Due to the fact, that someone is always asking where Israel is and how did they get there. So I have decided to do the best I can with the material that I have at hand to do my best to show that exact thing. Where is Israel? Where is it today?
This study will not be in perfect chronological order because I am not going to take the weeks and perhaps months to put it in such order; if this doesn�t suffice then delete it and find somewhere else to get the information. But this will be the best I can do, and it will not be a Jewish lie, or a priest of Baal from some pulpit in what I call the whore houses of America: the so-called JudeoChristian Church.
����������������������������� Lost Israel Found
����������������������� In the Anglo-Saxon Race
������������������������� By E. P. Ingersol 1886
The knowledge that the Anglo-Saxon race is Lost Israel (The 'Lost Ten Tribes of The Bible) And that North America is the land of regathered
Israel is very heavily suppressed in today's society. The Jews want to keep for themselves Palestine the 'chosen people' status and use this 'identity' for all it's worth to achieve religious and political goals.
People who teach this �Anglo-Saxons are Israel� belief are called vile names by Jews, names that if applied to the Jews themselves, would be called hate speech and �anti-Semitism.�
But this belief that is not new, just suppressed. Here we reproduce the text of a book published in 1886. That's 115 years ago! This belief was not new. Not new then and not new now. You are to
acquire suppressed knowledge.
Lost Israel Found In the Anglo-Saxon Race or The Promises made to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, all fulfilled in the Anglo-Saxon Race. Established in History. Verified by prophecy.
I have conceived it might be well to inform the reader of this little volume of the manner in which I was first led to the investigation of the subject treated of in this work.
In the fall of 1882 I was preparing a lecture on the Great Pyramid of Geezeh, in Egypt.; and in doing so, I was perusing that great work, Our Inheritance, by Prof. P. Smyth, Astronomer Royal to Scotland. Marking such things as seemed adapted to my lecture, I saw, occasionally, things that I did not need, which I passed over without any particular examination.
At one time I saw the term "Anglo-Saxon," but as I had no use for that, I passed on without any examination whatever. At length, having gone through with the perusal of that great work, and having arranged my notes somewhat, the thought occurred to me; What, what did I see about Anglo-Saxons? I could not tell, nor where to find it. I therefore began turning back, scanning every page, if possibly I might find it.
At length after a long search I found the place, and read: �The Anglo-Saxon being the identical descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel!" so and so. What! what. I said, what under the sun does the man mean? Is he crazy? or am I dreaming? Again and again I read the sentence, but to no benefit; I could make nothing of it. At length, having arranged the materials for my lecture to. my liking, I wrote to Prof. P. Smyth, saying:
"My Dear Sir: I have been perusing your great work on the Pyramid, with a great deal of interest, and a great deal of profit, too, sir; but I came to a sentence [quoting the same] that completely upset me; as the sailors say, �threw me on my beam's end.�
Now, sir, I want to know if there is any possible evidence of such a thing?"
Well, in a short time, I received a most charming letter from the Professor, together with a package of tracts; monographs, every one on this identical subject--not written by himself: These I began at once to explore, and that, too, with no ordinary eagerness. But ere I had completed the reading of the package, I no longer needed to inquire, "Is there any possible evidence of that thing?" for the evidence now burst upon me with such divine effulgence as� well nigh utterly to overwhelm me with its dazzling radiance.
Amazement filled my mind! Why had I never seen this before? And now was borne ill upon my inner soul, as by a divine injunction,
�This gospel go thou and proclaim, till from on high thou art called home;" and I have not been disobedient to this heavenly vision. Not that there was any perceptible manifestation, as in the case of Saul of Tarsus, but the evidence of the identity of the Anglo-Saxons with the lost tribes of Israel became as convincing to me as the manifestation made to Saul, that Jesus Christ was he whom Saul was then persecuting; and from that time to this, I have endeavored to execute my commission to the utmost of my ability.
Now the inquiry is often raised,
"How is it that the truths of the ten tribes of Israel have been so long concealed? Why have they never been known before?"
The only answer that I can give to this inquiry is, "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." It was in the divine plan that Israel (ten-tribed) should be lost, and that a veil should cover all eyes; that they should not see when reading the prophets, so as to apprehend the full meaning of the prophecy.
Hence, who does not know that it has been the commonly received doctrine, that the Jews only were to be returned to Jerusalem? and that this came from their mode of reading the prophecies? For who, of all the commentators on the prophecies can be named, that has not classed all the prophetic utterances as addressed to the Jews only.
Everything is addressed to the Jew's. The Jews alone are to receive, not only all the curses, but all the blessings as well. Indeed, I myself knew no distinction upon this subject, until by investigation in reading the prophets under a classified schedule, placing each and every prophecy under its own appropriate heading, did I learn that the distinction between Israel and Judah was kept up from the time of the formation of the two kingdoms under Rehoboam; the one named the Kingdom of Israel, of ten tribes, with Jeroboam as their king, and the other named the Kingdom of Judah, with Rehoboam as king.
From this time on, the prophecy is addressed to each separately. And there were the two captivities, entirely distinct one from the other; one was always called the Kingdom, or the House of Israel; meaning always ten tribed of. Israel; and the other always the Kingdom, or House of Judah. Why this has not always been observed is indeed a marvel. Hear what Dr. Lyman Abbott says in the last Christian Union (Feb. 11, 1886) on the Sunday - School lesson:
"In all ages of the Christian Church, the restoration of the Jew's has served, and rightly, as a historical prophecy. I do not enter here into ally discussion of the question whether there is to come in the future a second restoration of the Jews to their native land. The question is one in which I have never been able to take much interest, and in which I have, perhaps, for that reason never obtained much light."
What better reason could possibly be given why Dr. Abbott should "never have obtained, much light" :No, he says, "he never could take much interest in the question." Neither has any other man who supposed that all these predictions related to the Jews only. But once let the Doctor get his eyes open to the true reading of the prophecies; that not only Judah, but Ephraim also, are both of them "two of a family and one of a tribe," to be brought by God
himself and thus planted in the land given to their fathers; planted there from which they shall nevermore be rooted up, and where they shall be no more two nations, but one nation, and they shall have one King over them, even "my servant David," for thus saith the Lord; and he will no� longer complain of the want of interest, or of the want of light.
Consideration of the promises to the fathers; The meaning of the same, Their application. Consideration of the promises to the fathers 1. To Abraham,
Genesis 12:1-3
1-3: "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee; and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.�
Genesis 17:4-8
4: As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
5: Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
6: And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
7: And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8: And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
To Isaac the promise repeated, see Genesis 26: 2-4. The promises renewed and enlarged unto Jacob: Genesis 48: 1-20; also Genesis 28-13-1,5.
������������� SPECIFICATION OF THE PROMISES.
1). The everlasting possession of all the land of Canaan, from the
river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates.
2). A numerous offspring, like the stars of Heaven, innumerable.
3). A blessing to all nations of the earth.
4). Jacob's blessing to the two sons of Joseph.
These several blessings are all to be fulfilled literally.
1). The possession of the land. The promise to Abraham was specific: (I will quote the scriptures that he gives although they are not like I have in the King James, and since I don�t know the translation that he is using I will have to rely on him being honest and trustworthy)
Genesis 17:8
8: And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
Was ever a deed made more specific as to its boundaries; the parties to whom the land is given more definitely named, and the warranty of the deed more surely established ?
2). A numerous offspring. This promise was made while as yet Abram had no child, but the promise was made by Him who cannot lie; that a son should be born to Abraham, through whom this numerous offspring should arise:
"In Isaac shall thy seed be called." And that these descendants were to be compared to the stars of heaven or to the sands of the seashore, innumerable. These multitudes of descendants of Abraham, then, must be veritable flesh and blood, living men and women, for they are to possess, by actual inheritance, the whole land of Canaan. Spiritual belongs cannot inherit landed estates.
It will be Shown hereafter that the seed of Abraham is now numbered by many scores of millions. As to the fulfillment of this promise, there can be, I think, no differences of opinion. That the promise made to Abraham was to extend to all the nations of the world, is, so far as I know, believed by all who receive the Bible as divinely inspired. But as to the manner in which this blessing is to be manifested, there may be some doubt.
My own opinion is that this blessing is to be universal, both in kind and in extent; in other words, it is to be both spiritual and temporal; that all nations are promised the highest degree of temporal prosperity, as certainly as the greatest of spiritual blessings.
4). The blessings of Jacob to the two sons of Joseph were, that "Ephraim should grow into a multitude of nations," but Manasseh should become "one great people." The language in which these promises are given can admit, as it seems to me, of only one interpretation, and that is a literal interpretation, viz.: That the descendants of Ephraim are actually to become a multitude of nations, and that Manasseh is actually to grow into one mighty nation in the world.
The promise of a numerous offspring shown to be literally true; Traced 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."
The promise of a numerous offspring shown to be literally true 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)
Traced from Abraham down to Moses, thence to Solomon. So also, all know how this people, the descendants of Abraham the whole nation of thirteen-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. The division of the nation into two kingdoms 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; Jeremiah 6:1) Editor's comment: Read Josephus account for yourself and see that the Jews divided into three factions. These three Jewish groups were fighting amongst themselves. Rome tried, but failed to act a peacekeeper. The Jews destroyed the temple while fighting each other and have blamed Titus ever since.
While the temple was burning the Romans tried to put out the fire. The Romans were so disgusted and frustrated with the conduct of the Jews of Jerusalem that, when it was all over, they finished the job by leveling the city as an example to the rest of the world).
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 thirteen-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.
������������� HISTORY OF ISRAEL, (TEN TRIBES.)
Immediately after the separation of these two kingdoms, Jeroboam made two golden calves (1 Kings, 12:29), 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.
������������������������� The Assyrian captivity
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. Israel lost 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.
����������������������� The Hunt For Lost Israel
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 Jeremiah 30:3, and 3:12, Isaiah 41:15; 10:2023; 42:10; 49:1,) and the photograph� is given in Genesis 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?
���������������������� The history by "Oxonlan"
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, John Heywood, W. H. Guest 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.
Dan's migration: A colony to Greece; At the sacking of Troy, Settlement of twelve cities in Asia Minor, The Lacedemonians, Israelites, by Josephus; Dan's escape with Simeon to Ireland, Simeon in Walesm, The other Dan escapes to Denmark, via north of the Black Sea, giving his name to every river crossed; His final settlement in Denmark Dan's Migration to Ireland Dan's migration.
A colony to Greece From historic evidences that have come to light recently, it seems that Dan had long been familiar with the then Western World; that he had been accustomed to the performance of voyages with the Phoenicians all over the Mediterranean Sea, and beyond outside the Straits of Hercules; and that alone, unaccompanied by any of his neighbors, he had sailed to Egypt, and from thence into Greece, taking with him a colony of his own people; and that these Danai are said to have been among the first settlers in Greece. (See "Wanderings of Israel," by Oxouian)
At the sacking of Troy; Settlement of twelve cities in Asia Minor It is farther stated, that Dan was engaged in the sacking of Troy; that afterwards he conquered Macedonia, and that Alexander seems to have descended from this very tribe of Israel.
It is furthermore stated, that Dan settled, after the sacking of Troy, in that very region, where he built twelve cities. The Lacedemonians, Israelites, by Josephus: Josephus says that the Lacedemonians were the very kindred of the Jews. (See Antiq. XII, IV, 10 and XIII, V, 8.)
Dan's escape with Simeon to Ireland Now, with these historic data before us, is it strange that Dan and Simeon, having been left by Shalmaneser, undisturbed in their own lot, yet cut off from all connection with the Kingdom of Israel, to which they belonged, from which they were now separated eternally, so far as they knew; that they should flee to some far distant land beyond the reach of their oppressors, where they might form for themselves a kingdom of their own, beyond all fear, and beyond all knowledge of their enemies?
Accordingly, we find this the very resolution� they adopted. Having been long acquainted with the (to them) far-western lands, and having ships of' their own, it is found that, having embarked with whatever of their effects they could carry, they set sail, (B. C. about 720) and going westward, by the way of Tarshish, now Tartessus; thence through the straits of Hercules, and around into the great Atlantic, northward.
������������������������������ Simeon in Wales
What their ultimate destination was is not now known, but being far out at sea, they were driven by a storm far to the north, and landed somewhere upon the coast of Norway. But here they did not remain; sailing away from here, they directed their course south towards the sun, and finally landed on the northern coast of Ireland; where Dan made his camp, placing Simeon, the meantime, directly over on the coast of Scotland, where it is said he remained a while, and then migrated down south into Wales, where he is today.
But Dan established himself, permanently, in the north of Ireland,� where we shall find him hereafter, with a regularly organized government.
������������������������������ THE OTHER DAN
It has been stated that the colony of Dan, which settled in the extreme north of Canaan, was carried off by Shalmancser, with the rest of his brethren. What now shall he do? It would seem that the perpetual separation from the parental stock of his own tribe was far from agreeable to him. What shall he do, therefore? Whether he may have learned of Dan's and Simeon's escape to the islands far west, is not known.
But Dan being naturally a kind of pioneer, soon starts off in his wanderings to find his brother Dan, yet not knowing whither he should direct his course; but some unseen guide points his way westward. On and on he goes, following his� unknown guide, yet leaving his track behind him, and that, too, so permanent that it is seen today bearing his own name.
This is found at his encampments, ill crossing rivers, and in his finial resting place. His first course, located as lie was between the Caspian and Black seas, was northward, for if he went south of the Black Sea he would expose himself to the Assyrians, and thus his flight be cut off: To the north then he goes, and the first river he crossed he gave his own name, Dan, (now the Don)
The next he called Demiester, (now Dniester) The next he crossed he named Danieper, (now Dnieper) The next great river was The Danube, which name the philologists tell us means the settlements of Dan. Here he seems to have made a longer tarry than at any former encampment. The other Dan escapes to Denmark, via north of the Black Sea, giving his name to every river crossed His final settlement in Denmark But that unseen hand still beckoned him onward, for this was not his rest.
On he goes, therefore, up the Danube, making no known settlement till he reaches the very source of the great river. Here, it is said, he made a circuit in search of a place to rest, but finding none, he was led by the same unseen Guide northward, whither he directed his steps, wandering hither and thither like Israel of old in the wilderness, till finally his Guide marked his camping ground in Danemarsch, (Denmark)
Here Dan fixed his camp, from which he spread out into Holland, into Norway and Sweden, peopling all that country by the help of some other tribes, which came hence afterwards. In reviewing the ground now gone over we find that Dan and Simeon have both been located; Simeon in Wales, where he made his permanent abode, and Dan, the elder, on the north coast of Ireland, while Dan, the younger, is fixed in Denmark. (Eldad, an eminent Jewish writer, says:
"In Jeroboam's day, 975 B. C., Dan refused to shed his brother's blood; and rather than go to war with Judah, he left the country and went in a body to Greece, to Juvan and to Denmark"
Jeremiah's escape to Ireland; The Babvlonish captivity, His treatment by the Jews, by Nebuehadnezzar: Taking the ark and Jacob's stone out of the temple, Going down to Egypt with Baruch and the women, His flight thence to Ireland. The marriage of Tephi to Eoehaid; Crowned on Jacob's stone, Transmitted down through every reign to Victoria, who was last crowned on it, Now in Westminster Abbey.
Tephi's death and burial in Tarah; Hebrew institutions established by Jeremiah.
Jeremiah's� escape to Ireland
Jeremiah 1:10
10: See, I 'have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow; to build up and to plant.
Ezekiel 17:22
22: Thus saith the Lord I will also take of the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top most of his young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it upon a high mountain and eminent."
These passages of scripture are believed to teach what Jeremiah was about to do in Ireland. It is necessary to refer now to Judah. Judah was still left in Jerusalem, after Israel was carried away captive into Assyria, for Judah's cup of bitterness had not yet become full. But he was fast following on the same course of idolatry practiced by Israel.
Yet the "long-suffering" of God endured for all hundred and thirty years after Israel's captivity, when, Judah's cup being full, God sent Nebuehadnezzar, who utterly destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple, and carried all the principal people to Babylon.
���������������������� The Babvlonish Captivity
The account of the Babylonish captivity is contained in 2 Kings, 25:1-20, and in the last chapter of Jeremiah; a brief account of which it may be well to look at. By consulting the prophecy of Jeremiah, (Jeremiah chapters 36, 37,
38, 40,) it appears that he had been charged with a message to Judah, the sum of which was, that the iniquities of that nation had become so great that they were to be all sent to Babylon, where they would be cured of their idolatry.
Jeremiah's treatment by the Jews, by Nebuehadnezzar This was their great sin, and this sin Jeremiah charged home upon them with great power. But they would not listen to the preaching of that prophet of God, but declared that they would not go to Babylon; and in their wrath thrust Jeremiah down into that deep pit, where it was found he would soon die, being sunk down in the mire.
He was therefore taken out and placed in the court of the prison, where he remained until the temple was destroyed. Now it was that the first attack was made on Judah by Nebuehadnezzar. In this battle, the army of the Jews was defeated, the king, Zedekiah, taken, his eyes put out, his sons slain, and his daughters delivered into the care of Jeremiah.
We find also that the King of Babylon charged Nebuzaradan, his chief captain, to look well to Jeremiah; to administer to all his wants; to give him liberty to dwell and to (go wherever he might wish; and that nothing should be withheld.
Also it is found that the temple was sacked by Nebuehadnezzar at that time, and all the sacred vessels taken out and carried to Babylon. These vessels are all numbered and specified, but no mention is made of the "Ark of the Covenant." (Ezra 1:5-11)
So, also, when Cyrus, some seventy years after this, ordered all these vessels which Nebuehadnezzar had taken from the temple, to be returned to Jerusalem, no mention is made of the "Ark of the Covenant"! (Ezra, 1:7-11) Josephus� also mentions the same things, but is silent respecting the Ark of the Covenant! Now why this silence?
This sacred vessel, the most highly prized of all the vessels of the temple, has no mention made of it. Why is this? If it had been in the temple, would it not most surely have been taken by Nebuehadnezzar, being an object of priceless value? Taking the ark and Jacob's stone out of the temple
There seems but one answer possible to these questions. Jeremiah, we know, had full liberty of the temple, which Nebuehadnezzar had given him on his first approach to Jerusalem... Furthermore, Jeremiah knew that the temple was to be destroyed utterly; therefore it is believed, though it can not be proved here, that he went into the temple before it was sacked by Nebuehadnezzar, and took from thence "the Ark of the Covenant," and Jacob's stone on which he had rested his head at Bethel, which he had erected as a witness, and anointing' it, said "this is Bethel," (God's house.)
These Jeremiah took to himself he and Baruch, and preserved them for future use, of which mention shall be made hereafter. Going down to Egypt with Baruch and the women At the second invasion of Jerusalem the temple was burnt; the king's house, and the very walls of the city destroyed, and all the principal people carried to Babylon. But Jeremiah with Baruch and a few others were left. These soon determined to go down to Egypt, although Jeremiah had told them that death would surely be the result. But all went down, yet none ever returned save Jeremiah and Baruch and the women. (Jeremiah 42:17; 44:14, 28)
This is the last account the scriptures give of Jeremiah. But what shall he now do? Judah is carried away captive to Babylon; the beautiful temple is burned up with fire, and Jerusalem itself deserted and laid waste! What shall lie do? Whither shall he flee? Stay in Jerusalem he cannot, for all is gone! The kingdom is utterly subverted, and all the tribes of Israel are gone, utterly swept from the land given them by God, and the whole land is desolate. But has Jeremiah finished his whole work assigned to him? What was that work?
Jeremiah 1:10
10: See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.
Here, then, is his commission. He is God's minister plenipotentiary, and as yet he has been employed only in rooting up and throwing down; now he must finish by "planting" and "building up."
But where shall he go, and how is this great work to be done? Jeremiah must certainly know where Dan is. And he knows, too, that he has in his own possession, Tephi, the daughter of king Zedekiah, the only living heir to the throne of David; and as we shall find, the "coronal stone" he has in his possession.
Jeremiah's flight thence to Ireland Now we shall find soon after this, according to the Irish records, that "a wise, holy man from the East came to Dan, bringing with him his scribe, Brugsch, [Barueh?] also a beautiful princess, daughter of a king." (B. C. about 525.) Dan had now a regularly organized government, and Eochaid II was the reigning prince. This prince, when he beheld that beautiful damsel, said to Jeremiah: "I must marry that beautiful princess."
Well, replied Jeremiah, on this ground alone: your government must be purged of all Baalism, and based on the divine law which I have here. The marriage of Tephi to Eoehaid; Crowned on Jacob's stone, Transmitted down through every reign to Victoria, who was last crowned on it, Now in Westminster Abbey To this Eochaid assented, and so the marriage was ratified by Jeremiah, and Tephi was crowned on Jacob's Stone.
Then this stone was given to them, to be transmitted down through every reigning flintily, as the "title-deed" to the land of Canaan. In obedience to this injunction, the stone was transmitted down through every succeeding reign in Ireland to Fergus I, who took it over to Scotland, (B. C. 320,) and thence down through every reign to James VI, of Scotland, James VI, of England, and thus down through every reign to Victoria, the last who was crowned upon it; and this identical stone is now in Westminster Abbey!
Hebrew institutions established by Jeremiah. In Ireland, Jeremiah established the "School of' the Prophets," the supreme judgeship, and several other Hebrew institutions, according to the Mosaic ritual.
Thus did Jeremiah fulfill his commission, by "planting and building;" for here was certainly established the Throne of David by the coronation of Tephi, the true lineal descendant of David himself; and then laying the foundations of the government in strict accordance with the divine requirements. (See Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy)
Tephi's death and burial in Tarah But what became of this Queen Tephi? It is said that she died a few years after, leaving a family of young children, and that her death was mourned by all the people, in prose, in verse and in song, as none other has ever been mourned for. And as for poor Eochaid, his heart was so torn he said,
"I must make a great mausoleum for my beloved queen;" and he did so, building a tomb in the center sixty feet square, ill which the body of' Tephi was placed, and over it was constructed a great mound, which he named "Tara," a pure Hebrew word, meaning "two tables."
