General Notes

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C H E I F   P R I N C E   O F   E P H R A I M'     "In Hebrew genealogy this would probably mean he was the oldest son of the oldest son down to EPHRAIM." (The great Hebrew scholar, Maimonides)     Archibald F. Bennett, the late leader of the Genealogical Society of Utah, has this to say regarding the line from the Frankish Kings to Antenor:     "The pedigrees are so ancient that it is impossible to test their accuracy from historical facts,...but according to the old legends, Antenor had a son who was king of a tribe called SICAMBRI who settled in the general region of what is now called HOLLAND. From this ANTENOR, according to old pedigrees yet preserved, the early kings of the Franks trace their descent, as also the late CHARLEMAGNE, and most of the famillies of Europe and America today, royal or otherwise."

A short
COMMENTARY
by
Albert F. Schmuhl     "The SCYTHIANS are mentioned for the first time in HESIOD amd many ethnologists are of the opinion that their arrival in Europe was about the 15th century B.C." (EA,Vol.24,p.471) Josephus states that "MAGOG (the son of Japhet ben Noah) founded those that from him were named Magogites, but are by the Greek called SCYTHIANS." (The Antiquities Of The Jews, Bk 1,6:1)     The CIMMERIANS were an ancient people who were already known to the Assyrians (EWH.p.27) during the reign of King ESSARHADDON (681-668 B.C.);  they are a group of the ancient SCYTHIAN kingdom which was established long before the end of the 9th century B.C.     These CIMMERIANS left their homes amoung the SCYTHIANS, in northern Asia and settled in SOUTHERN European Russia in the area north of the Black Sea at a very early time." The people who lived NORTH of the Black Sea were called by different names by different nations.  The Greek writers called the people who lived around the Black Sea SACAE or MESSAGATE, which in modern language means SAXONS or the GOTHIC tribes.     "The Anglo-Saxons, Lowland Scotch, Normans, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes. Belgians, Lombards, and Franks have all sprung from that great fountain of human race, which we have distinguished by the term SCYTHIANS. GERMAN or GOTHIC."  (Are We Of Israel? p.38)     "From this area north of the Black Sea two great waves of migration spread over northern Europe.  The first was the CIMMERIANS or KELTS; the second that of the SCYTHIANS.  The Celts or Kelts were called GALATIONS by the Greek; where as the Roman called them GAULS.  The three names CELTS (KELTS), GALATIONS and GAULS are, therefore, synonymous.  The GAULS were among  the early people to settle Europe.  At one time they inhabiteed most of the land from and including Asia Minor on the east to the western shores of Europe, including the British Isles." (Annual Report Smithsonian Institution 1912)     From above quotations it seems that the people who lived near the Black Sea were the ancestors of most of the European Nations, and because of their earlier descent from JAPHETH, the son of Nosh, have been called in the scripture the
"GENTILES" (Gen 10:2 & 5)     The Lord spoke through the Old Testament Prophets that "I will scatter thee (Israel) among the heathen, and desperse thee in the countries," (Ezek.22:15) and "I will sift the house of Israel among all nations." (Amos 9:9) Also "I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in the far countries." (Zech.10:9)

This is in harmony with the blessing of ABRAHAM:        "In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be Blessed." (Gen.22:18)     The Gathering has also been foretold: "Thus saith the Lord God:  I shall gather the House of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered." (Ezek. 28:28)  "Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, wither I have driven them." (Jer.32:37)     Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith wrote:  "Let us also remember that we are of the Gentiles!...We may boast of our lineage...to be of Ephraim, but let us not despise the Gentiles, for we are also of them."  (The Way To Perfection p. 140, 1940 Edition)     Now let us return to history and see how a part of this "Scattering Of Israel" has taken place:     In 721/722 B.C., the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, were carried away captive by SHALMANESER V, King of Assyria (727-722).  He died during this campaign and was replaced by SARGON (722-705).  Archaeologists have discovered the castle of Sargon and cuneiform documents which read: "...in the first year of my reign I besieged and conquered Samaria...27,280 of its inhabitants I carried away.  I took them to Assyria."  The Book of Nahum in the BIBLE describes their fate, and II Kings 17:3-6 is the biblical account of their being taken captive.     In 612 B.C. NINEVAH, the capital of ASSYRIA was destroyed by NABOPOLASSAR, King of Babylon and CYAXARES, King of Media, when SADRANAPAL (668-612 B.C.) was King of Assyria.     The next epoch is best narrated by Professor A.D. Chwolson of the State Museum of St. Petersburg (1823-1869):     "The Chozars, or ISRAELITES, took advantage of the opportunity of the conflict betweeen Assyria and Medo-Persia and the Babylonians, and during the confusion caused by the uprising, the burning of the city Nineveh and foreign invasion, they escaped and left the country, fleeing into the mountains of the nearest country, now known as Russian Armenia, and from there they continued their journey through the narrow mountain pass of Armenia, or Ararat, and the Caucasus until they reached the shores of the BLACK SEA and the northwestern shores of the CASPIAN SEA. Before reaching these shores, however, they passed through a narrow mountain pass which was overbridged by a mountain ridge that connects theBig and the Small Ararat Mountains'; upon this mountainridge are until this day inscribed the words:

