The History of the Ten "Lost" Tribes Part 1

The History of the Ten "Lost" Tribes.

by David Baron.

PREFACE

A few words of explanation are needed by way of preface to this little book. More than twenty years ago, being often appealed to by friends for my judgment on Anglo-Israelism, or to answer questions which were addressed to me on this subject, I finally, after making myself acquainted with the positions and arguments by which the theory is supported, drew up a statement in the form of "A Letter to an Inquirer."

This "Letter," somewhat amplified, was printed in the form of an appendix in my book, "The Ancient Scriptures and the Modern Jew," whence by special request it was subsequently reprinted in pamphlet form under the t.i.tle, "Anglo-Israelism, and the True History of the Ten Lost Tribes"--a separate edition of it having also been published in America.

This pamphlet is now out of print, and, being appealed to by prominent Christian friends to bring out a new edition, I felt constrained before doing so to re-examine the whole question anew, and more thoroughly than before. To this end I have read through, with much inward pain I must confess, a number of the more recent Anglo-(or "British")-Israel publications, which for the most part are mere repet.i.tions of one another. The result is the treatise now in the reader's hands, which will be found to consist of three Parts.

In Part I. I have dealt with Anglo-Israel a.s.sertions and claims, and the arguments by which they are supported; in Part II., which is constructive in its character, and in which the greater part of my original "Letter to an Inquirer" will be found embodied, I have tried briefly to trace the true history of the supposed Lost Tribes; and in Part III., which is altogether new, I have further a.n.a.lysed some of the scriptural "proofs" of a separate fate and destiny of the Ten Tribes from that of "Judah," and have added notes and explanations on some of the more plausible points brought up by all Anglo-Israelite writers.

The epistolary form, which is retained in Parts I. and II., is accounted for by the relation of this new booklet to the original "Letter to an Inquirer," which is embodied in it.

Let me ask the reader's Christian forbearance for any expressions in this little work which may be regarded as too severe. I would only say that if the unbia.s.sed reader had had to wade through the amount of Anglo-Israel literature, with all its fearful perversions of Scripture and history, which the writer has had to do in the course of the preparation of this little work, he would most probably have felt as he did--the difficulty of putting a restraint upon his spirit so as not to use much stronger language. Toward the persons of the propagandists of this theory I have, I trust, no other feelings than those of Christian charity; but the theory itself I cannot help regarding, after a close study of its principles, as subversive of the truth, and as one of the dangerous delusions of these latter days.

After this little book was finished, an honoured friend in Brighton sent me the article by the late Dr. Horatius Bonar, which appeared in _The Sunday at Home_ in 1880. I add it, with the permission of the proprietors of that magazine, as an appendix in the a.s.surance that the testimony on the subject of so honoured and eminent a servant of G.o.d will be welcomed and carry weight with many.

David Baron.

PART I.

ANGLO-ISRAELISM EXAMINED.

ANGLO-ISRAEL a.s.sERTIONS AND CLAIMS.

DEAR FRIEND,--I shall endeavour to comply with your request, and to give you in this Letter a few reasons for my rejection of the Anglo-Israelite theory. I can sincerely say that I am not a man delighting in controversy, and I only consent to your wish because I believe that you, like many other simple-minded Christians, are perplexed and imposed upon by the plausibilities of the supposed "Identifications," and are not able to detect the fallacies and perversions of Scripture and history upon which they are based.

The theory is that the English, or British, are the descendants of the "lost" Israelites, who were carried captives by the a.s.syrians, under Sargon, who, it is presumed, are identical with the Saxae or Scythians, who appear as a conquering host there about the same time. Or, to quote a succinct summary of Anglo-Israel a.s.sertions from a standard work:--

"The supposed historical connection of the ancestors of the English with the Lost Ten Tribes is deduced as follows: The Ten Tribes were transferred to a.s.syria about 720 B.C.; and simultaneously, according to Herodotus, the Scythians, including the tribe of the Saccae (or Saxae), appeared in the same district. The progenitors of the Saxons afterward pa.s.sed over into Denmark--the 'mark' or country of the tribe of Dan--and thence to England. Another branch of the tribe of Dan, which remained 'in s.h.i.+ps' (Judges v. 17), made its appearance in Ireland under the t.i.tle of 'Tuatha-da-Danan.'

