The identity of Ishmael became complicated by the subterfuge of an incorrect ancestral claim addressed previously [refer Chapter XIV Mizra: North Africa & Arabia]. When Mohammed captured Arabia in 620 CE, he used passages from the Book of Genesis to claim the Arabs were ‘God’s people’ Ishmael; while establishing the Islamic religion. Added to this, Ishmael’s position as firstborn son to Abraham, yet to his wife’s handmaiden – for Hagar was not a concubine – meant that he would not be the recipient of the firstborn blessings. We can make a strong assumption that Hagar and Keturah were from similar stock, though probably not of Nahor; possibly Haran; quite likely from a line of Peleg; or most probably, from another son of Arphaxad, Anar or Ashcol [refer Chapter XXVII Abraham & Keturah – Benelux & Scandinavia]. The evidence for this, is that Ishmael not only lived to the east in the Arabian wilderness, between Keturah’s sons and Joktan’s sons; but crucially, is more closely related to Keturah’s than Isaac’s children, as supported by Y-DNA and mtDNA Haplogroups and autosomal DNA.
Today, the true descendants of Ishmael comprise the modern nation of Germany. Just as in the ancient past, Germany is sandwiched between the countries today in the west descended from Keturah and to the east by the nations descended from Joktan. The close geographic relationship between the Dutch of the Netherlands and the Germans of Deutsch-land was evident anciently when they were known as Hivites and Hittites. The original people of Hatti were in the main, descendants of Nahor – living principally in Northern and Central Italy today. The Hatti migrated from Anatolia southeastwards when Ishmael’s people grew larger and pressed into their land. The Ishmaelites appropriated their territory and name and it is they, who are the later Hittites, that people are most familiar. The mighty kingdom and formidable military machine which dwelt to the west of the other historic imperialist state of the time – Assyria.
The geographic, cultural and ethnic closeness shared between the two, explains the interplay between the names Midianite and Ishmaelite; sharing the family name of Midian. Today, both peoples can be called Germanic, as can a number of other nations – ranging from Austria in the east to England in the west, all part of the same family tree. The peoples of Ishmael and Keturah dwelt together in the wilderness – or the Arabian Peninsula – and are the original Arabians in the Bible. They did not become Arabs as we have investigated. Continuing with Herman Hoeh’s article, he addresses Ishmael and shows the prevalent view which has so erroneously taken hold:
‘Abraham’s firstborn son was Ishmael (Genesis 16:15). His descendants are called Arabs today. They still remember that they are descended from Abram’s son Ishmael. Ask any Arab. He’ll tell you so! Whenever you see the name “Ishmael,” or any name of Ishmael’s sons (Genesis 25:12-18), you will know that the prophecy is referring to the Arabs today. The Arabs have spread from Arabia throughout North Africa and eastward into the Far East. There is trouble in the Near East between Jordan and the Jews. Here is why.’
The Book of Jubilees describes the geographic proximity of the Ishmaelites and of the Sons of Keturah in chapter 20:12-13, “And Ishmael and his sons, and the sons of Keturah and their sons, went together and dwelt from Paran to the entering in of Babylon in all the land which is towards the East facing the desert. And these mingled with each other, and their name was called Arabs, and Ishmaelites.”
Later, the mighty entity we call Rome, evolved and slowly enveloped the Etruscan state as it outgrew its boundaries – as it had done with the Hatti in Asia Minor. In modern times, the German states which formed modern Germany in 1870 and 1871 were also a sprawling borderless geographic area. The German concept of greater living space or lebensraum, particularly from 1871 to 1940 meant German boundaries were continually expanding and changing. Adolf Hitler: “It is eastwards, only and always eastwards, that the veins of our race must expand. It is the direction which Nature herself has decreed fro the expansion of the German peoples.”
Our study of Haran and his descendants, which include the Swiss means they are not as German as we might have assumed [refer Chapter XXVI The French & Swiss: Moab, Ammon & Haran]. The Swiss resolutely do not identify with a ‘German’ tag.
The Austrians on the other hand, are a different proposition than the Swiss. A survey once revealed that sixty percent of Austrians viewed themselves as German – in other words, the same as Germans living in Germany.
This is revealing, for the Austrians share Hagar as a mother with Germany. The two peoples are half brothers by their mother; as Germany-Ishmael is a half brother by his father Abraham with Keturah’s descendants, which include Denmark, the Netherlands and the other northwestern European nations comprising Scandinavia and the Low countries [Chapter XXVII Abraham & Keturah – Benelux & Scandinavia]. We first read of Hagar and Ishmael in Genesis chapter Sixteen. We will concentrate on Hagar initially. It is alleged by Arab tradition that Pharaoh – Djer, the 3rd King of the 1st Dynasty, ruling from 1922 to 1875 BCEaccording to an unconventional chronology – had given Hagar to Sarai from his royal household in recompense for his transgression. There is reason to consider that Hagar was not a mere servant or concubine but rather, a daughter of the Pharaoh and a royal princess.
Genesis 16:1-15
English Standard Version
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years [1902-1892 BCE] in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife [not literally, but sexually as a wife]. 4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. 7 The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” 9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.”
It is clear that there is no love lost between Sarai and Hagar, Why the animosity, one can only speculate. It certainly intensified after Hagar conceived. The Angel of the Lord did not speak with anyone whom the Creator was not working with or had regard for. Hagar was wrong to be joyful over conceiving by gloating, thinking she had one over Sarai. Though we do not know what she had gone through to display that reaction.
Hagar was probably younger and possibly thought it would obtain her favour with Abram and lead to her and their son achieving a greater status in Abram’s family. One does not have to read long though, to appreciate that Abram only had eyes for Sarai. Later, when Hagar and Ishmael are cast out, the Creator again intervenes to spare their lives and ensure that their futures are safe and prosperous. The Book of Jasher contains a parallel account of Hagar’s first banishment in chapter Sixteen:
Jasher 16:25-36
25 For Hagar learned all the ways of Sarai as Sarai taught her, she was not in any way deficient in following her good ways. 26 And Sarai said to Abram, Behold here is my handmaid Hagar, go to her that she may bring forth upon my knees, that I may also obtain children through her… 29 And when Hagar saw that she had conceived she rejoiced greatly, and her mistress wasdespised in her eyes, and she said within herself, This can only be that I am better before God than Sarai my mistress, for all the days that my mistress has been with my lord, she did not conceive, but me the Lord has caused in so short a time to conceive by him. 30 And when Sarai saw that Hagar had conceived by Abram,Sarai was jealous of her handmaid, and Sarai said within herself, This is surely nothing else but that she must be better than I am. 33… and Sarai afflicted her, and Hagar fled from her to the wilderness. 34 And an angel of the Lord found her in the place where she had fled, by a well, and he said to her, Do not fear… now then return to Sarai thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. 35 And Hagar called the place of that well Beer-lahai-roi, it is between Kadesh and the wilderness of Bered. 36 And Hagar at that time returned to her master’s house…
Genesis 21:14
English Standard Version
So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
This incident came under the umbrella of, ‘it seemed a good idea at the time.’ The ultimate sending Hagar and Ishmael away, left them in a story state, ‘wandering in the wilderness.’ As mentioned previously in our discourse, if a people are mentioned more than once in the Bible, they are more than a territory or region, they have become an identifiable people or nation in their own right. This is what happened to Hagar. Reading between the lines, she obviously continued raising Ishmael who was a young teen. At a certain point she would have met a man who took her as a wife and had at least one child, a son with her. This son’s name is not given, though his descendants are named in the Bible as Hagrites or Hagarenes. The only nation today that is smaller than Ishmael, yet easily identifiable as related to Hagar, is the nation of Austria.
Christian Churches of God in their article No. 212C, 2007 state: ‘The question as to whether Hagar remarried and had other children is considered by some to be a matter of conjecture.
The question as to whether the Hagarites are the descendants of Ishmael, Hagar’s first-born or only son, or the sons of another tribe altogether is still to be solved. Perhaps the advances in DNA will tell us the definite solution once the tribes are properly identified and tested.’ Well, we can know now by studying the Austrian and German Haplogroups.
Abarim Publications – emphasis & bold mine:
‘The name Hagar meaning: ‘flight, to be dragged off, pressed into service’ from a verb (hagar), to flee… the verb (garar), ‘sojourner, to drag out or away.’ From the Persian/ Greek verb (aggareuo), ‘to press into service…’ meaning mounted messenger (a royal courier who could requisite or press into service whatever he needed to deliver his message faster), which in turn is thought to be the source of the familiar noun (aggelos), meaning ‘messenger’ or ‘angel.
Hagar travels south, possibly to go home to Egypt, but loses her way. The verb used to describe her “wandering” about in the wilderness of Beersheba is (ta’a), to err, go astray. A derivation of this verb is (to’a), error. Hagar wanders the desert until her supplies run out. Desponded and exhausted, Hagar abandons her son so that she won’t have to watch him die, and sits down a bow shot away from the boy to cry. Curiously, not her cries but the cries of the boy reach heaven, and God shows up. For the second time the Angel of YHWH speaks to Hagar, and promises her that Ishmael will be a great nation.
God opens her eyes and she sees the well of Beersheba. This is fortunate for two reasons. First of all she and Ishmael now have water, but they also know again where they are. Quickened Hagar and Ishmael resume their journey.
Ishmael becomes an archer and lives in the wilderness of Paran (in the Sinai desert between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba) with his Egyptian wife whom Hagar has obtained for him. Hagar becomes the grandmother of twelve princes, who form the great nation that God promised. That nation is not really named in Scriptures…[Ishmaelites, Hittites, ‘Midianites’, Arabians] Ishmael’s sons do not become the rivals of Israel as one may expect [they take a back seat to Moab, Ammon, the Midianites and Edom because geographically they are separated]. His son Kedar gets mentioned for their signature black tents, once positive in the Song of Solomon (1:5), and once negative by king David in Psalm 120:5. The prophet Isaiah mentions Ishmael’s first born son Nebaioth and his brother Kedar among the nations that will be gathered up into the Kingdom of God (Isaiah 60:7).
Although Hagar is anEgyptian, her name appears to be Semetic [correct, as descended from Arphaxad (the ruling class of Egypt) not Mizra (the actual Egyptians)]. If indeed so… the verb… is not used in the Bible and its meaning is subsequently unknown. NOBSE Study Bible… insist that the verb means to flee. BDB Theological Dictionary refers to the Arabic equivalent, meaning forsake or retire. An Arabic noun derived of this root serves as the name for Mohammed’s famous flight, the Hegira.’
1 Chronicles 5:18-20
English Standard Version
18 The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had valiant men who carried shield and sword, and drew the bow, expert in war, 44,760, able to go to war. 19 They waged war against the Hagrites,Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab. 20 And when they prevailed over them, the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hands, for they cried out to God in the battle, and he granted their urgent plea because they trusted in him.
1 Chronicles 5:10
English Standard Version
And in the days of Saul they waged war against the Hagrites, who fell into their hand. And they lived in their tents throughout all the region east of Gilead.
1 Chronicles 27:30-31
English Standard Version
30 Over the camels was Obil the Ishmaelite [German]; and over the donkeys was Jehdeiah the Meronothite[?]. Over the flocks was Jaziz the Hagrite [Austrian]. 31 All these were stewards of King David’s property.
Psalm 83:6-8
English Standard Version
6… the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites [Germany], Moab [France] and the Hagrites [Austria], 7 Gebal and Ammon [French Quebec] and Amalek, Philistia [Spanish Latin America] with the inhabitants of Tyre [Brazil]; 8 Asshur [Russia] also has joined them; they [Russia] are the strong arm of the children of Lot [Moab & Ammon].
Psalm 83:6
Young’s Literal Translation
… Tents of Edom, and Ishmaelites, Moab, and the Hagarenes…
The Hagrites are mentioned as separate people distinct from Ishmael. Jetur and Naphish were sons of Ishmael. Jaziz the Hagrite oversaw the flocks – goats, sheep and cattle – of King David. Though Psalm 83:6-8 is non-prophetical and a listing of the chief enemies of Israel at the time of king David, they are indicative of the future global alliance against the sons of Jacob; including the Europeans as represented by Eber in Numbers 24:24.
Austria is a mountainous landlocked country and with Switzerland, forms what has been characterised as the neutral core of Europe, gaining permanent neutrality in 1955. Austria has a population of 9,142,185 people; less than Sweden and more than Switzerland. Part of Austria’s prominence can be attributed to its geographic position at the centre of European traffic between east and west along the Danubian trade route, as well as north and south, through the Alpine passes. The capital of Austria is the historic Vienna or Wien, the former seat of the Holy Roman Empire.
Austria was first a prefecture, a margraviate formed from former territory in Bavaria; developing into a duchy and then an archduchy. In the sixteenth century, Austria rose to prominence via the Hapsburg or Habsbur Monarchy. The House of Hapsburg being one of the most influential royal dynasties in history. ‘Not only did the house occupy the throne of the Holy Roman Empire continuously between 1438 and 1740, it also occupied the thrones of the Kingdoms of Bohemia, England and Ireland (as a result of the marriage between King Philippe II of Spain and Mary I of England), Germany, Croatia, Hungary, Portugal, Spain as well as the second Mexican Empire and several Dutch and Italian principalities.’
Early in the nineteenth century, Austria established its own empire, becoming a great power and the driving force of the German Confederation. After its defeat in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 for hegemony of the German states, it sought its own course. In 1867, Austria formed an Austria-Hungarian Dual Monarchy. Following WWI, a Republic of German-Austria was proclaimed. A union with Germany, but the victorious allied powers did not recognise the new state. In 1938, the Austrian-born Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of the Third German Reich, annexed Austria by the Anschluss – union.
The German name for Austria, Osterreich, derives from the Old High German Ostarrichi, which means ‘eastern realm.’ The word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name; first recorded in the twelfth century. At the time, Upper and Lower Austria was the easternmost extent of Bavaria. German is the country’s official language, though many Austrians also speak a variety of Bavarian dialects.
‘The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Austrian global shipments during 2021.
Machinery including computers: US$33.9 billion
Electrical machinery, equipment: $21.5 billion
Vehicles: $18.8 billion
Pharmaceuticals: $14.4 billion
Plastics, plastic articles: $9.9 billion
Iron, steel: $8.5 billion
Wood: $7.5 billion
Articles of iron or steel: $6.8 billion
Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $5.6 billion
Paper, paper items: $5.3 billion
Wood was the fastest grower among the top 10 Austrian export categories, up by 54.5% from 2020 to 2021. In second place for improving export sales were the metals iron and steel via a 46.3% advance.’
Austrian man and woman
Continuing with the Book of Genesis and the story of Ishmael.
Genesis 16:1-15
English Standard Version
10 The angel of the Lord also said to [Hagar], “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” 11 And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction.
12 He shall be a wild [H6501* – pere: running wild, wild ass] donkeyof a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against [H6440 – paniym: before, amongst, toward, in the presence of] all his kinsmen.” 13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,”for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. 15 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael [1891 BCE].
We learn of Ishmael’s key traits in identifying him. His posterity were to become large in number. We are not looking for a small nation in western Europe, related to the Dutch, French and Italians. The interlinear does not include the word donkey. It is added because the Hebrew word for wild* is used elsewhere in connection with a wild ass or donkey. In this context it is mis-leading as Ishmael is not an out-of-control individual. He is energetic, forceful, his own man, with a ‘fiercely independent spirit’ from his family; and he is stubborn, a hunter and predatory. Other translations assist in the meaning of these verses.
New English Translation
… He will be hostile to everyone, and everyone will be hostile to him…
New Century Version
“Ishmael… will be against everyone, and everyone will be against him. He will attack all his brothers.”
Common English Bible
“… he will fight everyone, and they will fight him. He will live at odds with all his relatives.”
The Message
“He’ll be a… real fighter, fighting and being fought, Always stirring up trouble, always at odds with his family.”
The Germans have fought wars against the major powers in Europe, past and present: Russia, Austria, France and England, in evidence of their hostility. Germany has also invaded or attacked: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria – all his half-brothers. The more distant cousins of Poland, Czechoslovakia and so forth have not escaped Ishmael’s aggression. Germany dwells in the presence or amongst his brethren and borders: Denmark, the Netherlands, Flanders, Wallonia, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland.
Verse twelve of Genesis chapter sixteen has been used by commentators to describe the Arab nations and on the surface it is a convincing fit. There are two, sizeable flaws in this argument. Firstly, Ishmael was not predicted to be more than one nation in the past or the future – East and West Germany not withstanding. The twelve sons of Ishmael are similar to Nahor’s twelve sons, in that Germany like Italy was a region, then a confederation of multiple states for centuries before forming one distinct nation in 1871, following Italy in 1861 [Chapter XXV Italy: Nahor & the Chaldeans].
Secondly, the constant reader who has resisted skimming or skipping ahead, will know with a good measure of surety, that we are searching for a nation which is kith and kin to those in western Europe and cannot, repeat cannot, be those people dwelling in north Africa or the Middle East [refer Chapter XIV Mizra: north Africa & Arabia].
Spot the difference. Compared with France and England, Germany has been at war with just about everyone.
Abarim Publications – emphasis & bold mine:
‘The name Ishmael Meaning: God Hears from (1) the verb (shama’), to hear, and (2) the word (‘el), God.
There are a surprising six men named Ishmael in the Bible:
The most famous Ishmael is the son of Abraham with Hagar.
A descendant of Jonathan (1 Chronicles 8:38).
The father of Zebadiah (2 Chronicles 19:11).
An officer under Joash (2 Chronicles 23:3).
The murderer of Gedaliah the Babylonian governor over the remnant in Judah (2 Kings 25:25).
A priest who divorced his foreign wife (Ezra 10:22).
Note that the proper ethnonym (Ishmaelite) occurs only once (1 Chronicles 2:17), and comes with a shorter version, which occurs just once… (1 Chronicles 27:30). The collective plural occurs six times (Genesis 37:25, 37:27, 37:28, 39:1, Judges 8:24 and Psalm 83:6). The name Ishmael consists of two elements. The first part comes from the verb (shama’), meaning to hear: The verb (shama’) means to hear and may also mean to understand or obey. The second part of the name Ishmael is (El)… that is Elohim, or God… The name Ishmael means He Will Hear God (Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names)…’
Genesis 17:15-25
English Standard Version
15 And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac [named by the Eternal]. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great [H1419 – gadowl: in ‘magnitude, extent’ and ‘importance’] nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.” 22 When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. 23 Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin [1878 BCE].
Abraham laughed an incredulous laugh. He did not have a disrespectful or disbelieving laugh; otherwise the Creator would have hauled him up for it. We learn that Abraham not only believed Ishmael had been provided as the son of promise, we also learn that his relationship with Ishmael was a close bond, so much so that Abraham was not desperate for another son and would have gladly had the birthright promises given to Ishmael. This is important to understand, as it impacts the events which follow.
As Abraham’s intimate relationship with the Creator as his very friend was remarkable, it lent itself to the Creator listening to Abraham and granting his wish as best as could be fulfilled, without impinging on the promises too Isaac.
The Creator says He will make Ishmael fruitful, multiply him greatly and make him a great nation. The word ‘fruitful’ means materially blessed. True to His word, the Creator has kept his promise to Abraham. The German nation is the fourth biggest economy in the world and up until recently the third largest. ‘Multiply greatly’ is reflected in that Germany has the second highest population in Europe behind Russia and the third highest European descended population after the United States and Russia. Germany’s status as a great nation is beyond question. Germany’s scientific, industrial, commercial and cultural impact on western civilisation has been considerable.
There are currently three ‘superpower’ regions in the world, North America, China and a German led Europe. What is interesting in this equation, is that we have read the verse in the Book of Numbers revealing the ships from Kittim-Indonesia going against Asshur and Eber. Eber represents western Europe. A German led, united Europe in league with Russia, will for a time, be the preeminent superpower of our far future.
Ishmael was included as part of Abraham’s household in the requisite to be circumcised. He was included in the covenant blessing to all those that chose to follow ‘the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Should Ishmael have chosen to follow a path closer to the one intended for Isaac – which Isaac’s descendants have not been overly successful in walking – Ishmael’s descendants would have been the recipients of yet even greater blessings.
German men
Genesis 21:1-21
English Standard Version
The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old [the blood coagulates the most effectively on this day, as it the peak of vitamin K production], as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him [in 1877 BCE]. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.”
The Book of Jubilees also records the account:
17:4 And Sarah saw Ishmael playing and dancing, and Abraham rejoicing with great joy, and she became jealous of Ishmael and said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman will not be heir with my son, Isaac.’
14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the [boy], and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the [boy] under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.
17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, andhe grew up. He lived in the wilderness andbecame an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran,and his mother took a [royal] wife for him from the land of Egypt.
We learn much from this chapter but are left scratching our head a little too. The word laughing can be more correctly translated as scoffing or mocking. Ishmael was sixteen or seventeen or so if Isaac was about two or three. For whatever reason, Sarah perceived it as sinister and a perceived threat towards Isaac. Possibly, it went beyond a one time joke and may have shown a reoccurring pattern that had become a concern. Either Ishmael was bullying Isaac, unfairly using his age as an advantage; or he was merely playing with Isaac as if on an equal footing and it was mis-understood by Sarah because of her attitude towards Hagar.
The Apostle Paul mentions the incident, expanding it further in Galatians 4:28-31, ESV: “Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time [Ishmael] who was born according to the flesh persecuted [Isaac] who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.” The Greek word persecuted can mean ‘to put to flight; to chase away; to pursue.’
Abraham’s fondness for Ishmael meant he did not take the news well. The Creator explains to Abraham that Sarah is reading the situation correctly and to send Hagar and Ishmael away. Not just Hagar, but Ishmael also had a relationship with the Creator, for his prayers are heard and answered and ‘God was with the boy.’ Ishmael became an expert hunter-soldier, though not in the vein of Nimrod. His wife from Egypt again, was most likely similarly related to Hagar and her pedigree in standing with Abraham’s royal ancestry [refer Chapter XXVI Abrham & Keturah – Benelux & Scandinavia].
Galatians 4:22-26
English Standard Version
22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, [Ishmael] by a slave woman and [Isaac] by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai inArabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
Genesis 28:8-9
English Standard Version
8 So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, 9 Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath thedaughterof Ishmael, Abraham’s son, thesisterof Nebaioth.
Genesis 36:3
English Standard Version
… and Basemath,Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth.
Esau, eldest son of Isaac and elder brother of Jacob, married Canaanite women and so to appease his father and mother, married a daughter of Ishmael, to keep it in the family so-to-speak. She has two different names in two separate records in Genesis which we will address when studying Esau [Chapter XXIX Esau: The Thirteenth Tribe]. Ishmael’s twelve sons are listed in Genesis and the prominent are mentioned in the Old Testament. Those in italics are mentioned once outside of this listing; those in bold, more than once.
Genesis 25:12-18
English Standard Version
12 These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham.
13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and Kedar, Adbeel [grief of God], Mibsam [sweet smell], 14 Mishma [rumour], Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad [thunder], Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah [eastward].
16 These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes. 17 (These are the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. He breathed his last and died [in 1754 BCE], and was gathered to his people.) 18 They settled from Havilah [Poland] to Shur [the area between Mizra and Shem, Mediterranean Sea today], which is opposite Egypt [North Africa] in the direction of Assyria [Russia]. He settled over against all his kinsmen [Keturah: Scandinavia and the Low countries].
Germany has sixteen states or federated Lander, though three of them are city-states. Berlin the Capital included with Brandenburg; Hamburg; and Bremen, which are included with Lower Saxony or Niedersachsen. As Saarland is the smallest state and has a lower population density, I am including it with Rhineland-Palatinate or Rheinland-Pfalz. This leaves a convenient twelve states. There are three dominant sons, then four quite prominent sons who match with the current German States, plus the remaining five.
1 Chronicles 5:18-20
English Standard Version
18 The Reubenites, the Gadites… 19 … waged war against the Hagrites [Austria], Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab. 20 And when they prevailed over them, the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hands…
Jetur’s definition means, ‘defence, to border, succession’ and ‘mountainous’.* Naphish means ‘revival, expansion’ from the noun nepesh, ‘breath of life.’ It can also mean ‘numerous, increase’ and ‘refreshment.’ Two states fit the profile for Jetur and Naphish, as they have relative economic wealth, higher populations and are linguistically and culturally similar with Austria-Hagar; with much in common and a high probability of ethnic admixture. Firstly, Bavaria or Bayern and its principal cities of Munich and Nuremberg. Bavaria has the second highest population, with nearly thirteen million people coupled with being the second wealthiest state in Germany. Bavaria is the largest state by area and is also mountainous* in the south. Baden-Wurttemberg and its principal city, Stuttgart is a high population state of nearly eleven million people – the third highest – and is also the third wealthiest state in Germany.
Isaiah 21:11
English Standard Version
The oracle concerning Dumah. One is calling to me from Seir [Edom], “Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?”
Dumah means ‘[deadly] silence’ derived from the noun duma, ‘silence of death’.
Proverbs 31:1
English Standard Version
The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:
As with Agur in Proverbs chapter Thirty, we do not know who King Lemuel is as he is not recorded in the list of the kings of Judah or Israel. He is a king though who put his trust in the Creator, the Covenant God of Israel and through the fear of the Lord learned wisdom. The name Lemuel means ‘belonging to God.’ With a minor punctuation change, it can be translated as CEB: “The words of King Lemuel of Massa, which his mother taught him…”
Massa was the seventh son of Ishmael and his name means ‘to lift up’ from the verb, nasa. It can also mean ‘load’ and in this translation ‘burden’ or ‘oracle.’ King Lemuel is believed by some commentators to have been a king of Massa from Ishmael.
Two states that may fit Dumah and Massa include Hesse or Hessen – the fifth richest state and containing the wealthiest city in Germany, the financial hub of Frankfurt am Main and the Rhineland-Palatinate with Saarland. Tema, the ninth born son is mentioned three times in the Bible. Tema means ‘south country’ from the root ymn, meaning ‘the right hand side, the southern direction’ also ‘admiration, perfection’ and ‘consummation.’
Job 6:19
English Standard Version
The caravans ofTema look, the travellers of Sheba [Flanders] hope.
Jeremiah 25:23-24
English Standard Version
23 Dedan [Wallonia, Brussels, Luxembourg], Tema, Buz [Northern Italy], and all who cut the corners of their hair; 24 all the kings of Arabia [northwestern Europe] and all the kings of the mixed tribes [Joktan] who dwell in the desert [eastern Europe]…
These verses link Tema with Belgium and northern Italy in trade and wealth. Coincidently, it was Roman soldiers who had their hair cut short, in contrast to other warring ‘barbaric’ nations who had longer hair. Tema equates with Lower Saxony and the principal city states of Hamburg, Bremen and the city of Hanover. Lower Saxony is the second largest state by area and has the fourth highest population, with approximately eight million people.
Hamburg has 1,787,408 people and Bremen has 557,464 people. Lower Saxony borders the Netherlands – Midian. The biggest farms are located in this state and Hamburg is the second biggest city in Germany after Berlin. Hamburg is the biggest port in Germany and the third busiest in all of Europe. Bremen is the fourth busiest port behind Hamburg; with Antwerp in Belgium second and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the busiest. These cities represent the ancestor traders oft mentioned in the Bible; from Ishmael, Midian, Sheba and Dedan.
Isaiah 21:13-17
English Standard Version
13 The oracle concerning Arabia. In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, O caravans of Dedanites [southern Belgium].14 To the thirsty bring water; meet the fugitive with bread, O inhabitants of the landof Tema.
Notice the mention of water and the link with the city-ports of Hamburg and Bremen.
15 For they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press of battle. 16 For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory ofKedar will come to an end. 17 And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”
Kedar means ‘dark, turbid’ from the verb qadar, ‘to become dark’ also ‘blackness, sorrow.’ Turbid means, ‘cloudy, murky, opaque.’ Kedar is the second son of Ishmael and is mentioned the most frequently. He was a leader, warlike, military proficient and driven. It is a hint of and a precursor to, the militaristic capabilities of the Prussians. Kedar and Tema are linked in these verses as the two most dominant families and we find that Kedar and Tema are in fact neighbouring states.
Isaiah 60:6-7
English Standard Version
6 A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian [Netherlands] and Ephah [Holland]; all those from Sheba [northern Belgium]shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord. 7 All the flocks of Kedarshall be gathered to you;the rams of Nebaiothshall minister to you; they shall come up with acceptance on my altar, and I will beautify my beautiful house.
The wealth of second born son, Kedar and his influence is expressed with the firstborn son Nebaioth. Nebaioth is linked with Kedar – as Kedar is with Tema – and each are very likely located in northern Germany today, as speakers of Low German and the descendants of the Prussians. Nebaioth equates with the Capital Berlin; coupled with the state of Brandenburg. Ishmael has historically maintained a geographic and military closeness with Asshur, and so it is no coincidence that they lived adjacent to each other in the Baltic region, respectively becoming known as Prussians and Russians.
Ezekiel 27:20-21
English Standard Version
20 Dedan [southern Belgium] traded with you in saddlecloths for riding. 21 Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your favored dealers in lambs, rams, and goats; in these they did business with you.
Kedar equates with North Rhine-Westphalia or Nordrhein-Westfalen; which is the richest state in Germany and has the highest population with nearly eighteen million people. Bonn was the capital of the old West Germany and four of the biggest cities in Germany are located there: Cologne, Dusseldorf, Dortmund and Essen. The total population of Germany is 84,497,518 people, the second highest in Europe and nineteenth highest in the world.
Psalm 120:5-6
English Standard Version
5 Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! 6 Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace.
Kedar in the past is compared with Meshech, as peoples of war and not for the faint-hearted traveller or immigrant.
Song of Solomon 1:5
English Standard Version
5 I am very dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
Kedar means dark and the history of modern Germany has been dark. The state flags of Germany have a colour of black theme running through six of them, the current national flag contains black, as did the older flags of Imperial Germany and Prussia.
Isaiah 42:10-12
English Standard Version
10 Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth… 11 Let the desert [eastern Europe] and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12 Let them give glory to the Lord…
A future, peaceful and happier time for the peoples of Kedar is predicted.
Jeremiah 2:10
English Standard Version
For cross to the coasts of Cyprus [Kitt-im – Indonesia] and see, or send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has been such a thing.
Kedar is again associated with war, as ships will come from the Kittim in Indonesia against Asshur of Russia and Eber of Western Europe, led by Ishmael Germany.
Jeremiah 49:28-33
English Standard Version
28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down. Thus says the Lord: “Rise up, advance against Kedar! Destroy the people of the east! 29 Their tents and their flocks shall be taken, their curtains and all their goods; their camels shall be led away from them, and men shall cry to them: ‘Terror on every side!’ 30 Flee, wander far away, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Hazor! declares the Lord. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has made a plan against you and formed a purpose against you. 31 “Rise up, advance against a nation at ease, that dwells securely, declares the Lord, that has no gates or bars, that dwells alone [H910 – badad: securely, in safety, in ‘freedom from attack’].32 Their camels shall become plunder, their herds of livestock a spoil. I will scatter to every wind those who cut the corners of their hair, and I will bring their calamity from every side of them, declares the Lord. 33 Hazor shall become a haunt of jackals, an everlasting waste; no man shall dwell there; no man shall sojourn in her.”
It is not clear where Hazor is though they are linked with Kedar. The name Hazor means ‘Village, Trumpet, Enclosure’ from the verb hasar, ‘to begin to cluster or gather.’ The word can also mean ‘fence’ or ‘castle.’ The verses indicate that they are close to the sea, with the nearest being the Wadden Sea or North Sea.
German women
The idea that the modern nation of Germany descend from ancient Assyria can be traced to Edward Hine in 1870, an early proponent of British Israelism. Edward Hine compared ancient Assyria and Israel to nineteenth century Britain and Germany. John Wilson in 1840, ‘the intellectual founder of British Israelism’ considered that all Germanic people – including the Dutch and Scandinavians – descended from the tribes of Israel. British Israelites did not necessarily welcome Hine’s solution – instead of maintaining that other northwestern European nations were also descended from Israel – who believed all the tribes of Israel were located in Britain, with Manasseh migrating to America. ‘Hine had identified the Ten Tribes as being together in Britain in that Ephraim were the drunkards and ritualists, Reuben the farmers, Dan the mariners, [Zebulun] the lawyers and writers, Asher the soldiers’ and so forth and ‘that these tribes were regional or local people in Britain.’
All the theories have merit in that Wilson recognised the familial similarities between the northwestern European nations as did British Israelites, even though they mis-identified the continental people. Hine as it turns out was the most correct regarding Israel; then he went out on a tangent in identifying Germany as Assyria. Hine rightly believed that the ancient peoples recorded in the Bible must also be identifiable in our modern age, if the Bible is true and prophecy is to be fulfilled. Hine postulated that if a people were ‘lost’ then it meant that they had migrated to new regions, relevant exonyms and autonyms had evolved or changed and their histories long forgotten.
Unfortunately, as with Anglo-Israelism itself, any proposed German-Assyrian connections do not gain any support amongst mainstream historians, anthropologists, ethnologists, archaeologists or linguists. I would have to agree with the mainstream experts, as the theories presented are all wrong to some degree and have not done the discipline any favours. The hope is that a gradual sea-change can occur. The ever increasing fascination developing amongst the public regarding their individual genetic identity and Haplogroup ancestry is hopefully just the tip, of a very big ice-berg of people beginning to understand and appreciate the compelling data now available. A new generation can learn in detail about the incredible diversity and similarity amongst ethnicities; not only specific to them but on a national scale, as addressed in this work.
Apart from Assyria, a growing teaching amongst knowledgeable identity adherents, is that Germany or at least in part, is descended from either Jacob’s son, Judah or Gad. Though these teaching are inaccurate, it is encouraging to see that people are beginning to shake off the longstanding, mis-leading German-Asshur paradigm. On one author’s internet site, – who still teaches Germany is Assyria – there is a list provided of postulated ancestors for the Germans of which all apart from Judah and Gad, I was not aware and of course the one listed at number seven, caught my eye immediately.
Asher: a son of Jacob
Ashkenaz: a son of Gomer
Canaan: a son of Ham
Edom: Esau, a son of Isaac
Gad: a son of Jacob
Gomer: a son of Japheth
Ishmael: a son of Abraham
Judah: a son of Jacob
Simeon: a son of Jacob
We have already addressed Ashkenaz, Canaan and Gomer in previous chapters. The four sons of Jacob we will study in depth and identify as not being viable ancestors for Germany. We will also investigate Esau and his grandson Amalek; convincingly ruling them out of contention, which leaves only… Ishmael. It is intriguing that this author has heard Ishmael offered as an identity for modern Germany. Regrettably, the author has chosen to concentrate on providing evidence only about Assyria for his research. I would have been extremely interested to learn his views on Ishmael; particularly as he has devoted over thirty years to the subject, publishing a three hundred page work on the German identity.
An example of the damage caused by a mis-identification of a Biblical nation is highlighted by Greg Doudna. This author came to understand a profound truth in his early twenties – during the early 1970s – regarding who the United States of America really was in the Bible. Identity believers and British-Israelites have unanimously and incorrectly deduced that the United States is descended from Manasseh, the eldest son of Joseph. His precious gift of insight, has since been rejected by the author and he has gone even further, to dis-believe the whole identity teaching. His insight was a major part of my research beginning in the 1990s, confirming my own evolving conclusions. It is a great sadness to learn that Greg Doudna has rejected so clear a plain truth. I would like to understand how he now perceives the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament; for it is swept away almost in its entirety if one does not believe the past, present and future application of the historical and prophetic texts. We will return to his comments on the United States in a later chapter, though for now, his deduction regarding Germany clearly shows the pickle which identity adherents find themselves and why credibility with anyone outside of their small bubble-like community is next to zero.
Showdown at Big Sandy, Greg Doudna, 1989 & 2006, pages 242-243 – emphasis his, bold mine:
‘… [supposedly] the Anglo-Saxons and most other major peoples in Europe are Israelites – with one gigantic exception. One people right in the heart of Europe which were not claimed to be Israel were the Germanic tribes of Germany which produced the Anglo-Saxon tribes. In this… universe Germany today is Assyria, not symbolically or metaphorically but through genetic descent, in the same way that the Germanic tribes who settled elsewhere than Germany are Israelites through genetic descent. (Is that clear?)… Anglo-Saxons and Germans are of the same origins. They are the same peoples. The Saxons came from Germany. In the Finnish and Estonian languages the very word for “Germany” is Saksa, “Saxon.” Therefore if Germans came from Assyrians, it follows that the predominant ethnic components of Britain and the United States also are Assyrian. By this reasoning the United States would be Assyrians, not Israel.’
First, the author hits upon the problem with thinking that northwestern Europeans are descended from Jacob, rather than being from Abraham. Regardless of which, observing Germany – so obviously related to these other countries – but saying they are from a different son of Shem is glaringly contradictory as he rightly points out. Second, ‘Anglo-Saxons’ and Germans are of similar, but not the same origins. Remember the early points in the introduction; peoples migrate and their name is appropriated but this does not mean the new peoples are the same bloodline as the ones who have departed. The Saxon tribes, comprising Angles, Jutes and Frisians left their names in Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany, but these three nations are not ‘Anglo-Saxon’ peoples. They are related, all descending from Abraham.
The author showing Anglo-Saxon equals Assyria, equals America is accidentally showing the inaccuracy of Germany actually being Asshur. Alternatively, we will learn that the peoples who migrated to America from Britain, though similar kindred stock, are not the exact same tribe or extended family. We will also discover, that the ‘Germans’ who migrated to the United states are not the same people as the Germans who remained behind and presently live in Germany.
Germany in Prophecy, Herman Hoeh, 1963 – capitalisation his, emphasis & bold mine:
‘Now what does the word “Hatti” or “Chatti” mean in the Hebrew language? Its closest derivation is the root “chathath” (Strongs – 2865). It means “to terrorize, or break down, as in war, hence a warrior or MAN OF WAR.” The Chatti were therefore Men of War… the ancient Chatti were… migrants who early settled in Asia Minor. Did these Chatti or Hatti later also migrate into Western Europe… Indeed! The Chatti were the chief people who settled in… [ancient] Germany. Their descendants [left] the [HESSIAN name]… In fact, the Old High German spelling of Hesse was Hatti! THE ANCIENT KINGS OF [western Anatolia] called themselves Khatti-sars – meaning the “Kaisers of Hatti,”or “Kings of Hatti.”
The Empire of Hatti and the Empire of Assyria were… not two empires existing five centuries apart as historians assume. Excavated records from Bible times PROVE that the great rulers of the land of Hatti were not only contemporary with the famous kings of Assyria, but were also federated with them.All ancient Greek writers agreed that Assyria and Anatolia (the land of Hatti) were allies. All historians recognize that there were at least two distinct peoples in Asia Minor who came to be known by the same name – Chatti or Hittite.
The… Hatti claimed to be “the Master Race.” So have the modern Germans! The Hatti lorded it over other peoples who lived in Asia Minor. They were the inventors of the DOUBLE-HEADED EAGLE which has always been A SYMBOL OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE!’
The double headed eagle is in fact an Assyrian symbol, perpetuated by the Byzantines, the Russians and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as admittedly the Austrians. The Hittites, Romans and Germans have all used a single headed eagle.
‘Ritual [standards of the Hatti have been] recovered through excavation in ancient Anatolia… [notice] swastikas… [a] Hattic ritual standard in disk form… the Iron Cross… The descendants of the ancient Hatti – the modern Hessians of Germany – perpetuate these same symbols.’
Three Hittite artefacts highlighting the iron cross and swastika emblems also used in Germany’s recent past. The symbol below, is a third century Roman swastika
It is apparent from Hoeh’s article that he believes the Hatti and Assyrians are one and the same, or that the Hessian Assyrians as he calls them, are a branch of Asshur. We have studied the original Hatti or Chatti when discussing Nahor and his descendants who were later called Chaldees after the Chatti [Chapter XXV Italy: Nahor & the Chaldeans].
The descendants of Ishmael became known as both Hatti and Hittites. We have discussed the confusing scenario of the original Hittites being the son of Canaan, Heth. The addition of the Nephilim as ‘Hittites’ too with the original Heth-ites and now, Ishmael as a completely different, separate and second group of Hittites.
Thus, not only were there two Hittite peoples – descended from Canaan and Ishmael – as scholars have begrudgingly recognised; there were also two peoples of Hatti – from Nahor and Ishmael – as well. Which has not been recognised, and so the Hatti and Hittites have been viewed as either the same civilisation or more recently as two peoples when technically, there are in fact three involved. Only Ishmael has been known by both names.
The close political ties of the later Hatti or Hittites, with Asshur is correct and was repeated again at the end of Rome’s supremacy, when it split in two and Asshur was the eastern arm and Ishmael the west. In recent times, when Germany was split into West Germany and East Germany, Russia based its control of the eastern block of nations and its head quarters operations in East Germany; within its’ ‘half of Berlin.’ We have touched upon the future alliance between Russia and Germany which will see them take the political and economic lead in the world, shaking up the world order, while depriving the United States in particular as well as China, of the leadership they currently take for granted.
Hoeh raises a fascinating point on the Hittite kings being known as Khatti-sars. As the Prussians did later have Kai-sers and the Russians had C-zars or Tzars as titles for their kings and of course to tie up the compelling link, these two words have derived from the original title of Cae-sar, used by both capitols of Rome and Constantinople. Following are a selection of verses in the Bible which speak of the Ishmaelite Hittites and not the Canaanite or Nephilim Hittites.
1 Kings 11:1
English Standard Version
11 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.
Judges 1:23-26
English Standard Version
23 And the house of Joseph scouted out Bethel. (Now the name of the city was formerly Luz.) 24 And the spies saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the way into the city, and we will deal kindly with you.” 25 And he showed them the way into the city. And they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go. 26 And the man went to the ‘land of the Hittites’and built a city and called its name Luz. That is its name to this day. [Joshua 16:1-3].
Ishmael died in 1754 BCE and the period of the Judges began circa 1342 BCE with the first Judge, Othniel until 1015 BCE and the death of Samuel, the fifteenth Judge. During this lengthy period, the Ishmaelites migrated from Arabia via Canaan to Central Anatolia. We have discussed how the descendants of Lot and Jacob had travelled to the Aegean Sea and mainland Greece establishing city states [refer Chapter XXVI The French & Swiss: Moab, Ammon & Haran]. The descendants of Nahor had migrated from northern Mesopotamia to Western Anatolia. The reason for all this movement is usually always attributable to the onward pressure of migrating peoples. For instance in northern Africa and southern Arabia, Cush and Phut were on the move as they would eventually dwell in south Asia, with Mizra filling the vacuum and expanding their territory from North Africa to dwelling in Arabia and the Middle East.
2 Chronicles 1:17
English Standard Version
They imported a chariot from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver, and a horse for 150. Likewise through them these were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria. [1 Kings 10:29, 2 Kings 7:6]
1 Kings 15:5
English Standard Version
… because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriahthe Hittite.
