Trokosi, Ewes And The Israelites - Part 2

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Trokosi, Ewes And The Israelites - Part 2

THE RETURN TO AFRICA

INTRODUCTION

In the first article in the series; Trokosi, Ewes and the Israelites, I promised to answer a question I raised with regard to the history of trokosi or fiashidi and the link with the Bible stories of Jephthah and his daughter as well as the story of the Prophet Samuel's upbringing as a Fiashidi.

I mentioned there was a problem with those stories because they all took place after the Israelites EXODUS from Egypt, so that raised the question: "how could the Ewes be linked to this custom of the Israelites if they had left Africa?"

In this part of the article I intend to show conclusively that the Israelites did return to Africa, and this time they never left again. This means when we see certain African practices that are uncannily mirrored by what we read in the Bible, the people who have these customs and practices are the same ancient Israelites and what they do is what they have always done from ancient times as it's recorded in the Bible.

QUEEN OF SHEBA Obviously the million dollar question is; "how did the Israelites come to be back in Africa again after leaving Egypt for the promised land?"

Whenever the question of the Israelites being back in Africa is raised the response has always been that they came to live in Africa when the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon. Personally, I am always puzzled by this response because according to the Bible, nothing of that sort took place. There is nowhere in the Bible that any or some of the Israelites went to live with the Queen of Sheba and her people after the Queen's visit to King Solomon's court. Despite the fact there is no evidence to back this claim, nevertheless this 'untruth' is peddled about as gospel.

The truth is the Israelites came to be back in Africa by their own volition through a mass exodus which has nothing to do with the Queen of Sheba. Below is the Biblical account of the story of the Queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon's court.

1 Kings 10: 1 - 13

10 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of Jehovah, she came to prove him with hard questions. 2 And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. 3 And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not anything hid from the king which he told her not. 4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, 5 and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of Jehovah; there was no more spirit in her. 6 And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom. 7 Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me; thy wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame which I heard. 8 Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, that stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. 9 Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because Jehovah loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do justice and righteousness. 10 And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. 11 And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug-trees and precious stones. 12 And the king made of the almug-trees pillars for the house of Jehovah, and for the king’s house, harps also and psalteries for the singers: there came no such almug-trees, nor were seen, unto this day. 13 And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, besides that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her servants.

For those who are interested in cross referencing, the same story is mentioned in 2 Chronicles 9: 1 - 12

These two accounts in the Bible books of Kings and Chronicles, make it quite clear; no Israelites came to live in Africa because of the Queen of Sheba, therefore any story that said the Israelites came back to Africa because of the Queen's visit to King Solomon's court is complete fantasy, there is absolutely no truth in it.

THE RETURN OF THE ISRAELITES TO AFRICA

Now that we have cleared up that confusion, let's tackle the crux of the matter and look at whether the Israelites ever came back to live in Africa or not.

The fact that sections of the ancient Israelites are in Africa is not in doubt by many historians. I am sure many of you reading this have heard of the Falasha Jews, also known as the Ethiopian Jews. As I said, the question of sections of African people being part of the Israelites is not in doubt but thanks to the discovery of the Falasha Jews of Ethiopia, the search is on to find the other Jews in Africa. As we come to the last article in the series, you would discover without a shadow of a doubt that apart from the Falasha, the Ewes are another section of the Israelites in Africa.

The Ewes of West Africa not only have fiashidi or trokosi as discussed in the previous article to identify them with ancient Israel but as the third and last article would show, their identity as the ancient Israelites comes in the bucket loads; so much more that would make the Falasha or the current Jews in the Middle East turn green with envy. In Part 3 comparing like for like of Ewe customs and traditions with the accounts of the customs of ancient Israel written in Exodus through to Deuteronomy, you would see without a shadow of a doubt, the Ewes are nothing short of walking, talking ancient Israelites.

Background

To understand why the Israelites returned to Africa, a little bit of background information is needed to understand what led to this difficult decision that was to bring the Israelites into direct conflict with the Almighty God, their saviour.

Also please note that in Biblical times the continent known today as Africa was not so called in the Bible. In the Bible Africa was referred to as Egypt or Ethiopia. It is important to bear this important point in mind as you read the Biblical accounts to understand the places being referred to when Ethiopia or Egypt are mentioned. The name Africa was the name given to the continent by the Romans long after the accounts we are going to read about took place.

The Israelites first came to live in Africa when the Patriarch Jacob also known as 'Israel,' along with his wives and children, were forced to leave the land of Canaan due to drought and famine, and came to settle in Egypt where his son Joseph was the Prime Minister. Later on Jacob and his children including Joseph died but their descendants grew exponentially in numbers and became a big nation in Egypt.

