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Click here to download back issues of the magazine
Click here to download back issues of the magazine
Origins of Nations
A research newsletter to explore true history of the peoples of the globe
May-July 1995 ISSN 1322-6428 Volume I, Number 3
WONDERFUL NEW MATERIAL NOW BECOMING AVAILABLE
O
ur newsletter is becoming known and a foothold has been established, I am pleased to announce. The Origins of Nations has grown from a mere idea to a 26 page newsletter which is subscribed to by interested people in about eight countries.About half of the subscribers have come from my mailing list and the rest have come from word of mouth. Thankyou to all of you for spreading the word. However, I must share a personal wish all of you which would necessitate our continuing to spread the word about this newsletter: my desire is to see a much more professional production printed on A3 paper, stapled. But to do that the circulation needs to double and growth is too slow at present to see that this year. That is, of course, a pity. However, I will shortly be using a computer (Pentium 90mhz), 600x600 dpi laser printer and appropriate software to enhance the professional appearance of the newsletter. If we spread the word, growth will occur with a significant improvement for the newsletter.
It is very difficult for me to find the time, while occupying a full-time job, and write some lengthy articles as well. So, to remedy this situation I anticipate taking some time off work from time to time next year to place my research into article form. In the meantime, beginning next issue, the section "In Brief" will be expanded to include snippets of information on the identity of the nations. I am sure that you will find this information most inspiring.
Shortly enquiries will be made to multi-media companies about importing their CD ROM software into Australia. Exciting, nay wonderful titles now available are: The Anglo-Saxons, Scientific American’s Ancient Cities, American Indians, Vikings and one which I have not yet seen and am therefore unable to make any recommendations: Beyond the Sambatyon - the myths of the Lost 10 Tribes. All Australian and New Zealand subscribers please write to me if you have an interest in purchasing these multi-media CDs. It is truly wonderful what the integration of text, audio, video and interactive abilities has achieved with CDs.
I wish to thank Mr Dennis Jones, Editor, Jezreel’s Call, for permitting the reprinting of the article by Dr James Tabor, "Were the Lost Tribes Ever Really Lost?" and to Dr John Hulley for the reprinting of "Did any of the Lost Tribes go North?". And we continue the series on the Frisians as well as another insightful article by Richard Luke. I am sure that you will be enriched by these scholarly articles. I encourage all of you to write to me with any comments, criticism or feedback you may have. This will serve to assist me in making improvements for the many readers yet to subscribe!
news from the nations
FRANCE REVIVES SPIRIT OF REUBAN
By Richard Luke
F
rance’s recent efforts to re-establish diplomatic and commercial ties with Iraq is significant, from a Biblical viewpoint.France’s ancestors include Reuban - the eldest of Jacob’s 12 sons. Reuban’s life was characterised by instability and a self-serving attitude. Indeed, he was disqualified from receiving the Birthright because he slept with his father’s concubine, Bilhah. His descendants dwell primarily in the north of France and comprise about 20% of the population. Those in the centre are basically descendants of Dodanim, comprising 50% of the population. In the south we find Canaanites and elsewhere migrants from Africa and other continents.
Today, France, along with Germany (Assyria in Bible prophecy), is the lading force behind moves for a United Europe. Like Reuban, this position of pre-eminence has not curtailed a self-opportunist approach. As a former major trade partner and arms supplier to Iraq, France’s latest move to re-activate diplomatic/commercial ties is a striking case in point. It is a move which puts France at odds with the Anglo-Saxon Powers (United States and Britain).
A recent statement from Britain’s foreign office said: "France should reconsider its position. We remain very suspicious of the Iraqi regime’s future intentions. This is not the moment to relax the pressure on Iraq to comply fully with UN requirements". At the heart of the matter is the fact that France does not seem to understand Iraq’s long-term territorial ambitions, as demonstrated in the Gulf war. Perhaps this ambitious streak can be traced back to her former role as "Babylon" - one of the major powers in ancient civilisation and mentioned just over 300 times in the Bible. By re-establishing diplomatic and commercial ties with Iraq, France is unwittingly aiding this false ambition.
And like her ancestor, Reuban, France seems set to face a stiff penalty for disobeying God. The penalty?: subservience to a mighty United Germany at the helm of a fascistic US of Europe.
IN BRIEF :
VIETNAM EMERGES FROM RED COMMUNIST NIGHTMARE
Ever so slowly and carefully, the descendants of Gomer residing today in Vietnam, and Laos are slowly edging away from the unspeakable terrors and pathetic failures of the Communist nightmares which they have been suffering under since the collapse of the anti-Communist forces in 1975. The Khmer peoples of Cambodia are also struggling with their nightmarish past of years in hell with Pol Pot and his weird and satanic regime. Such a wast of time, lives and resources. Another failed ideology has hit the dust. However, prophecy does indicate that these people are yet to be part of a huge and terrible confederation of eastern forces led by a revitalised Imperial Russia. See the references to Gomer in Ezek 38:6; Jer 51:27 and Rev 9:16; 16:12. Such a powerful force would need the vitality of a capitalist economic system and the power of nationalism in lieu of the staleness of Communism to succeed. Inevitably it will confront a German-led US of Europe. Who will win this final battle for world dominion?
RUSSIA AND GERMANY VERSUS AMERICA IN THE BALKANS?
With every passing day the situation in the former Yugoslavia worsens. An ailing America is pathetic in its attempts to resolve a conflict it simply does not understand and which it cannot solve. But watch for a possible German-Russian detente and attempt to force peace in the hapless region. The Sydney Morning Herald (30 May 1995) had this to say: "Couple to the transatlantic division, an assertive Russia, which wants prestige in the Balkans, and an ambiguous Germany, which would like its own historic sphere of influence restored, and subtract from the equation the ideological strait-jacket of the Cold War, and the result is a free-floating collection of States pursuing advantage in disinterested chaos.It is more like the late 19th century in the Balkans than the eve of the 21st". Watch for a future fascistic German-Russian alliance which will dominate the United Nations and push the internationalist/liberal Anglo-Saxon Powers into political oblivion.
Were the “Lost Tribes” Ever Really Lost?
by James Tabor
The precise term “Lost Tribes,” which we and others use to refer to the captivity and eventual dispersion of the ten tribes of the northern House of Israel by the Assyrians in the 8th century BCE, never occurs in the Scriptures. This raises a valid question as to whether our research and attempts to identify these Israelites might be illegitimate from a Biblical point of view. Indeed, there are those who maintain that the Northern Ten Tribes were never lost at all, and are now part of the Israelites whom we identify today as the Jewish people. If such be the case, then the entire goal and purpose of United Israel of Jerusalem and this web site is truly a misguided waste of time. So, from our viewpoint, this issue is of vital interest to us and to all our readers.
Actually, from a prophetic point of view, there is a sense in which those northern tribes of Israel, known in the prophets as the House of Israel, or by the names Ephraim or Joseph, were never lost—certainly not to God. The LORD (YHVH) declares, about the future great ingathering of all the tribes of Israel that is to rival the Exodus from Egypt, “For My eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from My face...” (Jer 16:14-18; Cf. Jer 3:11-18). The prophet Amos makes the point even more sharply, again recording the very words of the LORD (YHVH):
Behold the eyes of the LORD (YHVH) God are upon the sinful kingdom [northern House of Israel], and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the LORD (YHVH). For lo, I will command, and I will sift the House of Israel among all nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth (Amos 9:8-9).
The consistent picture one gets in the Prophets is that at the time of this massive ingathering these Israelites will be scattered worldwide, mixed among the nations so as to be indistinguishable, yet, nonetheless, respond to a specific Divine signal or call in the times of the Messiah (Isa 11:12; 10:20-22).
This article will consider five areas of evidence to justify our contention that those ten northern tribes of ancient Israel were essentially lost to history until our time, that they have remained largely separated from the tribe of Judah (the Jewish people today), and that their identification and restoration is an essential part of the Divine plan for the redemption of the world. We will survey the following areas in this order: the Biblical, the historical-literary, the archaeological, the rabbinic, and the prophetic.
