Freedom Domain
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.......British Israelism
- an expose
*David M. Williams*
OVERVIEW
Anglo-Israelism (also known as British Israelism) is the unscriptural
theory that Britain and the United States constitutes the 10 lost tribes of
Israel who were carried away as captives by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. It
is held by the advocates of this view that the Kingdom of Israel (consisting
of ten tribes after their separation from the two tribes of Judah and
Benjamin in the days of Rehoboam - I Kings 12:21) never returned to Israel
after Assyrian captivity as did Judah and Benjamin after their 70 years'
captivity in Babylon.
The ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) are "lost" after their
capture by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. Through intermarriage with other
nations, their unique national identity is "lost",
Great Britian and the USA are believed to be the Anglo-Saxon ancestors of
the tribes Ephraim and Manasseh (predominantly), so it may be inferred by
British-Israelism that white, English speaking people are really the chosen
people of God.
It is also believed that the Jews who were living in Israel at the time
of Christ are now under a curse for rejecting the Messiah. The Israelites
(the lost 10 tribes) now become the inheritors of God's promises. Ephraim
and Manasseh (the two sons of Joseph) are the major inheritors of the title
"Israelites" along with the other eight tribes whose descendants are spread
in other parts of the world. Because of this dispersal, it is believed that
the Queen of England now sits on the throne of David.
This theory was first put forward around the year 1519.
Some of the main features of this theory are :-
1. The period of "political instability" caused when the Babylonians
conquered Assyria around 650 B.C., allowed the 10 tribes to escape to the
north and east.
2. They fled past the Black Sea, the Carpathian Mts. into Russia,
Scandinavia, Prussia, Germany and then to Great Britain.
3. After the Babylonian captivity, only Judah and Benjamin returned to
Israel. This created a "problem" to British Israelism theology in that
the royal line had to come from the tribe of Judah (which returned to the
south after the Babylonian captivity). Royalty was said to have been
nrought to the ten tribes by the following sequence of events :
4. "The kingly line of Judah (Genesis 49:10) reached Britain when a
daughter of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah before the fall of Jerusalem,
arrived with Jeremiah in 569 B.C. This princess, Tea-Tephi, married the
king of Ireland, who also happened to be a descendant of Judah through
Zarah, Judah's younger son (Genesis 38:30), and so both branches of the
kingly line were established as the Royal House of Ireland. This kingdom
was transferred to Scotland and then to England with James I (James VI of
Scotland) in 1603. Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britian, therefore is a
direct descendant of King David and recipient of his throne." (D. Olinger,
_British Israelism_, Bob Jones University Press)
5. "Jeremiah also brought with him in 569 B.C. the liafail, or Jacob's
pillow-stone (Genesis 28:18) which had been used as the coronation stone of
the kings of Judah (II Kings 11:14 - "pillar"). This stone now rests in
the royal coronation chair of Great Britain in Westminster Abbey. All kings
and queens of Great Britain are crowned while sitting on this chair."
(D. Olinger)
6. The transfer of the kingdom from James VI of Scotland/James I England
(who was of the house of Tudor) to the present queen (Elizabeth II) who is
of the house of Windsor, was achieved through a distant relative, the king
of Bohemia, and then back through George I into the house of Windsor. This,
British Israelists say, completes the lineage back to King David.
7. The eventual emigration to America was said to have occurred with the
pilgrims on the Mayflower.
Because the Northern and Southern tribes are believed to have separated,
there is therefore a great emphasis placed on the distinction that British
Israelists say exists between the use of the terms "Israel" and "Judah".
Herbert W. Armstrong states :
we want to impress here that Israel and Judah are not two names for
the same nation. They were and still are, and shall be until the
Second Coming of Christ, two separate nations. The House of Judah
always means Jews. This distinction is vital if we are to understand
prophecy. Because most so-called Bible students are ignorant of this
basic distinction they are unable to rightly understand prophecy! The
next place where the term "Jew" is mentioned in the Bible, the House of
Israel had been drawn out in captivity, lost from view, and the term
only applies to those of the House of Judah. There are no exceptions
in the Bible.