New kings that came to rule in Egypt and who did not know about Joseph, decided to subdue and check the growth of the Israelites so they made them their slaves. Thus for the next 400 years, bondage and servitude became the situation for the Israelites in Egypt. After 400 years, the Biblical account goes on to say, God decided to end their bondage by sending them a saviour in the person of Moses who was to lead them to freedom. This exercise of leaving Africa back to the land of Canaan became known as the exodus.

The first exodus is well known as it was heralded by the ten plagues God brought upon the Egyptians to compel them to release the Israelites and allow them to go away from Egypt to their new home in Canaan. Because this story has been narrated many times and quite a few popular movies have been made out of it, it's a very well known Bible story, therefore there is no need to go into any detail about it.

The second exodus on the other hand, is very obscure and very little mention is made of it anywhere. In fact, no mention is made of it at all anywhere other than the Biblical accounts. This lapse in telling the story of the second exodus may explain the reason why very few people have ever heard of it. This could also explain why no one is on record for mounting a concentrated search for the Israelites in Africa. It may also explain why Africans themselves view or treat with scorn and skepticism when fellow Africans not from their own tribe make the claim that they are the descendants of the ancient Israelites.

The Jews returned to Africa because Israel was defeated and destroyed by it's enemies the Assyrians and the Babylonian. The Bible explained the reason why this catastrophe befell Israel was because of a variety of reasons but chief among them was disobedience of the commandments and idol worship that speedily brought the wrath of God upon them.

The Biblical account tells us that over the years the Israelites came to secure the promised land and settled in it. However they did not prove to be faithful and obedient in their worship of the true God. They turned to idol worship as well as the worship of many other gods. Put simply, they did not hold fast and follow the commandments given to them by Moses which strictly prohibited the worship of idols or the worship of other gods.

After all the powerful works God had performed to save them from their enemies, the Israelites turned away from the TRUE God and sought after the other gods worshipped by their neighbors. In short they disrespected the TRUE God on a grand scale. To give an example, they would chop down a tree, used some of it as firewood to cook and then fashioned what was left into an idol and knelt down and worshipped it. As if this was not bad enough, they took to worshipping myriads of other gods as never before in their history. Given all that God had done for them, you might think this show of disobedience and ingratitude by the Israelites was nothing short of incredible, but that is exactly what happened.

It is ironic that an identifying mark for recognizing the children of ancient Israelites today is that apart from the worship of almighty God, they would also be worshippers of different other gods or idols. Funny huh? Who would have thought that to look for the Jews in Africa, the search should be focused on people with monotheistic and polytheistic beliefs mixed together in some strange cocktail as opposed to a strictly monotheistic belief which ancient Israel was famous for.

As we would later on discover when we start looking at these Africans, for example the Ewes, the Israelites did keep their monotheistic belief but they added what according to the Bible, became the worship of idols and many gods. What they did was, they worshipped other gods but kept the Almighty God in the centre as the supreme God. In other words, they created their own unique brand of monotheistic belief quite contrary to the commandments of Moses. So what you would find is their belief is monotheistic but at the same time: is not quite; in the sense that they believe in one Supreme God who created the universe and everything but yet they still engage in voodoo and other mumbo jumbo. If you read the Biblical accounts this is exactly what happened and it led to the downfall of ancient Israel.

Anyway I am not going to digress so let us get back to the story. After many warnings from the prophets which the Israelites did not heed, God decided to punish them by bringing captivity, slavery, death and destruction upon them.

The first calamity to befall the Israelites was the splitting up of the twelve tribe kingdom into two halves. Because of the badness of the people and King Solomon in particular, God decided to split the twelve tribe kingdom into two. One half came to be known as the two tribe kingdom and the second half came to be called the ten tribe kingdom.

The Bible account goes on to narrate about the bad ways of the ten tribe kingdom and God determined this time, to end it's existence by bringing permanent destruction upon it.

This calamity came in the form of the dastardly and supremely evil Assyrian empire. The evil Assyrian cut-throats attacked the ten tribe kingdom and after laying siege to it for three years captured it and promptly razed it to the ground. There was nothing left of the kingdom after the Assyrian orgy of destruction had come to an end. The violence and brutality of it all was unlike anything the Israelites had ever witnessed before. Worse was to follow. To further make sure the Israelites never returned to their land, the Assyrians brought in other people from different parts of their empire and resettled them in Israel and made it their home.

