Historical Questions Concerning the Ten Tribes and Judah (7 February 2016, 28 Shevet, 5776)
Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Letter from Michael
3. Assyrian Exile
4. Destination of the Exiles
5. Judah
6. The Jews in Spain
7. Germany and the Holocaust
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1. Introduction
We received an e-mail from "Michael" with a series of ??? Normally we would not necessarily answer such questions or we would refer the questioner to our articles and publications.
This however was an exception. We sent out partial answers. Michael; seems to be familiar with some of our writings as well as with those of others. The questions and answers are of general interest and we have now prepared an article from them.
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2. Letter from Michael
I understand the 10 tribes out of Northern Kingdom when conquered by Assyria in 3 different groups. What was the date spread between each?
Once the Northern Kingdom was in Assyria what events enabled them to be able to leave? Also When did they begin to leave and what was the window of time they scattered and also went thru the "Pass of Israel" in the Caucus Mountains? Is it true to your understanding that the main tribes in Jerusalem were "Judah, Ephraim, Manasseh, & Benjamin??? Not to say that a remnant of all the tribes was in the land?
Around the time of Josephus is it likely that many of the Lost Tribes were still in Asia Minor?
What was the frame of time that the majority of the Lost Tribes came into the Roman Empire?
What is the period or events that caused many Jews to come into Spain? Basically how were so many Jews in Spain?
What percent of people from The Southern Kingdom "Jerusalem" & "House of Judah" returned to the land w Nehemiah?What percent were killed by Nebuchadnezzars' Forces in the initial taking of the Southern Kingdom? What percent were killed When Nebuchadnezzars forces came and completely eradicated the people from the land?
What scripture or is there a scripture that speaks of the Southern Kingdom being told by [the Almighty] or Prophetic leadership telling the Southern Kingdom to return home? Please feel free to elaborate in this area so i can understand please.
Other then the deception of satan and just pure ignorance do you have any insight into the German Holocaust and in general is it your belief that Germany houses much of the Edomites which is why the JEWS were so hated their? Also do you have any other insight on Why [the Almighty] 's Southern Kingdom received such a great judgement there?
Yair again thank you for all your diligent efforts on the study of our people. If we are both blessed I look forward to seeing you in the promise land in the years ahead.
Shalom
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3. Assyrian Exile
There were three major exiles. One Midrashic source says there were eight years between each one of them (Midrash Yalkut Shimeoni, 2, 236).
The First was the Northern Galilee.
The second was Reuben, Gad, and half-Manaseh east of the Jordan.
[Other opinions reverse this order and place the exile of those east of the Jordan first.]
Thirdly there was the exile of the region of Samaria.
In conventional terms
The captivities began in approximately 740 BC (or 733/2 BC according to other sources).
And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day (I-Chronicles 5:26)
And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes: because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded and would not hear them, nor do them (2-Kings 18:11-12).
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 (2-Kings 15:29).
In 722 BCE the ruling city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Samaria, was finally taken by Sargon-2 after a three-year siege started by Shalmaneser-5.
The Bible says that:
"The King of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Hala, and in Habor, and in the cities of the Medes" (2-Kings 17:6).
The Bible also mentions "Hara" (1-Chronicles 5:26) in Eastern Iran as a place of exile.
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4. Destination of the Exiles
Most of the Exiles were taken OVERLAND as described above.
They became part of the Cimmerian, Scythian, and Gothic federations. These were at first prominent in the Middle East though at an early date had begun to move northward.
After the downfall of the Assyrian Empire in ca. 610 BCE most of the Israelites moved into Scythia and Europe though some remained for quite a while.
A portion of the Exiles however had already in Assyrian times been taken OVERSEAS to Spain, France, the British Isles, Scandinavia, and other areas.
This is described in our works,
especially "Origin".
http://britam.org/origin.html
Archaeology shows a Phoenician-North Israelite Presence in southern and southeast Spain from the 700s-600s BCE.