We begin with the historical books of the Bible itself. 1 Kings 11 records the division of the Twelve Tribes of ancient Israel into two distinct kingdoms or “houses,” following the death of Solomon in the 10th century BCE. Jeroboam, who was from the tribe of Ephraim, and thus not of the royal line of David, is told by Ahijah the prophet that the LORD (YHVH) would divide the kingdom, giving him “ten pieces,” or tribes, leaving only one, the tribe of Judah (with portions of Levi) in the south, centered in Jerusalem. This southern kingdom of Judah would continue the monarchy of David, fulfilling the promise God had made that David’s line would never perish and would eventually produce the Messiah (I Kings 11:26-35; Psalm 89). In the rest of the book of 1 Kings, and throughout 2 Kings, we read the detailed story of the entirely separate history of what is called the “Divided Kingdom,” that of the House of Israel in the north, and the House of Judah in the south, with their distinctive ruling dynasties. All of the prophets, from Hosea through Ezekiel, consistently maintain this distinction and tailor their messages to either the kingdom of Israel or that of Judah (or sometimes both). The Exiles of these respective kingdoms are approximately 135 years apart, the former by the Assyrians (8th century BCE) and the latter by the Babylonians (6th century BCE). The northern kingdom eventually turned to the worst sort of idolatry, and her kings, such as the infamous Ahab, along with his wicked wife, Jezebel, abandoned completely the service of the LORD (YHVH) and His Torah-based Covenant with the people of Israel (1 Kings 16:30-33). 2 Kings 17 offers a chilling summary of 200 years of apostasy and declares that the Exile of northern Israel from their land by the Assyrians in the late 8th century BCE was God’s punishment for their sins. The writer of Kings puts it most succinctly:
So the LORD (YHVH) was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left... (2 Kings 17:18).
The devastation of the northern kingdom of Israel came in a series of military campaigns by the Assyrians, first under Tiglath-Pileser (c. 730 BCE), and subsequently by Shalmaneser V and Sargon II (722 BCE). The Assyrian policy was to actually deport the populations of those areas they conquered, resettling the land with non-native peoples (2 Kings 15:29; 17:6, 24). These new residents of northern Israel came to be known as the Samaritans. The writer of Kings records:
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, and in Habor, by the river Gozan, and in the towns of the Medes (2 Kings 17:6 & 18:11). (1)
Most scholars locate these areas to the region north and west of Nineveh, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.(2) It is noteworthy that both the writer of Kings, as well as the Chronicler, record “they are still there today” (2 Kings 17:23; 1 Chron 5:26). Since the Chronicles were written as late as the 5th century BCE, after the return of Judah from Babylonian Exile, it is clear that the writer (traditionally Ezra) knew that these northern ten tribes remained in Exile in his day, that is, after the time that Judah and Jerusalem were restored. This is the last trace we get of the Northern Ten Tribes in the historical portions of the Hebrew Scriptures.
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah, as well as the Chronicles, record the return of the tribe of Judah (with portions of Benjamin and Levi) from Babylonian Exile between 539-520 BCE. Some have mistakenly understood references in these texts which refer to some of the additional tribes, other than Judah, or to all twelve tribes, as implying that the northern tribes, deported by the Assyrians, also returned to the Land en masse during this period in response to the decree of Cyrus. This is entirely without basis. We do know that even during the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah, kings of Judah, over a hundred years earlier, portions of the northern tribes (Ephraim, Manasseh, Asher, Zebulon, Issachar) did come to Jerusalem for Passover, even though the bulk of the population had been deported to Assyria (2 Chron 30:1-18; 34:6-9). This indicates that the Assyrians did not carry away the total population, some small numbers of these northern Israelites were left in the land, particularly those who were attached to Judah and Jerusalem. This was especially the case with the small tribe of Benjamin, and many Levites. In the 6th century BCE, under Ezra and Nehemiah, the same was the case. There were some northern Israelites who returned with Judah, but the lists of names and families make it clear that the overwhelming majority of the 42,000 returnees were from Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. Detailed lists are given with tribal affiliation (Ezra 2; Nehemiah 7, and esp. chapter 11). Of course, these courageous pioneers were full of faith that the great promises of their Prophets for a full and final Restoration of all Israel was at hand. Accordingly, when the Temple was rebuilt, sacrifices were offered, as one would expect, for all twelve tribes of Israel (Ezra 6:13-18). Still, the texts of Scripture are unequivocal. The vast majority of northern Israelites were deported by the Assyrians, and “only Judah was left” (2 Kings 17:18), and the writer of Chronicles himself records that they remained in exile in the north even in his own day (1 Chron 5:26).
We should not assume that those who returned to Judea and Jerusalem were unaware of their Israelite brothers and sisters from the northern tribes. There are clear indications in the later prophetic portions of Scripture that the Judeans knew precisely where the other tribes were located. For example, the place names in Isaiah 66:19 (Lydia, Tubal, Greece) clearly show that these tribes had already migrated northwest into Asia Minor and Europe. This evidence accords precisely with what we learn from the Assyrian inscriptions, as we will see.
Jewish literature that survives from the Persian, Greek, and Roman periods unanimously testifies that the northern Ten Tribes of Israel remained in Exile far to the north, scattered among the Gentiles. There are many references but a small sample will suffice for this article. First, there are those texts which scholars know as the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, most of which were written from 300 BCE into the 1st century of our era. The Testament of Moses says:
Then some from the tribes will go up and come to their appointed place and once again surround the place with walls [referring to the 539BCE return from Babylon]. And the two tribes will continue in the faith appointed for them.... And the ten tribes will be fruitful and increase among the Gentiles during the time of their captivity (4:7-9; cf. 2:5).
Here one sees that a clear distinction is made between the two (Judah and probably Levi) and the other ten. 2 Esdras is even more explicit, stating that those exiled by the Assyrians were taken first across the Euphrates, but subsequently migrated far beyond:
But they formed this plan for themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the nations and go to a more distant region....a journey of a year and a half; and that country is called Arzareth [meaning, Another Land] (13:39-45).
Texts such as Ben Sirach (36:11-15), the Psalms of Solomon (17:28-31), and the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs imply a similar dispersion, long after the Babylonian return. Josephus, the first century historian, records much the same:
Wherefore there are but two tribes [those known as Jews] in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers (Antiquities 11.133).
This testimony of Josephus is of particular value in that he is a direct descendant of a priestly family which returned under Ezra and could trace his genealogy back to that time. In his history of the Jewish nation he made use of all the available sources in his day. Had there been a general understanding that the northern Tribes of Israel had returned to the Land in the 6th century BCE he would have certainly recorded this.
It is at this point that the archaeological evidence becomes most crucial for following the subsequent history of these migrating Israelite exiles. Over the past century a massive amount of inscription evidence has been literally dug up from the ruins of the cities of Mesopotamia, documenting the history of the Assyrian and Babylonian periods. This includes monuments, reliefs, and literally thousands of clay tablets, many of which have only been published in recent years. Not only do we now have contemporaneous accounts of the destruction and deportation of northern Israel, but we are able for the first time to actually trace the migrations of the Israelite captives into the regions north of the Caucasus and across the Bosporus strait into southern Europe. In the earliest Assyrian monuments the Israelites are referred to as the “House of Omri (Bit Khumri),” after Omri, king of Israel and father of the wicked Ahab, of the 9th century BCE. Actual correspondence from the court of Sennacherib and Sargon has survived, and it is within such materials that one can begin to pick up references to the Israelites, who were referred to as Gamira or Gamera, and finally as Cimmerians, living in the very areas where the Israelite deportees were taken.(3) The subsequent history of the Cimmerians, their migrations into Asia Minor and southern Europe, and their relationship to the Scythians, is beyond the scope of this article, but has been thoroughly documented. Suffice it to say at this point that this aspect of our evidence, in combination with the Biblical, the literary, and the prophetic, is part of a whole, and forms an impressive demonstration that approaches historical certainty.
