3-MINUTE HISTORY OF THE ISRAELITES

Four Thousand years ago, Abraham (a great-great grandson of Shem, a son of Noah) and a small group of Hebrews (of which there were & are many varieties) migrated from southern Iraq to Canaan. Several generations later, around 1853 BC, his Grandson Jacob (who was renamed Israel) and his 12 Sons and families moved from Canaan to Egypt. As offspring of Shem, they were called "Shemites" or "Semites", as were his many other offspring.

~1453 BC, now as the 12 Tribes of the 12 Sons of Israel, and over 3 Million strong, these Semites bailed out of Egypt in the well-documented overland EXODUS and fled back to Canaan (~Palestine).  But the Tribes "couldn't all get along" there, so ~922 BC these 5 Million Israelites split into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. 

(In actual numbers, 5 Million people is about the same size as Ireland, Norway, Denmark or Israel today, and was 10% of the estimated 50 Million world population at that time. The world population today is ONE HUNDRED TIMES that large. If compared to today's 6 Billion people, the Israelites relative population was over twice as large as is the United States of America today!) 

The very large Northern Kingdom of Israel was made up of 10 of the Tribes. Inheriting the Kingly names and promises which applied to all 12 Tribes before the split, the Northern Kingdom (alone) becomes known as the Kingdom of Israel or House of Israel, (also House of Joseph, House of Ephraim, House of Isaac, and House of Omri) and is led by the northern Tribe of Ephraim. 

Two hundred years later these Northern Israelites were taken into captivity by the Assyrians (~722 BC) and relocated to the northern Fertile Crescent area of Iraq/Iran. They were not diligent in updating their eMail addresses, thus were called, by some, the "Lost Tribes", or "Lost Sheep" or "Lost Children" of the Kingdom or the House of Israel. (However being ~1/12 or more of the worlds population it seems unlikely they would actually disappear, or "get lost", or "assimilate". The global population is now ~75 Million.)

A hundred years later this "lost" Northern Kingdom of Israel with now over 6 Million Israelites helped the Medes and Persians overthrow the Assyrians, then escaped north through the Caucasus Mountains and southward around the Black and Caspian Seas, to explode into history ~610 BC as The Celts. These Celts mixed with (and fought against) each other, and with other scattered Israelites (called proto-Celts) whose ancestors had escaped from Egypt by sea a thousand years earlier, before the big Exodus. There were additional Israelites (more proto-Celts) who migrated from Palestine after the Egyptian Exodus but before the Assyrian captivity. These proto-Celts established important early Celtic outposts in Europe and elsewhere. 

These Millions of Celts grew to become Tens, then Hundreds of Millions as they migrated in waves westward and northwest to Galatia, Ephesus, Corinth, Thessalonica, Philippi, Colossi, to what is today Hallstatt, Austria and Neuchatel, Switzerland (where exist major Celtic digs and museums) and beyond, to totally dominate otherwise mostly empty Northern and Western Europe. These Celts (also known as Cimmerians, Scythians, Danaoi, Massagetae, Milesians, Masilia, Sarmatians, Germani, Goths, Franks, Gauls, Lombards, Belgae, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Vandals, Danes, Normans, and other assorted "Barbarians" including the so-called "Germanic" tribes) are the rootstock of today's Europeans and Americans, and who became the backbone of global Christianity.

The slightly smaller Southern Kingdom was made up of the Tribe of Judah & a mix of Levites and Benjamites. It was also known as the Kingdom of Judah or House of Judah. Most of these Southern Israelites from Judea were taken captive in ~587 BC and removed to Babylon. Only ~50,000 returned to Palestine ~70 years later. Judeans and their offspring are called Jews.
 

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