Essay Ten
Dispersion of Ten Tribe Israel
One of the great mysteries of the scriptures, and secular history, is the apparent disappearance of the house of Israel at the time of their Assyrian captivity. Isaac Leeser, an eminent Jewish scholar who translated the Hebrew scriptures for the English speaking Jews, says in his work, The Jewish Religion, “Let us observe that by this return of the captives (i.e. the house of Judah from the Babylonian captivity) the Israelitish nation was not restored; since the ten tribes, who had formerly composed the kingdom of Israel, were yet left in banishment; and to this day the researches of travelers and wise men have not been able to trace their fate.”
The Lost Sheep of the House of Israel
Speaking of these people in Jeremiah 50:6, the Lord declares, “My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have forgotten their resting place.” Yet in Ezekiel 34:11 we have these words of assurance, “For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.” To fulfill this promise, Christ declared in Matthew 15:24, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Again in Matthew 10:6 he instructed his disciples, “But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
In spite of these admonitions, many of our shepherds consider it of little importance to search and seek out the holy flock, and lead them to the Good Shepherd. If knowledge of our ancestral roots is of no importance, why does our Lord say in Isaiah 52:1-2? “Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him”
For centuries the world has been content to leave these lost sheep in the graves of their captivity. However, the fulfillment of prophecy demands, and the record of history declares, that the Assyrian graveyard of Israel became the cradle of the Anglo-Saxon race. It is our purpose to examine the scriptures and the record of history, that we might rejoice with the Lord upon finding these lost sheep.
God Promises to Enlarge Israel’s Borders
God’s promise to his people Israel was that he would enlarge their borders as they grew in number. In Deuteronomy 32:8 we read, “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.” Again, the Lord speaking to Jacob in Genesis 28:14 says, “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.” To his servant David, the Lord promised, “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.” (II Samuel 7:10)
As the children of Israel multiplied in the land of Canaan, it became necessary for the Most High to transplant them into other lands in fulfillment of his promises to our fathers. While there were many transplants of this goodly vine, we will confine our study to the dispersion of ten-tribe Israel from their Assyrian captivity.
Israel is divided into Two Kingdoms in 975 BC
Following the death of King Solomon, Israel was divided into two kingdoms. The southern kingdom included the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and many from the tribe of Levi. They were united under Rehoboam, and were thereafter known as the house of Judah, Juda, or the Jews. The northern kingdom included the remaining ten tribes: Ephraim, Manasseh, Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, Gad, Issachar, and Zebulun. They were, united under Jeroboam, and were thereafter known as the house of Israel, Israel, Joseph, or Ephraim. The account of this division is given in I Kings 12: 20-21. “When all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they called him unto the congregation, and made him king over all Israel . . . And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel.”
God Gives the House of Israel a Bill of Divorce
Jeroboam proceeded to set up strange gods in the cities of Bethel and Dan to prevent his people from going to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. As a result of this idolatry, the Lord gave the house of Israel a bill of divorce. “And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.” (Jeremiah 3:8) In Amos 5:27, the Lord sentenced the house of Israel to go into captivity. “Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord.”
The Lord began to mete out this punishment about 884 BC when Hazael, king of Syria, came against Israel during the reign of Jehu. In II Kings 10:32-33 we read, “In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel; From Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadities, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.”
Assyrian Captivity Begins in 772 BC
However, the first Assyrian captivity of Israel did not begin until 772 BC when Tiglathpileser came, and took large portions of the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, Issachar, and Gad, into Assyria, as recorded in II Kings 15:29. “In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.”
In 720 BC Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, invaded Israel and laid siege to its capital, Samaria. After three years Samaria fell to Sargon II who succeeded Shalmaneser. The account of this siege is recorded in II Kings 17:5-6, and 18:9-12. “Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. . . And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel into Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.”
