Monday, June 24, 2024

Confused About the “Lost Ten Tribes”? Part III

First in the Series: Confused About the Jews? Part I: Conflation1
Second in the Series: Confused About Israel? Part 2: the Gathering?2

Part 3: Confused About the “Lost Ten Tribes”?
Speculations and opinions about the identity and / or location of the lost Ten Tribes are too numerous to review here, so I footnote3 a sampling of thoughts and opinions for those interested, with the observation that from God’s perspective, seemingly exclusive questions (such as: “Is it this? Is it that? or is it something else?) are sometimes answered with “It’s all of them4! In the case of the Ten Tribes, could it be all of them: some lost; some scattered; some assimilated; some distinct; some hidden; some here; some there?”

In this post I will just consider what the Prophet Joseph Smith reportedly said about the Lost Ten Tribes because what some believed and witnessed in the 1800s seems to have been discarded5 by many in this latter-day as being too fantastic. Here are several “fantastic” testimonies of one of the possibilities:

1. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF WANDLE MACE (1809-1846)
Journal of Wandle Mace, typescript, HBLL
(As told to his wife, Rebecca E. Howell Mace)6
Chapter 7
I have listened to the Prophet Joseph in public, and in private, in sunshine and shower–as many others have done as he taught from the stand–At my own house, and at his ho[u]se, I have been familiar with him, from the time he escaped from prison in Missouri in 1839 until his martyrdom in 1844, and do know that no man could explain the scripture–throw them wide open to view, so plain that none could misunderstand their meaning–except he had been taught of God.

--- I have many times been pondering upon a subject, and seemed to come to a stand-still, not knowing how to gain farther information, relating to it, when upon going to meeting on the sabbath, the key would be touched by Joseph and the subject would be so plain I wondered why I had not seen it before.

I was in this situation in relation to the Ten lost tribes of Israel. I had read everything I could find relating to them. I had carefully studied the statistics of the Jews, and not withstanding they had been persecuted for hundreds of years, being murdered and driven, until they were now scattered all over the known world, yet they numbered several millions. I reasoned thus, had the `Ten Tribes’, suffered equal disaster, and they had increased in number, in the same ratio as the Jews, the would number nearly ten times as many–or nine times and a half as it is nine a half tribes instead of ten. If they have increased in this proportion, where is there habitable earth for this vast amount of people who are hidden from the rest of mankind? I could not see.

I was in this train of thought, unable to obtain further information from any source, when as usual on a Sunday morning, I took my skiff and crossed the river to Nauvoo, to attend meeting.

Joseph addressed the congregation, and as if for special benefit, touched upon this subject which opened a new field for reflection to me. His subject was: The “restitution of all things spoken of by all the Holy Prophets since the world began,” quoting the twenty first verse of the third chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.

In the course of his remarks he spoke of the earth being divided at various times. He said, “When Enoch and his city was taken away, a portion of earth was taken and would again be restored. Also in the days of Peleg, the earth was divided, see Genesis 10th Chapter 25 verse.” He then referred to the `Ten Tribes’, saying, “You know a long time ago in the days of Shalmanezer King of Assyria when the Ten Tribes was taken away, and never been heard of since.” He said, “The earth will be restored as at the beginning, and the last taken away will be the first to return, for the last shall be first, and the first shall be last in all things.” He illustrated the return by saying.

“Some of you brethren have been coming up the river on a steamboat, and while seated at the table, the steamboat run against a snag which upset the table and scatter the dishes; so it will be when these portions of earth return. It will make the earth reel to and for `like a drunken man,’” quoting 24th chapter Isaiah 20th verse. When speaking of the return of the Ten Tribes, he said, “The mountains of ice shall flow down at their presence,” and a highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep.”

These remarks satisfied me, it was no longer necessary to hunt the place on this earth where the Ten Tribes were so long hidden, for the earth was divided and taken away, and will be the first to return, as it was the last taken away.

“He shall command the great deep, and it shall be driven back into the north countries, and the islands shall become one land.”

“And the land of Jerusalem and the land of Zion shall be turned back into their own place, and the earth shall be like as it was in the days before it was divided. See [D&C 133:21-24] Appendix. Doctrine & Covenants.

I will introduce a poem upon this subject, by Sister E. R. Snow, as it was published in the Millennial Star 1851, pg. 272 entitled

