Cimmerians, Scythians and the “Lost” Tribes of Israel–Part Two
Were the Cimmerians named for King Omri of ancient Israel? Did the Scythians get their name from Isaac? Are the Cimmerians and Scythians to be identified with the lost ten tribes of the house of Israel? Will the descendants of these ancient peoples play a role in future world events? During Hezekiah’s first year of reign he “opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them” (II Chron. 29:3). And he commanded the Levites to clean up the house of God at Jerusalem, while reminding them of the state of affairs afflicting the Commonwealth of Israel: “for, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this” (II Chron. 29:9). King Hezekiah was understandably speaking about the captives from Israel in the north, as well as the captives from Judah who were taken by the Assyrians, when he decreed that the house of God should be restored. [Author’s emphasis throughout.] Notably this attempted reformation by Hezekiah began about eight years after the fall of Samaria (722 BCE), which was more than a century before the rise of the Neo-Babylonian Empire under King Nabopolassar and crown prince Nebuchadnezzar in 609 BCE. This of course meant that the Assyrians continued to dominate the region of Mesopotamia and later the Middle East from the time of Samaria’s fall until the time they were overthrown by the Babylonians, making it improbable that the majority of Israelite captives would have escaped the iron grip of the Assyrians for many decades after the conquests of the northern tribes of Israel. What then became of the Commonwealth of Israel? During the reign of Sargon II some Israelites were placed in different regions and cities dominated by the Assyrians, while others escaped or died during the conquests of the northern tribes of Israel. The same was true for many of the people of Judah. Still others died while in captivity as a significant number of people remained in the lands of Israel and Judah to pay tribute to the Assyrians. This latter situation prompted King Hezekiah to call for an observance of a Passover, perhaps in the hope of building some unity among the remnant tribes and hopefully to seek favor from God. “So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria” (II Chron. 30:6). Indeed then a remnant of the tribes of Israel remained in the land, which included those in the tribal areas of Zebulun, Benjamin, Manasseh, Ephraim, Asher and Issachar. And from these areas people came to Jerusalem to observe a Passover, and afterwards “all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities” (II Chron. 31:1). Unfortunately, this bleak situation for the people of Israel and Judah only worsened over time because the Assyrian invasions, and later the conquests of the Babylonians, created a diaspora for the Commonwealth of Israel. And this dispersion of the twelve tribes of Israel was later broadened by the coming of the Medo-Persian Empire (Achaemenid Empire), even though King Cyrus allowed willing Jews and some of the people of Israel to return and rebuild the sanctuary at Jerusalem. Consequently those of Israel and Judah who did not return from their captivity were most likely to be found pocketed throughout the Mesopotamian region from near the Persian Gulf to areas in central and eastern Asia Minor and also Central Asia. The prophet Daniel describes this situation somewhat in his prayer after reviewing the writings of Jeremiah at the time of the fall of Babylon: “O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them” (Dan. 9:7). This statement by Daniel reveals to some degree the expected whereabouts of the twelve tribes in proximity to Babylon nearly two centuries after the fall of Samaria, which gives us some confidence in concluding that the twelve tribes were within the bounds of the Persian Empire for some time in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. Then what became of the Commonwealth of Israel? From Scripture we can determine that at some time the twelve tribes began moving westward, maintaining in some measure their tribal integrity and identity with their established homeland in Israel and Judah. However, in attempting to describe this migration of the twelve tribes of Israel some people misapply a particular verse in Scripture, which they believe explains the nature of Israel’s journeys westward through Asia Minor. “For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth” (Amos 9:9). This makes for an interesting analogy. The sifting of corn is typically done by placing it in a box with a screened bottom, and it is then shaken until the chaff falls through the screen, leaving the corn in the sieve, with hopefully none falling through to the ground. And so this simple description of sifting corn doesn’t really describe the nature of Israel’s journeys, but what it does describe are the conquests and resulting deportations initiated by the Assyrians and the Babylonians who divided out the tribes of Israel and Judah. The analogy then aptly describes the overthrow and resulting diaspora of the twelve tribes into the diverse regions of these former empires. Also, if we take a closer look at the prophecy of Amos we see that he was describing a future overthrow