Note I.
ANGLO-ISRAEL "PROOFS" OF A SEPARATE FATE AND DESTINY OF "ISRAEL" AND "JUDAH."
The Anglo-Israel theory is based for the most part on the supposition of a separate history during the Dispersion, and a separate destiny of the Ten Tribes from that of Judah. I have already shown that the supposition is a false one, but it may be well to analyse here a few more of the Scripture "proofs" by which the contention is supported.
The following is from a truly amazing pamphlet, entitled "Fifty Reasons why the Anglo-Saxons are Israelites of the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel," a publication full of misinterpretations, wild fancies, and absurd fables, which are given out as facts of history.
But the reader may judge for himself of the method of this writer, who is a "D.D.," in handling Scripture.
"The Jews," we are told with an air of authority—
"are one people, the Lost Tribes are another.... The Word of God clearly intimates that Israel would lose their identity, their land, their language, their religion, and their name, that they would be lost to themselves, and to other nations lost. 'I will scatter them into corners, I will make the remembrance of them to cease from among men' (Deut. xxxii. 26). 'The Lord hideth His face from the House of Jacob' (Isa. viii. 17). He was not any more to speak to them in the Hebrew tongue; but 'by another tongue will I speak unto this people' (Isa. xxviii. 11). They shall no more be called Israel, He will call them by another name. 'And thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name' (Isa. lxii. 2). 'The Lord shall call His servants by another name' (Isa. lxv. 15). 'The name Israel shall be no more in remembrance' (Psa. lxxxiii. 4). 'And ye shall lose, or leave, your name, and the Lord shall call His servants by another name.' 'Why sayest thou, O Jacob! and speakest, O Israel! my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?' (Isa. xl. 27).
"'For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee' (Isa. liv. 8).
"In Hos. i. 4, 7 the Lord says, 'I will cause to cease the kingdom of the House of Israel.... I will no more have mercy upon the House of Israel, but I will utterly take them away.... But I will have mercy upon the House of Judah.' Israel is to be called Lo-Ammi, for 'ye are not My people, and I will not be your God' (Hos. i. 7)."
Now let us look for a moment at the references and quotations here given. The first is Deut. xxxii. 26: "I will scatter them into corners," etc. This occurs in the song which Moses was commanded to put into the mouth of the whole nation at the very commencement of their history, which, besides being a vindication of God's character in His dealings with the nation from the beginning hitherto, is also a prophetic forecast of their whole future history. It is the whole people, which according to Moses was to be scattered into all corners as a special punishment for their apostasy, until such time as the Lord shall turn their captivity and have compassion upon them, and gather them from all the nations (Deut. iv. 25-31; xxviii. 64, 65; xxx. 1-7; xxxi. 16-22). This reference then has nothing whatever in it about a "lost identity."
These forecasts are fulfilling themselves, not in lost tribes, but in the Jews. The second reference, Isa. viii. 17: "The Lord hideth His face from the House of Jacob," is (as is often the case in Anglo-Israel quotations) a sentence broken away from the context, and has not the least shadow of connection with "lost" or found tribes. It is an exclamation of the prophet Isaiah with reference to the condition of things then prevailing in Judah. Because of the wickedness of the people and its king, God's face seemed to be hid from the people. But Israel's prophets always looked beyond the present gloom and darkness, and exercised faith in God even in the most adverse circumstances, so he exclaims: "And I"—whatever the nation whom he sought to bring back to God may do—"will wait upon Jehovah that hideth His face from Jacob (which stands for the whole nation) and will look to Him," i.e., "my hope shall be set on Him alone."
A quotation is made in proof that God would not any more speak to "lost" Israel in the Hebrew tongue. The reference is Isa. xxviii. 11: "By (or with) another tongue will I speak to this people."