The Hittite women who King Solomon loved were the same as the Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite and Sidonian women, that is, they were from Shem and not Ham’s line.
Notice the man from the original Canaanite city of Luz, went to the land inhabited by the Hittites in Anatolia and built a new city called Luz. The Hittites dwelt further north than the Aramaean Syrians, who lived just to the south of eastern Asia Minor. In the conquest of Canaan, the Hittites were said to dwell ‘in the mountains’ and ‘towards the north’ of Canaan – a description that matches the general direction and geography of the Anatolian Hittite empire. Uriah the Hittite was the husband of Bathsheba, who King David conspired to kill so that he could take his wife Bathsheba. Uriah was a high ranking soldier in David’s army; a commanding officer, perhaps a General.
It is of note, as the Ishmaelites were and are, proficient military leaders and soldiers as evidenced by the Hittite Kingdom, the Roman Empire, Imperial Prussia and in our time, Nazi Germany. Hittite kings, as royal princes were trained from childhood in the art of war and combat; they possessed a wealth of experience from being on the battlefield, where they were expected to lead from the front.
The New World Encyclopaedia addresses the pertinent points we have raised on the Hittities, with additional facts which are interesting in light of their identity as Ishmael, the ancestors of Rome and as modern Germans. Other supporting quotes follow and all emphasis and bold are mine.
‘”Hittites” is the conventional English-language term for an ancient people who spoke an Indo-European language and established a kingdom centered in Hattusa… The Hittite kingdom, which at its height controlled central Anatolia, north-western Syria down to Ugarit, and Mesopotamia down to Babylon, lasted from roughly 1680 B.C.E. to about 1180 B.C.E. After 1180 B.C.E., the Hittite polity disintegrated into several independent city-states, some of which survived until as late as around 700 B.C.E.
The Hittite kingdom, or at least its core region, was apparently called Hatti in the reconstructed Hittite language. However, the Hittites should be distinguished from the “Hattians,” an earlier people who inhabited the same region until the beginning of the second millennium B.C.E., and spoke a non-Indo-European language conventionally called Hattic. Hittites or more recently, Hethites is also the common English name of a Biblical people… who are also called Children of Heth… These people are mentioned several times in the Old Testament, from the time of the Patriarchs up to Ezra’s return from Babylonian captivity of Judah. The archaeologists who discovered the Anatolian Hittites in the nineteenth century initially believed the two peoples to be the same, but this identification remains disputed.
The Hittites were famous for their skill in building and using chariots [as were the Romans and as are the Germans].Some consider the Hittites to be thefirst civilization to have discovered how to work iron, andthus the first to enter the Iron Age. The Hittite rulers enjoyed diplomatic relations with Ancient Egypt but also fought them. The Battle of Kadesh (1275 B.C.E.) is said to have been the greatest chariot battle of all time. Rameses II claimed victory but the result was really a draw and 16 years later the two empires signed a peace treaty. The tablet concluding the treaty hangs in the United Nations headquarters.’
The Hittite king, Muwatallis II had at his disposal 3,000 chariots and 40,000 foot soldiers. It was certainly the biggest chariot battle known to history. The Hittites ambushed their enemy; had a greater force of men; and their chariots were made of iron; had lighter wheels; and carried three men instead of the standard two – an extra man as a shield bearer and to weight the chariot during tight turn manoeuvres.
‘Hittite kings and queens shared power, and gender equality is clearly evident in records of marriage, property and probate transactions and also of criminal law. At one time, a matrilineal system may have been practiced… certain “queens involved themselves in the kingdom’s political and judicial activities, as well as in external political affairs”… The mother goddess was venerated. After their husband’s death, several Queens ruled in their own rights. Correspondence survives between Rameses II of Egypt and Queen Puduhepa of the Hittites as early as the thirteenth century B.C.E. He addressed her as the “great queen,” as his sister and as “beloved of the God Amon.” She co-signed treaties with her husband, King Hattusilis III, including the famous treaty with Egypt. Some correspondence was signed with her own seal, indicating that she had “full authority” to make decisions on her husband’s behalf… This ancient civilization appears to have evolved over the centuries from a harsher into a more humane, life-affirming culture, evidenced by tablets of two hundred laws from different periods that have survived. Earlier punishments required mutilation; later ones demanded fines or some form of compensation except for serious crimes, such as rape and murder – which were punishable by death.
The Hittite civilization was one of the cradles of human culture… [their culture was among the first to have codified laws, literature and libraries]. Their development of trade links did much to generate awareness of living in the same world as other peoples, and of inter-dependence between peoples and had “a profound influence on the course of Anatolian history for the next two millennia”… They often used treaties to secure safe trade and to establish its terms. These terms ensured fairness and profit on both sides. The Hittites were aware that they belonged to a common humanity, something that sometimes seems forgotten in the modern world [for example the European Union]. They also made efforts to integrate conquered people by adapting some of their religious customs.
During sporadic excavations at Bogazkoy (Hattusa) that began in 1905, the archaeologist Hugo Winckler found a royal archive with ten thousand tablets, inscribed in cuneiform Akkadian… He also proved that the ruins at Bogazkoy were the remains of the capital of a mighty empire that at one point controlled northern Syria. [The Hittite capital city Hattusha was the most advanced and powerful city of the ancient world]. The language of the Hattusa tablets was eventually deciphered by a Czech linguist, Bedrich Hrozny (1879–1952), who on November 24, 1915, announced his results in a lecture at the Near Eastern Society of Berlin [no less]. His book about his discovery was printed in Leipzig in 1917 with the title ‘The Language of the Hittites: Its Structure and Its Membership in the Indo-European Linguistic Family.’ The preface of the book begins with: The present work undertakes to establish the nature and structure of the hitherto mysterious language of the Hittites, and to decipher this language […] It will be shown that Hittite is in the main an Indo-European language.
For this reason, the language came to be known as the Hittite language, even though that was not what its speakers had called it… Under the direction of the German Archaeological Institute, excavations at Hattusa have been underway since 1932, with wartime interruptions. Bryce (2006) describes the capital as one of the most impressive of its time, comprising “165 hectares”…
The history of the Hittite civilization is known mostly from cuneiform texts found in the area of their empire, and from diplomatic and commercial correspondence found in various archives in Egypt and the Middle East. Around 2000 B.C.E., the region centered in Hattusa that would later become the core of the Hittite kingdom was inhabited by people with a distinct culture who spoke a non-Indo-European language. The name “Hattic”is used by Anatolianists to distinguish this language from the Indo-European Hittite language, that appeared on the scene at the beginning of the second millennium B.C.E.and became the administrative language of the Hittite kingdom over the next six or seven centuries.As noted above, “Hittite” is a modern convention for referring to this language. The native term [for their language] was Nesili, i.e. “in the language of Nesa” [and for themselves, Neshites or Nessites]. The early Hittites, whose prior whereabouts are unknown, borrowed heavily from the pre-existing Hattian culture, and also from that of the Assyrian traders – in particular, the cuneiform writing and the use of cylindrical seals. Since Hattic continued to be used in the Hittite kingdom for religious purposes, and there is substantial continuity between the two cultures, it is not known whether the Hattic speakers – the Hattians – were displaced by the speakers of Hittite, were absorbed by them, or just adopted their language.
The kingdom developed into the greatest and richest power at the time in the region. Bryce (2006) argues that early use of tin to make bronze helped to stimulate a stable political system and also to develop trade-links with surrounding peoples. The earliest known Hittite king, Pithana, was based at Kussara. In the eighteenth century B.C.E., Anitta conquered Nesa, where the Hittite kings had their capital for about a century, until [Labarnas II] conquered Hattusa and took the throne name of [Hattusilis I c. 1650-1620 BCE] ”man of Hattusa.” The Old Kingdom, centered at Hattusa, peaked during the sixteenth century and even managed to sack Babylon at one point [ending the Amorite Dynasty], but made no attempt to govern there, choosing instead to turn it over to the domination of their Kassite allies who were to rule it for over four hundred years. Bryce describes the conquest of Babylon under King [Mursilis I Hattusilis’ grandson] (1620-1590) as the “peak of Hittite military achievement” that also marked the “end of the illustrious era of Babylonian history”…’
The Hittite kingdom finally dissolved after defeats and loss of territory to the strengthening Assyrians. The Hittite legacy was influential on both the legendary city-state of Troy descended in the main from Lot, todays French and the Etruscan civilisation from Midian, todays Dutch; who in turn, ironically, were a foundation for the later Roman Republic… the very reincarnation of the Hittite peoples who had migrated from western Anatolia to central Italy.
‘The success of the Hittite economy was based on fair trade. In return for tin, they sold gold, silver, and copper, as well as wool and woolen clothes. A banking system made credit available. This, however, was run humanely, so that if for example a farmer, due to a bad harvest, could not repay the loan, it was sometimes canceled by the king… Macqueen (1975) argues that what made Anatolia much more than a “land-bridge” between Europe and Asia was its abundant mineral resources. It was no more or no less fertile than other regions, but its resources “… made it a land of rich possibilities (that made it) a primary center rather than a backwater which served only to link more favored areas”…’
The Lion Gate at the entrance of the former city Hattusa
Amazing Bible Timeline – emphasis & bold mine:
‘The Hittite Empire is mentioned… in the Bible as one of the most powerful empires in… ancient times. Scholars used to question the accuracy of the Bible saying that such [an impressive] Hittite Empire was only hearsay since it was nowhere to be found. They considered the Hittites a small group of people living in the hills of Canaan together with Abraham. This was until the discovery… [of] important proofs… [including] tablets, documents, and successful excavations… [revealing] the truth about the existence of this great empire. It is a matter of considerable scholarly debate whether the biblical “Hittites” signified any or all of: 1) the original Hattites of Hatti; 2) their Indo-European conquerors (Nesili), who retained the name “Hatti” for Central Anatolia, and are today referred to as the “Hittites”… or 3) a Canaanite group who may or may not have been related to either or both of the Anatolian groups, and who also may or may not be identical with the later Neo-Hittite, Luwian polities.’
Sarah wife of Abraham. Fairy tale or Real History? Gerard Gertoux – italics his, bold mine:
‘The Hittites met by Abraham were not quite the same as those of Joshua 37 since they are identified as sons of Heth, not Hittites. In the biblical narrative (Genesis 23:2-10), Ephron (“of a calf”), son of Zohar (“tawny”), was not a Hittite in the usual manner because his birth name and that of his father are not Hittite but Canaanite, implying that they had been settled in this region for a long time. Consequently the history of Hittites is complex…’
We read most of the quote by writer D H Lawrence regarding the Etruscan civilisation in Chapter XXVII. The additional information is of note, now we know the identity of the Roman people who were steadily rising in power next to their Etruscan neighbours: ‘… Etruscan things are put down as a feeble Greco-Roman imitation. And a great scientific historian like Mommsen hardly allows that the Etruscans existed at all. Their existence was antipathetic to him. The Prussian in him was enthralled by the Prussian in the all-conquering Romans.’
An interesting coincidence of comparison, for who were the original Romans but none other than the Ishmaelite Hittites who had migrated to the Italian Peninsula as had the Midianite Grecians becoming Etruscans. These ‘western’ Romans when Rome fell, migrated through central eastern Europe to the Scandinavian-Baltic region and after being part of the ‘Swedish Viking’ wave of traders and raiders, came to be known as Prussians. The Prussians eventually led the drive for unification of all the German States and principalities and were synonymous with militarism and authoritarianism.
According to legend, Rome was founded as a city state by Romulus II and his brother Remus on April 21, 753 BCE. After completing the construction of his city, Romulus divided ‘his warriors into regiments numbering three thousand infantry and three hundred cavalry’ which he called legions. Romulus proceeded to form the city’s system of government in selecting a hundred of the most noble and richest elders, the patricians and these men became the first senators; who ruled the complex republican government when the last king was expelled.
Romulus was the city’s first king, though after his death in 716 BCE, the city was in reality under Etruscan rule even as the Kingdom of Rome. The Etruscans governed great swathes of Italy north of Rome; including Rome which was the southern tip of a chain of semi-independent city states. By 509 BCE the power of the Etruscans had weakened sufficiently for the Romans to eject them and establish the Roman Republic, ending a period of Monarchy comprising seven kings, including Romulus [refer Chapter XXVII Abraham & Keturah – Benelux & Scandinavia].
The most famous ruler of the Republic was Julius Caesar who became the first dictator of Rome in 45 BCE after defeating Pompey in a civil war and thereby igniting the ending of the Republic. It was Julius Caesar who hired Sosigenes an Egyptian astronomer, to calculate a new twelve month calendar. In 44 BCE he was assassinated on the Ides of March by Marcus Brutus. Hopes of a return to a Republic were dashed by civil war breaking out again. In 27 BCE, Octavius appointed himself Augustus, the first emperor. The Roman Empire steadily grew in greatness; becoming the greatest the world had ever known. In 64 CE, Emperor Nero set fire to Rome, blaming the Christians. Yet, in 306 CE Rome became a ‘Christian’ empire, made official by Theodosius I in 380 CE, confirming Christianity the sole religion of the empire.
The Roman Empire contributed major achievements and left many legacies. The most notable being arches, grid based cities, sewers, sanitation, roads and highways – note Germany’s autobahns of the 1930s and much of the major road systems in Britain, are based on those originally built by the Romans – aqueducts [considered engineering marvels], central heating [hypocaust: circulation of hot air], surgery tools and techniques, medical corps on the battlefield, the Julian calendar, newspapers [Acta Diurna: ‘daily acts’], concrete, construction and architecture [The Colosseum (built in 80 CE), the Pantheon and Hadrian’s Wall in 122 CE], Latin from which the Romance languages sprung and Roman numerals. Their numbering system is still used today, as well as Latin in scientific circles and academia.
Arguably, the greatest achievement of the Roman Empire, was its system of government. Though tainted with intrigue and political violence which a modern democratic political system could not survive today, the Romans established a legal code that served as a future model for political systems, including the United States. The emperor Justinian from 492 to 565 CE, was integral in the development of the Corpus Juris Civilis, undoubtedly the earliest modern expression of civil law in history and it provided the foundation for the legal systems that define democracy in our era. The relevance of the Roman Empire to the future of western civilisation, cannot be overstated.
In 117 CE with the death of Trajan, the empire covered territory of up to five million square kilometres; comparable to the Greco-Macedonian empire of Alexander the Great of some 5.2 million square km and the Achaemenid Empire of Darius I comprising 5.5 to 5.8 million square km. The Roman Empire grew so large that it was an unwieldy task governing from the city of Rome. Emperor Diocletician divided the administrative rule into a western and eastern tetrarchy, ’the rule of two’ in 285 CE. By 330 CE, Emperor Constantine moved the capital to Constantinople, formally known as Byzantium. This decision plus his favouring the east by building new infrastructure only there, yet raising taxes in the west, led to the considerable weakening of the western empire; leaving it vulnerable to invaders.
In 395 CE, the Roman empire splitting was reinforced upon the death of Theodosius I, emperor of Constantinople. The provinces were divided between his two sons Arcadius and Honorius. Fifteen years later the Visigoths sacked Rome; the first time in eight hundred years. Finally, in 476 CE the Western Roman Empire ended and ancient Rome fell with the defeat of the final emperor, Romulus Augustus at the hands of the Goth ruler Odoacer. Heralding the beginning of the Dark Ages in Europe. The eastern Empire of Byzantium lasted until 1453 CE when it fell to the Ottoman Turks.
This transference of power from west to east was a switch from Ishmael to Asshur. This relationship had occurred previously in Anatolia as the neighbouring Hittites and Assyrians. As Rome faded, Byzantium rose to prominence. We have studied Nebuchadnezzar’s statue in the Book of Daniel chapter Two, with the head of Gold symbolising the Chaldeans; the chest and arms of silver the Medo-Persians; the torso and thighs of bronze, Greco-Macedonia; and the one lower leg of iron representing Byzantium. The other lower leg… is Rome. The major European nations or powers have all been represented respectively in Nebuchadnezzar’s statue: Italy, Turkey, France, Germany and Russia. Quite an amazing coincidence or set by a predetermined purpose?
The Roman Empire powerful like the Byzantine Empire, were both constituted of iron. We have previously discussed the feet and toes of iron and clay and the possible physical-spiritual intent, at the time of the end. We also now know, that this sixth future empire – whether it includes a human-angel admixture or not – does arise from the ashes of the Roman and Byzantine empires. The uneasy mix of iron and clay might just as easily be a reference to the short and difficult amalgamation of the Russian and German political, economic and military apparatuses. This future relationship between Ishmael and Asshur, Germany and Russia will one final time, in a cycle of three, be instrumental in ushering in the time of the end, the very period of Jacob’s Trouble, the Great Tribulation and the return of the Son of Man.
Daniel 2:33-35
English Standard Version
33 … its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone [the returning Messiah] that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth [the millennial rule of the Kingdom of God].
This seventh kingdom is the Son of Man’s rule on earth; for a thousand years. Many Bible scholars, Christians and ad infinitum seem to have difficulty accepting a millennial one thousand year period after Christ’s return. Yet the Roman and Byzantine empires were each over a thousand years long. Rome from its foundation in 753 BCE to either its fall in 476 BCE, or the divisions of 285 and 395 CE are all over a thousand years. The fall of the Byzantine empire in 1453 is again over a thousand years, from the official division in 395 CE. It is a curious coincidence that both ‘lower leg’ empires founded by Ishmael and Asshur should have each lasted a thousand years or longer.
Added to this curiosity, is the fact that the Holy Roman Empire began with Charlemagne’s crowning on Christmas day in 800, and which incorporated much of Central Europe or East Francia and particularly the lands that would ultimately encompass present day Germany.
By 936, Otto I was crowned King of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire was fir the first time fully centred in Germany. By the end of the fifteenth century the Empire was still composed of three major regions comprising Italy, Germany and Burgundy; though really, only the Kingdom of Germany counted as the Burgundian territories were lost to France and the Italian territories splintered into independent territories. The dissolution of the Empire occurred a thousand years later at the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. At this time most of the Holy Roman Empire was included in the German Confederation, with the exception of the Italian states.
A decree in 1512, changed the name to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, though this term was hardly ever applied. The political philosopher Voltaire remarked: “This body which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.” The Empire was often called the German Empire, Deutsches Reich or the Roman-German Empire: Romisch-Deutsches Reich.After its dissolution, it was simply called ‘the old Empire’ – das alte Reich.
Beginning in 1923, Nazi propaganda would identify the Holy Roman Empire as the First Reich – Reich meaning realm or hegemony, loosely, ‘empire’ – with the German Empire as the Second Reich from 1871 to 1918 and either a future German nationalist state or as it turned out, Nazi Germany as the Third Reich.
It is a further curiosity that Adolf Hitler should wish to impose a thousand year German rule. It cannot be coincidence and very possibly demonically inspired to remark on in essence, an ante-Christ and anti-Christ millennial rule. Adolf Hitler in 1931: “I intend to set up a thousand-year Reich and anyone who supports me in this battle is a fellow-fighter for a unique spiritual – I would say divine – creation… Rudolf Hess, my assistant of many years standing, would tell you: If we have such a leader, God is with us.” Quoted by Richard Breiting in Secret Conversations with Hitler, 1970.
The similarities between the Roman Empire and Germany are numerous and palpable; replicated by the Nazi regime, whether from design or coincidence. The Nazi salute and greeting, Sieg Heil meaning Hail to Victory and Heil Hitler, resonates with the original Hail Caesar. The Nuremberg rallies with their layout, flags and standards were deliberately reminiscent of the Roman army legions which prefigured them.
The eastern third of the Frankish empire eventually evolved into modern Germany, after Louis the Pious, the only one remaining of Charlemagne’s three sons died in 840 CE, leaving East Francia to his son, Louis the German as discussed in Chapter XXVI. His territory included Alemannia, Bavaria, Khorushka, Saxony, Franconia and Thuringia.
Interestingly, a province or Gau of East Francia, is first mentioned in the Treaty of Meerssen in 870. Known as the Hattuarian Gau, on the west bank of the Rhine. Some think this was a surviving relic of the Germanic tribe, the Chattuarii. Note the striking resemblance to Hattusa the capital of the Hittite Empire and before them, the Chatti.
Louis the German died in 876 and he in turn left East Francia to his three sons: Carloman, king of Bavaria and lower Pannonia from 876 to 880; Louis III, the younger of Franconia, Hesse, Saxony and Thuringia from 876 to 882; and Charles II, the Fat from 876 to 887, of Rhaetia and Alemannia or Swabia, with the addition of Italy in 879 and France in 884. In 882, East Francia was re-united after its division in 876 with the death of Charle’s brother Louis III.
Between 1648 and 1815 Prussia or Preussen in German, rose remarkably in stature. The margraves, or marcher lords of Brandenburg became Electors of the Holy Roman Empire. Brandenburg and East Prussia fell under the control of the Hohenzollern family, who mastered the Brandenburg hereditary nobility the Junkers and ignited the centuries long march to power, which ended with the First World War and the abdication of the Kaiser in 1918. In 1640, Frederick William or Wilhelm of Brandenburg,also called the Great Elector, became ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia; throwing off vassalage under the Kingdom of Poland and re-organising his loosely knit and scattered territories. By the time he died in 1688, Frederick William had made Brandenburg-Prussia the strongest of the northern German states; created an efficient army and fortified Berlin.
The Kingdom of Prussia is Founded, Richard Cavendish, History Today, Volume 51, Issue January 1, 2001 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘His son, the Elector Frederick III (1657-1713), was not a chip off the old block. Known in Berlin as ‘crooked Fritz’, because a childhood accident had left him with a twisted spine and a humped back, he was besotted with all things French and looked for a crown as a reward for aiding the Emperor Leopold I. There could not be a king of Brandenburg, which was part of the Empire, and there could not be a king of Prussia, because part of it was in Poland. By an ingenious formula, however, Frederick was permitted to call himself king in Poland. He put the crown on his head with great ceremony at Königsberg as Frederick I and so created the Prussian kingdom, with its capital at Berlin.Brandenburg from then on, though still theoretically part of Germany owing allegiance to the Emperor, was treated in practice as part of the Prussian kingdom.’
Prussia became a European power from 1763 and in turn, Austria’s greatest rival for hegemony of Germany. Instrumental in this growth was Frederick II the Great, who reigned from 1740 to 1786. In 1857, the Prussian king was Frederick William IV. He suffered a stroke and while incapacitated, his brother William served as regent until 1861 when he then officially became King William I.
From an early age he received private tuition and as the second son of the King, was not expected to take the throne. According to Royal traditions, he was initially destined to a military life. He was an officer in the Prussian Army when he was only twelve and later on in his adolescence was commissioned as a Captain; joining the Allied monarchs fight against France and Napoleon I when he was sixteen years of age. Wilhelm I was devoted to military service and was determined to perfect the capabilities of the Prussian Army. Wilhelm helped quench several uprisings and hence consolidated the power of his brother, King Frederick William IV. He took part in setting up the Vereinigter Landtag, the Prussian Parliament with a seat for himself in the Herrenhaus or upper chamber.
Wilhelm’s most significant accomplishment was naming Otto von Bismarck as Prussian Foreign Minister in 1862; who became known as the ‘blood and iron chancellor.’ Bismarck was born in 1815 in a noble family estate west of Berlin in Prussian Saxony. He was a Prince, Count and Duke all-in-one. He died at the age of eighty-three in 1898. With the formidable assistance of Bismarck, King Wilhelm impressively modernised Germany, accelerating its journey into one of the dominant military and economic powers of Europe. ‘Wilhelm centralised power, built a strong military, and improved Germany’s international status. It was also under his reign that Germany became one of the first modern welfare states.’
There had been growing disputes between Prussia and Denmark over the territory of Schleswig and these escalated in 1863. It was not part of the German Confederation, while Danish nationalists wanted to incorporate Schleswig into the Danish kingdom. By astutely placing Denmark in the aggressors role, Bismarck was able to spark the Second war of Schleswig in 1864. Prussia, cleverly getting Austria involved, easily defeated Denmark and occupied Jutland. The Danes were forced to cede both the Duchy of Schleswig and the Duchy of Holstein to Austria and Prussia.
The subsequent governing of the two duchies, inevitably led to tensions between Austria and Prussia. Austria wanted the duchies to become independent within the German Confederation; Prussia intended to annex them. This disagreement served as the intended and perfect pretext for the Seven Weeks War between Austria of Hagar and Prussia from Ishmael, breaking out in June 1866. The two powerful armies clashed at Sadowa-Koniggratz in Bohemia, in an enormous battle in July, involving half a million soldiers. Superior Prussian troop manoeuvres, with the modern breech-loading needle guns over the slow muzzle loading rifles of the Austrians were decisive in giving Prussia victory. The battle importantly, had decided the question of hegemony in Germany. Bismarck was deliberately lenient with the spent force that was Austria; who after their defeat, played a subordinate role in German affairs.
The world-renowned Neuschwanstein castle was built for King Ludwig II of Bavaria, and served as his private refuge. Construction began in 1869 and was finished in 1892, though it was not technically completed. The Castle became the dream world that the Bavarian king escaped, after he ceded his power to the Prussians in 1866.
Following the War with Austria, the German Confederation was dissolved and the North German Federation or Norddeutscher Bund, was established under the leadership of Prussia. Austria was excluded and its longstanding immense influence over Germany abruptly came to an end. The North German Federation was a temporary organisation, existing between 1867 and 1871. Due to revolution in Spain, the exile of Queen Isabella II to France began a fortuitous and remarkable chain of events on the surface, yet cleverly contrived behind the scenes. Her abdication in June 1870 lead to the Franco-Prussian war when France refused the possibility of the Prussian Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen taking the vacant Spanish throne.
French troops were humiliated by Prussia’s ‘ultra-modern’ army and being driven back to the gates of Paris, quickly swept away the exposed myth of France’s military prowess, bringing about its downfall. In the process, Prussia had not only displaced Austria as the preeminent German power it was now the dominant state of central Europe. In 1871 Wilhelm was proclaimed Emperor or Kaiser, of a united German State, with Bismarck its first Chancellor.
On 18 January 1871, the German Empire was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles – Bismarck is in the centre, dressed in white with a gold sash
The Prussian led German Empire’s massive military build up, coupled with phenomenal economic growth, meant war with Great Britain was inevitable, as it it sought to be the principal power of all Western Europe.
The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World before the War, 1890-1914, Barbara Tuchman – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Germans knew themselves to be the strongest military power on earth, the most efficient merchants, the busiest bankers, penetrating every continent, financing the Turks, flinging out a railway from Berlin to Baghdad, gaining the trade of Latin America, challenging the sea power of Great Britain, and in the realm of the intellect systematically organising… every branch of human knowledge. They were deserving and capable of mastery of the world. Rule by the best must be fulfilled… What they lacked and hungered for was the world’s acknowledgement of their mastery.So long as it was denied, frustration grew and with it the desire to compel acknowledgement by the sword.’
Flags of the North German Confederation 1866–71 and the German Empire 1871–1918
Alien World Order, Len Kasten, pages 175-177 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘… in 1890… Germany and Prussia were the richest and most powerful nations in the world at that time, even greater than the United States and on a par with England… Tuchman says that in… [1905, Kaiser Wilhelm II] astounded everyone by “publicly ascribing the genesis of his Navy to his childhood admiration of the British Fleet”… He was the oldest grandchild of Queen Victoria and the son of Princess Victoria, the oldest daughter of the queen and Prince Albert. His father was Prince Frederick William of Prussia, the heir to the Prussian crown who eventually became King Frederick III. [Wilhelm] was closely related to all the royalty of Europe and Russia.He was a first cousin to King George V of England; Queen Marie of Romania; Queen Maud of Norway; Victoria Eugenie, the queen consort of Spain; and Empress Alexandra of Russia, the wife of Czar [Nicholas II].’
Once Germany was unified, an effective system of alliances designed and managed by Chancellor Bismarck, had maintained peace and good relations across Europe. This was necessary because the recently unified Germany in its central location in Europe bordering a host of nations was brilliantly situated for trade, yet in the case of war, extremely vulnerable to attack on a variety of fronts. In 1888, the ‘Year of Three German Emperors’ Wilhelm I died at the age of 90 in March, followed shortly by his son – Wilhelm II’s father – Frederick III, who died of cancer in June.
The new Kaiser or King, Wilhelm II was eager to be seen as the one who could competently manage foreign relations, without the need of someone else and thus Bismarck was unceremoniously and unwisely, fired. Bismarck’s clever diplomatic ‘system of complex alliances, with their give-and-take features, encouraging moderation, were deliberately’ severed. Kaiser Wilhelm II ignored renewing a treaty of friendship with Russia, rather seeking ‘alliances with the traditional opponents of German expansionism, Great Britain and France, with momentous consequences.’
The following quote is not intended to single out Germany, Germans or the Japanese. Tragically, it is indicative of all aggressor waring nations, when under the influence of dark forces. Humankind all too readily falls under the spell of depravity at times like these; thus taking leave off their otherwise moral code of decency, to replace it with evil insanity.
Alien World Order, Len Kasten, pages 182-183 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Germany attacked Belgium on August 2, 1914, as part of their plan to quickly encircle the French forces. They needed to go through Belgium, using it as a corridor. In doing this, they were violating Belgian neutrality, which had been declared in the Treaty of 1839. The brutality with which the German Army treated the defenceless Belgian citizenry was not equaled again until 1937, by the Japanese in their infamous invasion… of Nanking. The German soldiers looted, pillaged, raped and murdered civilians with cold, drunken abandon…. crimes… were brutally cruel and sadistic… but were committed with a detached lack of restraint, sometimes while singing! All of the acts were meticulously catalogued in the impartial report of the British Bryce Committee… in May 1915… the German atrocities were in violation of the Hague Convention of 1907, which dealt with the conduct of war on land, to which Germany was a signatory. The offences enumerated… are divided into the following categories:
The Killing of noncombatants
The treatment of women and children
The use of noncombatants as shields during military operations
Looting, burning, and wanton destruction of property
Killing the wounded and prisoners
Firing on hospitals, Red Cross ambulances, and stretcher bearers
Abuses of the Red Cross and the White [surrender] Flag
About one hundred thousand Belgians were killed, of which sixty thousand were civilians, six thousand by execution. About 1.5 million Belgians were displaced by the invasion… An estimated 120,000 Belgian civilians of both genders were used as forced labor, roughly half of which were deported to Germany. They toiled in prison factories and camps, some just behind the front lines, digging trenches while artillery shells burst all around them. In this can be seen the same [cold-blooded] indifference to human suffering that became even more pronounced in World War II. It is clear evidence of the massive mind control… and the violent dispositions that were programmed into the young German males.’
As if once wasn’t enough, the same dark, controlling influence polluted the leadership of Germany again a short twenty years later in World War II. Adolf Hitler’slast nameis a possible variation of Hiedler, a surname applied to those who reside near a Hiedl or ‘subterranean river.’ Other theories derive the surname from Huttler, also spelled Huettler meaning ‘one who lives in a hut’ from Hutte, or from huten, meaning to ‘guard, look after.’ Adolf derives from Adal, which means noble or majestic and Wulf, meaning wolf. A ‘majestic wolf guarding, looking after’ Germany. Hitler certainly lived up to his name, as the predatory ruler who hijacked control by dictatorship. Notice the similarity between the name Hit-ler and the word Hit-tite. The irony, is Hitler’s ancestors were not German; that is, descended from Ishmael, yet it was he who lead the German, Ishmaelite nation down its darkest path; for Hitler was half Austrian and purportedly half Jewish.
Alien World Order, Len Kasten, 2017, Page 196 – emphasis his, bold mine:
‘In his book, The Biggest Secret, David Icke has made a persuasive case for the theory that Adolf Hitler was the grandson of a Rothschild, and that the Rothschild family was responsible for his rise to power. Icke informs us that according to the book The Mind of Hitler, psychoanalyst/author Walter Langer says that Hitler’s grandmother, Maria Anna Schicklgruber became pregnant with the childof Salomon Mayer Rothschild while working as a domestic servant at his mansion in Vienna.
Her illegitimate son Alois later became Hitler’s father. Icke says, “The Rothschilds and the Illuminati produce many offspring out of wedlock… and these children are brought up under other names with other parents.”’
After World War II, in 1949, Germany was divided into two countries; East Germany and West Germany. East Germany was a communist state under control of the Soviet Union. The Berlin Wall was built between the two states and ideologies to prevent people from escaping from East Germany to the West. It became a central point and focus of the Cold War. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism, the wall was torn down in 1989. Nearly a year later on October 3, 1990, East and West Germany were reunited into one country.
Notable dates in German history include, 1455 when Johannes Gutenberg first printed the Gutenberg Bible. His printing press incomparably influenced the future of the written word. In 1517, Martin Luther published his Thesis which marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation and the huge schism from the Universal Church. In 1756, famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in present day Austria. In 1806, the French Empire under Napoleon I conquered many of the German states. In 1808, Ludwig van Beethoven’s famous Fifth Symphony was first performed. In 1812, German writers the Brothers Grimm, published their first collection of tales.
Prussian flag and German flag during World war I – notice the Prussian one headed eagle, the Hittite iron cross, the Nordic cross and the pan-German colours of red, white and especially black.
After the United States, Germany is the second most popular immigration destination in the world, with the majority of migrants living in the western regions of Germany. The English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, used by Julius Caesar ironically, to describe the peoples east of the Rhine River. The German term Deutschland, originally diutisciu land or the ‘German lands’, was derived from the word deutsch and is similar to the word Dutch, descending from the Old High German diutisc, meaning ‘of the people’ from diot or diota – ‘people.’
The Nazi flag from 1933 till 1945 and the flag of the Holy Roman Empire
Western Germany received considerable support from the United States – as did Japan – in rebuilding its economy after WWII. For decades, Germany was the third biggest economy in the world. With China’s ascent, Germany is now the fourth largest world economy behind Japan and ahead of India in fifth place, with a GDP of $3.86 trillion in 2019. Germany is Europe’s largest economy and is a top exporter of vehicles, machinery, chemicals and other manufactured goods, with a highly skilled workforce. Germany is well known for its pharmaceuticals and is the home of one of the world’s top drug makers, Bayer. Germany also has a low fertility rate, with an ageing population and workforce. Coupled with this is its high levels of net immigration, both of which are putting a strain on Germany’s social welfare system.
‘The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in German global shipments during 2021.
Machinery including computers: US$268.6 billion
Vehicles: $246 billion
Electrical machinery, equipment: $176.4 billion
Pharmaceuticals: $118 billion
Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $83.8 billion
Plastics, plastic articles: $76.3 billion
Mineral fuels including oil: $43.3 billion
Articles of iron or steel: $33.9 billion
Other chemical goods: $32.9 billion
Iron, steel: $32.7 billion
Mineral fuels including oil was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 65.4% from 2020 to 2021. In second place for improving export sales were the materials iron and steel via a 48.3% gain. Germany’s shipments of plastics plus articles made from plastic posted the third-fastest gain in value up by 27%.’
The German flag during the Weimar Republic between WWI and Nazi Germany and since reunification in 1989 and the German Coat of Arms
Germany is in the top ten nations in the world for technological innovation, at number five, one ahead of Russia at six. Germany has always found its name in this list and is consistently regarded as one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world. German research scientists contribute to numerous fields of endeavour including space exploration and biotechnology. The German automotive industry produces some of the most high-tech engines and automobiles, with pioneering brands like Mercedes Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche.
Germany has the second largest gold reserves in the world, ahead of Italy, France and Russia at 3, 4 and 5 respectively. Germany has 3,362.4 tonnes of gold which represents 74.5% of its foreign reserves. In 2017 Germany completed a four year repatriation operation to move back a total of 674 tonnes of gold from the Banque de France and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to its own vaults.
Germany is included in the influential G7 group of nations, where apart from Japan, two of the remaining six nations descended from Abraham’s two brothers, Nahor and Haran, corresponding with Italy and France respectively. Abraham’s children within the G7 include Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America.
Some global analysts predict a weakening of China’s economy over the next decade, regardless of this, a strong Germany aligning itself with a mending Russia – after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 – would have enormous repercussions on the future of global foreign policy, world trade, arms development, military expansion and political control.
Geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan in an article on Russia, actual Asshur from ancient Assyria, comments on Germany’s pivotal role in central Europe – emphasis & bold mine:
‘European history is a chronicle of the rise and fall of its geographic center. As Germany rises, the powers on its periphery buckle under its strength and are forced to pool resources in order to beat back Berlin. As Germany falters, the power vacuum at the middle of the Continent allows the countries on Germany’s borders to rise in strength and become major powers themselves. Since the formation of the first “Germany” in 800, this cycle has set the tempo and tenor of European affairs. A strong Germany means consolidation followed by a catastrophic war; a weak Germany creates a multilateral concert of powers and [multi-state] competition (often involving war, but not on nearly as large a scale). For Europe this cycle of German rise and fall has run its course three times – the Holy Roman Empire, Imperial Germany, Nazi Germany – and is only now entering its fourth iteration with the reunified Germany.’
The top eight main mtDNA Haplogroups for Austria and Germany.
Austria: H [44.9%] – J [8.8%] – U5 [8.6%] – K [8.6%] –
It is instantly recognisable the almost exact similitude between the two German nations in their mitochondrial DNA percentage sequence. The maternal Haplogroups leave little doubt as to the shared lineage and mutual ancestry from their mother Hagar; as evidenced in the key Haplogroups H, J, T2 and U5.
H HV0+V J K T2 U4 U5
Germany 45 4 9 7 8 3 9
Austria 45 2 9 9 8 5 9
Netherlands 45 8 11 10 12 7 8
Norway 46 4 11 5 8 3 11
Sweden 46 5 8 6 4 3 12
Denmark 47 4 13 9 6 2 6
Bel-Lux 47 3 6 12 9 3 3
Adding Austria and Germany to the table from Chapter XXVII and comparing the key mtDNA Haplogroups, highlights the unquestionable family link between Abraham and Keturah’s children with the two sons born from Hagar; Ishmael, with Abraham and the Hagarites with her second, unnamed husband.
H J T2 U5 K HV0+V HV U4
Switzerland 48 12 9 7 5 5 0.5 3
France 44 8 6 8 9 5 3 3
Germany 45 9 8 9 7 4 0.5 3
Austria 45 9 8 9 9 2 0.8 5
Comparing Ishmael and the Hagarites with Abraham’s brother Haran’s children, highlights the re-occurring genetic relationship amongst cousins, which can sometimes be as close as those shared between siblings. The Germans and Austrians are closely aligned in mtDNA with the French from Moab and Ammon. The table below is a continuation of the table of nations descended from Shem studied to date, with the addition of Hagar’s descendants.
H HV HV0+V J T2 U U5 K
Switzerland 48 0.4 5 12 9 0.4 7 5
Bel-Lux 47 0.7 3 6 9 5 3 12
Denmark 47 4 13 6 1 6 9
Norway 46 0.2 4 11 8 2 11 5
Sweden 46 0.5 5 8 4 3 12 6
Netherlands 45 8 11 12 0.5 8 10
Austria 45 0.8 2 9 8 1 .4 9 9
Germany 45 0.5 4 9 8 0.8 9 7
France 44 2 5 8 6 1 8 9
Brazil 44 2 11
Portugal 44 0.1 5 7 6 3 7 6
Spain 44 0.7 8 7 6 2 8 6
Poland 44 1 5 8 7 1.4 10 4
Russia 41 2 4 8 7 2 10 4
Greece 41 3 1.8 10 7 3 5 5
Italy 40 3 3 8 8 3 5 8
Ukraine 39 4 4 8 8 0.6 10 5
Iceland 38 4 2 14 10 0.2 8 10
Romania 37 2 4 11 5 2 7 8
Finland 36 7 6 2 0.8 21 5
Turkey 31 5 0.7 9 4 6 3 6
Iran 17 7 0.6 14 5 12 3 7
‘Switzerland remains as one bookend of the European descended peoples, with Iran remaining at the other end as per the dominant mtDNA Haplogroup H.’ The addition of the Austrians and Germans, sees them unsurprisingly, nestled amongst near relatives and neighbours, the Scandinavian, Benelux and French descended peoples. Recall from previous chapters that ‘[a] pattern has emerged showing the percentage levels of the main European mt-DNA Haplogroup H, increasing as one heads west across Europe. Switzerland though, has not fitted into this genetic type as it sits firmly in central Europe. What we will notice as we progress, is that the nations of northwestern Europe in the main, exhibit higher levels of mtDNA Haplogroup H.’
We have learned regarding Y-DNA Haplogroups that: ‘Haplogroup R-M269 is the sub-clade of human Y-chromosome Haplogroup R1b which is defined by the SNP marker M269. According to ISOGG 2020 it is phylogenetically classified as R1b1a1b. R-M269 is the most common European Haplogroup in the genetic composition of mainly Western Europe; increasing in frequency from an east to west gradient. For instance in Poland, it is found in 22.7% of the male population, compared [with] Wales at 92.3%. It is carried by over 110 million European men.
Scientists propose that the age of the M269 mutation is somewhere between 4,000 to 10,000 years ago. This time frame is plausible and neatly fits with the birth of Peleg and hence the beginning of the R1b mutation, circa 7727 BCE, according to an unconventional chronology. The most recently significant R1b mutations originated with Abraham and his descendants beginning in 1977 BCE.
The sub-Haplogroup of R1b, U106 or S21, is frequent in central to western Europe, reaching 66.8% in Germany; while the sub-lineage R-S116 is the most frequent in the Iberian Peninsula.’
‘R-U152 is more frequent in France and Italy; R-U198 in England; and R-M529 in the Celtic nations of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. As we progress through the descendants of Shem, the levels of R1b vary and gradually increase. We will keep a record of the levels for the two main R1b sub-Haplogroups – M269 and U106 – for some of the nations we will study.’ Italy was the first nation with their main Y-DNA Haplogroup being R1b and it showed a marked difference with eastern Europe.
‘It is worth mentioning that the north to south axis is as important as the east to west and so this explains why for instance Poland has slightly higher percentages of both clades of R1b than Russia as it is further west. Comparably, the Czech Republic displays a higher level of R-U106 than Italy which is further south; yet less R-M269 overall as it is the descendants of Peleg, Aram and the mixed line of Casluh and Caphtor which have the highest levels of R1b [refer Chapter XV The Philistines: Latino-Hispano America and Chapter XXIII Aram & Tyre: Spain, Portugal & Brazil].’
