17.2.4.1. Native American Indians

Although Montezinos claimed to have encountered South American Indians reciting the Shema (Deu. Deu. 6:4), others speculated whether the North American Indians might be the offspring of the lost tribes:

The tribe of Gad are the Native American Indians found on reservations throughout America. Genesis Gen. 49:19 - ‘Gad, a troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at the last.’ The troop that overcame Gad was General Armstrong Custer and the 10th U.S. Cavalry. They defeated the Sioux Indians at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. Chief Sitting Bull surrendered during the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1891. [Notice that Reubenites NEVER surrendered]. This is when they began to be pushed onto reservations.¹

Missionaries, such as John Eliot, who worked among the Indians of North America sought for evidence of their connection with the Hebrews.² Numerous ‘artifacts’ have been claimed to support a connection, but none have withstood careful scrutiny. One such example is the Bat Creek Stone which, so it is claimed, contains a “Paleo-Hebrew” inscription referring to Judea. Although there are numerous problems with this claim, such artifacts are of particular interest to Mormons who desperately seek early American artifacts which would corroborate the record of the Book of Mormon.³

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Notes

¹ It is difficult to imagine a more far-fetched interpretation of prophecy than this! [www.usd.edu/anth/cultarch/ltribes.html].

² “John Eliot, known as the ‘Apostle to the Indians,’ joined others in speculating about the connection between the American tribes and Israel’s ten lost tribes.”—H M Conn, “Missions, Evangelical Foreign,” in Daniel G. Reid, Robert Dean Linder, Bruce L. Shelly, and Harry S. Stout, eds., Dictionary of Christianity in America (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity, 1997, c1990), s.v. “Missions, Evangelical Foreign.”

³ See [www.econ.ohio-state.edu/jhm/arch/batcrk.html], [www.lds-mormon.com/batcreek.shtml], [www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/2712/Batcreek.html].