Transmigrations

TRANSMIGRATIONS. See CAPTIVITIES, before. Great Difficulties are started concerning the Country whither the Ten Tribes of Israel were transplanted. The Scripture informs us, that Tiglath-Pilneser 2 Kings xv. 29. 1 Chron. v. 26.carried away the Tribes of Naphthali, of Reuben, of Gad, and the half Tribe of Manasseth that dwelt beyond Jordan; and that he transported them to Halah, to Habor, and to Hara, in the Year of the World 3264. About twenty Years after, in 3283, when Salmanasser took Samaria, he took away the rest of the People of Israel into Assyria, to Halah, to Habor, upon the River Gozan, and 2 Kings xvii. 6. xviii. 10.into the Cities of the Medes.

Labela and Halab are certainly the same, and probably stand for the Land of Havilah, or Cholchis. Habor, or Chabor, is the River Chaboras, and the Country watered by it. Gozan, or Gauzan, is the Name of the Province through which the River Chaboras flows, according to 2 Kings xxviii. 10. In Habor fluviis Gozan; and xvii. 6. In Habor juxta fluvium Gozan. There is also a Canton in Media, called Gauzan, between the Rivers Cyrus and Cambyses. Benjamin of Tudela places Gozan in Media, four Days Journey from Hemdam. By the Name Gozan the Jews understand the River Sabbatius, which does not run on the Sabbath-day; and on this Day is all surrounded by Fire, so as not to be passable.

Tob. i. 11, 16. iii. 7. v. 8. Acts ii. 9, 10, 11.Hara, or Ara, is in Media. This is probably the Province of the Areans, known to the ancient Geographers, and lying in Media. Benjamin of Tudela assures us, that there were in Media to the number of fifty Cities that were peopled by Israelites. We see by the Book of Tobit, that there were Israelites at Nineveh, at Rages in Media, at Shushan, or Susa, and at Ecbatana. In our Saviour’s Time there were Israelites scattered through all the Provinces of the East, in Persia, Media, the Country of Elam, Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphilia, Egypt, Cyrenaica, the Island of Crete and Arabia. St. James writes to the Twelve Tribes that were dispersed. James i. 1.Philo¹ places the Jews in great numbers through the whole East, under the Empire of the Persians. Josephus,² speaking of the Ten Tribes, says, that in his time they were still in great multitudes beyond the Euphrates. And St. Jerome³ assures us, that even in his time the Ten Tribes were still in Captivity, in the Mountains and Cities of Media.

The Author of the Second Book of Esdras2 Esdr. xiii. 41, &c. advances a Notion, that the Israelites who had been carried away captive by Salmanasser, resolved upon withdrawing from among the Nations, that they might serve God with the greater Liberty; and that to this purpose they passed over the Euphrates, God having opened the Channel of this River, and having worked a Miracle in their favour, like that he performed when he gave the Hebrews a safe Passage over the Jordan, under the fafe Passage over the Jordan, under the Conduct of Joshua. They marched a Year and a half before they arrived at the Place they intended. At last they settled at Arzeret, where they are to remain to the latter Ages, and then the Almighty will recall them, and again open a Passage for them through the Euphrates.

But where is this Country of Arzeret? The Hebrews themselves do not know it. Joseph Ben-Gorion says, that when Alexander the Great would have passed over the dark Mountains which separate the Country of the Israelites from the other Nations, he was prevented by a Voice which cried to him, Take care that you enter not into the House of God. Benjamin of Tedula reports, that after a Journey of one and twenty Days, as he travelled towards the North, he arrived at the Kingdom of the Rechabites, the Extent of which was sixteen Days Journey. Of the Cities of this Kingdom he relates many Particulars, but does not say that this was the Kingdom of Arzereth.

Menasses Menasses Ben-Israel pretends,⁴ that the Israelites of the Ten Tribes retired soon into Tartary, from whence several of them passed into America; which Opinion is not peculiar to him only. Many learned Men have thought,⁵ that the Ten Tribes were still in Tartary; and that from thence they have been spread into Russia, Moscovy, Poland, Lithuania, where they are in greater Numbers than in any other Places of Europe. The Tartars have preserved several Jewish Customs. They eat no Swines-flesh, are circumcised at nine Years old, observe the Levitical Law, which requires that the Brother shall marry his Brother’s Wife, if he dies without Children. Davity relates,⁶ that the King of Thabor in Tartary came into France under the Reign of Francis I. and proposed to this Prince to become a Jew. He made the same Proposal to several other Princes of Europe, who received it with much Contempt.

‘Tis believed that several Jews passed from Tartary into China; we have already mentioned this at length, under the Article CHINA.

As to that Opinion which supposes the Israelites of the Ten Tribes, at least a part of them, to have passed into America, the Foundation of it is this: Montesini, in his Relation addressed to Manasseh Ben-Israel, says, that he found many Israelites concealed behind the Mountains Cordilleron, which are upon the Confines of Chilly in Armenia. He adds, that when he advanced farther into this Country, he arrived at the Banks of a River, and a Signal being given, he saw People appear who pronounced in Hebrew these Words of Deuteronomy, Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is the only Lord. They held Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to have been their Progenitors, and pretended to be of the Posterity of Reuben. They said they had been brought into this Country by the particular and miraculous Providence of God; that at the Instigation of the Magi, the Indians had three times waged War against them, but that the Israelites had always been victorious. That at last the Magi having escaped the Slaughter, declared that the God of Israel was the only true God, and that at the Consummation of Ages the Israelites should become Masters of the World.