And here, it is believed by some, was placed the Ark of the Covenant, together with its sacred contents. Now, as to the Ark of the Covenant, no one knows definitely what became of it. It seems to be acknowledged by all that it was known to have been in the temple before the invasion by Nebuehadnezzar, as also Jacob's stone; and that there is no mention made, in the enumeration of the articles taken from the temple by Nebuehadnezzar, of the Ark of the Covenant, nor of Jacob's stone.
The great inquiry, for a long time has been, "What became of the Ark?" But no answer has as yet been given which seems entirely satisfactory. In II Maccabees this passage is found:
II Maccabees, 2:1-8
1-8: It was also contained in the same writing that the prophet, being warned of God, commanded the tabernacle and the Ark to go with him [Jeremiah ] as he went forth into the mountain, where Moses climbed up and saw the heritage of God. And when Jeremy came thither, he found a hollow cave, wherein he laid the tabernacle, and the ark, and altar of incense, and no stopped the door. And some of those that followed him came to mark the way, but they could not find it.
�Which when Jeremy perceived, he blamed them, saying, As for that place, it shall be unknown until the time that God gathers his people together again and receives them into mercy. Then shall the Lord shew them these things, and the glory of the Lord shall appear, and the cloud also, as it was shown unto Moses."
This account purports to have been taken from the records of Jewish history, and the writer, whoever he may have been, in the history he has written has given the exact account of many things, in language similar to the account ill the Bible of the same events. It would seem, therefore, if credence is to be given to the writer in these things, it might be justly claimed as to the account given of the disposition of the ark, the tabernacle, etc. Why not? Incredible?
Is this any more incredible than the wonderful events recorded as having transpired at Mt. Sinai? or the feeding the Israelites with manna? or the burying of Moses in the mount by the hand of God? All these, you say, were miraculous� manifestations, made for a special purpose. True; but would not the ark, etc., seem to require that same divine protection? It is, indeed, believed by some that the ark was transported to Ireland and there buried in Tarah.
Perhaps it was; for in that belief an effort was made in England not long ago to raise a fund sufficient to buy Tarah, with the view of searching the tomb of Tephi and see if the ark could not be found; but of late that work seems to have ceased, either for the want of money or from the decline of evidence that the ark was ever brought to Ireland by Jeremiah.
But whatever became of the ark, can we think for a moment that it was destroyed? For myself, I cannot but believe it will yet be found, brought to light in God's good time, and in this I rest with the utmost confidence.
Let us now turn to the history of the other eight tribes, still left in Assyria. Again, it may be well to state that these tribes were carried away from Canaan by the divine command and placed in the cities of the Medes on the River Gozan, on the southwest coast of the Caspian Sea, B. C. 720. Here they became lost to the history of the world, strange as it may seem! Yet this is no less strange than true; for' in all histories, whether ancient or modern, no mention is made of these people by their own appropriate name; "Israelites."
And can anyone doubt that this is only the beginning of the working out of the divine plan by which God's Israel was to be "scattered among all nations" to" be sifted as wheat, vet not a kernel should fall to the ground" "that Israel should remain many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice," (Hosea 3:4,) but in the end "the house of Israel is to be brought up out of their graves (valley of dry bones), and they shall be brought unto their own land again; then shall ye know that I am the Lord." ( Ezekiel 37:1-14.)
It is true, indeed, that historians have made mention of the Scythians, the Saccae, the Kymry, the Goths and Vandals, but who those wild tribes were or where they came from no one seems to have known, having never taken the trouble to inquire into this subject, but now, in these "ends of the world," in this latter day, some have begun hunting up this matter, and now it is found that for these 2,500 years historians have been stumbling over these "boulders" of antiquity, not dreaming that they were of any worth, having been knocked about and kicked aside as of no worth, till at length by this rough treatment one of these castoff "boulders" is broken, when lo!. a pearl of infinite value!
Yes, now the evidence begins to dawn for the first that these Scythians, etc., are indeed the very Israelites who were carried away by Shahnaneser into Assyria, B. C. 720, and since then one and another have been working this mine of antiquities; and the further they go, the deeper they dig, the richer and more abundant is their reward, for now it is found that "Israel's wanderings" may� be traced in all lands� whose soever they have been scattered.
And the wonder now is, why has this never been seen. before? Why has the world been stumbling over this evidence, clear as the noonday, but never seen it before'? The only answer is, "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." The "veil has been kept on all eyes" until the time for the recovery of Israel drew nigh. And, then, it cannot be all removed at once; the light would be too great, just as the advent of' Christ was heralded by many prophetic annunciations, these all becoming clearer and clearer as the day approached; yet when the advent actually took place, who was ready for it?
Even the heralding of the angels and the pointing of the star was not sufficient to open the blind eyes of the haughty scribes and Pharisees. Just so at the present day. The fulfillment of God's promises made to the fathers, we have all been stumbling over so long that many say, "There are no lost tribes of Israel, and hence there are none to be found." And to the history now brought forward of the veritable "Wanderings of Israel," it is said by some of our scribes; D. D's and LL. D's, "It does not appear that any of
the great scholars of the world give credence to this history."
Yes, that is pretty true; the great mass of them do give no credence to this history. But why? Simply because they have not examined it. "How can they believe without a preacher?" How can one believe in the truth of a history never read with care? But this my observation has taught me: that I have never yet found the person who, having examined the story of Israel's Wanderings," and tile evidence of the fulfillment of certain prophecies, in the Anglo-Saxon race, has ever yet suggested a doubt even, as to the credibility of tile evidence.
We will, therefore, now turn to the consideration of this evidence. And first, as to the Canaanites and Kelts; in other words, the Gaels and the Gauls. It is known that when Joshua entered the land of Caiman as the leader of Israel, God's commander by special appointment to succeed Moses, his commission charged him to destroy utterly all the inhabitants of Canaan; yet not suddenly, "lest the wild beasts might overrun the land;" but if' he should fail to do this, those inhabitants not destroyed ultimately would ever in all their dwellings "become thorns in your sides and burrs in your eves." Joshua, 23:13
This charge was enforced by repeated injunctions. Hence, in obedience to this command, we find Joshua faithful in executing to the letter, the very spirit of the command, as he as was practicable. But in all cases this could not be done. For it is now known that when Jericho was destroyed, B. C. 1503, a few of the inhabitants escaped; such great fear had taken possession of all the inhabitants of the land.
And these, having ships, fled far away, and made a settlement somewhere on the north shores of the Mediterranean Sea; for at that time there were very few if any inhabitants in Europe, and what few there might have been, dwelt in the extreme eastern part of Europe; all the west being a wilderness, and wholly uninhabited by man. Hence these escapees from Joshua seem to have been the pioneers in the settlement of western Europe.
Israel's Wanderings. By Oxonian. In process of time, Joshua, having conquered the most of Canaan and assigned to the various tribes their lot, Israel began to spread abroad also, seeking for the enlargement of his borders; hence the colony of Dan in the extreme north, near the foot of Lebanon. Dan also being a mariner, "abiding in his ships," pursued his wanderings on the sea in search of new lands; but this he did in company with the Phoenicians, who were those very Canaanites whom Joshua had not destroyed.
These, together with Dan and other of his Israelitish brethren, are said to have made settlements in Spain and in France, and even outside the pillars of Hercules. These settlements, made at first on the coasts, soon began to penetrate into the interior, so that in process of time they reached not only the northern boundary of Spain, but France also was occupied by them wholly, and these were known by the different names -- Gaels, Gauls, and Kelts, this latter name being appropriated by the Israelites and the two former chiefly by the Canaanites.
The final termini of these people, after penetrating through Spain and France, were made, the one in the south of Ireland, ;tie other in England. From these Canaanites came the Gads, the present inhabitants of the south of Ireland, who have ever spoken the Phoenician language, with but sixteen letters in its alphabet; while the Kelts settled in England, which was uninhabited, save by the wild beasts. And here and thus came the original inhabitants of England.
From these came the "Druids," those mighty builders of "Stonehenge" and other like remains believed to have been their temples of worship, where sacrifices were offered, in some instances even human sacrifices, which latter, it is believed, the Israelites adopted from the Phoenicians, for it is a welt-known that that these offered human sacrifices to their gods in Baal worship, and also that other services, most licentious, were enjoined in the Baal ritual, viz., every female was bound to offer herself in
prostitution, publicly, before the altar of Baal, as a prerequisite to acceptance of all the rites of Baalism, and other things equally abominable.
How many of these peculiar sacrifices of Baalism were adopted by the Druids is not now certainly known, but it is to be feared they were not entirely innocent. Yet when their whole ritual is examined, it is found, that it seemed to have been copied directly from the Mosaic ritual. The points of resemblance have been specified by several authors, and shown to be numerous, and in several of the more important to be identical.
Let us now refer to the eight tribes left in Assyria, and learn, if possible, what became of them. In reading Rawlinson's "Seven Great Monarchies," one often stumbles on the names "Scythians, " "Sacae-Suni," "Khumri," etc., but no mention is made as to who they were, save that they were barbarians, coming from the far north, and a very powerful, savage horde. But Rawlinson might, for he certainly had the means, have learned the meaning of every one of these terms; their origin, and who these wild tribes were, and where they came from.
But it seems the time had not yet come for this work to be done. The divine plan was not yet sufficiently developed. But since that time there are now found men who have solved this whole riddle. The term Scythian is said to be properly written Scuth, and this derived from the Hebrew word Succoth, meaning booths, in which the children of Israel were commanded to dwell during the feast of ingathering, seven days. (See Leviticus 23:39-44.)
Sacae-Suni is a Hebrew term, meaning in English The Sons of Isaac; In Isaac shall thy seed be called." (Genesis 21:12.) Khumri = Beth-humri = "The house of Omri," the name applied by the Assyrian inscription to the kingdom of Israel. Cimmerians, made directly from Sammaria. Engel, Ephraim was called an "heifer." (Hosea, 10:11)
Hence the term Anglo-Saxon in English means the "Ephraim-Isaac people." With this definition of terms we are now ready to proceed, bearing in mind that the term Scuth is put often for Israelites, and Sacae = Isaac; "Engel," = Ephraim; hence Anglo-Saxons may be translated the "Ephraim-Isaac people."
It has before been stated that the Kingdom of Israel was carried away captive into Assyria by Shalmaneser, B. C. 720, and placed in the cities of the Medes on the River Gozan, on the southwest coast of the Caspian Sea, about eight hundred miles northeast from Jerusalem.
This place they retained as their home for at least one hundred years. But they were by no means silent spectators. Dr. Moore, in his history of this people, has traced them in all their wanderings during the time of their sojourn, in Assyria; so that, if we credit his statements, we have a very readable and most intensely interesting account of what these Israelites did in that first hundred years of their captivity.
First, it is stated that the Scuths wandered off into the country east of the Caspian Sea, where they held unlimited sway, and that from these fastnesses they sallied down upon the Kingdoms of' Media and Persia in triumph wherever they went.
Indeed, they are said to have held possession of all the country for a time, all the way from their then home in the north, clear down to the farther India. And B.C. 623 a child was born in India of this very people, named "Saca-Muni."
"The Lost Tribes and the Saxons of the East and the West, with new views of Buddhism and Translations of Rock Records in India," by George Moore, M. D. This child made early manifestations of wonderful mental and moral characteristics; that he early gained supreme ascendancy among his own people; that he taught his people religiously for forty years, and established a system of religion in which was taught the very principles of the "Decalogue."
This system of religion was called Buddhaism, after his own name, which was Buddha; that this system taught a pure monotheism, and also the expectation, or, rather, I should say, "He foretold the future coming of the Lord of the world, who, destroying the serpent, should bring peace, and who should spring from the Sakyan race."
"In Isaac shall thy seed be called"! Further east, amongst that ancient nation the Chinese, and almost contemporaneously with Sakya, Budah, another great reformer, arose, who, it� seems to me, must have been of the elect generations. This was Confucius, born B. C. 584, the preacher of a purer religion to China and the denouncer of the vice and immorality of the times; "to treat others according to the treatment which they themselves would desire at their hands, to guard their secret thoughts; that true renown consists in straightforward and honest sincerity, in the love of justice, in the knowledge of mankind, and in humility.
�He advocated the "law of retaliation," so prominent in the Mosaic code; and he is called at the present day "the most holy teacher of ancient times." Now, into whatever portion of the world� these Israelitish wanderers may have penetrated, it is certain that they could not be utterly lost, but that their descendants must still survive, for thus saith the Lord:
Amos 9:9,10
10: "Lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not a grain fall upon the earth."
From this we may know that absorption is impossible; that God has his eye upon every one of his people Israel, in all their wanderings.
Jeremiah 29:14
29: I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you."
And further, we may consider this most striking fact in connection with Confucius, "that though only a single descendant survived Confucius, the succession has continued through sixty-seven or sixty-eight generations to the present day, in the very district where their great ancestor was born. Various honors and privileges have always distinguished the family. (Wanderings of Israel, by Oxonian, pp. 61 and 62)
What then, is the teaching of these two examples, derived from the works of Israel in ages long ago? The work done by Buddha, B. C. 623, extended over a vast area of country, and became the established religion throughout all India.
And to our great wonder, British Israel today holds under its benign sway more than 200,000,000 of the descendants of Saca-Muni of old!! So wonderful are the providences of God, and so certain are all his promises made to Abraham to be fulfilled!
Man may oppose, and Satan use his deepest machinations to thwart the promises of God, yet He that ruleth over all will laugh at them; He will bring all their counsels to naught, or make them, in the end, to conspire for the accomplishment of the very thing they had purposed to destroy.
After the work of the "wanderers" in India and in China was established, we find these Scuths (for that seems to be the leading tribe) back in Persia pursuing their conquests, until they finally held possession of all the country for twenty years.
And Herodotus says,
"The Scuths, having invaded Media, were opposed by the Medes, who gave them battle, but being defeated, lost their empire. The Scuths became masters of Asia. Thence they marched against Egypt, conquering wherever they went.� (Wanderings of Israel, by Oxonian, pp. 62-65)
The dominion of the Scuths over Asia lasted twenty-eight years, during which time their insolence and oppression spread ruin on every side; they scoured the country and plundered every one of whatever they could." (Israel�s Wanderings, p. 67)
Now the time drew near when they were to be led out of Asia; led by that same unseen hand that led their fathers out of Egypt. We quote from the Apocrypha:
"And whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable multitude unto him; those are the ten tribes which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea, the king, whom Shalmaneser, the King of Assyria, led away captive; and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land.
�But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt, that they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land. And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow passages of the river; for tile Most High then showed signs for them, and held still the flood till they were passed over.
�For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half; and the same region is called Arsareth. Then dwelt they there till the latter time," (II Esdras 13:39-48): that is until the age of the Messiah.
In addition to this, we have the testimony of Herodotus (Israel's Wanderings," by 0xonian, pp. 50, 51)
Herodotus, in his histories, confirms the account given by Esdras in every particular. And this Herodotus, who is he? Oxonlan makes it appear that he was himself an Israelite of the tribe of Dan. (Israel's Wanderings," p. 50, note)
In the quotation from Esdras, the account of the captivity of ten tribed Israel is identical with that in II Kings, 17; so that we have here the testimony of three witnesses of the captivity of Israel into Assyria, of their sojourn there, and of their removal thence. Of this� removal, Herodotus and Esdras use almost the same language in rehearsing the events.
But we now have yet more confirmatory evidence of the removal of Israel from Assyria to the "land uninhabited by man," a year and a half's journey distant. Oxonian, in his history, has given maps in which is traced the line of the wanderings of Israel in all their journey, from their leaving the cities of the Medes on the River Gozan, and on the southwest coast of the Caspian Sea, till they reached the end of their journey at Arsareth.
On these maps, which give the true geographical position of all the lands through which Israel passed, their road is marked by dotted line, thus: ...This line leads first from their starting-point to the crossing of the Euphrates, high up in the mountains, the only pass known in that region, which course is northwesterly. Here, Esdras says, "God kept back the waters till Israel had passed over!" Is this any more wonderful than the crossing of the Jordan on dry ground by the same Israel under the guidance of the same divine power?
If we believe the one, why not the other? Or if we reject the one, why not the other also? After crossing the Euphrates, their course is north and northeast, then west to the Black Sea; thence in a northwesterly course, following the windings of the shores, till the Crimea is reached and passed through; then on in the same general course to Arsareth, which on an old map is discovered to be on the northwest coast of the Black Sea.
Here at length Israel pitched their camp, after the journeying of a year and a half, a distance of' 1,500 miles in a direct line. The exact date of' this removal is not yet known, but from the best data now in the possession of historians, it would seem that the settlement of Israel on the northwest coast of the Black Sea must have been at least 500 years B. C. (And here let it be borne in mind, Esdras says this was a "country uninhabited by man;" clearly teaching that Europe, at least that part of Europe, had never been occupied by human beings)
Let us now learn, if we can, something of what transpired during their occupancy of' this land. As to the area of this country, it is said by Oxonlan to be bounded on the east by the River Don (nee Dan), on the south by the Black Sea and the River Danube, on the west by the upper waters of the Vistula, by the Carpathian mountains, and the lower course of the River Sereth, to its mouth on the Danube.
The north side was bounded by a low range of hills, parallel to the coast of the Sea of Azov and the Baltic Sea, and extending nearly to the Baltic; a country about 500 miles square, giving an area of 250,000 square miles. And this is now known to be the most fruitful country in Europe; and in this fruitful country these Israelites sojourned at least 500 years, probably more.
But, it seems, they never regarded this as their home; they were still seeking a place of rest, from which they would be no more removed till their final removal back to the land of their captivity; for they still had the impression, (by what means so ever obtained), that their removal from Canaan and "being scattered among all the nations" was not to last forever; although they had no knowledge of the prediction uttered by Isaiah, that they were to be planted in the isles of the sea. (Isaiah 41:1; Zechariah 2:6-13)
For this prophecy was not given till after the captivity in Assyria. But while the old men and women and children remained at home with their flocks and herds, and to till the soil whence they obtained food and raiment, the men of war; such as were able to bear arms, many of them were found making their way into the different parts of Europe, still seeking a place to settle which they might call home.
But this place was never found, until they had reached the "Isles of the West." But we shall find much to instruct and interest us in the wanderings of these tribes during this long time of habitation on the northwest coast of the Black Sea. During this period of 500 years or more, these Scuths had some twelve or thirteen battles with Rome. (There are tombstones now in the museum at St. Petersburg, which were discovered in the Crimea, and which leave no doubt on this subject. The dates on these stones are given, and the inscriptions are as follows:
(1)"This is the tombstone of Buki, the son of Izchak, the priest. May his rest be in Eden at the time of the salvation of Israel. In the year 702 of our exile."
(2) "Rabbi Moses Levi, died in the year 726 of our exile."
(3) "Zadok the Levite, son of Moses, died 4000 after the creation, 785 of our exile."
Could there be a more striking coincidence than that afforded by the evidence of these tombstones, three in number?) Something of agriculture we will look at first. It is stated by Herodotus that "about 438 B. C., the Scuths extended their dominion to the eastern side of the Kimmeria,1 Bosphorus, or Straits of Yenckaleh. This territory they held till 304 B.C. From 393 B. C. to 353 B. C., the Seuthic corn trade rose to an unprecedented height. The ordinary trade with Athens was 600,000 bushels, and on one occasion as much as 3,150,000 bushels were shipped for the same place from one port in the Crimea.
In their many battles with Rome, the first is said to have occurred B. C. 113. The Scuths (Elsewhere called the Kimmerians. The Kimbri is the more proper name) are said to have wandered south till they met the Roman consul, Cn. Papirius Carbo, who on receiving the envoys of the Kimbri sent them off in a false direction, and himself went with his army and attacked these Kimbri, who were wholly unprepared for battle.
"But they resisted boldly, and at length the betrayed defeated the betrayer."
Carbo lost many of his men. He would have lost his whole army but for a sudden thunder storm, which shrouded the heavens in darkness and separated the forces. The Roman army was routed and dispersed. "That storm," says Mommsen, (Israel's Wanderings," p. 79.) "alone prevented the complete annihilation of the Roman army."
The Kimbri might have immediately advanced on Rome, but they were held back by the same superintending hand that had led Israel in all its wanderings hitherto. "The Fourth Empire was not yet ripe for its final doom." Oxonian states that three years elapsed before we hear of these Kimbri again. At this time they came into Roman territory in southern Gaul, and requested the Romans to assign them land, whereon they might settle peaceably; but this request was contemptuously rejected, and the Roman general, M. Junius Silanus, attacked them, but he was utterly defeated, and the Roman camp was taken.' ( Israel's Wanderings," p. 80.)
Thus a second time had "the remnants of Jacob gone through, trodden down, and torn in pieces, and there was none to deliver." (Micah, 5:8.)
But again they were kept back following up their victory. These battles, commonly ascribed to the "Goths and Vandals," together with many more by the same people, are now known to have been fought by the Anglo-Saxons, then called Scuths, Kimbri, Sacra, and Engel all of which names are appropriated solely by the "Lost ]Tribes of Israel." And it is especially remarkable, that in all these twelve or thirteen battles, Israel was triumphant in all save one, which was said to have been a "drawn battle," "the time of Rome's utter fall having not yet come."
It is not necessary, therefore, to recite the history of these many battles, which Oxonian has done(Israel's Wandering," p. 65, ch. VIII, and ch. X, p.77,also ch. X, p. 84), having gathered them up from the many histories of Rome in her decline, but especially from Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."
