This Essay is expanded in a new book by James Trimm that is referenced below.

Contrary to popular opinion, ancient Jewish sailors circled the globe long before the landmark voyages of Columbus and Magellan.  Many civilizations had weird myths about the nature of the earth. Some thought it was carried on the back of an animal such as an elephant or turtle, and most thought the earth to be flat. Yet the ancient Hebrews knew better. Our prophet Isaiah wrote:

“It is He that sits above the circle of the earth...” (Is. 40:22a).

The Hebrew word for “circle” here is KHUG (Strong’s 2329) which refers to a “circle or sphere” and is also used to describe the arched domelike shape of the sky (Prov. 8:27; Job. 22:14).

The ancient Hebrews were well aware of this spherical shape of the earth. Additionally the book of Job told them that the earth is not sitting on the back of some animal, but is suspended in the void of space by nothing:

“He stretches out the north over the empty space,
and hangs the earth over nothing.” (Job 26:7)

When we compare Luke (17:34-36) with Matthew (24:40-41) we see that at the instant of the return of Messiah two will be lying in one bed (Luke 17:34-36) while two will be at work in one field and two will be grinding in the mill (Luke 17:34-36 and Matt. 24:40-41). In other words the ancient Hebrews were well aware that is night and day on different sides of the planet at the same instant!

The ancient Hebrews were sea faring peoples from very early times. For example when Ya’akov blessed Zebulon he said:

“Z’vulun shall dwell in the shore of the sea,
and he shall be a shore for ships,
and his flank shall be kept by Tzidon” (Gen. 49:13)

And when the Hebrews celebrated their victory over the Cananites with a song, they sang of the victories of the Danite navy:

“Gil’ad abode beyond the Yarden;
and Dan, why does he sojourn by the ships?
Asher dwelt at the shore of the sea,
and abides by its bays.” (Judges 5:17)

There is evidence that the tribe of Dan, as one of the Ten Lost Tribes, migrated to Europe and became the Danes. Is it a coincidence that the Danes are known as the world’s top seafarers?

Not only were the ancient Hebrews sailing the Mediterranean Sea, but it may also be demonstrated that King Solomon’s ships sailed the Atlantic and Indian Oceans as well. King Solomon had a navy of ships capable of making the voyage to Tarshish:

For the king had at sea, a navy of Tarshish, with the navy of Hiram; once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. (1 Kings 10:22)

Tarshish was a land rich in silver, iron, tin and lead :

Tarshish was your merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches: with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded for your wares. (Ezek. 27:12).

Where was Tarshish? The Scripture tells us that Yahushafat king of Y’hudah and Achazyah king of Yisra’el worked together to build a fleet of ships also capable of sailing to Tarshish. They built these ships at the Red Sea port of Ezion-Geber:

35 And after this, did Yahushafat king of Y’hudah, join himself with Achazyah king of Yisra’el; the same did very wickedly, 36 And he joined him with himself to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made the ships in Ezion-geber. (2Chron. 20:35-36).

Tarshish could also be reached from the Mediterranean port of Jaffa:

But Yonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of YHWH, and he went down to Yafo, and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of YHWH. (Jonah 1:3)

This would place Tarshish somewhere in the Atlantic or Indian Oceans.

Years earlier Solomon’s navy was sailing to Tarshish as well. Solomon’s navy went on regular voyages that had them away for three years:

For the king had at sea, a navy of Tarshish, with the navy of Hiram; once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
(1Kn. 10:22).

Magellan’s voyage around the world (1519-1522) lasted almost three years. Thus Solomon’s navy were gone long enough to circle the globe.

Yeshua made the statement that certain Pharisees would “compass the sea and land in order to make one proselyte” (Mt. 23:15). The Hebrew word for “compass” in the Hebrew here is SABIBOT (Strong’s 5437) meaning to circle completely around. It is the same word used in the Hebrew of Joshua (Josh. 6:3, 13, 14) to describe the children of Israel circling Jericho seven times before the walls fell. The Aramaic of Matthew has K’RAK which has the same meaning and which is the same Aramaic word the Aramaic Peshitta text of Joshua uses in these verses. Yeshua was saying that Pharisaic “missionaries” were circling the globe seeking converts all over the world.

