The (Scattered) Hebrews: House of Judah
The Unlearning of Jesus, The (Scattered) Hebrews: Torn Kingdom, The (Scattered) Hebrews: House of Israel
The House of Judah was allowed to come back to their own land after Babylonian captivity but like the Northern Kingdom, they strayed from God and were unfaithful. Violence, hostility and tension followed them through the Hellenistic Kingdom era and Judah (known as Judea by this time) were under Roman rule by the end of the Hasmonean era (73–63 BC). These attacks were nothing however compared to the siege on the Hebrews/Jews that was endured from 66–73 AD and specifically the siege on Jerusalem (in 70 AD) was especially horrific . Yeshua prophesied about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jews being enslaved when He walked the Earth:
20 “And when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its destruction has arrived. 21 Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. Those in Jerusalem must get out, and those out in the country should not return to the city. 22 For those will be days of God’s vengeance, and the prophetic words of the Scriptures will be fulfilled. 23 How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. For there will be disaster in the land and great anger against this people. 24 They will be killed by the sword or sent away as captives to all the nations of the world. And Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles comes to an end.
-Luke 21:20–24
Now Yeshua walked the Earth from about 1–33 AD and He is prophesying about the future enslavement of the Jews. Josephus (Joseph Ben Matthias or Flavius Josephus, a witness at the time of the siege on Jerusalem) claims over 1.1 million people were killed during the initial siege alone, of which a majority were Jews. 97,000 Jews were captured and enslaved and others fled to Mediterranean areas and Africa for refuge. During this terrible period of suffering, there were mass starvations and some Jews even resulted to cannibalism. There were so many crucifixions in this area during this time that wood became scarce! Eusebius, a church historian that wrote in the early 300's AD quotes Josephus saying:
“..And as Titus went around and saw the trenches filled with the dead… he groaned aloud, and, raising his hands, called God to witness that this was not his doing.”
-Eusebius (Church historian, written circa 325 AD, book III chapter VI. Warning: For those willing to look up the information, this chapter was especially horrific)
So even the conqueror Titus was disturbed by what he saw, enough to proclaim that it was not his doing from the war and even refused a wreath of victory. And this coming from the same man that opted to destroy the famed temple in Jerusalem!
These events and destruction dating back to Pompey the Great resulted in multitudes of Jews fleeing Israel as well as the slave markets being flooded with Jews. It is estimated that over 1 million Jews fled into Africa during this tumultuous time period of history as we have seen so many times before when Jews have been exiled (there is more detail on this in my previous articles). Tacitus a Roman historian, even states his thoughts on the origins of the Jews to be descended from Africans:
“Others assert that in the reign of Isis the overflowing population of Egypt, led by Hierosolymus and Judas, discharged itself into the neighbouring countries. Many, again, say that they were a race of Ethiopian origin..”
-Tacitus (Roman historian, History V: Theories of Jewish Origins, written circa 105 AD)
So it makes a lot of sense that these Jews would flee to a continent where they could easily hide among Africans. But how do we know the direction of migrations of these Jews after exile? Africa is the second largest continent on Earth so there is a lot of land to choose from where they could have hid, here are some maps of Africa from the 1700s:
These maps, drawn/written by different cartographers all show Judah on the African West coast in the 1700s. Some of which show the Kingdom of Judah right on the Slave Coast itself!
If you look at the original names of those African slaves that were captured (before Europeans changed their names after getting to the Americas..), many of them had Hebrew names. Searching slavevoyages.org (a database of those that boarded slave ships during the trans-atlantic slave trade) just for names with “yah” (a short for the name of God, example: hallelujah, kumbaya..etc) in them returned over 800 matches, the term “jah” had over 400. There are also markings etched into the pews of the First African Baptist Church in Savanna, Ga that appear to be cursive Hebrew suggesting that these African slaves and/or their ancestors may have wrote and spoke Hebrew at one point (once in the Americas, slaves were forced to speak English and were prohibited from learning to read and write, it was also forbidden to speak their native languages or use their true names so this is quite an amazing and rare find).
