Aramaic in the Bible (2) – New Testament

This Part 2 is the continuation and conclusion to “Aramaic in the Bible (1) – Old Testament”.  Material covered in (1) won’t be repeated here in (2); I suggest you read Part 1 first.

Prior to being taken captive by Assyria (721 BC) and Babylon (586 BC), Israelites & Jews had spoken Old Hebrew or Judahite (Jehudíth Strongs h3066) in the Land of Canáan.  But when Jews returned to the Land from captivity in the days of Zerubabbél (530s BC), and with Ezra & Nehemiah (c 450 BC), they spoke the Aramáic language.  They’d learned it in the East, during the time of the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian (Chaldéan), and Persian empires.  Aramaic was the língua fránca of those empires.

Most Israelites & Jews no longer spoke Judahite ‘Hebrew’, the old “lip of Canaan”.  Ne.13:24 “As for their children…none of them was able to speak in the language of Judah [Jehudith h3066].”  Benson Commentary Ne.13:24 “The language which the [common] Jews then spoke was Cháldee; this language they learned in their captivity, and after their return never assumed their ancient Hebrew tongue.” 

The returnees and their descendants spoke Aramaic.  Some of the later chapters in the Old Testament (OT) timeline were written in Aramaic: Da.2:4b–7:28, Ezr.4:8–6:18, 7:12-26.  see Part 1.

Then Greek became the language of commerce for the Grecian and Roman empires.  Most historians say that at the New Testament (NT) time of Jesus/Yeshúa, Aramaic (also called Chaldee and Sýriac) was still the language spoken by the majority of common Jews in Judea.  In most Judean synagogues, the OT scriptures were read from Hebrew scrolls, and interpreters (meturganim) translated them into Aramaic for the hearers.  cf. Ne.8:8.  But there was no Aramaic text of the entire OT (there was an old Greek text).  So the Aramaic Tárgums were written. 

The Targums are OT paraphrases.  They were written in Aramaic, beginning in the 1^st century AD.  With them, Aramaic-speaking people could understand the OT text.  The Targum of Ónkelos (the Law) and the Targum of Jonathán (the Prophets) were composed prior to 200 AD.  They are official.  Another Targum of the Law/Torah/Péntateuch is the Jerusalem Targum (also known as the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan).  There’s also the Targum Neofití, for the Pentateuch.  And a few others.

Perhaps the Aramaic Targums wouldn’t have been necessary if most Jews still knew Hebrew.  But most no longer knew Hebrew.  They spoke Aramaic or Greek.  Bruce Metzger The Jewish Targums “Such versions were needed when Hebrew ceased to be the normal medium of communication among Jews.”

Whenever the Targums came to passages where YHVH was anthropomorphized or seen (appearing human), or where plural YHVHs are indicated…Targums substituted the “Word of YHVH” for “YHVH”!  The Aramaic term for “Word” is Mémra.  In Greek, “Word” is Lógos g3056, e.g. Jn.1:1.  The Targum Neofiti was written in Palestine before 200 AD.  Targ Neofiti Ge.1:1 “From the beginning with Wisdom the Memra [Word] of the Lord created and perfected the heavens and the earth.”  (Of note also is Targ Jonathan Is.52:13, “Behold My Servant the Messiah…!”  Disbelieving medieval rabbis claim “My Servant” here was the nation of Israel…but this earlier Targum indicated Is.52–53 refers to the Messiah an individual.) 

Again, a few chapters of the OT were written in Aramaic.  Ezr.5 is in Aramaic.  Ezr.5:2 “Yeshúa the son of Jozadák.”  Yeshua (a common male name) is also Messiah Jesus’ name in Aramaic.

