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Sunday, February 26, 2023

Arsereth; Other Land, Archêr-‘Erets; Seafaring Tribes; A Year and a Half Journey

In studying the true Israelites, we want to look at a place called Arsereth. Either the word of the Lord is true and Yahweh scattered his people because of the curses they chose, or Yahweh was only threatening and wasn’t really going to uproot the Israelites from the land that he gave them. Yahweh’s words are more true than we know. The Hollywood version of the Israelites is not actually accurate. Maybe the people who say that they are Jews but are not are cashing in on the stories of the poor wandering Jews. Maybe it is more lucrative for them to claim an Israelite heritage than to claim an Assyrian, Babylonian, Philistine, or Egyptian heritage. We know that the people who promote all the evil rituals and worship of false gods would like to take over the world and it seems that hiding behind the name “Jew” makes their evil religion more acceptable to the world. If they are rich and not sitting on donuts then they are probably not real Jews. It is also possible that they believe their defilement of the land prevents the Messiah from coming back on the Day of the Lord. Maybe they believe it hinders the numbers of people from the nations entering in. The people who say that they are Jews but are not create an obscure religion and promote it to the world, then the nations look at them and reject Yahweh altogether. Nothing will hinder the the nations entering into the sheepfold or hinder the Day of the Lord. 


Joh 10:16  And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.


https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2017/02/dreams-latter-days-left-behind-arsereth.html

https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2014/06/conquest-of-babylon-atheism-latter-days.html



After Moses’ prophecy of the blessings or curses that the Israelites were to choose between, and all the consequences associated with choosing curses, Moses tells them what else will happen to them. Moses tells them that the people will have their names blotted out of heaven and the land will become too harsh to grow food. Then the nations will claim that Yahweh rooted them out of their land and threw them into another land.

 

Deu 29:18  Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

Deu 29:19  And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:

Deu 29:20  The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.

Deu 29:21  And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:

Deu 29:22  So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it;

Deu 29:23  And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:


The evil people walking away from Yahweh will have their names blotted out from heaven. The evil people will be separated from the tribes of Israel. Their children and strangers will see what a harsh land Israel is because Yahweh overthrew it like Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim. Remember that there was a constant pushing and pulling, back and forth from the majority leaning toward evil then the majority leaning toward good. 


Deu 29:24  Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?

Deu 29:25  Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt:

Deu 29:26  For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them:

Deu 29:27  And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book:

Deu 29:28  And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.

Deu 29:29  The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.


Deuteronomy 29:28 G2532 And G1808 [2lifted G1473 3them G2962 1 the lord] G575 from G3588   G1093 their land G1473   G1722 in G2372 rage G2532 and G3709 anger, G2532 and G3948 [3fit of temper G3173 2great G4970 1an exceedingly], G2532 and G1544 cast G1473 them G1519 into G1093 [2land G2087 1another] G5616 as G3568 now.



2087

ἕτερος 

heteros het'-er-os Of uncertain affinity; (an-, the) other or different

KJV Usage: altered, else, next (day), one, (an-) other, some, strange.


As we see here, in the Greek the word for land means “earth”, γῆ gē, and it is used twice. The second time it is combined with heteros, gē heteros, meaning “another of a different kind of land”. In the Hebrew however there are two different words for land. The first is ‘ădâmâh, or “soil”, and the second is ‘erets meaning “earth or country”.  The word archêr means “hinder, next, or other”. The word ‘erets is used with archêr , reading archêr ‘erets. Since Hebrew is a later translation taken from the Greek Septuagint we can see that the Masoretes were trying to point out something they believed was true and that is that the people would be in another country, or a hinterland, a place beyond the coast. This is one of the problems we have with the Masoretic text because they altered so much scripture to erase Jesus as Messiah that we can hardly trust anything they say. Nonetheless we see how archêr-‘erets can become Arsereth/Arsareth/Arzareth due to the lack of vowels in Hebrew.


