Ten "Lost" Tribes: + +ANGLO-ISRAELISM EXAMINED + +by + +DAVID BARON + +Author of +"The Ancient Scriptures and the Modern Jew" +"The Shepherd of Israel," etc. + +Fourth Edition--Revised and Enlarged + + + + + + + +Morgan & Scott Ld. +(Office of "The Christian") +12, Paternoster Buildings +London, E.C. + + + + +PREFACE + + +A few words of explanation are needed by way of preface to this little +book. More than twenty years ago, being often appealed to by friends for +my judgment on Anglo-Israelism, or to answer questions which were +addressed to me on this subject, I finally, after making myself +acquainted with the positions and arguments by which the theory is +supported, drew up a statement in the form of "A Letter to an Inquirer." +This "Letter," somewhat amplified, was printed in the form of an +appendix in my book, "The Ancient Scriptures and the Modern Jew," whence +by special request it was subsequently reprinted in pamphlet form under +the title, "Anglo-Israelism, and the True History of the Ten Lost +Tribes"--a separate edition of it having also been published in America. +This pamphlet is now out of print, and, being appealed to by prominent +Christian friends to bring out a new edition, I felt constrained before +doing so to re-examine the whole question anew, and more thoroughly than +before. To this end I have read through, with much inward pain I must +confess, a number of the more recent Anglo-(or "British")-Israel +publications, which for the most part are mere repetitions of one +another. The result is the treatise now in the reader's hands, which +will be found to consist of three Parts. + +In Part I. I have dealt with Anglo-Israel assertions and claims, and the +arguments by which they are supported; in Part II., which is +constructive in its character, and in which the greater part of my +original "Letter to an Inquirer" will be found embodied, I have tried +briefly to trace the true history of the supposed Lost Tribes; and in +Part III., which is altogether new, I have further analysed some of the +scriptural "proofs" of a separate fate and destiny of the Ten Tribes +from that of "Judah," and have added notes and explanations on some of +the more plausible points brought up by all Anglo-Israelite writers. + +The epistolary form, which is retained in Parts I. and II., is accounted +for by the relation of this new booklet to the original "Letter to an +Inquirer," which is embodied in it. + +Let me ask the reader's Christian forbearance for any expressions in +this little work which may be regarded as too severe. I would only say +that if the unbiassed reader had had to wade through the amount of +Anglo-Israel literature, with all its fearful perversions of Scripture +and history, which the writer has had to do in the course of the +preparation of this little work, he would most probably have felt as he +did--the difficulty of putting a restraint upon his spirit so as not to +use much stronger language. Toward the persons of the propagandists of +this theory I have, I trust, no other feelings than those of Christian +charity; but the theory itself I cannot help regarding, after a close +study of its principles, as subversive of the truth, and as one of the +dangerous delusions of these latter days. + +After this little book was finished, an honoured friend in Brighton sent +me the article by the late Dr. Horatius Bonar, which appeared in _The +Sunday at Home_ in 1880. I add it, with the permission of the +proprietors of that magazine, as an appendix in the assurance that the +testimony on the subject of so honoured and eminent a servant of God +will be welcomed and carry weight with many. + + David Baron. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PART I. + + PAGE + + I. Anglo-Israel Assertions and Claims 7 + + II. The Way Anglo-Israel Writers Interpret + Scripture 11 + + III. Fictitious Histories of the Tribes 15 + + + PART II. + + I. Are the Tribes Lost? 22 + + II. The Condition of Things at the Time of + Christ 33 + + III. The Testimony of the New Testament that + the "Jews" Are Representative of + "All Israel" 39 + + IV. Early Misconceptions and Confusion on the + Question of the Ten Tribes 44 + + V. The Testimony of Prophecy in the Light of + History 48 + + VI. A Solemn Warning 51 + + + PART III. + + NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. + + I. Anglo-Israel "Proofs" of a Separate Fate + and Destiny of "Israel" and "Judah" 54 + + II. The Promises to the Fathers of a Multitudinous + Seed 65 + + III. The Perpetuity of the Davidic Throne 72 + + IV. The So-called Historic Proofs of Anglo-Israelism 76 + + V. "The Gate of his Enemies" 80 + + + APPENDIX. + + Are We the Ten Tribes? By the late Horatius + Bonar, D.D. 82 + + + + + +PART I. + +ANGLO-ISRAELISM EXAMINED. + + + + +ANGLO-ISRAEL ASSERTIONS AND CLAIMS. + + +DEAR FRIEND,--I shall endeavour to comply with your request, and to give +you in this Letter a few reasons for my rejection of the Anglo-Israelite +theory. I can sincerely say that I am not a man delighting in +controversy, and I only consent to your wish because I believe that you, +like many other simple-minded Christians, are perplexed and imposed upon +by the plausibilities of the supposed "Identifications," and are not +able to detect the fallacies and perversions of Scripture and history +upon which they are based. + +The theory is that the English, or British, are the descendants of the +"lost" Israelites, who were carried captives by the Assyrians, under +Sargon, who, it is presumed, are identical with the Saxae or Scythians, +who appear as a conquering host there about the same time. Or, to quote +a succinct summary of Anglo-Israel assertions from a standard work:-- + + "The supposed historical connection of the ancestors of the English + with the Lost Ten Tribes is deduced as follows: The Ten Tribes were + transferred to Assyria about 720 B.C.; and simultaneously, + according to Herodotus, the Scythians, including the tribe of the + Saccae (or Saxae), appeared in the same district. The progenitors + of the Saxons afterward passed over into Denmark--the 'mark' or + country of the tribe of Dan--and thence to England. Another branch + of the tribe of Dan, which remained 'in ships' (Judges v. 17), made + its appearance in Ireland under the title of 'Tuatha-da-Danan.' + Tephi, a descendant of the royal house of David, arrived in + Ireland, according to the native legends, in 580 B.C. From her was + descended Feargus More, King of Argyll, an ancestor of Queen + Victoria, who thus fulfilled the prophecy that 'the line of David + shall rule for ever and ever' (2 Chron. xiii. 5, xxi. 7). The Irish + branch of the Danites brought with them Jacob's stone, which has + always been used as the Coronation-stone of the kings of Scotland + and England, and is now preserved in Westminster Abbey. Somewhat + inconsistently, the prophecy that the Canaanites should trouble + Israel (Numbers xxxiii. 55; Josh. xxiii. 13) is applied to the + Irish. 'The land of Arzareth,' to which the Israelites were + transplanted (2 Esd. xiii. 45), is identified with Ireland by + dividing the former name into two parts--the former of which is + _erez_, or 'land'; the later, _Ar_, or 'Ire.'"[1] + +As to the Jews, quite a different history and destiny is marked out for +them. They, as the descendants of Judah, are still under the curse. In +fact, the Anglo-Israelite, by another and more mischievous method, is +doing exactly what the allegorising, or so-called spiritualising, school +of interpreters did. The method was to apply all the _promises_ in the +Bible to the "spiritual" Israel, or the Church, and all the curses to +the literal Israel, or the Jews; but by this new system, while the +curses are still left to the Jew, all the blessings are applied not even +to those "in Christ," but indiscriminately to a nation, which, _as a +nation_, is like the other nations of Christendom in a greater or lesser +degree in a state of apostasy from God, though I thankfully recognise +the fact that there are in proportion more of God's true people in it +than in any other professing Christian land. + +I shall endeavour later on to show you the baselessness of the +distinction which Anglo-Israelism makes between the ultimate fates of +Israel and Judah, but let me first say that the supposed historical and +philological "proofs" by which the theory is supported, most of which +have no more basis in fact than fairy tales, are utterly discredited by +competent authorities. + + "Philology of a somewhat primitive kind," writes a prominent and + learned Jew, "is also brought in to support the theory; the many + Biblical and quasi-Jewish names borne by Englishmen are held to + prove their Israelitish origin. An attempt has been made to derive + the English language itself from Hebrew. Thus, 'bairn' is derived + from _bar_ ('son'); 'berry' from _peri_ ('fruit'); 'garden' from + _gedar_; 'kid' from _gedi_; 'scale' from _shekel_; and 'kitten' + from _quiton_ (_katon_ = 'little'). The termination 'ish' is + identified with the Hebrew _ish_ ('man'); 'Spanish' means + 'Spain-man'; while 'British' is identified with _Berit-ish_ ('man + of the covenant'). Perhaps the most curious of these philological + identifications is that of 'jig' with chag (_hag_ = 'festival'). + + "Altogether, by the application of wild guess-work about historical + origins and philological analogies, and by a slavishly literal + interpretation (or misapplication) of selected phrases of prophecy, + a case is made out for the identification of the British race with + the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel sufficient to satisfy uncritical + persons desirous of finding their pride of race confirmed by Holy + Scripture. The whole theory rests upon an identification of the + word 'isles' in the English version of the Bible unjustified by + modern philology, which identifies the original word with 'coasts' + or 'distant lands,' without any implication of their being + surrounded by the sea. Modern ethnography does not confirm in any + way the identification of the Irish with a Semitic people; while + the English can be traced back to the Scandinavians, of whom there + is no trace in Mesopotamia at any period of history. The whole + movement is chiefly interesting as a _reductio ad absurdum_ of too + literal an interpretation (or misapplication) of the + prophecies."[2] + +To this let me add the verdict of a prominent Christian scholar. +Commenting on Edward Hine's "Identifications of the British Nation with +Lost Israel," Professor Rawlinson wrote that: "The pamphlet is not +calculated to produce the slightest effect on the opinion of those +competent to form one. Such effect as it may have can only be on the +ignorant and unlearned--on those who are unaware of the absolute and +entire diversity in language, physical type, religious opinions, and +manners and customs, between the Israelites and the various races from +whom the English nation can be shown historically to be descended." + +The fact of the matter is that the so-called historical proofs, by which +the theory is supported, are derived from heathen myths and fables,[3] +and the philology which traces "British" to "Berith-ish," and "Saxon" to +"Isaac's-son," etc., deserves no other characterisation than +_child-ish_. + +It is in a misunderstanding of Scripture, and especially of prophetic +Scripture, to which the origin of Anglo-Israelism can be traced. Coming +across some of the great and precious promises in the Bible in reference +to Israel, for instance, such as that they should be a great and mighty +nation, and rule over those who previously had been their enemies and +oppressors, and overlooking the fact that these prophecies and promises +_refer to a future time_, when Israel as a nation shall be restored and +converted, and under the personal rule of their Messiah become great and +mighty for God on the earth, evidence of their fulfilment has been +sought _in the present_. Now certainly these prophecies of might and +prosperity are not now being fulfilled in the "Jews"--on the other hand, +see how great and influential the British nation is in the +world--_ergo_, the British must be the "lost" Israel of the "Ten +Tribes"! The "history" and philology is, so to say, an after-thought of +Anglo-Israelism, by which an effort is made to support the false +postulate with which it starts. The Scriptural "Identifications" with +which Anglo-Israel literature abound turn out on examination to be +perversions and misapplications of isolated texts taken from the English +versions of the Bible without any regard for true principles of +exegesis. + + +THE WAY ANGLO-ISRAEL WRITERS INTERPRET SCRIPTURE. + +Some of their interpretations can only be characterised as bordering on +blasphemy. Let me quote a few examples:-- + +=I. The glorious Messianic prophecy of the stone cut without hands which +smote the image of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel ii.) is applied to the British +people; and the British Empire, which is one of the Gentile +world-kingdoms, is made to be identical with the Kingdom of God.= + +"We will see what is to be the future of the British Empire, or, in +other words, the stone that smote the image. It is to become a great +mountain and fill the whole earth. Our Colonial Empire, then, will +continue to grow till it covers the whole world. We have tried to avoid +extending our Empire many and many a time, and yet God has caused it to +grow larger and larger, and I believe will still do so. We are already +by far the greatest Empire there is, or ever has been, and we shall yet +be far greater. + +"The British Empire, again, can never be conquered. Daniel says, 'The +God of Heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: it +shall stand for ever.' Consequently, we shall never be conquered; we +must continue till the end of time--so that we are to continue to exist +as the last kingdom or empire this world is to see."[4] + +=II. Messiah's Throne of Righteousness and Peace is made out to be +identical with the throne of England, and the English people are "the +saints of the Most High," to whom all the kingdoms of the world shall be +given.= + +"If the Saxons be the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel ... then the English +throne is a continuation of David's throne, and the seed on it must be +the seed of David,[5] and the inference is clear--namely, that all the +blessings attaching by holy promise to David's throne must belong to +England.... To this end God is overturning, and will overturn, until the +whole world shall be federated around one throne, and that David's +throne (which, according to the writer, is identical with the throne of +England)--the only throne God ever directly established, and the only +one He has promised perpetuity to.... This kingdom is the fifth kingdom +to be set up in the latter days of those kings, says Daniel. The kingdom +was never to be left to other people.... To her (that is, to England) +was promised the isles of the sea, the coasts of the earth, the waste +and desolate places--the heathen and the uttermost parts of the earth as +a possession. Already, out of the 51,000,000 square miles which compose +the earth, England, including the United States (Manasseh), now owns +about 14,000,000, say, one-fourth. She bears rule over one-third of the +people of the earth; she adds a colony every four years, on an average. +At the present rate it will not be long before the kingdoms of this +world will be given to the saints of the Most High [that is, according +to the writer, the English people]. It is no marvel in the light of and +instruction of prophecy that this throne and people should be so stable +and prosperous."[6] + +=III. The smoke which ascends from the "blazing furnaces and steam +engines" of London is identified with the Shechinah Glory, the visible +symbol of God's presence with His people.= + +"During their wanderings in the desert His presence was manifested by +the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night; and during +the captivity of the Two Tribes of Judah in Babylon He was with them, +until, at the expiration of the seventy years, He stirred up Cyrus to +release them. The same Lord still watches over the Ten Lost Tribes of +Israel in England, and continues to bless them. The same miracles that +were wrought in Egypt were intended to foreshadow the realisation of +God's future dealings with the Israelites; and if a gigantic panoramic +view of England could be taken from an elevation above the centre of the +island at midnight, a temporal pillar of fire would be as remarkable +from the blazing furnaces, the gas, the steam-engines, as the pillar of +cloud and smoke arising from the same sources in the daytime, marking +the chief position and prosperity of Israel."[7] + +=IV. Edward Hine, author of the forty-seven "Identifications," is the +promised Deliverer who should come out of Zion.[8]= + +The following is taken from an article on Romans xi. 25-27, which +appeared in "Life from the Dead," which was edited by Edward Hine +himself:-- + +"Are the British people identical with the lost Ten Tribes of Israel? +And is the nation, by the identity, being led to glory? If these things +are so, then where is the Deliverer? He must have already come out of +Zion. He must be doing His great work; He must be amongst us. It is our +impression that, by the glory of the work of the identity, we have come +to the time of Israel's national salvation by the Deliverer out of Zion, +and that Edward Hine and that Deliverer are identical." + +I have said above that Anglo-Israelism applies the promises given to +converted Israel indiscriminately to the English nation. It does not +stop even here, as the above extracts show, but goes on to rob Christ +Himself of His glory by applying to the British people prophecies which +belong, not even to Israel, but to Israel's Saviour. + +Thus, the address of the Father to the Son in Psalm ii.: + +"Ask of Me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and +the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession," will be found +again and again in Anglo-Israel literature applied to the British +nation. It also substitutes the British Empire for the Church. A +favourite Scripture on which almost every Anglo-Israel writer fastens is +Matt. xxi. 43: "Therefore I say unto you, The Kingdom of God shall be +taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof," +taking it for granted that England is that "nation"--which, as a nation, +is bringing forth the fruits of God's kingdom. + +Now I need not explain to you that this is an utterly unspiritual and +baseless assumption, for it is the Church--God's elect and converted +people out of all nations--which is that "nation," which during the +period of Israel's national unbelief bears fruit unto God; as is clear +from 1 Peter ii. 9, where believers in Christ are addressed as "a chosen +generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation (εθνος), that ye should +show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into +His marvellous light." + + +FICTITIOUS HISTORIES OF THE TRIBES. + +Let me give you one or two more samples of Anglo-Israel perversion of +Scripture and history:-- + + "The tribe of Benjamin has a singular special place in the history + of Israel and Judah. Neither Old or New Testament can be well + understood unless one understands the place of this tribe in + Providence. They were always counted one of the Ten Tribes, and + reckoned with them in the prophetic visions. They were only loaned + to Judah about 800 years (read 1 Kings xi.). They were to be a + light for David in Jerusalem. God, foreseeing that the Jews would + reject Christ, kept back this one Tribe to be in readiness to + receive Him; and so they did. At the destruction of Jerusalem they + escaped, and after centuries of wanderings turn up as the proud and + haughty Normans. Finally, they unite with the other Tribes under + William the Conqueror. A proper insight into the work and mission + of Benjamin will greatly aid one in interpreting the New Testament. + He was set apart as a missionary Tribe, and at once set to work to + spread the Gospel of Jesus. Most of the disciples were + Benjaminites. Then, after 800 years of fellowship with Judah, they + were cut loose and sent after their brethren of the House of + Israel. It was needful that the Lion and the Unicorn should unite." + +Again:-- + + "God said to Abraham, 'In thee shall all the families of the earth + be blessed'; and more, 'and in thy seed shall all the nations of + the earth be blessed.' Israel, being scattered and cast off, became + a blessing to the world. They gave to the surrounding nations the + only true idea of God, for in their lowest condition and idolatry + they preserved the name and knowledge of Jehovah, and Christ sent + His disciples after them through one of their own tribe--namely, + Benjamin--telling them not to go into the way of the Gentiles, nor + into the cities of the Samaritans, 'but go rather to the lost sheep + of the house of Israel.' To these sheep Christ declares He was + sent. Where were these sheep? They were scattered about in Central + Asia--in Scriptural language, in Cappadocia, Galatia, Pamphylia, + Lydia, Bithynia, and round about Illyricum. From these very regions + came the Saxons; from here they spread abroad North and West, being + the most Christian of any people on the face of the earth then, as + now."[9] + +It is difficult to characterise statements like these given out by +Anglo-Israel writers in _ex cathedra_ style for the consumption of the +ignorant and credulous. But-- + +I. This "history" of the tribe of Benjamin (which may be taken also as a +fair sample of their "histories" of Dan, Manasseh, etc.) is entirely the +product of the perverted fancy of the writers, and is without a vestige +of historic basis for its support. The only reference given in the first +extract is 1 Kings xi. Now that chapter gives the account of God's +warning to Solomon, and of the announcement that in the reign of his +immediate successor the kingdom would be rent from the house of David. +"_Howbeit_," we read, "_I will not rend away all the kingdom, but will +give one tribe to thy son (i.e., Rehoboam) for David My servant's sake, +and for Jerusalem's sake, ... that David My servant may have a lamp +alway before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen to put My +Name there_."[10] + +The "one tribe" which during the time of the schism would be left to the +house of David is, of course, not Benjamin, as the writer of the above +extract supposes, but _Judah_, "with which Benjamin was indissolubly +united by the very position of the capital on its frontier." This is +seen from verses 31, 32 of the same chapter, where the Ten Tribes "are +given to Jeroboam," and the remaining two of the twelve are called "one +tribe." + +It is, of course, a pure invention also, of the fairy tale type, that +Benjamin as a tribe received Christ while the Jews rejected Him, or that +Benjamin became "the missionary tribe," or that "most of the disciples +were Benjamites." Not one single tribe as a tribe, or even one local +community as a community, received Christ; but the "as many" of His own +"as received Him" were "Jews," which, as we shall see farther on, were +the representatives of the Israel of the whole "Twelve Tribes scattered +abroad," and the Twelve Apostles (though Paul, indeed, was a Benjamite) +were in a way representative of all the _Twelve_ Tribes of Israel. + +II. Then note the absurdities and contradictions of Anglo-Israel +assertions. "Israel," you are told--by which is meant the Ten +Tribes--while themselves idolaters and sunk so low as not only to forget +their origin, but, as another exponent of the theory has it, lapsed +"into a state of semi-barbarism like the first pioneer settlers in North +America"; and, being without records, in a brief period lost all memory +of their former name and condition[11]--became, while in such a +condition, "a blessing to the world, and gave to the surrounding nations +the only true idea of God"! + +And what shall be said of the terrible perversion of such a plain and +beautiful Scripture as Matt. x. 5, 6? In the introduction to that +chapter (Matt. ix. 36-38) we read how our Lord Jesus, beholding the +multitudes which were pressing around Him, was moved with compassion for +them because they fainted (or rather, according to the now accepted +reading, "were harassed," "plagued"), "and were scattered abroad as +sheep having no shepherd." Then, after saying to His disciples that the +harvest truly is plenteous but the labourers are few, and commanding +them to pray the Lord of the harvest that He may send, or thrust forth, +labourers into His harvest, He calls the twelve individual Jewish +disciples, and commissions and empowers them to go forth on the definite +mission of mercy to their countrymen, warning them not to go beyond the +bounds of the land "into the way of the Gentiles," nor even within the +bounds of Palestine to visit "the cities of the Samaritans," but to +confine themselves exclusively "to the lost sheep of the House of +Israel"--that is, to their own Jewish people, who (as we shall see) are +throughout the New Testament called alternately "Jews" and "Israel." +This is all plain and obvious; and we know, as a matter of fact and +history, that the ministry of John the Baptist, and of our Lord Jesus, +and of the Twelve Apostles, until after His ascension, was confined to +the "Jews" in Palestine. Anglo-Israelism, however, is able by some +fiction to transform the Twelve Disciples into the tribe of Benjamin, +and "the lost sheep of the House of Israel" into a medley of Gentile +nations located "in Central Asia," and other specified regions, who, +though unknown to themselves to be Israelites in origin, and mistaken by +the Apostles in their subsequent missionary journeys for "Gentiles," +were really the "lost Ten Tribes," alias "the Saxons," and progenitors +of the English! And these are only a few typical samples of the +so-called "historical proofs" and Bible interpretations on which the +whole theory rests. I must now pass on to another part of the subject, +but let me, before doing so, earnestly commend to you whenever you come +across Anglo-Israel literature to keep in mind the good advice of a +well-known Bishop to his clergy--"_Always verify your references_"--and +I would add, "study the context"--and you will find that the Scriptures +quoted in them are either misapplications or perversions of the true +meaning of the text. In fact, there is not a Scripture, however sublime +and glorious its import, and however plain and obvious its meaning, +which does not become distorted and perverted in Anglo-Israel hands.[12] + +Here are one or two samples. Anglo-Israelism is based for the most part +on the false supposition of a separate calling and destiny of the Ten +Tribes from that of Judah:-- + + "The natural seed of Abraham," we are told, "is divided in the + Bible, the word Israel standing generally for the Ten Tribes, and + Judah for Two Tribes. These divisions have separate paths appointed + them to walk in through the centuries. 'All the House of Israel + wholly,' 'the whole House of Israel,' 'all the House of Israel,' + have a special work. The Ten Tribes are especially called in the + Scriptures the seed of Abraham. Sometimes 'My chosen'; again, 'Mine + inheritance,' and 'My servant.' God, in referring to them in their + scattered state, and of His gathering them together, says (Isaiah + xli. 8): 'But thou, Israel, art My servant, Jacob whom I have + chosen; the seed of Abraham My friend--thou whom I have taken from + the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, + and said unto thee, Thou art My servant; I have chosen thee, and + not cast thee away.'"[13] + +I shall show later on that it is not true to say that the word Israel +stands "generally" for the Ten Tribes, and Judah for the Two Tribes. +"Generally," the name Israel stands for all the descendants of Jacob, +whose name was changed by God Himself to "Israel," though in the +historical books, especially in 1 and 2 Kings, and 2 Chronicles, and in +a few passages in the Prophets, it is used to describe the northern +kingdom of the Ten Tribes in contradistinction to the southern kingdom +of Judah. But its use in the more limited and temporary sense as applied +to the Ten Tribes can always be clearly discerned from the context. But +in order to support the assertion that "these two divisions have +separate paths appointed them to walk through the centuries," it is +affirmed that the designations "All the House of Israel wholly," "the +whole House of Israel," "My chosen," "Mine inheritance," and "My +servant," are especially applied in the Scriptures to the "Ten Tribes" +in contradistinction to Judah. Now this is utterly baseless, as any +intelligent Bible-reader will find if he takes the trouble to look up +all the passages where these expressions are used.[14] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: From the article "Anglo-Israelism" in the _Jewish +Encyclopedia_.] + +[Footnote 2: Joseph Jacobs, B.A., in the _Jewish Encyclopedia_.] + +[Footnote 3: See Note iv. in Part III.] + +[Footnote 4: "Nebuchadnezzar's Dream" in "The British Empire of +Ephraim." A whole collection of similar perversions of Scripture may be +found in an excellent pamphlet by the late Pastor Frank H. White, called +"Anglo-Israelism Examined"--unfortunately now out of print.] + +[Footnote 5: A beautiful specimen, this, of Anglo-Israel logic.] + +[Footnote 6: "The Lost Ten Tribes," by Rev. Joseph Wild, D.D. A book +containing twenty discourses which abounds in statements and +"interpretations" as wild and unscriptural as this sample quoted from +Discourse XVIII.] + +[Footnote 7: From an article in _The Banner of Israel_.] + +[Footnote 8: When preparing to re-write this little book I was told by a +friend that I need not take much notice of the works of Edward Hine, as +Anglo-Israelites themselves no longer attach importance to them. On +inquiry, however, I found that this was not the case. His writings are +still largely advertised and circulated, and many of the more modern +Anglo-Israelite writers profess to draw instruction and inspiration from +them. Beside which, even his most extravagant statements are more than +paralleled in some of their most recent publications.] + +[Footnote 9: Both these extracts are taken from "The Lost Ten +Tribes"--the book referred to in a previous note--by Joseph Wild.] + +[Footnote 10: 1 Kings xi. 13-36.] + +[Footnote 11: "Israel in Britain," by Colonel Garnier, page 6.] + +[Footnote 12: See samples in Note i. of Part III.] + +[Footnote 13: "The Ten Lost Tribes," page 12.] + +[Footnote 14: "All the House of Israel wholly" is found in Ezek. xi. +27, and is used of those of the southern kingdom who were already in +captivity, as contrasted with those who were still with Zedekiah in +Jerusalem and Palestine. The parallel to Ezek. xi. is Jeremiah xxiv., +where the two parts of the nation--those already in captivity and those +still in the land--are also contrasted under the symbol of the two +baskets of figs, one of which was "very good" and the other "very evil." +When Peter, for instance, said, "_Let all the House of Israel_ know +assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus both Lord and Christ," he +addressed the "Jews" in Palestine, as every one knows. "My chosen," or +"Whom I have chosen," apart from its use as applied to the priests and +Levites, is used sixteen times of Zion and Jerusalem, and _just as many +times of the whole nation_. Deut. vii. 6; xiv. 2; Psalm xxxiii. 12; +Isaiah xli. 8, 9--may be turned up as examples. "My servant" is used +seventeen or eighteen times in the second half of Isaiah, and when not +directly applied to the Messiah, as in xlii. 1; xlix. 3-7; lii. 13; and +liii. 11--is a designation of the whole people; and it must be +remembered that Isaiah prophesied primarily "concerning Judah and +Jerusalem." The term as a designation of the people is also used five +times by Jeremiah in the same inclusive sense, _i.e._, of the whole +nation.] + + + + +PART II. + +THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE TEN "LOST" TRIBES. + + +ARE THE TRIBES LOST? + +But now discarding the whole heap of Anglo-Israel fiction, let us glance +at the question of the so-called "lost" Ten Tribes in the light of +Scripture history and prophecy. Anglo-Israelism first of all loses the +Ten Tribes, for whom it claims a different destiny from the "Jews," whom +it supposes to be descendants of the Two Tribes only, and then it +identifies this "lost" Israel with the British race. But there is as +little historical ground for the supposition that the Ten Tribes are +lost, in the sense in which Anglo-Israelism uses the term, as there is +Scriptural basis for a separate destiny for "Israel" apart from "Judah." + +The most superficial reader of the Old Testament knows the origin and +cause of the unfortunate schism which took place in the history of the +elect nation after the death of Solomon. But this evil was to last only +for a limited time; for at the very commencement of this new and +parenthetical chapter of the nation's history it was announced by God +that He would in this way afflict the seed of David, but _not for ever_ +(1 Kings xi. 39). + +A separate kingdom, comprising Ten of the Twelve Tribes, was set up +under Jeroboam in B.C. 975, and its whole history, of about 250 years, +is one long, dark tale of usurpation, anarchy, and apostasy, unrelieved +by the occasional gracious visitations of national revival which light +up the annals of the Judean kingdom under the House of David. + +After many warnings and premonitory judgments the kingdom of the Ten +Tribes was finally overthrown in the year B.C. 721, when its capital, +Samaria, was destroyed, and the bulk of the people carried captive by +the Assyrians, and made to settle in "Halah and Habor, and by the river +Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes" (2 Kings xvii. 6; 1 Chron. v. +26). + +Now I would beg you to notice two or three facts. + +I. The kingdom of "Judah" after the schism consisted not only of Judah +and Benjamin, but also of the Levites who remained faithful to the House +of David and the theocratic centre.[15] Even those who were in the +northern cities forsook all in order to come to Jerusalem, as we read in +2 Chron. xi. 14: "And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for +defence in Judah, ... and the priests and Levites that were in all +Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts. For the Levites left +their suburbs and their possessions, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; +for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest's +office unto the Lord." + +II. Apart from Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, there were in the southern +kingdom of Judah after the schism many out of the other Ten Tribes whose +hearts clung to Jehovah, and the only earthly centre of His worship +which He appointed. Immediately after the rebellion, we read that "after +them" (that is, following the example of the Levites) "out of all the +tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek Jehovah, the God of +Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Jehovah, God of their fathers. +So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah" (2 Chron. xi. 16). + +In every reign of the kingdom of Israel numbers of the religious and +more spiritual of the Ten Tribes must have seceded and joined "Judah." +This we find to have been more especially the case during the times of +national revival in the southern kingdom, and in the reigns of those +kings who feared and sought the Lord. + +Thus, for instance, we read of Asa, that "he gathered all Judah and +Benjamin, with the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and +out of Simeon; _for they fell to him out of all Israel in abundance_, +when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him, so they gathered +themselves together at Jerusalem; ... and they entered into a covenant +to seek Jehovah God of their fathers with all their heart, and with all +their soul" (2 Chron. xv. 9-15). + +There are also several other mentions of "the children of Israel that +dwelt in the cities of Judah" and were subjects and members of that +kingdom. + +III. The final overthrow of the northern kingdom took place, as we have +seen, in the year B.C. 721; but when we read that the "King of Assyria +took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria," we are not to +understand that he cleared the whole land of all the people, but that he +took the strength of the nation with him. There were, no doubt, many of +the people left in the land; even as was the case after the overthrow of +the southern kingdom by the Babylonians later on (2 Kings xxv. 12). The +historical proof for my assertion is found in the fact that about a +century after the fall of Samaria, we find in the reign of Josiah some +of Manasseh and Ephraim, "and a remnant of all Israel," in the land, who +contributed to the collection made by the Levites for the repair of the +house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and joined in the celebration of the +great Passover in the eighteenth year of that zealous and promising +young king. + +These were the component elements of which the southern kingdom of +"Judah" was made up, when it, too, reached the stage, when, on account +of its idolatries and apostasy from the living God, "there was no more +remedy" (or "healing"--2 Chron. xxxvi. 16). It consisted, as we have +seen, of Judah, Benjamin, Levi, and many out of all the other Ten Tribes +of Israel, "in abundance." + +Jerusalem was finally taken in B.C. 588, by Nebuchadnezzar--just 133 +years after the capture of Samaria by the Assyrians. Meanwhile the +Babylonian Empire succeeded the Assyrian. But although dynasties had +changed, and Babylon, which had sometimes, even under the Assyrian +_régime_, been one of the capitals of the Empire, now took the place of +Nineveh, the region over which Nebuchadnezzar now bore rule, was the +very same over which Shalmaneser and Sargon reigned before him, only +somewhat extended.[16] + +The exact location of the exiles of the southern kingdom we are not +told, beyond the Scripture statements that all the three parties of +captives carried off by Nebuchadnezzar (that in the first invasion in +the reign of Jehoiakim, B.C. 606; and in the second, in the reign of +Jehoiachin, B.C. 599; and in the final overthrow of Jerusalem, in the +reign of Zedekiah, B.C. 588), were taken "to Babylon" (2 Kings xxiv. and +xxv.; Daniel i.). + +Now Babylon stands not only for the city, but also for the whole land, +_in which the territories of the Assyrian Empire, and the colonies of +exiles from the northern kingdom of "Israel" were included_. Thus, for +instance, we find Ezekiel, who was one of the 10,000 exiles carried off +by Nebuchadnezzar with Jehoiachin, by the river Chebar in the district +of Gozan--one of the very parts where the exiles of the Ten Tribes were +settled by the Assyrians more than a century previously. + +With the captivity the divisions and rivalry between "Judah" and +"Israel" were ended, and the members of all the tribes who looked +forward to a national future were conscious not only of one common +destiny, but that that destiny was bound up with the promises to the +House of David, and with Zion or Jerusalem as its centre, in accordance +with the prophecies of Joel, Amos, and Hosea, and of the other inspired +messengers who ministered and testified more especially among them until +the fall of Samaria. This conviction of a common and united future, no +doubt facilitated the merging process, which cannot be said to have +begun with the captivity, for it commenced almost immediately after the +rebellion under Jeroboam, but which was certainly strengthened by it. + +Glimpses into the feeling of the members of the two kingdoms for one +another, and their hopes and aspirations for unity, we get in the +writings of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, who prophesied during the +period of exile. The most striking prophecy in relation to this subject +is Ezek. xxxvii. 15-28: + + "The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou + son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and + for the children of Israel, his companions (that is, those of + Israel who before the captivity fell away from the Ten Tribes and + joined the southern kingdom): then take another stick, and write + upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the house of + Israel, his companions: and join them one to another into one + stick; and they shall become one in thine hand." Then follows the + Divine interpretation of this symbol: "Behold, I will take the + stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes + of Israel, his companions, and I will put them with him (or + literally, I will add them upon, or to him), namely, with the stick + of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in My + hand. And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thy hand + before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, + Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, + 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 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: neither shall they + defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their + detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will + save them out of all their dwelling-places wherein they have + sinned, and will cleanse them; so shall they be My people, and I + will be their God. And My servant David shall be king over them; + and they all shall have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My + judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall + dwell in the land which I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein + your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, they, and their + children, and their children's children for ever: and David My + servant shall be their prince for ever" (Ezek. xxxvii. 20-25, + R.V.). + +Now let it be remembered that the foreground and commencement of the +restoration and future of this great prophecy, especially to all the +exiles at that time, was the restoration from Babylon, or "Assyria," as +it was sometimes called. + +As a matter of fact, these prophecies, and particularly Ezek. xxxvii. +15-28, set forth not one single act or event, but a _process_ which, +commencing with the prophet's own time, extends into the distant future, +and ends in the final goal of the blessed condition of Israel under +Messiah's reign in the millennial period. Thus, while the full visible +_manifestation_ of that unity, symbolised by the two sticks becoming +_one_ in the prophet's hand, will only be realised after the final +regathering of the whole nation in their own land, and when the true +"David," namely, Messiah, "David's greater Son," shall be both King and +Prince over them for ever--the merging and uniting process commenced, as +a matter of fact, before the Babylonian captivity, was accelerated in +the exile, when in their like sorrows and troubles the hearts of the +people were doubtless drawn to one another in mutual sympathy and love. + +The point, however, to be noticed in this and other prophecies is the +clear announcement which they contained that the purpose of God in the +schism--as a punishment on the House of David--_was now at an end_, and +that henceforth there was but one common hope and one destiny for the +whole Israel of the Twelve Tribes--whether they previously belonged to +the northern kingdom of the _Ten_ Tribes, or to the southern kingdom of +the _Two_ Tribes--and that this common hope and destiny was centred in +Him Who is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and the rightful Heir and +descendant of David. + +In like manner Jeremiah, in his great prophecy of the restoration and +future blessing (chaps. xxx. and xxxi.), links the destinies of "Judah" +and "Israel," or Israel and Judah together; and speaks of one common +experience from that time on for the whole people. "For lo, the days +come, saith the Lord, that I will turn again the captivity of My people +Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the +land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. And these +are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and Judah" (Jer. +xxx. 3, 4, R.V.). + +Daniel also, towards the end of the seventy years' captivity, includes +not only the men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem in his +intercessory prayer, but "_all Israel_ that are near, or far off, from +all the countries whither Thou hast driven them," who, he confesses, +were alike involved in sin and judgment, and equally cast on the mercy +of God on the ground of promises made to the fathers. + +Now let us go a step farther. Just seventy years had elapsed since the +first band of captives were carried away to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in +the year B.C. 606. "That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah +might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, King of +Persia, that he issued a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and +put it also in writing, saying: Thus saith Cyrus, King of Persia, the +Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He +hath charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem that is in Judah. Who +is there among you of all His people? His God be with him, and let him +go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah." + +This proclamation, which was in reference to all the people "of the Lord +God of heaven," was issued in the year B.C. 536, two years after the +conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, and was, we are told, promulgated +"throughout all his kingdom," which was the same as that over which +Nebuchadnezzar and his successors reigned before him, only again +somewhat extended, even as the kingdom of Babylon was identical with +that of Assyria, as already pointed out. Indeed, Cyrus and Darius I. are +called indifferently by the sacred historians by the title of "King of +Persia" (Ezra iv. 5), "King of Babylon" (Ezra v. 13), and "King of +Assyria" (Ezra vi. 22). + +The first response to this proclamation was a caravan of "forty-two +thousand three hundred and sixty, beside their servants and their maids, +of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven, and +two hundred singing men and singing women," who, under the leadership of +Zerubbabel, who was a lineal descendant of the royal house of David, +and of Joshua the high priest, made their way from "Babylon to +Jerusalem." + +Now the leading spirits of this returned party of exiles were, no doubt, +"the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and +Levites"; at the same time they included "all those" from all the other +tribes without distinction, "whose spirit God had raised to go up to +build the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem" (Ezra i. 5). + +They are no longer counted after their tribal origin, but in families, +and after the cities to which they originally belonged, which, for the +most part, are not easy to identify; hence it is difficult to say how +many belonged to "Judah," and how many to "Israel"--but that there were +a good many in this company of those who belonged to the northern +kingdom of the Ten Tribes, is incidentally brought out by the mention of +two hundred and twenty-three men of Ai and Bethel alone. Now, Bethel was +the very centre of the ancient rival idolatrous worship instituted by +Jeroboam, and, though on the boundary of Benjamin, belonged to +"Ephraim." + +Between the first organised large party of immigrants under Zerubbabel +and Joshua, and the second under Ezra, a period of fifty-eight years +elapsed; but we are not to suppose that in the interval there were no +additions to the community, which now represented the whole united +nation in Jerusalem. We read, for instance, incidentally, in Zech. vi. +9, 15, of a party of four prominent men who arrived in Jerusalem in B.C. +519 as representatives of the "captivity" (that is, of those who still +remained in those parts where they were exiles), bringing with them a +present of silver and gold for the Temple, the building of which was +resumed about five months before, as a result of the stirring appeals +of Haggai. This shows that there was continual intercourse and +communication between the community in Palestine and the majority of the +people who were still "in Babylon"; and we may be certain that little +parties and individuals, "whose spirit God had raised," continually +found their way to the holy city. + +In B.C. 458, Ezra, "the scribe of the law of the God of heaven," in +accordance with the decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus, organised another +large caravan of those whose hearts were made willing to return to the +land of their fathers. Part of this most favourable royal proclamation +was as follows: "I make a decree that all they of the people of Israel, +and of his priests and Levites in my realm, which are minded of their +own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go up with thee"; and in response +to it "this Ezra went up from Babylon, ... and there went up (with him) +of the children of Israel, and of the priests and of the Levites, and +the singers and the porters, and the Nethinim, unto Jerusalem in the +seventh year of Artaxerxes the king" (Ezra vii. 7). + +This party consisted of about one thousand eight hundred families; and +apart from the priests, Levites, and Nethinim, was made up of "the +children of Israel," irrespective of tribal distinctions, from all parts +of the realm of "Babylon," or Assyria, now under the sway of the +Medo-Persians. + +The narratives contained in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, under whose +administration the position of the restored remnant became consolidated, +cover a period of about 115 years, and bring us down to about B.C. 420. +Jewish history during the second period of the Persian supremacy is +wrapped somewhat in obscurity; but we know that nearly throughout the +whole period of its existence it was more or less friendly to the +Hebrews. There was certainly no revocation of the edicts of Cyrus and of +Artaxerxes permitting those "which were minded of their own free will" +to go and join their brethren in Palestine; and that there were many +other large and small parties of exiles who did so, subsequent to those +mentioned in Ezra and Nehemiah, may be taken for granted.[17] + +Anyhow, it is a fact that the remnant in the land grew and grew until, +about a century and a half later, in the times of the Maccabees, and +again about a century and a half later still, in the time of our Lord, +we find "the Jews" in Palestine, a comparatively large nation, numbering +millions; while from the time of the downfall of the Persian Empire we +hear but very little more of the Israelite exiles in ancient Assyria or +Babylon. + +By the conquest of Alexander, who to this day is a great favourite among +the scattered nation, the regions of ancient Babylonia and Media were +brought comparatively near, and a highway opened between East and West. +From about this time settlements of "Jews" began to multiply in Asia +Minor, Cyprus, Crete, on the coasts and islands of the Ægean; in +Macedonia and other parts of Southern Europe; in Egypt and the whole +northern coast of Africa; whilst some made their way further and further +eastward as far as India and China. There is not the least possibility +of doubt that many of the settlements of the Diaspora in the time of our +Lord--both north, south, and west, as well as east of Palestine--were +made up of those who had never returned to the land of their fathers +since the time of the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles, and who were not +only descendants of Judah, as Anglo-Israelism ignorantly presupposes, +but of all the _Twelve Tribes scattered abroad_ (James i. 1). + +As a matter of fact, long before the destruction of the second Temple +by Titus, we read of currents and counter-currents in the dispersion of +the "Jewish" people. Thus Artaxerxes III., _Ochus_, on his way to +re-conquer Egypt, "having taken Apodasmus in Judea, conveyed the Jewish +population into Hyrcania near the Caspian Sea." When he made himself +master of Egypt we read of his finding Jews there, and, being incensed +against them on account of a stubborn defence against him of places +entrusted to their keeping, "he sent part of them into Hyrcania, in the +neighbourhood of the country which the tribes already inhabited, and +left the rest at Babylon"; while soon after many thousands were taken to +Egypt by Alexander; and Ptolemy Soter, one of his chief generals, who +had become King of Egypt, and had invaded Syria and taken Jerusalem in +B.C. 301, carried off one hundred thousand of them, and forced them to +settle chiefly in Alexandria and Cyrene. + + +THE CONDITION OF THINGS AT THE TIME OF CHRIST. + +To summarise the state of things in connection with the Hebrew race at +the time of Christ, it was briefly this:-- + +I. For some six centuries before, ever since the partial restoration in +the days of Cyrus and his successors, the descendants of Abraham were no +longer known as divided into tribes, but as one people, although up to +the time of the destruction of the second Temple, tribal and family +genealogies were for the most part preserved, especially among those who +were settled in the land. + +II. Part of the nation was in Palestine, but by far the larger number +were scattered far and wide, and formed innumerable communities in many +different lands, north and south, east and west.[18] _But wherever +dispersed and to whatever tribe they may have belonged, they all looked +to Palestine and Jerusalem as their national centre_, and, with the +exception of those (and they were no doubt many) who had ceased to +cherish "the hope of Israel" and were gradually assimilating with their +Gentile neighbours, were all one in heart with their brethren in the +Holy Land. "They felt they were of the same stock, stood on the same +ground, cherished the same memories, grew up under the same +institutions, and anticipated the same future. They had one common +centre of worship in Jerusalem, which they upheld by their offerings; +and they made pilgrimages thither annually in great numbers at the high +festivals." Thus Philo could represent to the Roman Emperor Caligula +that "Jerusalem ought not to be considered only as the metropolis of +Judea, but as the centre of a nation dispersed in infinite places, who +were able to supply him with potent succours for his defence. He +reckoned among the places that were still stored with Jews, the isles of +Cyprus and Candia, Egypt, Macedonia, and Bithynia, to which he added the +empire of the Persians, and _all the cities of the East_, except that of +Babylon, from whence they were then expelled." + +There is ample confirmation on this point in the New Testament. Thus, +for instance, we are incidentally told in the second chapter of the Acts +of the Apostles, that among the representatives from the Diaspora who +were found in Jerusalem at that memorable feast of Pentecost--who were +doubtless there also during the previous Passover, when the crucifixion +took place--were "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and dwellers in +Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, in Phyrgia and +Pamphylia, in Egypt and parts of Libya and Cyrene, and sojourners from +Rome, Cretans and Arabians": all of them either Jews or proselytes +miraculously hearing in their own tongues the mighty works of God. + +Here it is to be noted that, at the commencement of the Christian era, +we find in this motley and cosmopolitan Jewish crowd representatives +from Israelitish settlements in the very parts where they were carried +by the Assyrians and Babylonians some seven centuries before, _but who +are all called "Jews," and all alike regarded Jerusalem as their +national metropolis_.[19] + +III. The name of "Jew" and "Israelite" became synonymous terms from +about the time of the Captivity. It is one of the absurd fallacies of +Anglo-Israelism to presuppose that the term "Jew" stands for a bodily +descendant of "Judah." _It stands for all those from among the sons of +Jacob who acknowledged themselves, or were considered, subjects of the +theocratic kingdom of Judah_, which they expected to be established by +the promised "Son of David"--the Lion of the tribe of Judah--whose reign +is to extend not only over "_all the tribes of the land_," but also +"from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." + +"That the name 'Jew,'" writes a Continental Bible scholar, "became +general for all Israelites who were anxious to preserve their theocratic +nationality, was the more natural, since the political independence of +the Ten Tribes was destroyed." Yes, and without any hope of a +restoration to a separate national existence. What hopes and promises +they had were, as we have seen, linked with the Kingdom of Judah and the +House of David. + +Anglo-Israelism teaches that members of the Ten Tribes are never called +"Jews," and that "Jews" are not "Israelites"; but both assertions are +false. Who were they that came back to the land after the "Babylonian" +exile? Anglo-Israelites say they were only the exiles from the southern +kingdom of Judah, and call them "Jews." I have already shown this to be +a fallacy, but I might add the significant fact that in the Book of Ezra +this remnant is only called eight times by the name "Jews," and no less +than _forty_ times by the name "Israel." In the Book of Nehemiah they +are called "Jews" _eleven_ times, and "Israel" twenty-two times. As to +those who remained behind in the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces +of the Persian Empire, which included all the territories of ancient +Assyria, Anglo-Israelites would say they were of the kingdom of +"Israel"; but in the Book of Esther, where we get a vivid glimpse of +them at a period subsequent to the partial restoration under Zerubbabel +and Joshua, they are called forty-five times by the name "Jews," and not +once by the name "Israel"! + +In the New Testament the same people who are called "Jews" one hundred +and seventy-four times are also called "Israel" no fewer than +seventy-five times. Anglo-Israelism asserts that a "Jew" is only a +descendant of Judah, and is not an "Israelite"; but Paul says more than +once: "I am a man which am a _Jew_." Yet he says: "For I also am an +Israelite." "Are they _Israelites_? so am I" (Acts xxi. 39; xxii. 3; +Rom. xi. 1; 2 Cor. xi. 22; Phil. iii. 5). + +Our Lord was of the House of David, and of the tribe of Judah after the +flesh--"a Jew"; yet it says that it is of "_Israel_" that He came, who +is "over all, God blessed for ever" (Rom. ix. 4, 5). Devout Anna was a +"Jewess" in Jerusalem, yet she was "of the tribe of Aser." But enough on +this point. + +IV. From the time of the return of the first remnant after the +Babylonian exile, sacred historians, prophets, apostles, and the Lord +Himself, regarded the "Jews," whether in the land or in "Dispersion," as +representatives of "all Israel," _and the only people in the line of the +covenants and the promises which God made with the fathers_. + +At the dedication of the Temple, which was at last finished "on the +third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year in the reign of +Darius the king," they offered "for a sin-offering _for all Israel, +twelve he-goats according to the number of the tribes of Israel_" (Ezra +vi. 17). + +Similarly, on the arrival of Ezra with the new caravan of immigrants, +they "offered burnt-offerings unto the God of Israel, _twelve bullocks +for all Israel_, ... and twelve he-goats for sin-offering" (Ezra viii. +35), showing that the returned exiles regarded themselves as the nucleus +and representatives of the whole nation. In the post-Exilic prophets we +have no longer two kingdoms, but one people--one in interests and +destiny, although they had formerly for a time been divided. + +To show that the revived nation was made up of members of the Northern +as well as the Southern kingdoms, the prophet Zechariah calls them by +the comprehensive name of "Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem" (Zech. i. 19); +or, "the house of Judah and the house of Joseph" (Zech. x. 6). In the +prophecy occasioned by the question addressed by the deputation from +Bethel, in reference to the continuation of the observance of the fasts, +he says: "And it shall come to pass that as ye were a curse among the +nations, _O house of Judah_ and _house of Israel_, so will I save you, +and ye shall be a blessing; fear not, and let your hands be strong" +(Zech. viii. 13). + +Here the formerly two houses are included; together they are for a time +_among the nations_ "a curse," and together they shall be saved, and be +"a blessing."[20] + +Malachi, nearly a century later, when the people in the land had become +a prosperous nation, and when, in consequence, the majority was rapidly +falling into a state of religious formality and godlessness, addresses +them as "Israel" or "Jacob," which surely includes all his descendants, +in contrast to Esau and his descendants (Mal. i. 1-3). + + +THE TESTIMONY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT THAT THE "JEWS" ARE REPRESENTATIVE OF +"ALL ISRAEL." + +In the last words of the last of the post-Exilic prophets we have the +expression "all Israel" addressed to the people in the land; and then +the long period of silence sets in, lasting about four centuries, during +parts of which Jewish national history is lost somewhat in obscurity. +_When the threads of that history are taken up again in the New +Testament, what do we find? Is there one hint or reference in the whole +book to an Israel apart from "that nation" of the "Jews," to whom, and +of whom, the Lord and His apostles speak?_ There is, indeed, reference +and mention of the Diaspora, "the dispersed among the Gentiles" (John +vii. 35), forming, as we have seen, the greater part of the nation, and +some of them still settled in the ancient regions of Assyria and +Babylon; but wherever they were, they are all interchangeably called +"Jews," or "Israelites," who regarded Jerusalem, with which they were in +constant communication, as the centre, not only of their religion, but +of their national hopes and destiny. + +The "Israelites" who in the time of Christ were dispersed among the +Parthians, Medes, and Elamites (Acts ii.), were as much one with the +sojourners in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as the "Jews" in Bagdad, Persia, +or on the Caspian Sea to-day, are one with their wandering brethren in +London, Berlin, New York, or Australia, although they then, as now +(apart from the Hebrew, which ever remains the sacred tongue, and +thoroughly understood only by the minority), spoke different languages +and dressed differently, and conformed to different social and family +customs. + +But let me give you a few definite passages from the New Testament in +justification of my statement that the Lord Jesus and the apostles, +equally with the post-Exilic prophets centuries before, regarded the +"Jews" as representatives of "all Israel," _and as the only people in +the line of the "covenant, and the promises which God made unto the +fathers_." + +(a) In Matthew x. we have the record of the choice, and of the first +commission given to the apostles. "These twelve," we read, "Jesus sent +forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, +and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather _to the +lost sheep of the house of Israel_." Of course, the merest child knows +that this journey of the twelve did not extend beyond the limits of +Palestine, but the "Jews" dwelling in it are regarded as the house of +Israel, although many members of that "house" were also scattered in +other lands. + +In this charge of the Lord to the apostles, we see also, by the way, in +what sense Israel is regarded as "lost." Now Anglo-Israelites are very +fond of this word, but they use it in an unbiblical and unspiritual +sense. The Ten Tribes, like the other Two, were, in the time of Christ, +even as they still are, "lost"; but not because they have forgotten +their _national_ or tribal identity, but because they "all like sheep +have gone astray, and have turned every one to his own way." Or, as +Jeremiah pathetically puts it: "My people hath been lost sheep; their +shepherds [their false teachers and leaders] have caused them to go +astray; they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from +mountain to hill; they have forgotten [not their national origin, but] +their resting place"--viz., Jehovah, who is the true dwelling-place of +His people in all generations. It was this terrible fact of their +spiritually lost condition which again and again moved our Lord Jesus to +compassion for those multitudes which followed Him, because they were +"distressed" or "plagued," and were scattered abroad as sheep not having +a shepherd. + +(b) On the first day of Pentecost, Peter, with the eleven, addressed +the "men of Judæa," and the great multitude from among the dispersed +"Jews," as "Ye men of Israel," and wound up his powerful speech with the +words: "_Let all the house of Israel_, therefore, know assuredly that +God hath made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom ye crucified" +(Acts ii. 14, 36). In chapter iii. of Acts, as "all the people ran +together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly +wondering," at the notable miracle in the name of Jesus Christ of +Nazareth, Peter said: "_Ye men of Israel_, why marvel ye at this Man?... +The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, +hath glorified His servant Jesus, whom ye delivered up and denied before +the face of Pilate when he had determined to release Him.... Repent ye, +therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so +there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.... +_Ye are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with +your fathers_, saying unto Abraham, 'And in thy seed shall the nations +of the earth be blessed.'" + +From Acts xiii. onward we find Paul among the "Jews" in the Dispersion; +and how does he address them? By the same name as Peter addressed their +brethren in Palestine: "_Men of Israel, ... the God of this people +Israel_ chose our fathers, and exhorted the people when they sojourned +in the land of Egypt" (Acts xiii. 16, 17); and when he was at last +brought to Rome "and gathered the chief of the Jews" in that city to +him, he assured them that he had neither done anything "against the +people, or the customs of our fathers," nor did he come to Rome "to +accuse my nation," but "because of the _hope of Israel_ am I bound by +this chain"--namely, "the hope of the promise made of God unto our +fathers; as he had previously explained before Festus and Agrippa--unto +which _our Twelve Tribes_, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to +attain" (Acts xxviii. 17-20; xxvi. 6, 7). + +Paul knew of no "lost Ten Tribes," but on his testimony the "Jews" in +Palestine and in the Dispersion were the "Israel" of _all the Twelve +Tribes_, to whom the "hope of the promise made of God unto the fathers" +belonged. + +(c) And, as it is in the Gospels, and in the Acts of the Apostles, so +also in the Epistles. It would be easy to multiply passages, but one +more must suffice. + +The ix., x., and xi. of Romans form the prophetic, or "dispensational," +section of that great epistle, and was written for the special +instruction of Gentile believers in the "mystery" of God with Israel. +Now I cannot, of course, stop here to give an analysis of that +wonderful and comprehensive scripture, which is also a vindication of +God's ways with man; _but there is not a hint or suggestion in it of a +"lost Israel," apart from the one nation whose whole history he +summarises from the beginning to the end_, and which is now, alas! +divided into the small minority--the "remnant according to the election +of grace," who believe, and the majority who believe not, until the day +of grace for the whole nation shall come, and "so _all_ Israel shall be +saved, even as it is written, 'There shall come out of Zion the +Deliverer; He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.'" + +But in the touching introduction to this section (Rom. ix. 1-6), in +which the apostle gives utterance to his "great sorrow and unceasing +pain of heart" because of the unbelief of his own nation, "his brethren +and his kinsmen according to the flesh," for whose sake he had been +wishing, if it were possible, even to be himself "anathema from +Christ"--how does he call these unbelieving "Jews" who had rejected +their Messiah, and were blindly persecuting His servants? Here are His +words: "_Who are Israelites_; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and +the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, _and +the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning +the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen._" + +Now I must try to draw this very long letter to an end. I have not +followed Anglo-Israelism in all its crooked paths of misinterpretation +of Scripture and history; I have only shown you the baselessness of its +foundations, and that the premises upon which the whole theory rests are +misleading and false. I have also given you a summary of the true +history of the tribes, which I trust may prove helpful to you in the +study of God's Word; and the conclusion at which you and every unbiassed +person must arrive on a careful examination of the facts which I have +adduced is, that the whole supposition of "lost tribes," in the sense in +which Anglo-Israelism uses the term, is a fancy which originated in +ignorance; and that "_the Jews_" are the whole, and the only national +Israel, representing not only the "Two Tribes," but "_all the Twelve +Tribes" who were "scattered abroad_." + + +EARLY MISCONCEPTIONS AND CONFUSION ON THE QUESTION OF THE TEN TRIBES. + +I have thought it necessary to enter all the more fully into this point, +because even some otherwise sober-minded teachers and writers, who are +not Anglo-Israelites, have fallen into some confusion in dealing with +this subject; and no wonder, for already Josephus, who vaguely locates a +separate multitude belonging to the Ten Tribes somewhere beyond the +Euphrates ("Antiq." xi. 1, 2)--a Jewish tradition which locates a mighty +kingdom of the Ten Tribes beyond the fabled miraculous river Sambation, +which no one can cross because it throws up stones all the week, and +only rests on the Sabbath; and the Talmud (Jer. Sanhedrin, 29, c.), +which speaks of three localities whither they had been banished, viz., +the district around the above wonderful Sambation, Daphne, near Antioch; +and the third locality could neither be seen nor named because it was +continually hidden by a cloud--all these show how early people's minds +became muddled on this subject.[21] + +Coming to the legends about the Ten Tribes in more modern times, Eldad +Ben Mahli Ha Dani came forward in the ninth century claiming to give +specific details of the contemporary existence of the Ten Tribes and of +their location at that time. + + "Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher were," according to him, "in + Havilah; Zebulun and Reuben in the mountains of Paran; Ephraim, and + half of Manasseh, in South Arabia; Simeon, and the other half of + Manasseh, in the land of Chazars (?)." According to him, therefore, + "the Ten Tribes were settled in parts of Southern Arabia, or + perhaps Abyssinia, in conformity with the identification of + Havilah. The connection of this view with that of the Jewish origin + of Islam is obvious; and David Reubeni revived the view in stating + that he was related to the king of the tribes of Reuben situated in + Khaibar in North Arabia. + + "According to Abraham Farisol, the remaining tribes were in the + desert, on the way to Mecca, near the Red Sea; but he himself + identifies the River Ganges with the River Gozan, and assumes that + the Beni-Israel of India are the descendants of the Lost Ten + Tribes. The Ganges, thus identified by him with the River + Sambation, divides the Indians from the Jews. The confusion between + Ethiopia and Farther India, which existed in the minds of the + ancients and mediæval geographers, caused some writers to place the + Lost Ten Tribes in Abyssinia. Abraham Yagel, in the sixteenth + century, did so, basing his conclusions on the accounts of David + Reubeni and Eldad Ha Dani. It is probable that some of the reports + of the Falashas led to this identification. According to Yagel, + messengers were sent to these colonists in the time of Pope Clement + VII., some of whom died, while the rest brought back tidings of the + greatness of the tribes and their very wide territories. Yagel + quotes a Christian traveller, Vincent of Milan, who was a prisoner + in the hands of the Turks for twenty-five years, and who went as + far as Fez, and thence to India, where he found the River + Sambation, and a number of Jews dressed in silk and purple. They + were ruled by seven kings, and upon being asked to pay tribute to + the Sultan Salim, they declared that they had never paid tribute to + any sultan or king. It is just possible that this may have some + reference to the 'Sâsanam' or the Jews of Cochin. + + "It is further stated that in 1630 a Jew of Salonica travelled to + Ethiopia, to the land of Sambation; and that in 1646 one Baruch, + travelling in Persia, claimed to have met a man named Malkiel, of + the tribe of Naphtali, and brought back a letter from the king of + the children of Moses: this letter was seen by Azulai. It was + afterwards reprinted in Jacob Saphir's book of travels (Eben + Sappir, 1. 98). + + "So much interest was taken in this account that in 1831 a certain + Baruch ben Samuel, of Pinsk, was sent to search for the children of + Moses in Yemen. He travelled fifteen days in the wilderness, and + declared he met Danites feeding flocks of sheep. So, too, in 1854, + a certain Amram Ma'arabi set out from Safed in search of the Ten + Tribes; and he was followed in 1857 by David Ashkenazi, who crossed + over through Suakin to make enquiries about the Jews of + Abyssinia."