Now, once an unscriptural perspective has been taken, the next step is to
find a scripture which will support that doctrine. The key verses for
British Israelism is II Kings 17:18-23 - "Therefore the Lord was angry with
Israel and removed them out of His sight, there was none left but the tribe
of Judah only." Here "out of His sight" is interpreted as "disappeared
into oblivion". "There was none left but the tribe of Judah only" is
interpreted as "the descendants of Judah are the only tribes in
existence today."
EVIDENCE FOR THE MIGRATION OF ISRAEL TO THE NORTH AND EAST
Geographical Names.
There are many names of towns in Europe which have names similar in sound
to the "lost" tribes, e.g. Danube, Dneister, Don, Dneiper, Denmark, Danzig
are claimed to be possible towns through which the tribe of Dan passed.
However, by this piece of evidence, it could be suggested that Dan also
went through Vietnam - Danang, DienBien Phu, Don Duong and so forth.
Abraham's Name.
Abraham's name was to be called "Great" (Gensis 12:2). British
Israelists believe this is why the name "Great Britain" arose.
The White Cliffs.
In Isaiah 66:19 the word "Tarshish" means "white border". This is taken
as referring to the White Cliffs of Dover.
The Dream.
The apocyryphal book of II Esdras describes a dream in chapter 13 in which
there is a miraculous parting of the Euphrates river into Armenia where the
10 tribes seemingly remain. However this evidence must be disregarded as
Josephus records in Antiquities XI v2 that the ten tribes of the captivity
were still in Mesopotamia in the first century AD after Esdras was
written, and 750 years after British Israelists claim that they had left for
the north and the east.
The Union Jack.
The Union Jack is claimed to be an abbreviation for "union of Jacob".
The Oxford English Dictionary states that the Union Jack was so named because
of its size - apparantly "jack" was the word used to denote anything small.
Isaac = Saxon and British = Men of the Covenant
By removing the letter "I" from Isaac, Herbert Armstrong derives the word
"saac" which combines with the word "son" to form "Saxon", i.e. "British".
His logic is that "I" should be removed as the Hebrews omitted the vowels
in their writing. This of course, should also require the "a"'s to be
removed. The name "Isaac" is in reality anyway a latinsed form of the
Hebrew name "Yitschak" (as in the late Yitschak Rabin), which would be
significantly more difficult for Armstrong to twist.
"Berith" is Hebrew for the word "Covenant" while "Ish" is Hebrew for "man".
If you join the two, British Israelists claim you obtain the word "British"
which means "men of the Covenant". There is, however, no significant
relationship between Hebrew and English.
Herodatus.
A vital piece of information can be seen from the historical records of
Herodatus. He claims that a fair-haired, fair-skinned people settled on
the shores of the Black Sea (there is, however, no evidence to connect the
ten dark-haired, olive-skinned tribes with those recorded by Herodatus).
There is absolutely no connection between the ten tribes in Mesopotamia and
the tribes around the Black Sea.
EVIDENCE AGAINST THE MIGRATION TO THE NORTH AND EAST
The Stone of Scone.
British Israelists make the claim that the stone under the coronation
chair is the stone that the builders rejected. God strictly forbade the
use of hewn stones in altars (Exodus 20:25). This stone was probably
not the coronation altar of the Old Testament kings.
Secondly, however, Professor A.C. Ramsey of the Geology Department of
London University inspected the stone and identified it as red sandstone,
probably of Scottish origin. The nearest red sandstone to Bethel, where
Jacob found his stone is in Petra, nearly one hundred miles to the south;
the stone around Bethel where Jacob slept is white limestone.
Israel = Jews = Hebrews
From Genesis chapters 1 to 11, God is working on a whole world basis. In
Genesis 12 God begins to work through a man named Abram (later Abraham).
The term "Hebrew" was first applied to Abraham and could also be applied
to all of his physical descendants (Genesis 14:13).
