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Israel"s Tribes Today
LOST ISRAEL FOUND!...Most efforts to locate the "lost" House of Israel have failed because of erroneous assumptions. Searchers assume that the supposedly "lost" ten tribes of Israel would be found in isolated little bands of people. However, the first chapter of Hosea and other Biblical prophecies foretold that the nations of the ten tribes would be found among the most wealthy and powerful nations with large populations! This book identifies the modern house of Israel as those nations descending from the Goths, Saxons, Germans and related peoples who migrated into Europe from Asia after the fall of Parthia and Scythia. They have enjoyed national prominence, power, and prosperity as the primary recipients of the divine "birthright" blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant. Many nations have Israelite roots, in whole or in part. Not only did they retain Semitic-Israelite names and customs, but many of the tribal and clan names of the ten tribes of Israel are found among them. This book presents exciting new research and over 140 maps, charts, and illustrations to provide convincing evidence concerning the Israelite origin of large modern nations. The final portion of this book utilizes Biblical prophecies about the tribes of Israel, as well as evidence of secular history, to identify the descendants of each tribe in the modern world. Readers may marvel at how specifically the prophecies have been fulfilled among modern nations, and that these nations even now enjoy the promised blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant. With the substantial body of evidence laid out in this book, their Israelite origin and character is impossible to miss.
- GenresHistory
Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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May 19, 2024
I want to start by saying that I very much respect Steven Collins and all of the painstaking research he's done on the origins and migrations of the ancient tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel, and where they ultimately settled. His work is overall very excellent and does a phenomenal job of tracing the history of the 10 tribes of Israel from their beginnings up to the modern day. He puts together historical, scriptural, archaeological, and linguistic evidence to create a very coherent account. But unfortunately, Mr. Collins has a blindspot when it comes to the identity of modern Judah with modern Jewry. It's a blind spot that so many people have, especially Christians, that is always directly regarding the topic of who Judah was and is, and who the modern day Jews are and aren't.
My primary issues with Collins' Judah=Modern Jews connection are:
1) Ignoring evidence of the tribe of Judah being almost entirely scattered and not regathered. Both biblical and historical evidence agrees, the tribe of Judah was almost entirely scattered into various lands south and east of Palestine after Cyrus' decree, and that they largely remain so to this day. The only significant existence of the tribe of Judah in the modern era is likely to be the Sephardic Jews, which aligns to the biblical description of Judah being merely a remnant in latter days.
2) Making linguistic connections that are not accurate, but merely wishful thinking. While Collins acknowledges that the Ashkenazi Jews are descended from the Jewish Khazars, he tries to assert these Khazars were "actually" descendants of Judah, by using inappropriate linguistic connections. Namely, he believes that the Judahites that dwelt with the other Israelites in Parthia, migrated after 226ad into the land that would centuries later become Khazaria, thus Khazars were Judahites. He bases this on the seeming similarity of the Parthian name "Ashkanian" to the name Ashkenazi/Ashkenazim. However, in doing so he has to completely ignore the obvious and established real connection; that the Ashkenazi are descendants of Ashkenaz, son of Gomer in the lineage of Japheth; ergo, they were Japhethite and not Shemite/Semite. The Ashkenazi Khazars were Japhetic converts to Judaism, not Semitic descendants of the tribe of Judah. Of course, migrations of Idumean Jews from Judea, fleeing the Arab conquest, did bring a small influx of non-Israelite (but properly Shemite/Semite) Jews of Idumean (Edomite) descent into Khazaria, however, these were Jewish converts that, although they were Semitic, were not descendants of the tribe of Judah. So Collins linking modern Ashkenazi Jews to Judah using a flawed linguistic connection, completely fails when examined more closely.
3) Ignoring a very important era of history. Even IF one granted Collins' assertion that actual descendants of Judah migrated from Parthia after 226ad into the steppe region that would eventually become Khazaria, he's left out a huge historical era that wrecks any connection to his conclusion. He leaves out the massive and ruthless conquests of Attila the Hun. In the 5th century A.D., Attila's forces swept down from central Asia/Russia, and bulldozed across the steppe region and halfway across Europe. It's well known that Attila essentially eradicated villages and cities in his path, save for keeping women for the Huns and occasionally men for his forces. But what this means, is that even IF Parthian Judahites had settled in the steppes of future Khazaria after 226ad, a couple of centuries later Attila's Huns came through and expunged any settlements in the area, leaving next to nothing behind. It wasn't for another couple of centuries that Khazaria became a kingdom after a Turkic-Slavic people (descended from Ashkenaz/Japheth) migrated into the area, establishing the Khazarian empire. Collins' Judahite-Khazar connection is dead in the water, destroyed by historical reality.
