| Tape
Six Side Two by Yair Davidiy Celtic Traditions
This was the place the children of Israel camped by just before the parting of the Red Sea. Even though Neal in “The Annals of Clonmacnoise” is a Scythian and is described as descended from Japhet he is in Egypt at the same time as the Israelites, he identifies with the Israelites, he helps the Israelites and he is given an opportunity to participate in the inheritance of the Israelites. Neal declines to join the Israelites but Israelites are left with him and somehow or other Neal in effect becomes part of the Israelite forces though he settles elsewhere. The sons of Neal are Essru and Sru who both have names that may be forms of the name Israel. Sru is rendered “Isru” in some versions. The name Israel in Hebew is “Yisra-el” and the “-el” (in “Yisra-el”) means God and as names go “-el” could be dropped off the name. Examples for such changes of names exist. The “y” sound in “Yisra” could be also deleted in the Northern and Phoenician dialect of Hebrew. We thus have “Isra” Instead of Israel becoming pronounced as “Isru”. Sru and Isru were the sons of Neal. It should be pointed out that the ancient Irish were probably unaware of the existence of “The Lost Ten Tribes”. For them all Israelites were “Jews”. They therefore had to rationalize how someone could have participated in Israelite history almost as an Israelite yet not belong to them, and also be a Scythian and have stayed in Egypt. To their Medieval way of thinking the Scythians came from “Scythia” in the north and all northern peoples belonged to Japhet according to their way of thinking. From Egypt the Annals say the Milesians moved to Spain and from Spain they moved to Ireland. THE LADDER OF JACOB
AND THE STONE OF SCONE
The Milesians brought with them to Ireland a sacred stone on which their kings were coronated. This manner of coronation over a stone is believed to have been an Israelite custom hinted at in the Bible. Later this same stone of the Milesians was carried over to Scotland and there it was known as the Stone of Scone. The Stone was afterwards taken from Scotland and placed under the Coronation Chair of the monarchs of Britain where it remained until recently. At present the Stone is in Scotland. Legend states that the stone brought over to Ireland by the Milesians was that on which Jacob slept (Genesis ch.28): [Genesis 28:10] AND JACOB WENT OUT FROM BEERSHEBA, AND WENT TOWARD HARAN. Jacob had dreamt of angels ascending and descending a ladder reaching up into heaven. According to the Midrash (Genesis, Tanchuma, VaYaetse) this dream about angels going up and down to heaven on a ladder concerned the potential future rule of the world and the rescue of the descendants of Jacob from afar and from the land of their captivity (spoken of in Jeremiah 30;10). This mean says the Midrash the rescue of the descendants of Jacob from Galia (i.e. Gaul) and from Espania (Spain) and from the neighboring lands. The Milesians did pass through Spain and some of them had been in Gaul before they crossed over to Ireland and Britain. A part of Christian doctrine is the idea that “true” believers or what not in Christianity are in effect spiritually Israel. Many people in Britain and the Western nations tended to take this notion a step further and physically associate themselves with the ancient Hebrews. The point is that people often tend to believe instinctively in something that they cannot prove but feel to be so. Many scientific and other research breakthroughs have their origins in such intuitive feeling. These feelings should not be dismissed altogether. From a moral point of view, to invent tales justifying even the most lofty ideas is forbidden, “Keep far away from a false matter” (Exodus 23;7). Even so even false beliefs or obviously invented legends etc., sometimes may express an instinctively realized reality at the subconscious level. The Stone of Scone may (and yet may not) be an ordinary piece of rock that was hewn out of a quarry in Scotland, as some claim it was. Even so, the definite origins of The Stone of Scone are unknown. It was considered in tradition to be the stone upon which Jacob slept and that on which he received the promise concerning the future of his descendants. The Stone would have significance for the descendants of Jacob and not for other peoples. A poem attributed to Sir Walter Scott concerning the Stone of Scone is said to actually be a free rendition of an ancient Gaelic couplet. The poem goes: “Unless the fates are faithless grown, And Prophets voice be vain, Where’er is found this sacred stone, the wanderer’s (Scothic) race shall reign.” According to Hollingshed’s Chronicles: “When our king (Edward-i) went forth to see the mountains [of Scotland], and understanding that all was at peace and quiet, he turned to the Abbey of Scone which was of chanons regular, where he took the stone, called the Regal of Scotland, upon which the kings of that nation were wont to sit at the time of their coronation for a throne, and sent it to the Abbey of Westminster. The Scots claim that this was the stone whereon Jacob slept when he fled to Mesopotamia”. We see from this that from the very beginning the people of Scotland believed that the Stone upon which their kings were coronated was the stone upon which Jacob slept. This belief was passed on to all the peoples of Britain. The British believed that their rulers were coronated (i.e. received the right to rule) on the stone of Jacob: They therefore, it is inferred, thought that the right of their rulers to Empire came from the Promise to Jacob. When seen in this light the real origin of the stone becomes less historically significant than the beliefs surrounding it. John Toland (1670-1772) reported: “The Fatal Stone (Liag Fail) so called, was the stone on which the supreme kings of Ireland used to be inaugurated, in the time of heathenism on the hill of Tara; it was superstitiously sent to confirm the Irish colony in the north of Great Britain, where it was continued as the coronation seat of the Scottish kings ever since Christianity; till in the year 1300 Edward -i, of England brought it from Scone, placing it under the coronation chair at Westminster AND THERE IT STILL CONTINUES. I HAD ALMOST FORGOTTEN TO TELL YOU THAT IT IS NOW CALLED BY THE VULGAR, JACOB’S STONE... AS IF THIS HAD BEEN JACOB’S PILLAR AT BETHEL”. Jacob (who was renamed “Israel”) had a dream about “The ladder reaching to heaven”. The dream of the Patriarch Jacob culminated in a promise from God that his seed would be as numerous as the dust of the earth, that they would spread to the west, east, north, and south, and that all the families of the earth would be blessed in him and in his seed; that God would keep him and bring him back; and in the promise that “I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of” (Genesis 28;15). Go: [Genesis 28:15] AND, BEHOLD, I AM WITH THEE, AND WILL KEEP THEE IN ALL PLACES WHITHER THOU GOEST, AND WILL BRING THEE AGAIN INTO THIS LAND; FOR I WILL NOT LEAVE THEE, UNTIL I HAVE DONE THAT WHICH I HAVE SPOKEN TO THEE OF. The promise was given to Jacob just as he was a leaving the Land of Israel to go into exile and later return. What was happening to Jacob as an individual foreshadowed the destiny of his descendants. God says that he will not leave Jacob until he has done everything He has promised and then He will bring Jacob back. In other words all the promises about Jacob becoming a great and exceedingly populous nation would be fulfilled before Jacob returned to the Land of Israel from his place of Exile in the end times. This promise may be understood that Jacob was promised that God would be with him and God would make him a great nation even while Jacob would be in Exile. This promise was fulfilled in the Ten Tribes. We showed before that at least part of the Celtic inhabitants of Britain at some time must have practiced part of the Mosaic Law before they became Christian. We know however that most of the Ancient inhabitants of Britain before they became Christians were pagans. They had worshipped pagan gods and they had pagan priests named Druids. The religion of the Druids was a mixture of ancient pagan Canaanite practices from the Middle East together with some Hebrew customs. There were some Hebrew elements in Druidism. When the Celts became Christian they carried over into Christianity some of the customs of the Druids. There were Biblical Laws among the customs of the Druids that the British and Irish Celts continued to practice after becoming Christians. This explains in part why the original Celtic Christians of Britain adopted many “Old Testament” practices of the Law of Moses. Concerning the Druids: Julius Caesar (in his book “The Conquest of Gaul”) wrote: “The Druidic doctrine is believed to have been found existing in Britain and thence imported into Gaul; even today those who want to make a profound study of it generally go to Britain for the purpose...It is said that these pupils have to memorize a great number of verses so many, that some of them spend twenty years at their studies. The Druids believe that their religion forbids them to commit their teachings to writing, although for some other purposes, such as public and private accounts, the Gauls use the Greek alphabet”. The Romans conquered Britain and began to persecute the Druids. The Romans persecuted the Druids and many Druids fled to Scandinavia according to Welsh tradition and this