The last two words of verse 28 are translated “as now” and should read “just as now”. The context is that the nations and the men will say that in Yahweh’s anger he threw them out into another different land, just as the present time. The nations recognize that Israel has become a riddle and and an enigma because Yahweh, who delivered them out of Egypt, has sent them to another different land.  


Another aspect that we should look at is that the people who came out of Egypt were not all people from each of the tribes. Moses’ mother stayed behind, being too old and weak to leave. We may think that the Hollywood version of the exodus is factual but it is not. While the tribes were in Goshen they worked and traded, bought and sold normally for nearly four hundred years. They had established business relationships and visited other nations regularly. They knew of other places to live besides Egypt and Israel.


The tribe of Dan in particular were experienced merchants. They traveled and traded all over the region. The tribe of Dan were skilled sailors. They had established themselves in several nations and many people from the tribe of Dan did not participate in the wandering in the desert but instead at the time of the exodus they moved to Greece, Spain, and eventually north into the British Isles. They also migrated to the Black Sea and were also known as Scythians. They became known as the Anglo’s and the Saxon’s, Danes and Scots (see Dan Pioneer of Israel  by Colonel J.C. Gawler). The part of the tribe that went into Israel was small but when constant struggles came during the time of the Judges another Danite exodus occurred. 


Judges 5:17 G* Gilead G1722 [2on G3588 3the G4008 4other side G3588 5of the G* 6Jordan G2681 1encamped]. G2532 And G* Dan -- G2444 why G3939 does he sojourn G4143 in boats? G* Asher G3939 sojourns G3844 by G123 the shore G2281 of seas, G2532 and G1909 at G3588   G1249.1 his breaches G1473   G2681 he will encamp.


Paul visited the British Isles with the gospel message on one of his last journeys. The archeological evidence of the tribe of Dan, and the Danite ensign of a snake is found all over the world. They weren’t the only tribe that moved west instead of east after entering the promised land. Issacharians  were also known to be in Spain. While the Zebulunites were hearty sailors who could sail anywhere. The ten northern tribes went even further from Israel ending up in the Americas or Arsereth. 


In Ezras prophetic dream he sees the tribulation period when the beast rises up to overtake the world. He also sees a Messiah who comes to save the people. 


2Es 13:32  And the time shall be when these things shall come to pass, and the signs shall happen which I shewed thee before, and then shall my Son be declared, whom thou sawest as a man ascending.

2Es 13:33  And when all the people hear his voice, every man shall in their own land leave the battle they have one against another.

2Es 13:34  And an innumerable multitude shall be gathered together, as thou sawest them, willing to come, and to overcome him by fighting.

2Es 13:35  But he shall stand upon the top of the mount Sion.

2Es 13:36  And Sion shall come, and shall be shewed to all men, being prepared and builded, like as thou sawest the hill graven without hands.

2Es 13:37  And this my Son shall rebuke the wicked inventions of those nations, which for their wicked life are fallen into the tempest;

2Es 13:38  And shall lay before them their evil thoughts, and the torments wherewith they shall begin to be tormented, which are like unto a flame: and he shall destroy them without labour by the law which is like unto me.


Ezra sees that the people who love Yahweh will gather to Jesus the Messiah and that Jesus will rebuke the wicked. Jesus will gather another group of people  to himself in Israel. We know from the books of Matthew and Deuteronomy that those people will be gathered from all four corners of heaven and earth. 


2Es 13:39  And whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable multitude unto him;

2Es 13:40  Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land.


This is the time that the northern kingdom went into captivity in Assyria. They went into captivity as prisoners but then left on their own accord. Josephus adds some details. 


