A missing branch of Israelites conquered and dispersed seven centuries before Christ.
By W.H. Bennett
Preface
When the events of this generation are considered in the light of Bible prophecy, it is evident that human affairs are approaching a tremendous crisis. The most tragic feature of our situation is the blind refusal of the Celto-Saxon peoples to believe or heed the message of warning and instruction concerning these days, which God has addressed to them in the Holy Scriptures.
The urgency of this message is clear once we recognize the relationship between present world conditions and the great purpose that God is working out in human history and affairs. This purpose, as revealed in the Bible, is God’s Will implemented as the Law governing all human conduct and relations. When God’s Will is done on earth (Matt. 6:10; Lk. 11:2), He will bring into final perfection the righteous social order and government called in the Scriptures the Kingdom of God.
Of necessity, such a purpose requires human co-operation and so, almost at the beginning of the Bible narrative, it is recorded that God brought the Israel people into being to give a national demonstration of the righteousness of His Kingdom and Laws.
Then we read of:
q Establishment of the Israel people and nation in Palestine,
q Growth of their power and influence,
q Setting up of the Royal House and Throne of David,
q Gradual lessening of obedience to God’s Will and Laws,
q Resulting division and fall of the nation,
q Deportation of the people to distant lands and,
q Passing of world rule into the hands of a succession of nations collectively called Babylon.
Yet this does not end God’s purpose for the Israel people, for in the most emphatic terms the Bible promises their regathering in a new home, their continuance as a people and nation under the House and Throne of David, and their eventual restoration. Further, it gives definite marks of identity by which they are to be recognized, and as these marks are all borne by the Celto-Saxon nations, and by them only, it follows that the Celto-Saxons are Israel.
Then the Bible story rings out with the Gospel of the Kingdom, the Good News that we have now come to the end of our long exile, and that the tremendous upheavals and changes of this generation signal the collapse of the Babylonian world order. Further, it advises that we are nearing the time when Jesus, the Christ, will return to take the Throne of David and to guide and direct us in establishing the righteousness of His Kingdom and Rule throughout the earth.
Finally, we are warned that in a desperate effort to prevent this, Satanic forces will gather the nations of the earth into a great confederacy for a tremendous attempt to destroy us. Most important of all, we are told where, when, and by whom the attack will be made and what we must do to avoid destruction.
In understanding the true significance of present events, we realize that their most alarming feature is not atheistic Communism, the approach of another war, or even the horrible threat of atomic annihilation. Rather it is that in the face of these and other appalling dangers, the peoples of Celto-Saxondom are almost wholly unaware of their God-given instructions, obedience to which ALONE can save us. Yet, all that prevents our obedience is BLINDNESS TO THE FACT of our Israelitish identity.
This blindness must be removed, and to that end, we now begin the story of the House of Israel and their migrations from Egypt and Palestine, across Europe to Britain and North America.
There is a fact revealed to those who read the Bible as a whole with thoughtfulness and care, and who study world history and events in the light of its prophecies. These Sacred Scriptures are God’s own revelation of a Great Purpose that He is working out in human history and affairs, and a revelation of how, and through whom, this Purpose is to be accomplished.
This Purpose is threefold: the restoration of God’s Will as the Law governing all human conduct and relations, the consequent ending of all of the evils which now afflict mankind, and the setting up of that righteous and perfect social order and government called in the Scriptures the Kingdom of God.
Such a Purpose requires an instrument – some organized part of mankind in and through which God can work. Thus, almost at the beginning of the Bible story, we read that He brought into being the Israel people. He revealed His Will to them in a code of laws applying to every phase of human life and conduct, formed them into a nation and laid on them the great and holy responsibility of demonstrating the righteousness of His Will and Laws and of extending it to all men.
That God’s Purpose for mankind is to be achieved through the instrumentality of a servant people and that this responsibility is irrevocable, passing from generation to generation until accomplished, is definitely and repeatedly stated in the Holy Scriptures. The Bible’s revelation of this Purpose begins with the choosing of the instrument – with the calling into service of a man called Abram (later Abraham) of the city of Ur in Chaldea, and sending him to found a new race and nation in Canaan. In the Bible’s record of this call we read:
“Now the Lord… said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 12:1-3)
It is evident, therefore, from the words “in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” that it is God’s Purpose to bring some great blessing upon mankind in and through the nation descended from Abraham. This is emphasized by a later statement:
“And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” (Gen. 18:17-18)
This promise of a great blessing to come upon mankind through the instrumentality of Abraham’s descendants was repeated to his grandson Jacob in these words:
“And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 28:14)
It is true that the word, “seed” as used here applies to Jesus, the Christ, the One and Pre-eminent Seed of Abraham. By His sacrifice on the Cross, He made available the blessings of salvation “to all families of the earth” of every race and nation. Nevertheless, it is certain from the context and particularly from the statement in Gen. 17:7 quoted below, that the word “seed” also applies to the race and nation descended from Abraham. This is evident, too, in the passage quoted above which says that Abraham is to become a great and mighty nation and that all of the nations of the earth are to be blessed in him.
The Israel people, the physical seed of Abraham, do have a special relationship to God and He did choose them to be His servant nation. This was definitely stated at the time He formed them into a nation:
“For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.” (Deut. 7:16)
Further evidence that God’s Purpose for mankind requires an instrumental nation is found in the following statement which shows that in the beginning of time, when the Purpose itself was conceived, and ages before the nation came into existence, God set aside certain portions of the earth for their use:
“When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.” (Deut. 32:8)
Finally, we should note that this special relationship of the Israel people to God is based on an irrevocable Covenant that is to continue forever. Here is God’s own statement concerning it:
“And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” (Gen. 17:7)
In view of these statements and many similar ones to be found throughout the Scriptures, it is certain that God is working out a great and beneficial Purpose in human affairs and that this Purpose is to be accomplished through the instrumentality of a servant nation called Israel.
Having seen that God is working out a Great Purpose in human history and affairs through the instrumentality of a servant nation called Israel, let us now consider the process of selection by which this people was brought into being.
As recorded in the Bible, this process began about the year 1920 B.C. when God revealed His Purpose to a man named Abram (Abraham) in the land of Chaldea, and invited him to cooperate in it by migrating to a new and distant land to become the progenitor of the required nation.
Accepting this commission, Abraham took his wife Sarah and went as directed to Canaan, the land known to us as Palestine. Here he settled and eventually became the father of eight sons, from among whom God chose Isaac to inherit his father’s commission. This choice was made even before Isaac was born for in Genesis 17:19 we read:
“And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.”
In due time Isaac was born, grew to manhood, and became the father of two sons called Esau and Jacob. Again God made a selection choosing Jacob to be the heir of Abraham and Isaac and to be the father of the instrumental nation. This is clearly stated in God’s promise to Jacob as recorded in Genesis 28:13-14:
“And behold, the Lord… said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed: And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”
The next step in the unfolding of God’s Purpose for this new nation occurred when He changed Jacob’s name and status to ISRAEL (“ruling with God”), and promised him that his descendants would become a nation and a company of nations, as recorded in Genesis 35:9-12. Note verses 10 and 11:
“And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name, shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.”
Breakout quote box: “…thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.” Gen 17:5
Jacob, now called Israel, became the father of twelve sons whose descendants are referred to in the Bible as the Children of Israel. Their names and their descent from Abraham are shown on the accompanying chart.
Having noted the process by which God brought the Israel people into being, to be the instrument of the Great Purpose that He is working out in human history and affairs, we now come to the story of their growth and development into a nation.
Going back for a moment, we see that this story began when God revealed His Purpose to Abraham and invited him to cooperate in it by becoming the progenitor of the instrumental nation. This Abraham agreed to do, and acting upon God’s instructions, left his homeland in Chaldea and emigrated to the distant land of Canaan (Palestine) that God gave to him and to his descendants for ever.
In this new land, Abraham prospered and eventually became the father of eight sons. Of these God chose Isaac and when Isaac in turn became the father of two sons, Esau and Jacob, He chose Jacob to be the father of the instrumental nation. Later He changed Jacob’s name and status to ISRAEL, which means “ruling with God.”
Jacob, now called Israel, became the father of twelve sons, the ancestors of the twelve families or tribes called the Children of Israel, from which the Israel people and nation are descended.
The next event in the history of the Israel people, one that had an important bearing on their future, was a great famine. It caused Jacob and his family to move to Egypt to escape starvation. Here they were well received and given a part of the country in which to dwell, but eventually new Rulers came to power who forced them into slavery, in which condition their rapidly increasing descendants remained for several hundred years.
Obviously, they could not function as the instrument of God’s Purpose while in slavery in a heathen land. That Purpose required them to demonstrate the righteousness of God’s Will in the conduct and administration of human affairs – to be a working model of that righteous and perfect social order and government which God designed for mankind – something which could only be done in a land of their own and in complete political and economic freedom.
Thus about the year 1486 B.C. there came the Great Deliverance – that series of events called the Exodus -- by which God delivered His people from bondage and led them out of Egypt for the next step in the fulfillment of His Purpose.
Through a selective Divine process, God brought His instrumental nation Israel into being. Beginning with Abraham, the line of descent passed through Isaac to Jacob and through him to his twelve sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph and Benjamin.
While these patriarchs and the families descended from them constitute the instrumental race and share in the heritage and destiny of the Israel people, they do not all share equally. This is clearly evident in Genesis 48 and 49: In bequeathing to each of his sons and their descendants a share in that prophetic inheritance and destiny inherited from Abraham and Isaac, Jacob singles out Judah and Joseph for special roles in the future nation.
Thus of Judah he says:
“Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise… they father’s children shall bow down before thee… The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come.” Genesis 49:8-10
Regardless of any meaning that may be taken from the phrase, “until Shiloh come,” it is certain that Jacob is here prophesying that the Royal Family of the future Israel nation is to be descended from Judah. He bequeathed to Judah the Right to be the father of that line of kings which he himself had been promised as recorded in Genesis 35:11:
“A nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.”
In fulfillment of this promise, God later chose David, a young man of the Tribe of Judah, to be King of Israel, and established his descendants on the Throne FOR EVER as stated in 2 Samuel 7:12-16. Further, the Messiah came of Judah, for Jesus was a descendant of King David through His mother.
Judah was chosen from among his brethren to be the father of the Royal Family of Israel and ancestor of the Future Messiah. Yet, to Joseph and his descendants went the main share of the prophetic inheritance and leading role in God’s Purpose for Israel, for to him was given the Birthright. Under the ancient law of primogeniture, or the right of the firstborn, the birthright was that right whereby the eldest son inherited the major portion of his father’s estate and his place and authority as head of the family or house. Actually, the Israel Birthright should have been given to Reuben, for he was Jacob’s eldest son, but because of a serious sin, he forfeited this right, which was then transferred to Joseph. Note the statement in 1 Chronicles 5:1-2:
“Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn: but, forasmuch as he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph… for Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph’s.”)
As the holder of the Birthright, Joseph received a double portion of both the inheritance and of all those material blessings promised to Israel. He received one portion for each of his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and their descendants. Of far greater importance, the birthright also gave to Joseph and his descendants the place of primary importance in Israel and in the Great Purpose for which God brought the Israel people into being.
All of Jacob’s sons, and their tribal descendants, are included in the instrumental race, with a place in the heritage and destiny of the Israel people. However, it is certain that the families of Judah and Joseph were selected for places of special importance: Judah in relation to the Scepter and Throne, and Joseph as the possessor of the Birthright.
