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Home , Caucasus Mountains, Tomyris

Sons of Isaac

Ezekiel 38:1-4a, “And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back...” From political leaders to pastors behind their pulpits to authors that write on this subject concerning last day events and eschatology, 99.9% have said what we read here in verse 2 (at least the Gog, the land of Magog’ part of it) has to be . I have been saying it is not. I told you in the first message and reminded you in the second message that this whole concept started because of what Josephus wrote in one line of his works on the History of the Jews, saying that the claimed that the Magogites (the people from Magog) were . Now everyone knows the Scythians were a group of people that populated . So that is how they make their Russian connection. And of course, that caught on especially in the 1800’s but it really took off about 70-80 years ago when Russia turned into a communistic nation. So it really gained in popularity to call the Russians the Magogites: “Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him—they are it, we finally have our explanation now who this is referring to.” So they are either just too plain lazy to do the homework or they just don’t care enough about history to look into who these Scythians were; because if they did, as I’ve been saying now for two messages, they would find the Lost Tribes of Israel were Scythians (the ten northern tribes that were either taken into captivity or they disbursed themselves to run from the captivity that was coming). The group that ran went north between the and the . The groups that were taken in the captivity were mostly populated in northern , eastern Iraq. Then the Assyrian Empire eventually lost its power and the tribes migrated north east of the Caspian Sea. I told you last time that there were three major Scythian groups; and ones that went into captivity, and ones that ran from captivity before they were captive. With that short introduction, I am going to pick up where we left off last time. Most of the Israelite tribes [the northern tribes, because the tribes were not called Israelites in the south, they were the House of Judah] scattered into circa 721 B.C. If you look in your encyclopedias, it records the Scythians arrived in the of the southern Russian area about 700 BC.

An historian of the Scythians wrote the following: "The Scythians did not become a recognizable national entity before the eighth century B.C. By the seventh century B.C. they had established themselves firmly in southern Russia. Assyrian documents place their appearance on the shores of Lake Urmia [just south of ] in the time of King Sargon (722-705 B.C.) a date which closely corresponds with that of the first establishment of the first group of Scythians in southern Russia". These accounts (and others) record that the Scythians appeared in South Russia at the very time that the ten tribes of Israel were fleeing from the final Assyrian invasion. The account of scholars dates the Scythian arrival in Armenia and south Russia to the very time that the Bible states the

Israelites were removed from their homeland. (Some of the tribes were already captive to the Assyrians and they had no choice re: where they were relocated). Scholars agree the Scythians were firmly established in south Russia by the 7th century B.C. The message of God to the ten tribes (Israel) found in Jeremiah 3 was given near the end of the 7th century B.C., and it indicates they were located north of Jerusalem. The Scythians lived straight north of Jerusalem in the Black Sea region

Israel’s migration happened in different waves. There is a wave that went westward but I am not going to get into that now. Then we see a black line from Samaria going north into the Armenian area. Straight north of that, we see Scyths. You can also see Sacae, a name the Israelites became known as (even though they were at that time considered Scythians), which is a name that identifies them back to Isaac, which is scripturally sound. As they went westward, they became the Gauls, the Celts, and so-forth. Now the tribes that were taken before the final dispersion of the northern tribes, the ones that were running before they were conquered and taken into captivity, they went eastward. You can see the eastward line there, across the Euphrates, across the Tigress into the Medes area. They became known as the Cimmerians. Those were the ones that once they were released from their captivity went north, up on the east side of the Caspian Sea (though no arrow shows that). They went up and they met up with the rest of the Scythians up there, the Sacae, which were the northern tribes of Israel.

With the above map you see a more completed migration of what happened to the Scythians. We see the launching point, Israel, and groups of Israelites going up between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. And of course the Cimmerians caught up and they are all considered Scythians then for the most part in southern Russia. Then as they migrated west, they became known as the Celts all the way until you get to and the western part of , and then eventually to what we call the British Isles today. Now pre-captivity they also migrated, but like I said that is not part of this teaching. That is the green arrows that you see here that went westward through the , through the pillars of Hercules, around Spain, around Portugal today (that is what they’re known as), and into the British Isles. The Scythians were also known as the Sacae or the Saka. The terms Saka [Sacae] and Scyths were regarded as synonymous. The famous Greek historian, Herodotus, wrote that the Persians call all the Scythians Sacae . In these accounts, it is apparent that the Scythian tribes are known by a form of the Hebrew patriarch, Isaac. The Scythian tribes known as the Sacae or Saka bore the name of Isaac upon them, fulfilling the prophecies in Genesis 21:12 and 48:16 that the Israelite tribes would bear that name. If this is all the evidence there was, the similarity could be a coincidence. However, there is much more evidence that the Scythian Sacae were the displaced Israelite tribes.

