Menasseh ben Israel and America Today
The work "Hope of Israel" by Menesseh ben Israel, 1650, may be seen in full, ONLINE at:
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A89453.0001.001?view=toc
Contents.
1. Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel.
2. "Hope of Israel."
3. The New World, Esdras, and "Another Land."
4. The Islands.
5. Stages of Exile by Land.
6. Points of Interest.
7. The Islands in the West.
8. Outcasts of the TTs of Israel and Islands of the West.
9. Messiah son of Joseph, Leader of the Ten Tribes.
Continued at Hebrew America-2 (continued).
10. The Exiles will Fly Back. Redemption Begins from America.
11. No-one Can Tell when Prophecy will be fulfilled.
12. Judah Needed to be Scattered.
13. Menasseh makes a mistake and is corrected by Brit-Am Findings!
14. Prophecies Expressly recalling America and the Return of the Ten Tribes.
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1. Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel
Antonio de Montezinos, also known as Aharon Levi or Aharon HaLevi, was a Portuguese traveler and a Marrano Sephardic Jew. In 1644 de Montezinos persuaded Menasseh Ben Israel, a Rabbi of Amsterdam, that he had found one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel living in the jungles of Ecuador. He may have ben in a state of delirium at the time. He was certain that Amerindians he had met in the wild had spoken to him in Hebrew. It is not known how much Hebrew he himself knew. At all events he returned to Amsterdam and swore on a Torah scroll in the presence of Rabbis (including Menesseh ben Israel) that they had said a few words in Hebrew to him. This supposed discovery was believed by Menasseh and gave a new impulse to his Messianic hopes.
Menasseh ben Israel believed the Lost Ten Tribes were in eight places. This was based on Isaiah 11:
Isaiah (NKJV) 11:
11 IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY
THAT THE LORD SHALL SET HIS HAND AGAIN THE SECOND TIME
TO RECOVER THE REMNANT OF HIS PEOPLE WHO ARE LEFT,
FROM ASSYRIA AND EGYPT,
FROM PATHROS AND CUSH,
FROM ELAM AND SHINAR,
FROM HAMATH AND THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA.
Brit-Am agrees with this but says that the places named were not same as is often assumed, for example Egypt (in Hebrew "Mitsraim") is not always that place known to us today by that name.
Manasseh himself took a similar view.
Even though MBI said the TTs were in 8 places he placed the emphasis of his work on America, especially what is now Latin America.
In the 1600s a lot of rumors were circulating concerning the Amerindians. It was said they had all kinds of customs that indicated they were of Israelite origin. Books were written on the subject that were considered reliable and authoritative. This combined with the testimony of
Antonio de Montezinos confirmed the matter in his mind. At that time both Jews and non-Jews (especially Christians in England, Scotland, and the Netherlands) anticipated the coming of the Messiah which they were certain would involve the return of the Lost Ten Tribes. Menesseh ben Israel also felt that the readmittance of the Jews to England would further the Coming of the Messianic Age.
Manasseh ben Israel (Manoel Dias Soeiro 1604-1657) had been born on the island of Madeira off the coast of Africa. At that time it belonged to Portugal and it still does. His family had come from Spain and were descended from Jews, known as Marranos. For generations they had kept some Jewish practices in secret in fear of the Spanish Inquisition. In 1610 the family moved to Amsterdam in the Netherlands where they could live as Jews openly. Menasseh became a rabbi and an author, and also a printer. He established the first Hebrew press in Holland. Menaseh married a descendant of Rabbi Isaac Abarbanel who was descended from King David. Manasseh was proud of his wife's ancestry. The couple had three children. Moses Jacob Ezekiel (1844-1917), a well-known American sculptor, claimed to be one of his descendants. The most famous monument of the sculptor Moses Ezekiel is the Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, which he thought of as the "crowning achievement of his career."
Manasseh read many books and corresponded with leading scholars of his time, Jewish and non-Jewish, e.g. Grotius, the founder of International Jurisprudence, and Queen Christina of Sweden. Menasseh was well-known and something of a celebrity. Rembrandt and other artists drew or painted his portrait. Menasseh also corresponded with leading figures in England including John Saddler and Oliver Cromwell, At that time England was ruled by the Puritans headed by Oliver Cromwell.