For a clear picture of this selective process, note the following chart. Here we see the line of descent passing from Abraham through Isaac to Jacob and through him to his twelve sons. However, we see that the Right of the Scepter and that of the Birthright were split: the Scepter descended to Jacob’s son, Judah, while the Birthright passed to Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.
In our consideration of the origin and development of the Israel people, we have seen that they were composed of twelve family or tribal divisions descended from the twelve sons of Jacob-Israel, the grandson of Abraham. Before going on with the story of their development into a nation we should note that, though the Bible record repeatedly refers to the Israel people as the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the names of these Twelve Tribes do not correspond exactly with the names of Jacob’s twelve sons.
One difference to be noted is that there is no tribe named Joseph. His descendants were divided into two tribes, which bear the names of his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Another difference is that Levi is not included among the names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. This is because God chose the descendants of Levi to be the hereditary Priesthood and Civil Service of the Israel nation. Consequently, as their duties required them to be dispersed among all the other tribes, they did not constitute a separate political or geographical unit. They were one of the Tribes of Israel, but they were not counted as one of the Twelve Tribes for governmental and military purposes.
In the first of the following two charts, we see the line of descent of the Israel people passing from Abraham, through Isaac, to Jacob-Israel and his twelve sons listed in order of birth. In the second chart, we see the names of the Twelve Tribes into which Israel was divided for governmental and military purposes. Note that in the second chart the names of Joseph and Levi are missing but that the count of twelve is made up by the inclusion of the names of Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.
Although God had given Israel the land of Canaan (Palestine), they grew into a people in Egypt, to which land Jacob and his immediate descendants went to escape a famine about the year 1700 B.C. Here, though well treated at first, their rapidly increasing numbers soon so alarmed the Egyptians that, in an attempt to hinder it, they forced them into slavery. This attempt was a complete failure, for despite the oppressive nature of the bondage, this family continued to increase until it numbered nearly three million people a little over two hundred years later.
Obviously, however, they could not act as God’s servants nor fulfill the Great Purpose for which He had brought them into being while subject to heathen masters. When the time came for them to begin to function as the instrument of this Purpose, God sent Moses, a man of the Tribe of Levi, to demand their release. The Egyptians, foreseeing that the freeing of so many slaves would destroy their entire national economy, refused to let them go. The Israelites, being neither organized nor armed, were unable to free themselves by rebellion. It became necessary for God to intervene by the use of the Forces of Nature (“the Ten Plagues on Egypt,” Exodus chapters 7 to 11), to bring their release in 1486 B.C. This rescue, and the series of awe-inspiring events by which it was accomplished, are called the Exodus. These events are discussed in the Book of Exodus chapter 14.
Following this great event, God directed Moses to lead the Israelites eastward into the barren wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula. Here, with His people cut off from contact with the world, God began the task of eradicating the heathen customs they had acquired in Egypt and of transforming them from a horde of slaves into the instrument of His Will and Purpose.
Then began a period of preparation, organization and training. He gave them a National Constitution, set up a national religion, established a Government, and organized a Civil Service and national defense. Lastly, He dictated a Code of laws for the government and administration of their affairs and trained them in the application of these Laws to all phases of human life and conduct.
This transformation took forty years; when completed, the Israel people had become a NATION.
Following the series of wondrous events by which God freed the Israel people from bondage in Egypt, He led them into the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula for a period of organization and training. Here He organized them into a nation, gave them a national constitution, dictated a code of laws for the government and administration of their affairs, and trained them in the application of these laws to human conduct and relations. This national constitution and the laws accompanying it demand serious consideration, for they are the expression of God’s Will both as to the form of human government and as to the laws which shall govern human affairs.
Bible translator, Ferrar Fenton, pointed out that the early Hebrew form of government was that of a commonwealth, and provided this interesting statement from an accomplished Near-Eastern Scholar: “I cannot find that the Hebrews ever had that which is sooner or later a curse to the commonwealth, an elected aristocracy. The views implanted in them by Moses were those of constitutional government. Everyone was a farmer and a soldier. Anyone could by patient labour, as Jessai, or by sudden bravery as David, rise to greatness… There was never, as in Poland, a sharp and defined line between the nobles and the commons.” (Note to First Samuel 17, Ferrar Fenton Translation)
The first and most important feature of this constitution or government for Israel is that it vests ALL authority in God and declares Him the King and Lawmaker of the nation. God was more than the object of Israel’s religious worship. He was the legal and actual Head of the nation’s government. Such a government is called a theocracy. The constitution also provides for a government of men to administer the affairs of the nation in accordance with God’s Will and Laws. Its government consisted of a Chief Justice or Prime Minister, a Representative Assembly or Parliament called the Congregation, Courts of Law and a Civil Service. It should be noted, however, that this government had no legislative authority; its function was executive and administrative ONLY. It had NO authority to make laws of any kind, to add to, take from, or alter those that God had designed for the righteous government of human affairs. The constitution declares: “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it.” (Deut. 4:2) We would define this form of government as a theocratic commonwealth.
Further, we should note that these were not religious laws in the ordinary sense of the term for they applied to ALL phases of life and to all human conduct and relations: public, private, national, social, financial and economic. With God as its King and the actual Head of its government, and with its people living and conducting their affairs in obedience to His Will and Laws, Israel effectually became the Kingdom of God on earth. It was a national demonstration of that righteous and perfect social order that the infinite wisdom of the Creator had designed for mankind. There came into being the one and only perfect social order or form of government which man has ever known – the THEOCRATIC STATE.
In our story of the growth and development of the Israel people, we have seen that following God’s deliverance of them from the Egyptian bondage, he led them eastward into the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula. There they began a forty-year period of organization and training designed to transform them from a horde of ex-slaves into His Kingdom-Nation. During this time they had no settled abode. Rather they were a people on a journey, living in tents and moving from place to place as they slowly migrated across Sinai and part of Arabia toward their ancestral home in Canaan (Palestine).
An interesting feature of this journey, and one which symbolizes the Theocratic Kingdom into which the Israel people were being formed, is the peculiar order or arrangement of the tribes when encamped. The plan of this encampment as described in the second chapter of Numbers, shows that the members of each tribe were to camp together under their own tribal flag or ensign. Then we see that the tribes were to encamp forming a hollow square with three tribes on each side. The twelve tribes were divided into four camps or brigades of three tribes each, one brigade on each side of the square. In each of these brigades one tribe was appointed the leader and its ensign then became the flag or standard of that brigade. The tribes of Issachar, Judah and Zebulon encamped on the east side of the square under the standard of Judah. Simeon, Reuben and Gad were on the south under the standard of Reuben. Asher, Dan and Naphtali camped on the north under the standard of Dan. Finally, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh were on the west under the standard of Ephraim. These four standards were a Lion, a Man, an Eagle, and an Ox, and were called “the four living creatures” in Ezekiel chapter 1. Famed Hebrew-Christian scholar, Alfred Edersheim, commented on these heraldic emblems that the Israelites carried through their wilderness wanderings: “The banners carried by the four leading tribes… bore as emblems ‘the likeness of the four living creatures.’” (Bible History – Old Testament, p. 233) These heraldic symbols are also alluded to as the “four beasts” in the Book of Revelation chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 15, 18, and 19.
At the centre of the vast foursquare encampment was the Tabernacle, a portable House of God. Inside, the various rites and sacrifices required by the ritual of religious worship were performed, and the sacred objects and records of the nation were kept. Over the most sacred of these objects -- the Ark of the Covenant -- shone the “Glory of the Lord.” It was called the “Shekinah,” and was the visible manifestation of God’s Presence in the midst of His people and nation. The Tribe of Levi was placed both around the Tabernacle, and inside the great square formed by the camps of the Twelve Tribes. They were separated from the rest of Israel to be the Priesthood and the Civil Service of the nation.
Organized in this way, the Israel nation stood foursquare to the world. God was at its centre, for He is the King and Lawmaker. His Presence was manifest in the Shekinah – the “pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.” Around His tabernacle-throne were encamped His ministers, both religious and civil (the Priests and Levites). Encamped about Him in a great square were His people – the Twelve Tribes of the Children of Israel. This formation is both the design and symbol of that perfect state and government which is the Kingdom of God.
In our story of the Israel people, we have now come to the time, about the year 1446 B.C., when God established them in Palestine. This is the land promised to them through their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-Israel. Their entrance into this land was fiercely resisted by the Canaanites and other heathen peoples who had seized and settled in it during their absence. Nevertheless, as a result of God’s direct intervention in the struggle, these usurpers were soon driven out or subdued after which the Israelites moved in and settled, each tribe in its allotted share of the land.
The location of the tribes in relation to each other and to the geography of the region is important to any understanding of the later history of the Israel people. As we proceed, please refer to the map of Palestine, which shows the district or country allotted to each tribe.
First, we should note that the Land of Israel was bounded on the north by Phoenicia and Syria, on the east by the Arabian Desert, on the south by Moab, Edom, and Egypt, and on the west by the Mediterranean Sea. Then we see that it was divided into two parts by the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, and that nine-and-one-half tribes settled to the west of the Jordan and two-and-one-half to the east. Further, we should not overlook the ancient names that the four physical divisions of the country had before the arrival of the Israelites, for these names remained in common use and often appear in the later history of Israel. These districts or provinces were Canaan, Galilee, Gaulan (Golan) and Gilead. Canaan and Galilee were west of the Jordan; Gaulan and Gilead were to the east.
Another point of interest is that the tribe of Manasseh was divided, one part settling in Canaan in the western part of the country and the other in Gaulan in the east. So also were the Danites, whose original allotment of land on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea proved too small. Part of this tribe, therefore, moved away to the north and settled just beyond the borders of Naphtali and east Manasseh.
Four hundred seventy years after Abraham was called as the instrument of God’s Purpose, his descendants became a nation and were established in the land that God had promised to them.
In our recent study of the National Constitution by which God formed the Israel people into a nation, we saw that this Constitution actually formed them into a Theocratic State – a nation of which God Himself was the Ruler and King. Subject to Him was a Government of men headed by a Chief Justice or Judge, but the Government was administrative only; its function being to govern the nation in accordance with His Will and Laws. Consequently, it was merely the instrument of God’s Will, deriving all its authority from Him, and having no power to add to or take from the laws which He had made. With God as its King and Lawmaker and with its Government headed by Judges whom He appointed, Israel was in fact His kingdom-nation – the Kingdom of God on earth.
This government was established while the Israel people were encamped in the Wilderness of Sinai shortly after their exodus from Egypt, and it continued without change for some 300 years after they settled in Palestine. Shortly after 1100 B.C., however, many of the people became dissatisfied with the rule of the Judges and began to agitate for a king to replace them. This action, though rebellious, was in accord with the National Constitution, which provided for a king to reign over Israel as God’s representative or vice-regent. Due to this agitation, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, named Saul, was chosen for this office about the year 1090 B.C. For a time all went well. His reign eventually ended in disaster when he began to rule and act on his own authority, forgetting that he was only God’s servant.
God now turned to the Tribe of Judah, choosing a young man named David to be king, fulfilling Jacob’s prophecy (Gen. 49:10) that the royal family of Israel would come from the tribe of Judah. Throughout a long and successful reign, David proved faithful to this great trust. As a result, God made his appointment permanent, establishing him and his descendants on the throne of Israel FOREVER. One has but to read the promise as recorded in 2 Samuel 6:12-16 to see that it is UNCONDITIONAL and IRREVOCABLE. Note the closing statement:
“…thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever.”