Turkey R-M269 14% – R-U106 0.4%
Russia R-M269 21% – R-U106 5.4%
Slovenia R-M269 17% – R-U106 4%
Czech R-M269 28% – R-U106 14%
Poland R-M269 23% – R-U106 8%
Ukraine R-M269 25% – R-U106 9%
Italy R-M269 53% – R-U106 6%
France R-M269 52% – R-U106 7%
Swiss R-M269 58% – R-U106 13%
Netherlands R-M269 54% – R-U106 35%
Denmark R-M269 34% – R-U106 17%
Austria R-M269 27% – R-U106 23%
Germany R-M269 43% – R-U106 19%
With the addition of Austria and Germany, we see that Germany has similar percentages as their neighbouring cousins in Denmark; while Austria possesses levels similar to their neighbours the Czechs. Though the mtDNA Haplogroups for Austria and Germany were very similar, we find more variance with the Y-DNA Haplogroups and a marked difference in the percentage of the key R1b group R-M269. The lower R-M269 level immediately stands out for Austria. A realistic explanation is that though Hagar was the mother of Ishmael and the mother of the Austrian Germans, her husband, who gave her a child or children, could likely have been from either Joktan or his great grandfather Arphaxad, rather than a direct lineal descendant of Peleg. As Austria has a similar percentage of R-M269 as its eastern European neighbours, coupled with its close geographic, cultural, political and historical ties with Hungary, this lends support for the proposition.
Principal component analysis graphs show that some Austrians are genetically related with Slovenians and Hungarians, while most are closer to Germans, particularly from Southern and Eastern Germany.
As heading west highlights an increase in R1b, travelling eastwards shows the decreasing percentages for both R1b groups.
Pakistan R-M269 3% – R-U106 0%
Palestine R-M269 0% – R-U106 0%
Middle East R-M269 0% – R-U106 0%
C & S America R-M269 0% – R-U106 0%
The absence of both of the R1b sub-Haplogroups in the Arab peoples and their related kin in Latin America shows how they are not European, western, ‘white’ or descended from Shem. Pakistan also proves that like India, they are not the same as Europeans and are incorrectly classified as Aryan.
The Y-DNA Haplogroups found in Germany and Austria.
Unlike the striking similarity with mtDNA Haplogroups, reflecting shared ancestry from the same mother, the difference in Y-DNA Haplogroups shows a different paternal ancestor for the Germans and Austrians. The higher level of Haplogroup I and especially I1, in Germany is similar with the Nordic and Germanic nations on or near its borders.
The family connection, yet distinctiveness of the German peoples was discussed by Raymond McNair in a thesis entitled:
Key to Northwest European Origins, Raymond F McNair, 1963 – capitalisation his, emphasis & bold mine:
‘Here are some interesting excerpts from an article entitled Are We Cousin to the German? by Sir Arthur Keith.
In the standard Atlases and school geographies the Germans colour Great Britain, Holland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden with the same tint as their own empire, to indicate that all those lands are inhabited by branches of the great Teutonic family… It is an historical fact that the Anglo-Saxons came into lands lying on the western shores of the present German Empire. In the same issue of The Graphic, Sir Arthur Keith illustrated prevalent British and German forms of skulls. He pointed out the marked difference between the typical British skulls when contrasted with that of the average German. Speaking of the typical British and German skull form, he says:
“The radical difference in the two forms leaps to the eye. In the majority of BRITON – English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish – the hinder part of the head, the occiput, projects predominately backwards behind the line of the neck; the British head is long in comparison with its width (ibid., page 720).”
Sir Arthur Keith says that “in the vast majority of Germans” the hinder part of the head is “flattened.” He mentions, however, that this “peculiarity of the German skull” is not due to “artificial means.”
We know that the prominent occiput and flattened occiput are characters that breed true over thousands of years, and that they are characters which indicate a profound racial difference. Even in the sixteenth century, Vesalius, who is universally regarded as the ‘father of Anatomy,’ regarded the flat occiput as a German characteristic… He came, rather unwillingly,to the conclusion that the vast majority of modern German people differed from the British, Dutch, Dane and Scandinavian in head form (ibid., p. 720)
Some of the North Germans are closely allied to the Danes, Dutch and other Northwestern Europeans. The exact racial affinity of the northern Germanic type to certain other Nordics of North-west Europe yet remains to be clearly demonstrated. But many North Germans have mixed to some extent with their neighbors, thus producing a people closely related to the racial type of Scandinavia, the British Isles, and the Low Countries.’
Germany having a large and varied population, means it is helpful to break down their Y-DNA Haplogroups into four quadrants – not far removed from the four divisions created after World War II, which were administered by the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the United States and France.
What is immediately noticeable is the strong similarity between northern and eastern Germany and the same similarity between western and southern Germany.
R1b R1a I1 I2a1 I2a2 E1b1b J2 N1C1
East 36 24 17 2 5 8 2 1
North 36 22 19 0.5 8 3 4 2
West 47 9 13 3 7 8 5 2
South 49 10 11 5 3 8 5 0.5
Germany 45 16 16 2 5 6 5 1
Notice the strong east to west divide between R1a and R1b; as we have encountered in previous chapters on our journey across Europe.
Haplogroup I1 is associated with northern Europe and the figures for Germany reflect this gradient. The higher overall percentage for Germany’s R1b at 45% is influenced by the higher population of the southern and western German states with 49% and 47% respectively.
Comparing Germany and Austria’s Y-DNA R1b led Haplogroups, with their Nordic and Benelux cousins, places them interestingly between the two.
R1b R1a I1 I2a1 I2a2 E1b1b J2 J1 G2a
Iceland 42 23 29 4
Norway 32 26 32 5 1 0.5 1
Sweden 22 16 37 2 4 3 3 1
Denmark 33 15 34 2 6 3 3 3
Austria 32 19 12 7 3 8 9 1 8
Germany 45 16 16 2 5 6 5 5
Frisians 55 7 [34] 2 [1]
Netherlands 49 4 17 1 7 4 4 0.5 5
Flanders 61 4 12 3 5 5 4 1 4
Wallonia 60 7 11 2 5 6 2 6
Luxembourg 61 3 3 3 6 5 8 3 6
Continuing our Y-DNA comparison table from previous chapters with the addition of Abraham’s son Ishmael and Hagar’s ‘son’.
J J1 J2 E1b1b G R1a R1b R1
Georgia 43 16 27 2 30 9 10 19
Armenia 33 11 22 6 12 5 30 35
Turkey 33 9 24 11 11 8 16 24
Iran 32 9 23 7 10 16 10 26
Greece 26 3 23 21 6 12 16 28
Italy 19 3 16 14 9 4 39 43
Romania 15 1 14 14 3 18 16 34
Portugal 13 3 10 14 7 2 56 58
Luxembourg 11 3 8 5 6 3 61 64
Brazil 10 10 11 5 4 54 58
Spain 10 2 8 7 3 2 69 71
Austria 10 1 9 8 8 19 32 51
France 8 2 6 8 6 3 59 62
Ukraine 5 1 5 7 3 44 8 52
Germany 5 5 6 5 16 45 61
Flanders 5 1 4 5 4 4 61 65
Netherlands 4 1 3 4 5 4 49 53
Switzerland 4 0.5 3 8 8 4 50 54
Poland 3 3 4 2 58 13 71
Russia 3 3 3 1 46 6 52
Denmark 3 3 3 3 15 33 48
Sweden 3 3 3 1 16 22 38
Wallonia 2 2 6 6 7 60 67
Frisians 1.4 2 7 55 62
Norway 0.5 0.5 1 1 26 32 58
Iceland 23 42 65
Finland 0.5 5 4 9
Adding Austria and Germany to the continuing table of main Y-DNA Haplogroups for European nations, places them both centrally as indicative of their respective R1b percentages. ‘Georgia remains as one bookend with the highest Haplogroup J2, J1 and G2a percentages. Finland is the opposite bookend, with no Haplogroup J or G2a and the lowest R1 levels. Poland… exhibits the highest percentage of R1a, while Greece has the most E1b1b. Spain’s total R1 is equalled by Poland, though in opposite percentages for R1a and R1b.’
Neither Germany or Austria are remarkable or particularly stand out with any of their Haplogroups; confirming their location in central Europe. It tends to be the countries on the periphery of Europe and its extreme outer edges such as Finland, Spain, Greece or even Georgia which possess the most or least amounts of specific paternal Haplogroups.
The core Y-DNA Haplogroups associated with the majority of the European nations in the north of Europe, include R1, I1 and I2; which segment Europe roughly into quarters. ‘Haplogroup R1b is prominent in the west; R1a in the east; I1 and I2a2 in the north and west; with I2a1 in the south and east. Haplogroup N1c1 is prominent in the north, in counter balance to J2, J1, E1b1b and G2a which are more commonly found in southern Europe.’
R1a R1b I1 I2a1 I2a2 N1c
Portugal 1.5 56 2 1.5 5
Spain 2 69 1.5 5 1
Luxembourg 3 61 3 3 6
France 3 59 9 3 4
Switzerland 4 50 14 2 8 1
Netherlands 4 49 17 1 7
Flanders 4 61 12 3 5
Brazil 4 54 [9]
Italy 4 39 5 3 3
Finland 5 4 28 0.5 62
Frisians 7 55 [34]
Wallonia 7 60 11 2 5
Turkey 8 16 1 4 0.5 4
Greece 12 16 4 10 1.5
Denmark 15 33 34 2 6 1
Sweden 16 22 37 2 4 7
Germany 16 45 16 2 5 1
Iran 16 10 0.5 1
Romania 18 16 4 28 3 2
Austria 19 32 12 7 3 0.5
Iceland 23 42 29 4 1
Norway 26 32 32 5 3
Ukraine 44 8 5 21 0.5 6
Russia 46 6 5 11 23
Poland 58 13 9 6 2 4
‘The comparison table shifts in emphasis when northern European Y-DNA Haplogroups comprising I1, I2a2 and N1c1 are included.’ Finland possess the highest levels of N1c1, while the highest percentage of I1 is found in Sweden. Switzerland retains the highest levels of I2a2. Germany and Austria have R1a percentages similar with Denmark and Sweden, while the I1 percentages for the Germans and Austrians resemble those of the Swiss, Dutch and the Flemish.
From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.
Luke 12:48 Amplified Bible
“True scholarship involves the sincere wish to weed out the errors that we are all plagued with and to accept new understandings with humility of thankfulness. In this spirit I am submitting this research to those who are interested. My best critics will be those who show me, and the rest of the world, just where the truth lies.”
Ernest L Martin [1932 – 2002]
“The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.”
Winston Churchill
“The surest barrier to advancing truth is the conviction one already has it”
The elder brother of Nahor is Haran. Haran died prematurely at eighty-two years of age either at the hands of his younger brother Abraham in an accident or highly unlikely, murdered by Nimrod, though more probably at the hand of King Shulgi of Ur [refer Chapter XXV Italy: Nahor & the Chaldeans]. His father Terah, with Lot and Abraham’s families then moved in 1917 BCE, northwest six hundred miles and settled in Haran, a city-region associated with Nahor’s family in Padan-Aram. We will learn that Haran had other children apart from those named in the scriptures: Lot, Milcah and Sarah. We do not know the name of Haran’s wife, though it is likely that Haran married a descendent of Arphaxad through Peleg’s line. It is not clear if descendants of Haran already lived in Haran; or if they arrived later after Abraham. The term Haran for the region, may have been added to the biblical account retrospectively, if they followed.
The geographic relationship of Haran adjacent to Padan-Aram – with Aram-Nahor – which in turn was next to Aram is significant as this alignment is replicated today [refer Chapter XXIII Aram & Tyre: Spain, Portugal & Brazil and Chapter XXV Italy: Nahor & the Chaldeans]. Today, Aram includes Spain and Portugal and Padan-Aram signifies Italy. Regarding identities in the Bible; if there is more than one verse – even if it is only two – it is specifying a distinct people. Haran had a son called Lot and he in turn had two sons, Moab and Ammon. Aside from these peoples, we read about a people described as Haran twice in the Bible. We are therefore seeking a people not only related to Nahor and Haran, but also dwelling next to Nahor, Moab and Ammon in Western Europe.
2 Kings 19:12
English Standard Version
Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden…
Ezekiel 27:21-24
English Standard Version
21 Arabia and all the princes of Kedar [Ishmael] were your favored dealers in lambs, rams, and goats; in these they did business with you… 23Haran, Canneh, Eden, traders of Sheba, Asshur [Russia], and Chilmad traded with you. 24 In your market these traded with you [Tyre] in choice garments, in clothes of blue and embroidered work, and in carpets of colored material, bound with cords and made secure.
Abarim Publications – emphasis & bold mine:
‘There are two completely different Hebrew names that have ended up as the similar name Haran in English. We’ll call them Haran I and Haran II, and note that both versions occur in Genesis 11:31: The name Haran I: Summary meaning Mountainous, MountaineerFrom the noun (har), hill or mountain. The name Haran I is assigned two times in the Bible: A son of Terah and brother of Abraham… This Haran is the father of Lot. [The other] a Levite of the family of Gershon (1 Chronicles 23:9).
The noun (har) is the Bible’s common word for mountain or hill. The obviously related verb (hera) means to be or become pregnant. An association with the previous noun is obvious, although not because the stomach of a pregnant woman resembles a mountain. The Bible depicts nations as individual women even more than as mountains; the words, (‘umma) meaning people and (’em), meaning mother are closely related. A pregnant woman is to her husband what a conceiving nation is to its deity.
The name Haran II: Summary Meaning Freedom, Central Fire From the root (harar), to be a central hub of heat. The name Haran II is assigned two times in the Bible: The city where Abram’s family settled (Genesis 11:31)… A son of Caleb and Epaha (1 Chronicles 2:46). The name Haran II probably comes from the verb (hara), to burn, or (harar), to be hot or even to be free: The root (harar) describes a society’s central and enclosed source of heat. It thus may express a geographical depression, but more so a being hot and ultimately a being a ruler (whether by might, political clout or wisdom). The unused verb (harar II) means to be free in cognate languages, which is the opposite of being a slave. Noun hor) means noble or nobleman.
The nouns (hor) mean hole or cavern, but obviously relate to the previous word in that freemen surround themselves with walls and armies. Verb (hawar) means to be or grow white (like ash or baked bricks). Nouns (hur) and (huray) refer to any white stuff, including garments and linen, and noun (hori) describes white bread or cake. For a meaning of the name Haran II… BDB Theological Dictionary sees a connection with an Assyrian word that means Road or Path, and suggests the name stems from Haran’s location on a trade route.’
Canneh means favoured and Eden means pleasure, delight, finery, Luxury and Paradise. The descendants of Haran dwell in the nation of Switzerland. The verse in Ezekiel Twenty-seven is revealing Haran’s economic strength as well as its ethnic split as evidenced by its principle languages of German, French, and Italian – plus Romany. The Swiss themselves – regardless of language divide – are homogenous, as their Haplogroups reveal. Whereas an Austrian majority of sixty percent perceive themselves as German, the Swiss when asked the same question, resoundingly answered No. The definition meanings of Haran are remarkably specific about the Swiss.
Switzerland is mountainous, free, protected with a wall of strong military tradition, is white with snow and known for its bread, cake, pastry and deserts, including chocolate. It is favoured in wealth and scenery; a veritable paradise of luxury.
The ancient Hurrians and Mitanni were separate yet synonymous, also known as Hanigalbat, with the Hurrians having a lesser role due to a smaller population, with the height of their kingdom longevity shorter – circa 905 to 886 BCE – compared to the Mitanni; but as the warrior nobility within the Kingdom of Mitanni their impact was greater and longer.
Recall we mentioned the Mitanni in Chapters XXIII and XXV. The Aramaic Mitanni may have merged with the dispossessed Hatti by this time, as they were migrating towards Babylon due to the Hittite expansion and their encroachment into their former lands. The apogee of the Mitanni kingdom era circa 1150 to 900 BCE may be the connecting link between the peak of the Hatti empire during 1900 to 1500 BCE and the later Chaldean rule of Babylon from 626 to 539 BCE.
The Hurrian army was built around an elite chariot corps, like an honour guard, commanded by the king. The relationship between the Hurrians and Mitanni is replicated between Switzerland and Italy in the form of the Papal or Pontifical Swiss Guard. It is a combined armed forces and honour guard maintained by the Holy See. It protects the Pope and the Apostolic Palace, serving as the military of the Vatican City.
Established in 1506 by Pope Julius II, it is one of the oldest military units used in ‘continuous operation.’ The dress uniform is blue, red, orange and yellow.
The Swiss Guard are equipped with traditional weapons, like the halberd, as well as with modern firearms. ‘Recruits to the guards must be unmarried Swiss Catholic males between 19 and 30 years of age who have completed basic training with the Swiss Armed Forces.’ The corp also receive enhanced training, in unarmed combat and small arms.
Burgundy is a region in France, made famous by its red wine. It is a little smaller than Switzerland and lies to the west, with only one hundred miles separating them. Though the name lives on in France, the original Burgundians are the ancestors of the Swiss. The Burgundians are considered a Scandinavian people whose original homeland lay on the southern shores of the Baltic Sea; where the island of Bornholm – Burgundarholm in the Middle Ages – still bears their name. In the first century CE they migrated into the lower valley of the Vistula River, but, unable to defend themselves against the Gepidae, they traveled westward. Serving as foederati – meaning auxiliaries – in the Roman army, they formed a powerful kingdom, around Sapaudia – modern day Savoy – near Lake Geneva, from 450 CE.
Christian king Gundobad ruling from 474 to 516 CE, allowed Burgundy to remain independent. Though in 534 the Franks occupied the kingdom, extinguishing the royal dynasty. The area was controlled initially by Neustrian Franks, then Middle Franks and finally German Franks until the year 888. It was then under Frankish Burgundian control until 1032. It was in 888 that Rudolf I – who died in 912 – of the German Welf family was recognised as king of Jurane, Burgundy, including much of what is now Switzerland. His son and successor Rudolf II, was able to conclude a treaty circa 931 with Hugh of Provence, extending ‘his rule over the entire regnum Burgundiae.’
The union of Upper and Lower Burgundy was bequeathed in 1032 – lasting until 1648 – to the German king and Holy Roman emperor Conrad II, which became known from the thirteenth century as the Kingdom of Arles. The name Burgundy was being increasingly applied to the county of Burgundy, as well as for the Duchy of Burgundy – both located in modern France. There were four Burgundies in total: the duchy, the county, and the kingdoms of Upper Burgundy and Lower Burgundy. Upper Burgundy larger than lower Burgundy was located in present day western Italy. Lower Burgundy was located in current French speaking western Switzerland.
The Historicity of the Bible, Iurii Mosenkis – emphasis & bold mine:
‘German Nibelungen, Old Norse Niflungar denote the Burgundian royal family which take its name from the people which initially owned the gold hoard. Siegfried slew Nibelung and twelve giants before he took the hoard. In the Norse mythology, Niflheimr (‘mist home’) is the world of frost. The similar world is Niflhel, the lowest level of Norse underworld Hel. The Indo-European root ne-bh means ‘not light (sky)’ (ne – ‘not’ and bh – ‘light’ like in Greek phos) initially and gave several related meanings: ‘sky’ (Russian nebo), ‘cloud, mist’ (Latin nebula), ‘dark’ (Anglo-Saxon nifol) etc.’
Britannica – emphasis & bold mine:
‘In 1291, when Rudolf I of Habsburg died, the elites of the Waldstatte (“forest cantons”) Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwaldenrenewed an older treaty confirming that they would maintain public peace and efficient jurisdiction without interference from outside [namely the Austrian Hapsburgs], thus securing their privileged position [Confoederatio Helvetica]. Such pacts were common at that time, but this one was to be considered much later as the foundation of the Swiss Confederation (only since 1891 has August 1, 1291, been celebrated as the birth of the nation).’
The prime Swiss communities of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, mirror Haran, Canneh and Eden in the Bible. The word Schwyz is where the name Switzerland has derived. The Swiss are famously known for their neutrality from 1815 following the Napoleonic wars against France. The Congress of Vienna guaranteed the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland. The present nation of Switzerland was formed in 1848 with the adoption of a new constitution, as there had been internal conflict prior to this date.
Switzerland is a federated country of 26 Cantons and its administrative capital is Bern; with Lausanne serving as its judicial centre. Switzerland’s small size, its total area is about half that of Scotland and its population of 8,816,359 people, the 20th largest in Europe, gives little indication of its international significance and economic clout. Geneva is home to numerous international organisations and the Swiss economy is the 20th largest in the world – just behind Saudi Arabia [18], Turkey [19] and ahead of Poland [21], Thailand [22] and Nigeria [25].
The Heraldry for the three original Cantons – the Key similar to the Vatican keys and the Bull,
stemming from veneration lasting millennia’s.
Apart from the capital Bern, Zurich is the country’s largest and most cosmopolitan city; its famed Bahnhofstrasse rivalling shopping districts found in other leading cities in the world. Basel and Lucerne are major German speaking cities, with Geneva and Lausanne the centres of the country’s French speaking cantons. In 1992 Swiss voters narrowly turned down membership in a European Economic Area comprising the EU and EFTA. Switzerland is politically isolated within Europe, though maintains strong economic ties with the EU – its largest trading partner. In the 1990s there were growing doubts about Switzerland’s past. ‘Many Swiss questioned the country’s traditional “bunker mentality” in Europe at peace and with open borders.’
Troubling for Switzerland was an international debate concerning dormant accounts of assets left by Jews in Swiss banks during the Nazi era, but never returned. ‘A controversy that challenged Switzerland’s image of itself and resulted in a settlement between two large commercial banks and Jewish plaintiffs in which the banks agreed to pay international Jewish organizations two billion Swiss francs (about $1.25 billion). Financial officials estimated that hundreds of millions of dollars in dormant assets remained unclaimed in Swiss banks in the early 21st century.’
‘The following export product groups categorize the highest dollar value in Swiss global shipments during 2021.
Gems, precious metals: US$106.3 billion
Pharmaceuticals: $101.5 billion
Organic chemicals: $29.7 billion
Clocks, watches including parts: $24.4 billion
Machinery including computers: $24 billion
Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $19.1 billion
Electrical machinery, equipment: $13.8 billion
Plastics, plastic articles: $6.2 billion
Mineral fuels including oil: $4.03 billion
Perfumes, cosmetics: $3.98 billion
Mineral fuels including oil was the fastest-growing among the top 10 export categories, up by 107.2% from 2020 to 2021. In second place for improving export sales was… clocks and watches including parts category which rose 34.7%. Switzerland’s shipments of gems and precious metals posted the third-fastest gain in value up by 23.3% year over year, propelled by higher international sales of gold and silver.’
The Alpine nation of Switzerland had a GDP of $703.08 billion in 2019. Switzerland possesses a large service sector, including financial services and a high-tech manufacturing sector served by a highly skilled labor force. Excellent quality legal, political and economic institutions with a solid physical infrastructure have set the stage for a productive economy with one of the highest per capita GDPs in the world.
Switzerland is in the top ten countries with the largest gold reserves at number seven, ahead of Japan and India and one place behind China. Its total tonnage of gold is 1,040.0 tonnes and represents 5.4 % of its foreign reserves. Switzerland maintains the world’s largest reserves of gold per capita. ‘During World War II, the neutral country became the center of the gold trade in Europe, making transactions with both the Allies and Axis powers. Today, much of its gold trading is done with Hong Kong and China.’
Haran had a specific son named in the Bible, called Lot. Though he was Abraham’s nephew, Lot was born only seven years after Abraham in 1970 BCE – when Haran was thirty-nine. They had a close relationship and instead of being as an uncle and nephew that they were, acted more like brothers, due to the closeness of their ages. With the premature death of Haran, Abraham was also protective of his nephew in more than one instance. The fact that Abraham did not have his own son for many years, meant Lot was logically in line to be Abraham’s heir. This is telling and may have significant bearing in how circumstances eventuated between the descendants of Lot and those from Abraham.
Abarim Publications – emphasis & bold mine:
‘The name Lot mean[s] Covering From the verb (lut), to wrap closely, to envelop
Noun (lat) or (la’t) means secrecy. The verb (malat) means to deliver from confinement or dangerous predicament. For a meaning of the name Lot, both NOBSE Study Bible Name List and Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names read Covering. Jones adds Veil.’
In Genesis chapter eleven we read of Terah’s departure from Ur to Haran, with Abraham and Lot’s families in 1927 BCE. Twenty-five years later when Abraham was seventy-five, the Creator told him to leave Haran to dwell in Canaan further south.
Genesis 12:4-9
English Standard Version
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem [future location of Simeon and Levi’s revenge for their sister Dinah], to the oak of Moreh. At that timethe Canaanites [dark skinned sons of Canaan] were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
Genesis 13:1-18
English Standard Version
So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb. 2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. 5 And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, 6 so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, 7 and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.
8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” 10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord[Eden], like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom.
Recall in Chapter XXII Alpha & Omega, the location of physical Eden was investigated. We learned that the garden area of Eden encompassed the area of southern Lebanon and the Sea of Galilee, stretching southwards to Jerusalem. We will discover soon that Zoar was situated north of the Dead or Salt Sea and so the fertile Jordan River valley was a corridor running from Galilee through the Dead Sea – which wasn’t ‘dead’ yet – and all the way south to where the river exits into the Red Sea. Lot saw that this land between Galilee and Zoar was ‘like the garden of the Lord’ or Eden and understandably chose it for his family. Thus he lived to the east of Abraham who dwelt westwards towards the Mediterranean Sea in the land of Canaan. It also explains how Lot ended up living in Sodom – where he was prominent in the City’s governance – as it was one of the five main cities with Zoar, in the plains north of the Salt Sea.
13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord [like Nimrod]. 14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever [for a long time]. 16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 17 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” 18 So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.
Lot chose the fertile lower ground, the plains in the valley bordered between the hills towards the west and the River Jordan to the east. We read a parallel account in the Book of Jasher 15:35-47:
35 And Lot the son of Haran, Abram’s brother, had a heavy stock of cattle, flocks and herds and tents, for the Lord was bountiful to them on account of Abram.
36 And when Abram was dwelling in the land the herdsmen of Lot quarrelled with the herdsmen of Abram, for their property was too great for them to remain together in the land, and the land could not bear them on account of their cattle. 37 And when Abram’s herdsmen went to feed their flock they would not go into the fields of the people of the land, but the cattle of Lot’s herdsmen did otherwise, for they were suffered to feed in the fields of the people of the land. 38 And the people of the land saw this occurrence daily, and they came to Abram and quarrelled with him on account of Lot’s herdsmen. 39 And Abram said to Lot, What is this thou art doing to me, to make me despicable to the inhabitants of the land, that thou orderest thy herdsman to feed thy cattle in the fields of other people? Dost thou not know that I am a stranger in this land amongst the children of Canaan, and why wilt thou do this unto me? 40 And Abram quarrelled daily with Lot on account of this, but Lot would not listen to Abram, and he continued to do the same and the inhabitants of the land came and told Abram.
This display of mercurial stubbornness is indicative of Lot’s descendants.
41 And Abram said unto Lot, How long wilt thou be to me for a stumbling block with the inhabitants of the land? Now I beseech thee let there be no more quarrelling between us, for we are kinsmen. 42 But I pray thee separate from me, go and choose a place where thou mayest dwell with thy cattle and all belonging to thee, but Keep thyself at a distance from me, thou and thy household. 43 And be not afraid in going from me, for if any one do an injury to thee, let me know and I will avenge thy cause from him, only remove from me. 44 And when Abram had spoken all these words to Lot, then Lot arose and lifted up his eyes toward the plain of Jordan. 45 And he saw that the whole of this place was well watered, and good for man as well as affording pasture for the cattle. 46 And Lot went from Abram to that place, and he there pitched his tent and he dwelt in Sodom, and they were separated from each other. 47 And Abram dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and he pitched his tent there, and Abram remained in that place many years.
The selfishness of Lot in using other peoples property and not caring how that made Abraham look was the beginning of a rift circa 1902 to 1900 BCE between both families, which ultimately led to mistrust, hatred and a perpetual rivalry, based on jealousy between their peoples lasting to the present day. The seeds of the fissure between them, even after Lot had been continually at Abraham’s side were undoubtedly the same that causes nearly all parting of the ways between people – the same reason Asherah left the Ancient of Day’s side – pride or envy, turning to disdain. In the section on Chedorlaomer of Elam [Chapter XIX Chedorlaomer & the war of Nine Kings], we touched on Lot being taken hostage in 1894 BCE after the Battle of the Kings at Siddim. We will return to this battle again when we study Abraham.
Genesis 14:11-16
English Standard Version
11 So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. 12 They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way. 13 Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner. These were allies of Abram. 14 When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus [capital of Gether-Aram]. 16 Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions, and the women and the people.
Jasher 16:6-8
6 And they plundered all the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and they also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, and his property, and they seized all the goods of the cities of Sodom, and they went away; and Unic, Abram’s servant, who was in the battle, saw this, and told Abram all that the kings had done to the cities of Sodom, and that Lot was taken captive by them. 7 And Abram heard this, and he rose up with about three hundred and eighteen men that were with him, and he that night pursued these kings and smote them, and they all fell before Abram and his men, and there was none remaining but the four kings who fled, and they went each his own road. 8 And Abram recovered all the property of Sodom, and he also recovered Lot and his property, his wives and little ones and all belonging to him, so that Lot lacked nothing.
Abraham risked his life to rescue Lot – who had somewhat deserved what had befallen him, after treating Abraham with disrespect – ensuring he had all his family and belongings returned to him safely. Proverbs 25:21-22 CJB: “If someone who hates you is hungry, give him food to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. For you will heap fiery coals (of shame) on his head, and Adonai [the Lord] will reward you.” Abraham was offered a reward by the King of Sodom, but refused to take anything for what he had done. We next read of Lot in Genesis chapter Nineteen.
Genesis 19:1-38
English Standard Version
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth 2 and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash* your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.”
3 But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened* bread [March-April and the time of the Passover and Feast* of unleavened Bread], and they ate.
Hebrews 13:2
Complete Jewish Bible
… but don’t forget to be friendly to outsiders; for in so doing, some people, without knowing it, have entertained angels.
Lot had gained a position of responsibility in Sodom when he had moved to the city circa 1900 BCE. Lot was rescued by Abraham in 1894 BCE in the aftermath of the Battle of Siddim. The destruction of Sodom took place in Abraham’s 99th year, 1878 BCE. For approximately twenty years, Lot and his family had resided in Sodom. Sitting in the gate, means Lot was a member of Sodom’s ruling council and involved in the discussion and prosecution of legal matters. Lot may have been an actual Judge.
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know [H3045 – yada: ‘to know a person carnally] them.” 6 Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, 7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8 Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please.
Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” 9 But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. 10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. 11 And they [the angels created a blinding light] struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.
Judging by the name of the city of Sodom and the fact the crowd of men were wanting the two men who were angels; homo-sexuality is clearly what was intended. In a broader sense, the city was involved in adult activity with Nephilim and Eliouds, who lived there; for as stated earlier in the Book of Genesis, a second irruption of Angelic infiltration with humans had occurred. Hence the requirement for the judgement of utter destruction to be decreed. It may have involved more than sexual relations. A continuation of the ante-diluvian and post-flood Tower of Babel scientific and technological endeavour to completely tamper with mankind’s genetic code and seek profane immortality, would certainly attract punishment. For it has been reserved for the time of the end for these events to reoccur; thus requiring the Creator to re-intervene at that time. Jude connects the activities before the flood with those taking place in the five cities of the Plain.
The Greek word heteros translated as ‘strange’ flesh, is referring to sexual congress with Nephilim or perverted sex with angels not strictly just homo-sexuality.
Jude 6-7 ESV: 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling… 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural [G2087 – heteros: another, ‘one not of the same nature, form, kind’] desire [G4561 – sarx: ‘carnal cravings that incite sin’], serve as an exampleby undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Lot offered his two youngest daughters who were around 15 to 20 years old, to the mob, rather than the angels. What the rationale behind this is conjecture. Maybe Lot was buying time, for he knew the angels could and would resolve the issue without his daughters having to go out – a bluff. Or possibly, he weighed their lives versus those of the messengers sent by the Creator and made a judgement call.
12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone [friends] you have in the city, bring them out of the place. 13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. 15 As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.”
Verse 14 is misleading, as it appears the two younger daughters were bequeathed but not yet married. The interlinear reads: And Lot went out, spake unto his sons law, which married his daughters. From the account, we learn that Lot has at least two other daughters, aside from the two virgins already mentioned. The Book of Jasher introduces a fifth daughter.
Book of Jasher 19:11, 23-35
And in the course of time Sarah sent Eliezer to Sodom, to see Lot and inquire after his welfare. 23 … and when it was told to Abraham he went and made war with the kings of Elam, and he recovered from their hands all the property of Lot as well as the property of Sodom. 24 At that time the wife of Lot bare hima daughter[1894 BCE],and he called her name Paltith, saying, Because God had delivered him and his whole household from the kings of Elam; and Paltith daughter of Lot grew up, and one of the men of Sodom took her for a wife [circa 1882-1879 BCE].
25 And a poor man came into the city to seek a maintenance, and he remained in the city some days, and all the people of Sodom caused a proclamation of their custom** not to give this man a morsel of bread to eat, until he dropped dead upon the earth, and they did so. 26 And Paltith the daughter of Lot saw this man lying in the streets starved with hunger, and no one would give him any thing to keep him alive, and he was just upon the point of death. 27 And her soul was filled with pity on account of the man, and she fed him secretly with bread for many days… and three men concealed themselves in a place where the poor man was stationed, to know who it was that brought him bread to eat… 32 And the three men saw what Paltith did to the poor man… 34 And they took Paltith and brought her before their judges… now therefore declare to us the punishment due to this woman for having transgressed our law. 35 And the people of Sodom and Gomorrah assembled and kindled a fire in the street of the city, and they took the woman and cast her into the fire and she was burned to ashes.
Paltith would have been about fifteen or sixteen, when she was put to death, which was not long before Sodom was destroyed. Anciently, daughters were given in marriage as soon as they were deemed women and able to serve a husband and bear his children.
16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
Lot’s angelic visitors and protectors had already taken an aerial reconnoissance. According to the Haggadah, they were then able to fly him and his family inside their craft out of Sodom’s boundaries. It was then that they instructed Lot to flee to further safety.
17 And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” 18 And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. 19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. 20 Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there – is it not a little one? – and my life will be saved!” 21 He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22 Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.”Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
Contrary Lot, might be a fitting name and at a moment when time was of the essence. We will find that his descendants are in fact a contrary and mercurial people. Granted, Lot was ninety-two years old – just ten years older than when his father, Haran died. It is ironic, for Lot did not linger in Zoar, but rather fled from Zoar and retreated to a cave.
Lot’s entreating was in fact a far bigger favour granted by the angels than sparing his life even. When asking to be able to go to Zoar, he was actually asking for one of the five cities marked for destruction to be spared.
The five cities in question were Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zebo[im] and Bela – also known as Zoar. According to Lot, it would seem it was the smallest of the five cites on the plain.
In contrast to what is commonly taught, the condemnation of Sodom and the other cities was not just because of sexual transgressions. Another reason is given in Ezekiel 16:49-50 ESV: “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid** the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.”
23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Book of Jasher 19:52-54
And he overthrew these cities, all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground; and Ado the wife of Lot looked back to see the destruction of the cities, for her compassion was moved on account of her daughters who remained in Sodom, for they did not go with her. 53 And when she looked back she became a pillar of salt, and it is yet in that place unto this day. 54 And the oxen which stood in that place daily licked up the salt to the extremities of their feet, and in the morning it would spring forth afresh, and they again licked it up unto this day.
The Book of Jasher gives Lot’s wife’s name as Ado. Certain Rabbis refer to her as Idit. The Midrash calls her Edith, which may have derived from Idit. The Book of Jasher supports other married daughters still in Sodom, when Lot, his wife and two unmarried daughters fled for their lives. It helps to explain, why Idit disobeyed the Angel’s instruction. It may have been more than the intensity of the detonation and Idit doing more than just looking back. She must have lingered too close to the blast zone. The interlinear infers this: But his wife looked back from behind him, she became pillar salt.
Luke 17:28-32
English Standard Version
28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot – they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all – 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife.
27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward [the east] all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. 29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley,God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
Wisdom of Solomon 10.7 GNT:
You can still see the evidence of their wickedness. The land there is barren and smoking. The plants bear fruit that never ripens, and a pillar of salt stands as a monument to one who did not believe.
Evidence found supporting the Biblical description of Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction? Dean Smith, 2018 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘In an article published in Science News, archaeologists working at Tall el-Hammam located in Jordan… have found evidence corroborating its massive destruction recorded in the Bible that spoke of brimstone and fire falling from the sky… Archaeologists have found evidence of the area being hit with a massive explosion that turned glaze on potsherds into glass. They also found stone fragments stuck in the glaze that supports the idea that something poured down upon cities from the sky. According to lead archaeologist Philip J. Silvia, the heat was “perhaps as hot as the surface of the sun.” They also discovered that the bricks used in the buildings were totally obliterated leaving only the stone foundations.
The Bible records that not only were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah [destroyed] but much of the valley as well and Silva confirmed this adding they found evidence the blast covered an area of 15.5 miles and killing upwards of 65,000 people.The site on the north end of the Dead Sea was so devastated that it took 600 years for the soil to recover sufficiently to allow crops…
Writing on behalf of the Tall el-Hamman Excavation Project, co-director Dr. Steven Collins said: “The violent conflagration that ended occupation at Tall el-Hammam produced melted potters, scorched foundation stones and several feet of ash and destruction debris churned into a dark gray matrix ‘as if in a Cuisinart’” [food processor].’
Archaeological evidence confirms that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by intense fire, Dean Smith, 2020- emphasis & bold mine:
‘According to archaeologists working on the site believed to include the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, they found evidence confirming the Biblical record that the two cities were destroyed by sulphur and fire… The archaeologists, who have been working on the site for 13 years, reported discovering evidence of intense heat. This included clay and rock that had been turned into glass.
This would require a brief burst of heat of between 8,000 to 12,000 degree Celsius. The archaeologists also noted that the destruction took place “in an instant,” and resulted in the stripping of the topsoil. The archaeologists added that “a super-heated brine of Dead Sea anhydride salts pushed over the landscaped by the Event’s frontal shock wave.”
It is interesting that even the Biblical account noted the appearance of salt as it described Lot’s wife being turned into a pillar of salt and as well, noted the destruction of vegetation. They wrote, “the physical evidence from Tall el-Hamman and neighboring sites exhibit signs of a highly destructive concussive and thermal event that one might expect from what is described in Genesis 19.”’
Secular history is silent concerning Lot, ‘save for the fact that the Dead Sea has always been called by the Arabs, the Sea of Lot.’ The Battle of Siddim, including the Plain with the five cities – four of them destroyed – is located in the area of the Dead Sea or Sea of Death. The Dead Sea and its composition is an anomaly that can be explained only by the Biblical destruction of the region as recorded in Genesis chapter nineteen. Archaeological digs have confirmed the northern end – southeast of Jericho – of the Dead Sea rather than the traditional southern end, as the original site of the Valley of Siddim.
Flying Serpents and Dragons, R A Boulay, 1990, Pages 195, 197-198, 206-207 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘There is no scriptural or other evidence to support… Sodom and Gormorrah [being]… located… in the shallow or southern part of the Dead Sea, the body of water the Jews call… the Salt Sea…To the contrary, all indications are that the [five] cities were located in the northern part of the Dead Sea… [nor] the age of the Dead Sea [being] hundreds of thousands of years old… this sea dates… [according to Velikovsky to] less than 5000 years [ago]… [or] no further back than the days of Abraham [1878 BCE]. In the Biblical story… it specifically states that the area now occupied by the Dead Sea used to be called the Valley or vale of Siddim [Genesis 14:3]…
Some catastrophic event must have caused the [rupture of the] geological fault (which runs through and underlies the area) to displace, the ground sinking in the process, and forming a seal to allow the accumulation of water [creating a large inland sea] from the inflow of the Jordan River. Josephus adds… that the Lord “cast a thunderbolt upon the city and set it on fire with its inhabitants.” In the Haggadah, this thunderbolt comes from the Shekinah, the aerial chariot of the Lord: “When the angels had brought forth Lot and his family and set them outside the city, he bade them run for their lives, and not look behind, lest they behold the Shekinah, which had descended to work the destruction of the cities…”’
The Dead Sea contains twenty-one minerals including Sodium, Magnesium, Calcium, Bromine, Bitumen and Potassium. Twelve of these are found in no other sea or ocean. The Dead Sea contains ten times more salts and minerals than the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea has a 33% concentration of salt compared to only 3% in the world’s oceans. There are other bodies of water in the world with similar salt content ratios – one wonders if they are victims of a similar fate as the Dead Sea?
30Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31 And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to usafter the manner of all the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring [seed] from our father.” 33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did [not?] know when she lay down or when she arose.
The incident with an intoxicated Noah and his grandson Canaan did not end well [Chapter XI Ham Aequator]. This is another situation of being taken advantage of while inebriated, perhaps. The cave location was very remote and the eldest daughter – the only sister recorded speaking – was concerned that their father Lot is old and may die and that any chance of a man visiting wasn’t presenting itself anytime soon. Their sisters and brothers-in-law in Sodom were dead and would not be leaving children. This is more likely, than thinking the world had ended and there were no men left to continue humankind. The three of them had left Zoar and knew there were other survivors. Either way, the daughters do not take their father into their confidence.
The Biblical account presents the daughters as the ‘initiators and perpetrators of the incestuous rape’ of Lot over two nights, according to Esther Fuchs. The verb used by the older daughter about eighteen to twenty years old for giving Lot wine also means to irrigate the ground. Thus, the daughters intentions are not to just give their father a glass or two, but to fully saturate him and get Lot very drunk; before having sexual intercourse with him. The next night, the younger sister about fifteen to seventeen years old, repeats the course of action. The fact that the sisters get their father very drunk, may mean their actions were more altruistic than driven by desire.
The word used for offspring is zera, meaning seed or offspring in a general sense, rather than for a specific ‘son.’ The intent is ultimately related to the eventual Messiah and fulfilment of Genesis 3:15. From a historical perspective, these acts were essential for the future birth of the Son of Man. The Creator would judge the daughters by their thoughts and not necessarily their deeds; as this is a recurrent theme in the Bible for those the Creator is working with. The daughters true intent was not to lay with their father for sexual gratification, but rather to ensure their family line continued.
Support that Lot’s daughters were vindicated rather than Lot himself is the fact that the prohibition in Deuteronomy 23:2-4, 6 ESV, applies to males not females: “No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord.
Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord. No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever, because they did not meet you – the sons of Jacob – with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever.”
The angels who rescued Lot would have been cognisant of the fact that Ruth the Moabite would trace her lineage to the eldest sister, and her marriage to Boaz from the tribe of Judah would result in descendants, including King David and the Messianic Saviour. They would also have known that Naamah the Ammonite, would trace her lineage to the youngest sister and her marriage to King Solomon – the only wife of Solomon stated by name in the Bible – would result in the birth of Rehoboam, King of Judah after Solomon.
The goodness of Lot’s daughters intentions displayed, in that they lay with their father only once and like Ruth – acted for an ideal – when she lay at the foot of Boaz’s bed in the threshing floor.
