A Light Beyond the Mountains

Introduction

"Where are the Lost Tribes of Israel?" is one of the most interesting questions associated with the theology and religious beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is particularly true because of modern-day revelation as recorded in The Book of Mormon and The Doctrine & Covenants.

Although the answer to this question is still a mystery, there is still much that is known. For example, scripture tells us that a portion of the House of Israel exists as a separate entity at a place known only to our Heavenly Father.

Prophecy tells us that the 10 Tribes are a separate body of people that will return from the North before the commencement of the Second Coming, following specific events. Refer to the "Lost Tribes of Israel Reference Summary" for references. One of these events is the construction of a temple representing the New Jerusalem, to be built in Missouri and will comprise 24 separate temples established for the tribes of Israel. This will happen when the prophets in the North countries hear the voice of Jesus Christ, and will stay themselves no longer. They will issue a command to cause ice to flow down at their presence, followed by a highway that will be raised up to provide safe passage for the return of the tribes of Israel.

These are details reported through ancient and modern-day scripture. An Enrichment Article published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affirms the Lord has not seen fit to reveal their location, and that it is useless to try to identify their present locality until the Lord decides to reveal this to us. Rather, we are left to conject or imagine how Heavenly Father is managing the Lost Tribes of Israel. What is important to acknowledge is that they exist and will return.

We, as Latter-day Saints, have faith in a reality far beyond Christianity. Did Moses cause the Ten Plagues of Egypt or part the Red Sea so that the Israelites could escape from Egypt? Did Jesus really heal people, or walk on water, change water into wine, raise Lazarus from the dead, or feed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish? Any good Christian will emphatically say "Yes!" Similarly, did God the Father and Jesus Christ appear to a 14-year-old boy? Any good member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will also testify to this. Yet when we think about a solution that would accommodate the lost tribes of Israel, and as we eliminate all reasonable or even potential solutions what we are left with is that which may be impossible but may actually be the truth!

When something cannot be explained by what we know or understand, we are left to consider events and circumstances that lean towards the miraculous or that which is of God. This book represents such an imagination, providing a fictional story while exploring one of many possibilities.

To visualize a subterranean area somewhere in the earth's mantle, for example, within several hundred miles below the crust, is an ambitious thought and speculation. Undoubtedly, there are all kinds of reasons, according to a present way of thinking, why such a thing is difficult, if not impossible, especially if it is viewed as a place of human habitation. And yet if the earth can be regarded as having a certain kind of potential or capability, one that allows for a type of human existence other than what exists on its surface, the idea of a subterranean living space for a group such as the lost tribes of Israel might approach reality.

But if it is true that God himself led a group of Israelites to an unknown location, with a purpose for whatever reason of separating them from the rest of the nations, then there must be a logical answer or solution, whatever it turns out to be.

This story places them at a place in the planet's mantle, at a reasonable distance below the crust and far from any molten core or interior. They exist within a confined location as a nation in a similar way that a population of 125 million is able to subsist on 146,000 square miles in present-day Japan after thousands of years of history.

This is a fictional story of their present situation and eventual re-entry into modern society. It is the story of imaginary people like Nathan, Kristen and Rebecca who live in a world of reality yet also one of faith and miracles, where much more exists beneath the surface sometimes than what it appears to be from above.

Where are the Lost Tribes of Israel? Although the actual answer would be most interesting, what is important to know is that they exist and will someday return!

Preface

"This is it. Our time has finally come."

President Andrews' opening statement was brief, yet momentous with monumental proportions. Even so, the other six men in the room acknowledged the statement with complete understanding, free from any expression of surprise or confusion.

"You have all seen the signs around us, the rising level of the sea, the constant earthquakes and tremors, and the social unrest of the people. Yesterday, God finally broke His silence and revealed His plan to me."

President Andrews continued with a level of energy and excitement that the others had not seen before. "We need to head north, up into the mountains. It will be an uphill trek for most of our journey, and so we will need to pace ourselves. I do not know how long the journey will be. It could be a few months or several, or even more. However, the faster we can get to higher ground, the safer our people will be. Unfortunately, those who choose to remain behind will perish."

