One of the biggest mysteries of the Bible, is what on earth happened to the 10 Lost Tribes? Where did they go? Why can’t we find them? Did they just disappear and vanish never to be seen again. Well modern archeology and history can tell you all about the ancient civilizations and even those that existed around the lost tribes.
When translating the Old Testament scriptures, there are generally two primary sources, those being the Masoretic Hebrew texts and the Greek Septuagint texts. What would shock most people is the Hebrew texts are only about thousands years old, whilst the Greek manuscripts and even the Latin vulgate translations of the Old Testament are far older than the Hebrew Masoretic. This creates a strange predicament. Which of these are more reliable, the manuscripts written in Hebrew or the far older ones in Greek? Furthermore have there been any deliberate corruptions of these texts, or the translations to alter our Bible? But first we should explain how we ended up with ancient manuscripts in different languages.
Throughout the Bible we frequently see the terms house, nation and family used in relation to the children of Israel. It never changes, even in the New Testament it does not come believers or a spiritual Israel as denominational churches will insist. Christ himself explicitly stated: “I come only for the Lost Sheep of the house of Israel.” Note here that a house is referring to a family. Therefore if Christ had only come for the family of Israel, every over statement he made throughout his ministry must line up, be consistent and interpreted through this statement. When Christs says “Anyone” or “All who believe” it must be within the scope of the family of Israel. In other words any from the children of Israel who believe. If not Christ’s would be contradicting himself as he would have come for other people besides only the house of Israel. Few people consider these implications. Of course Paul quoting Isaiah, in Romans explains that: “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” Ultimately every Israelite in this life or the next, they will bow and they will believe in Christ in the end.
The Europeans are the Israelites as we see in the Great Multitude of Revelation, the Song of Moses, Paul’s Mission to the Lost Tribes, The Strangers to the Covenant, Christ’s Ministry of Reconciliation and much more.
William Dampier, An adventurous Buccaneer who started his early career in the Americas, was a member of the crew who were the first British Explorers known to land on Terra incognita Australis. Prior to Dampier the Portugese, Spanish and Dutch had touched foot on Australia. While these other earlier European expeditions were seldom game to venture inland for curiosity’s sake, Dampier took it a step further by more thoroughly exploring and detailing Australia’s interior, illustrating and corresponding of its vast array of new and unique flora and fauna. His published material of his exploration into this strange new alien land was a hit back in England, despite its noted crude drawings. Through him we can see his first thoughts on the land and the people who inhabited Australia.
The Israelites were prophesied to get stronger and more powerful the further away they traveled from the land of Canaan. Meaning the new Nations they would build, would become even greater than the previous kingdom of Israel, which was at it’s height during Kind David and Solomon’s time. After the Assyrian deportations, the Greeks under Alexander formed a greater Empire than the former kingdom of Israel. Then later, the Roman Empire became even mightier than Alexander’s Empire. Later the European Nations which formed from the Germanic tribes, all had their turns in becoming great colonial Empires, which stretched across the entire world. Such as the Portuguese, Spanish, French and Dutch Empires. Then Britain a small island, came to grow and exceed all previous Empires. Finally America became the most powerful Empire ever to exist, generally referred to as a “super power,” as it dominated the entire world. If we read the prophecies this is exactly what we would expect to happen to the children of Israel dispersing and forming new nations getting stronger and stronger, the further they traveled. No other race of people has fulfilled this, neither have they formed great powerful nations. Obviously the Europeans are the people of the Bible.
Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet, gives a bleak picture of the Levitical Priesthood during his time, five hundred years before Christ. The priesthood had corrupted itself through race-mixing with the surrounding peoples. Prior to Malachi, the prophets Nehemiah and Ezra had already tried to stop race-mixing. Nehemiah had read the law and commanded both priests and people to cast off their mixed-race wives and families: “On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God…When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.”
Throughout the Gospels, Christ used many allegories and metaphors to describe and distinguish His people from the infiltrators and devils that He warned us to beware of. In virtually all these teachings, everything good and positive is associated with something white, golden, or shining bright or brassy. Everything bad, negative, and evil is associated with blackness or darkness. For example, He refers to His people allegorically as “the salt (which is white or light colored) of the earth,” “the light of the world,” and “being white for harvest.” He uses comparisons such as “sheep and goats” and “wheat and tares.” The sheep and the wheat are generally white or gold, but nevertheless, they can be difficult to distinguish from the goats and the tares (the infiltrators) which can also be light-colored. Furthermore, the kingdom of heaven was likened to leaven hidden in flour. Lastly, the angel at the tomb of Christ whose “countenance was like lightning” and “raiment white as snow” must have been white. Angels throughout scripture are indistinguishable from men, thus the men of Judea must have been white as well.
There have been many thousands of Mesopotamian inscriptions which have been discovered since the expansion of the British Empire helped to open the Near East to European archaeologists in the 19th century. While not all of them have even yet been deciphered, translations of thousands of such inscriptions have been made, and many volumes of those translations have been published. One significant publication is the Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (ANET), edited by James B. Pritchard and published by Princeton University Press.
The earliest Greek writers describe the Hellenes (Greeks) as four distinct tribes, each with their own Greek dialects and subdialects: the Ionians, Aeolians, Danaans, and Dorians. Later Greek tribes came from these four. The Ionians were Javan, from Japheth, whilst the other three were Israelites. Most likely, the Aeolians came from the Israelite Phoenicians (which we’ll cover in the next Proof).
Diodorus Siculus, the first-century BC Greek historian, gave an account of the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt but from the Egyptian point of view: “The aliens [Israelites] were driven from the country [Egypt], and the most outstanding and active among them banded together and, as some say, were cast ashore in Greece and certain other regions; their leaders were notable men, chief among them being Danaus and Cadmus. But the greater number were driven into what is now called Judaea…The colony was headed by a man called Moses, outstanding both for his wisdom and for his courage” (Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 40.3.1-3).