34 The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” 35 So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did [not?] know when she lay down or when she arose.
Scholars, such as Robert Alter have said that Lot’s daughters in sleeping with their father “suggests measure-for-measure justice meted out for his rash offer” to the mob outside their home. ‘Rabbis have observed that a man usually allows himself to be killed in order to save his wife and children… Lot was willing to allow the townspeople to abuse his daughters.’ In Sodom, Lot was ready to offer his daughters – possibly against their will – to engage in sexual relations with the people outside. Later, Lot’s daughters have relations with their unwitting father. These acts of incest are Lot’s punishment for his indecorous behaviour, according to some scholars.
There are two Rabbinic views issued against the patriarch Lot. Firstly, that Lot ‘from the outset, decided to dwell in Sodom because he wanted to engage in the licentious [behaviour] of its inhabitants.’ Lot thought he could engage secretly in depravity. He is then later, humiliated through his daughters seducing him. R Nahman bar Hanan said to the effect: “Whoever is driven by his lust for fornication, will eventually be fed from his own flesh.” Lot was so eager to engage in promiscuity, that in the end, his daughters played the harlot with him.
Secondly, Lot insidiously desired his daughters; for he was inebriated when the elder sister lay with him, though he was sober enough to know when she rose.
This is indicated in the Old Testament ‘by the supralinear dot over the word u-ve-komah (“when she rose”).’ Though Lot was not aware of what was going to happen when he drunk the wine, he was aware of having sex with his eldest daughter by the time she left his bed. Therefore, his willingness to drink wine the next night – means to some – that he was complicit in repeating incest with his younger daughter. On the basis of what is said in Proverbs 18:1 CJB: “He who separates himself indulges his desires and shows contempt for sound advice of any kind”, some Rabbis conclude that Lot did lust after his daughters. Particularly, as Lot sought out a remote cave which allowed the facilitation of the incestuous events to occur.
Even so, other Rabbis have reinterpreted the incest accounts of Lot and his daughters in the Bible in a more positive light due to the royal and messianic lineages it produced. Ironically, the other half of David’s lineage is similarly problematic for the Rabbis; as Tamar secures a son, by surreptitiously seducing her father-in-law Judah. The son Perez, in turn becomes an ancestor to Boaz and thus also, to King David.
36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38The younger also bore a son and called his nameBen-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.
Book of Jasher 19:55-60
And Lot and two of his daughters that remained with him fled and escaped to the cave of Adullam, and they remained there for some time… 58 And they both lay with their father, and they conceived and bare sons… 60 And after this Lot and his two daughters went away from there, and he dwelt on the other side of the Jordan with his two daughters and their sons, and the sons of Lot grew up, and they went and took themselves wives from the land of Canaan, and they begat children and they were fruitful and multiplied.
The eldest daughter names her son Moab, which means ‘from my father.’ She has been rather brazen and immodest in openly naming her son being born of her father. This leaves no doubt as to the union having been an incestuous one. The younger daughter names her son Ben-Ammi, which means ‘son of my clan,’ a more veiled euphemistic reference to her son’s origin. While the names of the sons are descriptive of their conception, they serve a negative etiological function for Israel’s neighbours – and frequent enemies – as the Moabites and the Ammonites. The definitions, puzzlingly humiliate Lot – as if revengeful retribution was a motive – while at the same time demeaning also his daughters who named the babies.
Chapter XI, The Moabites and the Ammonites, Emanuel Swedenborg – emphasis & bold mine:
‘It is a remarkable fact that the children of Lot should have commemorated their infamous origin in their very names. Moab means literally “water of a father,”while Ammon or Ben-ammi means”son of my mother.” These names, so horribly suggestive, were proudly retained by two whole nations throughout their history. The Old Testament is silent as to the personal story of the two sons of Lot, but they evidently repeated the story of the founders of the other Hebrew nations, becoming chieftains… and founding royal dynasties.… The descendants of Moab within a few generations took possession of the country formerly inhabited by the Emim, (“terrible ones”), a branch of the aboriginal Nephilim, even as their cousins, the descendants of Ammon, took possession of the country formerly occupied by the Zuzim and Zamzummim. The [partial] slaughter of these ancient giant races by Chedorlaomer and his allies no doubt cleared the way for the children of Lot. The Moabites found homes in the rich and well protected plateau to the east of the Dead Sea, extending from the land of Edom in the south to the land of Gilead in the north, while the Ammonites established themselves in the land of Gilead… and they dwelt here until they were driven into the eastern desert by the tribes of Gad and Reuben… their descendants recovered the land of Gilead after the Assyrians had carried away the tribe of Gad.’
2 Peter 2:6-8 ESV: … if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescuedrighteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8(for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard)…
Lot is not included in Hebrews chapter eleven as one of the faithful, with Abraham and Sarah. He is called a righteous soul in the Greek Interlinear. By extension, he is included with righteous Noah, Daniel and Job mentioned in Ezekiel 14:14. Lot also has in common with Job the dramatic and sudden loss of family. Lot lost his wife, and at least two daughters and two sons-in-law. Job 1:1-2, 18-19 ESV: ‘There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters… “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you [refer Chapter XXIX Esau: The Thirteenth Tribe].”’
Ammon, the younger brother of Moab, is invariably described as the ‘children or sons of Ammon’ in the Bible, a clue to their status not being quite the same as Moab or other identities investigated thus far. The Hebrew definition of H5983 from H5971, for Ammon is tribal or inbred as one born from incest.
Abarim Publications – emphasis & bold mine:
‘The name Ben-ammi meaning: Son Of My Kinsman, Son Of My People from (1) the noun (ben), son, and (2) the noun (‘am), people or kinsman [kindred].
The only Ben-ammi in the Bible is the incestuous son of Lot and his younger daughter, who becomes the patriarch of the “sons” of Ammon, also known as the Ammonites (Genesis 19:38)… it’s curious that both the daughters… of this prominent figure remain nameless, also since Lot’s daughters are matriarchs of enormous nations.
The noun (ben) means son, or more general: a member of one particular social or economic node – called a “house”, which is built upon the instructions of one (‘ab), or “father”… within… a larger economy… This noun obviously resembles the verb (bana), to build, and the noun (‘eben), stone. Our noun’s feminine version, namely (bat), means daughter, which resembles the noun (bayit), meaning house. The word for mother, (’em), is highly similar to that of tribe or people, (‘umma). The verb (‘mm) probably expressed to be inclusive or comprehensive. Its rare uses in the Bible relate to making secrets or making info available to an in-crowd.
For a meaning of the name Ammon, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads A People. Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes Great People, taking the extension as an intensitive.’
The children of Ammon today are in part, the French Canadians of Quebec. They also comprise the northwesterly section of the nation of France; with the main body of French being descended from Moab.
French Canadian men
Herman Hoeh – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Abraham also had a nephew named Lot. Lot had two sons, Moab and Ammon. They were born to him after the calamity that hit Sodom (Genesis 19:37-38). They lived by the Arabs east of the Dead Sea next to Palestine. They are still in the same region today!
Their nation today is called Jordan, after the Jordan River. Jordan has been much in the news lately, Amman is the capital of Jordan now.’
The Arabs lived in north Africa and then the Arabian Peninsula; they never lived north of this area or next to Moab and Ammon. The peoples of present day Jordan as discussed, are descendants of Mizra, son of Ham [Chapter XIV Mizra: North Africa & Arabia]. Moab and Ammon migrated from Palestine a very long time ago; with some two thousand years elapsing.
‘Isaiah 11:14 points out that these two sons of Lot live near Palestine today. Since the days of Isaiah, the children of Moab have been “very small and without strength” (Isaiah 16:13-14). They have not been taken “into captivity” to another nation (Jeremiah 48:11), In these latter days boastful Moab lives “together with the children of Ammon” (Ezekiel 25:9-10). The Kingdom of Jordan occupies part of present-day Palestine and keeps the Jews from dwelling in Old Jerusalem. Jeremiah 49:1-2 prophesied this over 2500 years ago! But Arabs and Jordanians are not the only Hebrews!’
Isaiah chapter sixteen is a future reference to Moab. Moab and Ammon are anything but a ‘very few and feeble’ people. The Arabic peoples from Ham are not Hebrews. This appellation refers broadly to the descendants of Peleg through his grandson, Eber. It would include Moab and Ammon. In time it was applied primarily to the sons of Jacob. The chief city or capital of the Ammonites was Rabbah.
French Canadian women
Abarim Publications – emphasis & bold mine:
‘The name Rabbah meaning: Great from the verb (rabab), to be great or many
There are two cities named Rabbah in the Bible, the lesser known one is a city in the territory allotted to the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:60). The most famous Rabbah was also known as Rabbath-bene-ammon or “Rabbath of the sons of Ammon” (Rabbath is really the same as Rabbah, just of an older spelling), which was the major city of Ammon (modern Amman, the capital of Jordan).
It’s first mentioned in the Bible as the final resting place of the huge iron bed of king Og of Bashan (Deuteronomy 3:11). What Og’s bunk was doing in an Ammonite metropolis is a bit of a mystery. Bashan was a kingdom located to the east of the Sea of Galilee, and Ammon country was to the east of the Salt Sea. But Og was the last of the Rephaim… and they were expelled by the Ammonites (Deuteronomy 2:20). It appears that the Ammonites had hoisted Og’s huge stead to their capital as a trophy.
Even though YHWH had ordered not to meddle with Ammon (Deuteronomy 2:19), the tribes of Gad and Reuben [plus the 1/2 tribe of East Manasseh] settled in their land anyway. Rabbah is listed as just over the border of Gad, which puts it in or near Reuben, although that’s not explicitly mentioned (Joshua 15:25). The reason for this is probably that the Ammonites held out in Rabbah until the time of king David.
While the author of 2 Samuel focuses mainly on David’s seduction of Bathsheba, her husband Uriah was engaged with the siege of Rabbah. The author casually reports that the Ammonites were destroyed and Rabbah captured by general Joab (2 Samuel 11:1, 12:26). The gold crown of the Ammonite king weighed a talent and was placed on David’s head, and the Ammonites were massacred in the most creative ways (2 Samuel 12:31)… Nahash is also the name of the cruel Ammonite king whom Saul defeated (1 Samuel 11:1). The son of this Nahash, Hanun, provoked David into the siege that ended in Rabbah’s ultimate defeat (2 Samuel 10:1).
… the identical noun (rab) means chief or captain. Noun (rob) means multitude or abundance. Possibly a second yet identical verb (rabab) means to shoot, particularly of arrows. This may very well be a specified usage of our verb since arrows are customarily shot en masse by many archers. Noun (rab) means archer, and is identical to the adjective meaning many. Fittingly, noun (arbeh) denotes a kind of locust.
For a meaning of the name Rabbah, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Great, Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Great City, and BDB Theological Dictionary proposes Great or Populous.’
There are hundreds of references to Ammon and Moab, in the Bible as they were an arch nemesis of the sons of Jacob. The reason for this was heightened by the fact they were great nations with large populations living next to each other. The fact that the sons of Jacob had returned to the land centuries after leaving had only exacerbated their natural enmity as two closely related family members who just didn’t get along.
Chapter XI, The Moabites and the Ammonites, Emanuel Swedenborg – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Both became great and powerful clans or nations, but the Ammonites always preferred the roving life of… marauders, while Moab… develop[ed] into a settled, well organized and prosperous nation, the chief characteristics of which were wealth and moral corruption.
The prosperity and riches of Moab are vividly portrayed in the Word. In the cities of this land there was “a great multitude of people,” living on the “glory” and “fat of the land,” possessing “great treasure,” and crowding the temples of Chemosh and Baal Peor, where infants were sacrificed, and virgins prostituted in the name of religion. Outside of the towns were the “plentiful fields,” the vineyards and gardens of “summer fruit,” the meadows where hundreds of thousands of sheep and cattle were browsing. Peace and prosperity reign everywhere; the people are fat and self-satisfied, butof the worship of the true God there is not a trace.
Small wonder that such a nation should view with alarm the approach of a great horde of desert wanderers, asking permission to pass through the land on their way to Canaan. They came as Hebrew kinsmen, worshipping an ancient but generally forsaken deity named Jehovah. Balak, the king of the Moabites, now bethought himself of a Syrian wizard, Balaam, who was know[n]: to prophecy in the name of Jehovah and who was wont to dispense his blessings or cursings for filthy lucre. If a prophet of Jehovah were to curse the children of Israel, the latter would surely be put to confusion. He, therefore, sent for the complaisant prophet, but great was his disgust when the magician was forced by his God to turn the intended curse into a blessing, the power and beauty of which are almost without equal in Hebrew literature. Dismayed, Balak now allied himself with the Midianites in an effort to destroy Israel by the seductions of harlots in the lascivious rites of Baal Peor, but again his scheme was frustrated, and he was glad to escape the frightful punishment meted out to the Midianites, who had been the most active in the plot.
The subsequent relations of Moab with Israel were of a somewhat mixed character, sometimes friendly, as is evident from the story of Ruth, the Moabitish ancestress of David, but more generally hostile. Not long after the Israelitish conquest, Eglon, king of Moab, by the assistance of Ammon and Amalek, “smote Israel and possessed himself of the city of palm trees,” (Jericho), The children of Israel now “served Eglon for eighteen years” (Judges 3:13), until they were delivered by Ehud. The Moabites, however, continued to harass the chosen people on various occasions, and were not subdued until David put to the sword two-thirds of the population, the remainder becoming bondsmen and subjected to a regular tribute, (2 Samuel 8:2; 23:20), thus literally fulfilling Balaam’s prophecy: “Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion and shall destroy him that remaineth of Ar,” (i.e., Moab). After the division of Solomon’s kingdom, Moab seems to have remained tributary to the kingdom of Israel, and in the time of Ahab paid an annual tribute of [100,000 rams] – an indication of the almost fabulous wealth of so small a nation.
After the death of Ahab the Moabites revolted and joined the Ammonites in an attack upon the kingdom of Judah. The allies, however, fell to fighting one another; and Judah, Israel and Edom now joined in a war against Moab; the latter fell into an ambush and were slaughtered; the land of Moab was swept clean by the besom of destruction; the cities were beaten down and their stones scattered over the fields… the wells of water were filled up, and all the trees of the land were cut down. The king of Moab, with his family and a small remnant of the army, took refuge in Kir-haraseth where, in the extremity of despair, and in full sight of the besiegers, “he took his eldest son, that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall.” (2 Kings 3:27.)
The besieging army, struck with horror at this sight, now withdrew to their own lands. After this awful event, nothing further is known of the history of Moab for a long period, but it appears that Moab gradually recovered all of its former prosperity, and in addition took possession of the territory of Reuben, after this tribe had been carried away by the Assyrians. At the time of the Babylonian invasion, Moab submitted to Nebuchadnezzar, and after the return of the Jews from the captivity the Moabites took the lead in annoying those who were rebuilding Jerusalem. Even at the time of the last Jewish war the Moabites, according to Josephus, was still “a very great nation,” but two hundred years afterwards they were exterminated or absorbed by a great invasion of “the children of the East.”’
The Moabites were neither ‘exterminated or absorbed’ but rather, they were forced to migrate westwards. The Ammonites were a more diverse or fragmented people compared to their elder brother Moab. In Canaan the Ammonites had their own territory north of Moab, with their own capital – Rabbah. Ultimately they joined with Moab and migrated with them after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. In modern times, most have unified with Moab in France, while the remainder migrated to New France in North America, eventually becoming the modern province of Quebec in Canada.
Today, the term Rabbah – as in those Ammonites not with Moab – broadly means Quebec and Rabbah – as in specifically the capital city – is fulfilled by Quebec City.
Deuteronomy 2:16-22, 37
English Standard Version
16 “So as soon as all the men of war had perished and were dead from among the people, 17 the Lord said to me, 18 ‘Today you are to cross the border of Moab at Ar. 19 And when you approach the territory of the people of Ammon, do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession.’
20 (It is also counted as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly lived there – but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim – 21 a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before the Ammonites, and they dispossessed them and settled in their place, 22 as he did for the people of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them and they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day. 37 Only to the land of the sons of Ammon you did not draw near, that is, to all the banks of the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, whatever the Lord our God had forbidden us.
The Israelites and Ammonites continually disputed territory and borders. The rift between Lot and Abraham, didn’t heal or improve with time it was continually aggravated. The instruction was clear: do not engage negatively with Ammon in any way or take their land.
Joshua 13:8-13
English Standard Version
8 With the other half of the tribe of Manasseh [half tribe of East Manasseh or Gilead] the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward, as Moses the servant of the Lord gave them: 9 from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the tableland of Medeba as far as Dibon; 10 and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the boundary of the Ammonites; 11 and Gilead, and the region of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan to Salecah; 12 all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (he alone was left of the remnant of the Rephaim); these Moses had struck and driven out. 13 Yet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day.
After the sons of Jacob fought the existing Canaanite inhabitants and had either killed or subjugated them, the land was divided amongst the tribes on the eastern side of the River Jordan. The tribe of Manasseh had split in two. The half tribe of West Manasseh stayed with their brother Ephraim, while the half tribe of East Manasseh struck out on their own. With the tribes of Reuben and Gad, they requested to live on the east side of the River Jordan. These two and a half tribes believed the land was spacious and suitable to live. It did not come without difficulties; namely. Ammonites, Amorites, various tribes of Elioud giants – such as king Og of the Rephaim – and Mount Herman, the once headquarters so-to-speak, of the Nephilim.
Judges 10:17-18
English Standard Version
17 Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead. And the people of Israel came together, and they encamped at Mizpah. 18 And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
Gilead, a name brought to the wider public’s attention by the author Margaret Attwood and her insightful novel, The Handmaid’s Tale in 1985, was the broad area east of the River Jordan and bordering north of Ammon which had been settled by the two and a half tribes of Israel. In time, the word Gilead became more synonymous with the half tribe of East Manasseh than with Reuben or Gad.
Judges 11:11-33
English Standard Version
11 So Jephthah [ninth Judge of Israel for 6 years beginning 1106 BCE from the half tribe of East Manasseh or Gilead] went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at Mizpah.
12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, “What do you have against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” 13 And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably.” 14 Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites 15 and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites, 16 but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. 17 Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh.
18 “Then they journeyed through the wilderness and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and arrived on the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab. 19 Israel then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to our country,’ 20 but Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people together and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel. 21 And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country…
23 So then the Lord, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them? 24 Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess. 25 Now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them? 26 While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon,300 years [1406 – 1106 BCE], why did you not deliver them within that time? 27 I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. The Lord, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.” 28 But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the words of Jephthah that he sent to him.
29 Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead andManasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” 32 So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. 33 And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty cities, andas far as Abel-keramim,with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.
The king of the Ammonites raised an issue three hundred years old. The Moabites hadn’t made an issue of it, so why Ammon and why now was Jephthah’s reasoning. The Israelites had defeated the Amorites – after being refused passage through Edom and Moab – and probably some of their land, had once been Ammonite land. It was too late to dispute it now. The king of Ammon remained stubborn and proud, but did not win it back.
2 Samuel 12:26-31
English Standard Version
26 NowJoab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and took the royal city. 27 And Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah; moreover, I have taken thecity of waters.*28 Now then gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called by my name.” 29 So David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah and fought against it and took it. 30 And he took the crown of their king from his head. The weight of it was a talent of gold, and in it was a precious stone, and it was placed on David’s head. And he brought out the spoil of the city, a very great amount. 31 And he brought out the people who were in it and set them to labor with saws and iron picks and iron axes and made them toil at the brick kilns. And thus he did to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
Quebec is Kebec in Algonquin, meaning ‘where the river narrows.’ The Province of Quebec has a vast coastline. The motto of Quebec City is Don de Dieu feray valoir: “I shall put God’s gift to good use.” The Don de Dieu was one of three ships which set sail from France under captain Henry Couillard and on July 3, 1608 explorer Samuel de Champlain – established a fort at Cape Diamond and – founded Quebec City, the oldest city in Canada. The Montmorency Falls are located on the Montmorency River and are about 270 feet tall – one hundred feet taller than Niagara Falls. One of Quebec’s most important resources is water,* harnessed for hydroelectric power.
David exacted harsh measures on the Ammonites, which didn’t improve relations, but showed the strength of negative feeling between the two peoples. His actions did contravene the instruction of not to contend or ‘to struggle in opposition’ or ‘strive in rivalry’ with Ammon.
1 Chronicles 19:19
English Standard Version
And when the servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became subject to him. So the Syrians[Aram-Gether]were not willing to savethe Ammonites anymore.
1 Kings 11:7
English Standard Version
Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 4:1-9
English Standard Version
Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews [Judeans]. 2 And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” 3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building – if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!”
4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. 5 Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders. 6 So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.
7 But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs [not Arabs from Mizra. Arabians meaning, in the eastern peninsula of Arabia – probably Joktan] and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites [Philistines] heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. 8 And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. 9 And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.
The Medes and Persians had allowed captives from Judah to return to Jerusalem and rebuild its walls and Temple compound. Tobiah the Ammonite was one who mocked their efforts.
Jeremiah 40:11-16
English Standard Version
11 Likewise, when all the Judeans who were in Moab and among the Ammonites and in Edom and in other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over them, 12 then all the Judeans returned from all the places to which they had been driven and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. And they gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance. 13 Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah
14 and said to him, “Do you know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam would not believe them. 15 Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah at Mizpah, “Please let me go and strike down Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he take your life, so that all the Judeans who are gathered about you would be scattered, and the remnant of Judah would perish?” 16 But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing, for you are speaking falsely of Ishmael.” [Ishmael (not Abraham’s son) did assassinate Gedaliah]
Jeremiah 49:1-6
English Standard Version
Concerning the Ammonites. Thus says the Lord: “Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then has Milcom [a prominent god of Ammon, with Molech] dispossessed Gad and his people settled in its cities? 2 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will cause the battle cry to be heard against Rabbah of the Ammonites; it shall become a desolate mound, and its villages shall be burned with fire; then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him, says the Lord. 3 “Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste! Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! [the descendants of Lot’s youngest daughter] Put on sackcloth, lament, and run to and fro among the hedges! For Milcom shall go into exile, with his priests and his officials.4 Why do you boast of your valleys, O faithless daughter, who trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’
5 Behold, I will bring terror upon you, declares the Lord God of hosts, from all who are around you, and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him, with none to gather the fugitives. 6 “But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the Lord.”
In modern times, France and Quebec have been blessed with wealth and abundance.
Ezekiel 21:28-32
English Standard Version
28 “And you, son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach; say, A sword, a sword is drawn for the slaughter. It is polished to consume and to flash like lightning – 29 while they see for you false visions, while they divine lies for you – to place you on the necks of the profane wicked, whose day has come, the time of their final punishment. 30 Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you. 31 And I will pour out my indignation upon you; I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, [similar to the fire inflicted on Sodom]and I will deliver you into the hands of brutish men, skillful to destroy. 32 You shall be fuel for the fire. Your blood shall be in the midst of the land. You shall be no more remembered, for I the Lord have spoken.”
The punishment decreed at the end of the latter days when the Son of Man returns. Many nations will suffer similar fates and some because of their attitude and treatment of the sons of Jacob.
Ezekiel 25:1-11
English Standard Version
The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward the Ammonites and prophesy against them. 3 Say to the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God, Because you said, ‘Aha!’ over my sanctuary when it was profaned, and over the land of Israel when it was made desolate, andover the house of Judah when they went into exile, 4 therefore behold, I am handing you over to the people of the East for a possession, and they shall set their encampments among you and make their dwellings in your midst. They shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. 5 I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels and Ammon a fold for flocks.
Then you will know that I am the Lord. 6 For thus says the Lord God: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet and rejoiced with all the malice within your soul against the land of Israel, 7 therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand against you, and will hand you over as plunder to the nations. And I will cut you off from the peoples and will make you perish out of the countries; I will destroy you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
8 “Thus says the Lord God: Because Moab and Seir said, ‘Behold, the house of Judah is like all the other nations,’ 9 therefore I will lay open the flank of Moab [France] from the cities, from its cities on its frontier, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim. 10 I will give it along with the Ammonites to the people of the East as a possession, that the Ammonites may be remembered no more among the nations, 11 and I will execute judgments upon Moab. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Whether this prophecy is dual, with a future fulfilment, time will tell. The people of the east in the past as well as today includes a number of alternatives. It could mean a dominant near neighbour and relative as in Ishmael, who originally dwelt in the east, known as Arabia or alternatively the wilderness. Secondly and unlikely, Assyria or Russia – the king of the North – as they spared Moab and the Ammonites in the past as well as predicted for the future – Daniel 11.41. As it appears to be the far future, possibly further distant than the King of the North timeframe, it could mean the far East and descendants of Japheth – such as Magog, Tubal and Meschech [Revelation 16:12] – in partial ironic fulfilment of the sons of Japheth dwelling in the tents of Shem – Genesis 9:27.
Daniel 11:40-41
English Standard Version
40 “At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. 41 He shall come into the glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his [Asshur’s] hand [Russia]: Edom and Moab [France]and the main part of the Ammonites [Paris and north western France].
The French Canadians heralded from principally the north and western regions of France, particularly Normandy and Poitou. Every region with direct access to the Ocean and with a tradition of long-term fishing expeditions, attracted migrants to New France. Apparently, French Canadian soldiers were surprised when they landed in Normandy, discovering how much Norman French was like their own dialect.
The Tribe of Benjamin are the Normans, Peter Salemi – emphasis & bold mine:
‘A review of census records for the year 1700 reveals that of New France’s French-speaking colonists, 29% came from the provinces of Poitou, Aunis, Saintonge, and Angoumois in the mother country; 22% from Normandy and Perche; 15% from Paris and Ile-de-France; 13% from Anjou, Touraine, Beauce, and Maine; 9% from Brittany, Picardy, and Champagne; 5% from Limousin, Périgord, and Guyenne; 7% from other regions.
Thus over 50% of immigrants to Quebec, and possibly much more, came from north of the Loire river in France, i.e., areas of Norman, Breton, and Frankish settlement.In addition, many of the Seigneurs (Lords) of Quebec, e.g., the families of de Lotbinière, Panet, Montizambert, etc., were Norman, who left Normandy in 1686.’
Amos 1:13-15
English Standard Version
13 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border. 14 So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour her strongholds, with shouting on the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind; 15 and their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together,” says the Lord.
Zephaniah 2:8-10
Amplified Bible
8 “I have heard the taunting of Moab [and] the revilingsof the sons of Ammon, With which they have taunted My people And become arrogant against their territory [by violently and cruelly violating Israel’s boundary and trying to seize its land]. 9 “Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts, The God of Israel, “Moab will in fact become like Sodom [and] the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah, [a]land possessed by nettlesand salt pits, And a perpetual desolation. The remnant of My people will plunder them And what is left of My nation will inherit them [as their own].”10 This they shall have in return for their pride, because they have taunted and become arrogant against the people of the Lord of hosts.
Ammon had no authority to try to possess Gilead or take it from Israel. The sitting on the sidelines and relishing Judah’s downfall and subsequent captivity at the hands of the Chaldeans, has also been a cause of Ammon and particularly Moab, receiving retribution [Chapter XXV Italy: Nahor & the Chaldeans and Chapter XXX Judah & Benjamin – the Regal Tribes].
An important person mentioned earlier from the line of Ammon was Naamah, a royal princess of Ammon – not to be confused with the daughter of evil Lamech prior to the Flood. An additional reason for the sons of Jacob not to wage war and destroy Ammon and Moab. Her name means ‘sweet, lovely’ or ‘pleasant’ from the verb naem. Naamah married Solomon before he became king in 970 BCE. Their son, Rehoboam was born in 971 BCE. Naamah provided the heir to the throne of Judah and she is the only wife of Solomon, mentioned by name in the Bible. Naamah is also only one of two foreign Queen Mothers of Israel or Judah, with Jezebel – a Princess of Tyre and the daughter of the Phoenician King Ethbaal. Naamah, may well have been an influence on Solomon who later turned away from the Eternal, to worship Ammonite and Moabite gods.
1 Kings 14:21-23
English Standard Version
21 Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there.His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. 22 And [the House of] Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. 23 For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree… [refer Chapter XXII Alpha & Omega]
15 Fun Quebec City Facts, Nadeen White, 2018 – capitalisation hers, emphasis & bold mine:
‘Quebec City is also known simply as Quebec [similar to Rabbah of the Ammonites]. It is located in the Canadian province of Quebec… [and] is the capital city… [as well as] the second largest city… Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec.
Quebec is a French speaking province [and] is the official language… Approximately 80% of the residents speak French as their native language… It is the oldest French speaking [region] in North America. However, English is [also widely] spoken by most residents… Old Quebec is surrounded by fortified city walls [It is the only remaining walled city in North America north of Mexico] that were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985…
Quebec produces a LOT of maple syrup… I had no idea that Canada produces about 70% of the world’s pure maple syrup. Out of that 70% about 90% is from the province of Quebec. Most of the maple syrup produced in the U.S. comes from Vermont.
In 2010 the Province of Quebec produced roughly 7,989,000 gallons of maple syrup while Vermont produced roughly 890,000 gallons. Quebec isn’t just French… there are many Irish people here too! There is actually a large Irish community in Quebec.During the 17th century, Irish inhabitants of France were sent to Quebec to help populate the area. Historians estimate that about 40% of the population in Quebec is of Irish descent.’
This is a startling fact and the Irish component in Quebec is more than interesting, it is of great significance. When we study the Irish and the British descended peoples of Canada, their relationship with the French Ammonites of Quebec will be fascinatingly evident. Quebec is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic and during the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s and 1850s a large number of Irish Catholics, migrated to Canada and Quebec.
The Province of Quebec comprises nearly one-sixth of Canada’s total land area; is the largest of Canada’s ten provinces; and possesses an abundance of mineral wealth. The site of Quebec City, originally occupied by an Indian village named Stadacona, was discovered by Jacques Cartier in 1535. Quebec Province and city were formally French until being ceded to Great Britain in 1763 by the Treaty of Paris. This was the result of the famous Battle of Quebec on the Plains of Abraham – interesting coincidence – adjacent to the city in 1759, where the French were defeated. Later, Great Britain reinforced its military defences of the city in time to repel an attack during the American Revolution in the second Battle of Quebec in 1775.
The arrival of displaced Loyalists following American independence, increased Quebec’s population and so did trade with Britain, much of it through the port of Quebec. Up until the mid-nineteenth century, Quebec’s economy was centred on French and then British mercantilism. The British Parliament passed the Constitutional Act of 1791, which split the large colony of Quebec into two provinces: Upper Canada – now the province of Ontario – and Lower Canada, now the province of Quebec. Quebec city, formerly the capital of the colony, remained the capital of Lower Canada.
After the British takeover of New France, Montreal – founded in 1642 and the second largest Canadian city after Toronto – gained the dominant economic position in the province, whereas Quebec remained an important port. Quebec is the second most populous province of Canada after Ontario with 8,604,500 people. ‘On November 27, 2006, the House of Commons passed a symbolic motion moved by Prime Minister Stephen Harper declaring “that this House recognize that the Quebecois [Francophones] form a nation within a united Canada.”However, there is considerable debate and uncertainty over what this means. The debate over the status of Quebec is a highly animated one to this day.’
Nearly half of the total population of Quebec are descendants of the ten thousand original French settlers. When the Dominion of Canada was established in 1867, French Canadians accounted for one-third of the newly formed country’s population. In 1974, French was made the official language in Quebec province. Between 1897 and 1936, Quebec competed with Ontario for domestic and foreign investment. Montreal was the headquarters of the national banks, the insurance corporations and the railway companies. Even so, Ontario, because of its proximity to the United States, its shared language and the vast amounts of hydroelectric power at Niagara Falls, was more attractive for United States investment. An ensuing struggle developed between Montreal and Toronto, with Toronto eventually gaining the upper hand.
The colony of New France included Acadia, with its first capital in Port-Royal in 1605. ‘The term Acadia today refers to regions of North America that are historically associated with the lands, descendants, or culture of the former region [in north eastern Canada]. It particularly refers to regions of The Maritimes with Acadian roots, language, and culture, primarily in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the Magdalen Islands, and Prince Edward Island, as well as in Maine.It can also refer to the Acadian diaspora in southern Louisiana, a region also referred to as Acadiana. In the abstract, Acadia refers to the existence of an Acadian culture in any of these regions. People living in Acadia are called Acadians which changed to Cajuns in Louisiana, the American pronunciation of Acadians.’
The word Acadia is similar to Akkad[ia] of Babylon and Acadian parallels the name, Akkadian. The original peoples of Akkad were descendants of Arphaxad and his great grandson Peleg. They were related to or from the peoples of Haran and Nahor. As Haran’s children include the modern French it is a notable association. Explorer Giovanni de Verrazzano is credited in originating the designation Acadia on his 16th century map, where he applied the ancient Greek name Arcadia to the entire Atlantic coast north of Virginia.
‘Arcadia’ is derived from the district in ancient Greece, ‘which had the extended meanings of ‘refuge’ or ‘idyllic place’.’ By the time of de Champlain, it was La Cadie without the r.In the Mi’ kmaq language, Cadie means ‘fertile land.’ We will revisit the link between the French and the ancient Greeks. A fascinating side note of history and all the more interesting once it is understood that the French Canadians are descended from Ammon; as well as the indirect parallel with Lot’s daughters, are the eight hundred women that most French Canadians are literally descended from.
CBC, Filles du Roi, 2017 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘It’s 1663. New France has a population problem. To dominate the fur trade along the St. Lawrence River, New France needs people. Britain’s colonies to the south have 18 times as many settlers as New France. Britain has a wide-open policy on who can come to the colonies, meaning Brits from all walks of life are risking the perilous ocean voyage. France, on the other hand, has banned Protestants from going to New France. The British colonies have a farming-based economy, meaning men bring their wives over and have families, whereas the French settlers are mostly fur trappers and missionaries. That population gap is only getting wider. Britain’s colonies are growing, but in New France, which has only one woman for every six men, the population is stuck.
To help fix New France’s gender imbalance, two men come up with an innovative idea: Jean Talon (Intendant of the colony) and King Louis XIV decide to import young women to the colony to marry male settlers. The women would be known as the Filles du Roior “Daughters of the King.” Almost all the women are poor. Many are orphans.
[Between the years 1663 to 1673, these women of marriageable age came from Rouen in the province of Normandy, La Rochelle in Aunis and included beggars and orphans from the streets of Paris]. One in 10 doesn’t survive the voyage from France. For the 800 women who make it, France pays for the women’s passage and provides a dowry… from the royal treasury.
The women are also given a hope chest containing, among other things, a pair of hose, a pair of shoes, a bonnet, gloves, a comb, a belt and various sewing supplies. The Filles du Roi step off their boats into a foreign landscape. It Is a sparsely populated, heavily wooded wilderness. Many of them are from France’s cities and are about to get a harsh introduction to the backbreaking world of 17th century farm labour. Canadian winter will be unlike anything they’ve ever experienced. And in the coming years, many of them are going to be pregnant more often than not.
As daunting as that sounds, all of the Filles du Roi come to New France voluntarily. Even with the cold climate and hard toil, life in New France has advantages over the lives they left behind. Unlike many women at the time, the Filles du Roi are allowed to choose their husbands. Admittedly, they’re choosing from a very small pool – the population of New France is just over 3,000 and includes a disproportionately high number of priests. The women meet potential suitors in a series of chaperoned, interview-like “dates.”
The meetings are presided over by Jean Talon himself, along with Ursuline nun Marie Guyart… The women sail down the St. Lawrence, stopping first at Quebec City, then Trois-Rivieres, and eventually making their way to Montreal. At every stop, they have to make a choice; go with one of the men there, or see if there’s a better husband waiting down river. The women are given 50 livres – the equivalent of roughly $1,000 today – as a dowry. As poor women without dowries, finding a husband (let alone one they liked), would have been nearly impossible in France. There are other advantages, too. Abundant food means that women in New France live longer than their peers in Europe.
Families with more than 10 children get an additional annual pension of 300 livres ($6,000) from the crown. The program leads to a population explosion unlike anything Canada has seen since. The average family has five children – almost twice as many as the “Baby Boom” that follows WWII. The population of New France more than doubles in a decade. Two-thirds of today’s French-Canadians can trace their ancestry back to one of these 800 women. Their influence was felt outside Quebec, as well. Some famous Americans also claim a Fille du Roi as an ancestor, including Hiliary Clinton, Madonna and Angelina Jolie. There are very few first-hand accounts of the lives of the Filles du Roi.Few of them could read or write.Their histories have largely been told by subsequent generations. That said, one thing we know with absolute certainty: the Quebec we know today owes a lot to the fortitude of these incredibly tough women.’
Moab is Ammon’s elder brother and comprises the bulk of the French people. In the past, his peoples were also more numerous and they interacted with the sons of Jacob constantly through conventional warfare – unlike the guerrilla tactics of the Ammonites. The name Abarim – which has been an invaluable biblical word definition and concordance website – was actually a mountain range in the land of Moab.
Abarim Publications – emphasis & bold mine:
‘The name Moab meaning: Who Is Your Father?, Water Of A Father from (1) (mi), who, or (may), “water of …”, and (2) the noun (‘ab), father
The etymology and original meaning of the name Moab is unknown. The word moab is foreign to Hebrew… However, to a creative Hebrew audience, the name may have sounded like a compilation of two elements: the interrogative particle (me), what or (mi), who… The noun (‘ab) means father… It’s unclear where this word (‘ab) comes from but the verb abu means to decide.
Thus the name Moab would carry the meaning of Who’s… or What’s Your Father? a rhetorical question to which the story may easily give rise. Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names takes a different approach and goes with the word (may), meaning water… Water represents the great unknown from which the dry land of the known emerges. Thus Jones reads Water Of A Father, and explains this to mean seed or progeny.The problem here is that semen is never referred to as a father’s waters.
The name Ar meaning: City from the noun (‘ir), city
The name Ar (or more complete: Ar of Moab – see Numbers 21:28) was a city on the southern shore of the river Arnon (Numbers 21:15). When YHWH delivers his famous “do not harass Moab” sermon, he declares that he gave Ar to the sons of Lot (which would be the Ammonites and the Moabites – Deuteronomy 2:9). Much later, the prophet Isaiah declares his blood curdling prophecies against Moab, and foretells its utter destruction, along with Kirof Moab (Isaiah 15:1).
Adjectives (‘ariri) and (‘ar’ar) mean stripped, childless or destitute. Noun (me’ara) literally means “place of being stripped” and is the Bible’s common word for cave. Verb (‘ur I) means to rouse oneself – literally to collect and bundle one’s feelings. Noun (‘ir) means excitement. Identical verb (‘ur II) means to be exposed or laid bare. Noun (ma’or) means nakedness and noun (ma’arom) means naked one. Adjectives (‘erom), (‘erom), (‘arom) and (‘arom) mean naked. Noun (‘or) means skin or hide. Verb (‘ara) also means to be naked or bare. Nouns (‘ara), (ma’ara) and (ma’ar) refer to bare or exposed places. Nouns (‘erwa) and (‘erya) mean nakedness or exposure. Noun (ta’ar) denotes a thing that makes bare: a razor or sheath of a sword.
The name Kir meaning: Wall from the noun (qir), wall
The noun (qarqa’) means floor; earth trampled into a compact state. The verb (qarqar) means to forcibly compact, to pound down. Verb (qara), and its by-form (qara’), mean to near, to meet or to happen upon. Noun (qora) describes a rafter or beam; the things that come together to form a roof, and which obviously relate to bricks pieced into a wall. Nouns (qareh) and (miqreh) mean chance or accident, fortune or fate. Noun (qeri)means opposition, contrariness.
For this same reason, the nouns (qiryah) and (qeret) are the words for city and federation of cities.Adjective (qari’) means called or summoned… And noun (miqra’) means convocation or called assembly. Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has A Wall, A Fortress, but this word for wall typically doesn’t refer to a military wall.’
Numbers 21:28-29
English Standard Version
28 For fire came out from Heshbon, flame from the city of Sihon. It devouredAr of Moab, and swallowed the heights of the [River] Arnon. 29 Woe to you, O Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh! He has made his sons fugitives, and his daughters captives, to an Amorite king, Sihon.
Ar and Kir of Moab appear to be the most prominent settlements of Moab. Today, they could equate to the capital Paris and possibly the principal port – also the second biggest city – Marseille. The numbers of the Israelites and their series of military victories became a serious concern to Moab; though Moab was unaware of the Eternal’s edict to the sons of Jacob: to not attack Moab and Ammon. In a preemptive strike, King Balak of Moab, summoned a Seer and Prophet to pronounce a curse on the sons of Jacob. Though the best laid plan did not eventuate as the Moabites would have hoped.
Numbers 22:1-41
English Standard Version
Then the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho.
2 And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. 3 And Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many. Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel. 4 And Moab said to the elders of Midian [descendants from Abraham and his second wife, Keturah], “This horde will now lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, 5 sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the people of Amaw, to call him, saying,
“Behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth [estimates account for three million plus people, including 600,000 fighting men able to take up arms], and they are dwelling opposite me. 6 Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me.Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land,for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”
7 So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand. And they came to Balaam and gave him Balak’s message… 9 And God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?” 10 And Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me…
12 God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” 13 So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your own land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.” 14 So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.” 15 Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honorable than these.
16 And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Let nothing hinder you from coming to me, 17 for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Come, curse this people for me.’” 18 But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more. 19 So you, too, please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.” 20 And God came to Balaam at night andsaid to him,“If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” 21 So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.
22 But God’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand [like a Cherub – Genesis 3:24]. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road… 28 Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” 29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.” … 31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face.
32 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me. 33 The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live.” 34 Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” 35 And the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak.
36 When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab [Ar], on the border formed by the Arnon, at the extremity of the border… 38 Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come to you! Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.” 39 Then Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. 40 And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent for Balaam and for the princes who were with him. 41 And in the morning Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal…
In Numbers Twenty-three, Balaam does not curse Israel but speaks of the blessings given them by the Creator. In Numbers Twenty-four, Balaam then precedes to curse the enemies of the sons of Jacob after adding a blessing to the Israelites.
Numbers 24:10-14, 17
English Standard Version
10 And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. And Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them these three times. 11 Therefore now flee to your own place. I said, ‘I will certainly honor you,’ but the Lord has held you back from honor.” 12 And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, 13 ‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will. What the Lord speaks, that will I speak’? 14 And now, behold, I am going to my people. Come, I will let you know what this people will do to your people in the latter days.”17 I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near [the promised Messiah]: a star [blessing of Ephraim] shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter [blessing of Judah] shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.
Deuteronomy 2:9-11
English Standard Version
9 And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar [the capital] to the people of Lot for a possession.’ 10 The Emim formerly lived there, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim. 11 Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.
Deuteronomy 34:1-8
English Standard Version
Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan [the far north east], 2 all Naphtali [the north], the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea [the far south west], 3 the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. 4 And the Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.”
