Good morning,

The domain name for the pending site has been registered, and should be easy to remember. It is www.pleaseconsider.au

Blessings,

Ian

Hello, all.

If anyone would like pre-publication versions of the Please Consider essays, you can request PDF copies via email at didaktikon@gmail.com The essays are written in a way that promotes understanding. Consequently, they are intended to be suggestive rather than exhaustive, but they intentionally address Revivalist misunderstandings and errors, head-on.

The following are almost complete:

1. Pentecost (Acts 1 & 2)

2. Acts 2:38

3. Baptism

4. The Gospel

5. Mark 16

6. Nicodemus' misunderstanding (John 3)

7. Speaking in tongues

The following are underway:

1. What is the church? 

2. Prayer: A user's guide

3. The British-Israel myth

4. What is salvation?

5. How does grace work?

6. Spiritual gifts: trinkets or treasures?

7. Nicodemus, the Centurion

8. The Philippian Gaoler

9. Salvation in Samaria

10. Effusion at Ephesus

11. How to read the Bible: A user's guide

12. Jesus, the Messiah-King

13. The person of the Holy Spirit

14. The trinity: what it is, and why it's important
    

Blessings,

Ian

Hello, All.

I thought it might be good to share one of the pending Please Consider essays here, to provide an example of how they are structured. To this end, I've included the one titled, The British Israel Myth.

Blessings,

Ian

The British-Israel Myth

‘James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.’[1]

The Revival Centres and Fellowship teaches the Anglo-Saxon Celtic peoples are the literal descendants of the northern Kingdom of Israel, which the Assyrians overthrew around 720 BC, and then dispersed throughout their empire. The story goes these exiles migrated north and west over the following centuries, eventually settling in lands directly linked to the British Commonwealth and the United States of America. These modern nations are, therefore, believed to be the inheritors of God’s covenant promise to Abraham, Jacob and David, and so will play a critical role in ushering in the Kingdom of God.[2]  

The central importance of the so-called British-Israel message to biblical interpretation in the Revival Centres and Fellowship is immense, and in many respects, is the glue that binds Revivalist doctrine together.[3] Consequently, it would be a mistake to dismiss British-Israel as being a side or secondary issue to these groups. To the contrary, it is as sacrosanct as is their shared belief concerning the importance of speaking in tongues. Consequently, if the British-Israel theory is proven false, then it follows that so too is approximately ninety percent of Revivalism’s major doctrines.

The limits of this essay

As will become clear, I contend the British-Israel myth is false; furthermore, that it can be readily disproven biblically, historically, philologically, and genetically. There are any number of published academic works that do just that, and which I commend to those whose interest in the subject goes beyond the superficial.[4]

Due to its purpose, this essay must necessarily be brief, and so is intended to be suggestive rather than exhaustive. My aim is to focus on providing a digested summary of critical points that I have personally found conclusive. I will not attempt to refute each and every claim promoted by adherents of the British-Israel myth, as to do so would require the publishing of a rather large book. 

There are three broad issues that coalesce around the subject.

The first relates to the belief that the ten tribes of Israel were lost to history following the Assyrian invasion of the Northern Kingdom. The second issue has to do with the belief that the Anglo-Saxon Celtic peoples are physically descended from these supposedly ten lost tribes of Israel. The third, and to my mind the most important issue, has to do with how the Bible presents the subject of Israel, especially in the New Testament. I will limit myself to considering each of these features in brief compass, with an intentional emphasis towards the last of these considerations. But first, a suggestive quote:

The (British-Israel) theory that the British people is ultimately descended from the ten Israelite tribes which were taken captive into Assyria c.721 BC, and thereafter wholly disappeared from Hebrew history. It was often found in conjunction with pronounced imperialist views; and though the numbers and influence of those who defend it are small, they often hold to it with a persistence and enthusiasm which refuse to give a dispassionate consideration to objections urged against it. The theory meets with no support from serious ethnologists or archaeologists.[5]

