ERM - Ser 1, Bk 3 Tia Tephi - Totten
OUR RACE
SERIES I Book 3
1891 A.D.
TEA TEPHI - DAVID'S DAUGHTER - JEREMIAH'S WARD.
'THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD; I WILL ALSO TAKE OF THE HIGHEST BRANCH OF THE CEDAR, AND WILL SET IT; I WILL CROP OFF FROM THE TOP OF HIS YOUNG TWIGS A TENDER ONE, AND WILL PLANT IT UPON AN HIGH MOUNTAIN, AND EMINENT; IN THE MOUNTAIN OF THE HEIGHT OF ISRAEL WILL I PLANT IT; IN THE LAND OF TRAFFIC; IN A CITY OF MERCHANTS; IN A FRUITFUL FIELD; BY GREAT WATERS.' (EZEKIEL 17:22-23)
BY: C. A. L. TOTTEN, U. S. A.
BOOK REPORT BY: ELLA ROSE MAST - JANUARY OF 1979
SERIES NO. 1, BOOK NO. 3
THE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY BY:...C. A. L. TOTTEN
THE ROMANCE WITHIN A ROMANCE:..TEA TEPHI * DAVID'S DAUGHTER
( JEREMIAH'S WARD )
As we consider our subject we find that there was prophecy which had to be fulfilled...the scattering of the Holy People. We remember the scripture as to the battle of the Kings, in the Vale of Siddim, in which Abraham is involved. At its outcome neither the kings who conquered under Chedorlaomer nor those who failed under Bera, the King of Sodom, nor Lot, who suffered in their fall, considered that the dye of war is always weighted by the God of Battle. Hence Abraham as the final factor in this opening chapter of terrestrial conflict, pursued and smote the victors near Damascus, and rescued Lot, and his persons and all his possessions. But...it was to Abraham that Melchizedek came with bread and wine.
Rarely if ever does the secular press interest itself at all with policies that come from Sinai, and the fingers of God. Even the religious press stammers as it pronounces the dictum, 'right prevails', and fights shy of the prophecies as miry ground. Spiritualizes all for which it cannot find such patent literal footing, as such satisfying the liberal school, and divides, the metaphors of the Scriptures into the tenants of as many sects as there are days in the Civil War. Further and further into by-gone days the God of Scripture is negated. That he ever interferes with the affairs of men, or condescends to write between the petty lines of history, but few individuals literally believe. And it is certain that no nations, as such, bows down to such a creed, abiding by it in all of their concerns.
To most of us, be the kingdom of Heaven what it may, that of earth is like unto a certain ruler who went into a very far country and decided to remain ruler who went into a very far country and decided to remain there. Science, so called, has essayed to take out new naturalization papers for the human race, and has derived its breath, as well as its body, from the latent potentialities of dust itself. If such a process is legitimate, and shall be continued to its logical conclusion, then Biblical faith is already doomed, and inspiration re-defined, must be admitted as merely a form of poetic imagination. We challenge this whole process, and shall undertake to show that events are literally following the lines already mapped out for them in Holy Writ, and that they hasten towards the final consummation which is the solution of the controversy of Zion.
We contend that we must recognize the fact of the 'Scattering of the Holy People'. That we must learn whether or not YAHWEH-God broke his promise to these people. We contend that we the people of The Faith should establish these facts as true, or how can we go to the world with a truth that we do not try to prove. The time has come to realize that a nation as well as an individual is only as big as his concept of His GOD. We have reached the time when we must recognize the fact that as Daniel the Prophet put it:...'In the days of these kingdom's'...another Kingdom of Stone, and small, and yet the seed of a veritable mountain of endurance, was also to be set up. Its establishment was to be effected 'Without hands',...that is, without human agency or intention, and by HIM who had originally divided the Earth among the descendants of Adam, and had set the boundaries of all people according to the destined number of the Sons of Jacob. Of this Kingdom we shall speak, for it has been strangely lost to the sight of historians that just such an empire was at this time actually set up, in a place apart, and that it has continued independent of all foreign rule from those days to the present time, nor ceased thenceforth to grow, expanding with its endless days.
We must also realize that as the Holy People are scattered that their captivities did not occur all at once, for many of them began that migration before the Children of Israel were delivered out of Egyptian captivity, and always they moved in the direction of their destiny. Even those of Abraham who were not of Isaac, and Jacob also moved in their destiny. The children of Keturah moved to the east, and later the Indian Empire of Great Britain recognized this fact. These of Keturah were sent away earlier lest they confuse the inheritance, but the Brahminism of India started from this background of the true Religion of the Hebrews. Many religions have laid claim to Palestine but there can only be one true Faith, altho many have a trace of truth, for they have been involved with this site of Adam's banishment...to Mount Golgotha, where he is buried, and where the Second Adam was crucified.
We stand today in the 'latter times', and we wonder if it is not time to see that the ultimate destiny of the terrestrial, central, land of Palestine is not to be as the Prophets say...its next possessor must be 'Israel'...who is not a spiritual 'Israel' but a literal 'Israel', a possessor by true inheritance.....by Title deed.
Thus again we need to take a look at this question, who are the people of THE BOOK? Who are those of the House of Israel, and the House of Judah, and the Jews? There are numerous other claimants in the field as well, such as big corporations..The Rockefellers, The Rothchilds...Rome and so forth, as they are interested in the wealth of the land, but what does it say in the Scriptures as to who holds the Title deed?
