British Israelism
The teaching of British Israelism took off in the mid-19th century after the deciphering of the ancient rock inscription at Behistun in Persia, a type of 'Rosetta stone' written in three languages. On the rock, one of the kings of the nations that Darius the Great had subdued was the king of the 'Saka', or the Scythians — a name which sounds a little similar to Saxon, who are not widely thought to be the same people. In the Babylonian, the Saka were called the Gimirri; in the Assyrian language they were referred to as the Khumri (Cimmerians).
In other Babylonian and Assyrian monuments and tablets the conquests of the Cimmerians and their eventual captivity were chronicled. Some link them further to the House of Omri, one of the kings of the northern tribes of the kingdom of Israel.
Some researchers have argued that both Celts and the Germans came from an area south-east of the Black Sea, and migrated westward to the coast of Europe, comparing the name of the Welsh for themselves, Cymry, with the name of the Cimmerians. The names Iberia for Spain, and Hibernia for Ireland are sometimes interpreted as evidence that the Habiru (Hebrews) traveled to and settled those areas.
According to the hypothesis, the Saka-Scythians migrated west starting with the reign of the Persian King Cyrus the Great, when they declined to help him in his conquest of the Babylonian empire. Herodotus says they were called "Germanii" at that point in time. The Greeks called the Scythians Sakae and Scyths. When the Saxons invaded England in 400 AD, their chroniclers said they "sent back to Scythia for reinforcements." The implication is that the Saxons considered themselves to be Scythians, the name having travelled with them even though they were far away from the region the Greeks had labelled "Scythia". The English are known to be descended from the Anglo-Saxons. Hence one possible connection with the tribes of Israel.
The burial customs of the Scythians and Vikings also show similarities, for which some have argued a common origin in support of British Israelism, though coincidence or shared Indo-European origins is usually considered more likely.
Legends such as the story that Joseph of Arimathea travelled to Cornwall sometime after Christ's crucifixion and established an early Christian community have been incorporated into some British Israelite arguments. Likewise the story of the coming of Brutus of Troy (Britis) to Great Britain after the burning of Troy is another element in many variants of the British Israel theory.
British Israelism often coincides with British Unionism, but it is worth noting that the Declaration of Arbroath, which declared Scottish independence in 1320 not only mentions a Scythian origin for the Scots, but also a Biblical one, which is used to justify Scotland's sovereignty over itself.
As with Judaism, British Israelism asserts theologically-related claims of a bloodline that traces back to God's chosen people, the early Israelites. As such, it is based on a genealogical construct. This belief is typically confined to the geo-political status or the prophetical identity of the nation, not to the individual's superiority or salvation status with God. Most denominations that follow the original teaching of Worldwide Church of God founder, Herbert W. Armstrong, are adherents to this doctrine. Armstrong, curiously enough, never references the works of other advocates of this theory, but claimed in his book, The United States and Britain in Prophecy (1980 page 4) that this theory is a master key to understanding Biblical end-time prophecy. The current Worldwide Church of God has abandoned this doctrine.
In Britain, the theology of British Israelism has been taught by a few fringe Pentecostal churches including the (now-defunct) Bible-Pattern Church Fellowship, an early offshoot of the Elim Pentecostal Church (who, however, do not hold to this doctrine). Similarly, in Australia, the Christian Revival Crusade, founded by Leo Harris once taught this theology.
In the United States, one branch of British Israelism turned into the Christian Identity religion, with many practitioners openly embracing white supremacy and antisemitism.
The trail of the Cimmerians and Scythians
During the first half of the 8th century the Cimmerians and the Scythians, whom the Sargonides entrusted with various undertakings, intermingled in Zagros and in Anatolia. We must suppose that most of the first-generation Israelite-Cimmerians would have been dead by 640. Those born in Samaria in 723 would have been 83 years of age by 640! Life among the Assyrians, who were not strongly attached to monotheism, plus cultural mingling with the polytheistic peoples of the Empire and above all with those who lived in the same region (Medes, Manaï, Umman-Manda, Scythians, Urartuans, etc), and the partial loss of their identity and religion, were all undeniable facts. During this period the art of the Cimmerians appears as derivative of the Assyrian (as shown by the "treasure of Ziviyeh").
The trail of the Scythians and Cimmerians, who had become completely intermingled by 650, has long been known: first northward up to the Caucuses, and then, after crossing this mountainous area, to the north-west and west, across the Ukrainian plains, parallelling the north coast of the Black Sea. Thus they spread into an almost deserted northern Europe, right to its north-west extremities, from where they crossed into the British Isles, first to Ireland, thence to Scotland, and finally southward to the area known today as England. Cimbrians, Celts and Teutons all make up the ancient substrate common to all the peoples and races of northern Europe, from Russia to Ireland. Since Antiquity it has been known that Cimbrian and Cimmerian are the same word. Celts and Gauls are also the same word — this was known to scientists of last century. The etymology of the word Teuton has not yet been made clear (for lack of Celtic or Teutonic texts), but without doubt it can be considered as "Celtic" (this term being a convention, since one could also speak of a "Cimbrian" or "Cimmerian" etymology!); it is very probable that the word Teuton derives from the word Tuatha, which lives on in Gaelic (the neo-Celtic of Wales) and which means race. The German name for Germany is Deutschland or "land of the Teutons," the initial "T" having been changed to a "D." The Celts would have used the word race in as "recent" an era as the 4th or 3rd centuries B.C. to denote men of more eastern regions, whom they considered to be familiars. Similar migrations, greater or smaller in extent, would have been frequent. All of this has been known for much time.
What has not been known is the identification of the word "Cimmerian" with the Ten Tribes of Israel, and this has opened the way to interpreting what became of Assyria. When speaking of the Scythians (and the Cimmerians) during the period 600 – 550 B.C., for example, we use names derived from altered words from their original language; unfortunately, we don’t know what they originally called themselves or if they distinguished between themselves. Archaeological data indicates that they did not do so, and hence the word "Scythian" would have been used in 600 B.C. to designate other peoples whom it did not include in the initial term of 725 B.C. (Ishki-Gulu in Urartuan) . This means that the original Scythians from Central Asia would have been totally "lost," or assimilated. The terms "Cimmerian" and "Scythian" designate the Israelites and the Assyrians whose departure took place between 640 and 630 B.C.. Some Israelites left earlier, while others, far fewer in number, later remained in the region of Zagros. As for the Assyrians, it would be quite easy for them to lose their name, since in Assyrian the expressions "land of Assyria," "town of Assyria," "king of Assyria" and the word "Assyrian" simply mean "divine country," "divine town," "divine king" and "divine" (this latter term being used to characterize the people). Consequently, it would have been enough to teach the people the name of a different god (instead of Assur) so that the name "Assyrian" would be forgotten.
Feed all of this historical data into the mind of an uneducated man, and what do you suppose he might do with it? Comments?
