Ten Tribes Studies (2 March 2016, 22 Adar-A, 5776)
Contents:
1. Message from "Sarah"Â in Australia
2. Mike Greenwood: Babylonians Coming Back in Business?
3. David Hughes: Pleased with Brit-Am E-Mails
4. Stephen Phillips: Different Types of Ancient Babylonians
5. Richard Ferrari: Ruth Being a Moabitess, Encouraging.
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1. Message from "Sarah"Â in Australia
Shalom Yair,
 Many years ago I read "The Tribes", much of which I had already known about but much has come into my life since then. ...
I'm not sure whether I am Jewish or not, but I found out that I had a great grandfather on my mothers side whose surname was Meyer and he was a physician in London. He went to India in 1800's. This is where my mother was born, she met my father who is English during the 2nd WW who was stationed on the NW frontier. They went to South Africa where I was born. We arrived in London at the end of the blitz. I was educated in England, lived in Malta, back to the UK and emigrated to Australia in 1960 with my parents.
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I'm relating this to you as I don't really know where I fit in, I feel Jewish but am not sure. I am so looking forward to receiving more of your books and listening to your broadcasts, what a blessing.
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May G-d bless the work you are doing in bringing Judah and the lost 10 tribes back together in recognition of each other.
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Kind regards,
 "Sarah"
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2. Mike Greenwood: Babylonians Coming Back in Business?
Based on the timing this prophecy was written ( Which is after the fall of the Babylonians). I'm pretty sure they are coming back in business. It appears that the most impetuous peoples could be present where ancient Assyria and ancient Babylonia were present. Needless to say that that group even today are pretty extreme group.
Habakuk 1:
2 LORD, until when shall I cry for help, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, Violence! But You do not save.
3 Why do You make me see evil, and You look upon toil? For destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention rises up.
4 On account of this the Torah has become helpless, and justice does not continually go forth. For the wicked surrounds the righteous, so justice goes forth, being perverted.
5 Look among the nations and behold, and be amazed. Be amazed! For a work is working in your days which you will not believe, though it be told to you.
6 For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, the bitter and impetuous nation which is going into the broad spaces of the land, to possess dwellings not his own.
7 He is terrible and fearful; his judgment and his glory goes forth from himself.
Habakuk 2:
2 And the LORD answered me and said, Write the vision and engrave it on the tablets, that he who reads it may run.
3 For the vision is still for the appointed time, but it kindles to the end, and it does not lie. Though it delays, wait for it, because surely, it will come; it will not tarry.
4 Behold, the soul of him is puffed up and is not upright; but the just shall live by his faith.
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3. David Hughes: Pleased with Brit-Am E-Mails
Dear Yair...I have a lot of emails from you and i was wondering where you find the time to write them all - there are so many that one could compile them all to make a book. I find your emails very enlightening and I look forward for more.
Best
David Hughes
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4. Stephen Phillips: Different Types of Ancient Babylonians
Re:
Brit-Am Now no. 2576
http://hebrewnations.com/features/now12/2576.html
#3. Were Did the Babylonians Go To?
Shalom Yair
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Where did all the Babylonians go?
A good question, but Mike Greenwood needs to be a bit more specific. Today, there are a lot of English people who are of foreign extraction. They are considered to be English or British, even though their parents may have come from Africa, or China or wherever. There are even large communities of Moslems living in England today who are likewise considered British. It was no different in days of old.