The rabbis have much to say about the “lost” Ten Tribes, and discussions about their whereabouts and their eventual return to the Land of Israel abound in Jewish sources.(4) It is interesting to note that the main discussion in the Mishnah begins with the assertion that “the Ten Tribes will not return” (b. Sanhedrin 110b). In other words, the idea that the Ten Tribes had assimilated with Judah, the Jewish people, or had otherwise returned to the Land, is not even entertained. The whole discussion, which all the rabbis accept, assumes that these tribes are “lost” or in Exile, the pertinent question was whether they would ever return, given their extreme state of apostasy. Rabbi Akiba maintained they would not return, while Rabbi Eleizer held that they would. Both interpretations are based on different interpretations of Biblical prophecy, and whether the promises of restoration were conditional or unconditional. The halachah (authoritative decision) was that the Ten Tribes would return (Tosefta Sanhedrin 13). Indeed, some rabbinic authorities even held that the return of the Ten Tribes was an essential component of the Redemption. The Yalkut Shimoni asserts that even those of the tribes who have lost their identity will come back in the days of the Messiah, when their origins and tribal affiliations will be revealed.
According to the rabbinic sages, the Ten Tribes migrated from Assyria, beyond the River Sambatyon. They report that this mysterious river flows six days a week but stops on the Sabbath (Genesis Rabba 11:5). Most have taken this reference to be legendary, however John Hulley has argued that the tradition actually refers to the Bosporus strait, between the Black and Aegean Seas, where the current actually does slow down or even reverse itself on the average of once a week.(5) He presents linguistic evidence that the very term Sambatyon comes from “yam Bithyon” or “sea of the Bithynians.”(6) If this be the case, we have an amazing correlation with the evidence on the migrations of the Cimmerians, indicating that significant portions of the Israelite deportees moved northwesterly, into Asia Minor and eventually toward Europe.
For those who believe that the words of the Hebrew Prophets are inspired by God, perhaps the strongest evidence that the Ten Tribes never returned, that they are not to be found among the Jewish people today, but that they will eventually be identified and restored, lies here—in the Bible itself. The problem is that many, if not most, Bible students, both Christian and Jewish, read over passage after passage that clearly refers to the Ten Tribes as if it were referring to the House of Judah, or those we know today as the Jewish people. As we have seen, the Jewish people today obviously contain some mixture from the other tribes, but they are predominately from Judah, Levi, and Benjamin. When the Prophets speak of Joseph, or Ephraim, which they do many times, this is clearly not a reference to the Jewish people and often stands in the same context with some explicit contrasting statement about Judah (the Jews). There are two major points which must be emphasized here.
First, the Prophets clearly declare that the ultimate restoration of the Ten Tribes, and their union with Judah will come in “the last days,” coinciding with the appearance of the Davidic messianic figure. That time is described in such a way as to make clear that it could not possibly refer to the return of Judah from the Babylonian Exile in the 6th century BCE. For example, Jeremiah 30-31, one of the most explicit prophecies in the Bible dealing with the Tribes, is framed with the statement “in the latter days you will understand this” (Jer 30:24). In case one might wonder or dispute the precise meaning of this phrase, “the latter days,” Jeremiah makes it clear that it is the time when the LORD (YHVH) removes the yoke of foreign domination and raises up a Davidic descendant to be king in Israel (30:9). This corresponds to a time when Jerusalem will be rebuilt, never to be uprooted or demolished again (Jer 31:37-40). Since Jerusalem was utterly demolished by the Romans in 70 CE, subsequent to the return from Babylonian Exile under Ezra and Nehemiah, this particular union and restoration of all Israel— including that of the Land, the City, and the Temple—must be one yet in the future, in the days of the Messianic Kingdom. Amos makes the same point at the end of his prophecy. The Northern Kingdom is to be destroyed, scattered, but not lost (9:8-9)—yet in a latter time the Davidic “tabernacle” will be restored (9:11), and Israel will be planted back in their own land, “never again to be uprooted” (9:15). Since Judah was uprooted again by the Romans following the return from Babylon, and since the Davidic dynasty was not restored during the time of that Return, this prophecy, like that of Jeremiah 30-31, must refer to a subsequent time. Ezekiel 37 speaks of both the valley of dry bones and the union of the two “sticks” (or “trees”/ $[e). These two Sticks are clearly identified as that of Joseph (and “his companions,” i.e., the Ten Tribes) and Judah. This important prophecy is obviously set in the same messianic time period, one clearly yet future to us, and could not have been fulfilled in 2nd Temple times (5th century BCE through 1st century CE). The latter verses of the chapter make this clear. The union of the two sticks comes at a time when the Davidic messianic figure appears and the holy Sanctuary or Temple is restored permanently (37:24-28). Further, as the following two chapters show, this is just preceding the wars of Gog and Magog. To apply Ezekiel 37 to any time in the past is to rob it of any sensible meaning. Isaiah 11 is perhaps the clearest single prophecy which absolutely pinpoints the time of the union of the Ten Tribes with the House of Judah. It is set at a time when the messianic Branch of David will rule the earth. At that time the LORD (YHVH), through this messianic agent, extends His hand a second time [not the Babylonian Return] to recover the exiles of both Israel and Judah (verses 10-12). These Scriptures: Jeremiah 30-31; Amos 9; Ezekiel 37; and Isaiah 11, are representative of an entire mesh of related texts, all of which correlate perfectly with one another. The Prophets offer us an incredibly vivid picture of the Last Days, and central to their vision is this coming union of the “lost” tribes of Joseph and his companions, with those we know today as the Jewish people.
The second major point which stands out most starkly in the Prophets is the absolutely staggering scope of the future Restoration of all the Tribes. It is to rival the Exodus from Egypt, according to Jeremiah:
However, the days are coming declares the LORD (YHVH), when men will no longer say, As the LORD (YHVH) lives who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt, but they will say, As the LORD (YHVH) lives who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them. For I will restore them to the land I gave their forefathers (Jer 16:14-15).
Lest anyone doubt the context, the passage is repeated in Jeremiah 23:7-8 where it is connected tightly to the Davidic messiah and his reign (verses 5-6). The language could not be plainer. Jeremiah 3:11-18 also adds further details regarding this coming Restoration. At that time, Jerusalem will become the center of a world government, to which all the nations will flock, precisely when “the House of Judah will join the House of Israel and together they will come from a northern land.” This text in turn correlates with Isaiah 2:2-4, which tells of a time of universal peace with all nations coming to Jerusalem to learn the Torah Way of the LORD (YHVH). Clearly then, when the Ten Tribes return, and are joined with the Jewish people, the entire world will be transformed. By no stretch of language or imagination can any of these texts be applied to the hopeful but limited return of the Jews from Babylon in 586 BCE.
It has been our experience that those who maintain that the Jewish people today represent the fulfillment of the Biblical prophecies regarding the restoration of ALL Israel have usually not carefully read the many portions of Scripture dealing with that Restoration.(7) These texts make it very plain that a great awakening lies yet ahead of us, one that will usher in the Messianic Era.
From the very first, this web site has made it clear to our readers that United Israel of Jerusalem rejects any type of Racist approach in its attempts to identify the Lost Tribes. We do not maintain that any countries today, such as the United States or Britain, are Israelite, or that modern nations are to be identified with certain tribes, such as Manasseh or Ephraim. As we have repeatedly stressed, the research we are beginning to present on the Lost Tribes, will be historically responsible so that it can stand up to the most rigorous academic scrutiny. Too many of the groups who espouse the “Israel Identity” message produce so-called “proof” and “evidence” that is laughable to competent linguists, ethnographers, and historians. And, to make things worse, they often tend to be subtly, or even not so subtly, racist in their approach to this question of identifying the Lost Tribes. Clearly the populations of Britian, the United States, and northwestern Europe are very mixed. What we maintain is that significant portions of the ancient Israelites ended up in these areas. Identifying them, at this time, is not scientifically possible.