Those Israelites who escaped sought refuge with their kinsmen in the two tribe kingdom while the remnant that did not die from the sword and pestilence were taken into captivity and resettled elsewhere by the Assyrians never to return to Israel. The rout of the ten tribe kingdom was total and complete, and with new people occupying the land, it was finished forever. As God himself put it in the Bible; 'he (God) gave the ten tribe kingdom of Israel her full and complete divorce papers.'

After this display of wanton destruction by the Assyrians on the ten tribe kingdom, it was now the turn of the two tribe kingdom to taste the wrath of God for their bad ways.

The instrument of punishment God used was in the form of the supremo, 'Nebuchadnezzar' and his Babylonian hordes.

The Babylonians lost no time in going about the their destruction of Israel. After laying siege to the two tribe kingdom, they captured Zedekiah the King and butchered his sons in front of him, after which they blinded him permanently. They burnt the city and then took the Israelites in their thousands into captivity and exile in Babylon. Furthermore, to keep the two tribe kingdom pacified, the Babylonians appointed a puppet governor over what was left of the kingdom. After that, Nebuchadnezzar and his hordes went back home to Babylon.

One would think by now the Israelites would have learnt their lesson with all the calamities that God had visited upon them. Not so the Israelites; they were hardcore sinners that would not take punishment lying down. They promptly rebelled and murdered the Governor and the government that the Babylonians had appointed as overlord to rule over them. Following this outrage and afraid of retribution from the Babylonians they decided to make a run for it and fled to Africa never to return to Israel. As far they were concerned, they've had enough and they and the land of Israel were finished for good. That in a nutshell is - the second exodus - how the Israelites came back to live in Africa following the first exodus from Egypt.

The following are the Biblical accounts, and we take up the story in the book of 2 Kings chapters 25, narrating the story of the second exodus in the opposite direction; back to Africa for good.

THE SECOND EXODUS OF THE ISRAELITES

2 Kings Account Chapter 25.

And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about. 2 So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 3 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. 4 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city round about); and the king went by the way of the Arabah. 5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 6 Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. 7 And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon. 8 Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem. 9 And he burnt the house of Jehovah, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burnt he with fire. 10 And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about. 11 And the residue of the people that were left in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away captive. 12 But the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen. 13 And the pillars of brass that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases and the brazen sea that were in the house of Jehovah, did the Chaldeans break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon. 14 And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. 15 And the firepans, and the basins, that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away. 16 The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah, the brass of all these vessels was without weight. 17 The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of brass was upon it; and the height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the capital round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with network. 18 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold: 19 and out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war; and five men of them that saw the king’s face, who were found in the city; and the scribe, the captain of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the city. 20 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 21 And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land. 22 And as for the people that were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor. 23 Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. 24 And Gedaliah sware to them and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not because of the servants of the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. 25 But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, so that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizpah. 26 And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces, arose, and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

The Jeremiah Account

Jer. 43 And it came to pass that, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of Jehovah their God, wherewith Jehovah their God had sent him to them, even all these words, 2 then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: Jehovah our God hath not sent thee to say, Ye shall not go into Egypt to sojourn there; 3 but Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away captive to Babylon. 4 So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of Jehovah, to dwell in the land of Judah. 5 But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all the nations whither they had been driven, to sojourn in the land of Judah; 6 the men, and the women, and the children, and the king’s daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah; 7 and they came into the land of Egypt; for they obeyed not the voice of Jehovah: and they came unto Tahpanhes.

The above are the Biblical account of how the Israelites returned to live in Africa and have remained in Africa ever since. There are further accounts of the exodus from Israel in the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah Account In Isaiah we read from chapter 30: Woe to the rebellious children, saith Jehovah, that take counsel, but not of me; and that make a league, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin, 2 that set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. 4 For their princes are at Zoan, and their ambassadors are come to Hanes. 5 They shall all be ashamed because of a people that cannot profit them, that are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach. 6 The burden of the beasts of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. 7 For Egypt helpeth in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I called her Rahab that sitteth still. 8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever. 9 For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of Jehovah; 10 that say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits,

The above are the definitive accounts and conclusive proof that the Israelites returned to Africa and millions of Africans today are the children of those Israelites.

THE LOOK AND COMPLEXION OF THE ISRAELITES At this stage some among you might be quite puzzled and scratching their head and wondering; "wait a minute," you might say: "Jews we see today are white caucasian people but the Bible is saying that the Jews came to settle in Africa, what is going on, who are these white Jews?"

The answer is very simple. According to the Bible, when the Babylonians invaded Israel they broke the Israelites into two groups. One group they took into captivity in Babylon. We read about these ones in the exploits of Daniel, Sha'drach, Me'shach and Abed'nego who refused to bow to the idol Baal, in the Bible book of Daniel chapter 3.

