Reputiation of Anglo Israel
This discussion concerns only what the Bible says concerning the “lost” ten tribes of Israel and the Kenites. There is no discussion of the fictions passed off as history in this post. There is absolutely no documented historical evidence that can even lend credence to the assertions of the Anglo Israel theory let alone pass the tests of historical evidence. The entire argument depends on an esoteric interpretation of scripture, unrelated theories concerning language and migration, myth, and a lot of fiction.
The basic idea of Anglo Israelism is that the ten “lost” tribes of Israel were carried away to the region roughly equivalent to modern day Armenia and Northern Kurdistan. Linguistic scholars locate this area as the starting point for the Aryan language groups for no other reason than that it is the geographic center of a group of related languages spoken by indigenous people from Western Europe to the Indus Valley. From this the Anglo Israel proponents claim that the ten “lost” tribes migrated to Western Europe and the Celts and Germanic tribes were their descendants. Hence, Anglo Saxons, Scots, etc. are the real blood descendants of Abraham.
Modern day Jews are called Kenites, according to the Anglo Israel view, and are said to be descended from Cain. This is justified by an esoteric interpretation of the passengers on Noah’s Ark. It is said that when the Bible says that two of every kind were loaded that this included descendants of Cain, hence Kenites. Genesis 7:7 says that Noah, his sons, and their wives entered the ark. 1 Chronicles 1:4 names Noah and his sons. 1 Peter 3:20 says there were eight people on the ark. There is no mention of descendants of Cain among the seven each of clean animals or the two each of unclean animals.
Kenites are mentioned in the Bible but no mention has anything to do with descendants of Cain. Genesis 15:19 and Numbers 24:21 concern a Canaanitish tribe or nation. Descendants of Jethro or Hobab are called Kenites in Judges 1:16, 4:11, and 1 Chronicles 2:55.
From the Bible one can easily discern that the ten Northern tribes were never lost. 2 Kings 15:29 and 17:3–6 describes the fate of the ten northern tribes. The people were carried off to the region of Northern Mesopotamia. 2 Kings 17:24–41 describes the resettlement of the northern state of Israel with people from several areas of Mesopotamia. These are the ancestors of the Samaritans of the New Testament. They weren’t descendants of Abraham, but they weren’t descendants of Cain either.
The key to the Biblical understanding of the Jewish Diaspora is found in Deut. 30:1–10. God explains that He will gather the descendants of Abraham from the furthest places that they have been scattered and make them again a great nation. This promise is repeated in Isaiah 11:11–12, Jeremiah 16:15, 23:3–4, 33:6–9, 33:14, Zephaniah 3:20, Zechariah 10:11–12. Please note that in several of these passages both Israel and Judah are mentioned together as being restored to the land. This is a strong indication that both the ten tribes of Israel and the two tribes of Judah plus the tribe of Levi are indicated.
Subsequent to the return from the Babylonian captivity at least one of the missing ten tribes along with Benjamin and Levi are mentioned: Levi in Luke 1:5; Benjamin in Acts 13:21, Rom. 11:1, and Phil 3:5; Asher in Luke 2:36. This may be a little thin as an argument for the ten tribes returning with Zerubbabel or Ezra but mention of any of the tribes of Israel anywhere in the Bible is thin. Most passages use Judah and Ephraim as euphemisms for the two kingdoms. Rarely is a person’s tribe mentioned in the OT or NT for the period following the Babylonian captivity. This might indicate that which tribe a Hebrew belongs to is less important than decent from Abraham or in the case of the priests, decent from Aaron or laterly from Zadoc (Ezekiel 44:15). The Bible leaves off following any line of decent except that leading directly to the Messiah. This means that the only tribe that is important in this regard after the reign of David is Judah and only the lines from David to Joseph and to Mary are significant. After the ministry of Jesus here on earth was finished, the usefulness of the Temple records of genealogies was also finished. These were destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
Ezra 2:21–35 and Nehemiah 7:26–38 list those returning by the towns they came from. Many of these are in the northern kingdom. The inference is that they belonged to tribes other than Benjamin and Judah. The final proof that no tribe was lost is in Ezekiel chapter 48 where every tribe is mentioned as having a portion in the land after the return from the Babylonian captivity. Obviously these were a remnant who returned. Many Jews remained in the Diaspora. The Book of Ester is about some who remained behind. However, all tribes are accounted for, none are lost.
One of the fictions in the Anglo Israel argument is that Jeremiah took a daughter of the king of Judah to Ireland and married her to an Irish king. There is a very laborious decent from this to Queen Victoria who’s daughters married into most royal families in Europe making all those kings and emperors cousins. Thus it is said that the line of David ruled over the world at the end of the 19th century. There is absolutely no justification for this idea from the Bible or recorded history. From the Bible this idea hangs entirely on Jeremiah 43:6 where the king’s daughters are included in the remnant that Johanan carries off to Egypt. Chapter 43 describes the remnant’s refusal to stay in Judah. Jeremiah and Baruch were forced to go along to Egypt. Johanan went to Egypt even though Jeremiah told him most would die there and only a much smaller remnant would get back to Judah. Nothing more is said about Jeremiah’s fait. Baruch is told that he will escape with his life (Jeremiah 45:5). Nothing more is said about the king’s daughters.
A final point concerning the Jewish Diaspora is the prophesy that the Jews would be brought out of the north in great numbers (Jeremiah 31:8). Jeremiah chapter 3 indicates that the temple worship is forgotten at this time of return from the north (Jeremiah 3:16–18, 16:15, 23:8). This prophesy appears to be fulfilled today following the fall of the Soviet Empire. These are the people the British Israel advocates say are Kenites and not descendants of Abraham. Yet these are the people who appear to be fulfilling prophesy in our day.