Obviously, we do maintain that the Abrahamic seed, the very bloodline through Isaac and Jacob, is significant. The Biblical texts make it clear that it will truly be those descendants of the ancient Israelites who will return to the Land of Israel and usher in the Messianic Age. However, in terms of actual identification, for now at least, IT IS A MATTER OF THE HEART! Admittedly, this sounds highly subjective and imprecise. However, the experiences of thousands of Biblically-oriented, mostly Protestant, believers provide convincing testimony in this regard. We have begun, on this web site, to present some striking evidence of the affinity these special people have with the God of Israel, the Bible, and the Jewish people (see “A Coincidental Historical Parallel?”).
There is much more evidence to come, and it will continue to be presented systematically. We have lived to witness in our own day a tremendous RETURN on the part of thousands of Christians toward a recovery of the Hebraic roots of their faith. Many find it absolutely irresistible. There is a reason for this! It is truly a matter of the heart, but the prophets foretell just such a thing, how one from a city, and two from a family, will be brought back to Zion in the latter days. We are highly privileged to witness not only the birth of the modern State of Israel in our century, but the identification and the beginnings of a restoration of the Lost Tribes.
(1) The translation of the latter part of this verse is difficult. It might also mean, “He settled them on the Habor, the river of Gozan” (see NRSV, NIV). The parallel account in 1 Chronicles 5:26 names “Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan,” indicating that the name of the river is Gozan, not the Habor, a tributary that runs into the Euphrates.
(2) Immanuel Velikovsky maintained that the tribes were taken much farther north, even beyond the Caucasus, to the steppes of the Don and Volga rivers, an area he argues the Assyrians reached. He identifies the “Gozan” river with the Volga, and the Khazars with the ancient Israelites (The Assyrian Conquest, Vol. II of the Ages in Chaos series).
(3) For readers wishing to pursue this area in greater detail, we mention two publications, one popular and the other more scholarly: E. Raymond Capt, Missing Links Discovered in Assyrian Tablets (Artisan Sales, P. O. Box 1497, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360) and Anne Kristensen, Who Were The Cimmerians and Where Did They Come From? (Copenhagen: Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 1988).
(4) A good published summary is found in Rabbi Rafael Eisenberg, A Matter of Return (Jerusalem: Feldheim, 1980). The major rabbinic discussion is found in the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 110b.
(5) Bosporus (bňs-per-es), strait, c. 20 mi (30 km) long and c. 2,100 ft (640 m) wide at its narrowest, separating European and Asian Turkey. The fortified strait connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. As a part (with the DARDANELLES) of a passage linking the BLACK and MEDITERRANEAN seas, it is a critically important shipping lane for Russia and Ukraine. A bridge (3,524 ft/1,074 m long) spans the Bosporus at Istanbul, near the southern end of the strait.
(6) See the fascinating article “Did Any of the Lost Tribes go North?” in B’Or Ha’Torah 6 (1987): 127-33.
(7) See the articles “An Everlasting Love” and “Searching for the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel—Separating Fact from Fantasy,” where many of these key texts are covered.
Forthcoming Articles
· The Frisians Sons of Issachar! (part 4) by B Otten
· Two Sticks. Judah and Ephraim by D Barnard
· Origins of the Irish: Phoenicians, Danites and Judahites
· The strange relationship of the no. 666 to Assur! by D Skelly
· Columbus and His Discovery by Vincent J Mooney
· A glossary of anthropological terms by C White
Did any of the lost tribes go north?
(Is the “Sambatyon” the Bosphorous?)
by John Hulley
Holding a BA in economics from Harvard University, Yochanan Hevroni Ben David worked as a senior economist at the World Bank for ten years. He has pubished on subjects ranging from geophysics to trade, in journals such as Nature and World Politics. In 1983 Ben David came to live in Israel, where he settled in Kiryat Arba. This paper is an excerpt from a book in progress on the lost tribes and related topics. |
This article has been updated and retitled:
CROSSING THE BOSPHORUS INTO EUROPE
School children in Israel learn an ancient Jewish tradition about the disappearance of the Lost Tribes across a mysterious river named Sambatyon. But, if they ask where that river may be, their teachers cannot tell them. It is not on any map, for ‑- until now ‑- it has not been found. If this mysterious river could be identified, its location might help in the search for Ephraim.
A. Jewish religious tradition
The tradition about the Sambatyon goes back to sacred Jewish texts.[1] According to these it is a very unusual river. For example Rabbi Akiva[2] is reported to have said that
. . . the river Sambatyon carries stones the whole week but allows them to rest on the Sabbath
(Genesis Rabba 11:5)
Rabbi Nachmanides,[3] commenting on Deuteronomy 32:36, wrote:
. . .
it is called Sabbatyon[4] because of its rest on the SabbathMore startling, if less consistent, details are given in classical sources,[5] as well as in medieval writings.[6]
Certainly there are rivers which stop when they dry up in summer; but such changes are seasonal, not weekly. At river mouths the incoming tide may block the out-flowing waters; but such interruptions occur roughly twice a day. What sort of a river would stop once a week? It has eluded the efforts of rabbis and other explorers to find a river with anything remotely resembling the peculiarities described in the tradition. Today the quest continues, but still without success.
However there is a body of water with unusual characteristics, which the Cimmerians must have crossed -- the Bosphorus. For it is the only route by which the Lydians could have driven the Cimmerians out of Asia Minor.[7] The Lydian Empire had reached its maximum dimensions by then. Covering western Asia Minor, its eastern boundary simply led to other countries in Asia Minor, while its other boundaries were all maritime. The only nearby land outside the region was Thrace across the Bosphorus. Further evidence for this point of exit may be seen in the fact that the next stage in Cimmerian history occurred in southeast Europe.[8]
The Bosphorus does have characteristics, both real and legendary, which are somewhat reminiscent of the Sambatyon
B. How the Bosphorus stops
The Bosphorus is the strait through which the waters of the Black Sea rush past Istanbul toward the Aegean. About once a week the current slows down drastically, stops or even reverses; the interruption may last for a day or more.[9] It is a real hazard for sailors, as can be seen in the pilot's handbook put out by the British Admiralty for the area.[10]
The phenomenon was known to navigators in classical times. Strabo mentioned it:
. . . the strait at Byzantium [the Bosphorus] . . . as Hipparchus reports, even stands still sometimes
(Strabo, Geography 1.3.12)
It must have been on the basis of this knowledge that the Greeks were able to sail into the Black Sea for trade and colonization. Since the current averages about three miles an hour, it would have been close to impossible to navigate up the Bosphorus most days. It is supposed that Greek ships would wait at the southern end -- for days at a time if necessary -- until the current stopped or reversed. They might then sail up it in a few hours.
What makes the Bosphorus stop is the wind. A persistent breeze from the southwest can pile up water at the southern end of the strait (i.e. on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Marmora); and the same wind will simultaneously draw water away from the northern end (i.e. from the southwestern shore of the Black Sea). In such conditions the normal gradient of the water in the Bosphorus can be sharply reduced, eliminated or even reversed. The current will correspondingly slow down, stop or flow backwards.
These effects do not recur on any fixed day of the week, but they do happen about once a week. One series of observations during a period from April through September yielded an average of 4.8 days per month.[11] In other words during that particular half-year they occurred on average every 6 days and 8 hours. In different periods the average might thus easily be once a week.
These characteristics of the Bosphorus are thus rather similar to those of the legendary Sambatyon, without being exactly the same. In both cases the current stops; but in the first of them it also reverses. In both cases the periodicity is approximately weekly; but in the second one it is exactly so, and occurs always on the same day of the week.
The significance of this partial similarity can best be evaluated in light of another point in the tradition.
C. How the stones were stilled
According to Jewish tradition[12] stones come to rest in the "Sambatyon" on the Sabbath. A parallel may be seen in the Greek legend of the Argonauts. In those days such legends were part of every-day conversation. And this one was the best-known tradition about the Bosphorus. Anyone crossing it would be likely to hear the story referred to by boatmen and other local inhabitants.
