Lamanite, A North American Indian
“I think it’s important to realize that the title page of the Book of Mormon says, “written to the Lamanites. That’s one of the very first things it says. I think Latter-day Saints today think well, the Book of Mormon is written for us. Well it was, written for the entire world, but of course Mormon, Moroni in their understanding of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, they fully realized that this book, this record, would eventually come forth to their descendants to the descendants of Lehi, and his family. And, this is clear to Joseph Smith. There’s no question in my mind that Joseph Smith knows from the very beginning this record needs to be received and given to and accepted by Lamanite descendants. And in 1830, to Joseph Smith and the Church members, a Lamanite meant to them, a North American Indian. There’s just no question.” Alexander L. Baugh BYU Church History Department; transcribed from the documentary “History of the Saints” Mission to the Lamanites Part 1.
“I would say to the Lamanites, if I could speak to them understandingly, that you are also a branch of the house of Israel, and chiefly of the house of Joseph, and your forefathers have fallen through the same examples of unbelief and sins, as have the Jews, and you, as their posterity, have wandered in sin and darkness for many generations; and you, like the Jews, have been driven and trampled under the foot of the Gentiles.” Wilford Woodruff History of His Life and Labors AS RECORDED IN HIS DAILY JOURNALS PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION BY MATTHIAS F. COWLEY Salt Lake City, Utah 1909
“The Book of Mormon is a record of the forefathers of our western tribes of Indians; having been found through the ministration of an holy angel, and translated into our own language by the gift and power of God, after having been hid up in the earth for the last fourteen hundred years, containing the word of God which was delivered unto them. By it we learn that our western tribes of Indians are descendants from that Joseph who was sold into Egypt, and that the land of America is a promised land unto them, and unto it all the tribes of Israel will come, with as many of the Gentiles as shall comply with the requisitions of the new covenant.” TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH Page 17:
“The Forefathers of these American Indians came from the
City of Jerusalem” Heber J Grant
“I rejoice in the work that is being accomplished both at home and abroad. I rejoice in the manifestations of the Spirit of God, that come to each and every one of our elders who faithfully perform the duties devolving upon them. I rejoice in the fact that God opens the way and prepares the hearts of the honest in every land and clime, wherever this Gospel of Jesus Christ has gone. It is also a source of joy and satisfaction to me that, in all my journeys at home and abroad, wherever I go, wherever I mingle with people, I am constantly receiving additional evidence and testimony regarding the divinity of this work in which we are engaged, As I journeyed away from home, and as I mingled with people, I would feel sorrowful if I had constantly been finding objections to the plan of life and salvation, that required exertion on my part to explain away. It would be a source of regret if I were constantly finding obstacles in the path, regarding the divinity of the work of God, which we have espoused. But, I have never found any such obstacles: I have never found anything that needed to be explained away: everything points to the divinity of the work.
“While listening to the remarks of Brother Ivins, referring to a book that was written by one of our enemies, in which the statement is made that there is not a particle of evidence to show that there is any trace of the Hebrew among the people who anciently inhabited this country, and that there is no evidence that would go to prove that the Book of Mormon is true. I was reminded of a little item of evidence that came under my observation while I was in the City of London. A gentleman there, to whom a very dear friend of mine, Col. Alex. G. Hawes, had given me a letter, kindly invited a number of newspaper men to his home to meet me. I am very sorry that the newspaper men declined the honor; but I had the privilege of meeting with this man and his family, and a few friends, and conversing with them. One of his friends had been a member of the British legation at Constantinople and had spent a considerable portion of his life there. He had traveled all over the holy land and was familiar with the people and their customs. Among other things, he said: “Mr. Grant, I was astonished beyond measure, when I visited Canada, to find there oriental patterns woven in beads, by the American Indians. They were the same patterns that were woven in rugs, in the oriental countries. I have traveled extensively, and I had never seen those oriental patterns in any part of the world except in the holy land, until I found them among the North American Indians. Those patterns have been handed down for hundreds of years, from generation to generation ; they are kept in families, and can be found nowhere else; and how under the heavens those Indians, who have no connection with the people of the holy land, should have the same patterns is a mystery to me.” “Well, mv friend,” I said, “if I were to inform you that the forefathers of these American Indians came from the city of Jerusalem, that would explain it, wouldn’t it?” He replied, “Well, of course, it would.” I asked him if he had ever read the Book of Mormon. He said, “No.” “Well, it will be my pleasure to send you a copy, and from it you will learn that the forefathers of the American Indians came from Jerusalem.” “Well,” he said, “that explains the mystery; I am much obliged for the book.” Now, the one thing for us to do, as Latter-day Saints, is to be loyal, to be true, to be patriotic, to be honest with God; then we need have no fear of what the world may say about us. We have the truth, and we know it, thank God; we know it, though the world may not know it. Let us follow the admonition of the Savior, and let our light so shine that other men seeing our good deeds shall glorify God.” ELDER HEBER J. GRANT 79th Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints April 4th, 5th, and 6th, 1909, page 111-113
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THE AMERICAN INDIAN (UH-NISH-IK-NA-BA) by ELIJAH M. HAINES
From this book, THE AMERICAN INDIAN (UH-NISH-IK-NA-BA) by ELIJAH M. HAINES we will show the similarity in some of the Indian languages, to the Hebrew, and that the former must have been derived from the latter. I have edited just one chapter of over 833 pages which focuses on Chapter IV, Affinity with the Jews. This may be a lengthy blog, but it is amazing how much information you will receive about the similarities of our Book of Mormon Lamanites with the Tribe of Judah from Israel. You will also enjoy some of the old pictures which come from this amazing book.
You will also enjoy the online links to other wonderful books written long ago about the Native Americans of the United States. I know they are the honored brothers of Manasseh and it is our duty as Ephraim to bring us together again with the Book of Mormon. To Purchase the Annotated Book of Mormon Click Here!
THE AMERICAN INDIAN (UH-NISH-IK-NA-BA).