President Andrews stood up, acknowledged the apprehensive faces focused back at him and then described the rendezvous place and the logistics of how to get there.

"Events are developing rapidly. Our environment is deteriorating. If we do not leave soon, it will be too late. Elder Nathanial, you have jurisdiction over the largest populous and will have the furthest to travel. Gathering your people to the rendezvous place will be no easy feat. As the long pole in the tent, you will have only 2 weeks to rendezvous with the rest of us. Elders David, Michael, Aaron, John, and Titus, you will also need to get your people to the rendezvous place quickly and as early as possible. We need you to arrive early in order to prepare for those that will follow."

"Elder David, your group is located closest to the Rendezvous Point, and I need you and your people to be there in 10 days so that you can greet and instruct the next arriving group."

Elder David, rarely caught for a lack of words, nodded quietly.

"This is an exciting time for all of us," said the President. "Prophecies that we have read about and anticipated since our ancestors brought us to this land over two thousand years ago are finally about to be realized. Our time is now. Godspeed!"

Author's Notes

(1) There have been many times when I have stopped and asked if I believe these things could be true, the kind depicted in A Light Beyond the Mountains, especially the unusual circumstances concerning the whereabouts of the lost tribes of Israel. It is an important question that needs to be asked. There is always a feeling of skepticism and disbelief in such a story, much like there must have been long ago when women first reported they had seen Jesus, who had come back from the dead. It was difficult news for people to hear and comprehend in those days, and since then there has often been the stigma of an "idle tale" or false report accompanying statements that are controversial and unbelievable.

Such things were on my mind as I wrote the present story, one which has the unusual setting of a subterranean area. But as I developed the plot, it was interesting to see how the characters gradually came to life and became more realistic, as also did the setting itself. Anyway, it was an interesting experience.

Yet, as to whether or not I actually believe the lost tribes' story, I can only say this. If it can be established that a relatively small group of Israelites from the ten tribes disappeared into the north country at about the same time the Assyrian Empire came to an end, and that they were a separate and distinct group when Jesus visited them soon after his resurrection as recorded in the Book of Mormon, retaining a pure Israelite lineage and not intermixing with other nations, and also that they will someday return according to the miraculous conditions and circumstances outlined in the Doctrine and Covenants, then I would say that something very unusual has taken place and that the descendants of the lost tribes, by whatever laws and principles, are currently living somewhere in relation to the earth, not anywhere on its well-mapped surface but necessarily in some region within its confines and at a remote location that someday will be revealed.

Others might also consider these things and then answer an important question. If the idea can be accepted that the tribes wherever they might be were "lost sheep of the house of Israel" and pure Israelites when Jesus appeared to them, not being merged with other people and disseminated throughout the nations, and also that when they reappear in the future according to the dramatic circumstances described in scripture, at a time when prophets will smite the rocks and cause ice to flow down at their presence, then the question definitely needs to be asked: where these people have been living all of this time and where they might be at present. If not on the surface of the globe, obviously, then where else?

The story in A Light Beyond the Mountains is not only an attempt to develop a plot but to promote a greater awareness of the lost tribes of Israel and the idea that human life possibly exists in a subterranean area. Such an idea depends heavily on faith as well as intellect, of course, as do so many other things in today's world. And although the theory and concept involved might at first be very difficult to accept, it gains credibility from the fact that the more unbelievable a phenomenon might appear sometimes, the more potential it could have of being significant and true.

(2) In the book known as The Doctrine and Covenants, one of the standard works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there are two verses of scripture that describe the return of the lost tribes of Israel. They are very miraculous in content, and people often give them nothing more than a figurative or symbolic interpretation. But there is also a literal interpretation, an account that not only tells in what manner the tribes will reappear someday, but one also that implies in what manner they disappeared many centuries ago.

Both accounts are characterized by supernatural conditions and circumstances, and if the credibility of one can be accepted, it can then be applied to the other. If it can be determined how the tribes will return, in other words, the same kind of situation might be applied to how they departed and disappeared.