An important feature of the story is a pair of giant rocks at the entrance to the strait from the Black Sea. Today they are still a peril to shipping; but in times gone by they were still more so. According to the tradition, they were so loosely emplaced that they would on occasion strike each other; hence their name ‑- Symplegadae (= Clashers). Boats attempting to sail between them might thus be smashed to pieces.
It had been prophesied that the rocks would come to rest only if and when heroes would successfully pass through them. This condition was fortunately fulfilled when Jason and his Argonauts passed through in search of the Golden Fleece. Their ship, the "Argo", sustained only slight damage; and the rocks are said then to have become stationary. According to the legend, the water link between the Black Sea and the Aegean was thereby opened to navigators from that time forth.
In this case a connection appears between the religious tradition about the Sambatyon and the Greek legend about the Bosphorus. What they have in common is the concept of rocks coming to rest. But what is a weekly event in the first case is once and for all in the second. As in the case of the stopping of the current (see previous section), the similarity with respect to the stones is only partial.
D. How the location was forgotten
If the body of water in question is now known as the Bosphorus, how did it lose the name of Sambatyon? The probable answer is that Bosphorus -- a word with Greek roots -- was applied to the strait by Greek traders and colonists, who began to penetrate the area in the 7th century. Their presence then increased only gradually. The Cimmerians must have crossed late in the 7th or early in the 6th century.[13] Accordingly they are likely to have heard from the local inhabitants an older pre-Greek name -- Sambatyon.[14]
When information about the crossing reached Jerusalem, no one there may have known where it was. Neither Sambatyon nor Bosphorus are mentioned in the Old Testament. After all it is more than 500 miles away to the northwest. But why was its location not found out through inquiry?
One reason could be the state of weakness and confusion then reigning in Jerusalem. The date when the Cimmerians crossed coincided approximately with the deportations to Babylon.[15] The First Temple was destroyed. In these terrible circumstances information coming from a group of exiles from the northern kingdom, too far away to help Israel, may not have received much attention. The Babylonian exile would have taken priority in the minds of the people of the southern kingdom.
By the time of the return from Babylon, led by Ezra and Nehemiah, Greek influence and, with it, Greek names were spreading throughout the east Mediterranean area. It would have been more difficult to ascertain the whereabouts of a distant river which had once been called Sambatyon.
Meanwhile the Ephraimite escapees too were losing contact with their old home. On the other side of the Bosphorus they were entering a different world of Celtic and other tribes. From there very little news about them reached Israel. Thus the Sambatyon -- wherever it might be -- came to be known in Jerusalem as an unknown place the escapees had last been heard from before contact faded out.
Confirmation of this identification of the Sambatyon can be found in a Christian source a thousand years later. Jerome,[16] living in Jerusalem ??, recorded a local tradition that the lost tribes were at the Bosphorus.
The Bosphorus can be observed; the Sambatyon at present can only be visualized. What are the chances that they are the same? The similarities, partial as they are, could be just a coincidence. Nevertheless the exceptional nature of their distinguishing characteristics makes any similarity at all more likely to be significant.
Certainly there is a difference between a river that stops on average about once a week and one that does so exactly on the Sabbath. Nevertheless, so far as the frequency of stopping is concerned, they are much more similar to each other than to any other rivers or straits. After all, how many rivers or straits are there in the world that stop anywhere close to once a week?
Not only can the remarkable behaviour of the current be explained, but also the movement of the stones. And the disappearance of the name can be accounted for too.
Two other factors are worth considering: first, the Cimmerians almost certainly did cross the Bosphorus or nearby waters into Europe, thus putting themselves on the other side of it, in accord with tradition; second, plausible alternatives to this identification of the Sambatyon are lacking.
The identification cannot be absolute; but the Bosphorus emerges as the best candidate so far proposed for the mysterious Sambatyon of Jewish tradition. It thus adds further evidence for the identification of the Cimmerians as the lost tribes of Israel.
[1] Sanhedrin (BT) 65b; Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin (JT) 10:6; Lamentations Rabba 2:9; Genesis Rabba 11:5, 73:6; Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 34:10; Nachmanides on Deuteronomy 32:36.
[2] 2nd century, A.D.
[3] 13th century.
[4] A variant form of the name.
[5] Pliny, Natural History 31:24; Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 7:96-99.
[6] See Rafael Eisenberg, A Matter of Return, Feldheim, Jerusalem, 1980, pp.135‑7; Enc.Jud. s.v. "Sambatyon".
[7] Herodotus, Persian Wars, Book I, Chapter16. The Cimmerians have been identified as Ephraimites by various authors, and will be thus identified in a book by this author, now in preparation.
[8] On the date of the Cimmerian appearance in the Crimea see for example M. Rostovtzeff, Iranians and Greeks in South Russia, Oxford, 1922, pp.37,44.
[9] C. G. Gunnerson and E. Ozturgut, "The Bosphorus" in E. T. Degens and D. A. Ross (eds.) The Black Sea ‑- Geology, Chemistry and Biology, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa, 1974, p.103.
[10] See “Currents” in Black Sea Pilot, Hydrographic Department, Admiralty, London, 1955 edition (or other editions presumably)
[11] B. W. Labaree, "How the Greeks sailed into the Black Sea", American Journal of Archaeology, vol 61 (1957), pp.29-33.
[12] Cited at the beginning of this article.
[13] According to the regnal dates (605-560 B.C.) of King Alyattes of Lydia, who chased them out of Asia Minor.
[14] The root of the last part of the name Sambatyon could be related to Bithynia, the region on the south shore of the Bosphorus; see my "Did the Lost Tribes go north", B'Or HaTorah, Jerusalem, 1987, pp.131-133 (republished in Hebrew by the same magazine in 1992 ???) For other background information on the name see Wilhelm Schulze, "Samstag", Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung, vol. XXXIII (1895), pp.378-84; Adolphe Reinach, Étude sur le Déluge en Phrygie et le Syncrétisme Judéo-Phrygien, Durlacher, Paris, 1913, pp.4, 5, 68, 72-7.
[15] Two waves of deportation to Babylon are mentioned in the Bible: one in 597 (II Kings 24:8 ff; Jeremiah 13:18-19; II Chronicles 36:9-10); the other in 586 (II Kings 25:1-21; Jeremiah 39:1-10; 52:1-30; II Chronicles 36:11-21) when the First Temple was destroyed. There was also an earlier one in 605, and a later one in 582 (Enc. Jud. s.v. "History", pp.607, 609).
[16] Commentary on Zechariah 10:11.
Frisians - Sons of Issachar !
by Bert Otten
Chapter 3 - Cattle!
Husbandry is one of the decisive signs that Frisians are from the tribe of Issachar. Husbandry is the main characteristic of the tribe of Issachar. To go back to the remarks of Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 49:14-15,
"That the men of that tribe should be strong and industrious, fit for labour and inclined to labour, particularly the toil of husbandry, ... " (Emphasis added).
Because the land was pleasant, it was good for agriculture and cattle-breeding! And because the Issacharite is most often a farmer at heart, he is able and willing to give up a certain amount of political freedom for the quiet and peaceful life of a farmer.
Mishpâth - stallingen
For the word two burdens in Genesis 49:14 (KJV), the Hebrew Lexicon of Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, gives the following,
" 4942. (...) mispâth; from 8192; a stall for cattle (only dual): burden and sheephold."
The literal translation is stalls (two of them, note that Frisian cowsheds are traditionally built in such a fashion that two rows of cows have their backs towards the path in the middle), that is why the Dutch NBG translation translates this with stallingen and La Bible Segond, "(Il) se couche dans 'les étables'."
The Segond translation of these two verses is most beautiful,
"Issacar est un âne robuste Qui se couche dans les étables. Il voit que le lieu oů il repose est agréable, Et que la contrée est magnifique; Et il courbe son épaule sous le fardeau, Il s'assujettit ŕ un tribut."
The word 'mispâth' is a direct reference to the Issacharites becoming husbandmen.