The gospel writers record Jesus speaking Aramaic in red-letter text of our Bible, and they record places in Judea with Aramaic names.  Following are some of the Aramaic words in the NT:

Jesus called the brothers in Mk.3:17, “Boanergés, that is, ‘Sons of Thunder”.  Expositor’s Greek Testament “As pronounced by Galileans, in Syrian.”  Jesus said to the dead girl in Mk.5:41, “Taleetháh koómee (which translated means ‘Little girl, arise!’)”.  JFB Commentary “The words are Aramaic, or Syro-Chaldáic, the then language of Palestine.”  Jesus said to the deaf man in Mk.7:34, “Éffathah!’, that is, ‘Be opened!”  Cambridge Bible “The actual Aramaic word used by our Lord.”  Jesus prayed in Mk.14:36, “Abbáh! Father!”  Geneva Study Bible “The word Abba is a Syrian word.”  (The Hebrew word for Father is Awb h1, the Aramaic is Ab h2, also Abbah g5.)  Abbah is also seen in Ro.8:15 and Ga.4:6 of Paul’s epistles.  The above verses reflect (Western) Aramaic words.

Luke wrote, Ac.1:19 “In their own language that field was called Hakeldamáh, the Field of Blood.”  Luke recorded the Aramaic name of the field at Jerusalem purchased by Judas…“in their language”!  Poole Commentary Ac.1:19 “The Syriac language then in use after the Babylonish captivity.”

The Jewish historian Josephus (37-100 AD) was a priest born in Jerusalem.  His language was Aramaic.  Wikipedia: Language of Jesus “Josephus differentiated Hebrew from his language and that of 1^st century Israel. Josephus refers to Hebrew words as belonging to ‘the Hebrew tongue’ but refers to Aramaic words as belonging to ‘our tongue’ or ‘our language’ or ‘the language of our country.”

John recorded places at Jerusalem with Aramaic/Syriac names.  Jn.5:2 Bethesdáh.  Ellicott Commentary “Bethesda means ‘house of mercy’. The ‘Hebrew tongue’ is…what we ordinarily call Aramaic, or Syro-Chaldaic.”  Jn.19:13 ESV “A place called the Stone Pavement, which in Aramaic [Hebraistí g1447 adverb] is Gabbatháh.”  Gill Exposition “The Jews, who at this time spoke Syriac.”  Jn.19:17 CSB “The Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotháh.”  The NASB center margin notes the (bold) above terms as “Jewish Aramaic”…not Hebrew.  Strong’s Dictionary of terms, and the commentaries quoted above, say these NT words are Aramaic/Syriac/Chaldaic…not Hebrew.

Wikipedia: Aramaic “The Christian New Testament uses the Koine Greek phrase Ἑβραϊστί Hebraïstí to denote ‘Aramaic’, as Aramaic was at that time the language commonly spoken by the Jews.”

Jesus said to Peter, “Blessed are you Simon BarJonáh” (Mt.16:17).  Bar-Jonah means ‘son of Jonah’.  Cambridge Bible “Bar is Aramaic for ‘son.”  bar h1247.  But the Hebrew term for “son” is ben h1121.  So here Matthew records Jesus speaking Aramaic, not Hebrew.  The Aramaic BarAbbás = son of Abbáh (Mt.27:16).  Wikipedia op. cit. “Barabbas is a Hellenization of the Aramaic Bar Abba, literally ‘son of the father.”  Also: BarTholomew = son of Tolmai/Ptolemy (Lk.6:14); BarTimaeus = son of Timaeus (Mk.10:46); BarSabas = son of Sabas (Ac.1:23 & 15:22 – two men); Barnabas = son of encouragement (Ac.4:36); Barjesus = son of Yeshua (Ac.13:6).  Wikipedia ibid “The most prominent feature in Aramaic names is bar, meaning ‘son of’. Its Hebrew equivalent, ben, is conspicuous by its absence.”  Those NT personal names are strong internal evidence that Aramaic language use was predominant!

Aramaic too is a language used by God!  Stephen Missick The Language of Jesus, p.60 “Jesus is God incarnate and He spoke Aramaic.”  The hand from God wrote in Aramaic the “handwriting on the wall” in 539 BC…‘MÉNE, MÉNE, TÉKEL, UPHÁRSIN’ (Da.5:24-28)!