[22] + +But all these are legends and fancies. "We in this twentieth century," +to quote the words of a Christian writer, "to whom there is no longer +any part of the earth unknown, know that in no country whatever, +however far from civilisation it may be, do the Ten Tribes dwell. The +'travellers' tales' have been proved to be false; the Ten Tribes, as +such, do not exist." In this connection I may quote Professor A. +Neubauer, a prominent learned Jew, who sums up his studies in a series +of illuminating articles on the subject which will be found in Vol. I. +of _The Jewish Quarterly Review_, with these words:-- + + "Where are the Ten Tribes? We can only answer, Nowhere. Neither in + Africa, nor in India, China, Persia, Kurdistan, the Caucasus, or + Bokhara. We have said that a great part of them remained in + Palestine, partly mixing with the Samaritans, and partly + amalgamating with those who returned from the captivity of Babylon. + With them many came also from the cities of the Medes, and many, no + doubt, adhered to the Jewish religion which was continued in + Mesopotamia during the period of the Second Temple." + +Some Christian writers cling to the view that while some of the "Ten +Tribes" amalgamated with the "Jews," there is nevertheless a distinct +people somewhere, who are descendants of the Israel of the ancient +northern kingdom, which is to be brought to light in the future, and, +together with "Judah," will be restored to Palestine, and enter into the +enjoyment of the promises. Thus the Nestorians, who inhabit the +inaccessible mountains of Kurdistan (which is part of ancient Assyria), +the Afghans, the North American Indians, and even the Japanese have been +variously identified as that people; but this view rests upon what I +believe to be a misconception of the meaning and scope of some of the +prophecies. + +It _may_ be true that the Nestorians, and the Afghans, and some other +Eastern tribes are descendants of the original Israelitish exiles in +Assyria, but having more or less mixed themselves up by inter-marriage +with the surrounding nations, and having given up the distinctive +national rites and ordinances, such as circumcision, the observance of +the Sabbath, etc., they have, like many "Jews" in modern times (who +gradually assimilate with Gentile nations), cut themselves off from the +hope of Israel, and are no longer in the line of the purpose which God +has in and through that "peculiar" and separate people. + + +THE TESTIMONY OF PROPHECY IN THE LIGHT OF HISTORY. + +In conclusion let me very briefly call your attention to the remarkable +prophecy in Amos ix., which will show you that the view which I have +enunciated in my letter is the only one in keeping with the sure word of +prophecy. + +The prophet Amos, though himself a Judean, his native village, Tekoa, +being about twelve miles south of Jerusalem, was commissioned by God to +prophesy more particularly to the northern or Ten-Tribed kingdom; and +for that purpose he went and took up his abode in Bethel, which was the +centre of the idolatrous worship set up by Jeroboam in opposition to the +worship and service of the divinely-appointed sanctuary in Jerusalem. +There his duty was to announce the coming judgment of God on the Israel +of the Ten Tribes, on account of their apostasy. The last paragraph of +his book (chap. ix. 8-15), uttered not more than about seventy years +before the final overthrow of Samaria in B.C. 721, is one of the most +remarkable and comprehensive prophecies in the Old Testament, and this +is the inspired forecast of the history of the Ten-Tribed kingdom which +is given in it: "_Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful +kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving +that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. For +lo, I will command and I will sift (or 'toss') the house of Israel among +all the nations, like as corn is sifted (or 'tossed' about) in a sieve, +yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. All the sinners of +thy people shall die by the sword, which say: The evil shall not +overtake or prevent us._" + +Here, then, we have the whole subject as to what was to become of the +Ten Tribes in a nutshell. + +(a) First, _as a kingdom_, they were to be destroyed from off the face +of the earth, _never to be restored_; for its very existence as a +separate kingdom was only permitted of God for a definite period as a +punishment on the house of David: and when, after a period of about two +hundred and fifty years of unbroken apostasy, it was finally broken up +by the Assyrians, there was an end of it, without any promise of a +future independent political existence. + +(b) But when it was destroyed as a kingdom, what became of them as a +people? This prophecy tells us: "Saving that I will not utterly destroy +the house of Jacob, saith the Lord"--that is, they are to return to the +house of Jacob. They are to form part of the one family made up of all +the descendants of Jacob without distinction of tribes. But as one house +of Jacob, or "of Israel" (as the next verse interchangeably calls them), +something terrible and unique is to befall them; and what is it? To be +"lost" some two thousand six hundred years, and then to be identified +with the Anglo-Saxon race? Oh no! this is what was to happen: "For lo, I +will command and I will sift (or 'toss') the house of Israel among all +nations, even as corn is tossed about in a sieve"--or, in the words of +Hosea, another prophet, who spoke primarily to the Ten Tribes, "My God +will cast them away" (not for ever, as the whole book shows, but for a +time), "because they did not hearken unto Him; and _they shall be +wanderers among the nations_." + +I draw your attention all the more to this point, because a good deal +has been made by some writers of the expression in Isa. xi., where +Israel is called "outcast," from which they infer that "Israel" is to be +found somewhere in one place, in contradistinction to the "dispersed of +Judah." But this is a fallacy. In Jer. xxx. Judah and Israel are +together called "an outcast," but it by no means implies that they are +therefore to be sought for and found in one particular region of the +world. + +It is clear from the prophecies of Amos and Hosea, which, as we have +seen, were primarily addressed to the Ten Tribes, that if they were in +the first instance "cast out" by force from their own land, as the word +in the Hebrew means, it was with a view that they should be "tossed +about" and "wander" among "all nations." + +Now note, Anglo-Israelism tells you to identify the Ten Tribes with one +nation; but if you are on the line of Scripture and true history, you +will seek for them "among all nations." + +And which people is it that is known all over the earth as "the tribe of +the weary foot and wandering breast"? Anglo-Israelites call them "Jews" +in the limited sense of being descendants of "Judah"; but God's Word +tells us that it is "_the house of Israel_," or "the house of Jacob"; +and, as a matter of fact, since "Judah" joined their brethren of the Ten +Tribes on the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans in B.C. 588, the +two have kept on their weary march together, "wandering among the +nations." Eastward and westward (only a remnant of all the tribes +returning to the land for a time), nowhere finding ease for any length +of time, nor do the soles of their feet have rest--even as Moses, _at +the very beginning of their history, and long before the division among +the tribes_, prophesied would be their _united_ experience in case they +apostatised from Jehovah their God. And thus they will continue ever +more mixed up and intermingled among themselves, with all genealogies +lost, and not one of them either east or west being able any longer +documentarily to prove of what tribe or family he comes--until the day +when He that scattered Israel will gather him, and by His own Divine +power and omniscience separate them again into their tribes and +families. + + +A SOLEMN WARNING. + +My last words on this subject must be those of warning and entreaty. Do +not think, as so many do, that Anglo-Israelism, even if not true, is +only a harmless speculation. I consider it nothing short of one of the +latter-day delusions by which the Evil One seeks to divert the attention +of men from things spiritual and eternal. Here are a few of its +dangers:-- + +I. It goes, sometimes to the length of blasphemy (as shown in the +extracts I have copied for you at the beginning of this letter), in +misinterpreting and misapplying Scripture. One of its foundation +fallacies is that _it anticipates the Millennium_, and interprets +promises--which will only be fulfilled in that blessed period, after +Israel as a nation is converted--to the British nation at the present +time. But by this process it distorts and confuses the whole prophetic +Scripture. + +II. It fosters national pride, and nationalises God's blessings in this +dispensation, which is individual and elective in its character. + +Its proud boastful tone, its carnal confidence that Britain, in virtue +of its supposed identity with the "lost" tribes, is to take possession +of all the "gates" of her "enemies" and become practically mistress of +the whole globe, is enough to provoke God's judgment against the nation, +and to make the spiritual believer and every true lover of this +much-favoured land tremble. It diverts man's attention from the one +thing needful, and from the only means by which he can find acceptance +with God. This it does by teaching that "a nation composed of millions +of practical unbelievers in Christ, and ripe for apostasy, in virtue of +a certain fanciful identity between the mixed race composing that nation +and a people carried into captivity two thousand five hundred years ago, +is in the enjoyment of God's special blessing and will enjoy it on the +same grounds for ever, thus laying another foundation for acceptance +with God beside that which He has laid, even Christ Jesus." + +After all, in this dispensation it is a question only as to whether men +are "in Christ" or not. If they are Christians, whether Jews or +Gentiles, their destiny is not linked either with Palestine or with +England, but with that inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled +and which fadeth not away; and if they are not Christians, then, instead +of occupying their thoughts with vain speculations as to a supposed +identity of the British race with the "lost" Ten Tribes, it is their +duty to seek the one and only Saviour whom we must learn to know, not +after the flesh, but in the Spirit, and without whom a man, whether an +Israelite or not, is undone. + +III. Then, finally, it not only robs the Jewish nation, the true Israel, +of many promises in relation to their _future_ by applying them to the +British race in the _present_ time, but it diverts attention from them +as _the_ people in whom is bound up the purpose of God in relation to +the nations, and whose "receiving again" to the heart of God, after the +long centuries of unbelief, will be as "life from the dead to the whole +world." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 15: According to Grätz, "History of the Jews," vol. i., p. +186, the tribe of Simeon, which was merely a subsidiary of that of +Judah, also remained faithful to the House of David; but this is +doubtful.] + +[Footnote 16: See 2 Kings xxiii. 29, where the King of Babylon is called +"King of Assyria."] + +[Footnote 17: "It is inconceivable," says Dr. Pusey, "that, as the +material prosperity of Palestine returned, even many of the Ten Tribes +should not have returned to their country."] + +[Footnote 18: Thus Strabo (quoted by Josephus in "Ant." xiv. 7, 2) could +already say in his day that "these Jews had already gotten into all +cities; and it is hard to find a place in the habitable earth that hath +not admitted this race and is not mastered by it."] + +[Footnote 19: "Everywhere we have distinct notices of these wanderers," +says Dr. Edersheim, "and everywhere they appear as in closest connection +with the Rabbinical hierarchy of Palestine. Thus the Mishnah, in an +extremely curious section, tells how on Sabbaths the Jewesses of Arabia +might wear their long veils, and those of India the kerchiefs round +their head, customary in those countries, without incurring the guilt of +desecrating the holy day by needlessly carrying what, in the eyes of the +law, would be a burden; while in a rubric for the Day of Atonement we +have it noted that the dress which the High Priest wore 'between the +evenings' of the great feast--that is, as afternoon darkened into +evening--was of most costly Indian stuff."] + +[Footnote 20: Some have supposed that the 14th verse of Zechariah +xi.--"_And I cut asunder mine other (or 'second') staff, even Bands (or +'Binders'), to destroy the brotherhood between Judah and between +Israel_"--foreshadowed another division between the Ten Tribes and the +Two Tribes subsequent to the partial restoration from Babylon, and after +the coalescence of the people before and in the Exile--as a punishment +for their rejection of their true Shepherd the Messiah, which is +symbolically set forth in that chapter. But this is a mistake. The + אַחֲוָה (_achavah_), "Brotherhood," which was to be destroyed "between +Judah and between Israel," is not to be understood in the sense "that +the unity of the nation would be broken up again in a manner similar to +that in the days of Rehoboam, and that two hostile nations would be +formed out of one people," although the disruption of national unity +which took place in the days of Jeroboam may be referred to _as an +illustration_ of that which would occur again in a more serious form. +"The schism of Jeroboam had a weakening and disintegrating effect on the +nation of the Twelve Tribes, and the dissolution of the brotherhood here +spoken of was to result in still greater evil and ruin; for Israel, +deprived of the Good Shepherd, was to fall into the power of the +'foolish,' or 'evil,' shepherd, who is depicted at the close of the +prophecy." + +The preposition בֵּין (_bain_), which is twice repeated, has the meaning +not only of "_between_," but also of "_among_," and the formula, House +of Judah and House of Israel, or simply, "Judah and Israel," is, as we +have had again and again to notice, this prophet's inclusive designation +of the whole ideally (and to a large extent already actually) reunited +one people. I think, therefore, that we may rightly render the sentence +"to destroy the brotherhood _among_ Judah and among Israel"--that is to +say, among the entire nation. The consequence of it would be the +fulfilment of the threat in the 9th verse: "Let them which are left eat +every one the flesh of another"--solemn and awful words, which had their +first literal fulfilment in the party feuds and mutualy destructive +strife, and in the terrible "dissolution of every bond of brotherhood +and of our common nature, which made the siege of Jerusalem by the +Romans a proverb for horror, and precipitated its destruction."] + +[Footnote 21: It has also been supposed that the references by Agrippa +in his remarkable oration (reported by Josephus, "Wars," ii., xvi. +4)--to those who dwelt "as far as beyond the Euphrates," and to "those +of your nation who dwell in Adiabene," upon whom the Jews might rely for +help in their struggle against Rome, but would not be permitted by the +Parthians to render them any assistance--were to some unknown +settlements belonging to the Ten Tribes. But this is a mistake. These +dwellers in Adiabene might or might not have belonged to the Ten Tribes, +but they formed part of the known Dispersion and of "your nation"--the +Jews.] + +[Footnote 22: Jewish Encyclopædia.] + + + + +PART III. + +NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. + + +Note I. + +ANGLO-ISRAEL "PROOFS" OF A SEPARATE FATE AND DESTINY OF "ISRAEL" AND +"JUDAH." + +The Anglo-Israel theory is based for the most part on the supposition of +a separate history during the Dispersion, and a separate destiny of the +Ten Tribes from that of Judah. I have already shown that the supposition +is a false one, but it may be well to analyse here a few more of the +Scripture "proofs" by which the contention is supported. + +The following is from a truly amazing pamphlet, entitled "Fifty Reasons +why the Anglo-Saxons are Israelites of the Lost Tribes of the House of +Israel," a publication full of misinterpretations, wild fancies, and +absurd fables, which are given out as facts of history. + +But the reader may judge for himself of the method of this writer, who +is a "D.D.," in handling Scripture. + +"The Jews," we are told with an air of authority-- + + "are one people, the Lost Tribes are another.... The Word of God + clearly intimates that Israel would lose their identity, their + land, their language, their religion, and their name, that they + would be lost to themselves, and to other nations lost. 'I will + scatter them into corners, I will make the remembrance of them to + cease from among men' (Deut. xxxii. 26). 'The Lord hideth His face + from the House of Jacob' (Isa. viii. 17). He was not any more to + speak to them in the Hebrew tongue; but 'by another tongue will I + speak unto this people' (Isa. xxviii. 11). They shall no more be + called Israel, He will call them by another name. 'And thou shalt + be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name' + (Isa. lxii. 2). 'The Lord shall call His servants by another name' + (Isa. lxv. 15). 'The name Israel shall be no more in remembrance' + (Psa. lxxxiii. 4). 'And ye shall lose, or leave, your name, and the + Lord shall call His servants by another name.' 'Why sayest thou, O + Jacob! and speakest, O Israel! my way is hid from the Lord, and my + judgment is passed over from my God?' (Isa. xl. 27). + + "'For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies + will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a + moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee' + (Isa. liv. 8). + + "In Hos. i. 4, 7 the Lord says, 'I will cause to cease the kingdom + of the House of Israel.... I will no more have mercy upon the House + of Israel, but I will utterly take them away.... But I will have + mercy upon the House of Judah.' Israel is to be called Lo-Ammi, for + 'ye are not My people, and I will not be your God' (Hos. i. 7)." + +Now let us look for a moment at the references and quotations here given. +The first is Deut. xxxii. 26: "I will scatter them into corners," etc. +This occurs in the song which Moses was commanded to put into the mouth +of the _whole nation_ at the very commencement of their history, which, +besides being a vindication of God's character in His dealings with the +nation from the beginning hitherto, is also a prophetic forecast of +their whole future history. It is the _whole people_, which according to +Moses was to be scattered into all corners as a special punishment for +their apostasy, until such time as the Lord shall turn their captivity +and have compassion upon them, and gather them from all the nations +(Deut. iv. 25-31; xxviii. 64, 65; xxx. 1-7; xxxi. 16-22). This +reference then has nothing whatever in it about a "lost identity." + +These forecasts are fulfilling themselves, not in lost tribes, but _in +the Jews_. The second reference, Isa. viii. 17: "_The Lord hideth His +face from the House of Jacob_," is (as is often the case in Anglo-Israel +quotations) a sentence broken away from the context, and has not the +least shadow of connection with "lost" or found tribes. It is an +exclamation of the prophet Isaiah with reference to the condition of +things then prevailing in _Judah_. Because of the wickedness of the +people and its king, God's face seemed to be hid from the people. But +Israel's prophets always looked beyond the present gloom and darkness, +and exercised faith in God even in the most adverse circumstances, so he +exclaims: "And I"--whatever the nation whom he sought to bring back to +God may do--"will wait upon Jehovah that hideth His face from _Jacob_ +(which stands for the whole nation) and will look to Him," _i.e._, "my +hope shall be set on Him alone." + +A quotation is made in proof that God would not any more speak to "lost" +Israel in the Hebrew tongue. The reference is Isa. xxviii. 11: "By (or +with) another tongue will I speak to this people." + +This is another instance of breaking away an isolated text from its +context, and giving it a meaning which was never intended. In that +chapter we read how the leaders, not of the Ten Tribes, but of Judah, +perverted the Word of God, which He intended should bring "rest" and +"refreshing" to the weary (ver. 12), and turned it into so many isolated +"precepts" and commandments. But because the words of grace and +salvation He was speaking to them through the prophets were scorned and +abused, God threatens that He will speak to them in judgment--"with +strange lips and with another tongue"--in which there may be included +also a reference to their being carried into captivity, "where they +would have to listen to a strange language," which they understood not +(Psalm lxxxi. 5; cxiv. 1). + +The next references in proof that the "lost" tribes were "no more to be +called Israel," but by another name, is a typical instance of the +perversion of even the most beautiful spiritual truths of the Bible for +mere outward, I was going to say, _carnal_, ends. The first quotation in +proof of this point is from Isa. lxii. 2: "Thou shalt be called by a new +name which the mouth of the Lord shall name." This short chapter is one +of the most precious and beautiful in the whole Old Testament, and it is +like laying hold of an exquisitely delicate and beautiful work of art +with a rough and dirty hand to treat it as Anglo-Israel "theologians" +do. The chapter begins: "For _Zion's sake_ will I not hold My peace, and +for _Jerusalem's sake_ I will not rest until her righteousness go forth +as brightness and her salvation as a lamp that burneth." The speaker is +either the prophet, or very probably the servant of Jehovah, the +Messiah, who is the speaker in the preceding chapter. The subject is +"Zion" or "Jerusalem," which includes the people. I believe that it +includes the _whole nation_ of which Jerusalem is the God-appointed +metropolis; but if it is to be limited to any part of the people, then +it is certainly _Judah_, of which Zion or Jerusalem is the capital, and +not the Ten Tribes who are here spoken of. + +This Zion, for whom the Messiah makes unceasing intercession, is now +called עֲזוּבָה--"forsaken," and her land שְׁמָמָה--"desolate"; but when +God's light shall again break upon her, and her righteousness goes forth +as a lamp that burneth, "Thou shalt be called חֶפְצִי-בָהּ (Hephzibah, +_i.e._, My delight is in her); and thy land בְּעוּלָה" (Beulah, _i.e._, +married). But the new name by which the mouth of Jehovah shall then +call her shall not only answer the outward transformation which shall +then come over the people and the land, but will describe the _inward_ +transformation and the true character of the people. In fact, we are +told in this very chapter what the new name shall be. They shall call +them--Saxons? Britons? No, "they shall call them the Holy People, _The +Redeemed of the Lord_." This is also the "other-name" in Isa. lxv. 15, +by which God shall call His true servants in contrast to the ungodly in +the nation, who shall be "slain," and leave their name (_i.e._, their +remembrance) as a proverbial "curse" unto His chosen. + +The next reference given in proof that the Ten Tribes were to lose their +name is Psalm lxxxiii. 4: "The name of Israel shall be no more in +remembrance." This is a typical and characteristic specimen of the +manner in which Anglo-Israel "theologians" deal with Scripture. It +reminds one of the grounds adduced by a certain individual for paying no +heed to the Old Testament because it is written, "_Hang_ the law and the +prophets" (Matt. xxii. 40). It is certainly most easy to prove almost +anything from the Bible by breaking away an isolated sentence from its +connection, and attaching to it a meaning which was never intended. + +Psalm lxxxiii. is an impassioned cry to God for His interposition and +deliverance of His people from a confederacy of Gentile nations, who are +gathered with the determined object of utterly destroying them as a +people. + + "O God, keep not Thou silence: + Hold not Thy peace and be not still, O God; for lo, Thine enemies make + a tumult: + And they that hate Thee have lifted up the head: + They take crafty counsel against Thy people, and consult together + against Thy hidden ones. + They have said: Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, + That the name of Israel be no more in remembrance." + +This historical occasion of this Psalm may perhaps have been the great +gathering of the Moabites, Ammonites, and a great multitude of others +against "Judah,"[23] who, in the Psalms belonging to that period, is +invariably called Israel. At the same time there is a prophetic element +in the Psalm, for all the past gatherings of the nations against +Jerusalem foreshadow the final great gathering under Antichrist, when +the battle-cry of the confederated armies shall indeed be, "Come, let us +destroy them from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more +in remembrance." But note, part of the furious cry of the Gentiles in +their onslaught against Jerusalem is broken away from its connection and +used by Anglo-Israel writers to prove that the Ten Tribes would lose +their identity and that the very name "Israel" would be "lost." + +Passing on to the next two references, Isa. xl. 27 and Isa. liv. 8, I +would ask the intelligent Bible-reader what relevancy or connection +these precious Scriptures have with the subject of the identification of +any "lost" tribes? They are glorious words of consolation and promise +addressed to the Jewish nation, or rather to the godly remnant in exile, +assuring them that God's eye is ever upon them, and though, on account +of their sins, His face has been turned away from them, as it were, "for +a moment," He will yet return to them with "everlasting kindness and +have mercy upon them." It is like sacrilege to misapply such beautiful +Scriptures and great spiritual truths to prove a theory which has no +basis in fact, and with which they have not the remotest connection. + +The last reference is Hosea i. 4-7; the words are plain enough, and if +they prove anything in connection with this subject it is the very +opposite of what the Anglo-Israel writers assert. Hosea did speak +primarily to the Israel of the "Ten Tribes" shortly before its final +overthrow by Assyria, and what he announces is that God would cause that +kingdom, _as a kingdom_, "to cease," and that He would no more have +mercy upon them. As a people they would be preserved, but, as it were, +disavowed of God, and therefore called "Lo-Ammi" (_i.e._, "not My +people"). But what is said here by Hosea of the condition of the people +of the "Ten Tribes," after they shall have ceased to exist as a kingdom, +is true also, as we know from many other Scriptures, of those who +belonged to the southern kingdom of Judah. It is now the Lo-Ammi period +for the _whole nation_ of the Twelve Tribes, and they shall continue to +be disowned of God nationally (not as individuals) until they as a +nation acknowledge and own their long-rejected Messiah. Then, in the +final trial, when the spirit of grace and of supplication is poured upon +them, and they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, and mourn, +God will look down upon them and say, "Ammi"--"It is My people": and +they shall say, "Jehovah is my God" (Zech. xiv. 9). + +And it is not only the prophetic Scriptures of the Old Testament which +are abused in this manner, the plainest statements in the Gospels and +Epistles are also twisted and perverted to mean the very opposite of +what was intended. The following is from a booklet, "The Lost Tribes of +Israel," by Reader Harris, K.C., "founder of the Pentecostal League," in +which all the absurdities and misinterpretations found in all the +Anglo-Israel publications are embodied:-- + + "NEW TESTAMENT PROPHECIES. + + "Let us now turn to the New Testament. It is perfectly clear that + Israel, who had been dispersed for more than 700 years, was much in + our Lord's mind during His three years' ministry upon earth, for + many were the references to Israel made by Him. As an example, let + us turn to the commission He gave to the twelve apostles in Matt x. + 5, 6:-- + + "'These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not + into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans + enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the House of + Israel.' + + "These apostles were not to go to the Gentiles, nor to the + Samaritans--who were the descendants of usurpers of Israel--'but to + the lost sheep of the House of Israel'; and they obeyed this + command as far as was then possible. The only tribe that they could + reach which had any connection with Israel was Benjamin, and + Benjamin as a tribe was won to allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. + Benjamin had gone into captivity with Judah, and had come back with + Judah; but in the prophecies of God, Benjamin had been always + associated with the Ten Tribes of Israel. It is a remarkable fact + that the majority of our Lord's disciples at the time of His + earthly ministry were connected with the tribe of Benjamin. It is + also of interest that, when Jerusalem was afterwards besieged by + the Romans under Titus, the members of what had become the + Christian tribe of Benjamin escaped. + + "Christ Himself declared, in Matt. xv. 24, this was His own + mission: '_He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost + sheep of the House of Israel._' + + "Again our Lord says, in Matt. xxi. 43: '_Therefore say I unto you_ + (He was speaking to the Jews), _the kingdom of God shall be taken + from you, and given to a nation_ (the Jews had long since ceased to + be a nation) _bringing forth the fruits thereof_.' + + "The Jews themselves evidently so understood His statement, for in + John vii. 35 we read:-- + + "'Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will He go, that we + shall not find Him? Will He go unto the dispersed among the + Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?' + + "So the Jew quite understood our Lord to refer to Israel. + + "Israel was evidently in the minds of the apostles themselves. On + the day of the ascension they asked Him:-- + + "'Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to + Israel?' (Acts i. 6.) + + "A restoration of the kingdom of Israel with the kingdom of Judah + had been promised. The apostles did not confuse the kingdom of + Israel with that of Judah, for they said, 'Wilt Thou at this time + restore the kingdom to Israel?' St. Paul devotes thirty-six verses + in Romans xi. to prove that God has not cast away His people, but + that "blindness in part is happened unto Israel until the fulness + of the nations be come in," so that all Israel shall be saved. + + "Lastly, the final word must be that of our Lord. In Acts i. 7, 8 + Christ said:-- + + "'_It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the + Father hath put in His own power, but ye shall receive power, after + that the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses + unto Me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and unto the + uttermost parts of the earth_'--which refers to the 'regions + beyond'--an expression that was fully understood to mean the + dispersed among the Gentiles." + +With much pain one has to say that this reveals either lamentable +ignorance of the plainest and simplest truths of New Testament Scripture +on the part of an otherwise educated man, or a clever adaptation by +which a lawyer would seek to support a preconceived theory. + +I have already dealt with some of these perversions in the first part of +this pamphlet, so need only refer to them again in the briefest possible +manner. + +(a) It is indeed "perfectly clear" to any reader of the New Testament +that Israel "was much in our Lord's mind during His three years' +ministry upon earth"; but as clear and evident is it to any candid +reader that the only "Israel" of whom He thought and spoke were the +people among whom He lived and moved, and to whom His blessed ministry +on earth was confined, and who are alternately called in the New +Testament "Jews" and "Israel." + +It was to these "lost sheep" _in the land of Palestine_ for whom His own +compassions were moved when He beheld them in multitudes, that the +Twelve were sent out in Matt. x., and He ascribes to them the term +"lost" in a deeper and more solemn and spiritual sense than +Anglo-Israelism has evidently any conception of. (_See_ page 41.) + +(b) The statement here repeated about the tribe of Benjamin, and that +the "majority of our Lord's disciples at the time of His earthly ministry +were connected with the tribe of Benjamin," is nothing but a fiction +invented by Anglo-Israelites, as already shown in Part I. (_See_ page +17.) + +The only thing which is historically true is that the Apostle Paul was +of the tribe of Benjamin, but he was called after our Lord's earthly +ministry was ended, and he was appointed not to the "lost tribes," but +to preach Christ's Gospel _among the Gentiles_ (Acts xxii. 21; Rom. xi. +13; Gal. i. 16). + +(c) The nation which brings forth the fruits of the kingdom of God +during the present dispensation of Israel's national unbelief is not the +British Empire, but _the Church of Christ_--the elected body out of +_all_ nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues, who are called "a +chosen generation (or 'elect race'), a royal priesthood, a _holy nation_ +(εθνος), a people for God's own possession" (1 Peter ii. 9). + +(d) To state that the Jews themselves understood Christ's statement in +Matt. xxi. 43 as referring to some "lost" Israel, because in John vii. +35 they said: "Will He go unto the dispersed (την διασποραν) among the +Gentile (or 'Greeks'), and teach the Greeks?" is not true. + +The "dispersed" among the Greeks were Hellenistic "_Jews_" of all the +Twelve Tribes scattered abroad, who stood (as already shown in Part II.) +in closest connection with the Temple and hierarchy in Jerusalem, and +were never "lost"; and the Greeks among whom they were dispersed were +"_Gentiles_." + +(e) And what can be said of such a perverted application of the +question in Acts i. 6, namely, that when the disciples, immediately +before Christ's ascension, asked: "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore +the kingdom to Israel?" it was not their own nation, the "Jews," that +they meant, and Jerusalem the centre of God's kingdom on earth--but some +"lost" tribes in distant regions of which they knew nothing--I suppose +on the same principle of Anglo-Israel interpretation when Peter, with +the eleven on the Day of Pentecost, for instance, addressed the people +as "_Ye men of Israel_," and again, "Let all the house of Israel, +therefore, know assuredly that God hath made Him both Lord and +Christ--this Jesus whom ye crucified" (Acts ii. 22-36)--he did not speak +to the assembled multitude of "Jews" before him, but over their heads to +some distant regions where there were some wandering "lost" tribes who +alone were entitled to the name "Israel." But such assertions are +altogether too ridiculous to be treated seriously. + +The "Israel" which "was evidently in the minds of the apostles," and to +whom Peter spoke, and of whom Paul wrote in that great prophetic section +in his Epistle to the Romans (chaps. ix.-xi.), were the "Jews," whether +of Palestine or in the "Dispersion," who are the only representatives of +all the Twelve Tribes of "Israel" with whom Scripture or prophecy has +any concern, and not any supposed "lost" tribes to be identified after +many centuries by Anglo-Israel writers as the British and the United +States. + +(f) "Lastly, the final word," we are told, "must be that of our +Lord," and then there follows the quotation of the glorious promise and +prophetic forecast from Acts i. 7, 8: "_Ye shall receive power when the +Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be My witnesses both in +Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of +the earth_"; and we are assured that the last sentence refers "to the +regions beyond--an expression that was fully understood to mean the +dispersed among the Gentiles"--by which, I suppose, we are meant to +understand, the "lost" tribes. + +But the sentence--και εως εσχατον της γης--means, as it has been +properly rendered, "unto the end (or 'uttermost part') of the earth," +and has always been "fully" and properly understood by the Church of +Christ as a Divine warrant and forecast of the preaching of the Gospel, +not to the Dispersed _among_ the Gentiles, but to _the heathen world_. + + +Note II. + +THE PROMISES OF A MULTITUDINOUS SEED, AND THAT ISRAEL SHALL BECOME A +GREAT AND MIGHTY NATION. + +A great point is made by all Anglo-Israel writers of the promises which +God made to the fathers of a multitudinous seed. The argument is, that +since the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were to be a great and +mighty and very numerous nation--yea, "a company of nations"--these +promises cannot apply to the "Jews," who are comparatively few in +number. There must exist, therefore, a people somewhere great and +mighty and numerous who are the seed of Abraham, in whom these promises +are realised. + +Now look at the British Empire, how great and mighty it is in the earth, +and what vast numbers it includes, _ergo_, the British, including the +United States of America (which by some wonderful process of divination +Anglo-Israelites are able to distinguish and identify as "Manasseh," in +spite of the fact that their progenitors, who emigrated from England, +were, according to them "Ephraimites," and that those original emigrants +have since been mixed up with a flood of emigrants from all other races +under heaven), are the descendants of Abraham, and particularly of the +"lost" Ten Tribes! + +Now the following are the Scriptures on the subject: + + (1) "And I will make of thee (Abraham) a great nation" (Gen. xii. + 2). + + (2) "And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if + a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be + numbered" (Gen. xiii. 16). + + (3) "And He brought him (Abraham) forth abroad, and said, Look now + toward heaven, and tell the number of the stars, if thou be able to + tell them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be" (Gen. xv. + 5). + + (4) "And God talked with him (Abraham), saying: As for Me, My + covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be the father of a multitude + of nations; neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but + thy name shall be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations + have I made thee. And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I + will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee" (Gen. + xvii. 4-6). + + (5) "Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all + the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him" (Gen. xviii. 18). + + (6) "In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will + multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is + upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his + enemies" (a Hebrew idiom for "shall be victorious over his foes") + (Gen. xxii. 17). + + (7) "And God said unto him (Jacob), I am God Almighty, be fruitful + and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, + and kings shall come out of thy loins" (Gen. xxxv. 11). + +To these passages have to be added Isaac's blessing to Jacob: "God +Almighty bless thee and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou +mayest be a company--literally, 'a congregation' ( קְהַל עַמִּים ) of +peoples" (Gen. xxviii. 3); and Jacob's forecast of Ephraim in his +blessing of Joseph's sons, that his seed shall become "a multitude (or +literally, 'a fulness,' מְלֹא הַגּוֹיִם ) of the nations." + +Now in reference to all these particular promises and forecasts, I would +beg your attention to the following observations:-- + +I. There are expressions in them which must not be pressed to the +extreme of literalness according to our Western ideas. We speak of +"nations," and think of them as embracing populations of whole +countries, and of "kings" as being sovereigns of States, but in the +earlier books of the Bible we are introduced to many "nations" and +"peoples" as comprised in one little country of Canaan, and of many +"kings" who were no more than chiefs, or rulers of "cities," which in +our modern times we would only class as "villages." As a matter of fact, +the term גּוֹיִם , _goim_, generally standing for "_nations_," and +usually for the _Gentile_ nations, is actually used for the _tribes_ or +families of the Jewish people. Here is the Scripture: "And He said unto +me, Son of Man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to nations +( גּוֹיִם , (_goim_--the word is in the plural) that are rebellious, which +have rebelled against Me" (Ezek. ii. 3). + +The "Jews," or "Israel," as they are properly called are being spoken +of as "nations," because they comprised different families or tribes. + +Already Moses could say of the Israel of his time: "_Jehovah your God +hath multiplied you, and behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven +for multitude_" (Deut. i. 10; x. 22); and Solomon, in his prayer for +wisdom, says: "_Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people which Thou +hast chosen, a great people that cannot be counted for multitude_" (1 +Kings iii. 8). + +The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews knew nothing of a supposed +identification of the millions in Britain and America with the "lost" +Ten Tribes, but speaking of the descendants of Abraham and Sarah, he +could say that because Abraham believed God, and Sarah herself, in spite +of natural impossibilities, judged Him faithful who had promised: +"_Wherefore also there sprang of one, and him as good as dead, so many +as the stars of heaven for multitude, and as the sand which is by the +seashore innumerable_" (Hebrews xi. 12); so that even if we view only +the past it is not true to assert that the promises of God that the seed +of Abraham should be a multitude which cannot be numbered, and +constitute "a company of nations," has not been fulfilled in the "Jews" +or "Israel," which has never been "lost." + +II. The promises of a multitudinous seed and rapid increase of the seed +of Abraham, though in the first instance given to the fathers +unconditionally, and therefore will assuredly be fulfilled, were +nevertheless made conditional on Israel's obedience. It is with this, as +with all the other great promises, given to the Jewish nation. They were +conditional as far as any particular generation of Jews are concerned, +who may either enjoy them if in obedience, or forfeit them through +disobedience; but they are unconditional to the nation because God +abides faithful, and in the end all His plans and purposes in and +through them will be fulfilled. For this very reason He has preserved +them as a people in spite of all their sin and disobedience. + +Now at the very commencement of Israel's history--long before there was +any likelihood of a schism among the tribes--Moses, speaking in the name +of God of the whole nation, says: "_If ye walk in My statutes and keep +My commandments to do them, ... I will have respect unto you and make +you fruitful and multiply you, and will establish My covenant with you_" +(Lev. xxvi. 3-9). + +On the other hand, he solemnly forewarns them that if they shall +"corrupt themselves" and fall away from the living God, "I call heaven +and earth to witness against you this day that ye shall soon utterly +perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it, ... +and Jehovah shall scatter you among the peoples, _and ye shall be left +few in number among the nations whither Jehovah shall lead you_" (Deut. +iv. 25-27). + +This is repeated with solemn emphasis in Deut. xxviii. 62: "_And ye +shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for +multitude_." In the light of the Word of God, therefore, and apart from +all the absurdities involved in the Anglo-Israel theory, the very fact +that the British and American races are so numerous and powerful among +the nations precludes the possibility of their being Israel, for when +out of Palestine and in dispersion Israel was to become "few in number," +and oppressed and downtrodden among the nations. + +III. The underlying fallacy in the Anglo-Israel argument from the +promises of a multitudinous seed which God made to the fathers (and +this, indeed, is one of the chief errors underlying the whole theory), +is that it overlooks the fact that those promises, according to the +testimony of the prophets, will be fulfilled in the _future_, when (as +stated above) the Jewish nation, restored and converted, shall become +under the personal rule of their Messiah, great and mighty for God on +this earth. Then, when Israel shall be spiritually restored to God, and +in and through the grace of their Messiah they shall be a nation all +righteous and planted by God in their own land, "the little one shall +become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation" (Isa. lx. 21, 22); +and so rapidly and marvellously shall they increase that even the whole +promised land, which is fifty times as large as the portion of it "from +Dan to Beersheba," which alone they possessed in the past, shall become +too small for them, so that they shall say to the surrounding nations: +"_The place is too strait for me, give place ('make room') that I may +dwell_" (Isa. xlix. 19, 20). + +Now all this has been, and will be, fulfilled in the "Jews," who, as I +have shown, are the people of the whole "_Twelve Tribes scattered +abroad_." In the dispersion among the nations they became reduced to +"few in number," but when they are restored and blessed God says: "I +will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, +and they shall not be small" (Jer. xxx. 19). + +Of the capacity for rapid increase of the Jewish people there is +sufficient proof already. The following is from a recent number of _The +Scattered Nation_:-- + + "The marvellous increase of the Jewish people since their so-called + 'emancipation' in the xixth century, is indeed a striking sign of + the times. The statement of a recent writer in the _Jewish + Chronicle_ that at the commencement of the xvith century there + could scarcely have been more than a million Jews left in the + entire world after the untold sufferings, dispersions and massacres + which they had to endure in the dark and middle ages--is probably + true. The historian Basnage, in his 'History of the Jews from + Jesus Christ to the Present Time,' calculated that in his time (end + of the xviith and beginning of the xviiith century) there were + 3,000,000 Jews in the world. Since then, however, the growth of + Jewry has been phenomenal. At the commencement of the xixth century + there were said to be five millions. Half a century later the + numbers reached six or seven millions; and at the end of another + half a century--in 1896--the greatest living authority on Jewish + statistics gave their number as eleven millions. And now, after the + lapse of another seventeen or eighteen years, we are informed that + there are no less than 13,000,000 Jews in the world. And the + surprising feature of this latest calculation is the officially + authenticated fact that, in the country where they are most + persecuted, and which during the past three decades has driven + forth millions to seek an asylum in other countries, there are more + Jews to-day than ever before; and this in spite of pogroms, and + baptisms, and overcrowding, and starvation, and the pursuance of a + merciless policy of repression which led Pobiedonostsef to + prognosticate that, in the end, a third of Russia's Jews would + emigrate, a third would die, and a third would join the dominant + faith. The old story of Israel in Egypt renews itself to-day in + Russia: 'The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied.'" + +And if this be so now even in dispersion, we can imagine that in the +millennial period, under the fostering care and blessing of God, the +favoured nation will increase and multiply so that they will be as the +stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, +innumerable. + + +Note III. + +THE PERPETUITY OF THE DAVIDIC THRONE. + +One great Anglo-Israel argument that the British must be the "lost" +Israel is based on the promises which God made to David that his seed +and his throne shall be established for ever. Sometimes, indeed (as seen +in one of the quotations given in Part I., _see_ page 12), and in +keeping with Anglo-Israel logic, the argument is used the other way: "If +the Saxons be the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, then the English throne is +a continuation of David's throne, and the seed on it must be the seed of +David, and the inference is clear, namely, that all the blessings +attaching by the holy promise to David's throne must belong to +England";[24] and since, according to the dictum of the theory, this +"must be so," evidence must somehow be found, both "historical" and from +Scripture. So on the historical side a genealogical table has been +produced in which the descent of the royal house of England (which may +God protect!) is directly traced to David and Judah--a table truly +strange and wonderful, and which only shows how easy it is to prove +anything if wild guesses and perverted fancies be treated as facts. On +these genealogical tables and "histories," however, with regard to which +we would only apply to the Anglo-Israel "world" the old Latin +proverb--_Mundus vult decipi et decipiatur_--it would be sheer waste of +time to enter here. It is the product of a false supposition, supported +by a logic which is also false, both in its premises and conclusions. +People whose capacity for credulity is large enough to believe the wild +romances spun out by Anglo-Israel writers about Jeremiah's journey to +Ireland with a daughter of Zedekiah, who brought with them as part of +their personal luggage the coronation stone which is now in Westminster +Abbey, are very welcome to believe it; and one would not trouble much +about them if they would only let the Bible alone and not pervert +Scripture. + +But it is the supposed _Scriptural_ "proofs" which impose on some +simple-minded Christians, with whom alone we are concerned here. The +following passages almost all Anglo-Israel writers fasten upon:-- + +"_The Lord hath sworn unto David in truth, He will not turn from it; of +the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne_" (Psa. cxxxii. 11). + +"_I have sworn unto David My servant, Thy seed will I establish for +ever, and build up thy throne to all generations_" (Psa. lxxxix. 3, 4). + +"_Thus saith Jehovah: If ye can break My covenant of the day, and my +covenant of the night, in their season, then may also My covenant be +broken with David My servant that he should not have a son to reign upon +his throne.... Thus saith the Lord: If My covenant of day and night +stand not, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; +then will I also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David My servant, +so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of +Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, +and will have mercy on them_" (Jer. xxxiii. 20, 21, 25, 26, R.V.). + +The argument drawn from these Scriptures is: If the British be not +Israel, and the English throne be not a continuation of the throne of +David, where is the fulfilment of these promises? In answer to this +crude logic I would observe:-- + +I. That it seems to be quite a characteristic of Anglo-Israelism to +ignore our Lord Jesus Christ as the centre of all promise and prophecy, +just as it ignores the existence of the Church and the future kingdom of +God, for all which it substitutes the British people and the British +Empire. But _Christ_ is the true Son of David, and the only legitimate +heir to the Davidic throne. "The sure mercies of David," which are sure +(or "faithful," as the word may be better rendered), because God has +sworn to fulfil, or "establish" them, are all merged and centred _in +Him_. Hence, when His birth was announced to the Virgin Mary, the Angel +Gabriel said: "Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a +son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be +called the Son of the Most High, and _the Lord God shall give unto Him +the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over the House of +Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end_" (Luke i. +31-33). + +If Israel had received Him His throne would have been established, and +His visible reign on earth commenced then. But He was rejected, and so +the promise in reference to setting up again of the Davidic kingdom, +which had ceased to exist since the days of Zedekiah, was still deferred +until the purpose of God with reference to the Church should be +accomplished. + +But the promises which God made to David have not failed, for Jesus, the +true Son of David, lives, and though He is for the present sitting on +the throne of God in heaven, _He is coming again_ to set up the throne +of His father David, and then "He shall reign over the House of Jacob +for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end." + +II. It was announced in advance that during the "many days" of Israel's +apostasy, and consequent banishment from the land, they "_shall abide +without a king and without a prince_," _i.e._, without the true Davidic +king of God's appointment, and without a prince of their own choice, as +Jewish commentators have themselves explained, until "the latter days," +when restored and converted they shall find in their Messiah the true +David, both their King and Prince.[25] + +III. The only place on earth where a _throne of David_ can have any +legitimate place, either in the sight of God or of man, is on _Mount +Zion in Jerusalem_, and it is an absurdity to speak of the continuity of +a Davidic throne in England. Thank God that the right of the British +Sovereign to his illustrious throne rests on a firmer basis than the +fictitious genealogies made out by Anglo-Israelites. + +IV. The same Scriptures, which speak of the perpetuity of the Davidic +seed and _throne_, speak also of the unceasing continuance of _the +priesthood_. "_Thus saith Jehovah, David shall never want a man to sit +upon the throne of the House of Israel; neither shall the priests the +Levites want a man before Me to offer burnt-offerings and to burn +oblations, and to do sacrifice continually.... Thus saith the Lord: If +ye can break My covenant of the day, and My covenant of the night, so +that there should not be day and night in their season; then may also My +covenant be broken with David My servant, that he should not have a son +to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, My +ministers_" (Jer. xxxiii. 17, 20, 21). + +Now it would be quite as logical to argue that the ministers of the +Church of England must be the lineal descendants of the Levites, else +God's promise of the continuance of the priesthood has failed, as to +argue from these same Scriptures that there must be somewhere now on +earth a throne of David, or else these prophecies have proved false. + +The truth is that neither have God's promises in reference to the throne +nor to the priesthood failed--for Christ is, in His blessed Person, the +Prophet, Priest, and King. He is all this now at the right hand of God, +for not only are all the essentials of the Aaronic priesthood fulfilled +in Him, but He is "a priest _for ever_ after the order of Melchizedek"; +and when He is manifested again on earth to take up His throne and +reign, "_He shall be a priest upon His throne_, and the counsel of peace +shall be between them both."[26] + + +Note IV. + +THE SO-CALLED HISTORIC PROOFS OF ANGLO-ISRAELISM. + +I have stated on page 10 that the so-called Historic Proofs of +Anglo-Israelism, by which the theory is supported, are derived from +pagan myths and fables. Let the following suffice as a sample:-- + + "To accomplish this" (_i.e._, that the seed of Abraham should + inherit the isles of the west) "some were sent to take possession + of the islands long before." + + The wrath of man is made to praise Him (Gen. xxxvii. 2; l. 15-21), + which led to the flight of Danaus, the son of Bela, from _Egyptus_ + his brother. Dan is the son of Bilhah and brother of Joseph, who + was over all the Egyptians. This was the first secession from + Israel. This is probably alluded to in Ezekiel xx. 5-9. Another + secession took place (1 Chron. vii. 21-24). A third secession was + after the Exodus. When in the Wilderness Num. xiv. 1-4 states that + they said, "Let us make a captain." Nehemiah ix. 17 tells us they + did so (compare Psa. cvi. 26, 27; Ezek. xx. 21-23). + + _Hecatœus of Abdera_ (6th century B.C.), quoted by _Diodorus + Siculus_ (B.C. 50), i. 27, 46, 55, says:-- + + "The most distinguished of the expelled foreigners (from Egypt) + followed Danaus and Cadmus into Greece; but the greater number were + led by Moses into Judæa." + + In Æschylus' _Supplicants_ (B.C. 6th century) Danaus and his + daughters are represented as a "seed divine," exiles from Egypt, + fleeing from their brother Egyptus. Since they feared an unholy + alliance, they appear to have passed through Syria and perhaps + Sidon into Greece.[27] + +I will say nothing here about the Scripture references in the first +paragraph, but if any intelligent Bible student will look them up he +will see that only a perverted fancy can see in them any justification +for the theory here propounded. But, as will be noted, the heathen fable +about Ægyptus and Danaus is here brought into the history of Israel, +Danaus being identified as Dan, the son of Bilhah; and Ægyptus, I +suppose, with Joseph. Now here is the pagan fable, and let the reader +judge what connection it has with the history of the sons of Jacob. + +Ægyptus, who had fifty sons, and Danaus, who had fifty daughters, were +twin brothers. Their father, Belus, the son of Poseidon, identified by +the Romans with Neptunus, the god of the Mediterranean Sea, had assigned +Libya to Danaus; but, fearing Ægyptus, his brother, he fled with his +fifty daughters to Argos in Peloponnessus, where he was elected king by +the Argives in place of Gelanor, the reigning monarch. Thither, however, +he was followed by the fifty sons of Ægyptus, who demanded his daughters +for their wives. Danaus complied with their request, but gave to each of +his daughters a dagger with which to kill their husbands in the bridal +night. All the sons of Ægyptus were thus murdered, with but one +exception. The life of Lynceus was spared by his wife, Hypermnestra, +who, according to the legend, afterwards avenged the death of his +forty-nine brothers by killing his father-in-law Danaus. + +The fifty daughters of Danaus, known as "the Danaides," were punished in +Hades for their crime by being compelled everlastingly to pour water +into a sieve. Note also that the fable propagated by Manetho that the +Jews were _expelled_ from Egypt as lepers, and the legend of Hecatæus, +quoted by Diodorus Siculus that, "the most distinguished of these +expelled followed Danaus and Cadmus into Greece, but the greater number +were led by Moses into Judea," is also accepted as history. Some of +these same pagan writers believed that the object of worship in the Holy +of Holies was the head of an ass, and other absurdities of the same +nature. I wonder if Anglo-Israel "theologians" accept this also as +"history." + +I may here add that the identification by Anglo-Israel writers of Tea, +or Tephi, the heroine of some Irish ballads, with a princess of the +royal house of Judah, whom Jeremiah brought to Ireland in one of the +ships of Dan, and who married Esincaid, King of Ulster, and so became +the ancestress of the royal houses of Ireland and Scotland, and +subsequently of England--has just as much "history" for its basis as the +identification of Danaus with Dan, or of Ægyptus with Joseph. + +The value of Irish legends and ballads (upon which the romances of +Anglo-Israel writers are largely based), as sources of "history," may be +judged from the following introductory statement taken from a standard +compendium of the history of Ireland: + +"The history of Ireland, like that of almost all ancient countries, +'tracks its parent lake' back into the enchanted realms of legend and +romance and fable. It has been said, not untruly, of Ireland that she +'can boast of ancient legends rivalling in beauty and dignity the tales +of Attica and Argolis; she has an early history whose web of blended +myth and reality is as richly coloured as the record of the rulers of +Alba Longa and the story of the Seven Kings.' We cannot now make any +effort to get at history in the beautiful myths and stories. We should +puzzle our brains in vain to find out whether the Lady Cesair, who came +to Ireland before the Deluge with fifty women and three men, has any +warrant from genuine tradition, or is a child of fable altogether. We +cannot get any hint of the actual truth about Conn of the Hundred +Fights, and Fin MacCoul and Oisin. But the impression which does seem to +be conveyed clearly enough from all these romances and fables and +ballads is that the island was occupied in dim far-off ages by +successive invaders who came from the south. + +"The Phœnicians are said to have represented one wave of invasion and +the Greeks another.... + +"What may be called the authentic history of Ireland begins with the +life and career of St. Patrick (5th century)." + + +Note V. + +"THE GATE OF HIS ENEMIES." + +One brief note more must be added on a point which all Anglo-Israel +writers advance as proof positive in support of their theory. It is the +promise that God made to Abraham, "Thy seed shall possess the gate of +his enemies." The term "gate" (or "gates" as often mis-quoted) is taken +to signify "strait," "port," or strategic maritime position and these +writers grow quite eloquent in pointing out the many maritime points of +vantage which are in occupation of the British as a fulfilment of this +ancient promise to the chosen people. + +Thus the writer of "Fifty Reasons" (W. H. Poole, D.D.), with which I +have already dealt, asks (page 61) "What nation or people are now the +gate-holders of the nations? We hold Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Acre, +Suez Canal, Aden, Perim," and many other important maritime points which +he enumerates, and concludes triumphantly "_For 500 years Britain has +been the gate-holder in the lands of those who hate her_"--a very +doubtful compliment this, by the way, to British rule over her acquired +possessions. + +But like many other Anglo-Israel "proofs" it has no basis in philology +or in fact. The word שַׁעַר --Sha'ar ("gate") is used hundreds of times in +the Hebrew Bible, but _never once_ either literally or figuratively of a +maritime "strait" or "port." The "gate" as being not only the entrance +to, but as giving control or possession of the oriental (walled) city, +often stands for the city itself. It was, moreover, the most public +place of the city, where causes were tried and justice administered +(Deut. xxi. 19; xxii. 15; Prov. xxii. 22; Amos v. 10-15); and where +elders and judges, kings and princes "sat" officially for counsel or +often to exercise authority and rule (Dan. ii. 49; Jer. xvii. 19; +xxxviii. 7). + +The promise that Abraham's seed should possess the gate of his enemies +is idiomatic figurative language, equivalent to saying that they shall +be victorious over their enemies, and take possession of their cities. +This was fulfilled when at the conquest of Canaan the Israelites took +possession of the land and thus assumed the position of lordship over +the doomed nations who are spoken of as their "enemies." + +We may notice, by way of contrast, that in Jer. i. 14-16 God threatens +that as a punishment on Israel for their sin He would call all the +families of the kingdoms of the north, and "they shall set every one his +throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem," which is equivalent +to saying that the Gentiles would possess "the gate" of Israel--which as +a matter of fact, they are now permitted to do by treading down +Jerusalem and scattering the people until the times of the Gentiles are +fulfilled. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 23: See 2 Chron. xx. 1-13.] + +[Footnote 24: "The Lost Ten Tribes," by Joseph Wild. The Eighteenth +Discourse.] + +[Footnote 25: See "The Interregnum and After"--the first chapter of my +book, "The Ancient Scriptures and the Modern Jew."] + +[Footnote 26: One fundamental of the Anglo-Israel theory is that the +destinies of Israel and Judah are distinct and separate. Most +inconsistent, therefore, is their appropriation of David, the King of +Judah, with the promises applying to his royal house _for ever_; their +endeavour should rather be to claim, if they can find in Scripture +promises made to descendants of Jeroboam's line, or some other King of +Israel--with David they can have nothing to do.] + +[Footnote 27: "Palestine into Britain," by Rev. L. G. A. Roberts, +Secretary of the "Imperial British Israel Association."] + + + + +APPENDIX. + +ARE WE THE TEN TRIBES? + + +By the Late HORATIUS BONAR, D.D. + +(Reprinted by permission from _The Sunday at Home_, October, 1880.) + +That the inhabitants of Great Britain are Israelites is a modern theory +which has been widely spread. Its defenders have invented a large number +of resemblances or "identifications," on which, in the absence of +authentic history or national tradition, they rest their proof. + +The languages of our country--Saxon, English, Welsh, and Celtic--have no +affinity with the Hebrew; but that is made of no account. The history of +the many tribes of which our nation is composed--whether Teutonic, or +Saxon, or Caledonian, or Latin, or Scandinavian--is totally distinct +from that of any of the tribes of Israel; but authentic history is in +this case wholly set aside. + +The manners and customs of our nation, both religious and social, have +not the slightest resemblance to those of Israel; but this is quite +ignored. The physiognomy of our countrymen--whether they are English, or +Welsh, or Scotch, or Celtic, or Norwegian, or Norman--is the very +opposite of Eastern, the Israelitish face being a marked contrast to the +British; but that is reckoned of no consequence. + +The names of men, women, and places in our land are not Hebrew or +Semitic at all, but are traceable to another class of languages +altogether; yet _this_ weighs nothing. The occupation of our land by +certain tribes, who we now call the Aboriginal Caledonians, or Britons +(long before the Ten Tribes were carried captive to Assyria, and who, +therefore, could not be Israelites), is passed by. The grand story of an +Israelitish emigration from Assyria into Great Britain, whether by sea +or land, we are not told, and there is neither history nor tradition nor +local monuments to confirm it. And yet, when was there _ever_ an +emigration in which the emigrants did not carry their language, their +religion, their manners, their dress, and their national traditions with +them? This the identifiers of Israel with England have not considered. +The Two Tribes in their dispersion over wide Europe carried their +worship, their language, and their manners, into every European city, +and synagogues exist to this day which were set up centuries before +Christ, and every European Jew can tell for certain that he is a +descendant of Abraham, and lives apart from the Gentiles around; yet, if +the Anglo-Israelite theory be true, the Ten Tribes poured in upon Great +Britain and settled themselves there, drove back the Aborigines, but +left their religion, their books, their priesthood, their language, +their names behind them, like cast-off clothes, in order to prevent +themselves from being identified, as if ashamed of their ancestry. It +must have been with Israelites that Julius Cæsar fought; their queen, +Boadicea, not a Hebrew name, and their general, Caractacus, not a Hebrew +name either: these Israelites must have set up the Druid religion in the +island, and to them we must owe Stonehenge and similar relics of +antiquity. + +There is no evidence in the Bible, or in history, or tradition, for any +such Israelitish emigration. Such a flood could not have passed over +Europe, either north or south, without leaving some trace or being +mentioned in history. If some two or three millions of Israelites did +pour into this remote and barbarous island of ours, it must have been +before the Romans came; and such a flood of Easterns must have made it a +populous island, which certainly it was not. + +These cultivated Easterns--for the Israelites, even in their apostasy, +were a highly educated and cultivated nation--flowed in upon an island +of barbarians, yet produced no impression, taught them no arts, gave +them no language, and brought no civilisation to the barbarous Britons +and Caledonians; whereas the Romans, who followed, carried language, +arts, manners, names with them, and left behind them (though theirs was +but a brief military occupation) traces of their Latin footsteps, which +remain to us after nineteen centuries. Traverse our island, and you will +find in every county names and traditions and ruins that tell you that +Rome was once here; but no name or traditions to say that Israel was +here. Note: In Cornwall there may be some traces of Phœnician commerce; +but we know whence these Eastern strangers came and the object of their +coming, viz., to procure tin from the mines. + +Are such things credible or possible? Prophecy, moreover, intimates that +Israel is to remain scattered and under the curse till the Redeemer +comes out of Zion, and will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. The whole +Twelve Tribes are under the curse till the great day of national +deliverance comes for Judah and for Israel. + +Let Rom. xi. be studied in connection with this. + +The "identifications" gravely announced in some of the many pamphlets of +Anglo-Israelitish literature are somewhat peculiar, and do not carry any +extraordinary amount of weight with them to counterbalance the above +arguments. Here are a few of them:-- + +1. "Isles and islands," spoken of by the prophets. These must be the +British Isles, and, therefore, their inhabitants are the Ten Tribes. + +2. "Israel loveth to oppress," the prophet says; "England loveth to +oppress"--therefore, England is Israel. + +3. "I believe," says one of the Anglo-Israelitish authors, "that Sunday +Schools have been raised up purposely for this identity!" + +4. "Israel is to occupy the ends of the earth." Britain does so; +therefore, Britain is Israel. + +5. "Israel is to possess the gates of his enemies." We possess +Gibraltar, Malta, the Cape, etc.; therefore, we are Israel, for these +are "the gates" of our enemies. + +6. "The smoke and fire coming up from the cities and furnaces of our +land are like the pillar cloud of Israel." + +7. The people in the South of Ireland trouble us, just as the Canaanites +troubled Israel; therefore, we are Israel, for the South of Ireland is +peopled by the descendants of the Canaanites. + +8. Jacob's stone is still in our possession. It is that on which Jacob +slept, that which was the chief corner-stone of the Temple--saved by +Jeremiah, and taken by him to Ireland, and then placed in Westminster +Abbey under the Coronation chair; therefore, the English are Israelites. + +9. "Jacob's glory is like the firstling of a bullock" (Deut. xxxiii. +17). The identifiers write: "The ox being oftentimes applied to Israel +may partly be said to emblemise the world-famed power of John Bull." + +No evidence (worthy of its name), either historical, ethnological, +linguistic, or traditional, is produced; we get nothing but conjectures +and fanciful allusions as the proofs of this singular theory. + +Some of its defenders boast that since this theory was started the +incomes of our Jewish Mission Societies have fallen off by £15,000. +Whether this is true or not we cannot say; but the boast, whatever be +its foundation, shows the spirit of the writers and the tendency of the +new doctrine. + +Noah's prophecy stands out clear and sharp with its threefold ethnology; +Shem, Ham and Japheth are the roots of the nations, and God has kept +them distinct: let us beware of confounding them. History tells us that +our pedigree is to be traced to Japheth. The modern discoveries in +ethnology confirm this beyond a doubt; Eastern monuments, whether of +Assyria or Egypt, tell the same story. + +The above theory rests on a misreading of prophetic truth: such a +misreading robs it of all its Divine spirituality. Outward national +prosperity and greatness, not righteousness nor truth, are made the +characteristics of the Israel of prophecy. England--full of crime, +infidelity, immorality, and ungodliness--is said to be now enjoying the +favour of God, which is destined for Israel in the latter day! The +knowledge of the glory of the Lord is to be the privilege of these +tribes, and by that knowledge they are to be exalted. But their theory +gives us another standard of the nation's greatness--a standard which no +part of Scripture recognises, least of all the sure word of prophecy, +the light in the dark place. This theory darkens the whole prophetic +Word, perverting events and inverting times and seasons. It denies +Israel's present guilt, and lowers our ideas of Israel's coming glory. +It puts a Gentile King and Queen in the place of the nation's own +Messiah, under whose sceptre alone it is to enjoy peace, blessedness and +holy greatness. It rejects the apostle's symbol of the olive tree, in +Rom. xi.; Not merely confounding the Jewish and the Gentile +dispensation, denying that the once good olive tree has for a season +become evil, and its branches cut off to make room for the grafts of the +wild olive tree. + +This is emphatically and pre-eminently the time of the wild olive tree, +whereas this theory not only confuses the wild olive with the good, but +denies that it is the grafted branches of the wild olive tree that are +now bearing fruit and receiving blessing. + +When the dispensation of the wild olive, or Gentile, shall end, then, +but not till then, shall the blessing and the glory return to the good +olive--that is, to "all Israel." + +Let us take the Word of God simply as we find it. Let us beware of +fanciful identifications, which, even were they true, are not worth the +stress laid upon them. Suppose I could prove, not by conjecture, but by +registered genealogies, that I belong to the tribe of Ephraim or +Issachar, what does it profit me? Will it make me a holier man to know +that I belong to those northern tribes against which the Lord, when +here, pronounced His darkest woes, as primarily and pre-eminently His +rejectors. "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! It shall +be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Day of Judgment than for +thee." + +Capernaum, the representative of the Ten Tribes, had been condemned for +refusing the Lord of Glory before Jerusalem was cast away. + +To esteem external national prosperity as God's special mark of favour, +is to carnalise all the prophets, and to degrade, not only the glory of +the latter day, but present privileges in Christ; for what a poor thing +these privileges and the glory must be if this sinful nation of ours, +that seems ripe for judgment and rejection, be the exhibition of these, +the fulfilment of Jehovah's promises to the beloved people. + + + + +Other Works by DAVID BARON. + + + The Servant of Jehovah: The New Cheaper Edition. + Sufferings of the Messiah and the Price 3s. 6d. net. + Glory that should Follow + + Types, Psalms and Prophecies: 3rd Revised Edition. + A Selected Series of Old Testament Studies Price 6s. net. + + The Visions and Prophecies of 2nd Cheaper Edition. + Zechariah: "The Prophet of Hope 566 pages, demy 8vo. + and of Glory" Price 7s. 6d. net. + + The Ancient Scriptures and Sixth Edition. + the Modern Jew Crown 8vo. + Price 4s. 6d. net. + The Shepherd of Israel and His + Scattered Flock: A solution of the New Edition. + Enigma of Jewish History Price 2s. 6d. net. + + Israel's Inalienable Possessions: New and Revised Edition. + The Gifts and the Calling of God which are Paper Covers, 9d. net. Cloth + without Repentance 1s. 4d. net. + + A Divine Forecast of Jewish New and Enlarged + History--A Proof of the Supernatural Edition. Paper Covers, + Element in Scripture 9d. net. + + The Jewish Problem--Its Solution; New Edition. Crown 8 vo. + or, Israel's Present and Future Price 1s. net. + + + Christ and Israel: Lectures and Addresses Price 4s. net. + on the Jews. By Adolph Saphir, + D.D. Collected and Edited by David + Baron + +Morgan and Scott Ltd., 12, Paternoster Buildings, E.C.; or from The +Hebrew Christian Testimony to Israel, "En-Hakkoré," Northwood, +Middlesex. + +All these books can be had also in America from the China Inland +Mission, 237, West School Lane, Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE TEN “LOST” TRIBES *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The History of the Ten “Lost” Tribes<br /> + Anglo-Israelism Examined</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: David Baron</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 20, 2012 [eBook #38630]<br /> +[Most recently updated: December 12, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Jason Isbell, Jeff G., and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE TEN “LOST” TRIBES ***</div> + +<h1>The History of the Ten "Lost" Tribes:<br /> +Anglo-Israelism Examined<br /> + +BY<br /> + +DAVID BARON</h1> + +<p class="center">Author of +"Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah," etc.</p> + +<p class="center">FOURTH EDITION</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="center"><b>MORGAN & SCOTT LTD.</b><br /> +12, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C. 4</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="center">TWO SHILLINGS NET<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">The History +of the +Ten "Lost" Tribes</span>:</p> + +<p class="center b2">ANGLO-ISRAELISM EXAMINED</p> + +<p class="center">BY</p> + +<p class="center b2">DAVID BARON</p> + +<p class="center">AUTHOR OF +"THE ANCIENT SCRIPTURES AND THE MODERN JEW" +"THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL," ETC.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Fourth Edition—Revised and Enlarged</i></p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="center"><b>MORGAN & SCOTT LD.</b></p> + +<p class="center">(<span class="smcap">Office of</span> "The Christian")</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">12, Paternoster Buildings</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">London, E.C.</span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a><br /><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span> +</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>A few words of explanation are needed by way of +preface to this little book. More than twenty +years ago, being often appealed to by friends for my +judgment on Anglo-Israelism, or to answer questions +which were addressed to me on this subject, I finally, +after making myself acquainted with the positions +and arguments by which the theory is supported, drew +up a statement in the form of "A Letter to an Inquirer." +This "Letter," somewhat amplified, was printed in the +form of an appendix in my book, "The Ancient Scriptures +and the Modern Jew," whence by special request +it was subsequently reprinted in pamphlet form under +the title, "Anglo-Israelism, and the True History of +the Ten Lost Tribes"—a separate edition of it having +also been published in America. This pamphlet is now +out of print, and, being appealed to by prominent +Christian friends to bring out a new edition, I felt +constrained before doing so to re-examine the whole +question anew, and more thoroughly than before. To +this end I have read through, with much inward pain +I must confess, a number of the more recent Anglo-(or +"British")-Israel publications, which for the most +part are mere repetitions of one another. The result +is the treatise now in the reader's hands, which will be +found to consist of three Parts.</p> + +<p>In Part I. I have dealt with Anglo-Israel assertions +and claims, and the arguments by which they are supported; +in Part II., which is constructive in its +character, and in which the greater part of my original +"Letter to an Inquirer" will be found embodied, I have +tried briefly to trace the true history of the supposed +Lost Tribes; and in Part III., which is altogether new,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span> +I have further analysed some of the scriptural "proofs" +of a separate fate and destiny of the Ten Tribes from +that of "Judah," and have added notes and explanations +on some of the more plausible points brought up +by all Anglo-Israelite writers.</p> + +<p>The epistolary form, which is retained in Parts I. +and II., is accounted for by the relation of this new +booklet to the original "Letter to an Inquirer," which +is embodied in it.