The (Scattered) Hebrews: House of Israel
Leading up to the House of Israel being taken into captivity by the Assyrians, the Northern Kingdom (Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, Ephraim and Reuben. Also known as the 10 lost tribes) had a slew of wicked Kings that ruled starting with Jeroboam, this is the reason that God allowed them to be defeated and banished them from their own land. We know that eventually some of these tribes integrated with the Southern Kingdom as Judah joined them in captivity after the House of Judah along with Jerusalem fell to Babylon. When the Hebrews left Egyptian captivity with Moses, they numbered more than 600,000 at that time all together. During David’s reign centuries later, he ordered a military census and it showed there were over 1.1 million Israelites that could handle a sword and 470,000 fighting men just in Judah alone. So for sure they numbered all together (men, women and children) in the millions by the time both kingdoms had surrendered into captivity to the East (Assyrian and Babylonian captivity). But on their return into the Southern Kingdom from captivity, less than 50,000 Hebrew Israelites came back so what happened to the rest of them? In the book of 2 Esdras, a vision was given to the author (Ezra) and is being explained to him here:
39 And as for your seeing him gather to himself another multitude that was peaceable, 40 these are the ten tribes which were led away from their own land into captivity in the days of King Hoshea, whom Shalmaneser the king of the Assyrians led captive; he took them across the river, and they were taken into another land. 41 But they formed this plan for themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the nations and go to a more distant region, where mankind had never lived, 42 that there at least they might keep their statutes which they had not kept in their own land. 43 And they went in by the narrow passages of the Euphrates river. 44 For at that time the Most High performed signs for them, and stopped the channels of the river until they had passed over. 45 Through that region there was a long way to go, a journey of a year and a half; and that country is called Arzareth. 46 “Then they dwelt there until the last times; and now, when they are about to come again, 47 the Most High will stop the channels of the river again, so that they may be able to pass over. Therefore you saw the multitude gathered together in peace.
-2 Esdras 13:39–47 (earliest manuscripts of 2 Esdras dates circa 100 AD, nearly 1400 years before 1492…)
So with this passage, we no longer really have to guess what happened to them, it flat out says the 10 tribes went to Arzareth and will remain there until the end times. But where is Arzareth? The first clue is that it is a place that had not been inhabited by humans. So what lands were known and inhabited at this time? Moses gave us an understanding of what was known early post-flood era when he explains where Noah’s sons Shem, Ham and Japheth started colonizing after the flood.
So we know that they were aware of Africa and the Arabic peninsula where the Hamites (Ham’s descendants) settled, they were aware of Eurasia where the descendants of Japheth settled and they were aware of Mesopotamia (Middle East) and India where Shem’s descendants settled. The next clue is the distance it took them to get there which was about a year and a half away from where they were at (the Assyrian empire located in Northern Mesopotamia). Given these clues, it comes down to the Americas, a year and a half’s time would match with the large amount of people they were migrating, slow enough for the elderly and children’s paces, especially considering that Ferdinand Magellan’s entourage took three years to get around the whole world (I’m aware he didn’t actually make it but one of the ships did get back home some three years later). Arzareth literally means “another land” in Hebrew. The only other body of land potentially uninhabited by humans would be Australia and it wouldn’t have taken them a year and a half to get there from where they were. The origins of the Natives in the Americas has been discussed actually for a long time, especially early on once Europeans found out about the land. Many of them also came to the same conclusion; that these Natives were part of the scattered Hebrew Israelites. Thomas Thorowgood wrote “The Ancestry of the American Indians: Thomas Thorowgood’s Iewes in America” and “Jews in America” in the mid 1600's. Friar Diego de Landa states:
“Some old men of Yucatan say that they have heard from their ancestors that this country was peopled by a certain race who came from the East, whom God delivered by opening for them twelve roads through the sea. If this is true, all the inhabitants of the Indies must be of Jewish Descent.”
-Friar Diego de Landa: Yucatan Before and After the Conquest (Circa 1566)
And Ethan Smith writes:
They [the Chepewyan Indians] have also a tradition among them, that they originally came from another country, inhabited by very wicked people, and had traversed a great lake, which was in one place narrow, shallow, and full of islands, where they had suffered great misery…”
-Ethan Smith: A View of the Hebrews or the Tribes of Israel in America (1823, pg 114, 115)
Manoel Dias Soeiro or Menasseh Ben Israel (his Hebrew name) was a Portuguese rabbi born in the early 1600's, he was absolutely convinced that the Natives were of Hebrew origins and wrote:
“I shall speak somewhat I this discourse of the divers opinions which have been, and
shall declare in what countries it is thought the Ten Tribes are: Hispaniola (Dominican Republic)… the island of Cuba; the continent of America, Panama, New Spain (Mexico) and Peru.”
-Menasseh Ben Israel: The Hope of Israel (translated to English in 1652)
Menasseh also recorded an incredible discovery (in his book Mikveh Yisrael: 1650) that happened to a Jewish (white) Dutch explorer of the Americas. The explorer explained that he’d made contact with Native Americans but was unable to communicate with them through any of the European languages, he began talking with his first mate (who was also Jewish) in Hebrew about their dilemma, to their amazement, the Native American chief replied “Shama Yasharal” (Hear Israel).
