JAPAN IN HISTORY AND PROPHECY

Japan has been one of the great economic success stories of the twentieth century. Japan has transformed itself from national defeat in 1945 into the second largest economy in the world. In fact, 'for a fleeting moment on April 10, 1995, in as brief a time as it takes for the latest value of a country's currency to flash up on the screens of global currency traders, the Japanese economy did become the largest in the world.'1 But this success story has not come without a price.

This article looks briefly at the Japanese success story, its soon-coming militarism, which will adversely effect the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic nations of the Pacific Ocean region, and its eventual peaceful and prosperous future from a Biblical perspective.

A KEY TO SUCCESS

One major factor for the success of the Japanese, virtually unknown to them and the world at large, can be found in Genesis 9:27, which reads:

God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem and Canaan shall be his servants. (AV)

Here we have a dual prophecy - a literal and a figurative fulfilment. The figurative interpretation, a subject of this article, where the "he" refers to Japheth, contains the future working relationship of nations. [In the primary interpretation "he" refers to God] .

When Japheth figuratively "dwells" or "tabernacles" in the tents of Shem (which include modern-day 'western' nations such as Great Britain, The United States and Germany) they will have an environment in which to become prosperous.

The Japanese, a Japhetic people as we will see later, are known for their eagerness to learn, their capacity to adapt, their discipline and their frugality. These attributes, which are needed to succeed, will not necessarily guarantee success. Success also depends on a conducive environment for development and world trade.

Shoaib Raza Naqvi, writing in the Asian Wall Street Journal, of November 8, 1995 concurs: "While most of the credit for Asian development rests squarely with Asians themselves, it is also irrefutable that no progress would have been possible without the intellectual framework and institutional infrastructure imported en masse from the West over the past century."

Paul Kennedy, in Preparing for the Twenty-first Century noted that: 'they [the Asians] benefited from an open international trading order, created and protected by the United States.'2

"Dwelling" under the Shemitic umbrella Japan has had access to the base technologies and inventions of the West. Japan has been able to utilise and build upon these inventions contributing to the overall good of the world economy. Yet the West still provides the overall direction in technology. Alvin Toffler, in Powershift, noted that:

...the world's scientific-technological marathon is only starting, and Japan's general technological base still lags. Japan even now spends 3.3 times more money for royalties, patents, and licenses for foreign technology than it takes from the sale of its own. Sixty percent of that is paid to the United States... But in the most important
power competition - the generation and diffusion of ideas, information, imagery, and knowledge - they still lag behind the United States.3
Paul Kennedy also noted that 'Japanese universities and colleges have hitherto not done well in creative research; as of 1987, Japanese had won only four Nobel prizes in science compared with 142 for the United States.'4

But there is more to the Nobel story:

"By their own admission, the Japanese are better imitators than innovators, but they have shown themselves to be as creative as the best when working abroad. Four of the five Nobel prizes were won by Japanese scientists doing the research in the United States or Europe" (Economist, Survey: Innovation, February 22, 1999, p.23) .

We can, therefore, note that races and nations have certain strengths and weaknesses. From this we can draw the conclusion that certain roles are required for races and nations to "dwell" together in harmony. Just as husbands and wives have certain defined roles to make a marriage relationship work so have races and nations. The nuclear human family - father, mother and children - is the antitype of the family of races.

We are all 'one' in God's sight (cp. Galatians 3:28), but we are not 'one' in role. God has determined certain roles for nations and races so that they can live side by side for the overall benefit and glory of mankind. [Note: Future Watch does not believe in multiculturalism - there will be a major backlash against the elites who have foisted this false ideology on society. Unfortunately, for them, ethnic minorities in their adopted countries will bear part of the brunt of this backlash].

