ANCESTRY
Canada
Question:
I am of Italian, German and Irish ancestry. I am interested in the true identities of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Is it true that Italy is actually the Tribe of Gad? I have read elsewhere that it is. I would like to learn more about my possible Israelite heritage. Do you have any books available that I could purchase to learn more about the Tribe of Gad and other information on Germany and Ireland?
Answer:
Your ancestry encompasses three widely separated regions of Europe: Italy in the south, Ireland in the west, and Germany in the east; representing three different tribal settlement areas. Some Bible students believe that the arrangement of the Hebrew tribes in the Sinai wilderness after the Egyptian captivity was a prophetic foreshadowing of their geographical distribution in the wilderness of uninhabited early Europe after the Assyrian captivity. If so, then Italy-Gad on the south of Europe would make sense. We know that early Italy was settled by the Umbri, another name for Ebri or Hebrews .
The best book on this subject is “Symbols Of Our Celto-Saxon Heritage” by W.H. Bennett (available from CBIA), which has a discussion and illustration of the square formation of the Israel tribes in the wilderness of Sinai. On the south side of the Tabernacle in the wilderness were the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad. On the west side were the tribes of Ephraim , Manasseh , and Benjamin. On the east side were the tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulon. On the north were Dan, Asher, and Naphtali.
This arrangement fits with the known heraldry of Ephraim and Manasseh in Britain and the United States, the historic and heraldic connection of Benjamin with both Norway and Iceland (see: “The Story Of Celto-Saxon Israel” for the evidence on that), and the connection between the tribe of Dan and Denmark, or “Dan’s mark or settlement.”In addition, although there was surely an agglomeration of peoples in the east, it is interesting and no doubt significant that many of the nations of eastern Europe have the lion or eagle on their heraldic emblems, the identifying symbols of the tribes of Judah and Dan. In a separate article we discussed the tribe of Dan’s serpentine path across eastern Europe and into Denmark, as witnessed by the naming of rivers they passed through. Truly, the Bible was correct in stating that the tribe of Dan sailed extensively and “stayed in their ships.” (Judges 5:17) The wide-ranging tribe of Dan is also found in Ireland in the early settlers called the “tuatha de Danaan,” or “tribe of Dan.”
A slightly different identification of the tribe of Gad was made by author Steven M. Collins, in “Israel’s Tribes Today.” In an interesting chapter on Gad, he identifies this tribe with western Germany (pp. 218- 223), because of the Scriptural clue that they were to be “a troop,” a military power. Genesis 49:19 says, “Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the end.” Collins also points out that one of the tribes in the ancient Parthian Empire was the “Kermans” or “Germanii.” In “Parthia: The Forgotten Ancient Superpower and Its Role In Biblical History,” Steven Collins demonstrated that the Parthians were composed of descendants of the Israelites exiled by Assyria.
The above mentioned books can all be ordered from our office, toll-free phone 800-919-8819, or from our booksite at www.migrations.info
I WILL NOT LEAVE THEE
God is with us in our sorrows. There is no pang that rends the heart, but what Jesus Christ has been with us in it all. Feel you the sorrows of poverty? He ‘had not where to lay his head.’ Do you endure the griefs of bereavement? Jesus ‘wept’ at the tomb of Lazarus. Have you been betrayed? Do not forget that He, too, had His familiar friend who sold Him for the price of a slave. On what stormy seas have you been tossed which have not also reared about His boat? Never glen of adversity so dark, so deep, apparently so pathless, but what in stooping down you may discover the footprints of the Crucified One. In the fire, in the darkness, in distress He cries, ‘I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am both thy Companion and the  God.’ – “Christ died for our sins and rose again.” Fully trust Him NOW, and you are saved.