</p> + +<p>Let me ask the reader's Christian forbearance for any +expressions in this little work which may be regarded +as too severe. I would only say that if the unbiassed +reader had had to wade through the amount of Anglo-Israel +literature, with all its fearful perversions of +Scripture and history, which the writer has had to do +in the course of the preparation of this little work, he +would most probably have felt as he did—the difficulty +of putting a restraint upon his spirit so as not to use +much stronger language. Toward the persons of the +propagandists of this theory I have, I trust, no other +feelings than those of Christian charity; but the theory +itself I cannot help regarding, after a close study of its +principles, as subversive of the truth, and as one of the +dangerous delusions of these latter days.</p> + +<p>After this little book was finished, an honoured friend +in Brighton sent me the article by the late Dr. Horatius +Bonar, which appeared in <i>The Sunday at Home</i> in 1880. +I add it, with the permission of the proprietors of that +magazine, as an appendix in the assurance that the testimony +on the subject of so honoured and eminent a +servant of God will be welcomed and carry weight with +many.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">David Baron.</span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr><th colspan="3">PART I.</th></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"></td><td>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><th class="right">I.</th><td> Anglo-Israel Assertions and Claims</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> +<tr><th class="right">II.</th><td> The Way Anglo-Israel Writers Interpret Scripture</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr> +<tr><th class="right">III.</th><td> Fictitious Histories of the Tribes</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td></tr> +<tr><th colspan="3">PART II.</th></tr> +<tr><th class="right">I.</th><td> Are the Tribes Lost?</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td></tr> +<tr><th class="right">II.</th><td> The Condition of Things at the Time of Christ</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr> +<tr><th class="right">III.</th><td> The Testimony of the New Testament that the "Jews" Are Representative of "All Israel"</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr> +<tr><th class="right">IV.</th><td> Early Misconceptions and Confusion on the Question of the Ten Tribes</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td></tr> +<tr><th class="right">V.</th><td> The Testimony of Prophecy in the Light of History</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr> +<tr><th class="right">VI.</th><td> A Solemn Warning</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><th colspan="3">PART III.</th></tr> +<tr><th colspan="3">NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS.</th></tr> +<tr><th class="right">I.</th><td> Anglo-Israel "Proofs" of a Separate Fate and Destiny of "Israel" and "Judah"</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td></tr> +<tr><th class="right">II.</th><td> The Promises to the Fathers of a Multitudinous Seed</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td></tr> +<tr><th class="right">III.</th><td> The Perpetuity of the Davidic Throne</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td></tr> +<tr><th class="right">IV.</th><td> The So-called Historic Proofs of Anglo-Israelism</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td></tr> +<tr><th class="right">V.</th><td> "The Gate of his Enemies"</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td></tr> +<tr><th colspan="3">APPENDIX.</th></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>Are We the Ten Tribes? By the late Horatius Bonar, D.D.</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi"></a></span></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + + + +<h2><a name="PART_I" id="PART_I"></a>PART I.<br /> +<b>ANGLO-ISRAELISM EXAMINED.</b></h2> + + + + +<h3><a name="ANGLO-ISRAEL_ASSERTIONS_AND_CLAIMS" id="ANGLO-ISRAEL_ASSERTIONS_AND_CLAIMS"></a>ANGLO-ISRAEL ASSERTIONS AND CLAIMS.</h3> + + +<p>DEAR FRIEND,—I shall endeavour to comply +with your request, and to give you in this Letter +a few reasons for my rejection of the Anglo-Israelite +theory. I can sincerely say that I am not a man +delighting in controversy, and I only consent to your +wish because I believe that you, like many other +simple-minded Christians, are perplexed and imposed +upon by the plausibilities of the supposed "Identifications," +and are not able to detect the fallacies and +perversions of Scripture and history upon which they are +based.</p> + +<p>The theory is that the English, or British, are the +descendants of the "lost" Israelites, who were carried +captives by the Assyrians, under Sargon, who, it is +presumed, are identical with the Saxae or Scythians, +who appear as a conquering host there about the same +time. Or, to quote a succinct summary of Anglo-Israel +assertions from a standard work:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The supposed historical connection of the ancestors +of the English with the Lost Ten Tribes is deduced as +follows: The Ten Tribes were transferred to Assyria +about 720 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>; and simultaneously, according to Herodotus, +the Scythians, including the tribe of the Saccae +(or Saxae), appeared in the same district. The progenitors<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +of the Saxons afterward passed over into Denmark—the +'mark' or country of the tribe of Dan—and thence to +England. Another branch of the tribe of Dan, which +remained 'in ships' (Judges v. 17), made its appearance +in Ireland under the title of 'Tuatha-da-Danan.' Tephi, +a descendant of the royal house of David, arrived in Ireland, +according to the native legends, in 580 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> From her was +descended Feargus More, King of Argyll, an ancestor of +Queen Victoria, who thus fulfilled the prophecy that 'the +line of David shall rule for ever and ever' (2 Chron. xiii. 5, +xxi. 7). The Irish branch of the Danites brought with +them Jacob's stone, which has always been used as the +Coronation-stone of the kings of Scotland and England, +and is now preserved in Westminster Abbey. Somewhat +inconsistently, the prophecy that the Canaanites should +trouble Israel (Numbers xxxiii. 55; Josh. xxiii. 13) is applied +to the Irish. 'The land of Arzareth,' to which the Israelites +were transplanted (2 Esd. xiii. 45), is identified with Ireland +by dividing the former name into two parts—the former of +which is <i>erez</i>, or 'land'; the later, <i>Ar</i>, or 'Ire.'"<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>As to the Jews, quite a different history and destiny +is marked out for them. They, as the descendants of +Judah, are still under the curse. In fact, the Anglo-Israelite, +by another and more mischievous method, +is doing exactly what the allegorising, or so-called +spiritualising, school of interpreters did. The method +was to apply all the <i>promises</i> in the Bible to the +"spiritual" Israel, or the Church, and all the curses to +the literal Israel, or the Jews; but by this new system, +while the curses are still left to the Jew, all the blessings +are applied not even to those "in Christ," but indiscriminately +to a nation, which, <i>as a nation</i>, is like the +other nations of Christendom in a greater or lesser degree +in a state of apostasy from God, though I thankfully +recognise the fact that there are in proportion more of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +God's true people in it than in any other professing +Christian land.</p> + +<p>I shall endeavour later on to show you the baselessness +of the distinction which Anglo-Israelism makes +between the ultimate fates of Israel and Judah, but +let me first say that the supposed historical and philological +"proofs" by which the theory is supported, +most of which have no more basis in fact than fairy +tales, are utterly discredited by competent authorities.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Philology of a somewhat primitive kind," writes a +prominent and learned Jew, "is also brought in to support +the theory; the many Biblical and quasi-Jewish names +borne by Englishmen are held to prove their Israelitish +origin. An attempt has been made to derive the English +language itself from Hebrew. Thus, 'bairn' is derived +from <i>bar</i> ('son'); 'berry' from <i>peri</i> ('fruit'); 'garden' +from <i>gedar</i>; 'kid' from <i>gedi</i>; 'scale' from <i>shekel</i>; and +'kitten' from <i>quiton</i> (<i>katon</i> = 'little'). The termination +'ish' is identified with the Hebrew <i>ish</i> ('man'); 'Spanish' +means 'Spain-man'; while 'British' is identified with +<i>Berit-ish</i> ('man of the covenant'). Perhaps the most +curious of these philological identifications is that of 'jig' +with chag (<i>hag</i> = 'festival').</p> + +<p>"Altogether, by the application of wild guess-work about +historical origins and philological analogies, and by a +slavishly literal interpretation (or misapplication) of +selected phrases of prophecy, a case is made out for the +identification of the British race with the Lost Ten Tribes +of Israel sufficient to satisfy uncritical persons desirous +of finding their pride of race confirmed by Holy Scripture. +The whole theory rests upon an identification of the word +'isles' in the English version of the Bible unjustified by +modern philology, which identifies the original word with +'coasts' or 'distant lands,' without any implication of +their being surrounded by the sea. Modern ethnography +does not confirm in any way the identification of the Irish +with a Semitic people; while the English can be traced +back to the Scandinavians, of whom there is no trace in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +Mesopotamia at any period of history. The whole movement +is chiefly interesting as a <i>reductio ad absurdum</i> of too +literal an interpretation (or misapplication) of the prophecies."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>To this let me add the verdict of a prominent Christian +scholar. Commenting on Edward Hine's "Identifications +of the British Nation with Lost Israel," Professor +Rawlinson wrote that: "The pamphlet is not calculated +to produce the slightest effect on the opinion of those +competent to form one. Such effect as it may have +can only be on the ignorant and unlearned—on those +who are unaware of the absolute and entire diversity in +language, physical type, religious opinions, and manners +and customs, between the Israelites and the various +races from whom the English nation can be shown +historically to be descended."</p> + +<p>The fact of the matter is that the so-called historical +proofs, by which the theory is supported, are derived +from heathen myths and fables,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and the philology +which traces "British" to "Berith-ish," and "Saxon" +to "Isaac's-son," etc., deserves no other characterisation +than <i>child-ish</i>.</p> + +<p>It is in a misunderstanding of Scripture, and especially +of prophetic Scripture, to which the origin of Anglo-Israelism +can be traced. Coming across some of the +great and precious promises in the Bible in reference to +Israel, for instance, such as that they should be a great +and mighty nation, and rule over those who previously +had been their enemies and oppressors, and overlooking +the fact that these prophecies and promises +<i>refer to a future time</i>, when Israel as a nation shall be +restored and converted, and under the personal rule +of their Messiah become great and mighty for God on +the earth, evidence of their fulfilment has been sought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +<i>in the present</i>. Now certainly these prophecies of might +and prosperity are not now being fulfilled in the +"Jews"—on the other hand, see how great and influential +the British nation is in the world—<i>ergo</i>, the +British must be the "lost" Israel of the "Ten Tribes"! +The "history" and philology is, so to say, an after-thought +of Anglo-Israelism, by which an effort is made +to support the false postulate with which it starts. +The Scriptural "Identifications" with which Anglo-Israel +literature abound turn out on examination to +be perversions and misapplications of isolated texts +taken from the English versions of the Bible without +any regard for true principles of exegesis.</p> + + +<h3>THE WAY ANGLO-ISRAEL WRITERS +INTERPRET SCRIPTURE.</h3> + +<p>Some of their interpretations can only be characterised +as bordering on blasphemy. Let me quote a few +examples:—</p> + +<p><b>I. The glorious Messianic prophecy of the stone cut +without hands which smote the image of Nebuchadnezzar +(Daniel ii.) is applied to the British people; and +the British Empire, which is one of the Gentile world-kingdoms, +is made to be identical with the Kingdom of +God.</b></p> + +<p>"We will see what is to be the future of the British +Empire, or, in other words, the stone that smote the +image. It is to become a great mountain and fill the +whole earth. Our Colonial Empire, then, will continue +to grow till it covers the whole world. We have tried +to avoid extending our Empire many and many a time, +and yet God has caused it to grow larger and larger,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +and I believe will still do so. We are already by far +the greatest Empire there is, or ever has been, and we +shall yet be far greater.</p> + +<p>"The British Empire, again, can never be conquered. +Daniel says, 'The God of Heaven shall set up a kingdom +which shall never be destroyed: it shall stand for ever.' +Consequently, we shall never be conquered; we must +continue till the end of time—so that we are to continue +to exist as the last kingdom or empire this world +is to see."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p><b>II. Messiah's Throne of Righteousness and Peace is +made out to be identical with the throne of England, +and the English people are "the saints of the Most +High," to whom all the kingdoms of the world shall be +given.</b></p> + +<p>"If the Saxons be the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel ... +then the English throne is a continuation of David's +throne, and the seed on it must be the seed of David,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +and the inference is clear—namely, that all the blessings +attaching by holy promise to David's throne must +belong to England.... To this end God is overturning, +and will overturn, until the whole world shall be +federated around one throne, and that David's throne +(which, according to the writer, is identical with the +throne of England)—the only throne God ever directly +established, and the only one He has promised perpetuity +to.... This kingdom is the fifth kingdom +to be set up in the latter days of those kings, says +Daniel. The kingdom was never to be left to other +people.... To her (that is, to England) was promised<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +the isles of the sea, the coasts of the earth, the waste +and desolate places—the heathen and the uttermost +parts of the earth as a possession. Already, out of the +51,000,000 square miles which compose the earth, +England, including the United States (Manasseh), now +owns about 14,000,000, say, one-fourth. She bears +rule over one-third of the people of the earth; she adds +a colony every four years, on an average. At the present +rate it will not be long before the kingdoms of this +world will be given to the saints of the Most High [that +is, according to the writer, the English people]. It is +no marvel in the light of and instruction of prophecy +that this throne and people should be so stable and +prosperous."<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p><b>III. The smoke which ascends from the "blazing +furnaces and steam engines" of London is identified +with the Shechinah Glory, the visible symbol of God's +presence with His people.</b></p> + +<p>"During their wanderings in the desert His presence +was manifested by the pillar of cloud by day and the +pillar of fire by night; and during the captivity of the +Two Tribes of Judah in Babylon He was with them, +until, at the expiration of the seventy years, He stirred +up Cyrus to release them. The same Lord still watches +over the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel in England, and continues +to bless them. The same miracles that were +wrought in Egypt were intended to foreshadow the +realisation of God's future dealings with the Israelites; +and if a gigantic panoramic view of England could be +taken from an elevation above the centre of the island +at midnight, a temporal pillar of fire would be as remarkable +from the blazing furnaces, the gas, the steam-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>engines, +as the pillar of cloud and smoke arising from +the same sources in the daytime, marking the chief +position and prosperity of Israel."<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p><b>IV. Edward Hine, author of the forty-seven "Identifications," +is the promised Deliverer who should come +out of Zion.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></b></p> + +<p>The following is taken from an article on Romans xi. +25-27, which appeared in "Life from the Dead," which +was edited by Edward Hine himself:—</p> + +<p>"Are the British people identical with the lost Ten +Tribes of Israel? And is the nation, by the identity, +being led to glory? If these things are so, then where +is the Deliverer? He must have already come out of +Zion. He must be doing His great work; He must be +amongst us. It is our impression that, by the glory of +the work of the identity, we have come to the time +of Israel's national salvation by the Deliverer out of +Zion, and that Edward Hine and that Deliverer are +identical."</p> + +<p>I have said above that Anglo-Israelism applies the +promises given to converted Israel indiscriminately to +the English nation. It does not stop even here, as the +above extracts show, but goes on to rob Christ Himself +of His glory by applying to the British people prophecies +which belong, not even to Israel, but to Israel's +Saviour.</p> + +<p>Thus, the address of the Father to the Son in Psalm ii.:</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ask of Me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine +inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for +thy possession," will be found again and again in Anglo-Israel +literature applied to the British nation. It also +substitutes the British Empire for the Church. A +favourite Scripture on which almost every Anglo-Israel +writer fastens is Matt. xxi. 43: "Therefore I say unto +you, The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and +given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof," +taking it for granted that England is that "nation"—which, +as a nation, is bringing forth the fruits of God's +kingdom.</p> + +<p>Now I need not explain to you that this is an utterly +unspiritual and baseless assumption, for it is the Church—God's +elect and converted people out of all nations—which +is that "nation," which during the period of +Israel's national unbelief bears fruit unto God; as is +clear from 1 Peter ii. 9, where believers in Christ are +addressed as "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, +a holy nation (εθνος), that ye should show forth the +praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into +His marvellous light."</p> + + +<h3>FICTITIOUS HISTORIES OF THE TRIBES.</h3> + +<p>Let me give you one or two more samples of Anglo-Israel +perversion of Scripture and history:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The tribe of Benjamin has a singular special place in +the history of Israel and Judah. Neither Old or New Testament +can be well understood unless one understands the +place of this tribe in Providence. They were always +counted one of the Ten Tribes, and reckoned with them in +the prophetic visions. They were only loaned to Judah +about 800 years (read 1 Kings xi.). They were to be a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +light for David in Jerusalem. God, foreseeing that the +Jews would reject Christ, kept back this one Tribe to be +in readiness to receive Him; and so they did. At the +destruction of Jerusalem they escaped, and after centuries +of wanderings turn up as the proud and haughty Normans. +Finally, they unite with the other Tribes under William +the Conqueror. A proper insight into the work and +mission of Benjamin will greatly aid one in interpreting +the New Testament. He was set apart as a missionary +Tribe, and at once set to work to spread the Gospel of +Jesus. Most of the disciples were Benjaminites. Then, +after 800 years of fellowship with Judah, they were cut +loose and sent after their brethren of the House of Israel. +It was needful that the Lion and the Unicorn should +unite."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Again:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"God said to Abraham, 'In thee shall all the families +of the earth be blessed'; and more, 'and in thy seed +shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.' Israel, +being scattered and cast off, became a blessing to the world. +They gave to the surrounding nations the only true idea +of God, for in their lowest condition and idolatry they +preserved the name and knowledge of Jehovah, and Christ +sent His disciples after them through one of their own +tribe—namely, Benjamin—telling them not to go into the +way of the Gentiles, nor into the cities of the Samaritans, +'but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' +To these sheep Christ declares He was sent. Where were +these sheep? They were scattered about in Central Asia—in +Scriptural language, in Cappadocia, Galatia, Pamphylia, +Lydia, Bithynia, and round about Illyricum. From these +very regions came the Saxons; from here they spread +abroad North and West, being the most Christian of any +people on the face of the earth then, as now."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>It is difficult to characterise statements like these +given out by Anglo-Israel writers in <i>ex cathedra</i> style<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +for the consumption of the ignorant and credulous. +But—</p> + +<p>I. This "history" of the tribe of Benjamin (which +may be taken also as a fair sample of their "histories" +of Dan, Manasseh, etc.) is entirely the product of the +perverted fancy of the writers, and is without a vestige +of historic basis for its support. The only reference +given in the first extract is 1 Kings xi. Now that +chapter gives the account of God's warning to Solomon, +and of the announcement that in the reign of his immediate +successor the kingdom would be rent from the +house of David. "<i>Howbeit</i>," we read, "<i>I will not +rend away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to thy +son (i.e., Rehoboam) for David My servant's sake, and +for Jerusalem's sake, ... that David My servant may +have a lamp alway before Me in Jerusalem, the city +which I have chosen to put My Name there</i>."<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>The "one tribe" which during the time of the +schism would be left to the house of David is, of course, +not Benjamin, as the writer of the above extract supposes, +but <i>Judah</i>, "with which Benjamin was indissolubly +united by the very position of the capital on +its frontier." This is seen from verses 31, 32 of the same +chapter, where the Ten Tribes "are given to Jeroboam," +and the remaining two of the twelve are called "one +tribe."</p> + +<p>It is, of course, a pure invention also, of the fairy tale +type, that Benjamin as a tribe received Christ +while the Jews rejected Him, or that Benjamin became +"the missionary tribe," or that "most of the disciples +were Benjamites." Not one single tribe as a tribe, or +even one local community as a community, received +Christ; but the "as many" of His own "as received +Him" were "Jews," which, as we shall see farther on,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +were the representatives of the Israel of the whole +"Twelve Tribes scattered abroad," and the Twelve +Apostles (though Paul, indeed, was a Benjamite) were +in a way representative of all the <i>Twelve</i> Tribes of +Israel.</p> + +<p>II. Then note the absurdities and contradictions of +Anglo-Israel assertions. "Israel," you are told—by +which is meant the Ten Tribes—while themselves idolaters +and sunk so low as not only to forget their origin, but, +as another exponent of the theory has it, lapsed "into +a state of semi-barbarism like the first pioneer settlers +in North America"; and, being without records, in a +brief period lost all memory of their former name and +condition<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>—became, while in such a condition, "a +blessing to the world, and gave to the surrounding +nations the only true idea of God"!</p> + +<p>And what shall be said of the terrible perversion of +such a plain and beautiful Scripture as Matt. x. 5, 6? +In the introduction to that chapter (Matt. ix. 36-38) +we read how our Lord Jesus, beholding the multitudes +which were pressing around Him, was moved with +compassion for them because they fainted (or rather, +according to the now accepted reading, "were harassed," +"plagued"), "and were scattered abroad as sheep +having no shepherd." Then, after saying to His +disciples that the harvest truly is plenteous but the +labourers are few, and commanding them to pray the +Lord of the harvest that He may send, or thrust forth, +labourers into His harvest, He calls the twelve individual +Jewish disciples, and commissions and empowers them +to go forth on the definite mission of mercy to their +countrymen, warning them not to go beyond the bounds +of the land "into the way of the Gentiles," nor even +within the bounds of Palestine to visit "the cities of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +the Samaritans," but to confine themselves exclusively +"to the lost sheep of the House of Israel"—that is, to +their own Jewish people, who (as we shall see) are +throughout the New Testament called alternately +"Jews" and "Israel." This is all plain and obvious; +and we know, as a matter of fact and history, that the +ministry of John the Baptist, and of our Lord Jesus, +and of the Twelve Apostles, until after His ascension, was +confined to the "Jews" in Palestine. Anglo-Israelism, +however, is able by some fiction to transform the Twelve +Disciples into the tribe of Benjamin, and "the lost +sheep of the House of Israel" into a medley of Gentile +nations located "in Central Asia," and other specified +regions, who, though unknown to themselves to be +Israelites in origin, and mistaken by the Apostles in +their subsequent missionary journeys for "Gentiles," +were really the "lost Ten Tribes," alias "the Saxons," +and progenitors of the English! And these are only a +few typical samples of the so-called "historical proofs" +and Bible interpretations on which the whole theory +rests. I must now pass on to another part of the +subject, but let me, before doing so, earnestly commend +to you whenever you come across Anglo-Israel +literature to keep in mind the good advice of a well-known +Bishop to his clergy—"<i>Always verify your references</i>"—and +I would add, "study the context"—and +you will find that the Scriptures quoted in them are +either misapplications or perversions of the true meaning +of the text. In fact, there is not a Scripture, however +sublime and glorious its import, and however plain +and obvious its meaning, which does not become distorted +and perverted in Anglo-Israel hands.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>Here are one or two samples. Anglo-Israelism is +based for the most part on the false supposition of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +separate calling and destiny of the Ten Tribes from that +of Judah:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The natural seed of Abraham," we are told, "is +divided in the Bible, the word Israel standing generally +for the Ten Tribes, and Judah for Two Tribes. These +divisions have separate paths appointed them to walk in +through the centuries. 'All the House of Israel wholly,' +'the whole House of Israel,' 'all the House of Israel,' have +a special work. The Ten Tribes are especially called in +the Scriptures the seed of Abraham. Sometimes 'My +chosen'; again, 'Mine inheritance,' and 'My servant.' +God, in referring to them in their scattered state, and of +His gathering them together, says (Isaiah xli. 8): 'But +thou, Israel, art My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen; +the seed of Abraham My friend—thou whom I have taken +from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief +men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art My servant; I +have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.'"<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>I shall show later on that it is not true to say that the +word Israel stands "generally" for the Ten Tribes, and +Judah for the Two Tribes. "Generally," the name +Israel stands for all the descendants of Jacob, whose +name was changed by God Himself to "Israel," though +in the historical books, especially in 1 and 2 Kings, +and 2 Chronicles, and in a few passages in the Prophets, +it is used to describe the northern kingdom of the Ten +Tribes in contradistinction to the southern kingdom of +Judah. But its use in the more limited and temporary +sense as applied to the Ten Tribes can always be clearly +discerned from the context. But in order to support +the assertion that "these two divisions have separate +paths appointed them to walk through the centuries," +it is affirmed that the designations "All the House of +Israel wholly," "the whole House of Israel," "My +chosen," "Mine inheritance," and "My servant,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +are especially applied in the Scriptures to the "Ten +Tribes" in contradistinction to Judah. Now this is +utterly baseless, as any intelligent Bible-reader will find +if he takes the trouble to look up all the passages where +these expressions are used.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><p class="fn">FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> From the article "Anglo-Israelism" in the <i>Jewish Encyclopedia</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Joseph Jacobs, B.A., in the <i>Jewish Encyclopedia</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> See Note iv. in Part III.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> "Nebuchadnezzar's Dream" in "The British Empire of +Ephraim." A whole collection of similar perversions of Scripture +may be found in an excellent pamphlet by the late Pastor +Frank H. White, called "Anglo-Israelism Examined"—unfortunately +now out of print.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> A beautiful specimen, this, of Anglo-Israel logic.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> "The Lost Ten Tribes," by Rev. Joseph Wild, D.D. A +book containing twenty discourses which abounds in statements +and "interpretations" as wild and unscriptural as this sample +quoted from Discourse XVIII.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> From an article in <i>The Banner of Israel</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> When preparing to re-write this little book I was told by a +friend that I need not take much notice of the works of Edward +Hine, as Anglo-Israelites themselves no longer attach importance +to them. On inquiry, however, I found that this was not the +case. His writings are still largely advertised and circulated, +and many of the more modern Anglo-Israelite writers profess to +draw instruction and inspiration from them. Beside which, +even his most extravagant statements are more than paralleled +in some of their most recent publications.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Both these extracts are taken from "The Lost Ten Tribes"—the +book referred to in a previous note—by Joseph Wild.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> 1 Kings xi. 13-36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> "Israel in Britain," by Colonel Garnier, page 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> See samples in Note i. of Part III.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> "The Ten Lost Tribes," page 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> "All the House of Israel wholly" is found in Ezek. xi. 27, +and is used of those of the southern kingdom who were already +in captivity, as contrasted with those who were still with Zedekiah +in Jerusalem and Palestine. The parallel to Ezek. xi. is Jeremiah +xxiv., where the two parts of the nation—those already in +captivity and those still in the land—are also contrasted under +the symbol of the two baskets of figs, one of which was "very +good" and the other "very evil." When Peter, for instance, +said, "<i>Let all the House of Israel</i> know assuredly that God hath +made this same Jesus both Lord and Christ," he addressed the +"Jews" in Palestine, as every one knows. "My chosen," or +"Whom I have chosen," apart from its use as applied to the +priests and Levites, is used sixteen times of Zion and Jerusalem, +and <i>just as many times of the whole nation</i>. Deut. vii. 6; xiv. 2; +Psalm xxxiii. 12; Isaiah xli. 8, 9—may be turned up as examples. +"My servant" is used seventeen or eighteen times in the second +half of Isaiah, and when not directly applied to the Messiah, as +in xlii. 1; xlix. 3-7; lii. 13; and liii. 11—is a designation of the +whole people; and it must be remembered that Isaiah prophesied +primarily "concerning Judah and Jerusalem." The +term as a designation of the people is also used five times by +Jeremiah in the same inclusive sense, <i>i.e.</i>, of the whole nation.</p></div> +</div> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="PART_II" id="PART_II"></a>PART II.<br /> + +THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE TEN +"LOST" TRIBES.</h2> + + +<h3>ARE THE TRIBES LOST?</h3> + +<p>But now discarding the whole heap of Anglo-Israel +fiction, let us glance at the question of the so-called +"lost" Ten Tribes in the light of Scripture history +and prophecy. Anglo-Israelism first of all loses the +Ten Tribes, for whom it claims a different destiny from +the "Jews," whom it supposes to be descendants of the +Two Tribes only, and then it identifies this "lost" +Israel with the British race. But there is as little historical +ground for the supposition that the Ten Tribes are +lost, in the sense in which Anglo-Israelism uses the term, +as there is Scriptural basis for a separate destiny for +"Israel" apart from "Judah."</p> + +<p>The most superficial reader of the Old Testament +knows the origin and cause of the unfortunate schism +which took place in the history of the elect nation after +the death of Solomon. But this evil was to last only +for a limited time; for at the very commencement of +this new and parenthetical chapter of the nation's +history it was announced by God that He would in this +way afflict the seed of David, but <i>not for ever</i> (1 Kings +xi. 39).</p> + +<p>A separate kingdom, comprising Ten of the Twelve +Tribes, was set up under Jeroboam in <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 975, and its +whole history, of about 250 years, is one long, dark tale +of usurpation, anarchy, and apostasy, unrelieved by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +the occasional gracious visitations of national revival +which light up the annals of the Judean kingdom under +the House of David.</p> + +<p>After many warnings and premonitory judgments +the kingdom of the Ten Tribes was finally overthrown +in the year <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 721, when its capital, Samaria, was +destroyed, and the bulk of the people carried captive +by the Assyrians, and made to settle in "Halah and +Habor, and by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the +Medes" (2 Kings xvii. 6; 1 Chron. v. 26).</p> + +<p>Now I would beg you to notice two or three facts.</p> + +<p>I. The kingdom of "Judah" after the schism consisted +not only of Judah and Benjamin, but also of the +Levites who remained faithful to the House of David +and the theocratic centre.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> Even those who were in +the northern cities forsook all in order to come to +Jerusalem, as we read in 2 Chron. xi. 14: "And Rehoboam +dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defence in +Judah, ... and the priests and Levites that were in +all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts. For +the Levites left their suburbs and their possessions, and +came to Judah and Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his +sons had cast them off from executing the priest's office +unto the Lord."</p> + +<p>II. Apart from Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, there +were in the southern kingdom of Judah after the schism +many out of the other Ten Tribes whose hearts clung to +Jehovah, and the only earthly centre of His worship +which He appointed. Immediately after the rebellion, +we read that "after them" (that is, following the +example of the Levites) "out of all the tribes of Israel, +such as set their hearts to seek Jehovah, the God of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Jehovah, God +of their fathers. So they strengthened the kingdom +of Judah" (2 Chron. xi. 16).</p> + +<p>In every reign of the kingdom of Israel numbers of +the religious and more spiritual of the Ten Tribes must +have seceded and joined "Judah." This we find to have +been more especially the case during the times of national +revival in the southern kingdom, and in the reigns of +those kings who feared and sought the Lord.</p> + +<p>Thus, for instance, we read of Asa, that "he gathered +all Judah and Benjamin, with the strangers with them +out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon; <i>for +they fell to him out of all Israel in abundance</i>, when they +saw that Jehovah his God was with him, so they +gathered themselves together at Jerusalem; ... and +they entered into a covenant to seek Jehovah God of +their fathers with all their heart, and with all their +soul" (2 Chron. xv. 9-15).</p> + +<p>There are also several other mentions of "the children +of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah" and were +subjects and members of that kingdom.</p> + +<p>III. The final overthrow of the northern kingdom +took place, as we have seen, in the year B.C. 721; but +when we read that the "King of Assyria took Samaria +and carried Israel away into Assyria," we are not to +understand that he cleared the whole land of all the +people, but that he took the strength of the nation with +him. There were, no doubt, many of the people left +in the land; even as was the case after the overthrow +of the southern kingdom by the Babylonians later on +(2 Kings xxv. 12). The historical proof for my assertion +is found in the fact that about a century after the fall +of Samaria, we find in the reign of Josiah some of +Manasseh and Ephraim, "and a remnant of all Israel," +in the land, who contributed to the collection made by +the Levites for the repair of the house of the Lord in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +Jerusalem, and joined in the celebration of the great +Passover in the eighteenth year of that zealous and +promising young king.</p> + +<p>These were the component elements of which the +southern kingdom of "Judah" was made up, when it, +too, reached the stage, when, on account of its idolatries +and apostasy from the living God, "there was no more +remedy" (or "healing"—2 Chron. xxxvi. 16). It +consisted, as we have seen, of Judah, Benjamin, Levi, +and many out of all the other Ten Tribes of Israel, "in +abundance."</p> + +<p>Jerusalem was finally taken in <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 588, by Nebuchadnezzar—just +133 years after the capture of Samaria +by the Assyrians. Meanwhile the Babylonian Empire +succeeded the Assyrian. But although dynasties had +changed, and Babylon, which had sometimes, even under +the Assyrian <i>régime</i>, been one of the capitals of the +Empire, now took the place of Nineveh, the region over +which Nebuchadnezzar now bore rule, was the very +same over which Shalmaneser and Sargon reigned before +him, only somewhat extended.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>The exact location of the exiles of the southern +kingdom we are not told, beyond the Scripture statements +that all the three parties of captives carried off +by Nebuchadnezzar (that in the first invasion in the +reign of Jehoiakim, <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 606; and in the second, in the +reign of Jehoiachin, <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 599; and in the final overthrow +of Jerusalem, in the reign of Zedekiah, <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 588), were +taken "to Babylon" (2 Kings xxiv. and xxv.; +Daniel i.).</p> + +<p>Now Babylon stands not only for the city, but also +for the whole land, <i>in which the territories of the Assyrian +Empire, and the colonies of exiles from the northern +kingdom of "Israel" were included</i>. Thus, for instance,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +we find Ezekiel, who was one of the 10,000 exiles carried +off by Nebuchadnezzar with Jehoiachin, by the river +Chebar in the district of Gozan—one of the very parts +where the exiles of the Ten Tribes were settled by the +Assyrians more than a century previously.</p> + +<p>With the captivity the divisions and rivalry between +"Judah" and "Israel" were ended, and the members +of all the tribes who looked forward to a national future +were conscious not only of one common destiny, but +that that destiny was bound up with the promises to +the House of David, and with Zion or Jerusalem as its +centre, in accordance with the prophecies of Joel, Amos, +and Hosea, and of the other inspired messengers who +ministered and testified more especially among them +until the fall of Samaria. This conviction of a common +and united future, no doubt facilitated the merging +process, which cannot be said to have begun with the +captivity, for it commenced almost immediately after +the rebellion under Jeroboam, but which was certainly +strengthened by it.</p> + +<p>Glimpses into the feeling of the members of the two +kingdoms for one another, and their hopes and aspirations +for unity, we get in the writings of Jeremiah, +Ezekiel, and Daniel, who prophesied during the period +of exile. The most striking prophecy in relation to +this subject is Ezek. xxxvii. 15-28:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, +Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write +upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel, his companions +(that is, those of Israel who before the captivity +fell away from the Ten Tribes and joined the southern +kingdom): then take another stick, and write upon it, +For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the house of +Israel, his companions: and join them one to another +into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand." +Then follows the Divine interpretation of this symbol: +"Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions, and +I will put them with him (or literally, I will add them +upon, or to him), namely, with the stick of Judah, and make +them one stick, and they shall be one in My hand. And +the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thy hand before +their eyes. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, +Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the +nations, 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 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: neither shall +they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with +their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: +but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places +wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them; so +shall they be My people, and I will be their God. And +My servant David shall be king over them; and they all +shall have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments, +and observe My statutes, and do them. And they +shall dwell in the land which I have given unto Jacob My +servant, wherein your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell +therein, they, and their children, and their children's +children for ever: and David My servant shall be their +prince for ever" (Ezek. xxxvii. 20-25, <span class="smcap">R.V.</span>).</p></blockquote> + +<p>Now let it be remembered that the foreground and +commencement of the restoration and future of this great +prophecy, especially to all the exiles at that time, was +the restoration from Babylon, or "Assyria," as it was +sometimes called.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, these prophecies, and particularly +Ezek. xxxvii. 15-28, set forth not one single act or event, +but a <i>process</i> which, commencing with the prophet's +own time, extends into the distant future, and ends in +the final goal of the blessed condition of Israel under +Messiah's reign in the millennial period. Thus, while the +full visible <i>manifestation</i> of that unity, symbolised by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +the two sticks becoming <i>one</i> in the prophet's hand, will +only be realised after the final regathering of the whole +nation in their own land, and when the true "David," +namely, Messiah, "David's greater Son," shall be both +King and Prince over them for ever—the merging and +uniting process commenced, as a matter of fact, before +the Babylonian captivity, was accelerated in the exile, +when in their like sorrows and troubles the hearts of +the people were doubtless drawn to one another in +mutual sympathy and love.</p> + +<p>The point, however, to be noticed in this and other +prophecies is the clear announcement which they contained +that the purpose of God in the schism—as a +punishment on the House of David—<i>was now at an +end</i>, and that henceforth there was but one common +hope and one destiny for the whole Israel of the Twelve +Tribes—whether they previously belonged to the +northern kingdom of the <i>Ten</i> Tribes, or to the southern +kingdom of the <i>Two</i> Tribes—and that this common hope +and destiny was centred in Him Who is the Lion of the +Tribe of Judah, and the rightful Heir and descendant +of David.</p> + +<p>In like manner Jeremiah, in his great prophecy of +the restoration and future blessing (chaps. xxx. and +xxxi.), links the destinies of "Judah" and "Israel," or +Israel and Judah together; and speaks of one common +experience from that time on for the whole people. +"For lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will turn +again the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, +saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the +land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess +it. And these are the words that the Lord spake +concerning Israel and Judah" (Jer. xxx. 3, 4, <span class="smcap">R.V.</span>).</p> + +<p>Daniel also, towards the end of the seventy years' +captivity, includes not only the men of Judah and +inhabitants of Jerusalem in his intercessory prayer, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +"<i>all Israel</i> that are near, or far off, from all the countries +whither Thou hast driven them," who, he confesses, +were alike involved in sin and judgment, and equally +cast on the mercy of God on the ground of promises +made to the fathers.</p> + +<p>Now let us go a step farther. Just seventy years had +elapsed since the first band of captives were carried +away to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in the year +<span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 606. "That the word of the Lord by the mouth +of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the +spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia, that he issued a proclamation +throughout all his kingdom, and put it also +in writing, saying: Thus saith Cyrus, King of Persia, the +Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of +the earth; and He hath charged me to build Him a +house at Jerusalem that is in Judah. Who is there +among you of all His people? His God be with him, +and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah."</p> + +<p>This proclamation, which was in reference to all the +people "of the Lord God of heaven," was issued in the +year <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 536, two years after the conquest of Babylon +by Cyrus, and was, we are told, promulgated "throughout +all his kingdom," which was the same as that over which +Nebuchadnezzar and his successors reigned before +him, only again somewhat extended, even as the +kingdom of Babylon was identical with that of Assyria, +as already pointed out. Indeed, Cyrus and Darius I. +are called indifferently by the sacred historians by the +title of "King of Persia" (Ezra iv. 5), "King of Babylon" +(Ezra v. 13), and "King of Assyria" (Ezra vi. 22).</p> + +<p>The first response to this proclamation was a caravan +of "forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, beside +their servants and their maids, of whom there were +seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven, and +two hundred singing men and singing women," who, +under the leadership of Zerubbabel, who was a lineal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +descendant of the royal house of David, and of Joshua +the high priest, made their way from "Babylon to +Jerusalem."</p> + +<p>Now the leading spirits of this returned party of +exiles were, no doubt, "the chief of the fathers of Judah +and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites"; at the +same time they included "all those" from all the +other tribes without distinction, "whose spirit God had +raised to go up to build the house of the Lord, which is +in Jerusalem" (Ezra i. 5).</p> + +<p>They are no longer counted after their tribal origin, +but in families, and after the cities to which they +originally belonged, which, for the most part, are not +easy to identify; hence it is difficult to say how many +belonged to "Judah," and how many to "Israel"—but +that there were a good many in this company of those +who belonged to the northern kingdom of the Ten +Tribes, is incidentally brought out by the mention of +two hundred and twenty-three men of Ai and Bethel +alone. Now, Bethel was the very centre of the ancient +rival idolatrous worship instituted by Jeroboam, and, +though on the boundary of Benjamin, belonged to +"Ephraim."</p> + +<p>Between the first organised large party of immigrants +under Zerubbabel and Joshua, and the second under +Ezra, a period of fifty-eight years elapsed; but we are +not to suppose that in the interval there were no additions +to the community, which now represented the +whole united nation in Jerusalem. We read, for instance, +incidentally, in Zech. vi. 9, 15, of a party of four prominent +men who arrived in Jerusalem in <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 519 as +representatives of the "captivity" (that is, of those who +still remained in those parts where they were exiles), +bringing with them a present of silver and gold for the +Temple, the building of which was resumed about five +months before, as a result of the stirring appeals of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +Haggai. This shows that there was continual intercourse +and communication between the community in +Palestine and the majority of the people who were still +"in Babylon"; and we may be certain that little +parties and individuals, "whose spirit God had raised," +continually found their way to the holy city.</p> + +<p>In <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 458, Ezra, "the scribe of the law of the God of +heaven," in accordance with the decree of Artaxerxes +Longimanus, organised another large caravan of those +whose hearts were made willing to return to the land +of their fathers. Part of this most favourable royal +proclamation was as follows: "I make a decree that +all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and +Levites in my realm, which are minded of their own free +will to go up to Jerusalem, go up with thee"; and in +response to it "this Ezra went up from Babylon, ... +and there went up (with him) of the children of Israel, +and of the priests and of the Levites, and the singers +and the porters, and the Nethinim, unto Jerusalem in +the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king" (Ezra vii. 7).</p> + +<p>This party consisted of about one thousand eight +hundred families; and apart from the priests, Levites, +and Nethinim, was made up of "the children of Israel," +irrespective of tribal distinctions, from all parts of the +realm of "Babylon," or Assyria, now under the sway +of the Medo-Persians.</p> + +<p>The narratives contained in the books of Ezra and +Nehemiah, under whose administration the position of +the restored remnant became consolidated, cover a +period of about 115 years, and bring us down to about +<span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 420. Jewish history during the second period of +the Persian supremacy is wrapped somewhat in obscurity; +but we know that nearly throughout the whole +period of its existence it was more or less friendly to +the Hebrews. There was certainly no revocation of the +edicts of Cyrus and of Artaxerxes permitting those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +"which were minded of their own free will" to go and +join their brethren in Palestine; and that there were +many other large and small parties of exiles who did so, +subsequent to those mentioned in Ezra and Nehemiah, +may be taken for granted.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>Anyhow, it is a fact that the remnant in the land +grew and grew until, about a century and a half later, +in the times of the Maccabees, and again about a century +and a half later still, in the time of our Lord, we find +"the Jews" in Palestine, a comparatively large nation, +numbering millions; while from the time of the downfall +of the Persian Empire we hear but very little more +of the Israelite exiles in ancient Assyria or Babylon.</p> + +<p>By the conquest of Alexander, who to this day is a +great favourite among the scattered nation, the regions +of ancient Babylonia and Media were brought comparatively +near, and a highway opened between East +and West. From about this time settlements of "Jews" +began to multiply in Asia Minor, Cyprus, Crete, on the +coasts and islands of the Ægean; in Macedonia and +other parts of Southern Europe; in Egypt and the +whole northern coast of Africa; whilst some made their +way further and further eastward as far as India and +China. There is not the least possibility of doubt that +many of the settlements of the Diaspora in the time of +our Lord—both north, south, and west, as well as east +of Palestine—were made up of those who had never +returned to the land of their fathers since the time of +the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles, and who were +not only descendants of Judah, as Anglo-Israelism +ignorantly presupposes, but of all the <i>Twelve Tribes +scattered abroad</i> (James i. 1).</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, long before the destruction of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +the second Temple by Titus, we read of currents and +counter-currents in the dispersion of the "Jewish" +people. Thus Artaxerxes III., <i>Ochus</i>, on his way to +re-conquer Egypt, "having taken Apodasmus in Judea, +conveyed the Jewish population into Hyrcania near the +Caspian Sea." When he made himself master of Egypt +we read of his finding Jews there, and, being incensed +against them on account of a stubborn defence against +him of places entrusted to their keeping, "he sent part +of them into Hyrcania, in the neighbourhood of the +country which the tribes already inhabited, and left the +rest at Babylon"; while soon after many thousands +were taken to Egypt by Alexander; and Ptolemy Soter, +one of his chief generals, who had become King of +Egypt, and had invaded Syria and taken Jerusalem in +<span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 301, carried off one hundred thousand of them, +and forced them to settle chiefly in Alexandria and +Cyrene.</p> + + +<h3>THE CONDITION OF THINGS AT THE +TIME OF CHRIST.</h3> + +<p>To summarise the state of things in connection with +the Hebrew race at the time of Christ, it was briefly +this:—</p> + +<p>I. For some six centuries before, ever since the partial +restoration in the days of Cyrus and his successors, the +descendants of Abraham were no longer known as +divided into tribes, but as one people, although up to +the time of the destruction of the second Temple, tribal +and family genealogies were for the most part preserved, +especially among those who were settled in +the land.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + +<p>II. Part of the nation was in Palestine, but by far +the larger number were scattered far and wide, and +formed innumerable communities in many different +lands, north and south, east and west.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> <i>But wherever +dispersed and to whatever tribe they may have belonged, +they all looked to Palestine and Jerusalem as their national +centre</i>, and, with the exception of those (and they were +no doubt many) who had ceased to cherish "the hope +of Israel" and were gradually assimilating with their +Gentile neighbours, were all one in heart with their +brethren in the Holy Land. "They felt they were of +the same stock, stood on the same ground, cherished +the same memories, grew up under the same institutions, +and anticipated the same future. They had one common +centre of worship in Jerusalem, which they upheld by +their offerings; and they made pilgrimages thither +annually in great numbers at the high festivals." Thus +Philo could represent to the Roman Emperor Caligula +that "Jerusalem ought not to be considered only as +the metropolis of Judea, but as the centre of a nation +dispersed in infinite places, who were able to supply +him with potent succours for his defence. He reckoned +among the places that were still stored with Jews, the +isles of Cyprus and Candia, Egypt, Macedonia, and +Bithynia, to which he added the empire of the Persians, +and <i>all the cities of the East</i>, except that of Babylon, +from whence they were then expelled."</p> + +<p>There is ample confirmation on this point in the New +Testament. Thus, for instance, we are incidentally +told in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, +that among the representatives from the Diaspora who +were found in Jerusalem at that memorable feast of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +Pentecost—who were doubtless there also during the +previous Passover, when the crucifixion took place—were +"Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and dwellers +in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus +and Asia, in Phyrgia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and +parts of Libya and Cyrene, and sojourners from Rome, +Cretans and Arabians": all of them either Jews or +proselytes miraculously hearing in their own tongues the +mighty works of God.</p> + +<p>Here it is to be noted that, at the commencement of +the Christian era, we find in this motley and cosmopolitan +Jewish crowd representatives from Israelitish +settlements in the very parts where they were carried +by the Assyrians and Babylonians some seven centuries +before, <i>but who are all called "Jews," and all alike +regarded Jerusalem as their national metropolis</i>.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p>III. The name of "Jew" and "Israelite" became +synonymous terms from about the time of the Captivity. +It is one of the absurd fallacies of Anglo-Israelism to +presuppose that the term "Jew" stands for a bodily +descendant of "Judah." <i>It stands for all those from +among the sons of Jacob who acknowledged themselves, or +were considered, subjects of the theocratic kingdom of +Judah</i>, which they expected to be established by the +promised "Son of David"—the Lion of the tribe of +Judah—whose reign is to extend not only over "<i>all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +tribes of the land</i>," but also "from sea to sea, and from +the river unto the ends of the earth."</p> + +<p>"That the name 'Jew,'" writes a Continental Bible +scholar, "became general for all Israelites who were +anxious to preserve their theocratic nationality, was +the more natural, since the political independence of +the Ten Tribes was destroyed." Yes, and without any +hope of a restoration to a separate national existence. +What hopes and promises they had were, as we have +seen, linked with the Kingdom of Judah and the House +of David.</p> + +<p>Anglo-Israelism teaches that members of the Ten +Tribes are never called "Jews," and that "Jews" are +not "Israelites"; but both assertions are false. Who +were they that came back to the land after the +"Babylonian" exile? Anglo-Israelites say they were +only the exiles from the southern kingdom of Judah, +and call them "Jews." I have already shown this to +be a fallacy, but I might add the significant fact that +in the Book of Ezra this remnant is only called eight +times by the name "Jews," and no less than <i>forty</i> times +by the name "Israel." In the Book of Nehemiah they +are called "Jews" <i>eleven</i> times, and "Israel" twenty-two +times. As to those who remained behind in the +one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the Persian +Empire, which included all the territories of ancient +Assyria, Anglo-Israelites would say they were of the +kingdom of "Israel"; but in the Book of Esther, +where we get a vivid glimpse of them at a period subsequent +to the partial restoration under Zerubbabel and +Joshua, they are called forty-five times by the name +"Jews," and not once by the name "Israel"!</p> + +<p>In the New Testament the same people who are called +"Jews" one hundred and seventy-four times are also +called "Israel" no fewer than seventy-five times. +Anglo-Israelism asserts that a "Jew" is only a descen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>dant +of Judah, and is not an "Israelite"; but Paul +says more than once: "I am a man which am a <i>Jew</i>." +Yet he says: "For I also am an Israelite." "Are they +<i>Israelites</i>? so am I" (Acts xxi. 39; xxii. 3; Rom. xi. +1; 2 Cor. xi. 22; Phil. iii. 5).</p> + +<p>Our Lord was of the House of David, and of the tribe +of Judah after the flesh—"a Jew"; yet it says that it +is of "<i>Israel</i>" that He came, who is "over all, God +blessed for ever" (Rom. ix. 4, 5). Devout Anna was a +"Jewess" in Jerusalem, yet she was "of the tribe of +Aser." But enough on this point.</p> + +<p>IV. From the time of the return of the first remnant +after the Babylonian exile, sacred historians, prophets, +apostles, and the Lord Himself, regarded the "Jews," +whether in the land or in "Dispersion," as representatives +of "all Israel," <i>and the only people in the line +of the covenants and the promises which God made with +the fathers</i>.</p> + +<p>At the dedication of the Temple, which was at last +finished "on the third day of the month Adar, which +was in the sixth year in the reign of Darius the king," +they offered "for a sin-offering <i>for all Israel, twelve +he-goats according to the number of the tribes of Israel</i>" +(Ezra vi. 17).</p> + +<p>Similarly, on the arrival of Ezra with the new caravan +of immigrants, they "offered burnt-offerings unto the +God of Israel, <i>twelve bullocks for all Israel</i>, ... and +twelve he-goats for sin-offering" (Ezra viii. 35), showing +that the returned exiles regarded themselves as the +nucleus and representatives of the whole nation. In +the post-Exilic prophets we have no longer two kingdoms, +but one people—one in interests and destiny, +although they had formerly for a time been divided.</p> + +<p>To show that the revived nation was made up of +members of the Northern as well as the Southern kingdoms, +the prophet Zechariah calls them by the com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>prehensive +name of "Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem" +(Zech. i. 19); or, "the house of Judah and the house +of Joseph" (Zech. x. 6). In the prophecy occasioned +by the question addressed by the deputation from Bethel, +in reference to the continuation of the observance of the +fasts, he says: "And it shall come to pass that as ye +were a curse among the nations, <i>O house of Judah</i> and +<i>house of Israel</i>, so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing; +fear not, and let your hands be strong" (Zech. +viii. 13).</p> + +<p>Here the formerly two houses are included; together +they are for a time <i>among the nations</i> "a curse," and +together they shall be saved, and be "a blessing."<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> +<p>Malachi, nearly a century later, when the people in +the land had become a prosperous nation, and when, +in consequence, the majority was rapidly falling into a +state of religious formality and godlessness, addresses +them as "Israel" or "Jacob," which surely includes +all his descendants, in contrast to Esau and his descendants +(Mal. i. 1-3).</p> + + +<h3>THE TESTIMONY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT +THAT THE "JEWS" ARE REPRESENTATIVE OF +"ALL ISRAEL."</h3> + +<p>In the last words of the last of the post-Exilic prophets +we have the expression "all Israel" addressed to +the people in the land; and then the long period of +silence sets in, lasting about four centuries, during parts +of which Jewish national history is lost somewhat in +obscurity. <i>When the threads of that history are taken +up again in the New Testament, what do we find? Is +there one hint or reference in the whole book to an Israel +apart from "that nation" of the "Jews," to whom, and +of whom, the Lord and His apostles speak?</i> There is, +indeed, reference and mention of the Diaspora, "the +dispersed among the Gentiles" (John vii. 35), forming, +as we have seen, the greater part of the nation, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +some of them still settled in the ancient regions of +Assyria and Babylon; but wherever they were, they +are all interchangeably called "Jews," or "Israelites," +who regarded Jerusalem, with which they were in constant +communication, as the centre, not only of their +religion, but of their national hopes and destiny.</p> + +<p>The "Israelites" who in the time of Christ were dispersed +among the Parthians, Medes, and Elamites (Acts +ii.), were as much one with the sojourners in Egypt, +Greece, and Rome, as the "Jews" in Bagdad, Persia, +or on the Caspian Sea to-day, are one with their wandering +brethren in London, Berlin, New York, or Australia, +although they then, as now (apart from the Hebrew, +which ever remains the sacred tongue, and thoroughly +understood only by the minority), spoke different +languages and dressed differently, and conformed to +different social and family customs.</p> + +<p>But let me give you a few definite passages from the +New Testament in justification of my statement that +the Lord Jesus and the apostles, equally with the post-Exilic +prophets centuries before, regarded the "Jews" +as representatives of "all Israel," <i>and as the only people +in the line of the "covenant, and the promises which God +made unto the fathers</i>."</p> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) In Matthew x. we have the record of the choice, +and of the first commission given to the apostles. +"These twelve," we read, "Jesus sent forth, and commanded +them, saying, Go not into the way of the +Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye +not; but go rather <i>to the lost sheep of the house of Israel</i>." +Of course, the merest child knows that this journey of +the twelve did not extend beyond the limits of Palestine, +but the "Jews" dwelling in it are regarded as the house +of Israel, although many members of that "house" +were also scattered in other lands.</p> + +<p>In this charge of the Lord to the apostles, we see also,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +by the way, in what sense Israel is regarded as "lost." +Now Anglo-Israelites are very fond of this word, but +they use it in an unbiblical and unspiritual sense. The +Ten Tribes, like the other Two, were, in the time of +Christ, even as they still are, "lost"; but not because +they have forgotten their <i>national</i> or tribal identity, +but because they "all like sheep have gone astray, and +have turned every one to his own way." Or, as Jeremiah +pathetically puts it: "My people hath been lost sheep; +their shepherds [their false teachers and leaders] have +caused them to go astray; they have turned them away +on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to +hill; they have forgotten [not their national origin, +but] their resting place"—viz., Jehovah, who is the +true dwelling-place of His people in all generations. It +was this terrible fact of their spiritually lost condition +which again and again moved our Lord Jesus to compassion +for those multitudes which followed Him, +because they were "distressed" or "plagued," and +were scattered abroad as sheep not having a shepherd.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) On the first day of Pentecost, Peter, with the +eleven, addressed the "men of Judæa," and the great +multitude from among the dispersed "Jews," as "Ye +men of Israel," and wound up his powerful speech with +the words: "<i>Let all the house of Israel</i>, therefore, know +assuredly that God hath made Him both Lord and +Christ—this Jesus whom ye crucified" (Acts ii. 14, 36). +In chapter iii. of Acts, as "all the people ran together +unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly +wondering," at the notable miracle in the name of Jesus +Christ of Nazareth, Peter said: "<i>Ye men of Israel</i>, +why marvel ye at this Man?... The God of Abraham, +and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath +glorified His servant Jesus, whom ye delivered up and +denied before the face of Pilate when he had determined +to release Him.... Repent ye, therefore, and turn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there +may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of +the Lord.... <i>Ye are the sons of the prophets and of the +covenant which God made with your fathers</i>, saying unto +Abraham, 'And in thy seed shall the nations of the earth +be blessed.'"</p> + +<p>From Acts xiii. onward we find Paul among the +"Jews" in the Dispersion; and how does he address +them? By the same name as Peter addressed their +brethren in Palestine: "<i>Men of Israel, ... the God +of this people Israel</i> chose our fathers, and exhorted the +people when they sojourned in the land of Egypt" +(Acts xiii. 16, 17); and when he was at last brought to +Rome "and gathered the chief of the Jews" in that +city to him, he assured them that he had neither done +anything "against the people, or the customs of our +fathers," nor did he come to Rome "to accuse my +nation," but "because of the <i>hope of Israel</i> am I bound +by this chain"—namely, "the hope of the promise +made of God unto our fathers; as he had previously +explained before Festus and Agrippa—unto which <i>our +Twelve Tribes</i>, earnestly serving God night and day, +hope to attain" (Acts xxviii. 17-20; xxvi. 6, 7).</p> + +<p>Paul knew of no "lost Ten Tribes," but on his testimony +the "Jews" in Palestine and in the Dispersion +were the "Israel" of <i>all the Twelve Tribes</i>, to whom the +"hope of the promise made of God unto the fathers" +belonged.</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) And, as it is in the Gospels, and in the Acts of the +Apostles, so also in the Epistles. It would be easy to +multiply passages, but one more must suffice.</p> + +<p>The ix., x., and xi. of Romans form the prophetic, or +"dispensational," section of that great epistle, and was +written for the special instruction of Gentile believers +in the "mystery" of God with Israel. Now I cannot, +of course, stop here to give an analysis of that wonderful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +and comprehensive scripture, which is also a vindication +of God's ways with man; <i>but there is not a hint or +suggestion in it of a "lost Israel," apart from the one +nation whose whole history he summarises from the +beginning to the end</i>, and which is now, alas! divided +into the small minority—the "remnant according to +the election of grace," who believe, and the majority +who believe not, until the day of grace for the whole +nation shall come, and "so <i>all</i> Israel shall be saved, +even as it is written, 'There shall come out of Zion the +Deliverer; He shall turn away ungodliness from +Jacob.'"</p> + +<p>But in the touching introduction to this section +(Rom. ix. 1-6), in which the apostle gives utterance to +his "great sorrow and unceasing pain of heart" because +of the unbelief of his own nation, "his brethren and his +kinsmen according to the flesh," for whose sake he had +been wishing, if it were possible, even to be himself +"anathema from Christ"—how does he call these +unbelieving "Jews" who had rejected their Messiah, +and were blindly persecuting His servants? Here are +His words: "<i>Who are Israelites</i>; whose is the adoption, +and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the +law, and the service of God, <i>and the promises; whose +are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the +flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.</i>"</p> + +<p>Now I must try to draw this very long letter to an +end. I have not followed Anglo-Israelism in all its +crooked paths of misinterpretation of Scripture and +history; I have only shown you the baselessness of its +foundations, and that the premises upon which the whole +theory rests are misleading and false. I have also given +you a summary of the true history of the tribes, which +I trust may prove helpful to you in the study of God's +Word; and the conclusion at which you and every +unbiassed person must arrive on a careful examination<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +of the facts which I have adduced is, that the whole +supposition of "lost tribes," in the sense in which +Anglo-Israelism uses the term, is a fancy which originated +in ignorance; and that "<i>the Jews</i>" are the whole, +and the only national Israel, representing not only the +"Two Tribes," but "<i>all the Twelve Tribes" who were +"scattered abroad</i>."</p> + + +<h3>EARLY MISCONCEPTIONS AND CONFUSION ON +THE QUESTION OF THE TEN TRIBES.</h3> + +<p>I have thought it necessary to enter all the more fully +into this point, because even some otherwise sober-minded +teachers and writers, who are not Anglo-Israelites, +have fallen into some confusion in dealing +with this subject; and no wonder, for already Josephus, +who vaguely locates a separate multitude belonging to +the Ten Tribes somewhere beyond the Euphrates +("Antiq." xi. 1, 2)—a Jewish tradition which locates a +mighty kingdom of the Ten Tribes beyond the fabled +miraculous river Sambation, which no one can cross +because it throws up stones all the week, and only +rests on the Sabbath; and the Talmud (Jer. Sanhedrin, +29, c.), which speaks of three localities whither they had +been banished, viz., the district around the above +wonderful Sambation, Daphne, near Antioch; and the +third locality could neither be seen nor named because +it was continually hidden by a cloud—all these show<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +how early people's minds became muddled on this +subject.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>Coming to the legends about the Ten Tribes in more +modern times, Eldad Ben Mahli Ha Dani came forward +in the ninth century claiming to give specific details of +the contemporary existence of the Ten Tribes and of +their location at that time.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher were," according to +him, "in Havilah; Zebulun and Reuben in the mountains +of Paran; Ephraim, and half of Manasseh, in South Arabia; +Simeon, and the other half of Manasseh, in the land of +Chazars (?)." According to him, therefore, "the Ten Tribes +were settled in parts of Southern Arabia, or perhaps +Abyssinia, in conformity with the identification of Havilah. +The connection of this view with that of the Jewish origin +of Islam is obvious; and David Reubeni revived the view +in stating that he was related to the king of the tribes of +Reuben situated in Khaibar in North Arabia.</p> + +<p>"According to Abraham Farisol, the remaining tribes +were in the desert, on the way to Mecca, near the Red +Sea; but he himself identifies the River Ganges with the +River Gozan, and assumes that the Beni-Israel of India +are the descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes. The Ganges, +thus identified by him with the River Sambation, divides +the Indians from the Jews. The confusion between +Ethiopia and Farther India, which existed in the minds of +the ancients and mediæval geographers, caused some +writers to place the Lost Ten Tribes in Abyssinia. Abraham +Yagel, in the sixteenth century, did so, basing his con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>clusions +on the accounts of David Reubeni and Eldad +Ha Dani. It is probable that some of the reports of the +Falashas led to this identification. According to Yagel, +messengers were sent to these colonists in the time of +Pope Clement VII., some of whom died, while the rest +brought back tidings of the greatness of the tribes and +their very wide territories. Yagel quotes a Christian +traveller, Vincent of Milan, who was a prisoner in the +hands of the Turks for twenty-five years, and who went +as far as Fez, and thence to India, where he found the +River Sambation, and a number of Jews dressed in silk +and purple. They were ruled by seven kings, and upon +being asked to pay tribute to the Sultan Salim, they +declared that they had never paid tribute to any sultan +or king. It is just possible that this may have some +reference to the 'Sâsanam' or the Jews of Cochin.