has been confirmed by archaeological finds in Scandinavia. Those Druids who remained in West Britain and Ireland founded colleges and communal settlements that were based at least partly on their clans, on their clan relationships. When the Celts were converted to Christianity the colleges of the Druids and the settlements of Druids were transformed into monasteries. T.W. ROLLESTON, (“Myths And Legends Of The Celtic Race”, 1911, London) quotes from Bertrand (“L’Irlande Celtique”)- very soon after the conversion of Ireland by Christianity the country was covered by monasteries whose complete organization seems to indicate that they were really Druidic colleges transformed en masse into monasteries. These monasteries at first accepted married members. Saints and customs of the early Celtic Church were taken over from Druidical belief and practice. These included customs that were later identified as Jewish customs since a similarity existed in several matters between the Celtic Druidical practice and the Laws of Moses. The Druids like the Hebrews had practiced social ostracism as a means of coercion, they had an Oral Law that it was forbidden to write. They gave tithes and first fruits. Their sacrificial modes were similar to Biblical ones. They practiced ritual purity in ways that are reminiscent of Laws in the Bible about purification. Traditions exist that some of the Celts of Britain and Ireland practiced the Mosaic Law before the coming of Christianity. Leslie Hardinge “The Celtic Church in Britain”, London, 1972, quoted and summarised by Crawford p.52. (quoted by Deborah K.E. Crawford, “St. Joseph In Britain: Reconsidering The Legends. Part 2”, Folklore 105 (1994): 51-59.) says that the Celtic Christians of the British Isles placed a “strong emphasis on the legal aspects of the Old Testament”. An Irish work (“Liber ex Lege Moisi”) from ca.800 c.e. uses Old Testament Law as “a prime directive, for the proper conduct of everyday life”. It is said that the Celtic Church was closer to Judaism than any other branch of Christianity. Harding says: “The shared elements include the keeping of the Saturday Sabbath, tithing, the definition of `first fruits’ and offerings, the establishment of walled precincts for the priestly/monastic families, inheritance of religious office, and fasting and dietary restrictions. It also appears that the Celts kept Easter by older methods of reckoning, one of which caused Easter to coincide with the Passover”. “Other scholarship suggests that Irish Churchmen of the seventh and eighth centuries actually considered themselves to be priests and Levites, as defined under Old Testament law”. The Celtic British historian Gildas in the 500s CE believed the British Celts (“Britones”) to be of Israelite descent (Crawford p.52 quotes from O’Corrain and Breen, “The Laws of the Irish”, 1984, p.394). Gildas accused the British Celts of wanting to join the Jews. Crawford says: “Theodore, Gildas, and Wilfred all associated the Celtic practices with the Jews”. Celtic Christianity was a cultural continuation of Celtic Druidism that emphasized Oral tradition and the learning by rote of ancient law. There existed a cultural continuity between Druidism and Celtic Christianity which was especially apparent in relation to Galastonbury (Crawford). Crawford says that: “The stories brought by the Irish monks, and the brief references written on the margins of manuscripts, demonstrate the ongoing existence and importance of traditional Celtic accounts”. MRS. WINTHROP PALMER BOSWELL, (“The Roots Of Irish Monasticism”, California, 1969) adds to the above listed Jewish features of Celtic religion: “...the prominence of Hebrew features in Irish canon law collections (including Biblical cities of Refuge and Jubilee Years) together with Mosaic prohibitions on diet and injunctions on tithes...There was also a Hebrew treatment of the sanctuary ...and finally there were many Hebrew words occurring in cryptographic monastic Irish works such as Hisperica Famina”. Mosaic parallelisms found amongst early Celtic Christians include the prohibition of sex in the menstrual period and after birth, also ritual animal slaughter was kept, and usury was prohibited (Baigent, Leigh, & Lincoln. “The Messianic Legacy”,1986, 1987 U.K. Old Testament Biblical injunctions were generally regarded as binding.. Members of the Celtic Church were suspected by the Roman Catholics of Judaising and its members in Scotland were accused of really being Jews (Baigent, Leigh, & Lincoln. “The Messianic Legacy”, 1986, 1987 U.K.). We also find that in various parts of Britain the Celtic Church kept Saturday as the Sabbath Day. Incidentally, John Brand (“Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain”, London, 1841) describes the great lengths the Church went to, to extinguish all possible traces of 7th-day Sabbath keeping amongst the English. In the 500s CE: 6th CENTURY: SCOTLAND “In this latter instance they seem to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the early monastic church of Ireland, by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labours” (Life of St. Columba, page 96) Columba specifically referred to Saturday as the Sabbath and this was the custom of that early church on Iona, an island off the coast of Scotland). 7th CENTURY: SCOTLAND AND IRELAND In the 600s CE: “It seems to have been customary in the Celtic Churches of the early times in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday as a day of rest from labour. They observed the fourth commandment [that you should not work on the seventh day] literally on the seventh day of the week.” (The Church in Scotland, Moffatt, page 140) “The Celts ...kept Saturday as a day of rest.” (The rise of the Medieval Church, page 237) In the 900s CE: 10th CENTURY: SCOTLAND “They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a Sabbatical manner.” (A History of Scotland from the Roman Occupation, vol.1, p.96) In the 1000s CE: 11th CENTURY: SCOTLAND “They held that Saturday was properly the Sabbath on which they abstained from work.” (Celtic Scotland, vol.2, p.350) During the 11th century the Catholic Queen of Scotland, Margaret, tried to stamp out those that kept Saturday as the Sabbath Day and who refused to honor Sunday as the Sabbath Day. Modern Times Andrew Correll wrote to us saying that in later times amongst the Pesbyterians of Scotland there were people who kept Sunday in a similar fashion on some points as to how the Jews keep the Sabbath day today. We see from what we have just studied that the early Christians in Celtic Britain identified with the “Old Testament” Laws and thought they were obligated to observe them even though the official Church was against these Hebrew-type ideas and it sometimes persecuted the Celtic Christians for trying to keep the Laws of Moses. We also see that this attitude was due at least in part to the traditions and customs they had been held before they became Christians since within the Druid religion there did exist a Hebrew element. THE CHRONICLES OF ERI
Celtic Histories should be considered as rationalized synthetic compendiums of several traditions. They appear to be genuine traditions that have passed through a process of rationalization, i.e. the authors took available traditions and put them together in a framework that was consider to be historical at the time. These Histories we have quoted from are rationalized synthetic compendiums of several traditions that contain genuine skeleton of historical fact. There is some truth in these Histories and we have been able to discern this truth especially where it concerns proof of Israelite origins. Another example of genuine Historical tradition mixed with literary additions and imaginations is found in the Chronicles of Eri. “The Chronicles of Eri, being the history of the Gaal Sciot Iber, or the Irish People, translated from the Phoenician dialect of the Scythian language”, by Roger O’ Connor. They were published in London in two volumes in 1822. It is not certain what sources this work is based upon but internal evidence indicates that it derived from similar ancient traditions as do the other works that we have quoted from. The very title says that it is “translated from the Phoenician dialect of the Scythian language.” There is no “Phoenician dialect of the Scythian language” but the language of Lost Ten Tribes before they were exiled was a Hebrew dialect similar to the Phoenician language. When the Israelite were exiled they moved westward by two major pathways: One pathway was connected to the Phoenicians who transported captive Israelites overseas to Spain and from Spain they later moved to Ireland and Britain. The other pathway was connected to the Scythians who from the Middle East moved through Russia and Germany to the British Isles. The exiled Israelites from the Lost Ten Tribes were either Scythians or they joined up with the Scythians and traveled with them. They moved with them and identified with them. “The Chronicles of Eri” identifies the Scythians as a people who used the Phoenician dialect and since the Phoenician dialect really was a dialect of Hebrew “The Chronicles” say that they spoke a dialect of Hebrew. “The Chronicles of Eri” DO NOT identify the Celts with the Hebrews BUT if one takes “The Chronicles of Eri” seriously then one could draw the conclusion that the ancient Irish Celts were either Hebrews or related to them. “The Chronicles of Eri” mention facts that in recent times