In reviewing this subject I cannot refrain from giving a brief account of a battle of these very Israelites, called by the Romans the "Cherusi." The scene of this battle was between the headwaters of the Ems and Weser, and called Saltus Teutobergiensis. This battle has been narrated by Sir E. Creasy, "as one of the decisive battles of the world."
The leaders in this battle, A. D. 9, were Quintilius Varus, of the Roman legions, and Arminius, the leader of the Cherusi (the Israelites) This battle, which lasted two days,
was so fatal to the Romans that the tidings of it filled all Rome with an agony of terror, and Caesar Augustus was so alarmed that he often beat his head against the wall and exclaimed, "Qaintilius Varius, give me back my legions."
The blow struck by Arminius was never forgotten. In remarking upon this battle the historian says' "Had Arminius been supine or unsuccessful, our Germanic ancestors would have been enslaved or exterminated, in their original seats along the Eyder and the Elbe; this island would never have borne the name of England, and we, this great English nation, whose rule and language are now overrunning the earth from one end of it to the other, would have been utterly cut off from existence."
Thus, once more are we able to lift the veil which covers those dark ages of tile world's history, and we see the "remnant of Jacob," which Jehovah had promised "should be a nation before Him forever;" again, with irresistible force and with lasting result, "treading down and tearing in pieces" the Roman, or fourth kingdom of Daniel. "There was none to deliver;" no Roman general ever avenged the destruction of the legion of Varus.
The emigration of these Israelites from their home in the northwest of the Black Sea, is not definitely known as to the time, but it was sometime as late as A. D., the first or second century. But the track of the migration is followed till they reached the Baltic, when some, a few of the wanderers, took ship and sailed away to Dan, in Denmark; while the main body settled in Germany, a place now called Saxony; a name now known to be the exact synonym of Saca-Suni, the old original name borne by these tribes while yet in Assyria.
The whole history of' these Israelites, for the long period of their sojourn in their temporary home, is given by Oxonlan, in "Israel's Wanderings."
The Anglo-Saxons; Who they are, Sharon Turner's history of them, Their emigration to England; The Octarthy; Egbert crowned the first king of England, A. D 800; The incursion of the Danes; And last, William the Conqueror, 1066, who is found to be the leader of Benjamin; Himself a Benjamite, How Benjamin escaped from Jerusalem and wandered to Denmark, thence to France,
The ten tribes now all in the isles of the sea; yet all ignorant of their own identity. The Anglo- Saxons; Who they are The period of residence of these Israelites in Germany (now called Anglo- Saxons) is not definitely known, but can be� inferred from tile time of the ingress into England, A. D. 446.
Here we now reach the historic grounds thoroughly traveled over. All the histories of England, whether written by Hume, Macaulay, Knight, Green or any other, are pretty nearly unanimous in assigning the date about the middle of the fifth century of the Christian era; (The exact dates as given by Oxonian: The first invasion was A.D. 449, the last about 590. During this period eight little kingdoms were established in England, called the "Ochtarehy.") but who these Anglo-Saxons were, no one seems to have known. On this topic all these historians are silent, and, indeed, the inquiry seems never to have been instituted as to the origin of these people until the very close of A. D. 1799, when it is said the question arose in England, Who are the Anglo-Saxons?
Who were their ancestors? Where did they come from? Sharon Turner's history of them; Their emigration to England In the investigation of this subject one Sharon Turner took the lead, and in the history which he finally gives we find he began by tracing them back, step by step, till he landed them in "the cities of the Medes on the River Gozan," where he left them; the very place to which Israel was carried captive by Shalnmneser, B. C. 720, and this he did, not dreaming that these Anglo-Saxons had anything to� do with "the lost tribes of Israel"
He builded better than he knew. But during the present century, and indeed within these last few years, the attention of different men has been called to the investigation of this subject, and it is now found that the Anglo-Saxons are indeed the very Israelites, whose capital was Samaria, and after being besieged by the king of Assyria for three years, was destroyed and all carried captive to Assyria. The Octarthy; Egbert crowned the first king of England, A.D. 800
The Anglo-Saxons, being now established in England under the name of the "Ochtarchy," they seem to have quietly maintained this form of government until A. D. 800, when these eight little kingdoms were all consolidated into one, and the crown put upon Egbert's head. This, then, seems to have been the beginning of the government of Great Britain in its present form. The incursion of the Danes Not long after this the piratical Northmen came up from Norway and Denmark.
These Danes (Danites) began tearing around, robbing and plundering wherever they went, so that there was little no peace in England until A. D. 1066, when William tile Conquer came over from Normandy with his army, and, at the Battle of Hastings, subdued the whole and put tile crown on his own head! And last, William the Conqueror 1066, who is found to be the leader of Benjamin Himself a Benjamite
But who was this William? and whence came he? It is declared by the best authority that William was none other than the leader of the tribe of Benjamin! The very Benjamin lent to Judah for a time, according to I Kings 11:9-13. And hence we find that Benjamin was given to Judah, and remained in that kingdom; did not go off with the ten tribes under Jeroboam, but continued with, Judah till the Babyloniah captivity, went to Babylon, returned to, Jerusalem at the end of seventy years, and remained, i. e., a portion of the tribe, till the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus, the Roman general, A. D. 70.
How Benjamin escaped from Jerusalem and wandered to Denmark, thence to France At that time it is said that all this remnant of Benjamin escaped from Jerusalem, and fled to the north to find their brethren of "ten tribed� Israel" (Jeremiah 6:1, ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem." Also, Eusebius's "Historia Ecclesia," Book III, 5: 2. Also, Josephus's "Wars of the .Jews," II, 19: 7. The word rendered, "contrary to all expectation," is "tarasogoata." This word may also mean: "Without any show of reason.")
That this was the remnant only of Benjamin, will appear when it is called to mind that Paul said, "I am all Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." (Romans 2:1) From this and from other things it is evident that some of the Benjamites had before the coming of Christ left Judah, and had already found their way north to their brethren, some of whom were known to be at this time in the region of Tarsus, where Paul was born, and whither this remnant of Benjamin fled to join themselves to their own proper kingdom; for Benjamin was loaned to Judah for a time only, at the end of which Benjamin was led away back to Israel by the same unseen hand that has led Israel in all his wanderings.
Then it is found that Benjamin was led through Asia Minor over into Europe; thence north across the Danube, and on till he found Dan in Denmark. From here he migrated south through Holland and Belgium, and finally established himself in France, building one of' the most magnificent kingdoms then existing in Europe, called Normandy (Northmen).
Oxonian says:
"There were also representatives of Benjamin spread over the whole length and breadth of Asia Minor, and it is not too much to say that the Apostolic churches were mainly the fruit of the reception of the truth by Benjamin and of the work of Paul, himself an Israelite, of the tribe of Benjamin."
From this it seems evident that the Asiatic Christians of the first two centuries were mainly of the tribe of Benjamin; one section of them, the Galatians, being as already shown, Israelites of the remnant which escaped. But how did Benjamin and these Galatian Israelites join their brethren in the "Isles of the West?" In the year A. D. 267, as we are told by Prof. Max Muller, (Lectures on the Science of Language. Series 1, p. 188.) "the Goths made a raid from Europe to Asia, Galatia, and Cappadocia, and the Christian captives whom they carried back to the Danube were they who spread the light of the Gospel among the Goths."
This short sentence carries Benjamin half-way to Britain. And from here it is not difficult to find how they might have made their way through to Britain. As a further illustration of Benjamin, let us listen to the words of Lord Macaulay:
"The Normans were then the foremost race of Christendom. Their valor and ferocity had made them conspicuous among the rovers whom Scandinavia had sent forth to ravage western Europe. Their sails were long the terror of both coasts of the channel. Their arms were repeatedly carried far into the heart of the Carlovingian empire, and were victorious under the walls of Maestrieht and Paris. At length one of the feeble heirs of Charlemagne ceded to the strangers a fertile province (Normandy).
�Without laying aside the dauntless valor which had been the terror of every land from the Elbe to the Pyrenees, the Normans rapidly acquired all, and more than all, the knowledge and refinement which they found in the country where they settled. That chivalrous spirit which has exercised so powerful an influence on the politics, morals and manners of all the European nations, was found in the highest exaltation among the Norman nobles. But their chief fame was derived from their military exploits. Every country, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Dead Sea, witnessed the prodigies of their discipline and valor.
�One Norman knight, at the head of a handful of warriors, scattered the Celts of Connaught. Another founded the monarchy of the two Sicilies, and saw the Emperors both of the East and of the West fly before his arms."
What now can be conceived as a more perfect fulfillment of Jacob's prediction?
Genesis 49:27
27: Benjamin shall raven as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.
The ten tribes now all in the isles of the sea; yet all ignorant of their own identity. Here, then, we have, since Benjamin has arrived, eleven tribes of "the Kingdom of Israel," Benjamin being the eleventh in number. But there is no evidence that any one of this vast number has the remotest idea of his own identity. History does not furnish a single ray of evidence that the least surmise existed in the mind of any one of these eleven tribes that they were indeed descended from Israel of old.
They had now been lost, not only to themselves, but to the history of the world also, for many long centuries. As in
Hosea, 9:17
17: My� God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
Also
Hosea 3:4
4: For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without a teraphim,
thus utterly obliterating all knowledge of their nationality, their language, their religious institutions; everything of their tribal relations, etc., so that no one dreamed even who he might� be. How then shall it be known who is who? I answer, to man this is not known, but to God alone; for shall not He who said,
Amos 9:9
9: I will sift the house of Israel (not Judah) among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve; vet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
Shall not He who has said, "There is not a sparrow falleth to the ground without your Heavenly Father, and the very hairs of your head are all numbered," shall not He have care of his people Israel. of whom He has said, "I will never leave nor forsake thee" and "I have loved thee with an everlasting love?" Can He forget so that He shall not know the tribal name of every one of these long-lost Israelites? He must be an atheist who doubts this. Indeed, we must give up all knowledge of God and of everything else, if we doubt this great truth!
But, alas! it is nevertheless too true that we have all been so nearly practical atheists that we have lived, indeed, have been taught to believe that at the beginning God wound up the machinery of the universe and then retired, to let the whole develop itself as chance might seem to direct. What can this be but practical atheism? But Christ taught us that every; the most minutest, thing does not escape the continual present sustaining care of our Heavenly Father.
Here is rock. Here is a foundation on which one can build, and on this foundation alone can safety be found. Here then, Israel has been gathered, according to
Isaiah 41:1
1: Keep silence before me, O Islands, and let the people renew their strength.
And here in these islands, this Anglo-Saxon people have grown and "renewed their strength," in all unwonted manner. Here have they spread abroad, on the east and on the west, on the north and on the south, till their land became too strait for them; till at length the cry is heard, "Give place to us where we may dwell."
Then are colonies planted in the deserts, which soon blossom as the rose. And "the waste places of the earth" are now being peopled by this very Israel, and her colonies are found in all hinds and in the islands of the seas, till now the promise to Abraham is indeed fulfilled, Genesis 12:2: "I will make of thee a great nation, and
I will bless thee, and make thy name great.�
Again, I will set thee high above all the nations of the earth; thou shalt be the head and not the tail." (Deuteronomy 28:13)
What now are the facts respecting tile Anglo-Saxon peoples? First, respecting the government of Great Britain? It is asserted by the Hon. W.B. Dalley, attorney general of Sidney.(Banner of Israel, p. 498, A. D. l885) that
"Our British Empire at this moment embraces more than one-sixth part of all the land of the earth, and comprehends nearly one-fourth part of its population; and of this population 50,000,000 are of Anglo-Saxon descent. Its area is 9,000,000 square miles.
�Its population 313,000,000 of persons. Its annual revenues are �205,000,000, and its exports and imports are �1,060,000,000 per annum. Its armed forces, including militia, are more than 1,500,000 and its navy consists of 60,000 men.
�The United States of America have an area of 3,602,990 square miles, with a population of 55,000,000, a revenue of �73,000,000 per annum, of which �30,321,630 are surplus. She has an annual trade of �292,000,000, of which fully one-half is carried on with the British Empire. She has an army of regular soldiers and organized militia of 150,000, and a navy of 8,250 men.
�She holds a fifteenth of the land of the earth, and almost a twenty-third of its population. Unite these stupendous forces, and you will have an area of 12,600,000 square miles; a population of 368,000,000 persons; revenues amounting to �278,000,000; a trade of �1,352,000,000 a year; armies, 1,700,000, and navies of 68,000 men. You will have a fourth of the globe, and more than a fourth of the human race. You will have 100,000,000 men of Anglo-Saxon descent, and you will have 42,000,000 men capable of bearing arms."
Now this testimony, let it be borne in mind, is given by a witness most competent, and yet who had no knowledge of the "identity of the Anglo- Saxons with the lost ten tribes of Israel." In addition to this may be stated the fact, that the political influence of England is universally conceded to be "high above all the nations; at the head and not at the tail."
Again, it was promised to Israel to become the richest of all nations. Deuteronomy 15:6: "Thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow ;" and "thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee." These promises are both fulfilled absolutely today. England's rule does now extend over more than sixty different nationalities, but no nation has ever ruled over England; and as the divine promise is sure, we may rest satisfied that it will forever remain true.
England can never be ruled over by another nation. God alone rules over England and the whole Anglo-Saxon race; because they are Israel, to whom these promises of universal dominion were made.
Again, the wealth of the Anglo-Saxon race. The actual wealth of England, as estimated in dollars and cents, is now $44,000,000,000, and that of the United States, $41,000,000,000. And England fulfills the promise of lending and borrowing literally. It is stated by the highest authority, that England has loaned out to "many nations" already more than $9,000,000,000, and that she does indeed "borrow from none."
Where else can be found a nation of which this can be said? The history of the world affords no case comparable at all with England as to wealth, and as to the lending and borrowing of money.
The possession of the gates of his enemy -- England now holds the gates of the world, save at Constantinople -- Israel without a king � Scattered among all nations -- Ignorant of their ancestry � Called by another name -- Offspring of Abraham innumerable � As a lion among the beasts of tile earth -- Gathered from all nations, where they had been scattered -- Gathered from the islands of the sea on the north -- Joseph pushing the people to the ends of the earth -- The seed of Abraham a blessing to all nations, how?
1). Politically.
2). Religiously
Her missionaries; The Bible, Its translation, by whom made. The possession of the gates of his enemy It was predicted that "Israel should possess the gates of his enemy." (See Genesis 22:17.) By the term "gate," Cruden says: "Is the entrance into a house or city." What gates then does England hold as it respects the nations of the world?
1). England holds the gate to the continent of Europe, as she holds supreme control of the English channel.
2). Gibraltar, Malta, Alexandria, and Cypress.
3). Suez, Aden.
4). Every gate on the south coast of Asia.
5). The gates to all the principal islands of the seas, and the only gate of any importance, not now ill the possession of England, is Constantinople, and this, it is believed, is to be� certainly given into the possession of England.
Thus this promise is actually fulfilled on England, and this becomes another evidence that England is indeed Israel. (It is said by high authority that England is not the proper term by which to designate the government of that nation embraced in the islands of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. England is properly appropriated to one country, the same as Scotland, etc. But the term given to these four countries combined is "Great Britain," and to the government is The British Government) Israel without a king
2). Again, Israel should remain long without a king.
Hosea 3:4
4: For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king.
The children of Israel did live without a king from the time of their captivity into Assyria, B. C. 721, until the settlement of the Anglo-Saxons in England, and the crowning of Egbert, A. D. 800, a period of 1521 years. Here it may be asked, what other nation or people in the world can claim this prediction as being fulfilled on themselves?
Scattered among all nations
3). Again, My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto Him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations." (Hosea 9:17)
This prediction was uttered against the "ten- tribed Israel" And nothing is more certain than the casting away of Israel, when they were carried captive by Shalmaneser, and placed in the cities of the Medes on the River Gozan. Here they made this their place of sojourn, for at least a hundred years; during which time we have traced their wanderings among all the then existing nations of Asia.
On leaving' Asia they "wandered" off to a land "uninhabited by man," a journey of a year and a half, to Arsareth, on the northwest coast of the Black Sea, which they made as their temporary home, until they should find a permanent abiding- lace. Here they remained several centuries, wandering, in the meantime, among all the nations of Europe, but finding no resting-place, which they might call home.
Next their move was over into Germany, where they pitched their tents, and made their home for a time in Saxony. Here they remained for a while without much wandering, seemingly that they might recruit their number, and their means as well, for their final migration into the isles of the sea, A. D. 449 to 570, where they might settle and be "wanderers among the nations" no more forever.
What have we now found as to the fulfillment of prophecy? I ask, is it possible to conceive of a more complete and literal fulfillment of prophecy than is here presented? And can any sane man ask for stronger evidence than is here given, that the Anglo-Saxon race are indeed the identical descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel? Or can anyone point to any part of this evidence that could be made more clear and self-evident? Ignorant of their ancestry 4. Ignorance of their ancestry.
Hosea 3:4
4: Israel shall remain many days without a king, and without a prince...and without an image, and without an ephod, and without a teraphim."
This prediction, it seems to me, must imply the utter extinction of all knowledge of their religious institutions, of their tribal relations, their language, and of their ancestry also; for, having lived 1,500 years without these institutions, how could it be otherwise? Called by another name
5). Israel, called by another name. Isaiah 65:15: "And he shall call his servants by another name." This prediction has been literally fulfilled. The ten-tribed Israelites lost their name immediately after their captivity, being no longer called Israel, but Scuths, Sacae, Kunnri, Cimmerians, etc., and have retained these different appellations until they were all combined into the name "Anglo-Saxon," by which name they are known today, the world over.
Yet the world at large has no knowledge of the origin of the Anglo-Saxons. Indeed, but few of this very people have only now learned their own name as being Israelites, the identical descendants of the ten tribes of Israel! Offspring of Abraham innumerable
6). The offspring of Abraham innumerable. "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore." (Genesis 22:17)
This promise has been interpreted by some as referring to the spiritual seed of Abraham, which is Christ. But the context shows no such allusion, for the whole scene has reference to the veritable land of Canaan, and to the fact of Abraham having not withheld his only son, on whom the promise rested. Now the promise is renewed and specified, that Abraham's literal seed shall become like the stars and like the sands, innumerable, and that this very seed should possess the gate of his enemies.
This is certainly material, and not spiritual. Now as to the present number of the descendants of Abraham, the exact census has probably not been taken. But enough is known to state that their number is more than one hundred millions of people, and that this race is increasing today faster than any other people on the face of the globe.
Thus it is shown, the fulfillment of this promise to Abraham is now being actually accomplished. But the end is not yet; for the promise was not limited as to the time of its fulfillment. As a lion among the beasts of the earth
7). "The remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, ill the midst of many people, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver." (Micah 5:8)
This is a very remarkable prediction. It is remarkable ill all its specifications:
(a) As to the principal agent in the work, "the remnant of Jacob;"
(b) next, the people specified, viz., the Gentiles in the midst of many people;
(c) the likeness of this remnant = as a lion and his works.
Now, in searching the world over, none can be found to whom this prediction can apply save the Anglo-Saxons alone, for they and they only have been among the Gentiles in the midst of many people, "as a lion among the beasts of the forests."
During the time of their sojourn in Asia they were literally "among the Gentiles," for all these nations had that name; they were nations outside of Israel. And these "Gentiles" were truly in
the midst of many people -- this part of Asia being then the most densely populated of all the world. And the history of the Scuths shows that they were triumphant wherever they went. ravaging wherever they went. And after these Scuths (i. e., Anglo-Saxons) came into Europe, their entire course was indeed "like that of a lion among the beasts," and "a young lion among the flocks of sheep."
And this for more than five hundred years, until they became settled in Germany. Their many battles with Rome -- were they not all of this character? Did they not destroy the Roman army time and again? Did they not sack Rome itself, laying it utterly waste?
And this too, all alone "among the Gentiles," and "in the midst of many people?" What more perfect fulfillment can be conceived, of the prophecy, than is here shown in the wanderings of Israel, in Asia, and in Europe also. Gathered from all nations, where they had been scattered
8). Israel found among all nations. (Leviticus 26:33; Deuteronomy 4:27; Amos, 9:9)
All of these passages declare the same thing, viz.: "The Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you." And Jeremiah 29:14: "I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive."
These passages all have the same voice. The two former threaten the certain banishment among all nations, if they reject the commands of God; the others declare the certainty of their being gathered from all the nations whither they had been driven by God himself.
Now, that Israel has been thus scattered and banished among all nations, no one can doubt who has any knowledge of "Israel's wanderings;" nor can anyone doubt that God has now set himself to the 'total accomplishment of his promise -- to gather His people from all places among the nations of the world, whither he had driven them; the gathering the Israelites of the ten tribes out of all nations, where they have wandered, and thus bringing all into the isles of the west and planting them in those islands where they have grown to become the mightiest nation in the world, "high above all nations, at the head and not at the tail," is evidence of the fulfillment of these prophecies, and that the Anglo-Saxons are indeed the very descendants of the ten tribes who were carried captive into Assyria, and these were certainly "the seed of Abraham."
Gathered from the islands of the sea on the north
9). Zechariah 2:6: "Ho! ho! come forth and flee from the land of the north saith the Lord' for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of heaven, saith the Lord."
This passage shows that God's people, Israel, would be dwelling at some future time in a north country, north from Palestine, and in islands. The prophet, Zechariah, spake those words, B. C. 519, at the very time of Darius's decree to return from Babylon. This prophecy could not refer, therefore, to Judah, who was in Babylon, for that country was directly east from Palestine, thus furnishing another collateral proof that this people in the north country were Israel, and not Judah.
But. Israel has been proved over and over again to be now the Anglo-Saxons dwelling in the Isles of the North. Joseph pushing the people to the ends of the earth 10.
Deuteronomy 33:17
17: The firstling of his bullock, majesty is his and his horns are the horns of the wild ox; with them he shall push the peoples, all of them, even the ends of the earth."
