the land of the north—jeremiah, ether and esdras' testimonies—the course of the israelites northward—the jordan, the don, the danube, etc.—the land of maesia and dacia—the getae—zalmoxes.
having traced the ten tribes to media, the next question is, what has become of them, for they are not to be found in that land today. many attempts have, at various times, been made to discover the ten tribes of israel as a distinct community, but all have failed. josephus (antiquities xi) believed that in his day they dwelt in large multitudes somewhere beyond the euphrates, in asareth, but asareth was an unknown land to him. rabbinical traditions and fables, committed to writing in the middle ages, assert the same fact, with many wonderful amplifications. the imaginations of certain christian writers have sought them in the neighborhood of their last recorded habitation. jewish features have been traced in the affghan tribes; statements are made occasionally of jewish colonies in china, thibet and hindostan (the beni-israel), while the black jews, of malabar, claim affinity with israel. but none of these people would, in any but the slightest degree, fill the place accorded in the prophecies to ephraim and his fellows.
the fact that james the apostle opens his epistle with the following words, has been adduced as an argument that the condition of the ten tribes was known to the early christians: "james, a servant of god and of the lord jesus christ, to the twelve tribes who are scattered abroad, greeting." but it would rather convey the idea to our mind that the epistle was addressed to those of the houses of israel and judah, who, for the various reasons before cited, and which by that time had multiplied, had wandered into egypt, greece, rome and other parts of the earth, and not to those whom god had hidden to fulfill more completely his promises to the patriarchs.
we have before stated that the latter-day saints believe that the ten tribes still exist, and that their home is in the far north. that they still exist is absolutely necessary to fulfill the unfailing promises of jehovah to israel, and to all mankind. the presence of the remnants of judah, in every land today, is an uncontrovertable testimony that the covenant made with abraham has not been abrogated or annulled. the vitality of the jewish race is proverbial, and can we reasonably expect that when one branch of a tree shows such native strength, that the other branches will not be proportionately vital? is it not more consistent to believe that, as the jewish race under the curse of the almighty and suffering centuries of persecution, still survives, so is it with the rest of jacob's seed, rather than that they, ages ago, were blotted out of earthly existence?
the belief that the latter-day saints hold that these tribes are residents of the northern regions of the earth, is sustained by a cloud of scriptural witnesses of ancient and modern days, to whom we now appeal. our first witness shall be the prophet jeremiah. in the third chapter of his prophecies we find the lord rebuking both israel and judah for their treachery and backsliding, yet still proclaiming his long-suffering and mercy to his covenant people. he then gives command to the prophet, saying:
"go and proclaim these words towards the north, and say, return thou, backsliding israel, saith the lord, and' i will not cause mine anger to fall upon you; for i am merciful saith the lord and i will not keep anger forever. * * * in those days [the latter days] the house of judah shall walk with the house of israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to this land that i have given for an inheritance to your fathers."
again, in speaking of the mighty works accompanying the final glorious restoration of the house of jacob, the same prophet declares:
"therefore, behold, the days come, saith the lord, that they shall no more say, the lord liveth which brought up the children of israel out of the land of egypt, but the lord liveth which brought up and which led the seed of the house of israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither i had driven them, and they shall dwell in their own land." (jeremiah xxiii). again it is written (jeremiah xxxi): "for thus saith the lord, sing with gladness for jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations; publish ye, praise ye, and say, o, lord save thy people, the remnant of israel. behold i will bring them from the north country and gather them from the coasts of the earth * * * i am a father to israel, and ephraim is my first born.
we will turn for a moment from the asiatic to the american continent. there we find ether, the jaredite, about 600 years b. c., prophesying of the latter days: "and then also cometh the jerusalem of old; and the inhabitants thereof, blessed are they, for they have been washed in the blood of the lamb; and they are they who were scattered and gathered in from the four quarters of the earth, and from the north countries and are partakers of the fulfilling of the covenant which god made with their father abraham."
but the most definite word on this subject given by any of the ancient writers of the asiatic continent is contained in esdras, a book of the apocrypha (ii esdras xiii). therein is given a dream and its interpretation showing forth the works and the power of the son of god. it is to him and his gathering of the people together that the prophet refers. the verses more particularly bearing on our subject read as follows:
39. "and whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable people unto him.
40. "those are the ten tribes which were carried away captives out of their own land in the time of oseas the king whom salmanaser the king of the assyrians took captive, and crossed them beyond the river; so were they brought into another land.
41. "but they took this counsel to themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth unto a further country where never man dwelt,
42. "that they might there keep their statutes which they never kept in their own land.
43. "and they entered in at the narrow passages of the river euphrates.
