THE EXODUS and MAP

XI. THE LOST TEN TRIBES

The descendants of Shem, better known as the seed of Abra­ham, were divided into twelve tribes. While they remained in Egypt they mixed themselves more with each other than after they had settled in the land of Palestine, because there each tribe was colonized by itself. During the reign of David they became firmly united as a nation, with Jerusalem as their common capital. But when Solomon died and his son, Rehoboam, was installed as king, the ten tribes revolted and separated themselves from the throne of David. They laid the following petition before the king:

"Thy father (Solomon) made our yoke grievous; now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee."

The king, having been counseled by young men among his associates, answered the petition in this way:

"My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add more to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." (2 Chron. 10: 4, 11.)

Then the ten tribes chose Jeroboam to reign over them. When Rehoboam sent Hadoram, his tax-collector, to collect the tribute, they stoned him. Those tribes, to distinguish themselves from the other two tribes (Judah and Benjamin—that remained steadfast to the throne of David) called themselves the kingdom of Israel, and they built their capital on a mountain called Samaria and gave the city the same name. That city was the metropolis of the ten tribes from 975 B. C., when it was built by Omri, until 724 B. C., when the ten tribes were carried captives to Assyria—thus about 250 years. These ten tribes mingled themselves with the Assyrians so that their national identity became lost, hence they are generally called the "lost ton tribes." Still they must exist somewhere, though different blood or mixed blood may flow in their veins; but where? is now the question. We shall trace them by the prophecies, the only way to find them.

1. The dispersion, of the lost tribes. God spoke through Mo­ses thus:

"And I will scatter you among the heathen, and I will draw out a sword after you." (Lev. 26: 33.) "And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you." (Deut. 4: 27.) "And shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth." "And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other . . And among these nations shalt thou find no ease." (Deut. 28: 25, 64, 65.) "My God- will cast them away, because they did not harken unto him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations." (Hos. 9: 17.)

Plain statements as to the whereabouts of the lost tribes are found in these testimonies. 1. They are "scattered;" they are not together in one colony. 2. They are among the different na­tions. 3. They serve those nations where they constitute the

principal working classes. 4. They are wanderers among the na­tions; some of them shift about from place to place.

The two tribes known as the Jews, have kept their national identity, and instead of serving the nations, they have generally lived on industry. They were restored again to their national in­dependence shortly after the fall of the Babylonian Empire. But the ten tribes became entirely lost. The following testimony dis­tinguishes them from the house of Judah very plainly:

"For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve." (Amos 9: 9.)

In carefully looking over the teachings of the Lord concern­ing the sinful stubbornness of his people, we find that after certain tests had been set before them, if they did not turn from their evil ways, he would bring additional punishment over them. He says:

"And if ye will not for all this harken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins." (Lev. 26: 18.)

These "seven times" according to the prophetic chronology, make 2,520 years. Each time represents a solar year of 360 days. One prophetic day represents a common year. (See Num. 14: 34, and Eze. 4: 5, 6.)

The power of Assyria was broken up by Babylon's conquering armies about 630 B. C. If they then, instead of conforming to the habits and customs of the heathens, had been found in true rela­tion to their God and to each other, they might have been restored. Having been mixed up with the Assyrian people so that their iden­tity almost was lost, they as captives were brought under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar with the Assyrians. Here then begins the ad­ditional 2,520 years of slavery. When the two tribes, the house of Juda, returned to Palestine after their seventy years of cap­tivity in Babylon (which began 606 B. C.), the ten tribes still re­mained there and they still have to look for their restoration.

These seven times of extra punishment or the submission of the ten tribes to the service of the nations, were predicted or fore­shadowed by an act on the part of their father Jacob, the patriarch. When he had escaped from the bondage of Laban, he met on the way to the land of his father, his great brother Esau, who was ac­companied by an army of 400 men. In fear of that great hunter and brother-hater, Jacob humbly bowed himself seven times to the earth. (Gen. 33: 3.) As the Lord made use of the patriarchs to illustrate the future development of their descendants, this very circumstance, (Jacob's seven-fold submission to a man in whom individualism had developed itself so much that he was an over­bearing, domineering, self-loving despot and a father of heathens)

with respect to the descendants of Jacob, was very significant. As the father of the race bent his knees before that tyrant seven times, so must the ten tribes bend their backs, under the power of Nim­rod's kingdom, seven times or 2,520 years (after serving the As­syrians about 100 years).

2. The restoration of the lost ten tribes. We will now no­tice a few texts showing the situation of those tribes at the time of their restoration.

"When thou art in tribulation and all these things come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord, thy God .... he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which he sware unto them." (Deut. 4: 30, 31.) "That then the Lord, thy God, will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations. If any of thine be driven out unto the uttermost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord, thy God gather thee. (Chap. 30: 3, 4.) "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but the Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them." (Jer. 16: 14, 15.) "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince.. . Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord, their God, and David, their king, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." (Hos. 3: 4, 5.)

These testimonies plainly show that the lost, tribes continue in their captive and scattered state among the different nations until the time called the "latter days," specified by Daniel as the "time of the end"—the time set apart for the winding up of the prophetic evolutions. Then they shall be "gathered" and shall return to their own king—David: i. e., the Son of David, or the Messiah.

Now then, in the light of prophecy, who are the lost tribes? Why! the working classes among the nations. They are serving the nations. Thee till the ground and work at the different trades. They first build cities, then, by the continuance of hard labor, sustain them by paying high rents and taxes. During the time of their captivity they have not hung together as a separate class, but as the word "scattered" expresses it, they have been a few here and a few there, mixed up with the heathens or the seed of Ham.

But in the time of their gathering, they will unite as a people living for one and the same cause and as having one and the same aspiration: i. e., to become free from the "yoke of bondage" which they now begin to understand is laid on them by the class they serve and have been serving for ages. They will finally throw off that yoke entirely, like their forefathers did in Egypt, which

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the quoted testimony plainly points to and declares: namely, that it shall this time be said, "The Lord liveth that brought the chil­ciren of Israel out of the north country,' —Europe especially and wherever they are. It will thus be a similar movement t.o the one that developed in Egypt—at first agitations and at last, when they become fully united, a general strike as in Egypt; then circum­stances will guide them as at that time.

Several historians have shown plainly that the ten tribes em­igrated from Asia to Europe. Charles Rodosi, the editor of the `'English Vocabulary as Derived from the Hebrew Languages,'' as­serts that these people crossed the Mediterranean Sea and settled all the different countries of Europe, even as far as Russia. Abbe La Touche, of France, who for sixty years taught the Semitic languages in the University of Paris, made the same statement, but the Roman hierarchy, who always have kept these people down, would not allow him to promulgate such a doctrine.