(It is evident that the New Testament Apostles were aware of the Ten Lost Tribes - James and Paul, for example - so what's the rest of the story? - CL)
In his essay, “Heirs Of The Promise,” Sheldon Emry includes an interview with biblical archeologist, E. Raymond Capt, on what happened to the ten “lost” northern tribes of Israel, and who their descendants are today based on the fulfillment of prophecy.
Of course, most Christian ministers and priests will tell you that these peoples — numbering perhaps in the millions after the Assyrian captivity — were simply lost in the mists of time, absorbed into the surrounding peoples, such as the Persians and Medes.
But the 19th century excavations of ancient Nineveh — most notably by Austen Henry Layard — unearthered thousands of cuneiform tablets that revealed the identity of these Israelite captive tribes — along with their subsequent movements.
Capt’s work was later confirmed by Welsh archeologists, Alan Wilson and Baram Blackett whose work connects the Welsh people — Cymry/Cymru — with the ancient Khumry of the Assyrian captivity. Wilson and Blackett maintain that today’s Welsh language is the same language as the ancient Khumry.
Ironically, the Israelite tribes that have been lost in the mists of time are the three southern tribes of the captivity — Judah, Benjamin, and Levi — collectively known at “the Jews” in the New Testament. After the Roman destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD — and then the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 132 B.C. — these three tribes were indeed scattered to the wind.
While today’s “Jews” are wont to claim to be the legitimate descendants of Judah, nothing could be further from the truth. By their own admission, these so-called “Jews” stopped tracing their Israelite identity through the father around 200 AD — opting for matrilineal descent instead, in complete violation of Old Testament law.
Not only do their fathers not have to be Israelite, they can literally be any race or ethnicity as long as the mother is “hallachically” Jewish — which has resulted in today’s Jews being perhaps the most race mixed people on Earth — making Jewish identity virtually impossible to define outside of banal and superficial “traditions” — such as keeping “kosher” or lighting candles on Hanukkah.
So here we present the Emry’s interview with E. Raymond Capt, followed by Emry’s own commentary. Following this essay, you will find Capt’s short film What Happened To The 12 Tribes Of Israel.
“Heirs Of The Promise”
Emry: As a minister, I know there is an abundance of prophesy concerning the destiny of Israel, but there is no Bible history of this portion of Israel referred to in 2 Kings 17:6. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
So Bible history of this major part of Israel ends here — and yet the prophets and the New Testament promise an increase in numbers, great blessings, and an eventual restoration.
With the passing of 2,500 years since this Assyrian captivity, one might think that all hope of tracing these Israelites is lost. Ray, can archeology answer this question?
Capt: Yes, Pastor Emry, it has. During the last hundred years a number of archeological teams have been working in the Middle East. They have unearthed and published the original contemporary accounts of the Assyrians who took the Israelites captive. It is from these records that vital clues have come to light. In fact, these records are found in the form of cuneiform tablets — these tablets were found at Nineveh in 1900 and published in 1930. However, their relevance to Israel was overlooked then because they were found in complete disorder and amongst about 1,400 other texts.
The tablets were Assyrian frontier post reports, dated about 707 B.C.. They describe the activities of the people called “Gamira” who lived in the land of “Gamir.” The descriptions of Gamir described the area in which the Israelites had been placed just a few years earlier.
One tablet stated that when the king of Urartu came into the land of Gamir, his army was routed, as the Gamira counter-attacked, entered the land of Urartu, and killed their commanders.
Assyrian Captivities
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and settled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. (2 Kings 17:6)
The first archaeological evidence to establish a chronological link in the contacts between Assyria and Israel are found on inscriptions on the side of a limestone stele found at Nimrud, known as the “Black Obelisk.” The stone was inscribed with the records of Shalmaneser the third and an illustration of the Israelite king — Jehu — bringing tribute to the Assyrian king. An inscription above the illustration says,
“This is Jehu (Iaua), the son of Khumri (Omri).”
Omri in Hebrew begins with the consonant, “Agin” — formerly called “Gayin” which was pronounced with a guttural “H,” that is “Gh” or “Kh.” The Israelites would have naturally pronounced Omri as “Ghomri” — which became “Khumri” in Assyrian.
As this inscription was executed nearly a century before the captivity of Israel, we know now the reason secular historians found no mention of the exiled Israelites in ancient records — it was simply because the Assyrians who took the Israelites captive did not call them by that name.
Historians are now aware of the fact that the Gamira were the same people — who, about 30 years later, during the reign of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, again were called Gimira. (Notice the slight changes in spelling).
We find in another and later Assyrian tablet that in the second year of the reign of this same king — which would be about 679 B.C. — the Gimira, under a leader named “Teuspa,” sought freedom by moving north; but the Assyrain army pursued and defeated them in the upper Euphrates district. Nevertheless, they reported a large number of the lsraelites escaped to the shores of the Black Sea.