'He came unto his own, and his own received him not'...This is a Scripture that has been interpreted many ways, as scholars try to figure out what John is saying in chapter 1:11. He came to this land for his birth, and most of the inhabitants received him not, especially the rulers of this land. But he came in secret did he not, and for a purpose. Thus there is certainly more of mystery involved in our own story than in that of any other race on earth. By this time our race is scattered and dwelling in their lands and colonies which belt the earth, and some still struggling toward their final destination, but they are not being numbered among the nations of the World Order. Besides, at the time he came, Anglo-Saxons were far from the land which received him not.
The Bible itself gives a most liberal definition to the object of prophecy. It is chiefly of 'ex post facto' value, and like as we honor human counsel and the predictions of mere 'old folk' experience..when fulfilled..so their words minutely come to pass. 'Now I tell you before it comes to pass, that when it comes to pass ye may believe that I AM HE,' (John 14:29)..so says THE CHRIST who is himself the Spirit of inspiration. Moreover it is superhuman to speak as Israel's prophets spake, and have events, foreseen for scores of centuries..then come to pass. Moreover to increase the weight and support the claims of authenticity there must naturally extend between the days of its promulgation, and those of its fulfillment, a suitable period of waiting, and the longer this period the better may the objection of collusion be refuted.
In this Study we will try to show that the 'eastern question', concerned in 'Israel's Destiny' is the theme of her prophets, and is so blended into Anglo-Saxon destiny that the historians of the latter days may be regarded as the successors to the Prophets.
In order to, therefore, better interpret the trend of the hurrying events, we shall invite the readers attention to a somewhat closer survey of the philosophy of Israel's national development. This has never been fully, nor indeed to our knowledge, ever been at all, duly considered in discussing the destiny of nations, and yet it is a field which promises rich harvests; if the Bible be the WORD of God, and it alone can solve the problems of our destiny. If it not be this...then why stand we in discomfort mid-ephemeral things?
From the standpoint, however, whence, according to our own views, we are convinced that the true scheme of human progress can alone be comprehended, as we reassert Identity, and Moses in his closing address to Israel summed up the subject in his summation which is as follows:....'When the MOST HIGH divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, HE set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For THE LORDS portion is in His People. Jacob is the lot (Zodiac) of his inheritance.'
Thus from the very beginning, the end, the temporal end of a temporal beginning was in the cognizance of HIM who chose (begat) a special people by whom to mold the destiny of all the rest. Thus from the Bible standpoint there is no room for chance and the plan of regeneration is Promethean. It sweeps onward with unerring confidence, and comprehends the whole of travailing creation.
Let us then draw near, and overlook the arena where the earlier scenes were laid, that we may better understand the significance of the human drama.
The geographical situation of Palestine is notably striking in its Hebrew significance, and it was considered the 'Navel of the Earth', a land of birth. Its very name is thus prophetic, for those who used it at the dawn of history, found that they were cramped within too narrow confines to perceive its central situation among the then unknown, and as yet to be inhabited...continents. It was a thoroughfare of nations, and has always maintained a central place in interest and locality. It has created an error in thinking since the days of Adam because Palestine was always there...and Jerusalem is still there. All empires of the world either fought there or marched and trafficked thru it. But Jerusalem is in fact, the very heart of Daniel's Image of...UNIVERSAL (world) Empire. Conceive this image stretched out upon the map, and its head on Golden Babylon, its silver arms and breast on Media and Persia of Darius, its brazen belly on the Greece of Alexander's day, and its heavy iron legs stretched out on either side of Trojan's Rome. Then the heart of this vast image..made of flesh..throbbed faintly at Jerusalem, and thence all its arteries went out...and thither did the poisoned blood return.
Traditionally this land of the Mid-East was the chosen home of Adam, after Eden; and there he died. Tradition further records, or testifies that Shem buried the 'Chest of Noah' containing the records of former things, and that the Sabeans, and Abraham, and some of the Prophets had due access to them. There they rest concealed, and they wait for re-discovery today. Chaldea for a time became the seat of Empire, and the cradle of ..THE RACE; but it became also the site of Babel and confusion. Thus Abram was called out of Chaldea, and into Palestine, and the vision and the promise of greatness was given to Abraham. But he was just a sojourner in a strange country at that time.
The promises were repeated and amplified successively to Isaac and to Jacob, who divided this parcel of land into 13 parcels and with Divine commission, distributed them to his own sons. As a special favor to Joseph, and conferred upon them, in particular the signal blessing of the birthright. There is no gainsaying the fact for the unbroken record of it as preserved in the Holy Writ,...that unto Judah was the Lawgiver promise..a scepter in perpetuity, and from generation to generation without lapse. It was a temporal scepter, placed in the hand of David in due time, and secured to his posterity forever; A scepter whose 'de facto' retention was to continue until HE came whose right it is, thenceforward to maintain it.