This establishment of the House of David on the throne of Israel in no way changed the nature of Israel’s government. It was still a theocracy – a God-ruled nation. The only difference was that whereas formerly God had chosen individuals called Judges to head the government of His people and to administer and enforce His Laws, but now He gave this office as a hereditary right to one family.
David’s own statement verifies that Israel remained the Kingdom of God, and that the authority of David and his descendants was vice-regal only:
“Howbeit the Lord God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever… And of all my sons, (for the Lord hath given me many sons), he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.” (1 Chron. 28:4-5)
Later, when Solomon succeeded his father David on the throne, we read:
“Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father.” (1 Chron. 29:23)
David and his royal family of descendants were to reign over Israel FOREVER, but it is certain that this authority was representative only. The throne and kingdom were and remained the Lord’s.
We now come to an event that changed the whole course of human history – the rebellion of ten of the tribes against the house and throne of David, and formation of a separate and independent kingdom about the year 970 B.C. This action was the cumulative result of a gradual turning away from the observance of God’s Commandments and Laws. The defining moment, however, was an unlawful tax imposed by David’s grandson, King Rehoboam, shortly after he came to the throne.
This rebellion and the setting up of an independent kingdom by the ten tribes split the Israel people into TWO separate and distinct nations, the large (ten tribes) retaining the name ISRAEL, while the smaller remaining two tribes (Judah and Benjamin) was called JUDAH. From this time on the people and nation of the two tribes are variously called Judah, the House of Judah, or the Kingdom of Judah, BUT NEVER ISRAEL. The names Israel, the House of Israel, and the Kingdom of Israel apply to the people and nation of the ten tribes AND TO THEM ONLY.
No understanding of Bible history or prophecy is possible without a clear picture of the distinction between the two sections of the Israel people, called Israel and Judah. We urge you to consider the accompanying chart illustrating the TWO nations into which the twelve tribes were divided, and the map showing the territory occupied by each.
One of the great purposes for which God brought the Israel people into being was to give a national demonstration of the righteousness of His Will as the law governing ALL human conduct and relations. Israel was to be God’s own kingdom-nation, a working model of that perfect social order that the Creator Himself designed for mankind. One need only reflect a moment to see that such a purpose required the complete surrender of the Israel people and nation to the Will of God, and their implicit and continued obedience to His Commandments and Laws.
Unfortunately, the Israel people failed to fulfill their part in this great purpose. For a few generations all went well but they gradually turned away from obedience to God’s Laws to follow the evil religious, social and economic practices of the nations about them. One result of this was that the nation was broken into two separate and distinct parts – the ten-tribe House and Kingdom of Israel, and the two-tribe House and Kingdom of Judah.
Following this division, conditions grew steadily worse. As a corrective punishment, God eventually allowed both these kingdoms to be destroyed by enemies who drove the people away into captivity in distant lands. The House of Israel was the first to fall. She was attacked and conquered by Assyria, and her people (ten tribes) and some of Judah (2 Kings 18:13), were deported to Assyria and Media in four invasions between the years 745 and 676 B.C. Some 135 years later, Judah fell before the armies of Babylon and her people were deported to Babylon and Persia. The prophet Ezekiel was among the dispersed in Babylon, and relates God’s Words, “And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries; according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.” (Ezek. 36:19)
After a national existence of about 900 years, first as a united nation and then as two separate kingdoms, the Israel people – those brought into being to be the instrument of His Will and Purpose – were now but captive exiles in distant lands.
A gradual turning away from obedience to God’s Laws was the basic cause of the rebellion that split the Israel people into TWO separate nations. The continued growth of this disobedience eventually brought about the downfall of both these nations and the deportation of their people to other lands. About 70 years after the deportation of the House of Judah, those of their descendants who were living in Babylon were given the opportunity to return to Palestine. A small group, less than 50,000 in all (Neh. 7:66), accepted this offer and returned. The Benjamites settled in Galilee in Northern Palestine, while the Judahites (Jews) settled in Jerusalem and the southern part of Palestine to which they gave the name, Judea. Between Galilee and Judea were the Samaritans, a foreign people who had been brought in to occupy the country 200 years before, following the deportation of Israel to Assyria.
These two small remnants of the House of Judah continued to live in Palestine for nearly 600 years until the coming of the promised Messiah. They were not an independent nation during this time, but were instead an unimportant province in that succession of great empires, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome.
Once the Messiah had come, and had fulfilled the purpose of His coming in Jerusalem, it was no longer a necessary part of God’s Plan to keep even this remnant of His People in Palestine. The Jews had also forfeited their right to His protective care by rejecting the Son of God. Judgment came in 70 A.D. when they were completely crushed by the Roman armies during one of their periodic rebellions against Roman rule. Jerusalem was burned in the opening year of the conflict, and the final stronghold at Masada fell four years later in 74 A.D. After a further rebellion in 135 A.D., those who survived were driven out of Palestine and scattered throughout the known world.
It is from these scattered remnants of the House of Judah, plus a large number of proselytes to Judaism (the Jewish religion) that the Jews of today are descended.
The Bible record shows very clearly that the main body of the Israel people never returned to Palestine after being conquered and carried away captive to Assyria and Babylon. The rejection of the Messiah by the descendants of those who did return (the Jews) precludes the possibility of their having replaced Israel (the ten tribes) as the instrument of God’s Will and Purpose. Some have supposed that God’s Plan of using a race and nation to fulfill His Purpose has failed and been discarded.
Many Christian leaders, having little knowledge of history and even less faith, have accepted this God-dishonoring supposition as truth. God’s Prophesied Plan was to use Israel as the instrument of His Purpose. By teaching that Israel has ceased to exist, and that God’s Plan for her has failed, they imply that God HAS FAILED. Any honest study of God’s Word will reveal instead that He foresaw that Israel would stumble. His Plan accounts for this, providing for her restoration and success after a period of exile and correction. In fact, God provided a new home for the Israel people to dwell in during this exile, as we read in 2 Samuel 7:10:
“Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more.”
In Leviticus 26, God gave an explicit warning to the Israel people even before they entered Palestine. Failure to obey His Will would bring about the downfall of the nation and their banishment to a ‘Seven Times’ or 2,520-year period of exile and correction (vv. 18, 21, 33), after which they would return to obedience and be restored to their former position (vv. 40-46). This exile was to be temporary and corrective only, and Israel would NOT thereby cease to exist, as definitely stated in Amos 9:9, where we read:
“For lo… I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.”
In addition to these promises of the preservation and regathering of the Israel people, note the statements in 2 Samuel 7:12-16 and 1 Chronicles 17:11-14, which give God’s unconditional promise to David that his descendants would continue to reign over Israel FOR EVER. This promise must have failed if Israel no longer exists. Jeremiah 31:35-37 records a most emphatic statement. God points to EIGHT WITNESSES: the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the Heavens, the Earth, the Sea, and Day and Night. So long as these witnesses remain, so also Israel will continue as a people and nation. In the New Testament, we have Gabriel’s statements to Mary concerning Jesus, “…the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the House of Jacob forever.” (Luke 1:32-33) This statement, made 700 years after Israel’s disappearance, in itself PROVES not only the existence of the Israel people in our Lord’s day, but also that they must be in existence today. For how can Jesus come to reign from David’s Throne over the House of Jacob (Israel) if Israel no longer exists?
The Prophet Zechariah in chapter 10, verses 8 and 9 tells us of Ephraim, “I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and THEY SHALL INCREASE as they have increased. And I will sow them among the people: and THEY SHALL REMEMBER ME IN FAR COUNTRIES; and they shall live with their children and TURN AGAIN.” Here is a prophecy of the Reformation in Europe, which did take place in “far countries,” where Israel did “increase” in numbers greatly, and did “turn again” to faith in God, all exactly as Zechariah foretold. The Scriptures tell us that in the wilderness, Ephraim-Israel would become sons of the Living God (Hos. 1:10), find grace in the wilderness (Jer. 31:2), enter the bond of the covenant (Ezek. 20:37), and give glory unto God (Isa. 42:10-12). The Speaker’s Commentary on Hoseh 1:10 says, “This, surely, is a description of Christian blessedness.” Truly, Bible prophecy was being fulfilled in the wilderness when the tribes of Israel accepted the light of Christ.
We have our Lord’s own command to His disciples: “Go not into the way of the Gentiles [i.e., nations], and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 10:5-7; cp. Matt. 15:24)
The lost sheep of the House of Israel are the ten tribes that were conquered and carried away into captivity by the Assyrians in the eighth century, B.C. These tribes never returned to Palestine, for they were still lost and dispersed even in Christ’s day. They were still in existence, as proved by Our Lord’s Words, for why would He send His disciples to a people who no longer existed? By commanding the disciples to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom to the lost sheep of the House of Israel, He indicated that it is in and through Israel that God would be primarily working in this age. It is clear that the descendants of the House of Israel must still be fulfilling that purpose in our own day.
Yes, these and many similar statements in the Scriptures prove that the House of Israel was still in existence in our Lord’s Day, separate and distinct from Jewry, and that they are still in existence today.
However, as a loving father punishes his children for their wrongdoing, so Israel’s sin in breaking the Divine Laws and following false gods brought upon her God’s judgment. Her punishment not only consisted in conquest and deportation from the land by her enemies, but her sentence was to last for a long prophetic period of 2,520 years known as “seven times,” as we see in Leviticus chapter 26:
18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
28 Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. (Lev 26:18, 19, 28, 33)
The Biblical lunar calendar consisted of twelve months of 30 days each, giving a year of 360 days. A prophetic “time” is a period of 360 years, arrived at by counting a year of time for each day of a Hebrew calendar year. “Seven times” is therefore 7 times 360 years, or 2,520 years. We see this “year for a day” prophetic principle illustrated in Ezekiel 4:5-6:
“For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days… so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel… I have appointed thee each day for a year.”
Another example of this is in Daniel 9:24, where the prophet was told that the Messiah would come in 70 weeks or 490 days. This was fulfilled exactly 490 years later.
The Scriptures are clear that Israel’s punishment was for a set period, following which God’s blessings and favor would return. We see this in the rise to greatness of the Israel nations during the period 1776-1800 when their Divine chastisement was fulfilled. The United States became a nation in 1776, and in the British Isles the Act of Union on January 1, 1801 fully constituted England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales into the present Great Britain.
It is a fact of history that the important events in the division and fall of the Israel nation in Palestine were each followed exactly 2,520 years later by important events in the rise of the British and American peoples from comparative unimportance to their present place in the world. Note the illustration showing that each step in Israel’s fall was followed 2,520 years (the Biblical ‘Seven Times’ period of punishment) later by the important events in the rise of the Celto-Saxon people. As this is true of no other people in the world, it follows that they ARE Israel.
The Identity Of Israel Today
Upon recognizing the fact that the houses of Israel and Judah were separated into distinct nations, the identification of Israel becomes no great problem. One has but to find the people who first appeared in history where and when Israel disappeared, who are what God’s prophets declared Israel would become, and who rose from obscurity to a position of world leadership at the end of the “seven times” or 2,520-year period of exile (“scattered among the heathen” in Lev. 26:33 above) imposed upon Israel.
