The Migration of the 10 Tribes of Israel to the Western Hemisphere

There are many beliefs and speculations regarding what happened to the ten tribes of Israel after they were released from Assyrian captivity. By the use of various scriptures, archeological and historical references, it will be determined that the 10 Tribes of Israel migrated to what is known as the Americas (North, Central and South).

The history of the ten Tribes starts with the three patriarchs of Israel; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Exodus 3:15). Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, (Genesis33:28, Genesis 35:10) had twelve sons which would eventually make up the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel (Genesis 49- Ruben, Simeon Levi, Judah, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulon, Benjamin, Manasseh and Ephraim). When the nation became strong and was great in number, they began to have kings rule over them. The migration of the ten Tribes began after the reign of King Solomon.

King Solomon, the son of David, was only 14 years old when he began his reign after his father. He prayed to the Most High God for keen wisdom and the Lord heard his prayer, making him a man of great sagacity that far surpassed any king or ruler of all nations that predated him (1st Kings 3:9-12). However, King Solomon did have a weakness for women, which resulted in the detriment of both himself and his kingdom. He loved many strange (gentile) women, and married heathen wives. These marriages would cause him to turn his heart away from following the laws, statutes and commandments of the Most High God only to follow the gods of the nations (1st kings 11:1-11). As a result of Solomon’s transgression, the Most High God split the kingdom of Israel into Northern and Southern, leaving only two tribes in the Southern kingdom to his son Rehoboam (Judah and Benjamin) and ten tribes in the Northern kingdom to his servant Jeroboam (Rueben, Simeon, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulon, Dan, Manasseh and Ephraim).

As king, Jeroboam lead the Northern Kingdom into sin along with all the rulers that succeeded him. Due to their wickedness, YHWH allowed Tiglath-Pileser III and Shalmaneser V kings of Assyria to take the ten Tribes of Israel into captivity during the time of King Hoshea (the last king of the ten tribes. 2nd Kings 17:5-23). Most people believe that this was the end of the Northern Kingdom's history, however evidence proves that this statement is inaccurate. In the book of II Esdras (which is found in the Apocrypha) you will find that the ten Tribes migrated to another land biblically called Arsareth.

II Esdras 13:40-45: 40“Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Hoshea the king, whom Shalmaneser the king of Assyria led away captive, he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land. 41 But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth

into a further country, where never mankind dwelt42 That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land 43 And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow passages of the river 44 For the most High then showed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over 45 For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half, and the same region is called Arsareth

Where is Arsareth? According to the Jewish encyclopedia Arzareth is, “The name of the land beyond the great river, far away from the habitation of man, in which the Ten Tribes of Israel will dwell, observing the laws of Moses, until the time of the restoration, according to IV Esdras xiii. 45. [II Esdras 13:45] Columbus identified America with this land.” Every map before the conquest of Columbus had no account of any land in the western hemisphere, proving that the

Americas were not inhabited. However there was knowledge of a “further” landmass.

When Columbus “discovered” America, there were already people dwelling there which he labeled as Indians (indigenous). America and Arsareth were both known as the land where no man dwelt. This is why the term “NEW WORLD” was placed on America. Also do know that the continent was not called America until the late 1400’s by the explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci. This is why the term “Arsareth is applied to the continent. Although the Native Indians and Hispanics are historically recorded to be the first living in the Americas prior to the European invasion and established great civilizations (Aztec, Maya, Olmec, etc...), they

knew themselves that they were not originally from that land but were strangers to it seeking refuge and a NEW beginning. Here is a quote from the book Lost Tribes and Promised Lands by Ronald Sanders on page 148 that the Aztec emperor Montezuma was documented to say.

“Long ago in our sacred writings our ancestors informed us that neither I nor any of the other inhabitants of this land are indigenous to it, but are foreigners, come from a completely different place, and that our race was brought here by a Lord whose vassals they all were...”

Because the Native Indians inhabited the Americas (the land where no man dwelt) prior to any nation laying claim to it, we can easily assess with that the Native Americans and Hispanics are indeed the 10 Tribes of Israel that was prophesied to inhabit a land where no one EVER lived. There is a large amount of historical and archeological information to support this fact. If you re-read II Esdras 13:45, it says that it took “a year and a half” to get to Arsareth. When you research a man named Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer who is said to be the first person to have circumnavigated the world. You will find his conquest took a time span totaling 3 years, from 1519 to 1522. (This information can be found in, “Age of Exploration”Pg.97 map of Magellan conquest). Thus, it would not matter if the 10 Tribes went east or west to get to America because it would have taken them a year and a half to get there either way. However, maritime evidence indicates that the sea currents would have persuaded the Northern Kingdom to travel west. Meaning that from Assyria the ten tribes would most logically have travelled south on the Euphrates river into the Persian Gulf south east into the Indian ocean, south west around the south east portion of Africa across the sea west to South America and northward to the rest of the continent.

The Israelites had great knowledge of oceanic navigation. Their forefathers had previously navigated the oceans in the days of Solomon, with Hiram.(I kings 10: 22 I kings 9:26- 27)
In The Ten Tribes of Israel or the True History of the North American Indians, Showing That They Are the Descendants of These Ten Tribes, it states that, “First, we are taught that they [The Native Americans] understood the geography of the country and the distance they must travel in order to get to this land where no man dwelt [the year and a half journey]; and second, that there was no country in the East but what was more or less inhabited by man, and consequently America was the ONLY country at that time known that was not inhabited.”(page 7). Africa, Arabia, Asia Minor, Asia, and Europe were all occupied by the Assyrian and Babylonian kingdoms (this map could be found in: The Atlas of Past Times page 32-33).

The history of the 10 Tribes and Native Americans are very similar. There are multiple historical accounts of the Native Americans stating that their ancestors passed through a large body of water to get to America, the same way the 10 tribes had to get to Arsareth. For example, Friar Diego de Landa says in Yucatan Before and After the Conquest, “Some old men of Yucatan say that they have heard from their ancestors that this country was peopled by a certain race who came from the East, whom God delivered by opening for them twelve roads through the sea. If this is true, all the inhabitants of the Indies must be of Jewish Descent.” (page 8 or 28). Also, Ethan Smith says in A View of the Hebrews or the Tribes of Israel in America, ‘They [the Chepewyan Indians] have also a tradition among them, that they originally came from another

country, inhabited by very wicked people, and had traversed a great lake, which was in one place narrow, shallow, and full of islands, where they had suffered great misery...”(pg.114-115). These are just a couple of the various accounts.

Another historian gives an account of the various land masses that the 10 Tribes inhabited. The Hope of Israel–Manasseh Ben Israel (pg. 112-113)

“I shall speak somewhat I this discourse of the divers opinions which have been, and shall declare in what countries it is thought the Ten Tribes are: Hispaniola (Dominican Republic)... the island of Cuba; the continent of America, Panama, New Spain (Mexico) and

Peru.”

This again proves that the civilizations which the Europeans encountered on their arrival to the New World such as the Inca, Mayan, Aztec, Boricua, Mohawk, Adena, Etc..., were in all actuality the Ten tribes which had taken council among themselves to leave Assyria and come to this once uninhabited land mass (America/Arsereth). By knowing that the 10 tribes of Israel were already dwelling in the Americas at the time of the exploration, it is a lot more clear to see that the Americas was the land of Arsareth that was mentioned in the holy bible. The ten tribes of Israel had come and dwelt in the Americas long before the 1400’s and were already in the land when European Spaniard Conquerors came to subdue the land. It is eminent that proper and prudent matters of research are to be established when it comes to a controversial and imperative subject, Job 8:8.