Shiloh as such, the Millennial Prince of Peace, has not yet come to rule the nations in the sense in which he is to come. Hence David's Scepter must still be in existence somewhere, and swayed over a temporal, literal lineal Israel. The integrity of YAHWEH'S Oath demands this, and the confidence of human faith looks for its fulfillment to the very letter. Never thru the darkest chapters of Judah's regal history was this plain promise doubted, and it was solemnly reiterated upon the very eve of the Babylonian captivity, and was not to bring forth subterfuge and spiritualization among those who have inherited the Book of Life, and pretend to base their hopes of resurrection upon collateral promises.
But in the meanwhile the sons of Joseph were to inherit all the temporal blessings of general headship over his brethren, as well mediately, in the universal day, over all the nations of the earth. Prosperity, financial and commercial, the fatness of the earth and the foulness thereof was Joseph's portion, nor can the law which has also had the fulfillment of this promise in its keeping from the death of Jacob, to the present time, have had its force abated in a single jot or title, if so be, we are to preserve our 'faith' intact and have a substance for our 'hope'.
With God a thousand years are a day...His mills grind slowly, but grind exceeding small. And so, while we poor mortals are lost, amazed amid the wheels of time, to HIM, who hath wound up the cycles of eternity, the story we are sketching had but just begun.
You all know the history of Joseph in Egypt, for it is a story so dear and so familiar to Anglo-Saxon childhood. How the family of Jacob came to Egypt, and to the land of Goshen which was assigned to them and there they grew into a mighty nation. But when time progressed then Egypt grew jealous and fearful at having such a mighty nation growing up in her borders, and the time came when a Pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph, and in oppression school then Israel learned the 'tale of bricks'. However there was a limit to endurance and Israel was not chastened beyond it. A leader who himself was taught new lessons in the wilderness of Midian, at the feet of Jethro, then came to rescue these people. The day finally arrived when the bondage of Israel in Egypt ceased, for God had heard their groaning, and remembered his covenant with their fathers.
Now:..with the leader prepared, then Moses led God's people out of Egypt and into the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness of Arabia. Here taught by God and man they were gradually initiated into the principals of Theocracy, and self government. And never since that time has there arisen within or out of Israel, a man such as Moses...being his equal as a statesman and a general.
Joshua schooled under such a teacher was his able successor, and under him the Israelites crossed the Jordan, and made easy conquest of this favored central land, of all the earth at that time. Thus Israel struggled toward the central place and eventually took her place among the nations of earth. But if preparation such as this were necessary to fit Israel for conquest of the Central land, what limit and what terms of years shall one assign wherein to fit her to possess the earth...her ultimate destiny.
The wilderness was Israel's apprenticeship as a nation. The next 456 years, from the Elders to the death of Solomon, they served their time as crafts-men at the science of self-government, and passed to the degree of 'Perfect Masters.' Under Barak, and Debora, Gideon, and Samuel, the people went through a long colonial period. Under Saul they at last confederated. Under David they were fully welded into a constitutional monarchy and the idea of union became a fact. And then, at last, came Israel's golden age. The man of war was gathered to his fathers, and Solomon sat upon the throne of David, and his kingdom was greatly established.
These were the glorious days of all Israel. Solomon's long reign of 40 years was profoundly peaceful and prosperous. 'He surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom,' and 'all kings of the earth sought his presence.' The navy's of Solomon made voyages as long as any that are made today. 'Once in three years came his merchantmen, bringing gold and silver, and ivory, apes, and peacocks', all emblems of a civilization advanced to the degree of luxury. Thus by means of Solomon's navy's the borders of the earth were colonized, and since this is a literal fact, then the seed was sown...was planted for a purpose far beyond the compass of this great King's merely human wisdom.
'Why did that most adventurous tribe of Israel..Dan.., abide in his ships?' There was a philosophy in it, the philosophy of history, such as the philosophy of divine providence writes between its faintest lines. We grant that they were mainly blind to this themselves, but none the less it shaped the very destiny of 'Israel's Empire'. The full significance of the growth and moving out by Israel has never been brought forth. But this exodus of Dan and others began in Egypt, and Tanis was his youthful port. And to these colonies came those of Israel in their migration, and under the guidance of the Almighty. Then when trouble came to the center of the earth, and the time came for the scattering of the power of the Holy People, then we find that places had already been prepared for these Holy People as they scattered in their migrations. Meanwhile the colonies kept silent, by command of God lest any should betray the secret till the end of days. (Isaiah 61:1-2) But, here in the times of Israel's greatness under King Solomon, the ships of Dan were first to find new fields for enterprise. We might show if we had time, that there are arguments to prove that Samson of the tribe of Dan...was Hercules. That Colchis with its Golden Fleece was but a colony of Dan. That the Greeks, called Danai, by their earlier historians, more often than not they went by that name rather than another, and were sons of Dan. That Macedonia was another colony established by this same people. That Lacedanmonians actually acknowledged their descent, and sent presents and brethren to Jerusalem bearing letters sealed with the tribal arms, and that their genealogy was acknowledged by Jonathan, the High Priest, as a matter of record in the sacred archives. That Spain was ruled by Solomon's Prime Minister, whose tomb is there today. That all the Black sea region was colonized by Dan. That Ireland was judged by the Tuatha de Danaans from the Halls of Tara, and that the language of the Welsh is almost Hebrew still today.
Yes Israel's summit was reached under Solomon, but Solomon's reign was a type of Israel's universal and millennial reign...seed sown in many waters, and yielding fruit each after its own kind, for God gave it life within itself. As his mission is completed, then Solomon was gathered to his fathers, and the Golden age of Israel ended. The times of trouble spoken of by the prophets was upon...OUR RACE..but beyond that they promised rest.