5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, 6 and he [the Eternal] buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. 8 Andthe people of Israel wept for Mosesin the plains of Moab thirty days…
Judges 3:12-14, 26-30
English Standard Version
12 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
13 He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites [grandson of Esau],and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of the city of palms. 14 And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
26 Ehud [second Judge of Israel from the tribe of Benjamin] escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah. 27 When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader. 28 And he said to them, “Follow after me, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over. 29 And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years [Ehud was a Judge of Israel for the same period from 1284 to 1204 BCE].
A famous descendant of Moab and ancestor of King David, as mentioned previously, is Ruth. Abarim Publications – emphasis & bold mine:
‘The name Ruth means: Friend, Associate, Vision, View from the noun (rea’), friend or companion and from the noun (re’ut), a looking or understanding.
Ruth was the Moabite wife of Mahlon, son of Elimelech and Naomi of Bethlehem. Their other son, Chilion, married Orphah also of Moab. When the men die [in battle with Israel], Ruth and Naomi move back to Bethlehem, where Ruth marries Boaz. In order to do so, Boaz appeals to the Leviratic Law, which dictates that when a man dies childless, his brother is to marry his widow and sire children in the name of the deceased man (Ruth 4:10, Deuteronomy 25:5). Ruth and Boaz become the parents of Obed, the grandparents of Jesse and the great-grandparents of David, thegreat king of Israel, and finally the ancestors of Jesus…
Verb (ra’a I) means to pasture or feed and the participle (ra’a) means shepherd… Verb (ra’a II) means to associate with. Nouns (rea’), (re’eh) and (merea’) mean friend, associate or “neighbor”. Nouns (ra’ya), (re’a) and (re’ut) describe a female attendant, mate or friend. Scholars who follow this root group see the name Ruth as a feminine derivation of the root (ra’a II), meaning to associate with, or be a friend of. And thus, they say, the name Ruth means (Lady-) Friend or (Lady-) Companion. The… NOBSE Study Bible Name List agrees and reads Female Companion for a meaning of the name Ruth. The… Alfred Jones (Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names) proposes a different etymology and goes after the root (ra’a), meaning to see… The verb (ra’a) means to see, and by extension to understand. It may mean to become visible (of, say, an angel) or to become understandable (of, say, a theory). Noun (ro’eh) means either seer, or prophetic vision, and noun (mar’a) means either vision as means of revelation, or mirror.
Specifically, Jones sees the name Ruth as a contraction of the noun (re’ut), meaning look. Hence, for a meaning of the name Ruth, Jones reads Beauty but perhaps better would be Vision. There’s no telling whether to an ancient Hebrew audience the name Ruth sounded like Female Friend or Beauty, but all-in-all Ruth is quite a name.’
Ruth 1:15-18
English Standard Version
15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law [Orphah] has gone back to her people and to her gods [Chemosh]; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. 22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem [in Judah] at the beginning of barley harvest.
Ruth 2:1-20
English Standard Version
Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” … 8 Then Boaz said to Ruth… “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. 12 The Lord repay you for what you have done… 13 Then she said, “I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.” “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 20 And Naomi said… “The man is a close relative of ours…
Ruth 3:1-14
English Standard Version
Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? 2 Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. 3 Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor… 4 when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.”
8 At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet!
9 He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.” 10 And he said, “May you be blessed by the Lord… in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. 11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman. 14 So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another [comparable to, yet in contrast with the scenario involving Lot and his daughters].
Some scholars maintain that Ruth and Boaz had an intimate relationship before they married. In contradistinction to her ancestor – the elder daughter of Lot – Ruth did not entice Boaz into temptation. The terms used in verse four do have sexual connotations, as Ruth was showing that she wanted to be married. The word uncover, means to make visible, to be naked. In this case, Boaz’s feet were exposed. They then became cold and hence Boaz woke up naturally. Some commentators state that feet here, are a euphemism for sexual organs. This is very tenuous at best.
‘And lie down…’ This can also have sexual connotations, though only when paired with the Hebrew terms eṯ and ‘im [with] as in passages such as Genesis 19:32-35; Exodus 22:15; Leviticus 18:22; Deuteronomy 22:22; 1 Samuel 2:22 and 2 Samuel 11:4. The text says that she ‘lay at his feet until morning.’ Ruth slept there until morning, not that she slept with Boaz until morning. Though it could be interpreted as morally questionable to have a woman spend the night with a single man; Boaz kept Ruth with him until morning, because of the dangers of her going home alone in the middle of the night. It was more honourable to protect her until just before dawn, so that she could slip away before first light.
‘Spread your wings over your servant…’ means Ruth asked Boaz to spread his covering over her – a Hebrew idiom for marriage – Ezekiel 16:8; Deuteronomy 22:30; 27:20 and Malachi 2:16. Ruth probably visited at night to maintain privacy, so that Boaz wouldn’t feel pressured into making a public decision to marry her. Boaz was asleep and when he awoke, the text says he was ‘startled.’ If Boaz had just engaged in sex with Ruth, he obviously wouldn’t have been startled. Boaz also refers to Ruth as a ‘worthy woman.’ This is the same phrase used for a godly wife in Proverbs 31:10. He would hardly say these words after just engaging in fornication. Boaz was careful to keep and follow the kinsman-redeemer laws, even though he clearly loved Ruth and wanted to marry her; this highlights his integrity towards Ruth, not sexual permissiveness.
Ruth 4:9-17
English Standard Version
9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. 10 Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife…
11 Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, 12 and may your house be like the house of Perez [Pharez, a royal line], whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.” 13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her [the first time], and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son… 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. 17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
2 Samuel 8:2
English Standard Version
And he [King David] defeated Moab and he measured them with a line, making them lie down on the ground. Two lines he measured to be put to death, [!] and one full line to be spared [1/3].And the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute.
2 Kings 3:4-27
English Standard Version
4 Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. 5 But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 So King Jehoram marched out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. 7 And he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to battle against Moab?” And he said, “I will go. I am as you are, my people [Houses of Judah and Benjamin] as your people [Kingdom of Ten Tribes of Israel], my horses as your horses.” 8 Then he said, “By which way shall we march?” Jehoram answered, “By the way of the wilderness of Edom.”
9 So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. And when they had made a circuitous march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. 10 Then the king of Israel said, “Alas! The Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” 11 And Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?” Then one of the king of Israel’s servants answered, “Elisha the son of Shaphat is here,who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” 12 And Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
13 And Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is the Lord who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.”
14 And Elisha said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you. 15 But now bring me a musician.” And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him. 16 And he said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I will make this dry streambed full of pools.’ 17 For thus says the Lord, ‘You shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.’
18 This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, 19 and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones.”[!] 20 The next morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water. [Recall, a definition of Moab is ‘water of a father.’]
21 When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the youngest to the oldest, were called out and were drawn up at the border. 22 And when they rose early in the morning and the sun shone on thewater, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. 23 And they said, “This is blood; the kings have surely fought together and struck one another down. Now then, Moab, to the spoil!” 24 But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose and struck the Moabites, till they fled before them. And they went forward, striking the Moabites as they went. 25 And they overthrew the cities, and on every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it was covered. They stopped every spring of water and felled all the good trees, till only its stones were left in Kir-hareseth [not the Kir of Moab], and the slingers surrounded and attacked it. 26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him 700 swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom, but they could not.
27 Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering on thewall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.
These were severely harsh measures and war atrocities by the Israelites towards the Moabites. Not a big surprise that hatred brewed and raged within Moab. The sons of Jacob were disobeying the command to not harass or contend in war with Moab and then added cruelty to make it immensely worse.
2 Kings 16:9
English Standard Version
… The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus [Aram-Gether] and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir [of Moab], and he killed Rezin [the king of Damascus].
Psalm 60:7-8
English Standard Version
7 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter. 8Moab is my washbasin; upon Edom I cast my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
Isaiah 15:1-9
English Standard Version
… Because Ar of Moab [the capital] is laid waste in a night, Moab is undone; because Kir of Moab [the second city] is laid waste in a night, Moab is undone.2 He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon, to the high places to weep; over Nebo and over Medeba Moab wails. On every head is baldness; every beard is shorn; 3 in the streets they wear sackcloth; on the housetops and in the squares everyone wails and melts in tears.4… the armed men of Moab cry aloud; his soul trembles. 5 My heart cries out for Moab; her fugitives flee to Zoar… For at the ascent of Luhith [possible neighbouring great grandson of Abraham and Keturah – Genesis 25:3] they go up weeping; on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction… 8 For a cry has gone around the land of Moab; her wailing reaches to Eglaim; her wailing reaches to Beer-elim. 9 For the waters of Dibon are full of blood; for I will bring upon Dibon even more, a lion for those of Moab who escape, for the remnant of the land.
Isaiah 16:1-13
English Standard Version
Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela, by way of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Zion. 2 Like fleeing birds, like a scattered nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon… 4 let the outcasts of Moab sojourn among you; be a shelter to them from the destroyer. When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land, 5 then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness.” 6 We have heard of the pride of Moab – how proud he is! – of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence; in his idle boasting he is not right.
Moab’s pride is their biggest stumbling block
Job 41:34 RSV:
“[They behold] everything that is high;[they (the Adversary) are a ruler] over all the [children] of pride.”
7 Therefore let Moab wail for Moab, let everyone wail. Mourn, utterly stricken, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth. 8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have struck down its branches… And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field, and in the vineyards no songs are sung, no cheers are raised; no treader treads out wine in the presses; I have put an end to the shouting. 11 Therefore my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab, and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.
12 And when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail. 13 This is the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab in the past. 14 But now the Lord has spoken, saying, “In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who remain will be very few and feeble.”
Germany has an eagle, the United Kingdom has a lion and Spain has a bull; France have a rooster as a symbol and mascot. The origin of this emblem dates back to the Gallic origins of the French nation when the Romans laughed at Gauls because of a linguistic pun. In Latin, the word gallus means Gaul, but also cockerel. The supposed stubbornness and brazen pride of the people was to be turned on its head as the French took the bird to their hearts as an icon of their nation. The French kings adopted the rooster as a symbol of courage and bravery. During the French Revolution, the cockerel became a symbol of the people and the State and was engraved on coins. Napoleon preferred the eagle – the symbol of imperial Rome – but the rooster won out over the raptor, as an apt symbol for French pride. The rooster is visible throughout France: on French stamps, at the entrance of the Élysée Palace, on jerseys of French football, rugby and handball teams and on the shirts of Olympic athletes. Mercury was often portrayed with the cockerel; a sacred animal among the Continental Celts.
Jeremiah 48:1-30, 38-47
English Standard Version
2 …the renown of Moab is no more. In Heshbon they planned disaster against her: ‘Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!’ You also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence; the sword shall pursue you. 3 …’Desolation and great destruction!’ 4 Moab is destroyed; her little ones have made a cry… 6 Flee! Save yourselves! You will be like a juniper in the desert! 7 For, because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be taken; and Chemosh shall go into exile with his priests and his officials… 9 “Give wings to Moab, for she would fly away; her cities shall become a desolation, with no inhabitant in them.
11 “Moab has been at ease from his youth and has settled on his dregs; he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile; so his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed. 12 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I shall send to him pourers who will pour him, and empty his vessels and break his jars in pieces. 13 Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence. 14 “How do you say, ‘We are heroes and mighty men of war’? 15 The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up, and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter, declares the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts. 16 The calamity of Moab is near at hand, and his affliction hastens swiftly. 17 Grieve for him, all you who are around him, and all who know his name; say, ‘How the mighty scepter is broken, the glorious staff.’
18 “Come down from your glory, and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitant of Dibon! For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you; he has destroyed your strongholds… 20 Moab is put to shame, for it is broken; wail and cry! Tell it beside the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste. 21 “Judgment has come upon the tableland… and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. 25 The horn [symbol of power] of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, declares the Lord. 26 “Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against the Lord, so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision. 27 Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you wagged your head? 28 “Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, O inhabitants of Moab!
29 … We have heard of the pride of Moab – he is very proud – of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart. 30 I know his insolence, declares the Lord; his boasts are false, his deeds are false.
… 38 On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares, declares the Lord. 39 How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are around him.”
40 For thus says the Lord: “Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Moab; 41 the cities shall be taken and the strongholds seized. The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains; 42 Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people, because he magnified himself against the Lord… For I will bring these things upon Moab, the year of their punishment, declares the Lord. 45 “In the shadow of Heshbon fugitives stop without strength, for fire came out from Heshbon, flame from the house of Sihon; it has destroyed the forehead of Moab, the crown of the sons of tumult. 46 Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are undone, for your sons have been taken captive, and your daughters into captivity. 47 Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares the Lord.” Thus far is the judgment on Moab.
Ezekiel 25:8-11
English Standard Version
8 “Thus says the Lord God: Because Moab and Seir said, ‘Behold, the house of Judah is like all the other nations,’ 9 therefore I will lay open the flank of Moab from the cities, from its cities on its frontier, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim. 10 I will give it along with the Ammonites to the people of the East as a possession, that the Ammonites may be remembered no more among the nations, 11 and I will execute judgments upon Moab. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Amos 2:1-3
English Standard Version
Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom.
2 So I will send a fire upon Moab [reminiscent of Sodom’s fate], and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet; 3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will kill all its princes with him,” says the Lord.
Daniel 2:32-39
English Standard Version
32 The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. 39 Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.
Daniel 7:6
English Standard Version
6 After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
Daniel 8:20-22
English Standard Version
As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. 21 And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king [Alexander the Great]. 22 As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power.
Previously, we learned that the head of gold was the Chaldean Empire – the ancestors of the Northern & Central Italians [refer Chapter XXV Italy: Nahor & the Chaldeans] – of Babylon, represented by a lion with wings. Also, one leg of iron was the Byzantine, Eastern Roman Empire – comprising the ancestors of the Russians [refer Chapter XX Will the Real Assyria Stand Up: Asshur & Russia] – represented as half of a monstrous beast. The chest and arms of silver was the Medo-Persian empire – the ancestors of the Turko-Mongol and Turkish peoples [refer Chapter IV Central Asia – Madai & the Medes and Chapter XVIII Elam & Turkey] – represented by a bear, as well as a ram.
The torso and thighs are representative of the Greco-Macedonian empire – the ancestors of the French – which toppled the Medes and Persians.
Alexander III or the Great, defeated Persia in 331 BCE and the power of Greece lasted until 146 BCE, when it became a protectorate of the burgeoning Roman empire. After Alexander, who reigned briefly yet emphatically from 336 to 323 BCE and the subsequent seven short-lived emperor reigns from 323 to 288 BCE, four divisions of the Greek empire arose, each led by one of Alexander’s generals. Ptolemy from281 to 279 BCE, administered Egypt and North Africa; Seleucus in 281 BCE governed Syria, Asia Minor and the East. Lysimachus during 288 to 285 BCE, took control of Thrace – until it united with Greece and Macedonia – and Cassander from 315 to 297 BCE, who ruled over Macedonia and Greece.
The two thighs of Nebuchadnezzar’s statute represent the distinct Macedonian and Greek components of the Empire – in other words, Ammon and Moab. The Greco-Macedonian empire was more robust and stronger than the two preceding empires, as evidenced by being likened to bronze as opposed to gold or silver. Militarily, it defeated its enemies with raw power and speed unlike any before it, as evidenced by the agile goat compared to the ram of Persia and the lighter leopard in contrast to the heavier and slower bear of Persia, as well as the lion of Chaldea.
Alexander, with the agility of a goat crossed the Hellespont after conquering neighbouring, yet related Grecia and began his march to revenge the humiliation inflicted upon Greece by Xerxes a century before. Alexander Conquered Troy, then met Persian opposition at Granicus. After subjugating all of Asia Minor, he battled a host of supposedly half a million Persians, whom Darius III – king from 336 to 330 BCE – had assembled. They met in the plain of Issus on November 5, 333 BCE and Alexander slaughtered the greatly superior Persian force – outnumbered two to one – and broke the back of Persian opposition. Proceeding southward, city after city fell without a real fight except for Tyre in 332 BCE and Gaza, which were both subdued after sieges.
Marching southwards to Egypt, Alexander conquered the entire country with little effort and founded the world renowned capital city of Alexandria. It became the largest city of the Hellenic world. Continuing east, he fought a third momentous battle against Persia on October 1, 331 BCE with Darius at Gaugamela and again defeated a greatly superior force. Alexander’s armies reached right to India, but his troops, weary with battle, refused to go further. Returning to Babylon, Alexander intended to make this the capital of his entire empire. Though he died a victim of his profligate eating, drinking and whoring, coupled with an attack of malaria at the age of thirty-three on June 11, 323 BCE.
As brief as was his rule, his indelible mark on the world was permanent. The description of the leopard – one of the swiftest of animals and greatest, of predatory carnivores – portrays the lightning speed of attack of Alexander’s armies which was unprecedented. Alexander never lost a siege or battle – despite typically being outnumbered – from 338 to 325 BCE. His record is an entirely impressive, fought twenty, won twenty.
The four wings on the back of the leopard not only represent agility and speed, but with the four heads, symbolise the fulfilled historic fact, that Alexander’s empire was eventually controlled by four principal generals.
As John F Walvoord remarks: “The accuracy of this prophecy is so evident that liberal scholars who consider detailed prophecy an impossibility are forced to postulate that the entire book of Daniel is in fact a forgery written by a pseudo-Daniel who lived after these events of Alexander’s conquest had already taken place. This unwilling confession of the accuracy of Biblical prophecy is in itself most significant and a testimony to the accuracy of prophecy as a whole.”
Alexander the Great, thought, acted and fought on his gut instinct. The gut located in the lower torso as evidenced on Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. He was also influenced by his lower groin, in his private life. Some may say, ‘how very French.’ Cyrus the Great, as pictured by the chest, let his heart influence him when he fell for Esther from the tribe of Benjamin; allowing the tribe of Judah to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and Temple. Nebuchadnezzar certainly depicted a more cerebral approach in his reign with his methodical deconstruction of his enemies and impressive building projects, as represented by the head of gold.
Alexander was born in Pella, the capital of Macedon and from age thirteen, was tutored by Aristotle until he was sixteen. His mother was Olympias, the fourth of eight wives and principal wife of Philip II of Macedon. Alexander was raised to read, play the lyre, ride, fight and hunt. His mother had huge ambitions and encouraged Alexander to believe it was his destiny to conquer the Persian Empire. He had a great desire for knowledge, a love for philosophy and was an avid reader. Though Alexander was impulsive, with a violent temper his intelligent and rational side was also demonstrated by his ability and success as a general and military strategist. It would seem he had an equal appreciation of men as he had for women, though both were lesser than his dependance on alcohol.
There have been a succession of Greek ages. The ones dominated by Moab and Ammon were the later Classical age of Greece from 500 to 323 BCE and the Hellenistic era of 323 to 146 BCE. The sons of Lot were the ancestors of peoples living in Greece before these epochs, as were the sons of Jacob; stretching back to Archaic Greece during the centuries from 800 to 500 BCE and beyond to Ancient Greece, including the Mycenaean period of 1600 to 1200 BCE and the Dark age of Greece lasting from 1200 to 800 BCE.
University of Oxford, Professor of Classics and Ancient History, Simon Hornblower – emphasis & bold mine:
‘… about 1200 BCE, to the death of Alexander… in 323 BCE. It was a period of political, philosophical, artistic, and scientific achievements that formed a legacy with unparalleled influence on Western civilization.’
By the time frame comprising Classical Greece, the peoples of the region had begun to change in composition from those who had constituted Greece from 1600 BCE. The city-states up to approximately 1000 to 800 BCE had been reflective of different peoples. The rise of Macedon and its control of greater Greece saw the transition to the descendants of Ammon and Moab. The people of Troy and the greater Troad, were colonial descendants of Ammon and Moab and both the Trojans and the Macedonians were ancestors of the Frankish peoples who form modern day France. We will investigate the original founding of Troy, which is credited not to the sons of Lot but rather descendants of the tribe of Judah. The original peoples who had grouped primarily around Athens, Thebes, Corinth, Arcadia and Olympia were primarily colonies of the descendants of the sons of Jacob. In time, they were transplanted by the peoples of Moab and Ammon. The Spartans are similarly related, though they are not descendants of either Lot or Jacob.
Italians and Race, Dr Orville Boyd Jenkins – emphasis & bold mine:
‘From pre-Roman times, it appears there was already a clear distinction of short, darker-skinned, dark-haired peoples from pre-history being [overlaid] and mixed with taller, sometimes larger built, blond and blue-eyed groups. It is now generally believed thatthe Greeks also were larger, blond and blue-eyed people, which was the case when Alexander the Great spread his forces and opened up colonies all over the Middle East and Egypt.This is also attested in frescos from the era, as well as in various references to their looks.’
Both the earlier Greeks, the sons of Jacob and later Greeks from Ammon and Moab are today broadly classed as Germanic or Teutonic. The French are a Germanic-Celtic, rather pseudo Latin mix. This inclusion of fairer skin, blond hair and blue eyes was attributable to both ‘sets’ of Greeks. Alexander the Great himself, no different, as various reports reveal.
The Greek biographer Plutarch lived circa 45 to 120 CE, describes Alexander’s appearance as: ‘… for those peculiarities which many of his successors and friends afterwards tried to imitate, namely, the poise of the neck, which was bent slightly to the left, and the melting glance of his eyes, this artist has accurately observed… he was of a fair colour, as they say, and his fairness passed into ruddiness on his breast particularly, and in his face. Moreover, that a very pleasant odour exhaled from his skin and that there was a fragrance about his mouth and all his flesh, so that his garments were filled with it, this we have read in the Memoirs of Aristoxenus.’
Alexander Romance suggested that Alexander III possessed heterochromia iridium: that one eye was dark and the other light. British historian Peter Green compiled a description of Alexander’s appearance, based on his review of statues and ancient documents: ‘Physically, Alexander was not prepossessing. Even by Macedonian standards he was very short, though stocky and tough. His beard was scanty, and he stood out against his hirsute Macedonian barons by going clean-shaven. His neck was in some way twisted, so that he appeared to be gazing upward at an angle. His eyes (one blue, one brown) revealed a dewy, feminine quality. He had a high complexion and a harsh voice.’ Egyptian Historian Joann Fletcher has also said that Alexander had blond hair.
French men
Many people are intrigued by the amazing story of Troy. Three Hollywood feature films have been produced on the fantastic events, yet much of the scholarly community view it entirely as myth. Yet with all legends truth is within the tale, though admittedly it is difficult in this case to separate fact from fiction.
Regardless, the Trojan war continues to stand out during the Dark age of Ancient Greece. The siege of Troy is said to have lasted some nine to ten years and its eventual fall, through the ruse of the Trojan Horse, occurred approximately, according to an unconventional chronology, between 1186 and 1184 BCE.
Those historians who believe the story of the Trojan War are derived from a real historical conflict, often use the dates given by Eratosthenes of 1194 to 1184 BCE; which roughly corresponds to the archaeological evidence of the catastrophic burning of Troy VII and a late Bronze Age collapse. Other researchers more recently, have dated the events somewhere between 1260 to 1180 BCE.
French women
The Trojan War Chronological, Historical and Archaeological Evidence, Gérard Gertoux – emphasis & bold mine:
‘The Trojan War is the foundation of Greek history. If Greek historians had little doubt of its existence they remained extremely sceptical regarding its mythological origin. Archaeology has confirmed one essential point: there was indeed a general conflagration in the Greek world around 1200 BCE, the assumed period of that war, which caused the disappearance of two powerful empires:
Mycenaean on one hand and Hittite with its vassals on the other hand. The inscriptions of Ramses III’s [1184-1153 BCE] year 8 [1177 BCE] describe actually a general invasion of the Mediterranean by the “Sea Peoples”, but without giving any reason.
A precise chronological reconstruction, based on a few absolute dates, shows that the annexation of the kingdom of Cyprus (Alasia), closely linked to the Mycenaean world, by Hittite King Tudhaliya IV played a role of detonator in the confrontation between a Greek heterogeneous confederation, consisting of pirates and privateers on one side and a set of vassal kingdoms of the Hittite empire, such as Troy and Ugarit, on the other. This struggle to control a vital sea path, from Crete to Egypt, via Cyprus, which ended with a complete mutual destruction in 1185 BCE, the climax of the famous Trojan War, had begun 10 years earlier. Surprisingly, this conclusion was already that of Eratosthenes (276-193). Historical and epigraphic context shows that Homer wrote his epic shortly after Queen Elissa founded Carthage (c. 870 BCE).’
The supposed mythic events surrounding the collapse of Troy begin when Paris – same name as future capital of France – a Prince of Troy and son of Priam who reigned from circa 1200 to 1185 BCE and the King of Troy, is visiting King Melenaus of Sparta and staying in the Spartan Palace. Paris knew of Melenaus’s wife Helen and had fallen in love with her. Paris hid Helen on his ship for the return voyage to Troy. Paris’s older brother Prince Hector did not agree with Paris, yet sailed home regardless. King Priam welcomed Helen and took her into the family as one of his own. Priam was reputed to have had fifty sons and twelve daughters. The city of Troy was splendidly wealthy and impregnable. Recall the prominent city of Kir of Moab, meaning wall.
Raging with revenge, King Melenaus of Sparta calls for the assistance and a favour from his brother King Agamemnon II who ruled Argos, circa 1202 to 1185 BCE. Though all closely related, the Trojans, Spartans or Dorians and the Achaean Greeks were different peoples. Agamemnon called in the services of Achilles, a killing machine and a fabled warrior of Demi-god stature. King Agamemnon had at his disposal a realistic number of approximately one hundred ships and ten thousand men, including allies from Athens.
According to Thucydides, Agamemnon raised an enormous fleet utilising other Greek cities of close to twelve hundred Boeotian [100+ men] and Philoctetes [50 men] ships – with a force of some 60,000 to 130,000 troops. To end the decade long stalemate, Odysseus – an ally of Menelaus – devised the ruse of a giant hollow wooden horse, an animal that was sacred to the Trojans. Once inside Troys walls and the Trojans defeated, the Greeks burned the city and divided the spoils. Cassandra – Priam’s daughter who had warned not to take the horse inside the city – was apparently awarded to Agamemnon. Neoptolemus, a son of Achilles obtained Andromache, the wife of Hector – the son of Priam, who had been killed by Achilles – and Odysseus was given Hecuba, Priam’s wife.
That most Achaean heroes did not return to their homes and instead founded colonies elsewhere was ‘interpreted by Thucydides as being due to their long absence.Nowadays the interpretation followed by most scholars is that the Achaean leaders driven out of their lands by the turmoil at the end of the Mycenaean era preferred to claim descent from exiles of the Trojan War.’ Simply, these Greeks migrated as all ancient peoples continually moved due to the search for better opportunities, usually prodded by other peoples pressing towards their territory, due to either population expansion, food shortages, famine or war. There was a continuous domino effect throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe of Shem’s descendants until peoples finally settled in their current geographical and political positions beginning from approximately 800 to 1000 CE.
The Greeks and Romans took for a fact the historicity of the Trojan War and the identity of Homeric Troy with a site in Anatolia on a peninsula called the Troad or now known as the Biga Peninsula, which forms the basis of Homer’s Iliad. Ironically, Alexander the Great later conquered the Troad and Troy, when it was part of the Persian Empire. He visited the site in 334 BCE and offered sacrifices at tombs associated with the Homeric heroes of Achilles and Patroclus his cousin, killed by Hector. Alexander was reputed to be related to Achilles via his mother who was apparently descended from a royal house. Troy is known in Greek as Troia; also by association with the region to the east, as Ilios or Ilion. In Latin, Troja or Ilium, as it was known during the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus.
A large mound known locally as Hisarlik, had long been understood to hold the ruins of a city named Ilion or Ilium which had flourished in Hellenistic and Roman times. In 1822 Charles Maclaren a Scottish journalist, posited that this was the site of Homeric Troy; though for the next fifty years, his idea received little attention from Classical scholars, most of whom regarded the Trojan legend as a fictional creation based on myth and not history. ‘Those who did believe in the existence of a real Troy thought it to be at Bunarbashi (Pinarbasi), a short distance south of Hisarlik. It took Frank Calvert an English Levantine emigrant and scholarly amateur archaeologist, until 1860 to begin exploratory work on Hisarlik. It was he who persuaded the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann to work at Hisarlik, though Schliemann soon took full credit for adopting Maclaren’s identification and demonstrating to the world that it was correct.’
There are nine major periods of ancient Troy designated by archaeologists, that are labeled I to IX, starting from the bottom with the oldest settlement, Troy I. ‘In periods I to VII Troy was a fortified stronghold that served as the capital of the Troad and the residence of a king, his family, officials, advisers, retinue, and slaves. Troy VI and VII [are] assigned to the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, circa 1900 to 1100 BCE. Based on the evidence of imported Mycenaean pottery, the end of Troy VIIa is dated to between 1260 and 1240 BCE. The Cincinnati expedition under Blengen concluded that Troy VIIa was very likely the capital of King Priam described in Homer’s Iliad, which was destroyed by the Greek armies of Agamemnon.
The partly rebuilt Troy VIIb shows evidence of new settlers with a lower level of material culture, who vanished altogether by 1100 BCE. For about the next four centuries the site was virtually abandoned. The glorious and rich city Homer describes was believed to be Troy VI by many twentieth century authors, and destroyed about 1275 BC, probably by an earthquake. Its successor, Troy VIIa, was destroyed around 1180 BC; it was long considered a poorer city, and dismissed as a candidate for Homeric Troy, but since the excavation campaign of 1988, it has come to be regarded as the most likely candidate.’
I am not convinced with the VIIa and VIIb archaeological split. I would propose that VI is the same Troy as described by Homer and the same Troy which Priam was king of when it was destroyed. Troy VI included the height of its splendour from circa 1400 to 1180 BCE. What has been labeled VIIb, I would rename Troy VII. I agree that Troy VIIb was an attempt to rebuild, maintain and sustain a Troy that was now a shadow of its former grandeur and ultimately given up as a viable project by 1100 BCE. Is there an agenda to lessen Troy’s prestige during 1194 and 1184 BCE and thus discredit the whole saga’s validity. Possibly propaganda running parallel, are the accounts that assert there were very few survivors from Troy.
Homeric Troy is described as a wealthy and populous city, yet the idea of a lesser Troy: ‘a relatively minor settlement, perhaps [just] a princely seat’ is advanced by scholars. In 1988, Korfmann’s team searched the terrain surrounding the citadel site at Hisarlik, investigating the wider settlement. Korfmann’s findings from ‘geomagnetic surveying and isolated excavations, led him to conclude in favour of a greater Troy – that is, a settlement of some size and prosperity.’
The question of what language was spoken by the Trojans has been a burning question. No evidence of a Trojan language seems to have survived. It was thought that the Trojans were Greek, though they were not in the Achaean domain and actually opposed to the Achaeans. Both remain a mystery, until we understand the Trojans were descended from Moab and Ammon and the Greeks at this time were principally sons of Jacob. The animosity between the two peoples still alive and strong. Their differences not just due to culture but family lineage. Passages from the Iliad also allude that the Trojans were not Greek.
Who were the Trojans and where did they come from? Luciana Cavallaro, 2014 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Many scholars, including Carl Blengen American archaeologist who worked at the site in the 1930s, believed the Trojans were of Greek origin. This conjecture was attributed to the Greek names given to the characters in the Iliad but that isn’t the case. Homer mentioned a close relationship between the Trojan allies and in particular with the Dardanians.Excavations at the site of Troy/Ilios/Troya/Troia have found artefacts that showed the Trojans were in fact indigenous to the region and related to the Indo-European people who migrated to the area.
Archaeological investigations have surmised the people from Dardania and Troy shared a kinship, their ancestry a mixture of Anatolian and Luwians [the Luwians proper are the original Hatti. If these Dardanians are Luwians, then they could be related, just as the French (from Haran) are related to the Italians from Nahor – refer Chapter XXV Italy: Nahor & the Chaldeans]. The latter came from south eastern Anatolia [Asia-minor], a province the Romans later called Cilicia. The Greeks and Romans thought Dardania was a subset of Troy however it was the other way around. Troy was a state of Dardania [the region, though Dardania was also the name of a city].
There are also the names of the Trojans, given in Greek as the audience was Hellenistic and more recognisable. Alexander/Alaksandu, better known as Paris was first noted in Hittite text and ruler who established trading links with the Hittites. Wilusa, Hittite word for the Greek interpretation Ilios. Priam/Piyama-Radu and Hektor are considered indigenous names though the spelling of the former changed. The Greeks did migrate to the west coast of Asia Minor and there is evidence they settled in the famous city. This was identified as Troy VIII.’
As stated in the preceding article, one proposal is that the Indo-European Luwians who arrived in the western coastal region of Anatolia are the West-Luwian speakers of Arzawa, who migrated westward. Another theory is that the Dardanians were Thracians who crossed the Dardanelles, named after the Dardans. The remains of their material culture reveal close ties with Thracians and Anatolian groups, as well as some Greek contact. Added to this is that later, a Thraco-Illyrian tribal state, the Dar-dan-i, dwelt to the north of Mace-don.
There is good cause to consider the Trojans and Greeks were offshoots and colonies from Lot and Jacob respectively. Like all colonial origins, they begin with migrants on board ships; in this case, from Canaan or Palestine. The descendants of Lot and Jacob would have been well aware of the Aegean-Grecian world via the Phoenician’s trade routes and the Mycenaean-Minoan – later Philistine – civilisation present there.
Dardania, the city purportedly founded by Dardanus, as well as the name also given to the region, was located in the northwestern corner of Anatolia and to the immediate north of Troy – facing modern Gallipoli across the Dardanelles. It is included as part of the Troad, the peninsula region at the far north-western corner of Asia-minor, now modern Turkey. Dardania historically has been defined as ‘a district of the Troad, lying along the Hellespont, southwest of Abydos, and adjacent to the territory of Ilium. Its people (Dardani) appear in the Trojan War under Aeneas, in close alliance with the Trojans, with whose name their own is often interchanged…’ Aeneas is referred to in Virgil’s Aeneid interchangeably as a Dardan or as a Trojan, but strictly speaking Aeneas was of the Dardanian branch.
Thus some consider the Dardanians or Dardans as being the same stock as the Trojans – Dardanian and Tojan being synonymous – while others like Homer distinguish the two as clearly identifiable people – not two branches of a single group. The answer includes both propositions; in that Moab and Ammon are the same stock, both having Lot as their father, yet they are also two separate lines from two different brothers. Therefore, two different though related peoples, combined through marriage. The twist is that the original Dardanus was not descended from Lot but rather from Jacob. The Dardanians and the Teucri or Teukroi are credited as collaborating in building Troy as a state. As information is scant and legend and history are fused, it is a challenge in constructing a reliable chronology regarding the original founders.
Teucer’s father is recorded as the mythical Scamandrus born circa 1627 BCE; ruling his people from 1603 to 1581 BCE. It was at that time his territory was allegedly absorbed by the Dardanians. In Greek mythology the daughter of Teucer was Batea. Batea married Dardanus who subsequently inherits rulership from Teucer of the Teucri in 1581, lasting until 1550 BCE, under the name of the Dardanians. Probably, the Teucri represent the relatively indigenous northwestern Anatolians of the second millennium BCE, while the Indo-European Dardanians, the migratory arrivals integrated into Teucri society, but who very quickly dominated it. Dardanus was born circa 1675 BCE in the land of Goshen, while the sons of Jacob were living in Egypt; for Dardanus was from a royal line of Judah, the son of Jacob.
Dardanus had a son Ilus or Ilos, who ruled from 1550 to 1514 BCE; a king who died young and childless. Ilus’s younger brother, Erecthonius or Erictanus was born circa 1540 BCE and became king after Ilus. Erichthonius married Astyoche, daughter of the ‘river-god’ Simoeis, and she bore him a son, who was named Tros, who lived circa 1474 to 1415 BCE. Erichthonius was said to be the richest ruler in the world at that time, because he owned three thousand mares.
According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Dardanus had another son named Zacynthus by Bataea and Zacynthus was the first settler on the island afterwards called Zacynthus. Dionysius also said that Dardanus’s son Idaeus, gave his name to the Idaean mountains, that is Mount Ida, where Idaeus built a temple to the Mother of the Gods – that is to Cybele – and instituted mysteries and ceremonies still observed in Phrygia in Dionysius’s time. There are operas on the subject of Dardanus by Jean-Philippe Rameau [1739]. Interesting coincidence that the operas are composed by a Frenchman.
Tros is the family member credited as the ruler of the Trojans, whereby the origin of the name Troad, as well as its inhabitants, the Trojans derive. Tros married Callirrhoe and had three sons with her, including the youngest son, Ganymede. Tros bequeathed the rulership of the Trojans to – Ilos, who chose to be near the sea and strengthened Troy on the plain – his eldest son [not Ilos the son of Dardanus] and the rulership of Dardania, near Mount Ida, to his second son, Assaracus in 1415 BCE. Ilos founded the royal line of Ilium or Ilios which may equate to the Hittite [Hatti] Wilusa from [W]ilios. Assaracus and his Dardanian descendants maintained close links with their Trojan cousins.
To give a context for the period of circa 1600 BCE with the approximate founding of Troy and the birth of Dardanus circa 1675 BCE through to 1415 BCE and the death of his grandson Tros: Moab and Ammon were born circa 1878 or 1877 BCE after the destruction of Sodom, when Abraham was ninety-nine years old. Similarly, Abraham’s son Isaac was born in 1877 BCE, when Abraham was one hundred years old. Jacob’s son Joseph died in 1616 BCE at the age of one hundred and ten in Egypt, but by the birth of Moses some ninety years later in 1527 BCE, the sons of Jacob were in bondage to a ruling Dynasty who did not remember Joseph – Exodus 1:8 [refer Appendix VII Moses & the Exodus: Fabrication or Fact?].
The exodus of the sons of Jacob from Egypt occurred in 1446 BCE, 430 years after Abraham’s 99th year – Exodus 12:40-41 and Galatians 3:17. The three hundred and seventy-five years during 1400 to 1025 BCE was the period of the Judges in Israel until Saul became king. The early period and then height of Troy encompassed the approximate period of four hundred and twenty years from 1600 to 1180 BCE. From 1400 BCE onwards, the Moabites and children of Ammon were at continual loggerheads with Israel. Moving to Dardania and Troy was an attractive proposition for those who had the financial means. It may explain the wealth of Troy, if many inhabitants were wealthy immigrants.
The two families remained intertwined. Ilos married Eurydice, and became the father of Laomedon. Ilos’s daughter Themiste, married his nephew, Capys of the Dardanian line. Ilos’s son Laomedon succeeded him as king of Troy. Assaracus’ son, Capys and his wife Themiste had a son called Anchises. Of the two royal lines, those of Troy or Ilium became more powerful than the older Dardanian line, particularly under the rule of Laomedon; even though there was only three generations of kings in Troy, compared to the line of eight successive kings in Dardania. King Laomedon was known for his arrogance, his impiety and his refusal to honour his promises.
Then enters Priam or Priamos, the only son to survive in a war against Heracles. Priam had been ransomed by his sister Hesione and became the new king in 1200 BCE. He had formally been known as Podacres. Priam’s first wife was Arisbe, daughter of Merops king of Percote. They had a son Aesacus, who was a gifted seer. Priam soon married Hecuba, daughter of Dymas and gave Arisbe to Hyrtacos. With Hecuba, Priam became the father of Hector, Paris, Cassandra, Helenus, Deiphobus and countless others as mentioned. Apollodorus recorded that Hecuba was the mother of ten sons and four daughters.
Before Paris was born, Hecuba had a vision and a seer interpreted her vision, saying that Paris would one day cause the destruction of Troy. So Paris was sent to live in the wilderness. Years later, Paris returned to Troy and was recognised. Their parents had apparently forgotten the warning by the seer and welcomed him home. Priam would have returned Helen when the Greek embassy demanded the return of Helen to her husband King Menelaus the Spartan; but Paris prevailed upon his father to refuse. As a result, the war lasted for ten years and all but one son Helenus, would die in the war. Neoptolemus, son of Achilles allegedly killed King Priam on the last day of the war.
Who is Dardanus, the founder of Dardania, the city and subsequent region? A persistent secular legend from Greece and Rome, identifies a man called Dara as Dardanus, founder of ancient Troy, or rather Dardan. One translation of the Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus, mentions King Solomon as being wiser than two men named Calcol and Dara or Darda and gives Dara’s name as Dardanos. In 1 Chronicles 2:6 we read of Zarah, who had five sons and his fourth and fifth sons were Calcol and Dara or Darda. Zarah was a son of Judah, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. We will return to Calcol when we study Judah, as he is credited with founding the city of Athens [Chapter XXX Judah & Benjamin -the Regal Tribes].
The Greek poet Homer said that Dardanus was a son of Zeus, the chief of the Greek gods. The Roman and Greek legends support that Zeus called Jupiter in Latin, was a son of Saturn who was also called Kronus. Writing about the Greek gods, Sanchuniathon a Phoenician historian said that ‘Kronus’ was whom the Phoenicians called Israel, that is Jacob and he had a son called Jehud – who is, Judah. What is important is not the Greek mythology but rather the family relationship between Jacob, Judah and Zarah’s son Darda, the great grandson of Jacob as real historic figures.
Critics focus on the Greek mythology and say every Greek city cited Zeus as their founder god and thus dismiss Darda as a founder of Troy. Critics also say the Bible does not give ‘direct evidence’ that any Israelites ‘abandoned the forty-year march… and travelled to the Aegean Sea or Black Sea… to found their own kingdoms.’ This is ironic as the rest of the time, the Bible is just a collection of fanciful stories, yet in this instance it is valued for not giving evidence,as if this evidence would be believed. We will look in detail into the sons of Jacob and the historical data that family members actually departed the congregation of Israel not just during the exodus sojourn for forty years from 1446 to 1407/1406 BCE, but prior to their departure from Egypt.
The early migration of Darda is mentioned in How Israel Came to Britain, Canadian British Israel Association – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Actually, groups of Israelites began to migrate away from the main body before the Israel nation was formed – while, as a people, they were still in bondage in Egypt. One of these groups under the leadership of Calcol, a prince of the tribe of Judah, went westward across the Mediterranean eventually settling in Ulster (Ireland). Another, under the leadership of Dardanus, a brother of Calcol, crossed to Asia Minor to found the Kingdom later known as Troy. E Raymond Capt in his work, Jacob’s Pillar, 1977, writes that Darda was ‘Egyptian’ in that he lived there during the bondage and was the son of Zarah.This Darda according to Capt, was one and the same with ‘Dardanus’, the ‘Egyptian founder of Troy.’