Tephi, a descendant of the royal house of David, arrived in Ireland, according to the native legends, in 580 B.C. From her was descended Feargus More, King of Argyll, an ancestor of Queen Victoria, who thus fulfilled the prophecy that 'the line of David shall rule for ever and ever' (2 Chron. xiii. 5, xxi. 7). The Irish branch of the Danites brought with them Jacob's stone, which has always been used as the Coronation-stone of the kings of Scotland and England, and is now preserved in Westminster Abbey. Somewhat inconsistently, the prophecy that the Canaanites should trouble Israel (Numbers x.x.xiii. 55; Josh. xxiii. 13) is applied to the Irish. 'The land of Arzareth,' to which the Israelites were transplanted (2 Esd. xiii. 45), is identified with Ireland by dividing the former name into two parts--the former of which is _erez_, or 'land'; the later, _Ar_, or 'Ire.'"[1]

As to the Jews, quite a different history and destiny is marked out for them. They, as the descendants of Judah, are still under the curse. In fact, the Anglo-Israelite, by another and more mischievous method, is doing exactly what the allegorising, or so-called spiritualising, school of interpreters did. The method was to apply all the _promises_ in the Bible to the "spiritual" Israel, or the Church, and all the curses to the literal Israel, or the Jews; but by this new system, while the curses are still left to the Jew, all the blessings are applied not even to those "in Christ," but indiscriminately to a nation, which, _as a nation_, is like the other nations of Christendom in a greater or lesser degree in a state of apostasy from G.o.d, though I thankfully recognise the fact that there are in proportion more of G.o.d's true people in it than in any other professing Christian land.

I shall endeavour later on to show you the baselessness of the distinction which Anglo-Israelism makes between the ultimate fates of Israel and Judah, but let me first say that the supposed historical and philological "proofs" by which the theory is supported, most of which have no more basis in fact than fairy tales, are utterly discredited by competent authorities.

"Philology of a somewhat primitive kind," writes a prominent and learned Jew, "is also brought in to support the theory; the many Biblical and quasi-Jewish names borne by Englishmen are held to prove their Israelitish origin. An attempt has been made to derive the English language itself from Hebrew. Thus, 'bairn' is derived from _bar_ ('son'); 'berry' from _peri_ ('fruit'); 'garden' from _gedar_; 'kid' from _gedi_; 'scale' from _shekel_; and 'kitten'

from _quiton_ (_katon_ = 'little'). The termination 'ish' is identified with the Hebrew _ish_ ('man'); 'Spanish' means 'Spain-man'; while 'British' is identified with _Berit-ish_ ('man of the covenant'). Perhaps the most curious of these philological identifications is that of 'jig' with chag (_hag_ = 'festival').

"Altogether, by the application of wild guess-work about historical origins and philological a.n.a.logies, and by a slavishly literal interpretation (or misapplication) of selected phrases of prophecy, a case is made out for the identification of the British race with the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel sufficient to satisfy uncritical persons desirous of finding their pride of race confirmed by Holy Scripture. The whole theory rests upon an identification of the word 'isles' in the English version of the Bible unjustified by modern philology, which identifies the original word with 'coasts'

or 'distant lands,' without any implication of their being surrounded by the sea. Modern ethnography does not confirm in any way the identification of the Irish with a Semitic people; while the English can be traced back to the Scandinavians, of whom there is no trace in Mesopotamia at any period of history. The whole movement is chiefly interesting as a _reductio ad absurdum_ of too literal an interpretation (or misapplication) of the prophecies."[2]

To this let me add the verdict of a prominent Christian scholar.

Commenting on Edward Hine's "Identifications of the British Nation with Lost Israel," Professor Rawlinson wrote that: "The pamphlet is not calculated to produce the slightest effect on the opinion of those competent to form one. Such effect as it may have can only be on the ignorant and unlearned--on those who are unaware of the absolute and entire diversity in language, physical type, religious opinions, and manners and customs, between the Israelites and the various races from whom the English nation can be shown historically to be descended."

The fact of the matter is that the so-called historical proofs, by which the theory is supported, are derived from heathen myths and fables,[3]

and the philology which traces "British" to "Berith-ish," and "Saxon" to "Isaac's-son," etc., deserves no other characterisation than _child-ish_.

It is in a misunderstanding of Scripture, and especially of prophetic Scripture, to which the origin of Anglo-Israelism can be traced. Coming across some of the great and precious promises in the Bible in reference to Israel, for instance, such as that they should be a great and mighty nation, and rule over those who previously had been their enemies and oppressors, and overlooking the fact that these prophecies and promises _refer to a future time_, when Israel as a nation shall be restored and converted, and under the personal rule of their Messiah become great and mighty for G.o.d on the earth, evidence of their fulfilment has been sought _in the present_. Now certainly these prophecies of might and prosperity are not now being fulfilled in the "Jews"--on the other hand, see how great and influential the British nation is in the world--_ergo_, the British must be the "lost" Israel of the "Ten Tribes"! The "history" and philology is, so to say, an after-thought of Anglo-Israelism, by which an effort is made to support the false postulate with which it starts. The Scriptural "Identifications" with which Anglo-Israel literature abound turn out on examination to be perversions and misapplications of isolated texts taken from the English versions of the Bible without any regard for true principles of exegesis.

THE WAY ANGLO-ISRAEL WRITERS INTERPRET SCRIPTURE.