The Kingdom of Israel was split...scattered...was the word from God, also...'This is from ME'. The northern kingdom during their 255 years of independent existence lost most of her Mosaic lore, and exchanged the laws of YAHWEH for those of Baal. The Assyrians came, and they became the famous...'LOST TRIBES'. But God said: 'Ephraim is a pleasant child, a dear son', How shall I give him up?...No sooner had the captivity been consummated than a mutual turning of both Ephraim and YAHWEH toward each other began. Omniscience had foreseen and planned the whole incident for wondrous purposes. Punishment had no other object than to chasten and reclaim,..then use..the chosen instrument, re-tempered in adversity, for grander and more universal projects among all mankind.
The whole book of Hosea treats exclusively of the incidents and motives of this captivity in order to substantiate our exe gesis. Therefore let us select a few statements by Hosea about 'Lost Israel'......'Therefore, saith the LORD, Behold I will hedge up thy way with thorns.' 'And she shall follow her lovers, but she (Israel) shall not find them.' 'Then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.' 'And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shall call me no more Baali.' 'And I will say unto them that are not my people, Thou art My people; and they shall say, Thou art Our God.' 'O Israel, return unto YAHWEH, thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.' Yes! the Holy One of Israel went with 'Lost Israel', altho he walked unseen. and 'Lost Israel' was not even missed for the world was crazed with war, and busy with its own affairs. Thus as they migrated they became lost to consecutive history, both secular and sacred, but I assure you that they did not perish in the wilderness. In the wreck of things they had preserved but one idea, that was, the unity of God, from whose recognized paternity, they might not wrench themselves. In it they trusted thenceforth, and were born anew with such a creed at heart, they were prepared to recognize, the coming of The Christ, Himself, who came this time to find..to redeem..the 'Lost sheep' of his flock.
The centuries roll on and name replaces name for these same people who history and historians record. Little by little their civilization works its way across Europe. Here and there they rested, setting up 'waymarks' along the rivers and streams. The Goths became Jutes, then whites, and Fights, and Ficle and then something else, but they were Scythians in the beginning.
In the Royal Museum of Copenhagen there has been for more than 275 years, a golden trumpet, known thru out Denmark as the Danish Horn. This remarkable relic is said to be a genuine trumpet of Zion. Its weight is 102 ounces, and it measures two feet nine inches in length. The surrounding circumstances, its lily and pomegranate chasing, and the tracing of its Hebrew inscription, strangely sustains the position, and up to the present time there has not been the slightest scientific doubt as to the genuineness of this relic. This trumpet was discovered partly concealed in the ground, by a farmers daughter in 1630, in the diocese of Rypeny. How did it find its way from Jericho to Jutland unless it came across the continent with Dan, and his Kindred???
Yes:...Israel derives her stammering tongue from this stream of different names, and languages, and no wonder her children lost their way; and finally were 'lost' themselves. But the days of their concealment have transpired, and no longer wholly lost, they stand once more before the curtain, manifested in a glare of light. They are identified by language, by religion, and by inheritance; by geographical waymarks, by race proclivities, and by prophecies fulfilled. They bear the sign of the cross not only on their foreheads, but as it was made above the heads of Ephraim and Manasseh, when Joseph brought his sons for the blessing and Jacob-Israel adopted them, so too, today it marks the center of their very name of SaXon.
We have learned that the tribe of Benjamin, the light bearers who were left in Old Palestine also left that area when their work was done, and they too fled to the north and the west, to their destined resting places. As did those of Judah who were left in that area, as the Mother of The Christ, and others of their group, made their way to the west.
Thus from the beginning..and the ending of the Kingdom in Palestine..then must come forth the re-established Kingdom..in a new place, with a New Jerusalem, and a western House of God. The object of Yahweh, in His dealings with His people was to remove them from Palestine along with the scepter, and to obliterate the paths of the scepter, and replace it over this transplanted Israel in a way so secret as to utterly escape attention, until centuries have expired.
THE ROMANCE WITHIN THE ROMANCE
Jeremiah was born for a great mission. He was married to a Levite maiden, and became the father of Hamutal, the only child we seem to have any record of. At this time of Jeremiah, the kingdom of Judah is falling. The boy Josiah became king, and Hilkiah the father of Jeremiah was High Priest of the nation. At the age of 13, Josiah then in the fifth year of his reign married Zebudah, and she bore him a son, the unfortunate Jekoiakim (II Kings 23:36). The following year the king who from childhood had been attracted by the beauty of his playmate Hamutal, the granddaughter of Hilkiah the High Priest, then sought her hand in marriage. Her father bestowed her upon his friend most gladly. Thus they were married, and the two families were still further cemented.
King Josiah was a good ruler, and he purged out of the kingdom the high places and the idols and so forth. The Young Levite..Jeremiah, moved forward in his calling to do Yahweh's work for which he had been born. His father being the High Priest at that time was overseeing the cleaning up of the temple, and while grouping among the treasure chests Hilkiah discovered a cabinet. The door of this cabinet had probably not been opened since the days of persecution under the miss rule of Manasseh, and it was now opened. It was found to contain a treasure, greater than all the thousands of gold and silver that were about to be expended in repairing the ruins of the Temple. This treasure was nothing less than a complete copy of the law, with the 5 books of Moses, the only copy which had escaped the flames. This precious discovery was handed by Jeremiah's father to Shapan, the Secretary of State, who having showed it to the king, was commanded to gather all the cabinet ministers, and inquire of YAHWEH, what was to be the fate of the nation.