{Sidelight: We don’t know what language Jesus wrote at the scene of the woman taken in adultery, writing on the ground with His finger (Jn.8:6).  Jesus could’ve written in the common Aramaic, or perhaps He quoted the OT Hebrew or old Greek version.  Jn.8:6 “Jesus with His finger wrote on the ground.”  Maybe Jesus quoted or referred to Je.17:13 as He wrote the names of her accusers?  Je.17:13 “Those who depart from Me shall be written in the dirt.”}

Jesus and 11 of His 12 disciples were from Galilee (Judas Iscariót likely was from Keriot in Judea).  Galileans had a noticeable accent in their Aramaic dialect.  ccaugusta.org “Jesus principally spoke a Galilean dialect of Aramaic.”  A dialect of regional Western Aramaic.  aramaicnt.com “Early Galilean Aramaic, the mother tongue of Jesus.”  Ac.2:7 “Are not all these which speak Galileans?”  Pulpit Commentary Ac.2:7 “The Galilean accent was peculiar and well known.”  It is thought that their accent was more guttural or the gutterals (throat articulations) were blurred.  One of the bystanders said to Peter in Mt.26:73 NET, “You really are one of them; even your accent gives you away”.  Meyer NT Commentary Mt.26:73 “The natives were unable to distinguish especially the gutterals properly.”

Jn.11:1 the NT name Lázarus was Eleázar in Hebrew and Alázar in Aramaic.  The ‘A’ was dropped and the Latin declension ‘us’ was added, resulting in Lazarus in our NT.  Comparably, Englishmen today pronounce ‘Henry’ as ‘Enry’ (dropping the ‘H’).  An older occasion of pronunciation difference in Israel is in Jg.12:6, where the Ephraimites said sibbóleth, but couldn’t say shibbóleth (with the ‘h’).

Aramaic is called a metallic-sounding language.  The Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic (Mt.6:9-13):

“Abwoon d’Bwashmaya, Neet Kah Schmaakh

Teh Teh Malkutah, Neyweh Tzevyanah Aikhanah,

d’Bwashmayah Aph Buh Arh Ah Howlahn Lakhmah d’Soonkhanan Yaow Manah,

Wash Boh Klahn Kaow Behn, Wahktahehn,

Aikhanah Daph Knanahn Soobwoh-Khan Lahkhai Ah-Ben                                   

Welah Tahlah Le Nesyunah, Elah Patzan Min Bishah                                                 

Metohl Delakhih Malkutah, Whyallah Wateshbuktah, Lah-Allam, Allmin.”

It is said that Jesus’ red-letter words in the gospel accounts are powerful when they’re retroverted from Greek manuscripts into Aramaic!  But that they don’t back-translate as well into Hebrew.  John’s gospel is thought to have the strongest Aramaic flavor or substratum (underlying layer) of any gospel account, especially Jesus’ sayings.

In the gospel quotes above, Jesus spoke Aramaic words.  Also He likely spoke Greek in “Galilee of the gentiles” (Mt.4:15), and with Greek-speaking business clients there.  In the Nazareth synagogue (Lk.4:16-21), Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah, either from the Hebrew OT or the old Greek version.  

Ac.21:40-ff Paul, in making his own defense, chose to address the crowd of Jews in Jerusalem in Aramaic (not Greek).  The NASB center margin notes the language Paul spoke here as “Jewish Aramaic” (Hebraís g1446 noun).  Robertson’s NT Word Pictures Ac.21:40 “The Araméan which the people in Jerusalem knew better than the Greek.”  

Interestingly, the OT never refers to the ancient language of the Israelites or Jews as the ‘Hebrew language’!  Rather, in the OT their tongue was called the “language of Canaan” (Is.19:18) or Judahite (Jehudíth: 2Ki.18:26-28, Is.36:11-13, 2Ch.32:18, Ne.13:24).  see Part 1.

Wikipedia op. cit. “A small minority believes that most of the New Testament was originally written in Aramaic.”  The Aramaic Primacy view.  At this point, that is speculation.