This aspect is stressed again in Moses' blessing for the different tribes in Deuteronomy 33. As stated before, Issachar does not have a
blessing for himself amongst Moses' blessings. His blessing is included in Zebulun's blessing. All of verse 19 states what they will do together! In verse 18, however, a subtle difference is made between Zebulunites of proper Zebulunite stock and Zebulunites of Issacharite stock, Deuteronomy 33:18,
"About Zebulun he said:
' Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
and you, Issachar, in your tents.'"
Zebulun would be most dominant in trade, navigation and colonizing; Issachar would rather be blessed in his tents. Matthew Henry's Commentary applies your tents to husbandry, p.207,
"... And Issachar must rejoice in his tents, that is, in his business at home, his husbandry, to which the men of that tribe generally confined themselves ...".
and further on,
"... It was for the common good of Israel that the men of Zebulun were merchants and that the men of Issachar were husbandmen ...".
Scott's Commentary, Vol.I,
"Of Issachar it is foretold, that he should prosper, and 'rejoice in his tents', as a shepherd tending his flock. ..."
The New Bible Commentary, ed. by F. Davidson,
"Issachar (v.18) is promised prosperity in agriculture at home ('tents')."
The Staten Bijbel, met kanttekeningen, is very clear about this,
"en Issaschar over uwe hutten." In the margin, "Dat is, over uw veehandel, waartoe de hutten dienden. Zie Gen 4:20, en verg. Gen 49:14,15" (And Issachar rejoice about your tents, that is about your cattle-trade, the tents were being used for. Cf. Gen 4:20 and Gen 49:14,15).
A good point is made here. Often the first use in the Bible of a Hebrew word is very important to its meaning. Genesis 4:20 gives us the true understanding about these tents,
"And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle (KJV). ... the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. (NIV)".
We should not think of nomads. The inventor of cattle-farming is mentioned here together with some other inventors. Tents is therefore linked here with cattle-farming.
In both texts the same Hebrew word ôhel is used. The Hebrew Lexicon in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance states concerning this word,
"168. (...) 'ôhel, (...); from 166; a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance): - covering; (dwelling) (place), home, tabernacle, tent."
Home - um; Dokkum, Marum, Pogum
Issachar is to be blessed at home, in his tents, maybe that is why so many Frisian names of towns and villages end in HOME! Endings like -ham, -hem, -heim, -heem, -haam, -hiem, all mean more or less the same, HOME! The Frisian ending is -um, the 'h' having been dropped. A great number of toponyms in Friesland, Groningen and Ost-Friesland end in '-um'.
Issachar in Solomon's time
The area of Issachar was blessed and was very rich in livestock and in agricultural products at the time of David and Solomon too.
Israel under Solomon attained its greatest size ever. It included Edom, Moab, Ammon and stretched all the way to Damascus. Within Israel, Issachar occupied a very small territory. Still it formed, by itself, one of Solomon's twelve tax districts (I Ki 4:17). Of each district the same amount of supplies were expected, I Kings 4:7,
"Solomon also had twelve district governors over all Israel, who supplied provisions for the king and the royal household. Each one had to provide supplies for one month in the year."
Can you imagine how much they had to provide! King Solomon's wives and concubines alone numbered a thousand!
In Issachar there were sixteen towns and villages. Three of them had been given away to the Levites, which left thirteen towns and villages (Jos 19 and 20). The twelve districts of Solomon's tax districts, however, were not a district for a tribe. Compare Issachar's small area, for example, with the sixth district of Ben-Geber mentioned in verse 13,
"Ben Geber - in Ramoth Gilead (the settlements of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead were his, as well as the
district of Argob in Bashan and its sixty large walled cities with bronze gate bars);" (NIV).
Another mention of Issachar's agricultural and livestock riches in the Bible is to be found in
I Chronicles 12:39-40,
"The men spent three days there with David, eating and drinking, for their families had supplied provisions for them. Also, their neighbours from as far away as Issachar, Zebulun and Naphtali came bringing food on donkeys, camels, mules and oxen. There were plentiful supplies of flour, fig cakes, raisin cakes, wine, oil, cattle, and sheep, for there was joy in Israel (NIV)".
Testament of Issachar
Of all twelve patriarchs, in The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs the Patriarch Issachar is the only one who stressed the importance of husbandry for his sons, Testament of Issachar,
"III, 1. When therefore, I grew up my children, I walked in uprightness of heart, and I became a husbandman for my father and my brethren, and I brought in fruits from the field according to their season."
Further on Issachar gave his sons the following advice, Testament of Issachar,
"v. 1. Keep, therefore, my children, the law of God, And get singleness [complete devotion to one purpose only] And walk in guilelessness [integrity; uprightness of heart], Not playing the busybody with the business of your neighbour.
2. But love the Lord and your neighbour, Have compassion on the poor and weak.
3. Bow down your back unto husbandry, and toil in labours in all manner of husbandry. Offering gifts to the Lord with thanksgiving.
4. For with the first fruits of the earth will the Lord bless you, even as He blessed all the saints from Abel even unto now.
5. For no other portion is given to you than of the fatness of the earth, whose fruits are raised by toil."
Job - son of Issachar
Most people are unaware that Job is the most famous Issacharite. He was one of Issachar's sons. Genesis 46:13, (KJV),
"And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron."
The Hebrew for Job is here 'yôwb' according to Strong's; in the book of Job the Hebrew 'îyôwb' is used. In James 5:11 the name is rendered in Greek as 'Iob' and in the Koran he features as 'Ayyub'. 'îyôwb' comes from 'âyab', meaning 'hated' or 'persecuted'. (Could it be that the very Frisian names like Ubbo, Ubbe, Obbe, Abe and Ubo stem from this?)
It is very likely that 'yôwb' of Genesis 46 and 'îyôwb' of the book of Job are one and the same person. In this respect it in interesting to see that the legendary Testament of Job places the story in the time of the Twelve Patriarchs. The book claims that Job's second wife was Dinah, Jacob and Leah's daughter. This may seem unlikely, however, it places the story exactly at the right time. Job may well have have married his aunt Dinah; just consider the fact that Abram, his great-grandfather married his half sister, before him, and that much later, Moses' father Amram, was to marry his aunt Jochebed.
Job was a very rich man, but - as a true Issacharite - not so much in gold, silver and land. He must have had that as well, but notice the following, Job 1:3,
"and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen and 500 donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest [some translations, richest] man among all the people of the East(NIV)."
After his trial God doubled Job's wealth, Job 42:10,
"After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before."
God probably blessed Job through his own work. Verse 11 states that all his brothers and sisters gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. Quite likely Job used this as starting capital for his husbandry and God blessed his work, Job 42:12,
"The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, a 1,000 yoke of oxen and a 1,000 donkeys."
If God blessed Job through his own work, he surely fulfilled his father's prophetic blessing.
Frisians - Cows or People?
Most English speaking people of the Anglo-Saxon world have never heard of a Frisian language, Friesland, West-Friesland, Ost-Friesland, Frisian isles, a proper Frisian culture, history and identity.
However, the expression Frisian cow is nearly proverbial in the English language. Mention Frisians and the average farmer in the Anglo-Saxon world will think of cows, not of people.
The Frisian cow is one of the best dairy cows in the world. It is a distinct breed found all over the northern parts of the Netherlands and Germany. From the province of Friesland to Holstein (North Friesland) the Frisian cow can be found, therefore also called the Frisian-Holsteiner cow.
Agriculture, and especially cattle-farming is and always has been a dominant factor in the life of Frisians. This was the reason why the land was so pleasant to them; the low countries of the plains of the northern Netherlands and northern Germany are among the best for cattle farming. This is why the Frisians were able to stay in that area for over 2,000 years - and willing to pay the price, no Greater Frisia as an independant Frisian state.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, Micropaedia, Vol.5, p.15,
"In modern times the Frisians have become most famous for their cattle (records from as early as the lst century BC suggest considerable cattle raising); they also engage in other agriculture."
and page 11, about the province of Friesland,
"... These lands support potatoes, wheat, sugar beets, and pasture for the Frisian cattle. Agriculture is the basis of the provincial economy; beef and dairy products are sold in large quantities. ... "
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ninth Edition, about the Frisians in Roman times,
"The Frisians were so far rendered tributary by Drusus that they continued to pay to the Romans a tax of hides [!] until the foolish exactions of Olennius, who demanded that all the hides should be of a certain superlative quality - drove them to revolt in 28 A.D. ..."
