Israel's Tribes Today

by Steven M. Collins

       This fourth book of a series, Israel’s Tribes Today, identifies the modern locations of the tribes of Israel, and it examines the migrations that brought them to their current locations. Modern world geopolitics will be seen in an entirely new light as a result.

       With the fall of the Parthian Empire in 226 A.D., the conquering Persians quickly expelled the defeated Parthians from the Mideast region. Author Steven M. Collins explains that this defeated people had only one safe option open to them: to escape northwest toward the Caucasus and Black Sea. The Parthian rulers also had a good relationship with the Dacians who occupied the region of modern Romania and Hungary.

       This is the background to the first chapter of an interesting book by author Steven Collins. He gives much fascinating evidence of a connection between the Black Sea Goths and the remnants of the Parthian kingdom. Drawing on the conclusions of numerous historians who see the Goths as being “former Iranians,” Collins shows that the culture, dress, and military tactics of the Goths were in fact Parthian. Since the third book in this series by the author demonstrated a close ethnic connection between the early Hebrews and the Semitic Parthians, the later European Goths would have had that connection also.

       The origin of the Gothic tribes is an open question among mainstream scholars, but author Collins gives many pages of important—and sometimes startling—evidence of their Semitic origin. A certain amount of this evidence is easy to observe, such as the Asian “Germanii” of Herodotus being identified as the “Germans” of today. Even more importantly, Collins shows that the so-called “Iranian” “Sacae” tribe was the ancestor of the European Saxons. The mass of evidence produced in this book would be hard to refute.

       The second chapter of this book tells the early history of European tribes, with more evidence of their Semitic origin in the Mideast. An interesting section entitled, “Surprising New Perspectives on American Indian Tribes,” discusses the possibility—one might even say probability—of Hebrew-Phoenician ancestry within some American coastal tribes. As the author explains, early American president Thomas Jefferson was a believer in this theory after spending his retirement years researching the language and culture of certain tribes.

       The important third chapter discusses, “The Tribes of Israel in the Modern World.” The author correctly observes, “Many biblical keys to identifying the tribes of Israel in the modern world are found in Genesis 49.” (page 152) The first verse of that chapter also tells that the prophecy’s fulfillment would be in the “latter days,” or the time we now live in. It is crucial therefore to examine Biblical prophecies to see their fulfillment in today’s world. Author Steven Collins then analyzes a number of Biblical clues in order to identify the modern House of Israel.

       As the back cover of this book explains, “Most efforts to locate the ‘lost’ House of Israel have failed because of erroneous assumptions. Searchers assume that the supposedly ‘lost’ ten tribes of Israel would be found in isolated little bands of people. However, the first chapter of Hosea and other Biblical prophecies foretold that the nations of the ten tribes would be found among the wealthy and powerful nations with large populations.” You can read more of the cover text above by selecting a “thumbnail” photo and then moving your curser over the book picture to bring up a larger pop-up window.

       The first tribes of Israel the author investigates are the “birthright tribes” of Ephraim and Manasseh. These were sub-tribes of the Patriarch Joseph, a well-revered figure in Biblical history. Some of the characteristics to identify Israel in the modern world as given in the Scriptures are great nationhood (Genesis 12:2-3), great population growth (Genesis 13:15-16), growth into many nations (Genesis 17:4-7), a company of nations (Genesis 35:11-12), possession of the gates, or world “choke-points,” of their enemies (Genesis 22:16-18), and much more. Author Collins points out, based upon the prophecy in Genesis 48, “It is vital to notice that this prophetic blessing involved the names ‘Israel’ and ‘Isaac’ being placed on the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. For this reason, whenever the Bible thereafter uses the term ‘Israel’ in history or prophecy, it often designates the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh!” The author proceeds to give us much more evidence of these tribes location in our modern world.

       The tribe of Reuben is discussed in the context of their Biblical portrait as the passionate firstborn. The tribe of Zebulon were reclaimers of the sea. The tribe of Asher were the miners of precious things. The tribe of Issachar was described as a people dwelling between two burdens. The Naphtali tribe was a hind let loose. The tribe of Benjamin was the ravenous tribe of the north, depicted as a wolf. The tribe of Dan was to leave a Serpent’s trail throughout history. The tribe of Gad was to rise from defeat to prominence. The tribe of Judah was the Scepter tribe. The tribes of Levi and Simeon were to become scattered warriors.

       With these clues direct from the pages of Bible prophecy, the author adds additional Biblical and historical evidence in order to construct a framework to identify these tribes in the modern world. Many Bible teachers ignore these tribal prophecies, some claim that the twelve tribes all intermarried to form only a single tribe, the Jewish people, and others believe that the non-Judah tribes all passed out of existence. All of those views contradict the Scriptures. Remember that the Biblical tribal prophecies were for the latter days and therefore must see fulfillment in our present world. Steven Collins has done excellent research on these important and little-noticed prophecies, and found that they unquestionably do match a set of twelve modern nations today.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Chapter 1: Israelite Migrations from Asia after Parthia’s Fall

     Parthia’s Refugees in the Caucasus Mountains, Black Sea Region

     Who are the World’s Semites?

     The Parthian-Scythian Origin of the Black Sea Goths

     The Asian “Sacae” Become the European Saxons

     Asia’s “Germanii” Become Europe’s “Germans”

     Asia’s “Jats” and “Alani” Become Europe’s “Jutes” and “Alans”

     Israelite Names in the Modern Caucasus Region

Chapter 2: Caucasian Tribes Conquer the Roman Empire

     The Goths’ Initial Invasion of the Roman Empire

     The “Nephthalites” (or “Naphtalites”) of Asia

     The “Parthian” Traits of King Ermanaric’s Gothic Kingdom

     What Really Happened When the Visigoths “Sacked” Rome

     The Ostrogoth’s Enlightened Rule Over the Romans

     Attila the Hun’s Invasion of Europe

     The Mysterious Migrations of the Vandals

     Surprising New Perspectives on American Indian Tribes

     Cultural Links: The Parthians, Scythians and Modern Europe

     The “Davidic” Origin of European Dynasties

Chapter 3: The Tribes of Israel in the Modern World

     Defining the Search Areas

     Ephraim and Manasseh: The “Birthright” Tribes

     The Tribe of Reuben: The Passionate Firstborn

     The Tribe of Zebulon: Reclaimers of the Sea

     The Tribe of Asher: The Miners of “Precious Things”

     The Tribe of Issachar: Between Two Burdens

     The Tribe of Naphthali: A “Hind Let Loose”

     The Tribe of Benjamin: Ravenous Tribe of the North

     The Tribe of Dan: A Serpent’s Trail Throughout History

     The Tribe of Gad: Rising From Defeat TO Prominence

     The Tribe of Judah: The “Sceptre” Tribe’s Young Nation

     The Tribes of Levi and Simeon: Scattered Warriors

Conclusion

Epilogue

Bibliography

Index of Scripture

Index of Persons, Places, Subjects

        This book series expands upon Mr. Collins first book, The “Lost” Ten Tribes of Israel…Found! and reveals much new information about the tribes of Israel. They are fully indexed and contain a large number of photographs, illustrations, narratives and maps not in Mr. Collins’ first book. This new book is 6x9 inches and 312 pages (296+xvi) with a full-color cover and over 140 illustrations! Softcover only.

An excerpt of this book may be read at: http://israelite.info/bookexcerpts/israelstribestoday.html