The statements of Esdras throw considerable light upon the reasons why the captives in Media preferred not to return to their ancient home in Canaan; supposing always that that privilege had been accorded to them as well as to the captives of the house of Judah. In their home of promise they had seldom kept the counsels and commandments of God and if they returned it was probable they would not do any better, especially as the Assyrians had filled their land with heathen colonists whose influence would not assist them to carry out their new resolutions. Hence they determined to go to a country "where never man dwelt," that they might be free from all contaminating influences. That country could only be found in the north. Southern Asia was already the seat of a comparatively ancient civilization. Egypt flourished in Northern Africa and Southern Europe was rapidly filling with the future rulers of the world. They had, therefore, no choice but to turn their faces northward. The first portion of their journey was not however north; according to the account of Esdras, they appear to have at first moved in the direction of their old homes, and it is possible that they originally started with the intention of returning thereto, or probably in order to deceive the Assyrians they started as if to return to Canaan, and when they had crossed the Euphrates, and were out of danger from the hosts of the Medes and Persians, then they turned their journeying feet toward the polar star. Esdras states that they entered in at the narrow passage of the river Euphrates, the Lord staying the "springs of the flood until they were passed over." The point on the River Euphrates at which they crossed would necessarily be in its upper portion, as lower down would be too far south for their purpose.
The upper course of the Euphrates lies among lofty mountains and near the village of Pastash, it plunges through a gorge formed by precipices more than a thousand feet in height and so narrow that it is bridged at the top; it shortly afterwards enters the plains of Mesopotamia. How accurately this portion of the river answers the description of Esdras of the "narrows," where the Israelites crossed!
From the Euphrates the wandering host could take but one course in their journey northward, and that was along the back or eastern shore of the Black Sea. All other roads were impassable to them, as the Caucassian range of mountains with only two or three passes throughout its whole extent, ran as a lofty barrier from the Black to the Caspian Sea. To go east would take them back to Media, and a westward journey would carry them through Asia Minor to the coasts of the Mediterranean. Skirting along the Black Sea, they would pass the Caucassian range, cross the Kuban River, be prevented by the Sea of Azof from turning westward and would soon reach the present home of the Don Cossacks. It is asserted, on good authority, that along this route and for "an immense distance" northward, the country is full of tombs of great antiquity, the construction of which, the way in which the dead are buried therein, and the jewelry, curiosities, etc., found on opening them, prove that they were built by a people of similar habits to the Israelites. Dr. Clark, a well-known traveler, states that he counted more than ninety such mounds at one view near the Kuban River.
We will here digress, and give some of the ideas of a writer on the Israelitish origin of the nations of modern Europe (Mr. J. Wilson), though in our own words. He endeavors to prove that Israel traveled north-westward from the neighborhood last spoken of, and claims that the names of all the principal rivers, in the regions round about, show that colonists from the Holy Land gave them. The Jordan was distinctively the River of Canaan as the Nile was of Egypt. The word Jordan is by some claimed to mean flowing, by others the River of Eden. There was also the Dedan or Dan (el Leddan) flowing into it; which would lead to the supposition that the word Dan had some connection with Israelitish rivers not now understood. Suffice it, the exiles doubtless carried with them many hallowed recollections of their ancient river, which it was but natural they should seek to perpetuate as they journeyed farther and farther from its waters and from their long-cherished home. As a result we find in south-eastern Europe the Don, the Daniz or Donitz, the Daneiper and Daniester (now contracted to Dneiper and Dniester) and the Danube. The conclusions of the writer already referred to are that Israel gradually drifted westward to the region known to secular history as Moesia and Dacia, the one north and the other south of the Danube, and called by modern English speaking people, Roumania and Bulgaria. To further strengthen his theory he claims that Moesia means the land of Moses, and Dacia the land of David (after Israel's shepherd king), and that the people of the latter kingdom were called the Davi. In this country dwelt also the Getae (a Latinized form of Gad) who, some historians assert, were the forefathers of the Goths, of whom we shall speak again hereafter. The historian Herodotus, in recounting the conquest of his people by Darius states, that the Getae "believed themselves to be immortal; and whenever one dies, they believe that he is removed to the presence of their god Zamoxis (Zalmoxis) * * * and they sincerely believe that there is no other deity." He also states that this god left them the institutions of their religion in books. Mr. Wilson directs attention to this idea of only one God, so different to the Pantheism of the surrounding peoples, and that of man's immortality as tending to prove the Israelitish origin of the Gatae, particularly as in analyzing the word Zalmoxis he finds it to be composed of Za, el, Moses. If his facts be correct, his conclusions are warranted, but of his facts we express no opinion.
CHAPTER IV.
Israel's Journey Northward—Esdras and Modern Revelation Compared—The Testimony of Jesus to the Nephites—Ephraim to be Gathered from all Countries—The Coasts of the Earth—The Ancestors of the Latter-day Saints.
Having considered the causes that led the outcasts of Israel to determine to seek a home in a new and uninhabited land, we may be excused if we endeavor to follow them in fancy in their journey northward. We have no way of accurately estimating their numbers, but if the posterity of all those who were carried into captivity started on this perilous journey, they must have formed a mighty host. Necessarily they moved slowly. They were encumbered with the aged and infirm, the young and the helpless, with flocks and herds, and weighed down with provisions and household utensils. Roads had to be made, bridges built, and the course marked out and decided by their leaders.[A] Inasmuch as they had turned to the Lord and were seeking a new home wherein they could the better serve Him, they were doubtless guided by inspired leaders, who, by Urim and Thummim, or through dreams and visions, pointed out the paths ahead. Perhaps, as in the days of the deliverance from Egypt, a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night guided their footsteps; no matter the means, the end was accomplished, and slowly and gradually they neared the frozen regions of the Arctic zone. The distance in a direct line from the conjectured crossing of the Euphrates to the coasts of the Arctic Ocean, would be about 2,800 miles, or a seven months' journey, averaging fifteen miles a day. But according to Esdras, one year and a half was consumed in the journey, which is an evidence that they were encumbered with families and cattle, who could only travel slowly and for whom many resting places had to be found where they could recuperate. It is highly probable that, like modern Israel in its journey westward to the valleys of Ephraim, they planted temporary colonies by the way. Where the weary rested and crops were raised for future use.
The length of the journey had its advantages as well as its drawbacks. The slow rate at which they traveled enabled them to become acclimatized to the rigors of the frigid zone. We must recollect that we are dealing with a people cradled in the burning sands of Egypt, and who, for many generations, had dwelt in one of the most balmy and genial climates on this globe. Their temporary sojourn in the bleaker regions near the Caspian Sea had partially prepared them for that which was to come, but it required time to give them the capability to endure the rigors of a northern climate, as they were, by ancestry and location, distinctively children of the sunny south.
[Footnote A: Jesus distinctly states to the Nephites, that these tribes were led "by the Father out of the land.">[