Menasseh wrote that:
# Hence it may be seen that God hath not left us; for if one persecutes us, another receives us civilly and courteously; and if this prince treats us ill, another treats us well; if one banisheth us out of his country, another invites us with a thousand privileges; as divers princes of Italy have done, the most eminent King of Denmark, and the mighty Duke of Savoy in Nissa. And do we not see that those Republiques do flourish and much increase in trade who admit the Israelites? #
Oliver Cromwell was sympathetic to the Jewish cause, partly because of his tolerant leanings but also because he foresaw the importance for English commerce of the participation of Jewish merchants, some of whom had already made their way to London. He also thought that politically the Jews could help England, and that he was duty bound by the Almighty to protect them.
Menasseh and some of the English held that re-admitting the Jews to England would help hasten the coming of the Messiah.
John Sadler (1615 - 1674) was an English lawyer, academic, Member of Parliament, Town Clerk of London, Hebraist, Neoplatonist, and millenarian thinker, private secretary to Oliver Cromwell, and member of the Parliamentarian Council of State. He wrote "Rights of the kingdom" claiming that English forms of Government derived from the those of the Hebrews. "The Rights of the Kingdom" (1649), has been described as "a founding document of British Israelitism." The historian, Tudor Parfitt, calls this work "one of the first invented expressions of an invented Israelite genealogy for the British."
John Sadler also spoke on the issue in parliament saying the English were descended from the Lost Ten Tribes. Cromwell also seems to have believed the same. Menesseh was invited to come to England to advocate the legal return of the Jews. His stay was funded by Cromwell who later allocated him a pension for life. The sojourn of Menasseh in England was managed by the millenarian philosemite Baptist clergyman Henry Jessey.
Source: "Hope of Israel," by Menasseh ben Yisrael, translated from the Latin translation (of the original Spanish text) by Moses Wall, 1650.
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A89453.0001.001/1:8.35?rgn=div2;view=fulltext
The Hope of Israel: written by Menasseh ben Israel, a Hebrew divine, and philosopher. Newly extant, and printed in Amsterdam, and dedicated by the author to the High Court, the Parliament of England, and to the Councill of State. Translated into English, and published by authority. In this treatise is shewed the place wherein the ten tribes at this present are, proved partly by the strange relation of one Anthony Montezinus, a Jew, of what befell him as he travelled over the Mountaines Cordilleire, with divers other particulars about the restoration of the Jewes, Manasseh ben Israel, 1604-1657, translated by Moses Wall, in England.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resettlement_of_the_Jews_in_England
In 1290, King Edward-I of England had issued an edict expelling all Jews from England. However the English Reformation, which started in the 1530s, brought a number of changes that benefited Jews in the long term. Doctrines and rituals of the Roman Catholic church that insulted Jews were eliminated, especially those that emphasised their role in the death of Jesus. ... anti-Catholicism, with the Pope as antichrist, came to replace antisemitism. The period of the English Civil Wars and Interregnum, were marked by both widespread millennial beliefs and a beginning of religious toleration. Significantly, millenarianism in England often had a strong Hebraist character, that emphasised the study of Hebrew and Judaism. This was sometimes extended by certain individuals to claim the English as the descendants of the Ten lost tribes of Israel, with Cromwell himself numbering amongst the supporters of this idea.[7]
7 Lapide, Pinchas E. (1984). Hebrew in the Church: The Foundations of Jewish-Christian Dialogue. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 9780802849175. p.73.
Some of the advocates of Jewish restoration also hoped the Jews would convert to Christianity. "By the 1640s, the imminent conversion of the Jews was a widespread belief among Puritans. "
# Many millenarians at the time emphasised the chosen role of England in God's plan, and this was often accompanied by the identification the Jews as the true Israel of the Bible. Indeed, they saw the Jews as a superior group, sharing some characteristics with the chosen nation of England. This belief was rooted in the literal interpretation of the Biblical primacy of the Jews found in the writings of Thomas Brightman. This meant that if the Jews were specially favoured by God, the English must listen to their appeals for help. #
Others also believed the Jews should be helped to return to the Holy Land.
Many felt a religious and ideological kinship with the Jews.