Antiquities of the Jews 9:14:1

How Shalmaneser Took Samaria by Force, and How He Transplanted the Ten Tribes into Media, and Brought the Nation of the Cutheans into Their Country [in Their Room]

1. (277) When Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, had it told him, that [Hoshea] the king of Israel had sent privately to So, the king of Egypt, desiring his assistance against him, he was very angry, and made an expedition against Samaria, in the seventh year of the reign of Hoshea; (278) but when he was not admitted [into the city] by the king, he besieged Samaria three years, and took it by force in the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, and in the seventh year of Hezekiah, king of Jerusalem, and quite demolished the government of the Israelites, and transplanted all the people into Media and Persia, among whom he took king Hoshea alive; (279) and when he had removed these people out of this their land, he transplanted other nations out of Cuthah, a place so called (for there is [still] a river of that name in Persia), into Samaria, and into the country of the Israelites. (280) So the ten tribes of the Israelites were removed out of Judea, nine hundred and forty-seven years after their forefathers were come out of the land of Egypt, and possessed themselves of this country, but eight hundred years after Joshua had been their leader, and, as I have already observed, two hundred and forty years, seven months, and seven days, after they had revolted from Rehoboam, the grandson of David, and had given the kingdom to Jeroboam. (281) And such a conclusion overtook the Israelites, when they had transgressed the laws, and would not hearken to the prophets, who foretold that this calamity would come upon them, if they would not leave off their evil doings. (282) What gave birth to these evil doings, was that sedition which they raised against Rehoboam, the grandson of David, when they set up Jeroboam, his servant, to be their king, who, by sinning against God, and bringing them to imitate his bad example, made God to be their enemy, while Jeroboam underwent that punishment which he justly deserved. 


 Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 264–265.


This is interesting. Shalmaneser transplanted the people from the northern kingdom in Media, Persia, and then took people from Cuthah and moved them into Samaria. Some of the Israelite people mixed with the Cuthahites creating a half breed of partly Hebraic and partly non-Hebraic people in the land. What precipitated this is the splitting of the kingdom and making Jeroboam king. Rehoboam was getting bad advice from his young friends and young advisors. He wanted to tax the citizens more and make them work harder than Solomon his father did. People always revolt when they are over taxed and can see that the elites are living lavish lives while the regular people sweat for the rich. If we think about the logic here, it is one thing to build a Temple for Yahweh and a palace for the king, but the constant building and development from back breaking sweat of the people goes too far. The people escaped Egypt with Yahweh’s help after being made into slaves there. No one wants to be enslaved in their own country.


2Ki 17:1  In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.

2Ki 17:2  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.

2Ki 17:3  Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.


Leaders of nations can become vassals for other nations. In this case Hoshea became a vassal servant for Shalmaneser.


2Ki 17:4  And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.

2Ki 17:5  Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

2Ki 17:6  In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.


Why did the people suffer? If it was just a bad king then the bad king would bear his own sins, but the people were sinning all on their own. Just as in the time of the Judges, the pushing and pulling of evil in the land kept the majority swaying between good and evil. 


2Ki 17:7  For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,

2Ki 17:8  And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

2Ki 17:9  And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

2Ki 17:10  And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:

2Ki 17:11  And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:

2Ki 17:12  For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.

2Ki 17:13  Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

2Ki 17:14  Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.

2Ki 17:15  And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.

2Ki 17:16  And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

2Ki 17:17  And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

2Ki 17:18  Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.


There was none left but the tribe of Judah. This is why everyone wants to call themselves a “Jew”. People try to align themselves with the less sinful region rather than the more sinful region. But Judah is not innocent. 


2Ki 17:19  Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

2Ki 17:20  And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

2Ki 17:21  For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.

2Ki 17:22  For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;

2Ki 17:23  Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.


Israel influenced Judah. The northern kingdom’s sins influenced the southern kingdom to sin. Both kingdoms ended up in captivity, because both kingdoms followed false heathen gods and practiced evil rituals. 


2Es 13:40  Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land.

2Es 13:41  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 dwelt,

2Es 13:42  That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land.


