MIGRATIONS OF ISRAEL

BY  RAYMOND  CAPT  M.A, A.I.A.

(The  Archaeological Institute  of  America)

"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.'' (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 III 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 gutteral "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.

The next archaelogical evidence, directly related to the Israehtes movements in Assyria, was found in the form of cuneiform writings on a collection of clay tablets. They were found nearly a century ago in the excavations of Nineveh, and published in 1930. (The Royal Correspondence of the Assyrian Empire by L. Waterman) Their relevance to Israel was overlooked till recently because of their being in complete disorder, among some 1400 other texts.

The first of the documents were Assyrian frontier post reports of 707 B.C. They reported that the armed forces of Urartu (Ararat) were invading the district south of Lake Urmia, in Media, where the Israelites had been placed some 14 years earlier.

The reports went on to say that when the king of Urartu came into the land of "Gamir," the army was routed as the "Gamera" counterattacked, entered the land of Urartu and killed their commanders. All historians agree that the "Gamera" were the same people who, thirty years later, in the reign of Esarhaddon (the Assyrian king) were called "Gimira." Gamir is evidently a corruption of Ghomri, formed by the inversion of the final syllable -ri to -ir. Such inversions are common in Assyrian writings.

Another and later Assyrian tablet recorded that in the 2nd year of Esarhaddon the king (about 679 B.C.) the Gimira under their leader Teuspa, sought freedom by moving north, but the Assyrian army pursued and defeated them in the upper Euphrates district. Nevertheless large numbers of the Israelites escaped to the shores of the Black Sea. The Greek records refer to these Gimira as ''Kirameroii" which is translated into English as "Cimmerian."

The Greek Geographer Strabo informs us the Cimmerians captured the kingdom of Phrygia about 695 B.C. Later, they twice invaded Lydia, the second time successfully, and occupied Sardis the capital (662 B.C.). About 600 B.C. the Lydians drove the Cimmerians out of Asia Minor altogether, and they crossed the Black Sea and entered the Carpathian regions, called (in 2nd Esdras) Ar-sareth, or Mountains of Sereth.

The main body of Israelites in Media accepted an alliance with Esarhaddon. At this time the Assyrians were under attack by both the Medes and Babylonians. The new alliance allowed the Israelites to establish colonies in Sacasene in the north and Bactria in the east.

Israel — Khumri — Gamera — Gimera — Kimmeroii — Cimmerians

When Assyria fell in 612 B.C. to the Medes and Babylonians, the two colonies came under pressure from the Medes. The main body of Israelites in Sacasene, west of the Caspian Sea, crossed the Araxes River (passing northward through the Dariel Pass in the Caucasus) and occupied the steppe regions of South Russia.  There they became known by the Greek name "Scythians."

Those that had settled east in Bactria migrated still further east into Central Asia, some even as far as the borders of China. Most of our history of this eastern division of Israelites is found in Persian inscriptions which refer to the Israelites as "Saka" or " Sacae."

The Assyrians called these colonies Gimira, but later "Iskuza,'' a name which may have been derived from Isaaca, or house of Isaac, the name which the Israelites called themselves. (Amos 7:9,16)

(Israel - Khumri) - Gimira - Iskuza - Scythians - Saka - Massagetae

In the famous Behistun Rock tri-lingual inscriptions of Darius I (522-485 B.C.) the name Saka in the Persian and Elamite inscriptions is rendered Gimira in the Babylonian version.

Following the fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C. the Assyrian Empire was split between the conquering Medes and Babylonians. The Medes took over the territory to the north and northwest, while the Babylonians assumed control over the lands to the south and southwest.

Babylon, under King Nebuchadnezzar quickly assumed the conquest of Judah. In a series of invasions, against the Southern Kingdom of Judah, he captured and deported remnants of Israelites missed by the Assyrians. Finally moving against Jerusalem, he fulfilled God's prophecy against Israel by capturing the city and taking the balance of the Nation of Judah to Babylon. 

In 539 B.C., when Cyrus King of Persia overthrew the Babylonian Empire, he permitted the remnant of Judah to return to Jerusalem. He also offered freedom for any of the Babylonians who wished to migrate with these Israelites.

Cimmerians — Celtic tribes

Between 539 and 500 B.C., during the rebuilding of the Temple, the Scythian "Israelites," who had been pushed north through the Dariel Pass, began to move westward, crossing the rivers Don and Dnieper, thus coming into collision with the Cimmerian Israelites who had earlier migrated around the west of the Black Sea. The Cimmerians were consequently driven north and west. A small group north of the Carpathian Mountains moved into the sparsely inhabited regions of the Baltic, where the Romans called them by the abbreviated name of Cimbri. The main body south of the Carpathian Mountains migrated as scattered bands up the River Danube arriving, near its source, in south Germany between 500 and 450 B.C. There they became known as Celts and Gauls.

By the end of the 4th century B.C., the Scythian "Israelites," who had established themselves in South Russia as the great and prosperous kingdom of Scythia, came under attack by a mixed non-Israelitish people of Iranian origin, called "Sarmations." The Scythians were driven north toward the Baltic regions, pushing the Cimri ahead of them, west to Jutland and the coasts of Holland and France.