At that time Bohdan Khmielnicki (Chmielnicki c. 1595 - 1657) in the Ukraine led an uprising of Ukrainian peasants and Cossacks (1648-1654) against the Polish-Lithuanian republic. Not only Ukrainians but also Russians from Moscow had joined in attacking the Jews. The Jews were robbed, dispossessed, sadistically tortured, raped, killed, and/or turned homeless. Some of the Jews were offered the choice of baptism or death and most chose the latter. Many were sold into slavery to the Turks. Most of these were later redeemed by their fellow Jews including those of the Netherlands. The Jewish historian, Heinrich Graetz, estimated the number of Jews killed in these events at ca. 250,000. Others claimed the numbers reached ca. 600,000. Many Jews became refugees and some of them came to the west. This was one of the more traumatic events in the history of the Jews up to that time. The plight of the Jews was known to Western Europe and this was also one of the reasons leading to the attempt to officially re-admit them to England. Many Jews as well as Christians had expected the Coming of the Messiah in 1648 and when he did not come there was a great disappointment.
The debates and consultations concerning the proposed re-admission made it clear that legally there was in fact no extant impediment to the Jews returning to England. There was no need for a formal declaration they could do so.
Manasseh returned to the Netherlands and died shortly afterwards.
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For more on Manasseh ben Israel see:
Hebrew America -1. Manasseh ben Israel and the Ten Tribes
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/america/america.html
MBI on MBJ. Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel writes about the Messiah son of Joseph
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/mbjtoday/mbjprince.html
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Resettlement of the Jews
Cromwell also passed away and was followed by his son who ruled for only a short while. Then came Charles-2. Previously, Charles, while Cromwell reigned, had been in Exile in what is now France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In those places he became acquainted with Jews and apparently took a liking to them. When he became King of England Charles-2 extended his protection to the Jews and refused to hear a word against them.
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2. "Hope of Israel."
The visit of Manasseh to England had been accompanied by the publication of his book "Hope of Israel," in 1650.
This work is about the Lost Ten Tribes in general but mostly concentrates on the Amerindians (or a part of them) as belonging to the Ten Tribes. Menasseh also speaks at length of the Ten Tribes returning from America to the Holy Land at the End of Time. He quotes Biblical passages and other sources. Not everyone agreed with Menasseh concerning his work but his erudition was in general accepted for its own sake.
Brit-Am does not identify the Amerindians with the Lost Ten Tribes. There are however followers of Brit-Am in the USA who are of partly Amerindian descent. Winston Churchill through his mother claimed to be partly Amerindian and even possibly to have an American Negro element in his ancestry! There may, or may not, have been a Hebrew input among some of the Amerindians. An early sympathizer of Brit-Am, Yehonatan David White, also believed in this.
At all events, Brit-Am understands the Lost Ten Tribes to be primarily among Western peoples. We also find in our time the USA to be the major Hebrew nation with a good portion of all the Lost Ten Tribes now dwelling within its borders.
When Manasseh wrote of the LTTs returning from America he intended Amerindians rather than descendants of Europeans. In the time of Manasseh most of North America was populated mainly by Amerindians with only a few small colonies on the north and west coastlands of America. The Biblical passages he quoted in support of his claims may according to Brit-Am/Hebrew Awareness be applied with even more justification to the European-descended inhabitants of North America today.
We will now look through the work of Manasseh and compare it with what we know from elsewhere.
Manasseh named his book "Hope of Israel" after the following verse:
Jeremiah (NKJV) 14:
8 O THE HOPE OF ISRAEL, HIS SAVIOR IN TIME OF TROUBLE,
WHY SHOULD YOU BE LIKE A STRANGER IN THE LAND,
AND LIKE A TRAVELER WHO TURNS ASIDE TO TARRY FOR A NIGHT?
9 WHY SHOULD YOU BE LIKE A MAN ASTONISHED,
LIKE A MIGHTY ONE WHO CANNOT SAVE?
YET YOU, O LORD ARE IN OUR MIDST,
AND WE ARE CALLED BY YOUR NAME;
DO NOT LEAVE US!
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3. The New World, Esdras, and "Another Land."
Menasseh quotes from an Apocryphal (not official) pseudo-Biblical work known as "Esdras," or "2 Esdras," or "4 Esdras." Esdras" is a Latinized form of the Hebrew name "Ezra." Esdras purports to be an extension of the Book of Ezra in the Bible. In point of fact it is a much later work and not really a Biblical work at all though some assume it is such.
