Where Did Jesus Die? — Page 149
Chapter Eleven—Jesus Goes to India 149 they were carried away into captivity by Bukhtanasar (Nebuchadnezzar) and planted as colonists in different parts of Persia and Media. From these positions they, at some subsequent period, emigrated eastward into the mountainous country of Ghor, where they were called by the neighbouring people ‘Bani Afghan’ and ‘Bani Israel’, i. e. , children of Afghan and children of Israel. In corrobo- ration of this we have the testimony of the Prophet Esdras to the effect that the ten tribes of Israel who were carried into captivity, subsequently escaped and found refuge in the country of Arzareth, which is supposed to be identical with the Hazarah country of the present day and of which Ghor forms a part. It is also stated in the Tabaqati Nasiri that in the time of the native Shansabi dynasty there was a people called Beni Israel living in that country and that some of them were extensively engaged in trade with the countries around. 1, 2 6. Dr. Alfred Edersheim writes:— 1. Bellews: The Races of Afghanistan, p. 15. Calcutta, 1880. 2. Surgeon Major H. W. Bellews, who has been on political mission at Kabul, delivered two valuable lectures on the subject in the United Service Institute at Simla in September, 1880, published under the title, A New Afghan Question, or are the Afghans Israelites? and Who are the Afghans? by Cradock & Co. at the Station Press, Simla, 1810. In these lectures Major Bellews has proved Afghans to be Israelites not by the Afghans traditions only but also by the historical facts derived from the Bible and other books. If a reader wishes further information concern- ing the Afghans descent from Israel I strongly recommend him to read these lectures.