The Greek writers, when writing about the people of their time, made no distinction between the various peoples who were dwelling in the land, hence Josephus, for example, took exception to the Jews being referred to as Syrians by Herodotus. (Against Apion i.22)
The Chaldeans were considered to be highly skilled in astrology and the sciences. On this score, it is worth quoting the following:
"And the king spoke unto Ashpenaz his chief officer, that he should bring in certain of the children of Israel, and of the seed royal, and of the nobles, youths in whom was no blemish, but fair to look on, and skilful in all wisdom, and skilful in knowledge, and discerning in thought, and such as had ability to stand in the king's palace; and that he should teach them the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans." (Dan. 1:3-4)
"And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his realm." (Dan. 1:20)
During the time of Strabo, one of the merchant peoples were called Gerrhei. (Strabo, Geography xvi.iv.4.) "By the trade [in these aromatics] both the Sabeans and the Gerrhei have become the richest of all the tribes" (Strabo, Geography xvi.iv.19.) These are likely to have been named after the tribe of Gera son of Bela, son of Benjamin. (Gen. 46:21 & 1 Chron. 8:3.)The city of Gerrha on the Persian Gulf will also have been named after this tribe. Strabo informs us that the city belonged to "Chaldean exiles [i.e. Jews] from Babylon" and that "the merchants of Gerrha generally carry the Arabian merchandise and aromatics by land; but Aristobulus says, on the contrary, that they frequently travel into Babylonia on rafts, and thence sail up the Euphrates to Thapsacus with their cargoes, but afterwards carry them by land to all parts of the country". (Strabo, Geography xvi.iii.3)
So, to cut to the chase, is Mike Greenwood referring to:
a)Â Â Â The Chaldeans, who were the late occupiers of Babylon?
b)Â Â Â The Jews who were dwelling in Babylon?
c)Â Â Â The Arameans who are recorded as invading Babylonia from the time of Tiglathpileser III onwards?
d)Â Â Â The Assyrians who from time to time took control of Babylon?
or
e)Â Â Â The original inhabitants of Babylon?
The Tanakh informs us:
"And Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; wherefore it is said: 'Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.' And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel [i.e. Babylon], and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar." (Gen. 10:8-10)
These descendants of Nimrod son of Cush were the people the Assyrians called Kassites or Kashites. In the El Amarna Letters, the inhabitants both of Babylon and of Ethiopia in Africa were called Kassites. (Tell El Amarna Tablets Vol. 2, Excursis 1, Â Babylonia in the Tell El-Amarrna Tablets, p.816.) The only difference between the name Kassite and Kushite is down to which regional accent one applies to the two names. (Imagine an Australian pronouncing the name Kushite.)
As can be expected, these Kassite descendants of Nimrod were black. Josephus called them Ethiopians. (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews i.vi.2. Whiston's translation) The Greek word Ethiop means 'black faced' and has the very same meaning as that employed by the Assyrians, namely, the 'black-headed' race. (e.g. Assyrian Royal Inscriptions Vol. 1, p.81, §.527 & Vol. 1, p.102, §.689, A. K. Grayson)
Herodotus informs us that, in his day, these 'Eastern Ethiopians' were located to the north of the river Indus in the region of Beluchistan. (Herod. iii.94) They later emerged as the Kushans to form the Kushan Empire. They can today be traced to the Hindustani Indians who even today claim as their holy mountain the Hindu Kush. They are black with straight black hair, precisely as described by Herodotus. By contrast, we are told that the Ethiopians of Africa generally had woolly white hair.
I trust that this information is of assistance to you and Mike.
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Regards,
Steve
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5. Richard Ferrari: Ruth Being a Moabitess, Encouraging.
Re
Brit-Am Now no. 2576
http://hebrewnations.com/features/now12/2576.html
#1. New Article. More Ruth. Additional Polemic Points Raised by JR and Answered by Brit-Am
#2. New Article. Ruth-full.11 Articles about Ruth Listed with Short Descriptions
I agree with you Yair regarding Ruth being a Moabitess. It is the
plain reading of scripture and fits with Rahab the Canaanite former
prostitute also being in the ancestry of King David. It also fits with
Davids character as a man after Gods own heart but being somewhat
flawed. Some people want to sanitise the bible but it seems to me that
God prefers people who have faith and are prepared to try and
sometimes make mistakes. I find that encouraging. Blessings, Richard