Further evidence may be found in the apocryphal book of 2nd Esdras. Columbus quoted this book to Queen Isabella of Spain in order to obtain financial support for his voyage. The passage in question reads:

Upon the third day you did command that the waters should be gathered to one of the seven parts of the earth: six parts have you dried up, and kept them, to the intent that of these some being planted of Eloah and tilled might serve you. (2nd Esdras 6:42)

The first believers in Yeshua were a Jewish sect known as "Nazarenes" or in Hebrew "Netzarim" (Acts 24:5). The "church father" Jerome (4th Cent.) described these Nazarenes as those "...who accept Messiah in such a way that they do not cease to observe the old Law." (Jerome; On. Is. 8:14).

Elsewhere he writes:

Today there still exists among the Jews in all the synagogues of the East a heresy which is called that of the Minæans , and which is still condemned by the Pharisees; [its followers] are ordinarily called 'Nazarenes'; they believe that Messiah, the son of God, was born of the Virgin Miriam, and they hold him to be the one who suffered under Pontius Pilate and ascended to heaven, and in whom we also believe." (Jerome; Letter 75 Jerome to Augustine)

The fourth century "church father" Epiphanius gives a more detailed description:

But these sectarians... did not call themselves Christians--but "Nazarenes," ... However they are simply complete Jews. They use not only the New Testament but the Old Testament as well, as the Jews do... They have no different ideas, but confess everything exactly as the Law proclaims it and in the Jewish fashion-- except for their belief in Messiah, if you please! For they acknowledge both the resurrection of the dead and the divine creation of all things, and declare that G-d is one, and that his son is Yeshua the Messiah. They are trained to a nicety in Hebrew. For among them the entire Law, the Prophets, and the... Writings... are read in Hebrew, as they surely are by the Jews. They are different from the Jews, and different from Christians, only in the following. They disagree with Jews because they have come to faith in Messiah; but since they are still fettered by the Law--circumcision, the Sabbath, and the rest-- they are not in accord with Christians.... they are nothing but Jews.... They have the Goodnews according to Matthew in its entirety in Hebrew. For it is clear that they still preserve this, in the Hebrew alphabet, as it was originally written. (Epiphanius; Panarion 29)

Yeshua had said certain Pharisees would “compass the sea and land in order to make one proselyte” (Mt. 23:15). But Yeshua complained that these Pharisaic missionaries fell short, saying “when he is made, you make him twice more the son of hell than you are” (Matt. 23:15). Certainly when Yeshua sent his own followers out saying:

19 Go you therefore, and teach all the Goyim, And immerse them in the Name of the Father, and the Son, And the Ruach HaKodesh: 20 And teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. And here am I with you, all the days, to the end of the world. (Matt. 28:20-19 HRV)

and:

15 And He said to them: Go into the entire world, and proclaim My Good News in all of creation.
16 Whoever believes and is immersed, will live: and whoever does not believe, is condemned.
(Mark 16:15-16 HRV)

They took the phrases “all the Goyim ” and “the entire world” and “all of creation” to mean that they should “compass the sea and land” just as the Pharisees had in seeking their converts.

...Could Nazarene missionaries have brought their message of Torah and Messiah to the New World? ... it seems certain that Hebrews did reach Ancient America and teach them many customs, perhaps even making many converts to Judaism from among them.

Ancient Hebrew merchants, explorers and missionaries (Pharisee and Nazarene) left several artifacts behind which have been found and which testify to the fact that ancient Hebrews came to America long before Columbus.

The Pitsfield Phylatery

In 1815 buried in a field which had once been a Mohican settlement the Pittsfield Phylactery was discovered in Pittsfield Massachusetts. The discovery was made by Joseph Merrick, Esq. who was described by the local minister as “a highly respectable character.” The strap contained parchments with Hebrew writing on it. It was taken to Professor Abiel Holmes, a scholar at Cambridge University, authenticated the scrolls as Hebrew.

The Keystone

In June of 1860 an armature archaeologist by the name of David Wyrick found a wedge shaped stone buried in twelve to fourteen inches of dirt in a pit adjacent to some Hopewell earthworks in what is now known as Newark Ohio. The most fascinating thing about this stone wedge is the fact that it had Hebrew inscriptions on each of its four sides.