have been confirmed by archaeology but were not known in 1822 when the Chronicles were first published. The Chronicle says that the Gaali had been in Armenia, and the Caucasus. They were traders and metallurgists, and archers. They were oppressed by the Assyrians and fled via Hamath in northern Syria. Hamath adjoined “Daphne of Antiochia”. “Daphne of Antiochia” in effect was a suburb of Hamath. Hamath or rather “Daphne of Antiochia” was considered by the Talmud as one of three regions through which the Lost Ten Tribes were taken into exile. The Chronicles tells how the Gaali sailed to Spain which was then ruled by the Phoenicians who in turn were directed from (Assyrian-controlled?) Hamath. [This is the same as what we have been saying in our researches]. In Spain they moved from the southern area of Tartessos to Galatia in the northwest and they shook off Phoenician control. Together with the Phoenicians from their base in Spain they established mining operations in Cornwall, in Britain. Some of them moved to Aquitaine in Gaul. Due to war and famine, those of the Galli who were in Spanish Galatia emigrated to Ireland. Though not Phoenicians they worshiped God under the form of baal, received instruction in Phoenician ways, bore Hebrew-sounding names and they had Israelite-values such as an aversion to images and other characteristics. The Chronicles connect up with a verse in Isaiah: A verse in Isaiah says: “They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD. They shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore, glorify the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea” (Isaiah 24;14-15). [Isaiah 24:14] THEY SHALL LIFT UP THEIR VOICE, THEY SHALL SING FOR THE MAJESTY OF THE LORD, THEY SHALL CRY ALOUD FROM THE SEA. “CRY ALOUD FROM THE SEA”: In Hebrew the word “from the sea” (“me-yam”) also means “from the west”. The major sea was to the West. The Aramaic Translation and Commentators say it means the exiles will be in the West in the last Days. Then it goes on to speak of Britain. [Isaiah 24:15] WHEREFORE GLORIFY YE THE LORD IN THE FIRES, EVEN THE NAME OF THE LORD GOD O ISRAEL IN THE ISLES OF THE SEA. The verse speak of Israel being in the West, being in the Isles of the Sea and also being in Isles in which fires can be seen in the Isles of the Sea, through which God should be worshipped. According to "The Chronicles of Eri" the Gaali of Sciot (the people he is speaking of) had the custom of lighting beacon fires on the coasts. “All the headlands and promontories belonging to the Gaal of Sciot on the northwest coast of Spain were called in the Phoenician language Breoccean, that is, The Land of Flaming Fires, because of the blaze that was kept up and could be seen at a great distance out to sea. The same custom was observed on the coast of Cornwall and Devonshire after the Gaal of Sciot joined with the Phoenicians in their mining operations there, and that land was called Breotan, Breo meaning Flaming Fire” [cf. “BIAR” = burn in Hebrew]. We thus find that the people known as the Gaaal of Sciot, the people whom the Chronicles claim were the ancestors of the Irish and Scots, that this people had the custom of lighting fires that could be seen out to sea. They practiced this custom when they were in northwest Spain and later on the southwest coast of Britain when they set up mining operations in that area. We find elsewhere that this practice was known throughout Britain. A scholar named Piotr Gasiorowski reports that the ancient British were in the custom of lighting fires on the hilltops that could be seen out to sea: Piotr Gasiorowski: <<I think the tradition of erecting hilltop cairns and mounds as orientation marks, and of using beacon fires for long-distance communication was very strong in Celtic (also Roman) Britain; the landscape of much of the country is as suitable for this purpose as could be. One trace of that is the occurrence of the Brythonic element tan- 'fire' (Welsh t?n) in hill names (there are many Tan Hills in England). -- not only in ancient times but all through history down to the invention of the telegraph. For example, a network of beacons set up on hilltops was used in England in 1588 to signal the approach of the Spanish Armada, and once it was spotted off the Scillies the news reached the English commanders in no time at all.>> We thus find confirmation of the report in the Chronicles of Eri. We also see that England was known as a place on which beacons, flames, were lit on the hilltops that could be seen out to sea and we have Isaiah identifying the exiled of Israel with fires that could be seen from the sea and were in the Isles of the Sea and Britain was known for this custom in Celtic Times and later. Home Tapes Index |