_Israel a Maritime Nation--Tyre and Sidon--The Lacedemonians Claim
Relationship with Israel-The Ionians, Etrurians, Danes, Jutes,
etc.--The various Captivities of Israel and Judah--Media_.
The idea, though not until lately widely diffused, that many of the
races inhabiting Europe are impregnated with the blood of Israel, is
by no means a new one. Many writers, in their researches into the
early history of that continent, have been forcibly struck with the
similarity that existed between the laws, manners, customs, etc., of
the ancient inhabitants of its northern and northwestern portions and
those of ancient Israel. These writers have endeavored to account for
this peculiarity in two ways. First by the supposition that
Israelitish colonies for various causes, left the land of their
inheritance and gradually worked themselves north and northwestward
over Europe; and second, by the argument that remnants or branches of
the lost Ten Tribes had emigrated from Media into Europe, and through
the ignorance of historians, disguised under other names, they had
remained unknown until the present, their habits, customs, traditions,
etc., having in the meanwhile become so greatly changed by time and
circumstance, as to render them unrecognizable at this late day.
We will take up the first of these ideas, and present a few of the
arguments advanced by those who support it. It is asserted by them
that Israel early became a maritime nation, that its location on the
Mediterranean Sea admirably adapted its people for such pursuit. By
means of the Red Sea in its rear, it also had undisturbed access to
Africa, India, and the isles beyond. As early as the days of the
Judges (say B. C. 1,300) we find that Deborah and Barak, in their song
of triumph, complain that Dan came not up to the aid of Israel in the
hour of need, but remained in his ships while his fellows were
contending with Sisera and his hosts. "Why did Dan remain in ship?"
(_Judges v: 17_) is the exact question asked. This shows that thus
early in Israel's history it had commenced to hold commercial
relations with its neighbors.[A] The tribes whose inheritances
bordered on the Mediterranean, commencing at the north, were Asher,
Manasseh, Ephraim, Dan and Simeon. Asher's inheritance lay contiguous
to the great ports of Tyre and Sidon, while Simeon's bordered on
Egypt, and contained within its confines other seaports of the
Philistines or Phœnicians, to whom, we think, profane writers have
given credit for many of the commercial ventures undertaken by the
Israelites.
[Footnote A: We have seen a translation of an ancient Danish history,
in which it is asserted that Angul of Issacher, a brother of Tola, who
judged Israel about 1,225 years B.C., invaded England, and was
assisted by Tola in so doing. In the name of Angul we find another
derivation of the word Angleland (England).]
It must not be supposed that these maritime tribes were the only ones
that would be found spreading abroad. The members of the various
tribes did not strictly confine themselves to the boundaries assigned
their tribe by Joshua, but they intermingled for trade, etc., and many
men of other tribes resided within the borders of Judah's inheritance,
and _vice versa_. We have a notable example of this (B. C. 600) in the
case of Lehi and Laban, who were of the seed of Joseph, yet were
residents of Jerusalem, and Nephi incidentally remarks that his
father, Lehi, had dwelt in that city "all his days." The children of
Ephraim, from their great enterprise and force of character, seem to
have early spread, not only among other tribes, but also into foreign
nations, notably to Egypt, and the anger of the Lord is repeatedly
expressed through His prophets at His people's disregard of His law in
mixing with the heathen. In Isaiah's time, Ephraim had, like a "silly
dove," mingled himself among the people to the displeasure of his God.
But it was not only for trade and commerce that Israel spread abroad;
her children were sometimes forced to foreign lands against their
will. Two hundred years before Lehi left Jerusalem, the Lord upbraided
Tyre and Sidon through Joel his servant (_Joel iii: 6_), telling them,
among other things, "The children also of Judah, and the children of
Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians" [or Gentiles], "that ye
might remove them far from their border." Here we obtain a glimpse of
the policy of these two cities; they sought to weaken Israel by
deporting her children as captives to other nations afar off, and with
true commercial instincts endeavored to make the transaction a
profitable one. And if Judah and Jerusalem, at the other end of the
land, thus suffered at the hands of Tyre and her sister city, is it
not a certainty that other tribes, living nearer, would suffer from
this same cause, and probably more severely?