The term "Israel" was introduced in connection with Abraham's grandson,
Jacob (Genesis 32:28).
A third term "Judah" was used in relation to one of Jacob's sons (Genesis
29:35) - Judah was still part of "Israel" - Genesis 49:28 - "All these are
the twelve tribes of Israel."
The term "Jew" was derived from the name of Judah and was first used in
II Kings 16:6.
A member of the tribe of Judah was called a "Jew", and as a descendant of
Jacob he was also called an "Israelite"; and as a descendant of Abraham he
was also called a "Hebrew". All of these terms were applied to the apostle
Paul (Philippians 3:5; Acts 21:39; 22:3; II Corinthians 11:22).
The division of Solomon's Kingdom made it common to use the name "Israel"
in referring to the ten Northern Tribes and to use the name "Judah" in
referring to the two Southern tribes.
EVIDENCE AGAINST THE MIGRATION TO BRITAIN
The Assyrians deported the majority of the captured people of the Northern
Kingdom and mixed the remainder with five other nations (Babylon, Ava,
Hamath, Sepharvain and Cuthah). It was a military tactic for subduing the
conquered people. It was this mixture of the nations that made the
full-blooded Jews avoid dealings with the Samaritans.
Some authors take the position that since the word "tribe" (shebet) is
also translated "sceptre" in several passages (e.g. Genesis 49:10) it may
refer to the ruling class, or the leadership, rather than the entire
population. This theory may be supported by the fact that Sargon II himself
claimed to deport only 27,290 people. Sargon's inscription describing the
deportation has been found at Khorsabad in modern-day Iraq (see James B.
Pritchard, _Ancient Near Eastern Texts_, 1950 ed., p.284-5).
This means that not all of the ten tribes were taken into captivity by the
Assyrians but rather that some remained who were never "lost".
SPECIAL FEATURES ABOURT THE DISPERSAL OF THE JEWS
a) They were scattered among the nations, however they have always managed
to keep their unique national identity. Numbers 23:9 (not reckoning itself
among the nations) and Hosea 8:4-8 speaks specifically of Israel, the
Northern Kingdom.
b) Compared with the populations of other countries, they are relatively few
in number (Deuteronomy 4:27). Their population can certainly not be
compared with the 4-6 hundred million of the British Isles/USA. There is
no more heterogeneous nation in the world than that of the United States.
Or did the "Ephraimites" (Englishmen) become "Manassites" merely by crossing
the ocean in the Mayflower?
c) Did the dispersal of the "ten lost tribes" disorient them enough to
start writing from left to right instead of right to left as was done for
centuries?
THE KEY VERSE EXPLAINED
In the Palestinian Covenant there is a very special place for the Hebrews.
To be out of His sight, indicates removal from _Palestine_ (Israel), i.e.
to be relocated or dispersed. The strict keeping of genealogical records by
the Hebrews would also prevent them from being "lost" and tends to indicate
that they were a tightly knit community which did not mix with the Gentiles.
DID THEY REALLY ESCAPE?
When Babylon conquered Assyria, the slaves did not escape but rather had
a change of masters. This may seem too simplistic a solution but there is
much evidence for it in the numbers of the ten tribes that returned to
Israel.
SPIRITUAL REFUGEES
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell of those who returned to Jerusalem,
and the book of Esther tells of those who remained at Babylon.
If the tribes have really been lost then all further records of their
existance would not be available. It will therefore be necessary to examine
what happened prior to the captivity by Assyria and Babylon in order to see
who returned from these captivities.
The following scriptures give direct evidence that the Southern Kingdom of
Judah was in fact a mixture of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (about which
all agree) and the other ten tribes (which were religious "refugees" from
the Northern Kingdom) :
II Chronicles 11:13-17 - spitual refugees from the North
II Chronicles 15:9 - 913-872 B.C. during the reign of Asa
These scriptures show that many from _all Israel_ left the Northern Kingdom
a long time before the Assyrian captivity. Therefore the Southern Kingdom
now was occupied by all twelve tribes. Members from these twelve tribes
returned after the Babylonian captivity to Israel and were never "lost".