44. "for the most high then showed them signs, and stayed the springs of the flood till they were passed over.
45. "for through the country there was great journey, even of a year and a half, and the same region is called arsareth (or ararath).
46. "then dwelt they there until the latter time, and when they come forth again,
47. "the most high shall hold still the springs of the river again that they may go through; therefore sawest thou the multitude peaceable."
the statements of esdras throw considerable light upon the reasons why the captives in media preferred not to return to their ancient home in canaan; supposing always that that privilege had been accorded to them as well as to the captives of the house of judah. in their home of promise they had seldom kept the counsels and commandments of god and if they returned it was probable they would not do any better, especially as the assyrians had filled their land with heathen colonists whose influence would not assist them to carry out their new resolutions. hence they determined to go to a country "where never man dwelt," that they might be free from all contaminating influences. that country could only be found in the north. southern asia was already the seat of a comparatively ancient civilization. egypt flourished in northern africa and southern europe was rapidly filling with the future rulers of the world. they had, therefore, no choice but to turn their faces northward. the first portion of their journey was not however north; according to the account of esdras, they appear to have at first moved in the direction of their old homes, and it is possible that they originally started with the intention of returning thereto, or probably in order to deceive the assyrians they started as if to return to canaan, and when they had crossed the euphrates, and were out of danger from the hosts of the medes and persians, then they turned their journeying feet toward the polar star. esdras states that they entered in at the narrow passage of the river euphrates, the lord staying the "springs of the flood until they were passed over." the point on the river euphrates at which they crossed would necessarily be in its upper portion, as lower down would be too far south for their purpose.
the upper course of the euphrates lies among lofty mountains and near the village of pastash, it plunges through a gorge formed by precipices more than a thousand feet in height and so narrow that it is bridged at the top; it shortly afterwards enters the plains of mesopotamia. how accurately this portion of the river answers the description of esdras of the "narrows," where the israelites crossed!
from the euphrates the wandering host could take but one course in their journey northward, and that was along the back or eastern shore of the black sea. all other roads were impassable to them, as the caucassian range of mountains with only two or three passes throughout its whole extent, ran as a lofty barrier from the black to the caspian sea. to go east would take them back to media, and a westward journey would carry them through asia minor to the coasts of the mediterranean. skirting along the black sea, they would pass the caucassian range, cross the kuban river, be prevented by the sea of azof from turning westward and would soon reach the present home of the don cossacks. it is asserted, on good authority, that along this route and for "an immense distance" northward, the country is full of tombs of great antiquity, the construction of which, the way in which the dead are buried therein, and the jewelry, curiosities, etc., found on opening them, prove that they were built by a people of similar habits to the israelites. dr. clark, a well-known traveler, states that he counted more than ninety such mounds at one view near the kuban river.
we will here digress, and give some of the ideas of a writer on the israelitish origin of the nations of modern europe (mr. j. wilson), though in our own words. he endeavors to prove that israel traveled north-westward from the neighborhood last spoken of, and claims that the names of all the principal rivers, in the regions round about, show that colonists from the holy land gave them. the jordan was distinctively the river of canaan as the nile was of egypt. the word jordan is by some claimed to mean flowing, by others the river of eden. there was also the dedan or dan (el leddan) flowing into it; which would lead to the supposition that the word dan had some connection with israelitish rivers not now understood. suffice it, the exiles doubtless carried with them many hallowed recollections of their ancient river, which it was but natural they should seek to perpetuate as they journeyed farther and farther from its waters and from their long-cherished home. as a result we find in south-eastern europe the don, the daniz or donitz, the daneiper and daniester (now contracted to dneiper and dniester) and the danube. the conclusions of the writer already referred to are that israel gradually drifted westward to the region known to secular history as moesia and dacia, the one north and the other south of the danube, and called by modern english speaking people, roumania and bulgaria. to further strengthen his theory he claims that moesia means the land of moses, and dacia the land of david (after israel's shepherd king), and that the people of the latter kingdom were called the davi. in this country dwelt also the getae (a latinized form of gad) who, some historians assert, were the forefathers of the goths, of whom we shall speak again hereafter. the historian herodotus, in recounting the conquest of his people by darius states, that the getae "believed themselves to be immortal; and whenever one dies, they believe that he is removed to the presence of their god zamoxis (zalmoxis) * * * and they sincerely believe that there is no other deity." he also states that this god left them the institutions of their religion in books. mr. wilson directs attention to this idea of only one god, so different to the pantheism of the surrounding peoples, and that of man's immortality as tending to prove the israelitish origin of the gatae, particularly as in analyzing the word zalmoxis he finds it to be composed of za, el, moses. if his facts be correct, his conclusions are warranted, but of his facts we express no opinion.