NEW WORLD ORDER

The world that we have known for the last 50 years basically reflects the conditions and institutions resulting from the Allied victory in World War II. The present political and economic framework has reached its use-by-date. A re-ordering of global society is required to take the world into the 21st century. Alan S Blinder concurs in the economic arena:

The economic conflagrations that lit up the world throughout the last half decade sent a very clear message: There are fatal flaws in the global financial architecture. The Bretton Woods system [1944] was designed for a very different world. The IMF, part schoolmarm and part firefighter no longer plays either role well. Too often, it ignores the real victims and makes crises worse. The system must be redrawn to stabilize markets and head off panics... (Eight Steps to a New Financial Order, Foreign Affairs, September/October 1999, Essays).

We are nearly at the end of the economic cycle of this unique period in history. The present dysfunctional economic relationship between frugal Japan and profligate USA, which is keeping the world system afloat, is about to breakdown. Japan and the US are pursuing economic policies which are unsustainable. Both countries have enormous debt burdens. What is not generally known is that Japan is saddled assive debt burden as a result of the recklessness of the bubble economy of the 1980s. It is the debt burden of Japan, the USA and the rest of the world which will ultimately bring down the present world economic system.

The Bible contains basic laws for the proper management of an economy. Short-term debts were to be cancelled every seven years (Deuteronomy 15:1-11) and long-term debt every 50 years (Leviticus 25:8-17). This was not to be a "boom and bust" economy. It appears that since these laws are not observed, man experiences major depressions every 50 or so years preceded by speculative 'bubbles'. When we look at probably the two most famous bubble preceding depressions England's South Sea Bubble in the 18th century and the US's real estate and stock market speculation of the 1920s will the Japanese and American debt bubbles of the 1980s and 1990s respectively be any different? (Japan has only experienced the very mild first stage of its deflating bubble). It is the contention of Future Watch that despite man's best efforts to postpone, wittingly or unwittingly, the consequences of his own actions, the breaking of these debt laws will eventually take its toll. A major stock market crash in the US will usher in depressing economic times which will lead to a new world system.

JAPAN'S FUTURE

Dwelling in the tents of Shem can have either good or bad results. Japan, who dwelt in the tents of Shemitic USA after WW2 will, after the coming economic problems, dwell in another. The Japanese, some of whom 'still imagine themselves as a sort of Asian herrenvolk',5 will be allied with the soon coming German-dominated-European superpower. Germany, the most militaristic Shemite nation in world history, in league with Japan is a recipe for disaster. [Future Watch believes that today's Germans are the descendants of the ancient Assyrians - a future booklet will attempt to prove this].

The 120 million people of that East Asian archipelago are know today as the Japanese. But the Bible does not refer to them by this name. The Bible employs are different form of designation - metonymy. J.Barton Payne explains:

Metonymy identifies the interchange of one noun for another because of an inherent relationship between the two... A pervasive sort of prophetic metonymy occurs early in Scripture in the patriarchal blessings, in which these heroes of Genesis speak repeatedly of the later tribes and nations that will be descendant from them in terms of their individual children at the time: see 9:25-27... (Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, p.19).

Barton Payne also gives the example of Genesis 49:1 which reads:

And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the 'last days'...

Therefore the Bible refers to a people called Tarshish, that is the descendants of that Tarshish mentioned in Genesis 10:4, playing a considerable role in 'end-time' events. Who are these people and what is their future?

TWO TARSHISHS' BY PETER SALEMI

In the ancient world there appears to be two Tarshishs'. One in Spain, and one in the east, identified as Japan.

In Spain, "...these fleets of Tarshish were Semitic/Phoenician in Nature" (Lost Ten Tribes...Found, Collins, p.79). So this Tarshish in western Spain cannaot mean the Japthetic Tarshish of Genesis 10:4. And "...in the word Tharshish indentifies this navy with one of the clans of the Israelite tribe of Benjamin, which was named 'Tharshish' (1 Chronicles 7:10)...Dr. Barry Fell observed that the language of Tartessus/Tarshish in ancient Spain was 'no more than a dialectal variant of Phoenician" (ibid, p.79). So the Tarshish in the west in Spain were the Israelites, primarily of the Tribe of Benjamin.

But it appears that the Biblical references concerning the 'ships of Tarshish'   They went to a far eastern place called Tarshish, whose father was called "Javan" i.e. "Japan." (Gen 10:4).

Looking at 1 Kings 10:22, 2 Chronicles 9:21, and 2 Chronicles 20:36 we can reasonably conclude that Solomon had a navy whose home port was Ezion-Geber on the north shore of the Gulf of Aqabah, which provided commercial access into the Red Sea, that his ships went to Tarshish, and that every three years this navy returned to Israel with "gold and silver, ivory and apes, and peacocks." It does not take three years to sail from Palestine to Spain. This had to be another far away place called "Tarshish."

The Jewish general and historian Josephus confirms that Solomon had many ships that lay upon the Sea of Tarsus which carried all sorts of merchandise into the remotest nations, and that these goods were sold for gold, silver, ivory, Ethiopians, and apes; and that the returned journey took three years.7

There are a number of things to consider:

Firstly, it appears that 'Tarshish' refers to a geographical location and a type of ship (cp, Isaiah 2:16, the primary interpretation of the latter case); A nineteenth century example is the "East Indiaman...<a>...large sailing vessel built for the trade between Europe and southern Asia" (Encyclopedia Britannica, CD '99, East Indiaman).

Secondly, Tarshish appears to be a place of gold and silver;

Thirdly, it would seem to be impractical and uneconomical to sail from Ezion-Geber, around Africa to a 'western' Tarshish close to the Mediterranean and return by the same route. It would be more expedient to make the around trip and dock in Tyre, if it indeed followed this route;

Fourthly, the Hebrew for 'apes' and 'peacocks' are foreign loan words. Bullinger noted that 'the Hebrew for these are Indian words (Tamil)'.8 It may have been more likely to obtain apes and peacocks from India than via Africa or Spain, though not necessarily;

Fifthly, if Tarshish was one of the 'remotest nations', and that the ships had to be specially commissioned for the journey, it would seem to imply that Tarshish was not necessarily on a regular sea/trade route. When Jonah departed for 'western' Tarshish it seems that he did not have too much difficulty in procuring a passage on a merchant vessel; and

Sixthly, it appears that the specific ships of and for Tarshish were large merchant vessels designed to carry ore and other types of cargo and capable of travelling very long distances.

And who are the Japanese?

The Jesuit and Spanish writer Colin, one of the pioneers in the Philippine missions, considered that:

"...the principle settler of these archipelagoes was Tharsis, son of Japheth together with his brothers, as were Ophir and Hevilath of India.17

The Spaniard Fray Gasper de San Agustin, who had spent forty years among the Filipinos, in a letter to a friend in Espana, who had asked him about the nature and characteristics of the Indian natives of the Philippine Islands, noted as an aside that 'the Japanese (who are, as Gracian learnedly remarked, the Spaniards of Asia').18

TRADING-SHIPS IN HISTORY

It is known, from paintings and texts, that early Phoenician "vessels were built with a keel and had a fence-like structure along the deck, which some believe acted as a lee cloth, while others believe that it barricaded the cargo. A document from Ras Shamra, c. 1200 BC, refers to one of these merchantmen as
having a cargo of 457,000 kg (450 tonnes) with no indication that it was all unusual. Such a vessel had to rely on sail power and could be rowed only for brief periods in an emergency."9

Considering that these voyages possibly lasted three years, it would be safe to say, that these ships took around eighteen months at the maximum to go to the farthest place. To which 'remote' lands, then, could these ships have gone?

Marco Polo's travels provide a possible answer. Fourteenth century travellers confirmed many of Marco Polo's details. Ibn Batuta noted that certain of the Chinese ocean-going vessels had crews of a thousand men and a maximum of twelve sails. The oars, required fifteen men each and were pulled by ropes.10 The Chinese ships would most likely have had similar ranges and speeds as the Phoenician vessels.

In Marco Polo's return journey to Venice, the voyage from the port of Zayton in China to the Persian Gulf appears to have taken twenty-one months. Many writers believe that this is too long and that the Polo party spent five months on the island of Summatra. They draw this conclusion from an early reference to Summatra, which could be applied to either Marco's earlier journey to India or to the journey home. "Romantic literature often pays little heed to correct chronology, and the players concerned are scattered willy-nilly in the adventurous texts", (so ce Gardner). It appears that they had disasters on their journey home as only a small number of the large party that had set out from China, made it to their destination. If this hypothesis is correct, the journey would have taken 16 months. This seems too long as well. Marco Polo had made an earlier reference that a journey of 1500 miles would take two months. When we look at the distance from the Persian Gulf to China twelve months would be more than adequate for the journey.

It would not be unreasonable to say, if we take into consideration the monsoons, pirates, variation in wind strengths, the extra distance involved, trading of goods, and the time frame, that a journey from Ezion-Geber to Japan and back was a possibility for the ships of Solomon.

JAPAN A LAND OF GOLD AND SILVER

Marco Polo gave an account of an island, named Zipangu (Cipango), off the coast of China, which was a land of gold and riches. Was there some truth in his report?

When the Spaniards encountered the Japanese some three hundred years later, Japan was experiencing 'an age of gold and silver.'11 The Cambridge History of Japan noted of this time:

In sixteenth-century Japan, the production of gold and particularly silver grew so significantly that it left a mark on world economic history. Indeed, Japan may have accounted for as much as one-third of the world's silver output at the end of the sixteenth century and beginning of the seventeenth century.12 (cp. Jeremiah 10:9)

The warlords of this period encouraged gold and silver mining as a source of funds, leading to the discovery and development of many more mines. Most of the daimyos held large stocks of gold and silver bullion and gold dust. Nobunaga, (1534-82, the 'Japanese Attila'), and Hideyoshi (1535-98, a brilliant commander and statesman), both had great reserves of bullion collected in their castles and used gold freely and ostentatiously to impress the world with their magnificence.13

The International Bible Encyclopedia noted that the Hebrew tarsis was 'possibly a t-formation word from a root rss meaning "melt", "refine" or "brightness".14 Spain and Japan in their secular histories have been places of smelting and refining.

JAPAN IN PROPHECY

The characteristics of ships, gold and silver distinguish Biblical Tarshish. The history of  Japan in secular sources show that it has been a land  of gold and silver, and that it has stood out as naval power of the 20th century. It is possible therefore to conclude that  Japan is the location for Tarshish.

Using the argument that Japan is the 'eastern' branch of Tarshish, we can now look briefly at the Scriptures referring to Japan in the 'end time'.

There is bewailing in Ezekiel's lamentation over the fall of Tyre (Ezekiel 27). And God describes "Ephraim, [House of Israel] as I saw Tyrus," (Hosea 9:13).

In Isaiah 23 we have the "ships of Tarshish" howling. [Isaiah 23 is a telescopic prophecy with a near-future and far-future fulfilments and we are alerted to the fact in that verses 16-18 have yet to be antitypically fulfilled]. Why are they wailing? Japan is lamenting over the economic collapse of modern-Tyre - the greatest trading partner that Japan ever had, The United States of America, i.e the modern day House of Israel! Notice also verses 2 and 6 that God calls Tarshish the "inhabitants of the isle." The Japanese dwell on the island of Japan!

Notice in Ezekiel 38:13 the "merchants of Tarshish" and her "young lions" who men call "young tigers," who are the Phillipines, Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand, who are modelled after the Japanese, and why they are called "young tigers" or "lions," say to the invaders of Israel: "Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?" There saying to the invaders of Israel that you took our greatest trading partners and destroyed them. This is why the ships of Tarshish are howling, because of the destruction of their greatest trading partners the U.S.A, and her allies!


Thankfully God has set limits on this time of trouble. At the end of this time of national punishment of the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic and kindred peoples God will humble Japan and the nations and bring them to repentance (Isa 2:12, 16-17) :-

For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: ... and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of the man shall be bowed down, and the htiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

[In verse 16 'ships of Tarshish' refers primarily, which is the general sense, to magnificent merchant ships and the "pleasant pictures", to complete the parallelism of the context, refers to a particular category of their cargo. F. Delitzsch opinions: "Possibly, however, there is a more especial reference to curiosities of art and nature, which were brought by the trading vessels from foreign lands" (Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Isaiah, p.81); see quote in 'extra notes'].

In a secondarily application of this verse, as an allusion, 'the ships of Tarshish' would then be considered a synecdoche, where the part is put for the whole, where they represent all merchant ships so that, in a specific sense, 'the ships of Tarshish' would then be Japanese merchant ships. See end-notes.

Tarshish will then be in the forefront in bringing the captives/remnant of modern-Jacob back to the land of Israel:

"Surely the isles shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, the silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee" (Isaiah 60:9).

[The Anglo-Saxon-Celtic peoples will once again be the leading peoples of the world, never again to fall. The period of Pax Britannica and Pax Americana, for all its imperfections and faults is a type of the greater antitype in the World Tomorrow under God - where they will be a godly blessing to all of mankind - see the telescoping prophetic intent of Micah 5].

Japan will also learn to serve God:

The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him (Psalms 72:10-11). Notice that Tarshish is in the "Isles." Isands of Japan.

Why will the Japanese, when they come to know God, serve Him so readily? Once again their national character provides the answer.

Firstly, religious activities, as previously mentioned, loom large in Japanese life. Fondness of "pilgrimages to traditional holy sites"26 will be a benefit in the future (Zechariah 14:16). Secondly, 'Japan swings with astonishing promptness from enmity and self-assertion to friendship, conciliation, submissiveness, whenever she bites on granite,'27 (cp. Dan.2:33,44). Thirdly, and more importantly, has been the Japanese 'desire to adopt useful features of a higher civilization,'28 (Isa.2:2,3)

Japan/Tarshish is going to learn how 'useful' and beneficial it is, and ultimately for all mankind, to dwell peacefully in the tents of Shem. They will live in their own land under the figurative umbrella of the Shemitic nations.

Extra Notes

Extra note: Ships of Tarshish :-

* Today the ships built by Tarshish/Japan comprise a major percentage of the world's fleet. Richard Walker in his book Japan, published in 1992 wrote:

About half of all ships built throughout the world are made in Japan, which is now the world's biggest shipbuilding country. It has held this position for around 30 years... Recent years, however, have seen the rise of strong competition from other countries, especially South Korea.

Japan and South Korea now compete for the top spot where over the last decade they have each produced around 30% of world production.

* The Biblical portrayal of Israel and the Phoenicians as the builders of 'ships of Tarshish' does not necessarily contradict the far-future application of these shipbuilders.

* "These ships symbolized wealth and power. A vivid picture of the day of divine judgment was to portray the destruction of these large ships in that day (Psalm. 48:7; Isaiah. 2:16; 23:1,14). The fact that Isaiah 2:16 compares the ships of Tarshish with 'the pleasant places' (RSV 'beautiful craft') suggest whatever the original identification of Tarshish may have been, it became in literature and in the popular imagination a distant paradise from which all kinds of luxuries might be brought to such areas as Phoenicia and Israel" (J. A. Thomson, Tarshish, 'New Bible Dictionary', 2nd Edition, (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1985). Today it is Japanese cars and electronic goods that are much sort after.

Extra note: General and specific interpretations :-

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from Me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled (Hosea 5:3).

The first part of this verse is a synonymous parallelism, [that is, where the phrases are parallel in thought], where Ephraim, the leading tribe of the northern house of Israel is used as a synecdoche for the whole northern nation. But the second part of the verse has a dual interpretation.

'Ephraim' in Hosea 5:3b may also be taken in a general sense to be in a synonymous parallelism with 'Israel' referring to the whole northern-nation. But it may also refer in a specific sense only to the tribe of Ephraim. This would then concur with Hosea 5:5 where Ephraim is distinguished from Israel, implying that they are the tribe most responsible for the idolatry of the nation as Lean J. Wood comments:

The Bethel altar was in Ephraim, the centre of a religion not only corrupt but corrupting all Israel, also (Hosea, Expositor's Bible Commentary, p.190).

Extra note: Genesis 9:27 a key to understanding modern geo-politics? :-

The leading peoples of continental Europe are the two Caucasian-type Japhetic peoples of Russia and France along with the Shemitic peoples of Germany. The geo-political interaction of these people with the British and Americans, as these nations have vied for world leader over the last two hundred years or so, has revolved around the prophecy of Genesis 9:25-27.

[The Dodanim, the descendants of Javan, a son of Japheth, appear to be the central French who comprise the majority stock and so Future Watch refers to the French as Japhetic; while Meshech, another son of Japheth, is the father of the Great Russians ].

God intended Israel - mainly through the British and Americans - to be the main-holder of the Shemitic umbrella over the nations of the world.

When the British put out their hand to hold that umbrella it was the Japhetic French that confronted them not wanting to dwell peacefully in the tents of Shem. In the transition between Pax Britannica and Pax Americana the Germans tried to take hold of the umbrella. With the USA taking hold of it was the Japhetic Russians that challenged them.

In the near-future Germany in an alliance with France, and with them most likely having a non-aggression pact with Russia, will take hold of the umbrella of world dominance and destroy the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic and kindred peoples.

* It is interesting that the Shemitic-Germanic Franks were instrumental in laying the foundation of France and that it was most likely the Shemitic-Vikings did the same for Russia.

The Encyclopedia Britannica records that the Franks "established the most powerful Christian kingdom of early medieval western Europe. The name France (Francia) is derived from their name" (EB, Frank).

The two ruling Frankish families were the Merovingian Dynasty followed by the Carolingian Dynasty. The Merovingian dynasty is "traditionally reckoned as the "first race" of the Kings of France" (EB, Merovingian Dynasty). The Merovingian Clovis I converted to Catholicism, encouraged by his wife Clotilda, the granddaughter of the king of Burgundy, and "ensured the triumph in Gaul of Roman Christianity over paganism and Arianism..." (EB, French History: Merovingian and Carolingian age).

Clovis established a "huge 'Merovingian' realm stretching from the Pyrenees to Bavaria... He died in his new capital Paris, after a reign of thirty years. Without knowing it, he had founded what Lavisse called 'not a nation, but a historical force' - a force which was destined to give rise both to France and to the German Empire" (Norman Davies, Europe: A History, p.234).

The Carolingian dynasty was named after Charles the Great who is also known as Charlemagne. His impact was such that "throughout medieval Europe, the person of Charles was considered the prototype of a Christian king and emperor" (EB, Charlemagne). The French claim him as an illustrious forebear. Friedrich Heer puts into perspective "the old claim of the French kings to be the true successors of Charles the Great". He says that "the 'true Franks' are not the 'German Franks' but the French. German princes became Franks <that is, Frenchmen> in virtue of their coronation in Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), Charles' seat, or in Frankfort, Charles' city" (The Holy Roman Empire, p.7).

Charlemagne's "empire disintegrated by the mid-9th century. In succeeding centuries the people of the west Frankish kingdom (France) continued to call themselves Franks, although the Frankish element merged with the older population" (EB, Frank).

A similar pattern may be seen in Russian history. The Rus were "an ancient people who gave their name to the land of Russia. Their origin and identity are much in dispute. Traditional Western scholars believe them to be Scandinavian Vikings, an offshoot of the Varangians, who moved southward from the Baltic coast and founded the first consolidated state among the eastern Slavs, centred on Kiev" (EB, Ros).

The EB points out that Rurik was "the semilegendary founder of the Rurik dynasty of Kievan Rus". It records that "Rurik was a Viking, or Varangian prince. His story is told in the Russian Primary Chronicle (an account written in the 12th century and covering the period 852 to 110, (EB, Rus)) but is not accepted at face value by modern historians" (EB, Rurik). The EB also records: "Rurik dynasty, princes of Kievan Rus and, later, Muscovy who, according to tradition, were descendants of the Varangian prince Rurik, who had been invited by the people of Novgorod to rule that city (c. 862); the Rurik princes maintained their control over Kievan Rus and, later Muscovy until 1598" (EB, Rurik Dynasty).

Vladimir I (b.c.956 - d. July 15, 1015) of the Rurik dynasty "consolidated the provinces of Kiev and Novgorod in a single state" (EB, Vladmir I). Vladimir married Anne sister of the Byzantium Emperor and became a Christian. His Byzantium baptism "was followed by the acceptance of Christianity as the state religion" (EB, Russian Orthodox church).

Later "the Muscovites began to call their state by the Greek name for Rus', Rossiya (Russia), and to call themselves Russians. These Muscovite-Russians had never ruled over Kiev; but the disability did not prevent them from regarding Moscow as the sole legitimate heir of Kievan succession... Their tendentious version of history... persisted in confusing Muscovy-Russia with the whole of Rus'..." (Davies, ibid, p.392).

Extra note: Dodanim/Genesis 10

* 'Dodanim' is a plural word, as indicated by the 'im' ending. The Dodanim are listed in the Table of Nations of Genesis 10. C.F. Kiel comments on the choice of designation for "the descendants of the different sons Noah":

"Some are brought down only to the second, others to the third or fourth generation, and some even further; and whilst in several instances the founder of a tribe is named, in others we have only the tribes themselves; and in some cases we are unable to determine whether the names given denote the founder or the tribe" (Keil & Delitsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, "Pentateuch", p.102, (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996)].

© Future Watch Publications, 1997. Update - 1999.

NOTES

1. Richard McGregor, "Japan Swings", Allen & Unwin, quoted by Frank Devine, More scrutable than we think, Weekend Australian, May 18-19, 1996.
2. Paul Kennedy, Preparing for the Twenty-first Century, (London: Fontana Press, 1994) p.199.
3. Alvin Toffler, Powershift, (New York: Bantam Books, 1990), pp.425,428.
4. Kennedy, ibid., p.140.
5. Ben Hills, Behind the lines, (Sydney: Hodder Headline, 1996), p.120.
6. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, Vol.28, p.19.
7. Josephus, The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston, New Updated Version, (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson, 1988), p.225.
8. E.W. Bullinger, Companion Bible, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986), p.466.
9. C.J. Davey, Ships and Boats, New International Dictionary, Second edition, Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House, 1985), p.1106.
10. Maurice Collis, Marco Polo, (London: Faber & Faber), p.178.
11. Japan, An Illustrated Encyclopedia, (Tokyo: Kodansha).
12. Kozo Yamamura, editor, The Cambridge History of Japan, (Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp.60-61.
13. George Sansom, A History of Japan 1334-1615, (London: Wm Dawson & Son, 1978, pp.339-340.
14. W.S. Lasor, Tarshish, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1988), Vol.4, p.734.
15. The World Book Encyclopedia, 1994, Vol.11, p.32.
16. John A. Crow, The Root and the Flower, Revised edition, (New York: Harper & Row, 1975, p.7.
17. Colin, "Native races & their customs", E. H. Blair & J.A. Robertson editors, The Philippines 1493-1898.
18. Gasper de San Agustin, "Letter on the Filipinos", ibid.,
19. B.S. Silberman editor, Japanese Character & Culture, A Book of Selected Readings, (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1962); Havelock Ellis, The Soul of Spain, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1924), p.52.
20. Jean Herbert, Shinto: At the fountain-head of Japan, (New York: Stein & Day, 1967), p.15; Stephen Clissold, Spain, (London: Thames & Hudson, 1969), p.12.
21. Bartolome Bennassar, The Spanish Character, (University of California Press, 1979), p.xi.
22. Churchill quoted by Paul Johnson, Modern Times, (London: Orion Books, 1994), p.175.
23. Paul Johnson, Modern Times, p.190.
24. Richard Von Weizsacker quoted by Ben Hills, Behind the lines, p.94
25. Paul Johnson, Modern Times, p.318.
26. Chambers Encyclopaedia, New Revised Edition, (UK: Hazell Watson & Viney), Vol.8, p.34.
27. Kurt Singer, Mirror, Sword and Jewel, (London: Croom Helm, 1973), p.40.
28. Chambers Encyclopaedia, Vol.8, p.41.