As the Celts spread west and north across France, during the great Celtic expansion from Europe, some moved across the English Channel into Britain. About 390 B.C. one group invaded Italy and sacked Rome. Around 280 B.C. others reached Greece, and as they migrated back into Asia Minor, the Greeks called them "Galations." This would indicate that Paul's letters to the "Galations," were to his kindred Israelites.

As the Sarmation tribes now occupied "Scythia" in South Russia, there was a tendency to confuse them with the Scythians, but the Romans came up with a solution to that problem. They introduced the name "German" for the genuine "Scythian;" "Germanus" being the Latin word for "genuine." Except for the outlaying districts, the name "Scythians" was dropped, in the Roman records, in favor of ''Germans'' and "Sarmations."

The Cimbri were finally driven out of their area by the "German" Scythians. Only a residue of one group reached Spain, whereas the main body reached Italy only to be almost entirely wiped out by the Roman legions. A few Cimbri did escape, by boat, to northern Britain to become the Picts.

Israel Peoples 

The Celts continued to pour into Britain to form the "bed-rock" of the British race. One group in Spain, known as "Iberes," the Gaelic name for Hebrews, moved into Ireland as Scots, naming the island Hibernia, a name that still exists. Those remaining in Spain became known as Basques;  others,  in France,  became known as Bretons.

During the succeeding centuries the Scythian Germans broke up into many divisions, possibly in some instances into their original Israel tribal families. One group split off and formed the Goths, settling around the shores of the Baltic Sea. Others became the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes and Vikings; to name just a few. Then, other Germanic tribes poured into the lands vacated by the Celts and established the Gothic nations of the Vandals, Lombards, Franks, Burgundians and Ostrogoths.

Between 450 and 600 A.D., some of the Angles and Saxons moved into Britain as Anglo-Saxons. Between 850 and 1000 A.D. the Danes and Vikings raided the coasts of Britain, establishing some colonies, while others settled in Iceland and Greenland. One group moved into France as Normans.

The Celtic Scots of Ireland, for the most part, moved into northern Britain and established the Nation of Scotland.

Sythians — Germanic tribes

In this "synopsis" we have not attempted to present all the details of the migrations of the people known as "Cimmerians" and "Scythians." This can be found in your libraries on detailed maps, produced by historians and archaeologists. It is the ORIGIN of the Cimmerians and the Scythians, who formed the Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, Germanic, Lombaxdic and Celtic nations, that has not been known until now.

One of the greatest mysteries of Archaeology is where the countless thousands of Scythians and Cimmerians came from. Did they just "materialize," leaving no evidence of where they originated?

One of the greatest mysteries of the Bible is what happened to the countless thousands of Israelites who disappeared from history, south of the Caucasus, at the same time the Scythians and Cimmerians "appeared."

There is no longer any "mystery." They were one and the same people. And thus, we see the fulfillment of God's Covenant with the people of David's kingdom as they migrated to their "appointed" place: to western Europe, to the Isles in the west, and then on to America, the land in the "wilderness," where we have been, as was prophesied of the House of Israel, "Blind" to our Identity. (Rom. 11:25)

Our God, the Supreme architect of the Universe, is a Covenant keeping God. He fulfilled His promise that said; He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock." (Jer. 31:10) We thus can be assured that He who guides us, His people Israel, and performs all that He has promised to us, will certainly — Save - Keep - and Bless all those who put their trust in Him.

I hope this booklet has given you, the reader, a closer relationship with God, the ' 'Master Builder'' and His Son Jesus Christ, the ' 'Lord of the True Temple,'' as you see fulfilled, some of the revealed symbolism of King Solomon's Temple.

Knowledge of this fulfillment is necessary to fully understand the wonderful truths God directed Solomon to incorporate in the design of the Temple.

Such knowledge is required, to complete the Divine purpose for which each of us was ordained to become: "a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation," (Exod. 19:6) so as to take our places in the True Temple, in the impending ' 'Kingdom of God'' upon earth.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This treatise is indebted to the Palestine Exploration Society and other past Bible historians and archaeologists, whose dedicated labors, have provided the foundation on which we can build a better understanding of the description, given in sacred history, of Solomon's Temple.

Artist sketches of the basic design of the Temple as well as the "Molten Sea,'' used in this treatise, were suggested by the "Howland-Garber Model Reconstruction of Solomon's Temple." Deviations from this design concept have been made, based on modern Bible interpretations and practicality of application.

The account of the migrations of Israel is taken, in part, from the current works of W.E. Filmer, B.A., who first recognized the Israel relationship to the cuneiform tablets of the "Royal Correspondence of the Assyrian Empire." A detailed account of this archaeological evidence, supplemented by historical research, is in preparation, and will be published, in due course, by Mr. Filmer.

Much more research and study is necessary before every facet of this wonderful Temple's symbolism shines forth, in all its perfection. This remains to be done by honest and sincere searchers for truth, who will produce more of that which we so earnestly desire; LIGHT for our time.

E. Raymond Capt

"Our eyes are holden that we cannot see things that stare us in the face until the hour arrives when the mind is ripened. Then we behold them, and the time when we saw them not is like a dream."

(R. W. Emerson)

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