The Prophetess Huldah was appealed to for assistance, and she declared the approaching downfall of the nation but assured the King that it would not occur in his reign. The result was that a solemn assembly of the people was called, and all the words of the law were read in their ears, it being the season of the New Year's festival; and at its conclusion the King renewed his Oath, and with the people made a covenant upon the ancient Coronation Stone of Bethel. (II Chronicles 34:19-33 and II Kings 23:1-3) Among those who came to the assembly was Jeremiah who listened with a great heart hunger, and greedily devoured every word, and who speaking afterwards to The LORD of this meeting explained:.....'Thy words were found and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Thy Name, O LORD GOD of Hosts.'
This great discovery was followed by the crowning act of the restoration of the simple worship of God, namely; the calling of the people to one of the most famous 'Passover' ever celebrated. (II Chronicles 35:1-19) It was held in the same eighteenth year, or about 6 months after the discovery of the Law.
At about the time of this Passover, Jeroiakim, the only son of Josiah by Zebudah arrived at the age of 12 and was duly presented in the Temple as was the Hebrew custom, and being at the espousal age, he was soon after married. The King devoted himself to the task of restoring the land of Judah, and it was recorded of Josiah that there was no King before him that turned to the LORD with all his heart and soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose any like him. (II Kings 23:25) In the 25th., year of Josiah's reign, Hamutal gave birth to her second son..the famous Zedekiah who became the last monarch of the Davidic line, of whom any record is preserved in Scripture. However in this time then Jehoiachin, the first and probably the only son of Jehoiakim was born, and thus the legal chances of the scepter remaining in the hands of Zebudah's branch of Josiah's family seemed assured.
During the quiet decade which followed Zedekiah's birth, Palestine seemed to have fully recovered her vitality and strength. But after all, the reformation was an enforced one, and as all history testifies, in similar cases, the sins of Judah broke out afresh as soon as the personal influence of Josiah was withdrawn. Nor is there any doubt that it was on account of her secret sins, beyond the reach of any mere human reformer, that the fierceness of God's anger continued unappeased.
THE SECOND COMMANDMENT:
The penalty for the sins of Manasseh and his contemporaries obeyed the universal law, and in due time was literally 'visited upon the third and fourth generation'...upon Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin his son, and upon Zedekiah and his sons. The decree of Jehovah was inevitable, for it had been based upon the foreseen insincerity of Judah's protestations, hence also it is recorded in terms that expressly recognize the continued distinction between 'two kingdoms'...that the LORD said: 'I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel.' (II Kings 23:27) At the close of this decade the reign of Josiah had attained the measure of a normal generation, and as king since he was but 38 years of age would probably have been much longer, had not a fatal mistake in policy, long foreseen of God brought it to a sudden termination. In the latter part of the next..his 31st., and final year, Pharaoh Necho came against the king of Babylon with whom Josiah had formed an offensive and defensive alliance. The Egyptians, altho not wanting to fight with Judah, still skirted the western borders of Palestine in order to cross it far above Jerusalem, in the land which once belonged to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and Josiah considered this a piece of bold effrontery. His army felt the same way, and being in fine condition they went out against the Egyptians at Megidoo, and in this battle the king received his mortal wound, and died in his chariot on the way back to his capital. All Jerusalem and Judah mourned for his sudden end, and it is very naturally recorded that Jeremiah, in particular, 'lamented for Josiah'...his own son-in-law. (II Chronicles 32:25)
ZERAH VERSUS PHAREZ:
We will now relate the closing act of 'Judah's' downfall which commenced with the tragic death of Josiah. It is divided into several subordinate scenes, and terminates in a final episode, which like the one that consummated 'Israel's' fate, effectually removed the scepter of David from Jerusalem and from eastern observation. The House of Pharez, the twin to Zerah, had from its birth been threatened with a 'breach', (Genesis 38:25-30) and the day drew near for making it. For nearly twelve hundred years, the descendants of Pharez had successfully usurped the privilege of Judah's regal birthright, while those of the twin brother..Zerah..marked from his birth with the 'Scarlet Thread'..the emblem of Royalty had been Scythian and wanderers. But the star of Zerah had been already glowing brightly in the zenith, and by a most remarkable sequence of events, the leading descendant of this other half of Judah's tribe was even then being unconsciously prepared for the transfer of the Scepter, in the Western Isles.