The Whole Subject Complete in One Volume Illustrated with Numerous Appropriate Engravings. By ELIJAH M. HAINES. CHICAGO: THE MAS-SIN-NA’-GAX COMPANY, 1888. Page 99-114
The subject of the American Indian has ever been one of peculiar interest to the ethnologist and student of history; but at no time since the discovery of America has it attracted so much attention as is being given to it at the present day. Volumes upon volumes have been written concerning it in its varied relations, but still it is not exhausted; and indeed the changing circumstances of the American race present at this day a phase of this subject, calling for its renewed presentation in more complete and comprehensive form.
Amidst the vast number of books published concerning this mysterious people since the discovery of America, there seems to be none now in print presenting their history in a succinct classified form, at the same time reaching out and taking in every phase of the Indian subject, to the satisfaction of the general reader.
This book has therefore been prepared with reference to this long felt want, and is such a work as the public mind and student of history now seem to demand. As the title indicates, it comprises ‘the whole Indian subject in complete and comprehensive form. In other words, it is a sort of cyclopaedia on the subject of the’ American Indian in all its phases and bearings as shown by the table of contents following; grouping together in condensed form, and within such limited space as the subject will admit of, the varied information comprised in that vast field of research in American history, not to be found in any single work of this kind heretofore published, containing many special features, which are highly interesting and valuable to the general reader.https://archive.org/stream/americanindianu01haingoog/americanindianu01haingoog_djvu.txt
Photograph (Left) of Elijah M. Haines, Illinois politician from Lake County and former Speaker of the Illinois House.
CHAPTER IV. AFFINITY WITH THE JEWS.
Opinion of James Adair-The Indians Descended from the People of Israel-He Assigns Twenty-three Arguments for this Opinion— Similarity Between the Languages — Comparison of Words and Sentences— Opinion of Be v. Jedidiah Morse— Similarity of Religious Customs— Dr. Boudinot Favors this Theory— Rev. Ethan Smith— Evidence in Favor of this Theory— The Indians Acknowledge but One Great Spirit like the Jews— Father Charlevoix Presents Evidence in Support of this Theory— Indians Were Never Known to Worship Images— Evidence of William Penn — Features of the Face like the Hebrews — And so with Dress t Trinkets and Ornaments— Their Fasts and Feasts, like the Jews— They Reckon by Moons and Count Time like the Hebrews— Have their Prophets— Abstain from Unclean Things — Salute the Dawn of Morning by Devotional Ceremony — In their Lodge Tales and Traditions Twelve Brothers are Spoken of— Custom in Mourning for the Dead, like the Jews— Have a Custom of Burnt Offerings— Had a Custom like the Jews of Anointing the Head— The Indian Medicine Lodge Corresponded to the Jewish Synagogue — Had a Secret Order Resembling that of the Jews— Their Medicine Man Corresponded to the “Wise Men,” Matthew II, 1 — The Bow and Arrow was Common to the Jews— The Indian Tent was like that of the Jews — Lived in Tribes like the Jews.
Many writers have given special attention to an inquiry into the subject of the American aborigines, with reference to discovering an affinity of this people with the Jews, or people of Israel.
Among the class of writers aforesaid is Mr.James Adair, who resided forty years among the American tribes, and who wrote a book (here) on the subject, which was published about the year 1775, in which he, without hesitation, declares that the American aborigines are descendants from the Israelites, and so complete is his conviction on this head, that he declares he finds a perfect and undisputable similitude in each. He says: “From the most accurate observations I could make, in the long time I traded among the Indians of America, I was forced to believe them lineally descended from the tribes of Israel.”
AFFINITY WITH THE JEWS. Page 99
Among the early authorities cited, to show that the American Indians are descendants from the Israelites, Mr. Adair seems to be the principal one, and since his time, all writers who have favored his views, refer with unreserved confidence to the evidence furnished by him to this end.
One of the earnest writers in support of this theory in later times, is Rev. Ethan Smith, of Poultney, Vt , as shown in his book entitled “ View of the Hebrew, or the Tribes of Israel in America,” published in 1825, wherein he undertakes to prove, citing Mr. Adair and others, that the American Indians are descendants from the Lost Tribes of Israel.
Mr. Smith sums up the arguments of Mr. Adair that the natives of this continent are of the ten tribes of Israel, to the following effect: 1. Their division into tribes. 2. Their worship of Jehovah. 3. Their notions of a theocracy. 4. Their belief in the administration of angels. 5. Their language and dialects. 6. Their manner of counting time. 7. Their prophets and high priests. 8. Their festivals, fasts and religious rites. 9. Their daily sacrifice. 10. Their ablutions and anointings. 11. Their laws of uncleanliness. 12. Their abstinence from unclean things. 13. Their marriage, divorces and punishments of adultery. 14. Their several punishments. 15. Their cities of refuge. 16. Their purifications and preparatory ceremonies. 17. Their ornaments. 18. Their manner of curing the sick. 19. Their burial of the dead. 20. Their mourning for the dead. 21. Their raising seed to a deceased brother. 22. Their change of names adapted to their circumstances and times. 23. Their own traditions; the account of English writers ; and the testimonies given by Spaniards and other writers of the primitive inhabitants of Mexico and Peru.
Many of those who contend for Jewish origin of the American Indian insist that evidence of this fact is found in the languages of the Indians, which appear clearly to have been derived from the Hebrew. This is the opinion expressed by Mr. Adair, in which Dr. Edwards having a good knowledge of some of the Indian languages, concurs and gives his reasons for believing this people to have been originally Hebrew.
The languages of the Indians and of the Hebrews, he remarks, are both found without prepositions, and are formed with prefixes and suffixes, a thing not common to other languages; and he says that not only the words, but the construction of phrases in both are essentially the same. The Indian pronoun, as well as other nouns, he remarks, are manifestly from the Hebrews. The Indian laconic, bold, and commanding figures of speech, Mr. Adair notes as exactly agreeing with the genius of the Hebrew language.