The Ohio Decalogue
Several months later that same year Wyrick found another stone. This stone was found some ten miles south, underneath a Hopewell structure called “The Great Stone Stack”. This structure of stone had a base of 500 square feet and a height of 55 feet. Early settlers drew pictures of it and wrote detailed accounts of it. The stones were removed in 1831 or 1832 and used to reinforce a dam. A number of small mounds and been buried beneath the Great Stone Stack. Wyrick and five of his associates excavated one of the mounds. They found what they called a “coffin” buried in the mound, it was more like a funeral pier. They dug beneath this and found several artifacts, two of which have survived. The first of these was a stone box which contained the Decalogue Stone”. They also found a stone bowl and “two beautiful plumb bobs, but instead of being round (or oval) they are eight square”.

The Los Lunas Decalogue
In the rugged terrain of the Southwest United States, near New Mexico’s Rio Puerco River, New Los Lunas, there is a mountain known commonly is “Hidden Mountain”. Perched atop this mountain are the ruins of an ancient Anasazi city. The Anasazi were a cultural group in ancient America centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the United States, comprising southern Utah, northern Arizona, northwest New Mexico, and a lesser section of Colorado. They flourished for over 2,000 year between 1,200 BCE and to have eventually left their cliff top cities abandoned around 1,300 CE.

However this Anasazi settlement has one major difference from all other Anasazi settlements. This Anasazi settlement has a large bolder with the Ten Commandments inscribed on it in a form of the ancient Paleo-Hebrew script at the base of the mountain.

The Bat Creek Stone
Flowing through the Tennessee valley Bat Creek flows into the Little Tennessee River which flows down from the Appalachian mountains. In the 1880’s a Smithsonian Institution burial mound survey team led by John W. Emmert and overseen by Cyrus Thomas, conducted several excavations in the valley. These were actually bonafide excavations by any meaningful definition of the term, with the full credibility of the Smithsonian Institute.

When Emmert excavated one of the mounds he found nine skeletons. Immediately under the head of one skeleton were found a number of artifacts: an inscribed tablet (the Bat Creek Stone), two “copper” bracelets (which have since been determined to be brass), a small drilled fossil, a copper bead, a bone tool and two pieces of polished wood (ear spools?).

John Emmert and Cyrus Thomas both represented the stone upside down and later determined that the characters were a Cherokee inscription. It was not until 1971 1971 Dr. Gordon having turned the photograph of the artifact right side up, verified that the characters were indeed Paleo-Hebrew and not Cherokee. At this point the Bat Creek Stone gained worldwide attention.

In recent years the stone itself and the other artifacts that were found with it have been tested. These tests have verified the validity of the stone itself and dated the artifacts to as old as the first century.

I have just finished a new book on these very interesting ancient artifacts (which I have been researching since 1993) which will be published very soon. I will let you all know when the book is out.

* I stated at the top, this is not a Book of Mormon thing. By this I mean that the scripts used on all but one of these artifacts is written in a Script that dates to post-exile times. The alleged account of the Book of Mormon is supposed to involve Hebrews that supposedly came to the New World at the beginning of the Babylonian Captivity. Therefore these inscriptions could not relate to the claims of the Book of Mormon.

I often ask the question, is this work worthy of your support? Ask yourself, have you learned anything from this ministry? If so then chip in and do your part to help spread this truth.

You make this work possible.

You can donate by going to the chip-in counter at http://www.nazarenespace.com; or donations can be sent by paypal to donations@wnae.org

Donations can also be made out to “Nazarene Judaism” and sent to:

Nazarene Judaism
PO Box 471
Hurst, TX 76053

Comment by will brinson: ferguson 8 hours ago

The Key Stone above clearly, in no uncertain terms, shows the Sacred Name of our Heavenly Father to be spelled יהוה not as "Adonai/The LORD". Yet when Joseph Smith translated the so-called plates, that where supposedly in the Hebrew tongue, he came-up with the (same) false "The LORD" tradition [PROFANITY]. But Joseph Smith claimed that the interpretation of the plates where given unto him by the Holy Spirit, yet this profane use of the tilte "LORD" instead of the Sacred Name was of men. Joseph Smith proved himself to be a false prophet by using this profane translation in “his Book of Mormon text” as the claim of divine interpretation would had lead Joseph Smith to write "IAUE (the English equivalent of the four Hebrew vowels יהוה) "instead of the four English letters "LORD". This single fact alone shows “Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon” is nothing more than a false teaching.