A record of this fall of Samaria was found written on the walls of the palace of Sargon II at Dur-Sarraku which reads: “In the beginning of my reign I besieged, I took by the help of god Shamash . . . the city of Samaria. Twenty seven thousand two hundred and eighty of its inhabitants I carried away . . . I took them to Assyria and put into places people whom my hands had conquered. I set my officers and governors over them, and laid on them a tribute as on the Assyrians.” (Tracing Our Ancestors, by Frederick Haberman, page 123)
House of Judah also Taken into Assyrian Captivity
A fact that many Bible scholars ignore is, that more of the house of Judah were taken into the Assyrian captivity around 710 BC than were later taken into the Babylonian captivity one hundred years later. In II Kings 18:13 we read, “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.” From Sennacherib’s own record of his campaign against Judah we read, “As for Hezekiah, the Jew, who did not submit to my yoke, 46 of his strong walled cities, as well as the small cities in their neighborhood . . . by escalade and by bringing up siege engines, by attacking and storming on foot, by mines, tunnels and breaches I took 200,150 people, great and small, male and female, horses, mules, asses, camels, cattle and sheep without number, I brought away from them and counted as spoil. Himself, like a caged bird, I shut up in Jerusalem, his royal city.” (Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylon, by Daniel David Luckenbill)
These prisoners of Juda in Assyria never returned to Jerusalem, but eventually migrated westward settling in the Danish Islands and in Jutland or Judaland. A large number of these Jutes also settled on the east coast of Scotland during the fifth century Anglo-Saxon invasion of England.
In Isaac Shall Thy Seed be Called
At the time of the Assyrian captivity, the Phoenicians referred to the kingdom of Israel as the Beth-Sak or The House of Isaac. The Prophet Amos also calls them the house of Isaac, in Amos 7:16. The Assyrians referred to them as the Sak-Geloths, meaning prisoners of Isaac. In fulfillment of the prophesy of Genesis 21:12, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called”, the northern kingdom dropped the name of Israel, and called themselves: Saac, Aacae, or Sacae. While there were many variations of this name during their migrations, they eventually became known as the Saxons (Sons of Isaac).
While living in the Assyrian captivity semi-independently, these Saks or Saki became the predominant element in Media. One major group of these Saks (later called Angli) spread themselves east of the Caspian Sea, and settled as far north as the Jaxartes River, where they founded Samarkand, meaning, New Samaria. These Asa people of Ariana, as they became known, embraced the faith of Zoroaster, the religion of Asha. “Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour.” (Jeremiah 16:13)
About 200 BC these Asa or Anglai peoples began their migration northwestward to Asaland, north of the Black Sea. It was here that they came into contact with a much earlier migration of the Sons of Isaac (Saxons) out of Media.
House of Israel Escapes from Assyria
In 600 BC the Saks living in Media joined with the Babylonians under Nabopolassar and marched against the Assyrian capital of Ninevah, which was destroyed after a two year siege. The Sons of Isaac were then presented with an opportunity to escape their captivity. However, they could not return to their own land in Samaria for several reasons. Firstly, the Babylonian armies blocked the way to the southwest. Secondly, during the century they had been absent from Samaria, Assyria had populated it with other settlers – Arabs, Babylonians, Persians, and people from Susiana. An account of this repopulation is given in II Kings 17:23-34. “And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel.” Furthermore, the Egyptian armies had come up blocking their escape westward to the Mediterranean coasts. In Hosea 2:6 we read, “Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she (house of Israel) shall not find her paths.”
The prophet in Micah 2:10,12-13 describes this great moment in history. “Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of the fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. The breaker (Babylon) is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out of it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them.”
What gate is Micah talking about? Ezra declares in the Apocrypha, II Esdras 13:39-46, “And whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable multitude unto him; those are the Ten Tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the King, whom Salmanasar the King of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they unto another land. But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go into a further country, where never mankind dwelt, that they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land. And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow passages of the river. For the Most High then shewed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over. For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half: and the same region is called Arsareth. Then dwelt they there till the latter time.”
