The Taliban and the Lost Tribes of Israel

According to a report published by Arutz Sheva, scientists at the National Institute of Immunohaematology in Mumbai, India have concluded that a large group of Taliban Muslims may be the descendants of the lost Ten Tribes of Israel. The same report also says that an Israeli rabbinical expert agrees with this view.

The following is an excerpt from the report published by Arutz Sheva:

Rabbi Eliyahu Avichayil, who has dedicated his life to seeking out descendants of the Ten Tribes and bringing them to Israel, says he does not need or trust genetic testing for this purpose: “Rashi’s explanation to Jeremiah 31, 20 implies that the way to identify the Ten Lost Tribes will be via the Jewish customs that they maintain – and in this case, there are many of them.”

Rabbi Avichayil says that the Jewish-like customs that have been found among the Pathans - many of whom are now of the Taliban tribe - include sidelocks, ritual circumcision at eight days, cities of refuge for accidental killers, four-cornered garments, ritual immersion for women, and more. They also practice levirate marriage - not according to Moslem custom, which allows for various relatives of the deceased to marry a widow, whether or not she has children, but rather closer to Jewish custom, in that only brothers can marry only childless-widows.

The very name of the Afridi tribe, of which many members belong to the Taliban, indicates its origin from the Israelite Tribe of Ephraim, Rabbi Avichayil says. “The Pathans, 22 million strong, include not only the Afridic tribe, some 7.5 million people, but also the Rabanis, the Gadis, the Asheris, etc. – indications that many of them are of the Ten Tribes.”

Rabbi Avichayil says that the return of the remnant of the lost tribes of Israel will be the fulfilment of Jeremiah 31:20. Jeremiah 31:20 says:

“Truly, Ephraim is a dear son to Me,
A child that is dandled!
Whenever I have turned against him,
My thoughts would dwell on him still.
That is why My heart yearns for him;
I will receive him back in love, declares the LORD.”

These words of Yahweh come at the end a lament (Jeremiah 31:18-20) in which Ephraim is lamenting its sin which caused its exile away from its native land:

Indeed I heard Ephraim pleading:
You disciplined me, and I took the discipline;
I was like a calf untrained.
Bring me back, let me come back,
for you are the Lord my God.

In this lament Ephraim confesses having been disciplined by Yahweh. The mention of the discipline imposed on Ephraim may be a reference to the exile of the Northern tribes which occurred in 722 B.C. after the fall of Samaria and the deportation of 27,290 people by Sargon II, king of Assyria.

Ephraim’s cry, “Bring me back, let me come back,” is an appeal to God, imploring his mercy and forgiveness. More than a return from exile, Ephraim is asking to be restored to fellowship with God without which Ephraim will continue to be separated from God and condemned to remain in the land of his exile. Thus, before Ephraim can be restored, God must act, and act he does:

“Truly, Ephraim is a dear son to Me,
A child that is dandled!
Whenever I have turned against him,
My thoughts would dwell on him still.
That is why My heart yearns for him;
I will receive him back in love, declares the LORD.”

The words of Yahweh in Jeremiah 31:20 reveal the depths of divine pathos and the great love the Lord has for Ephraim. God’s words reveal the tender feelings of a father who truly cares for his son. Thus, God’s words about Ephraim reveal that however much Ephraim has sinned against God, God will still remember him because Ephraim is his beloved son.

It is clear that God’s word in Jeremiah 31:20 was spoken to the remnant of the Northern tribes now in exile. An audience today hearing these words of God probably will understand “that on the other side of judgment is a God of grace and mercy waiting expectantly to receive his wayward child back again” (Lundbom, p. 447).

Jack Lundbom, in his commentary on Jeremiah couples Ephraim’s lament in Jeremiah 31:18-20 with Rachel’s lament in Jeremiah 31:15-17. He wrote:

When both poems in vv 18-20 are heard following the poems in vv 15-17, Rachel’s weeping will be balanced by the tearful confession of Ephraim, and it will be understood that Rachel’s sons are not gone but simply languishing in exile. Both laments receive comforting answers, with Yahweh making clear his intention to bring the exiles home and restore them to favor (p. 447).

If these Taliban Muslims are indeed the remnant of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, then their return to Israel may be the fulfillment of God’s words in Jeremiah 31:20.

Bibliography:

Jack R. Lundbom, Jeremiah 21-36. The Anchor Bible. New York: Doubleday, 2004.


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Hebrew Bible, Afridi Tribe, Lost Tribes, Old Testament, Jeremiah 31, Taliban

'The New Covenant

I have been reading John Stott’s Through the Bible Through the Year: Daily Reflections from Genesis to Revelation (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2006). As the subtitle indicates, the book is a collection of readings covering every book of the Bible.

The following is a reading taken from the book of Jeremiah:

“The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31).

It is important to grasp that there is only one covenant of grace throughout the Bible, namely the promise God made to Abraham some four thousand years ago to bless him and his posterity and through them to bless the world. It is this covenant that Jesus ratified (“This cup is the new covenant in my blood” [1 Cor. 11:25]). It is new only in relation to Mount Sinai (see Jeremiah 31:32); it is not new in itself, for it is as old as Abraham. Consider now the terms of the new covenant.

Firstly, in the new covenant the law of God is internal: “I will put my law in their mind and write it on their hearts” (v. 33). As a result, we understand it, love it, and obey it. There is strange teaching around today that Christians are no longer under obligation to keep God’s moral law. But, on the contrary, God writes his law in our hearts in order that we may obey it.

Secondly, in the new covenant the knowledge of God is universal: “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord” (v. 34). This universality includes the Gentiles and the "priesthood of all believers.” That is, in the covenantal community of Jesus Christ, there is no hierarchy of privilege but rather an equal access of all to God through Christ.

Thirdly, in the new covenant the forgiveness of God is eternal: “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (v. 34). Of course, there was forgiveness in the Old Testament (cf. Psalm 32:1-2). Yet the sacrifices continued to be offered repeatedly and interminably. But the Lord Jesus Christ offered one sacrifice for sins forever, and on the ground of his finished work God remembers our sins no more.

So these are the priceless blessings of the new covenant-an internal law, a universal knowledge of God, and an eternal forgiveness.

I enjoy reading John Stott’s books. This book of daily reading will allow me to read his writings every day in 2009. It is a good book and you will probably also enjoy reading this collection of daily readings.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Jeremiah 31, New Covenant