2 Esdras is also called 4 Esdras. It is an Apocalyptic book found in some English versions of the Bible. Later Non-Jewish Tradition ascribed it to Ezra, in the 300s BCE, but scholarship places its composition between 70 and 218 CE. It is reckoned among the Apocrypha by Roman Catholics, some Protestants, and most Eastern Orthodox Christians. It is NOT known from any Hebrew original but from a Latin text. It may or may not be of Jewish origin but the Rabbis did not know of it, or simply ignored it. It may also have been written by Jewish sectarians or by Christians. At all events it is part of the Apocraphia i.e. mainly Greek language books possibly written by Jews but not recognized by Jewish Sages.
Manasseh quotes from it:
2-Esdras 13:
40 THOSE ARE THE TEN TRIBES, WHICH WERE CARRIED AWAY PRISONERS OUT OF THEIR OWN LAND, IN THE TIME OF HOSEA THE KING, WHOM SALMANASAR THE KING OF ASSYRIA LED AWAY CAPTIVE, AND HE CARRIED THEM OVER THE WATERS, AND SO CAME THEY INTO ANOTHER LAND. 41 BUT THEY TOOK THIS COUNSEL AMONGST THEMSELVES, THAT THEY WOULD LEAVE THE MULTITUDE OF THE HEATHEN, AND GO FORTH INTO A FURTHER COUNTRY, WHERE NEVER MANKIND DWELT, 42 THAT THEY MIGHT THERE KEEP THEIR STATUTES, WHICH THEY NEVER KEPT IN THEIR OWN LAND.
The Exiles are here described as being exiled "Over the Waters." The Israelite Exiles were all taken away in stages. The Three major exiles were by Land. A portion of the Exiles however indeed were transported by Sea. An Exile by Sea is indicated in the Book of Amos according to the Hebrew text and as explained by Brit-Am.
Scripture prophesied that a portion of the Israelites would be exiled by Sea [Isaiah 9:1, 11:11], in large ships and fish-boats (Amos 4:2).
The Ten Tribes were (in part) to be taken away by the Philistines (Amos 1:6,8) and by the Phoenicians of Tyre (Amos 1:9) who would deliver them to Edom in Europe. The Philistines were culturally Minoans and a leading element amongst them had arrived from Crete the center of Minoan civilization. Minoans, Myceaneans (from Greece), and Phoenicians were all intertwined with each other to some degree.
See:
Philistines and Minoans
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/secular/archaeology/minoans.html
Scripture prophesied that a portion of the Israelites would be exiled by Sea [Isaiah 9:1, 11:11], in large ships and fish-boats (Amos 4:2).
The Ten Tribes were (in part) to be taken away by the Philistines (Amos 1:6,8) and by the Phoenicians of Tyre (Amos 1:9) who would deliver them to Edom in Europe. The Philistines were culturally Minoans and a leading element amongst them had arrived from Crete the center of Minoan civilization. Minoans, Myceaneans (from Greece), and Phoenicians were all intertwined with each other to some degree.
In the passage quoted above from Esdras the Ten Tribes are recalled as being "carried over the waters" and ultimately going to "ANOTHER LAND." The Latin text actually says "Arsareth" but this is considered to be a Latinized transliteration for the "Erets Aheret" meaing "Another Land." Manasseh identifies "Another Land" with Tartary meaning Eastern Scythia and from there he says they crossed the Bering Straits into North America though meanwhile they also somehow passed through India and Greenland.
This does not make sense but Menasseh apparently had a different understanding of Geography than we have today.
Menesseh also says that Hebrew inscriptions were found on St. Michaels in the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and South America inscribed on sepulchres.
"Another Land" is spoken of in Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 29:28 AND THE L-RD ROOTED THEM OUT OF THEIR LAND IN ANGER, AND IN WRATH, AND IN GREAT INDIGNATION, AND CAST THEM INTO ANOTHER LAND, AS IT IS THIS DAY.
The Talmud (Mishna, Sanhedrin 10) says that this Biblical Prophecy refers to the Lost Ten Tribes who had been exiled and were destined to remain in 'Eretz Acheret' ("Another Land") until close to the End Times. The Hebrew Translation of "Another Land" is 'Eretz Acheret.' This expression in Hebrew also means "New World" which is the term applied in the time of Menasseh to the Americas.