In this study we will not take the time to show how probable and possible it is that Fenusia Farsa, Scytha, and Zerah, are one and the same persons, the son of Judah, and that Gadelas, the great Milesian progenitor of the Irish Kings, was his direct descendant, so well as the forefather of Eochaid, the Heremon, with whom we soon shall have so much to say. It is merely sufficient to note this in passing, as a side issue, which possesses merits for careful research, and one which we shall discuss in the next study. But this line of Judah became closely interwoven with the royal one of the Tuatha de Danaans, and the twain of time in Heremon, were duly joined to that of David's when his Royal Remnant escaped through the breach that Pharez suffered at the hands of Babylon, and came to 'Eron'.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE EASTERN JUDAH KINGDOM:
At the confusion in the incident of Josiah's sudden death, it was very naturally brought about that the influence of Jeremiah should have led the people of the land to take Jehoahaz, Josiah's eldest son by Hamutal, his favorite Queen, and make him king in his father's stead, rather than his half-brother Eliakim, altho the latter was nearly two years older. (II Kings 23:30-32) But the new king was not worthy of this honor, and as he did evil from the start, he was visited with swift destruction. His downfall was no doubt brought about by the plotting of the other factions who turned to Egypt for assistance, as the sympathies of Babylon were known to be with Jeremiah's side of the family. But the death of Josiah had re-awakened the long slumbering jealousies which existed between the rival queens, and now at last, by hint of broader influence, Zebudah's son secured the promise of Egyptian preferment, and the secret sins of Judah first developed into conspiracy. Let us therefore continue our sketch of the way in which the long threatened breach descended upon the House of Pharez.
Immediately after the true meaning of the occurrences at Jerusalem had been reported to him, Pharoah Necho, diverted his original intention of seeking battle with Babylon and turned aside and besieged Jerusalem about 601 B.C. in the interest of Zebudah's faction, for he by no means relished the idea of again leaving so strong a city in his rear, now that he knew its tendencies were so decidedly with the Chaldeans. The city fell without resistance, and Jehoahaz, the son and successor of Josiah, surrendered himself to Pharoah within 3 months after his accession to the throne of Judah.
Therefore Necho made Eliakim, the son of Zebudah, the king of Judah in his half-brother's stead, and changed his name to Jehoiakim, and laid a heavy tribute upon the land, and departed for Egypt, carrying the captured monarch, Jehoahaz, with him. The latter appears to have died soon after in Egypt without any posterity, and Jehoiakim, for the next three years, faithfully sent annual tribute to Pharoah Necho. (Josephus and the Bible)
At the time of her overthrow, and of her son's captivity, Hamutal herself was just 35 years of age, while Zedekiah, or Mattaniah as he was then called, was in the middle of is 11th., year. For the younger Queen, therefore, there was nothing but retirement now possible, and this she was not slow to realize. So withdrawing almost immediately from public life, she soon returned to Libnah with her only son. Here she devoted herself to Mattaniah's education and to the sorrows of her widowhood, and occasionally she was visited by Jeremiah whose time was now spent mostly in Jerusalem where his labors as a prophet were daily increasing in magnitude.
THE FALL OF ZEBUDAH'S LINE
The Egyptian king returned no more against the land of Judah for the Chaldea Babylonian Empire had now reached it's full development, and Nebuchadnezzar, having destroyed Necho and his power, at Carchemish, then invaded Palestine with a powerful army, and at last acquired all of its territory that by previous conquest had pertained to Pharoah Necho, 'even from the river of Egypt to the river of Euphrates'. (II Kings 24:7) Thus now the Babylonian conqueror directed his own attention to the troublesome city of Jerusalem, and soon brought it underneath his yoke. Jehoiakim was at this time bound in chains and was upon the point of being carried captive to Babylon, but he purchased his release with money, and agreed to pay hearty tribute to Nebuchadnezzar.
At this time the latter contented himself with these promises, and carried away a part of the vessels of the House of God, and certain of the kings sons, became eunuchs in his palace. Among these were Daniel and his companions.
Jehoiakim now became a vassal of Babylon, and paid tribute faithfully to Nebuchadnezzar during the three succeeding years; but in 594 B.C., upon hearing that the king of Babylon made an expedition against the Egyptians, he turned and rebelled against him. During the four remaining years of his troubled reign, Babylon was to much occupied with other localities to attend to the minor affairs of Judah, but in 590 B.C., upon hearing that the Judeans were restless, then he returned to mete out the long delayed punishment. He was received with open gates and no resistance, and breaking all faith with those who kept no covenants, Josephus tells us that 'he slew such as were in the flower of their age, and such as were of the greatest dignity, together with their king Jehoiakim whom he commanded to be thrown before the walls without any burial. But a single son still remained to Jehoiakim, namely Jehoiachin, whom Nebuchadnezzar placed upon his father's throne, as he departed for Babylon, taking with him three thousand of the surviving principal persons, among whom was the prophet Ezekiel.' Nebuchadnezzar, however, does not seem to have gotten further than Hamath, his usual base of operations against Palestine, before he repented of his selection. We prefer to discern the possible influence of Jeremiah, and of Hamutal's party in this influence, but Nebuchadnezzar changed his mind. Josephus however explains it as follows:..'But terror seized on the king of Babylon who had given the kingdom to Jehoiachin, and that immediately, for he was afraid that he would bear him a grudge because he slew his father, and thereupon should make the country rebel.'