James Adair lived among the Native Americans for 40 years and published a book about them titled: The History of the American Indians. James’ book was quite popular in its day and even got the attention of President Thomas Jefferson who summed up Adair’s belief that:
“all the Indians of American to be descended from the hebrews: the same laws, usages; rites and ceremonies, the same sacrifices, priests, prophets, fasts and festivals, almost the same religion, and that they all spoke Hebrew.”
-Thomas Jefferson (American President speaking on James Adair’s beliefs of Native Americans, 1803)
James brought up an interesting point of comparing Native American religious rites to Judaism but he wasn’t the only one. Mariano Edward Rivero and John James von Tschudi point out in their book Peruvian Antiquities:
“Like the Jews, the Indians offer their firstfruits, they keep their new moons, and the feast of expiations at the end of September or in the beginning of October; they divide the year into four seasons, corresponding with the Jewish festivals. . . . In some parts of North America circumcision is practised . . . There is also much analogy between the Hebrews and Indians in that which concerns various rites and customs; such as the ceremonies of purification, the use of the bath . . . fasting, and the manner of prayer. The Indians likewise abstain from the blood of animals, as also from fish without scales; they consider divers quadrupeds unclean, also certain birds and reptiles, and they are accustomed to offer as a holocaust the firstlings of the flock.”
-Mariano Edward Rivero, John James von Tschudi: Peruvian Antiquities (1857)
So how else is it that there are so many similarities between these cultures literally separated by an entire ocean and continents a part? Why are Native Americans documented as speaking Hebrew and why were they keeping Jewish traditions throughout the year? Clearly there is quite a bit of evidence and association between Native Americans and the Hebrews in language and religious rites. That also means that if Native Americans are Hebrews, they would be here because they were banished from Israel and under the curses YHWH gave through the old prophets pertaining to them. I spoke about this briefly in my previous article The Torn Kingdom but what does Jewish scripture actually have to say about this, why was God so angry and was He truly upset enough to banish His own chosen people? Solomon writes in Lamentations:
16 The Lord himself has scattered them,
he will regard them no more;
no honor was shown to the priests,
no favor to the elders.
-Lamentations 4:16
And in 1 Kings it states:
14 “In addition, the Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will destroy the family of Jeroboam. This will happen today, even now! 15 Then the Lord will shake Israel like a reed whipped about in a stream. He will uproot the people of Israel from this good land that he gave their ancestors and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, for they have angered the Lord with the Asherah poles they have set up for worship. 16 He will abandon Israel because Jeroboam sinned and made Israel sin along with him.”
-1 Kings 14:14–16
In Ezekiel, it says:
21 “But their children, too, rebelled against me. They refused to keep my decrees and follow my regulations, even though obedience would have given them life. And they also violated my Sabbath days. So again I threatened to pour out my fury on them in the wilderness. 22 Nevertheless, I withdrew my judgment against them to protect the honor of my name before the nations that had seen my power in bringing them out of Egypt. 23 But I took a solemn oath against them in the wilderness. I swore I would scatter them among all the nations 24 because they did not obey my regulations. They scorned my decrees by violating my Sabbath days and longing for the idols of their ancestors.
-Ezekiel 20:21–24
So the answer is overwhelmingly.. Yes and the reasons are very clear, YHWH was fed up with His rebellious children and dispersed them into foreign nations because our ancestors refused to only worship Him. And we can see the results of these curses upon the people, the Natives have suffered extreme oppression ever since the Americas were “discovered..” The Native American genocide is one of the most horrific things in American (and world) history with Native genocide estimates between 50 and 100 million killed. Even today, Native Americans make up just 2% of the indigenous peoples that inhabited the United States borders from sea to shining sea…
Natives are still being pushed off their own land, we saw how they were treated during the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protests, we can all plainly see how the indigenous families are labeled “illegal” and indigenous families are separated from one another before our very eyes at the American border. Children are taken from their parents and forced to live in cages, even having to pledge allegiance to the flag of a country that has forsaken and hates them. The American government, law enforcement, immigration and border authorities continue to oppress indigenous communities and it’s not just North America. There are examples of this throughout the Americas and into the West Indies (Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti..etc). As we can see, the writings of the prophets fits the oppression and hardships that these Native peoples have gone through; even mentioning that there numbers would be considerably diminished.
26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to occupy; you will not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatter you among the peoples; only a few of you will be left among the nations where the Lord will lead you. 28 There you will serve other gods made by human hands, objects of wood and stone that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
-Deuteronomy 4:26–28
So has God completely forsaken His own chosen people? Absolutely not, Zechariah speaks of the restoration of Israel and that the hearts of God’s people will be turned back to Him once again:
6 “I will strengthen Judah and save Israel;
I will restore them because of my compassion.
It will be as though I had never rejected them,
for I am the Lord their God, who will hear their cries.
7 The people of Israel will become like mighty warriors,
and their hearts will be made happy as if by wine.
Their children, too, will see it and be glad;
their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.
8 When I whistle to them, they will come running,
for I have redeemed them.
