Book review: Steve Collins' wrap-up worth the read

Book review: Steve Collins' wrap-up worth the read
By Mac Overton

The writer is a longtime Church of God member, a frequent Journal contributor and editor of The Gilmer Mirror.

GILMER, Texas--The long-awaited fourth and final volume in Steven Collins' research into the locations of the so-called lost 10 tribes of Israel came off the press in August. (Israel's Tribes Today, the fourth book of a series on the lost tribes, by Mr.. Collins, of Sioux Falls, S.D., 296 pages, is published by Bible Blessings, Royal Oak, Mich.)

Mr. Collins' book ties up loose ends from his first three volumes (The Origins and Empire of Ancient Israel, Israel's Lost Empires and Parthia: The Forgotten Ancient Superpower and Its Role in Biblical History), as well as presenting new evidence of the present identities of the 10 tribes and their locations today.

The four volumes are expansions of Mr. Collins' original book, The "Lost" Ten Tribes of Israel . . . Found!

He writes in a highly readable and entertaining style, rare for a history book and even rarer for a book dealing with a complicated biblical subject.

Mr. Collins provides elaborate footnotes and a bibliography to bolster his contentions.

In general, his identities of the tribes today match those of the old Worldwide Church of God.

However, he identifies Gad as western Germany (rather than Switzerland) and Asher as the white peoples of the old Republic of South Africa, rather than Belgium.

He also joins Yair Davidy in placing a great part of the tribe of Simeon, which was to be dispersed in Israel, among the "British Celts" (Scots).

Mr. Collins also maintains that some of the "Germanic" tribes that disappeared from the world scene, especially the Vandals (who he maintains were Israelites), made their way to North America.

Since I am partly of Cherokee descent, I was fascinated by Cherokee legends recounted by Mr. Collins of how in antiquity Cherokee Indians had fought a series of wars with white people whom the Cherokee folklore called Welsh but reached a peaceful settlement under which the "Welsh" left disputed territories and eventually made their way up the Missouri River.

Anyone with any interest in the subject of "British Israelism" or "Anglo-Israelism" will find this book intriguing.

As do the other volumes, this one can stand alone. It is subdivided into three chapters:

"Israelite Migrations from Asia after Parthia's Fall."
"Caucasian Tribes Conquer the Roman Empire."
"The Tribes of Israel in the Modern World."

Each is further subdivided. A plus is that it is well indexed.

All Mr. Collins' books are fascinating and are worth inclusion in the library of anyone interested in the migrations of Israel and the present location of the tribes.

Mr. Collins himself says he considers this the "most relevant of my books, because it applies to the world today."

If you own only one of his books, this should be the one.

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