The HIBERI
by Yair Davidiy
The material
below is mainly an extract from "Lost Israelite Identity" by Yair
Davidiy. Experience shows that even they who have read our works several
times over sometimes enjoy and benefit from selected short extracts of
interest.
The Irish accounts
of groups that immigrated into Ireland usually end with the Milesians from
whom came part of the Scotts. The Milesians are also known as Hiberi,
Iberi, Gaedhal, Gaeli, and Scotti, and these are all names of various ancestors.
This group was the last to arrive and considered the most numerous and
dominant.
There are
several versions concerning how the Milesians came to Ireland but all of
them more or less follow the same pattern and are compatible with similar
early British versions concerning the Scotti.
(The Scotti
who settled in Scotland came from Ireland and are considered a branch of
the Hiberi Milesians).
In general,
the accounts claim that a Scythian (named "Fennius Farsa" or something
similar) ruling somewhere near Greece was deprived of his throne and went
to live in Egypt. His son (Niul) married Scotta daughter of Pharaoh
and from their union came Goidel37.
The name of
Scotta daughter of Pharaoh seems to be recalled in every known account.
Historically the Kings of Egypt very rarely gave their daughters to outsiders
but it is recorded that Solomon king of Israel married a daughter of Pharaoh.
Also Moses the deliverer and Lawgiver of Israel as a child had been adopted
by a daughter of Pharaoh. In Talmudic tradition the foster-mother
of Moses was the same "Batya" daughter of Pharaoh who later married Mered
(1 Chronicles 4:18) from the Tribe of Judah*38. According to Talmudic
tradition39 (Megilla 13, Lev.Rabah 1:3) "Mered" is another name for Caleb,
son of Yefunei, the Kenazzi, a Prince of Judah (Numbers 13:6) who, says
the Talmud, married "Batya" the daughter of Pharaoh who had rescued and
raised Moses.
Some descendants
of Caleb, the "Chelubai" (1 Chronicles 2:9) are traceable to Chalybonitis40
and to the "Chalybe" people. Chalybonitis was in northwest Syria.
(It was in an area associated with the lari descendants of Yair who himself
(1 Chronicles 2:22) was a son of Segub son of Hezron ancestor (or "father")
of Caleb*41: The eponymous ancestor IAR was later recalled in place-names
of Ireland and Scotland). The Chalybes (descendants of Caleb) after
the Israelite exile were to be reported in areas of Ten Tribes settlement.
In the Pontus (on the southeast shores of the Black Sea) and Caucasus the
Chalybes were famous metallurgists considered as of Cimmerian origin and
recalled by Greek Chroniclers such as Xenophon42. A people of similar
name (i.e. the "Calybes") who were also famous as metal-workers were later
reported of in the Galatian area of northwest Spain. The family name
of Chaleb was "Kenazi" which name connotes "metalworker"43. Justin
(44:3) said that the Calybes were skilled metallurgists who had been situated
in the Galatian area of northwest Spain. From Galatia ("Galacia")
in Spain Celts identified with the Mileasian-Hiberi migrated to Ireland
and from there to Britain. The legend of the Milesians that one of
their ancestors had been married to the daughter of Pharaoh may be connected
with presence of "Chalybes" (or "Calybes") descendants of Caleb from Judah
amongst them*44.
The Irish
accounts say that whilst in Egypt, the land of Capaciront (i.e. Pi HaHerut
= Goshen?) near the Red Sea was given to Goidel. Pharaoh began to
persecute the Hebrews and Goidel refused to participate but rather befriended
the Hebrews who gave him the opportunity to unite with them45. Because
of this or because Pharaoh feared that Goidel would try to take over the
country the people of Goidel were forced to flee. Several versions
say expressly that the company of Goidel included Israelites. They
were described as wandering for 42 years in Africa, then to "the altars
of the Philistines". then to Syria, then again to North Africa whence they
passed into Spain, whence they went to Spanish Galatia in the northwest
and from there to Ireland46. They kept the Mosaic Law and did not
eat forbidden foods47. Their leaders in invading Ireland were Heber
and Heremon48 both Hebrew names like much of British-Celtic nomenclature...
The above
accounts may seem highly fanciful but they should be considered in the
light of other facts. The idea of a Scythian origin is known and
defendable from other sources; the Irish (and Welsh) language definitely
does show a strong Middle Eastern and North African influence; Archaeological
and other evidence also indicates that the ancestors of the Hiberi Gaelic-Irish
from "Syria" and Israel did enter Spain, move to the northwest, and pass
over into Ireland; many aspects of the Mosaic law were kept at one time
or other independently of Christian influence49; to say outrightly that
they were of Israelite descent would have been inconsistent with the Church
outlook of that time.
The England
historian Bede said that the Gaels who invaded Scotland from Ireland came
originally from Scythia and the Cimmerian Chersonesus (Crimea).
In the court
of Charlemagne (king of France and western Europe) Irish influence was
quite strong and they were referred to as "Egyptians50" perhaps in reference
to their claimed origins.
Gildas said
that the British Celts were "Truly Israel of the Exodus"51. Gildas
wrote about 540 c.e. He lived in Britain at the time that it was
being conquered by the pagan Angles, Jutes, and Saxons. As a Christian
priest he was horrified by what he saw. He attributed the calamity
to the sins of the Celtic people and upbraided them. He used Biblical
expressions and several times addressed the Celtic princes as The Lost
Tribes of Israel and referred to Britain as "a treacherous lioness of Gad"
though why he chose Gad out of all the 12 Tribes of Israel is unknown.
It was said that the Milesians brought Mosaic Law into Errin at their coming
and that this law was the Law of Ireland before their conversion to Christianity
at the time of St. Patrick52.
Some of the
Celts were quite wild and according to reports even cannibalistic while
others were highly cultured. They were not all of one origin but
Israelites were dominant amongst significant sections of them, and this
is what interests us.
The
Irish versions were repeated or paralleled by Scottish and later by English
sources. Some of these (such as that of Nennius) are quite early.
These additional accounts often provide supplementary information of some
significance.
"Roberts"
in what is described as "one of the oldest histories in the English language"*53
speaks of Israelites led by a certain Bartholome (also known as "Erain"?
cf. Numbers23:36: Eran son of Ephraim son of Joseph) who were driven
from Spain and settled in Ireland:
"Gwrgan(r)t....directed
them (Bartholomew and company).. to go to Ireland, which at that time lay
waste and uninhabited...and there they settled...; and there their descendants
are to this day in Ireland."
"He Bartholome...had
his name from a river of Spain called Eirinnal, on the banks of which they
had lived...they had arrived from Israel (Palestine) their original country,
and...their ancestors dwelt in a retired part of Spain, near Eirnia, from
whence the Spaniards drove them to sea...."
"Bartholomew"
or "Partholomew" is also mentioned in Irish accounts as leader of one of
the first groups who settled in Ireland. In the account of Roberts
above it says expressly that "Israel (Palestine)" was "their original country".
In 1581 Vincenzio
Galilei (father of the astronomer, Galileo Galilei) wrote that the Irish
believed themselves descended from David, King of Israel, and that was
why they used a harp as their symbol*54.
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