THE AMERICAN INDIAN
Relative to the Hebraism of their figure, Mr. Adair gives the following instance from an address of a captain to his warriors, on going to battle: “I know that your guns are burning in your hands; your tomahawks are thirsting to drink the blood of your enemies ; your trusty arrows are impatient to be upon the wing ; and lest delay should burn your hearts any longer, I give you the cool refreshing words: Join the holy ark; and away to cut off the devoted enemy”
A table of words and phrases is furnished by Dr. Boudinot, Adair and others, to show the similarity, in some of the Indian languages, to the Hebrew, and that the former must have been derived from the latter. The following is an example afforded from the sources quoted:
Rev. Jedidiah Morse, in big tour among the Western Indians, says of the Indians language: “It is highly metaphorical; and in this and other respects they resemble the Hebrew.” ” This resemblance in their language” he adds, “and the similarity of many of their religious customs to those of the Hebrews, certainly give plausibility to the ingenious theory of Dr. Boudinot, exhibited in his interesting work, the Star in the West”
Dr. Boudinot speaks of some Indians at a place called Cohocks, who called the high mountain at the west Ararat He says that the Penobscot Indians called a high mountain by the same name ; that he himself attended an Indian religious dance, concerning which he remarks:
“They dance one round; and then a second, singing hal-hal-hal, till they finished the round. They then gave us a third round, striking up the words le-le-le. On the next round it was the words, lu-lu-lu, dancing with all their might During the fifth round was yah-yah-yah. Then all joined in a lively and joyful chorus, and sung halleluyah ; dwelling on each syllable with a very long breath, in a most pleasing manner.” And he says, “there could be no deception in all this. Their pronunciation was very gutteral and sonorous, but distinct and clear.”
Rev. Ethan Smith, in his book before mentioned, remarking on this circumstance, says: “How could it be possible that the wild native Americans, in different parts of the continent, should be found singing this phrase of praise to the Great First Cause, or to Jah —exclusively Hebrew, without having brought it down by tradition from ancient Israel ? The positive testimonies of such men as Boudinot and Adair are not to be dispensed with nor doubted. They testify what they have seen and heard. And I can conceive of no rational way to account for this Indian song, but that they brought it down from ancient Israel, their ancestors.”
Dr. Boudinot further says of the Indians: ” Their languages in their roots, idioms and particular construction, appear to have the whole genius of the Hebrew; and what is very remarkable have most of the peculiarities of that language, especially those in which it differs from most other languages.”
It is also insisted by many, as further evidence showing the Jewish origin of the American Indian, that they have had their imitation of the ark of the covenant in ancient Israel. Rev. Ethan Smith says, that different travelers, and from different regions, unite in this, and refers to the fact that Mr. Adair is full in his account of it. He describes it as a small square box, made convenient to carry on the back; that the Indians never set it on the ground, but on rocks in low ground where stones were not to be had, and on stones where they are to be found. Mr. Adair, in reference to this matter, says:
“It is worthy of notice that they never place the ark on the ground, nor set it on the bare earth when they are carrying it against an enemy. On hilly ground, where stones are plenty, they place it on them. But in level land, upon short logs, always resting themselves (i. e. the carriers of the ark) on the same materials. They have also as strong a faith of the power and holiness of their ark as ever the Israelites retained of theirs. The Indian ark is deemed so sacred and dangerous to touch, either by their own sanctified warriors, or the spoiling enemy, that neither of them dare meddle with it on any account. It is not to be handled by any except the chieftain and his waiter, under penalty of incurring great evil; nor would the most inveterate enemy dare to touch it. The leader virtually acts the part of a priest of war, pro tempore, in imitation of the Israelites fighting under the divine military banner.”
It is said that among all the aboriginal tribes and nations of both North and South America, whatever may have been said by the Spaniards to the contrary, they acknowledged one, and only one God, and this again is taken by the advocates of the Jewish origin of the American Indians as further proof that this people are descendants of the Jews. Dr. Boudinot says of the Indians, that they were never known, whatever mercenary Spaniards may have written to the contrary, to pay the least adoration to images or dead persons, to celestial luminaries, to evil spirits, or to any created beings whatever ; in which Mr. Adair concurs, adding that none of the numerous tribes and nations, from Hudson Bay to them Mississippi, have ever been known to attempt the formation of any image of God. On this subject Rev. Ethan Smith says:
“Du Pratz was very intimate with the chief of those Indians called ‘ The Guardians of the Temple,’ near the Mississippi (Book Here). (He inquired of them the nature of their worship. The chief informed him that they worshipped the great and most perfect Spirit, and said: * He is so great and powerful, that in comparison with him all others are as nothing. He made all things that we see, and all things that we cannot see.’ The chief went on to speak of God as having made little spirits, called free servants, who always stand before the Great Spirit, ready to do his will. That ‘ the air is filled with spirits, some good, some bad, and that the bad have a chief who is more wicked than the rest.’ Here, it seems, is their traditional notion of good and bad angels, and of Beelzebub, the chief of the latter. This chief, being asked how God made man, replied that ‘ God kneaded some clay, made it into a little man, and, finding it was well formed, he blew on his work, and the man had life and grew up.’ Being asked of the creation of the woman, he said that ‘ their ancient speech made no mention of any difference, only that the man was made first Moses 9 account of the formation of the woman, it seems, had been lost 1 “
Charlevoix, speaking of the Indian traits and religious customs, and in reference to their resembling the Jews, says: ” The greatest Part of their Feasts, their Songs and their Dances, appear to me to have had their Rise from Religion, and still to preserve some Traces of it; but one must have good eyes, or rather a very lively imagination, to perceive in them all that some travelers have pretended to discover. I have met with some who could not help thinking that our savages were descended from the Jews, and found in 
everything some affinity between these barbarians and the people of God. There is, indeed, a resemblance in some things, as not to use knives in certain meals, and not to break the bones of the beast they ate at those times, and the separation of the women during the time of their usual infirmities. Some persons, they say, have heard them, or thought they heard them, pronounce the word Hallelujah in their songs. But who can believe that when they pierce their ears and noses they do it in pursuance of the law of circumcision ? On the other hand, don’t we know that the custom of circumcision is more ancient than the law that was given to Abraham and his posterity. The feast they made at the return of the hunters, and of which they must leave nothing, has also been taken for a kind of burnt offering, or for a remain of the passover of the Israelites ; and rather, they say, because when any one cannot compass his portion, he may get the assistance of his neighbors, as was practiced by the people of God, when a family was not sufficient to eat the whole Paschal Lamb.”