British-Israel and the Revival Centres and Fellowship 

Lloyd Longfield and Noel Hollins were introduced to British-Israel mythology by Thomas Foster, who was then a pastor in the National Revival Crusade.[6] Foster had previously served as a YMCA representative with the 1^st Australian Armoured Division during the Second World War, and prior to enlisting was affiliated with the World British-Israel Federation. During the pre-war years he was active in proselytizing their message in Pentecostal churches across Victoria, a message that included not only the ‘national identity’ doctrine, but also the historicist approach to the interpretation of biblical books such as Daniel and Revelation.[7]

A defining aspect of the British-Israel myth is the strict demarcation between the ten tribes of Israel (i.e. the ‘Israelites’), and the two tribes of Judah (i.e. the ‘Jews’). We shall consider how the Bible addresses this issue shortly.

Are the tribes of Israel lost?

With the Assyrian conquest, and the forced removal of a significant number of Israelites from Palestine in 720/721 BC, the Kingdom of Israel ceased to exist. The exiles were assimilated into Assyrian society, and from there into related sub-cultures spread throughout the Near East.[8] In this limited, or national sense, a case can be made that the tribes were lost. However, this assertion must be carefully nuanced.

To begin with, the northern Kingdom of Israel was not emptied by the invasion; it was largely the elites whom Tiglath-Pileser III, and Shalmaneser V deported. Next, even in exile many Israelites retained their cultural identity. It is for this reason the Jewish Diaspora at the time of Christ, per Peter’s Pentecost discourse, included ‘Medes and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia’.[9] These were former territories of the Assyrian Empire.

From their return under Cyrus around 530 BC, Jews accepted the Samaritans were descended from the northern Kingdom of Israel. However, they were shunned for being a mixed race, the result of intermarrying between the people of the land who remained through the Assyrian predation, and the immigrants the Assyrians subsequently resettled into northern Palestine. Historically the Samaritans referred to themselves as בני ישראל (bene Israel, or ‘sons of Israel’), and have scrupulously maintained their genealogies to the present day.[10] Consequently, it would be incorrect to state the ten tribes of Israel were categorically lost.

Are the Anglo-Saxon Celtic peoples descended from Israel?

The short answer is, of course, ‘no’. Genetically, Anglo-Saxon Celtic and north western European peoples belong to Haplogroup R1b.[11] Middle Eastern populations, including Israelites, Samaritans and Jews, belong to Haplogroups J1 and J2.[12]

In 2003 the human genome was fully mapped. The next critical step was the generation of a ‘hapmap’, thereby defining ancestral haplotypes. The initial work on this project was completed in 2010, and was principally intended as a tool for isolating and addressing inherited genetic conditions through medical research.[13] While the idea of race is broadly understood as a social and cultural construct, genetic material defines who were are at a biological level. This material enables us to trace human ancestry back thousands of generations, identifying not only distinctive population groups, but also the clearly defined geographic markers and locations inhabited by the groups.

Historically, Bronze Age migrations of Germanic people occurred from the lower Rhine to Britain between 2,500 and 2,000 BC, and they eventually replaced about ninety percent of the genetic heritage of their Neolithic British predecessors.[14] Celts migrated to southern Britain from France around 1000 BC, some three hundred years before the fall of Israel to Assyria. Finally, Anglo-Saxons began arriving in Britain from the fifth century AD.[15] All share in common the R1a and R1b genetic Haplogroups. As they are not genetically Middle Eastern/semitic, the Anglo-Saxon Celtic people are clearly not descended from the so-called Lost Tribes of Israel.

Socially, Middle Eastern and semitic peoples tend towards endogamy; this includes Jews and Samaritans.[16] Consequently, as a small sub-set of humanity they exhibit very stable conformity to paternal and maternal Haplogroups when compared to the rest of us.  

Culturally, there are significant differences between European and Middle Eastern peoples. Language is widely recognised as the foundation of culture, and philologically the languages of Europe and the Middle East are completely unrelated. Every Indo-European language descends from the Proto-Indo-European spoken during the Bronze Age in the steppe regions proximal to Russia and the Ukraine. Conversely, the semitic languages branch from the altogether separate Afro-Asiatic family. Critically, semitic languages were widely spoken across the Near East during the same periods in which Indo-European languages were in use across Europe. Consequently, they are not related. The myth that European languages contain Hebrew syntax and etymologies pointing to an ancient Israelitish heritage is just that, a myth.[17]

To summarise, genetic science, history, ethnology and comparative philology all disprove the fable that Anglo-Saxon Celtic peoples are descended from Israelites.