Note the following the Eleventh Edition of 1910 states about Friesland, Vol.11, p.230, bearing Issachar's blessing in Genesis 49, in mind,
"The clay and low-fen furnish a luxuriant meadowland for the principal industries of the province - cattle-rearing and cheese- and butter-making. Horse-breeding has also been practised for centuries, and the breed of black Frisian horse is well known. On the clay lands agriculture is also extensively practised .... Despite the general productiveness of the soil, however, the social condition of Friesland has remained in a backward state and poverty is rife in many districts. The ownership of property being largely in the hands of absentee landlords, the peasantry have little interest in the land, the profits from which go to enrich other provinces. Moreover, the nature of the fertility of the meadow-lands is
such as to require little manual labour, and other industrial means of subsistence have hardly yet come into existence."
This was the situation in the years before 1910. It is a lot better now of course, although the three most northern provinces of the Netherlands, Groningen, Drenthe and Friesland, together with southern Limburg, still have the highest unemployment rate in the Netherlands nowadays (1988).
De Ommelanden
Note the following about the province of Groningen, in history known as the Frisian Ommelanden, squeezed in between the Dutch province of Friesland and German Ost-Friesland. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition,
"The northern part of the province is flat and consists of marine and sandy clay, particularly in the estuaries reclaimed in the Middle Ages and the polders reclaimed later along the northern coast. This rich agricultural region produces wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, sugar beets, oilseeds, and pastures for livestock (especially in the Ommelanden around the capital)."
It is more or less the same picture for all of the North German Plain.
BOOK REVIEW
by HRP
The History and Geography of Human Genes
Authors: L Cavalli-Sforza, P Menozzi and A Piazza
Publisher: Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey
Date: 1995
Size: 1000 pages, 3.4kg
What an amazing book. Here we have a volume of overpowering data collating huge amounts of detail and compacted into a ‘mere’ 1,000 pages. This unique work has successfully accomplished a synthesis of over half a century of research into the genetics of human populations. Undoubtedly this is the most comprehensive book ever published surveying how humans differ even at chromosome level.
The authors laboured for 16 years to develop the first genetic atlas of mankind. Data collected by scores of scientists for more than 50 years and utilising surveys of hundreds of thousands of people in over 2,000 communities across the globe, was brought together in this monumental work. They traced the routes of populations based on how they are genetically related to other population groups.
One find of interest to us is that the Bushmen and Hottentots (Khoisan peoples) are found to be a mix of black Africans and west Asians having originated either in Ethiopia or somewhere in the Middle East - very likely in ancient Iraq at the time of the Tower of Babel incident.
Chapter 7 dealing with Australia, New Guinea and the Pacific Islands provides some interesting information into the origins of the native peoples in the region. In similitude to the other chapters, the authors succinctly give a very good overview of the geography and environment, prehistory and history, physical anthropology, linguistics, genetic population structure and population and synthetic maps of Australia. The work is very thorough and well worth purchasing if within one’s price range (it’s outside of mine!). I note with interest the authors statement that
"A major problem of interest for the general history of world migrations is the possible similarity of some relic populations in South and Southeast Asia with Australian aborigines on one side, and Africans on the other. These populations are interesting because they might be evidence for a southern route migration from Africa to Australia. They are often called Australoid, and some of them are given more specific names like Veddoid, Negritos, pre-Dravidian, etc ... Thus far genetic data have not helped to recognize a relationship ... genetic systems under unilinear inheritance like mtDNA and segments of the Y chromosome might be more useful" (pages 355-56).
For the authors a more refined genetic atlas is the huge task lying ahead. It is so vast that it will take 10 years to complete! This project will not just utilise the blood group markers utilised in this book but also the chemical sequences of long strands of DNA itself. We all wish them well with this new project. Hopefully it will answer the questions of tribal migrations and the relationships of peoples and fill in the missing links that their book was not able to provide.
Future book reviews:
Noah’s Three Sons by A C Custance
Foes from the Northern Frontier. Invading Hordes from the Russian Steppes by E M Yamauchi
Peoples of Old Testament Times edited by D J Wiseman
Peoples of the Old Testament World edited by A J Hoerth, G L Mattingly and E M Yamauchi
Race in Ancient Israel and the Old Testament by A A Sayce & R Peterson
The Dene and Na-Dene Indian Migration 1233AD by E G Stewart
Origins of Nations by J Pilkey
ADVERTISEMENTS
THE TRIBES
by Yair Davidy.
With this incredible book, Yair Davidy is set to become one of the foremost experts on the so-called ‘lost’ 12 tribes of Israel. Never has there been any book ever published with such detail and with such a sense of confidence and expertise. It is simply awesome in its breadth of scholarship and fine detail. Personally, I would pay $100.00 given its amazing content.
BRITISH-ISRAEL WORLD FEDERATION, VICTORIA
Write for the free Monthly Notes available from the Federation. Write to: BIWF, PO Box 596, Camberwell, Victoria 3124. Ask for the Monthly Notes and booklist.
NOW AVAILABLE: an incredible new catalogue of unusual and rare papers and books (with abstracts). Works on UFOs, alternative energy, strange and unusual phenomena, world history, religious documents are listed. This list of hundreds of items has taken years to assemble and will open up a world of research opportunities for the serious or casual researcher. Well worth purchasing. If you are interested send $2.00 to:
Energy Sciences Information, PO Box A862, South Sydney 2000.
THE KINGDOM HERALD
Will our British heritage Endure?
Yes, because the Redeemer King [Christ] will save His people from their enemies (Luke 1:71). He will then take over the Throne of David which is now in Britain and is promised by the Father to Him on His return after the satanic counterfeit display which will deceive many. If you are interested in learning more about this great Truth, please write to British-Israel World Federation, PO Box Q395, York Street, Sydney, Australia 2000. Ask for a free copy of The Kingdom Herald magazine.
JEZREEL’S CALL
A WONDERFUL NEW JOURNAL DEDICATED TO AWAKENING THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL TO THEIR TRUE IDENTITY. IT IS PRODUCED BY UNITED ISRAEL, A NON-PROFIT, RELIGIOUS ORGANISATION. THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF UNITED ISRAEL IS TO PUBLISH MATERIALS RELATED TO THE IDENTITY OF THOSE PORTIONS OF THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL WHICH SUBSEQUENTLY MIGRATED NORTHWEST FROM PALESTINE, AND TO PROVIDE THE BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL UNDERPINNINGS WHICH WILL FACILITATE THEIR RETURN TO GOD. THE PUBLICATION IS NAMED AFTER THE FIRSTBORN SON OF THE PROPHET HOSEA, JEZREEL, WHOSE BIRTH HERALDED BOTH THE EXILE AND EVENTUAL RETURN OF THE "LOST" TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL.FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT JEZREEL’S CALL AT: PO Box 345, Lenoir, NC 28645, USA.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
"Thankyou very much indeed for your letter and the interesting enclosures. I have already read and studied much of the material related to your suggestions (...Yair Davidy, etc) ... I appreciated the book related to the German’s origins and ancestors ... I must however tell you that I have been appointed professor at the Eastern Mediterranean University."
Prof C D Megolommatig
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
"I appreciate your interest in my work. I am currently writing a book entitled Israel: The Migrations, which includes the four major migrations of Israelites at different time periods. It is based upon my doctoral dissertation Phonological Similarities in Germanic and Hebrew, but more specifically it includes the five articles which I have written:
Linguistic Evidence of Israelite Migrations into Europe
Historical Evidence of Israelite Migrations into Europe
The Routes taken by Israelites Migrating into Europe
Cultural influence of Israelites in Europe after 700BC
Non Israelite Migrations into Europe
... As a long term goal. I am also authoring a Hebrew-World Etymological Dictionary. I am looking for some help on this. Entries can be sent to me."