Hecataeus of Abdera, a fourth century BCE Greek historian, stated that “Now the Egyptians say that also after these events [the plagues of the Exodus] a great number of colonies were spread from Egypt all over the inhabited world… They say also that those who set forth with Danaus, likewise from Egypt, settled what is practically the oldest city of Greece, Argos, and that the nations of the Colchi in Pontus and that of the Jews (remnant of Judah), which lies between Arabia and Syria, were founded as colonies by certain emigrants from their country [Egypt]; and this is the reason why it is a long-established institution among these peoples to circumcise their male children, the custom having been brought over from Egypt. Even the Athenians, they say, are colonists from Sais in Egypt.” [Quoted from Diodorus of Sicily. G H Oldfather, 1933. Volume I, books I-II, 1-34, page 91]. We will return to both Calcol and his brother Darda.
Depending on which interpretation of history one receives, the fallout from Troy’s defeat is as follows. If the ten year war was one against the Mycenae, then the lone royal survivor was Aeneas a member of the Dardanian branch of the Trojan royal family. His father was Anchises. Aeneas fought on behalf of Troy against the Mycenae. Datings for the ten year war – or siege for the Helenus version – range from as early as 1196 to as late 1183 BCE. Thus, 1194 to 1184 BCE is a good median.
Aeneas is said to have lead the two sons of Antenor, Archelochus and Acamas as well as the Dardanians, allies of Troy during the Trojan War. After the sack of Troy, Aeneas and his followers were allowed to leave with their lives. His descendants according to Virgil in the Aenid, continued to rule the Trojans. They travelled for seven years, settling in Latium – central Italy, corresponding with Lazio. Opposed by Latinus, ruler of the Latins, Aeneas bests him in battle and is then accepted, marrying his daughter, Lavinia. Many subsequent rulers of Rome claimed descent from Aeneas and the Houses of Troy and Dardania. This raises an integral point. The rulers or the royal line of Troy – splitting into two houses, the Trojan and Dardanian – were from Dara, the son of Zarah. Zarah was a twin of Pharez. We will study each in detail. Both twins were to be ancestors of royal lines. We will learn that nearly every royal line in Europe has descended from or included the descendants of either Pharez or Zarah.
The Romans, may well have some legitimacy to the claim of Trojan blood, as many royal houses probably could.
The pivotal issue though is not this but that the sons of Dara ruled the peoples from Anatolia, the western Luwians. These people became known as Trojans and Dardanians after their rulers – Darda and Tros. The western Luwians were Moabite and Ammonite colonists, descended from Abraham’s brother Haran. Similarly, the eastern Luwians were related to Abraham’s other brother Nahor [refer Chapter XXV Italy: Nahor & the Chaldeans]. These peoples were known as the Hatti, who later incorporated the Chaldeans and then many centuries later were intermingled with the Ostrogoths and Lombardi, settling in northern and central Italy today. The original royal houses of Troy and Darda were from the Tribe of Judah. A portion of Ammon and Moab were the main body of Trojans and Dardanians, who in time migrated to the area of Macedonia and ultimately comprised the later Greeks of the Classical and Hellenistic periods.
The alternative Trojan history is where Helenus is the lone royal survivor from the Trojan line. Trojan king lists follow Helenus with Genger and then a Francus or Franco. Many centuries later there is another Francus, a king of the West Franks. Historians say Franc-us is a fabrication of history and inserted into the Trojan line by the Merovingian kings of France.
What is fascinating, is not whether this is true or not, but rather that the Merovingians in part, the Franks and the Trojans are actually all one and the same, regardless of whether a Francus was the great grandson of King Priam or not.
Other kings included in the Trojan king list are Pepin of France, Louis I of France and sandwiched between the two, one of the most influential and important kings in history, Charles I or the Great, better known as Charlemagne. The following works on Troy are all written by French men. I wonder if any understood that they themselves were the living descendants of the very people they were writing about; or whether their attachment is a strong subconscious ardour and inclination they have not rationalised or quite put their finger on.
Britannica:
‘The key work in the medieval exploitation of the Trojan theme was a French romance, the Roman de Troie (1154–60), by Benoit de Sainte-Maure. Later medieval writers used the Roman de Troie until it was superseded by a Latin prose account, the Historia destructionis Troiae (c. 1287; “History of the Destruction of Troy”), by Guido delle Colonne. The French author Raoul Le Fèvre’s Recueil des histoires de Troye (1464), an account based on Guido, was translated into English by William Caxton and became the first book to be printed in English as The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye (c. 1474).’
Regarding the rise of city-states or Poleis in Greece, Britannica states – emphasis theirs:
‘A related factor is Phoenician influence (related, because the early Phoenicians were great colonizers, who must often have met trading Greeks). The Phoenician coast was settled by communities similar in many respects to the early Greek poleis. It is arguable that Phoenician influence, and Semitic influence generally, on early Greece has been seriously underrated [refer Chapter XII Canaan & Africa, Chapter XXIII Aram & Tyre: Spain, Portugal & Brazil & Chapter XXVII Abraham & Keturah Benelux & Scandinavia].’
The first significant date in Greek history, in the Archaic age was 776 BCE, the year of the first Olympic Games in Olympia, which was located west of Arcadia – recall Acadia, Canada – and northwest of Sparta in the west of Greece. This was the highlight of the Archaic age which culminated with the Persian wars. This era included Homer and his epics The Iliad and The Odyssey.
In the period from Dark to Archaic Greece there were two powerful interrelationships which influenced Greek society, the colonizing mother city and its daughter city and the shared membership of an amphictyony. The most common link was that between two cities with the emphasis of shared ancestry. This diplomatic kinship was taken seriously right until the Hellenistic period and was the basis of key alliances; developing into the proxenia. Proxenoi were citizens of one state who looked after the interests of citizens of their related, neighbour state. This was evident in type between Sparta and Athens against Troy and was really exploited by Athens in the fifth century.
In Archaic Greece an amphictyony – literally, ‘dwellers around’ – comprised a ‘league of neighbors’ called an Amphictyonic League, which was an ancient religiousassociation of Greek tribes and states formed in the dim past, between the Trojan war and the rise of the various Greek poleis. The most important was the Delphic Amphictyony. Originally composed of twelve tribes dwelling around Thermopylae, this league was centred first on the shrine of Demeter and later became associated with the Temple of Apollo [another name for Azazel] at Delphi. The founder is said to be Amphictyon, brother of Hellen – the purported male ancestor of all Hellenes. The twelve founders were the Oetaeans, Boeotians of Thebes, Dolopes, Dorians of Sparta, the Ionians of Athens, Phthian Achaeans, Locrians, Magnesians, Malians, Perrhaebians, Phocians, Pythians of Delphi and the Thessalians. The League doctrine required that no member would be entirely wiped out in war and no water supply of any member would be cut even in wartime. It did not prevent members from the numerous clashes with each other, about dominance over temples.
Oxford University Press states: ‘[Amphictyony] a word borrowed from institutions in classical Greece and applied by some historians of Israel to its supposed organization before the monarchy [time of the Judges] as a confederation of twelve clans. It was suggested that there was a central shrine at which a cultic object was a shared responsibility among the twelve. But the amphictyony theory has now been generally abandoned.’ The number of twelve tribes is too coincidental to ignore. The premise of not destroying a family clan, is reminiscent of the war of the eleven tribes against the tribe of Benjamin, which would have wiped them out if six hundred men had not fled and hidden, so that the remaining tribes relented – Judges 20:1-48. The early Greeks as mentioned, included the related sons of Jacob. The idea of the amphictyony sounds completely plausible from an Israelite, as well as a Moabite, Ammonite perspective. As a lot of blood had been spilt between the two families.
The region of Canaan, Palestine or the Levantine, as discussed previously, was a prized parcel of real estate and so became a very crowded part of the world [refer Chapter XII Canaan & Africa]. The draw to move away to lands partially established, yet with space and opportunities beckoned to the sons of Jacob and Lot. Just as the New World was attractive a few hundred years ago, ancient Greece and the Aegean was the destination of choice. This explains the flowering of cities, rather than countries or empires in the region as they were colonies of a number of differing tribes and peoples. The influx of migrating peoples also explains why the Myceaneans – formerly Minoans and latterly Philistines – left mainland Greece, for the myriad islands and particularly Crete [refer Chapter XV The Philistines: Latino-Hispani America].
Another way of reinforcing this relationship between citizens from different city-states was through epigamia. This was enacted through an arrangement by which the husband’s family by marriage were treated as citizens of the wife’s poleis if the husband settled there. In contrast, Plutarch mentions that there was no intermarriage between members of two of the villages of Attica – Pallene and Hagnous. Not because they were dissimilar, rather they were too closely related and thus there was a ban on endogamy. This situation remarkably parallels the peoples of French Ammonite stock in Canada and Louisiana.
The Endogamy Files: What Is Endogamy? The DNA Geek, 2020 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Endogamy is a word that gets bandied around a lot in genetic genealogy circles, but what it means and how it affects our work is less clear. This post is the first in a series about what endogamy is, why it matters, how to detect it, and how to work with it. Endogamy is the practice of mating within a specific group. All human populations have practiced endogamy to one extent or another. Some still do.
Endogamy can occur because the group is geographically isolated from other people, like Native Hawaiians were; because they prefer to marry within their religion, ethnicity, language, and/or social caste, as most cultures do; or for other reasons, like consolidating power among royalty. Key to endogamy is that the group is small enough that, over time, marriages occur between cousins. Not necessarily first or even second cousins (although that can occur), but between third, fourth, and more distant cousins. Over and over. And over.
It’s important to remember that endogamy is not incest, which is sexual relations between close relatives, like a father and daughter or uncle and niece. Incest is associated with a substantial risk of early death or genetic disorders in the child, while marriages between even first cousins are much safer.
Endogamy causes something called pedigree collapse, but not all pedigree collapse rises to the level of endogamy. The home person… is the child of parents who were third cousins to one another. That is, the parents shared a pair of great-great grandparents. As a result, their child… has 30 unique great-great-great grandparents instead of the expected 32. One set of 3-great grandparents shows up twice in the child’s tree. We say the pedigree is “collapsing” rather than doubling in number with each generation back, as we’d expect. But pedigree collapse is not endogamy. Pedigree collapse is one or a few isolated incidents of cousin marriage, while endogamy occurs repeatedly over many, many generations.
This is my mother’s tree. She’s Cajun [a Louisianian descended of French Canadian immigrants from Acadia, speaking an archaic form of French], a culture that was geographically and culturally isolated in southern Louisiana and, before that, in what is now Nova Scotia. Cajuns have been marrying mainly within their own population since the 1600s… [like the expression “All Cajuns are cousins”!] My mother’s parents were fourth cousins. I don’t think they knew, because my grandmother’s father was born out of wedlock. My grandfather’s parents were third cousins; they definitely knew. There’s no known incest in this tree, but the cousin marriages go on and on, back to the earliest settlers in Port-Royal, Acadia (now Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia) in the early 1600s, because there simply weren’t a lot of options for marriage partners.
The closest cousin marriages I’ve identified in this tree are between first cousins. Consider Isaure Marie Guidry (1863–1933), my mother’s great grandmother… Her parents, Alexis Onésime Guidry and Palmire Dupré, were first cousins through their shared grandparents Louis–David Guidry and Marie Modeste Borda. To complicate matters even more, Onésime had been widowed before marrying Palmire. His previous wife, Celestine, was Palmire’s older sister, and Celestine had a daughter named Marie. So Marie and Isaure were half sisters their father Onésime, and first cousins through their mothers Celestine and Palmire. (This combination is often termed three-quarter siblings.) But they were also second cousins through Onésime and their mothers. Technically, Marie and Isaure were second cousins twice over, once through Onésime and Celestine and once through Onésime and Palmire, but you get the picture. It’s enough to make your head spin!
Isaure and Marie died more than 75 years before the advent of genetic genealogy using autosomal DNA, but what would their match to one another look like if we could analyze their genomes today? As half sisters, we’d expect them to share about 1750 cM, as first cousins another 850 cM or so, and as double second cousins roughly 200 cM twice over. In many parts of their genomes, they’d match on both copies of their two chromosomes, much like full siblings do.In fact, they might well be indistinguishable from full sisters using the methods we use for genealogy. While Isaure and Marie are an extreme case, DNA matching is affected to some degree in all endogamous populations. People who are no closer than fourth cousins might share enough DNA to be predicted as third cousins, because they’re picking up “extra” shared DNA through their other relationships.
For example, my mother shares 184 cM with D.M. If you were to plug that number into the DNA Painter SCP tool, you’d see a combined probability of 89.1% that they were either in the second cousin group (38.8% chance) or the second cousin once removed group (50.3%). In fact, their closest relationship is third cousins, who average only about 50 cM. On the other hand, Mom and D.M. are also third cousins once removed twice over, fourth cousins once removed, and fifth cousins… that we know of. All those distant relationships add to the shared centimorgan tally. Thus, the overall effect of endogamy is to make many of our DNA matches appear to be more closely related than they really are. This complicates everything, from basic relationship prediction to more advanced and powerful techniques, like the… What are the Odds? tool.
Is the entire human population endogamous? After all, we only mate (well, mate successfully) with other humans and have been doing so for ten thousand years or more, since the last archaic humans, like Denisovans and Neanderthals, died out. Technically, we’re all (very distant) cousins, and all of our pedigrees collapse eventually. What do you think?’
By the sixth century BCE, the dominant cities in Grecia were Athens, Sparta, Corinth and Thebes. They had all increased their influence to include surrounding smaller towns and rural areas. Athens and Corinth had become major maritime and mercantile powers. Herodotus described one such trader from the later Archaic period, Sostratus of Aegina, a man of fabulous wealth.
Then in the early 1970s a remarkable inscription was found in Etruria, Italy – a dedication to Apollo, in the name of Sostratus of Aegina. This discovery revealed that the source of his wealth was trade with Etruria and other parts of Italy. A rapidly increasing population in the preceding centuries had resulted in emigration of many Greeks to form colonies in Southern Italy and Sicily. The Greek colonies of Sicily, especially Syracuse were drawn into conflicts with the Carthaginians – Portuguese-Brazilian descended peoples [refer Chapter XXIII Aram & Tyre: Spain, Portugal & Brazil]. The conflict lasted from 600 to 265 BCE until the Romans intervened. A year later, the Punic wars began.
Beginning about 500 BCE, the Athenians and Spartans tussled for hegemony of Greece, though the Athenians were no longer the Israelites – of six hundred years before – but Moab – with Ammon located in Macedonia to the north. For these were the children of Lot, whose migrations southward had pushed the other Greeks to leave.
The Spartans who were distinct and not descended from Moab, Ammon or Jacob, were never defeated by Philip II or Alexander III and remained outside of the Greek Empire. Around the same time, in 499 BCE, the Ionian city states under Persian rule rebelled against their Persian-backed, tyrannical rulers. Supported by troops predominantly from Athens, they advanced as far as Sardis burning the city before being driven back by a Persian counterattack.The revolt continued for five years until finally the rebel Ionians were defeated.
Darius I, king from 522 to 486 BCE, did not forget that Athens had assisted the Ionian revolt and he assembled an armada to exact retribution.Though heavily outnumbered, the plucky Athenians and allies, defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon in 490. The Athenians and Persians continued to wage war until about 450, with the Athenians driving the Persians out of the Aegean. They then turned on the Spartans with the Peloponnesian War beginning in 431 BCE, and lasting to 404 BCE. Eventually, Sparta brought an end to Athens empire though was ultimately left severely weakened itself.
By 360 BCE, the Greek states had worn themselves out and ‘the exhaustion of the Greek heartland coincided with the rise of Macedon, led by Philip II.’ In 359, two strong leaders came to the thrones of both Persia and Macedon, ruling for nearly the exact same periods: Artaxerses III, from 359 to 338 BCE; and Philip from 359 to 336 BCE.
The Parthenon situated on the Acropolis of Athens was built between 447 and 438 BCE. A temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. Parthenos meant a ‘maiden, girl, virgin’ or an ‘unmarried woman.’ Construction began at the height of the Athenian Empire. The Parthenon replaced an older temple of Athena which was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 480 BCE. It also served a practical purpose as the city treasury.
Philip took twenty years in not just unifying his kingdom, but also expanding north and westwards, conquering Thrace as well as Thessaly to the south. His reforms to the Macedonian army were pivotal in his success. In 338 BCE he invaded the southern city-states of Thebes and Athens, defeating them at the Battle of Chaeronea. Now king of all but Sparta; Philip then entered into war against the Achaemenid Empire but was assassinated by one of his bodyguards Pausanias of Orestis, early during the conflict … and so entered, Alexander the Great onto the world stage, aged just twenty, born July 20, 356 BCE.
‘Modern belief in the Greek-ness of the Macedonian language was strengthened by the publication in 1994 of an important curse tablet from Pella that appears provisionally to indicate that the Macedonian language was a form of northwest Greek. Macedonian religion looks Greek; there are local variations, but that is equally true of incontestably Greek places in, for instance, the Peloponnese. Many Macedonian personal names resemble Greek ones, and it has recently been suggested that such onomastic [relating to names] evidence indicates that the Macedonian settlers originally [may have] migrated from northern Thessalian Perrhaibia and the region around Mt. Olympus – as already suggested by a poem ascribed to the Archaic poet Hesiod. The Classical Age was resplendent with most of the cultural wonders associated with Ancient Greece. It corresponds with the period of the height of democracy, the flowering of Greek tragedy in the hands of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and the architectural marvels, like the Parthenon, at Athens.’
The Greek word for philosophy, philosophia, translates as the ‘love for wisdom.’ The discipline dates back to ancient times with some of the greatest philosophers, including Pythagoras circa 570 to 495 BCE; Parmenides circa 540-? BCE; Socrates circa 469 to 399 BCE; Plato circa 428 to 348 BCE; Aristotle 384 to 322 BCE; and Epicurus 341 to 270 BCE.
There are famous modern day philosophical thinkers who have had their contributions recognised as well. The same people descended from Lot, known as the Greeks, are now known as the French and are still producing the majority of the finest thinkers in the world. Examples include: John Calvin 1509 to 1564; Rene Descartes 1596 to 1650; Blaise Pascal 1623 to 1662; Voltaire 1694 to 1778, Auguste Comte 1798 to 1857, Jean Paul Sartre 1905 to 1980; Simone de Beauvoir 1908 to 1986; Albert Camus 1913 to 1960; and Michael Foucault 1926 to 1984. Some of the major Greek contributors to science, lived during the Hellenistic era, including Euclid and Archimedes.
In 600 BCE, a portion of the Greek Empire – an early portion of Moab and Ammon – settled in Southern France and founded the colony of Massalia; now the city that is called Marseille and the oldest city in France – Kir of Moab. The primary link between the Classical Greeks and the French are not the Gauls, but the Franks. The original Gauls are not the ancestors of Moab and Ammon. We will study these Gauls in detail in a later chapter.
As the Swedes, Norwegians and Danes believe they are Vikings and identify with that culture and past history, the truth, is that the original Vikings left Scandinavia and settled in Britain and Ireland [Chapter XXXII Issachar, Zebulun, Asher & Naphtali – the Antipodean Tribes]. Likewise the French identify with a Gallic past, yet they are not Gauls, for the true Gauls vacated France for the shores of Britain and Ireland. The Gauls were a Celtic race who left their name in northwestern Italy as Gallia, in Belgium as Belgica and in France as Celtica. The nation of France emerged from this Gallic region of the Celtic culture and peoples. Gallia remains a name for France in the Latin, with Francogallia.
The Merovingian dynasty of the Franks attracts considerable interest from researchers and the public alike, in a similar vein to the Trojan kings. We will discuss them further in a subsequent chapter as they are perhaps not all that they seem. The Merovingian kings were ostensibly a Frankish, Salian dynasty lasting some three hundred years – 476 to 750 CE – and are traditionally reckoned as the first race of the ‘kings of France.’ They importantly for the French identity, ended the hegemony of the Visigoths in Gaul. Merovingian derives from the name Merovech meaning Sea-Bull, the father of Childeric I, who ruled a tribe of Salian Franks from his capital at Tournai.
Childeric was succeeded by his son Clovis I in 481/482 CE. Many regard Clovis as the beginning point for the history of France. Clovis I extended his rule over all the Salian Franks by conquering or annexing the territories of the Ripuarian Franks and the Alemanni; uniting nearly all of Gaul except for Burgundy – the seeds of modern Switzerland – and what is now Provence. Important choices by Clovis included making Paris his new capital and converting to Christianity sometime during 496 to 506.
At Clovis I’s death in 511, – and in a situation similar to Alexander at the time of his death – his realm was divided among his four sons, Theuderic I, Chlodomir, Childebert I and Chlotar I. Despite the frequently bloody competition between them, the brothers managed to extend Frankish rule over Thuringia in 531 and Burgundy in 534; as well as gaining control over Septimania on the Mediterranean coast, Bavaria and the lands of the Saxons to the north. By 558 CE, Chlotar I was the only surviving son of Clovis.
The Merovingians grew their hair long [refer Spartans, Chapter XXIX Esau: The Thirteenth Tribe and Samson, Chapter XXXIV Dan: The Invisible Tribe] which distinguished them among the Franks who cut their hair short. Contemporaries referred to them as the ‘long-haired kings’, in Latin reges criniti. A Merovingian whose hair was cut could not rule. The Merovingians used a distinct stock of names. Clovis, evolved into Louis and remained common among French royalty to the 19th century.
The Trojan Origins of European Royalty! John D Keyser – capitals and emphasis his, bold mine:
‘The old Trojan Royal House – of the line of DARDANUS – was restored to power after the Greek defeat at Troy in 1149. As noted by Herman L. Hoeh:
“A complete list of TROJAN RULERS after the fall of Troy in 1181 may be found in the original Spanish work by Bartholome Gutierrez entitled: Historia del estado presente y antiguo, de la mui noble y mui leal ciudad de Xerez de la Frontera. It was published in Xerez, Spain in 1886” (Compendium of World History, Volume II).
‘… HELENUS, the son of Priam and Hecuba, fled Troy after the first Trojan War and settled in Illyria or Epirus. There Helenus and his followers founded the cities of Buthrotum and Chaonia. During the Second Trojan War in 1149, the descendants of Helenus REGAINED CONTROL of Troy from the Greeks and restored the Royal House of DARDANUS to the city.
The Spanish history by Gutierrez records the names of Helenus’ descendants who controlled Troy and the surrounding region until the Third Trojan War in 677… At the fall of Troy in 677, members of the Trojan Royal Family, and most of the population of the city, fled to the NORTHERN SHORES OF THE BLACK SEA in eastern Europe. For the next 234 years, in this region, the… TROJAN HOUSE provided eleven rulers over the people who fled Troy…
In 442 B.C. MARCOMIR, Antenor’s son, ascended the throne; and in 441 he migrated out of Scythia and settled the people on the DANUBE. In 431 the Goths forced him, along with over 175,000 men, out of the area and into the country now called West Friesland, Gelders and Holland. Then, nine years later, Marcomir crossed the Rhine and conquered part of Gaul – MODERN FRANCE! He made his brother governor, and continued the gradual conquest of the entirety of Gaul.
Eventually this people became known as FRANKS or Franconians after a king called FRANCUS who reigned from 39 – 11 B.C. The last King of the Franks – Marcomir V – won a great victory over the Romans at Cologne in 382 A. D. and recovered all the lands in the possession of the Romans, except Armoria or Little Brittany, in 390. However, he was slain in battle three years later and the Romans conquered the FRANKS – commanding them to refrain from electing kings over themselves. Instead, the Franks elected Dukes to reign over them, starting with Genebald I in 328 A.D.
The fifth duke of the East Franks, Pharamund (404-419) is recognized by early historians as being the FIRST TRUE KING OF FRANCE. In 427 the succession passed to Clodion who founded the MEROVINGIAN DYNASTY. There is something VERY INTERESTING about this dynasty that bears explanation:
“Its kings all wore LONG HAIR. They kept their kingly office until the Pope suggested to the East Franks (Germans) that they could gain the power over the Merovingians by cutting the king’s hair. The last Merovingian was accordingly tonsured. The government thereafter passed to Pippin, father of the German king Charlemagne, who RESTORED the Roman Empire to the west in 800.The history of the Merovingians, WHO DESCENDED [in part] FROM THE TROJAN LINE AND THE HOUSE OF JUDAH, is made especially interesting in a book entitled The Long-haired Kings, by J. M. Wallace-Hadrill. (See especially chapter 7.) The Merovingians recognized that though they came from Judah, THEY WERE NOT OF THE THRONE OF DAVID and would hold their power only so long as they kept a NAZARITE TRADITION – long hair – symbolizing their subjection to a Higher Power – God – who rules supreme among men. (See Numbers 6)” (Compendium of World History, Volume II, page 183).’
We will learn that there is serious doubt about the Merovingian kings being wholly from the tribe of Judah, let alone a royal line from his sons Pharez or Zarah.
The Genesis 6 Conspiracy, Gary Wayne, 2014, page 445 – emphasis his, bold mine:
‘Even the name Lancelot, according to Ried, derived from L’Alan de Lot, Alan from the Lot Valley of southwest France. The Lot Valley is the same region that the Essenes, Templars, Rex Deus, Cathars, and Merovingians settled in. Lot derives from Lot, the nephew of Abraham, recorded in the Nephilim-infested Sodom and Gomorrrah narrative.
Lot also inexplicably shows up in the original Camu-lot. One wonders, were Camulot and the Lot region of France thus considered by Gnostics as the new Sodom and Gomorrah cities of light?’
The Franks like other Germanic peoples had resided in Scandinavia before their migration southwards and prior to that, they are linked to the Black Sea area. The Franks from the beginning, were divided into two distinct political yet related groups. The Salian Franks of very probable Moabite descent, dwelt in the west of France. This Frankish kingdom became known as Neustria and encompassed northern France, Burgundy, Orleans – upper central France – and Provence. The Ripuarian Franks, most likely from Ammon, dwelt in the Rhineland region of northwestern Germany; which in turn became known as Austrasia and later encompassed Austria, the Netherlands and northern Germany. The name Ripuarian is thought to mean ‘river people’ or ‘river dwellers.’ One is reminded of Ammon’s capital Rabbah, the city of water and Quebec with its strong association with water and the sea. The name Franci, from Frank is linked with the english word frank, to be ‘free.’ Other meanings include the Germanic words for ‘javelin, fierce, bold’ and ‘insolent.’
The author of the Chronicle of Fredegar in the seventh century, claimed the Franks came originally from Troy, citing the works of Virgil and Hieronymous: ‘Blessed Jerome has written about the ancient kings of the Franks, whose story was first told by the poet Virgil: their first king was Priam and, after Troy was captured by trickery, they departed.
Afterwards they had as king Friga, then they split into two parts, the first going into Macedonia, the second group, which left Asia with Friga were called the Frigii, settled on the banks of the Danube and the Ocean Sea – Black Sea. Again splitting into two groups, half of them entered Europe with their king Francio. After crossing Europe with their wives and children they occupied the banks of the Rhine and not far from the Rhine began to build the city of “Troy.”’
The Liber Historiae Francorum [or Gesta regum Francorum] describes how 12,000 Trojans, alledgely led by Priam and Antenor sailed from Troy to the River Don and on to Pannonia which is on the River Danube settling near the Sea of Azov. There they founded a city called Sicambria. The Sicambri circa 55 BCE are linked to the area occupied by the Salian Franks in northwestern France. The Trojans joined the Roman army in accomplishing the task of driving enemies into the marshes of Mæotis, for which it is claimed they received the name of Franks, meaning ‘savage.’
There are many kings called great and within that group, there are only a select few who cast a long shadow over the other rulers labelled great. The great of the great, if you will. For instance, Alexander the Great of Macedon. Another, is Charles I or Charlemagne who lived from 742 to 814 CE. He was the son of Pepin III, king from 751 to 768, and Bertrada of Laon.
Charlemagne co-ruled with his brother Carloman I from 768 until his death in 771. Pepin had peacefully wrenched the monarchy away from Chileric III, by beseeching Pope Zachary [741-752 CE] for the need of a strong ruler such as himself: the Mayor of the Palace, effectively wielding the true power over the Frankish kingdom. Charlemagne is considered the founder of both the French and German monarchies. The French monarchy would continue to be a great power in Europe for the following thousand years.
It is thought that Charlemagne was born in Liege in Belgium, or Aachen in Germany, where he died. He displayed a talent for languages and could speak Latin and understood Greek, amongst others. Charlemagne expanded the Frankish kingdom; establishing the Carolingian Empire. As a zealous defender of Christianity, Charlemagne gave money and land to the Catholic church and protected successive popes.
To acknowledge Charlemagne’s power and reinforce his support of the church, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Romans on December 25, 800, at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome – thus uniting Western Europe and the Holy Roman Empire for the first time since the fall of Rome. ‘Charlemagne ruled from the start by force of his personality which embodied the warrior-king ethos combined with Christian vision.’
Charlemagne maintained a violent and protracted thirty year series of battles from 772 to 804 CE – called the Saxon Wars – against the German Saxons, a pagan worshipping Germanic tribe who had earned a reputation for ruthlessness.
In 782 at the Massacre of Verden, Charlemagne ordered the slaughter of some four and a half thousand Saxons and tried to force them to convert to Christianity; declaring that anyone who did not get baptised or follow the Catholic faith, would be put to death. The aim was to break the Saxon’s will to fight, but they still would not surrender their autonomy or repudiate their religion. In 804, Charlemagne deported over ten thousand Saxons to Neustria in his kingdom and replaced them in Saxony with his own people. This effectively won the conflict, while earning the enmity of the Scandinavian kings; who bid their time until Charlemagne’s death and then unleashing Viking raids on Francia during 820 to 840.
Charlemagne’s son Louis was born in 778 to his second wife, Hildegard of the Vinzgau, who had nine children by the time she died at the age of 26 in 783. When King Louis I, the Pious died in 840, the empire was divided among his three sons who fought each other for supremacy. Their conflict was concluded by the Treaty of Verdun in 843 which divided the empire between Louis’s sons. Louis II, the German [843-876] received East Francia; Lothair I [843-855], Middle Francia; and Charles II, the Bald [843-877] gained West Francia. None of the kings were interested in working with their brothers and the empire’s infrastructure, as well as most of the reforms advanced by Charlemagne, deteriorated. His notable reforms included the first public schools and a monetary standard.
Hollister describes the king: ‘Charlemagne towered over his contemporaries both figuratively and literally. He was 6 feet 3 ½ inches tall [ironic as his father was very short], thick-necked, and pot bellied yet imposing in appearance for all that. He could be warm and talkative, but he could also be hard, cruel, and violent, and his subjects came to regard him with both admiration and fear… Above all else, Charlemagne was a warrior-king. He led his armies on yearly campaigns as a matter of course. Only gradually did he develop a notion of Christian mission and a program of unifying and systematically expanding the Christian West.’
Notable events in French history include, the Hundred Years War with the English, beginning in 1337. Then in 1348, the plague of Black Death spread through France killing a large percentage of the population. In 1415, the English defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt. In 1453, the Hundred Years’ War finally drew to a close when the French defeated the English at the Battle of Castillon. The year 1643 saw Louis XIV become King of France. He ruled for seventy-two years and was known as Louis the Great and the Sun King. In 1778, France became involved in the American War of Independence, siding with the colonies in their drive for independent governance from Great Britain. The most popular French king names have been Louis with eighteen kings, Charles with ten and Philip with five – the name of Alexander the Great’s father.
In 1789, the French Revolution began with the storming of the Bastille. In 1792, the French Republic was proclaimed and the following year, King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were executed by guillotine. In 1799, Napoleon grabbed power, overthrowing the French Directory; making himself Emperor. Conquering most of Europe by 1811, he had been officially crowned Emperor of France in 1804. By 1815, Napoleon was defeated by a coalition, led by England’s the Duke of Wellington.
There is much that could be said regarding Napoleon I. The following, is a brief synopsis from Britannia – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Napoleon I, French in full Napoléon Bonaparte… byname the Corsican or the Little Corporal, French byname Le Corse or Le Petit Caporal, (born August 15, 1769, Ajaccio, Corsica – died May 5, 1821, St. Helena Island), French general, first consul (1799-1804), and emperor of the French (1804-1814/15), one of the most celebrated personages in the history of the West. He revolutionized military organization and training; sponsored the Naploeonic Code, the prototype of later civil-law codes; reorganized education; and established the long-lived Concordat with the papacy. Napoleon’s many reforms left a lasting mark on the institutions of France and of much of western Europe. But his driving passion was the military expansion of French dominion, and, though at his fall he left France little larger than it had been at the outbreak of the revolution in 1789, he was almost unanimously revered during his lifetime and until the end of the Second Empire under his nephew Napoleon III as one of history’s great heroes.’
There is an air of the Germanic or Flemish-Dutch about Charlemagne, not so with Napoleon Bonaparte who is wholly French, sharing much with his spiritual ante descent, Alexander the Great. Both of which share one major attribute and that was superior military innovation; which gave them an edge over their opponents. Sandwiched between Charlemagne and Napoleon is another formidable French leader and warrior, Joan of Arc. It was vital that England did not gain a stranglehold on France and Joan was the difference.
Britannia – emphasis & bold mine:
‘St. Joan of Arc, byname the Maid of Orléans… (born circa 1412, Domrémy, Bar, France – died May 30, 1431, Rouen; canonized May 16, 1920… national heroine of France, a peasant girl who, believing that she was acting under divine guidance, led the French army in a momentous victory at Orleans [1429] that repulsed an English attempt to conquer France during the Hundred Years’ War.
Captured a year afterward, Joan was burned to death by the English and their French collaborators as a heretic. She became the greatest national heroine of her compatriots, and her achievement was a decisive factor in the later awakening of French national consciousness. Joan was the daughter of a tenant farmer… In her mission of expelling the English and their Burgundian allies… she felt herself to be guided by the voices of St. Michael [and others]… Joan was endowed with remarkable mental and physical courage, as well as a robust common sense, and she possessed many attributes characteristic of the female visionaries who were a noted feature of her time. These qualities included extreme personal piety, a claim to direct communication with the saints, and a consequent reliance upon individual experience of God’s presence beyond the ministrations of the priesthood and the confines of the institutional church.’
The 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Notice the similarity with the customary tablets used for the Ten commandments; with the United States Declaration of Independence; and with the Eye of providence – the all-seeing eye ofa god. This Eye is a symbol that has an eye enclosed in a pyramid, surrounded by rays of light from the Sun to represent superficially, the divine providence of God watching over humanity. In reality, the god who watches, is the one who holds this world captive.
The Eye of Providence appears on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, depicted on the one dollar bill. The Eye of Providence was adopted in 1782, but was first proposed as an element of the Great Seal in 1776. Coincidentally, it is thought to be the suggestion of the artistic consultant, Pierre Eugene du Simitiere – of French ancestry born in Geneva, Switzerland.
In 1889, the famous and iconic Eiffel Tower was built in Paris for the World’s Fair
France suffered greatly in both World War I and World War II, with considerable loss of life and split blood on its soil. In 1940 During World War II, France was occupied by the Germans and under their direct control. German officials oversaw all aspects of government, supported by the military. Any infraction of the rules could be dealt with by the Nazis bureaucrats or by the military. Vichy France was a puppet government. It was governed by French officials, with the Germans maintaining only a small oversight group to ensure that Vichy France did not contravene the interests of the Germans. The Vichy government generally cooperated with the Germans; rounding up and deporting Jews and anyone else the Nazis declared as their enemies.
Most Resistance activity was fought in the occupied territories, as there was little incentive to take action against the Germans in Vichy France. It would have impacted the measure of self-governance the French already had and run the risk of inciting severe penalties against the civilian population. Relatively few French actually took an active part in the Resistance. Many offered passive support by not reporting Resistance movements, but the vast majority of French citizens in both occupied and Vichy France simply avoided doing anything to attract the attention of the gestapo or of collaborating Frenchmen. Allied forces liberated the country in 1944.
An additional interesting coincidence is France’s close association with the Modern Olympic Games. It was the Greeks who staged the first Olympic Games in Olympia during 776 BCE and it was a modern ‘Greek’, French aristocrat, Baron Pierre de Coubertin who spoke of the Games’ revival. Athens was understandably, awarded the first re-instituted Games in 1896 in homage to the Olympics’ Greek origins. Though Paris hosting the second games in 1900, was truer to its returning to its spiritual and physical origin. Paris was the first home of the International Olympic Committee, before it moved to Lausanne, Switzerland. France also hosted the Summer Olympics in 1924 and has hosted the Winter Games three times.
Britannica: ‘France has long provided a geographic, economic, and linguistic bridge joining northern and southern Europe. It is Europe’s most important agricultural producer and one of the world’s leading industrial powers.’ A long standing and well known theme of the French nation, is the insistence on the supremacy of the individual. Historian Jules Michelet remarked, ‘England is an empire, Germany is a nation, a race, France is a person.’ This is surely reflective of the French national character; one that was born from a familial origin more intimate than the beginning of other nations.
Writer Gustave Flaubert philosophically deduced: ‘I am no more modern than I am ancient, no more French than Chinese; and the idea of la patrie, the fatherland – that is, the obligation to live on a bit of earth coloured red or blue on a map, and to detest the other bits coloured green or black – has always seemed to me narrow, restricted, and ferociously stupid.’
France is a major world power as evidenced as being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom and China. In 2015 France was listed as being ‘the best networked state in the world’ as a country that ‘is [a] member of more multi-lateral organisations than any other country.’ France is a leading member of the International Francophone Organisation (OIF) of eighty-four fully or partly French speaking nations. In 2017 France was the fourth largest donor of development aid in the world, after the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. A 2018 study by Credit Suisse ranked the French Armed Forces as the world’s sixth largest and most powerful military in Europe, behind Russia.
France is an integral member of the intergovernmental organisation comprising the seven most powerful economies – not including China and India – in the world, the G7. France’s second biggest export is automobiles. French automobile brands include renowned Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, Alpine and Bugatti. France is famous for the most prestiges wines in the world as well as champagne – from the region of the same name – and cognac exports. Many cosmetic brands originate from France, including Vichy, Nuxe, Yves-Rocher and Bioderma.
France had a GDP of $2.72 trillion in 2019, ranking as the seventh largest economy in the world. Tourism is a very important industry and France receives the most visitors of any country each year with Paris voted the most visited capital in the world and voted the most romantic city destination. France is a mixed economy, with many private and semi-private businesses across a diverse range of industries. There is heavy government involvement in certain key sectors such as defence and electrical power generation. The French government’s commitment to economic intervention in favour of social equality, creates challenges for the economy such as a rigid labor market with high unemployment and a large public debt relative to other advanced economies.
‘The following product groups represent the highest dollar value in France’s import purchases during 2021
Machinery including computers: US$84.2 billion
Vehicles: $75.9 billion
Mineral fuels including oil: $70.8 billion
Electrical machinery, equipment: $64.1 billion
Pharmaceuticals: $33.9 billion
Plastics, plastic articles: $29.2 billion
Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $23.3 billion
Organic chemicals: $16.5 billion
Iron, steel: $15.2 billion
Articles of iron or steel: $14.3 billion
The fastest growers among the top product categories from 2020 to 2021 were mineral fuels including oil (up 80.4%), iron or steel as materials (up 57.1%), items made from iron or steel (up 37.2%), plastics as a material and items made from plastic (up 31.4%) and electrical machinery or equipment (up 19.5%).’
The French Tricolore
France ranks highly in the top ten countries with the largest gold reserves, one behind Italy at number three. France in fourth position is ahead of those nations we have investigated so far, Russia [5], China [6], Switzerland [7], Japan [8] and India [9]. France has 2,436.0 tonnes of gold which represents 64.5 percent of its foreign reserves. The French central bank has sold little of its gold reserves in recent years. ‘The Banque de France vaults in Paris are one of the four designated depositories of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).’
France was the most populous nation in Europe in 1801, containing about one sixth of the continent’s inhabitants. By 1936, the French population had increased by fifty percent; though in the same period the number of people in Italy and Germany had nearly trebled and in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands the population had nearly quadrupled. The population of France today is 65,653,861 people, the fourth highest in Europe between the United Kingdom and Italy. France has never been a major source of international migrants, unlike the other major nations surrounding it.
In the seventeenth century due to religious persecution, France lost more than four hundred thousand Huguenot refugees – usually highly skilled – mainly to Prussia in northeast Germany, to England, the Netherlands and the United States. In the same century, relatively small numbers of emigrants first settled in North America, particularly eastern Canada and Quebec and in the southern state of Louisiana. Small numbers of French, especially from Brittany and Normandy continue to relocate to Canada.
A well known online encyclopaedia states, that ‘most French people are of Celtic (Gauls) origin, with an admixture of Italic (Roman) and Germanic (Franks) groups.’ As touched upon, the Gauls were in fact early British and Irish peoples and it is the Salian and Ripuarian Franks who are the nucleus of the French nation. The Latin and Celtic component reveals their familial resemblance to the Italians and Swiss respectively; whom represent their cousins from both Nahor and Haran. We will discover when we investigate Haran’s brother Abraham and his descendants the why and where from of the Germanic component in the French people. The fact that France is composed of two brothers is the key piece of the French puzzle and explains their approximate north western to south eastern population demographic divide.
The major differences between the North and South of France, Santa Fe Relocation, 2017 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘The two regions of France are heavily influenced by the surrounding countries and the weather. While many aspects of Northern France are reminiscent of Germany and Belgium, such as the architecture [industry and commerce], Southern France feels more Mediterranean,sharing many features [such as cuisine and pace of life] with Spain and Italy.
The lifestyle and culture varies between the two regions… In Northern France most people tend to be quite honest and blunt, but they also tend to form much deeper relationships with people… The easiest way to make friends in Southern France is to speak the language.’
Continuing: ‘Large-scale immigration over the last century and a half has led to a more multicultural society. In 2004, the Institute Montaigne estimated that within Metropolitan France, 51 million people were White (85% of the population), 6 million were Northwest African (10%), 2 million were Black (3.3%), and 1 million were Asian (1.7%). In 2005, it was Western Europe’s leading recipient of asylum seekers… In 2010, France… [was] among the top five asylum recipients in the world… [even though] France established controls to curb Eastern European migration. Immigration remains a contentious political issue.’ Recall Ezekiel 25:10 ESV: ‘I will give [Moab] along with the Ammonites to the people of the East as a possession, that the Ammonites may be remembered no more among the nations…’
The region of Catalonia though within Spain, also includes Catalan speakers in the historical French region of Roussillon. For some four hundred years this Catalan territory has been united with France, called ‘Catalunya nord’ and today known as Pyrenees Orientales with the city of Perpignan. The autonomous community of Catalonia is the richest and most highly industrialised region of Spain; reflecting its difference with the rest of Spain. For instance, the Catalan textile industry achieved prominence between 1283 and 1313; long remaining the premier industry of Spain until the 1950s.