"WRATA ISRAILA" meaning "THE GATES OF ISRAEL"     One finds often in secular history notations like this in reference to the fate of the Ten Tribes of Iarael:     "The people of the northern kingdom and their kings with them disappeared, were absorbed into the population of these foreign lands, and never emerged in history.  All investigation into what became of the ten tribes who had their home there, has so far come to nothing."     There are found in Southern Russia, however, over 700 dated tombstones attesting to the fact that the Israelites had lived there for a time. The contents of these tombs have been translated and written in 16 or 17 volumes, which are nor in the library of Moscow, under various titles, such as PAMIATNIKI DREVNET PISMENNOSTI (Memorials of Ancient Records) St Petersburg 1892, vol. 84. Only a few excerpts have been translated into English  by Rev. Stern.

What became of the LOST Ten Tribes?     The Apocryphical Book of Esdras, or Esra describes a vision which the prophet had; as to the meaning of a group of people... he was answered:     "These are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea, the king, whom Salmanasar the King of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so come they into another land."     "But they took this counsel amoung themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt.     "That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land."     Then followed a description of their  escape which may well fit the above Russian story.     We have here a determined group of people, who had no desire to mix with the heathen nations around them, but to go "where never mankind dwelt". In the light of the fact that the Ephraimites who, as their kings, were responsible that the rest of the ten tribes could not keep their statutes in their own land, one can easily understand that the tribe of EPHRAIM  seperated itself from the body of the "Ten Tribes", or was forced to do so, after "they took counsel amoung themselves."     The remaining people became the LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL, whom Christ promised to visit, "For they are not lost unto the Father, for he knowest wither he has taken them." (BM 3 Nephi 17:4)

Dr. James E. Talmage writes:     "It is plain that, while many of those belonging to the Ten Tribes were diffused among the nations, a sufficient number to justify the retention of the original name were led away as a body and are now in existence in some place where the Lord has hidden them."     The Prophet Joseph Smith stated at a Conference held in June 1831:     "...that John the Revelator was then among the ten tribes of Israel who had been led away by Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, to prepare them for their return." (HC, Vol.1,p.178)     Pres. Brigham Young said in the Bowery, Salt Lake City, May 31, 1863:     "We are now gathering the children of Aabraham who have come through the loins of Joseph and his sons, more especially through EPHRAIM, whose children are mixed among all the nations of the earth."  (JD, Vol. 10, p. 188)     It seems from the pages of history, that the EPHRAIMITES did mix with the nations, not as their slaves but as their masters.  Their history became the history of their adopted nation.  This is borne out in this quotation, that... "The CELTS appear to be fusion of diverse stock."     The following excerpts may prove the  fact, that the people stemming from the area of the Black Sea had different classes in their society, which in time gave rise to the Nobility in Europe.     "The CELTS were desctibed as a "conglomerate people" and as a "warrior aristocracy bestriding a peasant population." (Life Magazine 1957, "Epic of Man, Part X Forebears of the West")     "They (SCYTHIANS) seem to have maintained themselves as a ruling class, while others, (probably earlier inhabitants) worked the rich grainfields.     "The ROYAL Scythians looked upon all other tribes in the light of slaves."     When the CELTS arrived in Britain, says Sir Winston Churchill:  "they established themselves as a tribal aristocracy, subjugating the older stock. This conquering and ruling race established themselves wherever they went with ease." (History of the English Speaking People, Vol. 1, "The Birth of Britain," p. 12)     Erastus Snow, in an address at Logan, Utah, May 6, 1882 said:     "The remnants of the seed of Ephraim who were scattered from Palestine and who colonizid the shores of the Caspian Sea and hence made their way into the north of Europe, western Scandinavia and northern Germany, penetrating Scotland and England, and conquering those nations and reigning as Monarchs of Great Britain, and mingling thier seed with the Anglo-Saxon Race...their blood has permeated European Society, and it coursed in the veins of the early colonists of America.  And when the books shall be opened and the linege of all men is known, it will be found that they have been the first and formost in everything noble among men in the various nations." (JD Vol. 23, p. 186)

Archibald F. Bennett voices this sentiment:     "The Teutonic conquerors mingled their blood with the native subjects and the new race which emerged was superior in many ways to the older one." (BB,p. 54)     The above evidences make it appear that Maimonides may be right when he proclaimed that:

ANTENOR was the CHIEF PRINCE OF EPHRAIM                                                    Albert F. Schmuhl                                                    Genealogy Charts                                                    6099 South Elsie Circle                                                    Salt Lake City, Utah  84123