A description of the tribes' dramatic return, as recorded in Section 133:26-27 of the Doctrine and Covenants, is as follows:

"And they who are in the north countries shall come in remembrance before the Lord, and their prophets shall hear his voice and shall no longer stay themselves; and they shall smite the rocks, and the ice shall flow down at their presence. And an highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep."

The events in question, of course, are the occurrence of crumbling rock, flowing ice, and a highway, and the idea that prophets will be instrumental in causing miraculous and supernatural things to happen. Again, this is where people resort to symbolism and figurative expression for an interpretation, and yet the other view saying that the scripture should be taken as it is written with no attempt to alter its literal meaning, should always be considered.

By way of a literal interpretation, therefore, it is possible to visualize some of the conditions surrounding the future return of the lost tribes, meaning the modern descendants of those who disappeared in the north countries centuries ago. This will necessarily involve circumstances comparable in some ways to the passage of Israelites through the Red Sea during the time of Moses. On that occasion, according to the Book of Exodus in the Bible, "the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left." (Exodus 14:22)

In regard to those known as the lost tribes, the scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants states that a similar passage will be created, first through rock and then through ice, allowing people to traverse from one location to another. This will be followed by a highway or passageway appearing in the midst of the great deep, all of which parallels what happened anciently on the Red Sea. The supernatural occurrence in the future will be such that "it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north." (Jeremiah 16:14-15)

As to the actual conditions of the tribes' return, they are not always easy to visualize, but it would seem that some kind of breach or rupture will occur in the earth's surface, at a place ultimately where there is a region of ice. Through this aperture or opening, the tribes will emerge from an area where they have been hidden, as it were, for the last 2500 years.

Certainly, there is no easy way of explaining what will happen except to say it will be miraculous and necessarily supernatural, as was the event during the time of Moses. As a consequence, it will normally be regarded as unlikely and fictional, incompatible with any modern viewpoint or usual way of thinking, but an explanation nevertheless suggested by scripture.

And in the same way the lost tribes will appear someday, so also might their ancestors have disappeared long ago. After the Most High performed signs for them at the Euphrates River so they could pass over, for example, and then traveling for a year and a half through the country called Arzareth as described in the Apocrypha, they reached an embarkation point, there gaining passage through some type of breach or opening into another area within the confines of the earth, at a reasonable distance below the crust and far from any molten core or center. In such a region, they began a new existence apart from other nations and according to unknown laws and principles.

The conditions and circumstances of their disappearance were possibly very similar to what is predicted for their reappearance in the future, including a highway and elements such as rock and ice. The two events most likely pertain to different geographic locations, one north of the area of Mesopotamia in the Middle East and the other north of the place referred to as Zion in North America, but the type of occurrence might basically be the same.

In any case, the tribes at present allegedly exist at an undetermined location, isolated and hidden away, as it were, in some remote and undefined area. Their existence is often regarded as a mystery, and the tendency might be for people in general to view them as fictional or legendary, yet the scripture still stands as it is written, implying that both their disappearance and reappearance necessarily pertain to conditions that are supernatural and include the idea of a hiding place.

(3) By way of faith and a type of visualization similar to comprehending heaven and the resurrection, it is possible to picture some type of existence in which the earth might accommodate the lost tribes of Israel. This, in turn, suggests the tribes are currently secluded in some geographical area which is unmapped and unexplored, a concept unorthodox but still a possibility. To accept it, however, is understandably difficult, and a natural inclination at first is to reject such a theory and look for other explanations, particularly in reaction to a so-called hiding place.

A well-known scientist and theologian on one occasion, while speaking to a Latter-Day Saint congregation, cautioned people against this type of rationalization. His name was James E. Talmage. "There is a tendency among men," he said, "to explain away what they do not wish to understand in literal simplicity, and we as Latter-day Saints are not entirely free from the taint of that tendency".

At the time, he was talking about the lost tribes, referring specifically to the prediction that someday they will return in an unusual manner. His talk is recorded in the April, 1916 conference report of the Church. "Some people say that prediction is to be explained in this way," he continued. "A gathering is in progress and has been in progress from the early days of this church, and thus the "Lost Tribes" are now being gathered but that we are not to look for the return of any body of people now unknown as to their whereabouts.