In seeking them today, let us note as a fact of history that the House of Israel disappeared in those lands just to the west of the Caspian Sea, AND that it was in these same lands shortly afterward that the various tribes – Jutes, Angles, Saxons, Danes, Cymry, and related tribes – first appeared in history. The statement was truly said that, “Israel’s grave was the Saxon’s birthplace.”
The names borne by two of these tribes – the Jutes and Danes – bear a striking resemblance to two of the Israel tribes, Judah and Dan. Cymry, the name borne by the people of Wales to this day, is identical with the name given to the Israel captives by the Assyrians. Likewise, the Persians, who overthrew the Babylonian empire, always referred to the Israelites as Sacae; the Saxons are descended from this people.
In prophecies concerning Israel’s punishment, exile, and future restoration, we find many descriptions of her and her future position. These constitute marks of identity, and the people and nation who bear them today MUST be Israel. Israel was to be a GREAT NATION (Gen. 12:2; 18:18); to be called GREAT (Gen. 12:2); to be a NATION and a COMPANY of NATIONS (Gen. 35:11); to be a KINGDOM (2 Sam. 7:12-16; Jer. 33:17); to dwell alone in a prepared place of safety (2 Sam. 7:10); to be recognized by two national emblems – the LION and the STAG or UNICORN (Nub. 24:8, 9). These identification marks are found on ONE people only. Other nations may have one or two, but only the Celto-Saxon peoples have them all.
Britain is a GREAT nation and her name is “GREAT” (Great Britain). The United States and the British nations are a NATION and a COMPANY of NATIONS. Britain is a Kingdom and dwells alone on an island, which has made invasion by enemies impossible. Finally, the LION and the UNICORN are the two chief emblems of the British people. All of our royal and national emblems proclaim this fact. The lion and the unicorn were the national emblems of Judah and Israel, the two kingdoms into which the Israel people were divided at the death of King Solomon. The crowned lion on the British coat-of-arms and the harp on the shield were emblems of the House of David, the royal family of Israel. So also are the interlaced triangles, which appear on the swords of all commissioned officers throughout the commonwealth.
In the lion of British heraldry, the ox (John Bull), and the eagle of the United States, we have three of the original four brigade emblems or standards under which the twelve tribes of Israel marched and encamped during the forty years wandering following the Exodus from Egypt. (see Num. 2; Ezek. 1:10; Rev. 4:7)
Finally, the word “British” in itself declares the fact of our Israelitish identity for it is a compound of two Hebrew words, “Brith” meaning covenant, and “ish” meaning man or people in the sense of a race. Thus, the word “British” means the “Covenant People,” which is a name often applied to the Israel people because they came into being in fulfillment of the covenant which God made with Abraham. (Gen. 17:1-7)
In view of these things, it is certain that the Celto-Saxon peoples are Israel, and are therefore the instrumental nation through which God’s Purpose for mankind will yet be fulfilled.
To illustrate what has been said and to help visualize the distinction between Israel and Jewry, we print below a chart showing the Israelitish origin and descent of the Celto-Saxon peoples.
Our story now turns to a series of migrations by which, at different times and under many names, our ancestors came from the eastern lands of Egypt, Palestine, and Assyria to Britain. To understand this story, we should have a clear picture of how the British Isles were settled, and the names under which the early tribes came. These isles were settled by three main waves of immigration – Iberian, from 1600 B.C. to 800 B.C., Celtic, between 600 B.C. and 200 B.C., and Saxon, from 450 to 1100 A.D. These main waves also included smaller tribes, each with its own name and history. Thus, the Iberian wave included Hibernians, Trojans and Danaans, as well as Iberians. The Celtic wave was composed of Gauls, Milesians, Cymry and several smaller tribes. The Saxon included, in chronological order, Jutes, Angles, Saxons, Frisians, Scots, Danes and Normans.
The tribes who came to the Isles of Britain merged to become the British people. We list below the main groups, the time of their arrival, and the locality where they settled. We urge you to give this list your thoughtful attention, as it is our intention to offer evidence of the Israelitish origin of each of these tribes:
Iberian Settlement, 1600 B.C. to 800 B.C.
q Hibernians settled in Hibernia (Ireland) about 1600 B.C.
q Trojans settled in south Britain about 1100 B.C.
q Iberians settled throughout the island at various times between 1100 B.C. and 800 B.C.
q Danaans settled in Hibernia (Ireland), in southwest Britain (Cornwall and Devon), and in Scotland, in several migrations between 1200 B.C. and 800 B.C.
Celtic Settlement, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D.
q Gauls settled generally throughout both island between 600 B.C. and 200 B.C.
q Milesians settled Hibernia (Ireland) about 500 B.C.
q Cymry settled in Central Britain (North England) about 400 B.C.
q Jutes, Angles, and Frisians settled South Britain between 450 and 600 A.D.
Saxon Settlement, 450 A.D. to 1100 A.D.
q Scots settled in the western part of Scotland by 500 A.D.
q Danes settled in the eastern part of Britain about 800 A.D.
q Normans settled in Britain between 1066 and 1100 A.D.
Because the ancestors of the British people came into the Isles of Britain under many names, from different lands, and at widely separated times, it has been assumed by some that they were of many different races. This assumption is often offered as “proof” that the British people cannot be Israelites. Yet no assumption could be further from the truth, for the evidence of the ONENESS of the British people – that all of the groups and tribes settling Britain had a common origin and were of one race – is overwhelming.
Sir T. Nicholas in “The Pedigree of the English People Investigated,” says, “We have accomplished this portion of our task. The substantial unity of race of the early inhabitants of Britain has been shown. The multifarious tribes, all of one kindred, though arrived from different countries, across different seas, at different periods of time, we embrace under the one general designation, “Ancient Britons.” He continues, “The researchers of modern historians unequivocally favor the opinion that under the name of Keltai, Galatai, Gauls, Gaels, Gwyddils, Celts, Cimmerii, Cimbri, Cymry, Brythons, Lloegrians, Scots and Picts, only one race under different tribe or clan divisions, political organizations and periods of existence is spoken of; hence, one people.”
Professor Freeman, in “Origin of the English Nation,” says, “Tribe after tribe, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, poured across the sea to make new homes in the Isle of Britain. Thus grew up the English nation – a nation formed by the union of various tribes OF THE SAME STOCK. The Dane hardly needed assimilation. He was another KINDRED tribe, coming later than the others. Even the Norman was a Kinsman.” Sir Francis Palgrave adds, “Britons, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, and Normans were all relations; however hostile, they were all kinsmen.”
Professor Arthur Keith, writing in “Nationality and Race From An Anthropologist’s Point of View,” says, “Except for a trick of speech or a local mannerism, the most expert anthropologist cannot tell a Celt from a Saxon, or an Irishman from a Scotsman… As regards the shape of skull or form of bones I do not think a practiced craniologist could distinguish the skulls and bones found in an ancient cemetery in Surrey from the remains of a Celtic grave in Connemara, so much are the Celtic and Saxon types alike… From the physical point of view, the Celt and Saxon are one; whatever be the source of their mutual antagonism, it does not lie in a difference of race… We have the most positive evidence that long before the dawn of written history the processes of invasion and colonization had been going on in Britain. In all these invasions, historic and pre-historic, with one important exception, no strange or new racial stock was added to the British Isles… We see, then, why there should be little physical difference between Celt and Saxon. The one was an earlier wave, the other a much later wave, of the same stock.”
Professor Huxley in “Racial Origins,” says: “The invasion of the Saxons, the Goths, Danes, and the Normans, changed the language of Britain; but added no new physical element. Therefore we should not talk any more of Celts and Saxons for they are all one.”
The truth of the matter is that all of the tribes from which the British people are descended were but branches of some ancient race which, having become scattered from its homeland, was here being regathered and reunited. There should never have been any doubt about their identity for in His Word, God Himself declared that such a scattering and regathering of the Israel people would occur. Of this scattering we read, “For lo… I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.” (Amos 9:9)
Following this scattering was to come a regathering, concerning which God says, “Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more.” (2 Sam. 7:10) The prophet Jeremiah records, “Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.”
Israel in dispersion was not a single united tribe but a scattered people. Actually, the fact that the ancestors of the British people came into the British Isles from many countries, under many names, and at different times, is not an argument against their Israelitish identity. On the contrary, it is in itself evidence of it.
The Missing Israelites
Some believe that the ancient Britons could not have been Israelites because they arrived in Britain before the fall of Israel. However, there were several nations of Israel people in existence long before the mother nation in Palestine was destroyed by the Assyrians. Throughout Israel’s history, many groups broke away from the main body and migrated to new homes in other lands. Several small groups broke away even before the exodus of Israel from Egypt. The Bible gives conclusive proof that a great body of people – about one-third the entire nation – disappeared while Israel was wandering in the desert of Sinai during the 40-year period between the exodus from Egypt and the entrance into Palestine. Still other groups broke away at various times after Israel was established in Palestine.
The first chapter of Numbers contains the record of a census of all men of military age in Israel, taken immediately after the Exodus. In Numbers chapter 26 there is a record of another census taken 40 years later, just before Israel entered Palestine. A comparison of these two sets of figures shows that during this 40-year period, five of the tribes (Issachar, Zebulon, Manasseh, Asher and Benjamin) had an average increase in numbers of about 25%. Two other tribes (Judah and Dan) had very small increases during this period, and the remaining five (Reuben, Gad, Ephraim, Naphtali and Simeon) not only failed to show any increase, but actually ended this 40-year period with a total of 61,000 men LESS than they had when it began. As the census in both cases was taken of men of military age ONLY, it follows that the total decrease was at least five times this amount, or over 300,000 people. From the Bible’s own record, it is certain that AT LEAST 300,000 people disappeared FROM Israel in the 40 years immediately following the Exodus. In fact, the departure of so many people from the camp of Israel may have been the primary reason for the taking of a second census.
This does not tell the whole story, for it fails to take into account that the twelve tribes were living under identical conditions and consequently that the nation as a whole should have had a natural increase in population equal to the 25% average of the five tribes first mentioned. Israel began this 40-year period with 603,550 men of military age, and should have had an increase at the end of this time of about 150,000. Instead, there was a decrease of 61,000. The actual loss is therefore 211,000 men. These men with their families total at least a MILLION Hebrew people who disappeared during the 40 years in the wilderness. There is no record of any disaster serious enough to account for the disappearance of so great a number, so the only possible explanation is that they left the main body of Israel and migrated to other lands.
This agrees with the known history of the period (15th century, B.C.), for it was at this time that a great tidal wave of people claiming to have come from Egypt, established themselves in Phoenicia, Asia Minor, Crete and Greece. Western Europe was settled by a people called Iberi or Iberians, who later migrated into Britain. The Iberian ancestors of the ancient Britons suddenly appeared in the lands at the western end of the Mediterranean Sea just a short time after the disappearance of a million Hebrews at its eastern end. It is obvious that they COULD have been Israelites, and we will be offering proof that they were.
To this let us add another point. Of the five Israel tribes that showed decreases during the 40 year Wilderness wandering, the tribe of Simeon suffered the greatest loss of about two-thirds of the entire tribe. This is interesting in view of the fact that among the tribes that settled in Britain, one of the most important was called Semoni.
Of the many tribal groups that in times past came into the British Isles, merging to become the Celto-Saxon people, the Hibernians were undoubtedly the most ancient, having established themselves in what is now called Ireland early in the 16th century, B.C. Although our knowledge of them is meager, we do know that they came into Ireland under a leader named Calcol, claiming to have come from Egypt. As evidence of their origin and previous identity, we have four points to consider: their coming from Egypt, the date, their name, and the name of their leader.