But what does Jewish writings have to say in regards to what happened to the House of Judah and does it pertain to the migrations mentioned above? I mentioned the curses of disobedience from Deuteronomy 28 in The Unlearning of Jesus, here are some passages from that chapter:
27 “The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, scurvy, and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 28 The Lord will strike you with madness, blindness, and panic. 29 You will grope around in broad daylight like a blind person groping in the darkness, but you will not find your way. You will be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will come to save you.
30 “You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will sleep with her. You will build a house, but someone else will live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will never enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox will be butchered before your eyes, but you will not eat a single bite of the meat. Your donkey will be taken from you, never to be returned. Your sheep and goats will be given to your enemies, and no one will be there to help you. 32 You will watch as your sons and daughters are taken away as slaves. Your heart will break for them, but you won’t be able to help them. 33 A foreign nation you have never heard about will eat the crops you worked so hard to grow. You will suffer under constant oppression and harsh treatment. 34 You will go mad because of all the tragedy you see around you.
-Deuteronomy 28:27–34
And a few verses later it states:
36 “The Lord will exile you and your king to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors. There in exile you will worship gods of wood and stone! 37 You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the Lord sends you.
-Deuteronomy 28:36, 37
And still the last few passages that end the chapter:
65 There among those nations you will find no peace or place to rest. And the Lord will cause your heart to tremble, your eyesight to fail, and your soul to despair. 66 Your life will constantly hang in the balance. You will live night and day in fear, unsure if you will survive. 67 In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were night!’ And in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’ For you will be terrified by the awful horrors you see around you. 68 Then the Lord will send you back to Egypt in ships, to a destination I promised you would never see again. There you will offer to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves, but no one will buy you.”
-Deuteronomy 28:65–68
This particular passage is very interesting because it states that God would send the Jews “back to Egypt in ships.”
This is especially interesting because Israel and Egypt have always bordered each other so there is no need for ships to be used since they can simply walk the enslaved across the bordering countries. It is very possible this is a metaphor to point out a very unique bondage; there has never been a situation such as the trans-Atlantic slave trade where Europeans chose out an entire continent (Africa) for themselves to import a peoples they weren’t warring with so that they could build their empires for them (in the Americas and West Indies). These passages point to those that were taken to the Americas (new Egypt) on slave ships whose ports were on the coast of the West African Kingdom of Judah! Here are maps from the early 1800s:
As we can see, the Kingdom of Judah is now gone from the maps above as the slave trade finally began remission. Current estimates show that about 12 million slaves were shipped out from Africa but the actual number is presumably higher after factoring in the high death rate from disease, those warriors lost defending themselves and their towns in West Africa and those lost at sea, some estimating around 45 million slaves died. Whatever the actual number is was high enough to stagnate the entire population of the African continent until the end of the nineteenth century. If you look at a modern map of West Africa, you can still find the city of Ouidah (Judah in French) on the coast of Benin. There are also many forgotten journal writings from explorers in different parts of Africa where they ran into Jews or spoke of them in passing and documented their experiences:
-Sir Harry H Johnson: The Negro In the New World (1910)
Page 187, “Yahoodie, a place of great trade.”
“This place is reported to be inhabited by one of the lost tribes of Israel, possibly an emigration from the tribe of Judah. Yahooda, in African Arabic, signifies Judah. Yahoodee signifies Jew. It is not impossible, that many of the lost tribes of Israel may be found dispersed in the interior regions of Africa, when we shall become better acquainted with that Continent; it is certain, that some of the nations that possessed the country eastward of Palestine when the Israelites were a favoured nation, have emigrated to Africa.”