Isaiah 11:16 declares, “And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.” As God parted the Red Sea so Israel could escape from Egypt, so he held back the waters of the Euphrates River that they could escape from their Assyrian captivity.
As recorded by Ezra, a large host of the Saks moved northward across the upper reaches of the Euphrates River, and through what is known as the Israel Pass in the Caucasus Mountains. From there they journeyed to the Arsareth River (River of Seth) north of the Black Sea, where they became known as the Scythians. The Caucasian Race refers to a group of people who came from the Caucasus Mountains.
Origin of the Saxon Race
While the people of Scythia included many different races, Pliny records: “The Sakai were among the most distinguished people of Scythia, who settled in Armenia and were called Saccasani.” The Scythians told Herodotus that their nation had been in existence for a thousand years previous to the invasion of Darius, or approximately the time of the Exodus from Egypt.
Concerning the etymology of the word Saxon, Yatman says: “Its history is as follows: The Persians used the terms Sacae and Scythian as convertible.” Strabo asserts that the most ancient Greek historians knew the Sacaea as a people who lived beyond the Caspian Sea. Diodorus says: “The Sacaea sprung from a people in Media who obtained a vast and glorious empire.” Ptolemy finds the Saxons in a race of Scythians, called Sakai, who came from Media. Albinus says: The Saxons were a Scythian nation, and were called Saca, Sachi, Sacki, Sach-sen.” (Tracing Our Ancestors, page 130)
Ten Tribe Israel was an Immense Multitude
A first century Jewish historian, Josephus, tells of an epistle which was written by Xerxes, the son of Darius, at the time the Jews (house of Judah) were getting ready to leave Babylon, about 480 BC. “And when these Jews had understood what piety the king had towards God, and what kindness he had for Esdras, they were all greatly pleased; nay, many of them took their effects with them, and came to Babylon, as very desirous of going down to Jerusalem; but then the entire body of the people of Israel (house of Israel) remained in that country; (Media and Persia) wherefore there are but two tribes (house of Judah) in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans (AD 95) while the ten tribes (house of Israel) are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.” (Josephus Complete Works, translated by William Whiston, Book XI, Chapter V, page 234)
To the Twelve Tribes Scattered Abroad
The tombs of these Scythian Sons of Isaac in southern Russia and the Crimea, bear record of these wanderers to whom many of the apostles addressed their letters proclaiming the good news of their redemption through Jesus Christ. “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.” (James 1:1). Professor Herbert Bruce Hannay refers to a Hebrew manuscript found in one of those tumuli which reads: “I am Jehudi, the son of Moses, the son of Jehudi the Mighty, a man of the tribe of Naphtali, which was carried captive with the other tribes of Israel, by Prince Shalmaneser, from Samaria during the reign of Hoshea, King of Israel. They were carried to Halah, to Habor – which is Cabul – to Gozan, and to the Chersonesus – which is the Crimea.”
Another inscription reads, “This is the tombstone of Buki, the son of Itchak the priest: may his rest be in Eden, at the time of the salvation of Israel. In the year 702 of the years of our exile.” If we date this exile from the fall of Samaria in 717 BC, then the 702nd year of the exile would be 15 BC.
Another inscription reads, “To one of the faithful in Israel, Abraham ben Mar-Sinchah of Kertch (a seaport in the Crimea), in the year of our exile 1682, when the envoys of the Prince of Rosh Meschek came from Kiou to our master Chazar Prince David, Halmah, Habor, and Gozan, to which place Tiglath Pileser had exiled the sons of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and permitted to settle there, and from which they have been scattered through the entire coast, even as far as China.” The inscription, “in the year of our exile 1682”, must refer to Israel’s Exodus from Egypt in 1486 BC, which would fix the date of the tombstone as 197 AD. (Tracing Our Ancestors, pages 129-130)
The Asa or Angli Tribes from Samarkand Move Westward
The Asa or Angli peoples migrated westward by a route no