"True, the gathering is in progress," he said. "This is a gathering dispensation. But the prophecy stands that the tribes shall be brought forth from their hiding place, bringing their scriptures with them."

Such comments, coming from a distinguished speaker and author, focus attention on the idea that at least a certain segment of the ten tribes is indeed lost as far as the general public is concerned and will someday reappear in an unusual manner. Also as indicated in a well-known article of faith, there will not only be a gathering of Israel in general, but a literal restoration of the ten tribes as well, referring to that portion which has become lost to history.

Yet, as to where the lost tribes are presently located, and under what circumstances they might be living, a completely rational explanation cannot be given. From the outset, allowances have to be made, especially in this particular situation. The idea must be accepted ahead of time that because of the nature of the subject, miraculous and supernatural circumstances will be involved.

The present location of the tribes, along with their predicted return, is something that is in the same category as Jesus walking on water, raising people from the dead, and himself dying and being resurrected. It is the same kind of phenomenon as Moses parting the waters of the Red Sea and Joshua causing the sun and moon to stand still. Certainly, all of these are remarkable occurrences and are part of the supernatural aspect of scripture, which is so characteristic of the Bible.

(4) Whatever it was that actually happened to the migrating tribes after they traveled through the land of Arzareth is unknown. Their apparent disappearance definitely remains a mystery. An actual disappearance, however, is open to question, especially when it is purported to be supernatural, since it is believed by some that the tribes upon arriving at their destination in the north eventually dispersed and intermingled with other people. Over a long period, in other words, they were disseminated and incorporated into surrounding nations. The majority of public opinion among those familiar with the ten tribes would share this point of view.

But the circumstances were not that simple. Many of the tribes were never taken into Assyrian captivity, for example, but were allowed to remain in Palestine. Because the Assyrians had a policy of deporting only one half or less of a conquered city or region, bringing in foreign people from the outside as replacements, it follows that the half which remained in the original homeland would eventually mix with incoming colonists and ultimately intermingle with people in other countries. This would identify the location of one portion of the ten tribes, those who were never taken into captivity, and at the same time partially verify the claim by some that the tribes are presently dispersed among the different countries of the world.

And yet those who were taken captive into Assyria, at least the ones who later banded together and migrated into the north country, constitute a separate portion of the ten tribes that allegedly were not scattered throughout the nations. These are the people who mysteriously disappeared and whose present status and whereabouts will probably remain unknown without the intervention of a significant source of information. And in this case, it is the Doctrine and Covenants which presents a valuable clue. Only in this one source is there material suggesting (1) how the tribes will return, (2) how they might have disappeared from the land of Arzareth centuries ago, and (3) where they might presently be located. In just two verses of scripture, answers are given to some significant questions.

In relation to the tribes and how they will return someday, the record reveals the following information.

"And they who are in the north countries shall come in remembrance before the Lord, and their prophets shall hear his voice and shall no longer stay themselves; and they shall smite the rocks, and the ice shall flow down at their presence. And an highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep."

Sometime in the future, a divine command will be given for the ten tribes to return. Prophets among them will "no longer stay themselves" or continue waiting for a signal to rejoin regular society but will eventually make their way with their particular congregations to a place of exit. At this point, wherever it turns out to be, miraculous events will occur, much like the time when the Most High performed signs on the bank of the Euphrates River and Moses parted the waters of the Red Sea.

The prophets leading the people will "smite the rocks" at that time, apparently creating some type of aperture or opening through which the returning tribes will pass. It is then that a highway, or some kind of elevated passageway, will be raised up out of the sea in front of them in order for a potentially large number of people to proceed further toward a destination.

In a scene reminiscent of the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea, a throng of modern Israelites will traverse a large body of water, coming out of the north countries and heading toward the south, their objective being a new city called Zion, or the New Jerusalem, on the American Continent. There they will be welcomed by another group of Israelites, specifically those who are descendants of the tribe of Ephraim.

Surely these will be important events, involving unusual conditions and circumstances. Also, the description of the tribes' return hints at how they vanished from Arzareth. The conditions of their disappearance, in other words, might well have been similar to those predicted for their return, including the features of rock, ice, and water, along with an unusual highway or passageway.