Comment by Christian 8 hours ago

Glad to see people are familiar with the Los Lunas stone.
I very much believe USA corresponds to prophetical and genetical EPHRAIM.
Is America "Ephraim" in Bible Prophecy?

America/Ephraim

AMERICA (red letters on yellow)
The Hebrew transliteration for "America" (aleph-mem-resh-yod-koph-hey) is found in the matrix at an ELS of 233, beginning in Genesis 48:1 and ending in Genesis 48:20. This passage of Scripture deals with Israel's adoption of Joseph's son, Ephraim, as his own.

USA(white letters on blue)
The Hebrew acronym for "USA" (aleph-resh-hey-beth) is found in the matrix running through "America" at an ELS of -74. It is found beginning in Genesis 48:17 and ending in Genesis 48:14.

1776 A.D. (white letters on dark blue)
The Hebrew year 5536 (tav-koph-lamed-vav), which corresponds to 1776 A.D., is found in the matrix running diagonally at the bottom right of "America" at an ELS of -75. It begins in Genesis 49:1 and ends in Genesis 48:20. The nation of America was founded on July 4, 1776.

EPHRAIM (yellow letters on purple)
The Hebrew name "Ephraim" (aleph-pey-resh-yod-mem) is found in the matrix running through the word "America." It is at an ELS of 1 in Genesis 48:17.

JOSEPH (white letters on brown)
The Hebrew name "Joseph" (yod-vav-samek-pey) is found in the matrix at an ELS of 1 in Genesis 48:1. Joseph was the father of Ephraim, who was adopted by Israel.

JACOB (red letters on white)
The Hebrew name "Jacob" (yod-ayin-koph-beth) appears at the bottom of the matrix at an ELS of 1 in Genesis 49:1. Jacob's name was changed by God to "Israel"(Gen. 32:28).

ISRAEL (black letters on orange)
The Hebrew name "Israel" (yod-shin-resh-aleph-lamed) is found in the matrix at an ELS of 1 in Genesis 48:13. The beginning yod in "Israel" is shared with "America."

BLESSING (white letters on green)
The Hebrew word for "blessing" (beth-resh-kaph-hey) is found on the left of the matrix running diagonally. It is at an ELS of 230, beginning in Genesis 48:7 and ending in Genesis 48:19. Israel blessed both Ephraim and his brother Manasseh when he adopted them (Gen. 48:20).

FIRSTBORN (light blue letters on black)
The Hebrew word for "firstborn" (beth-kaph-vav-resh) is found at an ELS of 1 in Exodus 48:14. Although Manasseh was Joseph's firstborn, Israel blessed Ephraim as if he were the firstborn son (Gen. 48:14). Additionally, God calls Ephraim His firstborn (Jer. 31:9).

RIGHT HAND (white letters on purple)
The Hebrew word for "right hand" (yod-mem-yod-nun) is found at an ELS of 1 in Genesis 48:13. Israel blessed Ephraim with his right hand, giving him the blessing of the firstborn.

MULTITUDE OF NATIONS (black letters on pink)
The Hebrew phrase "multitude of nations" (mem-lamed-aleph hey-gimel-vav-yod-mem) is found on the right bottom of the matrix at an ELS of 1 in Genesis 48:19. After Israel blessed Ephraim, he prophesied that his descendants would become a multitude of nations, or peoples (Gen. 48:19). The United States of America are 50 separate states ("nations") bound together by the federal government.

CALF, BULLOCK (black letters on light green)
The Hebrew word for "calf" or "bullock" (ayin-gimel-lamed) is found at an ELS of 79. It begins in Genesis 48:15 and ends in Genesis 48:17. Ephraim is pictured as a calf or a young bull in Jeremiah 31:18.

OX, BULL (white letters on gray)
The Hebrew word for "ox" or "bull" (shin-vav-resh) is found in the matrix at an ELS of -81. It begins in Genesis 48:17 and ends in Genesis 48:15. Ephraim is described as an ox or bull by Moses in his final blessing (Deu. 33:17).

EGYPT (purple letters on light blue)
The Hebrew word for "Egypt" (mem-tsadi-resh-yod-mem) is found at an ELS of 1 in Genesis 48:5. Ephraim was born in Egypt (Gen. 48:5), and in prophecy Ephraim is said to go back into Egypt (Hos. 7:11; 9:3; 12:1).