When we read this we get the impression that the word they means “everyone in Israel”. This is not the case. Many in Israel wanted to continue to practice their spiritualism. The majority of people pushed the country into captivity because of their evil practices. Therefore understand that they is less than fifty percent of the population. The they could be less than thirty percent of the population because it had to be people who could handle the journey. Not the old and feeble but the young and strong. The people who took this journey wanted to worship Yahweh or at the very least they didn’t want to worship idols. They did not want to be part of the sinners. Yahweh then had to make a way for them to leave. 


2Es 13:43  And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow places of the river.

2Es 13:44  For the most High then shewed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over.

2Es 13:45  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.


It took the people a year and a half to get to Arsareth. It took Columbus between 60 and 70 days to reach the Americas from Spain. Now think about this. Some of the Israelite tribes were great seafarers such as Dan and Zebulun. Solomon created a navy. Jonah tried to head to Spain instead of Ninevah on a boat. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, took a boat to Alexandria to escape Herod. If the Israelites knew that their relatives were in different parts of the world as the tribe of Dan was at this time, wouldn’t it be reasonable to think that the “they” who wanted to leave Assyria knew who to hook up with to make a journey to another continent? Wouldn’t the merchant tribe of Dan be a good resource for information as to what lands were a good place to travel to. Even if the Israelite tribes split up with some traveling over land bridges into North America, or some by boat into the Caribbean Islands and South and Central America, it would explain who those natives were. Either route would take a long time to complete, so a year and a half is not out of the question. 


We think it was a hard journey for Columbus or the pilgrims on the Mayflower, but the Vikings were exploring the Americas years before Columbus did. There are some scholars who suggest that in the days of Jared, when the sons of Seth were on the mountains and the sons of Cain were in the valleys trying to lure the sons of Seth down with various sins, that the people who left the mountain made their way by boat (before the flood of Noah) to the Americas. Certainly that could be a stretch but by the time period of the exile of the ten tribes people were sailing all over. This is why Moses prophesied that they would be sent out in ships and be sold because the technology to sail on ships from port to port was available. It took the Mayflower pilgrims 66 days to reach Cape Cod. Wouldn’t it be possible for other people to make the journey too if they traveled in the summer? Maybe they took a route from the Canary Islands to the Azores or from the Canary Islands to Cape Verde and then to South America. Or maybe they went to the British Isles and headed to North America or Canada. 


We have had our history stolen from us because we have been led to believe that people in the ancient times thought the world was flat. No one thought the world was flat. In fact the disinformation was drilled into us to make us think that no Israelites migrated from the region of Israel and the middle east. The Egyptians were building ships six thousand years ago. Where were they going?


The book Lost Tribes and Promised Lands by Ronald Sanders gives us a history of America’s racism by explaining the native tribes, the Spanish inquisition, and the slave trades. What we see is people speaking Hebrew in south America’s jungles but also in what is now known as upstate New York. People had fled their homelands for centuries to escape religious persecutions. The ten tribes were no longer connected by tribe but by their journey, where and when it took place, and where the people all stayed to settle. The forming of new tribes was now due to people being settlers not being connected to Israel or Jacob.


When Yahweh brought the Israelites out of Egypt he protected them and arranged the elements, the water and the wind, to make their way easy. Why wouldn’t Yahweh do it again for the people who wanted to worship him but were forced into exile by their corrupt leaders and fellow citizens? What if Yahweh has been hiding some of the heirs of Jacob in plain site? Doesn’t Yahweh know how to save the righteous from out of the unrighteous? Noah built a boat. When Sodom was hit with brimstone Lot and his daughters were spared. When Daniel was thrown into the lions den he was saved. Ananias, Sedrach; and to Misael were thrown in the burning fiery furnace yet they walked out unharmed. When David was surrounded by enemies he was delivered. Is it possible that Yahweh protected the journey of the people from the ten tribes?


2Es 13:46  Then dwelt they there until the latter time; and now when they shall begin to come,

2Es 13:47  The Highest shall stay the springs of the stream again, that they may go through: therefore sawest thou the multitude with peace.