But one thing appears certain, according to the Apocryphal account in what is called 2nd Esdras, and that is that as the tribes originally began the journey from Assyria to Arzareth, there was a supernatural occurrence as they prepared to cross the Euphrates River. "For at that time, the Most High performed signs for them and stopped the channels of the river until they had passed over." From the beginning, there were extraordinary circumstances, especially eighteen months later when they reached a preliminary destination and embarkation point. The implication is that it was here they experienced a supernatural phenomenon which enabled them to enter a new area within the confines of the earth, conditions being comparable once again to those their descendants would encounter many centuries in the future.

At a place possibly in the planet's mantle, therefore, at a reasonable distance below the crust and far from any molten core or interior, the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel might be living as a nation. In the same way that a population of 125 million is able to subsist on 146,000 square miles in present-day Japan after thousands of years of history, so a comparable or lesser number of people might well be living on the same amount of territory in some other part of the earth's structure.

There will always be a problem of light and energy, of course, how it originates and in what way it occurs, yet this is where God is involved. Beyond any conjecture and speculation, he is the one who knows the solution of things and in due time will reveal an answer!

(5) One of the questions concerning a flooding of the earth, namely that which took place during the Creation, the great Flood, and possibly the days of Peleg, pertains to the existence of large amounts of subterranean water. Whether geologists and earth scientists agree with this type of thing is questionable, at least in regard to the huge quantities that are suggested.

If the earth at the time of Creation was flooded and completely inundated, for example, and then enough water drawn off to create land surfaces, the amount of water receding must have been comparable to an underground sea or ocean. This suggests that in the very beginning, before the earth ever had a liquid surface, a gigantic volume of water existed in subterranean reservoirs.

In connection with such an idea, it is interesting to note a commentary by Robert Davidson, at one time an instructor in Old Testament Language and Literature at the University of Glasgow. While discussing the third day of Creation, he refers to Psalms 24:2 as it is translated in the New English Bible. This scripture, describing God creating the earth, is stated very briefly as follows:

"For it was he who founded it upon the seas

And planted it firm upon the waters beneath."

The King James Version of the Bible gives a similar description of the same verse:

"For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods."

The commentary by Robert Davidson then follows: "From other Old Testament passages," he says, "it is clear that the earth is regarded as a solid disk founded upon the subterranean waters which surface in the seas." This kind of interpretation in The Cambridge Bible Commentary, Genesis l-II, representing how people in antiquity sometimes viewed the makeup of the earth, might be very different from any modern view, yet ironically it is suggestive of how things might actually be, at least to a certain extent. Possibly it is one of those times when ancient culture, as well as mythology, sheds important light upon the truth.

If the waters during Creation were gathered together into one place, for example, as stated in the Bible, and then engineered into some other area of the earth where they had been located earlier, it implies that the planet's surface was originally undermined by huge seas and oceans. And when the time comes for mammoth deluges to occur, not only the one in the beginning but those also during the times of Noah and Peleg, the subterranean areas, in some way, release an incredible amount of water which eventually returns to its source when the floods are completed.

As a note of interest, how much could the ocean level rise during 40 days of continuous rain? The record for the greatest 24-hour rainfall is held by Foc-Foc, Réunion Island, where 71.8 inches of rain fell during the passage of Tropical Cyclone Denise in 1966, according to Guinness World Records.

Hypothetically speaking, given a cyclone rate of 71.8 inches per day, it would need to rain continuously for 404 days to overtake Mount Everest. Maybe a bit less if you factor in that 29% of the Earth's surface is currently covered by land. Yet the ark floated for about a year so that the water level could subside enough to expose land. The idea that it could rain enough for 40 days to expose land is unrealistic.

A subterranean theory, therefore, especially as it relates to the great Flood and Creation, as well as the biblical fountains of the deep, exists as a possible and logical point of view as to how gigantic floods originate. Definitely, it is compatible with the ideas expressed in the story A Light Beyond the Mountains, yet like the story itself, there are always those places that are questionable and have to be considered by way of faith as well as intellect. And in the final conclusion of things, that is certainly the sum of the matter.