Part One
The History
Chapter One

EXILE BY SEA

The Beginning

    The People of Israel descend from the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was renamed “Israel”. There were twelve sons of Israel who became the forefathers of Twelve Tribes. The Tribe of Joseph was split in two and is usually counted as two separate tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. Joseph and after Joseph, Ephraim, was given the right of the first-born whereas the leadership was to come from Judah (1-Chronicles 5:1). Israel and his twelve sons descended into Egypt where their descendants were enslaved. Under Moses the Israelites came out of Egypt. They entered the promised Land of Canaan and conquered it. King David, from the Tribe of Judah, established the capital at Jerusalem within which his son Solomon built the Temple. In the reign of King Rehoboam, son of Solomon, ten of the northern most tribes seceded and formed their own kingdom (1-Kings 12: 20-23), which was referred to as “Israel“ (e.g. Hosea 5: 5). The remaining tribes (Judah, Benjamin, and Levi) who remained faithful to the House of David were called collectively “Judah”. From inhabitants of the Kingdom of “Judah” are descended the modern Jews, though many individuals from the northern seceding tribes also made their way south (e.g. 2-Chronicles 15: 9). In the course of time, these too became part of the Jewish nation. The two kingdoms continued to exist side by side for around two hundred years. At times they co-operated and on other occasions they were hostile to each other. Eventually the Assyrians conquered the northern realm and exiled all of its inhabitants. They disappeared as a recognized Hebraic entity. They are known  as the “Lost Ten Tribes of Israel”. The Israelites before their exile had been quite numerous. They had been at times a powerful nation, highly civilized, prosperous, and self-assertive. When they were exiled they were not scattered and dispersed but rather re-settled in several definite locations. We can trace these people through Scripture, history, archaeology, and related studies and this is what we have done. Our findings concerning the identity of the Israelite Tribes correspond with what was prophesied about them in the Bible. Scripture, as we will show, says that a determining element amongst western nations, especially those of North America, and Britain and British offshoots, are of Israelite descent. This is what the Bible says. How Israelites got to these areas is explained below.

Places of Exile
     The original Twelve Tribes of Israel had split into two kingdoms. Two tribes comprising “Judah” were in the south. The ten tribes of “Israel” were in the north. The Ten Northern Tribes were entirely taken away by the Assyrians to places in Northern Mesopotamia, to the Caucasus area and to Eastern Iran.The Bible says that:
<<THE KING OF ASSYRIA TOOK SAMARIA, AND CARRIED ISRAEL AWAY INTO ASSYRIA, AND PLACED THEM IN HALA, AND IN HABOR, AND IN THE CITIES OF THE MEDES>> (2-Kings 17:6).

 The Bible also mentions “Hara” (1-Chronicles 5: 26) in Eastern Iran as a place of exile. The Talmud and archaeological findings enable the identification of these places of re-settlement. Shortly after the exile and re-settlement every one of the said places became a center for a group of peoples who then appeared for the first time. They are known to history as the Cimmerians, Scythians, and Guti or Goths. All these entities were (at least in part) comprised from the Lost Ten Tribes! In addition to places mentioned as places of exile (such as Halah, Habor, the River Gozan, Cities of the Medes, and Hara) Talmudical sources also recall the Snowy Mountains (Sanhedrin 94a), Caspii (Kiddushin 72a), Mountains of Darkness (Numbers Rabah 16:15), Har-Mannae (Targum Yehonatan on Amos 4:3), Sambation (Numbers Rabah 16:15), Afrikey (Sanhedrin 94a), etc. The said names often prove to be alternative appellations for the same or adjacent locations.

Exile by Sea
Isaiah also spoke about the Exile.
<<BUT THERE WILL BE NO GLOOM FOR HER THAT WAS IN ANGUISH. IN THE FORMER TIME HE BROUGHT INTO CONTEMPT THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BUT IN THE LATTER TIME HE WILL MAKE GLORIOUS THE WAY OF THE SEA, THE LAND BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE NATIONS>> [Isaiah 9:1] .                      
The above translation is that of the King James Version. It is one possible rendition of the Hebrew original which however was also understood by Rabbinical Commentators to say something like the following:
<<For the oppression will not be lightened; It will be more burdensome than the relatively light (easier) exile that the Land of Zebulon and the Land of Naphtali experienced. The last exile was [or WILL BE] more burdensome [IT WILL BE?] by way of the sea, across the Jordan, the highlands of the nations.>>

    However the verse is to be understood, it is agreed that it involves a comparison of the different stages of exile and comes to teach us something about them. It mentions a stage of exile as being “by way of the sea”.

    In addition to exile by land there was also an enforced maritime transportation: Amos (4:3) refers to the “cows of Bashan” “in the mountain of Samaria” (Amos 4:1) many of whom will be taken away in sailing vessels and the rest shall be cast “into the palace” . “Into the palace” has been translated from the Hebrew word “Harmona” which is also translatable as meaning “To the Mountain of Mannae” and so it is understood in the Talmudically-approved Aramaic version of Yehonathan. Mannae was in the general area of Armenia to which Jewish and local sources say the Israelites were taken1.
Amos said:
<<HEAR, THIS WORD, YE KINE OF BASHAN, THAT ARE IN THE MOUNTAIN OF SAMARIA, WHICH OPPRESS THE POOR, WHICH CRUSH THE NEEDY, WHO SAY TO THEIR HUSBANDS, BRING, AND LET US DRINK.

