"Brit-Am Now"-685
Contents:
1. Steven Collins: Tara, Tamar in Ireland, Menasseh in the USA, and Gad in Germany
2. Populations Increase and "Bottlenecks": A Biblical Precedent
3. Question Concerning Paternal versus Maternal Lineage
1. Steven Collins: Tara, Tamar in Ireland, Menasseh in the USA, and Gad in Germany
From: Steve Collins <scollins@ll.net>
Subject: Re: "Brit-Am Now"-684
Shalom Yair,
One of the links sent out with information about Tara in Ireland mentioned that the Gaelic name for the site is "Temair." I find this to be significant as the consonants of that ancient spelling are T-M-R (the same as the biblical/Hebrew name "Tamar"). Tamar, as you and your readers know, was the name of King David's daughter (II Samuel 13:1), King David's granddaughter (II Samuel 14:27) and Judah's daughter-in-law/consort (Genesis 38:6-30). This name later became a geographic place name as well (I Kings 9:18 in the ASV or "Tadmor" in the KJV and also in Ezekiel 47:19). Yair Davidy's books and mine have both noted the name "Tamar" resurfaced in both ancient Spain and in the British Isles.
The name, Tamar, is closely linked to females in the royal dynastic lineage of King David. The name of a later Queen of the Massagetae, a dominant Scythian tribe in the 5th century B.C., was Tomyris, which also includes the consonants of the Hebrew/Israelites name Tamar in its first two syllables (Tomyr-is). That this historic Israelite/Hebrew name associated with the royal dynasty of King David became prominent in ancient Ireland in the post-exilic period is evidence that the royal line of King David was transplanted into Ireland after the kingdom of Judah fell (most likely by Jeremiah, Baruch and their party who was traveling westward with "the king's daughters" from Judah after Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians (Jeremiah 43:1-7).
The posting about a link between Assyria and Germany is also worthy of comment. To begin with, let me say that I agree with Yair Davidy that the numerous German immigrants to early America (which includes one of my ancestors who arrived in pre-Revolutionary War Pennsylvania in 1763) were descendants of the tribe of Manasseh. The tribe of Manasseh went into exile from the Promised Land in two different migrations (the half-tribe east of the Jordan river went into exile with the Gileadites prior to the fall of Samaria and the half-tribe west of the Jordan River was exiled later when Samaria fell). These half-tribes of Manasseh eventually arrived, respectively, in the mainland region of Europe in Germany and in the British Isles. When early America was settled, these half-tribes of Manasseh were reunited seamlessly in the early period of the 13 colonies/nation of the USA. However, I maintain in my book, Israel's Tribes Today, that the region of Western Germany is mostly inhabited today by the Israelite tribe of Gad (which went into exile with the half-tribe of Manasseh living in Gilead). The nation of Germany is the only modern European nation which satisfies the prophecy in Genesis 49 for the tribe of Gad in the latter days.
It is also my view that the Assyrians (who were Semites descended from Shem, Genesis 10:21-22) largely settled to the east of the Israelite tribes in Central Europe. I regard them as primarily the Prussians, who were, like the Assyrians, renowned for their militarism. Prussia no longer exists as an independent entity, but I think many of the modern Assyrians are centered in what used to be called East Germany. However, the Prussians scattered throughout Germany when "Prussia" ceased to be a German entity after the World Wars.
It should be realized that the term "German" is a very broad one and it included many tribes migrating into Europe. The many tribes called "German" by the Romans eventually settled in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Danmark, Norway, England, Holland, etc. All these nations speak modern languages which descended from an earlier "German" tongue of antiquity.
Steven Collins
Brit-Am Comment: Please note that contrary to Steven Collins Brit-Am identifies Gad with
present-day Sweden. We do not consider the majority of present-day Germans to be of Israelite
stock.
Concerning Tamar and Tara in Ireland this is discussed in an article that should appear
in the next issue of our magazine "Brit-Am Truth" where too we consider the possibility
that the Ark of the Covenant is buried underneath the Hill of Tara.
2. Populations Increase and "Bottlenecks"
In historical demographic studies population fluctuates.
After the demise of the Roman Empire for instance world population
seriously diminished for some time before picking up again.
This created "Bottlenecks".
A "bottleneck" occurs when only a few of the original members
manage to perpetuate themselves.
Theoretically a community could have had a 100 founders
but after a few generations we could find that
90 had left no descendants.
The ten that continued may have been of different origin
than those that did not.
Physically populations change over a period.
The changes could be due to environment or they could be due
to one element in the population becoming more prominent than another
simply by having more surviving babies generation after generation.
There is also the phenomenon of one group suddenly diminishing drastically while
another spurts ahead as if from nowhere.
Not all of these changes are explained or noticed
in historical studies though their effects can be more important than numerous
wars and the like.
These considerations influence attempts to relate certain groups to
specific ancestors.
For an example of the said phenomenon see
http://britam.org/now/652Now.html
"Brit-Am Now"-652
#1. Jay: Was There An Ethnically Selective Plague in Britain?
See also:
http://britam.org/now/657Now.html
"Brit-Am Now"-657
#3. DNA Four Mothers of Present Day European Jews?
Biblical Commentators also noticed this phenomenon:
Dan is listed with only one son
[Genesis 46:23] AND THE SONS OF DAN; HUSHIM.
At this time some of the brothers of Dan had much larger families.
Benjamin, for instance, is listed with ten sons (Genesis 46:21).
Later however we find that Dan had become the second (after Judah) most populous out
of all the tribes with 62,270 warriors (Numbers 1:38)
compared to 35,400 for Benjamin (Numbers 1:36).
Some Graphic Population Charts
Population Graphs
Historical Estimates of World Population
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/worldhis.html
Contains a table showing different estimates and beginning from
the earliest times.
Historical Human Populations
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/david.curry/worldpop.htm
Shows an upward curving graph from the earliest times
Human Population Through History
1 A.D. to 2020
http://desip.igc.org/populationmaps.html
Shows the progressive increase accompanied by Maps
Historic Estimates of World Population
http://www.ciese.org/curriculum/popgrowthproj/worldpop.html
1 A.D. to 2020
Shows an upward curving graph
3. Question Concerning Paternal versus Maternal Lineage
Hello Yair,
My mother and I are tracing our genealogy and we need to know , if we are Israelites, which one of our parents, should we be looking at ? We have heard that the Jews follow their mothers blood line but I don't really get that from reading the old testement. It seems to me it would follow Abraham, Issac and Israel.. Will you clear this up for us and do you have a book on this subject ?
Thanks again, Tracy
Answer:
We do not have a book on the subject apart from "The Tribes"
that shows historical developments tracing different Israelite
groups and the various families and clans that developed from them.
Concerning the Jews and mothers blood line
and its Biblical sources see what we wrote on this matter:
Brit-Am Replies to Queries:
Judaism
http://www.britam.org/Questions/QuesJudaism.html#Mother
#4. Question: Judaism says that a person is a Jew if
they are born of a Jewish mother or have undergone a valid Conversion.
Is there any Biblical foundation for the "Jewish Mother" Law?
This answer however really only applies to Jews bound by the Law.
Tribal descent in most cases is determined by the father.
The ancestry of the paternal line should therefore be the one to concentrate upon.
Nevertheless there are no iron clad rules in these matters and a person should
go by their "gut" feeling.
Sometimes a person feels that the female lineage is the most important in their
case and they could be correct.
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