The ten tribes are dwelling there, in Arsereth, until the latter time. They will come out of Arsereth when Jesus the Messiah establishes his millennial kingdom on the earth. 


2Es 13:48  But those that be left behind of thy people are they that are found within my borders.

2Es 13:49  Now when he destroyeth the multitude of the nations that are gathered together, he shall defend his people that remain.

2Es 13:50  And then shall he shew them great wonders.

2Es 13:51  Then said I, O Lord that bearest rule, shew me this: Wherefore have I seen the man coming up from the midst of the sea?

2Es 13:52  And he said unto me, Like as thou canst neither seek out nor know the things that are in the deep of the sea: even so can no man upon earth see my Son, or those that be with him, but in the day time.

2Es 13:53  This is the interpretation of the dream which thou sawest, and whereby thou only art here lightened.

2Es 13:54  For thou hast forsaken thine own way, and applied thy diligence unto my law, and sought it.

2Es 13:55  Thy life hast thou ordered in wisdom, and hast called understanding thy mother.

2Es 13:56  And therefore have I shewed thee the treasures of the Highest: after other three days I will speak other things unto thee, and declare unto thee mighty and wondrous things.


We see that the true Israelites are all over the world until the end of the tribulation and Yahweh brings them out of heaven and earth. Josephus tells us something interesting regarding Ezra. Xerxes wrote an epistle or letter for Ezra to take to the king of Syria for Ezra so that he would not be harmed for traveling and which also allowed Ezra to make sacrifices in Israel for Xerxes. 


Josephus 11:5:2 2. (131) When Esdras had received this epistle, he was very joyful, and began to worship God, and confessed that he had been the cause of the king’s great favor to him, and that for the same reason he gave all the thanks to God. So he read the epistle at Babylon to those Jews that were there; but he kept the epistle itself, (132) and sent a copy of it to all those of his own nation that were in Media; and when these Jews had understood what piety the king had towards God, and what kindness he had for Esdras, they were all greatly pleased; nay, many of them took their effects with them, (133) and came to Babylon, as very desirous of going down to Jerusalem; but then the entire body of the people of Israel remained in that country; wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers. 

 Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 294.


Josephus notes tribes in Media, then two tribes in Asia and Europe, and ten tribes beyond the Euphrates. Josephus tells us that the tribes had spread out. We also know that in Peter’s time there was a large group of Israelites still in Babylon. Paul was from the Island of Tarsus. Luke was from Greece.


Now let’s think about this. Who would have stayed in the land of Israel after the Israelites were driven out? Whoever conquered it. Why then is it so important for people to claim Israel as their land who may not have actually originated from Israel? Especially since the other people groups brought idolatry and evil rituals to Israel. Isn’t it because the angels who sinned and left their first estate came down to Mount Hermon? Are they hoping for a return? What could these people hope to gain from calling themselves Jews when they are not? How about the sympathy of the world. How about donations and money for the forlorn Jews. Yet all the while that they are on the sympathy tour they are still sacrificing to Moloch, trafficking people, allowing booths for the male and female prostitutes, and all without a national passover or a national temple. So, while there are people in Israel who are doing their best to worship Yahweh and who believe that they are Jews, but are not accepting Jesus as their Lord, we want to guard against the cut and dry, black and white idea that all people in Israel are not original Israelites. We simply do not know. 


The conclusion of the matter is that the people of the first century and prior understood that the the tribes were not glued to the middle east and Israel. They understood that the people traveled and moved around just like people do today. Yet there are elite world dominators who pretend to be Jews to gain the world’s sympathies, and confidence, that they can be leaders because of their connection to Yahweh. However the opposite is true. While the worshippers of Satanas claim they are Jews but are not, the people of the world drift back and forth between evil and good. There is more depth here than we have recognized, and it is time for us to wake up and see Satanas’ evil plan.