Their coming FROM Egypt in the 16th century, B.C. is significant, for this date is within the period (1700-1486 B.C.) during which the Israel people were in bondage IN Egypt. This perfect time factor shows that they COULD have been Israelites fleeing from slavery.
This possibility is strengthened by their name, “Hibernians,” which in another form, “Hebrides,” is still the name of the islands to the west of Scotland. The root of this word is “Hiber” or “Hebr,” and “nians” is a Latin-English ending meaning “the people of” or “descendants of.” The name Hibernians therefore simply means the people or descendants of Heber or Hebr, and as such is identical with the Hebrews, the racial name of the Israel people that they bore because of their descent from Heber, an ancestor of Abraham.
Next, we come to an event in the early history of the Israel family, the birth of Pharez and Zarah, twin sons of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob-Israel. It is from Judah, according to Genesis 49:10, that the royal family of the Israel nation was to come. Let us read the record of the birth of these twin sons of Judah: “And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb. And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, this came out first. And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? This breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez. And afterwards came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.” (Gen. 38:27-30)
According to the ancient law of primogeniture, whichever of these two boys was declared the first-born would be head of the tribe of Judah and heir to the future throne of Israel. Pharez stood by the fact that he actually was born first, while Zarah pointed to his hand bound with the scarlet thread. The decision was made in favor of Pharez and it is from him that the royal family of Israel, called the House of David is descended. Apparently, Zarah and his descendants never accepted this decision. It is evident from the genealogy of the tribe of Judah, as well as from the records of several ancient nations that most of Zarah’s descendants withdrew from Israel during the Egyptian bondage. Escaping from Egypt, they went to other lands where they established kingdoms of their own. In this migration, they were led by two of Zarah’s great-grandsons named Darda and Calcol.
Let us now compare these two pictures. In the first we see a group of Hebrews or Heber people (Israelites) fleeing from Egypt about 1600 B.C. under the leadership of two men, one of whom was named Calcol. Further, as descendants of Zarah, their heraldic emblem was a RED HAND bound by a SCARLET CORD. In the second we see the Hibernians or Heber people coming into Ireland FROM Egypt under a leader named Calcol early in the 16th century, B.C. They settled in Ulster and from that day forward the official emblem of Ulster has been a RED HAND bound by a SCARLET CORD. On the evidence of these five witnesses – their origin in Egypt, the date of their migration, their name, the name of their leader, and their heraldic emblem – we know that the Hibernians were Hebrews (Israelites) of the Zarah branch of the tribe of Judah.
The legends of ancient Britain were preserved both in the records of ancient writers and in the local traditions of many parts of England. They state that a great body of people, led by a prince called Brutus the Trojan, arrived and settled in Britain about 1103 B.C. Ancient histories also state that these people were the descendants of the Trojans who, having been defeated in a war with the Greeks, had fled from Asia Minor to Italy and Britain. A legend so ancient and widespread, with so many local evidences, which has been recorded as a fact of history by the ancient writers, MUST have a basis in truth. Among these evidences we mention only three: the stone in St. Swithin’s Church, London, which Brutus is said to have brought from Troy; the stone in Fore Street, Totnes, on which Brutus stepped when he landed in Britain; and the ancient name of London, Troynovant, or New Troy. Genealogical records have been kept from the most ancient times by the Royal College of Heralds in England. In them, the descent of the British royal family is traced through this Brutus to Aeneas, who led the Trojans in their flight from Troy to Italy, and through Aeneas to Dardanus, who founded the Trojan royal family and kingdom. Several of the old British and Welsh families are also traced through ancient genealogical records to Brutus and Dardanus. The evidence indicates, therefore, that Brutus, who founded the ancient British royal family, and those who came to Britain with him, were Trojans.
Who, then, were the Trojans? According to the ancient Greek writers, the city-kingdom later known as Troy was founded by Dardanus who, with a band of followers, arrived in Asia Minor from Egypt about 1600 B.C. Homer, writing about 1000 B.C., says that Dardanus was a son (or descendant) of Jupiter, who was a son of Saturn (also called Kronus.) Sanchoniatho, a Phoenician historian, declares that Kronus was Israel, and that he had a special son “Jehud” (Judah). Thus in stating that Dardanus, the founder of the Trojan royal house and kingdom was a descendant of Jupiter, Homer is simply saying that he was an Israelite of the tribe of Judah.
We previously discussed the disappearance of most of the Zarah branch of the tribe of Judah during the time of Israel’s bondage in Egypt (1700-1486 B.C.). Remember that this branch of Judah was headed at this time by two brothers, Calcol and Darda (also called Dara or Dardanus). The Hibernians came into Ireland under a leader named Calcol about the same time that Dardanus and his followers arrived in Asia Minor. We have seen the evidence, especially their names and heraldic emblem of the Red Hand of Ulster, indicating that these brothers were Israelites of the Zarah branch of the tribe of Judah.
To this we would add one more important item of evidence. The records previously mentioned kept by the Royal College of Heralds, not only trace the descent of the British royal family through Brutus to Dardanus, but through him TO JUDAH and JACOB-ISRAEL. The College of Heralds is a national institution, and for at least a thousand years has maintained the accuracy of these genealogical records. Its information is authoritative and authentic.
The chain of evidence is complete. Brutus and his followers who established the ancient throne and kingdom of Britain were Trojans, descendants of those who fled westward from Asia Minor after the fall of Troy. The Trojans, like the Hibernians, were Hebrews mainly of the Zarah branch of the tribe of Judah who had fled from Egypt while Israel was in bondage there.
In contrast to the Trojans, who came into Britain in a body, the next and more numerous arrivals came in a steady stream of immigration that began shortly after the arrival of the Trojans in 1103 B.C. and continued for some 300 years. These newcomers, the Iberians, appear to have settled throughout the British Isles. They appeared in southwestern Europe in the 15th century, B.C., and gradually migrated through Spain and France into the British Isles. Here they merged with the Trojans to form the basic stock of the ancient British people. The Encyclopedia of Religions (II:259) tells us, “The Iberes of the Caucasus were Georgians… In Sicily the Iberes were on the west... Spain was Iberia… Tacitus [an ancient Roman historian] speaks of Iberes in the west of England [Cornwall], who may have come from Spain.” We find Iberians – Hebrews – migrating at least as far as England to settle and establish civilization, for the same encyclopedia in a different article (I:156) tells us, “The so-called Iberians, supposed to be a Mediterranean race [are] also traceable in English long-barrows according to Dr. Isaac Taylor.”
Who were the Iberians? Let us examine the word, Iberian, or as the ancients wrote it, Iberi. It is but one form of the name that also appears in early times as Iberia, Ebro, Eboracum, Hibernia and Hebrides. Without these various suffixes, which are additions meaning “land of” or “people of,” the name appears as Iber, Ebr, Ebor, Hiber or Hebr, thus being identical with “Hebr,” the root of “Hebrews,” the racial name of the Israel people. This in itself indicates that the Iberians were Hebrews and thus Israelites. An examination of various forms of the word, Iberia, shows that it is also spelled “Eb” and “Heb;” and as the ending, “ians,” simply means “people” or “the people of,” we see that the Iberians were the people of Eber or Heber. The Israelites, too, were people of Eber or Heber (Hebrews), because of their descent from Eber, spelled in the New Testament, HEBER. (Luke 3:35) By the name they bore, it is evident that our Iberian ancestors were Hebrews or Israelites.
According to McClintock & Strong’s Encyclopedia (III:20), the Patriarch Eber was “the founder of the Hebrew race,” indicating that the word, Hebrew, means a descendant of the Patriarch Eber. This evidence is supported by an article in Biblical Archaeological Review Magazine, November-December, 1991, page 59, which stated, “Linguistically, the Biblical, ‘Ibri, (Hebrew) is an ethnicon like ‘Amorite.’ (Gen. 14:13)” An ethnicon is a family, tribal, or racial designation, and the referenced verse in Genesis speaks of “Abraham the Hebrew.” In other words, Ibri, Iberi, Eber, and Heber are all variations of the name of the Hebrew patriarch and his descendants.
The name, Hebrew, also took on the added meaning of an immigrant or colonist because of the colonizing spirit of this people. McClintock & Strong’s Encyclopedia (IV:128) adds that the name, Hebrew, came to mean, “one of the other side, i.e. …immigrant.” Bible translator, Ferrar Fenton, pointed out that in First Samuel 4:6, “Eberim, if translated, means ‘Colonists’ – a fit term to be used by the Philistines of the Israelites, who were really Colonists in Palestine.” The Bible affirms the colonizing spirit of the Hebrews, for Genesis 49:13 prophecies that the Israelite tribe of “Zebulon shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon,” which was a leading coastal port city on the Mediterranean. Similarly, Judges 5:17 asks, “And why did Dan remain in his ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breeches.” The word, ‘breeches,’ literally means ‘creeks’ or ‘rivers,’ so the tribe of Asher spent a considerable part of their time in sailing excursions. Many prophecies speak of Hebrew expansion along the sea-routes: “Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters.” (Psalm 77:19) “I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.” (Psalm 89:25) “Ask of me, and I will give thee of the heathen for thy inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” (Psalm 2:8) “He shall have dominion from sea to sea...” (Psa. 72:8) “His seed shall be in many waters.” (Num. 24:7) The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (I:316) states, “In the time of Solomon, Phoenicians, accompanied by Hebrews, reached as far as England… England was therefore known to the Israelites and they may have sought a refuge there after the fall of their kingdom [by the Assyrians, 721 B.C.]” How wonderfully have these promises of sea migration and colonization been fulfilled!
One of the greatest of Celtic scholars was Dr. (later Sir) John Rhys. In his book, Early Celtic Britain, he states, “Ireland was known as IBERION… their eponymous ancestor… is variously called… IBER, EMER, and HEBER.” (pp. 262-3) Rhys also discusses early Celtic names and suggests that we “…compare Semitic names… compare the Hebrew.” (ibid., p. 259-260)
The Hebrew origin of the Iberians is thus well supported in both Scripture and history.
We now consider the origin of the next arrivals in Britain, the Danans, who migrated into Ireland, Cornwall, and parts of northern Britain (Scotland) at various times between 1200 and 800 B.C. According to the ancient Irish traditions, these Danans came from Greece. This claim is supported by the fact that an important section of the Doric Greeks were called Danans or Danoi.
In a work entitled, “The Annals Of Ireland,” we read, “The Danans were a highly civilized people, well skilled in architecture and other arts from their long residence in Greece, and their relations with the Phoenicians.” Another work, “The Psalter of Cashel” makes the same statement. Modern historians also accept the Grecian identity of the Danans. In Keating’s “History of Ireland,” we read, “The Danans were a people of great learning and wealth; they left Greece after a battle with the Assyrians, and went to Ireland, and also to Danmark.” Professor Fleure says that the earliest histories link the Danans with the Greek Danoi and the Spartans, and W.E. Gladstone in his “Juventus Mundi” also connects the Danoi of Greece with the Danans of Ireland. As this connection is an accepted fact of history, the question now arises, who were the Danoi?