Rev. Ethan Smith, in his book before mentioned, refers to a letter from Mr. Calvin Cushman, missionary among the Choctaws, to a friend in Plainfield, Mass., in 1824, in which he says:
” By information received from Father Hoyt respecting the former traditions, rites and ceremonies of the Indians of this region, I think there is much reason to believe they are descendants of Abraham. They have had cities of refuge, feasts of first fruits, sacrifices of the firstlings of the flock, which had to be perfect, without blemish or deformity, a bone of which must not be broken. They were never known to worship images, nor to offer sacrifices to any God made with hands. They all have some idea and belief of the Great Spirit Their feasts, holy days, etc., were regulated by sevens, as to time, i. e., seven sleeps, seven moons, seven years, etc They had a kind of box containing some kind of substance which was considered sacred, and kept an entire secret from the common people. Said box was borne by a number of men who were considered pure or holy (if I mistake not, such a box was kept by the Cherokees). And whenever they went to war with another tribe they carried this box; and such was its purity in their view that nothing would justify its being rested on the ground. A clean rock or scaffold of timber only was considered sufficiently pure for a resting place for this sacred coffer. And such was the veneration of all of the tribes for it, that whenever the party retaining it was defeated and obliged to leave it on the field of battle, the conquerors would by no means touch it. “ The celebrated William Penn, who saw the Indians of the eastern shore of the continent before they had been affected by the ill-treatment of the white people, in a letter to a friend in England concerning this people, says:
” I found them with like countenances with the Hebrew race; and their children of so lively a resemblance to them that a man would think himself in Duke’s place, or Barry street, in London, when he sees them.” Here, without the least previous idea of those natives being Israelites, that shrewd man was struck with their perfect resemblance of them, and with other things which will be noted. He speaks of their dress and trinkets as notable like those of ancient Israel ; their earrings, nose jewels, bracelets on their arms and legs (such as they were), on their fingers, necklaces made of polished shells found in their rivers and on their coasts, bands, shells and feathers ornamenting the heads of females, and various strings of beads adorning several parts of the body.
Mr. Penn further adds that the worship of this people consists in two parts, sacrifices and cantos (songs). The first is with their first fruits, and the first buck they kill goes to the fire; and that all who go to this feast must take a piece of money, which is made of the bone of a fish. (” None shall appear before me empty.”) He speaks of the agreement of their rites with those of the Jews, and adds:
“They reckon by moons; they offer their first ripe fruits; they have a kind of feast of tabernacles; they are said to lay their altars with twelve stones; they mourn a year; they have their separation of women; with many other things that do not now occur.” Here is a most artless testimony given by that notable man, drawn from his own observations and accounts given by him, while the thought of this people’s being actually Hebrew was probably most distant from his mind. William Penn visits the Indians
Mr. Adair says that the southern Indians have a tradition that their ancestors once had a sanctified rod, which budded in one night’s time, which is held by some to be a tradition of Aaron’s rod. Some tribes of Indians, it is said, had, among their numerous feasts, one which they called the hunter’s feast,answering, it is claimed by some, to the Pentecost in ancient Israel, and which is described as follows:
“They choose twelve men, who provide twelve deer. Each of the twelve men cuts a sapling ; with these they form a tent, covered with blankets. They then choose twelve stones for an altar of sacrifice. Some tribes, he observes, choose but ten men, ten poles, and ten stones. Here seems an evident allusion to the twelve tribes, and also to some idea of the ten separate tribes of Israel. Upon the stones of their altar they suffered no tool to pass. No tool might pass upon a certain altar in Israel.”
In their feasts of first ripe fruits, or green corn, the custom of the Indians is to eat none of their corn or first fruit till a part is given to God. In the Indian feasts they had their sacred songs and dances, singing Hallelujah, Tohewa, in syllables which compose the words, and it is asked what other nation besides the Hebrews and Indians ever attempted the worship of Jehovah.
Mr. Adair, in further support of his theory, says: “As the nation had its particular symbol, so each tribe has the badge from which it is denominated The sachem of each tribe is a necessary party in con- veyances and treaties, to which he affixes the mark of his tribe. If we go from nation to nation among them we shall not find one who doth not lineally distinguish himself by his respective family. The genealogical names which they assume are derived either from the names of those animals whereof the cherubim are said in revelation to be compounded, or from such creatures as are most familiar to them. They call some of their tribes by the names of cherubimical figures that were carried on four principal standards of Israel.”
The Indians count time after the manner of the Hebrews. They divide the year into spring, summer, autumn and winter. They number their years from any of those four periods, for they have no name for a year, and they subdivide these and count the year by lunar months, like the Israelites who counted by moons. They begin a year at the first appearance of the first new moon of the vernal equinox, according to the ecclesiastical year of Moses. Till the so-called captivity the Israelites had only numeral names for the solar and lunar months except Abib and Ethamin ; the former signifying a green ear of corn, and the latter robust or valiant, and by the first of these the Indians (as an explicative) term their Passover, which the trading people call the green corn dance.
In conformity to, or after the manner of the Jews, the Indians of America have their prophets, high priests and others of a religious order. As the Jews had a sanctum sanctorum (holy of holies), so in general have all the Indian nations. There they deposit their consecrated vessels, none of the laity daring to approach that sacred place. Indian tradition says that their fathers were possessed of an extraordinary divine spirit, by which they foretold future things and controlled the common course of nature ; and this power they transmitted to their offspring, provided they obeyed the sacred laws annexed pertaining thereto.