The Tálmud of rabbinic Judaism was written in Aramaic (200–500 AD).  Yehuda Shurpin Why is the Talmud in Aramaic? “The Western Aramaic languages were used largely in the area that was under Roman (and later Byzantine) rule. The Jerusalem Talmud, composed in Israel, is written in a Western Aramaic dialect. The Eastern Aramaic languages flourished in the Persian Empire, and as a result the Babylonian Talmud, written in Persian-dominated Babylon, is in Eastern Aramaic. The Talmud was written in Aramaic, the language of the masses, so that it would be accessible to all. ”

Aside from the sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) religious community, to date most surviving inscriptions of Jesus’ period on artifacts, tombs (Caiáphas’ tomb too), ossuáries/bone boxes, etc. in the Holy Land…are in Aramaic or Greek.  Some are in Hebrew.  Pieter van der Horst Jewish Funerary Inscriptions “In Jerusalem itself about 40 percent of the Jewish inscriptions from the first-century period (before 70 CE) are in Greek.”  (cf. Ac.6:1-5 Stephen was a Greek-speaking Jew in Jerusalem.)

Breakdown of DSS text scripts: Old/Paleo Hebrew 1%, Hebrew/Áshuri square 78%, Aramaic square 17%, Greek 3%, other 1%.  Historians say that some Hebrew language usage was redeveloping in Christ’s day in pocket areas (e.g. the DSS at Qumrán).  Some was known by the educated and priests.  Shurpin op. cit. “Hebrew was used for ‘holy’ matters, such as prayer, and not for ordinary activities.”      

Wikipedia: Language of Jesus “According to DSS archaeologist Yigael Yadin, Aramaic was the language of Hebrews until Simon Bar-Kókhba’s revolt [132-135 AD in Judea]. Yadin noticed the shift from Aramaic to Hebrew in the documents which had been written during the time of the revolt. Yadin said, ‘It seems that this change came as a result of the order that was given by Bar Kokhba, who wanted to revive the Hebrew language and make it the official language of the state’. Yadin points out that Aramaic was the lingua franca [common language] at the time.” 

Both Aramaic and Hebrew are classed as NW Semític Áfro-Asiátic languages; Hebrew is sub-classed a Canaanite language.  Much later, c 800 AD, vowel points were added to the Hebrew language.

Prior to 1948, (Ashkenázi) Yíddish was the language of most Jews.  The national language in modern Israel today is called ‘Hebrew’.  It’d been near 2,500 years since Judahite/Hebrew was the language of common people (am-harétz) in the Land!  But Modern Hebrew (Ivrít) has been influenced by Yiddish.  Yiddish is classed a Germanic Indo-European language, not a Semitic.  The tongue spoken today in Israel isn’t the ancient Canaanite/Hebrew “language of Canaan” (Is.19:18).  Amir Zeldes wrote, “Modern Hebrew is a hybrid language. Modern Hebrew never was exactly Biblical Hebrew, and in many ways it has been a very different language for as long as it has existed.”  Jewish Agency Jewish Languages “Only a minority of the Jewish people today can speak Hebrew…It is more common to use English.”

Aramaic was gradually superceded by the Semitic sister language Arabic during the Moslem conquest (c 700–1300 AD).  Arabic is the liturgical language of Íslam. 

Very few Aramaic dialects are spoken today.  It is an endangered language.  Some Christian groups in areas of Iraq, Syria, Iran, SE Turkey, speak an Aramaic dialect called Syriac.  Churches in the East still use Aramaic as their liturgical language.  Some refer to themselves as Assyrians or Chaldeans.

The prophecy of Zep.3:9 NASB, “I will give to the peoples purified lips [h8193], that all of them may call on the name of the Lord. From beyond the rivers.”  Including heathens too, outside the Holy Land.  Ge.11:9 the penalty for the sin at Babel was the confusion of the language/lip/shore (h8193).  But eventually there’ll be no more ‘idol’ tongues speaking idolatry.  Zec.14:9 “The Lord will be King over all the earth in that day.”  