How does the Bible present Israel?

The noun Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל) occurs over 2,500 times in the Bible, and the semantic range is quite broad. It is so broad that the intended meaning of the word is frequently subject to change within the same passage of the same biblical book! In the list below, I have grouped the semantic range of Israel into ten primary contexts. For ease of reference, and to keep the essay to a manageable size, the summary of findings is from the Old Testament prophets alone:[18]

1.     Israel is understood as the original ancestor of the people, that is, it can connote both Jacob (e.g. Hosea 12:12), and Abraham (e.g. Isaiah 63:16).

2.     Israel is understood as the people that God delivered from Egypt (e.g. Jeremiah 32:20; Amos 3:1).

3.     Israel is understood as the alliance that predated the monarchy (e.g. Jeremiah 7).

4.     Israel is understood as a united monarchy (e.g. Jeremiah 33:17; Micah 5:2).

5.     Israel is understood as the northern part of the kingdom (e.g. Isaiah 7:1; Hosea 1:1).

6.     Israel is understood as the southern part of the kingdom (e.g. Isaiah 1:3; Jeremiah 5:15; Ezekiel 2:3). Notably, Ezekiel used ‘Israel’ one hundred and eighty-five times, and ‘Judah’ fifteen times, when refering to his audience of exiled Judeans![19]

7.     Israel is understood as the Judeans (or ‘Jews’) who were exiled to Babylon (e.g. Isaiah 40-66; Isaiah 49:6; Ezekiel 11:15; Obadiah 1:20).

8.     Israel is understood as the Judeans (or ‘Jews’) who returned from Exile during the Persian period (e.g. Ezra 2:2; Zechariah 12:1; Malachi 2:11).

9.     Israel is understood as a geographical region (e.g. Isaiah 11:16; Ezekiel 27:17).

10. Israel is understood as a future reality (e.g. Ezekiel 37:21; Zechariah 9:1; Isaiah 27:6).

Quite simply, the name Israel was not limited in the sense defended by apologists for the British-Israel myth. To the contrary, Israel was repeatedly used to describe Jews well after the division of the Davidic-Solomonic kingdom into two. In many Old Testament contexts, the words Israel and Judah are treated as synonyms, which is precisely how they appear in the New Testament.

New Testament references to Israel

The essay began with a quote from the letter of James, addressed to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations. James’ audience was well known to him; they were members of the Jewish diaspora, and they lived the length and breadth of the Roman Empire. They traded with, communicated with, had relationships with, and engaged in religious practices with the Jews of Palestine during the first century AD.

In the Gospel According to Matthew, Jesus and his disciples are sent, ‘…only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.’[20] This, of course, is a reference to their ministry among the Jews. It was only after his glorification, and their subsequent Spirit empowerment at Pentecost, that Jesus directed his apostles to evangelise beyond this single people group (see PENTECOST).[21]

Luke left us the following record concerning Paul’s address to the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, ‘Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: ‘Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me!’[22] Paul was from the tribe of Benjamin, and a Jew. Despite this, he claimed the name Israelite for himself and his Jewish companions.

In his letter to the Church at Rome, notably chapters nine through eleven, Paul explicated the promises that God made to the people of Israel were to be fulfilled in the mixed company that is the Christian church. Luke also intimated as much in his record of Peter’s speech to the Jews at Pentecost.[23]

All things considered, the third chapter to Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae discredits any and all perceived racial primacy or importance within God’s redemptive plan. Verse eleven:

Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

A digression?

You will notice I have avoided discussing several rabbit-hole issues, including the fictitious Tea/Tamar Tephi, the similarly fictitious claim that the British Royal family traces its lineage back to King David, and the misguided belief that the Stone of Scone is Jacob’s Pillow. They are pointless digressions, each of which has been categorically disproven.[24]

Conclusion

The British-Israel myth has been conclusively disproven—biblically, historically, philologically, ethnologically, and perhaps most tellingly of all, genetically. It is a racist theory that was created to justify British colonialism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and which was revived following the Second World War when British influence in world affairs was declining.