Mr. Adair, it must be remembered, in referring to words in the Indian languages, has reference to those tribes which at that day were living in the southern colonies, classed by ethnologists as the Appalachians, and who were the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Seminoles and Muscogees. In speaking with reference to these Indians he says, Ishtoallo is the name of their priestly order, and their pontifical office descends by inheritance to the eldest. There are some traces of agreement, though chiefly lost, in their pontifical dress. Before the Indian Archimagus officiates in making the supposed holy fire for the yearly atonement for sin, the Sagan (waiter of the high priest) clothed him with a white ephod, which is a waistcoat without sleeves. In resemblance of the Urim and Thummim, the American Archimagus wears a breast plate made of a white conch shell with two holes bored in the middle of it, through which he puts the ends of an otter skin strap and fastens a buck-horn white button to the outside of each, as if in imitation of fche precious stones of the Urim.
[More about Ishtoallo here: SIMILARITY OF CUSTOMS OF THE ISRAELITES AND NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. To the Editors of the Jewish Expositor. The Jewish Expositor, and Friend of Israel]
7. In conformity to or after the manner of the Jews, the Indian Americans have their prophets, high priests, and others of a religious order. As the Jews had a sanctum sanctorum, [Holy of Holies) so have all the Indian nations. There they deposit their consecrated vessels; none of the laity daring to approach that sacred place. The Indian tradition says, that their forefathers were possessed of an extraordinary divine spirit, by which they foretold things future, and controlled the common course of nature: and this they transmitted to their offspring, provided they obeyed the sacred laws annexed to it. Ishtoallo is the name of all their priestly order; and their pontifical office descends by inheritance to the eldest. T here are some traces of agreement, though chiefly lost, in their pontifical dress. Before the Indian Archimagus officiates in making the supposed holy fire for the yearly atonement of sin, the Sagan clothes him with a white ephod, which is a waistcoat without sleeves. In resemblance of the Urim and Thummim, the American Archimagus wears a breast-plate made of a white conch-shell, with two holes bored in the middle of it, through which he puts the ends of an otter-skin strap, and fastens a buck horn white button to the outside of each, as if in imitation of the precious stones of the Urim.”— Upon this statement (says Mr. Faber,) I may observe, that Ishtoallo may perhaps be a corruption of Ish-di-Eloah, a man of God, (see 2nd Kings iv. 21, 22, 25. 27. 40. et alibi,; and that Sagan is the very name by which the Hebrews called the deputy of the high priest, who supplied his office, and who performed the functions of it in the absence of the high priest, or when any accident had disabled him from officiating in person. (See Calmet’s Diet. vox Sagan.)
“It is generally thought that Elohim is derived from eloah, the latter being an expanded form of the Northwest Semitic noun ’il.[5] The related nouns eloah (אלוה) and el (אֵל) are used as proper names or as generics, in which case they are interchangeable with elohim.)” Wikipedia Quote Here K. van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst (eds), Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible (revised 2nd edition, Brill, 1999)
In this statement, Rev. Ethan Smith thinks Mr. Adair exhibits evidence of which he himself seems unconscious, saying that the general name of all their priestly order is Ishtoallo, and the name of the high priest waiter is Sagan. It is thought by some that the former word is a corruption of Ish-da-elvah, a man of God ; see 2 Kings, iv, 21, 22, 25, 27, 40, and other places. That the latter word Sagan is the very name by which the Hebrews called the deputy of the high priest, who supplied his office, and performed the functions of it in the absence of the high priest.
The ceremonies of the Indians, in their religious worship, says Mr. Adair, were more after the Mosaic institutions than of Pagan imitation; which could not be if a majority of the old nations were of heathenish descent They were utter strangers to all the gestures practiced by the Pagans in their religious rites.
Mr. Adair further speaks of the sacred adjuration of the Indians by the great and awful name of God; the question being asked, and the answer given, Yah, with a profound reverence in a bowing posture of body immediately before the invocation of To-he-wah; this he considers to be Hebrew, adjuring their witnesses to give true evidence.
Jle says it seems exactly to coincide with the conduct of the Hebrew witnesses even now on like occasions.
Mr. Adair, in likening the Indians to the Jews on account of their abstinence from unclean things, says that eagles of every kind are esteemed an unclean food, likewise ravens, crows, bats, buzzards, swallows and every species of owl. This he considers as precisely Hebrew, as also their purifications of their priests, and purification for having touched a dead body or any other unclean thing. He further says that before going to war, the Indians have many preparatory ceremonies of purification and fasting, like what is recorded of the Israelites.
Bev. Mr. Chapman, missionary of the United States Foreign Missionary Society, at the Union Mission, in a letter of March 24th, 1823, gives an account of some of the manners and customs of the Osage Indians, which would seem to have some bearing on the question under consideration. He went with a large company of these Indians, whose object was to form a treaty of peace with the Cherokees, to Fort Smith. The evening before they arrived on a hill, the chiefs announced that in the morning they must make their customary peace medicine (a religious ceremony previous to a treaty) for the purpose of cleansing their hearts and securing their sincerity of thinking and acting. Ten of the principal warriors, including the priest of the Atmosphere, (a name of one of their clans) were selected and sent beneath a ledge, to dream or learn whether any error had been committed thus far, or (as they express it) to “watch the back track.” In proceeding to describe their ceremonies, prayers, sacred painting, anointings, etc, Mr. Chapman says: “About two feet in advance, and in a line with our path, were three bunches of grass, which had been cut and piled about three feet apart, as an emblem of him whom they worshipped.
“Here the priest stood with his attendants, and prayed at great length. Having finished his prayer, he again ordered the march on foot. The Indians from the right and left entered the path with great regularity, and, on wheeling forward, every individual was compelled to step upon each bunch of the grass. The company proceeded about forty rods, then halted and formed as before. The priest now ordered his senior attendant to form a circle of grass about four feet in diameter, -and to fix a handsome pile in the centre. By this he made another long prayer. Then stepping on the circle, and followed in this by his attendants, they passed on.”