</p> + +<p>"It is further stated that in 1630 a Jew of Salonica +travelled to Ethiopia, to the land of Sambation; and that +in 1646 one Baruch, travelling in Persia, claimed to have +met a man named Malkiel, of the tribe of Naphtali, and +brought back a letter from the king of the children of +Moses: this letter was seen by Azulai. It was afterwards +reprinted in Jacob Saphir's book of travels (Eben Sappir, +1. 98).</p> + +<p>"So much interest was taken in this account that in +1831 a certain Baruch ben Samuel, of Pinsk, was sent to +search for the children of Moses in Yemen. He travelled +fifteen days in the wilderness, and declared he met Danites +feeding flocks of sheep. So, too, in 1854, a certain Amram +Ma'arabi set out from Safed in search of the Ten Tribes; +and he was followed in 1857 by David Ashkenazi, who +crossed over through Suakin to make enquiries about the +Jews of Abyssinia."<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>But all these are legends and fancies. "We in this +twentieth century," to quote the words of a Christian +writer, "to whom there is no longer any part of the +earth unknown, know that in no country whatever,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +however far from civilisation it may be, do the Ten +Tribes dwell. The 'travellers' tales' have been proved +to be false; the Ten Tribes, as such, do not exist." +In this connection I may quote Professor A. Neubauer, +a prominent learned Jew, who sums up his studies in a +series of illuminating articles on the subject which will +be found in Vol. I. of <i>The Jewish Quarterly Review</i>, with +these words:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Where are the Ten Tribes? We can only answer, +Nowhere. Neither in Africa, nor in India, China, Persia, +Kurdistan, the Caucasus, or Bokhara. We have said that +a great part of them remained in Palestine, partly mixing +with the Samaritans, and partly amalgamating with those +who returned from the captivity of Babylon. With them +many came also from the cities of the Medes, and many, +no doubt, adhered to the Jewish religion which was continued +in Mesopotamia during the period of the Second +Temple."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Some Christian writers cling to the view that while +some of the "Ten Tribes" amalgamated with the +"Jews," there is nevertheless a distinct people somewhere, +who are descendants of the Israel of the ancient +northern kingdom, which is to be brought to light in +the future, and, together with "Judah," will be restored +to Palestine, and enter into the enjoyment of the promises. +Thus the Nestorians, who inhabit the inaccessible +mountains of Kurdistan (which is part of ancient +Assyria), the Afghans, the North American Indians, +and even the Japanese have been variously identified +as that people; but this view rests upon what I believe +to be a misconception of the meaning and scope of some +of the prophecies.</p> + +<p>It <i>may</i> be true that the Nestorians, and the Afghans, +and some other Eastern tribes are descendants of the +original Israelitish exiles in Assyria, but having more +or less mixed themselves up by inter-marriage with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +surrounding nations, and having given up the distinctive +national rites and ordinances, such as circumcision, +the observance of the Sabbath, etc., they have, +like many "Jews" in modern times (who gradually +assimilate with Gentile nations), cut themselves off from +the hope of Israel, and are no longer in the line of the +purpose which God has in and through that "peculiar" +and separate people.</p> + + +<h3>THE TESTIMONY OF PROPHECY IN THE +LIGHT OF HISTORY.</h3> + +<p>In conclusion let me very briefly call your attention +to the remarkable prophecy in Amos ix., which will +show you that the view which I have enunciated in my +letter is the only one in keeping with the sure word of +prophecy.</p> + +<p>The prophet Amos, though himself a Judean, his +native village, Tekoa, being about twelve miles south +of Jerusalem, was commissioned by God to prophesy +more particularly to the northern or Ten-Tribed +kingdom; and for that purpose he went and took up +his abode in Bethel, which was the centre of the idolatrous +worship set up by Jeroboam in opposition to the +worship and service of the divinely-appointed sanctuary +in Jerusalem. There his duty was to announce the +coming judgment of God on the Israel of the Ten Tribes, +on account of their apostasy. The last paragraph of +his book (chap. ix. 8-15), uttered not more than about +seventy years before the final overthrow of Samaria in +<span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 721, is one of the most remarkable and comprehensive +prophecies in the Old Testament, and this is +the inspired forecast of the history of the Ten-Tribed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +kingdom which is given in it: "<i>Behold, the eyes of the +Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy +it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not +utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. For +lo, I will command and I will sift (or 'toss') the house +of Israel among all the nations, like as corn is sifted (or +'tossed' about) in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall +upon the earth. All the sinners of thy people shall die +by the sword, which say: The evil shall not overtake or +prevent us.</i>"</p> + +<p>Here, then, we have the whole subject as to what +was to become of the Ten Tribes in a nutshell.</p> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) First, <i>as a kingdom</i>, they were to be destroyed +from off the face of the earth, <i>never to be restored</i>; for +its very existence as a separate kingdom was only permitted +of God for a definite period as a punishment on +the house of David: and when, after a period of about +two hundred and fifty years of unbroken apostasy, it +was finally broken up by the Assyrians, there was an +end of it, without any promise of a future independent +political existence.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) But when it was destroyed as a kingdom, what +became of them as a people? This prophecy tells us: +"Saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of +Jacob, saith the Lord"—that is, they are to return to +the house of Jacob. They are to form part of the one +family made up of all the descendants of Jacob without +distinction of tribes. But as one house of Jacob, or +"of Israel" (as the next verse interchangeably calls +them), something terrible and unique is to befall them; +and what is it? To be "lost" some two thousand six +hundred years, and then to be identified with the Anglo-Saxon +race? Oh no! this is what was to happen: +"For lo, I will command and I will sift (or 'toss') the +house of Israel among all nations, even as corn is tossed +about in a sieve"—or, in the words of Hosea, another<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +prophet, who spoke primarily to the Ten Tribes, "My +God will cast them away" (not for ever, as the whole +book shows, but for a time), "because they did not +hearken unto Him; and <i>they shall be wanderers among +the nations</i>."</p> + +<p>I draw your attention all the more to this point, +because a good deal has been made by some writers of +the expression in Isa. xi., where Israel is called "outcast," +from which they infer that "Israel" is to be +found somewhere in one place, in contradistinction to +the "dispersed of Judah." But this is a fallacy. In +Jer. xxx. Judah and Israel are together called "an +outcast," but it by no means implies that they are +therefore to be sought for and found in one particular +region of the world.</p> + +<p>It is clear from the prophecies of Amos and Hosea, +which, as we have seen, were primarily addressed to the +Ten Tribes, that if they were in the first instance "cast +out" by force from their own land, as the word in the +Hebrew means, it was with a view that they should be +"tossed about" and "wander" among "all nations."</p> + +<p>Now note, Anglo-Israelism tells you to identify the +Ten Tribes with one nation; but if you are on the line +of Scripture and true history, you will seek for them +"among all nations."</p> + +<p>And which people is it that is known all over the +earth as "the tribe of the weary foot and wandering +breast"? Anglo-Israelites call them "Jews" in the +limited sense of being descendants of "Judah"; but +God's Word tells us that it is "<i>the house of Israel</i>," +or "the house of Jacob"; and, as a matter of fact, since +"Judah" joined their brethren of the Ten Tribes on +the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans in <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> +588, the two have kept on their weary march together, +"wandering among the nations." Eastward and +westward (only a remnant of all the tribes returning to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +the land for a time), nowhere finding ease for any length +of time, nor do the soles of their feet have rest—even +as Moses, <i>at the very beginning of their history, and long +before the division among the tribes</i>, prophesied would +be their <i>united</i> experience in case they apostatised from +Jehovah their God. And thus they will continue ever +more mixed up and intermingled among themselves, +with all genealogies lost, and not one of them either +east or west being able any longer documentarily to +prove of what tribe or family he comes—until the day +when He that scattered Israel will gather him, and by +His own Divine power and omniscience separate them +again into their tribes and families.</p> + + +<h3>A SOLEMN WARNING.</h3> + +<p>My last words on this subject must be those of warning +and entreaty. Do not think, as so many do, that +Anglo-Israelism, even if not true, is only a harmless +speculation. I consider it nothing short of one of the +latter-day delusions by which the Evil One seeks to +divert the attention of men from things spiritual and +eternal. Here are a few of its dangers:—</p> + +<p>I. It goes, sometimes to the length of blasphemy (as +shown in the extracts I have copied for you at the +beginning of this letter), in misinterpreting and misapplying +Scripture. One of its foundation fallacies is +that <i>it anticipates the Millennium</i>, and interprets promises—which +will only be fulfilled in that blessed +period, after Israel as a nation is converted—to the +British nation at the present time. But by this process +it distorts and confuses the whole prophetic +Scripture.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<p>II. It fosters national pride, and nationalises God's +blessings in this dispensation, which is individual and +elective in its character.</p> + +<p>Its proud boastful tone, its carnal confidence that +Britain, in virtue of its supposed identity with the +"lost" tribes, is to take possession of all the "gates" +of her "enemies" and become practically mistress of +the whole globe, is enough to provoke God's judgment +against the nation, and to make the spiritual believer +and every true lover of this much-favoured land +tremble. It diverts man's attention from the one +thing needful, and from the only means by which he +can find acceptance with God. This it does by teaching +that "a nation composed of millions of practical +unbelievers in Christ, and ripe for apostasy, in virtue +of a certain fanciful identity between the mixed race +composing that nation and a people carried into captivity +two thousand five hundred years ago, is in the enjoyment +of God's special blessing and will enjoy it on the same +grounds for ever, thus laying another foundation for +acceptance with God beside that which He has laid, +even Christ Jesus."</p> + +<p>After all, in this dispensation it is a question only as +to whether men are "in Christ" or not. If they are +Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles, their destiny is +not linked either with Palestine or with England, but +with that inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled +and which fadeth not away; and if they are +not Christians, then, instead of occupying their thoughts +with vain speculations as to a supposed identity of the +British race with the "lost" Ten Tribes, it is their duty +to seek the one and only Saviour whom we must learn +to know, not after the flesh, but in the Spirit, and without +whom a man, whether an Israelite or not, is undone.</p> + +<p>III. Then, finally, it not only robs the Jewish nation, +the true Israel, of many promises in relation to their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +<i>future</i> by applying them to the British race in the +<i>present</i> time, but it diverts attention from them as <i>the</i> +people in whom is bound up the purpose of God in +relation to the nations, and whose "receiving again" +to the heart of God, after the long centuries of unbelief, +will be as "life from the dead to the whole world."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><p class="fn">FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> According to Grätz, "History of the Jews," vol. i., p. 186, +the tribe of Simeon, which was merely a subsidiary of that of +Judah, also remained faithful to the House of David; but this +is doubtful.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> See 2 Kings xxiii. 29, where the King of Babylon is called +"King of Assyria."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> "It is inconceivable," says Dr. Pusey, "that, as the material +prosperity of Palestine returned, even many of the Ten Tribes +should not have returned to their country."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Thus Strabo (quoted by Josephus in "Ant." xiv. 7, 2) could +already say in his day that "these Jews had already gotten into +all cities; and it is hard to find a place in the habitable earth +that hath not admitted this race and is not mastered by it."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> "Everywhere we have distinct notices of these wanderers," +says Dr. Edersheim, "and everywhere they appear as in closest +connection with the Rabbinical hierarchy of Palestine. Thus +the Mishnah, in an extremely curious section, tells how on +Sabbaths the Jewesses of Arabia might wear their long veils, +and those of India the kerchiefs round their head, customary in +those countries, without incurring the guilt of desecrating the +holy day by needlessly carrying what, in the eyes of the law, +would be a burden; while in a rubric for the Day of Atonement +we have it noted that the dress which the High Priest wore +'between the evenings' of the great feast—that is, as afternoon +darkened into evening—was of most costly Indian stuff."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Some have supposed that the 14th verse of Zechariah xi.—"<i>And +I cut asunder mine other (or 'second') staff, even Bands +(or 'Binders'), to destroy the brotherhood between Judah and +between Israel</i>"—foreshadowed another division between the +Ten Tribes and the Two Tribes subsequent to the partial +restoration from Babylon, and after the coalescence of the +people before and in the Exile—as a punishment for their rejection +of their true Shepherd the Messiah, which is symbolically +set forth in that chapter. But this is a mistake. The <span class="hebrew">אַחֲוָה</span> +(<i>achavah</i>), "Brotherhood," which was to be destroyed "between +Judah and between Israel," is not to be understood in the sense +"that the unity of the nation would be broken up again in a +manner similar to that in the days of Rehoboam, and that two +hostile nations would be formed out of one people," although +the disruption of national unity which took place in the days +of Jeroboam may be referred to <i>as an illustration</i> of that which +would occur again in a more serious form. "The schism of +Jeroboam had a weakening and disintegrating effect on the +nation of the Twelve Tribes, and the dissolution of the brotherhood +here spoken of was to result in still greater evil and ruin; +for Israel, deprived of the Good Shepherd, was to fall into the +power of the 'foolish,' or 'evil,' shepherd, who is depicted at +the close of the prophecy." +</p> +<p> +The preposition <span class="hebrew">בֵּין</span> (<i>bain</i>), which is twice repeated, has the +meaning not only of "<i>between</i>," but also of "<i>among</i>," and the +formula, House of Judah and House of Israel, or simply, "Judah +and Israel," is, as we have had again and again to notice, this +prophet's inclusive designation of the whole ideally (and to a +large extent already actually) reunited one people. I think, +therefore, that we may rightly render the sentence "to destroy +the brotherhood <i>among</i> Judah and among Israel"—that is to +say, among the entire nation. The consequence of it would be +the fulfilment of the threat in the 9th verse: "Let them which +are left eat every one the flesh of another"—solemn and awful +words, which had their first literal fulfilment in the party +feuds and mutualy destructive strife, and in the terrible +"dissolution of every bond of brotherhood and of our common +nature, which made the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans a +proverb for horror, and precipitated its destruction."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> It has also been supposed that the references by Agrippa in +his remarkable oration (reported by Josephus, "Wars," ii., +xvi. 4)—to those who dwelt "as far as beyond the Euphrates," +and to "those of your nation who dwell in Adiabene," upon +whom the Jews might rely for help in their struggle against +Rome, but would not be permitted by the Parthians to render +them any assistance—were to some unknown settlements +belonging to the Ten Tribes. But this is a mistake. These +dwellers in Adiabene might or might not have belonged to the +Ten Tribes, but they formed part of the known Dispersion and +of "your nation"—the Jews.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Jewish Encyclopædia.</p></div> +</div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="PART_III" id="PART_III"></a>PART III.<br /> + +NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS.</h2> + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><span class="smcap">Note I.</span><br /> + +ANGLO-ISRAEL "PROOFS" OF A SEPARATE +FATE AND DESTINY OF "ISRAEL" +AND "JUDAH."</h3> + +<p>The Anglo-Israel theory is based for the most part +on the supposition of a separate history during the +Dispersion, and a separate destiny of the Ten Tribes +from that of Judah. I have already shown that the +supposition is a false one, but it may be well to analyse +here a few more of the Scripture "proofs" by which +the contention is supported.</p> + +<p>The following is from a truly amazing pamphlet, +entitled "Fifty Reasons why the Anglo-Saxons are +Israelites of the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel," a +publication full of misinterpretations, wild fancies, and +absurd fables, which are given out as facts of history.</p> + +<p>But the reader may judge for himself of the method +of this writer, who is a "D.D.," in handling Scripture.</p> + +<p>"The Jews," we are told with an air of authority—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"are one people, the Lost Tribes are another.... The +Word of God clearly intimates that Israel would lose their +identity, their land, their language, their religion, and their +name, that they would be lost to themselves, and to other +nations lost. 'I will scatter them into corners, I will make +the remembrance of them to cease from among men' +(Deut. xxxii. 26). 'The Lord hideth His face from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +House of Jacob' (Isa. viii. 17). He was not any more to +speak to them in the Hebrew tongue; but 'by another +tongue will I speak unto this people' (Isa. xxviii. 11). +They shall no more be called Israel, He will call them by +another name. 'And thou shalt be called by a new name +which the mouth of the Lord shall name' (Isa. lxii. 2). +'The Lord shall call His servants by another name' (Isa. +lxv. 15). 'The name Israel shall be no more in remembrance' +(Psa. lxxxiii. 4). 'And ye shall lose, or leave, +your name, and the Lord shall call His servants by another +name.' 'Why sayest thou, O Jacob! and speakest, O +Israel! my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is +passed over from my God?' (Isa. xl. 27).</p> + +<p>"'For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with +great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid +My face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting +kindness will I have mercy upon thee' (Isa. liv. 8).</p> + +<p>"In Hos. i. 4, 7 the Lord says, 'I will cause to cease +the kingdom of the House of Israel.... I will no more +have mercy upon the House of Israel, but I will utterly +take them away.... But I will have mercy upon the +House of Judah.' Israel is to be called Lo-Ammi, for +'ye are not My people, and I will not be your God' (Hos. +i. 7)."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Now let us look for a moment at the references and +quotations here given. The first is Deut. xxxii. 26: +"I will scatter them into corners," etc. This occurs +in the song which Moses was commanded to put into +the mouth of the <i>whole nation</i> at the very commencement +of their history, which, besides being a vindication +of God's character in His dealings with the nation from +the beginning hitherto, is also a prophetic forecast of +their whole future history. It is the <i>whole people</i>, +which according to Moses was to be scattered into all +corners as a special punishment for their apostasy, +until such time as the Lord shall turn their captivity +and have compassion upon them, and gather them +from all the nations (Deut. iv. 25-31; xxviii. 64, 65;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +xxx. 1-7; xxxi. 16-22). This reference then has +nothing whatever in it about a "lost identity."</p> + +<p>These forecasts are fulfilling themselves, not in lost +tribes, but <i>in the Jews</i>. The second reference, Isa. viii. +17: "<i>The Lord hideth His face from the House of +Jacob</i>," is (as is often the case in Anglo-Israel quotations) +a sentence broken away from the context, and has not +the least shadow of connection with "lost" or found +tribes. It is an exclamation of the prophet Isaiah +with reference to the condition of things then prevailing +in <i>Judah</i>. Because of the wickedness of the people and +its king, God's face seemed to be hid from the people. +But Israel's prophets always looked beyond the present +gloom and darkness, and exercised faith in God even +in the most adverse circumstances, so he exclaims: +"And I"—whatever the nation whom he sought to +bring back to God may do—"will wait upon Jehovah +that hideth His face from <i>Jacob</i> (which stands for the +whole nation) and will look to Him," <i>i.e.</i>, "my hope +shall be set on Him alone."</p> + +<p>A quotation is made in proof that God would not +any more speak to "lost" Israel in the Hebrew tongue. +The reference is Isa. xxviii. 11: "By (or with) another +tongue will I speak to this people."</p> + +<p>This is another instance of breaking away an isolated +text from its context, and giving it a meaning which +was never intended. In that chapter we read how the +leaders, not of the Ten Tribes, but of Judah, perverted +the Word of God, which He intended should bring +"rest" and "refreshing" to the weary (ver. 12), and +turned it into so many isolated "precepts" and commandments. +But because the words of grace and +salvation He was speaking to them through the prophets +were scorned and abused, God threatens that +He will speak to them in judgment—"with strange +lips and with another tongue"—in which there may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +be included also a reference to their being carried into +captivity, "where they would have to listen to a strange +language," which they understood not (Psalm lxxxi. +5; cxiv. 1).</p> + +<p>The next references in proof that the "lost" tribes +were "no more to be called Israel," but by another +name, is a typical instance of the perversion of even +the most beautiful spiritual truths of the Bible for mere +outward, I was going to say, <i>carnal</i>, ends. The first +quotation in proof of this point is from Isa. lxii. 2: +"Thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth +of the Lord shall name." This short chapter is one of +the most precious and beautiful in the whole Old Testament, +and it is like laying hold of an exquisitely delicate +and beautiful work of art with a rough and dirty hand +to treat it as Anglo-Israel "theologians" do. The +chapter begins: "For <i>Zion's sake</i> will I not hold My +peace, and for <i>Jerusalem's sake</i> I will not rest until her +righteousness go forth as brightness and her salvation +as a lamp that burneth." The speaker is either the +prophet, or very probably the servant of Jehovah, the +Messiah, who is the speaker in the preceding chapter. +The subject is "Zion" or "Jerusalem," which includes +the people. I believe that it includes the <i>whole nation</i> +of which Jerusalem is the God-appointed metropolis; +but if it is to be limited to any part of the people, then +it is certainly <i>Judah</i>, of which Zion or Jerusalem is the +capital, and not the Ten Tribes who are here spoken of.</p> + +<p>This Zion, for whom the Messiah makes unceasing +intercession, is now called <span class="hebrew">עֲזוּבָה</span>—"forsaken," and +her land <span class="hebrew">שְׁמָמָה</span>—"desolate"; but when God's light +shall again break upon her, and her righteousness +goes forth as a lamp that burneth, "Thou shalt be +called <span class="hebrew"> חֶפְצִי-בָהּ</span> (Hephzibah, <i>i.e.</i>, My delight is in +her); and thy land <span class="hebrew">בְּעוּלָה</span>" (Beulah, <i>i.e.</i>, married). +But the new name by which the mouth of Jehovah<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +shall then call her shall not only answer the outward +transformation which shall then come over the people +and the land, but will describe the <i>inward</i> transformation +and the true character of the people. In fact, we +are told in this very chapter what the new name shall +be. They shall call them—Saxons? Britons? No, +"they shall call them the Holy People, <i>The Redeemed +of the Lord</i>." This is also the "other name" in Isa. lxv. +15, by which God shall call His true servants in contrast +to the ungodly in the nation, who shall be "slain," +and leave their name (<i>i.e.</i>, their remembrance) as a +proverbial "curse" unto His chosen.</p> + +<p>The next reference given in proof that the Ten Tribes +were to lose their name is Psalm lxxxiii. 4: "The name +of Israel shall be no more in remembrance." This is a +typical and characteristic specimen of the manner in +which Anglo-Israel "theologians" deal with Scripture. +It reminds one of the grounds adduced by a certain +individual for paying no heed to the Old Testament +because it is written, "<i>Hang</i> the law and the prophets" +(Matt. xxii. 40). It is certainly most easy to prove +almost anything from the Bible by breaking away an +isolated sentence from its connection, and attaching to +it a meaning which was never intended.</p> + +<p>Psalm lxxxiii. is an impassioned cry to God for His +interposition and deliverance of His people from a +confederacy of Gentile nations, who are gathered with +the determined object of utterly destroying them as a +people.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>"O God, keep not Thou silence:</p> +<p>Hold not Thy peace and be not still, O God; for lo, Thine enemies make a tumult:</p> +<p>And they that hate Thee have lifted up the head:</p> +<p>They take crafty counsel against Thy people, and consult together against Thy hidden ones.</p> +<p>They have said: Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,</p> +<p>That the name of Israel be no more in remembrance."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></div> + +<p>This historical occasion of this Psalm may perhaps +have been the great gathering of the Moabites, Ammonites, +and a great multitude of others against "Judah,"<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> +who, in the Psalms belonging to that period, is invariably +called Israel. At the same time there is a prophetic +element in the Psalm, for all the past gatherings +of the nations against Jerusalem foreshadow the final +great gathering under Antichrist, when the battle-cry +of the confederated armies shall indeed be, "Come, let +us destroy them from being a nation, that the name of +Israel may be no more in remembrance." But note, +part of the furious cry of the Gentiles in their onslaught +against Jerusalem is broken away from its connection +and used by Anglo-Israel writers to prove that the +Ten Tribes would lose their identity and that the very +name "Israel" would be "lost."</p> + +<p>Passing on to the next two references, Isa. xl. 27 +and Isa. liv. 8, I would ask the intelligent Bible-reader +what relevancy or connection these precious Scriptures +have with the subject of the identification of any "lost" +tribes? They are glorious words of consolation and +promise addressed to the Jewish nation, or rather to +the godly remnant in exile, assuring them that God's +eye is ever upon them, and though, on account of their +sins, His face has been turned away from them, as it +were, "for a moment," He will yet return to them +with "everlasting kindness and have mercy upon +them." It is like sacrilege to misapply such beautiful +Scriptures and great spiritual truths to prove a +theory which has no basis in fact, and with which +they have not the remotest connection.</p> + +<p>The last reference is Hosea i. 4-7; the words are +plain enough, and if they prove anything in connection +with this subject it is the very opposite of what the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +Anglo-Israel writers assert. Hosea did speak primarily +to the Israel of the "Ten Tribes" shortly before its final +overthrow by Assyria, and what he announces is that +God would cause that kingdom, <i>as a kingdom</i>, "to +cease," and that He would no more have mercy upon +them. As a people they would be preserved, but, as +it were, disavowed of God, and therefore called "Lo-Ammi" +(<i>i.e.</i>, "not My people"). But what is said +here by Hosea of the condition of the people of the +"Ten Tribes," after they shall have ceased to exist as +a kingdom, is true also, as we know from many other +Scriptures, of those who belonged to the southern +kingdom of Judah. It is now the Lo-Ammi period for +the <i>whole nation</i> of the Twelve Tribes, and they shall +continue to be disowned of God nationally (not as +individuals) until they as a nation acknowledge and +own their long-rejected Messiah. Then, in the final trial, +when the spirit of grace and of supplication is poured +upon them, and they shall look upon Him whom they +have pierced, and mourn, God will look down upon them +and say, "Ammi"—"It is My people": and they +shall say, "Jehovah is my God" (Zech. xiv. 9).</p> + +<p>And it is not only the prophetic Scriptures of the +Old Testament which are abused in this manner, the +plainest statements in the Gospels and Epistles are +also twisted and perverted to mean the very opposite +of what was intended. The following is from a booklet, +"The Lost Tribes of Israel," by Reader Harris, K.C., +"founder of the Pentecostal League," in which all the +absurdities and misinterpretations found in all the +Anglo-Israel publications are embodied:—</p> + +<blockquote><p><b>"NEW TESTAMENT PROPHECIES.</b></p> + +<p>"Let us now turn to the New Testament. It is perfectly +clear that Israel, who had been dispersed for more than +700 years, was much in our Lord's mind during His three +years' ministry upon earth, for many were the references<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +to Israel made by Him. As an example, let us turn to +the commission He gave to the twelve apostles in Matt x. +5, 6:—</p> + +<p>"'<span class="smcap">These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded +them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, +and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: +but go rather to the lost sheep of the House of +Israel.</span>'</p> + +<p>"These apostles were not to go to the Gentiles, nor to the +Samaritans—who were the descendants of usurpers of +Israel—'but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel'; +and they obeyed this command as far as was then possible. +The only tribe that they could reach which had any connection +with Israel was Benjamin, and Benjamin as a +tribe was won to allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. +Benjamin had gone into captivity with Judah, and had +come back with Judah; but in the prophecies of God, +Benjamin had been always associated with the Ten Tribes +of Israel. It is a remarkable fact that the majority of +our Lord's disciples at the time of His earthly ministry +were connected with the tribe of Benjamin. It is also of +interest that, when Jerusalem was afterwards besieged +by the Romans under Titus, the members of what had +become the Christian tribe of Benjamin escaped.</p> + +<p>"Christ Himself declared, in Matt. xv. 24, this was His +own mission: '<i>He answered and said, I am not sent but +unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel.</i>'</p> + +<p>"Again our Lord says, in Matt. xxi. 43: '<i>Therefore say +I unto you</i> (He was speaking to the Jews), <i>the kingdom of +God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation</i> (the Jews +had long since ceased to be a nation) <i>bringing forth the +fruits thereof</i>.'</p> + +<p>"The Jews themselves evidently so understood His statement, +for in John vii. 35 we read:—</p> + +<p>"'<span class="smcap">Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither +will He go, that we shall not find Him? Will He +go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach +the Gentiles?</span>'</p> + +<p>"So the Jew quite understood our Lord to refer to Israel.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> +<p>"Israel was evidently in the minds of the apostles themselves. +On the day of the ascension they asked Him:—</p> + +<p>"'<span class="smcap">Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the +kingdom to Israel?</span>' (Acts i. 6.)</p> + +<p>"A restoration of the kingdom of Israel with the kingdom +of Judah had been promised. The apostles did not confuse +the kingdom of Israel with that of Judah, for they +said, 'Wilt Thou at this time restore the kingdom to +Israel?' St. Paul devotes thirty-six verses in Romans xi. +to prove that God has not cast away His people, but that +"blindness in part is happened unto Israel until the +fulness of the nations be come in," so that all Israel shall +be saved.</p> + +<p>"Lastly, the final word must be that of our Lord. In +Acts i. 7, 8 Christ said:—</p> + +<p>"'<i>It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which +the Father hath put in His own power, but ye shall receive +power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and ye +shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in +Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth</i>'—which +refers to the 'regions beyond'—an expression that was +fully understood to mean the dispersed among the Gentiles."</p></blockquote> + +<p>With much pain one has to say that this reveals +either lamentable ignorance of the plainest and simplest +truths of New Testament Scripture on the part of an +otherwise educated man, or a clever adaptation by which +a lawyer would seek to support a preconceived theory.</p> + +<p>I have already dealt with some of these perversions +in the first part of this pamphlet, so need only refer to +them again in the briefest possible manner.</p> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) It is indeed "perfectly clear" to any reader of +the New Testament that Israel "was much in our +Lord's mind during His three years' ministry upon +earth"; but as clear and evident is it to any candid +reader that the only "Israel" of whom He thought +and spoke were the people among whom He lived and +moved, and to whom His blessed ministry on earth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +was confined, and who are alternately called in the +New Testament "Jews" and "Israel."</p> + +<p>It was to these "lost sheep" <i>in the land of Palestine</i> +for whom His own compassions were moved when He +beheld them in multitudes, that the Twelve were sent +out in Matt. x., and He ascribes to them the term +"lost" in a deeper and more solemn and spiritual +sense than Anglo-Israelism has evidently any conception +of. (<i>See</i> page 41.)</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) The statement here repeated about the tribe of +Benjamin, and that the "majority of our Lord's disciples +at the time of His earthly ministry were connected +with the tribe of Benjamin," is nothing but a fiction +invented by Anglo-Israelites, as already shown in +Part I. (<i>See</i> page 17.)</p> + +<p>The only thing which is historically true is that the +Apostle Paul was of the tribe of Benjamin, but he was +called after our Lord's earthly ministry was ended, +and he was appointed not to the "lost tribes," but to +preach Christ's Gospel <i>among the Gentiles</i> (Acts xxii. +21; Rom. xi. 13; Gal. i. 16).</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) The nation which brings forth the fruits of the +kingdom of God during the present dispensation of +Israel's national unbelief is not the British Empire, +but <i>the Church of Christ</i>—the elected body out of <i>all</i> +nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues, who are +called "a chosen generation (or 'elect race'), a royal +priesthood, a <i>holy nation</i> (εθνος), a people for God's +own possession" (1 Peter ii. 9).</p> + +<p>(<i>d</i>) To state that the Jews themselves understood +Christ's statement in Matt. xxi. 43 as referring to some +"lost" Israel, because in John vii. 35 they said: +"Will He go unto the dispersed (την διασποραν) among the +Gentile (or 'Greeks'), and teach the Greeks?" is +not true.</p> + +<p>The "dispersed" among the Greeks were Hellenistic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +"<i>Jews</i>" of all the Twelve Tribes scattered abroad, +who stood (as already shown in Part II.) in closest +connection with the Temple and hierarchy in Jerusalem, +and were never "lost"; and the Greeks among whom +they were dispersed were "<i>Gentiles</i>."</p> + +<p>(<i>e</i>) And what can be said of such a perverted application +of the question in Acts i. 6, namely, that when +the disciples, immediately before Christ's ascension, +asked: "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore the +kingdom to Israel?" it was not their own nation, the +"Jews," that they meant, and Jerusalem the centre +of God's kingdom on earth—but some "lost" tribes +in distant regions of which they knew nothing—I +suppose on the same principle of Anglo-Israel interpretation +when Peter, with the eleven on the Day of +Pentecost, for instance, addressed the people as "<i>Ye +men of Israel</i>," and again, "Let all the house of Israel, +therefore, know assuredly that God hath made Him +both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom ye crucified" +(Acts ii. 22-36)—he did not speak to the assembled +multitude of "Jews" before him, but over their heads +to some distant regions where there were some wandering +"lost" tribes who alone were entitled to the name +"Israel." But such assertions are altogether too +ridiculous to be treated seriously.</p> + +<p>The "Israel" which "was evidently in the minds +of the apostles," and to whom Peter spoke, and of +whom Paul wrote in that great prophetic section in +his Epistle to the Romans (chaps. ix.-xi.), were the +"Jews," whether of Palestine or in the "Dispersion," +who are the only representatives of all the Twelve +Tribes of "Israel" with whom Scripture or prophecy +has any concern, and not any supposed "lost" tribes +to be identified after many centuries by Anglo-Israel +writers as the British and the United States.</p> + +<p>(<i>f</i>) "Lastly, the final word," we are told, "must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +be that of our Lord," and then there follows the quotation +of the glorious promise and prophetic forecast +from Acts i. 7, 8: "<i>Ye shall receive power when the +Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be My +witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and +Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth</i>"; and +we are assured that the last sentence refers "to the +regions beyond—an expression that was fully understood +to mean the dispersed among the Gentiles"—by +which, I suppose, we are meant to understand, the +"lost" tribes.</p> + +<p>But the sentence—και εως εσχατον της γης—means, as +it has been properly rendered, "unto the end (or +'uttermost part') of the earth," and has always been +"fully" and properly understood by the Church of +Christ as a Divine warrant and forecast of the +preaching of the Gospel, not to the Dispersed <i>among</i> the +Gentiles, but to <i>the heathen world</i>.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Note II.</span><br /> + +THE PROMISES OF A MULTITUDINOUS +SEED, AND THAT ISRAEL SHALL BECOME +A GREAT AND MIGHTY NATION.</h3> + +<p>A great point is made by all Anglo-Israel writers +of the promises which God made to the fathers of a +multitudinous seed. The argument is, that since the +descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were to be +a great and mighty and very numerous nation—yea, +"a company of nations"—these promises cannot apply +to the "Jews," who are comparatively few in number.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +There must exist, therefore, a people somewhere great +and mighty and numerous who are the seed of Abraham, +in whom these promises are realised.</p> + +<p>Now look at the British Empire, how great and +mighty it is in the earth, and what vast numbers it +includes, <i>ergo</i>, the British, including the United States +of America (which by some wonderful process of divination +Anglo-Israelites are able to distinguish and identify +as "Manasseh," in spite of the fact that their progenitors, +who emigrated from England, were, according +to them "Ephraimites," and that those original emigrants +have since been mixed up with a flood of emigrants +from all other races under heaven), are the descendants +of Abraham, and particularly of the "lost" Ten Tribes!</p> + +<p>Now the following are the Scriptures on the subject:</p> + +<blockquote><p>(1) "And I will make of thee (Abraham) a great +nation" (Gen. xii. 2).</p> + +<p>(2) "And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; +so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then +shall thy seed also be numbered" (Gen. xiii. 16).</p> + +<p>(3) "And He brought him (Abraham) forth abroad, +and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the number +of the stars, if thou be able to tell them: and He said +unto him, So shall thy seed be" (Gen. xv. 5).</p> + +<p>(4) "And God talked with him (Abraham), saying: +As for Me, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be +the father of a multitude of nations; neither shall thy +name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be +Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have +I made thee. And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, +and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come +out of thee" (Gen. xvii. 4-6).</p> + +<p>(5) "Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty +nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed +in him" (Gen. xviii. 18).</p> + +<p>(6) "In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying +I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as +the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +possess the gate of his enemies" (a Hebrew idiom for +"shall be victorious over his foes") (Gen. xxii. 17).</p> + +<p>(7) "And God said unto him (Jacob), I am God +Almighty, be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a +company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come +out of thy loins" (Gen. xxxv. 11).</p></blockquote> + +<p>To these passages have to be added Isaac's blessing +to Jacob: "God Almighty bless thee and make thee +fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a +company—literally, 'a congregation' <span class="hebrew"> קְהַל עַמִּים </span> of +peoples" (Gen. xxviii. 3); and Jacob's forecast of +Ephraim in his blessing of Joseph's sons, that his +seed shall become "a multitude (or literally, 'a fulness,' +<span class="hebrew"> מְלֹא הַגּוֹיִם </span>) of the nations."</p> + +<p>Now in reference to all these particular promises and +forecasts, I would beg your attention to the following +observations:—</p> + +<p>I. There are expressions in them which must not +be pressed to the extreme of literalness according to +our Western ideas. We speak of "nations," and think +of them as embracing populations of whole countries, +and of "kings" as being sovereigns of States, but in +the earlier books of the Bible we are introduced to +many "nations" and "peoples" as comprised in one +little country of Canaan, and of many "kings" who +were no more than chiefs, or rulers of "cities," which +in our modern times we would only class as "villages." +As a matter of fact, the term <span class="hebrew"> גּוֹיִם </span>, <i>goim</i>, generally +standing for "<i>nations</i>," and usually for the <i>Gentile</i> +nations, is actually used for the <i>tribes</i> or families of the +Jewish people. Here is the Scripture: "And He said +unto me, Son of Man, I send thee to the children of +Israel, to nations (<span class="hebrew"> גּוֹיִם</span>, (<i>goim</i>—the word is in the +plural) that are rebellious, which have rebelled against +Me" (Ezek. ii. 3).</p> + +<p>The "Jews," or "Israel," as they are properly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +called are being spoken of as "nations," because they +comprised different families or tribes.</p> + +<p>Already Moses could say of the Israel of his time: +"<i>Jehovah your God hath multiplied you, and behold, ye +are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude</i>" (Deut. +i. 10; x. 22); and Solomon, in his prayer for wisdom, +says: "<i>Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people which +Thou hast chosen, a great people that cannot be counted +for multitude</i>" (1 Kings iii. 8).</p> + +<p>The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews knew nothing +of a supposed identification of the millions in Britain +and America with the "lost" Ten Tribes, but speaking +of the descendants of Abraham and Sarah, he could +say that because Abraham believed God, and Sarah +herself, in spite of natural impossibilities, judged Him +faithful who had promised: "<i>Wherefore also there +sprang of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the +stars of heaven for multitude, and as the sand which is +by the seashore innumerable</i>" (Hebrews xi. 12); so that +even if we view only the past it is not true to assert +that the promises of God that the seed of Abraham +should be a multitude which cannot be numbered, and +constitute "a company of nations," has not been fulfilled +in the "Jews" or "Israel," which has never been +"lost."</p> + +<p>II. The promises of a multitudinous seed and rapid +increase of the seed of Abraham, though in the first +instance given to the fathers unconditionally, and +therefore will assuredly be fulfilled, were nevertheless +made conditional on Israel's obedience. It is with +this, as with all the other great promises, given to the +Jewish nation. They were conditional as far as any +particular generation of Jews are concerned, who may +either enjoy them if in obedience, or forfeit them through +disobedience; but they are unconditional to the nation +because God abides faithful, and in the end all His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +plans and purposes in and through them will be fulfilled. +For this very reason He has preserved them as +a people in spite of all their sin and disobedience.</p> + +<p>Now at the very commencement of Israel's history—long +before there was any likelihood of a schism +among the tribes—Moses, speaking in the name of +God of the whole nation, says: "<i>If ye walk in My +statutes and keep My commandments to do them, ... I +will have respect unto you and make you fruitful and +multiply you, and will establish My covenant with you</i>" +(Lev. xxvi. 3-9).</p> + +<p>On the other hand, he solemnly forewarns them that +if they shall "corrupt themselves" and fall away from +the living God, "I call heaven and earth to witness +against you this day that ye shall soon utterly perish +from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to +possess it, ... and Jehovah shall scatter you among +the peoples, <i>and ye shall be left few in number among +the nations whither Jehovah shall lead you</i>" (Deut. iv. +25-27).</p> + +<p>This is repeated with solemn emphasis in Deut. xxviii. +62: "<i>And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye +were as the stars of heaven for multitude</i>." In the light +of the Word of God, therefore, and apart from all the +absurdities involved in the Anglo-Israel theory, the +very fact that the British and American races are so +numerous and powerful among the nations precludes +the possibility of their being Israel, for when out of +Palestine and in dispersion Israel was to become "few +in number," and oppressed and downtrodden among +the nations.</p> + +<p>III. The underlying fallacy in the Anglo-Israel argument +from the promises of a multitudinous seed which +God made to the fathers (and this, indeed, is one of the +chief errors underlying the whole theory), is that it +overlooks the fact that those promises, according to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +the testimony of the prophets, will be fulfilled in the +<i>future</i>, when (as stated above) the Jewish nation, +restored and converted, shall become under the personal +rule of their Messiah, great and mighty for God on this +earth. Then, when Israel shall be spiritually restored +to God, and in and through the grace of their Messiah +they shall be a nation all righteous and planted by God +in their own land, "the little one shall become a thousand, +and the small one a strong nation" (Isa. lx. +21, 22); and so rapidly and marvellously shall they +increase that even the whole promised land, which is +fifty times as large as the portion of it "from Dan to +Beersheba," which alone they possessed in the past, +shall become too small for them, so that they shall say +to the surrounding nations: "<i>The place is too strait +for me, give place ('make room') that I may dwell</i>" +(Isa. xlix. 19, 20).</p> + +<p>Now all this has been, and will be, fulfilled in the +"Jews," who, as I have shown, are the people of the +whole "<i>Twelve Tribes scattered abroad</i>." In the dispersion +among the nations they became reduced to +"few in number," but when they are restored and +blessed God says: "I will multiply them, and they +shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they +shall not be small" (Jer. xxx. 19).</p> + +<p>Of the capacity for rapid increase of the Jewish people +there is sufficient proof already. The following is from +a recent number of <i>The Scattered Nation</i>:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The marvellous increase of the Jewish people since +their so-called 'emancipation' in the xixth century, is +indeed a striking sign of the times. The statement of a +recent writer in the <i>Jewish Chronicle</i> that at the commencement +of the xvith century there could scarcely have been +more than a million Jews left in the entire world after the +untold sufferings, dispersions and massacres which they +had to endure in the dark and middle ages—is probably +true. The historian Basnage, in his 'History of the Jews<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +from Jesus Christ to the Present Time,' calculated that in +his time (end of the xviith and beginning of the xviiith +century) there were 3,000,000 Jews in the world. Since +then, however, the growth of Jewry has been phenomenal. +At the commencement of the xixth century there +were said to be five millions. Half a century later the +numbers reached six or seven millions; and at the end +of another half a century—in 1896—the greatest living +authority on Jewish statistics gave their number as +eleven millions. And now, after the lapse of another +seventeen or eighteen years, we are informed that there +are no less than 13,000,000 Jews in the world. And the +surprising feature of this latest calculation is the officially +authenticated fact that, in the country where they are +most persecuted, and which during the past three decades +has driven forth millions to seek an asylum in other +countries, there are more Jews to-day than ever before; +and this in spite of pogroms, and baptisms, and overcrowding, +and starvation, and the pursuance of a merciless +policy of repression which led Pobiedonostsef to prognosticate +that, in the end, a third of Russia's Jews would +emigrate, a third would die, and a third would join the +dominant faith. The old story of Israel in Egypt renews +itself to-day in Russia: 'The more they afflicted them, +the more they multiplied.'"</p></blockquote> + +<p>And if this be so now even in dispersion, we can +imagine that in the millennial period, under the fostering +care and blessing of God, the favoured nation will +increase and multiply so that they will be as the stars +of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, +innumerable.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Note III.</span><br /> + +THE PERPETUITY OF THE DAVIDIC +THRONE.</h3> + +<p>One great Anglo-Israel argument that the British +must be the "lost" Israel is based on the promises +which God made to David that his seed and his throne +shall be established for ever. Sometimes, indeed (as +seen in one of the quotations given in Part I., <i>see</i> page +<a href="#Page_12">12</a>), and in keeping with Anglo-Israel logic, the +argument is used the other way: "If the Saxons be +the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, then the English throne +is a continuation of David's throne, and the seed on it +must be the seed of David, and the inference is clear, +namely, that all the blessings attaching by the holy +promise to David's throne must belong to England";<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> +and since, according to the dictum of the theory, this +"must be so," evidence must somehow be found, both +"historical" and from Scripture. So on the historical +side a genealogical table has been produced in which +the descent of the royal house of England (which may +God protect!) is directly traced to David and Judah—a +table truly strange and wonderful, and which only +shows how easy it is to prove anything if wild guesses +and perverted fancies be treated as facts. On these +genealogical tables and "histories," however, with +regard to which we would only apply to the Anglo-Israel +"world" the old Latin proverb—<i>Mundus vult +decipi et decipiatur</i>—it would be sheer waste of time to +enter here. It is the product of a false supposition, +supported by a logic which is also false, both in its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +premises and conclusions. People whose capacity for +credulity is large enough to believe the wild romances +spun out by Anglo-Israel writers about Jeremiah's +journey to Ireland with a daughter of Zedekiah, who +brought with them as part of their personal luggage +the coronation stone which is now in Westminster +Abbey, are very welcome to believe it; and one would +not trouble much about them if they would only let the +Bible alone and not pervert Scripture.</p> + +<p>But it is the supposed <i>Scriptural</i> "proofs" which +impose on some simple-minded Christians, with whom +alone we are concerned here. The following passages +almost all Anglo-Israel writers fasten upon:—</p> + +<p>"<i>The Lord hath sworn unto David in truth, He will not +turn from it; of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy +throne</i>" (Psa. cxxxii. 11).</p> + +<p>"<i>I have sworn unto David My servant, Thy seed +will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all +generations</i>" (Psa. lxxxix. 3, 4).</p> + +<p>"<i>Thus saith Jehovah: If ye can break My covenant +of the day, and my covenant of the night, in their season, +then may also My covenant be broken with David My +servant that he should not have a son to reign upon his +throne.... Thus saith the Lord: If My covenant of +day and night stand not, if I have not appointed the +ordinances of heaven and earth; then will I also cast +away the seed of Jacob, and of David My servant, so that +I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of +Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity +to return, and will have mercy on them</i>" (Jer. xxxiii. +20, 21, 25, 26, <span class="smcap">R.V.</span>).</p> + +<p>The argument drawn from these Scriptures is: If +the British be not Israel, and the English throne be +not a continuation of the throne of David, where is +the fulfilment of these promises? In answer to this +crude logic I would observe:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>I. That it seems to be quite a characteristic of Anglo-Israelism +to ignore our Lord Jesus Christ as the centre +of all promise and prophecy, just as it ignores the existence +of the Church and the future kingdom of God, for +all which it substitutes the British people and the +British Empire. But <i>Christ</i> is the true Son of David, +and the only legitimate heir to the Davidic throne. +"The sure mercies of David," which are sure (or +"faithful," as the word may be better rendered), +because God has sworn to fulfil, or "establish" them, +are all merged and centred <i>in Him</i>. Hence, when His +birth was announced to the Virgin Mary, the Angel +Gabriel said: "Behold thou shalt conceive in thy +womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name +Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son +of the Most High, and <i>the Lord God shall give unto Him +the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over +the House of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there +shall be no end</i>" (Luke i. 31-33).</p> + +<p>If Israel had received Him His throne would have +been established, and His visible reign on earth commenced +then. But He was rejected, and so the promise +in reference to setting up again of the Davidic +kingdom, which had ceased to exist since the days of +Zedekiah, was still deferred until the purpose of God +with reference to the Church should be accomplished.</p> + +<p>But the promises which God made to David have not +failed, for Jesus, the true Son of David, lives, and though +He is for the present sitting on the throne of God in +heaven, <i>He is coming again</i> to set up the throne of His +father David, and then "He shall reign over the House +of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no +end."</p> + +<p>II. It was announced in advance that during the +"many days" of Israel's apostasy, and consequent +banishment from the land, they "<i>shall abide without a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +king and without a prince</i>," <i>i.e.</i>, without the true Davidic +king of God's appointment, and without a prince of +their own choice, as Jewish commentators have themselves +explained, until "the latter days," when restored +and converted they shall find in their Messiah the true +David, both their King and Prince.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>III. The only place on earth where a <i>throne of David</i> +can have any legitimate place, either in the sight of +God or of man, is on <i>Mount Zion in Jerusalem</i>, and it +is an absurdity to speak of the continuity of a Davidic +throne in England. Thank God that the right of the +British Sovereign to his illustrious throne rests on a +firmer basis than the fictitious genealogies made out by +Anglo-Israelites.</p> + +<p>IV. The same Scriptures, which speak of the perpetuity +of the Davidic seed and <i>throne</i>, speak also of +the unceasing continuance of <i>the priesthood</i>. "<i>Thus saith +Jehovah, David shall never want a man to sit upon the +throne of the House of Israel; neither shall the priests +the Levites want a man before Me to offer burnt-offerings +and to burn oblations, and to do sacrifice continually.... +Thus saith the Lord: If ye can break My covenant of +the day, and My covenant of the night, so that there should +not be day and night in their season; then may also My +covenant be broken with David My servant, that he should +not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the +Levites the priests, My ministers</i>" (Jer. xxxiii. 17, 20, +21).</p> + +<p>Now it would be quite as logical to argue that the +ministers of the Church of England must be the lineal +descendants of the Levites, else God's promise of the +continuance of the priesthood has failed, as to argue +from these same Scriptures that there must be some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>where +now on earth a throne of David, or else these +prophecies have proved false.</p> + +<p>The truth is that neither have God's promises in +reference to the throne nor to the priesthood failed—for +Christ is, in His blessed Person, the Prophet, Priest, and +King. He is all this now at the right hand of God, for +not only are all the essentials of the Aaronic priesthood +fulfilled in Him, but He is "a priest <i>for ever</i> after the +order of Melchizedek"; and when He is manifested +again on earth to take up His throne and reign, "<i>He +shall be a priest upon His throne</i>, and the counsel of +peace shall be between them both."<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Note IV.</span><br /> + +THE SO-CALLED HISTORIC PROOFS OF +ANGLO-ISRAELISM.</h3> + +<p>I have stated on page 10 that the so-called +Historic Proofs of Anglo-Israelism, by which the theory +is supported, are derived from pagan myths and fables. +Let the following suffice as a sample:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"To accomplish this" (<i>i.e.</i>, that the seed of Abraham +should inherit the isles of the west) "some were sent to +take possession of the islands long before."</p> + +<p>The wrath of man is made to praise Him (Gen. xxxvii. 2; +l. 15-21), which led to the flight of Danaus, the son of Bela,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +from <i>Egyptus</i> his brother. Dan is the son of Bilhah and +brother of Joseph, who was over all the Egyptians. This +was the first secession from Israel. This is probably +alluded to in Ezekiel xx. 5-9. Another secession took place +(1 Chron. vii. 21-24). A third secession was after the +Exodus. When in the Wilderness Num. xiv. 1-4 states +that they said, "Let us make a captain." Nehemiah ix. 17 +tells us they did so (compare Psa. cvi. 26, 27; Ezek. xx. +21-23).</p> + +<p><i>Hecatœus of Abdera</i> (6th century <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), quoted by <i>Diodorus +Siculus</i> (<span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 50), i. 27, 46, 55, says:—</p> + +<p>"The most distinguished of the expelled foreigners +(from Egypt) followed Danaus and Cadmus into Greece; +but the greater number were led by Moses into Judæa."</p> + +<p>In Æschylus' <i>Supplicants</i> (<span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 6th century) Danaus +and his daughters are represented as a "seed divine," +exiles from Egypt, fleeing from their brother Egyptus. +Since they feared an unholy alliance, they appear to have +passed through Syria and perhaps Sidon into Greece.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>I will say nothing here about the Scripture references +in the first paragraph, but if any intelligent Bible student +will look them up he will see that only a perverted +fancy can see in them any justification for the theory +here propounded. But, as will be noted, the heathen +fable about Ægyptus and Danaus is here brought into +the history of Israel, Danaus being identified as Dan, +the son of Bilhah; and Ægyptus, I suppose, with +Joseph. Now here is the pagan fable, and let the reader +judge what connection it has with the history of the +sons of Jacob.</p> + +<p>Ægyptus, who had fifty sons, and Danaus, who had +fifty daughters, were twin brothers. Their father, +Belus, the son of Poseidon, identified by the Romans +with Neptunus, the god of the Mediterranean Sea, had +assigned Libya to Danaus; but, fearing Ægyptus, his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +brother, he fled with his fifty daughters to Argos in +Peloponnessus, where he was elected king by the +Argives in place of Gelanor, the reigning monarch. +Thither, however, he was followed by the fifty sons of +Ægyptus, who demanded his daughters for their wives. +Danaus complied with their request, but gave to each of +his daughters a dagger with which to kill their husbands +in the bridal night. All the sons of Ægyptus were thus +murdered, with but one exception. The life of Lynceus +was spared by his wife, Hypermnestra, who, according +to the legend, afterwards avenged the death of his +forty-nine brothers by killing his father-in-law Danaus.</p> + +<p>The fifty daughters of Danaus, known as "the +Danaides," were punished in Hades for their crime by +being compelled everlastingly to pour water into +a sieve. Note also that the fable propagated by +Manetho that the Jews were <i>expelled</i> from Egypt as +lepers, and the legend of Hecatæus, quoted by Diodorus +Siculus that, "the most distinguished of these expelled +followed Danaus and Cadmus into Greece, but the +greater number were led by Moses into Judea," is also +accepted as history. Some of these same pagan writers +believed that the object of worship in the Holy of +Holies was the head of an ass, and other absurdities of +the same nature. I wonder if Anglo-Israel "theologians" +accept this also as "history."</p> + +<p>I may here add that the identification by Anglo-Israel +writers of Tea, or Tephi, the heroine of some +Irish ballads, with a princess of the royal house of Judah, +whom Jeremiah brought to Ireland in one of the ships +of Dan, and who married Esincaid, King of Ulster, and +so became the ancestress of the royal houses of Ireland +and Scotland, and subsequently of England—has just +as much "history" for its basis as the identification +of Danaus with Dan, or of Ægyptus with Joseph.</p> + +<p>The value of Irish legends and ballads (upon which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +the romances of Anglo-Israel writers are largely based), +as sources of "history," may be judged from the following +introductory statement taken from a standard +compendium of the history of Ireland:</p> + +<p>"The history of Ireland, like that of almost all +ancient countries, 'tracks its parent lake' back into +the enchanted realms of legend and romance and fable. +It has been said, not untruly, of Ireland that she 'can +boast of ancient legends rivalling in beauty and dignity +the tales of Attica and Argolis; she has an early history +whose web of blended myth and reality is as richly +coloured as the record of the rulers of Alba Longa and +the story of the Seven Kings.' We cannot now make +any effort to get at history in the beautiful myths and +stories. We should puzzle our brains in vain to find out +whether the Lady Cesair, who came to Ireland before the +Deluge with fifty women and three men, has any warrant +from genuine tradition, or is a child of fable +altogether. We cannot get any hint of the actual +truth about Conn of the Hundred Fights, and Fin +MacCoul and Oisin. But the impression which does +seem to be conveyed clearly enough from all these +romances and fables and ballads is that the island was +occupied in dim far-off ages by successive invaders who +came from the south.</p> + +<p>"The Phœnicians are said to have represented one +wave of invasion and the Greeks another....</p> + +<p>"What may be called the authentic history of +Ireland begins with the life and career of St. Patrick +(5th century)."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Note V.</span><br /> + +"THE GATE OF HIS ENEMIES."</h3> + +<p>One brief note more must be added on a point which +all Anglo-Israel writers advance as proof positive in +support of their theory. It is the promise that God +made to Abraham, "Thy seed shall possess the gate +of his enemies." The term "gate" (or "gates" as +often mis-quoted) is taken to signify "strait," "port," +or strategic maritime position and these writers grow +quite eloquent in pointing out the many maritime points +of vantage which are in occupation of the British as a +fulfilment of this ancient promise to the chosen people.</p> + +<p>Thus the writer of "Fifty Reasons" (W. H. Poole, +D.D.), with which I have already dealt, asks (page 61) +"What nation or people are now the gate-holders of +the nations? We hold Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Acre, +Suez Canal, Aden, Perim," and many other important +maritime points which he enumerates, and concludes +triumphantly "<i>For 500 years Britain has been the gate-holder +in the lands of those who hate her</i>"—a very doubtful +compliment this, by the way, to British rule over her +acquired possessions.</p> + +<p>But like many other Anglo-Israel "proofs" it has no +basis in philology or in fact. The word <span class="hebrew">שַׁעַר</span>—Sha'ar +("gate") is used hundreds of times in the Hebrew Bible, +but <i>never once</i> either literally or figuratively of a maritime +"strait" or "port." The "gate" as being not only +the entrance to, but as giving control or possession of +the oriental (walled) city, often stands for the city itself. +It was, moreover, the most public place of the city, +where causes were tried and justice administered (Deut. +xxi. 19; xxii. 15; Prov. xxii. 22; Amos v. 10-15); +and where elders and judges, kings and princes "sat"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +officially for counsel or often to exercise authority and +rule (Dan. ii. 49; Jer. xvii. 19; xxxviii. 7).</p> + +<p>The promise that Abraham's seed should possess the +gate of his enemies is idiomatic figurative language, +equivalent to saying that they shall be victorious over +their enemies, and take possession of their cities. This +was fulfilled when at the conquest of Canaan the Israelites +took possession of the land and thus assumed the +position of lordship over the doomed nations who are +spoken of as their "enemies."</p> + +<p>We may notice, by way of contrast, that in Jer. i. +14-16 God threatens that as a punishment on Israel for +their sin He would call all the families of the kingdoms +of the north, and "they shall set every one his throne +at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem," which is +equivalent to saying that the Gentiles would possess +"the gate" of Israel—which as a matter of fact, they +are now permitted to do by treading down Jerusalem +and scattering the people until the times of the Gentiles +are fulfilled.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><p class="fn">FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> See 2 Chron. xx. 1-13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> "The Lost Ten Tribes," by Joseph Wild. The Eighteenth +Discourse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> See "The Interregnum and After"—the first chapter of +my book, "The Ancient Scriptures and the Modern Jew."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> One fundamental of the Anglo-Israel theory is that the +destinies of Israel and Judah are distinct and separate. Most +inconsistent, therefore, is their appropriation of David, the +King of Judah, with the promises applying to his royal house +<i>for ever</i>; their endeavour should rather be to claim, if they can +find in Scripture promises made to descendants of Jeroboam's +line, or some other King of Israel—with David they can have +nothing to do.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> "Palestine into Britain," by Rev. L. G. A. Roberts, Secretary +of the "Imperial British Israel Association."</p></div></div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="APPENDIX" id="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX.</h2> + +<h3>ARE WE THE TEN TRIBES?</h3> + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By the Late</span> HORATIUS BONAR, D.D.</p> + +<p class="center">(Reprinted by permission from <i>The Sunday at Home</i>, +October, 1880.)</p> + +<p>That the inhabitants of Great Britain are Israelites +is a modern theory which has been widely spread. +Its defenders have invented a large number of resemblances +or "identifications," on which, in the absence of authentic +history or national tradition, they rest their proof.</p> + +<p>The languages of our country—Saxon, English, Welsh, +and Celtic—have no affinity with the Hebrew; but that is +made of no account. The history of the many tribes of +which our nation is composed—whether Teutonic, or Saxon, +or Caledonian, or Latin, or Scandinavian—is totally distinct +from that of any of the tribes of Israel; but authentic +history is in this case wholly set aside.</p> + +<p>The manners and customs of our nation, both religious +and social, have not the slightest resemblance to those of +Israel; but this is quite ignored. The physiognomy of our +countrymen—whether they are English, or Welsh, or Scotch, +or Celtic, or Norwegian, or Norman—is the very opposite +of Eastern, the Israelitish face being a marked contrast +to the British; but that is reckoned of no consequence.</p> + +<p>The names of men, women, and places in our land are +not Hebrew or Semitic at all, but are traceable to another +class of languages altogether; yet <i>this</i> weighs nothing. +The occupation of our land by certain tribes, who we now +call the Aboriginal Caledonians, or Britons (long before +the Ten Tribes were carried captive to Assyria, and who, +therefore, could not be Israelites), is passed by. The +grand story of an Israelitish emigration from Assyria into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +Great Britain, whether by sea or land, we are not told, +and there is neither history nor tradition nor local monuments +to confirm it. And yet, when was there <i>ever</i> an +emigration in which the emigrants did not carry their +language, their religion, their manners, their dress, and +their national traditions with them? This the identifiers +of Israel with England have not considered. The Two +Tribes in their dispersion over wide Europe carried their +worship, their language, and their manners, into every +European city, and synagogues exist to this day which were +set up centuries before Christ, and every European Jew +can tell for certain that he is a descendant of Abraham, +and lives apart from the Gentiles around; yet, if the +Anglo-Israelite theory be true, the Ten Tribes poured in +upon Great Britain and settled themselves there, drove +back the Aborigines, but left their religion, their books, +their priesthood, their language, their names behind them, +like cast-off clothes, in order to prevent themselves from +being identified, as if ashamed of their ancestry. It must +have been with Israelites that Julius Cæsar fought; their +queen, Boadicea, not a Hebrew name, and their general, +Caractacus, not a Hebrew name either: these Israelites +must have set up the Druid religion in the island, and to +them we must owe Stonehenge and similar relics of +antiquity.</p> + +<p>There is no evidence in the Bible, or in history, or tradition, +for any such Israelitish emigration. Such a flood +could not have passed over Europe, either north or south, +without leaving some trace or being mentioned in history. +If some two or three millions of Israelites did pour into +this remote and barbarous island of ours, it must have +been before the Romans came; and such a flood of Easterns +must have made it a populous island, which certainly it +was not.</p> + +<p>These cultivated Easterns—for the Israelites, even in +their apostasy, were a highly educated and cultivated +nation—flowed in upon an island of barbarians, yet produced +no impression, taught them no arts, gave them no +language, and brought no civilisation to the barbarous Britons +and Caledonians; whereas the Romans, who followed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +carried language, arts, manners, names with them, and +left behind them (though theirs was but a brief military +occupation) traces of their Latin footsteps, which remain +to us after nineteen centuries. Traverse our island, and +you will find in every county names and traditions and +ruins that tell you that Rome was once here; but no +name or traditions to say that Israel was here. Note: In +Cornwall there may be some traces of Phœnician commerce; +but we know whence these Eastern strangers came and +the object of their coming, viz., to procure tin from the +mines.</p> + +<p>Are such things credible or possible? Prophecy, moreover, +intimates that Israel is to remain scattered and under +the curse till the Redeemer comes out of Zion, and will turn +away ungodliness from Jacob. The whole Twelve Tribes +are under the curse till the great day of national deliverance +comes for Judah and for Israel.