An Address to the Earth
Thou, earth, wast once a glorious sphere of noble magnitude,
And didst with majesty appear, among the worlds of God.
But thy dimensions have been torn asunder, piece by piece,
And each dismembered fragment borne abroad to distant space.
When Enoch could no longer stay amid corruption here,
Part of thyself was borne away to form another sphere.
That portion where his city stood He gained by right approved;
And nearer to the throne of God His planet upward moved.
And when the Lord saw fit to hide the “ten lost tribes” away,
Thou, earth, was severed to provide the orb on which they stay.
And thus, from time to time thy size has been diminished, till
Thou seemest the law of sacrifice created to fulfil.
The curse of God on man was placed: that curse thou didst partake,
And thou hast been by turns disgraced and honored for his sake.
The vilest wretches hell will claim now breathe thy atmosphere,
The noblest spirits heaven can name have been embodied here.
Jesus the Lord thy surface graced; He fell a sacrifice;
And now within thy cold embrace the martyred Joseph lies.
When Satan’s hosts are overcome, the martyred princely rare,
Will claim thee their celestial home thy royal dwelling place.
A “restitution” yet must come, that will to them restore,
By the grand law of worlds, thy sum of matter heretofore.
And thou, O earth, will leave the track thou hast been doomed to trace
The Gods with shouts will bring thee back to fill thy native place.6
2. A website titled NewRevelations.net7 has done extensive work in compiling other witnesses. Here is an account (from section 5) given by Homer Brown and Israel Call:
Homer Brown: "‘Then [Joseph Smith] added, ‘In consequence of this great portion [of the City of Enoch] being taken away, it naturally threw the earth out of balance. Now when it comes back, and also the planet on which the Lost Tribes are, the earth will receive its equilibrium and revolve as it naturally was in the very beginning.’

Israel Call: "Yes, my father, Anson Call, was a particular friend of the Prophet Joseph. I have heard him say on a number of occasions that the Prophet Joseph told him in company with others, that the Ten Tribes of Israel were on a portion of this earth that had been taken away."7
3. According to Phebe Carter Woodruff, JS [Joseph Smith] had similarly instructed the Saints in Nauvoo in summer 1840.
In a letter to her husband, Wilford Woodruff, Phebe stated that JS had “been advanceing new things to the church and publick of late says that this earth was the largest panat [planet] that ever was made and that there has been parts taken from it several times and at the time the 10 tribes were lost there was a part taken from it and that they would all come back and be joined to it again and that would be the realing to & fro like a drunken man &c &c.”
(Phebe Carter Woodruff, Montrose, Iowa Territory, to Wilford Woodruff, Liverpool, England, 2 July 1840, digital scan, Wilford Woodruff, Collection, CHL; see also Walker, Diary, 10 Mar. 1881, in Larson and Larson, Diary of Charles Lowell Walker, 540; and “Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” Juvenile Instructor, 1 June 1892, 344.)8
4. Compilation posted by exmocaptainmoroni9 OP•11y ago
More sources. I wish I knew where this pdf file I have came from, but I'm not sure.

Ten Lost Tribes Are On Another Planet Joseph Smith taught that the lost Ten Tribes were on another planet. He taught this to over a dozen individuals, including one of his wives, and several apostles:

Allen, Daniel 1872
Beck, James 1861
Brown, Benjamin 1924
Call, Anson 1924
Cannon, George Q. 1891
Dibble, Philo 1882/4,1906
Gates, Jacob 1881
Hamblin, Jacob ?
Mace, Wandle Before 1890
Pratt, Orson 1875
Richards, Franklin W. 1892
Rogers, Samuel After 1840?
Smith, Bathsheba 1892
Snow, Eliza R. 1881, 1931
Snow, Joseph 1889
Van Cott, John 1931
Young, Brigham 1867

President Young said he had heard Joseph say that the Ten Tribes of Israel were on a portion of land seperated from this Earth. (Wilford Woodruff Journal, September 8th, 1867.)

A portion of the North country containing the Ten Tribes may be separated from the Earth. (Wilford Woodruff Journal, September 25th, 1859.)

Joseph Smith said that the 2 Prophets who would Prophesy in the streets of Jerusalem for 3 years & a half, were Enoch & Elijah. Also the two wings north & South of our earth were inhabited. the north with the 9-1/2 tribes & the south wing by the People of Enochs City – this Earth when first created occupied a Position next to Kolob the highest in glory of all the Creations consequently on account of the high Position we once occupied we have fallen below all of the others in space–consequently our sufferings are greater–the greater the rise the greater will be the fall-when we are Redeemed we will be taken back again & Placed in our former Position. (James Beck Journal (Notebook) 1859-1865; October 8th 1861.)

I heard the Joseph the Prophet say that he had seen John the revelator and had a long conversation with him, whom told him that he John was their leader, prophet, priest, and king, and said that he was preparing that people to return and further said there is a mighty host of us. And Joseph further said that men might hunt for them but they could not find them for they were upon a portion of this planet that had been broken off and which was taken away. And the sea rushed in between Europe and America, and that when that piece returns there would be a great shake; the sea would then move to the north where it belonged in the morning of creation. (Daniel Allen, Minutes of the Parowan, Utah School of the Prophets, 17 August 1872.)

The Prophet Joseph once in my hearing advanced his opinion that the Ten Tribes were seperated from the Earth; or a portion of the Earth was by miracle broken off, and that in the latter-days it would be restored to Earth or be let down in the polar regions. Whether the Prophet founded his opinion upon revelation or whether it was a matter of mere speculation with him, I am unable to say. (Orson Pratt to John C. Hall, December 13th, 1875. [Elder Pratt however seemed to of been of the opinion that they resided on or in the North Pole.])