One could argue that the emergence of the Scythians in the Black Sea region at the same point in history that the ten tribes of Israel fled the kingdom of Israel was just a coincidence. However, the presence of uniquely Israelite cultural traits and names among the Scythians confirms that the Scythians were, indeed, displaced and relocated Israelites from the ten-tribes of Israel.

It has been noted above that the Scythians were known as Saka or Sacae, and that this name of Isaac would be imprinted on the ten tribes of Israel throughout history. The Scythians' homelands were not limited to just the Black Sea region. They began to expand eastward across the quickly as their population burgeoned, and they also established themselves in Asia Minor and the Mountains. An early Scythian capital was named Sakiz, again proclaiming to the world the significance of the name of the Israelite patriarch, Isaac, to their history.

The Greek story of Xenophon mentions the Sacians of Asia who suffered very severely at the hands of the Assyrians, and a Roman writer, Pliny, stated the Scythians were descended from slaves. These accounts reveal strong linkages between the Scythians I.e. (the Sacians) and the Israelites. The Israelites were, indeed, descended from Israelite slaves in Egypt who were freed by Divine action via the Exodus in the time of Moses. They also had suffered severely at the hands of the Assyrians because repeatedly waged war against the kingdom of Israel in biblical times until its tribes were either taken captive by Assyria or were driven into forced exile. Herodotus noted the presence of Sacae in both the army and navy of the Persian monarch, Xerxes, which marched against the Greeks circa 480 B.C.

And maybe, just maybe, that is why Josephus got confused, there were still some Greeks calling them Magogites because of their relationship with the Persian monarch Xerxes—not by choice more than likely because some were still enslaved. Then they march against the Greeks in 480 B.C. Now the Greeks were not going to say wonderful things about the Sacae, that was their enemy just as Xerxes was. One can find references to the Sacae of Herodotus as the Sacans. One writer who uses the term Sacans as synonymous with the Sacae is Paul Cartledge, who uses that term in his book, Thermopylae.

Herodotus also recorded that the Scythians recoiled from using or keeping swine. He wrote: "They [the Scythians] make no offerings of pigs, nor will they keep them in their country" . Since the Scythians not only refused to allow pigs to be used in sacrificial purposes, but banned them entirely from their territory, it is evident that the Scythians did not eat the flesh of swine either. This avoidance of swines flesh is a characteristic Torah-based, Israelite dietary trait. Also, Herodotus recorded that the Scythians did not tolerate their own people indulging in idolatrous Greek religious ceremonies.

It is also important to note that there were many different ethnic groups and tribes called Scythians by historians. Herodotus himself notes there was a difference between the Scythians and other tribes who lived in the region dominated by the Scythians. Although Herodotus wrote that the stupidest nations in the world lived in the Black Sea region, he exempted the Scythians from this negative classification. The term Scythian came to describe a lifestyle as much as a national ancestry, and all the peoples and tribes in the region came to be known as Scythians. The term Saka or Sacae identifies the Israelite tribes in the region as that name preserves an ancestry from the Israelite patriarch, Isaac.

Secular reports that the Black Sea Scythians avoided the use of swine for any purpose and forbade idolatrous customs substantiates Jeremiah 3:11's record wherein God stated—

Remember, they were carried into bondage or displaced from their homeland because of their worship of idols. God would rescue them over the centuries, time after time, and they’d get their act straight, follow the one true God, but give it about ten or twenty years and lo and behold, they are off worshipping all these other false gods and idols again, and God had had enough. So following leaving their homeland, they now are trying to apply these laws that they remembered, and Jeremiah 3:11 records, "backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah". This is dated to approximately 620 B.C., the time when the Scythians had settled into the Black Sea . Since Jeremiah 3 records that Israel was then located toward the north of Jerusalem, and the Scythians lived to the north of Jerusalem in the Black Sea region, it is apparent that the Scythians were the ten tribes of Israel addressed by God in Jeremiah 3.

The rivers emptying into the Black Sea formerly had names such as the Ister, Tyras, Borysthenes and Tanais. After the Scythians entered that region, these rivers were given new Israelite names based on the name of the Israelite tribe of Dan. The new names of these rivers were the Danube, the Dniester, the Dnieper and the Don. The Israelite tribe of Dan had a tendency to re-name geographical locations after its own tribal name (Joshua 19:47). Collier’s Encyclopedia confirms there is no doubt the Scythians gave these rivers their modern names. It states: "The names of the rivers Danube, Dnestr, Dnepr and Don are Scythian". These rivers are known by these Scythian names to this day on modern maps, and all these Scythian names are based on the Israelite tribe of Dan.