</p> + +<p>Let Rom. xi. be studied in connection with this.</p> + +<p>The "identifications" gravely announced in some of +the many pamphlets of Anglo-Israelitish literature are +somewhat peculiar, and do not carry any extraordinary +amount of weight with them to counterbalance the above +arguments. Here are a few of them:—</p> + +<p>1. "Isles and islands," spoken of by the prophets. +These must be the British Isles, and, therefore, their +inhabitants are the Ten Tribes.</p> + +<p>2. "Israel loveth to oppress," the prophet says; "England +loveth to oppress"—therefore, England is Israel.</p> + +<p>3. "I believe," says one of the Anglo-Israelitish authors, +"that Sunday Schools have been raised up purposely for +this identity!"</p> + +<p>4. "Israel is to occupy the ends of the earth." Britain +does so; therefore, Britain is Israel.</p> + +<p>5. "Israel is to possess the gates of his enemies." We +possess Gibraltar, Malta, the Cape, etc.; therefore, we are +Israel, for these are "the gates" of our enemies.</p> + +<p>6. "The smoke and fire coming up from the cities and +furnaces of our land are like the pillar cloud of Israel."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<p>7. The people in the South of Ireland trouble us, just as +the Canaanites troubled Israel; therefore, we are Israel, for +the South of Ireland is peopled by the descendants of the +Canaanites.</p> + +<p>8. Jacob's stone is still in our possession. It is that on +which Jacob slept, that which was the chief corner-stone +of the Temple—saved by Jeremiah, and taken by him to +Ireland, and then placed in Westminster Abbey under the +Coronation chair; therefore, the English are Israelites.</p> + +<p>9. "Jacob's glory is like the firstling of a bullock" +(Deut. xxxiii. 17). The identifiers write: "The ox being +oftentimes applied to Israel may partly be said to +emblemise the world-famed power of John Bull."</p> + +<p>No evidence (worthy of its name), either historical, +ethnological, linguistic, or traditional, is produced; we get +nothing but conjectures and fanciful allusions as the proofs +of this singular theory.</p> + +<p>Some of its defenders boast that since this theory was +started the incomes of our Jewish Mission Societies have +fallen off by £15,000. Whether this is true or not we cannot +say; but the boast, whatever be its foundation, shows +the spirit of the writers and the tendency of the new +doctrine.</p> + +<p>Noah's prophecy stands out clear and sharp with its +threefold ethnology; Shem, Ham and Japheth are the +roots of the nations, and God has kept them distinct: let +us beware of confounding them. History tells us that +our pedigree is to be traced to Japheth. The modern discoveries +in ethnology confirm this beyond a doubt; +Eastern monuments, whether of Assyria or Egypt, tell the +same story.</p> + +<p>The above theory rests on a misreading of prophetic +truth: such a misreading robs it of all its Divine spirituality. +Outward national prosperity and greatness, not righteousness +nor truth, are made the characteristics of the Israel +of prophecy. England—full of crime, infidelity, immorality, +and ungodliness—is said to be now enjoying the favour of +God, which is destined for Israel in the latter day! The +knowledge of the glory of the Lord is to be the privilege of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +these tribes, and by that knowledge they are to be exalted. +But their theory gives us another standard of the nation's +greatness—a standard which no part of Scripture recognises, +least of all the sure word of prophecy, the light in the dark +place. This theory darkens the whole prophetic Word, +perverting events and inverting times and seasons. It +denies Israel's present guilt, and lowers our ideas of Israel's +coming glory. It puts a Gentile King and Queen in the +place of the nation's own Messiah, under whose sceptre +alone it is to enjoy peace, blessedness and holy greatness. +It rejects the apostle's symbol of the olive tree, in Rom. xi.; +Not merely confounding the Jewish and the Gentile dispensation, +denying that the once good olive tree has for +a season become evil, and its branches cut off to make room +for the grafts of the wild olive tree.</p> + +<p>This is emphatically and pre-eminently the time of the +wild olive tree, whereas this theory not only confuses the +wild olive with the good, but denies that it is the grafted +branches of the wild olive tree that are now bearing fruit +and receiving blessing.</p> + +<p>When the dispensation of the wild olive, or Gentile, shall +end, then, but not till then, shall the blessing and the glory +return to the good olive—that is, to "all Israel."</p> + +<p>Let us take the Word of God simply as we find it. Let +us beware of fanciful identifications, which, even were they +true, are not worth the stress laid upon them. Suppose +I could prove, not by conjecture, but by registered +genealogies, that I belong to the tribe of Ephraim or +Issachar, what does it profit me? Will it make me a +holier man to know that I belong to those northern tribes +against which the Lord, when here, pronounced His darkest +woes, as primarily and pre-eminently His rejectors. "Woe +unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! It shall +be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Day of Judgment +than for thee."</p> + +<p>Capernaum, the representative of the Ten Tribes, had +been condemned for refusing the Lord of Glory before +Jerusalem was cast away.</p> + +<p>To esteem external national prosperity as God's special +mark of favour, is to carnalise all the prophets, and to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +degrade, not only the glory of the latter day, but present +privileges in Christ; for what a poor thing these privileges +and the glory must be if this sinful nation of ours, that +seems ripe for judgment and rejection, be the exhibition +of these, the fulfilment of Jehovah's promises to the +beloved people.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Other_Works_by_DAVID_BARON" id="Other_Works_by_DAVID_BARON"></a>Other Works by DAVID BARON.</h2> + + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Other Works by DAVID BARON"> +<tr><td align="left">The Servant of Jehovah: The Sufferings of the Messiah and the Glory that should Follow</td><td align="left">New Cheaper Edition.<br />Price 3s. 6d. net. </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Types, Psalms and Prophecies: A Selected Series of Old Testament Studies</td><td align="left">3rd Revised Edition.<br /> Price 6s. net.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah: "The Prophet of Hope and of Glory"</td><td align="left">2nd Cheaper Edition.<br /> 566 pages, demy 8vo.<br /> Price 7s. 6d. net.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Ancient Scriptures and the Modern Jew</td><td align="left">Sixth Edition. <br />Crown 8vo.<br /> Price 4s. 6d. net.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Shepherd of Israel and His Scattered Flock: A solution of the Enigma of Jewish History</td><td align="left">New Edition.<br /> Price 2s. 6d. net.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Israel's Inalienable Possessions: The Gifts and the Calling of God which are without Repentance</td><td align="left">New and Revised Edition. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..05af865 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #38630 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38630) diff --git a/old/38630-8.txt b/old/38630-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5eafc6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/38630-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3199 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The History of the Ten "Lost" Tribes, by +David Baron + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The History of the Ten "Lost" Tribes + Anglo-Israelism Examined + + +Author: David Baron + + + +Release Date: January 20, 2012 [eBook #38630] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE TEN "LOST" +TRIBES*** + + +E-text prepared by Jason Isbell, Jeff G., and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). + + + + + +THE HISTORY OF THE TEN "LOST" TRIBES: + +Anglo-Israelism Examined + +by + +DAVID BARON + +Author of +"Visions and Prophecies of Zachariah," etc. + +FOURTH EDITION + +Morgan & Scott Ltd. +12, Paternoster Buildings, London, E.C. 4 + + * * * * * * + +Two Shillings Net +The History +of the +Ten "Lost" Tribes: + +ANGLO-ISRAELISM EXAMINED + +by + +DAVID BARON + +Author of +"The Ancient Scriptures and the Modern Jew" +"The Shepherd of Israel," etc. + +Fourth Edition--Revised and Enlarged + + + + + + + +Morgan & Scott Ld. +(Office of "The Christian") +12, Paternoster Buildings +London, E.C. + + + + +PREFACE + + +A few words of explanation are needed by way of preface to this little +book. More than twenty years ago, being often appealed to by friends for +my judgment on Anglo-Israelism, or to answer questions which were +addressed to me on this subject, I finally, after making myself +acquainted with the positions and arguments by which the theory is +supported, drew up a statement in the form of "A Letter to an Inquirer." +This "Letter," somewhat amplified, was printed in the form of an +appendix in my book, "The Ancient Scriptures and the Modern Jew," whence +by special request it was subsequently reprinted in pamphlet form under +the title, "Anglo-Israelism, and the True History of the Ten Lost +Tribes"--a separate edition of it having also been published in America. +This pamphlet is now out of print, and, being appealed to by prominent +Christian friends to bring out a new edition, I felt constrained before +doing so to re-examine the whole question anew, and more thoroughly than +before. To this end I have read through, with much inward pain I must +confess, a number of the more recent Anglo-(or "British")-Israel +publications, which for the most part are mere repetitions of one +another. The result is the treatise now in the reader's hands, which +will be found to consist of three Parts. + +In Part I. I have dealt with Anglo-Israel assertions and claims, and the +arguments by which they are supported; in Part II., which is +constructive in its character, and in which the greater part of my +original "Letter to an Inquirer" will be found embodied, I have tried +briefly to trace the true history of the supposed Lost Tribes; and in +Part III., which is altogether new, I have further analysed some of the +scriptural "proofs" of a separate fate and destiny of the Ten Tribes +from that of "Judah," and have added notes and explanations on some of +the more plausible points brought up by all Anglo-Israelite writers. + +The epistolary form, which is retained in Parts I. and II., is accounted +for by the relation of this new booklet to the original "Letter to an +Inquirer," which is embodied in it. + +Let me ask the reader's Christian forbearance for any expressions in +this little work which may be regarded as too severe. I would only say +that if the unbiassed reader had had to wade through the amount of +Anglo-Israel literature, with all its fearful perversions of Scripture +and history, which the writer has had to do in the course of the +preparation of this little work, he would most probably have felt as he +did--the difficulty of putting a restraint upon his spirit so as not to +use much stronger language. Toward the persons of the propagandists of +this theory I have, I trust, no other feelings than those of Christian +charity; but the theory itself I cannot help regarding, after a close +study of its principles, as subversive of the truth, and as one of the +dangerous delusions of these latter days. + +After this little book was finished, an honoured friend in Brighton sent +me the article by the late Dr. Horatius Bonar, which appeared in _The +Sunday at Home_ in 1880. I add it, with the permission of the +proprietors of that magazine, as an appendix in the assurance that the +testimony on the subject of so honoured and eminent a servant of God +will be welcomed and carry weight with many. + + David Baron. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PART I. + + PAGE + + I. Anglo-Israel Assertions and Claims 7 + + II. The Way Anglo-Israel Writers Interpret + Scripture 11 + + III. Fictitious Histories of the Tribes 15 + + + PART II. + + I. Are the Tribes Lost? 22 + + II. The Condition of Things at the Time of + Christ 33 + + III. The Testimony of the New Testament that + the "Jews" Are Representative of + "All Israel" 39 + + IV. Early Misconceptions and Confusion on the + Question of the Ten Tribes 44 + + V. The Testimony of Prophecy in the Light of + History 48 + + VI. A Solemn Warning 51 + + + PART III. + + NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. + + I. Anglo-Israel "Proofs" of a Separate Fate + and Destiny of "Israel" and "Judah" 54 + + II. The Promises to the Fathers of a Multitudinous + Seed 65 + + III. The Perpetuity of the Davidic Throne 72 + + IV. The So-called Historic Proofs of Anglo-Israelism 76 + + V. "The Gate of his Enemies" 80 + + + APPENDIX. + + Are We the Ten Tribes? By the late Horatius + Bonar, D.D. 82 + + + + +PART I. + +ANGLO-ISRAELISM EXAMINED. + + + + +ANGLO-ISRAEL ASSERTIONS AND CLAIMS. + + +DEAR FRIEND,--I shall endeavour to comply with your request, and to give +you in this Letter a few reasons for my rejection of the Anglo-Israelite +theory. I can sincerely say that I am not a man delighting in +controversy, and I only consent to your wish because I believe that you, +like many other simple-minded Christians, are perplexed and imposed upon +by the plausibilities of the supposed "Identifications," and are not +able to detect the fallacies and perversions of Scripture and history +upon which they are based. + +The theory is that the English, or British, are the descendants of the +"lost" Israelites, who were carried captives by the Assyrians, under +Sargon, who, it is presumed, are identical with the Saxae or Scythians, +who appear as a conquering host there about the same time. Or, to quote +a succinct summary of Anglo-Israel assertions from a standard work:-- + + "The supposed historical connection of the ancestors of the English + with the Lost Ten Tribes is deduced as follows: The Ten Tribes were + transferred to Assyria about 720 B.C.; and simultaneously, + according to Herodotus, the Scythians, including the tribe of the + Saccae (or Saxae), appeared in the same district. The progenitors + of the Saxons afterward passed over into Denmark--the 'mark' or + country of the tribe of Dan--and thence to England. Another branch + of the tribe of Dan, which remained 'in ships' (Judges v. 17), made + its appearance in Ireland under the title of 'Tuatha-da-Danan.' + Tephi, a descendant of the royal house of David, arrived in + Ireland, according to the native legends, in 580 B.C. From her was + descended Feargus More, King of Argyll, an ancestor of Queen + Victoria, who thus fulfilled the prophecy that 'the line of David + shall rule for ever and ever' (2 Chron. xiii. 5, xxi. 7). The Irish + branch of the Danites brought with them Jacob's stone, which has + always been used as the Coronation-stone of the kings of Scotland + and England, and is now preserved in Westminster Abbey. Somewhat + inconsistently, the prophecy that the Canaanites should trouble + Israel (Numbers xxxiii. 55; Josh. xxiii. 13) is applied to the + Irish. 'The land of Arzareth,' to which the Israelites were + transplanted (2 Esd. xiii. 45), is identified with Ireland by + dividing the former name into two parts--the former of which is + _erez_, or 'land'; the later, _Ar_, or 'Ire.'"[1] + +As to the Jews, quite a different history and destiny is marked out for +them. They, as the descendants of Judah, are still under the curse. In +fact, the Anglo-Israelite, by another and more mischievous method, is +doing exactly what the allegorising, or so-called spiritualising, school +of interpreters did. The method was to apply all the _promises_ in the +Bible to the "spiritual" Israel, or the Church, and all the curses to +the literal Israel, or the Jews; but by this new system, while the +curses are still left to the Jew, all the blessings are applied not even +to those "in Christ," but indiscriminately to a nation, which, _as a +nation_, is like the other nations of Christendom in a greater or lesser +degree in a state of apostasy from God, though I thankfully recognise +the fact that there are in proportion more of God's true people in it +than in any other professing Christian land. + +I shall endeavour later on to show you the baselessness of the +distinction which Anglo-Israelism makes between the ultimate fates of +Israel and Judah, but let me first say that the supposed historical and +philological "proofs" by which the theory is supported, most of which +have no more basis in fact than fairy tales, are utterly discredited by +competent authorities. + + "Philology of a somewhat primitive kind," writes a prominent and + learned Jew, "is also brought in to support the theory; the many + Biblical and quasi-Jewish names borne by Englishmen are held to + prove their Israelitish origin. An attempt has been made to derive + the English language itself from Hebrew. Thus, 'bairn' is derived + from _bar_ ('son'); 'berry' from _peri_ ('fruit'); 'garden' from + _gedar_; 'kid' from _gedi_; 'scale' from _shekel_; and 'kitten' + from _quiton_ (_katon_ = 'little'). The termination 'ish' is + identified with the Hebrew _ish_ ('man'); 'Spanish' means + 'Spain-man'; while 'British' is identified with _Berit-ish_ ('man + of the covenant'). Perhaps the most curious of these philological + identifications is that of 'jig' with chag (_hag_ = 'festival'). + + "Altogether, by the application of wild guess-work about historical + origins and philological analogies, and by a slavishly literal + interpretation (or misapplication) of selected phrases of prophecy, + a case is made out for the identification of the British race with + the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel sufficient to satisfy uncritical + persons desirous of finding their pride of race confirmed by Holy + Scripture. The whole theory rests upon an identification of the + word 'isles' in the English version of the Bible unjustified by + modern philology, which identifies the original word with 'coasts' + or 'distant lands,' without any implication of their being + surrounded by the sea. Modern ethnography does not confirm in any + way the identification of the Irish with a Semitic people; while + the English can be traced back to the Scandinavians, of whom there + is no trace in Mesopotamia at any period of history. The whole + movement is chiefly interesting as a _reductio ad absurdum_ of too + literal an interpretation (or misapplication) of the + prophecies."[2] + +To this let me add the verdict of a prominent Christian scholar. +Commenting on Edward Hine's "Identifications of the British Nation with +Lost Israel," Professor Rawlinson wrote that: "The pamphlet is not +calculated to produce the slightest effect on the opinion of those +competent to form one. Such effect as it may have can only be on the +ignorant and unlearned--on those who are unaware of the absolute and +entire diversity in language, physical type, religious opinions, and +manners and customs, between the Israelites and the various races from +whom the English nation can be shown historically to be descended." + +The fact of the matter is that the so-called historical proofs, by which +the theory is supported, are derived from heathen myths and fables,[3] +and the philology which traces "British" to "Berith-ish," and "Saxon" to +"Isaac's-son," etc., deserves no other characterisation than +_child-ish_. + +It is in a misunderstanding of Scripture, and especially of prophetic +Scripture, to which the origin of Anglo-Israelism can be traced. Coming +across some of the great and precious promises in the Bible in reference +to Israel, for instance, such as that they should be a great and mighty +nation, and rule over those who previously had been their enemies and +oppressors, and overlooking the fact that these prophecies and promises +_refer to a future time_, when Israel as a nation shall be restored and +converted, and under the personal rule of their Messiah become great and +mighty for God on the earth, evidence of their fulfilment has been +sought _in the present_. Now certainly these prophecies of might and +prosperity are not now being fulfilled in the "Jews"--on the other hand, +see how great and influential the British nation is in the +world--_ergo_, the British must be the "lost" Israel of the "Ten +Tribes"! The "history" and philology is, so to say, an after-thought of +Anglo-Israelism, by which an effort is made to support the false +postulate with which it starts. The Scriptural "Identifications" with +which Anglo-Israel literature abound turn out on examination to be +perversions and misapplications of isolated texts taken from the English +versions of the Bible without any regard for true principles of +exegesis. + + +THE WAY ANGLO-ISRAEL WRITERS INTERPRET SCRIPTURE. + +Some of their interpretations can only be characterised as bordering on +blasphemy. Let me quote a few examples:-- + +=I. The glorious Messianic prophecy of the stone cut without hands which +smote the image of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel ii.) is applied to the British +people; and the British Empire, which is one of the Gentile +world-kingdoms, is made to be identical with the Kingdom of God.= + +"We will see what is to be the future of the British Empire, or, in +other words, the stone that smote the image. It is to become a great +mountain and fill the whole earth. Our Colonial Empire, then, will +continue to grow till it covers the whole world. We have tried to avoid +extending our Empire many and many a time, and yet God has caused it to +grow larger and larger, and I believe will still do so. We are already +by far the greatest Empire there is, or ever has been, and we shall yet +be far greater. + +"The British Empire, again, can never be conquered. Daniel says, 'The +God of Heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: it +shall stand for ever.' Consequently, we shall never be conquered; we +must continue till the end of time--so that we are to continue to exist +as the last kingdom or empire this world is to see."[4] + +=II. Messiah's Throne of Righteousness and Peace is made out to be +identical with the throne of England, and the English people are "the +saints of the Most High," to whom all the kingdoms of the world shall be +given.= + +"If the Saxons be the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel ... then the English +throne is a continuation of David's throne, and the seed on it must be +the seed of David,[5] and the inference is clear--namely, that all the +blessings attaching by holy promise to David's throne must belong to +England.... To this end God is overturning, and will overturn, until the +whole world shall be federated around one throne, and that David's +throne (which, according to the writer, is identical with the throne of +England)--the only throne God ever directly established, and the only +one He has promised perpetuity to.... This kingdom is the fifth kingdom +to be set up in the latter days of those kings, says Daniel. The kingdom +was never to be left to other people.... To her (that is, to England) +was promised the isles of the sea, the coasts of the earth, the waste +and desolate places--the heathen and the uttermost parts of the earth as +a possession. Already, out of the 51,000,000 square miles which compose +the earth, England, including the United States (Manasseh), now owns +about 14,000,000, say, one-fourth. She bears rule over one-third of the +people of the earth; she adds a colony every four years, on an average. +At the present rate it will not be long before the kingdoms of this +world will be given to the saints of the Most High [that is, according +to the writer, the English people]. It is no marvel in the light of and +instruction of prophecy that this throne and people should be so stable +and prosperous."[6] + +=III. The smoke which ascends from the "blazing furnaces and steam +engines" of London is identified with the Shechinah Glory, the visible +symbol of God's presence with His people.= + +"During their wanderings in the desert His presence was manifested by +the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night; and during +the captivity of the Two Tribes of Judah in Babylon He was with them, +until, at the expiration of the seventy years, He stirred up Cyrus to +release them. The same Lord still watches over the Ten Lost Tribes of +Israel in England, and continues to bless them. The same miracles that +were wrought in Egypt were intended to foreshadow the realisation of +God's future dealings with the Israelites; and if a gigantic panoramic +view of England could be taken from an elevation above the centre of the +island at midnight, a temporal pillar of fire would be as remarkable +from the blazing furnaces, the gas, the steam-engines, as the pillar of +cloud and smoke arising from the same sources in the daytime, marking +the chief position and prosperity of Israel."[7] + +=IV. Edward Hine, author of the forty-seven "Identifications," is the +promised Deliverer who should come out of Zion.[8]= + +The following is taken from an article on Romans xi. 25-27, which +appeared in "Life from the Dead," which was edited by Edward Hine +himself:-- + +"Are the British people identical with the lost Ten Tribes of Israel? +And is the nation, by the identity, being led to glory? If these things +are so, then where is the Deliverer? He must have already come out of +Zion. He must be doing His great work; He must be amongst us. It is our +impression that, by the glory of the work of the identity, we have come +to the time of Israel's national salvation by the Deliverer out of Zion, +and that Edward Hine and that Deliverer are identical." + +I have said above that Anglo-Israelism applies the promises given to +converted Israel indiscriminately to the English nation. It does not +stop even here, as the above extracts show, but goes on to rob Christ +Himself of His glory by applying to the British people prophecies which +belong, not even to Israel, but to Israel's Saviour. + +Thus, the address of the Father to the Son in Psalm ii.: + +"Ask of Me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and +the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession," will be found +again and again in Anglo-Israel literature applied to the British +nation. It also substitutes the British Empire for the Church. A +favourite Scripture on which almost every Anglo-Israel writer fastens is +Matt. xxi. 43: "Therefore I say unto you, The Kingdom of God shall be +taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof," +taking it for granted that England is that "nation"--which, as a nation, +is bringing forth the fruits of God's kingdom. + +Now I need not explain to you that this is an utterly unspiritual and +baseless assumption, for it is the Church--God's elect and converted +people out of all nations--which is that "nation," which during the +period of Israel's national unbelief bears fruit unto God; as is clear +from 1 Peter ii. 9, where believers in Christ are addressed as "a chosen +generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation ([Greek: ethnos]), that ye +should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness +into His marvellous light." + + +FICTITIOUS HISTORIES OF THE TRIBES. + +Let me give you one or two more samples of Anglo-Israel perversion of +Scripture and history:-- + + "The tribe of Benjamin has a singular special place in the history + of Israel and Judah. Neither Old or New Testament can be well + understood unless one understands the place of this tribe in + Providence. They were always counted one of the Ten Tribes, and + reckoned with them in the prophetic visions. They were only loaned + to Judah about 800 years (read 1 Kings xi.). They were to be a + light for David in Jerusalem. God, foreseeing that the Jews would + reject Christ, kept back this one Tribe to be in readiness to + receive Him; and so they did. At the destruction of Jerusalem they + escaped, and after centuries of wanderings turn up as the proud and + haughty Normans. Finally, they unite with the other Tribes under + William the Conqueror. A proper insight into the work and mission + of Benjamin will greatly aid one in interpreting the New Testament. + He was set apart as a missionary Tribe, and at once set to work to + spread the Gospel of Jesus. Most of the disciples were + Benjaminites. Then, after 800 years of fellowship with Judah, they + were cut loose and sent after their brethren of the House of + Israel. It was needful that the Lion and the Unicorn should unite." + +Again:-- + + "God said to Abraham, 'In thee shall all the families of the earth + be blessed'; and more, 'and in thy seed shall all the nations of + the earth be blessed.' Israel, being scattered and cast off, became + a blessing to the world. They gave to the surrounding nations the + only true idea of God, for in their lowest condition and idolatry + they preserved the name and knowledge of Jehovah, and Christ sent + His disciples after them through one of their own tribe--namely, + Benjamin--telling them not to go into the way of the Gentiles, nor + into the cities of the Samaritans, 'but go rather to the lost sheep + of the house of Israel.' To these sheep Christ declares He was + sent. Where were these sheep? They were scattered about in Central + Asia--in Scriptural language, in Cappadocia, Galatia, Pamphylia, + Lydia, Bithynia, and round about Illyricum. From these very regions + came the Saxons; from here they spread abroad North and West, being + the most Christian of any people on the face of the earth then, as + now."[9] + +It is difficult to characterise statements like these given out by +Anglo-Israel writers in _ex cathedra_ style for the consumption of the +ignorant and credulous. But-- + +I. This "history" of the tribe of Benjamin (which may be taken also as a +fair sample of their "histories" of Dan, Manasseh, etc.) is entirely the +product of the perverted fancy of the writers, and is without a vestige +of historic basis for its support. The only reference given in the first +extract is 1 Kings xi. Now that chapter gives the account of God's +warning to Solomon, and of the announcement that in the reign of his +immediate successor the kingdom would be rent from the house of David. +"_Howbeit_," we read, "_I will not rend away all the kingdom, but will +give one tribe to thy son (i.e., Rehoboam) for David My servant's sake, +and for Jerusalem's sake, ... that David My servant may have a lamp +alway before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen to put My +Name there_."[10] + +The "one tribe" which during the time of the schism would be left to the +house of David is, of course, not Benjamin, as the writer of the above +extract supposes, but _Judah_, "with which Benjamin was indissolubly +united by the very position of the capital on its frontier." This is +seen from verses 31, 32 of the same chapter, where the Ten Tribes "are +given to Jeroboam," and the remaining two of the twelve are called "one +tribe." + +It is, of course, a pure invention also, of the fairy tale type, that +Benjamin as a tribe received Christ while the Jews rejected Him, or that +Benjamin became "the missionary tribe," or that "most of the disciples +were Benjamites." Not one single tribe as a tribe, or even one local +community as a community, received Christ; but the "as many" of His own +"as received Him" were "Jews," which, as we shall see farther on, were +the representatives of the Israel of the whole "Twelve Tribes scattered +abroad," and the Twelve Apostles (though Paul, indeed, was a Benjamite) +were in a way representative of all the _Twelve_ Tribes of Israel. + +II. Then note the absurdities and contradictions of Anglo-Israel +assertions. "Israel," you are told--by which is meant the Ten +Tribes--while themselves idolaters and sunk so low as not only to forget +their origin, but, as another exponent of the theory has it, lapsed +"into a state of semi-barbarism like the first pioneer settlers in North +America"; and, being without records, in a brief period lost all memory +of their former name and condition[11]--became, while in such a +condition, "a blessing to the world, and gave to the surrounding nations +the only true idea of God"! + +And what shall be said of the terrible perversion of such a plain and +beautiful Scripture as Matt. x. 5, 6? In the introduction to that +chapter (Matt. ix. 36-38) we read how our Lord Jesus, beholding the +multitudes which were pressing around Him, was moved with compassion for +them because they fainted (or rather, according to the now accepted +reading, "were harassed," "plagued"), "and were scattered abroad as +sheep having no shepherd." Then, after saying to His disciples that the +harvest truly is plenteous but the labourers are few, and commanding +them to pray the Lord of the harvest that He may send, or thrust forth, +labourers into His harvest, He calls the twelve individual Jewish +disciples, and commissions and empowers them to go forth on the definite +mission of mercy to their countrymen, warning them not to go beyond the +bounds of the land "into the way of the Gentiles," nor even within the +bounds of Palestine to visit "the cities of the Samaritans," but to +confine themselves exclusively "to the lost sheep of the House of +Israel"--that is, to their own Jewish people, who (as we shall see) are +throughout the New Testament called alternately "Jews" and "Israel." +This is all plain and obvious; and we know, as a matter of fact and +history, that the ministry of John the Baptist, and of our Lord Jesus, +and of the Twelve Apostles, until after His ascension, was confined to +the "Jews" in Palestine. Anglo-Israelism, however, is able by some +fiction to transform the Twelve Disciples into the tribe of Benjamin, +and "the lost sheep of the House of Israel" into a medley of Gentile +nations located "in Central Asia," and other specified regions, who, +though unknown to themselves to be Israelites in origin, and mistaken by +the Apostles in their subsequent missionary journeys for "Gentiles," +were really the "lost Ten Tribes," alias "the Saxons," and progenitors +of the English! And these are only a few typical samples of the +so-called "historical proofs" and Bible interpretations on which the +whole theory rests. I must now pass on to another part of the subject, +but let me, before doing so, earnestly commend to you whenever you come +across Anglo-Israel literature to keep in mind the good advice of a +well-known Bishop to his clergy--"_Always verify your references_"--and +I would add, "study the context"--and you will find that the Scriptures +quoted in them are either misapplications or perversions of the true +meaning of the text. In fact, there is not a Scripture, however sublime +and glorious its import, and however plain and obvious its meaning, +which does not become distorted and perverted in Anglo-Israel hands.[12] + +Here are one or two samples. Anglo-Israelism is based for the most part +on the false supposition of a separate calling and destiny of the Ten +Tribes from that of Judah:-- + + "The natural seed of Abraham," we are told, "is divided in the + Bible, the word Israel standing generally for the Ten Tribes, and + Judah for Two Tribes. These divisions have separate paths appointed + them to walk in through the centuries. 'All the House of Israel + wholly,' 'the whole House of Israel,' 'all the House of Israel,' + have a special work. The Ten Tribes are especially called in the + Scriptures the seed of Abraham. Sometimes 'My chosen'; again, 'Mine + inheritance,' and 'My servant.' God, in referring to them in their + scattered state, and of His gathering them together, says (Isaiah + xli. 8): 'But thou, Israel, art My servant, Jacob whom I have + chosen; the seed of Abraham My friend--thou whom I have taken from + the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, + and said unto thee, Thou art My servant; I have chosen thee, and + not cast thee away.'"[13] + +I shall show later on that it is not true to say that the word Israel +stands "generally" for the Ten Tribes, and Judah for the Two Tribes. +"Generally," the name Israel stands for all the descendants of Jacob, +whose name was changed by God Himself to "Israel," though in the +historical books, especially in 1 and 2 Kings, and 2 Chronicles, and in +a few passages in the Prophets, it is used to describe the northern +kingdom of the Ten Tribes in contradistinction to the southern kingdom +of Judah. But its use in the more limited and temporary sense as applied +to the Ten Tribes can always be clearly discerned from the context. But +in order to support the assertion that "these two divisions have +separate paths appointed them to walk through the centuries," it is +affirmed that the designations "All the House of Israel wholly," "the +whole House of Israel," "My chosen," "Mine inheritance," and "My +servant," are especially applied in the Scriptures to the "Ten Tribes" +in contradistinction to Judah. Now this is utterly baseless, as any +intelligent Bible-reader will find if he takes the trouble to look up +all the passages where these expressions are used.[14] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: From the article "Anglo-Israelism" in the _Jewish +Encyclopedia_.] + +[Footnote 2: Joseph Jacobs, B.A., in the _Jewish Encyclopedia_.] + +[Footnote 3: See Note iv. in Part III.] + +[Footnote 4: "Nebuchadnezzar's Dream" in "The British Empire of +Ephraim." A whole collection of similar perversions of Scripture may be +found in an excellent pamphlet by the late Pastor Frank H. White, called +"Anglo-Israelism Examined"--unfortunately now out of print.] + +[Footnote 5: A beautiful specimen, this, of Anglo-Israel logic.] + +[Footnote 6: "The Lost Ten Tribes," by Rev. Joseph Wild, D.D. A book +containing twenty discourses which abounds in statements and +"interpretations" as wild and unscriptural as this sample quoted from +Discourse XVIII.] + +[Footnote 7: From an article in _The Banner of Israel_.] + +[Footnote 8: When preparing to re-write this little book I was told by a +friend that I need not take much notice of the works of Edward Hine, as +Anglo-Israelites themselves no longer attach importance to them. On +inquiry, however, I found that this was not the case. His writings are +still largely advertised and circulated, and many of the more modern +Anglo-Israelite writers profess to draw instruction and inspiration from +them. Beside which, even his most extravagant statements are more than +paralleled in some of their most recent publications.] + +[Footnote 9: Both these extracts are taken from "The Lost Ten +Tribes"--the book referred to in a previous note--by Joseph Wild.] + +[Footnote 10: Kings xi. 13-36.] + +[Footnote 11: "Israel in Britain," by Colonel Garnier, page 6.] + +[Footnote 12: See samples in Note i. of Part III.] + +[Footnote 13: "The Ten Lost Tribes," page 12.] + +[Footnote 14: "All the House of Israel wholly" is found in. Ezek. xi. +27, and is used of those of the southern kingdom who were already in +captivity, as contrasted with those who were still with Zedekiah in +Jerusalem and Palestine. The parallel to Ezek. xi. is Jeremiah xxiv., +where the two parts of the nation--those already in captivity and those +still in the land--are also contrasted under the symbol of the two +baskets of figs, one of which was "very good" and the other "very evil." +When Peter, for instance, said, "_Let all the House of Israel_ know +assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus both Lord and Christ," he +addressed the "Jews" in Palestine, as every one knows. "My chosen," or +"Whom I have chosen," apart from its use as applied to the priests and +Levites, is used sixteen times of Zion and Jerusalem, and _just as many +times of the whole nation_. Deut. vii. 6; xiv. 2; Psalm xxxiii. 12; +Isaiah xli. 8, 9--may be turned up as examples. "My servant" is used +seventeen or eighteen times in the second half of Isaiah, and when not +directly applied to the Messiah, as in xlii. 1; xlix. 3-7; lii. 13; and +liii. 11--is a designation of the whole people; and it must be +remembered that Isaiah prophesied primarily "concerning Judah and +Jerusalem." The term as a designation of the people is also used five +times by Jeremiah in the same inclusive sense, _i.e._, of the whole +nation.] + + + + +PART II. + +THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE TEN "LOST" TRIBES. + + +ARE THE TRIBES LOST? + +But now discarding the whole heap of Anglo-Israel fiction, let us glance +at the question of the so-called "lost" Ten Tribes in the light of +Scripture history and prophecy. Anglo-Israelism first of all loses the +Ten Tribes, for whom it claims a different destiny from the "Jews," whom +it supposes to be descendants of the Two Tribes only, and then it +identifies this "lost" Israel with the British race. But there is as +little historical ground for the supposition that the Ten Tribes are +lost, in the sense in which Anglo-Israelism uses the term, as there is +Scriptural basis for a separate destiny for "Israel" apart from "Judah." + +The most superficial reader of the Old Testament knows the origin and +cause of the unfortunate schism which took place in the history of the +elect nation after the death of Solomon. But this evil was to last only +for a limited time; for at the very commencement of this new and +parenthetical chapter of the nation's history it was announced by God +that He would in this way afflict the seed of David, but _not for ever_ +(1 Kings xi. 39). + +A separate kingdom, comprising Ten of the Twelve Tribes, was set up +under Jeroboam in B.C. 975, and its whole history, of about 250 years, +is one long, dark tale of usurpation, anarchy, and apostasy, unrelieved +by the occasional gracious visitations of national revival which light +up the annals of the Judean kingdom under the House of David. + +After many warnings and premonitory judgments the kingdom of the Ten +Tribes was finally overthrown in the year B.C. 721, when its capital, +Samaria, was destroyed, and the bulk of the people carried captive by +the Assyrians, and made to settle in "Halah and Habor, and by the river +Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes" (2 Kings xvii. 6; 1 Chron. v. +26). + +Now I would beg you to notice two or three facts. + +I. The kingdom of "Judah" after the schism consisted not only of Judah +and Benjamin, but also of the Levites who remained faithful to the House +of David and the theocratic centre.[15] Even those who were in the +northern cities forsook all in order to come to Jerusalem, as we read in +2 Chron. xi. 14: "And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for +defence in Judah, ... and the priests and Levites that were in all +Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts. For the Levites left +their suburbs and their possessions, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; +for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest's +office unto the Lord." + +II. Apart from Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, there were in the southern +kingdom of Judah after the schism many out of the other Ten Tribes whose +hearts clung to Jehovah, and the only earthly centre of His worship +which He appointed. Immediately after the rebellion, we read that "after +them" (that is, following the example of the Levites) "out of all the +tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek Jehovah, the God of +Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Jehovah, God of their fathers. +So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah" (2 Chron. xi. 16). + +In every reign of the kingdom of Israel numbers of the religious and +more spiritual of the Ten Tribes must have seceded and joined "Judah." +This we find to have been more especially the case during the times of +national revival in the southern kingdom, and in the reigns of those +kings who feared and sought the Lord. + +Thus, for instance, we read of Asa, that "he gathered all Judah and +Benjamin, with the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and +out of Simeon; _for they fell to him out of all Israel in abundance_, +when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him, so they gathered +themselves together at Jerusalem; ... and they entered into a covenant +to seek Jehovah God of their fathers with all their heart, and with all +their soul" (2 Chron. xv. 9-15). + +There are also several other mentions of "the children of Israel that +dwelt in the cities of Judah" and were subjects and members of that +kingdom. + +III. The final overthrow of the northern kingdom took place, as we have +seen, in the year _B.C._ 721; but when we read that the "King of Assyria +took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria," we are not to +understand that he cleared the whole land of all the people, but that he +took the strength of the nation with him. There were, no doubt, many of +the people left in the land; even as was the case after the overthrow of +the southern kingdom by the Babylonians later on (2 Kings xxv. 12). The +historical proof for my assertion is found in the fact that about a +century after the fall of Samaria, we find in the reign of Josiah some +of Manasseh and Ephraim, "and a remnant of all Israel," in the land, who +contributed to the collection made by the Levites for the repair of the +house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and joined in the celebration of the +great Passover in the eighteenth year of that zealous and promising +young king. + +These were the component elements of which the southern kingdom of +"Judah" was made up, when it, too, reached the stage, when, on account +of its idolatries and apostasy from the living God, "there was no more +remedy" (or "healing"--2 Chron. xxxvi. 16). It consisted, as we have +seen, of Judah, Benjamin, Levi, and many out of all the other Ten Tribes +of Israel, "in abundance." + +Jerusalem was finally taken in B.C. 588, by Nebuchadnezzar--just 133 +years after the capture of Samaria by the Assyrians. Meanwhile the +Babylonian Empire succeeded the Assyrian. But although dynasties had +changed, and Babylon, which had sometimes, even under the Assyrian +_rgime_, been one of the capitals of the Empire, now took the place of +Nineveh, the region over which Nebuchadnezzar now bore rule, was the +very same over which Shalmaneser and Sargon reigned before him, only +somewhat extended.[16] + +The exact location of the exiles of the southern kingdom we are not +told, beyond the Scripture statements that all the three parties of +captives carried off by Nebuchadnezzar (that in the first invasion in +the reign of Jehoiakim, B.C. 606; and in the second, in the reign of +Jehoiachin, B.C. 599; and in the final overthrow of Jerusalem, in the +reign of Zedekiah, B.C. 588), were taken "to Babylon" (2 Kings xxiv. and +xxv.; Daniel i.). + +Now Babylon stands not only for the city, but also for the whole land, +_in which the territories of the Assyrian Empire, and the colonies of +exiles from the northern kingdom of "Israel" were included_. Thus, for +instance, we find Ezekiel, who was one of the 10,000 exiles carried off +by Nebuchadnezzar with Jehoiachin, by the river Chebar in the district +of Gozan--one of the very parts where the exiles of the Ten Tribes were +settled by the Assyrians more than a century previously. + +With the captivity the divisions and rivalry between "Judah" and +"Israel" were ended, and the members of all the tribes who looked +forward to a national future were conscious not only of one common +destiny, but that that destiny was bound up with the promises to the +House of David, and with Zion or Jerusalem as its centre, in accordance +with the prophecies of Joel, Amos, and Hosea, and of the other inspired +messengers who ministered and testified more especially among them until +the fall of Samaria. This conviction of a common and united future, no +doubt facilitated the merging process, which cannot be said to have +begun with the captivity, for it commenced almost immediately after the +rebellion under Jeroboam, but which was certainly strengthened by it. + +Glimpses into the feeling of the members of the two kingdoms for one +another, and their hopes and aspirations for unity, we get in the +writings of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, who prophesied during the +period of exile. The most striking prophecy in relation to this subject +is Ezek. xxxvii. 15-28: + + "The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou + son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and + for the children of Israel, his companions (that is, those of + Israel who before the captivity fell away from the Ten Tribes and + joined the southern kingdom): then take another stick, and write + upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the house of + Israel, his companions: and join them one to another into one + stick; and they shall become one in thine hand." Then follows the + Divine interpretation of this symbol: "Behold, I will take the + stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes + of Israel, his companions, and I will put them with him (or + literally, I will add them upon, or to him), namely, with the stick + of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in My + hand. And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thy hand + before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, + Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, + 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 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; neither shall they + defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their + detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will + save them out of all their dwelling-places wherein they have + sinned, and will cleanse them; so shall they be My people, and I + will be their God. And My servant David shall be king over them; + and they all shall have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My + judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall + dwell in the land which I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein + your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, they, and their + children, and their children's children for ever: and David My + servant shall be their prince for ever" (Ezek. xxxvii. 20-25, + R.V.). + +Now let it be remembered that the foreground and commencement of the +restoration and future of this great prophecy, especially to all the +exiles at that time, was the restoration from Babylon, or "Assyria," as +it was sometimes called. + +As a matter of fact, these prophecies, and particularly Ezek. xxxvii. +15-28, set forth not one single act or event, but a _process_ which, +commencing with the prophet's own time, extends into the distant future, +and ends in the final goal of the blessed condition of Israel under +Messiah's reign in the millennial period. Thus, while the full visible +_manifestation_ of that unity, symbolised by the two sticks becoming +_one_ in the prophet's hand, will only be realised after the final +regathering of the whole nation in their own land, and when the true +"David," namely, Messiah, "David's greater Son," shall be both King and +Prince over them for ever--the merging and uniting process commenced, as +a matter of fact, before the Babylonian captivity, was accelerated in +the exile, when in their like sorrows and troubles the hearts of the +people were doubtless drawn to one another in mutual sympathy and love. + +The point, however, to be noticed in this and other prophecies is the +clear announcement which they contained that the purpose of God in the +schism--as a punishment on the House of David--_was now at an end_, and +that henceforth there was but one common hope and one destiny for the +whole Israel of the Twelve Tribes--whether they previously belonged to +the northern kingdom of the _Ten_ Tribes, or to the southern kingdom of +the _Two_ Tribes--and that this common hope and destiny was centred in +Him Who is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and the rightful Heir and +descendant of David. + +In like manner Jeremiah, in his great prophecy of the restoration and +future blessing (chaps. xxx. and xxxi.), links the destinies of "Judah" +and "Israel," or Israel and Judah together; and speaks of one common +experience from that time on for the whole people. "For lo, the days +come, saith the Lord, that I will turn again the captivity of My people +Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the +land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. And these +are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and Judah" (Jer. +xxx. 3, 4. R.V.). + +Daniel also, towards the end of the seventy years' captivity, includes +not only the men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem in his +intercessory prayer, but "_all Israel_ that are near, or far off, from +all the countries whither Thou hast driven them," who, he confesses, +were alike involved in sin and judgment, and equally cast on the mercy +of God on the ground of promises made to the fathers. + +Now let us go a step farther. Just seventy years had elapsed since the +first band of captives were carried away to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in +the year B.C. 606. "That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah +might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, King of +Persia, that he issued a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and +put it also in writing, saying: Thus saith Cyrus, King of Persia, the +Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He +hath charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem that is in Judah. Who +is there among you of all His people? His God be with him, and let him +go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah." + +This proclamation, which was in reference to all the people "of the Lord +God of heaven," was issued in the year B.C. 536, two years after the +conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, and was, we are told, promulgated +"throughout all his kingdom," which was the same as that over which +Nebuchadnezzar and his successors reigned before him, only again +somewhat extended, even as the kingdom of Babylon was identical with +that of Assyria, as already pointed out. Indeed, Cyrus and Darius I. are +called indifferently by the sacred historians by the title of "King of +Persia" (Ezra iv. 5), "King of Babylon" (Ezra v. 13), and "King of +Assyria" (Ezra vi. 22). + +The first response to this proclamation was a caravan of "forty-two +thousand three hundred and sixty, beside their servants and their maids, +of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven, and +two hundred singing men and singing women," who, under the leadership of +Zerubbabel, who was a lineal descendant of the royal house of David, +and of Joshua the high priest, made their way from "Babylon to +Jerusalem." + +Now the leading spirits of this returned party of exiles were, no doubt, +"the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and +Levites"; at the same time they included "all those" from all the other +tribes without distinction, "whose spirit God had raised to go up to +build the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem" (Ezra i. 5). + +They are no longer counted after their tribal origin, but in families, +and after the cities to which they originally belonged, which, for the +most part, are not easy to identify; hence it is difficult to say how +many belonged to "Judah," and how many to "Israel"--but that there were +a good many in this company of those who belonged to the northern +kingdom of the Ten Tribes, is incidentally brought out by the mention of +two hundred and twenty-three men of Ai and Bethel alone. Now, Bethel was +the very centre of the ancient rival idolatrous worship instituted by +Jeroboam, and, though on the boundary of Benjamin, belonged to +"Ephraim." + +Between the first organised large party of immigrants under Zerubbabel +and Joshua, and the second under Ezra, a period of fifty-eight years +elapsed; but we are not to suppose that in the interval there were no +additions to the community, which now represented the whole united +nation in Jerusalem. We read, for instance, incidentally, in Zech. vi. +9, 15, of a party of four prominent men who arrived in Jerusalem in B.C. +519 as representatives of the "captivity" (that is, of those who still +remained in those parts where they were exiles), bringing with them a +present of silver and gold for the Temple, the building of which was +resumed about five months before, as a result of the stirring appeals +of Haggai. This shows that there was continual intercourse and +communication between the community in Palestine and the majority of the +people who were still "in Babylon"; and we may be certain that little +parties and individuals, "whose spirit God had raised," continually +found their way to the holy city. + +In B.C. 458, Ezra, "the scribe of the law of the God of heaven," in +accordance with the decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus, organised another +large caravan of those whose hearts were made willing to return to the +land of their fathers. Part of this most favourable royal proclamation +was as follows: "I make a decree that all they of the people of Israel, +and of his priests and Levites in my realm, which are minded of their +own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go up with thee"; and in response +to it "this Ezra went up from Babylon, ... and there went up (with him) +of the children of Israel, and of the priests and of the Levites, and +the singers and the porters, and the Nethinim, unto Jerusalem in the +seventh year of Artaxerxes the king" (Ezra vii. 7). + +This party consisted of about one thousand eight hundred families; and +apart from the priests, Levites, and Nethinim, was made up of "the +children of Israel," irrespective of tribal distinctions, from all parts +of the realm of "Babylon," or Assyria, now under the sway of the +Medo-Persians. + +The narratives contained in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, under whose +administration the position of the restored remnant became consolidated, +cover a period of about 115 years, and bring us down to about B.C. 420. +Jewish history during the second period of the Persian supremacy is +wrapped somewhat in obscurity; but we know that nearly throughout the +whole period of its existence it was more or less friendly to the +Hebrews. There was certainly no revocation of the edicts of Cyrus and of +Artaxerxes permitting those "which were minded of their own free will" +to go and join their brethren in Palestine; and that there were many +other large and small parties of exiles who did so, subsequent to those +mentioned in Ezra and Nehemiah, may be taken for granted.[17] + +Anyhow, it is a fact that the remnant in the land grew and grew until, +about a century and a half later, in the times of the Maccabees, and +again about a century and a half later still, in the time of our Lord, +we find "the Jews" in Palestine, a comparatively large nation, numbering +millions; while from the time of the downfall of the Persian Empire we +hear but very little more of the Israelite exiles in ancient Assyria or +Babylon. + +By the conquest of Alexander, who to this day is a great favourite among +the scattered nation, the regions of ancient Babylonia and Media were +brought comparatively near, and a highway opened between East and West. +From about this time settlements of "Jews" began to multiply in Asia +Minor, Cyprus, Crete, on the coasts and islands of the gean; in +Macedonia and other parts of Southern Europe; in Egypt and the whole +northern coast of Africa; whilst some made their way further and further +eastward as far as India and China. There is not the least possibility +of doubt that many of the settlements of the Diaspora in the time of our +Lord--both north, south, and west, as well as east of Palestine--were +made up of those who had never returned to the land of their fathers +since the time of the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles, and who were not +only descendants of Judah, as Anglo-Israelism ignorantly presupposes, +but of all the _Twelve Tribes scattered abroad_ (James i. 1). + +As a matter of fact, long before the destruction of the second Temple +by Titus, we read of currents and counter-currents in the dispersion of +the "Jewish" people. Thus Artaxerxes III., _Ochus_, on his way to +re-conquer Egypt, "having taken Apodasmus in Judea, conveyed the Jewish +population into Hyrcania near the Caspian Sea." When he made himself +master of Egypt we read of his finding Jews there, and, being incensed +against them on account of a stubborn defence against him of places +entrusted to their keeping, "he sent part of them into Hyrcania, in the +neighbourhood of the country which the tribes already inhabited, and +left the rest at Babylon"; while soon after many thousands were taken to +Egypt by Alexander; and Ptolemy Soter, one of his chief generals, who +had become King of Egypt, and had invaded Syria and taken Jerusalem in +B.C. 301, carried off one hundred thousand of them, and forced them to +settle chiefly in Alexandria and Cyrene. + + +THE CONDITION OF THINGS AT THE TIME OF CHRIST. + +To summarise the state of things in connection with the Hebrew race at +the time of Christ, it was briefly this:-- + +I. For some six centuries before, ever since the partial restoration in +the days of Cyrus and his successors, the descendants of Abraham were no +longer known as divided into tribes, but as one people, although up to +the time of the destruction of the second Temple, tribal and family +genealogies were for the most part preserved, especially among those who +were settled in the land. + +II. Part of the nation was in Palestine, but by far the larger number +were scattered far and wide, and formed innumerable communities in many +different lands, north and south, east and west.[18] _But wherever +dispersed and to whatever tribe they may have belonged, they all looked +to Palestine and Jerusalem as their national centre_, and, with the +exception of those (and they were no doubt many) who had ceased to +cherish "the hope of Israel" and were gradually assimilating with their +Gentile neighbours, were all one in heart with their brethren in the +Holy Land. "They felt they were of the same stock, stood on the same +ground, cherished the same memories, grew up under the same +institutions, and anticipated the same future. They had one common +centre of worship in Jerusalem, which they upheld by their offerings; +and they made pilgrimages thither annually in great numbers at the high +festivals." Thus Philo could represent to the Roman Emperor Caligula +that "Jerusalem ought not to be considered only as the metropolis of +Judea, but as the centre of a nation dispersed in infinite places, who +were able to supply him with potent succours for his defence. He +reckoned among the places that were still stored with Jews, the isles of +Cyprus and Candia, Egypt, Macedonia, and Bithynia, to which he added the +empire of the Persians, and _all the cities of the East_, except that of +Babylon, from whence they were then expelled." + +There is ample confirmation on this point in the New Testament. Thus, +for instance, we are incidentally told in the second chapter of the Acts +of the Apostles, that among the representatives from the Diaspora who +were found in Jerusalem at that memorable feast of Pentecost--who were +doubtless there also during the previous Passover, when the crucifixion +took place--were "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and dwellers in +Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, in Phyrgia and +Pamphylia, in Egypt and parts of Libya and Cyrene, and sojourners from +Rome, Cretans and Arabians": all of them either Jews or proselytes +miraculously hearing in their own tongues the mighty works of God. + +Here it is to be noted that, at the commencement of the Christian era, +we find in this motley and cosmopolitan Jewish crowd representatives +from Israelitish settlements in the very parts where they were carried +by the Assyrians and Babylonians some seven centuries before, _but who +are all called "Jews," and all alike regarded Jerusalem as their +national metropolis_.[19] + +III. The name of "Jew" and "Israelite" became synonymous terms from +about the time of the Captivity. It is one of the absurd fallacies of +Anglo-Israelism to presuppose that the term "Jew" stands for a bodily +descendant of "Judah." _It stands for all those from among the sons of +Jacob who acknowledged themselves, or were considered, subjects of the +theocratic kingdom of Judah_, which they expected to be established by +the promised "Son of David"--the Lion of the tribe of Judah--whose reign +is to extend not only over "_all the tribes of the land_," but also +"from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." + +"That the name 'Jew,'" writes a Continental Bible scholar, "became +general for all Israelites who were anxious to preserve their theocratic +nationality, was the more natural, since the political independence of +the Ten Tribes was destroyed." Yes, and without any hope of a +restoration to a separate national existence. What hopes and promises +they had were, as we have seen, linked with the Kingdom of Judah and the +House of David. + +Anglo-Israelism teaches that members of the Ten Tribes are never called +"Jews," and that "Jews" are not "Israelites"; but both assertions are +false. Who were they that came back to the land after the "Babylonian" +exile? Anglo-Israelites say they were only the exiles from the southern +kingdom of Judah, and call them "Jews." I have already shown this to be +a fallacy, but I might add the significant fact that in the Book of Ezra +this remnant is only called eight times by the name "Jews," and no less +than _forty_ times by the name "Israel." In the Book of Nehemiah they +are called "Jews" _eleven_ times, and "Israel" twenty-two times. As to +those who remained behind in the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces +of the Persian Empire, which included all the territories of ancient +Assyria, Anglo-Israelites would say they were of the kingdom of +"Israel"; but in the Book of Esther, where we get a vivid glimpse of +them at a period subsequent to the partial restoration under Zerubbabel +and Joshua, they are called forty-five times by the name "Jews," and not +once by the name "Israel"! + +In the New Testament the same people who are called "Jews" one hundred +and seventy-four times are also called "Israel" no fewer than +seventy-five times. Anglo-Israelism asserts that a "Jew" is only a +descendant of Judah, and is not an "Israelite"; but Paul says more than +once: "I am a man which am a _Jew_." Yet he says: "For I also am an +Israelite." "Are they _Israelites_? so am I" (Acts xxi. 39; xxii. 3; +Rom. xi. 1; 2 Cor. xi. 22; Phil. iii. 5). + +Our Lord was of the House of David, and of the tribe of Judah after the +flesh--"a Jew"; yet it says that it is of "_Israel_" that He came, who +is "over all, God blessed for ever" (Rom. ix. 4, 5). Devout Anna was a +"Jewess" in Jerusalem, yet she was "of the tribe of Aser." But enough on +this point. + +IV. From the time of the return of the first remnant after the +Babylonian exile, sacred historians, prophets, apostles, and the Lord +Himself, regarded the "Jews," whether in the land or in "Dispersion," as +representatives of "all Israel," _and the only people in the line of the +covenants and the promises which God made with the fathers_. + +At the dedication of the Temple, which was at last finished "on the +third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year in the reign of +Darius the king," they offered "for a sin-offering _for all Israel, +twelve he-goats according to the number of the tribes of Israel_" (Ezra +vi. 17). + +Similarly, on the arrival of Ezra with the new caravan of immigrants, +they "offered burnt-offerings unto the God of Israel, _twelve bullocks +for all Israel_, ... and twelve he-goats for sin-offering" (Ezra viii. +35), showing that the returned exiles regarded themselves as the nucleus +and representatives of the whole nation. In the post-Exilic prophets we +have no longer two kingdoms, but one people--one in interests and +destiny, although they had formerly for a time been divided. + +To show that the revived nation was made up of members of the Northern +as well as the Southern kingdoms, the prophet Zechariah calls them by +the comprehensive name of "Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem" (Zech. i. 19); +or, "the house of Judah and the house of Joseph" (Zech. x. 6). In the +prophecy occasioned by the question addressed by the deputation from +Bethel, in reference to the continuation of the observance of the fasts, +he says: "And it shall come to pass that as ye were a curse among the +nations, _O house of Judah_ and _house of Israel_, so will I save you, +and ye shall be a blessing; fear not, and let your hands be strong" +(Zech. viii. 13). + +Here the formerly two houses are included; together they are for a time +_among the nations_ "a curse," and together they shall be saved, and be +"a blessing."[20] + +Malachi, nearly a century later, when the people in the land had become +a prosperous nation, and when, in consequence, the majority was rapidly +falling into a state of religious formality and godlessness, addresses +them as "Israel" or "Jacob," which surely includes all his descendants, +in contrast to Esau and his descendants (Mal. i. 1-3). + + +THE TESTIMONY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT THAT THE "JEWS" ARE REPRESENTATIVE OF +"ALL ISRAEL." + +In the last words of the last of the post-Exilic prophets we have the +expression "all Israel" addressed to the people in the land; and then +the long period of silence sets in, lasting about four centuries, during +parts of which Jewish national history is lost somewhat in obscurity. +_When the threads of that history are taken up again in the New +Testament, what do we find? Is there one hint or reference in the whole +book to an Israel apart from "that nation" of the "Jews," to whom, and +of whom, the Lord and His apostles speak?_ There is, indeed, reference +and mention of the Diaspora, "the dispersed among the Gentiles" (John +vii. 35), forming, as we have seen, the greater part of the nation, and +some of them still settled in the ancient regions of Assyria and +Babylon; but wherever they were, they are all interchangeably called +"Jews," or "Israelites," who regarded Jerusalem, with which they were in +constant communication, as the centre, not only of their religion, but +of their national hopes and destiny. + +The "Israelites" who in the time of Christ were dispersed among the +Parthians, Medes, and Elamites (Acts ii.), were as much one with the +sojourners in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as the "Jews" in Bagdad, Persia, +or on the Caspian Sea to-day, are one with their wandering brethren in +London, Berlin, New York, or Australia, although they then, as now +(apart from the Hebrew, which ever remains the sacred tongue, and +thoroughly understood only by the minority), spoke different languages +and dressed differently, and conformed to different social and family +customs. + +But let me give you a few definite passages from the New Testament in +justification of my statement that the Lord Jesus and the apostles, +equally with the post-Exilic prophets centuries before, regarded the +"Jews" as representatives of "all Israel," _and as the only people in +the line of the "covenant, and the promises which God made unto the +fathers_." + +(a) In Matthew x. we have the record of the choice, and of the first +commission given to the apostles. "These twelve," we read, "Jesus sent +forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, +and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather _to the +lost sheep of the house of Israel_." Of course, the merest child knows +that this journey of the twelve did not extend beyond the limits of +Palestine, but the "Jews" dwelling in it are regarded as the house of +Israel, although many members of that "house" were also scattered in +other lands. + +In this charge of the Lord to the apostles, we see also, by the way, in +what sense Israel is regarded as "lost." Now Anglo-Israelites are very +fond of this word, but they use it in an unbiblical and unspiritual +sense. The Ten Tribes, like the other Two, were, in the time of Christ, +even as they still are, "lost"; but not because they have forgotten +their _national_ or tribal identity, but because they "all like sheep +have gone astray, and have turned every one to his own way." Or, as +Jeremiah pathetically puts it: "My people hath been lost sheep; their +shepherds [their false teachers and leaders] have caused them to go +astray; they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from +mountain to hill; they have forgotten [not their national origin, but] +their resting place"--viz., Jehovah, who is the true dwelling-place of +His people in all generations. It was this terrible fact of their +spiritually lost condition which again and again moved our Lord Jesus to +compassion for those multitudes which followed Him, because they were +"distressed" or "plagued," and were scattered abroad as sheep not having +a shepherd. + +(b) On the first day of Pentecost, Peter, with the eleven, addressed +the "men of Juda," and the great multitude from among the dispersed +"Jews," as "Ye men of Israel," and wound up his powerful speech with the +words: "_Let all the house of Israel_, therefore, know assuredly that +God hath made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom ye crucified" +(Acts ii. 14, 36). In chapter iii. of Acts, as "all the people ran +together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly +wondering," at the notable miracle in the name of Jesus Christ of +Nazareth, Peter said: "_Ye men of Israel_, why marvel ye at this Man?... +The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, +hath glorified His servant Jesus, whom ye delivered up and denied before +the face of Pilate when he had determined to release Him.... Repent ye, +therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so +there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.... +_Ye are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with +your fathers_, saying unto Abraham, 'And in thy seed shall the nations +of the earth be blessed.'" + +From Acts xiii. onward we find Paul among the "Jews" in the Dispersion; +and how does he address them? By the same name as Peter addressed their +brethren in Palestine: "_Men of Israel, ... the God of this people +Israel_ chose our fathers, and exhorted the people when they sojourned +in the land of Egypt" (Acts xiii. 16, 17); and when he was at last +brought to Rome "and gathered the chief of the Jews" in that city to +him, he assured them that he had neither done anything "against the +people, or the customs of our fathers," nor did he come to Rome "to +accuse my nation," but "because of the _hope of Israel_ am I bound by +this chain"--namely, "the hope of the promise made of God unto our +fathers; as he had previously explained before Festus and Agrippa--unto +which _our Twelve Tribes_, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to +attain" (Acts xxviii. 17-20; xxvi. 6, 7). + +Paul knew of no "lost Ten Tribes," but on his testimony the "Jews" in +Palestine and in the Dispersion were the "Israel" of _all the Twelve +Tribes_, to whom the "hope of the promise made of God unto the fathers" +belonged. + +(c) And, as it is in the Gospels, and in the Acts of the Apostles, so +also in the Epistles. It would be easy to multiply passages, but one +more must suffice. + +The ix., x., and xi. of Romans form the prophetic, or "dispensational," +section of that great epistle, and was written for the special +instruction of Gentile believers in the "mystery" of God with Israel. +Now I cannot, of course, stop here to give an analysis of that +wonderful and comprehensive scripture, which is also a vindication of +God's ways with man; _but there is not a hint or suggestion in it of a +"lost Israel," apart from the one nation whose whole history he +summarises from the beginning to the end_, and which is now, alas! +divided into the small minority--the "remnant according to the election +of grace," who believe, and the majority who believe not, until the day +of grace for the whole nation shall come, and "so _all_ Israel shall be +saved, even as it is written, 'There shall come out of Zion the +Deliverer; He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.'" + +But in the touching introduction to this section (Rom. ix. 1-6), in +which the apostle gives utterance to his "great sorrow and unceasing +pain of heart" because of the unbelief of his own nation, "his brethren +and his kinsmen according to the flesh," for whose sake he had been +wishing, if it were possible, even to be himself "anathema from +Christ"--how does he call these unbelieving "Jews" who had rejected +their Messiah, and were blindly persecuting His servants? Here are His +words: "_Who are Israelites_; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and +the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, _and +the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning +the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen._" + +Now I must try to draw this very long letter to an end. I have not +followed Anglo-Israelism in all its crooked paths of misinterpretation +of Scripture and history; I have only shown you the baselessness of its +foundations, and that the premises upon which the whole theory rests are +misleading and false. I have also given you a summary of the true +history of the tribes, which I trust may prove helpful to you in the +study of God's Word; and the conclusion at which you and every unbiassed +person must arrive on a careful examination of the facts which I have +adduced is, that the whole supposition of "lost tribes," in the sense in +which Anglo-Israelism uses the term, is a fancy which originated in +ignorance; and that "_the Jews_" are the whole, and the only national +Israel, representing not only the "Two Tribes," but "_all the Twelve +Tribes" who were "scattered abroad_." + + +EARLY MISCONCEPTIONS AND CONFUSION ON THE QUESTION OF THE TEN TRIBES. + +I have thought it necessary to enter all the more fully into this point, +because even some otherwise sober-minded teachers and writers, who are +not Anglo-Israelites, have fallen into some confusion in dealing with +this subject; and no wonder, for already Josephus, who vaguely locates a +separate multitude belonging to the Ten Tribes somewhere beyond the +Euphrates ("Antiq." xi. 1, 2)--a Jewish tradition which locates a mighty +kingdom of the Ten Tribes beyond the fabled miraculous river Sambation, +which no one can cross because it throws up stones all the week, and +only rests on the Sabbath; and the Talmud (Jer. Sanhedrin, 29, c.), +which speaks of three localities whither they had been banished, viz., +the district around the above wonderful Sambation, Daphne, near Antioch; +and the third locality could neither be seen nor named because it was +continually hidden by a cloud--all these show how early people's minds +became muddled on this subject.