"They are the ten thousands of Ephraim. And they are the thousands of Manasseh." This passage is a portion of the blessing which Jacob pronounced concerning Joseph. In the former part of the blessing Jacob says, "Joseph is a fruitful bough; a fruitful bough by a fountain. His branches run over the wall," teaching plainly that Joseph was to extend his sway far beyond any others of his brethren; that in all things pertaining to earth he was to have the preeminence.
And then he comes to the matter of his conflicts with the peoples of the earth, all of them; that he should push them, so as to overcome in all places, even to "the ends of the earth."
Now this is found to have been fulfilled up to the present time to the very letter. In "Israel's wanderings" throughout Asia it has been shown that in all conflicts with the nations they were always triumphant; but the prophets everywhere indicate Joseph as the leader of the hosts of Israel.
Then, when Israel enters Europe it is still Joseph who is the captain of the Lord's host. Here, also, he is always conqueror, never defeated. And after they have become settled in the isles of the sea, these Anglo-Saxons, i. e., Joseph-Isaac, spread out on all sides, colonizing in America and in the islands of the seas, "pushing the people, all of them, even the ends of the earth."
How emphatically true is this of the aborigines of America everywhere. They have been pushed by Joseph, as by the horns of the wild ox, until they can go no further, both in the United States and in Canada also. And this is all done by "the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh"!
Now is it possible to conceive of a more perfect fulfillment of the promise made to Joseph than we have presented here in the history of the Anglo-Saxons? If so, let it be made known. The seed of Abraham a blessing to all nations, how?
11). The blessing promised to Abraham, "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18)
It is well to note the thrice-repeated (Whoever examines the passages referred to will find the promises thus repeated) assurance of this promise, and the nature of this promise. It is not a promise of anything special to Abraham, either spiritual or temporal; but the thrice-repeated promise is of good to others � even all the families f the earth, and this through the veritable seed -- he descendants by birth of Abraham.
What then are we authorized to look for as the fulfillment of this promise? In the first place, as this is a promise made by God himself, the promise must embrace the highest welfare of the nations of the world, and this highest welfare must embrace the greatest blessings, both spiritual and temporal.
By temporal blessings is meant a national government based on the divine law, which may be called "civil or political liberty." And a spiritual blessing must embrace all of the revelation made to man in the Bible for his highest good -- which may be termed "religious liberty." These two terms, as I think, embrace everything of good relating to man here on earth. Our first inquiry, therefore, shall be:
1). Politically. First, of Civil or Political Liberty.
By this phrase is meant a constitutional government based on the divine law. But where shall we look for such a government? There can be but one answer to this question. The only constitution in this world, based on the divine law, was originated in England, by the Anglo-Saxons, who are the very descendants -- the seed -- of Abraham.
This statement needs no illustration, for the history of the world shows this, if it shows anything, to be true. What, then, is the effect of this constitution? Webster declared, thirty years ago and more, that England has under the benign reign of her constitution the highest degree of prosperity ever attained by any nation on the face of the earth. In her domestic relations, in her civil affairs, and in her political affairs, she stands preeminently higher than all other nations of the world. And what was true forty years ago is still more conspicuously true at the present day.
Hence the fact that England is confessedly "high� above all the nations of the world" in wealth, in military -- but especially in naval power -- in educational, and, indeed, in everything that constitutes national prosperity. Further, this constitution is universal in its sway over all the colonies of Great Britain -- all English-speaking nationalities. All of these show in an equally high degree the great blessings of political liberty, equal, I say, to that enjoyed by the mother country.
But the influence of this divinely-founded constitution stops not here. In all the governments of Europe, there is not one which does not feel the healthful influence of the constitution of Great Britain. All, even the most monarchical of them, are incorporating the principles of a constitutional government such as England has; and, indeed, it is said there is not a nation in the world but that feels the benign influence of the political institutions of Great Britain.
As another evidence of the wonderful prosperity of England, may be mentioned this fact that the Republic of Uruguay, in South America, has recently borrowed $59,000,000 from an English syndicate for the purpose of internal improvements. A part of' this money is to be expended in improving the harbor of Buenos Ayres, but the principal part in the construction of railroads.
This item of� $59,000,000 is secured by giving to England bonds to run thirty years, paying six per cent. interest. So this is another of the many loans made by England within the last few years, to be added to her already $9,800,00.0,000 which is now loaned to many nations, while she borrows from none.
In like manner the United States are reported to have attained a degree of eminence, unparalleled in the history of the world. And this because of the constitution she adopted, at her birth, viz.' "A� constitution, based on the Devine Law," "Political Liberty." Religiously -- Her� missionaries.
2). Let us next consider the "spiritual blessings."
This blessing embraces everything of good, as has heretofore been stated, contained in the Bible. In the illustration of this subject, it is necessary to inquire what this Anglo-Saxon people have done and are still doing for the accomplishment of' this object. The whole Christian world has been classed under three heads, viz.' The Greek Church, the Roman Church, and "the Protestant Church."
In this last division are embraced the Anglo- axons, i.e., the English-speaking peoples; all Protestants. What, then, have these done toward fulfilling the promise of blessing the world spiritually? ( It should ever be borne in mind that the blessing promised to all nations, was to come through (by means of) Abraham's literal seed � the natural descendants of Abraham) To say nothing of what the Greek and the Roman churches may or may not have done, the Protestants have manifested, during this present century, a desire to execute the charge given by Christ to his disciples, "to preach the gospel to all nations," such as has never before been witnessed.
Early in this century, a society was formed in England, called the "Church Missionary Society," the object of which was to send missionaries to lands where the gospel was not known. Soon this was followed by the "British and Foreign Bible Society," whose object was the printing and publishing Bibles.
These societies soon began to be felt in their influence abroad, when other societies were organized in the United States and at home; and in England these societies were multiplied to such a degree, especially the "Missionary Societies," that one society was formed after another, until now these societies are numbered only by the number of different denominations of Christians, both in England and in the United States, and also in all the English colonies.
And the number of missionaries has increased in like manner, until they are counted not by the hundreds only, but by the thousands even are they numbered, so that they penetrate all hinds, the extreme corners of the earth, and the islands of the sea, and in all the wide ocean. But how do these missionaries go, and what is their mission:
Not as the Jesuits, who go with a shut Bible, teaching' Mariology, but these go with an open Bible, proclaiming Christ with a loud� voice, and at the same time beginning to teach the English language, so that it is now known, if the reports of these same missionaries are to be believed, that in every nation� and in every, principal tribe, among where these missionaries have gone, in the whole habitable world, the English language is now being taught. Thus fulfilling the prophecy of Zephaniah 3:9, "For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call
upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent."
How wondrous are the ways of' God! "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasures." The Bible -- Its translation, by whom made But what further about this Bible which is now heralded among all nations? This blessed volume is now found to have been translated into all the principal languages of the world -- some say two hundred and fifty, others say more. But who has done it?
By whom has this mighty work been accomplished? Has France done it? France may have made a translation from the original scriptures into her own language, But has she ever translated this Bible into any other language? Spain! what has she done? Spain may have translated it into her own language -- may have -- but what more? Italy-- Rome, what has she done?
Rome has indeed, translated the Latin language! But; has she done anything more? Who can tell? So of all the Greek and Roman nations. (By Greek and. Roman nations is meant those nations held by the Greek and Roman Churches)
Is there one that has attempted even to translate the Bible into some foreign language? The question therefore is still unanswered. Who has done this mighty work? I answer: The Anglo- Saxon race. And they alone have translated this revelation of God to man into every principal language of the known world...And not this only: They have printed this Bible in every one of these translations thus made, and sent by their missionaries these same Bibles into all lands.
Then in England and in America this Bible is published in the English language millions upon millions every year; and by their colporteurs these Bibles are sent abroad, so that every family speaking the English language may have a Bible in their house, to read under their own "vine and fig tree," with none to molest or make afraid.
Now it may be asked here, Is this, or is it not, fulfilling the promise to Abraham -- "In thee and thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed"? Is there any further or other blessing
conceivable contained within the lids of the Bible, blessing for mankind, that is not found in this promise to Abraham? And is it possible to conceive of any other fulfillment of this promise than that delineated above? I wait for a reply. (Here also, let it be borne in mind, that Christ is the crowning glory of all these blessings, both spiritual and temporal. Through Him comes the vivifying power, making in all cases the blessings effectual)
Now is it just, or wise, or common-ensical even, when a prophecy received in all ages by the Church of God as divine, when this prophecy shall have been shown to have its literal fulfillment, is it wise to hesitate about receiving this fulfillment, especially where it is not possible to conceive of any other mode in which the fulfillment of this divine promise can be made manifest?
Concerning unfulfilled prophecies, we may well hold ourselves in doubt, for no man knows either the time or the manner of fulfillment of any future prophecy; for God hath revealed this to no man -- no not even to the angels in heaven -- this hath God reserved in his own power; and all that man can do -- even what he is commanded to do � is to observe the "signs of the times," and to mark such things as the word of inspiration has said will be found to precede any and all of the prophecies uttered of old.
Here, and here only, is solid ground. The� manifest fulfillment of prophecies is open to the inspection of all, and that according to the very words of the prophecy freed from the philosophy or dogmas of men, but chained to the word of the living God. If this is not safety, there can be no safety. If this is not wise, then how can we know the meaning of wisdom? If this is not common sense even, then must we find another definition for common sense, than the unanimous decision of the human mind on those subjects on which it decides.
���� Jacob�s Promises to the Two Sons of Joseph
When Jacob was about to die, it was reported to Joseph, who brought his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, that they might receive the divine blessing from their grandfather. (Genesis 48:1-20 These sons were so placed, the elder at the right hand and the younger at the left of Jacob, that each might receive his own appropriate blessing. But the chief interest, in this case, as in all others in that age of the world, attached to the right of primogeniture, as this right was ever esteemed of the first importance. Manasseh, therefore, being the elder, was placed at Jacob s right hand.
When thus arranged, Jacob gives a general blessing by saying, "These shall grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth." (Grow as fishes do increase. (Siargin of the common version Then, having placed his right hand on Ephraim's head, doing' it wittingly, yet contrary to Joseph's desire, he pronounced the blessing' on each of the two sons. But Joseph, believing that his father had, through imperfect vision, made a mistake in thus placing his hands, seized Jacob's right hand, telling him that this � Manasseh � is the elder; Jacob replies, "I know it, my son, I know it;" he shall be a great people, but not like Ephraim; his younger "brother shall become a multitude of nations"
The blessings of Jacob, then, on these two sons of Joseph were, viz., Ephraim should become a "multitude of nations," but Manasseh should become "one great nation." This blessing, pronounced by Jacob upon his two grandsons, has ever been believed to have been under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and therefore that it must certainly have its own fulfillment.
But who of all the commentators on the Scriptures has ever undertaken to give all explanation of the how or the when of these two different prophecies are to be fulfilled? This, to me, is a strange fact. And the only reason I can conceive why it has been so is, God's time had not yet arrived for the disclosing of the meaning of these prophesies, and therefore all remained concealed, hidden, in the counsels of eternity, until the day of their fulfillment drew nigh.
That day has now come, and it bursts upon the world with such splendor as to blind the eyes of' some, just as the advent of Christ blinded the eyes of the scribes and Pharisees of old -- others contemplate the sight with wonder, yet dimly, their vision not being graduated to the great light that has burst upon them.
But to those who have been watching, and observing the signs of the times, and have seen the day-star ascending out of the east, and the rays of the morning sun illumining all the surrounding horizon � these are not dazzled with the splendor of this approaching, day, but they hail it with delight -- "knowing that the redemption draweth nigh."
What, then, is the evidence of the fulfillment of' these prophecies, uttered by Jacob concerning the two sons of Joseph? For it is the evidence only, that is wanting to the clear perception of the actual fulfillment of both these prophecies. The prediction to Ephraim was, that he should become a "multitude of nations" Ephraim, we have found, both he and Manasseh, are now settled in England, and Ephraim in the scriptures is used synonymously with Israel as being the leader of the nation.
The fulfillment of Ephraim's promise, therefore, must be found somehow, in connection with Great Britain. What are the facts then?
1). In the first place, the Government of Great Britain is reckoned as the home government, the germ from which Ephraim's multitude of nations must come. Now, history -- the statistics of the empire - asserts, that England has today more than sixty different nationalities within the bounds of her empire; and these all acknowledging the sway of England's scepter.
The Government of Great Britain, then, is the home government. next comes the great nationality of Canada. Next is the West India Islands; thence across the Atlantic to the west coast of Africa, St. Helena, as the capital, is another; thence in South Africa are two more large nationalities, ( Now three, 1886) thence to Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, are three more large nationalities; thence around to India are found -- as Gladstone himself says � more than 200,000,000 of people of some sixteen different nationalities; thence in the islands of the sea, scattered in all parts of the world, are many nationalities -- colonies planted by England. So that it is not too much to say that England has today under her scepter sixty different nationalities! What more can Ephraim desire as the literal fulfillment of his promise, than these sixty nationalities? Is not this "growing into a multitude of nations in the midst of the earth," becoming "a multitude of nations"?
2). But Manasseh -- what about him? The promise to him was that he should become one great nation; one nation, in distinction from the multitude of Ephraim's. We have seen that both Ephraim and Manasseh are in England, brought there in the Anglo-Saxon invasion; hence these two brothers cannot be separated; their lives are bound together -- if one fails the other must also fail, and if one is seen to have entered upon the inheritance of his blessings, the other must just so surely be found to have entered his.
Let us trace, therefore, if we can, the origin and rise of Manasseh's one great people. In A. D. 1385, Wicklif is said to have translated the Bible into the English (Anglo-Saxon) language. This seems to have been the first translation ever made of the Bible into the English language, and this was made from the "Latin Vulgate."
Hence the people are supposed to have had little or no knowledge of the truths taught therein. (All the knowledge of the Scriptures held by the common people at this time was obtained from the teaching of the priests of the Roman Catholic church, and this teaching seems to have been given in Latin chiefly But on the appearance of this Bible, we are told that tile people rushed to it, almost with one accord, and that too, as naturally as the little infant seeks its mother's breast, or as the little lamb the nurture from its dam!
But why was this? This people seem to have had no more knowledge of the Bible than our common people have of the Koran, or of the Zend Avesta' Is not this an indication of the origin of this people? That the same fatherly care that had attended this people had never left them, but ill all places of their wanderings, and in all times, He has fulfilled his promise, "I will never thee nor forsake thee."
And can anyone who believes in the God as made known in the Bible, suppose for a moment that God is regardless of his people's welfare? -- hat He, by his Spirit, has not been ever striving with them to draw them to himself? What more reasonable than this divine manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of his people, winning them to God, through his truth?
To me this is reason enough; God is not dead, He does not sleep and slumber like man. "For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, so the Lord alone did lead him [Israel] and there was no strange God with him. (Genesis 32:9-12)
Such is Israel's God! And is not this reason enough why his people were drawn to the Bible, that book alone in all the world that contained the dealings of God with his people, from the time of Abraham down through all their wanderings? What more natural? What more like God is it possible to conceive?
The next in process of time came Tyndale's great work; the greatest, as it seems to me, ever wrought by one man -- the entire sacred Scriptures, translated from the original languages in which they were first written! Surely, if ever man had need of divine help, Tyndale must have needed it.
And can anyone say he had not that help? Is there not abundant evidence to believe that the same divine aid which inspired and taught Moses and Paul, did certainly and most efficiently inspire and uphold Tyndale in all his mighty work? Further, when the character of Tyndale's work is considered -- the circumstances under which he wrought -- the age in which he lived, we may well exclaim, "What a mighty work!"
But what became of' this mighty work of Tyndale's? The people devoured this book, as it were indeed the very manna from Heaven. But the Pope, having supreme authority at that time, soon confiscated the whole and burned in one sacred pile, and Tyndale -- he also was sacrificed on the same altar.
Oh' the agony of this blow! "How long, O Lord, how long?" did Israel then cry? Will not God avenge? Doth He not see? Will He not requite for this great crime against God and man ? Yes, God will avenge; God will so overrule as to make the wrath of man, even of the Pope, to praise Him, and the reminder he will restrain. Henry VIII, having a controversy with the Pope at that time about a divorce case, ordered 300 copies of this Bible to be stricken off, and all distributed to as many churches in England, and there chained in the chancel of the church, with permission for all to go and read, only "they must not disturb the congregation."
This was a little toward avenging -- God uses whom He will. The next step in this work was taken by Queen Elizabeth, who printed the "Bishop's Bible," thus aiding the work by giving the leaders of God's host -- the Bishops -- a full large copy of the Scriptures. After this a few efforts only were made, but nothing definite till the time of King James I. Then was brought out our present version of the Bible, based on Tyndale's version. On this there was neither prohibition nor confiscation.
Now the people grasped this Book as indeed the "Word of God." Now the Puritans by the thousands were born; and now sprang up the "Tree of Liberty," whose growth was mightily invigorated by the reading of this blessed Bible, and by this alone -- the tree of liberty, both civil and religious.
But the papal power was not vet dead -- it was only scotched. Hence all assemblies for worship by the Puritans were strictly forbidden, under the severest penalties. In time, however, these Puritans, faithful to their vows, said, "We must go somewhere where we can worship God according to our own consciences."
Hence a company was formed under Parson Robinson, who led them across the sea over to Holland, where they settled at Leyden. Here they remained for awhile, but soon this was found not to be the place of their rest.
That divine hand that had always led Israel, was now seen pointing toward the West. They therefore soon took ship and sailed back to England, and there exchanging their little ship for another, "the Mayflower," in which they all embarked -- one hundred and two or three -- and thus sailed away on the broad Atlantic, intending to go to Virginia or some southern coast. But they knew not whither their course would lead them; the same divine guide was to lead this little band of Israelites still, and though no cloudy pillar by day nor pillar of fire by night was seen by the naked eye, yet faith discerned, with unfailing vision, a great helmsman with an eye ever on the compass, and the prow steadily
held to the southwest.
So on they sail, day after day, and week after week, till finally they drop anchor in "Cape Cod harbor," near the close of November. After perambulating about for awhile, and learning that they had now reached the main land, they returned to their ship -- these spies -- and spreading sails to the wind, moved up the harbor, till filially they landed on Plymottth Rock, December 22d, A.D. 1620. Here was raised their "Ebenezer!"
Let us see now what became of this colony -- this bud plucked from the tree of Liberty in England, and planted here in America on a barren rock in the dead of winter! Alas! during the first year, half of this little band of pilgrims died! Buy ere long this little bud began to swell, and at length it appeared above-ground. By-and-by little branches began to appear, first on one side and then on the other.
These continued to grow and spread themselves out, till at length these branches reached from the Atlantic to the Pacific, shading all the hind, and its roots permeating all the soil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico! This is Manasseh.
How much further this is to extend, whether to the Arctic ocean on the north, and to the Antarctic on the south, I cannot tell -- this is known to God alone, who gives account of his affairs to none; but I suspect that :Ephraim is to retain Canada as one of his "multitude of nations." I suspect, I say; God only knows. But on the south I should not wonder if Manasseh's "great nation' were to reach out far away. Here now is a great nation -- a one great nation formed by Manasseh alone -- by him under the divine guidance.
A nation already numbering 50,000,000 and more, (And now, in 1886, sixty millions the like of which can not be found in the history of the world! A nation of such sudden and such mighty growth! What shall we say, then, to these things? Do we, like Thomas of old, say: "Except I shall see the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe?"
Does not God in the fulfillment of these promises to Ephraim and Manasseh say as distinctly: "Reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing"? What more could He have done that He has not done, to make the fulfillment of these promises more manifest?
���������������������������� The New Covenant
Jeremiah 31:31
31: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; not according' to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people; and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying: Know the Lord; for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more."
I. The parties embraced in this covenant.
II. The time of making the covenant.
III. The effect of this covenant.
A. The parties to this covenant.
1). Not any Christian people as such.
2). Not any heathen nation.
3). Not with the world at large; but--
4). The parties are two, the House of Israel
and the House of Judah--these two kingdoms combined � not with either of them separately, but with them both; thus constituting the whole Israelitish nation.
II. The time.
The time seems to be indefinite. The prophet says: "Behold, the days come." Some commentators, writing on this subject, seem to think the covenant was made to come into effect; to be available, at the death of Christ. And it seems to me there may have been reference to that event; for in every case of true conversion the law of God is indeed written on the heart.
Their sin is forgiven, it is remembered no more, etc. But this, it seems to me, cannot express the full meaning of the covenant. This can be but the foretaste -- the first fruits of the great harvest before the time of the great ingathering; and that time can be only when the House of Israel becomes identified, and the House of Judah shall have been reunited to the House of Israel, so as both to become no more two nations, but one nation, according to the express terms of the covenant.
The time, therefore, must evidently be in the future. But this time, as it seems to me, is definitely indicated in Ezekiel 37: "The valley of dry bones."
III. The effect of this covenant.: Ezekiel 37.
The teaching of this parable.
1). The valley of dry bones represents the house of ten-tribed Israel.
2).� That God will bring them to life, as if out of their graves.
3. When thus brought to light, Israel and Judah are to become one nation.
4). Then, finally, to be planted in Canaan again.
1). That the dry bones represent the ten tribes, seems evident from the language itself. The term, "House of Israel," is, indeed, used in many places as meaning the entire Hebrew nation. In the greater number of places used previous to the Assyrian captivity, B. C. 720, it� may have that meaning; but after the division of the nation into two, the one called "the Kingdom of Israel," and the other "the Kingdom of Judah," we find these names appropriated accordingly.
Hence, in Jereremiah 31:31, (in the new covenant,) these two names are definitely specified, "the House of Israel" and "the House of Judah." And generally in all the prophets who write after the Assyrian captivity, the House of Israel seems to refer to the kingdom of "ten- tribed Israel.'' In this passage, in Ezekiel. 37, we find both the House of Israel and the House of Judah mentioned.
