What happened to the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel? (Part-2)

Posted on March 20, 2008
Filed Under Ancient History, Ephraim (Multitude of Nations), House of Joseph (Joes), Know Thyself

First read: What happened to the lost tribes of Israel? Part 1

In Steven M. Collin’s Lost Tribes of Israel book series, he describes many of the locations which were settled by the Ten Tribes of Israel prior to, during, and after the Assyrian invasions of the Northern Kingdom. In an article on his website where he connects the Scythians to Israelites, he shows yet another possible location for which the House of Joseph (10-Israel) settled:

While it is this author’s belief that groups of migrating Israelites went to a number of diverse locations, the Bible does give us evidence that most of the exiled Israelites migrated generally to the north and east of the old Promised Land. II Kings 15:29 states that the Gileadite tribes and the tribe of Naphtali were “carried…captive to Assyria.” The Assyrian Empire was located to the east of the kingdom of Israel, so these tribes were carried eastward into Asia. When the inhabitants of Samaria were carried captive, II Kings 17:6 states they were transplanted to the regions of Halah, Habor and the cities of the Medes. Media was long identified with the region south of the Caspian Sea, which was in a somewhat northeastern direction from Samaria, but it was still mostly eastward. The apocryphal book of II Esdras (13:39-46) records that many members of the ten tribes escaped from the Assyrians and migrated independently to a land called “Arzareth.” Secular evidence indicates that this was in the region of the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains.

Lets read and confirm what II Esdras 13 says:

[39] And whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable multitude unto him;
[40] Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land.
[41] But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt,
[42] That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land.
[43] And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow places of the river.
[44] For the most High then shewed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over.
[45] For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half: and the same region is called Arsareth.
[46] Then dwelt they there until the latter time; and now when they shall begin to come,
[47] The Highest shall stay the springs of the stream again, that they may go through: therefore sawest thou the multitude with peace.
[48] But those that be left behind of thy people are they that are found within my borders.
[49] Now when he destroyeth the multitude of the nations that are gathered together, he shall defend his people that remain.
[50] And then shall he shew them great wonders.

There is much debate regarding “where Arzareth is”. My first question after reading this passage was this: Would it take a year and a half to migrate from Israel to a land now known as the Ukraine (ancient Scythia as it was known to the Greeks)? In my mind at first, it was a bit doubtful, even with a large multitude. Japan, Siberia, and/or the Americas (via Beringia) is still more compelling as a possible distance requiring a year and a half’s journey, but as a semi-comparison, it took about 5 months for the Jews (Judah) to return from Babylon to the Land of Israel (Ezra 7:8-9). It does take time to migrate with large populations in harsh conditions, and the Ukraine is quite a distance to travel on foot with women, children, and livestock.

Even so, Native American men are largely made up of Haplogroup Q and there is strong evidence that Hg. R and Hg. Q (brother haplogroups) made up the male population of Scythian-Saka-related peoples. Hg. Q most certainly dwelt in Scythian-Saka territory prior to moving into the Americas. I myself am Hg. Q1*, but my ancestors came to America much latter via Europe, not Siberia.

Whether or not II Esdras is an accurate or partially accurate telling of where many Israelites migrated to, it isn’t known with any real certainty. The book wasn’t included in the canon of scripture, but that doesn’t mean it is void of truth or some semblance of truth and/or a prophetic reality, especially when compared with other evidence. And also, is the English translation of II Esdras itself an accurate translation and representation of the original?

Regardless, what is most intriguing to me is how Esdras portrays this particular body of Israelites. They decided to leave the “multitude of heathen” …or in other words: they left the wicked, pagan multitude… which actually could have been the wicked, pagan multitude of the rest of Israel (which is why they were scattered and deported in the first place). So… a body of Israelites may indeed have left the larger body of Israel. That wouldn’t have been the first time. But continuing with the idea that a righteous group of Israelites left a multitude of heathen for a country never inhabited leads me personally to think of “the Americas”. Yet, lets ask something else: is there any archaeological evidence in the Americas that a Hebrew speaking people desired and walked in some form of Mosaic “righteousness”? Well… YES!!! There is such evidence. If you’ve never read about the Paleo-Hebrew Los Lunas Inscription of the Ten Commandments found in New Mexico, please check it out here: Los Lunas Inscriptions.

Collins continues:

A Medieval Jewish historian named Eldad is cited as the source of a report that at the time of the fall of Samaria, the ten tribes of Israel “evaded the calamity, going off with their flocks, and turning nomads, and that the chief…whom they appointed could muster 120,000 horse and 100,000 foot.” To be escorted by 220,000 soldiers, the main body of escaping Israelites must have numbered well over a million people. The Black Sea region to which they are reputed to have escaped is almost straight north of the old kingdom of Israel. The Bible has an account which indicates that Eldad’s report is factual. In Jeremiah 3, God sent a message of reconciliation to the ten tribes of Israel even as he proclaimed that the end of the kingdom of Judah was near. These messages to Israel and Judah were given approximately a century after the ten tribes went into exile. It is most noteworthy that God told Jeremiah that the message to the ten tribes (i.e. “Israel”) should be sent to the north. God knew where the ten tribes were a century after their exile and he told Jeremiah that they lived “to the north” of Jeremiah’s location in Jerusalem. Draw a line northward from Jerusalem and you will come to the Black Sea region, exactly where ancient sources place a large body of migrating Israelites. The people living in that region were known as “Scythian” or “Sacae” tribes. Were these the Israelite tribes?

I do agree with Collins that the Scythian-Saka population was Israelite-ish. Yet, I’m just not completely convinced that the modern Ukrainian region is what was once called “Arsareth”, but for now, all we can really provide is speculation.

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