[21] + +Coming to the legends about the Ten Tribes in more modern times, Eldad +Ben Mahli Ha Dani came forward in the ninth century claiming to give +specific details of the contemporary existence of the Ten Tribes and of +their location at that time. + + "Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher were," according to him, "in + Havilah; Zebulun and Reuben in the mountains of Paran; Ephraim, and + half of Manasseh, in South Arabia; Simeon, and the other half of + Manasseh, in the land of Chazars (?)." According to him, therefore, + "the Ten Tribes were settled in parts of Southern Arabia, or + perhaps Abyssinia, in conformity with the identification of + Havilah. The connection of this view with that of the Jewish origin + of Islam is obvious; and David Reubeni revived the view in stating + that he was related to the king of the tribes of Reuben situated in + Khaibar in North Arabia. + + "According to Abraham Farisol, the remaining tribes were in the + desert, on the way to Mecca, near the Red Sea; but he himself + identifies the River Ganges with the River Gozan, and assumes that + the Beni-Israel of India are the descendants of the Lost Ten + Tribes. The Ganges, thus identified by him with the River + Sambation, divides the Indians from the Jews. The confusion between + Ethiopia and Farther India, which existed in the minds of the + ancients and medival geographers, caused some writers to place the + Lost Ten Tribes in Abyssinia. Abraham Yagel, in the sixteenth + century, did so, basing his conclusions on the accounts of David + Reubeni and Eldad Ha Dani. It is probable that some of the reports + of the Falashas led to this identification. According to Yagel, + messengers were sent to these colonists in the time of Pope Clement + VII., some of whom died, while the rest brought back tidings of the + greatness of the tribes and their very wide territories. Yagel + quotes a Christian traveller, Vincent of Milan, who was a prisoner + in the hands of the Turks for twenty-five years, and who went as + far as Fez, and thence to India, where he found the River + Sambation, and a number of Jews dressed in silk and purple. They + were ruled by seven kings, and upon being asked to pay tribute to + the Sultan Salim, they declared that they had never paid tribute to + any sultan or king. It is just possible that this may have some + reference to the 'Ssanam' or the Jews of Cochin. + + "It is further stated that in 1630 a Jew of Salonica travelled to + Ethiopia, to the land of Sambation; and that in 1646 one Baruch, + travelling in Persia, claimed to have met a man named Malkiel, of + the tribe of Naphtali, and brought back a letter from the king of + the children of Moses: this letter was seen by Azulai. It was + afterwards reprinted in Jacob Saphir's book of travels (Eben + Sappir, 1. 98). + + "So much interest was taken in this account that in 1831 a certain + Baruch ben Samuel, of Pinsk, was sent to search for the children of + Moses in Yemen. He travelled fifteen days in the wilderness, and + declared he met Danites feeding flocks of sheep. So, too, in 1854, + a certain Amram Ma'arabi set out from Safed in search of the Ten + Tribes; and he was followed in 1857 by David Ashkenazi, who crossed + over through Suakin to make enquiries about the Jews of + Abyssinia."[22] + +But all these are legends and fancies. "We in this twentieth century," +to quote the words of a Christian writer, "to whom there is no longer +any part of the earth unknown, know that in no country whatever, +however far from civilisation it may be, do the Ten Tribes dwell. The +'travellers' tales' have been proved to be false; the Ten Tribes, as +such, do not exist." In this connection I may quote Professor A. +Neubauer, a prominent learned Jew, who sums up his studies in a series +of illuminating articles on the subject which will be found in Vol. I. +of _The Jewish Quarterly Review_, with these words:-- + + "Where are the Ten Tribes? We can only answer, Nowhere. Neither in + Africa, nor in India, China, Persia, Kurdistan, the Caucasus, or + Bokhara. We have said that a great part of them remained in + Palestine, partly mixing with the Samaritans, and partly + amalgamating with those who returned from the captivity of Babylon. + With them many came also from the cities of the Medes, and many, no + doubt, adhered to the Jewish religion which was continued in + Mesopotamia during the period of the Second Temple." + +Some Christian writers cling to the view that while some of the "Ten +Tribes" amalgamated with the "Jews," there is nevertheless a distinct +people somewhere, who are descendants of the Israel of the ancient +northern kingdom, which is to be brought to light in the future, and, +together with "Judah," will be restored to Palestine, and enter into the +enjoyment of the promises. Thus the Nestorians, who inhabit the +inaccessible mountains of Kurdistan (which is part of ancient Assyria), +the Afghans, the North American Indians, and even the Japanese have been +variously identified as that people; but this view rests upon what I +believe to be a misconception of the meaning and scope of some of the +prophecies. + +It _may_ be true that the Nestorians, and the Afghans, and some other +Eastern tribes are descendants of the original Israelitish exiles in +Assyria, but having more or less mixed themselves up by inter-marriage +with the surrounding nations, and having given up the distinctive +national rites and ordinances, such as circumcision, the observance of +the Sabbath, etc., they have, like many "Jews" in modern times (who +gradually assimilate with Gentile nations), cut themselves off from the +hope of Israel, and are no longer in the line of the purpose which God +has in and through that "peculiar" and separate people. + + +THE TESTIMONY OF PROPHECY IN THE LIGHT OF HISTORY. + +In conclusion let me very briefly call your attention to the remarkable +prophecy in Amos ix., which will show you that the view which I have +enunciated in my letter is the only one in keeping with the sure word of +prophecy. + +The prophet Amos, though himself a Judean, his native village, Tekoa, +being about twelve miles south of Jerusalem, was commissioned by God to +prophesy more particularly to the northern or Ten-Tribed kingdom; and +for that purpose he went and took up his abode in Bethel, which was the +centre of the idolatrous worship set up by Jeroboam in opposition to the +worship and service of the divinely-appointed sanctuary in Jerusalem. +There his duty was to announce the coming judgment of God on the Israel +of the Ten Tribes, on account of their apostasy. The last paragraph of +his book (chap. ix. 8-15), uttered not more than about seventy years +before the final overthrow of Samaria in B.C. 721, is one of the most +remarkable and comprehensive prophecies in the Old Testament, and this +is the inspired forecast of the history of the Ten-Tribed kingdom which +is given in it: "_Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful +kingdom, and I will destroy it from of the face of the earth; saving +that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. For +lo, I will command and I will sift (or 'toss') the house of Israel among +all the nations, like as corn is sifted (or 'tossed' about) in a sieve, +yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. All the sinners of +thy people shall die by the sword, which say: The evil shall not +overtake or prevent us._" + +Here, then, we have the whole subject as to what was to become of the +Ten Tribes in a nutshell. + +(a) First, _as a kingdom_, they were to be destroyed from off the face +of the earth, _never to be restored_; for its very existence as a +separate kingdom was only permitted of God for a definite period as a +punishment on the house of David: and when, after a period of about two +hundred and fifty years of unbroken apostasy, it was finally broken up +by the Assyrians, there was an end of it, without any promise of a +future independent political existence. + +(b) But when it was destroyed as a kingdom, what became of them as a +people? This prophecy tells us: "Saving that I will not utterly destroy +the house of Jacob, saith the Lord"--that is, they are to return to the +house of Jacob. They are to form part of the one family made up of all +the descendants of Jacob without distinction of tribes. But as one house +of Jacob, or "of Israel" (as the next verse interchangeably calls them), +something terrible and unique is to befall them; and what is it? To be +"lost" some two thousand six hundred years, and then to be identified +with the Anglo-Saxon race? Oh no! this is what was to happen: "For lo, I +will command and I will sift (or 'toss') the house of Israel among all +nations, even as corn is tossed about in a sieve"--or, in the words of +Hosea, another prophet, who spoke primarily to the Ten Tribes, "My God +will cast them away" (not for ever, as the whole book shows, but for a +time), "because they did not hearken unto Him; and _they shall be +wanderers among the nations_." + +I draw your attention all the more to this point, because a good deal +has been made by some writers of the expression in Isa. xi., where +Israel is called "outcast," from which they infer that "Israel" is to be +found somewhere in one place, in contradistinction to the "dispersed of +Judah." But this is a fallacy. In Jer. xxx. Judah and Israel are +together called "an outcast," but it by no means implies that they are +therefore to be sought for and found in one particular region of the +world. + +It is clear from the prophecies of Amos and Hosea, which, as we have +seen, were primarily addressed to the Ten Tribes, that if they were in +the first instance "cast out" by force from their own land, as the word +in the Hebrew means, it was with a view that they should be "tossed +about" and "wander" among "all nations." + +Now note, Anglo-Israelism tells you to identify the Ten Tribes with one +nation; but if you are on the line of Scripture and true history, you +will seek for them "among all nations." + +And which people is it that is known all over the earth as "the tribe of +the weary foot and wandering breast"? Anglo-Israelites call them "Jews" +in the limited sense of being descendants of "Judah"; but God's Word +tells us that it is "_the house of Israel_," or "the house of Jacob"; +and, as a matter of fact, since "Judah" joined their brethren of the Ten +Tribes on the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans in B.C. 588, the +two have kept on their weary march together, "wandering among the +nations." Eastward and westward (only a remnant of all the tribe +returning to the land for a time), nowhere finding ease for any length +of time, nor do the soles of their feet have rest--even as Moses, _at +the very beginning of their history, and long before the division among +the tribes_, prophesied would be their _united_ experience in case they +apostatised from Jehovah their God. And thus they will continue ever +more mixed up and intermingled among themselves, with all genealogies +lost, and not one of them either east or west being able any longer +documentarily to prove of what tribe or family he comes--until the day +when He that scattered Israel will gather him, and by His own Divine +power and omniscience separate them again into their tribes and +families. + + +A SOLEMN WARNING. + +My last words on this subject must be those of warning and entreaty. Do +not think, as so many do, that Anglo-Israelism, even if not true, is +only a harmless speculation. I consider it nothing short of one of the +latter-day delusions by which the Evil One seeks to divert the attention +of men from things spiritual and eternal. Here are a few of its +dangers:-- + +I. It goes, sometimes to the length of blasphemy (as shown in the +extracts I have copied for you at the beginning of this letter), in +misinterpreting and misapplying Scripture. One of its foundation +fallacies is that _it anticipates the Millennium_, and interprets +promises--which will only be fulfilled in that blessed period, after +Israel as a nation is converted--to the British nation at the present +time. But by this process it distorts and confuses the whole prophetic +Scripture. + +II. It fosters national pride, and nationalises God's blessings in this +dispensation, which is individual and elective in its character. + +Its proud boastful tone, its carnal confidence that Britain, in virtue +of its supposed identity with the "lost" tribes, is to take possession +of all the "gates" of her "enemies" and become practically mistress of +the whole globe, is enough to provoke God's judgment against the nation, +and to make the spiritual believer and every true lover of this +much-favoured land tremble. It diverts man's attention from the one +thing needful, and from the only means by which he can find acceptance +with God. This it does by teaching that "a nation composed of millions +of practical unbelievers in Christ, and ripe for apostasy, in virtue of +a certain fanciful identity between the mixed race composing that nation +and a people carried into captivity two thousand five hundred years ago, +is in the enjoyment of God's special blessing and will enjoy it on the +same grounds for ever, thus laying another foundation for acceptance +with God beside that which He has laid, even Christ Jesus." + +After all, in this dispensation it is a question only as to whether men +are "in Christ" or not. If they are Christians, whether Jews or +Gentiles, their destiny is not linked either with Palestine or with +England, but with that inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled +and which fadeth not away; and if they are not Christians, then, instead +of occupying their thoughts with vain speculations as to a supposed +identity of the British race with the "lost" Ten Tribes, it is their +duty to seek the one and only Saviour whom we must learn to know, not +after the flesh, but in the Spirit, and without whom a man, whether an +Israelite or not, is undone. + +III. Then, finally, it not only robs the Jewish nation, the true Israel, +of many promises in relation to their _future_ by applying them to the +British race in the _present_ time, but it diverts attention from them +as _the_ people in whom is bound up the purpose of God in relation to +the nations, and whose "receiving again" to the heart of God, after the +long centuries of unbelief, will be as "life from the dead to the whole +world." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 15: According to Grtz, "History of the Jews," vol. i., p. +186, the tribe of Simeon, which was merely a subsidiary of that of +Judah, also remained faithful to the House of David; but this is +doubtful.] + +[Footnote 16: See 2 Kings xxiii, 29, where the King of Babylon is called +"King of Assyria."] + +[Footnote 17: "It is inconceivable," says Dr. Pusey, "that, as the +material prosperity of Palestine returned, even many of the Ten Tribes +should not have returned to their country."] + +[Footnote 18: Thus Strabo (quoted by Josephus in "Ant." xiv. 7, 2) could +already say in his day that "these Jews had already gotten into all +cities; and it is hard to find a place in the habitable earth that hath +not admitted this race and is not mastered by it."] + +[Footnote 19: "Everywhere we have distinct notices of these wanderers," +says Dr. Edersheim, "and everywhere they appear as in closest connection +with the Rabbinical hierarchy of Palestine. Thus the Mishnah, in an +extremely curious section, tells how on Sabbaths the Jewesses of Arabia +might wear their long veils, and those of India the kerchiefs round +their head, customary in those countries, without incurring the guilt of +desecrating the holy day by needlessly carrying what, in the eyes of the +law, would be a burden; while in a rubric for the Day of Atonement we +have it noted that the dress which the High Priest wore 'between the +evenings' of the great feast--that is, as afternoon darkened into +evening--was of most costly Indian stuff."] + +[Footnote 20: Some have supposed that the 14th verse of Zechariah +xi.--"_And I cut asunder mine other (or 'second') staff, even Bands (or +'Binders'), to destroy the brotherhood between Judah and between +Israel_"--foreshadowed another division between the Ten Tribes and the +Two Tribes subsequent to the partial restoration from Babylon, and after +the coalescence of the people before and in the Exile--as a punishment +for their rejection of their true Shepherd the Messiah, which is +symbolically set forth in that chapter. But this is a mistake. The +(_achavah_), "Brotherhood," which was to be destroyed "between Judah and +between Israel," is not to be understood in the sense "that the unity of +the nation would be broken up again in a manner similar to that in the +days of Rehoboam, and that two hostile nations would be formed out of +one people," although the disruption of national unity which took place +in the days of Jeroboam may be referred to _as an illustration_ of that +which would occur again in a more serious form. "The schism of Jeroboam +had a weakening and disintegrating effect on the nation of the Twelve +Tribes, and the dissolution of the brotherhood here spoken of was to +result in still greater evil and ruin; for Israel, deprived of the Good +Shepherd, was to fall into the power of the 'foolish,' or 'evil,' +shepherd, who is depicted at the close of the prophecy." + +The preposition (_bain_), which is twice repeated, has the meaning not +only of "_between_," but also of "_among_," and the formula, House of +Judah and House of Israel, or simply, "Judah and Israel," is, as we have +had again and again to notice, this prophet's inclusive designation of +the whole ideally (and to a large extent already actually) reunited one +people. I think, therefore, that we may rightly render the sentence "to +destroy the brotherhood _among_ Judah and among Israel"--that is to say, +among the entire nation. The consequence of it would be the fulfilment +of the threat in the 9th verse: "Let them which are left eat every one +the flesh of another"--solemn and awful words, which had their first +literal fulfilment in the party feuds and mutualy destructive strife, +and in the terrible "dissolution of every bond of brotherhood and of our +common nature, which made the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans a proverb +for horror, and precipitated its destruction."] + +[Footnote 21: It has also been supposed that the references by Agrippa +in his remarkable oration (reported by Josephus, "Wars," ii., xvi. +4)--to those who dwelt "as far as beyond the Euphrates," and to "those +of your nation who dwell in Adiabene," upon whom the Jews might rely for +help in their struggle against Rome, but would not be permitted by the +Parthians to render them any assistance--were to some unknown +settlements belonging to the Ten Tribes. But this is a mistake. These +dwellers in Adiabene might or might not have belonged to the Ten Tribes, +but they formed part of the known Dispersion and of "your nation"--the +Jews.] + +[Footnote 22: Jewish Encyclopdia.] + + + + +PART III. + +NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. + + +Note I. + +ANGLO-ISRAEL "PROOFS" OF A SEPARATE FATE AND DESTINY OF "ISRAEL" AND +"JUDAH." + +The Anglo-Israel theory is based for the most part on the supposition of +a separate history during the Dispersion, and a separate destiny of the +Ten Tribes from that of Judah. I have already shown that the supposition +is a false one, but it may be well to analyse here a few more of the +Scripture "proofs" by which the contention is supported. + +The following is from a truly amazing pamphlet, entitled "Fifty Reasons +why the Anglo-Saxons are Israelites of the Lost Tribes of the House of +Israel," a publication full of misinterpretations, wild fancies, and +absurd fables, which are given out as facts of history. + +But the reader may judge for himself of the method of this writer, who +is a "D.D.," in handling Scripture. + +"The Jews," we are told with an air of authority-- + + "are one people, the Lost Tribes are another.... The Word of God + clearly intimates that Israel would lose their identity, their + land, their language, their religion, and their name, that they + would be lost to themselves, and to other nations lost. 'I will + scatter them into corners, I will make the remembrance of them to + cease from among men' (Deut. xxxii. 26). 'The Lord hideth His face + from the House of Jacob' (Isa. viii, 17). He was not any more to + speak to them in the Hebrew tongue; but 'by another tongue will I + speak unto this people' (Isa. xxviii. 11). They shall no more be + called Israel, He will call them by another name. 'And thou shalt + be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name' + (Isa. lxii. 2). 'The Lord shall call His servants by another name' + (Isa. lxv. 15). 'The name Israel shall be no more in remembrance' + (Psa. lxxxiii. 4). 'And ye shall lose, or leave, your name, and the + Lord shall call His servants by another name.' 'Why sayest thou, O + Jacob! and speakest, O Israel! my way is hid from the Lord, and my + judgment is passed over from my God?' (Isa. xl. 27). + + "'For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies + will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a + moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee' + (Isa. liv. 8). + + "In Hos. i. 4, 7 the Lord says, 'I will cause to cease the kingdom + of the House of Israel.... I will no more have mercy upon the House + of Israel, but I will utterly take them away.... But I will have + mercy upon the House of Judah.' Israel is to be called Lo-Ammi, for + 'ye are not My people, and I will not be your God' (Hos. i. 7)." + +Now let us look for a moment at the reference and quotations here given. +The first is Deut. xxxii. 26: "I will scatter them into corners," etc. +This occurs in the song which Moses was commanded to put into the mouth +of the _whole nation_ at the very commencement of their history, which, +besides being a vindication of God's character in His dealings with the +nation from the beginning hitherto, is also a prophetic forecast of +their whole future history. It is the _whole people_, which according to +Moses was to be scattered into all corners as a special punishment for +their apostasy, until such time as the Lord shall turn their captivity +and have compassion upon them, and gather them from all the nations +(Deut. iv. 25-31; xxviii. 64, 65; xxx. 1-7; xxxi. 16-22). This +reference then has nothing whatever in it about a "lost identity." + +These forecasts are fulfilling themselves, not in lost tribes, but _in +the Jews_. The second reference, Isa. viii. 17: "_The Lord hideth His +face from the House of Jacob_," is (as is often the case in Anglo-Israel +quotations) a sentence broken away from the context, and has not the +least shadow of connection with "lost" or found tribes. It is an +exclamation of the prophet Isaiah with reference to the condition of +things then prevailing in _Judah_. Because of the wickedness of the +people and its king, God's face seemed to be hid from the people. But +Israel's prophets always looked beyond the present gloom and darkness, +and exercised faith in God even in the most adverse circumstances, so he +exclaims: "And I"--whatever the nation whom he sought to bring back to +God may do--"will wait upon Jehovah that hideth His face from _Jacob_ +(which stands for the whole nation) and will look to Him," _i.e._, "my +hope shall be set on Him alone." + +A quotation is made in proof that God would not any more speak to "lost" +Israel in the Hebrew tongue. The reference is Isa. xxviii. 11: "By (or +with) another tongue will I speak to this people." + +This is another instance of breaking away an isolated text from its +context, and giving it a meaning which was never intended. In that +chapter we read how the leaders, not of the Ten Tribes, but of Judah, +perverted the Word of God, which He intended should bring "rest" and +"refreshing" to the weary (ver. 12), and turned it into so many isolated +"precepts" and commandments. But because the words of grace and +salvation He was speaking to them through the prophets were scorned and +abused, God threatens that He will speak to them in judgment--"with +strange lips and with another tongue"--in which there may be included +also a reference to their being carried into captivity, "where they +would have to listen to a strange language," which they understood not +(Psalm lxxxi. 5; cxiv. 1). + +The next references in proof that the "lost" tribes were "no more to be +called Israel," but by another name, is a typical instance of the +perversion of even the most beautiful spiritual truths of the Bible for +mere outward, I was going to say, _carnal_, ends. The first quotation in +proof of this point is from Isa. lxii. 2: "Thou shalt be called by a new +name which the mouth of the Lord shall name." This short chapter is one +of the most precious and beautiful in the whole Old Testament, and it is +like laying hold of an exquisitely delicate and beautiful work of art +with a rough and dirty hand to treat it as Anglo-Israel "theologians" +do. The chapter begins: "For _Zion's sake_ will I not hold My peace, and +for _Jerusalem's sake_ I will not rest until her righteousness go forth +as brightness and her salvation as a lamp that burneth." The speaker is +either the prophet, or very probably the servant of Jehovah, the +Messiah, who is the speaker in the preceding chapter. The subject is +"Zion" or "Jerusalem," which includes the people. I believe that it +includes the _whole nation_ of which Jerusalem is the God-appointed +metropolis; but if it is to be limited to any part of the people, then +it is certainly _Judah_, of which Zion or Jerusalem is the capital, and +not the Ten Tribes who are here spoken of. + +This Zion, for whom the Messiah makes unceasing intercession, is now +called--"forsaken," and her land--"desolate"; but when God's light shall +again break upon her, and her righteousness goes forth as a lamp that +burneth, "Thou shalt be called (Hephzibah, _i.e._, My delight is in +her); and thy land" (Beulah, _i.e._, married). But the new name by which +the mouth of Jehovah shall then call her shall not only answer the +outward transformation which shall then come over the people and the +land, but will describe the _inward_ transformation and the true +character of the people. In fact, we are told in this very chapter what +the new name shall be. They shall call them--Saxons? Britons? No, "they +shall call them the Holy People, _The Redeemed of the Lord_." This is +also the "other-name" in Isa. lxv. 15, by which God shall call His true +servants in contrast to the ungodly in the nation, who shall be "slain," +and leave their name (_i.e._, their remembrance) as a proverbial "curse" +unto His chosen. + +The next reference given in proof that the Ten Tribes were to lose their +name is Psalm lxxxiii. 4: "The name of Israel shall be no more in +remembrance." This is a typical and characteristic specimen of the +manner in which Anglo-Israel "theologians" deal with Scripture. It +reminds one of the grounds adduced by a certain individual for paying no +heed to the Old Testament because it is written, "_Hang_ the law and the +prophets" (Matt. xxii. 40). It is certainly most easy to prove almost +anything from the Bible by breaking away an isolated sentence from its +connection, and attaching to it a meaning which was never intended. + +Psalm lxxxiii. is an impassioned cry to God for His interposition and +deliverance of His people from a confederacy of Gentile nations, who are +gathered with the determined object of utterly destroying them as a +people. + + "O God, keep not Thou silence: + Hold not Thy peace and be not still, O God; for lo, Thine enemies make + a tumult: + And they that hate Thee have lifted up the head: + They take crafty counsel against Thy people, and consult together + against Thy hidden ones. + They have said: Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, + That the name of Israel be no more in remembrance." + +This historical occasion of this Psalm may perhaps have been the great +gathering of the Moabites, Ammonites, and a great multitude of other +against "Judah,"[23] who, in the Psalms belonging to that period, is +invariably called Israel. At the same time there is a prophetic element +in the Psalm, for all the past gatherings of the nations against +Jerusalem foreshadow the final great gathering under Antichrist, when +the battle-cry of the confederated armies shall indeed be, "Come, let us +destroy them from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more +in remembrance." But note, part of the furious cry of the Gentiles in +their onslaught against Jerusalem is broken away from its connection and +used by Anglo-Israel writers to prove that the Ten Tribes would lose +their identity and that the very name "Israel" would be "lost." + +Passing on to the next two references, Isa. xl. 27 and Isa. liv. 8, I +would ask the intelligent Bible-reader what relevancy or connection +these precious Scriptures have with the subject of the identification of +any "lost" tribes? They are glorious words of consolation and promise +addressed to the Jewish nation, or rather to the godly remnant in exile, +assuring them that God's eye is ever upon them, and though, on account +of their sins, His face has been turned away from them, as it were, "for +a moment," He will yet return to them with "everlasting kindness and +have mercy upon them." It is like sacrilege to misapply such beautiful +Scriptures and great spiritual truths to prove a theory which has no +basis in fact, and with which they have not the remotest connection. + +The last reference is Hosea i. 4-7; the words are plain enough, and if +they prove anything in connection with this subject it is the very +opposite of what the Anglo-Israel writers assert. Hosea did speak +primarily to the Israel of the "Ten Tribes" shortly before its final +overthrow by Assyria, and what he announces is that God would cause that +kingdom, _as a kingdom_, "to cease," and that He would no more have +mercy upon them. As a people they would be preserved, but, as it were, +disavowed of God, and therefore called "Lo-Ammi" (_i.e._, "not My +people"). But what is said here by Hosea of the condition of the people +of the "Ten Tribes," after they shall have ceased to exist as a kingdom, +is true also, as we know from many other Scriptures, of those who +belonged to the southern kingdom of Judah. It is now the Lo-Ammi period +for the _whole nation_ of the Twelve Tribes, and they shall continue to +be disowned of God nationally (not as individuals) until they as a +nation acknowledge and own their long-rejected Messiah. Then, in the +final trial, when the spirit of grace and of supplication is poured upon +them, and they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, and mourn, +God will look down upon them and say, "Ammi"--"It is My people": and +they shall say, "Jehovah is my God" (Zech. xiv. 9). + +And it is not only the prophetic Scriptures of the Old Testament which +are abused in this manner, the plainest statements in the Gospels and +Epistles are also twisted and perverted to mean the very opposite of +what was intended. The following is from a booklet, "The Lost Tribes of +Israel," by Reader Harris, K.C., "founder of the Pentecostal League," in +which all the absurdities and misinterpretations found in all the +Anglo-Israel publications are embodied:-- + + "NEW TESTAMENT PROPHECIES. + + "Let us now turn to the New Testament. It is perfectly clear that + Israel, who had been dispersed for more than 700 years, was much in + our Lord's mind during His three years' ministry upon earth, for + many were the references to Israel made by Him. As an example, let + us turn to the commission He gave to the twelve apostles in Matt x. + 5, 6:-- + + "'These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not + into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans + enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the House of + Israel.' + + "These apostles were not to go to the Gentiles, nor to the + Samaritans--who were the descendants of usurpers of Israel--'but to + the lost sheep of the House of Israel'; and they obeyed this + command as far as was then possible. The only tribe that they could + reach which had any connection with Israel was Benjamin, and + Benjamin as a tribe was won to allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. + Benjamin had gone into captivity with Judah, and had come back with + Judah; but in the prophecies of God, Benjamin had been always + associated with the Ten Tribes of Israel. It is a remarkable fact + that the majority of our Lord's disciples at the time of His + earthly ministry were connected with the tribe of Benjamin. It is + also of interest that, when Jerusalem was afterwards besieged by + the Romans under Titus, the members of what had become the + Christian tribe of Benjamin escaped. + + "Christ Himself declared, in Matt. xv. 24, this was His own + mission: '_He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost + sheep of the House of Israel._' + + "Again our Lord says, in Matt. xxi. 43: '_Therefore say I unto you_ + (He was speaking to the Jews), _the kingdom of God shall be taken + from you, and given to a nation_ (the Jews had long since ceased to + be a nation) _bringing forth the fruits thereof_.' + + "The Jews themselves evidently so understood His statement, for in + John vii. 35 we read:-- + + "'Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will He go, that we + shall not find Him? Will He go unto the dispersed among the + Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?' + + "So the Jew quite understood our Lord to refer to Israel. + + "Israel was evidently in the minds of the apostles themselves. On + the day of the ascension they asked Him:-- + + "'Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to + Israel?' (Acts i. 6.) + + "A restoration of the kingdom of Israel with the kingdom of Judah + had been promised. The apostles did not confuse the kingdom of + Israel with that of Judah, for they said, 'Wilt Thou at this time + restore the kingdom to Israel?' St. Paul devotes thirty-six verses + in Romans xi. to prove that God has not cast away His people, but + that "blindness in part is happened unto Israel until the fulness + of the nations be come in," so that all Israel shall be saved. + + "Lastly, the final word must be that of our Lord. In Acts i. 7, 8 + Christ said:-- + + "'_It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the + Father hath put in His own power, but ye shall receive power, after + that the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses + unto Me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and unto the + uttermost parts of the earth_'--which refers to the 'regions + beyond'--an expression that was fully understood to mean the + dispersed among the Gentiles." + +With much pain one has to say that this reveals either lamentable +ignorance of the plainest and simplest truths of New Testament Scripture +on the part of an otherwise educated man, or a clever adaptation by +which a lawyer would seek to support a preconceived theory. + +I have already dealt with some of these perversions in the first part of +this pamphlet, so need only refer to them again in the briefest possible +manner. + +(a) It is indeed "perfectly clear" to any reader of the New Testament +that Israel "was much in our Lord's mind during His three years' +ministry upon earth"; but as clear and evident is it to any candid +reader that the only "Israel" of whom He thought and spoke were the +people among whom He lived and moved, and to whom His blessed ministry +on earth was confined, and who are alternately called in the New +Testament "Jews" and "Israel." + +It was to these "lost sheep" _in the land of Palestine_ for whom His own +compassions were moved when He beheld them in multitudes, that the +Twelve were sent out in Matt. x., and He ascribes to them the term +"lost" in a deeper and more solemn and spiritual sense than +Anglo-Israelism has evidently any conception of. (_See_ page 41.) + +(b) The statement here repeated about the tribe of Benjamin, and that +the "majority of our Lord's disciples at the time of His earthly ministry +were connected with the tribe of Benjamin," is nothing but a fiction +invented by Anglo-Israelites, as already shown in Part I. (_See_ page +17.) + +The only thing which is historically true is that the Apostle Paul was +of the tribe of Benjamin, but he was called after our Lord's earthly +ministry was ended, and he was appointed not to the "lost tribes," but +to preach Christ's Gospel _among the Gentiles_ (Acts xxii. 21; Rom. xi. +13; Gal. i. 16). + +(c) The nation which brings forth the fruits of the kingdom of God +during the present dispensation of Israel's national unbelief is not the +British Empire, but _the Church of Christ_--the elected body out of +_all_ nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues, who are called "a +chosen generation (or 'elect race'), a royal priesthood, a _holy nation_ +([Greek: ethnos]), a people for God's own possession" (1 Peter ii. 9). + +(d) To state that the Jews themselves understood Christ's statement in +Matt. xxi. 43 as referring to some "lost" Israel, because in John vii. +35 they said: "Will He go unto the dispersed ([Greek: tn dsporan]) +among the Gentile (or 'Greeks'), and teach the Greeks?" is not true. + +The "dispersed" among the Greeks were Hellenistic "_Jews_" of all the +Twelve Tribes scattered abroad, who stood (as already shown in Part II.) +in closest connection with the Temple and hierarchy in Jerusalem, and +were never "lost"; and the Greeks among whom they were dispersed were +"_Gentiles_." + +(e) And what can be said of such a perverted application of the +question in Acts i. 6, namely, that when the disciples, immediately +before Christ's ascension, asked: "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore +the kingdom to Israel?" it was not their own nation, the "Jews," that +they meant, and Jerusalem the centre of God's kingdom on earth--but some +"lost" tribes in distant regions of which they knew nothing--I suppose +on the same principle of Anglo-Israel interpretation when Peter, with +the eleven on the Day of Pentecost, for instance, addressed the people +as "_Ye men of Israel_," and again, "Let all the house of Israel, +therefore, know assuredly that God hath made Him both Lord and +Christ--this Jesus whom ye crucified" (Acts ii. 22-36)--he did not speak +to the assembled multitude of "Jews" before him, but over their heads to +some distant regions where there were some wandering "lost" tribes who +alone were entitled to the name "Israel." But such assertions are +altogether too ridiculous to be treated seriously. + +The "Israel" which "was evidently in the minds of the apostles," and to +whom Peter spoke, and of whom Paul wrote in that great prophetic section +in his Epistle to the Romans (chaps. ix.-xi.), were the "Jews," whether +of Palestine or in the "Dispersion," who are the only representatives of +all the Twelve Tribes of "Israel" with whom Scripture or prophecy has +any concern, and not any supposed "lost" tribes to be identified after +many centuries by Anglo-Israel writers as the British and the United +States. + +(f) "Lastly, the final word," we are told, "must be that of our +Lord," and then there follows the quotation of the glorious promise and +prophetic forecast from Acts i. 7, 8: "_Ye shall receive power when the +Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be My witnesses both in +Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of +the earth_"; and we are assured that the last sentence refers "to the +regions beyond--an expression that was fully understood to mean the +dispersed among the Gentiles"--by which, I suppose, we are meant to +understand, the "lost" tribes. + +But the sentence--[Greek: kai es eschaton ts gs]--means, as it has +been properly rendered, "unto the end (or 'uttermost part') of the +earth," and has always been "fully" and properly understood by the +Church of Christ as a Divine warrant and forecast of the preaching of +the Gospel, not to the Dispersed _among_ the Gentiles, but to _the +heathen world_. + + +Note II. + +THE PROMISES OF A MULTITUDINOUS SEED, AND THAT ISRAEL SHALL BECOME A +GREAT AND MIGHTY NATION. + +A great point is made by all Anglo-Israel writers of the promises which +God made to the fathers of a multitudinous seed. The argument is, that +since the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were to be a great and +mighty and very numerous nation--yea, "a company of nations"--these +promises cannot apply to the "Jews," who are comparatively few in +number. There must exist, therefore, a people somewhere great and +mighty and numerous who are the seed of Abraham, in whom these promises +are realised. + +Now look at the British Empire, how great and mighty it is in the earth, +and what vast numbers it includes, _ergo_, the British, including the +United States of America (which by some wonderful process of divination +Anglo-Israelites are able to distinguish and identify as "Manasseh," in +spite of the fact that their progenitors, who emigrated from England, +were, according to them "Ephraimites," and that those original emigrants +have since been mixed up with a flood of emigrants from all other races +under heaven), are the descendants of Abraham, and particularly of the +"lost" Ten Tribes! + +Now the following are the Scriptures on the subject: + + (1) "And I will make of thee (Abraham) a great nation" (Gen. xii. + 2). + + (2) "And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if + a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be + numbered" (Gen. xiii. 16). + + (3) "And He brought him (Abraham) forth abroad, and said, Look now + toward heaven, and tell the number of the stars, if thou be able to + tell them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be" (Gen. xv. + 5). + + (4) "And God talked with him (Abraham), saying: As for Me, My + covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be the father of a multitude + of nations; neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but + thy name shall be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations + have I made thee. And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I + will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee" (Gen. + xvii. 4-6). + + (5) "Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all + the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him" (Gen. xviii. 18). + + (6) "In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will + multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is + upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his + enemies" (a Hebrew idiom for "shall be victorious over his foes") + (Gen. xxii. 17). + + (7) "And God said unto him (Jacob), I am God Almighty, be fruitful + and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, + and kings shall come out of thy loins" (Gen. xxxv. 11). + +To these passages have to be added Isaac's blessing to Jacob: "God +Almighty bless thee and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou +mayest be a company--literally, 'a congregation' of peoples" (Gen. +xxviii. 3); and Jacob's forecast of Ephraim in his blessing of Joseph's +sons, that his seed shall become "a multitude (or literally, 'a +fulness,') of the nations." + +Now in reference to all these particular promises and forecasts, I would +beg your attention to the following observations:-- + +I. There are expressions in them which must not be pressed to the +extreme of literalness according to our Western ideas. We speak of +"nations," and think of them as embracing populations of whole +countries, and of "kings" as being sovereigns of States, but in the +earlier books of the Bible we are introduced to many "nations" and +"peoples" as comprised in one little country of Canaan, and of many +"kings" who were no more than chiefs, or rulers of "cities," which in +our modern times we would only class as "villages." As a matter of fact, +the term, _goim_, generally standing for "_nations_," and usually for +the _Gentile_ nations, is actually used for the _tribes_ or families of +the Jewish people. Here is the Scripture: "And He said unto me, Son of +Man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to nations, (_goim_--the word +is in the plural) that are rebellious, which have rebelled against Me" +(Ezek. ii. 3). + +The "Jews," or "Israel," as they are properly called are being spoken +of as "nations," because they comprised different families or tribes. + +Already Moses could say of the Israel of his time: "_Jehovah your God +hath multiplied you, and behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven +for multitude_" (Deut. i. 10; x. 22); and Solomon, in his prayer for +wisdom, says: "_Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people which Thou +hast chosen, a great people that cannot be counted for multitude_" (1 +Kings iii. 8). + +The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews knew nothing of a supposed +identification of the millions in Britain and America with the "lost" +Ten Tribes, but speaking of the descendants of Abraham and Sarah, he +could say that because Abraham believed God, and Sarah herself, in spite +of natural impossibilities, judged Him faithful who had promised: +"_Wherefore also there sprang of one, and him as good as dead, so many +as the stars of heaven for multitude, and as the sand which is by the +seashore innumerable_" (Hebrews xi. 12); so that even if we view only +the past it is not true to assert that the promises of God that the seed +of Abraham should be a multitude which cannot be numbered, and +constitute "a company of nations," has not been fulfilled in the "Jews" +or "Israel," which has never been "lost." + +II. The promises of a multitudinous seed and rapid increase of the seed +of Abraham, though in the first instance given to the fathers +unconditionally, and therefore will assuredly be fulfilled, were +nevertheless made conditional on Israel's obedience. It is with this, as +with all the other great promises, given to the Jewish nation. They were +conditional as far as any particular generation of Jews are concerned, +who may either enjoy them if in obedience, or forfeit them through +disobedience; but they are unconditional to the nation because God +abides faithful, and in the end all His plans and purposes in and +through them will be fulfilled. For this very reason He has preserved +them as a people in spite of all their sin and disobedience. + +Now at the very commencement of Israel's history--long before there was +any likelihood of a schism among the tribes--Moses, speaking in the name +of God of the whole nation, says: "_If ye walk in My statutes and keep +My commandments to do them, ... I will have respect unto you and make +you fruitful and multiply you, and will establish My covenant with you_" +(Lev. xxvi. 3-9). + +On the other hand, he solemnly forewarns them that if they shall +"corrupt themselves" and fall away from the living God, "I call heaven +and earth to witness against you this day that ye shall soon utterly +perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it, ... +and Jehovah shall scatter you among the peoples, _and ye shall be left +few in number among the nations whither Jehovah shall lead you_" (Deut. +iv. 25-27). + +This is repeated with solemn emphasis in Deut. xxviii. 62: "_And ye +shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for +multitude_." In the light of the Word of God, therefore, and apart from +all the absurdities involved in the Anglo-Israel theory, the very fact +that the British and American races are so numerous and powerful among +the nations precludes the possibility of their being Israel, for when +out of Palestine and in dispersion Israel was to become "few in number," +and oppressed and downtrodden among the nations. + +III. The underlying fallacy in the Anglo-Israel argument from the +promises of a multitudinous seed which God made to the fathers (and +this, indeed, is one of the chief errors underlying the whole theory), +is that it overlooks the fact that those promises, according to the +testimony of the prophets, will be fulfilled in the _future_, when (as +stated above) the Jewish nation, restored and converted, shall become +under the personal rule of their Messiah, great and mighty for God on +this earth. Then, when Israel shall be spiritually restored to God, and +in and through the grace of their Messiah they shall be a nation all +righteous and planted by God in their own land, "the little one shall +become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation" (Isa. lx. 21, 22); +and so rapidly and marvellously shall they increase that even the whole +promised land, which is fifty times as large as the portion of it "from +Dan to Beersheba," which alone they possessed in the past, shall become +too small for them, so that they shall say to the surrounding nations: +"_The place is too strait for me, give place ('make room') that I may +dwell_" (Isa. xlix. 19, 20). + +Now all this has been, and will be, fulfilled in the "Jews," who, as I +have shown, are the people of the whole "_Twelve Tribes scattered +abroad_." In the dispersion among the nations they became reduced to +"few in number," but when they are restored and blessed God says: "I +will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, +and they shall not be small" (Jer. xxx. 19). + +Of the capacity for rapid increase of the Jewish people there is +sufficient proof already. The following is from a recent number of _The +Scattered Nation_:-- + + "The marvellous increase of the Jewish people since their so-called + 'emancipation' in the xixth century, is indeed a striking sign of + the times. The statement of a recent writer in the _Jewish + Chronicle_ that at the commencement of the xvith century there + could scarcely have been more than a million Jews left in the + entire world after the untold sufferings, dispersions and massacres + which they had to endure in the dark and middle ages--is probably + true. The historian Basnage, in his 'History of the Jews from + Jesus Christ to the Present Time,' calculated that in his time (end + of the xviith and beginning of the xviiith century) there were + 3,000,000 Jews in the world. Since then, however, the growth of + Jewry has been phenomenal. At the commencement of the xixth century + there were said to be five millions. Half a century later the + numbers reached six or seven millions; and at the end of another + half a century--in 1896--the greatest living authority on Jewish + statistics gave their number as eleven millions. And now, after the + lapse of another seventeen or eighteen years, we are informed that + there are no less than 13,000,000 Jews in the world. And the + surprising feature of this latest calculation is the officially + authenticated fact that, in the country where they are most + persecuted, and which during the past three decades has driven + forth millions to seek an asylum in other countries, there are more + Jews to-day than ever before; and this in spite of pogroms, and + baptisms, and overcrowding, and starvation, and the pursuance of a + merciless policy of repression which led Pobiedonostsef to + prognosticate that, in the end, a third of Russia's Jews would + emigrate, a third would die, and a third would join the dominant + faith. The old story of Israel in Egypt renews itself to-day in + Russia: 'The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied.'" + +And if this be so now even in dispersion, we can imagine that in the +millennial period, under the fostering care and blessing of God, the +favoured nation will increase and multiply so that they will be as the +stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, +innumerable. + + +Note III. + +THE PERPETUITY OF THE DAVIDIC THRONE. + +One great Anglo-Israel argument that the British must be the "lost" +Israel is based on the promises which God made to David that his seed +and his throne shall be established for ever. Sometimes, indeed (as seen +in one of the quotations given in Part I., _see_ page 12), and in +keeping with Anglo-Israel logic, the argument is used the other way: "If +the Saxons be the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, then the English throne is +a continuation of David's throne, and the seed on it must be the seed of +David, and the inference is clear, namely, that all the blessings +attaching by the holy promise to David's throne must belong to +England";[24] and since, according to the dictum of the theory, this +"must be so," evidence must somehow be found, both "historical" and from +Scripture. So on the historical side a genealogical table has been +produced in which the descent of the royal house of England (which may +God protect!) is directly traced to David and Judah--a table truly +strange and wonderful, and which only shows how easy it is to prove +anything if wild guesses and perverted fancies be treated as facts. On +these genealogical tables and "histories," however, with regard to which +we would only apply to the Anglo-Israel "world" the old Latin +proverb--_Mundus vult decipi et decipiatur_--it would be sheer waste of +time to enter here. It is the product of a false supposition, supported +by a logic which is also false, both in its premises and conclusions. +People whose capacity for credulity is large enough to believe the wild +romances spun out by Anglo-Israel writers about Jeremiah's journey to +Ireland with a daughter of Zedekiah, who brought with them as part of +their personal luggage the coronation stone which is now in Westminster +Abbey, are very welcome to believe it; and one would not trouble much +about them if they would only let the Bible alone and not pervert +Scripture. + +But it is the supposed _Scriptural_ "proofs" which impose on some +simple-minded Christians, with whom alone we are concerned here. The +following passages almost all Anglo-Israel writers fasten upon:-- + +"_The Lord hath sworn unto David in truth, He will not turn from it; of +the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne_" (Psa. cxxxii. II). + +"_I have sworn unto David My servant, Thy seed will I establish for +ever, and build up thy throne to all generations_" (Psa. lxxxix. 3, 4). + +"_Thus saith Jehovah: If ye can break My covenant of the day, and my +covenant of the night, in their season, then may also My covenant be +broken with David My servant that he should not have a son to reign upon +his throne.... Thus saith the Lord: If My covenant of day and night +stand not, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; +then will I also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David My servant, +so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of +Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, +and will have mercy on them_" (Jer. xxxiii. 20, 21, 25, 26, R.V.). + +The argument drawn from these Scriptures is: If the British be not +Israel, and the English throne be not a continuation of the throne of +David, where is the fulfilment of these promises? In answer to this +crude logic I would observe:-- + +I. That it seems to be quite a characteristic of Anglo-Israelism to +ignore our Lord Jesus Christ as the centre of all promise and prophecy, +just as it ignores the existence of the Church and the future kingdom of +God, for all which it substitutes the British people and the British +Empire. But _Christ_ is the true Son of David, and the only legitimate +heir to the Davidic throne. "The sure mercies of David," which are sure +(or "faithful," as the word may be better rendered), because God has +sworn to fulfil, or "establish" them, are all merged and centred _in +Him_. Hence, when His birth was announced to the Virgin Mary, the Angel +Gabriel said: "Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a +son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be +called the Son of the Most High, and _the Lord God shall give unto Him +the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over the House of +Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end_" (Luke i. +31-33). + +If Israel had received Him His throne would have been established, and +His visible reign on earth commenced then. But He was rejected, and so +the promise in reference to setting up again of the Davidic kingdom, +which had ceased to exist since the days of Zedekiah, was still deferred +until the purpose of God with reference to the Church should be +accomplished. + +But the promises which God made to David have not failed, for Jesus, the +true Son of David, lives, and though He is for the present sitting on +the throne of God in heaven, _He is coming again_ to set up the throne +of His father David, and then "He shall reign over the House of Jacob +for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end." + +II. It was announced in advance that during the "many days" of Israel's +apostasy, and consequent banishment from the land, they "_shall abide +without a king and without a prince_," _i.e._, without the true Davidic +king of God's appointment, and without a prince of their own choice, as +Jewish commentators have themselves explained, until "the latter days," +when restored and converted they shall find in their Messiah the true +David, both their King and Prince.[25] + +III. The only place on earth where a _throne of David_ can have any +legitimate place, either in the sight of God or of man, is on _Mount +Zion in Jerusalem_, and it is an absurdity to speak of the continuity of +a Davidic throne in England. Thank God that the right of the British +Sovereign to his illustrious throne rests on a firmer basis than the +fictitious genealogies made out by Anglo-Israelites. + +IV. The same Scriptures, which speak of the perpetuity of the Davidic +seed and _throne_, speak also of the unceasing continuance of _the +priesthood_. "_Thus saith Jehovah, David shall never want a man to sit +upon the throne of the House of Israel; neither shall the priests the +Levites want a man before Me to offer burnt-offerings and to burn +oblations, and to do sacrifice continually.... Thus saith the Lord: If +ye can break My covenant of the day, and My covenant of the night, so +that there should not be day and night in their season; then may also My +covenant be broken with David My servant, that he should not have a son +to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, My +ministers_" (Jer. xxxiii. 17, 20, 21). + +Now it would be quite as logical to argue that the ministers of the +Church of England must be the lineal descendants of the Levites, else +God's promise of the continuance of the priesthood has failed, as to +argue from these same Scriptures that there must be somewhere now on +earth a throne of David, or else these prophecies have proved false. + +The truth is that neither have God's promises in reference to the throne +nor to the priesthood failed--for Christ is, in His blessed Person, the +Prophet, Priest, and King. He is all this now at the right hand of God, +for not only are all the essentials of the Aaronic priesthood fulfilled +in Him, but He is "a priest _for ever_ after the order of Melchizedek"; +and when He is manifested again on earth to take up His throne and +reign, "_He shall be a priest upon His throne_, and the counsel of peace +shall be between them both."[26] + + +Note IV. + +THE SO-CALLED HISTORIC PROOFS OF ANGLO-ISRAELISM. + +I have stated on page 10 that the so-called Historic Proofs of +Anglo-Israelism, by which the theory is supported, are derived from +pagan myths and fables. Let the following suffice as a sample:-- + + "To accomplish this" (_i.e._, that the seed of Abraham should + inherit the isles of the west) "some were sent to take possession + of the islands long before." + + The wrath of man is made to praise Him (Gen. xxxvii. 2; l. 15-21), + which led to the flight of Danaus, the son of Bela, from _Egyptus_ + his brother. Dan is the son of Bilhah and brother of Joseph, who + was over all the Egyptians. This was the first secession from + Israel. This is probably alluded to in Ezekiel xx. 5-9. Another + secession took place (1 Chron. vii. 21-24). A third secession was + after the Exodus. When in the Wilderness Num. xiv. 1-4 states that + they said, "Let us make a captain." Nehemiah ix. 17 tells us they + did so (compare Psa. cvi. 26, 27; Ezek. xx. 21-23). + + _Hecatoeus of Abdera_ (6th century B.C.), quoted by _Diodorus + Siculus_ (B.C. 50), i. 27, 46, 55, says:-- + + "The most distinguished of the expelled foreigners (from Egypt) + followed Danaus and Cadmus into Greece; but the greater number were + led by Moses into Juda." + + In schylus' _Supplicants_ (B.C. 6th century) Danaus and his + daughters are represented as a "seed divine," exiles from Egypt, + fleeing from their brother Egyptus. Since they feared an unholy + alliance, they appear to have passed through Syria and perhaps + Sidon into Greece.[27] + +I will say nothing here about the Scripture references in the first +paragraph, but if any intelligent Bible student will look them up he +will see that only a perverted fancy can see in them any justification +for the theory here propounded. But, as will be noted, the heathen fable +about gyptus and Danaus is here brought into the history of Israel, +Danaus being identified as Dan, the son of Bilhah; and gyptus, I +suppose, with Joseph. Now here is the pagan fable, and let the reader +judge what connection it has with the history of the sons of Jacob. + +gyptus, who had fifty sons, and Danaus, who had fifty daughters, were +twin brothers. Their father, Belus, the son of Poseidon, identified by +the Romans with Neptunus, the god of the Mediterranean Sea, had assigned +Libya to Danaus; but, fearing gyptus, his brother, he fled with his +fifty daughters to Argos in Peloponnessus, where he was elected king by +the Argives in place of Gelanor, the reigning monarch. Thither, however, +he was followed by the fifty sons of gyptus, who demanded his daughters +for their wives. Danaus complied with their request, but gave to each of +his daughters a dagger with which to kill their husbands in the bridal +night. All the sons of gyptus were thus murdered, with but one +exception. The life of Lynceus was spared by his wife, Hypermnestra, +who, according to the legend, afterwards avenged the death of his +forty-nine brothers by killing his father-in-law Danaus. + +The fifty daughters of Danaus, known as "the Danaides," were punished in +Hades for their crime by being compelled everlastingly to pour water +into a sieve. Note also that the fable propagated by Manetho that the +Jews were _expelled_ from Egypt as lepers, and the legend of Hecatus, +quoted by Diodorus Siculus that, "the most distinguished of these +expelled followed Danaus and Cadmus into Greece, but the greater number +were led by Moses into Judea," is also accepted as history. Some of +these same pagan writers believed that the object of worship in the Holy +of Holies was the head of an ass, and other absurdities of the same +nature. I wonder if Anglo-Israel "theologians" accept this also as +"history." + +I may here add that the identification by Anglo-Israel writers of Tea, +or Tephi, the heroine of some Irish ballads, with a princess of the +royal house of Judah, whom Jeremiah brought to Ireland in one of the +ships of Dan, and who married Esincaid, King of Ulster, and so became +the ancestress of the royal houses of Ireland and Scotland, and +subsequently of England--has just as much "history" for its basis as the +identification of Danaus with Dan, or of gyptus with Joseph. + +The value of Irish legends and ballads (upon which the romances of +Anglo-Israel writers are largely based), as sources of "history," may be +judged from the following introductory statement taken from a standard +compendium of the history of Ireland: + +"The history of Ireland, like that of almost all ancient countries, +'tracks its parent lake' back into the enchanted realms of legend and +romance and fable. It has been said, not untruly, of Ireland that she +'can boast of ancient legends rivalling in beauty and dignity the tales +of Attica and Argolis; she has an early history whose web of blended +myth and reality is as richly coloured as the record of the rulers of +Alba Longa and the story of the Seven Kings.' We cannot now make any +effort to get at history in the beautiful myths and stories. We should +puzzle our brains in vain to find out whether the Lady Cesair, who came +to Ireland before the Deluge with fifty women and three men, has any +warrant from genuine tradition, or is a child of fable altogether. We +cannot get any hint of the actual truth about Conn of the Hundred +Fights, and Fin MacCoul and Oisin. But the impression which does seem to +be conveyed clearly enough from all these romances and fables and +ballads is that the island was occupied in dim far-off ages by +successive invaders who came from the south. + +"The Phoenicians are said to have represented one wave of invasion and +the Greeks another.... + +"What may be called the authentic history of Ireland begins with the +life and career of St. Patrick (5th century)." + + +Note V. + +"THE GATE OF HIS ENEMIES." + +One brief note more must be added on a point which all Anglo-Israel +writers advance as proof positive in support of their theory. It is the +promise that God made to Abraham, "Thy seed shall possess the gate of +his enemies." The term "gate" (or "gates" as often mis-quoted) is taken +to signify "strait," "port," or strategic maritime position and these +writers grow quite eloquent in pointing out the many maritime points of +vantage which are in occupation of the British as a fulfilment of this +ancient promise to the chosen people. + +Thus the writer of "Fifty Reasons" (W. H. Poole, D.D.), with which I +have already dealt, asks (page 61) "What nation or people are now the +gate-holders of the nations? We hold Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Acre, +Suez Canal, Aden, Perim," and many other important maritime points which +he enumerates, and concludes triumphantly "_For 500 years Britain has +been the gate-holder in the lands of those who hate her_"--a very +doubtful compliment this, by the way, to British rule over her acquired +possessions. + +But like many other Anglo-Israel "proofs" it has no basis in philology +or in fact. The word--Sha'ar ("gate") is used hundreds of times in the +Hebrew Bible, but _never once_ either literally or figuratively of a +maritime "strait" or "port." The "gate" as being not only the entrance +to, but as giving control or possession of the oriental (walled) city, +often stands for the city itself. It was, moreover, the most public +place of the city, where causes were tried and justice administered +(Deut. xxi. 19; xxii. 15; Prov. xxii. 22; Amos v. 10-15); and where +elders and judges, kings and princes "sat" officially for counsel or +often to exercise authority and rule (Dan. ii. 49; Jer. xvii. 19; +xxxviii. 7). + +The promise that Abraham's seed should possess the gate of his enemies +is idiomatic figurative language, equivalent to saying that they shall +be victorious over their enemies, and take possession of their cities. +This was fulfilled when at the conquest of Canaan the Israelites took +possession of the land and thus assumed the position of lordship over +the doomed nations who are spoken of as their "enemies." + +We may notice, by way of contrast, that in Jer. i. 14-16 God threatens +that as a punishment on Israel for their sin He would call all the +families of the kingdoms of the north, and "they shall set every one his +throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem," which is equivalent +to saying that the Gentiles would possess "the gate" of Israel--which as +a matter of fact, they are now permitted to do by treading down +Jerusalem and scattering the people until the times of the Gentiles are +fulfilled. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 23: See 2 Chron. xx. 1-13.] + +[Footnote 24: "The Lost Ten Tribes," by Joseph Wild. The Eighteenth +Discourse.] + +[Footnote 25: See "The Interregnum and After"--the first chapter of my +book, "The Ancient Scriptures and the Modern Jew."] + +[Footnote 26: One fundamental of the Anglo-Israel theory is that the +destinies of Israel and Judah are distinct and separate. Most +inconsistent, therefore, is their appropriation of David, the King of +Judah, with the promises applying to his royal house _for ever_; their +endeavour should rather be to claim, if they can find in Scripture +promises made to descendants of Jeroboam's line, or some other King of +Israel--with David they can have nothing to do.] + +[Footnote 27: "Palestine into Britain," by Rev. L. G. A. Roberts, +Secretary of the "Imperial British Israel Association."] + + + + +APPENDIX. + +ARE WE THE TEN TRIBES? + + +By the Late HORATIUS BONAR, D.D. + +(Reprinted by permission from _The Sunday at Home_, October, 1880.) + +That the inhabitants of Great Britain are Israelites is a modern theory +which has been widely spread. Its defenders have invented a large number +of resemblances or "identifications," on which, in the absence of +authentic history or national tradition, they rest their proof. + +The languages of our country--Saxon, English, Welsh, and Celtic--have no +affinity with the Hebrew; but that is made of no account. The history of +the many tribes of which our nation is composed--whether Teutonic, or +Saxon, or Caledonian, or Latin, or Scandinavian--is totally distinct +from that of any of the tribes of Israel; but authentic history is in +this case wholly set aside. + +The manners and customs of our nation, both religious and social, have +not the slightest resemblance to those of Israel; but this is quite +ignored. The physiognomy of our countrymen--whether they are English, or +Welsh, or Scotch, or Celtic, or Norwegian, or Norman--is the very +opposite of Eastern, the Israelitish face being a marked contrast to the +British; but that is reckoned of no consequence. + +The names of men, women, and places in our land are not Hebrew or +Semitic at all, but are traceable to another class of language +altogether; yet _this_ weighs nothing. The occupation of our land by +certain tribes, who we now call the Aboriginal Caledonians, or Britons +(long before the Ten Tribes were carried captive to Assyria, and who, +therefore, could not be Israelites), is passed by. The grand story of an +Israelitish emigration from Assyria into Great Britain, whether by sea +or land, we are not told, and there is neither history nor tradition nor +local monuments to confirm it. And yet, when was there _ever_ an +emigration in which the emigrants did not carry their language, their +religion, their manners, their dress, and their national traditions with +them? This the identifiers of Israel with England have not considered. +The Two Tribes in their dispersion over wide Europe carried their +worship, their language, and their manners, into every European city, +and synagogues exist to this day which were set up centuries before +Christ, and every European Jew can tell for certain that he is a +descendant of Abraham, and lives apart from the Gentiles around; yet, if +the Anglo-Israelite theory be true, the Ten Tribes poured in upon Great +Britain and settled themselves there, drove back the Aborigines, but +left their religion, their books, their priesthood, their language, +their names behind them, like cast-off clothes, in order to prevent +themselves from being identified, as if ashamed of their ancestry. It +must have been with Israelites that Julius Csar fought; their queen, +Boadicea, not a Hebrew name, and their general, Caractacus, not a Hebrew +name either: these Israelites must have set up the Druid religion in the +island, and to them we must owe Stonehenge and similar relics of +antiquity. + +There is no evidence in the Bible, or in history, or tradition, for any +such Israelitish emigration. Such a flood could not have passed over +Europe, either north or south, without leaving some trace or being +mentioned in history. If some two or three millions of Israelites did +pour into this remote and barbarous island of ours, it must have been +before the Romans came; and such a flood of Easterns must have made it a +populous island, which certainly it was not. + +These cultivated Easterns--for the Israelites, even in their apostasy, +were a highly educated and cultivated nation--flowed in upon an island +of barbarians, yet produced no impression, taught them no arts, gave +them no language, and brought no civilisation to the barbarous Britons +and Caledonians; whereas the Romans, who followed, carried language, +arts, manners, names with them, and left behind them (though theirs was +but a brief military occupation) traces of their Latin footsteps, which +remain to us after nineteen centuries. Traverse our island, and you will +find in every county names and traditions and ruins that tell you that +Rome was once here; but no name or traditions to say that Israel was +here. Note: In Cornwall there may be some traces of Phoenician commerce; +but we know whence these Eastern strangers came and the object of their +coming, viz., to procure tin from the mines. + +Are such things credible or possible? Prophecy, moreover, intimates that +Israel is to remain scattered and under the curse till the Redeemer +comes out of Zion, and will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. The whole +Twelve Tribes are under the curse till the great day of national +deliverance comes for Judah and for Israel. + +Let Rom. xi. be studied in connection with this. + +The "identifications" gravely announced in some of the many pamphlets of +Anglo-Israelitish literature are somewhat peculiar, and do not carry any +extraordinary amount of weight with them to counterbalance the above +arguments. Here are a few of them:-- + +1. "Isles and islands," spoken of by the prophets. These must be the +British Isles, and, therefore, their inhabitants are the Ten Tribes. + +2. "Israel loveth to oppress," the prophet says; "England loveth to +oppress"--therefore, England is Israel. + +3. "I believe," says one of the Anglo-Israelitish authors, "that Sunday +Schools have been raised up purposely for this identity!" + +4. "Israel is to occupy the ends of the earth." Britain does so; +therefore, Britain is Israel. + +5. "Israel is to possess the gates of his enemies." We possess +Gibraltar, Malta, the Cape, etc.; therefore, we are Israel, for these +are "the gates" of our enemies. + +6. "The smoke and fire coming up from the cities and furnaces of our +land are like the pillar cloud of Israel." + +7. The people in the South of Ireland trouble us, just as the Canaanites +troubled Israel; therefore, we are Israel, for the South of Ireland is +peopled by the descendants of the Canaanites. + +8. Jacob's stone is still in our possession. It is that on which Jacob +slept, that which was the chief corner-stone of the Temple--saved by +Jeremiah, and taken by him to Ireland, and then placed in Westminster +Abbey under the Coronation chair; therefore, the English are Israelites. + +9. "Jacob's glory is like the firstling of a bullock" (Deut. xxxiii. +17). The identifiers write: "The ox being oftentimes applied to Israel +may partly be said to emblemise the world-famed power of John Bull." + +No evidence (worthy of its name), either historical, ethnological, +linguistic, or traditional, is produced; we get nothing but conjectures +and fanciful allusions as the proofs of this singular theory. + +Some of its defenders boast that since this theory was started the +incomes of our Jewish Mission Societies have fallen off by 15,000. +Whether this is true or not we cannot say; but the boast, whatever be +its foundation, shows the spirit of the writers and the tendency of the +new doctrine. + +Noah's prophecy stands out clear and sharp with its threefold ethnology; +Shem, Ham and Japheth are the roots of the nations, and God has kept +them distinct: let us beware of confounding them. History tells us that +our pedigree is to be traced to Japheth. The modern discoveries in +ethnology confirm this beyond a doubt; Eastern monuments, whether of +Assyria or Egypt, tell the same story. + +The above theory rests on a misreading of prophetic truth: such a +misreading robs it of all its Divine spirituality. Outward national +prosperity and greatness, not righteousness nor truth, are made the +characteristics of the Israel of prophecy. England--full of crime, +infidelity, immorality, and ungodliness--is said to be now enjoying the +favour of God, which is destined for Israel in the latter day! The +knowledge of the glory of the Lord is to be the privilege of these +tribes, and by that knowledge they are to be exalted. But this theory +give us another standard of the nation's greatness--a standard which no +part of Scripture recognises, least of all the sure word of prophecy, +the light in the dark place. This theory darkens the whole prophetic +Word, perverting events and inverting times and seasons. It denies +Israel's present guilt, and lowers our ideas of Israel's coming glory. +It puts a Gentile King and Queen in the place of the nation's own +Messiah, under whose sceptre alone it is to enjoy peace, blessedness and +holy greatness. It rejects the apostle's symbol of the olive tree, in +Rom. xi.; Not merely confounding the Jewish and the Gentile +dispensation, denying that the once good olive tree has for a season +become evil, and its branches cut off to make room for the grafts of the +wild olive tree. + +This is emphatically and pre-eminently the time of the wild olive tree, +whereas this theory not only confuses the wild olive with the good, but +denies that it is the grafted branches of the wild olive tree that are +now bearing fruit and receiving blessing. + +When the dispensation of the wild olive, or Gentile, shall end, then, +but not till then, shall the blessing and the glory return to the good +olive--that is, to "all Israel." + +Let us take the Word of God simply as we find it. Let us beware of +fanciful identifications, which, even were they true, are not worth the +stress laid upon them. Suppose I could prove, not by conjecture, but by +registered genealogies, that I belong to the tribe of Ephraim or +Issachar, what does it profit me? Will it make me a holier man to know +that I belong to those northern tribes against which the Lord, when +here, pronounced His darkest woes, as primarily and pre-eminently His +rejectors. "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! It shall +be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Day of Judgment than for +thee." + +Capernaum, the representative of the Ten Tribes, had been condemned for +refusing the Lord of Glory before Jerusalem was cast away. + +To esteem external national prosperity as God's special mark of favour, +is to carnalise all the prophets, and to degrade, not only the glory of +the latter day, but present privileges in Christ; for what a poor thing +these privileges and the glory must be if this sinful nation of ours, +that seems ripe for judgment and rejection, be the exhibition of these, +the fulfilment of Jehovah's promises to the beloved people. + + + + +Other Works by DAVID BARON. + + + The Servant of Jehovah: The New Cheaper Edition. + Sufferings of the Messiah and the Price 3s. 6d. net. + Glory that should Follow + + Types, Psalms and Prophecies: 3rd Revised Edition. + A Selected Series of Old Testament Studies Price 6s. net. + + The Visions and Prophecies of 2nd Cheaper Edition. + Zechariah: "The Prophet of Hope 566 pages, demy 8vo. + and of Glory" Price 7s. 6d. net. + + The Ancient Scriptures and Sixth Edition. + the Modern Jew Crown 8vo. + Price 4s. 6d. net. + The Shepherd of Israel and His + Scattered Flock: A solution of the New Edition. + Enigma of Jewish History Price 2s. 6d. net. + + Israel's Inalienable Possessions: New and Revised Edition. + The Gifts and the Calling of God which are Paper Covers, 9d. net. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/38630-8.zip b/old/38630-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b15fbe0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/38630-8.zip diff --git a/old/38630.txt b/old/38630.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..47dfacc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/38630.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3199 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The History of the Ten "Lost" Tribes, by +David Baron + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The History of the Ten "Lost" Tribes + Anglo-Israelism Examined + + +Author: David Baron + + + +Release Date: January 20, 2012 [eBook #38630] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE TEN "LOST" +TRIBES*** + + +E-text prepared by Jason Isbell, Jeff G., and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). + + + + + +THE HISTORY OF THE TEN "LOST" TRIBES: + +Anglo-Israelism Examined + +by + +DAVID BARON + +Author of +"Visions and Prophecies of Zachariah," etc. + +FOURTH EDITION + +Morgan & Scott Ltd. +12, Paternoster Buildings, London, E.C. 4 + + * * * * * * + +Two Shillings Net +The History +of the +Ten "Lost" Tribes: + +ANGLO-ISRAELISM EXAMINED + +by + +DAVID BARON + +Author of +"The Ancient Scriptures and the Modern Jew" +"The Shepherd of Israel," etc. + +Fourth Edition--Revised and Enlarged + + + + + + + +Morgan & Scott Ld. +(Office of "The Christian") +12, Paternoster Buildings +London, E.C. + + + + +PREFACE + + +A few words of explanation are needed by way of preface to this little +book. More than twenty years ago, being often appealed to by friends for +my judgment on Anglo-Israelism, or to answer questions which were +addressed to me on this subject, I finally, after making myself +acquainted with the positions and arguments by which the theory is +supported, drew up a statement in the form of "A Letter to an Inquirer." +This "Letter," somewhat amplified, was printed in the form of an +appendix in my book, "The Ancient Scriptures and the Modern Jew," whence +by special request it was subsequently reprinted in pamphlet form under +the title, "Anglo-Israelism, and the True History of the Ten Lost +Tribes"--a separate edition of it having also been published in America. +This pamphlet is now out of print, and, being appealed to by prominent +Christian friends to bring out a new edition, I felt constrained before +doing so to re-examine the whole question anew, and more thoroughly than +before. To this end I have read through, with much inward pain I must +confess, a number of the more recent Anglo-(or "British")-Israel +publications, which for the most part are mere repetitions of one +another. The result is the treatise now in the reader's hands, which +will be found to consist of three Parts. + +In Part I. I have dealt with Anglo-Israel assertions and claims, and the +arguments by which they are supported; in Part II., which is +constructive in its character, and in which the greater part of my +original "Letter to an Inquirer" will be found embodied, I have tried +briefly to trace the true history of the supposed Lost Tribes; and in +Part III., which is altogether new, I have further analysed some of the +scriptural "proofs" of a separate fate and destiny of the Ten Tribes +from that of "Judah," and have added notes and explanations on some of +the more plausible points brought up by all Anglo-Israelite writers. + +The epistolary form, which is retained in Parts I. and II., is accounted +for by the relation of this new booklet to the original "Letter to an +Inquirer," which is embodied in it. + +Let me ask the reader's Christian forbearance for any expressions in +this little work which may be regarded as too severe. I would only say +that if the unbiassed reader had had to wade through the amount of +Anglo-Israel literature, with all its fearful perversions of Scripture +and history, which the writer has had to do in the course of the +preparation of this little work, he would most probably have felt as he +did--the difficulty of putting a restraint upon his spirit so as not to +use much stronger language. Toward the persons of the propagandists of +this theory I have, I trust, no other feelings than those of Christian +charity; but the theory itself I cannot help regarding, after a close +study of its principles, as subversive of the truth, and as one of the +dangerous delusions of these latter days. + +After this little book was finished, an honoured friend in Brighton sent +me the article by the late Dr. Horatius Bonar, which appeared in _The +Sunday at Home_ in 1880. I add it, with the permission of the +proprietors of that magazine, as an appendix in the assurance that the +testimony on the subject of so honoured and eminent a servant of God +will be welcomed and carry weight with many. + + David Baron. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PART I. + + PAGE + + I. Anglo-Israel Assertions and Claims 7 + + II. The Way Anglo-Israel Writers Interpret + Scripture 11 + + III. Fictitious Histories of the Tribes 15 + + + PART II. + + I. Are the Tribes Lost? 22 + + II. The Condition of Things at the Time of + Christ 33 + + III. The Testimony of the New Testament that + the "Jews" Are Representative of + "All Israel" 39 + + IV. Early Misconceptions and Confusion on the + Question of the Ten Tribes 44 + + V. The Testimony of Prophecy in the Light of + History 48 + + VI. A Solemn Warning 51 + + + PART III. + + NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. + + I. Anglo-Israel "Proofs" of a Separate Fate + and Destiny of "Israel" and "Judah" 54 + + II. The Promises to the Fathers of a Multitudinous + Seed 65 + + III. The Perpetuity of the Davidic Throne 72 + + IV. The So-called Historic Proofs of Anglo-Israelism 76 + + V. "The Gate of his Enemies" 80 + + + APPENDIX. + + Are We the Ten Tribes? By the late Horatius + Bonar, D.D. 82 + + + + +PART I. + +ANGLO-ISRAELISM EXAMINED. + + + + +ANGLO-ISRAEL ASSERTIONS AND CLAIMS. + + +DEAR FRIEND,--I shall endeavour to comply with your request, and to give +you in this Letter a few reasons for my rejection of the Anglo-Israelite +theory. I can sincerely say that I am not a man delighting in +controversy, and I only consent to your wish because I believe that you, +like many other simple-minded Christians, are perplexed and imposed upon +by the plausibilities of the supposed "Identifications," and are not +able to detect the fallacies and perversions of Scripture and history +upon which they are based. + +The theory is that the English, or British, are the descendants of the +"lost" Israelites, who were carried captives by the Assyrians, under +Sargon, who, it is presumed, are identical with the Saxae or Scythians, +who appear as a conquering host there about the same time. Or, to quote +a succinct summary of Anglo-Israel assertions from a standard work:-- + + "The supposed historical connection of the ancestors of the English + with the Lost Ten Tribes is deduced as follows: The Ten Tribes were + transferred to Assyria about 720 B.C.; and simultaneously, + according to Herodotus, the Scythians, including the tribe of the + Saccae (or Saxae), appeared in the same district. The progenitors + of the Saxons afterward passed over into Denmark--the 'mark' or + country of the tribe of Dan--and thence to England. Another branch + of the tribe of Dan, which remained 'in ships' (Judges v. 17), made + its appearance in Ireland under the title of 'Tuatha-da-Danan.' + Tephi, a descendant of the royal house of David, arrived in + Ireland, according to the native legends, in 580 B.C. From her was + descended Feargus More, King of Argyll, an ancestor of Queen + Victoria, who thus fulfilled the prophecy that 'the line of David + shall rule for ever and ever' (2 Chron. xiii. 5, xxi. 7). The Irish + branch of the Danites brought with them Jacob's stone, which has + always been used as the Coronation-stone of the kings of Scotland + and England, and is now preserved in Westminster Abbey. Somewhat + inconsistently, the prophecy that the Canaanites should trouble + Israel (Numbers xxxiii. 55; Josh. xxiii. 13) is applied to the + Irish. 'The land of Arzareth,' to which the Israelites were + transplanted (2 Esd. xiii. 45), is identified with Ireland by + dividing the former name into two parts--the former of which is + _erez_, or 'land'; the later, _Ar_, or 'Ire.'"[1] + +As to the Jews, quite a different history and destiny is marked out for +them. They, as the descendants of Judah, are still under the curse. In +fact, the Anglo-Israelite, by another and more mischievous method, is +doing exactly what the allegorising, or so-called spiritualising, school +of interpreters did. The method was to apply all the _promises_ in the +Bible to the "spiritual" Israel, or the Church, and all the curses to +the literal Israel, or the Jews; but by this new system, while the +curses are still left to the Jew, all the blessings are applied not even +to those "in Christ," but indiscriminately to a nation, which, _as a +nation_, is like the other nations of Christendom in a greater or lesser +degree in a state of apostasy from God, though I thankfully recognise +the fact that there are in proportion more of God's true people in it +than in any other professing Christian land. + +I shall endeavour later on to show you the baselessness of the +distinction which Anglo-Israelism makes between the ultimate fates of +Israel and Judah, but let me first say that the supposed historical and +philological "proofs" by which the theory is supported, most of which +have no more basis in fact than fairy tales, are utterly discredited by +competent authorities. + + "Philology of a somewhat primitive kind," writes a prominent and + learned Jew, "is also brought in to support the theory; the many + Biblical and quasi-Jewish names borne by Englishmen are held to + prove their Israelitish origin. An attempt has been made to derive + the English language itself from Hebrew. Thus, 'bairn' is derived + from _bar_ ('son'); 'berry' from _peri_ ('fruit'); 'garden' from + _gedar_; 'kid' from _gedi_; 'scale' from _shekel_; and 'kitten' + from _quiton_ (_katon_ = 'little'). The termination 'ish' is + identified with the Hebrew _ish_ ('man'); 'Spanish' means + 'Spain-man'; while 'British' is identified with _Berit-ish_ ('man + of the covenant'). Perhaps the most curious of these philological + identifications is that of 'jig' with chag (_hag_ = 'festival'). + + "Altogether, by the application of wild guess-work about historical + origins and philological analogies, and by a slavishly literal + interpretation (or misapplication) of selected phrases of prophecy, + a case is made out for the identification of the British race with + the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel sufficient to satisfy uncritical + persons desirous of finding their pride of race confirmed by Holy + Scripture. The whole theory rests upon an identification of the + word 'isles' in the English version of the Bible unjustified by + modern philology, which identifies the original word with 'coasts' + or 'distant lands,' without any implication of their being + surrounded by the sea. Modern ethnography does not confirm in any + way the identification of the Irish with a Semitic people; while + the English can be traced back to the Scandinavians, of whom there + is no trace in Mesopotamia at any period of history. The whole + movement is chiefly interesting as a _reductio ad absurdum_ of too + literal an interpretation (or misapplication) of the + prophecies."[2] + +To this let me add the verdict of a prominent Christian scholar. +Commenting on Edward Hine's "Identifications of the British Nation with +Lost Israel," Professor Rawlinson wrote that: "The pamphlet is not +calculated to produce the slightest effect on the opinion of those +competent to form one. Such effect as it may have can only be on the +ignorant and unlearned--on those who are unaware of the absolute and +entire diversity in language, physical type, religious opinions, and +manners and customs, between the Israelites and the various races from +whom the English nation can be shown historically to be descended." + +The fact of the matter is that the so-called historical proofs, by which +the theory is supported, are derived from heathen myths and fables,[3] +and the philology which traces "British" to "Berith-ish," and "Saxon" to +"Isaac's-son," etc., deserves no other characterisation than +_child-ish_. + +It is in a misunderstanding of Scripture, and especially of prophetic +Scripture, to which the origin of Anglo-Israelism can be traced. Coming +across some of the great and precious promises in the Bible in reference +to Israel, for instance, such as that they should be a great and mighty +nation, and rule over those who previously had been their enemies and +oppressors, and overlooking the fact that these prophecies and promises +_refer to a future time_, when Israel as a nation shall be restored and +converted, and under the personal rule of their Messiah become great and +mighty for God on the earth, evidence of their fulfilment has been +sought _in the present_. Now certainly these prophecies of might and +prosperity are not now being fulfilled in the "Jews"--on the other hand, +see how great and influential the British nation is in the +world--_ergo_, the British must be the "lost" Israel of the "Ten +Tribes"! The "history" and philology is, so to say, an after-thought of +Anglo-Israelism, by which an effort is made to support the false +postulate with which it starts. The Scriptural "Identifications" with +which Anglo-Israel literature abound turn out on examination to be +perversions and misapplications of isolated texts taken from the English +versions of the Bible without any regard for true principles of +exegesis. + + +THE WAY ANGLO-ISRAEL WRITERS INTERPRET SCRIPTURE. + +Some of their interpretations can only be characterised as bordering on +blasphemy. Let me quote a few examples:-- + +=I. The glorious Messianic prophecy of the stone cut without hands which +smote the image of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel ii.) is applied to the British +people; and the British Empire, which is one of the Gentile +world-kingdoms, is made to be identical with the Kingdom of God.= + +"We will see what is to be the future of the British Empire, or, in +other words, the stone that smote the image. It is to become a great +mountain and fill the whole earth. Our Colonial Empire, then, will +continue to grow till it covers the whole world. We have tried to avoid +extending our Empire many and many a time, and yet God has caused it to +grow larger and larger, and I believe will still do so. We are already +by far the greatest Empire there is, or ever has been, and we shall yet +be far greater. + +"The British Empire, again, can never be conquered. Daniel says, 'The +God of Heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: it +shall stand for ever.' Consequently, we shall never be conquered; we +must continue till the end of time--so that we are to continue to exist +as the last kingdom or empire this world is to see."[4] + +=II. Messiah's Throne of Righteousness and Peace is made out to be +identical with the throne of England, and the English people are "the +saints of the Most High," to whom all the kingdoms of the world shall be +given.= + +"If the Saxons be the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel ... then the English +throne is a continuation of David's throne, and the seed on it must be +the seed of David,[5] and the inference is clear--namely, that all the +blessings attaching by holy promise to David's throne must belong to +England.... To this end God is overturning, and will overturn, until the +whole world shall be federated around one throne, and that David's +throne (which, according to the writer, is identical with the throne of +England)--the only throne God ever directly established, and the only +one He has promised perpetuity to.... This kingdom is the fifth kingdom +to be set up in the latter days of those kings, says Daniel. The kingdom +was never to be left to other people.... To her (that is, to England) +was promised the isles of the sea, the coasts of the earth, the waste +and desolate places--the heathen and the uttermost parts of the earth as +a possession. Already, out of the 51,000,000 square miles which compose +the earth, England, including the United States (Manasseh), now owns +about 14,000,000, say, one-fourth. She bears rule over one-third of the +people of the earth; she adds a colony every four years, on an average. +At the present rate it will not be long before the kingdoms of this +world will be given to the saints of the Most High [that is, according +to the writer, the English people]. It is no marvel in the light of and +instruction of prophecy that this throne and people should be so stable +and prosperous."[6] + +=III. The smoke which ascends from the "blazing furnaces and steam +engines" of London is identified with the Shechinah Glory, the visible +symbol of God's presence with His people.= + +"During their wanderings in the desert His presence was manifested by +the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night; and during +the captivity of the Two Tribes of Judah in Babylon He was with them, +until, at the expiration of the seventy years, He stirred up Cyrus to +release them. The same Lord still watches over the Ten Lost Tribes of +Israel in England, and continues to bless them. The same miracles that +were wrought in Egypt were intended to foreshadow the realisation of +God's future dealings with the Israelites; and if a gigantic panoramic +view of England could be taken from an elevation above the centre of the +island at midnight, a temporal pillar of fire would be as remarkable +from the blazing furnaces, the gas, the steam-engines, as the pillar of +cloud and smoke arising from the same sources in the daytime, marking +the chief position and prosperity of Israel."[7] + +=IV. Edward Hine, author of the forty-seven "Identifications," is the +promised Deliverer who should come out of Zion.[8]= + +The following is taken from an article on Romans xi. 25-27, which +appeared in "Life from the Dead," which was edited by Edward Hine +himself:-- + +"Are the British people identical with the lost Ten Tribes of Israel? +And is the nation, by the identity, being led to glory? If these things +are so, then where is the Deliverer? He must have already come out of +Zion. He must be doing His great work; He must be amongst us. It is our +impression that, by the glory of the work of the identity, we have come +to the time of Israel's national salvation by the Deliverer out of Zion, +and that Edward Hine and that Deliverer are identical." + +I have said above that Anglo-Israelism applies the promises given to +converted Israel indiscriminately to the English nation. It does not +stop even here, as the above extracts show, but goes on to rob Christ +Himself of His glory by applying to the British people prophecies which +belong, not even to Israel, but to Israel's Saviour. + +Thus, the address of the Father to the Son in Psalm ii.: + +"Ask of Me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and +the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession," will be found +again and again in Anglo-Israel literature applied to the British +nation. It also substitutes the British Empire for the Church. A +favourite Scripture on which almost every Anglo-Israel writer fastens is +Matt. xxi. 43: "Therefore I say unto you, The Kingdom of God shall be +taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof," +taking it for granted that England is that "nation"--which, as a nation, +is bringing forth the fruits of God's kingdom. + +Now I need not explain to you that this is an utterly unspiritual and +baseless assumption, for it is the Church--God's elect and converted +people out of all nations--which is that "nation," which during the +period of Israel's national unbelief bears fruit unto God; as is clear +from 1 Peter ii. 9, where believers in Christ are addressed as "a chosen +generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation ([Greek: ethnos]), that ye +should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness +into His marvellous light." + + +FICTITIOUS HISTORIES OF THE TRIBES. + +Let me give you one or two more samples of Anglo-Israel perversion of +Scripture and history:-- + + "The tribe of Benjamin has a singular special place in the history + of Israel and Judah. Neither Old or New Testament can be well + understood unless one understands the place of this tribe in + Providence. They were always counted one of the Ten Tribes, and + reckoned with them in the prophetic visions. They were only loaned + to Judah about 800 years (read 1 Kings xi.). They were to be a + light for David in Jerusalem. God, foreseeing that the Jews would + reject Christ, kept back this one Tribe to be in readiness to + receive Him; and so they did. At the destruction of Jerusalem they + escaped, and after centuries of wanderings turn up as the proud and + haughty Normans. Finally, they unite with the other Tribes under + William the Conqueror. A proper insight into the work and mission + of Benjamin will greatly aid one in interpreting the New Testament. + He was set apart as a missionary Tribe, and at once set to work to + spread the Gospel of Jesus. Most of the disciples were + Benjaminites. Then, after 800 years of fellowship with Judah, they + were cut loose and sent after their brethren of the House of + Israel. It was needful that the Lion and the Unicorn should unite." + +Again:-- + + "God said to Abraham, 'In thee shall all the families of the earth + be blessed'; and more, 'and in thy seed shall all the nations of + the earth be blessed.' Israel, being scattered and cast off, became + a blessing to the world. They gave to the surrounding nations the + only true idea of God, for in their lowest condition and idolatry + they preserved the name and knowledge of Jehovah, and Christ sent + His disciples after them through one of their own tribe--namely, + Benjamin--telling them not to go into the way of the Gentiles, nor + into the cities of the Samaritans, 'but go rather to the lost sheep + of the house of Israel.' To these sheep Christ declares He was + sent. Where were these sheep? They were scattered about in Central + Asia--in Scriptural language, in Cappadocia, Galatia, Pamphylia, + Lydia, Bithynia, and round about Illyricum. From these very regions + came the Saxons; from here they spread abroad North and West, being + the most Christian of any people on the face of the earth then, as + now."[9] + +It is difficult to characterise statements like these given out by +Anglo-Israel writers in _ex cathedra_ style for the consumption of the +ignorant and credulous. But-- + +I. This "history" of the tribe of Benjamin (which may be taken also as a +fair sample of their "histories" of Dan, Manasseh, etc.) is entirely the +product of the perverted fancy of the writers, and is without a vestige +of historic basis for its support. The only reference given in the first +extract is 1 Kings xi. Now that chapter gives the account of God's +warning to Solomon, and of the announcement that in the reign of his +immediate successor the kingdom would be rent from the house of David. +"_Howbeit_," we read, "_I will not rend away all the kingdom, but will +give one tribe to thy son (i.e., Rehoboam) for David My servant's sake, +and for Jerusalem's sake, ... that David My servant may have a lamp +alway before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen to put My +Name there_."[10] + +The "one tribe" which during the time of the schism would be left to the +house of David is, of course, not Benjamin, as the writer of the above +extract supposes, but _Judah_, "with which Benjamin was indissolubly +united by the very position of the capital on its frontier." This is +seen from verses 31, 32 of the same chapter, where the Ten Tribes "are +given to Jeroboam," and the remaining two of the twelve are called "one +tribe." + +It is, of course, a pure invention also, of the fairy tale type, that +Benjamin as a tribe received Christ while the Jews rejected Him, or that +Benjamin became "the missionary tribe," or that "most of the disciples +were Benjamites." Not one single tribe as a tribe, or even one local +community as a community, received Christ; but the "as many" of His own +"as received Him" were "Jews," which, as we shall see farther on, were +the representatives of the Israel of the whole "Twelve Tribes scattered +abroad," and the Twelve Apostles (though Paul, indeed, was a Benjamite) +were in a way representative of all the _Twelve_ Tribes of Israel. + +II. Then note the absurdities and contradictions of Anglo-Israel +assertions. "Israel," you are told--by which is meant the Ten +Tribes--while themselves idolaters and sunk so low as not only to forget +their origin, but, as another exponent of the theory has it, lapsed +"into a state of semi-barbarism like the first pioneer settlers in North +America"; and, being without records, in a brief period lost all memory +of their former name and condition[11]--became, while in such a +condition, "a blessing to the world, and gave to the surrounding nations +the only true idea of God"! + +And what shall be said of the terrible perversion of such a plain and +beautiful Scripture as Matt. x. 5, 6? In the introduction to that +chapter (Matt. ix. 36-38) we read how our Lord Jesus, beholding the +multitudes which were pressing around Him, was moved with compassion for +them because they fainted (or rather, according to the now accepted +reading, "were harassed," "plagued"), "and were scattered abroad as +sheep having no shepherd." Then, after saying to His disciples that the +harvest truly is plenteous but the labourers are few, and commanding +them to pray the Lord of the harvest that He may send, or thrust forth, +labourers into His harvest, He calls the twelve individual Jewish +disciples, and commissions and empowers them to go forth on the definite +mission of mercy to their countrymen, warning them not to go beyond the +bounds of the land "into the way of the Gentiles," nor even within the +bounds of Palestine to visit "the cities of the Samaritans," but to +confine themselves exclusively "to the lost sheep of the House of +Israel"--that is, to their own Jewish people, who (as we shall see) are +throughout the New Testament called alternately "Jews" and "Israel." +This is all plain and obvious; and we know, as a matter of fact and +history, that the ministry of John the Baptist, and of our Lord Jesus, +and of the Twelve Apostles, until after His ascension, was confined to +the "Jews" in Palestine. Anglo-Israelism, however, is able by some +fiction to transform the Twelve Disciples into the tribe of Benjamin, +and "the lost sheep of the House of Israel" into a medley of Gentile +nations located "in Central Asia," and other specified regions, who, +though unknown to themselves to be Israelites in origin, and mistaken by +the Apostles in their subsequent missionary journeys for "Gentiles," +were really the "lost Ten Tribes," alias "the Saxons," and progenitors +of the English! And these are only a few typical samples of the +so-called "historical proofs" and Bible interpretations on which the +whole theory rests. I must now pass on to another part of the subject, +but let me, before doing so, earnestly commend to you whenever you come +across Anglo-Israel literature to keep in mind the good advice of a +well-known Bishop to his clergy--"_Always verify your references_"--and +I would add, "study the context"--and you will find that the Scriptures +quoted in them are either misapplications or perversions of the true +meaning of the text. In fact, there is not a Scripture, however sublime +and glorious its import, and however plain and obvious its meaning, +which does not become distorted and perverted in Anglo-Israel hands.[12] + +Here are one or two samples. Anglo-Israelism is based for the most part +on the false supposition of a separate calling and destiny of the Ten +Tribes from that of Judah:-- + + "The natural seed of Abraham," we are told, "is divided in the + Bible, the word Israel standing generally for the Ten Tribes, and + Judah for Two Tribes. These divisions have separate paths appointed + them to walk in through the centuries. 'All the House of Israel + wholly,' 'the whole House of Israel,' 'all the House of Israel,' + have a special work. The Ten Tribes are especially called in the + Scriptures the seed of Abraham. Sometimes 'My chosen'; again, 'Mine + inheritance,' and 'My servant.' God, in referring to them in their + scattered state, and of His gathering them together, says (Isaiah + xli. 8): 'But thou, Israel, art My servant, Jacob whom I have + chosen; the seed of Abraham My friend--thou whom I have taken from + the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, + and said unto thee, Thou art My servant; I have chosen thee, and + not cast thee away.'"[13] + +I shall show later on that it is not true to say that the word Israel +stands "generally" for the Ten Tribes, and Judah for the Two Tribes. +"Generally," the name Israel stands for all the descendants of Jacob, +whose name was changed by God Himself to "Israel," though in the +historical books, especially in 1 and 2 Kings, and 2 Chronicles, and in +a few passages in the Prophets, it is used to describe the northern +kingdom of the Ten Tribes in contradistinction to the southern kingdom +of Judah. But its use in the more limited and temporary sense as applied +to the Ten Tribes can always be clearly discerned from the context. But +in order to support the assertion that "these two divisions have +separate paths appointed them to walk through the centuries," it is +affirmed that the designations "All the House of Israel wholly," "the +whole House of Israel," "My chosen," "Mine inheritance," and "My +servant," are especially applied in the Scriptures to the "Ten Tribes" +in contradistinction to Judah. Now this is utterly baseless, as any +intelligent Bible-reader will find if he takes the trouble to look up +all the passages where these expressions are used.[14] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: From the article "Anglo-Israelism" in the _Jewish +Encyclopedia_.] + +[Footnote 2: Joseph Jacobs, B.A., in the _Jewish Encyclopedia_.] + +[Footnote 3: See Note iv. in Part III.] + +[Footnote 4: "Nebuchadnezzar's Dream" in "The British Empire of +Ephraim." A whole collection of similar perversions of Scripture may be +found in an excellent pamphlet by the late Pastor Frank H. White, called +"Anglo-Israelism Examined"--unfortunately now out of print.] + +[Footnote 5: A beautiful specimen, this, of Anglo-Israel logic.] + +[Footnote 6: "The Lost Ten Tribes," by Rev. Joseph Wild, D.D. A book +containing twenty discourses which abounds in statements and +"interpretations" as wild and unscriptural as this sample quoted from +Discourse XVIII.] + +[Footnote 7: From an article in _The Banner of Israel_.] + +[Footnote 8: When preparing to re-write this little book I was told by a +friend that I need not take much notice of the works of Edward Hine, as +Anglo-Israelites themselves no longer attach importance to them. On +inquiry, however, I found that this was not the case. His writings are +still largely advertised and circulated, and many of the more modern +Anglo-Israelite writers profess to draw instruction and inspiration from +them. Beside which, even his most extravagant statements are more than +paralleled in some of their most recent publications.] + +[Footnote 9: Both these extracts are taken from "The Lost Ten +Tribes"--the book referred to in a previous note--by Joseph Wild.] + +[Footnote 10: Kings xi. 13-36.] + +[Footnote 11: "Israel in Britain," by Colonel Garnier, page 6.] + +[Footnote 12: See samples in Note i. of Part III.] + +[Footnote 13: "The Ten Lost Tribes," page 12.] + +[Footnote 14: "All the House of Israel wholly" is found in. Ezek. xi. +27, and is used of those of the southern kingdom who were already in +captivity, as contrasted with those who were still with Zedekiah in +Jerusalem and Palestine. The parallel to Ezek. xi. is Jeremiah xxiv., +where the two parts of the nation--those already in captivity and those +still in the land--are also contrasted under the symbol of the two +baskets of figs, one of which was "very good" and the other "very evil." +When Peter, for instance, said, "_Let all the House of Israel_ know +assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus both Lord and Christ," he +addressed the "Jews" in Palestine, as every one knows. "My chosen," or +"Whom I have chosen," apart from its use as applied to the priests and +Levites, is used sixteen times of Zion and Jerusalem, and _just as many +times of the whole nation_. Deut. vii. 6; xiv. 2; Psalm xxxiii. 12; +Isaiah xli. 8, 9--may be turned up as examples. "My servant" is used +seventeen or eighteen times in the second half of Isaiah, and when not +directly applied to the Messiah, as in xlii. 1; xlix. 3-7; lii. 13; and +liii. 11--is a designation of the whole people; and it must be +remembered that Isaiah prophesied primarily "concerning Judah and +Jerusalem." The term as a designation of the people is also used five +times by Jeremiah in the same inclusive sense, _i.e._, of the whole +nation.] + + + + +PART II. + +THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE TEN "LOST" TRIBES. + + +ARE THE TRIBES LOST? + +But now discarding the whole heap of Anglo-Israel fiction, let us glance +at the question of the so-called "lost" Ten Tribes in the light of +Scripture history and prophecy. Anglo-Israelism first of all loses the +Ten Tribes, for whom it claims a different destiny from the "Jews," whom +it supposes to be descendants of the Two Tribes only, and then it +identifies this "lost" Israel with the British race. But there is as +little historical ground for the supposition that the Ten Tribes are +lost, in the sense in which Anglo-Israelism uses the term, as there is +Scriptural basis for a separate destiny for "Israel" apart from "Judah." + +The most superficial reader of the Old Testament knows the origin and +cause of the unfortunate schism which took place in the history of the +elect nation after the death of Solomon. But this evil was to last only +for a limited time; for at the very commencement of this new and +parenthetical chapter of the nation's history it was announced by God +that He would in this way afflict the seed of David, but _not for ever_ +(1 Kings xi. 39). + +A separate kingdom, comprising Ten of the Twelve Tribes, was set up +under Jeroboam in B.C. 975, and its whole history, of about 250 years, +is one long, dark tale of usurpation, anarchy, and apostasy, unrelieved +by the occasional gracious visitations of national revival which light +up the annals of the Judean kingdom under the House of David. + +After many warnings and premonitory judgments the kingdom of the Ten +Tribes was finally overthrown in the year B.C. 721, when its capital, +Samaria, was destroyed, and the bulk of the people carried captive by +the Assyrians, and made to settle in "Halah and Habor, and by the river +Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes" (2 Kings xvii. 6; 1 Chron. v. +26). + +Now I would beg you to notice two or three facts. + +I. The kingdom of "Judah" after the schism consisted not only of Judah +and Benjamin, but also of the Levites who remained faithful to the House +of David and the theocratic centre.[15] Even those who were in the +northern cities forsook all in order to come to Jerusalem, as we read in +2 Chron. xi. 14: "And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for +defence in Judah, ... and the priests and Levites that were in all +Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts. For the Levites left +their suburbs and their possessions, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; +for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest's +office unto the Lord." + +II. Apart from Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, there were in the southern +kingdom of Judah after the schism many out of the other Ten Tribes whose +hearts clung to Jehovah, and the only earthly centre of His worship +which He appointed. Immediately after the rebellion, we read that "after +them" (that is, following the example of the Levites) "out of all the +tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek Jehovah, the God of +Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Jehovah, God of their fathers. +So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah" (2 Chron. xi. 16). + +In every reign of the kingdom of Israel numbers of the religious and +more spiritual of the Ten Tribes must have seceded and joined "Judah." +This we find to have been more especially the case during the times of +national revival in the southern kingdom, and in the reigns of those +kings who feared and sought the Lord. + +Thus, for instance, we read of Asa, that "he gathered all Judah and +Benjamin, with the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and +out of Simeon; _for they fell to him out of all Israel in abundance_, +when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him, so they gathered +themselves together at Jerusalem; ... and they entered into a covenant +to seek Jehovah God of their fathers with all their heart, and with all +their soul" (2 Chron. xv. 9-15). + +There are also several other mentions of "the children of Israel that +dwelt in the cities of Judah" and were subjects and members of that +kingdom. + +III. The final overthrow of the northern kingdom took place, as we have +seen, in the year _B.C._ 721; but when we read that the "King of Assyria +took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria," we are not to +understand that he cleared the whole land of all the people, but that he +took the strength of the nation with him. There were, no doubt, many of +the people left in the land; even as was the case after the overthrow of +the southern kingdom by the Babylonians later on (2 Kings xxv. 12). The +historical proof for my assertion is found in the fact that about a +century after the fall of Samaria, we find in the reign of Josiah some +of Manasseh and Ephraim, "and a remnant of all Israel," in the land, who +contributed to the collection made by the Levites for the repair of the +house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and joined in the celebration of the +great Passover in the eighteenth year of that zealous and promising +young king. + +These were the component elements of which the southern kingdom of +"Judah" was made up, when it, too, reached the stage, when, on account +of its idolatries and apostasy from the living God, "there was no more +remedy" (or "healing"--2 Chron. xxxvi. 16). It consisted, as we have +seen, of Judah, Benjamin, Levi, and many out of all the other Ten Tribes +of Israel, "in abundance." + +Jerusalem was finally taken in B.C. 588, by Nebuchadnezzar--just 133 +years after the capture of Samaria by the Assyrians. Meanwhile the +Babylonian Empire succeeded the Assyrian. But although dynasties had +changed, and Babylon, which had sometimes, even under the Assyrian +_regime_, been one of the capitals of the Empire, now took the place of +Nineveh, the region over which Nebuchadnezzar now bore rule, was the +very same over which Shalmaneser and Sargon reigned before him, only +somewhat extended.[16] + +The exact location of the exiles of the southern kingdom we are not +told, beyond the Scripture statements that all the three parties of +captives carried off by Nebuchadnezzar (that in the first invasion in +the reign of Jehoiakim, B.C. 606; and in the second, in the reign of +Jehoiachin, B.C. 599; and in the final overthrow of Jerusalem, in the +reign of Zedekiah, B.C. 588), were taken "to Babylon" (2 Kings xxiv. and +xxv.; Daniel i.). + +Now Babylon stands not only for the city, but also for the whole land, +_in which the territories of the Assyrian Empire, and the colonies of +exiles from the northern kingdom of "Israel" were included_. Thus, for +instance, we find Ezekiel, who was one of the 10,000 exiles carried off +by Nebuchadnezzar with Jehoiachin, by the river Chebar in the district +of Gozan--one of the very parts where the exiles of the Ten Tribes were +settled by the Assyrians more than a century previously. + +With the captivity the divisions and rivalry between "Judah" and +"Israel" were ended, and the members of all the tribes who looked +forward to a national future were conscious not only of one common +destiny, but that that destiny was bound up with the promises to the +House of David, and with Zion or Jerusalem as its centre, in accordance +with the prophecies of Joel, Amos, and Hosea, and of the other inspired +messengers who ministered and testified more especially among them until +the fall of Samaria. This conviction of a common and united future, no +doubt facilitated the merging process, which cannot be said to have +begun with the captivity, for it commenced almost immediately after the +rebellion under Jeroboam, but which was certainly strengthened by it. + +Glimpses into the feeling of the members of the two kingdoms for one +another, and their hopes and aspirations for unity, we get in the +writings of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, who prophesied during the +period of exile. The most striking prophecy in relation to this subject +is Ezek. xxxvii. 15-28: + + "The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou + son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and + for the children of Israel, his companions (that is, those of + Israel who before the captivity fell away from the Ten Tribes and + joined the southern kingdom): then take another stick, and write + upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the house of + Israel, his companions: and join them one to another into one + stick; and they shall become one in thine hand." Then follows the + Divine interpretation of this symbol: "Behold, I will take the + stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes + of Israel, his companions, and I will put them with him (or + literally, I will add them upon, or to him), namely, with the stick + of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in My + hand. And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thy hand + before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, + Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, + 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 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; neither shall they + defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their + detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will + save them out of all their dwelling-places wherein they have + sinned, and will cleanse them; so shall they be My people, and I + will be their God. And My servant David shall be king over them; + and they all shall have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My + judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall + dwell in the land which I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein + your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, they, and their + children, and their children's children for ever: and David My + servant shall be their prince for ever" (Ezek. xxxvii. 20-25, + R.V.). + +Now let it be remembered that the foreground and commencement of the +restoration and future of this great prophecy, especially to all the +exiles at that time, was the restoration from Babylon, or "Assyria," as +it was sometimes called. + +As a matter of fact, these prophecies, and particularly Ezek. xxxvii. +15-28, set forth not one single act or event, but a _process_ which, +commencing with the prophet's own time, extends into the distant future, +and ends in the final goal of the blessed condition of Israel under +Messiah's reign in the millennial period. Thus, while the full visible +_manifestation_ of that unity, symbolised by the two sticks becoming +_one_ in the prophet's hand, will only be realised after the final +regathering of the whole nation in their own land, and when the true +"David," namely, Messiah, "David's greater Son," shall be both King and +Prince over them for ever--the merging and uniting process commenced, as +a matter of fact, before the Babylonian captivity, was accelerated in +the exile, when in their like sorrows and troubles the hearts of the +people were doubtless drawn to one another in mutual sympathy and love. + +The point, however, to be noticed in this and other prophecies is the +clear announcement which they contained that the purpose of God in the +schism--as a punishment on the House of David--_was now at an end_, and +that henceforth there was but one common hope and one destiny for the +whole Israel of the Twelve Tribes--whether they previously belonged to +the northern kingdom of the _Ten_ Tribes, or to the southern kingdom of +the _Two_ Tribes--and that this common hope and destiny was centred in +Him Who is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and the rightful Heir and +descendant of David. + +In like manner Jeremiah, in his great prophecy of the restoration and +future blessing (chaps. xxx. and xxxi.), links the destinies of "Judah" +and "Israel," or Israel and Judah together; and speaks of one common +experience from that time on for the whole people. "For lo, the days +come, saith the Lord, that I will turn again the captivity of My people +Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the +land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. And these +are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and Judah" (Jer. +xxx. 3, 4. R.V.). + +Daniel also, towards the end of the seventy years' captivity, includes +not only the men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem in his +intercessory prayer, but "_all Israel_ that are near, or far off, from +all the countries whither Thou hast driven them," who, he confesses, +were alike involved in sin and judgment, and equally cast on the mercy +of God on the ground of promises made to the fathers. + +Now let us go a step farther. Just seventy years had elapsed since the +first band of captives were carried away to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in +the year B.C. 606. "That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah +might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, King of +Persia, that he issued a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and +put it also in writing, saying: Thus saith Cyrus, King of Persia, the +Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He +hath charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem that is in Judah. Who +is there among you of all His people? His God be with him, and let him +go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah." + +This proclamation, which was in reference to all the people "of the Lord +God of heaven," was issued in the year B.C. 536, two years after the +conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, and was, we are told, promulgated +"throughout all his kingdom," which was the same as that over which +Nebuchadnezzar and his successors reigned before him, only again +somewhat extended, even as the kingdom of Babylon was identical with +that of Assyria, as already pointed out. Indeed, Cyrus and Darius I. are +called indifferently by the sacred historians by the title of "King of +Persia" (Ezra iv. 5), "King of Babylon" (Ezra v. 13), and "King of +Assyria" (Ezra vi. 22). + +The first response to this proclamation was a caravan of "forty-two +thousand three hundred and sixty, beside their servants and their maids, +of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven, and +two hundred singing men and singing women," who, under the leadership of +Zerubbabel, who was a lineal descendant of the royal house of David, +and of Joshua the high priest, made their way from "Babylon to +Jerusalem." + +Now the leading spirits of this returned party of exiles were, no doubt, +"the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and +Levites"; at the same time they included "all those" from all the other +tribes without distinction, "whose spirit God had raised to go up to +build the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem" (Ezra i. 5). + +They are no longer counted after their tribal origin, but in families, +and after the cities to which they originally belonged, which, for the +most part, are not easy to identify; hence it is difficult to say how +many belonged to "Judah," and how many to "Israel"--but that there were +a good many in this company of those who belonged to the northern +kingdom of the Ten Tribes, is incidentally brought out by the mention of +two hundred and twenty-three men of Ai and Bethel alone. Now, Bethel was +the very centre of the ancient rival idolatrous worship instituted by +Jeroboam, and, though on the boundary of Benjamin, belonged to +"Ephraim." + +Between the first organised large party of immigrants under Zerubbabel +and Joshua, and the second under Ezra, a period of fifty-eight years +elapsed; but we are not to suppose that in the interval there were no +additions to the community, which now represented the whole united +nation in Jerusalem. We read, for instance, incidentally, in Zech. vi. +9, 15, of a party of four prominent men who arrived in Jerusalem in B.C. +519 as representatives of the "captivity" (that is, of those who still +remained in those parts where they were exiles), bringing with them a +present of silver and gold for the Temple, the building of which was +resumed about five months before, as a result of the stirring appeals +of Haggai. This shows that there was continual intercourse and +communication between the community in Palestine and the majority of the +people who were still "in Babylon"; and we may be certain that little +parties and individuals, "whose spirit God had raised," continually +found their way to the holy city. + +In B.C. 458, Ezra, "the scribe of the law of the God of heaven," in +accordance with the decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus, organised another +large caravan of those whose hearts were made willing to return to the +land of their fathers. Part of this most favourable royal proclamation +was as follows: "I make a decree that all they of the people of Israel, +and of his priests and Levites in my realm, which are minded of their +own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go up with thee"; and in response +to it "this Ezra went up from Babylon, ... and there went up (with him) +of the children of Israel, and of the priests and of the Levites, and +the singers and the porters, and the Nethinim, unto Jerusalem in the +seventh year of Artaxerxes the king" (Ezra vii. 7). + +This party consisted of about one thousand eight hundred families; and +apart from the priests, Levites, and Nethinim, was made up of "the +children of Israel," irrespective of tribal distinctions, from all parts +of the realm of "Babylon," or Assyria, now under the sway of the +Medo-Persians. + +The narratives contained in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, under whose +administration the position of the restored remnant became consolidated, +cover a period of about 115 years, and bring us down to about B.C. 420. +Jewish history during the second period of the Persian supremacy is +wrapped somewhat in obscurity; but we know that nearly throughout the +whole period of its existence it was more or less friendly to the +Hebrews. There was certainly no revocation of the edicts of Cyrus and of +Artaxerxes permitting those "which were minded of their own free will" +to go and join their brethren in Palestine; and that there were many +other large and small parties of exiles who did so, subsequent to those +mentioned in Ezra and Nehemiah, may be taken for granted.[17] + +Anyhow, it is a fact that the remnant in the land grew and grew until, +about a century and a half later, in the times of the Maccabees, and +again about a century and a half later still, in the time of our Lord, +we find "the Jews" in Palestine, a comparatively large nation, numbering +millions; while from the time of the downfall of the Persian Empire we +hear but very little more of the Israelite exiles in ancient Assyria or +Babylon. + +By the conquest of Alexander, who to this day is a great favourite among +the scattered nation, the regions of ancient Babylonia and Media were +brought comparatively near, and a highway opened between East and West. +From about this time settlements of "Jews" began to multiply in Asia +Minor, Cyprus, Crete, on the coasts and islands of the Aegean; in +Macedonia and other parts of Southern Europe; in Egypt and the whole +northern coast of Africa; whilst some made their way further and further +eastward as far as India and China. There is not the least possibility +of doubt that many of the settlements of the Diaspora in the time of our +Lord--both north, south, and west, as well as east of Palestine--were +made up of those who had never returned to the land of their fathers +since the time of the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles, and who were not +only descendants of Judah, as Anglo-Israelism ignorantly presupposes, +but of all the _Twelve Tribes scattered abroad_ (James i. 1). + +As a matter of fact, long before the destruction of the second Temple +by Titus, we read of currents and counter-currents in the dispersion of +the "Jewish" people. Thus Artaxerxes III., _Ochus_, on his way to +re-conquer Egypt, "having taken Apodasmus in Judea, conveyed the Jewish +population into Hyrcania near the Caspian Sea." When he made himself +master of Egypt we read of his finding Jews there, and, being incensed +against them on account of a stubborn defence against him of places +entrusted to their keeping, "he sent part of them into Hyrcania, in the +neighbourhood of the country which the tribes already inhabited, and +left the rest at Babylon"; while soon after many thousands were taken to +Egypt by Alexander; and Ptolemy Soter, one of his chief generals, who +had become King of Egypt, and had invaded Syria and taken Jerusalem in +B.C. 301, carried off one hundred thousand of them, and forced them to +settle chiefly in Alexandria and Cyrene. + + +THE CONDITION OF THINGS AT THE TIME OF CHRIST. + +To summarise the state of things in connection with the Hebrew race at +the time of Christ, it was briefly this:-- + +I. For some six centuries before, ever since the partial restoration in +the days of Cyrus and his successors, the descendants of Abraham were no +longer known as divided into tribes, but as one people, although up to +the time of the destruction of the second Temple, tribal and family +genealogies were for the most part preserved, especially among those who +were settled in the land. + +II. Part of the nation was in Palestine, but by far the larger number +were scattered far and wide, and formed innumerable communities in many +different lands, north and south, east and west.[18] _But wherever +dispersed and to whatever tribe they may have belonged, they all looked +to Palestine and Jerusalem as their national centre_, and, with the +exception of those (and they were no doubt many) who had ceased to +cherish "the hope of Israel" and were gradually assimilating with their +Gentile neighbours, were all one in heart with their brethren in the +Holy Land. "They felt they were of the same stock, stood on the same +ground, cherished the same memories, grew up under the same +institutions, and anticipated the same future. They had one common +centre of worship in Jerusalem, which they upheld by their offerings; +and they made pilgrimages thither annually in great numbers at the high +festivals." Thus Philo could represent to the Roman Emperor Caligula +that "Jerusalem ought not to be considered only as the metropolis of +Judea, but as the centre of a nation dispersed in infinite places, who +were able to supply him with potent succours for his defence. He +reckoned among the places that were still stored with Jews, the isles of +Cyprus and Candia, Egypt, Macedonia, and Bithynia, to which he added the +empire of the Persians, and _all the cities of the East_, except that of +Babylon, from whence they were then expelled." + +There is ample confirmation on this point in the New Testament. Thus, +for instance, we are incidentally told in the second chapter of the Acts +of the Apostles, that among the representatives from the Diaspora who +were found in Jerusalem at that memorable feast of Pentecost--who were +doubtless there also during the previous Passover, when the crucifixion +took place--were "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and dwellers in +Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, in Phyrgia and +Pamphylia, in Egypt and parts of Libya and Cyrene, and sojourners from +Rome, Cretans and Arabians": all of them either Jews or proselytes +miraculously hearing in their own tongues the mighty works of God. + +Here it is to be noted that, at the commencement of the Christian era, +we find in this motley and cosmopolitan Jewish crowd representatives +from Israelitish settlements in the very parts where they were carried +by the Assyrians and Babylonians some seven centuries before, _but who +are all called "Jews," and all alike regarded Jerusalem as their +national metropolis_.[19] + +III. The name of "Jew" and "Israelite" became synonymous terms from +about the time of the Captivity. It is one of the absurd fallacies of +Anglo-Israelism to presuppose that the term "Jew" stands for a bodily +descendant of "Judah." _It stands for all those from among the sons of +Jacob who acknowledged themselves, or were considered, subjects of the +theocratic kingdom of Judah_, which they expected to be established by +the promised "Son of David"--the Lion of the tribe of Judah--whose reign +is to extend not only over "_all the tribes of the land_," but also +"from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." + +"That the name 'Jew,'" writes a Continental Bible scholar, "became +general for all Israelites who were anxious to preserve their theocratic +nationality, was the more natural, since the political independence of +the Ten Tribes was destroyed." Yes, and without any hope of a +restoration to a separate national existence. What hopes and promises +they had were, as we have seen, linked with the Kingdom of Judah and the +House of David. + +Anglo-Israelism teaches that members of the Ten Tribes are never called +"Jews," and that "Jews" are not "Israelites"; but both assertions are +false. Who were they that came back to the land after the "Babylonian" +exile? Anglo-Israelites say they were only the exiles from the southern +kingdom of Judah, and call them "Jews." I have already shown this to be +a fallacy, but I might add the significant fact that in the Book of Ezra +this remnant is only called eight times by the name "Jews," and no less +than _forty_ times by the name "Israel." In the Book of Nehemiah they +are called "Jews" _eleven_ times, and "Israel" twenty-two times. As to +those who remained behind in the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces +of the Persian Empire, which included all the territories of ancient +Assyria, Anglo-Israelites would say they were of the kingdom of +"Israel"; but in the Book of Esther, where we get a vivid glimpse of +them at a period subsequent to the partial restoration under Zerubbabel +and Joshua, they are called forty-five times by the name "Jews," and not +once by the name "Israel"! + +In the New Testament the same people who are called "Jews" one hundred +and seventy-four times are also called "Israel" no fewer than +seventy-five times. Anglo-Israelism asserts that a "Jew" is only a +descendant of Judah, and is not an "Israelite"; but Paul says more than +once: "I am a man which am a _Jew_." Yet he says: "For I also am an +Israelite." "Are they _Israelites_? so am I" (Acts xxi. 39; xxii. 3; +Rom. xi. 1; 2 Cor. xi. 22; Phil. iii. 5). + +Our Lord was of the House of David, and of the tribe of Judah after the +flesh--"a Jew"; yet it says that it is of "_Israel_" that He came, who +is "over all, God blessed for ever" (Rom. ix. 4, 5). Devout Anna was a +"Jewess" in Jerusalem, yet she was "of the tribe of Aser." But enough on +this point. + +IV. From the time of the return of the first remnant after the +Babylonian exile, sacred historians, prophets, apostles, and the Lord +Himself, regarded the "Jews," whether in the land or in "Dispersion," as +representatives of "all Israel," _and the only people in the line of the +covenants and the promises which God made with the fathers_. + +At the dedication of the Temple, which was at last finished "on the +third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year in the reign of +Darius the king," they offered "for a sin-offering _for all Israel, +twelve he-goats according to the number of the tribes of Israel_" (Ezra +vi. 17). + +Similarly, on the arrival of Ezra with the new caravan of immigrants, +they "offered burnt-offerings unto the God of Israel, _twelve bullocks +for all Israel_, ... and twelve he-goats for sin-offering" (Ezra viii. +35), showing that the returned exiles regarded themselves as the nucleus +and representatives of the whole nation. In the post-Exilic prophets we +have no longer two kingdoms, but one people--one in interests and +destiny, although they had formerly for a time been divided. + +To show that the revived nation was made up of members of the Northern +as well as the Southern kingdoms, the prophet Zechariah calls them by +the comprehensive name of "Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem" (Zech. i. 19); +or, "the house of Judah and the house of Joseph" (Zech. x. 6). In the +prophecy occasioned by the question addressed by the deputation from +Bethel, in reference to the continuation of the observance of the fasts, +he says: "And it shall come to pass that as ye were a curse among the +nations, _O house of Judah_ and _house of Israel_, so will I save you, +and ye shall be a blessing; fear not, and let your hands be strong" +(Zech. viii. 13). + +Here the formerly two houses are included; together they are for a time +_among the nations_ "a curse," and together they shall be saved, and be +"a blessing."[20] + +Malachi, nearly a century later, when the people in the land had become +a prosperous nation, and when, in consequence, the majority was rapidly +falling into a state of religious formality and godlessness, addresses +them as "Israel" or "Jacob," which surely includes all his descendants, +in contrast to Esau and his descendants (Mal. i. 1-3). + + +THE TESTIMONY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT THAT THE "JEWS" ARE REPRESENTATIVE OF +"ALL ISRAEL." + +In the last words of the last of the post-Exilic prophets we have the +expression "all Israel" addressed to the people in the land; and then +the long period of silence sets in, lasting about four centuries, during +parts of which Jewish national history is lost somewhat in obscurity. +_When the threads of that history are taken up again in the New +Testament, what do we find? Is there one hint or reference in the whole +book to an Israel apart from "that nation" of the "Jews," to whom, and +of whom, the Lord and His apostles speak?_ There is, indeed, reference +and mention of the Diaspora, "the dispersed among the Gentiles" (John +vii. 35), forming, as we have seen, the greater part of the nation, and +some of them still settled in the ancient regions of Assyria and +Babylon; but wherever they were, they are all interchangeably called +"Jews," or "Israelites," who regarded Jerusalem, with which they were in +constant communication, as the centre, not only of their religion, but +of their national hopes and destiny. + +The "Israelites" who in the time of Christ were dispersed among the +Parthians, Medes, and Elamites (Acts ii.), were as much one with the +sojourners in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as the "Jews" in Bagdad, Persia, +or on the Caspian Sea to-day, are one with their wandering brethren in +London, Berlin, New York, or Australia, although they then, as now +(apart from the Hebrew, which ever remains the sacred tongue, and +thoroughly understood only by the minority), spoke different languages +and dressed differently, and conformed to different social and family +customs. + +But let me give you a few definite passages from the New Testament in +justification of my statement that the Lord Jesus and the apostles, +equally with the post-Exilic prophets centuries before, regarded the +"Jews" as representatives of "all Israel," _and as the only people in +the line of the "covenant, and the promises which God made unto the +fathers_." + +(a) In Matthew x. we have the record of the choice, and of the first +commission given to the apostles. "These twelve," we read, "Jesus sent +forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, +and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather _to the +lost sheep of the house of Israel_." Of course, the merest child knows +that this journey of the twelve did not extend beyond the limits of +Palestine, but the "Jews" dwelling in it are regarded as the house of +Israel, although many members of that "house" were also scattered in +other lands. + +In this charge of the Lord to the apostles, we see also, by the way, in +what sense Israel is regarded as "lost." Now Anglo-Israelites are very +fond of this word, but they use it in an unbiblical and unspiritual +sense. The Ten Tribes, like the other Two, were, in the time of Christ, +even as they still are, "lost"; but not because they have forgotten +their _national_ or tribal identity, but because they "all like sheep +have gone astray, and have turned every one to his own way." Or, as +Jeremiah pathetically puts it: "My people hath been lost sheep; their +shepherds [their false teachers and leaders] have caused them to go +astray; they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from +mountain to hill; they have forgotten [not their national origin, but] +their resting place"--viz., Jehovah, who is the true dwelling-place of +His people in all generations. It was this terrible fact of their +spiritually lost condition which again and again moved our Lord Jesus to +compassion for those multitudes which followed Him, because they were +"distressed" or "plagued," and were scattered abroad as sheep not having +a shepherd. + +(b) On the first day of Pentecost, Peter, with the eleven, addressed +the "men of Judaea," and the great multitude from among the dispersed +"Jews," as "Ye men of Israel," and wound up his powerful speech with the +words: "_Let all the house of Israel_, therefore, know assuredly that +God hath made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom ye crucified" +(Acts ii. 14, 36). In chapter iii. of Acts, as "all the people ran +together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly +wondering," at the notable miracle in the name of Jesus Christ of +Nazareth, Peter said: "_Ye men of Israel_, why marvel ye at this Man?... +The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, +hath glorified His servant Jesus, whom ye delivered up and denied before +the face of Pilate when he had determined to release Him.... Repent ye, +therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so +there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.... +_Ye are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with +your fathers_, saying unto Abraham, 'And in thy seed shall the nations +of the earth be blessed.'" + +From Acts xiii. onward we find Paul among the "Jews" in the Dispersion; +and how does he address them? By the same name as Peter addressed their +brethren in Palestine: "_Men of Israel, ... the God of this people +Israel_ chose our fathers, and exhorted the people when they sojourned +in the land of Egypt" (Acts xiii. 16, 17); and when he was at last +brought to Rome "and gathered the chief of the Jews" in that city to +him, he assured them that he had neither done anything "against the +people, or the customs of our fathers," nor did he come to Rome "to +accuse my nation," but "because of the _hope of Israel_ am I bound by +this chain"--namely, "the hope of the promise made of God unto our +fathers; as he had previously explained before Festus and Agrippa--unto +which _our Twelve Tribes_, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to +attain" (Acts xxviii. 17-20; xxvi. 6, 7). + +Paul knew of no "lost Ten Tribes," but on his testimony the "Jews" in +Palestine and in the Dispersion were the "Israel" of _all the Twelve +Tribes_, to whom the "hope of the promise made of God unto the fathers" +belonged. + +(c) And, as it is in the Gospels, and in the Acts of the Apostles, so +also in the Epistles. It would be easy to multiply passages, but one +more must suffice. + +The ix., x., and xi. of Romans form the prophetic, or "dispensational," +section of that great epistle, and was written for the special +instruction of Gentile believers in the "mystery" of God with Israel. +Now I cannot, of course, stop here to give an analysis of that +wonderful and comprehensive scripture, which is also a vindication of +God's ways with man; _but there is not a hint or suggestion in it of a +"lost Israel," apart from the one nation whose whole history he +summarises from the beginning to the end_, and which is now, alas! +divided into the small minority--the "remnant according to the election +of grace," who believe, and the majority who believe not, until the day +of grace for the whole nation shall come, and "so _all_ Israel shall be +saved, even as it is written, 'There shall come out of Zion the +Deliverer; He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.'" + +But in the touching introduction to this section (Rom. ix. 1-6), in +which the apostle gives utterance to his "great sorrow and unceasing +pain of heart" because of the unbelief of his own nation, "his brethren +and his kinsmen according to the flesh," for whose sake he had been +wishing, if it were possible, even to be himself "anathema from +Christ"--how does he call these unbelieving "Jews" who had rejected +their Messiah, and were blindly persecuting His servants? Here are His +words: "_Who are Israelites_; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and +the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, _and +the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning +the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen._" + +Now I must try to draw this very long letter to an end. I have not +followed Anglo-Israelism in all its crooked paths of misinterpretation +of Scripture and history; I have only shown you the baselessness of its +foundations, and that the premises upon which the whole theory rests are +misleading and false. I have also given you a summary of the true +history of the tribes, which I trust may prove helpful to you in the +study of God's Word; and the conclusion at which you and every unbiassed +person must arrive on a careful examination of the facts which I have +adduced is, that the whole supposition of "lost tribes," in the sense in +which Anglo-Israelism uses the term, is a fancy which originated in +ignorance; and that "_the Jews_" are the whole, and the only national +Israel, representing not only the "Two Tribes," but "_all the Twelve +Tribes" who were "scattered abroad_." + + +EARLY MISCONCEPTIONS AND CONFUSION ON THE QUESTION OF THE TEN TRIBES. + +I have thought it necessary to enter all the more fully into this point, +because even some otherwise sober-minded teachers and writers, who are +not Anglo-Israelites, have fallen into some confusion in dealing with +this subject; and no wonder, for already Josephus, who vaguely locates a +separate multitude belonging to the Ten Tribes somewhere beyond the +Euphrates ("Antiq." xi. 1, 2)--a Jewish tradition which locates a mighty +kingdom of the Ten Tribes beyond the fabled miraculous river Sambation, +which no one can cross because it throws up stones all the week, and +only rests on the Sabbath; and the Talmud (Jer. Sanhedrin, 29, c.), +which speaks of three localities whither they had been banished, viz., +the district around the above wonderful Sambation, Daphne, near Antioch; +and the third locality could neither be seen nor named because it was +continually hidden by a cloud--all these show how early people's minds +became muddled on this subject.[21] + +Coming to the legends about the Ten Tribes in more modern times, Eldad +Ben Mahli Ha Dani came forward in the ninth century claiming to give +specific details of the contemporary existence of the Ten Tribes and of +their location at that time. + + "Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher were," according to him, "in + Havilah; Zebulun and Reuben in the mountains of Paran; Ephraim, and + half of Manasseh, in South Arabia; Simeon, and the other half of + Manasseh, in the land of Chazars (?)." According to him, therefore, + "the Ten Tribes were settled in parts of Southern Arabia, or + perhaps Abyssinia, in conformity with the identification of + Havilah. The connection of this view with that of the Jewish origin + of Islam is obvious; and David Reubeni revived the view in stating + that he was related to the king of the tribes of Reuben situated in + Khaibar in North Arabia. + + "According to Abraham Farisol, the remaining tribes were in the + desert, on the way to Mecca, near the Red Sea; but he himself + identifies the River Ganges with the River Gozan, and assumes that + the Beni-Israel of India are the descendants of the Lost Ten + Tribes. The Ganges, thus identified by him with the River + Sambation, divides the Indians from the Jews. The confusion between + Ethiopia and Farther India, which existed in the minds of the + ancients and mediaeval geographers, caused some writers to place the + Lost Ten Tribes in Abyssinia. Abraham Yagel, in the sixteenth + century, did so, basing his conclusions on the accounts of David + Reubeni and Eldad Ha Dani. It is probable that some of the reports + of the Falashas led to this identification. According to Yagel, + messengers were sent to these colonists in the time of Pope Clement + VII., some of whom died, while the rest brought back tidings of the + greatness of the tribes and their very wide territories. Yagel + quotes a Christian traveller, Vincent of Milan, who was a prisoner + in the hands of the Turks for twenty-five years, and who went as + far as Fez, and thence to India, where he found the River + Sambation, and a number of Jews dressed in silk and purple. They + were ruled by seven kings, and upon being asked to pay tribute to + the Sultan Salim, they declared that they had never paid tribute to + any sultan or king. It is just possible that this may have some + reference to the 'Sasanam' or the Jews of Cochin. + + "It is further stated that in 1630 a Jew of Salonica travelled to + Ethiopia, to the land of Sambation; and that in 1646 one Baruch, + travelling in Persia, claimed to have met a man named Malkiel, of + the tribe of Naphtali, and brought back a letter from the king of + the children of Moses: this letter was seen by Azulai. It was + afterwards reprinted in Jacob Saphir's book of travels (Eben + Sappir, 1. 