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April 30th, 2002
Received by H.R.
Cuenca, Ecuador.
My dear brother:
Today I want to come back to an historical topic. In fact, we will
speak on some parts of Old Testament history, but it is important
to know these facts, in order to be able to understand what the
New Testament tells us about Jesus.
As you know, the country of Canaan, today known as Palestine, was
gradually populated by several nomadic tribes, which eventually
managed to absorb and replace the ancient peoples which inhabited
the area, such as the Jebusites, the Amorrites, etc. Those nomads
were the Hebrews.
The Bible tells us of the twelve tribes of Israel (the Hebrews)
and their origin in Jacob’s (called Israel) twelve sons. But
you understand that this is only for the purposes of giving a mythological
explanation for the beginnings of this people.
I would also like to state on this occasion that an exodus, such
as the Old Testament describes it, never happened. Perhaps we will
find time in the future to talk about this subject.
After a few centuries of peaceful coexistence, and also of warlike
conquests, these tribes joined together under one single king, called
Sha’ul (Saul) in the Bible. However this union was not stable.
Even under Sha’ul, his own son established another independent
Kingdom in the north of the country. It is interesting to observe
that king Sha’ul came from Binyamín (Benjamin), a weak
and hardly important tribe, and only for that reason was he acceptable
to the more powerful tribes.
The reason why the tribes decided to join their forces were the
constant threats from the Philistines, a people who lived along
the southern coast of Palestine, approximately in that area that
is now known as the Gaza Strip. This people, of a non Semitic origin,
were very advanced in their technology of iron working, inflicting
in this way many painful defeats on the Israelites, who only had
weapons of much softer brass.
But finally, the successor of Sha’ul, David, was able to definitively
conquer those terrible opponents. This happened around the year
1000 before Christ, and this is very easy to memorize. Finally there
was no necessity any longer for the tribes to living in a single
country, recognizing an overall king from another tribe. But during
David’s reign, the internal conflicts did not grow very noticeable,
partly due, to be sure, to his politics of expansion, which transformed
Israel into a powerful country, extending its domain up to the city
of Damascus.
David’s son, the legendary King Shlomo (Solomon), famous for
his riches and wisdom, dedicated himself more to trading than to
warring. Of course, his wealth was fabulous, but not everything
was the product of his successful joint venture expeditions with
the neighboring king of the Phoenicians, but also of the high tributes
required, which embittered the lives of his subjects. Shlomo definitely
was an orient-style despot and tyrant.
With Shlomo’s death, people hoped to find an opportunity to
persuade the new king, Rekhav’am, Shlomo’s son, to rectify
his father’s excesses. He, however, paid no attention at all
to the petition, which lead to the rebellion of most of the tribes,
and finally to the formation of a new independent state in the northern
part of David’s old empire. Now there were two states in Palestine,
the southern state, Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem and the
king Rekhav’am, and Israel in the north, with its capital in
Shekhem, and the king Yarov’am.
The Old Testament of the Bible may give you the wrong impression
that the dominant religion in Palestine at that time was that monotheism
which today is known as Judaism. However this is not correct. Monotheism
did exist, but as the religion of an elite minority, backed strongly
by the diverse prophets. But especially in the country, the worship
places for Baal, Moloch and Ashtoreth abounded.
The ancient religion of the Hebrews had worship centers all over
the country, in the so-called high places, on the summits of the
mountains and hills in order to be nearer to heaven. The construction
of the first Temple in Jerusalem, under the king Shlomo, was an
attempt to center the worship in the capital city, and this met
fierce resistance.
David, Shlomo and all the kings of Judah that followed him belonged
to the tribe of Judah, one of the most powerful tribes. And that
caused resistance among other powerful tribes, especially the northern
tribes of Efrayim (Ephraim) and Menasheh (Manasseh), who continued
with their customs and local worship places.
The breaking between the two countries, in fact, was the consequence
of rivalry between dominant tribes, which little by little would
absorb their weaker neighboring tribes, as in the case of the tribe
of Shim’on (Simeon), that had disappeared even before the formation
of the kingdom under Sha’ul, having been absorbed completely
by their powerful neighbor, Judah.
What followed were centuries of mostly wars and a few alliances
between both countries, which really behaved like bad neighbors.
Finally, after approximately 200 years of independence, the king
of Israel, the northern country, made the terrible mistake of provoking
the powerful Assyrians, who in turn conquered the country and destroyed
its capital, Shomron (Samaria), the ancient city of Shekhem. Today
you know this city under the name of Nablus (Neapolis), in the West
Bank.
The Assyrian king, Sargon II, took almost thirty thousand Hebrews
as prisoners of war, mainly among the inhabitants of Shomron and
the neighboring villages. It was very common in the old times, and
partly it is still practiced, to remove the educated stratum and
the population’s rulers, all the intellectuals, priests, administrators,
etc., and to replace them with citizens loyal to the system. And
this was exactly what Sargon did. He took away the “high society,”
and replaced it with administrators from other parts of his empire,
amongst others, people from Cus. This is why the Talmud calls the
Samaritans “Cussim” or Cutheans. Therefore, in the year
722 before Christ, the state of the northern tribes, Israel, disappeared
definitively from the map.
To show you the antiquity of these events, I would like you to
recall that in that same year, the “city” of Rome had
just a few decades of existence, and it consisted of a few miserable
shacks of straw and adobe.
Well, my brother, I see that you are wondering if this is a history
lesson. Yes, in some way it is. But my intention is different. Put
the following title to this message: “The Samaritans, Part
1.”
Tomorrow, if you concede me the time, we will continue. I want
to explain, who the Samaritans were and are, and I wish to put an
end to some commonly accepted falsehoods.
God bless you.
Judas
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