In the tongues miracle of Ac.2:1-11, pilgrim visitors at Jerusalem heard them speaking in their own languages.  In many dialects.  v.11 “We hear them speaking the mighty deeds of God.”  In a sense, this heals the breach which occurred back in Ge.11!  The penalty is removed.  Words may be spoken from a pure heart/lips in any language.  Ps.22:27 “All the ends of the earth will turn to the Lord. All the kindreds of the nations will worship before Thee.”  Praise the Lord!  

 

Israelites Identification (2)

Foundational scriptures for this topic were covered in “Israelites Identification (1)”.  This Part 2 is the sequel.  Part 2 won’t contain a full recap of what was covered in Part 1.  Verses referenced in (1) are essential for (2).  Also see the topic “Israelite Deportations by Assyria” for more background.

Part 1 ended with Hoséa’s prophecy.  The Lord told Hosea to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel.  Ho.1:4-11 “I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. For you are not My people and I Am not your God. Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sands of the sea which cannot be measured or numbered. And it will come about that it will be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’ And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together.”  The disobedient 10 tribes of Israel would be exiled from the Holy Land, and become a multitude in Assyria, Persia, and elsewhere.  But Ho.2:23 “And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!”  Yet eventually in the future, descendants of the 10 tribes would become the people of God again!  Israel gathered to Christ together with the descendants of the southern kingdom of Judah, the Jews (ref Ezk.37:15-22)…all 12–13 tribes together.

“Israelites Identification (1)” noted Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews 11:5:2. “There are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the 10 tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.”  In 94 AD, the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel were still gone!  Talmud Yebamot 17b “The 10 tribes of scattered Israel in their places of exile are legally gentiles for all intents and purposes.”

Jewish Virtual Library “The belief in the continued existence of the ten tribes was regarded as an incontrovertible fact during the whole period of the Second Temple and of the Talmud.”  Jewish Encyclopedia: Tribes, Lost Ten “Those of Judah and Levi [and Benjamin] returned with Ezra and Nehemiah. If the Ten Tribes have disappeared, the literal fulfilment of the prophecies would be impossible; if they have not disappeared, obviously they must exist under a different name.”  Only the 2–3 tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Levi, not the 10, returned to the Land from Babylonian captivity.

In the 60s AD, Peter wrote to scattered people living among gentiles in the area of Asia Minor, north from the Holy Land (1Pe.1:1).  1Pe.2:9-12 “You are a chosen stock, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. You were once not a people, but now you are the people of God. Conduct yourselves honorably among the gentiles [nations].”  The scattered resident aliens to whom Peter wrote included those who were “not a people”, but had now become the people of God.  Peter tied them to the ancient northern Israelites of Ho.1:10 & 2:23.  Israelites migrated from captivity.  Jews did too.  Peter continued, 1Pe.4:16 “If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed”.  Recipients of 1Peter had become Christians of God!

Paul wrote in Ro.9:6, “They are not all Israel who are of Israel”.  There was a spiritual remnant.  v.24-27 “Even us whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among gentiles. As He says in Hosea, ‘I will call those who were not My people, My people. Though the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant will be saved.” (Paul here also quotes Is.10:22 LXX).  Paul too relates the 10 tribes of Israel to…gentiles. (also see the topic “Gentiles in the Bible”.)

Paul continues in Ro.11:13, addressing gentiles, “I am speaking to you gentiles”.  v.17-26 RSV “I want you to understand this mystery, brethren; a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved.”  JFB Commentary Ro.11:25 “Blindness (hardness) has come partially, or upon a portion of Israel.”  Meyer’s NT Commentary “A part of Israel is hardened, until the gentiles collectively shall have come in.”  Jews and gentiles, including the 10 tribes, together the people of God.  All Israel.  Judah and Joseph as “one stick” (Ezk.37:15-ff).