98). + + "So much interest was taken in this account that in 1831 a certain + Baruch ben Samuel, of Pinsk, was sent to search for the children of + Moses in Yemen. He travelled fifteen days in the wilderness, and + declared he met Danites feeding flocks of sheep. So, too, in 1854, + a certain Amram Ma'arabi set out from Safed in search of the Ten + Tribes; and he was followed in 1857 by David Ashkenazi, who crossed + over through Suakin to make enquiries about the Jews of + Abyssinia."[22] + +But all these are legends and fancies. "We in this twentieth century," +to quote the words of a Christian writer, "to whom there is no longer +any part of the earth unknown, know that in no country whatever, +however far from civilisation it may be, do the Ten Tribes dwell. The +'travellers' tales' have been proved to be false; the Ten Tribes, as +such, do not exist." In this connection I may quote Professor A. +Neubauer, a prominent learned Jew, who sums up his studies in a series +of illuminating articles on the subject which will be found in Vol. I. +of _The Jewish Quarterly Review_, with these words:-- + + "Where are the Ten Tribes? We can only answer, Nowhere. Neither in + Africa, nor in India, China, Persia, Kurdistan, the Caucasus, or + Bokhara. We have said that a great part of them remained in + Palestine, partly mixing with the Samaritans, and partly + amalgamating with those who returned from the captivity of Babylon. + With them many came also from the cities of the Medes, and many, no + doubt, adhered to the Jewish religion which was continued in + Mesopotamia during the period of the Second Temple." + +Some Christian writers cling to the view that while some of the "Ten +Tribes" amalgamated with the "Jews," there is nevertheless a distinct +people somewhere, who are descendants of the Israel of the ancient +northern kingdom, which is to be brought to light in the future, and, +together with "Judah," will be restored to Palestine, and enter into the +enjoyment of the promises. Thus the Nestorians, who inhabit the +inaccessible mountains of Kurdistan (which is part of ancient Assyria), +the Afghans, the North American Indians, and even the Japanese have been +variously identified as that people; but this view rests upon what I +believe to be a misconception of the meaning and scope of some of the +prophecies. + +It _may_ be true that the Nestorians, and the Afghans, and some other +Eastern tribes are descendants of the original Israelitish exiles in +Assyria, but having more or less mixed themselves up by inter-marriage +with the surrounding nations, and having given up the distinctive +national rites and ordinances, such as circumcision, the observance of +the Sabbath, etc., they have, like many "Jews" in modern times (who +gradually assimilate with Gentile nations), cut themselves off from the +hope of Israel, and are no longer in the line of the purpose which God +has in and through that "peculiar" and separate people. + + +THE TESTIMONY OF PROPHECY IN THE LIGHT OF HISTORY. + +In conclusion let me very briefly call your attention to the remarkable +prophecy in Amos ix., which will show you that the view which I have +enunciated in my letter is the only one in keeping with the sure word of +prophecy. + +The prophet Amos, though himself a Judean, his native village, Tekoa, +being about twelve miles south of Jerusalem, was commissioned by God to +prophesy more particularly to the northern or Ten-Tribed kingdom; and +for that purpose he went and took up his abode in Bethel, which was the +centre of the idolatrous worship set up by Jeroboam in opposition to the +worship and service of the divinely-appointed sanctuary in Jerusalem. +There his duty was to announce the coming judgment of God on the Israel +of the Ten Tribes, on account of their apostasy. The last paragraph of +his book (chap. ix. 8-15), uttered not more than about seventy years +before the final overthrow of Samaria in B.C. 721, is one of the most +remarkable and comprehensive prophecies in the Old Testament, and this +is the inspired forecast of the history of the Ten-Tribed kingdom which +is given in it: "_Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful +kingdom, and I will destroy it from of the face of the earth; saving +that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. For +lo, I will command and I will sift (or 'toss') the house of Israel among +all the nations, like as corn is sifted (or 'tossed' about) in a sieve, +yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. All the sinners of +thy people shall die by the sword, which say: The evil shall not +overtake or prevent us._" + +Here, then, we have the whole subject as to what was to become of the +Ten Tribes in a nutshell. + +(a) First, _as a kingdom_, they were to be destroyed from off the face +of the earth, _never to be restored_; for its very existence as a +separate kingdom was only permitted of God for a definite period as a +punishment on the house of David: and when, after a period of about two +hundred and fifty years of unbroken apostasy, it was finally broken up +by the Assyrians, there was an end of it, without any promise of a +future independent political existence. + +(b) But when it was destroyed as a kingdom, what became of them as a +people? This prophecy tells us: "Saving that I will not utterly destroy +the house of Jacob, saith the Lord"--that is, they are to return to the +house of Jacob. They are to form part of the one family made up of all +the descendants of Jacob without distinction of tribes. But as one house +of Jacob, or "of Israel" (as the next verse interchangeably calls them), +something terrible and unique is to befall them; and what is it? To be +"lost" some two thousand six hundred years, and then to be identified +with the Anglo-Saxon race? Oh no! this is what was to happen: "For lo, I +will command and I will sift (or 'toss') the house of Israel among all +nations, even as corn is tossed about in a sieve"--or, in the words of +Hosea, another prophet, who spoke primarily to the Ten Tribes, "My God +will cast them away" (not for ever, as the whole book shows, but for a +time), "because they did not hearken unto Him; and _they shall be +wanderers among the nations_." + +I draw your attention all the more to this point, because a good deal +has been made by some writers of the expression in Isa. xi., where +Israel is called "outcast," from which they infer that "Israel" is to be +found somewhere in one place, in contradistinction to the "dispersed of +Judah." But this is a fallacy. In Jer. xxx. Judah and Israel are +together called "an outcast," but it by no means implies that they are +therefore to be sought for and found in one particular region of the +world. + +It is clear from the prophecies of Amos and Hosea, which, as we have +seen, were primarily addressed to the Ten Tribes, that if they were in +the first instance "cast out" by force from their own land, as the word +in the Hebrew means, it was with a view that they should be "tossed +about" and "wander" among "all nations." + +Now note, Anglo-Israelism tells you to identify the Ten Tribes with one +nation; but if you are on the line of Scripture and true history, you +will seek for them "among all nations." + +And which people is it that is known all over the earth as "the tribe of +the weary foot and wandering breast"? Anglo-Israelites call them "Jews" +in the limited sense of being descendants of "Judah"; but God's Word +tells us that it is "_the house of Israel_," or "the house of Jacob"; +and, as a matter of fact, since "Judah" joined their brethren of the Ten +Tribes on the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans in B.C. 588, the +two have kept on their weary march together, "wandering among the +nations." Eastward and westward (only a remnant of all the tribe +returning to the land for a time), nowhere finding ease for any length +of time, nor do the soles of their feet have rest--even as Moses, _at +the very beginning of their history, and long before the division among +the tribes_, prophesied would be their _united_ experience in case they +apostatised from Jehovah their God. And thus they will continue ever +more mixed up and intermingled among themselves, with all genealogies +lost, and not one of them either east or west being able any longer +documentarily to prove of what tribe or family he comes--until the day +when He that scattered Israel will gather him, and by His own Divine +power and omniscience separate them again into their tribes and +families. + + +A SOLEMN WARNING. + +My last words on this subject must be those of warning and entreaty. Do +not think, as so many do, that Anglo-Israelism, even if not true, is +only a harmless speculation. I consider it nothing short of one of the +latter-day delusions by which the Evil One seeks to divert the attention +of men from things spiritual and eternal. Here are a few of its +dangers:-- + +I. It goes, sometimes to the length of blasphemy (as shown in the +extracts I have copied for you at the beginning of this letter), in +misinterpreting and misapplying Scripture. One of its foundation +fallacies is that _it anticipates the Millennium_, and interprets +promises--which will only be fulfilled in that blessed period, after +Israel as a nation is converted--to the British nation at the present +time. But by this process it distorts and confuses the whole prophetic +Scripture. + +II. It fosters national pride, and nationalises God's blessings in this +dispensation, which is individual and elective in its character. + +Its proud boastful tone, its carnal confidence that Britain, in virtue +of its supposed identity with the "lost" tribes, is to take possession +of all the "gates" of her "enemies" and become practically mistress of +the whole globe, is enough to provoke God's judgment against the nation, +and to make the spiritual believer and every true lover of this +much-favoured land tremble. It diverts man's attention from the one +thing needful, and from the only means by which he can find acceptance +with God. This it does by teaching that "a nation composed of millions +of practical unbelievers in Christ, and ripe for apostasy, in virtue of +a certain fanciful identity between the mixed race composing that nation +and a people carried into captivity two thousand five hundred years ago, +is in the enjoyment of God's special blessing and will enjoy it on the +same grounds for ever, thus laying another foundation for acceptance +with God beside that which He has laid, even Christ Jesus." + +After all, in this dispensation it is a question only as to whether men +are "in Christ" or not. If they are Christians, whether Jews or +Gentiles, their destiny is not linked either with Palestine or with +England, but with that inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled +and which fadeth not away; and if they are not Christians, then, instead +of occupying their thoughts with vain speculations as to a supposed +identity of the British race with the "lost" Ten Tribes, it is their +duty to seek the one and only Saviour whom we must learn to know, not +after the flesh, but in the Spirit, and without whom a man, whether an +Israelite or not, is undone. + +III. Then, finally, it not only robs the Jewish nation, the true Israel, +of many promises in relation to their _future_ by applying them to the +British race in the _present_ time, but it diverts attention from them +as _the_ people in whom is bound up the purpose of God in relation to +the nations, and whose "receiving again" to the heart of God, after the +long centuries of unbelief, will be as "life from the dead to the whole +world." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 15: According to Graetz, "History of the Jews," vol. i., p. +186, the tribe of Simeon, which was merely a subsidiary of that of +Judah, also remained faithful to the House of David; but this is +doubtful.] + +[Footnote 16: See 2 Kings xxiii, 29, where the King of Babylon is called +"King of Assyria."] + +[Footnote 17: "It is inconceivable," says Dr. Pusey, "that, as the +material prosperity of Palestine returned, even many of the Ten Tribes +should not have returned to their country."] + +[Footnote 18: Thus Strabo (quoted by Josephus in "Ant." xiv. 7, 2) could +already say in his day that "these Jews had already gotten into all +cities; and it is hard to find a place in the habitable earth that hath +not admitted this race and is not mastered by it."] + +[Footnote 19: "Everywhere we have distinct notices of these wanderers," +says Dr. Edersheim, "and everywhere they appear as in closest connection +with the Rabbinical hierarchy of Palestine. Thus the Mishnah, in an +extremely curious section, tells how on Sabbaths the Jewesses of Arabia +might wear their long veils, and those of India the kerchiefs round +their head, customary in those countries, without incurring the guilt of +desecrating the holy day by needlessly carrying what, in the eyes of the +law, would be a burden; while in a rubric for the Day of Atonement we +have it noted that the dress which the High Priest wore 'between the +evenings' of the great feast--that is, as afternoon darkened into +evening--was of most costly Indian stuff."] + +[Footnote 20: Some have supposed that the 14th verse of Zechariah +xi.--"_And I cut asunder mine other (or 'second') staff, even Bands (or +'Binders'), to destroy the brotherhood between Judah and between +Israel_"--foreshadowed another division between the Ten Tribes and the +Two Tribes subsequent to the partial restoration from Babylon, and after +the coalescence of the people before and in the Exile--as a punishment +for their rejection of their true Shepherd the Messiah, which is +symbolically set forth in that chapter. But this is a mistake. The +(_achavah_), "Brotherhood," which was to be destroyed "between Judah and +between Israel," is not to be understood in the sense "that the unity of +the nation would be broken up again in a manner similar to that in the +days of Rehoboam, and that two hostile nations would be formed out of +one people," although the disruption of national unity which took place +in the days of Jeroboam may be referred to _as an illustration_ of that +which would occur again in a more serious form. "The schism of Jeroboam +had a weakening and disintegrating effect on the nation of the Twelve +Tribes, and the dissolution of the brotherhood here spoken of was to +result in still greater evil and ruin; for Israel, deprived of the Good +Shepherd, was to fall into the power of the 'foolish,' or 'evil,' +shepherd, who is depicted at the close of the prophecy." + +The preposition (_bain_), which is twice repeated, has the meaning not +only of "_between_," but also of "_among_," and the formula, House of +Judah and House of Israel, or simply, "Judah and Israel," is, as we have +had again and again to notice, this prophet's inclusive designation of +the whole ideally (and to a large extent already actually) reunited one +people. I think, therefore, that we may rightly render the sentence "to +destroy the brotherhood _among_ Judah and among Israel"--that is to say, +among the entire nation. The consequence of it would be the fulfilment +of the threat in the 9th verse: "Let them which are left eat every one +the flesh of another"--solemn and awful words, which had their first +literal fulfilment in the party feuds and mutualy destructive strife, +and in the terrible "dissolution of every bond of brotherhood and of our +common nature, which made the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans a proverb +for horror, and precipitated its destruction."] + +[Footnote 21: It has also been supposed that the references by Agrippa +in his remarkable oration (reported by Josephus, "Wars," ii., xvi. +4)--to those who dwelt "as far as beyond the Euphrates," and to "those +of your nation who dwell in Adiabene," upon whom the Jews might rely for +help in their struggle against Rome, but would not be permitted by the +Parthians to render them any assistance--were to some unknown +settlements belonging to the Ten Tribes. But this is a mistake. These +dwellers in Adiabene might or might not have belonged to the Ten Tribes, +but they formed part of the known Dispersion and of "your nation"--the +Jews.] + +[Footnote 22: Jewish Encyclopaedia.] + + + + +PART III. + +NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. + + +Note I. + +ANGLO-ISRAEL "PROOFS" OF A SEPARATE FATE AND DESTINY OF "ISRAEL" AND +"JUDAH." + +The Anglo-Israel theory is based for the most part on the supposition of +a separate history during the Dispersion, and a separate destiny of the +Ten Tribes from that of Judah. I have already shown that the supposition +is a false one, but it may be well to analyse here a few more of the +Scripture "proofs" by which the contention is supported. + +The following is from a truly amazing pamphlet, entitled "Fifty Reasons +why the Anglo-Saxons are Israelites of the Lost Tribes of the House of +Israel," a publication full of misinterpretations, wild fancies, and +absurd fables, which are given out as facts of history. + +But the reader may judge for himself of the method of this writer, who +is a "D.D.," in handling Scripture. + +"The Jews," we are told with an air of authority-- + + "are one people, the Lost Tribes are another.... The Word of God + clearly intimates that Israel would lose their identity, their + land, their language, their religion, and their name, that they + would be lost to themselves, and to other nations lost. 'I will + scatter them into corners, I will make the remembrance of them to + cease from among men' (Deut. xxxii. 26). 'The Lord hideth His face + from the House of Jacob' (Isa. viii, 17). He was not any more to + speak to them in the Hebrew tongue; but 'by another tongue will I + speak unto this people' (Isa. xxviii. 11). They shall no more be + called Israel, He will call them by another name. 'And thou shalt + be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name' + (Isa. lxii. 2). 'The Lord shall call His servants by another name' + (Isa. lxv. 15). 'The name Israel shall be no more in remembrance' + (Psa. lxxxiii. 4). 'And ye shall lose, or leave, your name, and the + Lord shall call His servants by another name.' 'Why sayest thou, O + Jacob! and speakest, O Israel! my way is hid from the Lord, and my + judgment is passed over from my God?' (Isa. xl. 27). + + "'For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies + will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a + moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee' + (Isa. liv. 8). + + "In Hos. i. 4, 7 the Lord says, 'I will cause to cease the kingdom + of the House of Israel.... I will no more have mercy upon the House + of Israel, but I will utterly take them away.... But I will have + mercy upon the House of Judah.' Israel is to be called Lo-Ammi, for + 'ye are not My people, and I will not be your God' (Hos. i. 7)." + +Now let us look for a moment at the reference and quotations here given. +The first is Deut. xxxii. 26: "I will scatter them into corners," etc. +This occurs in the song which Moses was commanded to put into the mouth +of the _whole nation_ at the very commencement of their history, which, +besides being a vindication of God's character in His dealings with the +nation from the beginning hitherto, is also a prophetic forecast of +their whole future history. It is the _whole people_, which according to +Moses was to be scattered into all corners as a special punishment for +their apostasy, until such time as the Lord shall turn their captivity +and have compassion upon them, and gather them from all the nations +(Deut. iv. 25-31; xxviii. 64, 65; xxx. 1-7; xxxi. 16-22). This +reference then has nothing whatever in it about a "lost identity." + +These forecasts are fulfilling themselves, not in lost tribes, but _in +the Jews_. The second reference, Isa. viii. 17: "_The Lord hideth His +face from the House of Jacob_," is (as is often the case in Anglo-Israel +quotations) a sentence broken away from the context, and has not the +least shadow of connection with "lost" or found tribes. It is an +exclamation of the prophet Isaiah with reference to the condition of +things then prevailing in _Judah_. Because of the wickedness of the +people and its king, God's face seemed to be hid from the people. But +Israel's prophets always looked beyond the present gloom and darkness, +and exercised faith in God even in the most adverse circumstances, so he +exclaims: "And I"--whatever the nation whom he sought to bring back to +God may do--"will wait upon Jehovah that hideth His face from _Jacob_ +(which stands for the whole nation) and will look to Him," _i.e._, "my +hope shall be set on Him alone." + +A quotation is made in proof that God would not any more speak to "lost" +Israel in the Hebrew tongue. The reference is Isa. xxviii. 11: "By (or +with) another tongue will I speak to this people." + +This is another instance of breaking away an isolated text from its +context, and giving it a meaning which was never intended. In that +chapter we read how the leaders, not of the Ten Tribes, but of Judah, +perverted the Word of God, which He intended should bring "rest" and +"refreshing" to the weary (ver. 12), and turned it into so many isolated +"precepts" and commandments. But because the words of grace and +salvation He was speaking to them through the prophets were scorned and +abused, God threatens that He will speak to them in judgment--"with +strange lips and with another tongue"--in which there may be included +also a reference to their being carried into captivity, "where they +would have to listen to a strange language," which they understood not +(Psalm lxxxi. 5; cxiv. 1). + +The next references in proof that the "lost" tribes were "no more to be +called Israel," but by another name, is a typical instance of the +perversion of even the most beautiful spiritual truths of the Bible for +mere outward, I was going to say, _carnal_, ends. The first quotation in +proof of this point is from Isa. lxii. 2: "Thou shalt be called by a new +name which the mouth of the Lord shall name." This short chapter is one +of the most precious and beautiful in the whole Old Testament, and it is +like laying hold of an exquisitely delicate and beautiful work of art +with a rough and dirty hand to treat it as Anglo-Israel "theologians" +do. The chapter begins: "For _Zion's sake_ will I not hold My peace, and +for _Jerusalem's sake_ I will not rest until her righteousness go forth +as brightness and her salvation as a lamp that burneth." The speaker is +either the prophet, or very probably the servant of Jehovah, the +Messiah, who is the speaker in the preceding chapter. The subject is +"Zion" or "Jerusalem," which includes the people. I believe that it +includes the _whole nation_ of which Jerusalem is the God-appointed +metropolis; but if it is to be limited to any part of the people, then +it is certainly _Judah_, of which Zion or Jerusalem is the capital, and +not the Ten Tribes who are here spoken of. + +This Zion, for whom the Messiah makes unceasing intercession, is now +called--"forsaken," and her land--"desolate"; but when God's light shall +again break upon her, and her righteousness goes forth as a lamp that +burneth, "Thou shalt be called (Hephzibah, _i.e._, My delight is in +her); and thy land" (Beulah, _i.e._, married). But the new name by which +the mouth of Jehovah shall then call her shall not only answer the +outward transformation which shall then come over the people and the +land, but will describe the _inward_ transformation and the true +character of the people. In fact, we are told in this very chapter what +the new name shall be. They shall call them--Saxons? Britons? No, "they +shall call them the Holy People, _The Redeemed of the Lord_." This is +also the "other-name" in Isa. lxv. 15, by which God shall call His true +servants in contrast to the ungodly in the nation, who shall be "slain," +and leave their name (_i.e._, their remembrance) as a proverbial "curse" +unto His chosen. + +The next reference given in proof that the Ten Tribes were to lose their +name is Psalm lxxxiii. 4: "The name of Israel shall be no more in +remembrance." This is a typical and characteristic specimen of the +manner in which Anglo-Israel "theologians" deal with Scripture. It +reminds one of the grounds adduced by a certain individual for paying no +heed to the Old Testament because it is written, "_Hang_ the law and the +prophets" (Matt. xxii. 40). It is certainly most easy to prove almost +anything from the Bible by breaking away an isolated sentence from its +connection, and attaching to it a meaning which was never intended. + +Psalm lxxxiii. is an impassioned cry to God for His interposition and +deliverance of His people from a confederacy of Gentile nations, who are +gathered with the determined object of utterly destroying them as a +people. + + "O God, keep not Thou silence: + Hold not Thy peace and be not still, O God; for lo, Thine enemies make + a tumult: + And they that hate Thee have lifted up the head: + They take crafty counsel against Thy people, and consult together + against Thy hidden ones. + They have said: Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, + That the name of Israel be no more in remembrance." + +This historical occasion of this Psalm may perhaps have been the great +gathering of the Moabites, Ammonites, and a great multitude of other +against "Judah,"[23] who, in the Psalms belonging to that period, is +invariably called Israel. At the same time there is a prophetic element +in the Psalm, for all the past gatherings of the nations against +Jerusalem foreshadow the final great gathering under Antichrist, when +the battle-cry of the confederated armies shall indeed be, "Come, let us +destroy them from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more +in remembrance." But note, part of the furious cry of the Gentiles in +their onslaught against Jerusalem is broken away from its connection and +used by Anglo-Israel writers to prove that the Ten Tribes would lose +their identity and that the very name "Israel" would be "lost." + +Passing on to the next two references, Isa. xl. 27 and Isa. liv. 8, I +would ask the intelligent Bible-reader what relevancy or connection +these precious Scriptures have with the subject of the identification of +any "lost" tribes? They are glorious words of consolation and promise +addressed to the Jewish nation, or rather to the godly remnant in exile, +assuring them that God's eye is ever upon them, and though, on account +of their sins, His face has been turned away from them, as it were, "for +a moment," He will yet return to them with "everlasting kindness and +have mercy upon them." It is like sacrilege to misapply such beautiful +Scriptures and great spiritual truths to prove a theory which has no +basis in fact, and with which they have not the remotest connection. + +The last reference is Hosea i. 4-7; the words are plain enough, and if +they prove anything in connection with this subject it is the very +opposite of what the Anglo-Israel writers assert. Hosea did speak +primarily to the Israel of the "Ten Tribes" shortly before its final +overthrow by Assyria, and what he announces is that God would cause that +kingdom, _as a kingdom_, "to cease," and that He would no more have +mercy upon them. As a people they would be preserved, but, as it were, +disavowed of God, and therefore called "Lo-Ammi" (_i.e._, "not My +people"). But what is said here by Hosea of the condition of the people +of the "Ten Tribes," after they shall have ceased to exist as a kingdom, +is true also, as we know from many other Scriptures, of those who +belonged to the southern kingdom of Judah. It is now the Lo-Ammi period +for the _whole nation_ of the Twelve Tribes, and they shall continue to +be disowned of God nationally (not as individuals) until they as a +nation acknowledge and own their long-rejected Messiah. Then, in the +final trial, when the spirit of grace and of supplication is poured upon +them, and they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, and mourn, +God will look down upon them and say, "Ammi"--"It is My people": and +they shall say, "Jehovah is my God" (Zech. xiv. 9). + +And it is not only the prophetic Scriptures of the Old Testament which +are abused in this manner, the plainest statements in the Gospels and +Epistles are also twisted and perverted to mean the very opposite of +what was intended. The following is from a booklet, "The Lost Tribes of +Israel," by Reader Harris, K.C., "founder of the Pentecostal League," in +which all the absurdities and misinterpretations found in all the +Anglo-Israel publications are embodied:-- + + "NEW TESTAMENT PROPHECIES. + + "Let us now turn to the New Testament. It is perfectly clear that + Israel, who had been dispersed for more than 700 years, was much in + our Lord's mind during His three years' ministry upon earth, for + many were the references to Israel made by Him. As an example, let + us turn to the commission He gave to the twelve apostles in Matt x. + 5, 6:-- + + "'These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not + into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans + enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the House of + Israel.' + + "These apostles were not to go to the Gentiles, nor to the + Samaritans--who were the descendants of usurpers of Israel--'but to + the lost sheep of the House of Israel'; and they obeyed this + command as far as was then possible. The only tribe that they could + reach which had any connection with Israel was Benjamin, and + Benjamin as a tribe was won to allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. + Benjamin had gone into captivity with Judah, and had come back with + Judah; but in the prophecies of God, Benjamin had been always + associated with the Ten Tribes of Israel. It is a remarkable fact + that the majority of our Lord's disciples at the time of His + earthly ministry were connected with the tribe of Benjamin. It is + also of interest that, when Jerusalem was afterwards besieged by + the Romans under Titus, the members of what had become the + Christian tribe of Benjamin escaped. + + "Christ Himself declared, in Matt. xv. 24, this was His own + mission: '_He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost + sheep of the House of Israel._' + + "Again our Lord says, in Matt. xxi. 43: '_Therefore say I unto you_ + (He was speaking to the Jews), _the kingdom of God shall be taken + from you, and given to a nation_ (the Jews had long since ceased to + be a nation) _bringing forth the fruits thereof_.' + + "The Jews themselves evidently so understood His statement, for in + John vii. 35 we read:-- + + "'Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will He go, that we + shall not find Him? Will He go unto the dispersed among the + Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?' + + "So the Jew quite understood our Lord to refer to Israel. + + "Israel was evidently in the minds of the apostles themselves. On + the day of the ascension they asked Him:-- + + "'Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to + Israel?' (Acts i. 6.) + + "A restoration of the kingdom of Israel with the kingdom of Judah + had been promised. The apostles did not confuse the kingdom of + Israel with that of Judah, for they said, 'Wilt Thou at this time + restore the kingdom to Israel?' St. Paul devotes thirty-six verses + in Romans xi. to prove that God has not cast away His people, but + that "blindness in part is happened unto Israel until the fulness + of the nations be come in," so that all Israel shall be saved. + + "Lastly, the final word must be that of our Lord. In Acts i. 7, 8 + Christ said:-- + + "'_It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the + Father hath put in His own power, but ye shall receive power, after + that the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses + unto Me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and unto the + uttermost parts of the earth_'--which refers to the 'regions + beyond'--an expression that was fully understood to mean the + dispersed among the Gentiles." + +With much pain one has to say that this reveals either lamentable +ignorance of the plainest and simplest truths of New Testament Scripture +on the part of an otherwise educated man, or a clever adaptation by +which a lawyer would seek to support a preconceived theory. + +I have already dealt with some of these perversions in the first part of +this pamphlet, so need only refer to them again in the briefest possible +manner. + +(a) It is indeed "perfectly clear" to any reader of the New Testament +that Israel "was much in our Lord's mind during His three years' +ministry upon earth"; but as clear and evident is it to any candid +reader that the only "Israel" of whom He thought and spoke were the +people among whom He lived and moved, and to whom His blessed ministry +on earth was confined, and who are alternately called in the New +Testament "Jews" and "Israel." + +It was to these "lost sheep" _in the land of Palestine_ for whom His own +compassions were moved when He beheld them in multitudes, that the +Twelve were sent out in Matt. x., and He ascribes to them the term +"lost" in a deeper and more solemn and spiritual sense than +Anglo-Israelism has evidently any conception of. (_See_ page 41.) + +(b) The statement here repeated about the tribe of Benjamin, and that +the "majority of our Lord's disciples at the time of His earthly ministry +were connected with the tribe of Benjamin," is nothing but a fiction +invented by Anglo-Israelites, as already shown in Part I. (_See_ page +17.) + +The only thing which is historically true is that the Apostle Paul was +of the tribe of Benjamin, but he was called after our Lord's earthly +ministry was ended, and he was appointed not to the "lost tribes," but +to preach Christ's Gospel _among the Gentiles_ (Acts xxii. 21; Rom. xi. +13; Gal. i. 16). + +(c) The nation which brings forth the fruits of the kingdom of God +during the present dispensation of Israel's national unbelief is not the +British Empire, but _the Church of Christ_--the elected body out of +_all_ nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues, who are called "a +chosen generation (or 'elect race'), a royal priesthood, a _holy nation_ +([Greek: ethnos]), a people for God's own possession" (1 Peter ii. 9). + +(d) To state that the Jews themselves understood Christ's statement in +Matt. xxi. 43 as referring to some "lost" Israel, because in John vii. +35 they said: "Will He go unto the dispersed ([Greek: ten dosporan]) +among the Gentile (or 'Greeks'), and teach the Greeks?" is not true. + +The "dispersed" among the Greeks were Hellenistic "_Jews_" of all the +Twelve Tribes scattered abroad, who stood (as already shown in Part II.) +in closest connection with the Temple and hierarchy in Jerusalem, and +were never "lost"; and the Greeks among whom they were dispersed were +"_Gentiles_." + +(e) And what can be said of such a perverted application of the +question in Acts i. 6, namely, that when the disciples, immediately +before Christ's ascension, asked: "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore +the kingdom to Israel?" it was not their own nation, the "Jews," that +they meant, and Jerusalem the centre of God's kingdom on earth--but some +"lost" tribes in distant regions of which they knew nothing--I suppose +on the same principle of Anglo-Israel interpretation when Peter, with +the eleven on the Day of Pentecost, for instance, addressed the people +as "_Ye men of Israel_," and again, "Let all the house of Israel, +therefore, know assuredly that God hath made Him both Lord and +Christ--this Jesus whom ye crucified" (Acts ii. 22-36)--he did not speak +to the assembled multitude of "Jews" before him, but over their heads to +some distant regions where there were some wandering "lost" tribes who +alone were entitled to the name "Israel." But such assertions are +altogether too ridiculous to be treated seriously. + +The "Israel" which "was evidently in the minds of the apostles," and to +whom Peter spoke, and of whom Paul wrote in that great prophetic section +in his Epistle to the Romans (chaps. ix.-xi.), were the "Jews," whether +of Palestine or in the "Dispersion," who are the only representatives of +all the Twelve Tribes of "Israel" with whom Scripture or prophecy has +any concern, and not any supposed "lost" tribes to be identified after +many centuries by Anglo-Israel writers as the British and the United +States. + +(f) "Lastly, the final word," we are told, "must be that of our +Lord," and then there follows the quotation of the glorious promise and +prophetic forecast from Acts i. 7, 8: "_Ye shall receive power when the +Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be My witnesses both in +Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of +the earth_"; and we are assured that the last sentence refers "to the +regions beyond--an expression that was fully understood to mean the +dispersed among the Gentiles"--by which, I suppose, we are meant to +understand, the "lost" tribes. + +But the sentence--[Greek: kai eos eschaton tes ges]--means, as it has +been properly rendered, "unto the end (or 'uttermost part') of the +earth," and has always been "fully" and properly understood by the +Church of Christ as a Divine warrant and forecast of the preaching of +the Gospel, not to the Dispersed _among_ the Gentiles, but to _the +heathen world_. + + +Note II. + +THE PROMISES OF A MULTITUDINOUS SEED, AND THAT ISRAEL SHALL BECOME A +GREAT AND MIGHTY NATION. + +A great point is made by all Anglo-Israel writers of the promises which +God made to the fathers of a multitudinous seed. The argument is, that +since the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were to be a great and +mighty and very numerous nation--yea, "a company of nations"--these +promises cannot apply to the "Jews," who are comparatively few in +number. There must exist, therefore, a people somewhere great and +mighty and numerous who are the seed of Abraham, in whom these promises +are realised. + +Now look at the British Empire, how great and mighty it is in the earth, +and what vast numbers it includes, _ergo_, the British, including the +United States of America (which by some wonderful process of divination +Anglo-Israelites are able to distinguish and identify as "Manasseh," in +spite of the fact that their progenitors, who emigrated from England, +were, according to them "Ephraimites," and that those original emigrants +have since been mixed up with a flood of emigrants from all other races +under heaven), are the descendants of Abraham, and particularly of the +"lost" Ten Tribes! + +Now the following are the Scriptures on the subject: + + (1) "And I will make of thee (Abraham) a great nation" (Gen. xii. + 2). + + (2) "And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if + a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be + numbered" (Gen. xiii. 16). + + (3) "And He brought him (Abraham) forth abroad, and said, Look now + toward heaven, and tell the number of the stars, if thou be able to + tell them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be" (Gen. xv. + 5). + + (4) "And God talked with him (Abraham), saying: As for Me, My + covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be the father of a multitude + of nations; neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but + thy name shall be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations + have I made thee. And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I + will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee" (Gen. + xvii. 4-6). + + (5) "Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all + the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him" (Gen. xviii. 18). + + (6) "In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will + multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is + upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his + enemies" (a Hebrew idiom for "shall be victorious over his foes") + (Gen. xxii. 17). + + (7) "And God said unto him (Jacob), I am God Almighty, be fruitful + and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, + and kings shall come out of thy loins" (Gen. xxxv. 11). + +To these passages have to be added Isaac's blessing to Jacob: "God +Almighty bless thee and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou +mayest be a company--literally, 'a congregation' of peoples" (Gen. +xxviii. 3); and Jacob's forecast of Ephraim in his blessing of Joseph's +sons, that his seed shall become "a multitude (or literally, 'a +fulness,') of the nations." + +Now in reference to all these particular promises and forecasts, I would +beg your attention to the following observations:-- + +I. There are expressions in them which must not be pressed to the +extreme of literalness according to our Western ideas. We speak of +"nations," and think of them as embracing populations of whole +countries, and of "kings" as being sovereigns of States, but in the +earlier books of the Bible we are introduced to many "nations" and +"peoples" as comprised in one little country of Canaan, and of many +"kings" who were no more than chiefs, or rulers of "cities," which in +our modern times we would only class as "villages." As a matter of fact, +the term, _goim_, generally standing for "_nations_," and usually for +the _Gentile_ nations, is actually used for the _tribes_ or families of +the Jewish people. Here is the Scripture: "And He said unto me, Son of +Man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to nations, (_goim_--the word +is in the plural) that are rebellious, which have rebelled against Me" +(Ezek. ii. 3). + +The "Jews," or "Israel," as they are properly called are being spoken +of as "nations," because they comprised different families or tribes. + +Already Moses could say of the Israel of his time: "_Jehovah your God +hath multiplied you, and behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven +for multitude_" (Deut. i. 10; x. 22); and Solomon, in his prayer for +wisdom, says: "_Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people which Thou +hast chosen, a great people that cannot be counted for multitude_" (1 +Kings iii. 8). + +The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews knew nothing of a supposed +identification of the millions in Britain and America with the "lost" +Ten Tribes, but speaking of the descendants of Abraham and Sarah, he +could say that because Abraham believed God, and Sarah herself, in spite +of natural impossibilities, judged Him faithful who had promised: +"_Wherefore also there sprang of one, and him as good as dead, so many +as the stars of heaven for multitude, and as the sand which is by the +seashore innumerable_" (Hebrews xi. 12); so that even if we view only +the past it is not true to assert that the promises of God that the seed +of Abraham should be a multitude which cannot be numbered, and +constitute "a company of nations," has not been fulfilled in the "Jews" +or "Israel," which has never been "lost." + +II. The promises of a multitudinous seed and rapid increase of the seed +of Abraham, though in the first instance given to the fathers +unconditionally, and therefore will assuredly be fulfilled, were +nevertheless made conditional on Israel's obedience. It is with this, as +with all the other great promises, given to the Jewish nation. They were +conditional as far as any particular generation of Jews are concerned, +who may either enjoy them if in obedience, or forfeit them through +disobedience; but they are unconditional to the nation because God +abides faithful, and in the end all His plans and purposes in and +through them will be fulfilled. For this very reason He has preserved +them as a people in spite of all their sin and disobedience. + +Now at the very commencement of Israel's history--long before there was +any likelihood of a schism among the tribes--Moses, speaking in the name +of God of the whole nation, says: "_If ye walk in My statutes and keep +My commandments to do them, ... I will have respect unto you and make +you fruitful and multiply you, and will establish My covenant with you_" +(Lev. xxvi. 3-9). + +On the other hand, he solemnly forewarns them that if they shall +"corrupt themselves" and fall away from the living God, "I call heaven +and earth to witness against you this day that ye shall soon utterly +perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it, ... +and Jehovah shall scatter you among the peoples, _and ye shall be left +few in number among the nations whither Jehovah shall lead you_" (Deut. +iv. 25-27). + +This is repeated with solemn emphasis in Deut. xxviii. 62: "_And ye +shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for +multitude_." In the light of the Word of God, therefore, and apart from +all the absurdities involved in the Anglo-Israel theory, the very fact +that the British and American races are so numerous and powerful among +the nations precludes the possibility of their being Israel, for when +out of Palestine and in dispersion Israel was to become "few in number," +and oppressed and downtrodden among the nations. + +III. The underlying fallacy in the Anglo-Israel argument from the +promises of a multitudinous seed which God made to the fathers (and +this, indeed, is one of the chief errors underlying the whole theory), +is that it overlooks the fact that those promises, according to the +testimony of the prophets, will be fulfilled in the _future_, when (as +stated above) the Jewish nation, restored and converted, shall become +under the personal rule of their Messiah, great and mighty for God on +this earth. Then, when Israel shall be spiritually restored to God, and +in and through the grace of their Messiah they shall be a nation all +righteous and planted by God in their own land, "the little one shall +become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation" (Isa. lx. 21, 22); +and so rapidly and marvellously shall they increase that even the whole +promised land, which is fifty times as large as the portion of it "from +Dan to Beersheba," which alone they possessed in the past, shall become +too small for them, so that they shall say to the surrounding nations: +"_The place is too strait for me, give place ('make room') that I may +dwell_" (Isa. xlix. 19, 20). + +Now all this has been, and will be, fulfilled in the "Jews," who, as I +have shown, are the people of the whole "_Twelve Tribes scattered +abroad_." In the dispersion among the nations they became reduced to +"few in number," but when they are restored and blessed God says: "I +will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, +and they shall not be small" (Jer. xxx. 19). + +Of the capacity for rapid increase of the Jewish people there is +sufficient proof already. The following is from a recent number of _The +Scattered Nation_:-- + + "The marvellous increase of the Jewish people since their so-called + 'emancipation' in the xixth century, is indeed a striking sign of + the times. The statement of a recent writer in the _Jewish + Chronicle_ that at the commencement of the xvith century there + could scarcely have been more than a million Jews left in the + entire world after the untold sufferings, dispersions and massacres + which they had to endure in the dark and middle ages--is probably + true. The historian Basnage, in his 'History of the Jews from + Jesus Christ to the Present Time,' calculated that in his time (end + of the xviith and beginning of the xviiith century) there were + 3,000,000 Jews in the world. Since then, however, the growth of + Jewry has been phenomenal. At the commencement of the xixth century + there were said to be five millions. Half a century later the + numbers reached six or seven millions; and at the end of another + half a century--in 1896--the greatest living authority on Jewish + statistics gave their number as eleven millions. And now, after the + lapse of another seventeen or eighteen years, we are informed that + there are no less than 13,000,000 Jews in the world. And the + surprising feature of this latest calculation is the officially + authenticated fact that, in the country where they are most + persecuted, and which during the past three decades has driven + forth millions to seek an asylum in other countries, there are more + Jews to-day than ever before; and this in spite of pogroms, and + baptisms, and overcrowding, and starvation, and the pursuance of a + merciless policy of repression which led Pobiedonostsef to + prognosticate that, in the end, a third of Russia's Jews would + emigrate, a third would die, and a third would join the dominant + faith. The old story of Israel in Egypt renews itself to-day in + Russia: 'The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied.'" + +And if this be so now even in dispersion, we can imagine that in the +millennial period, under the fostering care and blessing of God, the +favoured nation will increase and multiply so that they will be as the +stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, +innumerable. + + +Note III. + +THE PERPETUITY OF THE DAVIDIC THRONE. + +One great Anglo-Israel argument that the British must be the "lost" +Israel is based on the promises which God made to David that his seed +and his throne shall be established for ever. Sometimes, indeed (as seen +in one of the quotations given in Part I., _see_ page 12), and in +keeping with Anglo-Israel logic, the argument is used the other way: "If +the Saxons be the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, then the English throne is +a continuation of David's throne, and the seed on it must be the seed of +David, and the inference is clear, namely, that all the blessings +attaching by the holy promise to David's throne must belong to +England";[24] and since, according to the dictum of the theory, this +"must be so," evidence must somehow be found, both "historical" and from +Scripture. So on the historical side a genealogical table has been +produced in which the descent of the royal house of England (which may +God protect!) is directly traced to David and Judah--a table truly +strange and wonderful, and which only shows how easy it is to prove +anything if wild guesses and perverted fancies be treated as facts. On +these genealogical tables and "histories," however, with regard to which +we would only apply to the Anglo-Israel "world" the old Latin +proverb--_Mundus vult decipi et decipiatur_--it would be sheer waste of +time to enter here. It is the product of a false supposition, supported +by a logic which is also false, both in its premises and conclusions. +People whose capacity for credulity is large enough to believe the wild +romances spun out by Anglo-Israel writers about Jeremiah's journey to +Ireland with a daughter of Zedekiah, who brought with them as part of +their personal luggage the coronation stone which is now in Westminster +Abbey, are very welcome to believe it; and one would not trouble much +about them if they would only let the Bible alone and not pervert +Scripture. + +But it is the supposed _Scriptural_ "proofs" which impose on some +simple-minded Christians, with whom alone we are concerned here. The +following passages almost all Anglo-Israel writers fasten upon:-- + +"_The Lord hath sworn unto David in truth, He will not turn from it; of +the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne_" (Psa. cxxxii. II). + +"_I have sworn unto David My servant, Thy seed will I establish for +ever, and build up thy throne to all generations_" (Psa. lxxxix. 3, 4). + +"_Thus saith Jehovah: If ye can break My covenant of the day, and my +covenant of the night, in their season, then may also My covenant be +broken with David My servant that he should not have a son to reign upon +his throne.... Thus saith the Lord: If My covenant of day and night +stand not, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; +then will I also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David My servant, +so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of +Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, +and will have mercy on them_" (Jer. xxxiii. 20, 21, 25, 26, R.V.). + +The argument drawn from these Scriptures is: If the British be not +Israel, and the English throne be not a continuation of the throne of +David, where is the fulfilment of these promises? In answer to this +crude logic I would observe:-- + +I. That it seems to be quite a characteristic of Anglo-Israelism to +ignore our Lord Jesus Christ as the centre of all promise and prophecy, +just as it ignores the existence of the Church and the future kingdom of +God, for all which it substitutes the British people and the British +Empire. But _Christ_ is the true Son of David, and the only legitimate +heir to the Davidic throne. "The sure mercies of David," which are sure +(or "faithful," as the word may be better rendered), because God has +sworn to fulfil, or "establish" them, are all merged and centred _in +Him_. Hence, when His birth was announced to the Virgin Mary, the Angel +Gabriel said: "Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a +son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be +called the Son of the Most High, and _the Lord God shall give unto Him +the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over the House of +Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end_" (Luke i. +31-33). + +If Israel had received Him His throne would have been established, and +His visible reign on earth commenced then. But He was rejected, and so +the promise in reference to setting up again of the Davidic kingdom, +which had ceased to exist since the days of Zedekiah, was still deferred +until the purpose of God with reference to the Church should be +accomplished. + +But the promises which God made to David have not failed, for Jesus, the +true Son of David, lives, and though He is for the present sitting on +the throne of God in heaven, _He is coming again_ to set up the throne +of His father David, and then "He shall reign over the House of Jacob +for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end." + +II. It was announced in advance that during the "many days" of Israel's +apostasy, and consequent banishment from the land, they "_shall abide +without a king and without a prince_," _i.e._, without the true Davidic +king of God's appointment, and without a prince of their own choice, as +Jewish commentators have themselves explained, until "the latter days," +when restored and converted they shall find in their Messiah the true +David, both their King and Prince.[25] + +III. The only place on earth where a _throne of David_ can have any +legitimate place, either in the sight of God or of man, is on _Mount +Zion in Jerusalem_, and it is an absurdity to speak of the continuity of +a Davidic throne in England. Thank God that the right of the British +Sovereign to his illustrious throne rests on a firmer basis than the +fictitious genealogies made out by Anglo-Israelites. + +IV. The same Scriptures, which speak of the perpetuity of the Davidic +seed and _throne_, speak also of the unceasing continuance of _the +priesthood_. "_Thus saith Jehovah, David shall never want a man to sit +upon the throne of the House of Israel; neither shall the priests the +Levites want a man before Me to offer burnt-offerings and to burn +oblations, and to do sacrifice continually.... Thus saith the Lord: If +ye can break My covenant of the day, and My covenant of the night, so +that there should not be day and night in their season; then may also My +covenant be broken with David My servant, that he should not have a son +to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, My +ministers_" (Jer. xxxiii. 17, 20, 21). + +Now it would be quite as logical to argue that the ministers of the +Church of England must be the lineal descendants of the Levites, else +God's promise of the continuance of the priesthood has failed, as to +argue from these same Scriptures that there must be somewhere now on +earth a throne of David, or else these prophecies have proved false. + +The truth is that neither have God's promises in reference to the throne +nor to the priesthood failed--for Christ is, in His blessed Person, the +Prophet, Priest, and King. He is all this now at the right hand of God, +for not only are all the essentials of the Aaronic priesthood fulfilled +in Him, but He is "a priest _for ever_ after the order of Melchizedek"; +and when He is manifested again on earth to take up His throne and +reign, "_He shall be a priest upon His throne_, and the counsel of peace +shall be between them both."[26] + + +Note IV. + +THE SO-CALLED HISTORIC PROOFS OF ANGLO-ISRAELISM. + +I have stated on page 10 that the so-called Historic Proofs of +Anglo-Israelism, by which the theory is supported, are derived from +pagan myths and fables. Let the following suffice as a sample:-- + + "To accomplish this" (_i.e._, that the seed of Abraham should + inherit the isles of the west) "some were sent to take possession + of the islands long before." + + The wrath of man is made to praise Him (Gen. xxxvii. 2; l. 15-21), + which led to the flight of Danaus, the son of Bela, from _Egyptus_ + his brother. Dan is the son of Bilhah and brother of Joseph, who + was over all the Egyptians. This was the first secession from + Israel. This is probably alluded to in Ezekiel xx. 5-9. Another + secession took place (1 Chron. vii. 21-24). A third secession was + after the Exodus. When in the Wilderness Num. xiv. 1-4 states that + they said, "Let us make a captain." Nehemiah ix. 17 tells us they + did so (compare Psa. cvi. 26, 27; Ezek. xx. 21-23). + + _Hecatoeus of Abdera_ (6th century B.C.), quoted by _Diodorus + Siculus_ (B.C. 50), i. 27, 46, 55, says:-- + + "The most distinguished of the expelled foreigners (from Egypt) + followed Danaus and Cadmus into Greece; but the greater number were + led by Moses into Judaea." + + In Aeschylus' _Supplicants_ (B.C. 6th century) Danaus and his + daughters are represented as a "seed divine," exiles from Egypt, + fleeing from their brother Egyptus. Since they feared an unholy + alliance, they appear to have passed through Syria and perhaps + Sidon into Greece.[27] + +I will say nothing here about the Scripture references in the first +paragraph, but if any intelligent Bible student will look them up he +will see that only a perverted fancy can see in them any justification +for the theory here propounded. But, as will be noted, the heathen fable +about Aegyptus and Danaus is here brought into the history of Israel, +Danaus being identified as Dan, the son of Bilhah; and Aegyptus, I +suppose, with Joseph. Now here is the pagan fable, and let the reader +judge what connection it has with the history of the sons of Jacob. + +Aegyptus, who had fifty sons, and Danaus, who had fifty daughters, were +twin brothers. Their father, Belus, the son of Poseidon, identified by +the Romans with Neptunus, the god of the Mediterranean Sea, had assigned +Libya to Danaus; but, fearing Aegyptus, his brother, he fled with his +fifty daughters to Argos in Peloponnessus, where he was elected king by +the Argives in place of Gelanor, the reigning monarch. Thither, however, +he was followed by the fifty sons of Aegyptus, who demanded his daughters +for their wives. Danaus complied with their request, but gave to each of +his daughters a dagger with which to kill their husbands in the bridal +night. All the sons of Aegyptus were thus murdered, with but one +exception. The life of Lynceus was spared by his wife, Hypermnestra, +who, according to the legend, afterwards avenged the death of his +forty-nine brothers by killing his father-in-law Danaus. + +The fifty daughters of Danaus, known as "the Danaides," were punished in +Hades for their crime by being compelled everlastingly to pour water +into a sieve. Note also that the fable propagated by Manetho that the +Jews were _expelled_ from Egypt as lepers, and the legend of Hecataeus, +quoted by Diodorus Siculus that, "the most distinguished of these +expelled followed Danaus and Cadmus into Greece, but the greater number +were led by Moses into Judea," is also accepted as history. Some of +these same pagan writers believed that the object of worship in the Holy +of Holies was the head of an ass, and other absurdities of the same +nature. I wonder if Anglo-Israel "theologians" accept this also as +"history." + +I may here add that the identification by Anglo-Israel writers of Tea, +or Tephi, the heroine of some Irish ballads, with a princess of the +royal house of Judah, whom Jeremiah brought to Ireland in one of the +ships of Dan, and who married Esincaid, King of Ulster, and so became +the ancestress of the royal houses of Ireland and Scotland, and +subsequently of England--has just as much "history" for its basis as the +identification of Danaus with Dan, or of Aegyptus with Joseph. + +The value of Irish legends and ballads (upon which the romances of +Anglo-Israel writers are largely based), as sources of "history," may be +judged from the following introductory statement taken from a standard +compendium of the history of Ireland: + +"The history of Ireland, like that of almost all ancient countries, +'tracks its parent lake' back into the enchanted realms of legend and +romance and fable. It has been said, not untruly, of Ireland that she +'can boast of ancient legends rivalling in beauty and dignity the tales +of Attica and Argolis; she has an early history whose web of blended +myth and reality is as richly coloured as the record of the rulers of +Alba Longa and the story of the Seven Kings.' We cannot now make any +effort to get at history in the beautiful myths and stories. We should +puzzle our brains in vain to find out whether the Lady Cesair, who came +to Ireland before the Deluge with fifty women and three men, has any +warrant from genuine tradition, or is a child of fable altogether. We +cannot get any hint of the actual truth about Conn of the Hundred +Fights, and Fin MacCoul and Oisin. But the impression which does seem to +be conveyed clearly enough from all these romances and fables and +ballads is that the island was occupied in dim far-off ages by +successive invaders who came from the south. + +"The Phoenicians are said to have represented one wave of invasion and +the Greeks another.... + +"What may be called the authentic history of Ireland begins with the +life and career of St. Patrick (5th century)." + + +Note V. + +"THE GATE OF HIS ENEMIES." + +One brief note more must be added on a point which all Anglo-Israel +writers advance as proof positive in support of their theory. It is the +promise that God made to Abraham, "Thy seed shall possess the gate of +his enemies." The term "gate" (or "gates" as often mis-quoted) is taken +to signify "strait," "port," or strategic maritime position and these +writers grow quite eloquent in pointing out the many maritime points of +vantage which are in occupation of the British as a fulfilment of this +ancient promise to the chosen people. + +Thus the writer of "Fifty Reasons" (W. H. Poole, D.D.), with which I +have already dealt, asks (page 61) "What nation or people are now the +gate-holders of the nations? We hold Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Acre, +Suez Canal, Aden, Perim," and many other important maritime points which +he enumerates, and concludes triumphantly "_For 500 years Britain has +been the gate-holder in the lands of those who hate her_"--a very +doubtful compliment this, by the way, to British rule over her acquired +possessions. + +But like many other Anglo-Israel "proofs" it has no basis in philology +or in fact. The word--Sha'ar ("gate") is used hundreds of times in the +Hebrew Bible, but _never once_ either literally or figuratively of a +maritime "strait" or "port." The "gate" as being not only the entrance +to, but as giving control or possession of the oriental (walled) city, +often stands for the city itself. It was, moreover, the most public +place of the city, where causes were tried and justice administered +(Deut. xxi. 19; xxii. 15; Prov. xxii. 22; Amos v. 10-15); and where +elders and judges, kings and princes "sat" officially for counsel or +often to exercise authority and rule (Dan. ii. 49; Jer. xvii. 19; +xxxviii. 7). + +The promise that Abraham's seed should possess the gate of his enemies +is idiomatic figurative language, equivalent to saying that they shall +be victorious over their enemies, and take possession of their cities. +This was fulfilled when at the conquest of Canaan the Israelites took +possession of the land and thus assumed the position of lordship over +the doomed nations who are spoken of as their "enemies." + +We may notice, by way of contrast, that in Jer. i. 14-16 God threatens +that as a punishment on Israel for their sin He would call all the +families of the kingdoms of the north, and "they shall set every one his +throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem," which is equivalent +to saying that the Gentiles would possess "the gate" of Israel--which as +a matter of fact, they are now permitted to do by treading down +Jerusalem and scattering the people until the times of the Gentiles are +fulfilled. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 23: See 2 Chron. xx. 1-13.] + +[Footnote 24: "The Lost Ten Tribes," by Joseph Wild. The Eighteenth +Discourse.] + +[Footnote 25: See "The Interregnum and After"--the first chapter of my +book, "The Ancient Scriptures and the Modern Jew."] + +[Footnote 26: One fundamental of the Anglo-Israel theory is that the +destinies of Israel and Judah are distinct and separate. Most +inconsistent, therefore, is their appropriation of David, the King of +Judah, with the promises applying to his royal house _for ever_; their +endeavour should rather be to claim, if they can find in Scripture +promises made to descendants of Jeroboam's line, or some other King of +Israel--with David they can have nothing to do.] + +[Footnote 27: "Palestine into Britain," by Rev. L. G. A. Roberts, +Secretary of the "Imperial British Israel Association."] + + + + +APPENDIX. + +ARE WE THE TEN TRIBES? + + +By the Late HORATIUS BONAR, D.D. + +(Reprinted by permission from _The Sunday at Home_, October, 1880.) + +That the inhabitants of Great Britain are Israelites is a modern theory +which has been widely spread. Its defenders have invented a large number +of resemblances or "identifications," on which, in the absence of +authentic history or national tradition, they rest their proof. + +The languages of our country--Saxon, English, Welsh, and Celtic--have no +affinity with the Hebrew; but that is made of no account. The history of +the many tribes of which our nation is composed--whether Teutonic, or +Saxon, or Caledonian, or Latin, or Scandinavian--is totally distinct +from that of any of the tribes of Israel; but authentic history is in +this case wholly set aside. + +The manners and customs of our nation, both religious and social, have +not the slightest resemblance to those of Israel; but this is quite +ignored. The physiognomy of our countrymen--whether they are English, or +Welsh, or Scotch, or Celtic, or Norwegian, or Norman--is the very +opposite of Eastern, the Israelitish face being a marked contrast to the +British; but that is reckoned of no consequence. + +The names of men, women, and places in our land are not Hebrew or +Semitic at all, but are traceable to another class of language +altogether; yet _this_ weighs nothing. The occupation of our land by +certain tribes, who we now call the Aboriginal Caledonians, or Britons +(long before the Ten Tribes were carried captive to Assyria, and who, +therefore, could not be Israelites), is passed by. The grand story of an +Israelitish emigration from Assyria into Great Britain, whether by sea +or land, we are not told, and there is neither history nor tradition nor +local monuments to confirm it. And yet, when was there _ever_ an +emigration in which the emigrants did not carry their language, their +religion, their manners, their dress, and their national traditions with +them? This the identifiers of Israel with England have not considered. +The Two Tribes in their dispersion over wide Europe carried their +worship, their language, and their manners, into every European city, +and synagogues exist to this day which were set up centuries before +Christ, and every European Jew can tell for certain that he is a +descendant of Abraham, and lives apart from the Gentiles around; yet, if +the Anglo-Israelite theory be true, the Ten Tribes poured in upon Great +Britain and settled themselves there, drove back the Aborigines, but +left their religion, their books, their priesthood, their language, +their names behind them, like cast-off clothes, in order to prevent +themselves from being identified, as if ashamed of their ancestry. It +must have been with Israelites that Julius Caesar fought; their queen, +Boadicea, not a Hebrew name, and their general, Caractacus, not a Hebrew +name either: these Israelites must have set up the Druid religion in the +island, and to them we must owe Stonehenge and similar relics of +antiquity. + +There is no evidence in the Bible, or in history, or tradition, for any +such Israelitish emigration. Such a flood could not have passed over +Europe, either north or south, without leaving some trace or being +mentioned in history. If some two or three millions of Israelites did +pour into this remote and barbarous island of ours, it must have been +before the Romans came; and such a flood of Easterns must have made it a +populous island, which certainly it was not. + +These cultivated Easterns--for the Israelites, even in their apostasy, +were a highly educated and cultivated nation--flowed in upon an island +of barbarians, yet produced no impression, taught them no arts, gave +them no language, and brought no civilisation to the barbarous Britons +and Caledonians; whereas the Romans, who followed, carried language, +arts, manners, names with them, and left behind them (though theirs was +but a brief military occupation) traces of their Latin footsteps, which +remain to us after nineteen centuries. Traverse our island, and you will +find in every county names and traditions and ruins that tell you that +Rome was once here; but no name or traditions to say that Israel was +here. Note: In Cornwall there may be some traces of Phoenician commerce; +but we know whence these Eastern strangers came and the object of their +coming, viz., to procure tin from the mines. + +Are such things credible or possible? Prophecy, moreover, intimates that +Israel is to remain scattered and under the curse till the Redeemer +comes out of Zion, and will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. The whole +Twelve Tribes are under the curse till the great day of national +deliverance comes for Judah and for Israel. + +Let Rom. xi. be studied in connection with this. + +The "identifications" gravely announced in some of the many pamphlets of +Anglo-Israelitish literature are somewhat peculiar, and do not carry any +extraordinary amount of weight with them to counterbalance the above +arguments. Here are a few of them:-- + +1. "Isles and islands," spoken of by the prophets. These must be the +British Isles, and, therefore, their inhabitants are the Ten Tribes. + +2. "Israel loveth to oppress," the prophet says; "England loveth to +oppress"--therefore, England is Israel. + +3. "I believe," says one of the Anglo-Israelitish authors, "that Sunday +Schools have been raised up purposely for this identity!" + +4. "Israel is to occupy the ends of the earth." Britain does so; +therefore, Britain is Israel. + +5. "Israel is to possess the gates of his enemies." We possess +Gibraltar, Malta, the Cape, etc.; therefore, we are Israel, for these +are "the gates" of our enemies. + +6. "The smoke and fire coming up from the cities and furnaces of our +land are like the pillar cloud of Israel." + +7. The people in the South of Ireland trouble us, just as the Canaanites +troubled Israel; therefore, we are Israel, for the South of Ireland is +peopled by the descendants of the Canaanites. + +8. Jacob's stone is still in our possession. It is that on which Jacob +slept, that which was the chief corner-stone of the Temple--saved by +Jeremiah, and taken by him to Ireland, and then placed in Westminster +Abbey under the Coronation chair; therefore, the English are Israelites. + +9. "Jacob's glory is like the firstling of a bullock" (Deut. xxxiii. +17). The identifiers write: "The ox being oftentimes applied to Israel +may partly be said to emblemise the world-famed power of John Bull." + +No evidence (worthy of its name), either historical, ethnological, +linguistic, or traditional, is produced; we get nothing but conjectures +and fanciful allusions as the proofs of this singular theory. + +Some of its defenders boast that since this theory was started the +incomes of our Jewish Mission Societies have fallen off by L15,000. +Whether this is true or not we cannot say; but the boast, whatever be +its foundation, shows the spirit of the writers and the tendency of the +new doctrine. + +Noah's prophecy stands out clear and sharp with its threefold ethnology; +Shem, Ham and Japheth are the roots of the nations, and God has kept +them distinct: let us beware of confounding them. History tells us that +our pedigree is to be traced to Japheth. The modern discoveries in +ethnology confirm this beyond a doubt; Eastern monuments, whether of +Assyria or Egypt, tell the same story. + +The above theory rests on a misreading of prophetic truth: such a +misreading robs it of all its Divine spirituality. Outward national +prosperity and greatness, not righteousness nor truth, are made the +characteristics of the Israel of prophecy. England--full of crime, +infidelity, immorality, and ungodliness--is said to be now enjoying the +favour of God, which is destined for Israel in the latter day! The +knowledge of the glory of the Lord is to be the privilege of these +tribes, and by that knowledge they are to be exalted. But this theory +give us another standard of the nation's greatness--a standard which no +part of Scripture recognises, least of all the sure word of prophecy, +the light in the dark place. This theory darkens the whole prophetic +Word, perverting events and inverting times and seasons. It denies +Israel's present guilt, and lowers our ideas of Israel's coming glory. +It puts a Gentile King and Queen in the place of the nation's own +Messiah, under whose sceptre alone it is to enjoy peace, blessedness and +holy greatness. It rejects the apostle's symbol of the olive tree, in +Rom. xi.; Not merely confounding the Jewish and the Gentile +dispensation, denying that the once good olive tree has for a season +become evil, and its branches cut off to make room for the grafts of the +wild olive tree. + +This is emphatically and pre-eminently the time of the wild olive tree, +whereas this theory not only confuses the wild olive with the good, but +denies that it is the grafted branches of the wild olive tree that are +now bearing fruit and receiving blessing. + +When the dispensation of the wild olive, or Gentile, shall end, then, +but not till then, shall the blessing and the glory return to the good +olive--that is, to "all Israel." + +Let us take the Word of God simply as we find it. Let us beware of +fanciful identifications, which, even were they true, are not worth the +stress laid upon them. Suppose I could prove, not by conjecture, but by +registered genealogies, that I belong to the tribe of Ephraim or +Issachar, what does it profit me? Will it make me a holier man to know +that I belong to those northern tribes against which the Lord, when +here, pronounced His darkest woes, as primarily and pre-eminently His +rejectors. "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! It shall +be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Day of Judgment than for +thee." + +Capernaum, the representative of the Ten Tribes, had been condemned for +refusing the Lord of Glory before Jerusalem was cast away. + +To esteem external national prosperity as God's special mark of favour, +is to carnalise all the prophets, and to degrade, not only the glory of +the latter day, but present privileges in Christ; for what a poor thing +these privileges and the glory must be if this sinful nation of ours, +that seems ripe for judgment and rejection, be the exhibition of these, +the fulfilment of Jehovah's promises to the beloved people. + + + + +Other Works by DAVID BARON. + + + The Servant of Jehovah: The New Cheaper Edition. + Sufferings of the Messiah and the Price 3s. 6d. net. + Glory that should Follow + + Types, Psalms and Prophecies: 3rd Revised Edition. + A Selected Series of Old Testament Studies Price 6s. net. + + The Visions and Prophecies of 2nd Cheaper Edition. + Zechariah: "The Prophet of Hope 566 pages, demy 8vo. + and of Glory" Price 7s. 6d. net. + + The Ancient Scriptures and Sixth Edition. + the Modern Jew Crown 8vo. + Price 4s. 6d. net. + The Shepherd of Israel and His + Scattered Flock: A solution of the New Edition. + Enigma of Jewish History Price 2s. 6d. net. + + Israel's Inalienable Possessions: New and Revised Edition. + The Gifts and the Calling of God which are Paper Covers, 9d. net. 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