Some of their interpretations can only be characterised as bordering on blasphemy. Let me quote a few examples:--

=I. The glorious Messianic prophecy of the stone cut without hands which smote the image of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel ii.) is applied to the British people; and the British Empire, which is one of the Gentile world-kingdoms, is made to be identical with the Kingdom of G.o.d.=

"We will see what is to be the future of the British Empire, or, in other words, the stone that smote the image. It is to become a great mountain and fill the whole earth. Our Colonial Empire, then, will continue to grow till it covers the whole world. We have tried to avoid extending our Empire many and many a time, and yet G.o.d has caused it to grow larger and larger, and I believe will still do so. We are already by far the greatest Empire there is, or ever has been, and we shall yet be far greater.

"The British Empire, again, can never be conquered. Daniel says, 'The G.o.d of Heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: it shall stand for ever.' Consequently, we shall never be conquered; we must continue till the end of time--so that we are to continue to exist as the last kingdom or empire this world is to see."[4]

=II. Messiah's Throne of Righteousness and Peace is made out to be identical with the throne of England, and the English people are "the saints of the Most High," to whom all the kingdoms of the world shall be given.=

"If the Saxons be the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel ... then the English throne is a continuation of David's throne, and the seed on it must be the seed of David,[5] and the inference is clear--namely, that all the blessings attaching by holy promise to David's throne must belong to England.... To this end G.o.d is overturning, and will overturn, until the whole world shall be federated around one throne, and that David's throne (which, according to the writer, is identical with the throne of England)--the only throne G.o.d ever directly established, and the only one He has promised perpetuity to.... This kingdom is the fifth kingdom to be set up in the latter days of those kings, says Daniel. The kingdom was never to be left to other people.... To her (that is, to England) was promised the isles of the sea, the coasts of the earth, the waste and desolate places--the heathen and the uttermost parts of the earth as a possession. Already, out of the 51,000,000 square miles which compose the earth, England, including the United States (Mana.s.seh), now owns about 14,000,000, say, one-fourth. She bears rule over one-third of the people of the earth; she adds a colony every four years, on an average.

At the present rate it will not be long before the kingdoms of this world will be given to the saints of the Most High [that is, according to the writer, the English people]. It is no marvel in the light of and instruction of prophecy that this throne and people should be so stable and prosperous."[6]

=III. The smoke which ascends from the "blazing furnaces and steam engines" of London is identified with the Shechinah Glory, the visible symbol of G.o.d's presence with His people.=

"During their wanderings in the desert His presence was manifested by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night; and during the captivity of the Two Tribes of Judah in Babylon He was with them, until, at the expiration of the seventy years, He stirred up Cyrus to release them. The same Lord still watches over the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel in England, and continues to bless them. The same miracles that were wrought in Egypt were intended to foreshadow the realisation of G.o.d's future dealings with the Israelites; and if a gigantic panoramic view of England could be taken from an elevation above the centre of the island at midnight, a temporal pillar of fire would be as remarkable from the blazing furnaces, the gas, the steam-engines, as the pillar of cloud and smoke arising from the same sources in the daytime, marking the chief position and prosperity of Israel."[7]

=IV. Edward Hine, author of the forty-seven "Identifications," is the promised Deliverer who should come out of Zion.[8]=

The following is taken from an article on Romans xi. 25-27, which appeared in "Life from the Dead," which was edited by Edward Hine himself:--

"Are the British people identical with the lost Ten Tribes of Israel?

And is the nation, by the ident.i.ty, being led to glory? If these things are so, then where is the Deliverer? He must have already come out of Zion. He must be doing His great work; He must be amongst us. It is our impression that, by the glory of the work of the ident.i.ty, we have come to the time of Israel's national salvation by the Deliverer out of Zion, and that Edward Hine and that Deliverer are identical."

I have said above that Anglo-Israelism applies the promises given to converted Israel indiscriminately to the English nation. It does not stop even here, as the above extracts show, but goes on to rob Christ Himself of His glory by applying to the British people prophecies which belong, not even to Israel, but to Israel's Saviour.

Thus, the address of the Father to the Son in Psalm ii.:

"Ask of Me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession," will be found again and again in Anglo-Israel literature applied to the British nation. It also subst.i.tutes the British Empire for the Church. A favourite Scripture on which almost every Anglo-Israel writer fastens is Matt. xxi. 43: "Therefore I say unto you, The Kingdom of G.o.d shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof,"

taking it for granted that England is that "nation"--which, as a nation, is bringing forth the fruits of G.o.d's kingdom.

Now I need not explain to you that this is an utterly unspiritual and baseless a.s.sumption, for it is the Church--G.o.d's elect and converted people out of all nations--which is that "nation," which during the period of Israel's national unbelief bears fruit unto G.o.d; as is clear from 1 Peter ii. 9, where believers in Christ are addressed as "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation (e????), that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light."

FICt.i.tIOUS HISTORIES OF THE TRIBES.