Evidence -- Eyewitness or Circumstantial?

Speaking in Aldershot (1934) on "The Proofs of the Resurrection," the Rt. Hon. Sir Thomas Inskip, C.B.E., K.C., M.P., began by observing that the evidence of an eyewitness was not more reliable than circumstantial evidence. Indeed, if enough of the latter were obtained it would have the edge over the evidence of the eyewitness.

Sir Thomas went on to give an example from his own experience in a famous case where the man on trial for murder had been arrested on evidence that seemed to be very slight that the jury would feel it was insufficient to convict him. As the trial proceeded, however, various little pieces of evidence were given, each one of no particular striking significance, but when all were taken together and seen to point to the same conclusion the case against the man was so strong that the jury brought in a verdict of guilty. Ultimately he confessed to the crime.

Since that day there has been a great advance in forensic science. Its application to the solution of crimes is invaluable and supports to a great extent what Sir Thomas said in 1934. Moreover, it becomes very clear that the same principles honestly applied to the researching of historical records, be they on papyrus, vellum or other writing medium; or simply in the Earth itself, would greatly advance the truth by the accumulation of the evidence discovered which points to the same conclusion. As for our own specialist field of investigation concerning the authenticity of the Bible, and in particular the identity of the seed of Jacob in today's world, the evidence pointing to the same conclusion is so overwhelming the general unbelief in the Church -- which is principally the 'Qahal' of the Kingdom (i.e., the Church in YEHOVAH's Israel) -- is nothing short of criminal.

Although the publications of Hope of Israel Ministries and other organizations have been providing this accumulated evidence since 1919, other works on the same subject were published in earlier centuries. Some of those that were out of print have been reprinted, and others like them are in the pipeline for the same treatment, as well as being updated.

The Northern House is Taken to Media

In the meantime we submit here for our readers' enlightenment, and hopefully encouragement, a few examples of the evidence available concerning the movements of the people of ancient Israel (Jacob's seed). To begin with, it is recorded in the Bible:

"And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste" (Leviticus 26:33).

Also, in 2 Kings 15:29; 17:6 and 1 Chronicles 5:26, we are instructed how Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser took the Ten Tribes into captivity, carrying them to Halah, Habor, Hara and Gozan, cities of the Medes. It is in this connection that a book published in 1926 was long ago recommended by the British Museum. Written by Daniel David Luckenbill, Professor of Semitic Languages and Literature in the University of Chicago, and entitled The Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, it is one of a series called Ancient Records, published under the general editorship of Professor J. H. Breasted.

In this book by Luckenbill there is a translation of Tiglath-pileser III's inscription confirming the deportation recorded in 2 Kings 15:29, thus:

"The cities....Gala'za, Abilakka, which are on the border of Bit-Humria (House of Omri, Israel)....the whole land of Naphthali, in its entirety I brought within the border of Assyria. My official I set over them as governor......(Vol. 1, par. 815, p. 292).

Here we would draw our readers' attention to the fact that Luckenbill translates 'Bit-Humria' as 'House of Omri, Israel,' and point them to the Scriptures in 1 Kings 16:16-23; Micah 6:9-16, identifying the rulership of the Northern House of Israel and the reasons for their deportation

Other Evidence of Israel's Movements

In his Presidential Address to the British Association in 1875, Sir John Hawkshaw, F.R.S., said of the Greeks (known to be Israelites):

"Of all nations of Europe the Greeks were most intimately connected with the civilisation of the East. A maritime people by nature of the land they lived in, colonisation followed as a matter of course on the tracks of their trading vessels; and thus, more than any other people, they helped to spread Eastern knowledge along the shores of the Mediterranean, and throughout the south of Europe" (Nature, Vol. 12, p. 336 et seq.).

Moreover, from the traditions and legends of the Irish we discover that a colony of the tribe of Dan arrived in the island's northern quarters circ. the twelfth century B.C. In the Erse tongue they were known as the Tuatha de Danaan, the tribe of Dan.

All of this is deeply fascinating, as is the knowledge that of the twin sons of Judah, Zarah fathered Darda, the founder of Troy, and his brother, Calcol, founded the Royal Dynasties of Europe; notably, the ancient Irish line of kings in Ulster, evidently as early as Solomon's day -- though some would have it even before then. 'Zarah' means 'to scatter,' and the history of his offspring certainly justifies the claim that naming him thus was prophetically intended; as was Jacob's appellation: the supplanter.

It is also significant that in Jereboam's day (975 B.C.) an eminent Jewish writer declared: "Dan refused to shed his brother's blood; and rather than go to war with Judah he left the country and went in a body to Greece (Javan) and to Danmark."

Of course, as already indicated, volumes have been written about the movement of the tribes of Israel, and in pp 32-33 of a booklet by the Rev. W. H. Poole, D.D., entitled Fifty Reasons Why the Ango­Saxons are Israelites, the author cites the words of the Rev. Dr. Margoliouth, editor of the Hebrew Christian Witness, taken from a paper read by him before the British Archaeological Association, thus:

"I have proved that some of the dispersed of Judah had found their way to this island not long after the conquest of Palestine by Nebuchadnezzar. I hold it also, that some of the captive Israelites, with some of their religious teachers, had also found their way hither from the regions of Halah and Habor."

Describing the Assyrian policy of depopulating conquered territories and removing their captives to labour for them elsewhere, while replacing them with other peoples, Sir John Hawkshaw, addressing the British Asociation (loc. cit.), referred to Rawlinson's Herodotus Vol. 1. p.389, 2nd edit. in which we read of Assyrian inscriptions describing minutely the spoils of war and the labours of captive peoples, where in one instance 360,000 men were employed in building a palace for Sennacherib.

Israel Did Not Go Back to Palestine

"And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sephar­vaim, and placed them in the cities of Sa­maria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof" (2 Kings 17:24).

When we consider Ezra 1:1 we rec­ognize the words to limit and define, thus:

"Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD, by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be fulfilled..." (our italics).

In the prophecy of the return of Judah at the end of seventy years (Jeremiah 29:10), the prophet did not say a word about the return of Israel at that time. Hence, to fulfil His word, the return was limited to the Babylonian captivity and did not include the captivity of the Northern House of Israel. Indeed, in verse 11 of Ezra 1 the word "captivity" is singular, and all through the Book of Ezra the word is in the singular.

This draws our attention to another point entirely, but one of extreme importance in relation to the ministry of Yeshua the Messiah. It was essential that the House of Judah be settled in its own land at the time of the Messiah's birth in Judea, in preparation for YEHOVAH God coming to His Sanctuary (Judah, and also the Temple. See Psalm 114:1-2 & 1 Kings 11:36, and note that the tribe referred to was Judah).

The Scriptures are very clear on the fact that Nebuchadnezzar carried the Kingdom of Judah captive unto Babylon, and he had no part in the captivity of the House of Israel, which had been taken captive a great many years before, to Assyrian territories, as stated earlier in this article. Note the following, however, and be inspired to read more in the Good Book itself:

"Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchaduezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city" (Ezra 2:1), in the land of Judah and Benjamin.

As an end piece to these historical considerations, be assured of this, that YEHOVAH's Church, of which He Himself is the architect and builder, was founded in the Kingdom of Israel; it has not been removed from among His people in the world wherever they are presently domiciled. Moreover, it is not another edifice with foundations outside His Kingdom that are not of Israel, Jacob's seed.

-- Bella Johnson