The Greeks also recorded the same activity including an invasion of Sardis, the capital of Lydia, in 645 B.C. In their records, they refer to the Gamira as “Kimmerioi,” which we translate into English as “Cimmerian.”
About 600 B.C., the Lydians drove the Gamira — or Cimmerians — out of Asia Minor, w here they settled in the Carpathian regions west of the Black Sea. We find them called in the second book of Esdras, the people of Ar-Sareth (2 Esdras 13:40-44).
We now also know what happened to the larger body of Gamira — or Israelites — that did not escape the Assyrians. They formed an alliance with Esarhaddon, the king, when he came under attack of the Medes and the Persians.
This treaty allowed the Israelites to establish colonies in Sacasene in the north and Bactria in the east. With absolutely no help from the Israelites, Assyria fell in 612 B.C.. Soon the Israelites themselves came under attack by the Medes.
Now those that had settled in Sacasene moved north through the Dariel Pass into the steppe regions of south Russia. There they became known by the Greek name, “Scythians.”
The Israelites that had settled in Bactria were forced north and east, and in the records of the Persians they were called “Massagetae” and “Sakka.”
Archeology has solved two of the greatest archeological problems — first, what happened to the hundreds of thousands of Israelites who disappeared south of the Caucasus? And second — what was the origin of the Cimmerians and the mysterious nomadic tribes known as “Scythians” who “suddenly” appeared north of the Caucasus – both at the same time in history? They were one and the same people — they were Israelites.
Now may I point out what the Bible has to say concerning these same people:
For behold, I am commanding, And I will shake the house of Israel among all nations As grain is shaken in a sieve, But not a kernel will fall to the ground. (Amos 9:9)
Our history books pick up the story at this point, recording the westward migrations of the Scythians as they came into collision with the Cimmerians, who had earlier settled west of the Black Sea. Their kinship lost over the centuries, the ensuing battles forced the Cimmerians west and north to become the Celts, Gauls, and Cimbri. By the end of the fourth century B.C., the Scythians had established themselves as the great and prosperous kingdom of Scythia.
Later, the Sarmatians, were a mixed, non- Israelitish people of Iranian origin. They in turn drove the Scythians northwest to the shores of the Baltic Sea. At this time in history, we find the Romans introduced the name “Germans” in place of the name Scythians, in order not to confuse the Scythians with the Sarmatians, who now occupied Scythia. Germanus — being the Latin name for “genuine” — indicates the Germans were the genuine Scythians.
During this time the Celts were expanding in all directions from central Europe. Some of the Celts invaded Italy and sacked Rome in 390 B.C. Another group moved back into Asia Minor, in 280 B.C., and the Greeks called them “Galatians,” as they did another group of Celts that had settled in Gaul, or modern France. This also indicates that Paul’s letters to the Galatians were written to his kinsmen Israelites — or at least descendants of the earlier Galatians.
Some of the Celts moved into Spain and became known as “Iberes,” the Gaelic name for “Hebrews.” Others poured into Britain to form the bedrock of the British race. Later, the Iberes moved into Ireland as “Scots” — and later into Northern Britain to establish the nation of Scotland.
Your history books also record the Germanic tribes breaking up into many divisions – the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Vikings to name just a few. Other Germanic tribes later poured into the lands vacated by the Celts and established the Gothic nations of the Vandals, Lombards, Franks, Burgundians, and others.
The so-called “lost tribes of Israel” — really — were never lost. They [merely] lost their identity as they migrated westward over the centuries from the land of their captivity.
(End of interview with Capt)
Pastor Emry: And there you have it, my friends. Mr. Capt has given us an answer to our question: “What happened to the millions of Israelites who were dispersed out of old Canaanland seven centuries before Christ, and who never returned?”
They migrated onto the continent of Europe and were the ancestors of the white, European race. And in answering our one question about Israel’s disappearance, Mr. Capt has given us the key to several other mysteries of world history.
Mr. Capt has revealed to us why it was these people of Europe who became the great nations, and who were blessed by God above all other nations, not only with fertile land and abundance from the seas, but with arts, science, literature, inventions, and discovery.
God bestowed upon that one race almost every invention and discovery that has improved man’s condition and lot upon the earth. Certainly God made these offspring of Abraham a blessing to all the families of the earth.
Mr. Capt has answered another question which is often asked of ministers, but seldom answered:
“Why, of all the people of the earth, has it been only this white Caucasian race, these so-called ‘Gentiles,’ who have claimed Jesus Christ as their God, and who have taken the Bible as the foundation of their religion?”
The answer — the truth which is avoided and even denied by the clergy is simple. These people are the Israelites — the children of Abraham — God’s chosen people. And that explains why every true gospel preacher and missionary for Jesus Christ for over 1,900 years has been of this one race. They are dispersed Israel, fulfilling Bible prophecy even while blindness in part is upon them — blindness of their own identity as the Chosen of God.
Biblical promises have become historical facts. In the Old Testament God had promised to regather divorced Israel unto Himself:
“My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. For thus saith the Lord God; Behold I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.” (Ezekiel 34:6,11).