See:
New World; Erets Acheret
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/tribes/america.html#a4
The term New World is usually taken to have been applied to the North and South American Continents after their discovery.
A Wikipedia article, New World, tells us that the term also included other areas including Australia and New Zealand.
Quote: New World
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_world
"New World" depicted as the Americas and Oceania, distinguished from the three parts of the "Old World" (Europe, Asia, Africa).
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas, certain Atlantic and Pacific Oceanic islands to which the closest continental shelf is that of the Americas (such as Bermuda), and sometimes Oceania (Australasia). The term originated in the early 16th century after America was discovered by Europeans in the age of discovery, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the Middle Ages, who had thought of the world as consisting of Africa, Asia, and Europe only: collectively now referred to as the Old World. The term was first coined by Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci. The Americas were also referred to as the "fourth part of the world".
The term "New World" ("Mundus Novus") was first coined by the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci, in a letter written to his friend and former patron Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de' Medici in the Spring of 1503, and published (in Latin) in 1503-04 under the title Mundus Novus. Vespucci's letter contains arguably the first explicit articulation in print of the hypothesis that the lands discovered by European navigators to the west were not the edges of Asia, as asserted by Christopher Columbus, but rather an entirely different continent, a "New World".
The term "New World" when translated into Hebrew links us to a verse that was considered to apply to the Ten Tribes.
Deuteronomy (NKJV) 29:
28 AND THE LORD UPROOTED THEM FROM THEIR LAND IN ANGER, IN WRATH, AND IN GREAT INDIGNATION, AND CAST THEM INTO ANOTHER LAND, AS IT IS THIS DAY. 29 THE SECRET THINGS BELONG TO THE LORD OUR GOD, BUT THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE REVEALED BELONG TO US AND TO OUR CHILDREN FOREVER, THAT WE MAY DO ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LAW.
The concept of being "Hidden" was also applicable to the Lost Ten Tribes and to the British Isles.
See:
A Hidden God? How Pagan Mythology located the Israelites in the British Isles
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/myth/hidden.html
Ten Tribes and Saturn. Pagan Sources by Eric
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/guest/eric1/pagan.html
Saturn and Sambation. Pagan Sources Linked with Ten Tribes Studies
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/myth/sambo.html
The Mishna (Sanhedrin 10) says that this Biblical Prophecy (Deuteronomy 29:28-29) refers to the Lost Ten Tribes who were destined to remain in 'Eretz Acheret' until close to the End Times.
# INTO ANOTHER LAND #: In Hebrew is a translation from 'Erets Acheret' which can also mean 'THE NEW WORLD'. This is an expression that was applied to AMERICA!
The verse says if Israel did not keep the commandments they would be cast out into an 'Eretz Acheret', which is translatable from the Hebrew as meaning both 'Another Land' (Deuteronomy 29:28) and/or a 'New World'. "Acherit" usually means "end" but it can also connote "future" (cf. Jeremiah 29:11). The American Hemisphere when first revealed in our era to European eyes was known as 'The New World'. To translate 'New World' into a Hebrew one would say either 'Olam Chadash' or 'Eretz Acheret'. Of these two possibilities, 'Olam Chadash' is incorrect from the standpoint of Biblical Hebrew since it implies another newly created world. On the other hand, 'Eretz Acheret' as well as meaning, 'New World' or 'Another Land' may also be understood to imply 'A land that was (to be revealed) later' or in the future, 'Newer' cf 'Acheret' in Hebrew connoting both 'other' and 'later', or "future" and "newer." Deuteronomy (29:28) and the Mishna, may be therefore understood as saying that the Lost Ten Tribes would be mainly in 'The New World' (i.e. 'Eretz Acheret') after its discovery (or re-discovery) by Europeans, since only then did the term become applicable.
Amongst Gentile scholars and others (including some Jewish Rabbis) in the period beginning from the 1500s and onwards there was a feeling that the New World would be connected with the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. These feelings along with other factors led to the idea that the Lost Ten Tribes were to be found amongst the Amerindians. We opine that the feelings were correct but their application mistaken.