We are of the opinion that this wholesale slave trade of the
Phœnicians is greatly under-estimated as a factor in the diffusion of
Israelitish blood throughout the world. So great was the number of
slaves held by these people, that at one time in their chief city, the
slaves exceeded the freemen in number, and their maritime enterprise
was such that they established colonies or depots on all the islands
of the Mediterranean Sea, in France, Spain, Italy, Britain, and
probably in Germany. The whole coast of northern Africa was studded
with their colonies, which they carried south as far as Timbuctoo and
the Niger, while by way of the Red Sea they reached eastern Africa,
Persia, India, and some suppose China; in fact, they traded with, and
established colonies all over the then known world.[B]
[Footnote B: "Although the ancient Jews were mainly an agricultural
nation the geographical position of Palestine and the contiguity of
some of the tribes of Israel to the Mediterranean Sea, induced the
Jewish people to make common cause of their friendly neighbors, the
sea faring Phoenicians. There were two causes which conduced to render
the Jews well acquainted with navigation on high seas. Many of them
were carried away as captives in their frequent, and often
unsuccessful, warfare with more powerful nations. The prisoners of war
were forced to serve on land and sea. Allusions to redeemed prisoners,
returning from the Islands of the Sea and from the "four corners of
the earth," occur in many parts of the Hebrew Scripture and the
experiences of the Jews in sea voyages are graphically depicted in the
Bible (Psalm 107). Then there were missionary voyages of the Jews for
the inculcation of monotheistic teachings. The Jewish missionaries
visited many lands across the sea, as is attested in many parts of the
prophetic writings. Allusions to a life on the ocean and to the
unpleasant experiences of sea-sickness occur in several places in the
scriptures together with magnificent representations of the wondrous
sights of mid-ocean. Such descriptions were not borrowed from alien
and pagan nations for the simple reason that the admirers of God's
marvelous work on the sea are mentioned as coming home from their
perilous expeditions and praising God's glory in the midst of their
own people. The distribution of the Jews in many sea-girt places of
the Gentiles is often mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and bears evidence
to the sea-faring habits of many Jewish families; David's conquest of
Ezeon-Gaber; the greatest sea-port in Southern Arabia, was followed by
other kings, Jewish and non-Jewish, who coveted the possession of that
harbor. The history of King Solomon's alliance with the Phoenician
King Hiram is given in the Book of Kings. The building of merchant-men
in Ezeon-Gaber and the voyages undertaken by the Jewish mariners could
not be merely legendary seeing that even in the latter days when the
Romans attacked the Jews the latter had numerous ships and seamen on
the inland seas. On this subject we find many notices in the works of
Josephus and in parts of the New Testament."--Dr. Lowry.]
It is also a remarkable fact that a few hundred years after Joel had
delivered his message of condemnation to Tyre and Sidon, that the
people of one of these Grecian states, the Lacedemonians or Spartans,
claimed relationship with Israel as children of Abraham, and had their
claim allowed, and still more remarkable in the light of poetical
justice, that these Lacedemonians were the ones used by Alexander the
Great in the destruction of Tyre, and in the fulfillment of the words
of the Lord through Joel: "Behold I will raise them out of the place
whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your
own head" (_Joel iii:7_). It would appear that the sons destroyed the
cities that had sold their fathers into captivity. The fact that these
Lacedemonians did claim kindred with Israel, is narrated both by
Josephus and the author of the First Book of Maccabees. The writers of
both histories give a synopsis of the letter sent by Oreus, king of
the Lacedemonians, to Onias, the High Priest of Israel. The two
accounts agree very closely. Josephus gives the opening clause of the
king's letter in these terms: "We have met with a certain writing
whereby we have discovered that both Jews and Lacedemonians are of one
stock, and are derived from the kindred of Abraham." In the book of
Maccabees it runs as follows: "It is found in writing that the
Spartans and Jews are brethren, and come out of the generation of
Abraham." (_I Mac. xii_.) The Jews admitted the relationship in a
letter full of sentiments of friendship and brotherhood, sent by a
special embassy to the Spartan court. This letter is given in full in
_I. Maccabees, chap. xii_. In neither history is any hint given as to
which branch of Abraham's family the records showed that the
Lacedemonians belonged, but from their rigid virtue and honesty, and
their near approach to the united order in their daily lives, it is
presumable that they had not been long separate from a people in whose
midst the law of the true God was known and observed.
It being thus admitted that the people of one Grecian state were of
the family of Abraham, students of history have endeavored to trace
Israel to other parts. The inhabitants of the Ionian commonwealth, one
of the most enterprising communities of ancient Greece, are claimed to
have been of Israelitish stock, the most weighty argument used in the
advocacy of this idea is the great similarity that existed between
their laws and customs and those of the Jews. Attention is especially
drawn to the fact that the Ionians were divided from choice, and not
from the force of circumstances or geographical position, into twelve
communities, corresponding with the twelve tribes of Israel. The same
argument is advanced regarding the Etrurians who were among the
earliest settlers in Italy, and who, tradition states, emigrated from
Tyre or its neighborhood. They also were divided into twelve
communities or states, but all under one king. Admitting that these
two nationalities were of the outcasts of Israel, there is no
difficulty in understanding how the children of Jacob spread abroad
over all the coasts of Europe and northern Africa, as they were
(especially the Ionians) renowned for enterprise at sea, the last
named being the first people among the Greeks to undertake long
voyages.