Britannia – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Catalonia was formerly a principality of the crown of Aragon, and it has played an important role in the history of the Iberian Peninsula. From the 17th century it was the centre of a separatist movement that sometimes dominated Spanish affairs. In 2006 Catalonia was granted“nation” status and given the same level of taxation responsibility as the Spanish central government. Spain’s Constitutional Court struck down portions of this autonomy statute in 2010, ruling that Catalans constituted a “nationality” but that Catalonia was not, itself, a “nation.”’
This is strikingly similar to the ruling accorded to Quebec in Canada.
‘Scotland’s referendum on independence from the United Kingdom in… 2014, although ultimately unsuccessful, [galvanised] the independence movement in Catalonia. Convergence and Union leader Artur Mas called for the long-promised, albeit nonbinding, independence referendum to be held… The move was immediately challenged by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, and the independence campaign was suspended while the Constitutional Court considered the legality of the vote. Ultimately, Mas proceeded with the referendum but framed it as an informal poll of Catalan opinion. With more than one-third of registered voters participating in the balloting, over 80 percent expressed a desire for independence.’
This sentiment survives till this day, though there has been a power struggle between the central government in Madrid and that of the Catalonian capital, Barcelona; which is currently stalled and in Madrid’s favour. The Catalan government surveys regularly its people ‘regarding its “sentiment of belonging”.’ In July 2019, the results indicated that 46.7% of Catalans would favour independence from Spain. This has dropped markedly after the heavy handed response from Madrid in 2018. With the stronger centralist tendencies in France however, French Catalans display a much less open sense of uniqueness, having been integrated more seamlessly ‘into the unitary French national identity.’
There are 7,596,131 people in Catalonia and in France 423,112 people. It is not surprising that the French Catalonians feel more at home in France than their Spanish counter parts if they are from similar stock. We only learn of Spanish Catalonian and Basque discontent not French Catalonian and Basque grievances.
The etymology of Basque according to some scholars is based on bhar-s-, meaning ‘summit, point’ or ‘leaves.’ Barscunes may have meant ‘the mountain people, the tall ones’ or the proud ones. The last definition is interesting considering the pride of Moab. Euskal Herria is the oldest documented Basque name for the area they inhabit, dating from the sixteenth century. The Spanish Basque Country, is the largest and most populated part of the Basque territories. It includes two main regions, the Basque Autonomous Community – capital city, Vitoria-Gasteiz – and the Chartered Community of Navarre – capital city, Pamplona. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 states ‘that Navarre may become a part of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country if it is so decided by its people and institutions… To date, there has been no implementation of this law.’
For many French Basques, their identity is mixed with a sense of being Basque and French. Whereas in the Spanish Basque Country, there are many Basques who don’t have a sense of Spanish identity at all. Former Basque rugby union player and French international, Imanol Harinordoquy, said about his national identity: ‘I am French and Basque. There is no conflict, I am proud of both… I have friends who are involved in the political side of things but that is not for me. My only interest is the culture, the Euskera language, the people, our history and ways.’
Rugby union is an important sport in parts of France, particularly in Paris and Marseille. It is also a popular sport among French Basques, with major clubs Biarritz Olympique and Aviron Bayonnais traditional heavy weights in the premier division of French Rugby. Biarritz regularly play Champion Cup matches, especially knockout matches in San Sebastian, Spain. Games between the Basque clubs and Catalan club USA Perpignan are always hard fought. The fact that the French Basque and Catalans are so keen on rugby may allude to their Moab and Ammon heritage. Though Rugby is played in Spain, it is amongst the French that it is a passion. These French consider France the spiritual home of rugby, even in lieu of its origins in England.
An online encyclopaedia mentions: ‘Strabo’s account of the north of Spain in his Geographica (written between approximately 20 BC and 20 AD) makes a mention of “a sort of woman-rule…” a first mention of the – for the period – unusual position of women. Women could inherit and control property as well as officiate in churches… matrilineal inheritance laws, and agricultural work performed by women continued in Basque country until the early twentieth century. Could this be a hearkening back to the unique circumstances and reverence surrounding Moab and Ammon’s respective mothers?
For more than a century, scholars have widely discussed the high status of Basque women in law codes, as well as their positions as judges, inheritors, and arbitrators through ante-Roman, medieval, and modern times. The system of laws governing succession in the French Basque region reflected total equality between the sexes. Up until the eve of the French Revolution, the Basque woman was truly ‘the mistress of the house’, hereditary guardian, and head of the lineage.’ This may have a link to the Amazons who lived in the Aegean Sea – south of the Troad and the isle of Lesbos – either a clan of warrior women or a woman dominated society.
The Basque Country and Catalonia Flags
Interestingly, the French capital Paris, apart from being known as the City of Love and the number one visited city in the world, is also known as the City of Lights. Paris played a leading role during the Age of Enlightenment as well as literally being one of the first European cities to install gas city street lights in 1820; with the first electric streetlight appearing in 1878.
A somber and stygian matter is the aspect of Moab and Ammons’ origin. Surveys have labelled the French as the most depressed nation. In 2011, the World Health Organisation in a report, said the French are the most likely to suffer from ‘a major depressive episode’ in their lifetimes. This followed a report in 2008, where the French learned that ‘they consume more anti-depressants than any other country.’ What could be an underlying cause?
A repeated coincidence of a Frenchman undertaking the nature of the following study. Claude Lévi-Strauss, a French and Jewish anthropologist and ethnologist ‘was key in the development of the theory of structuralism and structural anthropology.’ The chair of Social Anthropology at the Collège de France from 1959 to 1982; he was elected a member of the Académie française in 1973 and was also a member of the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris. Levi-Strauss received a number of honours from universities and institutions throughout the world and with James George Frazer and Franz Boas, is considered a ‘father of modern anthropology.’ His significant work was aimed – through a structural method – ‘at discovering universal invariants in human society, chief among which he believed to be the incest taboo.’
A poll by Ipsos in late 2020, estimated one in ten French people have been the victim of sexual abuse within the family as children or adolescents: 78% were female and 22% male. The poll suggested the number of incest cases has risen from 3% of the population in 2009 – equating to 2 million victims – to 10% in 2020; an alarming 6.7 million victims. This is shocking, though it is worth noting that the countries with the highest rate of incest are… France and Spain. Also, not all people polled are forthcoming, thus the ten percent figure may actually be higher as evidenced by the anti-depressant consumption.
At time of writing, under French law there is no legal age of consent, though the Senate voted for the threshold to be set at 13. At present a victim of rape or abuse is considered consenting by default and has to prove non-consent. New legislation proposes criminalising sexual acts between an adult and a child under 13 – currently an “offence” and not a “crime” – and extending the statute of limitations to give victims more time to bring legal proceedings. Not to single France out entirely, there are other nations with either a lax view or lenient laws regarding consenting adult incest. France is not being confined as unique by this measure; though the percentage of its occurrence is of significance, in the shadow of the French descending from Moab and Ammon.
The continuous perpetuation of a certain percentage of incestuous births within the population, could possibly have a bearing on the blood, hormone and DNA composition of said people in society.
Leviticus 17:10-11
New English Translation
10 “‘Any man from the house of Israel or from the resident foreigners who live in their midst who eats [or mingles] any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats the blood, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, 11 for the life of every living thing is in the blood. So I myself have assigned it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, for the blood makes atonement by means of the life.
It was in 1616, when William Harvey – an English physician and scientist who made influential contributions in anatomy and physiology – confirmed what was already in the scriptures, declaring that ‘life is in the blood.’
Blood services the body in delivering oxygen and nutrients. It also polices, by attacking what it perceives to be invaders. This perception of what is an invader, varies from person to person. The immune system is complex and based on recognising certain proteins and removing those it does not recognise. What sets of proteins blood removes, determines your blood type. There are three basic types of blood, A, B and O. With minor variations these combine to make thirty types of blood.
Blood that is designated O is a universal blood type and the most prevalent among the earth’s human inhabitants – 40%. O positive is deemed the oldest blood type. Though some consider A the oldest, then B and O the most recent. O blood does not possess the antigens of either A or B type blood. The opposite blood type does have both antigens and is called AB. Antigens are molecules that the body responds, in producing an antibody or a cell, to destroy the antigen. There are about six hundred antigens, though most are not significant to typing blood.
Blood is also designated as either positive or negative. It depends on a single protein – on the surface of red blood cells – the D antigen, called the Rh factor. Rh factor used to be called the Rhesus factor, after the monkey which was used to learn about this substance in 1937. If it is present, it is Rh positive and if the protein is absent, it is called Rh negative. This missing factor can be problematic in blood transfusions and conditions of the newborn where it can be life threatening.
Women who are blood type O or Rh negative are at risk of frequent miscarriages, especially if their partner is an antigen-positive blood type and thus the foetus is also Rh positive. As a mother is not exposed to antigens until the first childbirth, it’s only when she’s pregnant for the second time that problems could present. Alternatively, if the baby goes to term, there is a risk of haemolytic disease for the newborn – when the baby’s blood cells are destroyed by antibodies from the mother’s blood.
Curiously, Rh negative blood type O, is considered the purest blood known to mankind and is the universal donor blood for all blood types. Rh- factor is something called a recessive trait. Someone who is Rh+ might have a hidden Rh- in their DNA. If that person and his or her partner both pass an Rh- down to a child, that child will be Rh negative. Even though at least one parent is Rh+ factor.
There are two types of Rh positive men. Fifty-five percent of men are heterozygous, whereby their genetics allow them to produce an Rh- child fifty percent of the time and Rh+ the other fifty percent. The second type of male is homozygous and produces only Rh+ offspring.
Having pure O Rh negative blood means one’s ancestors were also O Rh negative and this is why it is very rare. A higher percent of this pure blood survives in certain sections of people, for instance in old royal family lines. O, A and B Rh positive are all common as A and B Rh negative are also very rare with O Rh negative. The exception is blood type AB which is very rare whether one is Rh- or Rh+.
O-positive is most prevalent in Latinos then Africans and less so in Asians and Caucasians. Whereas O-negative is most prevalent in Caucasians and least in Asians. A-positive and A-negative are most prevalent in Caucasians, then Latinos. B-positive is most prevalent in Asians and Africans and B-negative is most prevalent in Caucasians, though least in Asians. AB-positive is most prevalent in Asians and AB-negative while least in Asians, is found most in Caucasians. In summary, the most predominant blood types for the four racial strains delineated are:
These findings reveal that all four negative blood types are predominant amongst Caucasian people. Latinos and Africans who are related through Ham, both dominate O-positive. Caucasians dominate A-positive and Asians dominate B-positive.
According to distribution of blood types per blood donors:
O+ 37%
A+ 36%
B+ 9 %
AB+ 3%
O- 7%
A- 6%
B- 1%
AB- 1%
As all mankind descended from the same ancestors, that is Adam and Eve, our blood should be compatible – humankind would all have the same blood… but, we don’t. Rh Positive blood can be traced back to the Rhesus monkey and other primates. Rh negative blood cannot be traced to anywhere else in nature – and can’t be cloned.
As one cannot, successfully mate a mule with a mule – the result from a horse and a donkey – one cannot breed two mixed species even if they are the same. The result as mentioned, is Haemolytic disease, a condition where the immune system attacks an Rh positive baby, inherited from the father, if the mother is Rh negative. The mother’s blood collects antibodies to destroy an alien presence, like it would a virus. A staggering situation. So why would a mother’s body sabotage and annihilate her own flesh and blood? Unless perhaps for some reason, it isn’t. A Rh- woman with a Rh- man has an even smaller chance of having a baby born alive.
Nowhere else in nature, does this occur… apart from animal hybrids. This fact, by itself, indicates deliberate outside interference of cross-breeding between two similar but genetically different species. This fact puts a serious dent in the evolutionary process as Rh Negative blood indicates that at some point in humankind’s supposed evolution, it was paused while a mutational intervention took place and then evolution was restarted.
The obvious points in history where this may have happened are a. when Cain’s Homo sapiens line integrated with the Homo neanderthalensis line of people from day Six of creation, b. at the time of Noah and the genetic split between his three sons, c. the time of Peleg and the scattering of the nations from Babel in Mesopotamia, or d. could it be a much more recent event and possibly linked with the birth of Moab and Ammon?
As we have previously discovered the link between Neanderthal man and the East Asians today, it is worth noting an article reprinted from Archaeology, entitled: Genetic Study Examines Neanderthal Blood Types, Stephanie Mazieres, July 30, 2021 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Marseille, France – According to a Cosmos Magazine report, paleoanthropologist Silvana Condemi and her colleagues at Aix-Marseille University used information from three Neanderthal genomes and one 64,000-year-old Denisovan genome to investigate their blood types. Only one Neanderthal’s blood had been typed in the past, and was found to betype Ounder the ABO system used to classify the blood of modern humans. Since all chimpanzees are type A, and all gorillas are type B, it was assumed that all Neanderthals were type O.
But the new study found that the Neanderthal woman’s 100,000-year-old remains from Siberia’s Denisova Cave hadtype A blood; the Neanderthal woman’s 48,000-year-old remains from Siberia’s Chagyrskaya Cave also had type A blood; and the Neanderthal woman’s 64,000-year-old remains from Croatia’s Vindija Cave had type B blood.All three Neanderthals, however, carried a now-rare Rhesus type called “Rhesus plus incomplete,” which had only been found in the DNA of one member of Australia’s Western Desert Aboriginal people. “At the time, it was assumed to be a new Rhesus type that had arisen in Australia,” Condemi said. The rare Rhesus type has also now been found in 80 people from Papua New Guinea. “Now we know that it had existed in the past and was lost,” Condemi explained.’
What is relevant about this finding is that the Aborigine and Papua New Guineans are primarily descendants of Cush from Ham, though they have intermixed with descendants from Javan of Japheth as shown by their Haplogroups. The peoples of East Asia are descended from Japheth, and also possess the highest levels of Neanderthal DNA. Hence the Rhesus plus incomplete may be linked with Japheth rather than Ham [refer Chapter VII Javan: Archipelago South East Asia & Polynesia and Chapter XIII India & Pakistan: Cush & Phut].
One researcher considered the theory that the Neanderthals were Rh negative and that they are the key to our ancestry. They contacted the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany and found out that not only were the two specimens examined Rh+, but they were homozygotes, meaning they didn’t even carry the Rh- blood factor recessively. In fact, the amount of Neanderthal DNA is very high within populations with very low or no Rh negatives amongst them. For instance, the Native American tribes have absolutely zero Rh- negative genes in their populations. Added to this, it is now agreed upon that the differences between the Neanderthal tribes was actually greater than those of human ethnic groups.
In northern Spain and southern France amongst the Basque, there is the highest concentration of the Rh negative factor in the world, some 32% – the range depending on location, of between 21 to 43%. Up to 60% of the Basque carry one negative gene. Only about 16% of Europeans have a Rh negative group. As little as 3% of Africans and 1% of Asian or Native American descendants have a Rh negative group. Added to this, the Basque exhibit substantially lower levels of Type B blood and a higher incidence of Type O blood of 55%, which is very similar to Latinos of 53%.
Recall in chapter III, that the Amerindian exhibits the following: ‘Type O happens to be the primary blood type among the indigenous populations of the Americas, in particular within Central and South America populations, with a frequency of nearly one hundred percent. In contrast, in indigenous North American populations the frequency of type A ranges from sixteen to eighty-two percent. This data supports the initial Amerindians descended from an isolated population with a minimal number of individuals.’ Thus it would seem that a restricted gene pool maintains a predominant genetic factor, whether it be a particular blood type or rhesus factor.
Today’s Basques are offspring of an original group which could well have been one hundred percent Rh- negative. They exhibit the highest Rh- negative factor in Europe when compared with other groups. There are a few communities in Switzerland and the Netherlands with similarly high percentages. The Swiss finding is pertinent since they are also descended from Haran, as are the French via Haran’s son Lot.
On a national level, Australia has invariably topped the percentage of Rh- in the world with 19.5%. A couple of factors offered as likely causes are: 1. A high percentage of Australians have Scottish and Irish ancestry and so their high number of Rh- negatives impacts the percentage. 2. Some believe that amongst the prisoners England re-located to Australia, a very high percentage were Rh negative. Though this is likely inaccurate as the data for Poland from a 1997 study, placed them at an overall frequency of 19.67%.
Another group often mentioned are the Berber tribes in the Atlas mountain region of Morocco. It has been claimed that they have a 40% Rh- factor; whereas on a national average, the Moroccans are approximately 9% Rh negative. A more recent study has contradicted this high percentage with a result of 5.5% Rhesus negative. The previous observation of a high frequency of blood type O was confirmed; which may have been impacted by the inclusion of 40% African admixture. Thus, claims that Berber groups have unusually high numbers of Rh negatives should not be counted until a new, large scale definitive study is conducted.
Of interest, is the high percentage of Rh- people in Ireland and Scotland. Particularly, the peoples of northwest Ireland, the Highland Scots and the western Islanders of Norway, who all have between 16 and 25% Rh negatives. The Norwegians are accounted by those Scots, who were transported to Norway as slaves. Scotland is a country where there is a strong variation of blood type frequencies based on location. Between twenty and a little bit over thirty percent of Rh- can be expected in most of the extreme northern and western regions. In the west coast region of Inverness, where the Rh negative percentage has been measured at 30.44%, the percentage of blood type O has also been noted as substantially high. Ireland is purported to have around 25% Rh negatives in several reports while others demonstrate a percentage nearer 15 to 16%. However studies have indicated that Northern Ireland has a high percentage of approximately 27%. The following list shows those countries and regions in order with the highest rates of Rhesus negative.
Basque Country
[Atlas Mountain region of Moroccan Berbers – to be confirmed]
Scotland
Northern Ireland
[Parts of Switzerland and the Rhone Valley – 26.5%]
Catalonia 20-25%
[Parts of the Netherlands; Bunschoten-Spakenburg – 25%]
Poland
Australia – high proportion of Irish – 30% of population – and Scottish
[Parts of Brazil with high proportion of Basque – 19%]
[Parts of Chile – high proportion of Basque]
Republic of Ireland
[Sinai Peninsula Bedouins; what is interesting about this particular group is the similarity between their male DNA and the male DNA of Cohanim Jews]
[Scandinavia – specifically Southwest Norway, from Scottish slave ancestry]
Notice on the world map that the predominant Rh- levels are in all the nations descended from Shem and specifically his sons Arphaxad and Aram. Though Aram is misleading, as it is the inclusion of the Basque in Spain and Brazil which increases the percentages in those countries.
Iceland is worth noting in that only one percent of its population is Rh-. A very low figure compared to Scandinavia. It is perplexing, as two-thirds of its population is Scandinavian and one-third Irish or Scottish descent. These peoples range from 16 to 25% and above, yet Iceland contradicts the pattern. We will learn in Chapter XXVII, that Icelanders are a distinct people in their own right and a classification of either Scandinavian or Celtic though migratory and historically correct, is inaccurate with regard to their ethnic identity.
Celts and the Basques, James Vandale, 2006 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘… the geneticist Luiga Luca Cavalli-Sforza has completed a gene map of the peoples of Europe… The genetic boundary between Basques and non-Basques is very sharp on the Spanish side. On the French side, the boundary is more diffuse:it shades off gradually toward the Garonne in the north.’
These findings are entirely in agreement with what is known of the history of the distinctly different and unique, Basque language. It is the oldest language in Europe, and its origins are unknown.
As the languages in neighbouring countries in Europe show no resemblance to the Basque language, it has become an inexplicable mystery to the linguist.
‘The people of the Basque region have a greater than 50 percent concentration of the RH negative gene… Basques are believed to have been theoriginators of the RH negative blood factor – the original genetic pool from which this factor came. While RH negatives are a small minority in the “white” and other races, and practically non-existent in “orientals”, the current Basques still are over 33 % RH negative. [A] salient genetic feature is the shape and sutures (bone joints) of cranial bones of Basques… [and a] skeletal difference is the tendency to having a thicker breast bone.’
Thus, the Basque are more like the French than the Spanish. This supports their link with Moab and Ammon rather than from Gether [Chapter XXIII Aram & Tyre: Spain, Portugal & Brazil]. If the Basque are the originators of the Rh- factor then this would date the origin to exactly 3,900 years ago and the births of Moab and Ammon [1878/77 BCE – 2022/23].
When blood type is inherited from parents, the factor element of the blood is the most consistent characteristic passed on to offspring. Variations or aberrations are extremely rare. The majority of people – as high as 94% – have Rh positive blood. As blood type is one of the least mutable human characteristics, the big question facing scientists remains: Where did the Rh negative factor come from?
Due to the high percentage of European numbers, some conclude this may be when a Caucasian line was introduced into the genetic code. Dates proposed for this range from 35,000 to 5,000 years ago. The fact that a number of people lack this factor is a puzzling phenomenon that appears to defy evolution. Most scientists advocate a ‘random’ mutation – in other words, one that defies evolution. As there is a cause for every effect, a reason for the mutation must exist.
Rh-Negative Blood: An Exotic Bloodline or Random Mutation? Caleb Strom, 2020 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘… some [people] suggest that Rh-Negative blood must be of a non-human origin. Theories range from supernatural ones such as being of divine descent or membership in a divinely chosen people-group, to more scientific or pseudoscientific explanations… One blogger has gone as far as to say that those with Rh-Negative blood are descendants of the Hyperborean race, which they believe to be the original human race. Followers of this idea believe that this race was blonde-haired and blue-eyed and included most major spiritual teachers in history, including Jesus [Christ]. Some people who are not satisfied with the idea that those with RH-Negative blood are another form of humanity have suggested that the trait originates from extraterrestrials either interbreeding with humans or creating humans through genetic engineering.
What is unusual about Rh-Negative blood is that the gene for it is surprisingly common despite being potentially harmful. When a woman who is Rh-Negative is pregnant with a child that is Rh-Positive, the mother’s immune system creates protective anti-bodies to the Rh-Positive blood, and her blood essentially becomes toxic to the child. To some people, this looks like the mother’s body is rejecting the baby –which has led them to suggest that perhaps the reason for the rejection is incompatibility based on the mother and child being ofdifferent species. Others suggest that lineages with the gene for Rh-Negative blood are merely special in some way and were not meant to be mixed with lineages which are predominantly Rh-Positive.
This unusual trait can, however, also be explained in terms of relatively mundane human genetics and natural selection. One possibility is that the gene for Rh-Negative blood has some sort of selective advantage that outweighed the negative consequences of having Rh-Negative blood. Although it could still be that there is a common, unique ancestral lineage connecting populations with high prevalence of Rh-Negative blood [yes, most likely due to mainly descending from Arphaxad], the fact that the populations where the gene occurs in high prevalence appear otherwise unrelated to each other makes it less likely and in need of more evidence [not so, as these peoples are predominately from Arphaxad and intermarrying between them all is highly likely].
The extraterrestrial explanation is even more problematic because the Rh-Negative gene is clearly a variation of an otherwise completely human gene. Unless it was specifically engineered by extraterrestrials from a pre-existing human gene, it is unlikely that it comes from anything other than Homo Sapiens. The other problem with the Rh-Negative blood type being the result of hybridization with extraterrestrials is that extraterrestrials are likely to have a completely different biology and genome than human beings. Their genome might not even be based on DNA – but something else such as RNA, or some exotic form of genetic storage that never evolved on Earth.
… the explanation that the Rh-Negative blood type is just a mutation that became common in some populations due to aselective advantage [is] the most likely option. It is also the one that most easily survives the application of Occam’s Razor. If this blood type was because of another human species, let alone extraterrestrials, many more unnecessary assumptions that are difficult to verify have to be made. As a result, the evidence currently points toward little more than an ordinary mutationas the cause of the Rh-Negative blood phenotype.’
Humans are not from Earth, Ellis Silver 2017, pages 152-154 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘The origins of rhesus negative blood are unknown, but it’s also commonly known as “alien blood” so that might provide a clue. Whether there’s any genetic advantage in having (or not having) rhesus negative blood is currently unknown. Some researchers suspect that those with this type of blood might be more resistant to parasitic diseases… The D antigen could have been lost through genetic mutation or external manipulation. If we’d all evolved from a single African ancestor… then we’d all be biologically compatible. But we’re not, and our scientists can’t explain why.Since we’re not all compatible, this suggests that we aren’t just a single species. It also lends credence to the fact we may be a hybrid race… as well as being nicknamed alien blood… [it] is also… known as royal blood. There’s reported to be a very high incidence of it in members of the royal families of Western Europe, and especially in the British royal family… you could easily come up with the hypothesis that the original kings and queens of Europe might have been aliens.’
Or, one might surmise that a high level of endogamy and or incest which creates ‘a restricted gene pool maintains a predominant genetic factor, whether it be a particular blood type or rhesus factor.’
The Mystery of Rh- Negative Blood – Genetic Origin Unknown, Nella Adriana Corak-Sebetic, 2017 – capitalisation theirs, emphasis and bold mine:
‘Geneticists generally claim the RH-negative factor is a mutation of unknown origin which apparently happened only a few thousand years ago. These ´negative´ blooded people spread heavily into the area of what is now Spain, England, Ireland, France and later into America, Canada and Australia.
Interestingly, popular sciences [endeavour] to attribute Rh-neg blood groups to “mutations.” A solid alternative case may be extended to the conclusion that Rh-neg is NOT a mutation, but possibly the original human blood group. This, however, does not reflect tenured thought, and thus has never been adequately researched.
That there was a group of “pure” humans, not directly related to the evolutionary processes on Earth, is a distinct possibility. This reasoning would suggest that the original humans on our planet [were] not directly related to the apes, but at some point were “MADE” or “genetically engineered” to give such impression.
Perhaps it was never intended that the Rh-positives become the dominant species. That through some as yet undetermined epoch, the genetically impure group gradually became the controlling species, except for several remote enclaves, initiated a wide-ranging genocidal pogrom, effectively wiping out those who gave birth to them. All of which begs the questions: What reasons were the sub-species created, what was the process of conquest, what was the duration, and does it continue?’
From this same article, a selection of quotes from the scientific community.
a. In all blood groups there exists a common microbe that in essence is the life force itself.
b. Do not ever take a blood transfusion.The main reason for this has to do with cellular/genetic/galactic memory of blood. This is coded into the entire structure of the blood. All the emotions that the donor has felt during his entire lifetime are part of the blood.
This cannot be filtered out. For example if you get a heart of a man who died in a car accident, all the cells of that organ have the memory of the accident and every emotion that was felt while dying. These emotions confuse your own coding and then mass internal confusion happens at the cellular level and the order turns into chaos. When you measure the heart harmonics of people with “O” RH-neg blood, they are usually lower if they are smokers and heavy red meat eaters. The ones who eat fish and vegetables are in the normal range.
c. The Celtic people of Ireland and Great Britain also have high incidences of the RH- factor and it has recently been proven that there is a genetic link between the Basque andthe Celts. This research proves that the Celtic people came from the Basque regions of France and Spain and a group must have migrated over to the islands of Great Britain.
d. In some areas, the Rh-Negative blood factor is referred to as “Blood Royale” or “Royal Blood”. For centuries, European royalty have been inflicted with Hemophilia or “bleeders disease”.
‘Apparently, Queen Victoria was a “carrier” of Hemophilia and gave it to all of her children who then intermarried and infected the bloodlines of [every] throne in Europe during the 1800s and 1900s. As a direct result, Hemophilia became known as the “Royal Disease”. To keep this in perspective, only about 5% of all “royalty” have Rh-Factor negative blood…which means less than the general population. That would indicate that the vast majority of “rulers”and “monarchs” are NOT Rhesus-factor negative. Is this by chance? or by genetic engineering called “arranged marriages”?
… but if European Royalty refuse to marry into the Rh Negative blood line it means one thing… Rh-Neg people are a “competing royal line”. How do you get rid of it once and for all? Although the British would love for you to think that Victoria was the world’s first carrier… don’t be confused. It was the Hapsburg’s disease. Was Victoria a Hapsburg?The unofficial motto of the Hapsburg family was “Bella gerunt alii, tu, felix Austria, nubes!”(”Where others must fight wars, you, fortunate Austria, marry!).It’s curious that “marriage” can be a “dynastic” undertaking but it can also be a perverse form of “bio-warfare” or “genetic warfare”.
Was [haemophilia] a disease of Spanish Royalty? … [and] was marriage to Victoria’s daughters a way to kill or weaken future “non-Hapsburg” kings… since mostly males only contract the disease from their mothers? Still, Hemophilia was in Royalty long before Victoria. Victoria’s daughters passed the disease into the Spanish, German and Russian Royal lines and threatened the thrones of all of Europes major powers. It would appear that Victoria is actually a direct descendant of Ferdinand of Castille…’
Eye color, hair color, blood type, and the rhesus factor: exploring possible genetic links to sexual orientation, Lee Ellis, Christopher Ficek, Donald Burke and Shyamal Das, 2008 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘The present study sought to expand the limited evidence that sexual orientation is influenced by genetic factors. This was accomplished by seeking statistical differences between heterosexuals and homosexuals for four traits that are known to be genetically determined:eye color, natural hair color, blood type, andthe Rhesus factor.
Using a sample of over 7,000 U.S. and Canadian college students supplemented with additional homosexual subjects obtained through internet contacts, we found no significant differences between heterosexuals and homosexuals regarding eye color or hair color. In the case of blood type and the Rh factor, however, interesting patterns emerged. Heterosexual males and females exhibited statistically identical frequencies of the A blood type,while gay men exhibited a relatively low incidence and lesbians had a relatively high incidence [of type A blood](p < .05). In the case of the Rh factor, unusually high proportions of homosexuals of both sexeswere Rh- when compared to heterosexuals (p < .06). The findings suggest that a connection may exist between sexual orientation and genes both on chromosome 9(where blood type is determined) andon chromosome 1 (where the Rh factor is regulated).’
I have quoted this paper not as condemnation of alternative lifestyles, but rather the significant coincidence of Lot living in a city, where same sex relations occurred; not to mention a society where humans and possibly angels and/or Nephilim were having sexual contact. Though the Rh- factor may, or may not have derived from these encounters, the question remains.
The alternative is to concentrate on Lot’s daughter’s sons, Moab and Ammon. Was the Rh- factor a mechanism in response to the incest… for the protection of the descendants of Moab and Ammon, which has gradually filtered through to other descendants of Shem through intermarriage and relationships with those outside of Moab and Ammon’s people. In the pages of the Bible there is not any other indication that any nation or peoples began directly through a father and his daughters; so that this event is portrayed as a one time, unique occurrence in human history.
This may explain the very low percentages of R- factor in the equatorial and oriental peoples. It is curious that Rh negative blood cannot be duplicated or cloned. As is the higher percentage of Rh negative people who claim to have been abducted by aliens.
Is it just a coincidence that the Basque possess the highest percentages of Y-DNA Haplogroup R1b in Europe; or that they have the highest percentages of Rh- in the world? So that by these two criteria, they exhibit endogamy to its fullest extreme and so are in all probability, descended from Moab or Ammon… who were born from the most restricted gene pool ever documented?
Unknown author – emphasis & bold mine:
‘For many years people have been searching for the wrong thing. Could the true “missing link” actually be man himself? The unknown link between earth and the stars – hybrid man. Man may be the missing link between primate and extraterrestrial. It seems inconceivable to me that those working on the evolution theory have overlooked this possibility. How can they state, that these people are lacking a factor contained in all other earthly primates, including the naked ape, and not ask why? What other characteristics are common among these people that are uncommon to other people? Is there a real difference other than just a different blood?’
A school of thought, is that white skin, with blond or red hair and blu or green eyes, was introduced into the Homo sapien line from the Nephilim; who exhibited the exact same characteristics. It is claimed that people with the following traits [a single comprehensive list compiled from various other lists] are in some way related to Nephilim, or by extension aliens. Confusingly, though likely more accurately, the same list is also applied to Rh negative people, so that there has been a blurring of symptoms and traits.
Higher than average IQ
More sensitive vision, hearing and other senses
Lower body temperature
Higher blood pressure or lower, with a low pulse rate
Increased occurrence of psychic & intuitive abilities, particularly if type O negative
Predominantly green, or hazel eyes that change colour, including piercing blue eyes
Red or reddish tint to hair colour
Widows peak, tongue rolling, ear lobes, freckles, Polydactyly – 6 fingers or toes – Webbed feet or hands, Albinism
Increased sensitivity to heat and sunlight
Cannot be cloned
Extra rib or vertebra, a tail bone, or tail Cauda
Alien Abduction and other unexplained or strange phenomenon – UFO, Para-normal
A feeling of not belonging to the human race
Truth seekers and a desire for higher wisdom
Sense of a “Mission” in life
Empathy and Compassion for Mankind
ESP Ability
Love of Space and Science
Unexplained Scars
Empathetic Illnesses and tendancy to be healers
Higher Negative-ion shielding from positive ‘charged’ viruses and bacteria around the body
Capability to disrupt electrical devices
Psychic Dreams
High sensitivity to electromagnetic, as well as, extremely low frequency fields
If Noah – who according to Enoch looked like the Nephilim – and or, his son Shem and their wives introduced the white skin mutation [refer Chapter XVI Shem Occidentalis] then these characteristics may or may not be linked to non-humans.
True World History Humanity’s Saga, Stewart A Swerdlow 2014, page 32 – bold mine:
‘… Noah was born with red skin and had white hair. He was depicted in appearance as the “Sons of God”. This text refers to him as if he had alien features.Noah was not the same as other human beings on Earth.’
Human blood is iron based, but some animals have copper based blood turning it blue – called hemocyanin. Blood is red because of the presence of haemoglobin. Octopi, Lobsters, spiders, molluscs, arthropods and other animals can and do in fact have blue blood. Humans do not. The claim that rhesus negative blood is copper based, or that the term blue blood originates from copper based blood in rhesus negatives is not true. Though the concept of blue blood must have an origination from somewhere. Is it linked to the Nephilim. Is this why Royalty and the powers that be, historically have been labeled as Blue Blooded.
Royals have tended to have paler skin than average; therefore their veins are seen more easily and viewed through skin tissue, look blue. As it is mainly sea creatures which have blue blood, Angellica Goodson labels it as copper based aquatic blood. She also claims that it is a ‘human alien hybrid’ blood line that carries it. The hybrid lines are associated with the Serpent and Reptillian bloodlines as purported by various authors.
Goodson explains that the misidentification Rh negative with Nephilim ‘started years ago on a physic website where a letter was posted from an anonymous person stating that she was an Rh negative but giving her alien human hybrid characteristics instead of the characteristics of a “Pure Scandinavian Rh Negative.” The misidentification has [since] gone viral online as [incorrect information].’
Goodson continues – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Some people carry both Rh Negative and Copper Based Aquatic Alien human hybrid anomalies. They number [under 7% of the global Population]. Copper Based Aquatic Blood is alien human hybrid blood,which has nothing to do with the Rh – Blood Factor. Those with the pure Rh – Factor carry what is referred to as “Power in the Blood.” Those with Copper Based Aquatic Blood [include] those who are being abducted by aliens… because they carry alien genetics, which they inherited from their ancestors… The main reason aliens are interested in those with pure Rh- Negative blood is for their DNA.’
As the subject is drifting away from the original topic yet still related, we will conclude with three additional quotes; that may be of value to readers interested in the topics addressed in Chapter XXII Alpha & Omega.
The Genesis 6 Conspiracy, Gary Wayne, Page 353 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Alien Abductions hold familiar kinship with fairy folk and fairy abductions… fairies have a need to reproduce with humans… like aliens. Fairies never abduct old people – only babies, young men, and young women… like aliens. Goblins, elves, trolls, and gnomes are known in mythology as beings that are described as “grays”… they are eager to breed with humans to modify and refresh their genetic makeup so that they might continue to survive…they need to mate with humans because they need an injection of new genes to bolster their weakened genetic makeup.’
Blue Blood, True Blood, Conflict and Creation, Stewart A Swerdlow, 2002 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘[The Reptilians] developed a plan to insidiously… [blend] their genetics with the genetics of… humans. Because the human prototype already had Reptilian genetics, it was easy to access the mind-pattern [refer Chapter XXII Alpha & Omega]. The Reptilian frequency was already established in the brain stem as well as the Reptilian brain section of these hybrid humans.
The population of Sumer was chosen as the starting point. These humans were primarily descendants of the Martian, Maldekian, and Lyraen refugees. The Reptilians have a preference for the genetics of blonde-haired, blue-eyed people whose mind-patterns and genetics are so easily controlled. They abducted members of the ruling classes, including political leaders. Using these humans, they began a new hybridization program that took several generations to perfect. Their goal was to reach a human/ Reptilian genetic 50/50 split. This would produce a human-looking Reptilian that could easily shapeshift from Reptilian to human, then back again. Shapeshifting was accomplished simply by concentrating on the genetics the hybrid wished to open, or lock up, whatever the case may be. Once the hybridization program was complete, the Sumerian leaders were now shapeshifting Reptilians. The new Reptilian hybrid became the elite of that culture. Their blood, because of the increased Reptilian DNA, contained more of a copper content.Since copper-based blood turns blue-green upon oxidizing, these Reptilian hybrids were called “Bluebloods”.
The Bluebloods quickly realized that with a 50/50 human/Reptilian genetic split, it was necessary to intermarry to maintain the 50/50 split bloodline necessary to shapeshift. When the split increased too far to the Reptilian side, shapeshifting became difficult, and holding human form became impossible. In these cases, it was discovered that the ingestion of human hormones, flesh, and blood, allowed the Reptilians to maintain the human form.
Human form was necessary to maintain to avoid scaring the population, which was now not accustomed to the Reptilian form. Control of the masses was easier when the orders came from a humanoid. The Reptilian format was kept to religious icons and legends. The statues of their gods and goddesses reflect the Reptilian influence, even showing a female Reptilian holding a hybrid baby [refer Chapter XXII Alpha & Omega].
The shapeshifting Reptilian Bluebloods asked the Sirians for help with the daily maintenance of their human forms. The Sirians determined that feeding the hybrids human hormones and blood in an altered animal form would be the easiest way to do it unnoticed by the population. The sacrificial animal used by most Middle Eastern people was the wild boar, so the Sirians chose it as the basis for this new animal hybrid.Human genetics were mixed with those of the wild boar to create the domesticated pig. This animal was served daily to the Bluebloods as a method of temporarily maintaining their human form until they could use an actual human in a sacrificial ceremony.
Because the domesticated pig is a combination of human and animal genetics, eating it is a form of cannibalism. This explains why the Hebrews considered it unclean to eat [Leviticus 11:7-8 and Deuteronomy 14:8]. This is also why the pig is considered to be the most intelligent animal on Earth, why pig skin can be grafted directly onto humans in burn cases, and why pig heart valves can be used in humans with little difficulty. Cancer drugs and other chemicals are often tested on pigs before humans. In many respects, pigs can be considered a form of humanity. To a lesser degree, the same is true about cats.
As time progressed, the civilization of Sumer declined and transformed into other cultures. Vast migrations from Sumer to other locations in Central Asia occurred [the time of Peleg – Genesis 10:10, 25]. The migrating peoples took their Blueblood leaders with them, as they were their royalty and kings. The Sumerians became known as the sum-Aryans, or just, Aryans.’
‘… the British Royal Family… [and] the Blue Bloods of Europe… are said to have stolen THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE the world from their Scandinavian predecessors before recorded history. The British Royals and Blue Bloods of Europe appear to be a bloodline of people with Scandinavian DNA and the DNA of a dark race… The Royals and”Blue Bloods” can be tracked back to the Lost Tribe of Dan and Cain in the Old Testament who are described as having had red hair and green-eyes. They are also referred to as the “Serpent Bloodline“or”Reptilian Bloodline.”Further some even say these royal “Blue Bloods,” are a hybrid human reptilian bloodline… If this is true, they are not the original bloodline on earth and worse than that they have… reptilian DNA flowing through their veins.
It would appear that the Hindus ancient history is wrapped round spiritual traditions… [in] which ancient peoples referred to… [a] Land of the Gods… The ancient histories of all the major nations and religions on earth mention a time when… mankind lived in a temperate paradise… referred to [as] Hyperborea… a “GARDEN OF EDEN”… These legends tell us that the Scandinavian race was the original race in Hyperborea until the gods came down and started to… manipulate the DNA of the original Scandinavians creating hybrid races of genetically altered human beings. These evil gods began a human hybrid program in Hyperborea, which is eerily similar to what was being described in Genesis Chapter 6. All cultures also speak of reptilian gods who created a hybrid race of kings and queens that sat on the thrones of all ancient kingdoms that can be tracked back to ancient Sumer [and] Babylon in Iraq.
[A] group of evil entities entered our three dimensional world that were created by Yaldabaoth the Demiurge, they were reptilian entities. One of these entities was known as Yahweh Ildabaoth… Once the physical bodies had been created these evil artisans… were able to… clone human DNA. Those falling for the “Alien [Agenda”] believe that the (spirit) entities we wrongly call Aliens today, created human beings. However… the entities who came into our… world to… clone human beings were NOT CAPABLE OF CREATING HUMAN BEINGS AND ARE STILL NOT ABLE TO. These entities did have the ability to… clone hybrids using human, reptilian, animal and bird DNA, which is how the “Serpent Bloodlines” were created… illicit sexual activity with the gods is the actual meaning behind “ORIGINAL SIN.” [Chapter XXII Alpha & Omega]’
The Y-chromosomal Haplotype and Haplogroup distribution of modern Switzerland still reflects the alpine divide as a geographical barrier for human migration
Forensic Science International: Genetics, Martin Zieger & Silvia Utz, Volume 48 September 2020 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘A sample of 606 Swiss individuals has been characterized for 27 Y-STR and 34 Y-SNPs, defining major European haplogroups. For the first time, a subsample from the southernmost part of Switzerland, the Italian speaking canton Ticino, has been included. The data reveals significant intra-national differences in the distribution of haplogroups R1b-U106, R1b-U152, I1 and J2a north and south of the alpine divide, with R1b-U152 being the most frequent haplogroup among all Swiss subpopulations [also the dominant R1b Haplogroup in France and Italy], reaching 26% in average and 53 % in the Ticino sample.
In addition, a high percentage of haplogroup E1b1b-M35 in Eastern Switzerland corresponds well with data reported from Western Austria. In general, we detected a low level of differentiation between the subgroups north of the alpine divide. This is the first comprehensive Y chromosomal dataset for Switzerland, demonstrating significant population substructure due to an intra-national geographical barrier.’
Swiss men
‘Pairwise FST calculations based on the maximal STR marker set (YFilerPlus® + PowerPlex Y23®) show little intra-national differentiation among the 6 regional subpopulations (Table 2). In line with our previous observations, all subpopulations show the largest FST values in pairwise comparison with the southernmost Swiss canton Ticino subpopulation, with the largest difference being the one between Northwestern Switzerland and Ticino. We also compared our dataset to datasets from other countries, using the AMOVA tool from YHRD. The multiple dimensional scaling plot in Fig. 2a localizes the Swiss data between the datasets from neighboring countries. For one of the direct neighboring countries, no data was included, since there was no French dataset forPowerPlex® Y23 available on the YHRD.