-El Hage Abd Salam Shabeeny collected and formatted by James Gray Jackson: An Account of Timbuctoo & Housa (1820)
These journals reveal a lot, one thing in particular that was especially incredible is the writings that speak of these Jews in passing, they knew that they were Jews in some instances above and still used them as slaves. How could a prominent slave port sit on the Slave Coast of Africa and them not realize it was sitting on the coast of the Kingdom of Judah? So many of these slave ships knowingly took Jewish (Hebrews) slaves into the Americas to be tortured, literally worked to death and worst of all, separated from each other and all the while many of their perpetrators claiming to be Christian. All those whose ancestors were taken on slave ships to be in the Americas and the West Indies were exiled Hebrews from the House of Judah. They were hiding in Africa among the Africans and were taken prisoners into this “new Egypt.” No wonder we are still murdered in the streets by law enforcement with no consequences from our judicial system, no wonder our communities are starved off financially and our schools are lacking in all aspects, no wonder our heritage and history is not taught in schools and we are forced to pass on what we know of ourselves via word of mouth from generation to generation. No wonder we are hated and despised and people are repulsed by us and yet ready to steal our very identity, ready to use us for their own greed and for their own entertainment! This is why they do not listen to us when we try and explain our experiences through our movies, through our music and arts; this is why our voices fall on deaf ears and this is why we are shushed even when we silently kneel in protest of our injustices. And yet as disgusted as people are with us, Yeshua honors us when He was born among us with His dark skin and woolly hair. YHWH brought His Son up from David’s line: the Lion of the tribe of Judah! To my Hebrew brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers, take heart and have courage, we are under the curses mentioned above because we were disobedient but they will not last forever:
5 Take courage, my people,
who perpetuate Israel’s name!
6 It was not for destruction
that you were sold to the nations,
but you were handed over to your enemies
because you angered God.
7 For you provoked the one who made you
by sacrificing to demons and not to God.
-Baruch 4:5–7
And then later in the same chapter:
21 Take courage, my children, cry to God,
and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemy.
22 For I have put my hope in the Everlasting to save you,
and joy has come to me from the Holy One,
because of the mercy that will soon come to you
from your everlasting savior.
-Baruch 4:21, 22
And here in Zephaniah, he calls specifically to those Hebrews beyond the African rivers:
9 At that time I will change the speech of the peoples
to a pure speech,
that all of them may call on the name of the Lord
and serve him with one accord.
10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia
my suppliants, my scattered ones,
shall bring my offering.
-Zephaniah 3:9, 10
We must turn to YHWH to save us through His son Yeshua, we must study the Jewish writings because they belong to us. I’ve looked into some DNA research but to be honest, we don’t even have to do that because we know that our ancient ancestors were dark skinned peoples (I’ve poured into this in my article The Unlearning of Jesus and some in The House of Israel), I’ve brought up the many scriptures of the dispersion of the Jews so we can easily tell that those living in Israel now are not the true lineage of the Hebrews. How could they be the true children of God when the Hebrews have been dispersed throughout the world?
11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones — all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ 12 Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the Lord. 14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the Lord has spoken!’”
-Ezekiel 37:11–14
And in the next verses, Ezekiel talks about the complete restoration of all Israel:
15 Again a message came to me from the Lord: 16 “Son of man, take a piece of wood and carve on it these words: ‘This represents Judah and its allied tribes.’ Then take another piece and carve these words on it: ‘This represents Ephraim and the northern tribes of Israel.’ 17 Now hold them together in your hand as if they were one piece of wood. 18 When your people ask you what your actions mean, 19 say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take Ephraim and the northern tribes and join them to Judah. I will make them one piece of wood in my hand.’
20 “Then hold out the pieces of wood you have inscribed, so the people can see them. 21 And give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: I will gather the people of Israel from among the nations. I will bring them home to their own land from the places where they have been scattered. 22 I will unify them into one nation on the mountains of Israel. One king will rule them all; no longer will they be divided into two nations or into two kingdoms.