Paul spoke his defense before King Agríppa in Ac.26:6-7. “Now I’m standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers; which our 12 tribes hope to obtain, as they serve God night and day. For this hope, O King, I am being accused by the Jews.”  Does Paul here differentiate the 12 tribes from the Jews, or are the “12 tribes” representative of “Jews”?  Cambridge Bible Notes Ja.1:1 “The ten tribes of the Kingdom of Israel, though they had been carried into a more distant exile than Judah and Benjamin, were thought of, not as lost and out of sight, but as still sharing the faith and hope of their fathers. So St Paul speaks of ‘the twelve-tribed nation’ as ‘serving God day and night’ (Ac.26:7), and our Lord’s promise that His twelve disciples should sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt.19:28).”  1Clement 22:24 “Nor did Esther expose herself to any less hazard, for the delivery of the 12 tribes of Israel, in danger of being destroyed.”  After the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, Israelites of the 12 tribes were in Persia too at the time of queen Esther (400s BC).

By the 1^st century, many Jews saw the restoration of the 12 tribes as part of the eschatological work of Elijah or Messiah (ref Mt.19:28).  Ja.1:1 “James, a bondservant of God, to the 12 tribes who are scattered abroad, greetings.”  Benson Commentary Ja.1:1 “James very properly inscribed his letter to the twelve tribes which were in the dispersion, seeing the twelve tribes really existed then, and do still exist, although not distinguished by separate habitations, as they were anciently in their own land.”  Gill Exposition “They were the posterity of those who had been dispersed in former captivities, by the Assyrians and others, and who remained in the several countries whither they were carried, and never returned. We read of 144,000 sealed of all the tribes of Israel, Re.7:4.”  Those weren’t just the Jews.

Rabbi A.H. Fink from Spokane, WA, “The Jews do not claim to represent the twelve tribes, for the ten tribes never returned from captivity and are lost to history.”

In 1Co.10:18, Paul speaks of “Israel according to the flesh”, the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel.  Yet Paul’s writings reflect both a fleshly and a ‘spiritual Israel’.  In Ga.6:15-16, Paul doesn’t restrict the “Israel of God” to those physically circumcised (Jews).  Ellicott Commentary “By the ‘Israel of God’ is here meant the ‘spiritual Israel’, not converts from Judaism alone.”  JFB Commentary “Not the Israel after the flesh, but the spiritual seed of Abraham by faith.”  Paul wrote in Ga.3:28-29, “There is neither Greek nor Jew, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed.”  Gentiles are grafted-in, as Paul puts it in Ro.11:17.

The New Covenant is with descendants of Israel and Judah, God’s two ancient kingdoms.  In He.8:8-10 the writer quoted God’s words to Jeremiah. “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be My people.”  According to Paul, gentiles share in the new covenant by being grafted-in, becoming part of spiritual Israel.  God writes His laws on their hearts & minds via the Holy Spirit.

In Mt.12:3-4, Jesus spoke of the time David had “entered the house of God”.  The Old Testament house of God was the tabernacle/temple (e.g. Jg.18:31, 2Ch.3:3).  Later He.4:14, 10:21 “We have a great priest over the house of God”.  Now Jesus is High Priest over the house of God (in the order of Melchisedek, He.5:6).  Paul wrote in 1Ti.3:15, “The house of God, which is the church of the living God”.  There’s no more physical temple…the house of God is the church of God!

God’s kingdom and temple “house” was taken from those Jewish leaders…and is given to others.  Jesus proclaimed in Mt.21:42-46, “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation bearing the fruit of it. The chief priests and Pharisees understood He was speaking about them.”  Accordingly, in 70 AD the kingdom was taken from the physical ‘nation’ of Judaea, and given to a spiritual “nation” bearing fruit.  1Ch.28:5-6 the old kingdom.  De.4:23-27 if the ancient Israelites ignore or violate God’s covenant, they wouldn’t remain in God’s Land!  So God exiled them to other nations.  Paul spoke of them in Ro.10:19 (ref De.32:21 LXX), “I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation”.  The “nation” bearing fruit isn’t a singular national entity.  Again 1Pe.2:9-10 “You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation.”  Peter wrote to a holy “nation”, Christians (1Pe.4:16)…the house of God.