2). The House of Israel, God is to bring to life. God says, "I will bring you up out of your graves, and put life in you; and ye shall stand up an exceeding great army."
Now what are the facts? Hosea, 3:4, says' "Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice." Now it is found that Israel, "the House of Israel," did abide many days as specified above, even from B. C. 720 to some A. D. 800 -- fifteen hundred years without a king, etc.
And they were as truly lost to the world during that long time as if they had been actually buried up in the ground, and thus all reduced to their original dust. How then does it appear that God will bring up the House of Israel out of their graves?
Evidently here. God is now just beginning to bring to light this long lost "ten-tribed Israel." And this seems so incredible that the great mass look upon it all as a hoax, and no more to be believed than a story; that the graves of a thousand years ago are now giving up their dead! And others, while not wholly incredulous, yet "see men as trees walking;" but a few see all things clearly. Indeed, it seems just as it was in the days of our� Savior.
Then the scribes and Pharisees -- the lawyers and doctors -- who of them believed? No, God had "hid these things from the wise and prudent; but revealed them unto babes." Just so is it today. The great ones of earth -- the lawyers, the D.D.'s, the LL. D.'s, the historians -- who of all these, at first, received as true the report that lost Israel is found? Found in the Anglo-Saxon race; here in our own land, in our own family even at our very door!
Yet, if anything has been proved by evidence conclusive this has, for the evidence is both historic and prophetic. Israel has been traced in all his wanderings through Asia and into Europe, till he is finally planted in England, as the Anglo- Saxons. And next, every one of the prophecies relating to the kingdom of ten-tribed Israel is now found to have its actual fulfillment in this identical Anglo-Saxon people. If this is not proof, then there is no such a thing as proof.
But then, why should this be regarded with wonder? "The veil" has not yet been removed from all eyes. And is not this in accordance with the divine providence in all cases? Which of all the events predicted by the prophets of God has ever come to pass as determined by man?
What about Babylon, Tyre, Egypt, and many others? Have any of these predictions been fulfilled as men of the period expected? Alas! no one of all the millions that have ever lived on this earth ever knew the first thing as to the how or the time of the fulfillment of all the prophecies up to this time. All are kept in the counsel of the Father, just as truly as is the second coming of Christ.
And of this event none has any knowledge, save what may be learned from "the signs of the times," as we see the day approaching. But there are signs enough now respecting the House of Israel to make it certain that the 37th chapter of Ezekiel is now being transacted. God has begun to bring the House of Israel to light, and what God undertakes we know He will certainly complete to the very utmost.
We now come to the close of this 37th of Ezekiel. The former part � the valley of dry bones, this we have seen is, in part, fulfilled already; that is, God has begun to bring to light his long- lost people, Israel. But this is the beginning only, for as yet only a small portion of the Anglo-Saxon race perceive the first ray of light on this subject; there is heard only the distant rumbling of the herald's chariot wheels, riding to the entrance of this "valley of dry bones."
But as the former part of this wonderful vision has had its fulfillment, we are now made doubly sure that the latter part also will, in due time, receive a like fulfillment. But what is the import of this fulfilled prophecy?
Ezekiel 37:16‑17
16: Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand
In the interpretation of this passage God says:
Ezekiel 37:19‑22
19: Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
20: And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
21: And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22: 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:
It is not possible, as it seems to me, for human language to express more clearly than it is here expressed, the real meaning of this prophecy. nevertheless, as we have been taught by commentators and divines that the Jews only were to be returned to the land of their fathers, it seems necessary to elucidate this subject, if possible, that its true teaching may be seen.
1). In the first place, then, the two sticks are declared to represent the two kingdoms � Houses of Israel, viz., the House of Israel -- Ephraim; and the House of Judah. About this there need be no mistake.
2). These two houses, peoples, kingdoms, are to be united into one nation, and to be no more two peoples.
3). Then, thus united, they are to be transported back to the land given to Jacob, their father; there they are to dwell perpetually, to the latest generation. Now in this prediction, the House of Israel, viz., Ephraim, becomes more conspicuous than Judah. Ephraim evidently takes the lead, as is today seen in all the world. Ephraim �the Anglo-Saxon � are reaching out the hand of love -- of fraternal affection -- to Judah, inviting them to terms of fellowship, such as in the days of old when they came out of Egypt, and before the separation under Rehoboam.
Editors comment: The belief that the 'Jews' are Judah, and that Christians must 'bless' the Jews is a major monkey wrench in the machinery of understanding the Bible and Bible prophecy. Actually it is the Germans that are the real Judah. Just as Ephraim is England and Manasseh is The United States, Germany is Judah. And that, perhaps is why the Jews hate the Germans and say such hateful things about them.
So let's redo the last paragraph: Ephraim evidently takes the lead, as is today seen in all the world. Ephraim --the Anglo-Saxon -- are reaching out the hand of love -- of fraternal affection -- to Judah, the Germans, inviting them to terms of fellowship, such as in the days of old when they came out of Egypt, and before the separation under Rehoboam.
Editors comment: World Wars 1 and 2 were wars between Joseph (Ephraim/England and Manasseh/United States) and Judah/Germany. The 'Jews' worked behind the scenes to bring about these two wars among brethren. Ephraim is also sending the heralds of the cross into all lands, carrying the Gospel of Christ, and discipline all nations; "baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," and teaching all to read in a "pure language," the very Bible of God's revelation to man! (Zephaniah 3:4-9.
Is not this "pure language" the English language, which the missionaries are now teaching to all nations?) And now, as never before, Judah is listening to this angelic voice, bending down, eager to catch the key of this song of united Israel. What does not this portend? What more significant signs can be conceived of the approach of the union of Ephraim and Judah than are here and now given?' Judah and Israel uniting into one, soon to go back to Jerusalem!
But how shall they go? Canaan, even all the land "from the River of Egypt unto the great River Euphrates," can hold only a fraction of this mighty nation of Israelites, now numbered as the stars of heaven or the sands of the seashore.
Jeremiah 3:14-19: "Saith the Lord, I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion; and I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with. knowledge and understanding. In those days the House of Judah shall walk with the House of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the North to the land that I gave for an inheritance unto your fathers!"
We see, then, how easily this great enigma is solved. God says, "I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion." Zion -- Jerusalem -- is to be the capital for this now united Israel, the same as Washington is the capital of this great nation; and the whole united Israel shall be represented at Jerusalem just as the United States are all represented at Washington.
And there, after they shall have been thus united and established in Jerusalem, they shall have one king over them all -- "my servant David shall be king over them." (Ezekiel 37:24) But when shall these things take place? This question can be answered by God alone. "Of the times and the seasons God giveth account to none." It is approximately only that man can judge as to the time, and this by observing "the signs of the times." In this 37th chapter of Ezekiel, we have the winding-up of this great drama which has extended in its transactions by its various scenes down through four thousand years.
Now we have entered upon the last scene, the curtain having but just been drawn, to be dropped not again till the final consummation of all things!!
Hence this people must be the stone kingdom. The Stone Kingdom. Nebuehadnezzar's dream. Daniel's interpretation. The wonderful dream of Nebuehadnezzar, as interpreted by Daniel, is as follows:
Daniel 2:37-45
37: Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
38: And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
39: And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
40: And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41: And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42: And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43: And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44: And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
45: Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
This dream and its interpretation was given B. C. 603. The four kingdoms: Babylon, Medo- Persian, Grecian, Roman We are now in A. D. 1886, making 2,489 years since Daniel's declaration. What, then, during this long period, has taken place by which to prove the truth of Daniel's interpretation?
1). In the first place, Nebuehadnezzar's kingdom, the head of gold, passed away, and was succeeded by the Medo-Persian Kingdom � the silver breast and arms. Next, the brass is agreed by all to have had its fulfillment in the Grecian Kingdom, under Alexander, and the Roman Kingdom came last, as the Iron Kingdom. These have all come and gone, their history having been written over and over again, so that there seems to be but one opinion on this subject; that these four kingdoms have fulfilled exactly Daniel's predictions.
The ten toes; England not one of them, Portugal instead There remain, therefore, the toes only to be accounted for. It has been decided by historians that the Roman Empire finally died, and from its ashes there appeared in time ten other lesser kingdoms, in Europe, representing the ten toes.
Among these ten, England has been regarded as one by some, but doubted by others. And the doubt is made on this ground: It seems to be conceded on all hands, that the ten toes were a part of the iron kingdom, growing out of it, and therefore justly belonging to it; in the division of the Roman Empire, these ten minor kingdoms must be formed out of the Roman Empire itself; but England is proved by history to have never constituted a part of that empire, for when the Roman army was withdrawn from there, England was utterly abandoned by Rome, and was never after entered by that power.
So that England cannot properly be reckoned as one of the ten kingdoms into which Rome was divided. And in place of England, Portugal is believed to be the kingdom representing one of the toes, and that the little toe. This seems to me to be the proper rendering of the passage.
The stone is God's people, Israel, now the Anglo-Saxons. Their increase: In wealth, literature, Political influence and in religious influence. We come then to the "Stone Kingdom'' This is declared to be God's kingdom, and the subjects of this kingdom are to be God's people. The prediction respecting the stone kingdom must certainly be fulfilled, as all the other four kingdoms have had their day, -- have passed away and gone, and all preparatory to the introduction and final establishment, and universal dominion of the stone, the fifth kingdom.
So if these predictions concerning the stone kingdom fail in the least iota of a literal fulfillment, then we are all at sea, without compass or chart -- the bottom has dropped out � the foundation has gone -- there is no certainty if anything, either of the past, the present, or the future. But, blessed be his holy name, we are not thus left in doubt.
All the past prophecies up to this present time have been fulfilled as predicted, even to the very letter in the minutest particular, and therefore why need we fear or doubt even as to a like literal fulfillment of the remaining prophecies? Unbelief only can hesitate - she� always staggers, for she never walks with a firm tread. Faith alone is unmoved, because standing on the very throne of God.
Here is truth -- where error never enters, and the light of God's countenance drives away all darkness. What people or nation so ever, therefore, we shall find meeting the specifications of the stone kingdom, must necessarily, be God's people -- his own Israel -- a nation rising in antiquity -- scattered abroad among all nations -- yet increasing from small beginnings; towering above all nations, numbering more than any other, and filling the world with its numbers, its wealth, its language, its literature, and above all, with its religion.
Such a people must certainly be the people of God, and constitute the stone, the fifth -- the last kingdom. Now, to find such a people, "must we ascend up to heaven to bring down a kingdom from above, or shall we descend into the deep to bring a people up from thence?" "But what saith it? The word is nigh thee," even at thy very door; whichever way you look, you cannot escape the sight of such a people. And that people is "the Anglo-Saxon Race!"
This people trace their origin back to the "lost ten tribes," thence back to Jacob -- thence up to Abraham, with whom God made the covenant, and to whom all the promises were made; through whose seed all nations of the world were to be blessed.
This people has indeed passed through all the straits of dispersion, of being lost
" wanderers among the nations "� triumphing in battle over their enemies -- planted in the isles of the west -- sending colonies abroad into all parts of the world -- losing the one great colony, i. e., Manasseh � having become now numerous, 200,000,000 -- the head of all nations ill political influence -- the wealthiest of all nations by far; their language now being taught by missionaries in all hinds, so that it is beginning to pervade all nations -- their literature rising like a mountain and far overtopping the literature of all the world beside -- and their religion now being proclaimed in all lands, thus coming in conflict with all forms of paganism and infidelity alike, thus literally accomplishing the work given by Christ to his disciples, viz., his last great command, to proclaim the Gospel to every creature, with the promise, "Lo! I am with you always, even unto the end of the world"!
Now let us, as believers in the divine word, inquire what more could God have done for the exact accomplishment of his promises made to Abraham that He has not done? Is it possible for the human mind to conceive of anything wanting to the literal, the absolute fulfillment of all the prophetic predictions, up to the present time? And this, too, in the minutest particular?
Hence this people must be the stone kingdom. We have found, then, this long-sought- or people who are to constitute the "Stone Kingdom" -- the fifth kingdom -- the kingdom, "set up by the God of heaven." And this people, who were to retain the kingdom -- which should not be left to another people, is verily the Anglo-Saxon race, the identical descendants of the lost ten tribes, the very Israel of God.
I). Prophecies not yet fulfilled (Ezekiel 37): Valley of dry bones; the two sticks; the two kingdoms made one; placed in Jerusalem; hence one king.
2). Gog and Magog, the battle of.
3). The new covenant, its fulfillment yet future.
4). The possession of the land of Canaan by Ephraim and Judah.
5). The building of the temple.
6). The temple service.
7. The waters issuing from the threshold of the temple; how interpreted.
8). The apportionment of the land to the twelve tribes; the priests' portion; tile part for tile temple; the name of the city froth that day shall be, "The Lord is there" Prophecies not yet fulfilled (Ezekiel 37): Valley of dry bones.
1). The first unfulfilled prophecy we meet is found in Ezekiel 37: "The valley of dry bones." We have already found the former part of this prophecy now fulfilled at least in part. The former part of this vision sees "a valley of dry bones." This is interpreted to represent "the whole House of Israel, i. e., ten-tribed Israel. And these dry bones God "breathes upon, and clothes with flesh and skin, and they stand up an exceeding great army."
It has been shown above, that this part of� the prophecy has had its literal fulfillment in the identity of the Anglo-Saxon race with the "lost tribes of Israel;" that the discovery of this wonderful truth seems as strange and incredible as would the story that a certain old graveyard made ages and ages ago has been seen by somebody to be now giving up the dead that were buried therein, and these dead were now coming forth in perfect form clothed with flesh and skin, and, having laid off their grave-clothes, are now clothed in garments of modern form; and these are all veritable living men and women! The battle of Gog and Magog.
2). The prophecies touching this subject are found in Zecheriah14:2; Ezekiel 38:2, 3; Joel, 3:1, 2; Ezekiel 39. These prophecies all point to a time of great warfare in the land of Canaan in the vicinity of Jerusalem; but no one is specific as to the time -- whether before or after some other specified prediction.
Like all other prophecies in the Bible, no one can know the time, the day of the year of fulfillment, till tile event actually takes place. All prophecies are thus given, so that nothing of a chronological order can be discerned by man.
Hence it is found that the same prophet will utter a prediction in the former part of his prophecy, which is found to have its fulfillment far down in the history of the world, while in other parts of the book are recorded prophecies whose fulfillment is equally indefinite. In all cases, no prophecy was ever known as to the time of its fulfillment till just before the actual event, and that only by certain sign which should portend the fulfillment.
This is God's plan, not man's; for if the how or the where, of every or of any prediction were given, how certainly might men conspire to thwart the fulfillment. But, as it is, there is no possibility of doing this, and hence we find that all the divine predictions from the first have come to pass when none were looking for them "as in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the� coming of the Son of Man."
Every one comes unexpectedly, just as lost Israel has been found in the Anglo-Saxons, where and when no one was looking for Israel to be found. So, also, of the several unfulfilled prophecies which seem now to be struggling at the very door for entrance. Who can tell which is first to enter, or how long a time each shall require for its fulfillment? God only knows. And in this I, at least, do rejoice -- yea, and will rejoice.
Editor's comment: For a long time those ministers who knew the Israel identity of the United States, England and Germany believed that that war with Gog and Magog would be turn out to be a war with Communist Russia. Now opinion is leaning toward an invasion of North America lead by China.
Stay tuned. Maybe � maybe not The new covenant, its fulfillment yet future.
3). The new covenant . (Jeremiah 31:3l-34) We have seen in our remarks on this prophecy that a very partial fulfillment seemed to have been made in the conversion of every individual after the coming of Christ, and yet to my own mind this is not certain; for David says, B. C. 1000, "Blessed is the man whose iniquity is pardoned, whose sin is covered."
Was not the conversion in that day the same as under the gospel? But the promise of the new covenant was made 500 years after David's time. Must not, then, the blessing of this new covenant be something different from anything before known? In this new covenant the blessing is to be universal. And not only so, but the promise is, "They shall all know me, from the least to the greatest of them;" and to me the promise seems to imply that there will be no more sin.
Again, this new covenant is to be unlike that made at Mt. Sinai -- "which covenant they brake," saith the Lord; but this new covenant is not to be broken, because the fulfillment of it does not depend on man, but on God alone. In this covenant God says,
Jeremiah 31:33
33: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Now this seems to be something different from what takes place in the conversion of a sinner to Jesus Christ � different, not so much in kind, as in degree; for in conversion the work of sanctification seems to be begun only, but here this work is completed at once, and that, too, on the whole house of both Israel and of Judah; all of them, "from the least of them to the greatest of them saith the Lord."
So that as yet we have received but the earnest; the first fruit of the fulfillment of this wonderful covenant. Its greatest blessings must be yet in store, to be poured out when Israel and Judah shall have become united; henceforth to be no more two nations, but one nation, and when they shall have one king to reign over them. Which king? Can there be any other than Jesus Christ ?
The possession of the land of Canaan by Ephraim and Judah. (Genesis 15:18; 13:14-15)
4). In these two passages is the promise to Abraham and to his seed of the everlasting possession of the whole land of Canaan, "from the River of Egypt to the great River Euphrates." But as the seed of Abraham had possession of this land but a few centuries at most, the fulfillment of the promise is, therefore, in the future.
And this fulfillment must imply, i. e., guarantee, the actual possession of this land by the Anglo-Saxons; together with the Jews, (Editor: Germany/Judah not 'the 'Jews') who are to be returned to Zion, "one of a tribe and two of a family," who are the seed of Abraham, and this whole country must thus remain in their possession forever.
"For, lo! the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring 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." (Jeremiah 30:2) This promise, therefore, must have its fulfillment in the future. See Ezekiel 36:8-12, also verses 24-32. (Ezekiel 39:23-29)
The building of the temple. (Ezekiel, chapters 40, 41, 42, and 43
5). The teaching of these four chapters is divine. Ezekiel says that the vision was made to him in the twenty-fifth year of their captivity, i. e., the Babvlonish captivity; which, according to the commonly received chronology was B. C. 574.
Then follows a description of the scene:
Ezekiel 40:2‑4
2: In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south.
3: And he brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate.
4: And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.
Here, then, the prophet is charged by the Almighty God himself, to apply his eyes, his ears, and his heart, with their deepest intent, to understand and to declare to the house of Israel all that should be made known by this vision. We must believe, therefore, that the vision is of no trivial importance, but that it is to make known things that are certain to take place, and in the identical manner in which they are shown.
If this is not so, then what can we do? The charge is specific, and the words of the vision are in a language known to the prophet, indeed, it is vernacular, so that there could be no possibility of a misunderstanding.
The location also, is Jerusalem, the city known to him from his youth. And the temple with all its appurtenances, is a material temple, whose size and form, with all its measurements, are specified with the utmost exactness. The measuring rod is declared to be of a certain definite length, viz., six cubits long, and that
there may be no mistake, the kind of cubit is specified, viz., a cubit and a hand-breadth, thus making the exact length of the sacred cubit, which is 25 inches.
But the Babylonish cubit is said to have been 21 inches, and this with the addition of 4 inches, the hand-breadth makes 25 inches, equal to the cubit used by Moses in constructing the ark, the tabernacle, etc., at Mt. Sinai. Is it possible, therefore, to err as to the teachings of this wonderful vision? And then, when we consider further, that all the prophetic announcements, by what prophet so ever, and at what time so ever made, that have had their fulfillment up to this time, these in all cases have been fulfilled literally.
Have we not a right to expect the same fulfillment of this prophecy? (Ezekiel 40., etc) I am shut up to this conclusion. I see no possible escape. And how much so ever this may go against our previous theories, I still say, I see no possible escape from the truth of a literal interpretation. I cannot bring it to pass -- no man can bring it to pass, but God can; and in this assurance I rest.
The temple service. The ordinances thereof.
(See Ezekiel. 44, 45, 46 6. As these ordinances are about to be announced, the prophet is charged again from on high to give the most earnest heed to all the instructions now to be given, and to declare all things to the children of Israel, in the very words given by God to the prophet.
Then follow the ordinances for the priests, which are given with the minutest specification. Next the portion of land for the sanctuary. Next for the city -- and for the priests and for the prince, and ordinances for the prince. Chap. 46:1- 9, ordinances for the prince in worship, and for the people, v. 16, etc.
Now these ordinances are given with the severest charge to the prophet, that they be established, in every minute particular, in accordance with the letter of the command; no intimation, even, of any deviation or of any figurative interpretation, being given, but the charge is to declare all as made known to the prophet by the Almighty; so that it seems impossible to conceive of an ordinance to be announced with a more perfect literarily of meaning than are these ordinances, one and all.
And could the prophet doubt as to the meaning of these instructions any more than Moses did at Mt. Sinai, to make all things according to the pattern shown in the Mount, or than Solomon in building the temple?
The waters issuing from the threshold of the temple; how interpreted. (See Ezekiel 47:1-13
7) This must be interpreted either literally or spiritually. Literally, if it will admit of no other interpretation, but if it will thus admit, then some other interpretation may be sought. I am inclined to think the interpretation may be both spiritual and literal -- literal it certainly must be; and I have no objection to a spiritual interpretation also, if one call be properly made from the text.
8). The apportionment of the land to the� twelve tribes; the priests' portion; tile part for tile temple; the name of the city froth that day shall be, "The Lord is there" The border's of the land, and apportionment of the same to the tribes.
The fifty-eighth chapter of Ezekiel is devoted to the description of the land of Canaan, its various boundaries, and the assignment to each of the twelve tribes their portion. In describing the hind it seems that the boundaries mentioned do not differ materially from those given by Joshua, when the tribes had their various lots assigned them at their first entrance into the land of Canaan; that this portion of Canaan thus described is but a small part of the original grant to Abraham, which was "from the River of Egypt unto the great River Euphrates," and extending north and south as far as the eye could reach from that mount of observation from which God pointed out to Abraham the far reaching boundaries of the land granted to his seed by a warranty deed as an everlasting possession.