Mr. Chapman further says: “It is a universal practice of these Indians to salute the dawn every morning with their devotion.” This custom, it may be remarked, seems to be universal among all the American tribes. In regard to the ceremonies which Mr. Chapman describes, he adds: “Perhaps the curious may imagine that some faint allusion to the lost ten tribes of Israel may be discovered in the select number of dreamers (they being ten), to the Trinity in Unity in the bunches (and the circle) of grass, to the Jewish anointings and purifications in their repeated paintings, to the sacred rite of the sanctuary in their secret consultations, and to the prophetic office in the office of their dreamers.”
A religious custom is related by Maj. Long, which some think goes to prove that the Omaha Indians are of Israel. He relates that from the age of between five or ten years their little sons are obliged to ascend a hill fasting once or twice a week, during the months of March and April, to pray aloud to Wahconda. When this season of the year arrives, the mother informs the little son that the u ice is breaking up in the river, the ducks and geese are migrating, and it is time for you to prepare to go in clay.” The little worshipper then rubs himself over with whitish clay, and at sunrise sets off for the top of a hill, instructed by the mother what to say to the Master of Life.
From his elevated position he cried aloud to Wahconda, humming a melancholy tune, and calling on him to have pity on him and make him a great hunter, warrior, etc.
This, it is urged by some, has more the appearance of descending from Hebrew tradition than from any other nation in the earthy teaching their children to fast in clay as “in dust and ashes,” and to cry to Jah for pity and protection.
In part second of Mr. Schoolcraft’s general work on the Indian tribes of the United States, p. 135, is an article written by Mr. Wm. W. Warren, on the oral traditions respecting the history of the Ojibway nation. Mr. Warren, as Mr. Schoolcraft remarks, was a descendant, on his mother’s side, of one of the most respectable Indian families- at the ancient capital of this nation.
In this communication, Mr. Warren is inclined to the opinion, from the information derived from the manners and customs of the Ojibways, that the red race of America are descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, and he asserts that this is the belief of some eminent men and writers, and mentions this belief to say that he has noted much in the course of his inquiries that would induce him to fall into the same belief, besides the general reasons that are adduced to prove the fact Referring to the Ojibways, he says:
“I have noticed that in all their principal and oldest traditions and lodge tales, twelve brothers are spoken of that are the sons of Getube, a name nearly similar to Jacob. The oldest of these brothers
is called Mudjekeewis, and the youngest Wa-jeeg-e-wa-kon-ay, the name for his coat of fishers 9 skins, with which he resisted the machinations of evil spirits. He was the beloved of his father and the Great Spirit; the wisest and most powerful of his twelve brothers.”
The tradition in which also originated Ke-na-big-wusk, or snake-root, which forms one of the four main branches of the Me-da-win, is similar in character to the brazen serpent of Moses that saved the lives of the afflicted Israelites. In the Indian tradition, the serpent is made to show to man a root which saved the lives of the people of a great town, which was being depopulated by pestilence. Not only in these instances is the similitude of the Ojibway oral traditions and the written history of the Hebrews evident and most striking, but in part first of Mr. Schoolcraft’s work aforesaid, page 259, is some information by Mr. Thomas Fitzpatrick, a government agent of the higher Platte and Arkansas. In this, reference is made to the fact of a resemblance in the manners, customs and habits of the Indians with that of the Jews or Israelites, in which he says: “In regard to the manners, customs, habits, etc., of the wild tribes of the western territory, a true and more correct type than any I have ever seen may be found in the ancient history of the Jews or Israelites after their liberation from Egyptian bondage. The medicine lodge of the Indian may be compared to the place of worship or tabernacle of the Jews, and the sacrifices, offerings, purifications and anointings may be all found amongst and practiced by those people.”
It is to be noted, however, that Mr. Fitzpatrick is not inclined to adopt these evidences as proof that the Indians are descended from the Jews, but considers them as mere coincidences, liable to occur among the natives of any portion of the globe.
In an interview which the writer had several years ago with Rev. John Johnston, a native educated Ottawa Indian, and a minister of the gospel of the Episcopal Church among the Ojibways at White Earth Agency, Minn., he expressed his belief quite firmly that the aborigines were descendants from the Jews, and cited instances of their manners, customs and habits in support of this opinion.
There is a marked similarity between the customs of the Indians and the Jews in their mourning for the dead. Like the Jews, the Indians had a time or season for mourning for the dead. A custom among the Jews of loud lamentation over the dead was also a peculiar custom of the American tribes. In Gen. xxxii, 34, it is said that *’ Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.” This is suggestive of a like custom among the American Indians. Among the Indians the friends of the deceased visited the graves of their departed relatives and there resumed their custom of weeping and shrieking. This was also a prominent custom among the Jews, as noticed in John xi, 31 : ” She goeth out to the grave to weep there.” The custom of engaging women to mourn over the bodies of the dead, which prevailed among the American tribes, was also a custom among the Jews, as mentioned in Jer. ix, 17 : ** Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, consider ye, and call for the mourning women that they may come.”
Among the Indians it was a custom for the bridegroom to make presents to the father or parents of the bride as a consideration in the transaction. This custom also prevailed among the . Jews; Jacob gave a term of service as a consideration for Eachel. Gen. xxix, 20.
Among the Jews, parents negotiated marriage between sons and daughters. Hagar chose a wife for Ishmael. Gen. xxi, 21. Judah selected a wife for Er. Gen. xxxviii, 6. The like custom prevailed among the American Indians.
The marriage ceremony among the American tribes was much the same as with the Jews. In Gen. xxiv, 67, it is said ” Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Eebekah, and she became his wife.” Rev. James Freeman, in his book entitled ” Manners and Customs,” says there is no evidence of any special religious forms in these primitive marriages. The marriage ceremony consisted of the removal of the bride from the father’s house to that of the bridegroom, or that of his father. The marriage ceremony among the American tribes was of like simplicity, and very much the same.