Amongst some Amerindian groups there may once have been links to Israel. This is not our field and at all events should be the subject of another study. The Lost Ten Tribes as a group that would give expression to itself as predicted by the Bible was to be realized by descendants of Israel in the West and in North America. This realization did take place in the New World. It occurred however due to descendants of Israelite descendants migrating en masse from Israelite and non-Israelite areas of Europe to North America.
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4. The Islands.
Manasseh quotes:
Isaiah (JPS Tanakh 1917) 60:
9 SURELY THE ISLES SHALL WAIT FOR ME, AND THE SHIPS OF TARSHISH FIRST, TO BRING THY SONS FROM FAR, THEIR SILVER AND THEIR GOLD WITH THEM, FOR THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD, AND FOR THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL, BECAUSE HE HATH GLORIFIED THEE.
The word translated as above "ISLES" in Hebrew is "EYIM" sometimes rendered as "COASTLANDS" but "ISLES" is more correct from a literal point of view, and that is how Menasseh understood it.
Manasseh says that Isaiah 60:9 may be understood to refer to the West Indies because it lies in the midst of the Ocean and has many islands.
Sect. 14.
Manasseh (14) also quotes from:
Jeremiah (NKJV) 31:
10 HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD, O NATIONS,
AND DECLARE IT IN THE ISLES AFAR OFF, AND SAY,
"HE WHO SCATTERED ISRAEL WILL GATHER HIM,
AND KEEP HIM AS A SHEPHERD DOES HIS FLOCK."
Manassseh quotes:
Psalms 97:
1 THE LORD REIGNS;
LET THE EARTH REJOICE;
LET THE MULTITUDE OF ISLES BE GLAD
to which he comments:
# Where part of the Ten Tribes do dwell unknown unto this day.
Menasseh explains "Islands" to be some place in the Atlantic Ocean. By the same token the British Isles and Ireland could also be intended.
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5. Stages of Exile by Land.
Sect. 15.
p. (29) Sect. 15.
You must know that all the Ten Tribes were not carried away at the same time. Pul the King of Assyria (as I show in the second part of my {book} "Reconciler" {i.e. "Conciliator"} conquered, and carried away the Tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh, in the reign of Peka, as you may see in 1-Chronciles 5:26, and Josephus in 9.11.1.
Tiglath-pileser eight years after that took Ijon, Abel beth-Maachah, Hazor-Gilead, Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried away all the captives into Assyria, in 2-Kings 15:29.
At last Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, nine years later in the reign of Hoshea the son of Ela, besieged Samaria three years; which being taken, he carried away Hoshea with the rest of the Tribes in 2-Kings 17:6.
Of these three times the Prophet Isaiah speaks, Isaiah 9:1, saying, the first captivity was gentle if you compare it with the last which was grievous, and unsufferable, when the Kingdom and Monarchy of Israel ceased.
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6. Points of Interest.
Sect. 17 speaks of the Naphtalites in east Tartary.
Sect. 20 suggest the Sambatian River is near the Caspian Sea,
quotes:
Deuteronomy 32:26 I WOULD HAVE SAID, "I WILL DASH THEM IN PIECES,
I WILL MAKE THE MEMORY OF THEM TO CEASE FROM AMONG MEN,
Indeed virtually forgotten.
Applied to the Ten Tribes.
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7. The Islands in the West.
Sect. 23
Hitherto we hath showed that the Ten Tribes are in diverse places, as in the West Indies, in Sina [China?]; in the confines of Tartary, beyond the River of Sabbathion, and the Euphrates, in Media, in the kingdom of the Abyssinians [Ethiopia]; all of which the Prophet Isaiah is to be understood, Isaiah 11;11.
Isaiah 11:
11 It shall come to pass in that day
That the LORD shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left,
From Assyria and Egypt,
From Pathros and Cush,
From Elam and Shinar,
From Hamath and the islands of the sea.
Menesseh says:
# ....The Islands of the Sea, so most translate it; but I think it is to be rendered The Islands of the West, for ("YAM") in Holy Scripture signifies "The West," as in Genesis 28:14, and in many other places; and upon this account those Israelites are implied, who are westward from the Holy Land, among whom the Americans are.
Manasseh understood there were to be 8 centers to which the Ten Tribes were to be found in the End Times and America was to be one of them!