More than one author has advanced the idea that the Welsh are of the
tribe of Manasseh, some vague traditions of that people being thought
to point in that direction; it has also been asserted that the Irish
are of that tribe. From this idea we differ. With greater show of
reason it has been claimed that Denmark was colonized by the tribe of
Dan (in Danish it is Danmark, or Dan's land, to this day), so,
according to this, a Dane is simply a Danite. Jutland, adjoining, is
regarded as Judah's land, Jute being considered merely another form of
the word Jew; while a little further north we find Gottland, Gothland,
or Gad's land, as these writers believe, thus tracing in immediate
proximity the homes of three prominent tribes of Israel through the
names given to the regions they settled in.
Some who, of late years, have made the subject of Israel's
"identification" their study, have gone almost to the verge of the
ridiculous in the minuteness with which they have endeavored to fix
the boundaries of the lands which, they assert, were occupied by
descendants of the different tribes. Our position is the Biblical or
prophetical one, that Ephraim has mixed himself with the nations;
theirs, that remnants of all the tribes can be localized and their
descendants determined with the same certainty as the posterity of
those races who have never in God's providences, and for the
accomplishment of His purposes, been "lost." One set of these
enquirers claim to have made the following discoveries. They have
traced the tribe of Dan to the north of Ireland and of Scotland;
Simeon to Wales; Naphtali, as Jutes, to Kent; Gad and Asher, as Angles
and South Angles, to Mercia and East Anglia in England; Ephraim to
Northumberland and as far north as Edinburgh; Manasseh to the north of
England; Reuben as East Saxons, to Essex; Zebulon, as West Saxons, to
Wessex; Issacher, as South Saxons, to Sussex; all these last named
places being in England.
There is another cause that many believe led to the migration of
certain families of Israel and Judah. Before the final captivity of
either kingdom was brought about there were several partial
deportations of the people to Assyria and Babylon, or local
captivities. Assyria commenced by carrying off the inhabitants nearest
her dominions and gradually extended her incursions. The captivity of
Judah was still later. In the interval, it is argued, that many
Israelites, believing in the words of the prophets and seeing the
evils that were coming upon them, migrated to Egypt, Greece, or other
convenient lands; some, doubtless, led, as were Lehi and the son of
Zedekiah, by the revelation and commandment of God, others simply
following the inclinations of their own feelings.
As abundant proof that many were led by God from the land of promise
before the days of the captivity we have the words of Nephi:
"For it appears that the house of Israel, sooner or later, will be
scattered upon all the face of the earth, and also among all nations,
and behold there are many who are already lost from the knowledge of
those who are at Jerusalem. Yea, the more part of all the tribes have
been led away; and they are scattered to and fro upon the isles of the
sea; and whither they are, none of us knoweth, save that we know that
they have been led away. And since they have been led away, these
things have been prophesied concerning them, and also concerning all
those who shall hereafter be scattered and be confounded."
Also the testimony of his brother Jacob:
"And now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given
us so great knowledge, concerning these things, let us remember Him,
and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not
cast off; nevertheless, we have been driven out of the land of our
inheritance; but we have been led to a better land, for the Lord has
made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea. But great
are the promises of the Lord unto they who are upon the isles of the
sea; wherefore as it says isles, there must needs be more than this,
and they are inhabited also by our brethren. For behold, the Lord God
has led away from time to time from the house of Israel, according to
His will and pleasure. And now behold, the Lord remembereth all they
who have been broken off, wherefore He remembereth us also."
That we may better understand the various partial and subsequent
general captivities of Israel and Judah, the following short statement
thereof is here inserted. The dates given are those of the commonly
accepted chronology:
Pul, or Sardanapalus, imposed a tribute on Menahen, king of Israel,
about 770 B. C.
Tiglath Pileser carried away the tribes living east of the Jordan and
in Galilee, B. C. 740.
Shalamaneser twice invaded the kingdom of Israel, took Samaria, after
three years' siege, and carried the people captive to Assyria B. C.
721.
Sennacherib (B. C. 713) is stated to have carried 200,000 captives
into Assyria from the Jewish cities that he captured.
Nebuchadnezzar, in the first half of his reign (B. C. 605-562),
repeatedly invaded Judea, besieged Jerusalem and carried its
inhabitants to Babylon.
The next question that presents itself is, to what portion of the land
of Assyria were the Israelitish captives taken. Scripture has not left
us in the dark on this point. Both the book of Chronicles (_I Chron.
v: 26_) and the book of Kings (_II Kings xxvii: 6_) give us the needed
information. In the latter book it is stated (and the statement in the
book of Chronicles is almost identical therewith), that the king of
Assyria "carried Israel away captive into Assyria, and placed them in
Halah, and in Harbor, by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the
Medes."
Media, the land of the Medes, lay to the north of Assyria proper,
embracing the country lying on the southern border of the Caspian Sea,
as far west as the River Araxes. The exact location of Halah and
Harbor has long since been lost sight of and the only river that
to-day, in name, bears any affinity to the Gozan is the Kuzal Ozan,
which empties into the Caspian Sea to the south-east of the Araxes.