Deliverance from the Cross — Page 135
is not a solitary instance of a Biblical name in use in Afghanistan; there are others. For instance, a town along the Indus is named Zaida, which is reminiscent of Zidon in Judges 18:28, and there is Hazara, which is a reminder of Hazeroth in Numbers 11:35. There is no doubt that if a thorough research were carried out several other such instances might be discovered. Evidence of the identity or close resemblance of tribal and place names is a very strong indication that the people who adopted these names, or attached them to their cities, did it out of nostalgic memories of their past association with them. Sir Henry Yale, K. C. S. I, says: The Afghan chroniclers call their people Bani-Israel and claim descent from King Saul through a son whom they ascribe to him called Jeremiah, who had a son called Afghanna. The numerous stock of Afghanna were removed by Nebuchadnezzar and found their way to the mountains of Ghor and Feroza east and north of Herat. According to their own tradition, they believe themselves descended from the Jews; and in a history of the Afghans, written in the 16th century, and lately translated from the Persian, they are derived from Afghan, the son of Erernin, the son of Saul, King of Israel, whose posterity being carried away at the time of the captivity, was settled by the conqueror in the mountains of Ghor, Cabul, Candhar, and Ghazni. 135