That the Revival Centres and Fellowship continues to propagate this myth clearly demonstrates that they do not care ‘about the truth, despite the proof’.

[1] James 1:1

[2] See, e.g. E. Raymond CAPT, Abrahamic Covenant, Artisan Publishers, n.d.; M.S. Kragh, The Lost 10 Tribes of Israel in Europe, Covenant Publishing Ltd, 2024; J. Durrant, The Throne of David and the Return of Christ, Revival Centres of Australia, 1988

[3] Not only in the way they interpret the Old and New Testaments, but also their doctrines of salvation and the End Times

[4] See, e.g. T. Parfitt, The Lost Tribes of Israel: The History of a Myth, Weidenfield & Nicolson, 2003; D. Baron, The History of the Ten “Lost” Tribes: Anglo-Israelism Examined, Morgan & Scot, 1915; Z. Shavitsky, The Mystery of the Ten Lost Tribes: A Critical Survey of Historical and Archaeological Records Relating to the People of Israel in Exile in Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia up to 300 BCE, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012

[5] F. Cross and E. Livingstone, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3^rd. ed., Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 239

[6] D. Cooper, Flames of Revival: The continuing story of the Christian Revival Crusade celebrating Fifty Years of Pentecostal Witness, CRC National Executive, 1995 p. 62

[7] Historicism seeks to interpret prophecy and apocalyptic through the identification of concrete, historical events. As with the competing theories of futurism and preterism, historicism imposes an artificial interpretative grid atop the biblical material, one that would make no sense to the people the writings were originally directed to. Historicism reached its peak in the 19^th century—coincidentally, alongside the British-Israel myth. Both approaches to interpreting prophecy were adopted by 19^th century Millenarian sects such as the Seventh Day Adventists, and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (now the Jehovah’s Witnesses)

[8] See e.g. A. Bregman, A History of Israel, Macmillan, 2002; J. Bright, A History of Israel, Westminster John Knox Press, 2000

[9] See Acts 2:9

[10] E.g. the current Samaritan High Priest, Aabed-El Ben Asher ben Matzliach traces his family lineage 133 generations back to Aaron 

[11] Haplogroups are genetic groupings of people sharing common ancestry, and which are defined by specific DNA mutations. Haplogroups reveal deep ancestral origins and migration patterns, and act like genetic surnames to trace human history

[12] The haplogroups identify paternal heritage, which is appropriate given Hebrew tribe identification was inherited paternally

[13] See https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/hapmap of the National Human Genome Research Institute 

[14] M. Allentoft, M. Sikora, et. al., Population Genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia, Nature, 522, 2015    

[15] S. Meigs and S. Lehmberg, The Peoples of the British Isles: A New History. From Prehistoric Times to 1688, 4^th ed., Oxford University Press, 2016

[16] A. Katsnelson, ‘Jews worldwide share genetic ties’, Nature, 2010

[17] See, T. Loundsbury, History of the English Language, Kessinger Publishers, 1906, pp. 1, 12-13

[18] I used the prophets given they collectively ministered to both the Northern and Southern exiles

[19] S.v. יִשְׂרָאֵל in J. Kohlenberger III and J. Swanson, The Hebrew-English Concordance to the Old Testament, Zondervan, 1998 

[20] Matthew 10:6

[21] Acts 1:8

[22] Acts 13:16; Philippians 3:5

[23] Acts 2:14-39

[24] In the Spring 2001 edition of the Crown and Commonwealth Magazine the World British-Israel Federation acknowledged Tea/Tamar Tephi was a fiction created by F.R.A. Glover in 1861. Next, the British Royal Family’s official website traces their historical lineage back to 1066. Finally, geological testing established the Stone of Scone is red Scottish sandstone with Strathclyde substrates. Sandstones from Palestine are morphologically different, being of Nubian, Kukar and Karstic types