Part Five
SCYTHIAN SACAE - ASIAN SONS OF ISAAC
Genesis 48:14-20
And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,
The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.
And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
God said in Isaac shall thy seed be called when speaking to Abraham. Later when Jacob (Israel) blessed Ephraim and Manasseh he said, “…let my name be on them and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.”
The ancient Scythians were from the scattered tribes of Israel. Twenty years prior to the fall of Samaria, the Assyrians took Reuben, Gad, Naphtali, and half the tribe of Manasseh captive (1 Chr 5:26, 2 Kings 15:29). Other Israelites would have seen trouble coming and migrated out of the area. Some were taken captive and relocated to the cities of the Medes. 2 Kings 17:6 Cities of the Medes were south of what is known as the Russian steppes.
Later, both the migrants and captives, would migrate up to the Black Sea area directly north of Israel. The historian Josephus, in the first century A.D., speaks of great numbers of the Israelites being scattered throughout this area. This group of people were also spoken of by Greek historian Herodotus and Roman Pliny. By the 7th century B.C. this group was firmly settled in modern southern Russia, known as the steppes. Historically this would have been during and after the time the northern kingdom and Jerusalem had fallen. Other historical accounts indicate the Black Sea Scythians arrived in southern Russian via a route that included the territory of Armenia in 722-705 BC. That is exactly the time period the Israelites were migrating from their homeland. It also indicates that the Scythians originated in a former homeland south of Armenia--that place is Palestine.
These people were also referred to as Cimmerian = Samarian and as Saka or Sacae. This is a form of Isaac in Hebrew. The ancient Hebrew language has no vowels so Isaac would be spelled S-C or S-K. Persians called them Sacae and the Romans substituted an X for the C or K and called them Saxones (Saxons). Amos 7:16 Speaks of the House of Isaac and uses the Hebrew word Beth Sak, Beth = House-- and Sak = Isaac.
Historical accounts from 653 BC speak of a war between Assyria and the Medes, Cimmerians, and Scythians under a leader named Phraortes. The Scythians lost this war, but later in history they soundly defeated the Assyrians in two battles. Once it is understood that the Scythians were Israelites, their dislike for Assyria is understood. These battles weakened the Assyrians so much that Babylon would rise to power. The Scythians and Cimmerians were kinsmen. Encyclopedia Britannica calls the Cimmerians a “Scythian tribe.”
The leader named Phraortes, was a Hellenized form of Phares, a name of the tribe of Judah. Genesis 49:10 promised that dynasties of kings would come from Judah, and Jeremiah 33:17-22 prophesied that the descendants of King David, also of the Phares line (Gen 38.27-30), would become very numerous and would perpetually rule over the descendants of the House of Israel.
A Scythian capital was named Sakiz, honoring the Israelite patriarch, Isaac. One of their first kings was named Partatua. Ancient languages often interchanged the letters p and b. They sound similar. When you change the p in the king’s name to b you have Bart-atua. The first syllable of his name “Bart- “ preserves the root word of “B-R-T” the Hebrew word for “covenant”. This is a distinctive identifier of the tribes of Israel.
One of the last kings of Judah, Jehoichin was taken captive to Babylon (2 Kings 24:8-15), but a later Babylonian king “set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon.” 2 Kings 25:27-30 Jehoichin, David’s descendant, became a vassal king in the Babylonian Empire. He fathered many sons (1 Chronicles 3:16-24) making the royal seed of David numerous in Asia. This fulfilled God’s promise to David that his seed would rule over the ten tribes of Israel. These royal descendants were kings over the Asian nations and empires of the Israelites almost from the beginning of exile.
History records that Scythian powers developed in two locations: one by the Black Sea and the other east of Assyria. The Scythians located east of Assyria in modern Iran were descended from Israelites taken captive by Assyria, while the Sacae-Scythians in the Black Sea region were descended from those who fled there to escape Assyrian captivity.
When the Scythians defeated Assyria they briefly (28 years) were in control of Palestine. This was during the reign of King Josiah who was restoring the Temple service, cleansing the worship of idols from Judah, and had a Passover Feast. 2 Chronicles 35:1-2 and 35:17-19. According to Herodotus the Scythians were in the Holy Land at this time, circa 639-608 BC. They had also assisted Babylon in defeating the Assyrians in the two wars mentioned above.
Prior to Josiah’s reign it says in 2 Kings 17:18 that all Israel was removed. Therefore the tribes of Israel mentioned during Josiah’s revival as being present would have been the Scythians who were comprised of some of the ten scattered tribes. 2 Chronicles 35:18
Now consider 2 Chr 34:3-9 …For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images.
They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars which were above them he cut down; and the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
And so he did in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali and all around, with axes. When he had broken down the altars and the wooden images, had beaten the carved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
In the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God. When they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites who kept the doors had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, from all the remnant of Israel, from all Judah and Benjamin, and which they had brought back to Jerusalem.
Now 2 Chr 35:17-18 And the children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the prophet; and none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah kept, with the priests and the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Israel had been taken captive in 721 BC therefore this group was composed of Israelites who had left Israel prior to captivity and returned to Judah--and those Scythians who were in the area as governors. 2 Kings 17:18 says “all Israel had been removed and none was left but Judah.” These were the Scythians who had returned to worshipping the true God. The Lord had removed the Israelites as we saw in 2 Kings 17:18 so these were the Scythians of that 28 year period who were governing their old territory.
Jeremiah 3:3-12 is interesting as it speaks of Israel repenting and Jeremiah is told to speak toward the north. The north would be the Black Sea area where some of the tribes had become the Scythians (3:12). As Scythians, the Israelites had returned to the Lord.
Scythians were known not to eat pork or sacrifice pigs and they allowed no idolatry. They often executed people for turning to idols and were very strict. They were a Semitic people. They had clothing like Hebrews and royalty and priests wore pointed hats like Hebrews.
After Josiah’s death, Judah quickly returned to idolatry. Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586 BC, just a few years after Josiah’s revival. Since Judah did not really whole heartedly agree with the reforms, what was it that made them go along with them? The answer may be the powerful Scythian army that convinced Judah’s closet pagans to feignedly obey God’s laws.
Why did the Scythians leave? They may not have liked living in the old land as it was small and cramped in regards to the Black Sea area and many foreigners had been relocated to the Israelite lands. They also saw Babylon on the rise and did not want to get involved as they were not an aggressive people--they preferred isolationism to conquering. Read Herodotus to confirm this idea. They also saw that the tribe of Judah was practicing idolatry again. They may have also seen Babylon as too powerful to defeat so they retreated peacefully back to the Black Sea area.
Finally we see Dan 9:7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You. Daniel knew Israel was scattered throughout the world and so did Paul.
Col 3:11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Paul knew all about the Scythians. He draws four sets of dichotomies to illustrate that all peoples can become believers in Christ. Greek or Jew is easy to understand. Barbarian means foreigner or alien. Paul grew up in Asia Minor and was familiar with the Black Sea area. In comparing foreigners as opposite to Scythians he shows he understood Scythians were not racial foreigners but the ten lost tribes of Israel!
Tomorrow Pt 6 Hebrew-Scythian Origins of Parthia
Source: Israel’s Lost Empires by Steven M. Collins - www.bibleblessings.net; The Jewish Study Bible
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