From there Israelites moved elsewhere after ca. 500 BCE.
There is a famous quotation from Josephus (ca. 37 - 100 CE) saying that in his time most of the Tribes were beyond the Euphrates. This is somewhat exaggerated. By the time of Josephus most of the Tribes were already in Western Europe. There were however some still in the Middle East area but these too moved to the north and west shortly afterwards.
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5. Judah
After the exile of the Ten Tribes the Kingdom of Judah remained. A portion of Judah had been exiled in ca. 700 BCE by the Assyrians under Sennacherib. These exiles joined the Ten Tribes.
In ca. 586 BCE the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. Most of the Jews were exiled to Babylon. In various portions of the what had been the Babylonian Empire the Jewish Diaspora increased and multiplied.
The Persians replaced the Babylonians and Cyrus in ca. 516 BCE allowed the Jews to return.
For more on these matters, see our recent article,
Nehamiah. Foreign Women
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/nehamiah.html
The first group to come back were led by Zerubbabel in ca. 536 BCE. Then came more under Ezra in ca. 458 BCE. A third group was led by Nehemiah in ca. 444 BCE. Others followed.
The return to Judah at first involved only a small number but over the centuries it grew and there was also a natural increase so that Judah once again became a major center of Jewish population.
There was no clear call by the Prophets to return to Judah though it is in a sense implicit in the Torah.
Cyrus the King of Persia was inspired to some degree by the Almighty (cf. Isaiah 44:24, 28. 45:1).
Ezra 1 (NASB):
2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.
In Judah were mainly the Tribes of "Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. A representative remnant of all the other tribes existed amongst which Ephraim and Manasseh were prominent.
These "other tribes" according to the Midrash "Seder Olam," comprised ca. 20% of the population of Judah after the return from Babylon.
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6. The Jews in Spain
See our article:
SPAIN AND THE JEWS
by Yair Davidy
http://britam.org/spain.html
Jews and Israelites had been in Spain from the earliest times.
Many of the Jews in Spain may have been descended from Goths and others who converted to Judaism.
[We have been asked several time, What is our source for this claim concerning the Goths? We have not got an unequivocal one but rather obscure statements and vague indications that should perhaps be looked into.]
There were periodic persecutions of the Jews and large numbers were induced or forced to accept Christianity.
The possibility that some of the Jews who had been forced to become Christians fled to Scotland is discussed in the work,
"When Scotland Was Jewish" by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman and Donald N. Yates.
The authors discuss the Judaic origins of the Royal House of Stewart, and the possible role of secret Jewish religious practices in the formation of Presbyterianism, etc. They also claim that Scottish families who were once Jewish were important in American History. A close examination of what they say however, as further clarified by them in Internet discussions, shows that the "Jews" they are speaking of were (in their opinion, based on DNA studies) were originally Gentiles who had converted to Judaism.
Personally I found the book disappointing and not convincing but they might have something.
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7. Germany and the Holocaust
We have written two books related to this subject, see:
"EDOM and Germany"
http://www.britam.org/EdomGermany.html
"Esau. Edomites Today"
http://www.britam.org/Esau.html
Edomites were present in Germany and have always been very influential among the German peoples. They are not however necessarily the majority.
The Germans seem to have always been anti-Jewish and their anti-semitism had exterminating tendencies from the beginning.
They were not however the worst (when compared to other Europeans) and up unto Nazi times the anti-Jewish elements were usually offset by more liberal ones.
Why the Holocaust took place through German agency is not clear.
The Jews were a small minority (ca. 1 per cent) of the German population and not really very influential though it may have seemed otherwise.
Jews in Germany were hated and despised and always had been BUT only by a portion of the Germans. Many among the Germans however were to some degree responsible for the Holocaust.
The Jews in Germany had wanted to be like the Germans. There may have been an element akin to idolatry in this hankering after the Teutonic image.
It has been suggested that the Almighty wanted the Jews to separate themselves from the Gentiles and come home and this was how it was done.