2. The Departure of the Ten Tribes for the North--They [the ten tribes] determined to go to a country "where never man dwelt," that they might be free from all contaminating influences. That country could only be found in the north. Asia was already the seat of a comparatively ancient civilizations; Egypt flourished in northern Africa; and southern Europe was rapidly filling with the future rulers of the world. They had, therefore, no choice but to turn their faces northward. The first portion of their journey was not, however, north; according to the account of Esdras, they appear to have at first moved in the direction of their old home, and it is possible that they originally started with the intention of returning thereto, or probably in order to deceive the Assyrians, they started as if to return to Canaan, and when they crossed the Euphrates, and were out of danger from the hosts of the Medes and Persians, then they turned their journeying feet toward the polar star. Esdras states that they entered in at the narrow passage of the river Euphrates, the Lord staying the springs of the flood until they were passed over. The point on the river Euphrates at which they crossed would necessarily be in its upper portion, as lower down would be too far south for their purpose. The upper course of the Euphrates lies among lofty mountains near the village of Pastas; it plunges through a gorge formed by precipices more than a thousand feet in height and so narrow that it is bridged at the top; it shortly afterwards enters the plain of Mesopotamia. How accurately this portion of the river answers to the description of Esdras of the "Narrows," where the Israelites crossed!--Reynolds' Are we of Israel? pp. 26-27.