Jewish legends and the Ten Tribes
(14 June, 2018, 1 Tammuz, 5778)
The Biblical Portion "Shelach" (Numbers 13:1 to 15:19) speaks of several different matters.
We are told how Moses sent 12 representatives of each Tribe to the Land of Canaan to see what kind of country it was and how it could be conquered.
Joshua from the Tribe of Ephraim and Caleb from the Tribe of Judah returned with positive reports. The other spies were pessimistic concerning the ability of the Israelites to conquer the region.
God was angry and decreed that all that generation (apart from Caleb and Joshua) would wander for 40 years in the wilderness until they died out. After that their children would enter the Land and possess it.
The Children of Moses
The Midrash continues the story in Numbers 14 of the 12 Spies whom Moses sent to examine the Land of Canaan.
Ten of the spies brought back a bad report. This caused the Israelites to rebel and want to return to Egypt. God was angry with the People. The Almighty spoke as if he would wipe out the Israelites and make a new nation from the descendants of Moses. He was persuaded by Moses to desist and not destroy the people.There is a Principle that anything good that is prophesied has to come to pass. [Something that is negative however may be negated by repentance and good deeds.]
It had been proposed to Moses that his descendants would be extremely numerous and even exceed in number the Israelites of the time. This aspect of the proposition was favorable to Moses. The Israelites then numbered ca. 600,000 men of war. At some time in the future the descendants of Moses would therefore number more than that.
These became known as the Children of Moses. They are referred to in Rabbinical and popular Jewish tradition.
They were to become a separate sub-group among the Levites since Moses was from the Tribe of Levi.
Most of Levi was destined to stay with Judah and are now to be found among the Jews. The Children of Moses however appear to have been divided. Part of the them remained with Judah. Another section were separated and exiled with the Ten Tribes or later attached themselves to them. The Children of Moses went into Exile and are to be found either neighboring the Lost Ten Tribes or elsewhere. They are destined to return together with the Ten Tribes.
Numbers (NASB) 14:
11 The LORD said to Moses, 'How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? 12 I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.'
13 But Moses said to the LORD, 'Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst, 14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, for You, O LORD, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if You slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Your fame will say, 16 "Because the LORD could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness." 17 But now, I pray, let the power of the LORD be great, just as You have declared, 18 The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations. 19 Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.'
20 So the LORD said, I have pardoned them according to your word; 21 but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD. 22 Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, 23 shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it. 24 But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it.
Bamidbar Rabah 16:25:
# So the LORD said, "I have pardoned them according to your word" (Numbers 14:20). Despite this, the Almighty did not annul the promise he had made to Moses ["I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they," Numbers 14:12]. 600, 000 descendants were to come from him, as it says "but the sons of Rehabiah were very many" (1-Chronicles 23:17). [ The Hebrew expression ["rabu le-malah"] may be understood it say, "multiplied in excess" i.e. more than the original number of Israelites as suggested to Moses, "I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they" (Numbers 14:12)]. In the future the Almighty will bring them back, as it says, #
Isaiah 49:
12 Behold, these will come from afar;
And lo, these will come from the north and from the west,
And these from the land of Sinim. #
The Midrash continues:
# The Exiles will also return with them as well as the Tribes that are to be found by the Sambation, and beyond the Mountains of Darkness. They will gather together and return and come up to Jerusalem.
This is what Isaiah intended,
Isaiah 49:
[8 Thus says the LORD,
In a favorable time I have answered You,
And in a day of salvation I have helped You;
And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people [in Hebrew a Brit-Am"]
To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages;]
9 Saying to those who are bound, 'Go forth,'
# These are they beyond the Sambation. #
To those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.'
# These are they covered by the Cloud of Darkness. #
Along the roads they will feed,
And their pasture will be on all bare heights.
# These are in Daphne of Antiochia.
At that time they will be redeemed and come to Zion as it says,
Isaiah 35:
10 And the ransomed of the LORD will return #
Isaiah 49 (NASB) continues:
10 They will not hunger or thirst,
Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down;
For He who has compassion on them will lead them
And will guide them to springs of water.
11 I will make all My mountains a road,
And My highways will be raised up.
12 Behold, these will come from afar;
And lo, these will come from the north and from the west,
And these from the land of Sinim.
13 Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth!
Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains!
For the LORD has comforted His people
And will have compassion on His afflicted.
In addition to the Children of Moses another group recalled as having been exiled and associated with the Ten Tribes were the Rechabites. The Rechabites were descendants of Jethro the father-in-law of Moses who converted and attached himself and his clan to the Children of Israel. Rashi interpets a verse in the prophecy of Balaam to say that the Kenites (Rechabites) would be exiled along with the Ten Tribes and return alongside them (Numbers 24:22 see Rashi).
Josephus also understood the Prophecy of Balaam to say that:
"The multitude of your posterity also shall live as well in the islands as on the continent, and that more in number than are the stars of heaven." Flavius Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews - Book IV. ch.4 s.6 CONCERNING BALAAM THE PROPHET AND WHAT KIND OF MAN HE WAS.
The Arabs had a similar legend concerning Hod (the Jews) and his brother Aad. Aad was exiled for his sins and went to the Happy Isles of the Blessed meaning Ireland or both Britain and Ireland. This means the Ten Tribes went to the British Isles or Ireland, or both.
Jewish-Arab sources also said that the Sons of Moses (who were associated with the Ten Tribes) were in the Happy Isles of the Blessed (Ireland and Britain) and in Gaul i.e. present-day France Belgium and Holland.
See:
Hebrew Isles
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/myth/josephus.html
The Pagans (Greeks and Romans) had a legend of Saturn (Cronus) whom they identified with Israel being expelled from the Middle East and going to Britain.This would have symbolized the Ten Tribes of Northern Israel being exiled and reaching the British Isles.
Jewish Tradition associated the Ten Tribes with the Sons of Moses and the Rechabites.
See Also:
Ancient Testimony
The Agreement of Celtic, Arab, and Jewish Sources Concerning the Ten Tribes
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/myth/testimony.html
Taking all these sources together it is quite clear that traditions existed that in their own way located the Ten Tribes in the west especially the British Isles and Ireland.