The promise of a numerous offspring shown to be
literally trueTraced from Abraham down to Moses, thence to
Solomon -- The division of the nation into two kingdoms
The Assyrian captivity Israel lost --
The hunt for lost Israel -- The history by "Oxonlan".
It is appropriate now to show that Abraham has,
at the present time, a literal offspring in the world, very numerous, and
that they are increasing at an unparalleled rate.
It is known to all readers of the Bible, how
cursorily so ever may be that reading, that Abraham begat Isaac, that
Isaac begat Jacob, and that Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs; that these
patriarchs went down into Egypt, where they dwelt some 400 years; that
they were brought out from thence, some two millions or more of people, by
Moses; passing through the Red Sea on dry ground, they were led on by the
divine direction to Mount Sinai, where God gave to his people Israel his
law, written by the finger of God himself.
From thence, after the institution of the
Mosaic ritual, this people were led on, by a cloudy pillar by day but of
fire by night, through that great wilderness, being fed on manna, a bread
from heaven, and water from the rock, so that no one suffered from either
hunger or thirst for forty years in that great wilderness, until they
reached the very borders of the promised land; that here they entered the
land of Canaan by passing through the river Jordan on dry ground, although
the waters of the river at that time overflowed all its banks, (Joshua,
3:15.)
So also, all know how this people, the descendants of
Abraham the whole nation of twelve-tribed Israel were planted in
Canaan; each tribe being assigned his portion by lot, B. C. 1491. Here
this people lived some four hundred years under Judges, till B. C. 1095,
when Saul was anointed as their first king. As the successor to Saul,
David was anointed by divine command, as king, during whose reign the
nation prospered greatly. Next Solomon, David's son, was anointed king',
and he builded the Temple, surpassing ill splendor all buildings the world
has ever seen.
This temple was built by divine direction,
"according' to the pattern shown in the Mount." After Solomon's death,
Rehoboam came to the throne; immediately a trouble arose, caused by the
vast expenditure in building the temple. The old men, therefore, came to
Rehoboam, to inquire if something could not be done to lighten this
terrible burden. But his only reply was, "I don't know; I'll think about
it." Rehoboam then conferred with the young men, who advise him to "make
his finger thicker than his father's loins."
This advice he follows; and proclaiming an
assembling of all the people, he closed his speech by saying', "My father
chastised you with whips, I will chastise you with scorpions." (1 Kings,
12:1-11.) As the result of this speech ten tribes went off with
Jeroboam, a political leader at that time, and thus formed the Kingdom of
Israel, leaving the other two tribes to constitute the Kingdom of Judah.
(1 Kings, 12:12-16.)
Here now let it be distinctly understood and
borne in mind, that the whole Hebrew nation was at this time divided, thus
becoming two kingdoms; the kingdom of Israel, with ten tribes, and the
kingdom of Judah, of two tribes, Judah and Levi: ( It is found that
Benjamin remained with Rehoboam by divine appointment, and that he
continued to constitute a part of that kingdom until the return from
Babylonish captivity. And indeed, Benjamin did not entirely separate
himself until the final destruction of the temple by Titus, the Roman
General. (I kings, 11:34-36. Also, Josephus' Ward, B.V,, 10, 1; Jer 6:1)
These two kingdoms continued henceforth
separate, Judah having for its capital Jerusalem, while Israel's capital
was Samaria. So, also, from this time on to the final consummation, it is
found that the divine predictions are no longer uttered to the
twelve-tribed Israel, but either to the Kingdom of Judah, or to the
Kingdom of ten tribed Israel. The failure to notice this fact has been one
great obstacle to the proper apprehension of the prophesies.
The failure, I say, to have noticed that the
prophesies, for most part, are not directed to the whole Hebrew nation,
but directly to Israel, (ten-tribed) on the one hand, or to Judah as
distinctly on the other. By the observance of this rule much confusion may
be avoided.
This division of the Hebrew nation into two
kingdoms took place B.C. about 980; and from this time on these two
kingdoms are addressed, the one as Judah and the other as Israel And it
will be found that by this latter term "ten-tribed Israel" is commonly, if
not always, meant.
Immediately after the separation of these two
kingdoms, Jeroboam made two golden calves (1 Kings, 12: .a29), and set,
the one in Dan and the other in Bethel, to prevent his people from going
up to Jerusalem to worship. This seems to have been the beginning of that
system of idolatry which finally culminated in "Baalism," one of the chief
rites of which was the public prostitution of every female before the
altar of Baal upon her entering the state of puberty.