So where are the 10 or 12 tribes of Israel located, since Christ?  Josephus Wars of the Jews 2:16:4 is Herod’s 1^st century speech about Israelite tribes then beyond the Euphrates in Ádiabene (central old Assyria).  Then around 300 years after Josephus, Jerome said the ten tribes were “Still beyond the Euphrates, in the land of their captivity. Nor has their captivity ever been loosed” (Opera 6:780).  They were still  ‘lost’, gone from the Holy Land.

Asahel Grant wrote The Nestorians in 1841.  Grant had missionary experiences in Assyria & Persia.  He there encountered a people who displayed an Israelite culture and claimed to be descendants of ancient Israel.  We’ve also heard of Ethiopian Jews.  The Lemba people in Zimbabwe observe Jewish customs.  In northeast India are a people who exhibit a surviving Israelite culture and claim descent from the tribe of Manasséh.  Some think even Queen Elizabeth of England looked Jewish!?

Dr. J.H. Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, said in 1918: “The people known as Jews are the descendants of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with a certain number of the tribe of Levi. So far as is known, there is not any further admixture of other tribes. The Ten Tribes have been absorbed among the nations of the world. The Jews look forward to the gathering of all the tribes at some future date.”

So the ancient 10 tribes of northern Israel, and the Jews too, are for the most part now assimilated into the various nations.  And intermarriage is increasing!  In 1900 AD, only 2% of married Jews worldwide were wed to non-Jews or gentiles.  In 1975 that figure was 25%.  But by 2004, 50% of marrying Jews intermarry with non-Jews.  And among non-Orthodox Jews in the USA, in 2013 the intermarriage rate is 70%.  And beyond Jews, it’s speculated that by now at least a small fractional % of our father Abraham’s ‘blood’, so to speak, is existent in most nations, if not in most people on earth!

Who is a real Jew today?  Regardless of descent, some consider a Jew to be anyone who practices Judaism.  But the religion or oral tenets of Judaism wasn’t that of ancient Jacob/Israel’s son Judah.  Judaism isn’t ‘Judah-ism’, so to speak.  Many say a (genetic) Jew is anyone who has a Jewish mother (some add, ‘and who hasn’t adopted another faith’).  Sects within Judaism have differing views on this issue.  However, in scripture, genealogies are patrimonial; not reckoned from the mother, whose name often isn’t included.  (a related topic is “Levites and the Exodus Multitude”.)

Some Jews say physical circumcision is unnecessary.  Joseph Jacobs wrote in 1905, Jew. Enc. X, 283. “The question whether the Jews of today are in the main descended from the Jews of Bible times, and from them alone, is still undecided.”  And after 3,500+ years of intermarriage & proselytizing, today it’s difficult to ascertain who’s really of the Abraham–Isaac–Jacob–12 tribe line anyway!

Genetic studies have produced mixed results…“No test can give you unambiguous proof.”  Some results may seem surprising.  Wikipedia: Genetic Studies on Jews “Many genetic studies also found substantial genetic overlap between Muslim Palestinians and Ashkenazi and Sephárdic Jews.”  Wikipedia: Canaanite Religion “The DNA [50%] of the modern Arab and Jewish people matches the DNA of the ancient Canaanites.”  Patheos: “Y–chromosome haplotypes revealed that Arabs and Jews are essentially a single population. Palestinians and Jews are virtually indistinguishable.”

Semites are a language group, not a racial group.  Today 340 million people speak Semitic languages (Shem, Ham, Jápheth were the three sons of the patriarch Noah, Ge.10:1).  Of those: 300 million speak Arabic, 22 million Amháric (Ethiopia), 7 million Tigrínya (Horn of Africa), 10 million speak Hebrew.  (Yiddish was mostly a Germanic language, not a Semitic.)  By definition, anti-Semitic opposes Arabs, Ethiopians, Jews/Hebrew speakers.  But usually the term is used wrongly, with racial implications.  Dr. Benjamin Freedman (Facts Are Facts, 1954) thought the term anti-Semitism doesn’t apply to Jews in the sense its most commonly used, and even “should be eliminated from the English language”.