This is how the Literal Sense of the Bible renders it!
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8. Outcasts of the TTs of Israel and Islands of the West.
p. (28) Sect. 14.
Thus farre (going to) of the West Indies of which Isaiah may be understood (because it lies in the midst of the Sea, and also has many islands) in Isaiah 60:9
Isaiah (BSB) 60:
8 WHO ARE THESE WHO FLY LIKE CLOUDS,
LIKE DOVES TO THEIR SHELTERS?
Isaiah (BSB) 60:
9 SURELY THE ISLANDS WILL WAIT FOR ME,
WITH THE SHIPS OF TARSHISHB IN THE LEAD,
TO BRING YOUR CHILDREN FROM AFAR,
WITH THEIR SILVER AND GOLD,...
and,
Jeremiah (NKJV) 31:
10 HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD, O NATIONS, AND DECLARE IT IN THE ISLES AFAR OFF, AND SAY, HE WHO SCATTERED ISRAEL WILL GATHER HIM...
Psalm (NKJV) 97:
1 THE LORD REIGNS;
LET THE EARTH REJOICE;
LET THE MULTITUDE OF ISLES BE GLAD!
Where part of the Ten Tribes does dwell unto this day.
Sect. 24.
Quotes:
# The Prophet adds in Isa. 11.12. AND HE SHALL SET UP A SIGN FOR THE NATIONS, AND HE SHALL ASSEMBLE THE OUT-CASTS-OF ISRAEL, AND GATHER TOGETHER THE DISPERSED OF JUDAH FROM THE FOUR QUARTERS OF THE EARTH. Where he notes two things: 1. that he calls the Israelites out-casts, but the Jews scattered; and the reason is, because the Ten Tribes are not only far off from the Holy Land, but also they live in the extremities and ends of Countries; from whence the Prophet calls them cast out. But he doth not say, that the Israelites are to be gathered from the four quarters of the earth, because they are not so dispersed through the world, as the Tribe of Judah is, which now hath synagogues, not only in three parts of the world, but also in America. The Prophet adds in v. 13. THE ENVY ALSO OF EPHRAIM SHALL DEPART, AND THE ADVERSARIES OF JUDAH SHALL BE CUT OFF. For then there shall be no contention between Judah, and the 10 Tribes, which are comprehended under the name Ephraim, because their first King Jeroboam was of that Tribe. And then, as it is in Ezek. 37.22. ONE KING SHALL BE KING OVER THEM ALL, AND THEY SHALL BE NO MORE TWO NATIONS, NEITHER SHALL THEY BE DIVIDED ANY MORE INTO TWO KINGDOMS. There shall be one King to them both, of the family of David. Also the LORD at the Redemption will dry up the Nile, and the Euphrates, and will divide it into seven streams (answerable to his drying up the Red Sea when they came out of Egypt) perhaps that the seven Tribes, which are in those parts, may go over it; as they pass into their Country, as Isaiah, says in ch. 27.12, 13. AND IT SHALL BE IN THAT DAY, AND HE SHALL SHAKE OFF FROM THE BANK OF THE RIVER (some understand Euphrates) UNTO THE RIVER OF EGYPT (Nilus) AND YE, O CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, SHALL BE GATHERED ONE BY ONE. Which was never done in the captivity of Babylon.
# The Prophet Isaiah says in chap. 11.11. that he will return them THE SECOND TIME, &c. Now the redemption from Babylon, cannot be called such an one, because all of them were not brought back to their Country. But the redemption shall be universal to all the tribes, as it was when they went out of Egypt; which redemption shall be like the first in many things, as I show in the third part of my [book] "Reconciler {Conciliator]"; and so it may be called the second, in reference to that first from Egypt. Whence Jeremiah says, Chap. 23.7, 8. THAT THEN IT SHALL NOT BE SAID, HE THAT BROUGHT ISRAEL OUT OF EGYPT, BUT FROM THE NORTH, AND FROM ALL COUNTRIES, WHITHER HE HAD DRIVEN THEM. That they shall not mention their departure from Egypt, for the cause fore-mentioned.