4) Misapplication of biblical prophecies. In short, when it comes to this Judah=Modern Jew blindspot, Collins uses prophecies inappropriately. Basically, he either asserts that prophecies that have already been fulfilled are somehow still to come and be manifested in modern Jewry, or he uses prophecies that are Messianic in nature as applicable to some nonexistent militarily strong nation of Judah (despite that the Bible clearly states Judah would only be a tiny remnant in tents that only survives because of divine intervention).
There's actually quite a bit more, but I don't want to stretch this review out too much. I've written a 10 page article rebutting Collins' article on his website regarding why he believes Judah is modern Jewry, so once I have that posted online, I'll post the link here, as it pretty much covers and dismantles all the errors from this particular section of the book.
But overall, I really enjoyed "Israel's Tribes Today." Ultimately I think it's very much a worthwhile read and that, provided one realizes Collins blindspot errors regarding Judah's identity, it's a treasure trove of well-researched, well thought out information that builds a very solid hypothesis backed by several lines of evidence for the migrations and eventual homes of the descendants of the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel.
My primary issues with Collins' Judah=Modern Jews connection are:
1) Ignoring evidence of the tribe of Judah being almost entirely scattered and not regathered. Both biblical and historical evidence agrees, the tribe of Judah was almost entirely scattered into various lands south and east of Palestine after Cyrus' decree, and that they largely remain so to this day. The only significant existence of the tribe of Judah in the modern era is likely to be the Sephardic Jews, which aligns to the biblical description of Judah being merely a remnant in latter days.
2) Making linguistic connections that are not accurate, but merely wishful thinking. While Collins acknowledges that the Ashkenazi Jews are descended from the Jewish Khazars, he tries to assert these Khazars were "actually" descendants of Judah, by using inappropriate linguistic connections. Namely, he believes that the Judahites that dwelt with the other Israelites in Parthia, migrated after 226ad into the land that would centuries later become Khazaria, thus Khazars were Judahites. He bases this on the seeming similarity of the Parthian name "Ashkanian" to the name Ashkenazi/Ashkenazim. However, in doing so he has to completely ignore the obvious and established real connection; that the Ashkenazi are descendants of Ashkenaz, son of Gomer in the lineage of Japheth; ergo, they were Japhethite and not Shemite/Semite. The Ashkenazi Khazars were Japhetic converts to Judaism, not Semitic descendants of the tribe of Judah. Of course, migrations of Idumean Jews from Judea, fleeing the Arab conquest, did bring a small influx of non-Israelite (but properly Shemite/Semite) Jews of Idumean (Edomite) descent into Khazaria, however, these were Jewish converts that, although they were Semitic, were not descendants of the tribe of Judah. So Collins linking modern Ashkenazi Jews to Judah using a flawed linguistic connection, completely fails when examined more closely.
3) Ignoring a very important era of history. Even IF one granted Collins' assertion that actual descendants of Judah migrated from Parthia after 226ad into the steppe region that would eventually become Khazaria, he's left out a huge historical era that wrecks any connection to his conclusion. He leaves out the massive and ruthless conquests of Attila the Hun. In the 5th century A.D., Attila's forces swept down from central Asia/Russia, and bulldozed across the steppe region and halfway across Europe. It's well known that Attila essentially eradicated villages and cities in his path, save for keeping women for the Huns and occasionally men for his forces. But what this means, is that even IF Parthian Judahites had settled in the steppes of future Khazaria after 226ad, a couple of centuries later Attila's Huns came through and expunged any settlements in the area, leaving next to nothing behind. It wasn't for another couple of centuries that Khazaria became a kingdom after a Turkic-Slavic people (descended from Ashkenaz/Japheth) migrated into the area, establishing the Khazarian empire. Collins' Judahite-Khazar connection is dead in the water, destroyed by historical reality.
4) Misapplication of biblical prophecies. In short, when it comes to this Judah=Modern Jew blindspot, Collins uses prophecies inappropriately. Basically, he either asserts that prophecies that have already been fulfilled are somehow still to come and be manifested in modern Jewry, or he uses prophecies that are Messianic in nature as applicable to some nonexistent militarily strong nation of Judah (despite that the Bible clearly states Judah would only be a tiny remnant in tents that only survives because of divine intervention).
There's actually quite a bit more, but I don't want to stretch this review out too much. I've written a 10 page article rebutting Collins' article on his website regarding why he believes Judah is modern Jewry, so once I have that posted online, I'll post the link here, as it pretty much covers and dismantles all the errors from this particular section of the book.
But overall, I really enjoyed "Israel's Tribes Today." Ultimately I think it's very much a worthwhile read and that, provided one realizes Collins blindspot errors regarding Judah's identity, it's a treasure trove of well-researched, well thought out information that builds a very solid hypothesis backed by several lines of evidence for the migrations and eventual homes of the descendants of the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel.
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