11 Feb 1881 – Some remarks were made by Sister Green stating that she heard Eliza Snow speak of the 9 and ½ lost tribes being on an orb and would eventually come back to their former place and we should know when they came by certain signs.

6 Mar 1881 – Brother Jacob Gates … Said he heard Joseph Smith say when he was at Bishop Partridge’s house in Far West, Missouri, concerning the ten lost tribes. “They are hid from us by land and air.” Said Bishop Partridge, “I guess they are by land and water,” in a doubting manner as if Joseph did not know what he was talking about. “Yes,” said Joseph, “by land and air; they are hid from us in such a manner and at such an angle that the astronomers cannot get their telescopes to bear on them from this Earth.”

10 Mar 1881 – At night paid Sister Eliza R. Snow a short visit and had some conversation with her on the dividing of the Earth. She told me that she heard the Prophet say that when the Ten Tribes were taken away the Lord cut the Earth in two, Joseph striking his left hand in the centre with the edge of his right to illustrate the idea, and that they were on an orb or planet by themselves, and when they return with the portion of this Earth that was taken away with them, the coming together of these two bodies or orbs would cause a shock and make the ‘Earth reel to and fro like a drunken man.’ She also stated that he said the Earth was now ninety times [percent?] smaller now than when first created or organized.

17 April 1898 – Attended Sunday school theological class. Brother Joseph Snow gave a very interesting lecture on the scattering and gathering of Israel. Said that the papyrus obtained by the Prophet Joseph Smith in connection with the Books of Moses and Abraham fond in the wrappings of the mummies gave an account of the ten lost tribes of Israel, their journeyings geographically to the land of the North country, a place where no man had ever set his foot before, also a diagram showing their present location (in space), also the city of Enoch. (Diary of Charles L. Walker.)

In the afternoon I go uptown and meet Lorin Woolley, with whom I converse for 2 or 3 hours. He told me of some of his experiences in the underground business, and confirmed some points of doctrine I had believed in. He agreed with me that the ten tribes are not on the earth, and moreover said that in reading George Q. Cannon’s Doctrine and Covenants, he had noted in the margin a statement to that effect, which had been made by the Prophet Joseph Smith. (George E. Woolley (his uncle) Journal, September 22, 1891.)

He [Franklin W. Richards] said that the ten tribes of Israel were separated from the earth – so Joseph Smith had said. (Rudger Clawson Diary, Book 10, p. 87 (referring to Richards, 3 Apr 1892 conference talk)

I heard him say, “Peradventure, the Ten Tribes were not on this globe, but a portion of earth had cleaved off with them and went flying into space, and when the time comes when the ‘earth reels to and fro like a drunken man and the stars from heaven fall,’ it would join on again.” Bathsheba W. Smith, Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith, The Juvenile Instructor 27:34, 1st June 1892.

Philo Dibble testified in May, 1884 that in 1882 in response to his asking the Prophet of the location of the Ten Tribes he was drawn a diagram showing the Earth with two spheres on either of its sides, one of which was supposed to be their residence. (His son Sidney and Matthew M. Dalton made sworn statements to this effect in January 1906.)9
I have not verified the source of all the above references, but my guess concerning the “Lost Ten Tribes” is that the evidence and witness supports in varying degrees that some are lost; some scattered; some assimilated; some distinct; some hidden; some here; some there. God knows.

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1. https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2024/05/confused-about-jews-part-i-conflation.html
2. https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2024/05/confused-about-israel-part-2-gathering.html
3. Lost Tribes
• https://thefairestgem.com/2020/08/12/the-prophet-joseph-smith-teaches-of-the-ten-lost-tribes/
• https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/old-testament-student-manual-kings-malachi/enrichment-d?lang=eng
• http://www.newrevelations.net/wherearetentribes.html
• https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/Question:_Did_Joseph_Smith_believe_that_the_lost_Ten_Tribes_were_living_under_the_polar_ice_cap%3F
• https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/the-ten-lost-tribes-a-world-history/
• http://www.mormonthink.com/QUOTES/losttribes.htm
• https://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/73501-where-are-the-lost-ten-tribes/
• http://www.newrevelations.net/wherearetentribes.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Lost_Tribes
• https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/1fzmwv/
joseph_smith_taught_multiple_followers_that_the/
• https://mormonbible.org/old-testament/old-testament-3/the-ten-lost-tribes
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ten-Lost-Tribes-of-Israel
• https://aish.com/the-search-for-the-ten-lost-tribes/
• https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27177/27177-h/27177-h.htm
• https://mormonmonsters.blogspot.com/2009/09/ten-tribes-live-on-another-planet.html
• https://rodolfovergara.com/are-the-ten-tribes-of-israel-on-another-planet/
• https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/israel/losttribes.html
• https://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/73501-where-are-the-lost-ten-tribes/
4. https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2019/12/could-earth-be-square.html
5. https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/Question:_Did_Joseph_Smith_believe_that_the_lost_Ten_Tribes_were_living_under_the_polar_ice_cap%3F
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