The Indians, like the Jews, had a custom of burnt offerings, as that of the burning of tobacco, as an offering to the Great Spirit They had also a custom like that of the meat offering of the Jews. See Lev. vi, 14. They also, like the Jews, had a sacrifice of animals. Num. xix, 2. Instead of the red heifer without a spot, as with the Jews, it was a white dog without a spot or blemish.
Like the Jews, they had their feasts for various occasions. Amongst others was a feast of first fruits, such as the strawberry feast of the Iroquois. The harvest feast was universal with all tribes who raised the Indian corn or zea maize. This corresponded to the like custom among the Jews. Ex. xxiii, 16.
Dancing on various occasions was a custom practiced among the American Indians as with the Jews, although not precisely in the same form. Dancing was performed at first among the Jews on sacred occasions only. Among the Hebrews it was joined with sacred songs and was usually participated in by the women only. When the men danced it was in company separate from the women. When Jeptha returned from his conquest over the Ammonites, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances. When the men of Benjamin surprised the daughters of Shiloh, the latter were dancing at a feast of the Lord. Judges, xxi, 19-21. A corresponding custom of dances among the Hebrews, as given in scripture, is found among all the American tribes, the occasion for many of which is precisely the same.
The Israelites used the mortar for beating their manna. Num. xi, 8. It was by this means that the Indians of America from time immemorial beat their corn and thus prepared it for use.
The custom prevailing among the Jews of anointing the head, and in using oils on other parts of the body, also prevailed among the American tribes.
Sign language, so common among the American tribes, is also marked as a mode of communication among the Jews. In Proverbs, vi, 13, it is said “He speaketh with his feet; he teacheth with his fingers.”
The Indians, at the close of their speeches in council, used a word of like signification as the word Amen, common among the Jews as stated in 1 Chronicles, xvi, 36. U A11 the people said Amen, and praised the Lord.” Amen literally means firm, from Aman, to prop, to support Its figurative meaning is faithful ; its use is designated as affirmatory response, and the custom is very ancient among the Jews. See Num. v, 22, Deui xxvii, 15-16. The Iroquois, in closing their speeches, used the word Hiro, of the like import of the Jewish word Amen. The Pottawattamies, a tribe of the Algonquin group, used the word Hoa.
The Indian medicine lodge or council-house corresponds much to the ancient Jewish synagogues, which were originally places of instruction rather than of worship, and wherein, it is said, the Jews read and expounded the law. We find Christ publicly speaking in the synagogues, and so also the Apostles in their missionary travels addressing the people in the synagogues.
The secret order of medicine men and prophets of the Indians had a corresponding institution among the Jews called “sons of the prophets,” forming a peculiar order, whose mission seems to have been to assist the prophets in their duties, and in time to succeed them. 2 Kings, ii, 3-12; vi, 1.
A personage corresponding to the Indian medicine man is found in the ”wise men” or Magi of the Jews, spoken of in Mathew, ji, 1. We find in the Old Testament several references to the Magi. In Jer. xxxix, 3, 13, Nergal-sharezer is said to have been the Rab-mag, that is, the chief of the Magi. In Daniel’s time the Magi were very prominent in Babylon. In Dan. ii, 2, “magicians,” “astrologers,” “sorcerers,” and “Chaldeans” are mentioned, while in the twenty-seventh verse of the chapter “soothsayers” are named.
Some tribes of Indians had a custom of making images or a kind of idols, not as an object of worship, but to imitate or personate some particular spirit or god, to whom they paid some kind of adoration. A like custom seems to have prevailed among the Jews, mentioned in 1 Samuel, vi, 5.
A custom prevailed among western Indian tribes, who lived in villages of dirt houses, of assembling on the tops of their dwellings on festive or public occasions; this was likewise a custom among the Jews. See Judges, xvi, 27, wherein it is said, “there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport”
The Indians felt that menial service was degrading. Service of this kind among them was performed by the women. The same idea prevailed among the Jews, who considered it a degradation to be hewers of wood and drawers of water. Josh, ix, 21.
The bow and arrow, the common and efficient weapon with the primitive American Indian, was also in common use among the ancient Jews. See 2 Kings, xiii, 15.
The ancient Israelites lived in tents in the style of the most of the American tribes.
In notions of dress there was a striking similarity between the American Indians and the Jews, especially in regard to the outer garment thrown over the shoulders or wrapped around the body. The Indian medicine man or prominent chief possessed a peculiar vanity in regard to their dress, which was frequently gaudy and fantastic, and so with the high priests among the Jews where display in dress was a peculiar feature in Jewish custom among those high in authority. It was a custom among the Jews to sleep in their garments, Deut. xxiv, 12-13, and so with the American Indians.
The name Dorcas, Acts, ix, 36, it is said, means antelope or gazelle. According to some writers the Jews had a custom of giving to their daughters poetic names, or names significant of beauty or beautiful objects. This was a marked custom with the American Indians.
According to Mr. Freeman, it was an ancient custom among the Jews to give names to families from animals. This found a corresponding custom among the Indians, in adopting their totems to mark their families, as the bear, the deer, the elk, and the like. The custom is continued among the Israelites down to the present time, as found in the name of Wolf, Bear, Lion and other names from animals.
It was a custom among the Jews to give names to persons that have some special signification, as Reuben, ” See a Son.” This custom likewise prevailed among other eastern nations. This was a universal custom among the American Indians, as Sheeshebanee (Ojibway), “little duck.”
The change of names of persons in after life on particular occasions was a custom of the Jews. 2 Chron. xxxvi, 4; Gen. xxxii, 28 ; xxxv, 10. It was also a custom among the American Indians.
By an ancient mode of declaring war, practiced amongst the Jews, a herald came to the confines of the enemy’s territory, and, after observing certain solemnities, cried with a loud voice, ” I wage war against you,” at the same time giving reasons therefor. He then shot an arrow or threw a spear into the enemy’s country, which was significant of warlike intentions. The custom among the Indians, in declaring war, was to send a bundle of arrows to some representative chief of the enemy.