Therefore, Jehoiachin, or Conaih as he is elsewhere called, had reigned but three months and ten days when another Babylonian army under Nebuzaradan, as Captain of the Host, returned to Jerusalem, recaptured it and continuing their devastations took from thence the king and his family, and all the treasures of the House of the LORD, and of the kings house. He carried away in fact 'all of Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths, none remained only the poorest sort of the people of the land.' (II Kings 24:10-11) This was the end of the hopes of Pharez in Zebudah's line, and the scepter of David fell from its hand forever. The catastrophe occurred in 590 B.C., and marks the full commencement of the 70 years captivity of Judah. But..Jerusalem had yet allotted to her eleven further years of grace; and so, before leaving ultimately for Babylon with his spoil and captives, Nebuchadnezzar, who had now himself returned upon the scene, sent down to Libnah for Hamutal and her son. Upon their arrival he made Mattaniah, the last remaining son of Josiah, that is the uncle of Jehoiachin, the tributary king of Judah, and he changed Mattaniah's name to Zedekiah, and made him king, and made him take an oath...that he would certainly keep the kingdom for him and make no innovation, nor have any league of friendship with Egypt. (Josephus)
THE LOFTY CEDARS OF LEBANON
Of Jehoiachin the eldest son of Jehoiakim, we read in II Kings 25:27-30, of his life in Babylonian captivity. The full account is found in the 52nd., chapter of Jeremiah concerning these events, and is considered the work of a scribe. The whole chapter being of the nature of a postscript to the scroll; for everyone admits that Jeremiah had disappeared from Egypt at least fourteen years before this date, and the chapter makes no pretentious to being a prophecy. It is also noticeable that while apparently made up from II Kings 25:27..the latter record made the date of the month to have been the 27th.,. We do not think however, that these accounts are essentially discrepant. There was current civil and sacred time used in that period and if correctly understood, they all correspond.
But to return to what happened to Jehoiachin...the captured kings whom the Babylonians gathered about them were frequently entrusted with subordinate administrations as their own co-patriots in captivity. It is at least implied that as Jehoiachin lived, he held some such recognized position, and as a duly anointed successor of David, and his sway though limited, and in a foreign land, gives at least a color of fulfillment, which extends for 26 years after Zedekiah's own captivity. But this is merely of importance to us as a means of spanning these very 26 years, during which, Yahweh had regard to David's interests in an entirely different direction. For it is quite impossible that any of this man's posterity should have ever after attained unto the liberated Scepter of Judah!....Why? God had already directed Jeremiah to write him 'childless', and had expressly said of him that 'no man of his seed shall prosper sitting upon the throne of David, and Rule anymore in Judah.' Jehoiachin (II Kings 24:6-8) is variously called Jeconiah (I Chronicles 3:16) and Coniah (Jeremiah 20:24-30 and Jeremiah 22:18-19 and Jeremiah 25:30) and in view of this curse upon his posterity it can scarcely be that he is the Jeconiah referred to in Matthew 1:11. But even if he be the one we know by Matthew's own account that Joseph, who is the one traced to him for legal reason, was a carpenter in Nazareth, but altho of Judah, not ruling over Judah. It is to Luke we turn to find the genealogy via quite another line, and bring it down to Mary, and there the actual trace of David's blood descends to Christ, but Christ does not assume the Scepter until he comes again.
The daughters of Judah, from the earliest days looked forward jealously to some special favor from on high. It was generally known among them that some mother of Judah was to save the line of David, and each maiden of this family aspired to the distinction in her generation. God's providence selected two of them, the one who is the Heroine of our story, to save the literal scepter, and the other Mary, to be still more blessed among women. The former maiden has almost escaped all subsequent notice, though her seed retains the literal Scepter yet, and holds it in abeyance till the Son of Mary shall return to claim it, and to fulfill all covenants that shall then be still outstanding.
When Jehoiachin was led away in chains to Babylon, this earlier daughter of the house of David was as yet unborn, but ere a further week of years had been numbered to the 'withering realm' (Ezekiel 24) this 'Tender Twig', had sprouted in the nursery of YAHWEH. But that it ever 'took root downward and bore fruit, upward', had strangely escaped attention till...these Latter times.
Let us return therefore to Jerusalem of Zedekiah's day, and walk amidst the desolate paths where David's cedars had formerly flourished, and see if any lofty fir-tree yet remained in Lebanon whose topmost branch offered twigs of promise to a grafter's knife. We have seen the Royal Seed of David reduced in that area to a last and single hope. Josiah is dead, Jehoahaz is dead, Jehoiakim is dead, and his posterity eunuchs in Babylon. Jehoiachin a fettered captive and his own seed weighted with a hopeless curse. No chance for Judah's Scepter here, nor for the tottering throne of David. Zedekiah and his own immediate posterity alone remain, a single cedar in the garden of the LORD,...green, and with some few manly boughs, and also with some tender shoots upon its topmost limbs. But what were daughters in such dreadful days as these?...Perhaps, they were the hope of Literal Israel, as in the latter day another one of David's daughters was the hope of all mankind!
ZEDEKIAH AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES:
Let us now consider the closing decade in so far as it is recorded of this unfortunate kingdom. Josephus summarized the incidents of Zedekiah's reign in as succinct a manner as any of the secular authorities thereon. The Bible account is found in the latter parts of Kings and Chronicles, while the books of Jeremiah and Daniel and Ezekiel afford us the most valuable emendations by the way. These celebrated men were all the college, in the shortest of his brief historic-prophetic statements, sums up its outcome as if he were witness to the fact. We allude to that often read and opening sentence in the Episcopal Prayer-book:...'The Lord is in His Holy Temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him.' It has been claimed, by Glover in his 'Remnant of Judah', that this is a noticeable mistranslation, and with the knowledge that Habakkuk was perhaps a contemporary witness of the secret transfer of Jacob's Pillow,..Judah's Coronation Stone, or Yahweh's Bethel..to a distant, unknown, Israelitish Tabernacle in the west. And thus at the bottom of the scroll, whereon the acts of Zedekiah's reign are transcribed, might Habakkuk subscribe with all thankfulness and awe:.. 'The Dream Miracle Stone has become the HOUSE OF GOD! Therefore let all earth keep silence before HIM.'
