Part Three

CARTHAGE - ISRAEL’S COLONY BECOMES AN EMPIRE
 

Carthage was a colony of the Israelite, Trye, Sidonian, alliance and was founded sometime in the 9^th century BC during the drought of Elijah. 2 Kings 18 During the time of the 3.5 year drought in Israel the alliance was strong. King Ahab was married to Jezebel the daughter of Sidon’s King and priest Ethbaal. 1 Kings 16:29 thru 22:40 This was a time of sexual hedonism and idolatry in Israel as Ahab and Jezebel were a wicked combination who worshipped Baal.
In order to avoid starvation a large part of Israel’s population was probably looking to relocate to escape the drought. Wouldn’t you want to move if you could? The alliance needed a new colony to accommodate a large population and at the same time expand trade and commerce. This colony would have to be far enough away to avoid the drought and close enough to avoid a long voyage. This would also allow people to return to Israel when things got better. These settlers were from the Northern Kingdom of Israel, not Judah. Judah was obeying God and had no drought.

The Greeks called Carthage Karchedon, the Romans Carthago, and the Hebrew settlers called it Kirjath-Hadeschath or New Town. Further evidence of Carthage’s Israelite origins is in the name of Carthage’s priests. They were called the Kohanim, and the high priest was called the Rab Kohanim. We can here see the Hebrew root for Rabbi and such modern Jewish names as Kahn, Cohen, and Kahane. The Carthaginian-Hebrew word Kohanim means priest and Rab means great, mighty, or elder (High Priest).

The early Carthaginians included the God of Israel in their pantheon of Gods. Since early settlers were aware of why the drought was taking place in Israel they likely would try to appease such a God. Historians Gilbert and Colette Charles-Picard note that the early priesthood in Carthage had instructions on animal sacrifice, libations, and other priestly rites that bear a “significant resemblance to the Book of Leviticus.” They note that the great God EL was invoked under the name of Baal Hamon, which means “the Lord of the altars where incense burns”, corresponding exactly to those of the Hebrews. Remember also, the northern kingdom of Israel was worshipping Baal, the reason Elijah called for no rain to fall. Many of these colonizers where already worshipping idols.

Carthaginians were known as Punic peoples with Phoenician-Hebrew roots. After the fall of Israel in 721 BC Carthage had to fend for itself. The Greeks arose as the Mediterranean power and drove the Phoenician-Hebrew peoples out of the southern Mediterranean. Carthage became the place the “Phoenicians” fled to.

In time, Carthage arose to oppose the Greeks. During this era Carthage used Assyrian battle tactics--siege towers, battering rams, mercenaries, and cruelty. These were the same tactics the Assyrians used to defeat Israel and the alliance. Carthage would become the place many Semite refugees would flee for refuge from Assyria and Babylon.

As Carthage became stronger their maritime skills allowed them to keep the Greeks and Romans boxed in the Mediterranean Sea. History shows that the Greeks and Romans knew very little about anything beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar). Carthage’s knowledge of world geography, maritime navigation, and astral science was centuries ahead of Greece and Rome. The Greeks and Romans had land armies, but were not known for their sailing prowess. History has short changed many other civilizations including Tyre, Sidon, Israel, Carthage, Parthia, and Scythia. Maybe that is because if man truly recognized these civilizations it would mean they would have to look at the Bible as truly being God’s word. God has kept his promises of blessings to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Let’s digress for a moment. When Hannibal fled for his life he went to Armenia for refuge. Israelites were there. When Simon of Cyrene was made to carry Jesus’ cross he was probably in Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. Cyrene was in North Africa. Israelites were there. Acts 11:20 and 13:1 indicate some early Christians were Jews or Punic Israelites from Cyrene. When Peter made his sermon on the day of Pentecost he was speaking to Israelites from Cyrene, Parthia, Media, and Mesopotamia. Acts 2:9-10 The ten tribes of Israel had been scattered and colonizing throughout the known (and perhaps unknown) world for centuries.

Many Phoenician-Israelites migrated to Spain, Sardinia, Sicily, Armenia, the Black Sea area (Scythia), and Mesopotamia, which would later become part of the Parthian Empire. These migrations took place before the fall of Samaria as many would see the trouble coming and escape while they could. After Assyria crushed Israel they relocated the Israelites. 2 Kings 15:27-29, 2 Kings 17:22-24

Those who could not leave by sea went overland to the north. They fled to Arzareth in the Black Sea. They were determined to obey God. A passage in the apocryphal book of 2 Esdras states:
 
[40] Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Hoshea 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.
[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,
[42] That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land.
[43] And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow places of the river.
[44] For the most High then shewed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over.
[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.

This passage parallels the events of 2 Kings 17:1-6: 1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. 2 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him. 3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea became his vassal, and paid him tribute money. 4 And the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no tribute 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. 5 Now the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

These exiles later became known by the Greeks as Scythians or Sacae. This mountainous area provided later safety from Assyria.

In summary we see that Carthage was founded with many Israelites who migrated from Israel as colonists or to escape the drought. Later we see further scattering of Israel when Assyria defeated Israel and took them captive. Carthage would later become a mighty power and engage in the Punic Wars with the Roman Empire. When Carthage was finally defeated by Rome the tribes of Israel would be scattered again from that place.

Since Carthage was a maritime power it is reasonable to believe that they had commercial interests in what is today called the British Isles. When St. Augustine went to Britain as a missionary for the Catholic Church in 597 AD he was surprised to find a flourishing Celtic Christian community that celebrated the Saturday Sabbath and the Feasts of the Lord as laid out in Leviticus. How did they get there? That’s another story for another time.

Tomorrow: Pt 4 Who are the World's Semites?

Source: Israel’s Lost Empires by Steven M. Collins -
www.bibleblessings.net