Jesus made it plain — He was the instrument of Israel’s return to God:
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10).
“But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24).
The word “lost” appears 13 times in the New Testament in relation to Israel. The Greek word means “put away and punished.” So Jesus was saying in Matthew 15:24, “I am not sent but unto the put away and punished house of Israel.” In Matthew 10:6, Jesus instructed His disciples to go to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
In Luke 1; Zacharias, the priest (who was John the Baptist’s father) said that Jesus came to redeem His people and . . .
“To perform the mercy promised to our [Israel] fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham.” (Luke 1:72, 73).
Paul, an Israelite, wrote to Israelites in the dispersion in Galatia:
“When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law…” (Galatians 4:4, 5).
Only the Israelites had been under the law. Romans 15, verse 8 says:
“…Jesus Christ was a minister for the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.” (Romans 15:8).
These promises, as we have seen, were of great national development — a great increase in numbers, blessings of the earth and of the sea, that God would be their God, and they would be His people.
After the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His disciples carried the good news to dispersed Israel in Europe, beginning what we know as the Christian era. For 1500 more years, Israel remained in Europe, continuing to grow in numbers as God had promised their Fathers — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Then God began to give them inventions — one of which was the printing press — which made the Bible available to all of the people, bringing with it the Age of Enlightenment, the Reformation, and the Age of Discovery.
A new continent to the west — a New World — was discovered by Columbus and other explorers. Persecution of Christians in Europe began a migration to the New World, that began as a trickle and later became a flood.
2,5OO years before that — while Israel was still in Palestine — God had told King David in 2 Samuel 7:10:
“Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as before time.”
The prophet Isaiah and others who had written of Israel’s regathering made it plain Israel would be regathered into a new land as Christian believers. In Isaiah 11:12 we read,
“And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”
Verses one through ten identify that “Ensign” as Jesus Christ — and verse 14 indicates their regathering would be toward the west.
“But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west.”
Psalm 72 and Zechariah 9 describe that land of Israel’s regathering as a land between two seas — and one that would run to the ends of the earth.
In Hosea 2:14, God had prophesied to cast-off Israel,
“Behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.”
Our pilgrim fathers, who were Christian Israelites from Europe and knew God’s promises, called this North American continent “The Wilderness” and “New Canaanland.” They said they had come hither to establish the Kingdom of God.
God turned Israel from Antichrists in Europe, and God took them one of a city and two of a family, and He brought them to Zion:
“Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” (Jeremiah 3:14, 15).
He gave them Christian pastors who fed them with knowledge and understanding. In the early histories, they called themselves “this wandering race of Jacobites, — “a vine out of Egypt” — and “the seed of Abraham.” They named their children with Israel names — and God blessed them above their fathers in Europe.
America is that new land — New Israel. America is the nation born in a day on July 4, 1776, exactly the prophesied 2520 years after Israel had gone into the Assyrian captivity. In America, God made a little one, a thousand, and a small, a strong nation:
“A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.” (Isaiah 60:22).
It is here that is fulfilled the promise to Joseph — “blessed of the Lord be his land . . .” (Deuteronomy 33:13). It is in America that the wilderness and the solitary place was glad for them — and the desert has rejoiced and blossomed as the rose (Isaiah 35:1). It is in the North American wilderness that waters have broken out, and streams in the desert (Isaiah 35:6). America is “Hepzibah” and “Beulah land” (Isaiah 62:4); America truly is God’s Country.
The heathen look at America and say, “Certainly they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.” (Isaiah 49:6). America is the nation from which the light of God’s Word has gone to the ends of the earth. (Isaiah 49:6).
You who are descendants of the people we have traced in the Bible and in history are Israelites, heirs according to the promise, and the Bible is about you and your race. Do not take what you have read lightly. True to His promise to our fathers — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — the God of Israel has redeemed us with His own blood. He has kept His Word to our fathers. He will most certainly keep His promise with us — their children — of the Kingdom of Christ upon the earth.
I believe the time has come when God is casting down all lies, exposing the false prophets, and revealing the Truth to His Israel people. The key to understanding the Bible is the truth that we are Israelites — redeemed by Jesus Christ — heirs of the promise — Abraham’s children.
Today the great Israel nation of America is surrounded and invaded by the socialist-Humanist Antichrist forces. The wicked of the earth, who are the enemies of Jesus Christ, have grown strong and arrogant in our land. They have infiltrated our schools, the news media, even churches and government in their attempt to keep you in ignorance of your identity as Israelites. They are attempting to steal your heritage that they may conquer America and take rule over the whole earth.
But God Almighty has decreed the destruction of those who hate Jesus Christ and His true Israel People. In a last battle they shall be defeated — we shall be delivered — and the earth will be prepared for the return of Jesus Christ and the great Kingdom Age. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Video: What Happened To The 12 Tribes Of Israel by E. Raymond Capt: