This is my one hundred and eighty-third monthly teaching letter and continues my sixteenth year of publication. Since WTL #137, I have been continuing a series entitled The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, and have been expanding on its seven stages ever since: (1) the courtship, (2) the marriage, (3) the honeymoon, (4) the estrangement, (5) the divorce, (6) the reconciliation, and (7) the remarriage.

THE GREATEST LOVE STORY EVER TOLD, Part 42:

THE ESTRANGEMENT (of Benjamin) continued:

With my last few lessons pertaining to the tribe of Benjamin, it has been my objective to verify that our Almighty Yahweh married all the twelve tribes of Israel, and because of the disobedience of all the twelve tribes, it was necessary to divorce all twelve tribes, and put them away in punishment for seven times (2520 years, Lev. 26: 15-19):

“¹⁵ And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: ¹⁶ I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. ¹⁷ And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. ¹⁸ And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. ¹⁹ And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass ....”

A good example to show the sin of adultery that had brought all of this on the twelve tribes of Israel, is found at Ezra 9:1-3, 6-10:

“¹ Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. ² For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. ³ And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied ... ⁶ And said, O my Elohim, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my Elohim: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. ⁷ Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. ⁸ And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from Yahweh our Elohim, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. ⁹ For we were bondmen; yet our Elohim hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our Elohim, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. ¹⁰ And now, O our Elohim, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments, ¹¹ Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.”

From his booklet End Time Revelation, William V. Fowler states:

“Going back to God’s warning of the seven times punishment to be meted out to Israel if she persisted in her sinful ways, it is logical to assume that the starting date of that punishment period would start from the date of the removal of Israel from her homeland in Palestine.

“A study of the dates of the various tribes being taken into captivity will show that they were not all taken captive at one time. In fact, many years were recorded between their captivities and thus the punishment period of 2520 years would start and end at different times for the various tribes of Israel. Now by adding 2520 years to the starting date of each of the tribes of Israel going into captivity, one comes to the date of the founding of an Anglo-Saxon Scandinavian-Germanic-Celtic nation, into an independent nation. In the case of Ephraim, it was the founding of the empire, (Commonwealth), (England-Scotland-Ireland). With the rest of the nations, it was either the ratification or election of a new constitution, destroying monarchical systems, or by a treaty leading to a constitution.

“Biblical chronological research, together with a study of the background of the nations aforementioned, reveals the startling new yet not so new revelation that the tribes of Israel, the seed of Abraham, did become nations as prophesied by God’s Covenant to Abraham. The nations of Israel stand revealed as becoming the following nations of today:

See chart below

 

Date of captivity		Date came out
Manasseh (Gemini)	732 B.C.	1789	UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (Election & Ratification of Constitution
Zebulun (Cancer)	730 B.C.	1791	France (New Constitution)
Ephraim (Gemini)	721 B.C.	1800	Great Britain (United Kingdom of)
Issachar (Aquarius)	712 B.C.	1809	Finland (New Constitution)
Asher (Libra)	712 B.C.	1809	Sweden (New Constitution)
Gad (Sagittarius)	712 B.C.	1809	Italy (Overthrow of Papal Govern- ment)
Simeon (Aries)	709 B.C.	1812	Spain (New Constitution)
Naphtali (Capricorn)	707 B.C.	1814	Norway (New Constitution)
Reuben (Taurus)	707 B.C.	1814	Holland (New Constitution)
Dan (Scorpio)	707 B.C.	1814	Denmark (Peace Treaty - Peasants became free holders)
Benjamin (Virgo)	603 B.C.	1918	Iceland (Treaty of Independence)
Judah (Leo)	603 B.C.	1918	Germany (Rep. and New Constitu- tion)
Levi (Pisces)

 

[Note by Clifton A. Emahiser: While I agree with much of William V. Fowler’s chart, I cannot vouch for every detail of it. For instance, I have other data that claims the tribe of Zebulun to be Holland rather than France. On the other hand, borders had a way of expanding and decreasing from time to time, so originally France may be correct. Also, people are portable, so a certain geographic area may have represented more than one tribe at various times. Back to Fowler]:

“Through Biblical records and historical records these facts can be pieced together. Egypt dealt Nebuchadnezzar a minor defeat in 601 B.C., however, Nebuchadnezzar still retained control of the land from the Egyptian river unto the river Euphrates. This army, returning from Egypt about 600 B.C., defeated Jehoiakim. We know that for 3 years previously Jehoiakim was a servant of Nebuchadnezzar. (2 Kings 24:1-2) For it is recorded, ‘Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years’. We all realize therefore that Jehoiakim became his servant in 603 B.C., let’s also realize that Jehoiakim did not just lay down and say; here let’s make me your servant. When the Bible says, ‘come up’, it means to lay siege. It is this author’s belief that in 603 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem and surrounding towns. Benjamin fell along with Judah in 603 B.C., and became a slave. Then in 600 B.C. Jehoiakim rebelled and was defeated shortly thereafter.

“If you take the 2520 years time cycle and apply it here, one quickly finds out who Benjamin and Judah became. Exactly 2520 years from 603 B.C. (Benjamin’s captivity date) Iceland took its firststeps towards becoming an independent nation by a Treaty of Independence in 1918 A.D. with Denmark. (Remember you add one and one quarter years conversion factor B.C. to A.D.). Exactly 2520 years from Judah becoming a conquered slave, Germany approved its New Constitution and became a Republic. Germany therefore, is true Judah, and not the Jews.

“Josephus records that there was a large portion of the three southern tribes carried into Babylonian captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar. Seventy years later when Judah was allowed to return to their homeland, although still in subjection, only some forty-two thousand (Neh. 7:66) went back into Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.

“While in Jerusalem a majority of the forty two thousand intermarried with the people of the land, (Cannanites – Babylonians), [sic Babylonians were not all Canaanites, ed.] adopted the Babylonian financial system, political system, and ecclesiastical system ... In marrying the peoples of the land who were the Edomites, [i.e., Idumeans and non-Israelite tribes settled in Samaria ed. CAE], their children took on the dark complexion and features of these people. This was a serious offense of God’s Laws, and Commandments, for Israel was not to intermix or intermarry with the people of other races, and caused this portion of Judah to be branded by the ‘shew of their countenance doeth witness against them’. (Isaiah 3:8-9). This is markedly shown, even today in their descendants, by the Hittite cast, kinky hair and hooked nose. Generally, the Israelites were tall and fair, as we find in the Irish, Scots, German, the pure English and the Norwegians. Also it might be noted that Christ was not of the polluted seed line but of the pure seed. A descendant of David, a son of Judah, he came out of the seed of those that kept their seed line pure, the 7,000 that remained pure in their genealogy and did not mix. (So Jesus Christ was not a Jew or the cursed ones of Israel as the Jews were known ....”

[Note by Clifton A. Emahiser: William V. Fowler was a better than average Israel Identity teacher, though he taught some things I simply cannot accept, but he did exceptionally well on some portions of prophecy. I would rate him about 70%.]

Inasmuch as this series of lessons specifically concerns the tribe of Benjamin, how does Yahweh’s “seven times punishment” include them? It should be noted that the “seven times punishment” is equivalent in prophecy to 2520 calendar years! However, not all of the twelve tribes of Israel were divorced and carried into captivity at the same time, but spanned a period of 129 years to take place between 732 to 603 B.C. Likewise, not all of the twelve tribes of Israel came out of their seven times punishment at the same time but spanned a period of 129 years from 1789 to 1918 A.D. I should emphasize again, there was not a single Israelite tribe that was not divorced and placed in a “seven times punishment”! Psalm 14:1-7 prophesies of it thusly:

“¹ The fool hath said in his heart, There is no Almighty. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. ² Yahweh looked down from heaven upon the children of Adam¹²⁰, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek Elohim. ³ They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. ⁴ Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon Yahweh. ⁵ There were they in great fear: for Elohim is in the generation of the righteous. ⁶ Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because Yahweh is his refuge. ⁷ Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when Yahweh bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.”

Paul quotes part of the above passage at Romans 3:10-12, 23:

“¹⁰ As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: ¹¹ There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after Yahweh. ¹² They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. ... ²³ For all [twelve tribes of Israel] have sinned, and come short of the glory of Yahweh ...” So it should be quite clear, all the twelve tribes of Israel, the ‘Cinderella bride and wife’, were unfaithful to her Husband, Yahweh! What it amounts to is: We who are Israelites living today were all divorced from Yahweh before we were ever born! Not only that, but we were purchased back by Yahweh in the Flesh, as Yahshua, before we were ever born! And we have no other choice in the matter than to be thankful and accept His Precious Free Gift!

When are we ever going to learn we are already bought and paid for? Here is 1 Cor. 6:18-20, amplified:

“¹⁸ Flee fornication [i.e., miscegenation]. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication [i.e., miscegenation] sinneth against his own body. ¹⁹ What? know ye not that your body is the temple of [Yahweh’s] Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of Yahweh, and ye are not your own? ²⁰ For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify Yahweh in your body, and in your spirit, which are Yahweh’s.

William Finck in his Christogenea New Testament translates this passage as follows:

“¹⁸ Flee fornication. Every error which perhaps a man may make is outside of the body, but he committing fornication, for his own body he fails. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit in you? Which you have from Yahweh, and you are not your own? ²⁰ Indeed you have been purchased for a price; so then you honor Yahweh in your body.”

AMAZING ACCURACY OF PROPHECY FULFILLMENT

ADDS TO ONE’S FAITH

Referring to William V. Fowler’s chart, it is simply uncanny how each individual tribe of Israel served their allotted “seven times punishment” (2520 years), perfectly on schedule from beginning to end. The odds of just one tribe of Israel fulfilling their punishment perfectly on schedule is beyond comprehension, let alone all the other eleven tribes of Israel doing likewise. The odds of such a multiplicity of events happening by chance must be at least a trillion to one! I am sure, once the reader comprehends and proves this fact for himself that his mind will be thunderstruck for some time to come!

But these multiple events are not the only amazing prophecy fulfilling incidents that are revealed in these staggered“seven times punishment” periods of the twelve tribes! If one will peruse William V. Fowler’s chart closely, he will notice how, at the close of each staggered “seven times punishment” period, each particular Israelite tribe changed their form of government from the traditional king to some other form of government. This again is amazingly uncanny. However, with this lesson, we are particularly interested in the Tribe of Benjamin.

It all goes back to Israel’s early history in the promised land of Canaan. After the twelve tribes of Israel had fled Egypt, Yahweh had taken them as His Cinderella bride at Mt. Sinai. Then, failing to invade and conquer the Canaanite tribes of the land of Canaan, they spent a chastisement period in the open desert. After being disciplined for 40 years, with a new generation of Israelites, they entered and conquered much, but not all, of the Promised Land. After a few more generations, the tribes of Israel observed the kings who ruled over the various Canaanite tribes, and envied the Canaanite type of leadership. In doing this, the twelve tribes of Israel rejected the rule of their Husband, Yahweh, for a Canaanite type of kingship. After the twelve tribes of Israel adopted an earthly monarchy, everything was downhill from that point on. What followed was a series of backslidings and revivals of the twelve tribes for the next approximately 329 years, or until the beginning of the first Assyrian captivity of the ten northern tribes.

The story of the twelve tribes of Israel rejecting their Almighty for an earthly king is recorded at 1 Sam. 8:1-18:

“¹ And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. ² Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba. ³ And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. ⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, ⁵ And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. ⁶ But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto Yahweh. ⁷ And Yahweh said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. ⁸ According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. ⁹ Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. ¹⁰ And Samuel told all the words of Yahweh unto the people that asked of him a king. ¹¹ And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. ¹² And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. ¹³ And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. ¹⁴ And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. ¹⁶ And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. ¹⁷ He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. ¹⁸ And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and Yahweh will not hear you in that day ....”

Thus, we Israelites were warned ahead of time what would be the negative outcome if we continued to demand a Canaanite type of king, even though chosen from among our Israelite brethren. Yahweh so much as told the prophet Samuel, ‘So they say they want a king like the Canaanites? So a Canaanite type of king they will get! And while I am punishing them, they’ll come crying early, but I will not hear them until they have served every last day of their ‘seven times punishment’!’ One by one, over a period of 129 years, all of the twelve tribes (including Benjamin) finished serving their punishment periods by 1918 A.D.; but as each punishment period expired, the converso Edomite-jews were Johnny-on-the-spot to take over where Yahweh’s punishment periods left off! I hope this explanation, with the help of William V. Fowler’s chart, will help the serious Bible student to recognize a few of the mile-markers in our Israelite history as predicted by Yahweh through our prophets, many of which are already fulfilled.

HOWEVER, THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY

We must remember that David’s throne is within the house of David (a separate house within the house of Judah), and was established in perpetuity (i.e., forever). David’s throne did not end with Zedekiah, nor did Yahshua Christ accept the kingship during His sojourn on the earth during His First Advent. Yet, several Biblical passages prove beyond all doubt that Yahweh promised David that he would never want for a man to sit on his throne “for evermore”:

Psalm 89:3-4, 34-37:

“³ I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, ⁴ Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. ... ³⁴ My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. ³⁵ Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. ³⁶ His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. ³⁷ It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.”

2 Samuel 7:12-13, 16:

“¹² And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.... ¹⁶ And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.”

1 Samuel 8:23-25:

“²³ And he said, Yahweh Elohim of Israel, there is no Mighty One like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart: ²⁴ Who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him: thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day. ²⁵ Therefore now, Yahweh Elohim of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me.”

2 Chronicles 13:5:

“Ought ye not to know that Yahweh Elohim of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?”

2 Chronicles 21:7:

“Howbeit Yahweh would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever.”

Jeremiah 33:20-21, 25-26:

“²⁰ Thus saith Yahweh; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; ²¹ Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers ... ²⁵ Thus saith Yahweh; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; ²⁶ Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.”

Psalm 132:10-12:

“¹⁰ For thy servant David’s sake turn not away the face of thine anointed. ¹¹ Yahweh hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. ¹² If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore.”

From these passages, it should be quite clear there would never come a lapse of time when David wouldn’t have one of his descendants on a throne somewhere in the world ruling over a portion of the twelve tribes of Israel! And that would include the Vikings who were by-and-large representative of the tribe of Benjamin, whether in Iceland or Russia. In other words in 862 A.D., when the Viking families of the Novgorod sent to Scandinavia for a king, they in turn received one named “Rurik”, surely a Judahite descendant of the house of David. Here below is documentation from my The Problems With Ezekiel 38 & 39:

“The ninth chapter of the work of the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus on the administration of the Eastern Empire, written about the year 950, is entitled About the Rhôs who came from Russia to Constantinople with their boats. These boats, the Emperor tells us – canoes, indeed, they might be translated, the Greek word employed meaning “made out of a trunk” – started from outer Russia, assembling below Kiev, in order to pass in company that long series of rapids which the Dnieper forms for a distance of fifty miles. The imperial author gives the name of these rapids both in ‘Sclavonic’ (Slavonic) and in ‘Russian.’ The Russian words are pure Scandinavian. Not only this, but all the members of the Russian royal family (of the House of Rurik), as well as of the Russian noblemen or private persons who are mentioned in the early chronicles, have pure Scandinavian names. Rurik and his fellows were as much ‘Northmen’ as those who forced their way into the British Isles – the ‘Rus’ were undoubtedly Norman. At this time, the story is starting to get very interesting. We know that the word ‘Northmen’ refers to Norway. We also know that the people of Norway are from the tribe of Benjamin. We know that the symbol of Benjamin is the Wolf. We have evidence indicating that William the Conqueror was probably of the tribe of Benjamin. The tribe of Benjamin was evidently quite active in Russia as well as in Norway and England. As a matter of fact, these Benjamite Northmen had a big part in breaking down and causing the fall of the Empire of the Khazars of Ashkenazim” (i.e., converso-jews).

I will now take some excerpts from the book The Thireenth Tribe by Arthur Koestler. It is not our object here to get into that subject, but because we want to document the activities of the Benjamite Northmen in the land of Russia, it will help to quote some excerpts from his book, chapter III, “Decline” (meaning the decline of Khazaria). We will pick up his comments on page 85, where he is telling the effects which the Rus (Vikings) were having on the one hand, and the Arabs on the other:

“The potential enemy against whom this impressive fortress was built by a joint Roman-Khazar effort, was those formidable and menacing newcomers on the world scene, whom the West called Vikings or Norsemen, and the East called Rhous or Rhos or Rus.

“Two centuries earlier, the conquering Arabs had advanced on the civilized world in a gigantic pincer movement, its left prong reaching across the Pyrenees, its right prong across the Caucasus. Now, during the Viking Age, history seemed to create a kind of mirror image of that earlier phase. The initial explosion which had triggered off the Muslim wars of conquest took place in the southwest region of the known world, the Arabian desert. The Viking raids and conquests originated in its northernmost region, Scandinavia. The Arabs advanced northward by land, the Norsemen southward by sea and waterways. The Arabs were, at least in theory, conducting a Holy War, the Vikings waged unholy wars of piracy and plunder; but the results, as far as the victims were concerned, were much the same. In neither case have historians been able to provide convincing explanations of the economical, ecological or ideological reasons which transformed these apparently quiescent (dormant) regions of Arabia and Scandinavia quasi-overnight into volcanoes of exuberant vitality and reckless enterprise. Both eruptions spent their force within a couple of centuries but left a permanent mark on the world. Both evolved in this time-span from savagery and destructiveness to splendid cultural achievement.

“About the time when Sarkel was built by joint Byzantine-Khazar efforts in anticipation of attack by the eastern Vikings, their western branch had already penetrated all the major waterways of Europe and conquered half of Ireland. Within the next few decades they colonized Iceland, conquered Normandy, repeatedly sacked Paris, raided Germany, the Rhône delta, the gulf of Genoa, circumnavigated the Iberian peninsula and attacked Constantinople through the Mediterranean and the Dardanelles – simultaneously with a Rus attack down the Dnieper and across the Black Sea. As Toynbee wrote: ‘In the ninth century, which was the century in which the Rhos impinged on the Khazars and the East Romans, the Scandinavians were raiding and conquering and colonizing in an immense arc that eventually extended southwestward ... to North America and southeastward to ... the Caspian Sea.’

“No wonder that a special prayer was inserted in the litanies of the West: A furore Normannorum libera nos Domine. No wonder that Constantinople needed its Khazar allies as a protective shield against the carved dragons on the bows of the Viking ships, as it had needed them a couple of centuries earlier against the green banners of the Prophet. And, as on that earlier occasion, the Khazars were again to bear the brunt of the attack, and eventually to see their capital laid in ruins. Not only Byzantium had reason to be grateful to the Khazars for blocking the advance of the Viking fleets down the great waterways from the north. We have now gained a better understanding of the cryptic passage in Joseph’s letter to Hasdai written a century later: ‘With the help of the Almighty I guard the mouth of the river and do not permit the Rus who come in their ships to invade the land of the Arabs ... I fight heavy wars [with the Rus].’

“The particular brand of Vikings which the Byzantines called ‘Rhos’ were called ‘Varangian’ by the Arab chroniclers. The most probable derivation of ‘Rhos’, according to Toynbee, is ‘from the Swedish word ‘rodher’, meaning ‘rowers’. As for ‘Varangian’, it was used by the Arabs and also the Russian Primary Chronicle to designate Norsemen or Scandinavians; the Baltic was actually called by them ‘the Varangian Sea’. Although this branch of Vikings originated from eastern Sweden, as distinct from the Norwegians and Danes who raided Western Europe, their advance followed the same pattern. It was seasonal; it was based on strategically placed islands which served as strongholds, armouries and supply bases for attacks on the mainland; and its nature evolved, where conditions were favourable, from predatory raids and forced commerce to more or less permanent settlements and ultimately, amalgamation with the conquered native populations ....” I would disagree with Arthur Koestler! The Vikings DIDN’T amalgamate with native populations at that time!