But the divisioning of this limited Canaan is� found to be quite different from that made at the first under Joshua. Here, in Ezekiel. 48, the portions are bounded from east to west, extending the whole length of the tract, the west end of every claim bounded by the Mediterranean Sea; six of the tribes located on the north of the temple, and six on the south of the temple -- the temple being thus in the middle of the tribes as located by their boundaries given by divine command.
Now in this arrangement there is perceived nothing in conflict with the original settlement of this same land. The only difference is in the description of the portion made to each of the tribes; the twelve tribes are all named its at the first, and their several apportions all contained within the bounds of their lots under Joshua.
Can the inquiry, then, now be raised as to the interpretation of this scripture, by which the land of Canaan is to be apportioned out the second time to the twelve tribes of' Israel? Yes, just as reasonably as when the twelve tribes were settled in Canaan by divine command.
And there is just as much evidence that the tribes named by Ezekiel will be spiritual beings, as in the days of Joshua, those twelve tribes that he led out of the wilderness and across the River Jordan on dry land, into Canaan, were spiritual phantoms and not real men and women of flesh and blood!
Here we reach the end of the prophetic predictions concerning the future establishment of the kingdom of God in this world.* And God himself closes these predictions with the exclamation: "The name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is here"! This as far as the Old Testament is concerned. The New Testament may be considered hereafter.
Where are they? They are somewhere on earth. They are a distinct and separate people. THEY ARE NOT JEWS. That is what, we believe, the Scriptures say. We must look to the Scriptures for proof of these statements, then.
We look to the New Testament first. And this for one purpose mainly, to get the New Testament estimate of the Scriptures of the Old Testament. Are the Scriptures of the Old Testament reliable? Can the promises there recorded be depended on? Are the Scriptures of the Old Testament a record of man�s search for God and man�s conception of God?
Or are they a record of God�s search for man and God�s revelation of His will to man, as man was able to received? Even as Jesus said to His disciples, �I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear (receive) then now,� did God reveal His will and way, according to man�s ability to received? And are the Scriptures of the Old Testament not a record of man�s conception of God, but of man�s increasing ability to receive the Divine revelations? What answer does the New Testament give to these questions?
It is in the Old Testament that the promises to the father are found. What was Jesus� estimate of the Scriptures of the Old Testament? We may say that He had no other writings than the Old Testament Scriptures. We can say that He was well acquainted with their contents. In them He found the program for His own life.
Matthew 5:17-18
17: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18: For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
That is strong language. It is well to note that He says, �till all things be fulfilled.�� Not some but all. On another occasion He said, �And the Scriptures cannot be broken.� (John 10:35)
Not once is it recorded that He spoke disparagingly of the Scriptures. Not once did He intimate that the Scriptures of the Old Testament are unreliable in any respect. He did correct the rabbis� interpretation and application of the Scriptures, but He did not correct the Scriptures. Even as liberal a theologian as Dr. Harnack held that when Jesus said, �Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time...but I say unto you.� (Matthew 5:21; 27; 33) He was not correcting the Scriptures of the Law and the Prophets, but the false interpretation and application of the rabbis.
When one came to Him and asked Him,
Luke 10:25
25: And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
He directed him to the Scriptures. He said to him, �What is written in the law? How readest thou?� (Luke 10:26) In looking forward to His own death,
Matthew 20:18; Mark 10:33; Luke 18:31
18, 33, 31: He took unto Him the twelve and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written through the prophets shall be accomplished unto the Son of Man.
And again, �The Son of Man goeth as it is written of Him.� (Matthew 26:24; Mark 14:21) When hanging on the tree He said, �I thirst,� (John 19:28) it was that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. And again, �But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.� (Mark 14:49) When He was risen from the dead, and walking with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus,
Luke 24:25‑26
25: Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And the same day at even He appeared to the disciples, and said to them;
Luke 24:44
44: And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
We may here say that it would be a very remarkable thing, indeed, if all things without exception, concerning the Lord Jesus, related in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, must be fulfilled, while many, even most, of the things written concerning Israel fail of fulfillment. Even when Jesus says, �The Scripture cannot be broken.�
We call attention to one more statement of Christ, concerning the Scriptures of the Old Testament. In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, He represents the rich man in conversation with Abraham. He asks Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth to warn his five brothers. Christ put these words into the mouth of Abram in reply:
Luke 16:29‑31
29: Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
30: And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
31: And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Could any language more strongly confirm the integrity, the truthfulness, the utter reliability of the Old Testament Scriptures than these words that Christ puts into the mouth of Abraham? Could any language more clearly and emphatically declare that the Old Testament Scriptures are from God and are entirely dependable?
When we pass from the record in the Gospels to the other portions of the New Testament, we find the same testimony. In the Acts we find the Old Testament referred to, again and again, as the sure word, the unfailing word, the ground and hope of the present and future. The same is true of Ll Paul�s letters. We need not quote specific cases. �Nevertheless, what saith the Scriptures.� And what the Scriptures say is not only the sure word and last word on any question, but the word of hope and guidance for the future. In the epistle to the Hebrews we have the following:
Hebrews 1:1
1: God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.
That way of stating it represents the thought and attitude of every writer of the New Testament toward the Scriptures of the Old Testament. They are the record of what God has spoken, at various times, and in various ways.
2 Peter 1:21
21: For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
There is this question. Can the New Testament be relied on? And to that question we paraphrase the words of Paul in reply.
�If the record cannot be relied on, then is our preaching vain, and our faith also is vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we testified that it was God who spake through the prophets, and through Jesus of Nazareth, which He did not do, if so be that the New Testament records cannot be relied on.
�For if the records cannot be relied on, then Christ has not died, nor been raised from the dead, and the promises of the Old Testament are only wishful thinking on the part of men, and not really the promises of God; they are not the �sure word of prophecy.��
If the records cannot be relied on, our faith is vain and we are without any assurance or hope. But we think we can join Paul in his triumphant assurance concerning the resurrection of Christ, and say of the New Testament records that they can be relied on to the uttermost.
Two more things about the Scriptures of the Old Testament. Christ added nothing new in all His teaching to what is found in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. He was the New Thing. The other thing is that archaeology has confirmed the historical accuracy of the Old Testament in every particular. That will be admitted by every reasonable man today.
The �assured results� no longer. Modesty, humility, a chastened spirit characterizes the honest critic of the Old Testament today. The higher criticism is becoming increasingly difficult as away of escape from the admitted difficulties of the Old Testament for any honest man. The higher criticism must not be taken for granted if there is to be any progress in Bible knowledge.
Now we can turn to the Old Testament and study the promises made to the fathers in the assurance that they are God�s promises; and assuredly that no word of God is void of power. They are not cunningly devised fables nor wishful thinking.
When God called Abram to go out from his own land to a land that He would show him, He said:
Genesis 12:1-3
1: Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
After Lot and Abram separated, the Lord appeared to Abraham again, and said to him:
Genesis 13:14‑16
14: ...Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
15: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
16: 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.
That promise God did not fulfill, if we interpret it in the usual orthodox way, as referring to the jews. The Jews are today not over sixteen million, and not nearly as numerous as the dust of the earth, the stars of the sky or the sands or the sea.
After Abram delivered Lot, his family and possessions, from the hands of their captors, the Lord appeared to him again, and said to him:
Genesis 15:1‑6
1: Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
2: And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eleazar of Damascus?
3: And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
4: And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
5: And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
6: And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
That promise has only partly been fulfilled. The promise as to the multitudinousness of his seed has not been fulfilled, if we interpret the promise from the standpoint of the Jews.
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, and Sarai was ninety, the Lord appeared to him, and said to him:
Genesis 17:1‑6
1: I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
2: And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
3: And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4: As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
5: Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
6: And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
According to the orthodox interpretation this solemn promise has not been fulfilled; God has not kept His word. By no possible stretch of the imagination, by a possible exaggeration, can the Jews be made to fit into this picture. After the deliverance from Egypt by Moses, and their entrance into the land of Canaan, led by Joshua, the people of the seed of Abraham were under Judges for the space of four hundred and fifty years.
When they asked for a King, God gave them Saul; then David; then Solomon; then Rehoboam. In the early reign of Rehoboam, the kingdom was divided. There were two nations then, but not a company of nations. In 721 B.C. one of the two nations, the Ten Tribes, was taken captive by the Assyrians.
So far as Bible history goes the Ten Tribes ceased as a nation. About 130 years after the captivity of the Ten Tribes, the two Tribes were taken into Assyrian captivity also; then the remnant as taken into the Babylonian captivity. After seventy years a remnant returned, less than fifty thousand. But Judah was never a nation again, unto this day.
As the Jews cannot be made to fit into this great picture, so neither can the promise be spiritualized. God was speaking to Abraham of HIS NATURAL SEED. Abraham always understood it that way. There is no escaping that fact.
At the same time Abraham�s wife�s name was changed from Sarai to Sarah, Princes, and the Lord promised her a son, Isaac. Not a spiritual son, but a real flesh and blood sin. And God said,
Genesis 17:16
16: I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; Kings of peoples shall be of her.
She did bear a son, a literal flesh and blood son, according tot he word of the Lord, and his name was called Isaac. So far the promise was literally fulfilled. But the remainder of the promise has not been fulfilled, if we interpret it from the standpoint of the Jews. Nor can it be spiritualized into yielding any sense whatever.
On the occasion of Abraham�s offering his son Isaac, the Lord renewed the promise in these words,
Genesis 22:17
17: In blessing, I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gates of his enemies.
Again we must say that by no possible means can we make the Jews the fulfillment of this great promise, either while as a nation in Palestine or since. Either there must be another interpretation of this and such like promises, or else the promises of God are utterly unreliable.
All these promises were confirmed to Isaac and Jacob. We need not take time to refer to them. We only take time to refer to the testimony of the Apostle Paul, to the effect that a covenant confirmed before hand of God, which came four hundred and thirty years after, doth not disannul, so as to me the promise of none effect. Since the law given on Sinai could not make the promise of none effect, neither can any other thing. We must look for the fulfillment of all these promises.
When one makes the statement, �We must look for the fulfillment of all these promises,� he lays himself open to the ridicule and scorn of all the �me too� folk who follow in the train of what is called �modern scholarship.� �Modern scholarship� as well as traditional orthodoxy has long ago decided that God made promises, unconditional promises, that He has not fulfilled, and cannot now fulfill.
So they have, in one way or another, undertaken to help God out of His dilemma. Like Abraham and Sarah, they could not see how God could possibly fulfill his word, and they have invented varius schemes whereby, in their judgment, God�s integrity and honesty, as well as His purpose, could be preserved.
It did look as if Abraham and Sarah had done a good and much-needed job in the case of Hagar and Ishmael. For several years it looked as if their plan had been the means of God �saving face.� But their well meaning but utterly mistaken effort not only did not help, it added to the own distress and produced a situation that has continued to be one of the very greatest hindrances to the progress of the Kingdom of God through all the centuries since.
So it did look, for many years, as if �modern scholarship:� had brought forth an Ishmael. Their Ishmael was that the Old Testament Scriptures were, largely, the product of man�s wishful thinking; that they were, largely, the record of man�s search for God, and therefore very fallible; that the promises recorded as made to the fathers were never intended to fulfilled as spoken; that we must say it, Jesus� estimate of the Old Testament Scriptures cannot be accepted.
It must be admitted that they brought forth a brisk, upstanding, well-dressed lad in their Ishmael. International tailors of the highest repute contributed to his dress, and the very best literary efforts were expended on the embroidery.
Their Ishmael was a credit to them. He was much praised, indeed, in all the ranks of �modern scholarship.� But the Lord has come along to say, �In Isaac shall thy seed be called.� �Cast out the handmaid and her son; for the son of the handmaid shall not inherit with the son of the freewoman.� And it looks as if this Ishmael will be as great a hindrance to the progress of the true Kingdom of God as the Ishmael begotten by Abraham�s and Sarah�s device.
������������������� Why is Israel Not The Jews?
This will be a good place to show that the Israelites are not Jews, and never were Jews. The Jews are said, falsely, that the Jews are of the Tribe of Judah only. All the Twelve Tribes were Israelites, being the descendants of Jacob are often referred to as the Twelve Tribes of descendants of Jacob are often referred to as the Twelve Tribes of Israel. From the time of the separation of the House of Israel under Jeroboam, the northern Kingdom is almost invariably referred to as Israel, the House of Israel, Joseph, or Ephraim.
But they are NEVER once referred as Jews. Ephraim is the chief designation. One has only to read the prophets to see this; Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah. There we find, again and again, �Israel and Judah,� �the House of Israel and the House of Judah.� They are distinct and separate people.
There were some Jews, doubtless, among the House of Israel. Just as we know there were some of the House of Israel among the Jews. But the prophets are very clear and emphatic in distinguishing between Israel or Joseph, the House of Israel, and Judah, or the House of Judah. Even the disciples of the Lord seem to make the distinction, when they said to Christ,
John 11:8
8: His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
Decades ago, Cannon Farrar, in his Life of Christ, pointed out that there was only one Jew among the disciples of the Lord Jesus, Judas. The others were from galilee, of the tribe of Benjamin. And when God filled the vacancy made by the departure of Judas, He chose a man of the tribe of Benjamin.
If we would �rightly divide the word of truth� we must have a clear grasp of the distinctions between Israel and Judah, the House of Israel and the House of Judah; between Joseph, or Ephraim, and the Jews. The prophets all made the distinction clear.
The birthright was the big, the very important thing. It belonged to Isaac as the promised son of Abraham and Sarah. Of the twin sons of Isaac, Esau, the elder, did not succeed to the birthright. �Esau despised his birthright.� (Genesis 25:34)
Jacob appreciated the great importance of the birthright, and he succeeded to the birthright promises. Which of Jacob�s sons inherited the birthright? Reuben was the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn: but, in as much as he defiled his father�s couch, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the prince; but the birthright was Joseph�s).� (1 Chronicles 5:1)
Wherever Joseph is today, there are the birthright blessings, Joseph representing the House of Israel. If Joseph is nowhere, then the promises have become of none effect, and the whole plan of God has failed. We mus look for and find Joseph, and when we find him WE WILL FIND HIM ENJOYING THE BIRTHRIGHT BLESSINGS.
It is contended by some that the House of Israel returned to Canaan with the return of Judah from Babylon. The House of Israel were not in Babylon. Those who returned from the Babylon captivity are described by Ezra in these words:
Ezra 2:1
1: Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuehadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away into Babylon and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, everyone unto his city.
The tribes who returned he names �Judah and Benjamin.� There is not a word about the House of Israel, nor any part of them, returning. At that time, according to second Esdras, they had removed much farther west, from the place where they had been taken captive by the Assyrians. Esdras says:
Esdras 13:40-45
40-45: These are the Ten Tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the King of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so they came into another land. But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a farther country, where never mankind dwelt, that they might there keep their statutes which they never kept in their own land. And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow passages of the river. For the Most High then showed signs for them, and held the sill the flood till they were passed over. For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half: and the same region is called Arsareth.
They were on their way west, toward the place that God had appointed them. Looking for them in the place into which they were taken captive, as some say we must do, we will not find them. An object must be looked for where it is mislaid or lost; it cannot move unless it is moved.
But a living, adventurous people will not stay in the place where they have been put by their captors, not when there is plenty of uninhabited territory farther west, and when their captors are no longer in a position to prevent them from moving on. They were more than a thousand miles farther west than where the Assyrians placed, them, before the captives returned from Babylon. They did not return to Canaan.
Josephus, who wrote about 70 A.D., says:
�The Ten Tribes did not return to Palestine; only two tribes served the Romans after Palestine became a Roman province.�
In the Scriptures, which Jesus says cannot be broken, we find in Ezekiel an account of the union of Joseph and Judah �in the latter days.� The prophet was told to take two sticks, one for Judah and one for Joseph, �and join them for three one to another into one stick.� And the meaning of this was made clear in these words:
Ezekiel 37:21-23
21: And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22: 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:
23: 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.
If Joseph (House of Israel) is mixed with Judah now, as some say, and has been so mixed since the return of Judah from the captivity of Babylon, how could there be this union in the latter days? The two are distinct and separate. This union has never taken place. It has taken place in the United States.
Now we follow the fortune of the House of Israel. According to the Scripture, they would be �lost,� even losing their identity, and being called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord would name. But they would not be forgotten of God. Read Hosea, and be sure of that. Hosea was a prophet to the northern kingdom:
Hosea 11:8
8: How shall I give thee up, Ephraim...I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee and I will not come in wrath.
Read Amos, and be assured that though Ephraim may forget God, God will not forget Ephraim. Amos, too, was a prophet to the northern kingdom. And this is what we read there:
Amos 9:9
9: For lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like as a grain is sifted, in a sieve, yet shall not the least kernel fall to the earth.
That statement is not mere rhetoric. It means something. It means that God is watching over His Israel people in and through all their wanderings, their wars, their trials, their chastisements, and their tribulations, �O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.� (Isaiah 44:21)
In the song of Moses, which the Lord instructed him to write, we have this remarkable statement:
Deuteronomy 32:8-9
8: When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
9: For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
For the Lord�s portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.
This statement concerning God�s providential dealings with the nations is confirmed by the statement of Paul at Athens, when he said:
Acts 17:24‑26
24: God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25: Neither is worshiped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
26: And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.
It seems quite evident that God never intended that the people of Israel should be confined to the little land of Canaan. Had they continued increasing as they had done in Egypt and later, long centuries before the coming of Christ it would have been a physical impossibility for the land of Canaan to have held and sustained them. That Canaan was to be the center of their government and worship is clear enough.
But manifestly, they were not to be confined to that territory. We find that as early as the early part of the days of the Judges, Dan and Asher were a seafaring people, going as far west, doubtless, as �the ends of the earth,� the British Isles. In the song of Deborah and Barak we have this:
Judges 5:17
17: Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.
Our thought must not be confined to the small territory of Canaan, for the Scriptures do not confine our thought there, as we shall see.
When David conceived the plan of building a house to the Lord and made known his thought and purpose to his friend Nathan, the prophet encouraged him in his plan. But that night the Lord appeared to Nathan and said to him that he should go to David and tell him that as he had shed much blood he would not be permitted to build a house to the Lord. His son would build it. Nathan was to express God�s appreciation of David�s thought, and say to him:
2 Samuel 7:8‑10
8: Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel:
9: And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.
10: Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, THAT THEY MAY DWELL IN A PLACE OF THEIR OWN, and move no more...
This was repeated to Israel many times:
1 Chronicles 17:9
9: Also I WILL ORDAIN A PLACE FOR MY PEOPLE ISRAEL, AND WILL PLANT THEM, and THEY SHALL DWELL IN THEIR PLACE, and shall be moved no more...
Jeremiah 12:15
15: And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, EVERY MAN TO HIS HERITAGE, AND EVERY MAN TO HIS LAND.
Jeremiah 23:3‑8
3: And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4: And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
5: Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
6: In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7: Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8: But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and THEY SHALL DWELL IN THEIR OWN LAND.
Isaiah 14:1
1: For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, AND SET THEM IN THEIR OWN LAND: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.
Ezekiel 34:13
13: And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, AND WILL BRING THEM TO THEIR OWN LAND, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
Ezekiel 37:21
21: And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, AND BRING THEM INTO THEIR OWN LAND.
Ezekiel 39:23‑28
23: And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
24: According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.
25: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
26: After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, WHEN THEY DWELT SAFELY IN THEIR LAND, and none made them afraid.
27: When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28: Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which cause them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I HAVE GATHERED THEM UNTO THEIR OWN LAND, and have left none of them any more there.
Amos 9:15
15: And I will plant them upon their land, and THEY SHALL NO MORE BE PULLED UP OUT OF THEIR LAND which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.
That appointed place cannot mean the land of Canaan, for God�s Israel people were already there. It must be some other place. Should anyone contend that it means the land of Canaan, he is faced with the fact that, in that case, God�s word of solemn promise was never fulfilled, nor ever an be fulfilled. Israel was moved from the land of Canaan; first the Ten Tribes, then Judah and Benjamin. And for almost 1,900 years the Israelites have been scattered far away from the land of Canaan. The Lord must have meant some other place than the land of Canaan. That is the place we are in search, of, some appointed place where God�s Israel is planted and secure, where God�s solemn word of promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel is being fulfilled; where His word to David is being fulfilled. Wherever that place is there is Joseph the birthright people.
We read in Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 33:17
17: For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.
That word has not been fulfilled and can now never be fulfilled, if we interpret it from the stand point of the Jews. Nor can it be spiritualized into meaning anything whatever. Neither can it be thrust into the millennium, where the Lord Jesus shall sit upon the throne of His father David and reign over the house of Jacob. Where is the God-appointed place and where is the throne of the House of Israel on which the kingly line of David sits? They are somewhere, unless Nathan and Jeremiah put a lie into the mouth of the Lord.
In Jeremiah, chapter 31, we have this solemn assurance:
Jeremiah 31:35‑37
35: Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:
36: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
37: Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.
Did the Lord say that? Or did Jeremiah put a lie into the mouth of the Lord? Was Jeremiah a false prophet, pretending to speak in the name of the Lord when, in fact, the lord had not sent him? There is on thing that makes it sure as the word of the Lord: �then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done.�
Man would cast them off for all that they have done. But not God. He will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will remember no more. That is the same as God said through Hosea; that He would not cast off the seed of Israel because of their sin, �For I am God and not man.� (Hosea 11:9) It was that character of God that led Micah to exclaim:
Micah 7:18‑20
18: Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
19: He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20: Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
Then, as sure as the sun shines; as sure as day follows night and night succeeds the day, the House of Israel, the birthright people, exists as a nation today in God�s appointed place, enjoying the birthright blessings, the blessings of the firstborn. �I am a father to Israel, Ephraim is my firstborn.� (Jeremiah 31:9)
���������������� Who Are They? Where Are They?