The name of the Danans in the ancient language of Ireland is “Tuatha de Danaan,” which translates literally as, “Tribe of Dan.” (The word, ‘Tuatha’ means ‘tribe.’) This indicates that the Danans were Israelites, for where else but in Israel was there ever a Tribe of Dan? It is certain that the tribe of Dan disappeared from Palestine at an early date, for an examination of the roll of tribes as given in First Chronicles reveals that Dan is missing. It is important to note that the time of this disappearance agrees very closely with the arrival in Greece of the Dorics of whom the Danoi were the chief group.
In explanation of Dan’s disappearance from Palestine, Eldad Hadani, a classic 10th century A.D. Jewish historian, says, “In Jeroboam’s day Dan refused to shed his brother’s blood; and rather than go to war with Judah he left the country and went in a body to Greece and to Denmark.” Similarly, early 19th century German philologist, Wilhelm von Humboldt, says that the early inhabitants of Ireland were Israelites, who passed through Greece and Spain.
William Camden, ‘the father of English history,’ in his 16th century work, “Britannia,” refers to another historian of his day: “Postellus… fetcheth the original [inhabitants to Ireland] thereof from the Hebrews: so that Irin should be as much as Iurin, that is, the Jews land: The Jews, forsooth, saith he, being most wise sages and learned philosophers, knowing by their learning that the Empire of the world should be settled in the strongest angle, which lieth west, seized upon those parts, and Ireland with the first: The Syrians also and Tyrians, to lay the foundation of their future Empire, endeavoured all they could to inhabit those regions.” (Chapter, ‘Hibernia, Ireland,’ p.61) This shows that the early colonization of Ireland by people of Hebrew origin was known and taught by some in his day.
Dr. Robert Latham was one of the most respected 19th century authorities, and firmly stated that the Danans of Greece were the Israelite Tribe of Dan. In his “Ethnology of Europe,” Latham comments, “Neither do I think that the eponymus [i.e., founder] of the Argive Danai was other than that of the Israelite tribe of Dan…” We have reprinted the full text of his interesting remarks on this subject in Appendix XXX.
Cyrus Gordon (died March, 2001) was called the leading archaeologist of the twentieth century by Biblical Archaeologist Magazine (March, 1996). In his book, ‘Before Columbus,’ he also stated as fact that the Danai and Danaan were the Biblical tribe of Dan. His remarks have been reprinted in Appendix XX.
Thus it is certain that the Danans of Ireland, Cornwall and Scotland, as well as the Danes who later came to England from Denmark, were Israelites of the tribe of Dan. Our appendix includes valuable selections from works by Drs. Latham and Gordon on the connection between the Tuatha de Danaan and the Biblical tribe of Dan.
According to the records of the ancient Irish writers, a considerable part of Ireland was invaded and settled in the 5th century, B.C. by a people called Milesians. As there seems to be no evidence to indicate that these people had previously lived in any of the nearby countries, they must have come by sea from some more distant land. Is there anything in history to indicate that a people called Milesians ever lived elsewhere, and if so, did anything occur which could have caused part or all of them to migrate to a new home?
In answer to this, we point to the people of Miletus, the greatest seaport and commercial city of the ancient Greek world, which was in the Greek colony of Ionia in Asia Minor. These people, too, were called Milesians.
In 494 B.C. this great city was destroyed by the Persians, and though many of its inhabitants were killed in the struggle and others carried away into slavery in Persia, a considerable number escaped by sea to the western Mediterranean. We suggest therefore that the appearance in Ireland shortly after this event, of a people called Milesians, is good evidence, even if it is not proof, that the Milesians of Ireland were the Ionian Greeks of Miletus.
An interesting point in connection with this is that a colony of Doric Greeks, which was near Miletus, suffered a similar fate. These Dorics (one of the three tribal divisions of the Greeks) had a peculiar manner of speech or dialect, which was called Doric. Is it just a coincidence that in Scotland today the descendants of people who came into Scotland about the same time as the Milesians came to Ireland, have a peculiar manner of speech or dialect which is called Doric?
Interestingly, one of the islands west of Scotland is called Iona, nearly identical in name to the Ionia in Asia Minor. Who then were the ancient Greeks, part of whom, the Milesians (or Ionians) and Dorics apparently came to Ireland and Scotland?
The evidence presented previously proves that nearly a million Israelites emigrated from Israel during the forty years of wandering in the Wilderness of Sinai after the Exodus from Egypt. A large body of these migrated westward, being the Iberians of Western Europe and Britain. The main body of people from whom the Greeks were descended arrived in Greece at this time claiming to have come from Egypt. The ancient kings of the Greek states all trace their descent from Saturn (Kronus), who was called, ‘Israel,’ according to the Phoenician historian Sanchoniatho. Thus from the evidence available it seems certain that the Milesians of ancient Ireland were Israelites.
An interesting selection from noted Irish historian, A.M. Sullivan’s, “History of Ireland,” is included in our appendix with further connections between the Milesians and the Hebrews. We reproduce here a drawing from Professor Sullivan’s book, showing Irish Milesian Queen Scota waving the “serpent banner” which was the emblem of the Biblical tribe of Dan. The serpent of Dan is also depicted and discussed in W.H. Bennett’s illustrated color companion book, “Symbols Of Our Celto-Saxon Heritage,” pp. 26-27.
Shortly after 600 B.C., a new wave of our ancestors began to migrate into the British Isles. These newcomers were the Gauls, also called Celts, who, after migrating from the region of the Black Sea, had settled in Western Europe. Being pushed northward by the expanding Roman Empire and westward by other peoples from the east, the majority of them crossed over into Britain and Hibernia where they united with earlier arrivals – the Hibernians, Iberians, Trojans and Danans.
The evidence presented so far clearly identifies these earlier arrivals as Israelites; we now consider the possibility that the Gauls had the same origin. The first point to note is that the Gauls arrived in Western Europe about 120 years AFTER the Assyrians conquered Israel and drove the Israelites away into northern Assyria and Media. Further, 3-1/2 of the tribes had been driven away about 20 years before the others. Therefore, if these tribes were Gauls, they had about 140 years to reach Western Europe by 600 B.C.
We should also note that, just as is done in modern times, our Gaulic ancestors habitually carried familiar place names with them into new lands. For example, Galicia, a province in Poland; Galicia, a province in Spain; and Galatia in Asia Minor; in addition to Gaul, the old name of France, mark their widespread migrations. But the connection does not end there. Part of the land of Israel was also called Gaul, AND it was from this region that the 3-1/2 tribes originated, that were first to be conquered and driven away to Assyria and Media.
Palestine in ancient times was divided into four provinces: one large province, Canaan, and three smaller ones. These three were Galilee in the north, and Gilead and Gaulan east of the Jordan River. In their first attack on Israel, the Assyrians conquered only these three smaller provinces. The first Israelites to be driven away into exile came from these three provinces whose names are but different forms of the Hebrew word “Gal” or “Gaull” – GALilee, GILead, and GAULan. These people, being exiles from the rest of Israel, would be called, “the Exiles,” which in Hebrew is “GALuth.” By the name they bore, our Gaulic ancestors proclaimed their Israelitish origin. They were ‘the Exiles’ – the Galuth, Galatians, or Gauls, from the land of Gal or Gaul in Israel. Historian Samuel Lysons, in his book, “Our British Ancestors,” concurs in saying, “…the Gauls… derived from [the Hebrew words] Gal, Gul.” (p.174) An interesting extract from his book, discussing the origin of the word, “Gaul” is found in our appendix.
That this identification is certain is proved by St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. These Galatians were descendants of those Gauls who left the main body in Western Europe, turned back eastward, and broke through the Roman frontier forcing their way into Central Europe and Greece. They finally settled in Galatia in Asia Minor about 280 B.C., about three centuries before the arrival and acceptance of the Gospel. St. Paul in writing to them concerning circumcision and the ceremonial law, speaks of them as having formerly been subject to it (Gal. 4:9; 5:1). The only people who were ever subject to this law were the Israelites, and it follows that St. Paul is here proving the Israelitish identity of the Gauls. “They [of Galatia] which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” (Gal. 3:7)
Convincing evidence, both direct and circumstantial, proves the Israelitish origin of our Gaulic ancestors.
In their own language, the people of Wales as well as the ancient Britons from whom they descend call themselves ‘Cymry.’ Yet, the Cymry are but one of the tribes which migrated into ancient Britain to merge and become known as ‘Britons.’ The Cymry proper were a people known to the Romans as Cimbri. They came from the Crimea and the northern shore of the Black Sea, migrated across Europe, and settled for a time in Denmark. Later, probably about 400 B.C., most of them crossed over into Britain.
Historians are in general agreement that the Cymry were a Celtic people closely related to the Gauls. The evidence previously presented clearly identifies the Gauls as Israelites, so it follows that, being of the same race, the Cymry must also have been Israelites.
The first appearance of the Cymry in history coincides, as to time and place, with the disappearance of the Israelites. The Assyrians conquered Israel about 721 B.C., and then deported the people to northern Assyria and Media, in the southern part of that neck of land between the Black and Caspian Seas. Upon the weakening of Assyria a few short decades later, the Israelites regained their freedom and broke up into tribes and clans migrating northward. This migration began shortly after 700 B.C., and took them to the region north of the Black Sea. Numerous gravestones in the Crimea prove beyond question that a large body of Israel people lived there at that time. This is the time and the place of the first appearance of the Cymry, and it is evident that Israelites and Cymry are but two names for one people.
That this identification is correct is proved by the name ‘Cymry’ itself. Historian Sharon Turner, in “History Of The Anglo-Saxons,” (I:5) states that this word is pronounced “Kum-ree” or “Kumri” which is identical with the name given by the Assyrians to their Israelitish captives. Assyrian records in the British Museum, in relating the conquest of Israel, call the country “Humria” and the people, “Khumri” or “Kymri.” Alan Millard’s, “Treasures From Bible Times,” says the same thing. (pp. 31, 119-120) The word ‘Cymry’ is simply the Assyrian word for Israelites.
In connection with this we should note that the Cymry called the part of Britain in which they first settled, “Israel;” but as they used the Assyrian word, the name appears as “Humbria.” Later, adopting the Latin form of the word, they called other parts of Britain in which they lived “Cumbria” or “Cambria,” now known as Wales.
Thus the origin of another part of our Celtic ancestors is traced back to Israel. The Cymry were a group of Israelites who retained the name ‘Khumri’ given to them by the Assyrian conquerors. After regaining their freedom, they migrated to the north shore of the Black Sea, giving their name to the Crimea (Kymrea). Later, they migrated to Denmark where the Romans called them Cimbri, and still later crossed into Britain to unite with other branches of the Israel people as Britons.
The famed, “Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser,” depicted here, is now displayed in the British Museum, and records that Assyrian king’s reference to Israel as the “Khumri.” We have included in Appendix XX Assyrian King Shalmaneser’s own account of his campaign against Israel the Khumri, as related in Dr. Henry Sayce’s, “The Higher Criticism And The Monuments.”
Following the arrival of the Cymry about 400 A.D., no important migration into Britain took place for about 800 years. During the later part of this period, the Romans invaded and occupied part of the country, but this was a military occupation only. Few, if any, Romans settled in Britain, and all of the military forces were withdrawn about A.D. 410.
The next permanent settlers to come into Britain were the Saxons, who began to arrive from northwestern Germany and southern Denmark about the year 450. They were divided into a number of tribes, one of which, the Angles, gave us the names England and English. The Saxon invasion of Britain was bitterly resisted by the Britons. This struggle lasted for nearly two centuries, but as more and more Saxons arrived, they gradually drove most of the Britons into the northern and western parts of the country and into the Brittany area of northwest France.