-Ezekiel 37:15–22
So with this scripture, we understand that both Kingdoms (the House of Israel and the House of Judah) would be completely exiled until the end times. So who exactly are those that live in Israel now? It is a modern belief that all people that aren’t Jews are Gentiles but here Moses states in Genesis:
2 The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.
-Genesis 10:2–5
Here, we have Moses using the term Gentiles well before the Hebrews were considered Jews. How then could everyone else in the world be Gentiles before we even knew who the Jews would be? The term Jew doesn’t even come up in the Bible until 2 Kings so why is he speaking of the Gentiles already? Also, if the Gentiles means everyone else aside from Jews, why then did Moses only choose to use this term speaking of the sons of Japheth and not with the sons of Ham (who migrated into Africa and surrounding areas) later in the same chapter? Why even speak of Japheth’s descendant’s first and single them out before Shem who was older than Japheth? In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul was chosen by God and specifically sent out to the Gentiles so his journeys would also tell us where the Gentiles were located (Europe and Asia Minor).
Only those descendants through Japheth are Gentiles, those that colonized Europe, Asia minor and into North Asia (there is a map in the House of Israel article I wrote that shows this migration). This entire series is dedicated to the Hebrew diaspora meaning they would be pushed out of their own land so clearly they are no longer in that area, the House of Israel having migrated to the Americas early on and the House of Judah being exiled up to first century AD mainly into Africa and eventually brought into the Americas. Yeshua ended His prophecy (the one in the beginning of this article) with:
24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
-Luke 21:24
So if the descendants of Japheth were the Gentiles, it would explain the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans (Gentiles) in 70 AD and the takeover of the Romans at that time, bringing Yeshua’s prophecy to fulfillment! As anyone can see as they look at the events happening around the world, truly this is the time of the Gentiles we are living in. Yeshua states later in the same chapter speaking to the same people:
31 So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place.
-Luke 21:31, 32
So here we know that Jerusalem would be taken by the Gentiles and that it would happen soon, even in those people’s own lifetimes as He is clearly talking about events that will happen in the near future. The takeover of Judea/Judah in 70 AD by Roman Gentiles is within that time frame and many of those from that generation would have still been alive to see it.
The true Hebrews from the House of Judah were brought here into the Americas and West Indies from Africa on slave ships and have been suffering under Gentile oppression ever since and all the while, the House of Israel (Indigenous Americans) was right here suffering as well! They are the Hebrew children of the Northern Kingdom, we should be united together, we are Hebrew brothers and sisters that will one day be called back to Zion. We must continue to wake each other up to this truth, we are not just children of slaves and the children of the Native multitudes have an origin themselves; we are the Hebrew remnant, the dispersion of the 12 tribes of Israel. I end this article with this passage from the Apostle Paul, that Yeshua is salvation for everyone:
25 I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. 26 And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say,
“The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem,
and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness.
27 And this is my covenant with them,
that I will take away their sins.”
28 Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 29 For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. 30 Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you instead. 31 Now they are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you so that they, too, will share in God’s mercy. 32 For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone.
-Romans 11:25–32
Noteworthy: This series The (Scattered) Hebrews goes over the major dispersion of the Hebrews and where they may be located today, it is not intended to omit the Hebrew separated from these majorities (those still in parts of Africa, in the Arabian peninsula, some in Europe and elsewhere..). There are likely Hebrews on nearly all the continents and in many Islands.
Sources:
http://www.slavevoyages.org/resources/names-database
http://www.ukapologetics.net/09/AD70.htm
http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/03d/0265-0339,_Eusebius_Caesariensis,_Church_History,_EN.pdf
http://www.skeptically.org/oldtestament/id8.html
https://classicalwisdom.com/latin_books/the-annals-by-tacitus-xv/
https://www.yahspeople.com/70-ad.html
https://www.gatheringofchrist.org/twelve-tribes/southern-kingdom/
http://ministerfortson.com/true-identity-israel-eye-opening-journey/
http://www.blackhistoryinthebible.com/the-awakening/hiding-israel-how-the-hebrews-disappeared/
http://www.perfectman.org/judah-in-africa.html