In seeking to answer these questions we must be guided by the Scriptures and history. History unfolds prophecy. The Scriptures tell us that they would be �lost.� They were called, as we know, �The Lost Sheep of the House of Israel.� They would be �wanderers� among the nations. Hosea wrote of them:
Hosea 9:16‑17
16: Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.
17: My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
(THIS OF COURSE, IS STATED OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, EPHRAIM. IT HAS NO REFERENCE TO THE JEWS)
They shall go toward the north and west. They shall inhabit the isles of the sea, the western isles. They shall inhabit the wilderness, and there God will deal with them and �speak comfortably to them,� as we read in Hosea. (By �wilderness� is not meant an uninhabitable place, but an uninhabited place, a place capable of habitation and cultivation. Esdras records that they started to go to a land that had never been inhabited. No doubt started to go to a land that had never been inhabited. No doubt God�s appointed place)
They were to be a numerous people, so the Lord promised the birthright people to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel. And Hosea writes of Ephraim, the northern Kingdom, �the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered.� Again, according to Hosea, they are to be in the new covenant, for
Hosea 1:10
10: Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
Romans 9:26
26: And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
They are to be a maritime people, possessing the gates of their enemies. They are to be a nation and a company; a commonwealth, of nations. They are to be God�s witnesses in spreading the truth of the New Covenant.
These are only some of the fingerprints of Scripture to guide us in our historical search for Joseph, the birthright people. And there is only one people in the world that fits the picture, the Anglo-Saxon people, especially Great Britain and her colonies, and the United States of America. And, as one has said, THEY FIT THE PICTURE AS PERFECTLY AS A KEY FITS THE LOCK FOR WHICH IT WAS MADE. With them must be included the Scandinavian countries, Holland, Denmark, and others. But we will, in this article, confine ourselves to Great Britain and America, for the most part.
Among the hundreds of confirmations we will confine ourselves to four. And, of course, we must depend on the researches and findings of those who have made a real study of the subject, historians and others.
1). WE TRACE THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL FROM THE PLACE WHERE THE ASSYRIANS PLACED THEM. At the time of Ezra, as recorded in Second Esdras, at least a part of them had moved west more than thousand miles, to Arsareth, in the southeast of Russia. That they did not all go then we may gather form Josephus, who states that, in his day, they were in the same general territory in which the Assyrians placed them, and were a very great multitude. But a part at least, and a large part, had already moved west, toward God�s appointed place, as early as the days of Ezra, and before the return of the Israelites and the Jews from Babylon. The others followed in their time. They were called Scythian wanderers. They bore other different names. They left their marks behind them, as they proceeded west during the centuries, marks that are manifest unto this day.
Sharon Turner, the historian, has made the most exhaustive study along this line. His testimony is all the more worthy of consideration by the doubting ones, in that he never dreamed of such a thing as the Anglo-Israel question. That light had not yet �broken� from God�s Word. He was an historian tracing the different names, fighting one another and not knowing that it was kindred fighting kindred, fighting others, until they reached God�s appointed place. The tribe of Dan, especially, left its mark wherever it went. While yet in the land of Canaan it was the habit that tribe to give the name Dan to any conquered place, �after Dan their father.� The tribe continued to do that in all their journeyings westward, toward the isles of the sea. Danmark is the place or territory of Dan.
These tribe arrived in the isles at different times, and under different names. We are familiar with such names as Picts, and Scots, and Jutes, and Danes, and Angles, and Saxons. The last to arrive were the Normans. But all these were from the same stock, and came originally from the same territory, from where the Assyrians placed the House of Israel. Sir F. Palgrave, in his �English Commonwealth,� says:
�Britons, Anglo-Saxons, Danes and Normans were all related; however hostile they were all kinsmen, shedding kindred blood.�
Professor Freeman, in his �Origin of the English Nation,� says:
�Tribe after tribe, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, poured across the sea to make new homes in the Isle of Britain. Thus grew up the English nation; a nation formed by the union of varius tribes of the same stock. The Dane hardly needed assimilation: he was another kindred tribe coming later than the others. Even the Norman was a kinsman.�
Dr. Thomas Nicholas in his �pedigree of the English People,� says:
�The researches of modern historians unequivocally favor the opinion that under the names of Gauls, Gaels, Celts, Cimmarii, Cimbri, Cymry, Brython, Scots and Picts; only one race under different tribe or clan divisions, politically organizations, and periods of existence is spoken of...hence...one people.�
The �British Medical Journal� says:
�The more we dig into the physical character of the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish peoples, the more do anthropologists become convinced that all four nationalities are compounded out of exactly the same racial stocks of mankind.�
Professor Huxley, in �Racial Origins,� says:
�The invasions of the Saxons, the Goths, the Danes, he Normans changed the language of Briton, but added no new physical element. Therefore we should not talk any more of Celts and Saxons, for they are all one. I never lose an opportunity of rooting up the false idea that the celts and the Saxons are different races.�
Again he says:
�I miss no opportunity of uprooting the notion that the people who form the British nation are descended from various nations. All the detachments who flowed into Britain are branches of the self-same sock.�\
And, we may add, all can be traced, and have been traced, to the self-same place, the territory where the House of Israel was placed by the Assyrians.
Sir Arthur Keith tells us that he has had to revise his opinion of the origin of the old British people. Facts obliged him to revise his opinion. He tells us that he is satisfied that
�the early British, the early Scots, the early Ulsterman, the Welsh, the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes and Normans are all part of one common stock which have come from the east.�
Prof. Max M�ller gives the same testimony. So does John Richard Green, the historian.
If all this testimony is contrary to what we have believed, we may quote Sir F. Palgrave again. He says:
�The fundamental rule of science, whether in history or elsewhere, is not what has been believed, but what is true. The inquiry into what is true on the present subject discovers a strong link of relationship between the Cymry and the English.�
That fundamental rule of science, NOT WHAT HAS BEEN BELIEVED BUT WHAT IS TRUE, must guide us in this study, as in all others, in relation to Scripture and history. Is it true? That is the question, here as elsewhere, no matter what we have been taught or believed hitherto. There is yet much, very much, truth to break from God�s Holy Word.
We make one more quotation. Professor Roland G. Usher, of Washington University, says:
�The greatest achievement of the careful researches of the late Bishop of Oxford into the Constitutional history of England was the conclusive establishment of the fact that by the close of the 13th Century the consciousness in the people of any difference in ancestry had entirely disappeared...surely the fact that Englishmen became conscious of their common blood is a striking and important fact.�
It surely is. And it corroborates the word of the Lord through Amos:
Amos 9:9
9: For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth
And it corroborates the word of the Lord to David through Nathan:
2 Samuel 7:10
10: I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more...
Dr. Neubauer, a Jew, writes in the Jewish Chronicle:
�If as you Christians say, the Christ has come, then the House of Joseph ought to be manifest; and what you have got to do is to find the people who represent them.�
They are found in the appointed place, worshiping Christ as God.
2). THE LANGUAGE!
The ancient British language is closely related to the Hebrew. The Welsh Cymry, is so closely kin to the Hebrew that a Welsh writer, Charles Edwards,
�Was so much struck with its similarity, when he first commenced the study of Hebrew at the University of Oxford, that he felt he must make known his discovery.�
Another has written,
Scarcely any Hebrew root can be discovered that has not it corresponding derivative in the ancient British language.�
An eminent Cornish scholar of the last century, who devoted a great deal of time to prove the affinity between the Hebrew and Welsh languages, observes:
�It would be difficult to adduce a single article or form of construction in the Hebrew grammar, but the same is to be found in Welsh, and that there are many whole sentences in both languages exactly the same in the very words.�
Canon Lyson finds 5,000 Hebrew rots in the English tongue. And William Tyndale, who gave us the English translation of the Bible, says:
�The English agreeth one thousand times more with the Hebrew than the Latin or the Greek.�
Isaac E. Mozeson in his book �The Word The Dictionary That Reveals The Hebrew Source of English,� relates the following in his Foreword:
�In the beginning were these words. Come with me on an archeological dig. Let us remove the sands of millennia. We are in the valley of Shinar, reconstructing the Tower of Babe; one brick, one word at a time. Together we will change the way we speak about the way we speak.
�Put away your dictionaries; with their charming, old-fashioned myths of standardized spelling and pronunciation, with their superstitious, tribal need to create a new language (Indo-European) out of ignorance of the ancient one. Take out, instead, your Bible; and a pair of human ears.
�The Word speaks to you. Don�t worry if you�ve never read anything on language, or if you�ve never heard a Hebrew word. You will soon know that you�ve never heard a word that WASN�T Hebrew.
�Let the language of Eden echo in your soul like the sound of your mother�s voice in a dream ...calling you home from far away and long ago.
�Yes, I began from the Biblical given that Hebrew is the Mother tongue (Genesis, chapter 11). It seems to me that I have begun to prove that �all the earth was of one speech, with a unified vocabulary.� (The more words have changed, the more they have remained the same). The �coincidence� criers cannot be happy with the mathematical odds of my having compiled all this data. Hebrew vocabulary has as much affinity with English as it has with Arabic. More English words can be clearly linked to Biblical Hebrew than to Latin, Greek or French. Most known English words or roots are treated in this book. Check the index, and note the many prefixes and suffixes covered as well.
�With all my idol-breaking, I have remained too true to conservative linguistic rules to be iconoclastic. I am grateful for my brief training in linguistics, and for the century of research into Ido-European roots that often made my discoveries possible. I stand on the shoulders of giants; though the linguists wish I�d get off their backs..
�The last group of Westerners to take up the lost paradise of Hebrew included 17th- century Englishmen like John Milton and his puritan counterparts in colonial America...Governor Bradford was a new Hebrew in the �Promised Land� of America. (He reverently desired to study God�s word in its original tongue; I don�t know why so many Christians...have settled for less). The curriculum of Harvard was full of Hebrew, and an early graduate thesis at Harvard concerned Hebrew as the Mother tongue. Noah Webster�s etymologies (discredited for over 200 years now) were full of English words traced to �Semitic� sources. Most significant of all, if a vote in the Continental Congress had gone the other way, America, and much of today�s world, would now be speaking Hebrew.
�Decades of reconstructing theoretical common ancestors of the Germans, Slavs, Italics, Hellenics, Indo-Iranians, etc., have ironically legitimized with Noah Webster and the Bible would call �Japhetic� language. The third son of Noah, Ham, is behind the generic term for African languages, and white gentiles in the linguistic community have no trouble with the evidence of a related Hamito-Semitic language family. Let the Blacks and Jews share the ghetto, whisper the professors, as long as Indo-European remains lily white.� (The Word, pp. 1-4)
This is quite understandable in the light of the fact that the British Isles were peopled by the descendants of the House of Israel. On any other premise it is hardly understandable.
Zephaniah 3:9
9: For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.
3). THE THIRD MATTER!
We call attention to relates to Jeremiah and the two daughters of King Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. When the Lord called Jeremiah as a prophet, He said to him:
Jeremiah 1:10
10: See, I have this day set thee over THE NATIONS and over THE KINGDOMS, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
The last we know of Jeremiah, so far as Bible history records, he was in Egypt, and with him were the two royal daughters of Zedekiah. He was in Egypt against his will, brought there by the disobedient Johanon. While in Egypt the Lord had spoke through him concerning the future of those who had gone there, in disobedience to the expressed will and promise of God. That we may see clearly the prospect confronting those who insisted on going to Egypt against the expressed will of God, we quote the words spoken to Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 44:11‑14
11: Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.
12: And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.
13: For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:
14: So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.
We may rest assured that the Judge of all the earth would not deal with the righteous as with the wicked and that Jeremiah and his two wards would most surely escape.
Now we leave Bible history with Jeremiah in Egypt. Henceforth we must depend upon secular history and tradition in following the fortunes of Jeremiah and his two royal wards, and his friend and secretary Baruch. But it is tradition so well established that we may well accept it as accredited history; and so well confirmed by subsequent history and so much in harmony with Bible prophecy that it cannot be denied.
We may again assume that Jeremiah would not return to the land of Judah, certainly not to remain there. After all that had happened he would be suspected by the authorities of Babylon, even if there were any security in the land. According to well-established tradition, Jeremiah, with the two royal daughters of Zedekiah, and Baruch his secretary, and others, took ship to Spain, the Iberian Peninsula, and thence to Ireland.
Both in Spain and in Ireland he would come among his own people, Israelites. The tribe of Dan, the Tuatha de Danaans, as it is expressed in the ancient Irish language, had been traced to Ireland centuries before this time, and as coming by the way of Greece. The �Psalter of cashel� says,
�The Tuatha de Danaans; the tribe of Dan, ruled Ireland for about two centuries, and were highly skilled in other arts from their long residence in Greece and intercourse with the Phoenicians.�
The tribe of Judah, the Zarah branch, has been traced to Ireland centuries before the coming of Jeremiah. Also some of the tribe of Ephraim.
We may here turn aside to say that, according to those competent to judge, there is an ancient Irish literature, awaiting translation, equal to the best literature of ancient Greece, if not even far surpassing it. If one tenth of the scholarship that has been expended in attempting to show that the Old Testament scriptures are, largely, of man�s device, and that Jesus� estimate of them cannot be accepted, had been devoted to the brining of this literature to the knowledge of the people, the Christian church would be much richer, and would not be muddling about in uncertainty regarding God�s covenant promises and their fulfillment.
But to return to Jeremiah. About two years after the Israelites were taken captive to Babylon, there arrived in Ireland, from Egypt, by way of Spain, a sage. He brought with him a princess and his scribe or secretary.
�The ship that brought them to Ireland belonged to the Iberian Danaan. They landed on the northeast coast of Ireland, where Carrick Fergus now stands. The little party brought with them a huge, mysterious chest, a banner, and a large roughed stone. The name of the aged seer was Ollamh Fodhla (wonderful prophet), the princess was called Tamar Tephi (Palm Beautiful) and the scribe�s name was Brug or Baruch.�
This is according to the Irish records. The name Brug or Baruch is practically identical with Baruch, Jeremiah�s scribe. Irish poetry is full of the praises of Tamar Tephi,
�Of her lofty birth, here stormy life in Jerusalem and at Tahpanhes, in Egypt, her voyage to Spain, and thence to Ireland.�
To this very day Jeremiah�s burial place is pointed out on Devenish Island, in Lough Erne, Co. Fermanagh. It has been known through the centuries as �Jeremiah�s Tomb.�
So when Jeremiah and his party came to Ireland, they came to their own kith and kin, which was, of course, the reason they came to Ireland, at least among other reasons. For we can very well believe that Jeremiah would have divine guidance in the matter. At his time the King of Ireland was Eochaidh Heremonn. The Heremonn was the head King of Ireland.
The different provinces had each its own king. Then these Kings chose the head King, the King for all Ireland. Heremonn of Ireland was young. Tamar Tephi is described as very beautiful. The young people soon won each other�s affections. The Ollamh Fodhla�s consent had to be obtained, and was given on three conditions:
�The worship of Baal must be renounced and the worship of God established. The nation must accept the moral law, as contained in the two tables. The King must provide a school for Ollamhs.�
This was agreed to and the marriage took place.
The young Heremonn is believed to have been of the tribe of Judah, of the Zarah branch. If so, the two branches of the tribe of Judah were united in this marriage. But whether the Heremonn was of the house of Judah does not matter. The royal house of Judah, in the person of Zedekiah�s royal daughter, began its reign in Ireland, on the throne of David. The succession from that time on is traced, without a break, from Ireland to Scotland, from Scotland to England, to the present occupant of the throne (at the time of the writing of this study) of Great Britain.
This has been fulfilled and is being fulfilled, the solemn promise made by God through the prophet Jeremiah,
Jeremiah 33:17
17 For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.
And what about the large rough stone that Jeremiah brought with him to Ireland? There was a stone under the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey, with a very remarkable history. Is that, maybe, the stone that Jeremiah brought to Ireland? Let us trace its history and see. Its history can be traced very definitely without bringing in one iota of guesswork. That stone was brought from Scotland to England in 1296 A.D., nearly 650 years ago. All the Kings and Queens of England and Great Britain have been crowned on that stone since them. Dean Stanley, in his memoirs of Westminister Abby, writes:
�The chief object of attraction to this day, to the innumerable visitors to the Abbey, is probably that ancient monument of the Empire known as the Coronation Stone...It is one primeval monument which bins together the whole Empire ...The Iron rings, the battered surface, the crack which has all but rent it, bear witness to its long migrations...The sentiment of the nation has, through a hundred generations of living men, made it felt that Jacob�s Pillar Stone was a thing worth dying for in battle. By the treaty of Northampton in 1328, the emeralds, pears and rubies were carried off without a murmur. But the Ragged Old Stone; Oh, no! The Londoners would have died for that! The Stone of Scone, on which it was the custom for the Kings of Scotland to be set at their coronation, the Londoners would on no account suffer to be sent away.�
So Dean Stanley writes of the Ragged Old Stone.
But how did the stone get to Scotland? It was brought from Tarah, Ireland, to Scotland in the year 487 A.D. Fergus MacEarca, son of QueenEarca, of Ireland, conquered Argull, Scotland. He was crowned King of Argyll, and at his request the stone was brought from Ireland for the ceremony.
�About 563 A.D., the saintly Columba came to the small of Hy, and at his request, the king removed the stone to the hole Isle of Hy, now known as Iona...When Columba was dying at Iona, he asked his friends to carry him into the sanctuary and lay his head upon the sacred stone. With his head on Jacob�s Pillow, Columba whispered a short prayer, and like Stephen, departed this life, with his face radiant with the love of God.�
The stone remained at Iona for about 300 years, and all the kings of Argyll during that time were crowned on it. When Kenneth McAlpine, the last king of Argyll, became king of all Scotland, he had the stone removed to Scone. It was called Jacob�s Pillar Stone, the Stone of Destiny, or the Stone of Scone. Before it was brought to Scotland from Ireland, the kings and queens of Ireland were crowned on it for ten centuries. It was called in Ireland La Fail (Wonderful Stone).
This is actual, traceable history. The history of this stone is traced from Westminister Abby, to which it was brought in 1296 A.D., to Scotland, to which it was brought from Ireland in 487 A.D., to Ireland, where it was for more than five centuries before the Christian Era. This is not fancy, but fact, historical fact.
When Jacob was dying in Egypt, he put the care of the Stone of Israel into the hands of Joseph. �Of whom is the shepherd, the keeper, the Stone of Israel.� (Genesis 49:24) Wherever that Stone is, there is Joseph, the Birthright people. Wherever Joseph is, the Birthright people, the shepherd of the Stone of Israel, there is the Stone.
The Stone has in it two rings, one on each side. These rings are worn almost through. Since 1296 A.D., the Stone has been resting in Westminister Abbey, but recently has been returned to Scotland. For 800 years it rested in Scotland. For about 1,000 years it rested at Tarah, Ireland. How, then, did the iron rings get worn almost through? It must have been during the forty years� wandering of Israel in the wilderness, as it was carried from place to place by the tribe of Joseph, the Shepherd of the Stone of Israel. Above it, while it resided in Westminster Abbey were the words, �This is the House of God.�
4). THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY INTO THE BRITISH ISLES.
We were taught that Christianity was introduce into England y the Monk Augustine, in 596 A.D., and that he found then a barbarous people. NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. Eusebius, the Father of Church History, says:
�The Apostles passed beyond the ocean to the isles called the Britannic Isles.�
Eusebius lived 300 years before Augustine. The early British historian Gildas writes:
�Meanwhile, these islands...received the beans of light, that is, the true Sun...at the latter part, as we know, of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.�
Tiberius Caesar reigned from 14 to 37 A.D. Archbishop Usher writes:
�The British National Church was founded 36 A.D., a hundred and sixty years before heathen Rome confessed Christianity.�
Sir Henry Spelman writes:
�It is certain that Britain received the faith in the first age from the first sowers of the Word. Of all the churches whose origin I have investigated has it that Joseph of Arimathaea was the first to preach the gospel in Britain, and that he, with the aid of some of the apostles, built the first Christian Church that was ever built. It was built at Glastonbury, and was called �The Wattle Church.��
Chrysostom, who died in the year 407 A.D., almost two hundred years before the arrival of Augustine in England said:
�The British Isles which are beyond the sea and which lie in the ocean have received the Virtue of the Word...Though thou should�st go to the ocean, to the British Isles, there thou should�st hear all men everywhere discoursing matters out of the Scriptures, with another voice indeed, but not another faith; with a different tongue, but the same judgment.�
They were not a barbarous people when Augustine arrived.
This will suffice to show that the people of the British Isles were among the very first to receive the word of everlasting life. They were the first people, as a people, to accept Christianity. The reason is not far to seek. They were the people of Israel, in the appointed place, a people prepared of the Lord.
The reply of the British Church to the Pope�s delegate for submission to the Pope of Rome is one of the finest things in Christian Church History,
�Be it known and declared that we all, individually and collectively, are in all humility prepared to defer to the Church of God, and to the Bishop of Rome, and to every sincere and Godly Christian, so far as to love every one according to his degree, in perfect charity, and to assist them all by word and in deed, in becoming the children of God. But as for any other obedience, we know none that he whom you term the Pope, or Bishop of Bishops, can demand.�
May we take a look again at Jeremiah�s commission? The Lord said to him:
Jeremiah 1:10
10: See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
It is easy enough to see the fulfillment of his commission �to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow.� But if we leave him in Egypt, where Bible history leaves him, we see no fulfillment of the commission �to build and to plant.� If, however, we follow Bible promise and prophecy, and subsequent history, we see Jeremiah, in another land than Canaan, in the appointed place, doing the very thing God commissioned him to do; �To build and to plant.�
But the question will be asked, and rightly enough, what difference does all this make, and what advantage is there to vital Christianity in knowing that the House of Israel exists as a distinct people, and who they are, and where they are? We answer in the words of Paul in another relation, �Much every way, but chiefly as it relates to the Oracles of God.� Among the many advantages which might be named we confine ourselves to three.
