How Israel Came to Britain

Students of Bible history are aware that the Israel people, whom YEHOVAH God brought into being as the instrument of His Will and Purpose among men, became disobedient to Him and, finally, rebellious with the result that they were broken by Him into two separate and distinct nations, Israel and Judah. Eventually, the people of both these related nations were conquered by their enemies and carried away into exile, where history loses sight of them. Because of this it has been wrongly assumed by many that YEHOVAH God has given up the idea of fulfilling His Purpose through a servant nation and that, except for a small, mixed, remnant known today as Jews, Israel has ceased to exist.

This assumption is false on at least three counts. First, because YEHOVAH God promised that Israel would continue as a nation for ever. Second, because during the 1,000 years of Israel's history many groups broke away from the main body and migrated to new homes with the result that there were several nations of Israel people in far separated existence, long before the destruction of the nation in Palestine. Third, because the Israelites who were driven away into exile did not thereby cease to exist. On the contrary, they broke up into groups which slowly migrated into and across Europe, to join others of their kinsfolk who had already established themselves, as far West as Britain.

Actually, groups of Israelites had begun to migrate away from the main body, even before Israel was formed into a nation -- while, as a people, they were still in bondage in Egypt. A group under the leadership of Calcol, a Prince of the Tribe of Judah, moved westward across the Mediterranean, eventually settling in Ulster. Another, under the leadership of Dardanus, a brother of Calcol, crossed to Asia Minor to found the Kingdom later known as Troy. When Troy was destroyed by the Greeks, the greater part of the Trojans fled to Italy and later to Britain, where they established themselves as a Kingdom, about the year 1100 B.C.

Another and much larger migration from the main body took place as early as the wandering period in the wilderness of Sinai, after the Exodus from Egypt. A careful study of the census figures given in the Book of Numbers reveals that a huge number of Israelites disappeared during this 40-year period.

Their disappearance from Sinai coincides with the arrival in Western Europe of a people called Iberians (which is simply another form of the word Hebrew). As these folk later moved on into Britain, it seems evident that the descendants of those Israelites who had left the main body from Sinai came to Britain as Iberians.

After Israel settled in Palestine, other groups also drifted away. About 1000 B.C. the Tribe of Dan left, going first to Greece (the Danoi) and later to Denmark (Danmark) and Ireland.

About 750 B.C. Israel living East of the Jordan River was conquered and driven, en masse, into exile, by the Assyrians. This section of Palestine was called Gaulan. Further, the Hebrew word for exile is Galah. Thus these exiles from Gaulan would, surely, be the Galli or Gauls. Seeking a new home they migrated across Europe to France and later to Britain where, under the name of Gauls or Gaels, they united with the Iberians to form the people known to history as the ancient Britons.

Finally, the Israel nation itself was destroyed and its people driven away into captivity, most of them in Assyria and Media. Following the fall of the Assyrian Empire they regained their freedom and, breaking up into groups, gradually migrated north-westward across Europe to the shores of the North Sea as Jutes, Angles and Saxons. In Denmark and Scandinavia they found the Danites who had preceded them and, presently, all four contingents invaded Britain and settled.

Thus, in this brief outline, we have seen how YEHOVAH's People, of Bible history, gradually moved away from the homeland and disappeared. Their descendants were later regathered, as the Israel of Bible prophecy, in Britain.

In YEHOVAH God's good time a continuous stream of pioneers moved westward and southward from thence, to become the Company of Nations promised by Him to their forbears.