By the practice of these diabolical ceremonies,
therefore, Israel became so corrupt that the divine patience could no
longer forbear; and hence Shahnaneser, King of Assyria, was sent by God to
besiege Israel and carry the nation captive, which was accomplished by
destroying Samaria, the capital, and transporting all of its inhabitants
to Assyria and placing them in the cities of the Medes, on the River
Gozan, ]3. C. 720. (2 Kings, 17: 6.)
Here these tribes became lost, as to the
history of the world, but not to the all seeing eye of Him who had placed
them there for their discipline and for the development of that wondrous
plan by which the world was to be brought unto obedience to Jesus Christ,
and Satan and all his works utterly overthrown.
From that time to the present the inquiry has
been, "What has become of lost Israel?" And this inquiry has been
so urgently made during the last hundred years that every nook and corner
of the globe has been searched in the hope of finding these lost ten
tribes of Israel; but all in vain.
So that now, in their despair, some exclaim
"There are no lost tribes of Israel, and hence there are none to be
found." But how has this search been made? What has been the order of it?
What were the objects sought? And would they be known if found? Let us
look at the facts.
The facts are, this search has been made
without any definite plan. The "detective" in searching for a criminal
must have the exact description given of his ma -- his age, complexion,
indeed his very photograph so that he may distinguish this man from all
others in the world wherever found, or in whatever multitude so ever he
may have concealed himself.
But in the hunt after "lost Israel" who has
consulted the one only record where both the whereabouts and the
photograph of Israel is to be found? Who ? What is the description there
given ? The "whereabouts" is said to be "the isles of the
sea," (see Jer. 30:3, and 3: 12, Isa. 41:15; also 10:2023, Isa. 42:10
and 49:1,) and the photograph is given in Gen. 28:12-13, viz.: The
wealthiest of all nations, "thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou
shalt not borrow." "And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the
tail; and thou shalt be above only, and not beneath."
This photograph, then, is of a nation whose
wealth is unparalleled by that of any other nation, and whose political
influence is to be high above all other nations. But instead of hunting
for a nation having these peculiarities, we have ransacked the nooks and
by places of earth to find the nation "high above all others" and searched
the poor houses of the world to find the wealthiest of all nations! (Elias
Boughdenot wrote a book some seventy-five years ago, in which he tried to
prove that the Northwest Indians in America were the lost Israel.)
And all in vain. But as soon as this divine
description of lost Israel was discovered, the hunt has not been at
random, nor in vain. The great wonder now is, why had this not been seen
before? Ah, why? Because this is just as Israel's God would have it. Why
is it that of all the histories that' have been written in two thousand
years now past, not one contains the first mention of the "Kingdom of
Israel" that was placed in the cities of the Medes, on the River
Gozan, about eight hundred miles northeast from Jerusalem, on the
southwest coast of the Caspian Sea?
Why is this? Why, of all the histories of
ancient or modern times has no one ever undertaken the task, till
recently, of gathering up the fragments, searching out and arranging in
their due order the traces of the wanderings of Israel? Who can answer
this question? But this work has now been performed, now in these ends of
the earth, in which the wanderings of this people have been traced for
2,500 years. ("Israel's Wanderings." By Oxonian. Second edition, price 5s.
(Post free, 5s. 4d.) John Heywood, 11 Paternoster building; W. H. Guest,
Paternoster Row, London.)
We are, therefore, now prepared with materials
suitable for hunting up and identifying "lost Israel" when found.
Our first inquiry, then, will be touching the
captivity of Israel; whether all of the "ten tribes" were indeed carried
away by Shalnmneser ?
In answer to this question, it is found that
Dan and Simeon were not disturbed; they remained still in Palestine, in
their original lot. But here, it must be noticed, that some time after the
twelve tribes had been located in Canaan, Dan, found his lot too small for
the great increase of his people. Hence, a company was formed for finding
another place unoccupied, to which they might migrate, and there settle.
Such a place was found in the extreme north of
Canaan, occupied by the natives whom Joshua had been commanded to destroy,
-- a little city called Laish. This they destroyed with all its
inhabitants, and on the ruins built for themselves a city, and called it
Dan, after the name of their' tribe. This branch of the tribe of Dan was
carried captive into Assyria and placed on the River Gozan with the
others. But the other Dan, he that occupied the old homestead, what shall
he do? To unite with Judah, he and Simeon, that they cannot do; for with
Judah they are at "sword's point."
What shall they do, then? They must go
somewhere; not only because Judah is their enemy, but more especially
because of the fear of their greater enemy Shahnaneser. Now it is known
that Dan was a mariner, that "he abode in his ships," (Judges, 5:17), and
also it is known that when Solomon was building the temple some 250 years
before this, Dan was employed in company with the Phoenicians, in
importing tin, from Brittany, (now Cornwall) in England, for the making
brazen vessels for the temple.