ANG LO -ISRAEL ISM — False or True ?
First in a Series of Revealing Articles
by Louis T. Talbot, D.D.
O NE of the strangest, most amus ing, as well as one of the most tragic interpretations of God’s Word,, which has been projected before the minds of God’s people in recent years is Anglo-Israelism, or British- Israelism. Anglo-Israelism and British- Israelism possess the same meaning, the former having a wider sweep than the latter. This strange system of Biblical interpretation originated about the sec ond thalf of the nineteenth century, and is supposed to answer a question which is not a question at all, that question being: Where are the lost ten tribes of Israel? Anglo-Israelism and Israel The ten tribes are not lost physically, and never were, but Anglo-Israelism supposes that they were actually lost, and that its system of teaching answers that question. Its answer to that sup posed question is one of the most amaz ing, amusing speculations that has ever been presented to Bible students, this speculation being that the lost ten tribes are none other than the British people. According to this theory, the inhabitants of the fritish Isles and the United States of America are intimately con nected, Britain being of the tribe of Ephraim and the United States of the tribe of Manasseh. Those who adhere to. this theory also teach that these nations, England and the United States, are in themselves the lost ten tribes of Israel and accordingly are heirs to the prom ises of God. In propounding this theory, Anglo- Israelism declares that with the first captivity, the members of the ten tribes (the kingdom of the North) were car ried away into the valley of the great river of the Assyrians. Later a second expedition made captives of the people of the South, Judah. At the time of the restoration only the victims of the lat ter captivity (Judah) were returned to Palestine. These people go so far as to say that the tribe of Judah was the only part of Israel in Palestine at the time of our Lord’s earthly ministry, and con sequently were responsible for the cruci fixion of Christ. The others regained their freedom from the Assyrians and pushed their way westward, preserving their identity
as they moved and giving the names of their tribes to countries and cities which they founded and to rivers which they crossed. The tribe of Dan, so Anglo-Israelism says, gave its name to the DANube, DarDANelles, and to DANmark. Reach ing England they founded, among other cities, the one that bears the name DAN- elagh. How it came to pass that Dan was the only tribe which left traces of its movements is something which An- glo-Israelites have not explained. The United States of America is brought into the picture because their progenitors emigrated from Britain to this land. How a trip across the Atlantic changed them from Ephraim to Manas seh is another point which has not been made clear; however, the Anglo-Israel- ites are positive that the people of Eng land and the United States are the lost ten tribes of Israel, and are heirs of the promises which God made in His cove nant to Abraham. Anglo-Israelites and Jews T HIS pertinent question naturally arises: If England and the United States' are to be identified as the ten tribes, who are the Jews and what is to be their destiny? The Jews, according to these Anglo-Israelites, are the descend ants of Judah, and since this was the only tribe in the land of Palestine during the earthly ministry of Christ, they alone are responsible for His crucifixion, and upon them rests the curse of God as a result. Anglo-Israelism applies all the promises to the British nation, while the curses are left to the Jews, the descend ants of Judah. I have come to the conclusion that this whole system is a delusion of Satan, a denial of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus, a presentation of a false Messiah, leading people to rest upon their national connection for their sal vation rather than upon the redemptive work of Christ. The system, like Chris tian Science, Modernism, Russellism, and the Oxford Group Movement, is a sign of the days in which we are living. In the magazine, Biblical Truth for the Bereans, the following tenets of Anglo- Israelism are set forth by the Anglo- Saxon Federation of America, Haver hill, Mass.: 1; “ The Bible does not state or infer
that the Jews are God’s chosen people. Judah and Israel are entirely distinct and separate entities. 2 Chronicles 11. 2. “ The Bible made these prophecies and recorded these facts concerning Is rael and the Jews. Israel was to find an island home and be moved no more. The Jews were to be strangers in all lands. Israel was to constitute a king dom but the Jews were never to be a nation, until reunited with Israel. Jews were to remain under the law and Old Covenant, whereas Israel was to be a Christian people. 3. “ Israel had nothing to do with the crucifixion of our Lord, not being in the land, except Benjamin, who accepted Him. 4. “ ‘Ephraim’ is England and ‘Man asseh’ represents the United States. Manasseh was the thirteenth tribe, and that accounts for the discovery of Amer ica on October 13, 1492; and the follow ing ‘thirteens’ in American history: thirteen colonies; 13 bars and 13 stars (flag); 13 letters in E Pluribus Unum and 13 feathers, 13 olives, and 13 ar rows on American coins. First American navy, 13 ships. Cornerstone of White House laid October 13, 1792. The 13th amendment abolished slavery. General Pershing born September 13, 1860 and arrived in France for participation in the World War June 13, 1917. The first letter in Manasseh is the 13th in both English and Hebrew languages. Herbert Hoover and Charles Curtis each had 13 letters in their names. 5. “ The Celtic-Anglo-Saxons are Is rael, the chosen people of God. The British Isle inhabitants are descendants among others, from the tribes of Saxons (Isaac’s sons), the Danes of Dan, the Jutes of Judah, the Fresians, the Piets, and the Scots, and Normans of Ben jamin. 6. “Brith in Hebrew means covenant;' therefore, we have Britain, ‘covenant law’, British the ‘covenant man’, Bri- . tannia, ‘covenant ships.’ ‘Britannia rules the waves,’ controlling the English Chan nel, Gibraltar, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, the Suez Canal, Malta, Aden, and other gates and stations. America controls practically all of the remaining gates. This, all in fulfillment of Genesis 22:17, ‘thy [Abraham’s] seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.’ (Read Isaiah 14:1 to 8). ( Continued on Page SO)
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