From the few who are left,
they will grow as numerous as they were before.
9 Though I have scattered them like seeds among the nations,
they will still remember me in distant lands.
They and their children will survive
and return again to Israel.
-Zechariah 10:6–9
And here Jeremiah says:
But as for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob, says the Lord,
and do not be dismayed, O Israel;
for I am going to save you from far away,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
-Jeremiah 30:10
So we know that the restoration of YHWH’s children is coming and that He will call the Hebrews back to Israel at some point. I am not indigenous to the Americas but I am also under the same curses (I go into details on this in my article The House of Judah), we must come together and learn who YHWH is and accept that He gave us His son Yeshua so that we can live.
We carry the sins of our ancestors but He has not forgotten us, we must turn back to Him. We were His chosen children out of all the world but we did not obey Him and we did not restrain ourselves and so He punished us; then He gave the beautiful Gospel of His son Yeshua to the Gentiles that ruled over us and used them to teach us about salvation even as they continue killing and oppressing us! I am not saying the atrocities we see today, the suffering we bear and that our ancestors endured is ok, this is in no way an excuse or justification for deplorable inhumane acts that will not go unpunished by God. What I am saying is that in this way God brings everyone to Himself in humility, although we are honored because we are the original Hebrews, many of us learned of Yeshua from our oppressors and even though the Gentiles and the rest of the world were not initially chosen by God as the Hebrews were, salvation went out to them as well because we refused to listen and obey YHWH. So in this way, no one can look down on the other and no one can say that they are more important than the other is my point. My hope is that we would unite together as His children and stop looking to hate one another, how foolish is it to knowingly be oppressed and still despise your brother or sister along side of you?
How ridiculous it is for indigenous American Hebrews to look down on one another when we are all sharing our oppression, some look down on Natives or “African Americans” because they have dark skin when in fact all of the Hebrew tribes had dark skin and are of negroid descent to begin with!
Look at the ancient pictures the Natives drew of themselves before the Europeans came, look at the pictures of the past (this is in my article: The Unlearning of Jesus). In the Zondervan Bible Dictionary, it states:
Ham: The youngest son of Noah, born probably about
96 years before the Flood; and one of eight persons to live through the Flood. He became the progenitor of the dark races; not the Negroes, but the Egyptians, Ethiopians, Libyans and Canaanites.
-Zondervan Bible Dictionary (1994)
So here there is a clear distinction between the Negroes and the Hamites but why would this clarification be needed? The Hebrews have a long history throughout Jewish writings of fleeing to Africa to hide and being mistaken for Africans. Jeroboam ran to Egypt away from Solomon to hide there until Solomon died, Joseph was sold as a slave by his own brothers and taken to Egypt, he eventually came face to face with his brothers years later and they didn’t even recognize him, thinking he was a royal Egyptian! When Joseph’s father Jacob died, all 12 brothers and their families accompanied by Egyptians took his body back to Canaan to bury him and the Canaanites thought the entire Hebrew family were Egyptians:
10 When they arrived at the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan River, they held a very great and solemn memorial service, with a seven-day period of mourning for Joseph’s father. 11 The local residents, the Canaanites, watched them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad. Then they renamed that place (which is near the Jordan) Abel-mizraim, for they said, “This is a place of deep mourning for these Egyptians.”
-Genesis 50:10, 11
So clearly Hebrews and Egyptians at the very least resembled one another in skin tone to the point that Joseph’s own family did not recognize him even after spending an extended amount of time with him in Egypt, he had to reveal to them who he was!
In the picture of these Babylonian archers (Elamites), we can see they are clearly black and Elam (founder of the Elamites) was the son of Shem who is the ancient relative of Abraham and we know that the Hebrews would come from Abraham’s seed (Isaac’s son Jacob). So it is absolutely outrageous to look down on those of us who are still dark skinned because all Hebrews initially had dark skin. I wrote this in hopes that the true children of YHWH, the true Hebrews would know that they are the original chosen ones. If you are native to the Americas, if you are Pacific Islander, if you are native to the West Indies or aboriginal Australian, if you have indigenous blood of these places I mentioned, you have Hebrew lineage in your blood, your ancient ancestors were from the House of Israel (the Northern Kingdom of Israel). Wake up and recognize who you are! This article is one of the first of a series to come that I will be writing regarding the twelve tribes. I will be writing about each tribe in depth and the evidence that points to them specifically as a scattered tribe among the nations.
Noteworthy: For those that noticed, there are only 9 tribes in the title picture, the tribe of Dan is missing, it is also missing from Revelation 7, I didn’t want to get into that in this article, it’s a long rabbit hole and a tangent in this regard but some think because of Dan’s idolatry talked about in Judges 18 that maybe that’s why they’re not there in the end times in Revelation. This could be a whole article on its own so I chose not to speak about it above.
Sources:
https://michaelruark.wordpress.com/2016/12/26/arsareth-america-a-perfect-slave-colony/
http://truenation.org/12Tribes/10_Tribe_Migration.pdf
http://www.hope-of-israel.org/diaspora.htm
http://www.beingjewish.com/mesorah/ageoftorah.html
The books I referenced can easily be found with simple google searches