This Relation of Montisini deceived Manasseh, who thereupon composed his Treatise called, The Hope of Israel. In this he maintains, that Asia and America were heretofore but one Continent, which Isa. li. 5. Isa. xlii. 4.God divided at the Streights of Anian: That it was before this Separation that the Israelites passed thither, and fixed themselves there, notwithstanding the Opposition of the Inhabitants of the Country. He supports this Opinion from these Words of the Scripture; The Isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. And again, The Isles shall wait for his Law. It was America, says Manasseh, that the Prophet Isaiah meant by the Word Isles in these Passages.

Sir William Penn, in his Letter concerning the present State of the Dominions of the English in America, is persuaded, that the Americans originally were derived from the Hebrews. Their Countenances, especially those of their Children, have so exact a Resemblance to those of the Jews, that in looking upon them any one would think that they saw the Jews themselves. Their Eyes are small and black. They reckon by Moons: They offer up their First-fruits: their Altars are said to be composed of twelve Stones: Their Mournings continue for a Year: Their Women observe the same Customs as the Jewessos: Their Language is masculine, short, close, energetical; one Word serves instead of three, the rest being supplied by the Hearers.

Others add, that the Mexicans receive Circumcision; that Giants have been seen heretofore in this Country; that the Americans have some Notion of the Deluge, and of the Passage over the Red Sea: That in some places of Peru they kill a white Lamb, the Blood of which they mingle with Meal, and distribute it to the People, who with this Blood make a Token over the Doors of their Houses. Some of them believe a Resurrection; they keep up a perpetual Fire in honour of their Gods; observe a Year of Jubilee at the end of fifty Years, and a Sabbath every Week. These Marks of Conformity between the Americans and the Israelites, and many other that have been taken notice of, cannot be merely casual. It must therefore be acknowledged, that the Israelites penetrated as far as America, either by China, or some other Way.

There are some Jews who will have them to have passed thither even from Spain or France, and who understand those Words of Obadiah to allude to this Passage, Obad. 20.which are thus in the Hebrew Text: The Captives of Israel who came out of Canaan to go to Zarephath B b (that, (that is, France) and the Captives taken out of Jerusalem which are at Sepharad, (that is, Spain, according to them,) shall possess the Cities of the South. Upon this may be consulted a French Book called The Conformity of the Customs of the Indians in the East, with those of the Jews; by M. de la C. at Brussels, in 1704. in twelves: And an English Book upon the same Subject, by Thomas Thorowgood, and some other Authors, quoted by M. Fabricius, in his Bibliograph. Antiquar. p. 16, 17, 18.

But when we consider all these Proofs with a little more Attention, and examine into all the Facts that are advanced as the Foundations of this Opinion, we shall find that a great part of these Characters are false, that others are doubtful, and others equivocal. And if we observe among the Americans some Footsteps of Judaism, so may we also observe some Marks of Christianity too, but especially a declared open Paganism and Idolatry. So that nothing can be reasonably concluded about the Original of the Americans, either as proceeding from the Jews or Christians. We shall not enter into a more prolix Discussion of these Matters; the Reader may consult such Authors as have wrote expressly about them; as Mr. Basnage, in his History of the Jews, l. 7. c. 1. our own Dissertation concerning the Country whither the Ten Tribes were transported; Wolfius, Bibliothec. Hist. Hebr. T. 1. Father Lafiteau, of the Manners and Customs of the wild Americans, T. 2. and in general, those that have wrote upon the Customs of the Americans.

It has been said a long time ago, that the Ten Tribes, at least a part of them, are settled in Ethiopia. ‘Tis thought that even from the Time of Solomon many of them followed the Queen of Sheba. The Rabbi Eliezer tells us,⁷ that in the time of Jeroboam, the Tribe of Dan went into this Country, and that the Tribes of Naphthali, of Gad, of Asher, and of Moses, went thither some time after. The Tribe of Moses, of which the Scripture mentions nothing, according to him, was idolatrous: But being converted, they built themselves Palaces in the Land of their Settlement. These Tribes united themselves together, and had a powerful Monarch of their own Nation, who could bring into the Field an Army of sixscore thousand Horse, and an hundred thousand Foot. But these are Fables. What we may be certain of is this; that in Ethiopia there are many Jews, that they are brave and warlike, and that some of them are powerful enough; since in the middle of the last Age there was one of them who set himself up for a King of a little mountainous Country, which was of very difficult Access; as we are informed by the two Ambassadors of the King of Ethiopia, whom Mr. Bernier⁸ saw at the Court of the Great Mogul. But these Jews pretended to be descended from Judah, and there is no Proof of their Descent from those other Tribes now mentioned.

Olaus Rudbek, Son of the famous Mr. Rudbek, Author of the Atlantica, in his Laponia illustrata, pretends that we must not expect to find the Remains of the Ten Tribes of Israel either in Asia or in Africa, and much less in America; but that they are to be found in the utmost Northern Climes, even in his own Country of Lapland. And these his Surmises he supports by some general Probabilities, and upon the Conformity there is between the Manners and Ceremonies of the Laplanders and those of the Jews. But, upon this Foundation, there can be no Country in the World in which the Jews, and the Ten Tribes, may not be found.

For certain it is, first, that there is no Place of the Earth known to us, where the Ten Tribes can be found united, and making but one People: Secondly, that there are but few Countries where there are not Jews and Israelites, and consequently some Footsteps of their Religion: Thirdly, that a great number of the captive Israelites returned into their own Country during the times of the Rule of the Persians and Greeks: Fourthly, that the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the ten Tribes of Israel, are at present so blended together, that it is hardly possible to distinguish them, and therefore a needless thing to give our selves trouble in seeking the Ten Tribes in any Part of the World. See CAPTIVITY, &c.

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