As we have previously established the Israelitish identity of the ancient Britons, the question now arises, were these newcomers also Israelites? In considering this question, the first point to note is that the Saxons, who came into Britain from Germany and Denmark, were not natives of that region. They had previously migrated there from another region east of the Black Sea. Historians, both ancient and modern, state that the Saxons were descended from the Sacae, a people who came into Eastern Europe from Media shortly after 700 B.C. This is certainly important, for that date is just 20 years after the Israelites were taken captive TO Media. We know that within a few years of being taken there they regained their freedom and migrated northward into Europe.
Thus we see that Israel’s grave was the Saxon’s birthplace, for the Saxons first appear in history coming into Eastern Europe from Media shortly after 700 B.C., and the Israelites disappeared shortly after 700 B.C. while also migrating into eastern Europe from Media. Two such large migrations at the same time and place are hardly likely; it seems obvious that they were identical, and that the Saxons were Israelites under a new name.
Semitic languages did not have written vowels, and leading vowels were often dropped. As an example, the city of Istanbul is also known as “Stambole.” Historian Paul MacKendrick wrote in The Iberian Stones Speak (p.26), that the city of Lisbon on the Iberian (Spanish) Peninsula was originally known as “Olisipo,” and the leading vowel was dropped over time. In this same way the name, Isaac, became “Sak” or “Sacae.”
The great Saxon historian, Sharon Turner, in History Of The Anglo-Saxons, (I:34) traced the word, Saxon, to the words, “Sacae-Suna,” meaning the “Sons of the Sacae,” saying, “[Roman geographer] Ptolemy mentions a Scythian people, sprung from the SAKAI, by the name of Saxones… Sakai-Suna, or the Sons of the Sakai, abbreviated into Saksun, which is the same sound as Saxon, seems a reasonable etymology of the word, Saxon.” (I:100-101) One of the greatest of literary scholars, John Milton, in his History of Britain, also tied the origins of the Anglo-Saxons with the SAKA and the Mid-East in these words: “They were a people thought by good writers to be descended from the SCYTHIANS or SAKA, AFTERWARDS CALLED SACASONS, who with a flood of other nations came into Europe about the time of the decline of the Roman Empire.”
The name, Saxon, therefore means, “Sons of Isaac.” Such a name for Israel was prophesied in Genesis 21:12: “And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.” In Amos 7:18, written about the time of the captivity of Israel, Abraham’s descendants are called, “the House of Isaac.” (compare Rom. 9:7 and Heb. 11:18) The Israelites received that name because of their descent from Jacob-Israel, but they were later called by the name of Jacob’s father, Isaac; rather than being known as the Israel people, they were to be known as the Isaac or Saac people. This is what the word, Sacae, means – the Sac people. As the word Saxon is merely an English form of Sacae, it follows that in their name itself we have proof of the Israelitish identity of the Saxons.
We also have conclusive evidence offered by the historians of the Persian Empire. The Encyclopedia of Religions provides evidence from ancient Persian sources that the Indo-European Saxon tribes originated in Medo-Persia, where the lost tribes of Israel disappeared from history. They state, “The Mazdean author of the Zend scripture called Vendidad, perhaps before 500 B.C., speaks of the… ‘Aryan home’ as being on the ‘good river Daitya’, which is traditionally the Araxes, flowing from near Mt. Ararat eastwards to the Kaspian.” Interestingly enough, the Bible Apocrypha in 2 Esdras 13:40-46 says that the lost tribes of Israel “crossed the Araxes” traveling northward, so the dispersed House of Israel and the Saxons both traversed the identical route into Europe at the very same time in history. To be more precise, they started out on their journey as “Saca-Suna” or “Sons of the Saca,” and ended up in Europe as “Saxons.” The Encyclopedia of Religions continues saying, “…This indicates a descent through the Caucasus… If the tradition that the Daitya River is the Araxes be reliable, these Aryans would be Medes.” (I:154) This encyclopedia reasons that since the Saxons originated in Medo-Persia, they must be Medo-Persians in disguise! But this conclusion is not sound. The Persians recorded a military battle with the SAKA, indicating that they were not the same people. It never occurred to the encyclopedia authors that the Saxons could be a separate people sent as captives into Media, the lost house of Israel.
The greatest of Anglo-Saxon historians, Sharon Turner, verified the Medo-Persian connection, saying, “This important fact of a part of Armenia having been named SAKASINA, is mentioned by [ancient Roman historian] Strabo in another place, and seems to give a geographical locality to our primeval ancestors, and to account for the PERSIAN WORDS THAT OCCUR IN THE SAXON LANGUAGE, as they must have come into Armenia from the northern regions of Persia.” (History of the Anglo-Saxons, I:100-101) The early Saxon language included hundreds of Medo-Persian words, indicating that the ancestors of the Saxons had resided in Medo-Persia for some time before migrating through the Caucasus Mountains into Europe. Sharon Turner gives further proof that the modern Anglo-Saxon peoples are descended from the ancient SAKA, whom we identified as the lost tribes of the House of Isaac. He says, “These marauding SAKAI or Saka-sani, were gradually propelled to the western coasts of Europe… There was a people called SAXOI on the Euxine [Black Sea], according to [early Roman historian] Stephanus.” These writers refer to the Israelites in Media as SACA, SAKAI, or SAXOI. Consequently, as the ancient writers declare that the Saxons of Europe were descended from the Sacae who came into Europe from Media, and as language study identifies the Sacae as the house of Isaac, we have a positive chain of evidence proving the Israelitish identity of the Saxons.
For additional information on the origin of the Saxons, see our Appendices for a selection from historian Sharon Turner’s, History of the Anglo-Saxons, and the text of the ancient Persian Behistun Rock which refers to the Sacae at the time of Israel’s dispersion to that land.
Among the Saxon invaders of Britain were the Jutes, a people who came from a part of Denmark still called Jutland, to settle in Kent and the Isle of Wight. The evidence we have given indicates the Israelitish origin of the Saxons as a whole; let us now consider the Jutes, for they have in their name itself conclusive evidence of their Israelite origin. A great change took place in the languages of northern Europe some time previous to 100 B.C., whereby a great many words that had previously had in them the sound of our letter “d” changed this to the sound of a “t.” This change is called Grimm’s Law, and occurred during the years in which the Saxons migrated to Western Europe from their former home east of the Black Sea. According to this law of linguistics, Jutland and Judland (or Judah-land) would be identical terms.
A well-respected Celtic scholar of a century ago, John Rhys, in fact connected the Jutes with the word, Judah or Jews. In his book, “Early Celtic Britain,” he discussed a region “just in the vicinity of St. David’s or Mnyw, called in the Welsh Chronicle MONI IUDEORUM, which contains an allusion probably to the same people.” (p.226) Rhys relates this word, Iudeorum or Judeorum, to Hebrews of the tribe of Judah. Rhys states, “…lastly we seem to have a trace of the same form in the Welsh Chronicle, sometimes called Annales Cambriae, when it calls Menevia or St. David’s Moni Iudeorum. WE NEED NOT BE HERE TROUBLED BY THE LOST TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL, BUT… IT WOULD BE HARD TO PROVE THE CONTRARY.” (ibid, p.150, emphasis ours) In this connection we should note, too, that in the German language the Jews, who are a part of the people of Judah, are called JUDEN (singular – Jude), which is equivalent to “Judes” in English. In the Low German dialects, which are more closely related to Old English (the English of the Saxons and Jutes) the name Jude is pronounced “Yut,” which is equivalent to the English “Jute.”
We now have six known facts to consider:
(1) When the Israel people were deported to Media by the Assyrians, part of the people of the Kingdom of Judah were taken with them;
(2) As a consequence, there was in Media a group of Judahites, Judai, or Judes;
(3) Among the Saxons who came into Britain there was a tribe called Jutes;
(4) During the time they were migrating westward across Europe, the “d” in their language became “t”;
(5) The Saxons were descended from the Sacae of Media; and
(6) Sacae is the name by which the Israelites in Media were known to the Persian historians.
It is certain, therefore, that the Jutes were originally called Judes or Judai, and that they were the descendants of that part of the people of Judah that the Assyrians carried away with Israel to Media.
The Scots, from whom Scotland and its people derive their modern name, were relatively late arrivals in the British Isles, coming about A.D. 500, or nearly a thousand years after the latest of the other arrivals. These Scots, who called themselves Albanians, settled in the western part of the country and established a kingdom called Albania. The name Scotland itself did not appear until the union of Albania and Caledonia over 300 years later. Of the origin of these Scots or Albanians there can be no doubt whatever, as it is stated in the official records of the Scottish nation. In the year 1320 King Robert the Bruce received a communication from Pope John XXII demanding Scotland’s submission to the rule of King Edward II of England. The Scottish Parliament refused and King Robert and the nobles of Scotland issued a signed reply. In this letter, called “the Scottish Declaration Of Independence,” the origin and history of the Scots is given.
This ancient document is still in existence in the Register House at Edinburgh, and a translation of part of it appeared in “Scot’s Magazine” of April, 1934:
“We know, Most Holy Father and Lord, and from the chronicles and books of the ancients gather, that among other illustrious nations, ours, to wit the nation of the Scots, has been distinguished by many honors; which passing from the greater Scythia through the Mediterranean Sea and Pillars of Hercules, and sojourning in Spain among the most savage tribes through a long course of time could nowhere be subjugated by any people however barbarous; and coming thence one thousand two hundred years after the outgoing of the people of Israel, they, by many victories and infinite toil, acquired for themselves the possessions in the West which they now hold.”
Let us read that statement again, and note that it is an official statement of the Scottish Parliament signed by King Robert and all the nobles of Scotland on April 6th, A.D. 1320. It states that the Scots came from Scythia – 1200 years AFTER THE OUTGOING OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL. Now the outgoing of the people of Israel (that is, the Assyrian conquest of Israel and the deportation of the Israel people from Palestine to Assyria and Media) occurred about 721 B.C., and this date IS just 1200 years before the Scots arrived in Scotland. The significance of this date is that ONLY an Israel people would DATE THEIR MOVEMENTS and EVENTS from the time of Israel’s deportation. We know that this was a custom of the dispersed Israelites, for Hebrew tombstones found in the Crimea are all dated FROM that event also. Thus, the statement quoted above is in itself proof that the Scots were Israelites.
Note something else here. The Scottish Declaration states that the Scots came from Scythia. The importance of this lies in the fact that the Israelites regained their freedom after a short time in captivity, and migrated northward from Assyria and Media into SCYTHIA, where part of them settled in two districts to which they gave the names Albania and Iberia. This word, Iberia, is identical with the ancient name of Spain, where the Scots lived after leaving Scythia, and is simply the Latin form of ‘Heberland’ or the Land of the Hebrews.
It is certain that the Scots came from Scythia bearing the name ‘Albanian,’ and that a section of them settled in Ireland calling themselves ‘Iber’ Scots. It is obvious that they came from the two districts of Scythia called Albania and Iberia, and therefore must be the descendants of the Israelites who settled in these two districts after their release or “outgoing” from the Assyrian captivity.