If we divide the sample into language subgroups, the German speaking subpopulation locates even closer to the Austrian sample, whereas the French speaking subpopulation is somewhat closer to the samples from Belgiumand Spain. Surprisingly,theItalian speaking sample co-localizes with the sample from Spainand issignificantly different from the Italian sample, registered on YHRD[due to the Swiss being a distinct people from the Italians, French and Germans, regardless of the different languages spoken]. As a control, we also checked the genetic distance of our regional subsamples to the four other Swiss YFiler datasets registered on YHRD. They show all a high degree of similarity, except for the sample from Basel that exhibits extremely large RST values towards all the other subpopulations, ranging from 0.084 to 0.173, even towards the sample from the same region of Northwestern Switzerland (0.101). All RST values and corresponding p-values generated with the YHRD AMOVA tool are available in Supplementary Table 2.
Pairwise FST values among the different regional subgroups. NW = Northwestern Switzerland; CS = Central Switzerland; BE = Bern area; TI = Ticino; WS = Western Switzerland; SG = St. Gallen.’
NW
CS
BE
TI
WS
SG
SG
0.0068
0.0063
0.0064
0.0109
0.0049
–
WS
0.0043
0.0032
0.0036
0.0077
–
TI
0.0141
0.0102
0.0085
–
BE
0.0050
0.0044
–
CS
0.0063
–
NW
–
Swiss women
‘Fig. 2. Multiple dimensional scaling blot based on RST values, generated for PowerPlex® Y23 datasets with the AMOVA tool from YHRD. A) Comparison of the whole sample (“Switzerland”) to other national European datasets, registered on YHRD. B) Comparison of Swiss (“CH”) subpopulations based on mother tongue to national datasets from neighboring countries. Spain was included as the next western country in mainland Europe, since no French samplefor PowerPlex® Y23 was available on the YHRD.The data points for Spain and the Italian speaking Swiss subsample collapse into one.’
On PCA graphs, the Swiss-French are marginally closer to the French than Swiss-Germans, though all three form an equilateral triangle. The Swiss-Germans have an affinity with Western Germans and also with the Dutch in the southern provinces of the Netherlands. We will see this confirmed between the Swiss and Dutch later when observing their respective Haplogroups. The fact that Swiss-Italians* are genetically closer to the Spanish rather than Italians as a whole, will not be a surprise to the constant reader who has read the preceding chapters [refer Chapter XXIII Aram & Tyre: Spain, Portugal & Brazil and Chapter XXV Italy: Nahor & the Chaldeans].
‘For the comparison of the haplogroup distributions among different regional subgroups, the regions defined in our previous work were maintained. All haplogroup proportions are listed in Table 5. We detected five significant regional differences in haplogroup spread. Whereas the [Y-DNA] haplogroups I1-M253 and R1b-U106 are more or less evenly distributed north of the Alps,they are almost absent from the Ticino sample. In return, haplogroups J2a-M410 and R1b-U152 are far more abundant in the Ticino sample than in the rest of the country. Furthermore, we detected a significant enrichment of haplogroup E1b1b-M35 in the easternmost sample from St. Gallen. We could also detect a slightly larger proportion of E1b1b-M35 in the sample from Western Switzerland. However, this observation [proved] not to be significant.
As expected, we observe a good correspondence of the dataset with the metapopulation “Western European”, what can be concluded from the distribution of the estimated haplotype frequencies. The fact that 90% of the haplotypes are predicted to be more frequent in the Western European than in the global panel, can be seen as a successful quality control of the sampling scheme. The population sample also fits well in the context of the neighboring countries and shows no noteworthy differences compared to the Swiss datasets previously registered on the YHRD.
The only exception concerns the sample from Basel. However, since the Basel sample on YHRD shows large genetic differences with all other Swiss samples, including our sample collected from the same region, we assume some kind of sampling error for this regional subsample and we would like to suggest that it should be used with caution for any interpretation and comparison. The fact that the Italian* speaking subsample co-locates rather with the sample from Spain than with the sample from Italy,might be attributed to the higher overall percentage of haplogroup R1b in Spain than in Italy. The fraction of R1b in the Spanish population corresponds better to the 70 % R1b in the Ticino sample. Given the dubious reputation of the prediction tools, we were surprised how well the haplogroup predictions corresponded to the haplogroups determined by SNaPshot assay.’
NW
CS
WS
SG
BE
TI
Hg (tot)
E1b1b (M35)
4
4
9
13**
4
6
7
G (M201)
12
9
6
6
12
4
9
I1 (M253)
13
9
10
12
11
2*
10
I2 (M223)
7
5
3
4
4
–
4
I2 (P215)
4
4
2
1
2
2
2
J1 (M267)
1
1
–
–
1
–
0
J2a (M410)
1
1
4
6
–
10*
3
J2b (M102)
4
3
3
1
3
4
3
N (M46)
–
–
–
1
–
–
0
O (M175)
–
–
1
–
–
–
0
QR (M45)
–
–
–
–
2
–
0
R1a (M198)
7
4
5
4
4
2
4
R1b (U106)
12
15
12
13
17
2*
13
R1b (U152)
19
29
24
28
20
53***
26
R1b (U198)
1
–
–
–
1
–
0
R1b (M269)
14
14
19
13
18
16
16
R1b (M343)
–
–
1
–
–
–
0
R2 (M124)
–
–
–
–
1
–
0
KLT (M9)
2
1
1
–
2
–
1
F (M213)
–
1
–
–
–
–
0
‘So, even though we would agree that for reliable results, every SNP should be finally determined in the wet lab, we cannot deny that for samples of Western European ancestry, predictors seem to deliver good preliminary results. The HAPEST predictor we used here has already been shown to deliver accurate predictions for typical European haplogroups. We assume that such a high accuracy of haplogroup prediction of 95% could be achieved only because we have very good data coverage for Western Europe. For most reliable predictions, we recommend combining an YHRD search with the haplogroup prediction tool. All haplogroups that were concordant between YHRD ancestry information and HAPEST haplogroup prediction turned out to be correct.
SNP typing for common European haplogroups revealed some expected patterns, demonstrating that the modern Swiss population still reflects the Alps as geographical barrier for human migration. We detected significantly less haplogroup I1-M253 south of the alpine divide than in the German and French speaking parts of Switzerland. This was expected, since I1 is most common in Northern Europe and can only be found in small proportions south of the Alps. We detected significant differences in the distribution of two sublineages of R1b-M269 north and south of the Alps: notably lineages R1b-U106 [Germanic -Germany and England]and R1b-U152 [Latin – Italy and France]. R1b-U106 is mainly spread along the river Rhine, reaching the largest proportions at the southern coast of the North Sea.R1b-U106 evolved approximately at the same time than haplogroup R1b-P312/S116. R1b-U152 is a sublineage of R1b-P312/S116 of younger origin.
It has been suggested that it originates from a Franco-Cantabrian region and has been brought to the Alps and northern Italy by migration along the Mediterranean coast. Today it reaches its highest percentages in northern Italy. Northwestern Italy has a very high percentage of haplogroup R1b (around 70 %) with the highest proportions in the area of Bergamo. In this pre-alpine region, located about 50 km from Ticino, the percentage of individuals with haplogroup R1b-U152 is around 50 %, just as for our Ticino sample. Haplogroup R1b-U152 is significantly less frequent north of the Alps, but remains the most frequent haplogroup throughout the entire country [as it is in Italy and France].’
These findings concerning Y-DNA Haplogroup R1b as evidenced by the preceding table confirm that the Swiss are less like the northern Germans or southern English in that they do not possess R1b-U198 beyond a trace element. The Alpine split of the north and south, confirms that though many Swiss are related to the Germans through R1b-U106; the fact remains that R1b-U152 is the main Haplogroup throughout all Switzerland. Confirming that they are more closely related to the French and Italians. This should not be a surprise when we understand that the Swiss descend from Haran, who is the father of Lot’s descendants in France; and the elder brother of Nahor, the father of many Central and Northern Italians.
The Genomic Heritage of French Canadians, Razib Khan, 2011 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘One of the great things about the mass personal genomic revolution is that it allows people to have direct access to their own information. This is important for the more than 90% of the human population which has sketchy genealogical records.
But even with genealogical records there are often omissions and biases in transmission of information. This is one reason that HAP, Dodecad and Eurogenes BGA are so interesting: they combine what people already know with scientific genealogy. This intersection can often be very inferentially fruitful.
But what about if you had a whole population with rich robust conventional genealogical records? Combined with the power of the new genomics you could really crank up the level of insight. Where to find these records? A reason that Jewish genetics is so useful and interesting is that there is often a relative dearth of records when it comes to the lineages of American Ashkenazi Jews. Many American Jews even today are often sketchy about the region of the “Old Country” from which their forebears arrived. Jews have been interesting from a genetic perspective because of the relative excess of ethnically distinctive Mendelian disorders within their population.
There happens to be another group in North America with the same characteristic: the French Canadians. And importantly, in the French Canadian population you do have copious genealogical records. The origins of this group lay in the 17th and 18th century, and the Roman Catholic Church has often been a punctilious institution when it comes to preserving events under its purview such as baptisms and marriages. The genealogical archives are so robust that last fall a research group input centuries of ancestry for [2,221] French Canadians, and used it to infer patterns of genetic relationships as a function of geography, as well as long term contribution by provenance.
That paper found that nearly 70% of the immigrant founding stock in this data set came directly from France.For the period before 1700 that fraction exceeds 95%.Of the remainder, about 15% of the founding stock were Acadians, who themselves were presumably mostly of French origin.Because of the earlier migration of the French founding stock, they left a stronger impact on future generations: But this research did not look directly at genetics. Rather, these inferences were generated from genealogical records which go back to the founding of Quebec and maintained coherency and integrity from generation to generation. Some of the members of the same research group now have a paper out which looks at the genomics of French Canadians, and directly compares their results to that of the earlier paper.’
Genomic and genealogical investigation of the French Canadian founder population structure – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Characterizing the genetic structure of worldwide populations is important for understanding human history and is essential to the design and analysis of genetic epidemiological [health and disease conditions] studies. In this study, we examined genetic structure and distant relatedness and their effect on the extent of linkage disequilibrium (LD) and homozygosity in the founder population of Quebec (Canada). In the French Canadian founder population, such analysis can be performed using both genomic and genealogical data. We investigated genetic differences, extent of LD, and homozygosity in 140 individuals from seven sub-populations of Quebec characterized by different demographic histories reflecting complex founder events.
Genetic findings from genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism data were correlated with genealogical information on each of these sub-populations. Our genomic data showed significant population structure and relatedness present in the contemporary Quebec population, also reflected in LD and homozygosity levels.
Our extended genealogical data corroborated these findings and indicated that this structure is consistent with the settlement patterns involving several founder events. This provides an independent and complementary validation of genomic-based studies of population structure. Combined genomic and genealogical data in the Quebec founder population provide insights into the effects of the interplay of two important sources of bias in genetic epidemiological studies, unrecognized genetic structure and cryptic relatedness.’
‘In 1760 there were 70,000 residents in the areas of Canada which were under French rule. A substantial fraction of these derived from the much smaller 17th century founding population. Today the number of North Americans with some known French Canadian ancestry numbers around [10 million people]. I happen to know an individual whose great-great-grandmother was French Canadian. Using the internet it turned out that I could trace this woman’s ancestry along one line back to the countryside outside of Poitiers in the mid 16th century! Being conservative it seems that at least 5 million North Americans have overwhelming descent from the 1760 founding stock. These are the core French Canadians.
An immediate inference one might make from these background facts, the rapid expansion of the French Canadian ethnic group from a small core founding stock, is that they would have gone through a “population bottleneck.”The data here are mixed. On the one hand, there are particular Mendelian diseases associated with French Canadians. This is evidence of some level of inbreeding which would randomly increase the frequencies of deleterious recessively expressed alleles.
And yet as noted in the paper French Canadians do not seem to have lower genetic diversity than the parental stock of French in the HGDP data set. Why? Because to go through a population bottleneck which is genetically significant you need a very small window of census size indeed. Tens of thousands is sufficiently large enough to preserve most of the genetic variation in the founder population which is not private to families. The sort of genetic polymorphisms which might have been typed for in widely distributed SNP chips. But that’s not the end of the story.’
‘Though French Canadians don’t seem [to] exhibit the hallmarks of having gone through an extreme population bottleneck as an aggregate, it turns out that in the populations surveyed there was evidence of substructure. The map… shows you the regions where the samples were drawn. Unlike the earlier study the sample size is smaller; this is a nod to the difference between a purely genealogical study and a genomic one. There needs to be money and time invested in typing individuals. Relatively public genealogical records are a different matter. Apparently the Gaspesia sample population were from a relatively later settlement. The urban samples naturally include descendants of local French Canadians, as well as rural to urban transplants.’
‘As one would expect the French Canadian sample clustered with the CEU (Utah whites from the HapMap) and French (from the HGDP) in the world wide PCA. And not surprisingly they exhibited smaller genetic distance to the French than to the Utah whites (who were of mostly British extraction).
Using Fst, which measures the extent of genetic variance partitioning between populations, the values from the aggregate French Canadian sample to the CEU sample was 0.0014 and to the French HGDP sample was 0.00078. The Montreal French Canadian group exhibited values of 0.0020 and 0.0012. But, it is important to observe that there was statistically significant differences between the various French Canadian populations as well (excluding the Montreal-Quebec City pairing). This may explain the existence of particular Mendelian diseases in the French Canadian population despite their lack of reduced genetic variation:there’s localized pockets of inbreeding which are not smoked out by looking at total variation statistics. Additionally, the authors conclude that not taking this substructure into account in medical genetics could lead to false positives. Inter-population differences in disease susceptibilities correlated with genome-wide differences in allele frequencies could produce spurious associations.
In the final section the paper notes that there are some peculiarities in the genetics of the French Canadians which do indicate some level of genetic homogeneity, at least by locality. To explore this issue they focus on two genomic phenomena which measure correlations of alleles, genetic variations, over spans of the genome within populations. The two phenomena are linkage disequilibrium, which measures association across loci of particular variants, and runs-of-homozygosity, which highlights genomic regions where homozygosity seems enriched beyond expectation (the former is inter-locus, while the latter is intra-locus). Both of these values could be indicators of some level of population bottleneck or substructure, where stochastic evolutionary forces shift a population away from equilibrium as measured by the balance of parameters such as drift, selection, and mutation.’
‘To the right is a mashup of figures 5 and 6. On the left you have a figure which shows the extent of linkage disequilibrium as a function of distance between SNP. As you would expect the greater the distance between two SNPs, the more likely they’re to be in equilibrium as recombination has broken apart associations. The closer and closer two markers, the more likely they’re to be linked, physically and statistically. But there’s a difference between the two LD plots. There’s no difference between the CEU and French Canadian samples in the top panel, but there is in the bottom one. Why? The bottom panel shows LD between markers much further apart. Acadians in particular seem to exhibit more long distance LD than the other populations. This may be a sign of a population bottleneck and inbreeding. Also, please note that the Utah white CEU sample is probably relatively similar to the French Canadians in its demographic history as North American groups go. It is homogeneous and expanded rapidly from a small founder group. To the right you have in the top panel total length of ROH per individual, and the bottom length of ROH greater than 1 MB. Again, the Acadians seem to be standouts in terms of their difference from the CEU reference. Interestingly, there’s no difference between CEU, French, and the two French Canadian urban samples. I suspect this is due to the fact that in Montreal and Quebec City the distinctive inbreeding found in the other samples has been eliminated through intermarriage. ROH disappear when you introduce heterozygosity through outbreeding.
What has all this told us? From a medical genetic perspective it is implying that population structure matters when evaluating French Canadians, an Acadian is not interchangeable with a native of Montreal.In terms of ethnically clustered diseases of French Canadians, in the USA the Cajuns, it may not be that there are patterns across the whole ethnic group, but trends within subgroups characterized by long-term endogamy.I wonder if the same might be true of Ashkenazi.
Is there is a difference between Galicians and Litvaks? Such regional differences among European Jews are new, but the French Canadians themselves are the result of the past three centuries. These results also seem to reinforce the Frenchness of the French Canadians. A group which one could analyze in a similar vein would be the Boers, who are an amalgam of French Protestants, Dutch, and Germans, but seem to exhibit a dominance of the Dutch element culturally.
Finally, the French Canadians may give us a small window in the long term demographic patterns and genetic dynamics which might be operative on a nearby ethnic group: the Puritans of New England. Because of their fecundity [fruitfulness] it seems likely that tens of millions of Americans today descend from the 30,000 or so English settlers who arrived in New England in the two decades between 1620 and 1640 [this very likely to be accurate]. This is the subject of the Greta Migration Project. With numbers in the few tens of thousands it seems unlikely that much of a thorough population bottleneck occurred with this group in a genetic sense in the aggregate. But the results from the French Canadians indicate that isolated groups can be subject to stochastic dynamics, and develop in their own peculiar directions.’
In later chapters, the Jews, Boers and Puritans will be investigated. What this article is confirming is that these peoples, regardless of religious, cultural and historical factors or influences all remain homogenous peoples genetically. This evidence validates the proposal that these three peoples, with French Canadians are distinct peoples in their own right and not an amalgam of different unrelated ethnic groups.
Catalonians and Gascons of France, Khazaria – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Being Western Europeans, it is no surprise that the most common Y-DNA haplogroup among Catalans is a branch of the R1b haplogroup. R1b1b2a1 is nearly exclusive to western Europe, and the sub-haplogroup R1b1b2a1a2c is common among Catalans and Gascons.
The place of the Basques in the European Y-chromosome diversity landscape. European Journal of Human Genetics 13:12, multiple authors, (2005): pages 1293-1302.’
“The Y chromosomes of 68 male Basques were analyzed. About 86 percent of them carried varieties of haplogroup R1*(xR1a,R1b3f)-M173 [R1-M173], of which most carried R1b3*-M269 [R1b-M269]. This is a commonality between Basques and other western Europeans. 7.1 percent of the Basques in this study (a lower frequency than other scientists had found) carried the Iberian-specific subclades R1b3d-M153 [R1b-M153 – Basque & Gascon] and R1b3f-SRY2627 [R1b-M167 Catalonian]…”
‘An mtDNA perspective of French genetic variation. Annals of Human Biology 34:1 multiple authors, (January-February 2007): pages 68-79.
This mitochondrial DNA study of 868 people from 12 areas of France includes Basques from the Basque province of Lapurdi in France. These French Basques were found to have noteworthy differences in mtDNA distribution compared to Spanish Basques.
Excerpts from the body of the paper:
“… It is somewhat surprising to find Hg U4 at a relatively high frequency (6.2%) and diversity among the French Basques (absent in Spanish Basques), because this sub-clade of U is largely East European and West Siberian (Tambets et al. 2003) in its distribution. In contrast to U4, Hg U5b2 is rare among French Basques (2.5%), and more frequent in the Spanish Basques. One other particularity of the French Basque is found withinHg J, more frequent than in the Spanish Basques, and also the presence of the Hg J1c haplotype with HVS-I motif 16069-16126-16300. The derivatives of this branch of Hg J have been so far found mostly in Near Eastern populations (Richards et al. 2002; Metspalu et al. 2004; and authors’ unpublished data). Likewise to U4, Hg T1 is found only in French Basques.
… On the other hand,haplogroups such as U5and HV0 that are frequent in Spanish Basques are absent or rare in the French Basques, while for Hg U4 its distribution is the opposite. The pattern observed in the mtDNA pool of the French Basques from the Lapurdi region may be explained by genetic drift and cultural isolation in a relatively small long-term effective population size. In addition, it is also likely that both French and Spanish Basques, although sharing a common linguistic and probably also genetic ancestry,have been affected by admixture from different sources.
Meanwhile, the overall high frequency of autosomal recessive coagulation factors deficiencies in French Basques population (Bauduer et al. 2004) argues in favour of genetic drift acting on this population… Taken together, our findings support the notion that ‘Basques’ are a strongly sub-divided population and support a conclusion that French and Spanish Basques have been effectively isolated from each other for a long enough period to allow random genetic drift to differentiate them.”’
In other words, the Basque – who are related to the French – have retained their ‘Frenchness’, whereas those Basque who have dwelt with the Aramaean Spanish for many centuries or longer, show the resulting admixture. PCA graphs place the French Basque equally distant from southwest French and northwest Spanish. Ethnologists and geneticists have stressed the differences; saying the Basque especially and Catalonians, are entirely distinct from the Spanish, which is correct and the French, which is incorrect. The mixing with the Spanish on their side of the border has had an impact on the Basque and Catalonian Haplogroup sequencing. The Basque and Catalonians on the French side of the border have remained truer to their French origin culturally and ethnically, as descendants of probably Moab and possibly Ammon.
We Are Not Our Ancestors: Evidence for Discontinuity between Prehistoric and Modern Europeans – Journal of Genetic Genealogy, Ellen Levy-Coffman, 2005 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Other genetic studies on the Basque have focused on examining blood groups, STR loci, and autosomal markers, often in an attempt to support the Paleolithic paradigm. However, in light of the aDNA studies, Basque distinctiveness can be accounted for by the processes of genetic drift, inbreeding over long periods of time and natural selective processes. Moreover, the researchers noted that the Basque are unique among European populations due to their extremely high rate of consanguinity [‘close relationship or connection by descent from a common ancestor’]. Basque social and cultural traditions continue to promote consanguinity.
The genetic impact of such inbreeding has yet to fully explored by geneticists, but the high frequency of inherited disorders among the Basque, including Coagulation Deficiences (Factor XI) and Mutation F508 (Cystic Fibrosis Gene), support the suggestion that drift, inbreeding, and a small population size maintained over many generations, as opposed to significant retention of Paleolithic genetic ancestry, best explains the present genetic makeup of the Basque (Alonso 2005; Bauduer 2005).
Finally, even researchers that have found limited genetic evidence of probable Paleolithic ancestry among the Basque also acknowledge that such findings do not support the contention that contemporary Basque retain significant genetic links with indigenous Paleolithic Europeans. (Gonzalez 2006) For instance, although the Basque mtDNA lineage U8a may date to the late Paleolithic, it is rarely found today among modern-day Europeans and, furthermore, constitutes only[one percent] of contemporary Basque mtDNA results. Thus, U8a has diminished in frequency among populations today in a manner similar to the N1a lineage.’
French Genetics: Abstracts and Summaries, Kevin Alan Brook – Emphais & bold mine:
‘French people mostly live in France but also live in neighboring Belgium and Switzerland and their descendants notably moved in large numbers to Quebec and Acadia. They are called Walloons in Belgium. The French are a complex mixture of ancient Celtic, Iberian, Italic [Moab], Germanic [Ammon], and[ancient] Greek peoples [Moab & Ammon].The standard French, Norman, and Occitan languages are members of the Romance linguistic family and all are written in the Latin alphabet.
Participants in the French Heritage DNA project belong to such Y-DNA (paternal-line) haplogroups as I-M253, I-P109, I-P37, J-P58, J-Z387, R-L21 [northwest France] (a branch of R1b), R-M269 (R1b1a2, the most common branch of R1b in western Europe), R-L552, and R-U198.
Participants in the French Swiss DNA Project whose most distantly known ancestors were French people from Switzerland carry the Y-DNA haplogroups E-L542, E-V13, E-V36, E-M78, G-P15, G-M201, I-M253, I-Z138, N-M178, R-M269, R-U106, and R-U152.
Y-chromosomal DNA analysis in French male lineages. Forensic Science International: Genetics 9, multiple authors, (March 2014): pages 162-168. First published online on December 29, 2013.
The authors analyze Y-DNA haplogroups’ variation across France using a pool of 558 samples taken from men from 7 French regions: Alsace, Auvergne, Bretagne, Île-de-France, Midi-Pyrénées, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. Figure 2 lists all the Y-chromosomal haplogroups they found and their frequencies on a per-region basis. The haplogroups are BD, E*, E1b1b1*, E1b1b1a, E1b1b1b, E1b1b1c*, E1b1b1c1, F*, G, I*, I2a2, J*, J1a, J2, K*, L, N1c, P*, R1*, R1a, R1b1*, R1b1b2*, R1b1b2a1*, R1b1b2a1a, R1b1b2a2d, R1b1b2a2e, R1b1b2a2g, and T.’
Excerpt from the Abstract:
“Even though we find that most of the individual populations in France were not differentiated from each other, Bretagne population shows population substructure…”
Excerpt from the body of the article:
“From a total of 27 binary markers typed in the seven regions of France, 22 different haplogroups were found. The most frequent haplogroup in all the regions was R1b1b2*(xR1b1b2a1, 2d, 2e, 2g), with the exception of Alsace, where the most common one was R1b1b2a2g.”
‘The coming of the Greeks to Provence and Corsica: Y-chromosome models of archaic Greek colonisation of the western Mediterranean. BMC Evolutionary Biology 11:69, multiple authors, (March 14, 2011).
This paper’s goal was to study the genetic traces of Greek colonization in Provence in southern mainland France. 51 samples from Provençal Frenchmen were compared with 58 samples from people from Smyrna and 31 from Asia Minor Phokaia. The Y-DNA haplogroup E-V13 is known to be “characteristic of the Greek and Balkan mainland”. It was found among 19% of the Phokaian samples and 12% of the Smyrnian samples as well as among 4% of the Provençal Frenchmen, 4.6% of East Corsicans, and 1.6% of West Corsicans. Altogether, according to the Results section, taking into account all haplogroups, “An admixture analysis estimated that 17% of the Y-chromosomes of Provence may be attributed to [ancient] Greek colonization.”
An mtDNA perspective of French genetic variation. Annals of Human Biology 34:1, multiple authors, (January-February 2007): pages 68-79.
Mitochondrial DNA was evaluated for 868 samples these researchers and previous researchers gathered from inhabitants of France, predominantly from 12 specific locations, including but not limited to regions like Normandy, Seine-Maritime, and North-East in the north and Languedoc and Provence in the south. Ethnic French people proper as well as Bretons, Corsicans, and Basques living in France were tested… H is by far the most common mtDNA haplogroup in France with the frequency of 45.56%. Others include (but are not limited to) K at 8.74%, U5 at 8.3%, J at 7.65%, HV0 at 4.77%, U4 at 2.31%, I at 2.02%, and T1 at 1.66%. The authors conclude: “The mtDNA haplogroup composition of the French does not differ significantly from the surrounding European genetic landscape.” However, they did find some level of distinctiveness among the Bretons and Basques…’
Eupedia, Genetic history of the Benelux and France, Maciamo Hay, 2017 – emphasis & bold mine:
‘Note that the total [Haplogroups] for France is biased towards North Americans of French descent (mostly from Québec), as genealogical DNA tests have not yet become popular among French people.
R1b is the most common haplogroup in France. It includes four main subclades: the Atlantic Celtic R1b-L21in the north-west, the Gascon-Iberian R1b-DF27 (including the Basque R1b-M153) in the south-west, the Germanic R1b-U106 in the north,and the Gaulish Celtic and ItalicR1b-U152 in the east.’
R1b-L21 [M529 / S145] is concentrated in Brittany and shared with the Celtic nations of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
R1b-DF27 not only includes M153 associated with the Basque and the Gascon, but also M167 [SRY2627] which is concentrated in Catalonia and shared with the Basque as well as being found in Cornwall, England; Wales, Bavaria, Germany; Belgium and the Netherlands.
R1b-U106 [M405 / S21] is concentrated in Frisia, northern Netherlands and shared with Benelux, Germany, Austria, Norway and England.
R1b-U152 [S28] is predominately found in northern and central Italy and shared with Switzerland and France.
Notice that these various R1b Haplogroup strains are principally aligned with northern and central Europe rather than southern Europe. People often think of France as a Latin country; it is actually more Teutonic. For even its supposed ‘Latin’ influence as shown by its genetic links with Switzerland and Italy, are actually non-Latin, for both these nations though containing a Latin element, are still predominantly Teutonic or ‘Germanic’ nations – all having R1b-U152 as its dominating Haplogroup [refer Chapter XXV Italy: Nahor & the Chaldeans].
‘The ancient Burgundians, a Germanic tribe from eastern Denmark, appear to have carried considerable percentages of haplogroups R1a* and Q*, two haplogroups that are now found at unusually high frequencies around the former Kingdom of the Burgundians, in what is now the Rhône-Alpes region and the north of Provence [see Switzerland].
Haplogroup R1b has numerous branches, each with their own origins. The ancient Gauls during the Bronze Age and Iron Age belonged primarily to R1b-P312 [S116 Iberia: Spain & Portugal], which is divided in three main subclades: DF27, L21 and U152. All of them are found throughout France, but DF27 is more common in the southern half of France, while L21 is especially common [in] the Northwest. Britons fleeing the Anglo-Saxon invasions in the 5th and 6th centuries crossed the Channel and settled in great number in Brittany, which increased the percentage of R1b-L21 in that region. Nowadays half of all R1b in Brittany is L21 (35% of all Y-DNA).
Later in the Middle Ages Normandy, Anjou, Brittany and other parts of western France came under English rule, and some L21 may have come from England during that period. But it is most likely that Northwest Gaul already had a substantial percentage of L21 during the Iron Age.
The U152 clade of R1b is the most homogeneously distributed, with between 15% and 20% in most French regions. It is associated with Hallstatt and La Tène Celts that migrated from the North of the Alps to Gaul during the Iron Age, but also with the Cisalpine Gauls and Italic people from Italy. The ancient Romans and other Italic peoples would have belonged to the U152>Z56, U152>Z193 and some U152>L2 subclades [this is an incorrect assumption]. Other L2 subclades [NW Europe] and the Z36 clade were found among the Etruscans (confirmed) [correct as we will discover] and probably also among the Alpine Celts [incorrect].
Data about deep clades is still sparse in France, but Italic Z56 and Z193 appear to be most common in Provence (~9%), followed by Champagne-Lorraine (5%), Alsace and Poitou-Charentes (both ~4.5%), Bourgogne-France Comté (4%) and Rhône-Alpes (3%). The ancient Romans also carried Greek/Balkanic R1b-Z2103 lineages [incorrect]. This haplogroup is found in the same regions, with a peak in the Rhône-Alpes region (~9%).
Germanic tribes brought R1b-U106 to France. It was particularly common among the Franksand was the lineage of the Kings of France.Nowadays it is most common in Ile-de-France [including the capital, Paris]and Picardy (both ~16%), followed by Alsace (14.5%), Normandy (13.5%) and Flanders-Artois (11%). Other Germanic lineages are I1, I2a2a-L801, R1a-L664 and R1a-Z284. Almost all the I2a2a and R1a in northern and eastern France is of Germanic origin.’
‘Around 80% of G2a in France falls under the Celtic Z1816 clade. Another 15% is made up of the U1 branch, typically the L13 clade, which is usually of Italic/Roman origin. The remaining 5% of G2a descends from local Neolithic farmers. MostJ2a in France belongs to the M67 and the M319 subclades, which were found among ancient Etruscans and Greeks.’
This is highly telling, as we will discover that the Etruscans were ‘Greek’ before leaving the Aegean and settling in central Italy. The Etruscans are related to the latter Greeks who formed the Greco-Macedonian Empire. In other words, the Etruscans and Moab and Ammon are closely related.
‘These lineages probably came from Italy in Roman times, apart from some Greek lineages in the Côte d’Azur. J1 was also found among the Etruscans and is the likely source of the non-Jewish J1 in France.J2b was found in Bronze Age Illyria, among Iron Age Etruscans and Daunians, but was probably also found in other parts of central and southern Italy as well as in Greece. In France it would be mostly of Graeco-Roman (including Etruscan) origin. Nowadays J2b makes up roughly half of all J2 in Provence and Languedoc, one third in Midi-Pyrénées and Lorraine, but under 20% in Aquitaine and Poitou-Charentes. It’s rare elsewhere.’
‘This map shows an estimation of the dominant ancestry in each region of France based on anthropological studies. Will DNA confirm this general pattern? Here is a summary of Y-DNA haplogroups found in France, and the ancient ethnicities associated with them:
Regardless of descriptive labels for regions and ancestry, or where one draws an approximate line to split France into approximate halves, the above map confirms the dual nature of the French. The areas encompassing the Germanic, Celto-Germanic and Celto-Italic lineages roughly highlight one half and the Celtic, Greco-Roman and Celtiberian the other.
The mtDNA Haplogroups for the Swiss and French are as follows:
Switzerland: H [47.9%] – J [11.5%] – T2 [9.3%] – U5 [6.7%] – K [5.3%] –
HV0+V [4.9%] – U4 [3.1%] – T1 [2.2%] – W [1.8%] – L [0.9%] –
U2 [0.9] – U3 [0.9] – I [0.9%] – HV [0.4%] – U [0.4] – X [0.4]
France: H [44.3%] – K [8.7%] – U5 [8.2%] – J [7.7%] – T2 [6.2%] –
HV0+V [5%] – U4 [2.5%] – HV [2%] – I [2%] – T1 [1.9%] – W [1.9%] –
U2 [1.6%] – U [1.4%] – U3 [1%] – L [0.9] – X [0.9]
H J T2 U5 K HVO+V HV U4 T1
Switzerland 48 12 9 7 5 5 0.5 3 2
France 44 8 6 8 9 5 3 3 2
The mtDNA table showing the family resemblance between the Swiss and the French, yet the subtle difference between Haran and Lot’s children Moab and Ammon.
H J T2 U5 K HVO+V HV U4 T1
Switzerland 48 12 9 7 5 5 0.5 3 2
Spain 44 7 6 8 6 8 0.7 2 2
France 44 8 6 8 9 5 3 3 2
Italy 40 8 8 5 8 3 3 2 3
Comparing the Swiss and French with their immediate neighbours, cements the family ties between cousins. Something we will see repeated frequently as we progress with the peoples of northwestern Europe. The French and Spanish are alike in levels of H, T2 and U5, though in the other main mt-DNA Haplogroups comprising J, K, HV0+V, HV, U4 and T1, the French align more closely with the Italians.
H HV HV0+V J T2 U U5 K
Switzerland 48 0.4 5 12 9 0.4 7 5
France 44 2 5 8 6 1 8 9
Brazil 44 2 11
Portugal 44 0.1 5 7 6 3 7 6
Spain 44 0.7 8 7 6 2 8 6
Poland 44 1 5 8 7 1.4 10 4
Russia 41 2 4 8 7 2 10 4
Greece 41 3 1.8 10 7 3 5 5
Italy 40 3 3 8 8 3 5 8
Ukraine 39 4 4 8 8 0.6 10 5
Romania 37 2 4 11 5 2 7 8
Finland 36 7 6 2 0.8 21 5
Turkey 31 5 0.7 9 4 6 3 6
Iran 17 7 0.6 14 5 12 3 7
Adding Switzerland and France to our table of nations descended from Shem thus far, has Switzerland now as one bookend of the European descended peoples replacing Brazil, with Iran remaining at the other end. A pattern has emerged showing the percentage levels for the main European mt-DNA Haplogroup H, increasing as one heads west across Europe, with France following this pattern. Switzerland though, has not fitted into this genetic type as it sits firmly in central Europe. What we will notice as we progress, is that the nations of northwestern Europe – in the main – exhibit higher levels of mtDNA Haplogroup H further north; with the Swiss being the first to evidence this fact.
It is worth reminding ourselves that ‘Haplogroup R-M269 is the sub-clade of human Y-chromosome Haplogroup R1b [which] is defined by the SNP marker M269. According to ISOGG 2020 it is phylogenetically classified as R1b1a1b. R-M269 is the most common European Haplogroup in the genetic composition of mainly Western Europe; increasing in frequency from an east to west gradient. For instance in Poland, it is found in 22.7% of the male population, compared to Wales at 92.3%. It is carried by over 110 million European men.
Scientists propose that the age of the M269 mutation is somewhere between 4,000 to 10,000 years ago. This time frame is plausible and neatly fits with the birth of Peleg and hence the beginning of the R1b mutation, circa 7727 BCE, according to an unconventional chronology. The most recently significant R1b mutations originated with Abraham and his descendants beginning in 1977 BCE.’
The sub-Haplogroup of R1b, U106 or S21, is frequent in central to western Europe, reaching 66.8% in Germany; while the sub-lineage R-S116 is the most frequent in the Iberian Peninsula. R-U152 is more frequent in France and Italy; R-U198 in England; and R-M529 in the Celtic nations of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.’
As we progress through the descendants of Shem, the levels of R1b vary and gradually increase. We will keep a record of the levels for the two main R1b sub-Haplogroups – M269 and U106 – for some of the nations we will study.
‘Italy’s dominant Haplogroup is R1b and we can see the marked difference comparing with nations from Eastern Europe and beyond. It is worth mentioning that the north to south axis is as important as the east to west and so this explains why for instance Poland has slightly higher percentages of both clades of R1b than Russia as it is further west. Comparably, the Czech Republic displays a higher level of R-U106 than Italy which is further south; yet less R-M269 overall as it is the descendants of Peleg, Aram and the mixed line of Casluh and Caphtor which have the highest levels of R1b [refer Chapters XV The Philistines: Latino-Hispano America and Chapter XXIII Aram & Tyre: Spain, Portugal & Brazil].’
Turkey: R-M269 14% – R-U106 0.4%
Russia: R-M269 21% – R-U106 5.4%
Slovenia R-M269 17% – R-U106 4%
Czech R-M269 28% – R-U106 14%
Poland R-M269 23% – R-U106 8%
Ukraine R-M269 25% – R-U106 9%
Italy R-M269 53% – R-U106 6%
France R-M269 52% – R-U106 7%
Swiss R-M269 58% – R-U106 13%
The addition of Switzerland and France highlights the north to south and east to west pattern we have noted. The Swiss exhibit higher levels of the Germanic R-U106 as reflected by their geographic position in central Europe; similar with the Czechs. Switzerland’s position northwards of both France and Italy is reflected by their higher level of R-M269. The French and Italians unsurprisingly, share an almost exact measure of R1b M269 and U106.
In keeping with cousins exhibiting similar traits and sharing more in common – more than they have with their own siblings – we will find that the Swiss Y-DNA Haplogroup sequencing is reminisce of the Dutch. Closer bonds shared with a cousin rather than a sibling can be explained, due to a more exact sharing of common Haplogroups and genetic DNA code.
R1b R1a I1 I2a1 I2a2 E1b1b J2 J1 G2a
Switzerland 50 4 14 2 8 8 3 0.5 8
France 59 3 9 3 4 8 6 2 6
Comparing the main Y-DNA Haplogroups, we see a greater divergence between Switzerland and France than with the mtDNA Haplogroups; though still close enough to express a family relationship.
The main Y-DNA Haplogroup R1b is highest in Brittany with 77.3% and then Centre-Val de Loire with 70.6%. The lowest level of R1b is in Alsace with 43.7% and then Aquitaine with 48%. The highest percentage for I1 is found in Flanders-Artois with 16% and then Alsace with 15%. The highest level of R1a is in Languedoc-Roussillon with 10%; the highest level of J2 is found in Corsica with 14%; and the highest percentage of E1b1b is in Ile-de-France with 19%.
R1b R1a I1 I2a1 I2a2 E1b1b J2 J1 G2a
N Italy 50 5 7 1 4 11 10 2 8
Switzerland 50 4 14 2 8 8 3 1 8
Tuscany 53 4 4 2 3 9 12 2 9
Lombardy 59 4 3 1 5 10 6 10
France 59 3 9 3 4 8 6 2 6
A comparison with the Northern Italian region of Lombardy shows a similarity with France. Switzerland has commonalty with the Central region Tuscany. Both France and Switzerland have common ground with northern Italy as a whole from a Y-DNA perspective. From a PCA standpoint, The French and Swiss have more in common the they do with Italy.
Continuing our Y-DNA comparison table from the previous chapters, with the addition of Switzerland and France – the second major descendants from Peleg’s line, of Haran and his son Lot .
J J1 J2 E1b1b G R1a R1b R1
Georgia 43 16 27 2 30 9 10 19
Armenia 33 11 22 6 12 5 30 35
Turkey 33 9 24 11 11 8 16 24
Iran 32 9 23 7 10 16 10 26
Greece 26 3 23 21 6 12 16 28
Italy 19 3 16 14 9 4 39 43
Romania 15 1 14 14 3 18 16 34
Portugal 13 3 10 14 7 1.5 56 58
Brazil 10 10 11 5 4 54 58
Spain 10 1.5 8 7 3 2 69 71
France 8 2 6 8 6 3 59 62
Ukraine 5 0.5 4.5 7 3 44 8 52
Switzerland 4 0.5 3 8 8 4 50 54
Poland 3 3 4 2 58 13 71
Russia 3 3 3 1 46 6 52
Finland 0.5 5 4 9
‘Georgia continues as one bookend with the highest Haplogroup J2, J1 and G2a percentages. Finland is… the opposite bookend, with no Haplogroup J and the lowest R1 levels. Poland exhibits the highest percentage of R1a… while Greece has the most E1b1b… Spain’s total R1 is equalled by Poland, though in opposite percentages for R1a and R1b.’ France has the second highest percentage of R1b after Spain, indicative of its westerly location.
‘Focussing on the key Y-DNA Haplogroups associated with the majority of the European nations in the north of Europe. Haplogroups R1, I1 and I2 segment Europe roughly into quarters.
Haplogroup R1b is prominent in the west; R1a in the east; I1 and I2a2 in the north and west; with I2a1 in the south and east. Haplogroup N1c1 is prominent in the north, in counter balance to J2, J1, E1b1b and G2a which are more commonly found in southern Europe.’
R1a R1b I1 I2a1 I2a2 N1c
Portugal 1.5 56 2 1.5 5
Spain 2 69 1.5 5 1
France 3 59 9 3 4
Switzerland 4 50 14 2 8 1
Brazil 4 54 [9]
Italy 4 39 5 3 3
Finland 5 4 28 0.5 62
Turkey 8 16 1 4 0.5 4
Greece 12 16 4 10 1.5
Iran 16 10 0.5 1
Romania 18 16 4 28 3 2
Ukraine 44 8 5 21 0.5 6
Russia 46 6 5 11 23
Poland 58 13 9 6 2 4
‘The comparison table shifts in emphasis when northern European Y-DNA Haplogroups comprising I1, I2a2 and N1c1 are included.’
Switzerland and France are sandwiched between Portugal/Spain and Italy/Brazil. They are both at the low end of Haplogroup R1a and the higher end with R1b. Two Haplogroups are of note for the Swiss. First they have a trace of the very northern Haplogroup N1c1 – unlike France – in common with nations in the far northeast of Europe or its periphery, such as Finland and Russia. Second, Switzerland has the highest levels of Haplogroup I2a2 so far; and the second highest in Haplogroup I1 -after Finland – prevalent especially in northwestern Europe. We are able to observe evidence of the palpable east and west European divide as revealed by those nations with either R1a or R1b as their predominant paternal Haplogroup.
One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honour.
Proverbs 29:23 English Standard Version
“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”
Galileo Galilei [1564-1642]
“Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.”