#.... THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA; so almost all translate it; but I think it is to be rendered, THE ISLANDS OF THE WEST, for YAM [Hebrew for "Sea"] in Holy Scripture signifies "THE WEST," as in Gen. 28.14 [ALSO YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE AS THE DUST OF THE EARTH; YOU SHALL SPREAD ABROAD TO THE WEST AND THE EAST, TO THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH; AND IN YOU AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED] and in many other places; and upon this account those Israelites are implied, who are Westward from the Holy Land, among whom the Americans are. #
Sect 25
The same prophet, Isaiah 43:5-6 says:
Isaiah 43:
5 FEAR NOT, FOR I AM WITH YOU;
I WILL BRING YOUR DESCENDANTS FROM THE EAST,
AND GATHER YOU FROM THE WEST;
6 I WILL SAY TO THE NORTH, GIVE THEM UP!
AND TO THE SOUTH, DO NOT KEEP THEM BACK!
BRING MY SONS FROM AFAR,
AND MY DAUGHTERS FROM THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.
# ....Europe on the west, from the Holy Land. But when he says "Bring My sons from afar," he understand America, for in those verses he understands all the places wherein the Tribes are detained.
# ... it is certain , and Jeremiah assents to all our Authors, that when Judah is joined with Israel, by Israel, the Ten Tribes are meant.
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9. Messiah son of Joseph, Leader of the Ten Tribes.
SECT. 26.
Menesseh speaks of the Messiah ben Joseph as leader of the Ten Tribes before they re-unite with Judah.
Quote:
# But which way that redemption shall be no-one can tell, but only as far as we may gather out of the Prophets. That at that time the Ten Tribes shall come to Jerusalem under a leading of a Prince, whom some Rabbins in the Talmud, and in some places of the Chaldy [Aramaic] Paraphrase, do call the Messiah son of Joseph; and elsewhere the Messiah son of Ephraim; who being slain in the last war of Gog and Magog shall [be revived by Messiah son of David who is], as Ezekiel and Hosea say, The Everlasting Prince of all the Twelve Tribes. Our wise men do, in many places, especially in the Babylonian Talmud, in Tractate Succah, ch. 5, make mention of the Messiah the son of Ephraim, where they say that he shall die in the War of Gog and Magog; and they so expound that of Zechariah 12:10 AND I WILL POUR ON THE HOUSE OF DAVID AND ON THE INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM THE SPIRIT OF GRACE AND SUPPLICATION; THEN THEY WILL LOOK ON ME WHOM THEY PIERCED. YES, THEY WILL MOURN FOR HIM AS ONE MOURNS FOR HIS ONLY SON, AND GRIEVE FOR HIM AS ONE GRIEVES FOR A FIRSTBORN.."
# They add also that the Four Captains, of whom the same Prophet speaks in chapter 11, are the Messiah the son of David, Messiah the son of Joseph, the Prophet Elijah, and the High Priest; which four are the same as those dignitaries who shall show their power in that blessed age. Observe that sometimes they call the Messiah "son of Ephraim," sometimes "Son of Joseph"; for he shall come out of the Tribe of Ephraim, and shall be the Captain of all the Ten Tribes, who gave their name to Ephraim, because their first King Jeroboam was of that Tribe. Not without cause do they call him the "Son of Joseph," for he was the true type of the House of Israel, in his imprisonment and future happiness. Add to this that he was so long hidden from his brethren, that they did not know him as in like manner the Ten Tribes are at this day, who are led captive but hereafter shall attain the highest felicity, in the same manner as Joseph did. That Messiah son of Joseph shall die in the battle of Gog and Magog, and afterward shall rise again, that he may enjoy the dignity, not of a King, Scepter, but only of a Vice-Roy, as Joseph in Egypt; for that the Empire of the House of Israel, fell under the reign of the Hosea the son of Elah; as the Prophet Amos 5:2 says. Therefore the Kingdom of the House of Israel shall be restored, as Ezekiel says in ch. 37 under the reign of Messiah the son of David who shall be everlasting; and by the death of Messiah the son of Joseph, the Ten Tribes will see that God wills not that they should have more kings than one, as its already spoken. #
This section concerning the Messiah son of Joseph is discussed at more length in:
MBI on MBJ. Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel writes about the Messiah son of Joseph.
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/mbjtoday/mbjprince.html
Continued at: Hebrew America-2 (continued):