Hi, Thanks for your book on “Israel’s Tribes Today”. This is of very interesting reading. Have long been Interested on the so called “Barbarians” the tribes/peoples that came into and inhabited Europe and some later America.
According to “Edda” the old Norwegian King Saga, Odin came from Kaukasus. Wich also “Thor Heyerdhal” made a note of in his last book.
My question is according to the Tribe of Dan. Why is it listed as the tribes of Israel, When it is excluded in the tribe list in the Book of Revelation?
What have they done to be excluded.
Hope you may be able to answer me on these questions.
Best Regards
Inge Larsen, Norway
MYREPLY
Inge,
Thanks for your positive feedback on my book, Israel’s Tribes Today. A lot of the people who migrated out of Parthia and Scythia into Europe were not “barbarians” at all as that was a term that xenophobic Romans indiscriminately applied to all non-Romans. As my book notes, some historians have recorded that the conquering Goths (who were devout Christians) actually “civilized” the more-barbaric Romans. The “Vandals” also received a bad rap as the term “vandalism” comes from their conquest of Rome. As you know from reading my book, the Vandals (who were also Christians) were actually far more gentle to the conquered Romans than the Romans were to the people they conquered. For readers who have not seen some graphic evidence of how Romans actually conquered some very civilized peoples, see the “Terry Jones” documentaries about ancient history available at the “Links” section of this website. His programs were generally unavailable on cable-TV, but were seen on satellite TV networks. His documentaries bring to light a very hidden part of world history!
The report that the Norse Eddas record that Odin came from the Kaukasus (i.e. “the Caucasus Mountains” from which the “Caucasians” were given their name) confirm that the legend of Odin preserves some of the mythology of the ancient Parthians and Scythians. Mentioned above is the fact that the Goths and Vandals (who migrated into southern Europe from the Caucasus region after Parthia fell) were Christians. However, most of the Caucasian groups migrating into northern Europe (many Germans, Saxons and Norse tribes) were sun-worshippers or polytheists. This explains why the Norse preserved their ancient legends about “the gods,” many of which are similar to the Greek pantheon of gods as the Scythians interacted a great deal with the ancient Greeks and adopted aspects of their art, culture and mythology.
You ask a question about the tribe of Dan that I’ve received many times. Their omission in Revelation 7 cries out for an explanation, but that chapter offers no such explanation to us. I’ve heard from some people who say some ancient manuscripts of the book of Revelation do mention the tribe of Dan, but I can’t confirm that to be true on any knowledge I have. If it is true, then one would expect the text to mention “Joseph and Dan” instead of Ephraim and Manasseh in order to get the math to work out to 144,000 (12,000 x 12 tribes). Revelation 21:12 states the names of the twelve tribes of Israel will be on 12 gates in the future Holy City. I assume that would include Dan as this prophecy echoes the wilderness encampment of the tribes of Israel in the time after the Exodus in which three of the tribes were camped on each of the four sides. In that encampment, Dan was prominently listed as one of the four most prominent tribes (Numbers 2). I’m afraid I’ll have to confess that I do not know the reason why Dan’s name was omitted in Revelation 7. If any reader has a good explanation, go ahead and send it to this website, and I’ll share it with the other readers!
Steve Collins
PS. I noticed that you were from Norway. It may interest you to know that my ancestry is mostly Norwegian (all my mother’s side of the family are Norwegians). They migrated to the USA in the 1880s and 1890s. I still have the sea chest of one of my Norwegian ancestors that he brought with him over the Atlantic. Most of my ancestors came from villages in a major river valley north of Oslo. My ancestors on my father’s side were from the British Isles and Germany.