The Indian practice of lying in ambush to surprise an enemy, it seems, was also a practice to some extent among the Jews. In Judges, v, 11, is the following: “They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord.” This, it is said, refers to the practice of lying in ambush near wells and springs for the purpose of seizing flocks and herds when brought thither for water.
When a war party of Indians returned to their villages after the victory, it was customary for the women and children, with the old men remaining behind, to assemble and express their great joy by singing, shouting and other demonstrations. This was likewise a custom among the Jews, as appears 1st Sam. xviii, 6: “It came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music.” See also Ex. xv, 20. Judges, xi, 34.
The war club and other weapons of the Indians were like those of the Jews. Jer. li, 20. With the Jews, the same as with the Indians, these weapons were buried with the dead. Ezek. xxxii, 27.
The custom of wearing buffalo horns by distinguished warriors, attached to their head dress, seems to have existed also among the Jews. In 1st Kings, xxii, 11, it is said ” the false prophet Zedekiah made him horns of iron,” and in Ps. lxxv, 5: ” Lift not your horns on high; speak not with a stiff neck.”
Rev. Peter Jones, an educated Ojibway Indian, in the appendix to his book, entitled “History of the Ojibway Indians,” quotes approvingly the following from a recent publication which he considers good authority, and wherein is summed up in general terms the most striking analogies between the American tribes and the ancient Israelites:
“They (the Indians) are living in tribes, with heads of tribes; they all have a family likeness, though covering thousands of leagues of land, and have a tradition prevailing universally that they connect that country at the northwest corner. They are a very religious people, and yet have entirely escaped the idolatry of the Old World. They acknowledge one God, the Great Spirit, who created all things seen and unseen. The name by which this being is known to them is Ale, the old Hebrew name of God; he is also called Tehowah, sometimes Yah, and also Abba; for this great being they possess a high reverence, calling him the head of their community, and themselves his favorite people. They believe that he was more favorable to them in old times than he is now; that their fathers were in covenant with him, that he talked with them, and favored them. They are distinctly heard to sing, with their. religious dances, Hallelujah and praise to Yah; other remarkable sounds go out of their mouth as shilu yo, shilu he ale yo he-wah, yohewah, but they profess not to know the meaning of these words, only that they learned to use them on sacred occasions. They acknowledge the government of a Providence overruling all things, and express a willing submission to whatever takes place. They keep annual feasts, which resemble those of the Mosaic ritual ; a feast of first fruits, which they do not permit themselves to taste until they have made an offering of them to God; also an evening festival, in which no bone of the animal that is eaten may be broken ; and if one family be not large enough to consume the whole of it, a neighboring family is called in to assist; the whole of it is consumed, and the relics of it are burned before the rising of the next day’s sun. There is one part of the animal which they never eat, the hollow of the thigh. They eat bitter vegetables, and observe severe feasts, for the purpose of cleansing themselves from sin ; they also have a feast of harvest, when their fruits are gathering in ; a daily sacrifice and a feast of love. Their forefathers practiced the rites of circumcision, but not knowing why so strange a practice wag continued, and not approving of it, they gave it up. There is a sort of jubilee kept by some of them. They have cities of refuge, to which a guilty man, and even a murderer, may fly and be safe.”
Rev. Jabez B. Hyde, a minister of the gospel, of prominence in Western New York, and of considerable experience among the Seneca Indians, writing in 1825 concerning his information derived from the aforesaid people on the subject of their manners and customs, says that of the meaning of words they used in their dances and divine songs, they were wholly ignorant They used the words T-O-He- Wah and Hal-le-lu-yak as represented of other Indians. Speaking further in regard to their apparent affinity with the Jews, he says: “In all their rites which I have learned from them, there is certainly a most striking similitude to the Mosaic rituals; their feast of first fruits; feasts of ingathering; day of atonement; peace offerings; sacrifices. They build an altar of stones before a tent covered with blankets ; within the tent they burn tobacco for incense, with fire taken from the altar of burnt offering.” Mr. Hyde further remarks that these Indians had formerly places like cities of refuge existing among them, and that an old chief had shown him the boundaries of one of them.
On this subject the testimony of Mr. George Catlin may be considered as important, he having spent eight years amongst the wildest and most remarkable tribes then existing in North America, commencing in the year 1832, as an artist and student of Indian history and manners and customs. He describes at length and in detail the manners and customs of these tribes, in concluding which, he says:
“Amongst the list of their customs, however, we meet a number which had their origin, it would seem, in the Jewish ceremonial code, and which are so very peculiar in their forms, that it would seem quite improbable, and almost impossible, that two different people should ever have hit upon them alike, without some knowledge of each other. These I consider go farther than anything else as evidence and carry in mind conclusive proof that these people are tinctured with Jewish blood.”
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Native Americans are Remnants of the Jews
“And again, I command thee that thou shalt not covet thine own property, but impart it freely to the printing of the Book of Mormon, which contains the truth and the word of God—Which is my word to the Gentile, that soon it may go to the Jew, of whom the Lamanites are a remnant, that they may believe the gospel, and look not for a Messiah to come who has already come.” D&C 29:26-27
“A great nation (the United States of America) shall be set up… by the power of God, so that the gospel may be restored, the Book of Mormon come forth, its message go to the American remnant of Jews, that the eternal covenants of the Lord with his people might be fulfilled.” “The remnant of Jacob, including the Lamanites in the Americas”, will assist in the gathering of Israel to the promised land New Jerusalem.” McConkie, Bruce R., Mortal Messiah, Book 4, 1981, pp. 348-349, 358
“I hope that when you read the Book of Mormon you will read carefully the last chapter of first Nephi, which refers to the day in which we are living. In this chapter Nephi talked about this land and the gentiles who in latter days would be brought here. Then he said:
And it meaneth that the time cometh that after all the house of Israel have been scattered and confounded [the scattering of the ten tribes and the Jews to all parts of the world], that the Lord God will raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles, yea, even upon the face of this land [the United States]; and by them shall our seed be scattered. [Through the Indian wars the Indians were scattered by the early Americans.]” The Great Prologue by Mark E. Petersen.