ASSYRIA (white letters on purple)
The Hebrew word for "Assyria" (aleph-shin-vav-resh) is found at an ELS of 234. It begins in Genesis 48:9 and ends in Genesis 48:20. The prophet Hosea speaks of Ephraim going into Assyria (Hos. 7:11; 8:9; 9:3; 10:6).

Comment by James Trimm 10 hours ago

That is very interesting. There was a prevalent belief in Early America (around the time of the revolution and shortly after) that the American Indians were decedents of the Ten Lost Tribes. The following is another abridged excerpt from my book:

When Europeans came many centuries later, the story was somewhat different. But there was a great conflict as to how to view the American Indians. Some saw them as the for bearers of a great past civilization, decedents of the Mound Builders. A popular theory at the time held that the American Indians were the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. ...

What became of these “Lost Ten Tribes”? The apocryphal book of 2nd Esdras tells us that they went to a region known as “Artzaret”, but this is of little help in actually locating them, because this is simply a contraction of the Hebrew phrase meaning “another land”:
 

39: And whereas you saw that he gathered another peaceable multitude unto him;
40: Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Hoshea the king, whom Shal’man’eser the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land.
41: But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt,
42: That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land.
43: And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow places of the river.
44: For Elyon then showed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over.
45: For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half: and the same region is called Artzaret . (2nd Ezra 13:39-46 HRV)

Early American Congregationalist Ethan Smith (not related to Joesph Smith) interpreted "where never mankind dwelt" in this passage to mean America. While others maintained that the American Indians were mere "savages" who could not have created the sophisticated burial mounds found in North America. Smith argued that Native Americans were potential converts worthy of salvation. "If our natives be indeed from the tribes of Israel," Smith wrote, "American Christians may well feel, that one great object of their inheritance here, is, that they may have a primary agency in restoring those 'lost sheep of the house of Israel.'" To this end, in 1823 Smith published his monumental volume “View of the Hebrews”.

This theory was also championed by many Orthodox Jews at the time. A well known American Jew named Mordecai Manuel Noah who in 1825 purchased most of Grand Island, a 27-square-mile island near Buffalo, New York in order to found “Ararat”. Ararat was established as a city of refuge for the Jewish nation. Noah shared Ethan Smith’s belief that some of the Native American Indians were from the Lost Tribes of Israel. He wrote the Discourse on the Evidences of the American Indians being the Descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel . Noah envisioned this city as a joint settlement between Jews and American Indians. When the effort failed, Noah turned his attentions toward creating a Jewish homeland in what was then Palestine, and Zionism was born.

Americans Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis sought to debunk the theory that the American Indians were decedents of the Lost Ten Tribes in their 1848 book Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising the Results of Extensive Original Surveys and Explorations. Which recorded the excavations of several mounds on behalf of the Smithsonian Institute.

The prevailing theory became that the American Indians were mere savages and this led to the doctrine of manifest destiny and the treatment of the American Indian as a sub-human for over one hundred years.

(BTW two papers on the topic by Mordecai Manual Noah are included in the Appendices of my book, which I hope to have available by the end of the week.

Comment by Yacov Azriel Shlomo 10 hours ago

The Native Americans in North America have been given Aliyah Rights as decendants of Manassah and the Native Americans in South America have been given Aliyah Rights as decendants of Efrayim. I first heard about this via my good friend David Sittingbull a couple of years back. A trustworthy soul that lives on the Reservation out in the Pacific North West.
I have a few questions:
1) Is there any evidence that the Hebrew was given to or taught by the Talmidim or other Sect of Pharisee (not native to peoples of Americas) to the Native Americans?
2) Is there any evidence within any of the Native American cultures that Habiru's sailed to the American shores either Pre Yeshuaic Days or Pre-Columbus days?
3) Are any of the Hebrew Relics in the Americas part of the written language of the Native Americans?
4) Are there any other clues as to where Tarshish and the Tarshish speaking tribes located other than some general references? Tarshish, as you have clearly outlined above, could be anywhere outside the Mediteranian area such as North/South America, Antartica, New Zealand, Australia, England, Iceland, the Carribean, etc...