The Scythians lived in the region of the Black Sea and Caucasus Mountains. By the time of the first century B.C., a Caucasus Mountain kingdom was named Iberia and its kings routinely bore the dynastic name of Pharesmenes. The Iberians were known to be Scythians or Scythian allies. The term Iberia is based on the name of Eber, the namesake of the Hebrews. This same name, Iberia, had previously been placed upon the modern region of Spain and Portugal, which were formerly part of the Phoenician Empire of Israel, Tyre and Sidon. The name Pharesmenes includes the exact name of Phares, the ancestor of King David, to whom the promise of royal descendants was given.

When reigned over the Persian Empire, he invaded Scythian tribes living near the Caspian Sea -- circa 528 B.C. The primary Scythian tribe was named the , and they had a Queen named Tomyris. Consider these names. The leading Scythian tribe known as the Massagetae bore a striking similarity to the name of the leading Israelite tribe of Manasseh. Also, King David was promised in I Kings 8:25 that his progeny would perpetually include rulers over the people of Israel (I.e. the ten tribes of Israel). In Genesis 48:14-16, the term Israel was primarily placed on the leading tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Tamar was a common and famous name among females in King David's lineage. The mother of Pharez (David's ancestor) was named Tamar (Genesis 38:6-29), David's own daughter was named Tamar (II Samuel 13), and a granddaughter of David was also named Tamar (II Samuel 14:27).

If the Massagetae were the Israelite tribe of Manasseh, a leading tribe of the ten tribes of Israel, biblical prophecy regarding King David's descendants being rulers over Israel would argue that this tribe would have royalty descended from King David. At the time of King Cyrus invasion of the Massagetae and other Scythian tribes, the Massagetae's Queen was named Tomyris. The similarity of the Israelite name Tamar and the Scythian/Massagetae Queen named Tomyris is obvious and striking. When the vowels of the names are removed, the consonants are identical: T-M-R.

The above examples show that names of King David's lineage were found among the rulers of the Scythians, whether they were in the Scythians' western regions (the Caucasus Mountains by the Black Sea) or their eastern regions where the Massagetae lived east of the Caspian Sea. The presence of names from King David's lineage among the Scythian tribes confirms that the Scythians were descended from the ten tribes of Israel, as God's promise indicated David's progeny would specifically rule over the ten tribes of Israel throughout history.

It is assumed by some that the Scythians migrated into the Black Sea region from . Historical evidence easily shows that assumption to be incorrect. The Scythians were famous in the ancient world for their magnificent gold artwork. If the Scythians originated in Central Asia, their self-portrayals should show Scythians with Mongol or Oriental faces. This is not the case. On this gold artwork, the Scythians uniformly depict themselves as Semites who are often bearded.

The Scythians were hardly wild barbarians from Central Asia. Like the Israelites of old, they were skilled agriculturalists who not only tended herds and flocks of livestock, but also grew crops. Indeed, they were grain exporters to other peoples in the ancient world. The Scythians exported 600,000 bushels of grain to Athens on an annual basis just decades after the time of Herodotus. Wild barbarians from the interior of Asia would hardly cultivate and harvest row crops, negotiate and fulfill international trade contracts, etc. The Scythians were quite civilized people.

Georges Charriere, author of the book, Scythian Art: Crafts of the Eurasian Nomads writes this observation about the skilled artwork of the Scythians: "There is no ground for concluding that this style of art had its birth in the Altai or in any other region of . Along with the other elements of Scythian culture, it originated in the peripheral regions of Assyria, among the Iranian-language tribes settled in the north of Iran" (Emphasis added). This is an important observation! It has long been known that many of the Israelites went into captivity into Assyrian regions or the Medo-Persian region of Iran (II Kings 15:29, 18:11). Charriere notes that the Scythian artwork (and other elements of Scythian culture) had its origin in the very regions into which the captive Israelites were first placed. Therefore, the Scythian artwork, their physical appearances and other aspects of their culture show that the Scythians migrated to their Black Sea/ Russian steppe regions from the south, not from the more northern recesses of Central Asia or Siberia.

