The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-06-13
IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD
The International Sunday School les
son for June 1S is 1.-The Downfall
of Samaria.'' II Kings l7:I-1S.
BY II.


one of the fascinating subjects in
connection with Old Testament his
tory, and one which many persons
nave made a hobby, is thai Of the
fate of the ten northern tribes of
Israel, who were carr ed into cap
tivity by Assyria, n t~henceforth
sappe from the BibIe record. The
mystery has been the theme of many
books. and Of endless discussion. Some
pe1sons ave intense convictions up
on il. and this present. article will
doubtless call out hostile
one company Of persons hold tina the
chinese are the lost Ten Tribes, while
I.hers say hat the North American
Indians are the descendants Of the
ancient Hebrew captives, a still Iarg-
4rrody of advocates lain that the
Scriptural origin. There are theor-
les galore, for the subject is an al
Turing one. Today the whole Sunday
school world Will study the tragic
episode that gives rise to all the spec
uIations. the downfall Of Samaria, the
capital of the Northern Kingdom of
Israel. and the carrying into captiv-
il Of the people by the A%ssyrians.
The awful end many times foretold,
had come at last.
The have long lax their
way with this subject. No speculation
has been too wild to have adherents.
4 little less imaginativeness, and a
little more attention to the records of
history and geography in the case.
clears up the whole subject, removing
it out Of the realm of unreality. but
detracting not n whit firm its in
terest. The very chapter from which
this lesson is taken plainly says, $50
Israel was carried away out of their
own 10 nd TO CCNria 11nfn fLiC 10 =.
In other words, the Ten Tribes were
never lost: they were taken to Assy-
ria, where they remain to this day.
They ceased to nave a national eAis-
tence, but their descendants are still.
despite the marvellous changes Which
history has brought to this region,
within the confines Of the territory
where thew were placed by Sargon II.
\ Find Along the Tigris.
What is written briefly in the Old
Testament upon this subject is fully
corroborated by what is written at
length in the latest books of travel.
During my own travels in MeSOpO-
tannia, a few weeks ago, / was not a
little surprised-having paid more at
tention to ingenious theories upon he
fate Of the lost Ten Tribes than 7
had to the simple record-to learn
that the Jews are still scattered in
EtbIljluiitleS oNeI TIE region along the
TigriS River that was once Assyria. It
is not they who have been lost, but
We. This ancient center of civiliza-
ton has passed almost wholly out of
the common knowledge Of mankind.
AsSyrla is not so we'll known as
China There are a thousand Eu-
ropeans and Americans who travel on
the Yangtze to every one that travels
on the Tigris OR Euphrates. Mesopo-
n-..o
da. SO through all these centuries, in
strange fulfillment of the Biblical rec
ord, these Jews have persisted in the
place of their captivity. despite almost
constant poverty and oppression. while
the kingdoms Of Assyria and Baby
ion and Persia and Greece and Rome
and the Caliphate have thriven and
waned and disappeared before their
eyes, This persistence of the Jew
is %uncanny, though Scriptural.
In Bagdad, where there are from
sixty to eighty thousand Jews. and
several miserable synagogues, l had
a conference with the chief Rabbi and
his associates upon this subject Of the
lost tribes, and the existing Jews
IN Mesopotamia. They say that their
people have always been here since the
captivity. and that now there is no
nhe of division between the captives
'iohi the nOrtnern ana those from the
southern Kingdoms. The entire twelve
'fibes are represented in Bagdad, as
we'll as up and down the valley. There
are also many Jews in Persia. the an
Gent land Of the Modes, whittier Sar-
gcn sent them. While they have
heeh desperately poor and oppressed,
oetter days seem to be coming, and
WITH the opening of the region to set
cement. they should find their oppor-
'nhlty. The revived life and con-
Sclousness of the Jewish nation will
not pass them by.
n Great journey.
Inc average newspaper reader, who
sees incomprehensible dispatches con-
refnlng the new Bagdad Railway, new
tr thinks that there is any connec-
non between his and the story OF
me exile of Israel. Yet the present
discussion is quite opportune for the
Elbie teacher who would make the Old