The Danes or Norsemen left the Scandinavian region to invade and settle northeastern England and part of Scotland in the ninth and tenth centuries, A.D. Both they and their kinsmen who remained in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland) are another part of our race whose name and traditions bear witness to their Israelitish origin. Their coming into Britain was not the invasion of a foreign or alien people; on the contrary, they were very closely related to the Saxons, being a northern branch of that people. This, in itself, identifies them as Israelites, for the evidence presented thus far proving the Israelitish origin of the Saxons must therefore apply also to the Danes.
The ancient Danish or Norse traditions claim that the Danes are descended from a great leader named Dan, who lived sometime before 1000 B.C. This is important, for in the history of the ancient world, only one man named Dan became the father of a tribe of that name. He was Dan, the fifth son of Jacob-Israel, founder of the Hebrew tribe of Dan.
The history of the Tribe of Dan offers important evidence. During the forty years of wandering after the Exodus, a part of this tribe broke away from the main body of Israel and established itself in the northeastern part of Palestine, calling it Phoenicia. It is interesting to note that the ancient Danish-Norse Runic alphabet not only resembles the Phoenician, but is believed to have been derived from it.
Take note of the geographical location of the Danites after the Israelites settled Palestine. Their first allotment of land, on the west coast, was found to be too small, so part of the tribe was given another portion in the extreme north of the country. This grant included most of Phoenicia, which had previously been settled by their own tribesmen. The importance of this lies in the fact that Palestine’s three important seaports were in the territory of the Danites: Joppa in South Dan, and Tyre and Sidon in North Dan. The Danites, including the Phoenicians, became the merchant seamen and commercial traders of the entire ancient world. They established trading posts and colonies all along the coasts of Europe from the Black Sea in the east to the Codanus (Baltic) in the Northwest.
This continued for nearly 500 years, during which a considerable part of the Tribe of Dan migrated to their colonies. Before 1000 B.C., we find settlements of people calling themselves Danites or Danes along the north shore of the Black Sea, in Greece, in northern Italy, in the British Isles and Scandinavia. The great migration of the Danites, however, occurred in the tenth century, B.C., when, for some reason, the remainder of the tribe left Palestine in a body. This migration is proved by the fact that Dan is not mentioned at all in the roll of tribes in the book of First Chronicles. Dan could not have been in Palestine when this record was made. The Jewish writer, Eldad, says that the Danites refused to take part in the wars between Israel and Judah, which resulted from the division of the nation into two kingdoms at the death of King Solomon. As a result, Eldad says, the tribe of Dan “left the country in a body, going to Greece and to Denmark.”
An interesting point concerning the Danites is that when they went to their new home in northern Palestine, they immediately named it Dan in honor of their ancestor. This was characteristic of the Danes; wherever they migrated they left as way-marks (place-names) the name of their father, Dan. In Europe we have the UDON, the DON, the Dnieper, the Dniester, the DANube, MaceDONia, SarDINia, the EriDANus (the Po), the AnoDANus (the Rhone), the CoDANus Sea (the Baltic), ScanDINavia, SweDEN, and DENmark, to say nothing of countless others in the British Isles.
By their name, traditions, and way-marks, we know the Danes were the Israelitish tribe of Dan.
The last of our ancestors to arrive in Britain as a group were the Normans, who invaded and settled in England in A.D. 1066. Although they came into England from France and spoke a dialect of the French language, they were NOT of the French (Frankish) race. They were Norsemen from Norway who had invaded and settled in northern France only 150 years before their invasion of England. These Norsemen were a northern branch of the Danes. When the Danish and kindred tribes migrated from the East to northwestern Europe, some of them settled in the peninsula called Denmark. Others crossed over to the Northland (Norway and Sweden). Those in the Northland, particularly those in the western part of it (Norway), became known as Northmen. This name in time was transformed into Norsemen and then Normans.
In the ninth and tenth centuries, many of the Danish people began to seek new homes. They discovered and settled in Iceland and Greenland, and even went as far as America. A large number of them settled in England and Scotland. Others, mostly Norsemen, proceeded farther south, settling in northern France, to which they gave the name, Normandy, and from which their descendants later invaded England. The Norman invasion brought no foreign element into Britain, for the Normans, being Norsemen, were a branch of the Danes. The Danes in turn were closely related to the Saxons, so it follows that the Normans were ethnically IDENTICAL with the Saxons and Danes who had preceded them into Britain. We have previously established the Israelitish heritage of both the Saxons and the Danes, and it follows that the Normans, being of the same race, must have had the same origin.
Here an interesting point arises. We have seen that the Danes were Israelites of the tribe of Dan. Consequently, as the Norsemen (Normans) were a branch of the Danes, it would seem evident that they, too, were of that tribe. There is an old tradition, however, which says that the Normans were of the tribe of Benjamin, descendants of those who escaped from Jerusalem when that city was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. Whether or not this is true, we do know that part of the people of the kingdom of Judah, which included the tribe of Benjamin, had been carried away into captivity in Media with Israel. We read in 2 Kings 18:15,
“Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.”
Therefore, some of the tribe of Benjamin dwelled among the Israelites taken captive by the Assyrians and placed in Media. As the descent of the Saxons and Danes from these Israelites is certain, it follows that among the Saxons or the Danes there must have been some who were Benjamites. We know that the emblem of the tribe of Benjamin was a Wolf, the emblem under which the Norsemen came into northwestern Europe. Later, a branch of their descendants settled in France (Normandy) and still later as Normans, many of these moved into England in what history calls the Norman invasion.
It is certain, therefore, that the Normans, being of the same race as the Saxons and Danes, were Israelites, and it seems evident that they were of the tribe of Benjamin.
We have noted that the many tribes and peoples from whom the British or Celto-Saxon people are descended came into Britain in three main groups: the Iberian, the Celtic and the Saxon. The first two came at various times between 1600 and 200 B.C., and the Saxons (comprised of Jutes, Angles, Saxons, Danes and Normans) arrived about a thousand years later. We also noted that these groups and tribes came into Britain at different times and under many names, yet all of one origin. They were scattered branches of the Israel or Hebrew people who were here being reunited in the appointed place of safety promised to them in 2 Samuel 7:10:
“Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime.”
Although of the same origin, the Saxons arrived so much later that the Britons did not recognize them as brethren and their entry into Britain was bitterly opposed. This struggle lasted nearly two centuries, during which the Saxons gradually drove the majority of the Britons into the western half of the island and some across the channel to France. Those who went to France settled in an uninhabited district to which they gave the name Little Britain (Brittany) where their descendants, the Bretons, live today. Ethnically, therefore, the Bretons of France are identical with the people of Wales, Cornwall, and most of western England; their language still almost the same as Welsh.
Now let us consider another point. When the several Danish and Saxon tribes migrated from the East to western Europe, most of them settled in the Danish Peninsula and in the lands immediately to the west of it. The others crossed over to the Northland (Norway) where they became known as Northmen or Norsemen. After a time, the Saxons (Jutes, Angles and Saxons) invaded and settled in Britain; a little later part of the Danes did likewise. Presently the Norsemen also began to search for a new home and about the year 900 a large body of them invaded and settled in northern France (Normandy). About 150 years later, many of these Normans rejoined their brethren the Saxons and Danes in Britain when they invaded England in 1066.
Two non-French peoples remained in the adjoining provinces of Brittany and Normandy in France. The Bretons were identical with the people of Wales and western Britain, and the Normans were Norsemen of the same stock as the Saxons and Danes from whom the English people are descended. The Bretons and the Normans, therefore, were NOT French; they were Celto-Saxons of the same origin as the people of Britain. The importance of this lies in the fact that these Bretons and Normans were the ancestors of the so-called “French” Canadians. Historical records verify that most, if not all, of the ancestors of the French-speaking people of Canada came from Brittany and Normandy. It is an indisputable fact, therefore, that the French-speaking people of Canada are Celto-Saxons and related to the people of Britain. As such, they too are Israelites, and only their adherence to an alien language, culture and religion keeps them as strangers among their brethren.
In these studies we have presented a small part of that great mass of evidence proving the Israelitish origin of the British and Celto-Saxon people. We have seen that their coming into the British Isles in many groups, at different times, and under various names, was but a regathering of the scattered branches of the Hebrew people in the appointed place of safety promised to them in 2 Samuel 7:10. We have also seen that this scattering and regathering covered a long time-period, from about 1600 B.C. to 1100 A.D., and that at one time or another one or more branches of the Israel people passed through EVERY country of Europe. Such a vast migration of people, moving in so many divisions, following so many different routes and continuing for so long, would inevitably leave many groups behind along the way. There is hardly a country in Europe or western Asia in which we do not find a remnant of the Celto-Saxon race. These groups are of various sizes, in some countries being only a small fraction of the population, while in others they are much larger. In a few nations, the population is almost entirely Celto-Saxon. This latter class includes, for example, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands (Holland). The people of these three countries are ethnically identical with the people of Britain, being the descendants of those parts of the Cymry, Jutes, Danes, Norsemen, and Saxons, which remained on the Continent when the rest migrated into Britain. They, too, are Celto-Saxons, and are therefore Israelite brethren. The only thing that prevents their union with the Israel family of nations is their, and our, failure to recognize our true common origin.
Important groups of Celto-Saxons also remain in several other countries. In France are the Bretons and the Normans. The Bretons are the descendants of those Britons who fled from Britain at the time of the Saxon invasion, and the Normans are Norsemen of the same family as the Danes and the Saxons. In France and Spain are several groups descended from those Iberians left behind when the main body moved on into Britain. The Gauls also left some of their people behind in Belgium, France, Switzerland, Spain and northern Italy. It is evident that some of the people of Sweden and Finland are the descendants of the Danes and Norsemen. Groups of some importance remain in Germany, Poland, the Ukraine and the Balkans, and it is certain that many of the people of northern Greece and Albania are of the same stock as the Danes and the Scots. A remnant of the Scots still exists in Old Albania (Azerbaijan) on the western shore of the Caspian Sea.
These, and smaller groups in Europe and western Asia, are remnants of the Hebrew race left behind in the great migration of Israel to the west. Many of these people, emigrating to Canada and the United States, are instinctively returning today to their true place among the tribes of Israel. Such is the identity of most of the so-called foreigners among us. Unfortunately, during the time of their separation they adopted the languages, customs and religions of the nations among whom they lived. Although they have now returned to the Israel fold, they have brought these alien things with them and often seem determined to cling to them. As a result, we have a serious “foreign” problem.
For this there is but one solution. It is the proclamation of the fact of our common Biblical origin, and the prophetic destiny of Israel as the instrument of God’s Providential Will and Purpose. Once the “foreigner” recognizes these things and as a result realizes his true cultural and Spiritual home, the “foreign” problem will cease to be. May God’s Wonderful Will and Purpose for the good of mankind be accomplished through us, that by us the Gospel shall be taken to the end of the earth:
“Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far… It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the nations, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” (Isa 49:1-6)
Amen!
END-NOTE: This study is in process of being published in a more complete book form; price and date of availability will be announced in the fall of 2001. The printed version will contain a valuable illustrated introduction and important appendices of information, nearly 100 maps and illustrations, and original color cover artwork from an original oil painting done for us. We currently have available for sale another book by W.H. Bennett, “Symbols of Our Celto-Saxon Heritage,” a beautiful hard cover picture-book on high-quality gloss paper with lavish colour on nearly every page. The price may seem high, but is actually less than our printing cost! Price US$25 plus shipping ($5 to Canada and the U.S.) Send your orders to:
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