Iceland's Great Inheritance

Mr. Rutherford wrote this wonderful little book in 1937 when he became convinced after thoroughly researching the subject that Iceland is strongly represented by the descendants of the Tribe of Benjamin.

He presents what he believes to be the Scriptural parallels between the two. His basic verses of scripture for his theory are:

"They shall lift up their voice they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea. From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs even glory to the righteous." (Isaiah 24: 14-16. English Bible)

Mr. Rutherford stipulates that three particulars are given concerning this place from which songs and thanksgiving are to be heard in the midst of a troubled world:



The place is insular for the sons of praise are stated to rise"from the sea" "from the isles of the sea". The Old Testament of course was written in Hebrew but the Hebrew word for "sea" and for "west" is the same namely "yom". As there are no islands of any consequence that are not in the sea the proper translation is "isles of the west". The only important islands in the west are the British Isles and Iceland but the following considerations show that one of these islands in particular is referred to in the first place and ultimately incite the inhabitants of the other isles to sing also.
These insular people are described in prophecy as living amidst fires. In our world the only fires of nature that we know of are volcanoes and Iceland is the only one of these islands that have active volcanoes. Not only so but in proportion to its size Iceland contains more volcanoes than any other country in the world. In modern times the tremendous outpourings of white-hot lava in Iceland are unexampled anywhere else in the world. As comparatively recently as 1783 the great Laki Craters threw out a lava stream about 45 miles in length and 15 miles in breadth. Stefan Stefansson in his book on "Iceland" says that this is "by far the greatest on record" and "unparalleled on the earth in historic times." So far as is known this is the biggest fire the world has ever seen since man was upon the earth. The whole country of Iceland was formed by fire; it owes its existence entirely to volcanic action and the many geysers and hot springs to be found all over the island are connected with the volcanic fires below. Iceland is known to Europeans as "The Land of Fire". Truly the Icelandic nation has lived amidst fires!
The prophecy locates this insular country as being in "the uttermost part of the earth" or as the ancients said the "ultima thule". The expression was at one time applied in a general way to the far north but later became localized to Iceland. Sir Richard Burton has written a work of two large volumes entitled Ultima Thule: this work is a description of Iceland which this author calls "The Canaan of the North". Iceland is certainly at "the uttermost part of the earth" for beyond it there is nothing but the ice-bound Polar Sea. The north coast of Iceland touches the Arctic Circle.