Dr TM Blodgett
UT, USA
"Shalom! I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed and appreciated your recent letter ... We definitely need to continue communication on many of the issues you raised ... I look forward to remaining in close contact with you."
Dennis Jones
Co-editor of Jezreels’ Call
PO Box 345, Lenoir
NC, USA
"I come from Holland and I know that we are from the tribe of Zebulun. I think that it is fantastic what you are doing [to] get so much information about the tribes of the world".
JTM
WA, Australia
"Than you for sending ... your recent catalog. I found your books excellent reading after having purchased three of them for my personal collection ... We are building the resources of [our institution] and are interesting in obtaining all of your publications for our new library ... Thank you for your time and consideration and I look forward to hearing from you soon".
JM
TX, USA
"I just want to thank you very much for the two packages of material. I ordered which arrived safely a couple of days ago. On looking them over, I can appreciate the amount of work that must have gone into these researches and am anxious to study them"
JH
Ontario, Canada
Editorial Policy
Articles are welcome, but nothing that is too controversial, political, or doctrinal will be permitted. This is simply a forum to discuss Genesis 10 and 49 and associated topics such as ethnology, linguistics or perhaps prophecies as relating to a particular nation or tribe. The views expressed in these articles are those of the authors and not necessarily that of the editor.
Advertising Policy
Classified ads are available at the rate of 20c per word for individuals and 30c per word for book stores or publishers (including each word and each group of numbers in the address). Only advertisements selling or seeking books or journals dealing with anthropology, history,Genesis 10 & 49 and related subjects will be permitted. Nothing offensive will be printed. The editor reserves the right to edit any advertisement.
The insertion of flyers is an acceptable mode of advertising in the newsletter.
Editor & Publisher: HRP
North American Adviser: Dennis Jones
Regular Contributors: Steven Collins
Yair Davidy
Richard Luke
Ross Marshall
The Origins of Nations is published by History Research Projects, GPO Box 864, Sydney, Australia 2001. Subscription requests should be mailed to that address.
All articles and graphics are copyright © to the authors or Origins of Nations journal or History Research Projects 1995. All rights reserved. As such no article may be reproduced in any fashion without prior permission from the publisher and/or the authors.
ARTICLES NEEDED ON:
diffusionism
epigraphics
human biology
genetic mapping
genealogy
structure of Genesis X
Just send them to the editor, Origins of Nations:
· preferably on 3.5" disk
Origins of Nations magazine information
Click here to download back issues of the magazine
Other free books, manuscripts and papers are available for free download by clicking here
For an index of articles, click here.
Scores of readers who have seen our manuscripts have written asking for further information on the origins of the world's tribes and ethnic groups as they relate to Genesis 10. They show a burning desire to know the roots of all the peoples extant on the globe today.
As a result of the hundreds of people all over the globe who have ordered books or manuscripts, or who have expressed interest in the subject matter, we published a magazine Origins of Nations. The magazine is currently no longer available, although we hope to revive it some day. However, all back issues are available by clicking here.
We know that this unique magazine had been well received and appreciated by hundreds. This publication was unique; nothing like it has ever been published before. It specialised in reporting on the origins of races and peoples, assisted by the sciences.
Sample articles included:
The Lost Civilisation of Australia
Frisians — Sons of Issachar !
Australia
and Sinim
Did the Hebrews really "Fear the Sea"?
The Modern Descendants of
Elam
Japan in History and Prophecy
Pax Germanica
Jeremiah in Ireland
Origin of France and its Peoples
Who are the Frisians?
Origins of Nations magazine information
Click here to download back issues of the magazine
Other free books, manuscripts and papers are available for free download by clicking here
For an index of articles, click here.
Scores of readers who have seen our manuscripts have written asking for further information on the origins of the world's tribes and ethnic groups as they relate to Genesis 10. They show a burning desire to know the roots of all the peoples extant on the globe today.
As a result of the hundreds of people all over the globe who have ordered books or manuscripts, or who have expressed interest in the subject matter, we published a magazine Origins of Nations. The magazine is currently no longer available, although we hope to revive it some day. However, all back issues are available by clicking here.
We know that this unique magazine had been well received and appreciated by hundreds. This publication was unique; nothing like it has ever been published before. It specialised in reporting on the origins of races and peoples, assisted by the sciences.
Sample articles included:
The Lost Civilisation of Australia
Frisians — Sons of Issachar !
Australia
and Sinim
Did the Hebrews really "Fear the Sea"?
The Modern Descendants of
Elam
Japan in History and Prophecy
Pax Germanica
Jeremiah in Ireland
Origin of France and its Peoples
Who are the Frisians?
Origins of Nations magazine information
Click here to download back issues of the magazine
Other free books, manuscripts and papers are available for free download by clicking here
For an index of articles, click here.
Scores of readers who have seen our manuscripts have written asking for further information on the origins of the world's tribes and ethnic groups as they relate to Genesis 10. They show a burning desire to know the roots of all the peoples extant on the globe today.
As a result of the hundreds of people all over the globe who have ordered books or manuscripts, or who have expressed interest in the subject matter, we published a magazine Origins of Nations. The magazine is currently no longer available, although we hope to revive it some day. However, all back issues are available by clicking here.
We know that this unique magazine had been well received and appreciated by hundreds. This publication was unique; nothing like it has ever been published before. It specialised in reporting on the origins of races and peoples, assisted by the sciences.
Sample articles included:
The Lost Civilisation of Australia
Frisians — Sons of Issachar !
Australia
and Sinim
Did the Hebrews really "Fear the Sea"?
The Modern Descendants of
Elam
Japan in History and Prophecy
Pax Germanica
Jeremiah in Ireland
Origin of France and its Peoples
Who are the Frisians?
Origins of Nations magazine information
Click here to download back issues of the magazine
Other free books, manuscripts and papers are available for free download by clicking here
For an index of articles, click here.
Scores of readers who have seen our manuscripts have written asking for further information on the origins of the world's tribes and ethnic groups as they relate to Genesis 10. They show a burning desire to know the roots of all the peoples extant on the globe today.
As a result of the hundreds of people all over the globe who have ordered books or manuscripts, or who have expressed interest in the subject matter, we published a magazine Origins of Nations. The magazine is currently no longer available, although we hope to revive it some day. However, all back issues are available by clicking here.
We know that this unique magazine had been well received and appreciated by hundreds. This publication was unique; nothing like it has ever been published before. It specialised in reporting on the origins of races and peoples, assisted by the sciences.
Sample articles included:
The Lost Civilisation of Australia
Frisians — Sons of Issachar !
Australia
and Sinim
Did the Hebrews really "Fear the Sea"?
The Modern Descendants of
Elam
Japan in History and Prophecy
Pax Germanica
Jeremiah in Ireland
Origin of France and its Peoples
Who are the Frisians?
Origins of Nations magazine information
Click here to download back issues of the magazine
Other free books, manuscripts and papers are available for free download by clicking here
For an index of articles, click here.
Scores of readers who have seen our manuscripts have written asking for further information on the origins of the world's tribes and ethnic groups as they relate to Genesis 10. They show a burning desire to know the roots of all the peoples extant on the globe today.
As a result of the hundreds of people all over the globe who have ordered books or manuscripts, or who have expressed interest in the subject matter, we published a magazine Origins of Nations. The magazine is currently no longer available, although we hope to revive it some day. However, all back issues are available by clicking here.
We know that this unique magazine had been well received and appreciated by hundreds. This publication was unique; nothing like it has ever been published before. It specialised in reporting on the origins of races and peoples, assisted by the sciences.
Sample articles included:
The Lost Civilisation of Australia
Frisians — Sons of Issachar !
Australia
and Sinim
Did the Hebrews really "Fear the Sea"?
The Modern Descendants of
Elam
Japan in History and Prophecy
Pax Germanica
Jeremiah in Ireland
Origin of France and its Peoples
Who are the Frisians?