Chapter 2
The Israelites, at the
time of the deportation, which took place in several stages, were
successively taken into captivity, as in Assyria, or in other foreign nations,
notably in the cities of the Medes.
The deportation to foreign places was customary in Assyrian
politics, because it permitted easier destruction of all spirit of nationalism
in their prisoners, reducing them totally to slavery.
The first stage of
this deportation en masse was carried out by Tiglath-Pileser (II
Kings 15:29), and took place due east of the Jordan; this territory was
occupied by the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. The captives were taken “to Halah, to Habor,
Hara, and the river Gozan” (I
Chronicles 5:26).
This deportation took
place about 740 B.C. It affected the majority
of the population of the house of Israel.
Only Samaria was exempt, though its inhabitants, under King
Hoshea, later became the slaves of the Assyrians.
As we have already
noted, when Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, discovered the conspiracy of Hoshea, he
went against Syria and besieged it. During the siege which lasted three long years, Shalmaneser died,
and his successor achieved the conquest and took the rest of Israel in
captivity. The new captives were sent to Assyria, to be deported to
“Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes” II
Kings 17:6, 18:11.
The great Jewish
historian, Flavius Josephus, confirms this fact (Antiquities IX, XIV,
1), whereas Tobit, author of the book of the apocalypse of the same name,
states precisely that as a member of the tribe of Naphtali, he himself was
taken into captivity by the king of Assyria (Apocrypha, “Tobit,” 1:3, 10).
By combining these
diverse testimonies, we establish that the house of Israel, known under the
name of the “house of Omri” or “Bit Khumri,” by the Assyrians, was deported to
the north, in regions which are actually part of the Persian or
Iranian territory. These diverse places
of deportation, as we can easily prove, are not at all far from the Black
Sea and the Caspian Sea.
The Assyrians always
strove to deport their prisoners as far as possible from their birthplaces. This
method achieved a double objective: first, it rendered impossible any means of
communication between the deported prisoners and their native country;
secondly, it prevented them from regaining their country in case of escape.
Only consider the
example of the Syrians whom Tiglath-Pileser deported to the “extreme north of
Media” (Antiquities of the Jews,
Josephus, Vol. IX, Chap. 12, Sec. 3),
near the Caucasus. Why did he deport
them so far? For the same reasons we
have just stated: the mountainous
terrain, the rivers round about and the considerable distance prevented any
escapee from returning home.
Therefore it is incontestable
that at the time of this new stage of deportation, the Israelites were
sent into captivity beyond the Tigris, in the country of the
Medes, where a part of their compatriots had already been taken in a
preceding deportation.
The tribes of Israel
did not return home after their liberation. This fact is proved by history!
Although the
deportation of the Israelites took place in several stages, it must be noted
that the members of one tribe were often directed towards the same place of
captivity to which their compatriots had previously been taken, as indicated by
Tobit. This fact is of capital
importance, because not only did it permit the different tribes to retain their
unity, but their respective representatives could thus retain their characteristic
traits.
Nevertheless, as a
nation, Israel ceased to exist in the eyes of the world. Ever since, historians have ignored the fate
of Israel; they are “in the dark” because they don’t believe in the Bible and
are not able to understand divine prophecy!
They “suppose” only that all these tribes, with time,
succeeded in returning to Palestine and ended up assimilating completely with
the Jewish nation. This supposition is false
and without basis. It
directly contradicts the Bible, as well as historical facts.
“Thus saith the
Eternal, who made the sun to light the day, who destined the moon and the stars
to light the night . . . if these laws come to an end before me . . . the
race of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me” Jeremiah
31:35-36. The Bible is infallible and
the divine declaration that we come to cite is categorical. Since, today, the laws of nature continue in
effect, Israel of course has not ceased from being a nation before the
Eternal!
In fact even the
Jews openly admit that the ten tribes of Israel still exist in some
part, but under a different name:
“If the ten tribes had disappeared, the literal
accomplishment of divine prophecy would be an impossibility; and if they had
not disappeared then they must actually exist under a different name,”
states the Jewish Encyclopedia!
(Article: “Tribes, Lost”
emphasis ours.)
The Jewish writer
Esdras declares in his book of the Apocrypha that the ten tribes of
Israel, after their liberation, emigrated to other countries, rather
than returning to their own land (II Esdras 13:40-46). It is evident that
the Bible agrees with this categorically.
Why did the ten tribes
resettle
in foreign lands? It was surely not in
order to be able to observe the divine commandments and the statutes that they
hadn’t wanted to observe in their country, or that they hadn’t been able to
keep them during their captivity!
No! Israel has always been a “rebellious
people”!
One of the most
interesting historical confirmations that firmly establishes the fact of this
migration of Israelites to far countries, is that of the great Jewish historian
Flavius Josephus, who writes: “The Ten
Tribes, forming an immense multitude, are located to
this day beyond the river Euphrates”
(Antiquities Vol. II, Chap. 5, emphasis ours).
This testimony is far
from proving that the ten tribes of Israel have disappeared or that they
had returned to Palestine to combine with the Jewish nation! At the time of this historian, Josephus,
that is to say in the first century A.D., not only were the ten
tribes still in existence, separate from the house of Judah, but
they formed “an immense multitude”!
So in what direction
did these tribes go after their liberation?
Where are they located now? In
which countries did they settle, and who are their modern
descendants? This is what we will
examine in the following chapters.
Whatever their present-day location, it is evident that these tribes
have different names and that they are unrecognizable to the
world, since they are integrated with the inhabitants of the foreign countries
in which they settled.
The Bible clearly
indicates the direction the tribes took in their migration. Speaking of the “time of the end,” that is
to say, the era in which we live, the prophet Jeremiah declares that the
Eternal will restore Israel, “from the countries to the north and the
coasts of the earth, and reassemble them from the ends of the earth!”
Jeremiah 31:8.
If Jeremiah indicates
the tribes had directed themselves toward the north, the prophet Isaiah
states that they would be found “in the last days” in the countries situated
to the northwest of Palestine (Isaiah 49:12).
According to these
divine declarations, it is certain then that in the last days, that is
to say, in the present era, the tribes of Israel would be found to the northwest
of Jerusalem; we say “of Jerusalem” because the Bible always
establishes directions from the location of that city. Let’s consult then an atlas in order to
determine which are the “remote” countries to the northwest of Jerusalem. If we look in the direction of the markings,
where do we see they point? To Western
Europe! Thus, according to divine
prophecy, the ten tribes of Israel must live, in our days, in Western
Europe. God says this is
so. “Let God be true, and every man
a liar” (Romans 3:4).