Other scriptures include II Chronicles 17:2; 24:5; 30:1-7, 11, 18, 25;
31:1, 2, 6; 34:1-9; II Kings 25:6-12.
Which tribes did return from the captivity to build the temple, the walls,
and the city itself? Ezra refers to God's regathered people as Israelites
40 times and as Jews 8 times. Nehemiah refers to God's regathered people as
Israelites 22 times and as Jews 11 times. Apart from this, the term "all
Israel" is used in Ezra 2:70; 6:17; 8:25, 35; 10:5 and in Nehemiah 7:73;
12:47.
It is therefore evident that the terms "Jew" and "Israel" are
interchangeable. If Jesus Christ is only "King of the Jews" (the tribe of
Judah only) in Matthew 27:37, then He is not the one that is the Messiah.
The Messiah needs to be "King of Israel" (the twelve tribes) - Matthew 27:42.
SPECIFIC SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCE OF THE RETURN OF THE TRIBES
The following are just some of the many verses possible :
Ezra 2:5 Arah from the tribe of Asher - I Chronicles 7:39, 40
2:10 Bani from the tribe of Gad - Nehemiah 7:15
2:21 Bethlehem from the tribe of Zebulum - Joshua 19:15-16
2:26 Ramah from the tribe of Nephtala - Joshua 19:32-39
2:29 Nebo from the tribe of Reuben - I Chronicles 5:1-8
Luke 2:36 Asher in the Lord
Acts 26:6-7 The twelve tribes
James 1:1 The twelve tribes
I Peter 1:1 The twelve tribes
Revelation 7:4-8 Jews sealed in the middle of the seven years of
great tribulation. Dan is replaced by Levi, but Dan
does reappear during the millenial reign of Christ
Romans 11:26 All Israel will be saved, as it is written.
All Israel (not just Judah as British-Israelism contends) is temporarily
set aside until the "fullness of the Gentiles come in" according to
Romans 11:25-27.
BRITISH ISRAELISM DISTORTS PROPHECY
Adherents of British Israelism appear to have a propensity for date-setting.
Lt. Col. W.G. MacKendrick in his book, "The destiny of the British Empire and
the USA (1921), dated Armageddon from 1928 to 1936. He further states that
the US should seek help from Japan in the battle, since the Japanese, too,
are Israelites (as "samurai" sounds like "Samaria") (D. Olinger).
Literally scores of prophecies and promises would have to be ignored or
"spiritualised" in order to "make them fit" the British-Israel scheme
of things, for example, Deuteronomy 4:27-31; Amos 9:11-15; Hosea 1:10-11;
2:14-23; 3:4-5; Isaiah 2:1-4; 14:1-3; Ezekiel 20:33-44; 34:11-31; 34:40-48;
Micah 4:1-7; 7:9-20; Zechariah 2:4-13; 3:1-10; 8:1-23; 8:12-14.
The first 69 "weeks" of Daniel's vision (Daniel 9) applies specifically to
the nation of Israel. The seventieth week likewise is specifically for the
Israelites. Much of God's dealings with these people will be distorted if
one is not even looking at the proper nation to whom the promises apply !
ONE KINGDOM, ONE KING
In Ezekiel 37:15-28 God promises that He will unite all twelve tribes in
the last days as part of His Covenant of Peace with them. This prophecy
would be difficult to bring to pass if the populations of Great Britain,
America, etc. needed to fit in the area from the River Nile to the Euphrates.
CONCLUSION
British Israelism is an erroneous teaching. However, its main danger is
the plethora of consequences it has. To hold to British-Israelism means that
one not only ignores factual history, but has to interpret significant
portions of the Bible in a new "spiritualised" (i.e. allegorical) manner.
It leads one to a false understanding of God's purposes for Israel and the
Jewish people, and causes one to distort significant prophetical passages in
the Bible.
I Timothy 1:4 " ... take no heed to fables and endless genealogies, which
minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in the faith".
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*David M. Williams*