A). THE BIBLE, THE ORACLES OF GOD
It staggers the mind at how many of our brothers and sisters, who call themselves �Christian� and know absolutely nothing about the Bible or who it is about and who it is to.
When confronted with some scripture they always, ALWAYS attack the one who has tried to give them some knowledge. But you will see they never, one time, state what they believe to be the truth. Only that the writer is in error and is all sorts of an evil person. Which only shows their ignorance.
Oh they say they will pray for that evil person, so that their god will lead them in the path to go, but they do not pray to Yahweh they pray to a false god; one who has already led them astray. For they have been led by and listen to Jewish fables which the Scriptures tell us that will turn a man/woman away from the truth.
2 Timothy 4:1‑4
1: I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2: Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3: FOR THE TIME WILL COME WHEN THEY WILL NOT ENDURE SOUND DOCTRINE; BUT AFTER THEIR OWN LUSTS SHALL THEY HEAP TO THEMSELVES TEACHERS, HAVING ITCHING EARS;
4: And THEY SHALL TURN AWAY THEIR EARS FROM THE TRUTH, AND SHALL BE TURNED UNTO FABLES.
We can see this on every hand in America today, because of the false teachings that is coming from the Baal priests in the pulpits of the whore houses called churches.
If I am to be a good steward to Yahweh then what am I supposed to do if I believe that the people err from the Word of Yahweh?
Titus 1:13‑14
13: This witness is true. Wherefore REBUKE THEM SHARPLY, THAT THEY MAY BE SOUND IN THE FAITH;
14: NOT GIVING HEED TO JEWISH FABLES, AND COMMANDMENTS OF MEN, THAT TURN FROM THE TRUTH.
What reward will I get for showing them the truth and convincing them to study to make themselves approved?
James 5:19‑20
19: Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
20: Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
They are like the Pharisees, scribes and Sadducees in the time of Christ,
John 5:46
46: For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
Those who try to teach the truth to the lawless and deceived, those who are still in the world hate them with an undying passion, because that one points out their own failures, and for that, because of their own pride which will not allow them to see the truth, will hate him just as the world hates Christ.
1 John 3:11‑14
11: For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
12: NOT AS CAIN, WHO WAS OF THAT WICKED ONE (Satan, the devil, lucifer, that old dragon, the jews father), and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.
13: MARVEL NOT, MY BRETHREN, IF THE WORLD HATE YOU.
14: We know that we have passed from death unto life, BECAUSE WE LOVE THE BRETHREN (The White Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Scandinavian, Celtic and kindred people). HE THAT LOVETH NOT HIS BROTHER ABIDETH IN DEATH.
Which goes to show exactly what Yahweh was talking about when He was speaking these words:
Hosea 4:6‑10
6: MY PEOPLE ARE DESTROYED FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
7: AS THEY WERE INCREASED, SO THEY SINNED AGAINST ME: THEREFORE WILL I CHANGE THEIR GLORY INTO SHAME.
8: They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.
9: And THERE SHALL BE, LIKE PEOPLE, LIKE PRIEST: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
10: For THEY SHALL EAT, AND NOT HAVE ENOUGH: THEY SHALL COMMIT WHOREDOM, AND SHALL NOT INCREASE: BECAUSE THEY HAVE LEFT OFF TO TAKE HEED TO THE LORD.
This is in reference to what Yahweh said in
Exodus 19:5‑6
5: Now therefore, IF YE WILL OBEY MY VOICE INDEED, AND KEEP MY COVENANT, THEN YE SHALL BE A PECULIAR TREASURE UNTO ME ABOVE ALL PEOPLE: for all the earth is mine:
6: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
When told that, they grow even more belligerent and say I read everything; and that is the problem they read it, and do not understand a thing about what is written. It is beyond them, and slips by in the night so-to-speak.
There is a growing, proliferating need, for our people to know their racial and spiritual identity in the Plan of God! Millions of our White Christian Caucasian people are yearning and searching, thirsting and fainting for a deeper meaning for their life!
They are searching to find the meaning behind their existence and being as the Children of Light upon this earth. Why was I born? Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? What is my ultimate end? Who were my ancestors? What is God's will for my life?
These and many other questions are gripping the hearts of many of our young people! Behind all of this unrest, uncertainty, confusion, frustration and bewilderment, lies the unmistakable truth that our people are searching for their Ancestral Roots, they are searching for their Identity.
ALL TOO MANY ARE BEING LED TO FALSE GODS, BE�CAUSE THE CLERGY OF ORGANIZED RELIGION, EVANGE�LISTS, AND TEACHERS HAVE FAILED THE COMMISSION, THEY CLAIM,� WAS GIVEN TO THEM BY ALMIGHTY GOD AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST; BUT THEIR WORKS PROVE, THAT IS A LIE, THEIR WORKS PROVE THEY ARE REALLY WORKING FOR SATAN!
America has al�most lost two gener�ations! The present living Christian White people are a people who have been separated and estranged from their history, their culture, and their heri�tage in Jesus Christ.
We will never be able to understand how those who teach in Organized Reli�gion, can know so many Scriptures, by heart, but never come to a realization or understanding of just what the Bible truly is.
Then when the Truth is presented to them they will simply close their eyes and stop their ears so that they cannot see or hear that Truth! And begin to cry out to high heaven; I do not wish to clutter my mind with such Racist Trash, thus denying Almighty God, His Word, the Lord Jesus Christ and the History of their people Israel.
Isaiah 29:10‑14
10: For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets (pastors, ministers, priests, members of organized religion) and your rulers (government officials, bureaucrats, governors, senators, representatives and etc.), the seers hath he covered.
11: And THE VISION OF ALL (these as listed above) IS BECOME UNTO YOU AS THE WORDS OF A BOOK THAT IS SEALED, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
12: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
13: Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men (here he is speaking of the Jews, through the tradition of the elders in Christ�s time today it is the Talmud):
14: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for THE WISDOM OF THEIR WISE MEN SHALL PERISH, AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR PRUDENT MEN SHALL BE HID (This is repeated in the book of Obadiah verse 8).
Therefore Zechariah told us the following about the Jews:
Zechariah 7:11‑14
11: But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
12: Yea, THEY MADE THEIR HEARTS AS AN ADAMANT STONE, LEST THEY SHOULD HEAR THE LAW, AND THE WORDS WHICH THE LORD OF HOSTS HATH SENT IN HIS SPIRIT BY THE FORMER PROPHETS: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.
13: THEREFORE IT IS COME TO PASS, THAT AS HE CRIED, AND THEY WOULD NOT HEAR; SO THEY CRIED, AND I WOULD NOT HEAR, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS:
14: But I SCATTERED THEM WITH A WHIRLWIND AMONG ALL THE NATIONS WHOM THEY KNEW NOT. THUS THE LAND WAS DESOLATE AFTER THEM, THAT NO MAN PASSED THROUGH NOR RETURNED: FOR THEY LAID THE PLEASANT LAND DESOLATE.
That truth being: THE HOLY BIBLE IS THE BOOK OF ADAM'S RACE, THE WHITE ANGLO‑SAXON, GERMANIC, CELTIC, SCANDINAVIAN AND KINDRED PEOPLE OF THE WORLD!
Genesis 5:1‑2
1: This is the book of the generations of Adam (his race). In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
2: Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
�� Thus it is very clear, the Holy Bible, is the Book of Adam's Race. This is the declaration made in Genesis 5:1. The Bible is the family of one race, the race of Adam. This is what the Bible states about itself! So we must come to the realization that this fact becomes one of the most important of all our Christian pre-suppositions.
They have been robbed, and stripped of their racial, and spiritual inheritance by the culture distorting enemies of Christianity. Our people are lost, they have been blinded from recognizing the truth, their minds have been negated, and they have lost the ability to think conceptually, the news media, public schools, denominational pulpits, the university and college classrooms, have cut off, and blacked out of the minds, of our people, all truth and knowledge about their past heritage, duty and purpose in the plan of God. Our Christian Caucasian people, have been robbed and fleeced out of their racial and spiritual heritage, they have become chattel slaves to the elite money masters of this nation, and the world. The time has come for the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Germanic, Scandinavian, Nordic, Slavic and kindred people �to rise up and claim their birthright under Jesus Christ!
It becomes a foundation of truth upon which we build our faith! The implications of this Biblical Presup�position, this beginning point in our Chris�tian thinking and understanding of the Holy Bible, is crucial to the preservation of our Christian faith and of the race of Adam: the White Race!
When we understand what this Divine Truth means: "This is the book of the generations of Adam [his race]," we will see a rebirth of our Christian Faith take place in a world which denies both Jesus Christ our savior and the Bible!
Since the declaration of the Scripture is that the Bible is "...THE BOOK...OF...ADAM..." it becomes imperative that we explore, ponder and investigate all we can about the man Adam. Our first great clue to understanding the man Adam is to know the meaning of his name.
The Word Adam is translated from a Hebrew word "aw‑damn" or "aw‑dam." (#119 and #120 in Strong's Concordance) The word "Adam" means "RUDDY" (#120), "TO SHOW BLOOD (in the face), FLUSH OR TURN ROSY, BE (made) RED (ruddy)." This clearly shows, the Hebrew meaning of the word "ADAM" identifies him as a WHITE MAN. Adam was ruddy...he could blush...he could show blood in the face. Adam was the beginning of the White Race upon this earth.
Therefore, the Holy Bible is the History of the White Race; Later to become known as "ANGLO‑ SAXONS" after Isaac as the Scriptures relate. For God said:
Genesis 21:12
12: ...IN ISAAC SHALL THY SEED BE CALLED.
Numbers 6:22, 27
22: And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying...
27: AND THEY [children of Israel and others] SHALL PUT MY NAME [CHRIST ‑ ian] UPON THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL; and I will bless them.
THE BIBLE IS NOT THE HISTORY OF ANY OTHER RACE, AND ANYONE SEEKING TO MAKE THE BIBLE A MULTI‑RACIAL BOOK, IS TEACH�ING DOCTRINE CONTRARY TO WHAT THE BIBLE ITSELF TEACH�ES.
Every thoughtful person, however, much he may esteem the Holy Scriptures, finds many difficulties there. Those who do not find difficulties in the Bible either do not study it, or do not think, or simply accept what someone else has said about it.
And the very greatest difficulties the honest student of the Bible has to contend with relate to the �great and precious promises� of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament are many things hard to be understood which not only the ignorant and unlearned wrest to their own destruction.
And the fact that one accepts Christ�s and the whole New Testament�s estimate of the Scriptures of the Old Testament, does not make the difficulties less, but rather more. Such a one does not have the convenient way of escape presented by the higher critical hypothesis.
Interpreting the great and precious promises made to the Fathers from the standpoint of the Jews, their past history, and their place in the world today, men like Thomas Paine, and David Hume, and Charles Bradlaugh were led to disbelieve in a Divine Revelation altogether.
They were confronted with the fact that the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel had not been fulfilled. Not knowing what he said, for the truth about the House of Israel had not �broken� from God�s Word, Charles Bradlaugh declared that the British nation looked far more like the fulfillment of the promises than did the Jews. Had these, and thousands of other intellectually honest men, known and seen that the great and precious promises were being fulfilled today in the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic and kindred people, and not in the Christ hating jews, there would have been no denial of divine revelation.
The Scriptures of the Old Testament have been the fertile field for the higher critics, as they are called. Many of these critics have been honest in their search for truth, in seeking a way of escape from the impossible traditional interpretation. They were �confirmed believers,� but were not able to accept what Christ and the writers of the New Testament said about the Scriptures of the Old Testament.
So they sought a way out of the difficulty that confronted them. Speculation ran rife and no hypothesis was too wild to get consideration, if only the name of �scholarship� was attached to it. While claiming to contend for a scientific study of the Old Testament scriptures, they were very often far removed from scientific methods. Hypothesis and not scientifically proven facts were made the foundations on which elaborate structures were built.
Though discovered facts have, again and again, shown that the hypotheses were wrong, they still go on building on the scientifically discredited hypotheses are still built on. Every Roman Catholic historian admits that the �Decretals� were a forgery. Yet the church goes on building on that false foundation. And the followers of the �higher criticism� go on building on the false hypotheses, and talk about �assured results.�
But it is only stating a fact, which every honest critic of the Old Testament will admit, when we say that practically every position taken has had to be abandoned. In the field of archaeology, Sir Charles Marston, following many other devoted men, has done his work so well that it is frankly admitted that every historical statement in the Old Testament has been confirmed. There was a time when the name of Welhausen carried far more weight, in so-called scholarly circles, than the name of Christ. And Welhausen was not a �confirmed believer.� But that day is passing swiftly, and soon it will be past forever, to the great benefit of the Kingdom of God.
When the truth about the House of Israel, the Birthright People, is seen the honest searcher for the truth will no longer need a way of escape from the facts of the Old Testament history and promise. When the fine, and in most cases, honest scholarship is given over to the interpretation and application of the Old Testament in the light of prophecy and history, where the Lordship of Christ is recognized in this as in every other department of thought and live, we may well expect, with God�s blessing, the universal revival of the True Religion that millions have been praying for, and which is so much needed in our world today.
Those who do not seek this way of escape, and will have none of the higher critical hypothesis, have their own troubles. They believe that �all Scripture is given by inspiration of God;� (2 Timothy 3:16) that �holy men of God spake unto the fathers by the prophets;� (2 Peter 1:21) that �the Scripture cannot be broken;� (John 10:35) that �the Scriptures must be fulfilled.� (Mark 14:41)
But they are faced with the fact that, according to the traditional interpretation, many, very many, of the great and precious promises made to fathers have not been fulfilled, and cannot now be fulfilled. While they contend for the full inspiration of the Old Testament Scriptures, if they are honest they must admit that the promises as made cannot now be fulfilled.
The Futuristic take Jesus� estimate of the Old Testament, and believe, and rightly believe, that �The Scripture cannot be broken.�
2). THE SOCIAL APPLICATION OF THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM.
It is not a �Social Gospel.� That, as one has said, is little better than political economy. It is THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM, redemptive for the Father in heaven. The Kingdom of heaven that the Lord Jesus spoke so much about was the Kingdom promised to Israel, the Kingdom of Israel, and is to come on earth and be effective in every realm of Israel�s thought and activity.
And while, as we believe the Scriptures teach, the Kingdom will not come in its glorious fullness till Christ comes again in the glory of the Father, and of the holy angels; yet we are to seek to bring the Kingdom of God and earth, as much as possible, in every realm of thought and behavior. Christ must be made Lord in everything. Just as we seek, individually, to be as Christ like on earth as the grace of God can make us, while waiting for the full likeness at His coming, so must we seek to bring everything unto the obedience of Christ now.
The principles of the redemptive Kingdom of God are to be the practice of the individual and of society. �Blessed is the Kingdom that cometh, the Kingdom of our father David.� (Mark 11:10) It is the gospel of the Kingdom, redemptive in its every aspect.
It has been said that the Lordship of Christ is the emphasis in the Old Testament, and the Saviorhood the emphasis in the New Testament. There may be truth in that way of stating the matter. But the preaching of the Apostolic age might be stated in three words; Christ is Lord. He is Savior because He is Lord.
The Christ who brought grace and truth; who gave Himself for us, to redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to Himself a people for His own possession; who died for our sins; who met the principalities and powers of darkness and triumphed over them on the cross; whom God raised from the dead, the Victor over sin, death, the devil, and the everlasting curse; that Christ is Lord.
God has made the Jesus whom men crucified both Lord and Christ. �He is Lord of all.� He is King of the Kingdom. Obedience to Him is the whole of the Christian life. That is life in the Kingdom of god; �doing the will of God from the heart.�
Matthew 12:33
33: Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
When we pray, �Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven,� we must put forth every effort to bring the Kingdom of God into every realm of thought, life and activity. One has written:
�Religious teachers are today strong on data for the next world, quite overlooking the fact that two thirds of the Old Testament, and much of the New Testament, deals with instruction for �Israel,� to be used and fulfilled in this everyday world of ours here and now, where God�s kingdom is and has been during the last several thousand years.�
�Ye seed of Israel�s chosen race,
Ye ransomed of the fall,
Hail Him who saves you by His grace,
And crown Him Lord of all.�
Crown Him Lord of every heart and every home, in every land of the Israelites. Crown Him Lord of every church and every school, of every factory and every farm, of every business and every pleasure. Crown Him Lord of all politics; state, nation, and international. That is the Kingdom of God on earth, the Kingdom that Jesus came to bring on earth, for which He gave Himself on Calvary.
In Denmark, in the Scandinavian countries, and increasingly in other lands, where �the seed of Israel�s chosen race� dwell, the economic laws of Moses and of Christ, given on Sinai and in the Sermon on the Mount, are being more and more carried out. How gloriously the great Kingdom Psalm, the seventy-second, will shine in days to come, when Christ, through His Israel people, is fulfilling what is there written of Him and his righteous reign! It fills one with abounding hope for tomorrow, and for all the to morrows. �He shall not fail, nor be discouraged till He has brought justice on the earth. And the Isles shall wait for His law.�
3). TOWARD ONE WORLD
The third thing we mention, and a matter of most vital importance, is that Great Britain and America, and the other peoples of the House of Israel, are bound to draw closer and closer together. They may have to go through the fire, and be purged in the furnace of severe trial and tribulation; but it will come forth as gold refined.
This closer and better understanding will come, in spite of politics and politicians. One greater than all the politicians is guiding His Israel. The outlook for the future is full of hope, no matter what the prophets and prophetesses of doom may say. Christ is on the march. His voice is heard above the noise of the battlefields, saying, �The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the good news.�
Great Britain and the United States are the two greatest nations on earth today. That can be said without reflecting adversely on any other Israel nation. And more than that can be said. It can be truthfully said that they are the two greatest nations the have ever been on the earth. The Roman Empire, at its greatest, never equaled either of these nations. They must and will play an increasing part in world affairs. From that they cannot escape. It is their destiny. No American who is a follower of Christ, who thinks in terms of the Kingdom of God, and who daily prays, �Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven,� can be an isolationist. He knows that this great nation cannot live unto itself, and ought not, any more than an individual can or ought to live unto himself. �Ye are My witness,� saith the Lord.
The leadership of Great Britain and the United States must be redemptive. It has been, in measure, along that line. Of the thousands of missionaries, in different fields, working in different capacities, are from Anglo-Saxon countries. With the �rediscovery of the Kingdom of God,� and the social application of the gospel of the Kingdom, these two nations may be expected to play a far more redemptive part in the affairs of the nations than heretofore.
The pen of inspiration set down the unselfish Kingdom prayer centuries before the Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray, �Thy Kingdom come, on earth as in heaven.�
Psalm 67
1: To the chief Musician on Neg'‑i‑noth, A Psalm or Song.
God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.
2: That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.
3: Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.
4: O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah.
5: Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.
6: Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.
7: God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.
That is most hopeful; �all the ends of the earth shall fear Him,� through the living, witnessing power and influence of Israel blessed of her God.
When the �seed of Israel�s chosen race� come to realize their identity, through the study of the word and history, repent and turn to God in Christ, and follow Christ fully, obeying Him as Lord in every department of life; then will come the fulfillment of the �great and precious promises� of God concerning the natural seed of Abraham, the children of promise, as well as the spiritual seed.
Has not God said,
Ezekiel 36:37
7: Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them
Is not this what the Holy Spirit through Peter meant, when He said,
Acts 3:19
19: Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
When the �seed of Israel�s chosen race� enquire of the Lord concerning those promises made to Abraham and his natural seed, flesh and blood seed, then it will be seen as in the case of the coming of the Savior promised, �no word of God is void of power.� Then, when Israel repents, believes God�s promises, and turns to the Lord in truth; then will come to pass what was spoken by the Psalmist-prophet,
Psalm 22:27‑28
27: All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
28: For the kingdom is the LORD's: and he is the governor among the nations.
Peter says it will be as life from the dead.
Acts 2:36
36: Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
In the days of the Covenanters, in Scotland, there was a godly, devoted, earnest man named Donald Cargill, who sacrificed much and labored earnestly �For Christ, Crown and Covenant.� One who had labored with him, but later accepted the Indulgence referring to Cargill, and other like him, said, �Why all this ado? We will get to heaven, and they will get no more.� When the retort was relayed to Cargill, he replied, �Yes, we will get more: we will get God glorified on the earth, which is more than heaven.�
If one should say, We will get to heaven without knowing who the House of Israel is, why trouble about this? We reply in the spirit of Donald Cargill: It makes this great difference, that we see that God is a God of truth, a Covenant-keeping God, whose word shall stand. We see that the Old Testament is no longer the football of every theorist with some new hypothesis. We see God vindicated, glorified on the earth. And that is better than a thousand ways of escape to heaven. We are assured that the time is at hand, when God will fully vindicate His righteousness on earth.
Ezekiel 37:26
26: Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
Thus God will vindicate His righteousness, His unsullied honor, His truthfulness before all nations. �For the gifts and calling of God are not repented of.� (Romans 11:29); �I have made a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn to unto David my servant: They seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips.�
Psalm 89:3‑4
3: I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,
4: Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
Psalm 89:34
34: My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
As we contemplate this great thing, the faithfulness of God, we must cast away our pessimism, and exclaim with Micah,
Micah 7:18‑20
18: Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
19: He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20: Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
(Who and Where are the Lost Ten Tribes, by Reverend John Heslip, Destiny Publishers, Merrimac, Massachusetts 01860)