The question continues to be raised as to whether some secular Zionist Jews who founded the modern Israeli state were really Semites (‘Shemites’, descended from Shem)?  Their Yiddish language wasn’t Semitic.  They’re Ashkenazi (German) ‘Jews’.  Ge.10:1-3 but Ashkenáz descended from Noah’s son Japheth, not Shem.  If so, possibly they’re non-Semitic (and pre-1950 had a non-Semitic language, Yiddish), perhaps descending from East European Slavs; i.e. Kházars who settled in Russia & Ukraine.  In 740 AD, the ruler of Khazária adopted Judaism as their official state religion.

Jewish scholar Arthur Koestler wrote in The Thirteenth Tribe: “The Khazars came not from Jordan, but from the Volga, not from Canaan, but from the Caucasus. Genetically they are more related to the Hun, Úygur and Mágyar than to the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The story of the Khazar Empire, as it slowly emerges from the past, begins to look like the most cruel hoax that history has ever perpetrated.”

But Jewish scholar Yair Davidiy doesn’t think the Khazars came from Turkish stock. The Khazars, Tribe 13 “Early traditions spoke of the Lost Ten Tribes being in the Scýthian and Khazar areas. According to most Jewish sources, Khazars were a portion of the 10 tribes, especially Ephráim and Manasseh. All Jews are Israelites but not all Israelites are Jews, in the same way that all Texans are Americans but not all Americans are Texans.” (p.200)

Descendants from Japheth and Ashkenaz traditionally settled in Germany, but were driven out and established new communities elsewhere in Europe.  They called themselves Ashkenazi, following customs & rulings previously practiced by Jews in Germany.

The Sephardic Jews are in the minority.  ref Ob.1:20 “Sepharád”.  Sepharad meant Spain to rabbis.  Sepharim were Spanish Jews or those following customs & rulings of Spanish Jews.  Sephardics now dwell around the Mediterranean area and North Africa.  Any future DNA matching for the 10 tribes?

When the Land allotments were originally assigned to the tribes of Israel (Jsh.14–19), at least 50% of the West Bank area inheritance went to the tribes of Ephraim & Manasseh & Issachár, not all of it to Judah & Benjamin (who became the Jews)!  And in the north, the area of the Golan Heights within Israel went to Manasseh (and a fringe area to Naphtalí), not to Judah or Benjamin.  That’s Bible history and geography from Joshua, not so-called anti-Semitism.  Yet…if the Khazars descended from the tribes of Israel, adopted Judaism, intermarried with Jews, and some of their seed returned to the Land during the past 130 years…then some living in modern Israel are the seed of ancient Israelites?!

Who is a true descendant of Abraham and Jacob/Israel?  Ga.3:28-29 “There is neither Greek nor Jew, you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed.”  Paul includes all who are in Christ…Christians. (Ro.11:24 with Jews re-grafted.)  Ge.17:1-6 anciently God changed Abrám’s name to Abraham, because he would become father of many nations.  Ro.4:16-17 includes all who have the same faith as “Abraham, the father of us all”.  Ro.11:26 thus all Israel will be saved!

Paul wrote in Ro.2:28-29, “Neither is circumcision outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart [cf. De.30:6], by the Spirit.”  According to Paul, it’s spiritual; not based on physical circumcision or a % of Jewish blood ancestry.

To conclude: Re.7:4-8 “I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 from every tribe of the sons of Israel.”  John identifies 12 tribes (including the tribe of Judah).  Re.21:10-12 “It had a great and high wall with twelve gates; and names were written on them, those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.”  At the end of the Book…the names of the 12 tribes are on the gates of the Holy City!

Ps.22:23, 27-28 “You who fear the Lord, praise Him. All you seed of Jacob, glorify Him. All you seed of Israel. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations will worship before Thee.”  (Ge.32:28 God changed the man Jacob’s name to Israel, see Part 1.)  Eventually all the tribes will be saved.  All the nations will praise Christ, the God/Rock of Israel.  Praise the Lord!!