Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/652

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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Anglo-Israelism An^lo-Jewish Association

justice over their fall as described in II Sam. xiii. 33, If the Kiiriied man becomes angry, 1 Kings, i. C. it is the zeal fur the Law that makes Righteous liim so for " Is not my word like a tire. stxilh the Lord, and likea hammer thai Auger. breaketh the rock in pieces'.'" (.Jcr. Nevertheless the .scholar sh(nil(l also x.xiii. 29. Iltli.). necnstoni himself to mildness of temper (Ta'anit. 4<'). In a public address Habbi .lose once siud: "l-'athcr Elijah was quick tempered" whereupon the prophet On the folfailed to appear to him for three days. lowing day, Habbi .lose imiuircd of Elijah why he "Because you called me quick-tem•was absent. "Thou hast only corpered," was the answer. opinion of thee," sidd H. Jose (Sanh. roborated ' K. 113a, b).



my

ANGLO-ISRAELISM

A



theory ihicli iden-

with the Lost Ten Tribes. Its adherents, who laim that the promises given to Israel will be fulfilled with regard to England and America, are said to nund)cr 2,Olll),{l(IO in England and the United States; and at one time they included in their ranks a member of ilie Englisli House of Lords and a colonial bishop of the Church of England. They have issued several weeklies in defense of their views; and there is one publisher in London whose piblications are devoted tith-s

tlic

.m;;I(i SLi.on

race <

entirely to the cause. Strictly speaking, the t)elievers in Anglo-Israelism do not form a sect, as most of its members retain communion with the Church of England, and they only hold their views as a supplementary pious opinion. The first person who seems to have broached these views was the eccentric Hicii.Min Buothkus (17571824). who styled himself "Nephew of

History of the Almighty." and,

in his

"Revealed

Movement. Knowledge"

(1794). claimed to be descended from David and pro]ihesied that he woidd be revealed as prince of the Hebrews on Nov. 1!», 179.5. In l.s->-> Brothers published his "Correct Account of the Invasion of England by the Saxons, Showing the English Nation to be Descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes," which may be regarded as the foundation of the movement. He was followed by J. Wilson (" Our Israelitisli rigin, 1845), who placed the theorj' upon its present basis; by W. Carpenter ("Israelites Found "). and by F. K. A. Glover ("England the Remnant of Judah "); and the movement obtained a somewhat distinguished adherent in C. Piaz/.i Smith, astronomer royal for Scotland, who in his bizarre work. " Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid," attempted to prop up the cause by showing the identity of British weights and measures with those of the ancient Egyptians and Hebrews. The chief representative, however, in Eng-

land was EiJW.VKi) liixE. of whose "Identitication of the British Nation with Lost Israel," London, 1S71, a quarter million copies are said to have been sold. He also published for several years a weekly journal, "The Nation's Leader," and a monthly magazine, "Life from the Dead." In America the chief leaders of the movement appear to have been G. W. Greenwood, who published a monthlv journal. "Heir of the World." New York, iss'd, and Rev. W. H. Poole, of Detroit. Mich. The theory has even extended to Germany, though it does not appear to have attracted much notice there.

A

work by

Backhaus, "Die Germancn cin Semitischer Volksstamm,'' appeared in Berlin in 1878. The theory of Ajiglo-Israelism is based upon an extremely literal interpretation of the Old Testament, as represented by King James's version and by an application of te.ts brought together from the S.

600

prophecies about Israel and its advocates attempt to bring their readere into the dilemma that England and its colonies must be the Israel to Chief Ar- whom the promises were made in the guments. Bible, or that these promises have been

At the start, distinction the ultimate fates of Israel and Judah. For the former all the bUssings of the Bible are reserved; whereas the latter, represented in modern limes by the Jews, are to e.vperience all the curses threatened to the backsliding people in the prophecies. It is itoiuted out that wiiile in the proplK'cies Israel will change his name (Hosea, i. 9), be numberless {i/u'd. ii. 1), dwell in islands (Isa. x.xiv. 15) with colonies and be the chief of the nations (Jlicali, v. 8). Judah will be a byworil (Jer. XV. 4). The "isles" (Isa. xli. 1, xlii. 4). to which Israel was banished, were to be north (Jer. iii. 12) and west (Isa. x.iv. 15) of Palestine, and to be in a cold <limate, since it is said: "Heat nor sun will smite hem" (Isa. xlix. 10). It was further prophesied that the isles would become too small for Israel (Isa. xlix. 19) an<l that Israel should be a nation and company of nations (Gen. x.xv. 11). It woidd, therefore, have colonies (Lsii. xlix. 20. liv. 3|. so that it might surround the nations (Dent, xxxii. 7-9) and be above them all (Deut. vii. (i, xiv. 2, xxviii. The children of Israel will always know and 1). recognize the Lord (I.sa. lix. 21, xlix. Biblical 3), which of course is interpreted to Texts. mean, "will be members of the true Church of England." The AngloIsraelites triumphantly ask. " What nation save England corresponds to all these prophetic signs'!'" In further contirmation it is iiointed out that one of the tribes of JIanasseh was to become an indepemlent nation (Gen. xlviii. 19): the United States obviously represents JIanasseh. Both Ejihraim and Mnnasseh shall e.Ntenninate the aborigines (" push the jieople together")in the countries into which lliey spread (Deut. xxxiii. 17|. The lion and tin- unicorn are referred to in Num. xxiv. 8, 9; while the American eagle is intended in the prophecy in Ezek. xvii. S. Th(! jiromise that Israel ".shall j)Osse.ss the gates of his enemies" (Gen. xxii. 17. xxiv. 60) is taken to be fulfilled in the possession by England of Giliraltar, Malta. Heligoland. Aden, and Singapore. Finally, it was projihesicd that Israel should bear another unfullllled.

is

made between

I

name

and s|ieak another tongue (Isa. All Ihise characteristics of Israel, asdistinguished from .ludah, arc fullilled. it is contended, in England, its colonies, and the United States. The historical connection of the ancestors of the English with the Lost Ten Tribes is deduced as follows: The Ten Tribes were transferred to Babylon about 720 n.c. and simultaneously, according to Herodotus, the Scythians, including the tribe of the Sacca'. ajijieared in the same district; the progenitors of the Saxons afterwanl pas.sed over into Denmark the "mark" or country of Ihe tribe of (Isa. Ixv. 15)

xxviii. II).



—

Dan — and thence

to England. Another branch of the tribe of Dan which remained "in Historic .ships" (Judges, v. 17) madeitsappcarConnection. ance in Ireland under the title of "Tuatlia-da-Danan." Tephi. a descendant of the royal house of David, arrived in Ireland, according to the native annals, in 580 n.c. From her was descended Feargus >Iore, king of Argyll, an ancestor of Queen Victoria, who thus fullilled the prophecy that "the line of David shall rule for ever and ever" (II Chron. xiii. 5, xxi. 7). The Irish branch of the Danites brought with them Jacob's stone, which has always been used as the coronation -stone of the kings of Scotland and