 <<...HE WILL TAKE YOU AWAY IN BIG SHIPS AND THOSE WHO REMAIN IN FISHING BOATS.

<<EACH WOMAN WILL BE CARRIED STRAIGHT OUT THROUGH THE BREACHES AND CAST OUT BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS OF MANNAE”  KJ: “into the palace>>  (Amos 4:1-3).

The words rendered by us as “BIG SHIPS” [Hebrew: “tsinot”] and as “FISHING BOATS” [“sirot-dugah”] are direct translations from the Hebrew.

    The verse in the Hebrew Bible may therefore be understood as saying that one part of the exiles would be taken away in large and small sailing vessels and another part would be exiled to Mannae where the exiled Israelite “Cimmerians” and Scythians indeed appeared.      

    The Prophet Isaiah foresaw that in the Last Days,
<<THE LORD SHALL SET HIS HAND AGAIN THE SECOND TIME TO RECOVER THE REMNANT OF HIS PEOPLE, THAT SHALL BE LEFT FROM ASHUR, AND FROM MITSRAYIM, FROM PATROS, AND FROM CUSH, AND FROM SHINAR, AND FROM HAMATH, AND FROM THE ISLES OF THE SEA>> (Isaiah 11:11).

    These places were those to which the Ten Tribed Exiled Hebrews were taken immediately after their exile or which they somehow gravitated towards shortly afterwards and from there moved on. They are not in every case those areas which they are now found in and from which they will directly return. In other words those who were in the above regions in the Last Days will return from wherever they will be at the time. “Isles of the Sea” referred here primarily to the Isles of Britain. Getting to the “Isles of the Sea” entails travel by boat.

    The expressions “Isles of the Sea” (Isaiah 11:11), “Way of the Sea” (Isaiah  9:10), “large boats”, and “fishing-boats” (Amos 4:1-3) in connection with the exile of Northern Israel is consistent with transportation by sea which was logistically possible at that time and had been effected in other cases by Phoenician seafarers. Israelites had participated in Phoenician seafaring ventures.

    The Prophet Hosea spoke of Ephraim together with Phoenician Tyre as if their fates were entwined, and as if part of Ephraim was settled in Tyre, and both suffered from the Assyrian conquest:  
<<EPHRAIM, AS I SAW TYRE, IS PLANTED IN A PLEASANT PLACE: BUT EPHRAIM SHALL BRING FORTH HIS CHILDREN TO THE MURDERER>>  (Hosea 9:13).

 <<EPHRAIM IS SMITTEN, THEIR ROOT IS DRIED UP...
 <<MY GOD WILL CAST THEM AWAY, BECAUSE THEY DID NOT HEARKEN UNTO HIM: AND THEY SHALL BE WANDERERS AMONG THE NATIONS>>  (Hosea 9:16-17).

    The Phoenician historian, Sanchuniathon (ca.300 BCE) was cited by Philo, Eusebius and others. He stated that the city of Tyre had been founded by Sameroumous and Ou'soos. Sameroumous was a maker of tents and had the attributes of Jacob (Gen. 26:27). His name is a play on that of “Samaria” meaning the northern Israelite kingdom. This indicates a partial Israelite involvement in Tyrian (i.e. Phoenician) enterprise and settlement. On the other hand, the name “TYRE” sometimes serves as an euphemism for the descendants of Esau. Ousoos who also, said Sanchuniathon, founded Tyre is given the qualities of Esau the brother of Jacob. Esau was ancestor to Edom and an entity of Edom occupied a portion of Tyre on its landward side. Esau is considered the arch enemy of Israel.

    In Amos (ch.1.), it is prophesied that the Philistines (Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gaza, Ekron) and Phoenicians (Tyre) will be punished for betraying an entire exile into the hand of Edom who accompanied Assyria. Both the Philistines and Phoenicians were sea-farers. Tyre is upbraided for not remembering the Covenant of brotherhood which once existed between itself and Israel.
<<FOR THREE TRANSGRESSIONS OF TYRE ...I WILL NOT TURN AWAY THE PUNISHMENT THEREOF: BECAUSE THEY DELIVERED UP THE WHOLE CAPTIVITY TO EDOM, AND REMEMBERED NOT THE COVENANT OF BROTHERS>> (Amos 1:9).

The deliverance to EDOM is connected to the transference by sea of a portion of the exiles to the west.
    A Midrash names Daphne of Antiochea (on the north Syrian coast) as one of the three places to which the Ten Tribes were exiled. Israelites exiled to “Daphne of Antiochea” represented Israelites of Phoenician culture who disappeared and whose fate was connected with their Phoenician connections2.

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