The Scythians were not Barbarians. I had you go to Colossians 3:11, “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” Here Paul confirms the Scythians were not Barbarians. In fact, this verse says Scythians and Barbarians are opposites. Now this is Paul writing in the first century A.D., somewhere between 50 and 60 A.D. There are still traces of Scythians left, enough to influence Paul, and I think he knew who the Scythians were (or the remains of them) in the first century A.D. Greek nor Jew...Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Paul knew they were not Barbarians—even though some people still today try to make the claim that the Scythians came from a barbaric invasion that came from the east, all the way (if you know your geography) from Mongolia. Sorry, number 1, your timing is all wrong, and number two, that is not where they came from. They came from the south. They came from Israel. They were the ten northern tribes known as Israel, which became known as the Scythians, but also the Sacae, and eventually a host of other names. And, they renamed things along the way once they took over an area, geographical locations, rivers, you name it. They brought their culture with them. They decided to start practicing some of the Law once they left – either leaving because of their captivity period was over, or they escaped before their captivity through the Black Sea and the Caucuses Mountains, settling in that southern area. It is not called southern Russia any longer, we now have countries that are called Armenia, , , , and so forth. People always question who Ephraim is because popular theories say that Ephraim is in the British Isles, and Manasseh is the United States. I have flipped that. Are you going to lose your salvation over it? No. But I think it is important as far as history goes. A thing to note about the tribes of Manasseh is they settled north of Iran, east of the Caspian Sea. The Ephraimites settled west of it. Just take that same settlement set-up and that is where you have the British Isles and the United States. And whether you believe Ephraim is Great Britain or the United States of America, it really doesn’t matter much any longer because of what America became, the melting pot. There are still certain elements we can find that these tribes took with them as they went west, when they finally reached the British Isles; their customs, artifacts, and so forth. They brought them with them from Israel before their exile but, that is getting ahead of the story. The Lost Tribes of Israel became Scythians. I listen to the news media. They see our country, the United States of America (that is where I live) is falling apart and needs to go back to its roots, the independent days from 1776 to the next 20 or 30 years after that. And I am saying, Yes, God had control in history of establishing where Ephraim would branch out to evangelize the world along with Manasseh, and they would fight each other, but the thing is this country still doesn’t know what its roots are. Do you think finding your roots is going back to the days of the Founding Fathers of 1776? It is an important date as I already proved earlier in The Last Days series. This country still doesn’t even know its roots yet. So how are you going to go back to something you are not even aware of yet? It will, God says it will, but it hasn’t happened yet. And it is a shame the scores of pastors that are preaching right now that Russia is the enemy that Ezekiel is suppose to set his face against and prophesy against it. Listen, Russia is no shining light on a hill, but God in these last days is going to deal with the Beast. He is going to deal with just about every nation in His own way. No one is going to be scott-free. There will be some mingling of countries that don’t even have troops on the ground in this Gog-Magog War. But primarily the driving force is the latter end of what still exists of Islam, the 8th Beast. I will continue a little more with the history of the Scythians and then I will move on. There is plenty of history that you can research on your own. Go to the library, spend a day or loan out the books and do your own studies, but compare it to the Israelite culture, and you will see the similarities. They are there and it is plain to see. You need eyes to see and ears to hear what the truth is. All of this just builds our faith. It adds another piece to it, that God has his hands on every year by year history that goes by. He knows what His timeline is. We get anxious. We want to see things moving along. But He has His set-times and He has His own timeline. And things will unfold. Six months ago, you wouldn’t even think the Islamic State or ISIS would gain that much of a foothold in such a short amount of time. When things happen, they usually happen quickly because the time is short. So keep looking up. Our redemption draweth nigh. It is important to know who the Scythians were because they were not the Magogites. That is a great error that unfortunately has been preached and taught for the last 50-60 years, pointing to some other nation because of what one line of Josephus said or wrote down, which was in error—and all the historians know that. Either Josephus was flat out wrong or somebody copied his work down in error, or whatever happened it doesn’t matter, he is wrong. And there is nothing to back up his statement and that is the whole thing. Try to defend Josephus. See how far you go. See how much evidence you can gather. It’s just not there. The opposite is true. But I believe things happen for a reason and it just was not time yet for the exposure of who these tribes were, what they became, where they went, and what they eventually did, because God keeps His Word. His blessings show on the nations that took in these tribes or they conquered. And we are so worried about the native Indians in this country. Well, let me send you a news alert. From the beginning of time people have been conquering people, people have been taking over other people’s land. It’s been about the only thing I agree on with Darwin, survival of the fittest. In this case, God determines how history plays out. He is in control. And the more you study His Word and the more you add secular history to it... if you can’t see that, you are blind as a bat. You better pray God opens your eyes because you obviously need it. Those of you that listen to me regularly don’t need that speech. But those of you on the borderline, study God’s Word; I mean a serious study of it along side history. It is not a coincidence time after time after time how history fits right in with God’s Word. It’s no coincidence. It is not only God’s Word but it is the best history book you can put your hands on. Spend some time in it or get yourself in tune with someone preaching it rightly divided.

To be continued...

The Last Days Study Guide Sons of Isaac

1. What evidences do we have that a good portion of the Scythians were in actuality the Lost Tribes of Israel?

2. What peoples dwelt east of the Caspian Sea?

3. What did the Persians call the Scythians?

4. What two things does St. Paul’s listing of the Scythians convey?

5. What was the name of the first century B.C. Caucasus mountain kingdom?

6. What occupations did the Scythians earn their living by?

7. The tribe of Dan had an interesting habit. What was it?

8. Name the Queen of the Massagetae.

9. What oversight do westerners make when tracing their lineage?

10. S-C and S-K holds a particular significance. What is it?

11. When did the Scythians become a recognizable people?

What does Scythian self-portrayal artwork reveal about their origins?