Glenn Beck: U.S. identified in Bible

Glenn Beck discussing how the U.S. is one of the "Lost Tribes of Israel."

Radio and television host Glenn Beck is now going public with his belief the United States is among the famous "Lost 10 Tribes of Israel," and America today is suffering calamaties just as ancient Israel did due to its disobedience to the laws of God.

Echoing the conclusions of some experts who have delved deeply into what's known as the theory of "Anglo-Israelism" or "British-Israelism," Beck took viewers of his TV show into a biblical history lesson dating back to the time after King David of the Old Testament, when the once united Kingdom of Israel became divided.

"Israel was split into two kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom," Beck explained.

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Many people don't realize that ancient Israel (the Northern Kingdom) actually went to war against the Jews (the Southern Kingdom of Judah) over many years. Four Books of the Bible, 1 and 2 Kings as well as 1 and 2 Chronicles, document the separate national histories of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Beck explained that eventually, God warned the rebellious northern kingdom to stop its sinning, or else face disaster.

(Watch Glenn Beck discuss U.S. connections with ancient Israel beginning at the 5:40 mark of this video:)

"They're warned, 'You're going to be taken by the Assyrians, and you're gonna be taken into captivity,'" said Beck.

"Well, that's exactly what happened. Judah remained, but the tribes in the north, they were taken and they went throughout the Assyrian empire. The Kingdom of Judah was not scattered. This is where the term 'Jew' comes from – Judah."

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Beck went on to note that when the Assyrians were finally defeated by other powers, they and the Israelite captives fled northward.

"And they fled out of captivity through the Caucuses Mountains," he said. "The Caucusus Mountains are where you hear the word 'Caucasian.'"

"What's interesting is the Assyrians, who were very good, meticulous record-keepers, and who were just brutal [people], they settled in Italy and in the Germany area and the Russia area where facsism comes from. But the Israelites, the Lost 10 Tribes, they went north and they started to scatter [in another] direction, and they went to the coastlines, generally in the area where the Pilgrims came from. ...

"All of Western Civilization is based on the laws of Israel. And our entire history is directly tied to this moment. Our Pilgrims thought they were completing the journey out of captivity."

Beck believes the Statue of Liberty holding tablets is a more modern representation of Moses holding the Ten Commandments, and he focused attention on the symbols on the both the presidential seal and the Great Seal of the United States.

Seal of the president of the United States

On the presidential seal, he connected the artwork of sun rays, the moon and stars to one of the sons of Israel who had a famous dream in the Book of Genesis.

"When Joseph from the Bible is with his brothers, he tells his brothers that he had a dream. And he said, 'I had a dream where the sun, the moon and the stars all bowed down to me,'" Beck explained.

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He then noted the prominent theme of the number 13 on the seal.

"There's strong symbolism with the number 13 being represented everywhere: 13 arrows, 13 stripes, 13 stars, 13 olives," he said.

But is that figure merely a reflection of the 13 original American colonies?

"That's what everyone will tell you, and that is one answer. But there is another one that many people believe," Beck said.

"What else is 13? Twelve disciples surrounding Jesus, but more importantly, I think, the 12 tribes of Israel."

As far as why 12 tribes of Israel would be represented by the number 13 and not 12, Beck stated, "The tribe of Joseph split into Manassah and Ephraim, and those were in northern Israel. That's the northern kingdom of Israel. That's the thirteen tribes."

As he examined the Great Seal of the U.S., Beck noted that above the eagle representing America, there are "13 stars in the shape of the Star of David."

Great Seal of the United States

Surrounding the grouping of stars, he pointed out the artwork of clouds and light from "fire."

"When Moses led his people out of Egypt, what did they follow during the day? A cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. That's what this means," he said.

He even unearthed the original proposed seal for the nation, which was promoted by Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin.

Featuring the motto "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God," the scene depicts the nation of Israel during its Exodus out of Egyptian slavery.

Originally proposed seal of the United States

"Moses leading the Israelites across the Red Sea by a pillar of fire. Hello?" voiced Beck. "Look at the clouds around the fire in the center in exactly the same position as the eagle [seal]."

Beck noted it didn't bother him if people didn't believe the history lesson.

"I didn't care a few years ago, but after 9/11, I promised I would find out what was going on," he said.

"So what is it? We are nation that is based on Judeo-Christian values and the Bible. Period. You might not buy into the olives and the branches and everything else. It's fact! It's fact! But there's no way to deny that the majority of our laws come directly from the Scriptures, right directly from Deuteronomy."

Historian Steven M. Collins of Sioux Falls, S.D., has written several books on the subject, including "The 'Lost' Ten Tribes of Israel ... Found" and "Israel's Tribes Today."

"It is such heartening news to me that Glenn Beck has seen this fundamental truth about which so many Christians are unaware," Collins said after viewing Beck's program.

"If the modern nations of the ten tribes of Israel came to widely recognize their true heritage as the biblical 'house of Israel,' it would revolutionize the self-perceptions of not only individuals but of nations as well. It would also verify the Holy Bible powerfully as the prophecies about the Israelites' future after their exile from the Promised Land in the 8th century B.C. would be seen to be completely accurate and fulfilled. This would prove that the Bible is the Word of a Creator God as only an immortal Creator God could control the destinies of nations to make sure that biblical prophecies made millennia ago are being precisely fulfilled today."

Collins says there is "overwhelming evidence" proving the modern nations of the 10 tribes of Israel are the Anglo-American, Scandinavian and many mainland European nations.

"It is gratifying to see that a well-known American media personality now has many of these important truths as well. Perhaps we are reaching the time when it is God's will for this truth to become widely known in the modern nations. Such an awareness would revolutionize global geopolitics, to say the least."

There are many who disagree with the theory.

Among them is Dr. Claude Mariottini, a professor of Old Testament at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, Ill.

Mariottini states, "The fact is that British-Israelism is based on a biased interpretation of the text, eisegesis, wishful thinking, and a lack of reliable historical evidence. The view that Great Britain and the United States of America are the lost tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh is just a myth."