The second group were the FREE Israelites we have been reading about so far. The FREE Israelites were the ones who returned to Africa and these ones are still in Africa today.

The Israelites who were taken into captivity in Babylon were later freed when the Persian empire defeated the Babylonians. In the book of Nehemiah we read about how the captives returned to Israel and resettled the land and Israel was reborn. Those returnees from Babylon were never rejoined by their brothers the FREE Israelites who fled into Africa.

The Jews who returned from Babylonian captivity stayed in Israel until the time of Jesus Christ. According to the Bible, true to form of their rebellious nature, these Jews murdered the son of God when he appeared among them. As you'd expect the punishment for this atrocity was not far from coming.

Seventy years after killing the son of God, the punishment for his murder came in the form of the mighty Roman Empire knocking on the doorsteps of Jerusalem. Under Emperor Vespasian and his son Titus, the Romans utterly destroyed Israel and sowed the land with salt so that it became uninhabitable. The Romans then took the remnant of the Jews into captivity and slavery in Europe.

That was 2000 years ago.

The Jews that were taken into captivity in Europe are the white Caucasian looking Jews we see today. After 2000 years of inter breeding with Europeans who had enslaved them, the result is the Jews who come from Europe and parts of Asia are white Caucasian looking people. The original Israelites were not white Caucasian people but dark skin people.

The phenomena of a section of Jews today looking like Caucasian white people is not hard to grasp if one can understand the fact that many Caribbean and African-Americans look almost white today because of only 300 years of Slavery at the hands of Europeans. Imagine how these ones would look like if slavery and inter breeding with whites went on for a thousand years as was the case with the Jews in Europe. If that had happened, most African-Americans and Caribbean people would most certainly be white caucasian looking people - no doubt about that.

Meanwhile the Bible gives us hints of the complexion of the Jews; the FREE Jews who escaped to Africa. For example in the Bible book of the Song of Songs chapter one, the Shulammite maiden; the most beautiful woman in all of Israel is described as a black or dark skin woman. Another example is the story of Samson; here again, the Bible is describing a black man. We know he is black because his captors failed to notice his hair was growing. Black people's hair curls and pads down as it grows, this means people who are not aware of this characteristics of this type of hair might see it as short hair when in fact it has grown quite a bit. If Samson's hair was like a white person's hair which is straight, a few weeks growth would have alerted the Philistines of the danger. Yet another example is the Apostle Paul who was mistaken for an African when he was in Rome. Also read the visions of the Prophet Daniel and the Apostle John, you would notice the complexion of the spirit beings they described was men with dark skin.

As you can see the Bible is filled with examples of the ancient Israelites being dark in complexion. There is not a single mention of ancient Israel being white or Caucasian looking. I hope this explanation clears up any confusion about the complexion of the Israelites and would help you identify the Jews in Africa. Also this information should help you identify the originators of the Holy Bible as black or dark skinned people.

THE FIVE GROUPS OF ISRAELITES IN AFRICA

The Falashian Jews of Ethiopia have been shown to be descendants of the Jews that came to Africa, however according to the Bible the Jews that came to settle in Africa were broken into five groups. Five groups that the Bible described as five cities, this means the Falasha is not he end of the story of the Jews in Africa. They are simply one section of the Jews that settled in Africa.

This means there are four more sections or groups of the Israelites scattered somewhere in the vast plains of Africa.

The confirmation that the Israelites were not all in one group and divided into five is recorded in Isaiah chapter 19 verses 18 and 19 which reads;

"18 In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Jehovah of hosts; one shall be called The city of destruction. 19 In that day shall there be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to Jehovah."

All the verses used in this article are taken from the texts of the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible.

NEXT ARTICLE

Now that we have irrefutable proof from the Bible that the ancient Israelites are in Africa, the next task is to find them. Next month, in the last article I would bring it all together and show that a people in West Africa known as the GBE language ethnic group which is primarily made up of the Ewes, the Ge or Ga-Adangbe, the Fon, the Aja, and also many Caribbean and African-Americans are another section of the children of the Israelites lost in Africa.

Did you guys know Ewes have a secret language used in their shrines apart from the ordinary everyday language you hear them speak? Prepare to be blown out of your seats as you discover an illiterate African people that speak perfect classical Hebrew. If you think the story of the Prophet Samuel being raised as a fiashidi was enough to give you diarrhea then get ready for the mother and father of all shocks. You would literally be blown out of your minds. The next and last article is real fire-works, stay tuned for it.

Source: Robert Barker(Ghanaweb,27 February 2007)

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