The reference to Bethel is at any rate unmistakable. But we leave to others the pleasure of combining all thinking into one unbroken sequence. Our own purpose is simply to bring out in prominent relief...THE SCARLET THREAD of David's line, which each of the ancient writers either blindly overlooks, considers secondary, or else, assisted by an over-ruling spirit, purposely conceals from too noticeable prominence. Yet none the less the thread is there in all of them, and traverses the decade, and goes out beyond it without any rupture.
Briefly the story of Zedekiah's reign is one of broken covenants. Josephus says that he 'was a despiser of Justice, and of his duty, for truly those of the same age with him were wicked about him, and the whole multitude did whatever unjust and insolent things they pleased.' Jeremiah we are sure did all he could to correct his own grandson, but he also knew the prophecy of what was to transpire in relation to the Scepter of Judah. The three great prophets of Judah,..Ezekiel, Daniel and Jeremiah, the two former in Chaldea, and Jeremiah in Jerusalem belonged to the same school of Ollams, and were undoubtedly also known, at least by statesmanship, and reputation, to each other. The lot of Jeremiah was the common one of Prophets, for save in his own country, he was certainly not without honor. He was personally as well known to Nebuchadnezzar, as were his captive conferees, Daniel and Ezekiel, and has so often been a special recipient of Babylonian clemency, that he became therefore and object of suspicion to his own countryman.
Known by the king of Babylon to be a man of moderate counsel, and to be unswerving in his advice to Judah's rulers that they should submit to the Babylonian yoke, Nebuchadnezzar had met Jeremiah on each of his several descents upon Jerusalem, and had always suffered him to remain in his native country. It was moreover particularly through Jeremiah's influence with Daniel in the court of Babylon that the elevation of his grandson, Zedekiah, had been brought about. In his private life, as we have seen, this prophet was so closely allied with the royal family of Josiah as to have been almost a daily inmate of it, and at least to have come intimately in and out of the royal palace during each of the succeeding reigns, which we have already scanned. We can only imagine in how far he employed so favorable an opportunity to mold the minds of such of its members as were at length destined to become his special wards.
It is certain, however, that the chief steward of Zedekiah...Ebed-Melech the eunuch, was Jeremiah's warm and personal friend, and that they mutually owed each other debts of supreme gratitude. (Jeremiah 38:7....39:15) It is also more than probable that the children of Zedekiah grew up upon this prophet's knees, and his influence upon the younger ones, may be marked, and doubtless was assisted by YAHWEH, acting from within their hearts. Jeremiah was also personally known to Nebuzar-adan, the captain or commander-in-chief of the Babylonian Host, and had already shared with him, as a prominent minister of the conquered Judeans, the special adjudications which surrounded the overthrow of Jehoiakim and of Jehoiachin, and the original selection of Zedekiah as the king of Judah. But as a counselor to Zedekiah himself, Jeremiah was powerless. 'While he heard the prophet (his grandfather) speak, he believed in him and agreed to everything as true, and supposed it was for his advantage; but then his friends perverted him, and dissuaded him from what the prophet advised, and obligated him to do what they pleased.' (Josephus)
But Jeremiah's prophecies were just as futile to avert the impending disasters as were those of Ezekiel and Daniel, which also found their way, by various channels, to Jerusalem. It happened that while the two principal prophets agreed with one another in what they said as to all things.... that the city should be taken, and that Zedekiah himself should also be taken, nevertheless Ezekiel disagreed with Jeremiah in the details, for the former said that 'Zedekiah should not see Babylon,' while the other declared that 'The King of Babylon should carry him away thither in bonds.' Thus Josephus tells us, 'because they did not both say the same thing as to this circumstance, Zedekiah also disbelieved that they both could be right, and he condemned them as not speaking the truth. However, all the things foretold him actually came to pass, and according to their prophecies' as we shall see anon.
DAVID'S DAUGHTER
Ezekiel begins to receive a series of visions which are given in the 8th., and the 19th., chapters of his prophecies, and among them is the now famous 'riddle', propounded in his 17th., chapter, and this concerns Our Heroine.
This particular vision of the sequence seems to have synchronized
with the season of Passover, with which 'the seventh' year of captivity began, and serves to fix the birth of Zedekiah's youngest daughter who was no doubt the last of his children. King Zedekiah had 3 sons and 2 daughters already and at the birth of the youngest daughter was himself 27 years of age. He was just entering his seventh year of his reign, which we have shown in Study no. 2, as running with the years of 'the captivity' and with Ezekiel's chronology. The event was a pleasure to the king and queen, who was herself a Princess of the Royal blood, and as the child was very beautiful they chose for her a well known family name...Tephi, or Taphath (I Kings 4:11) and endeared it by the diminutive Tea. The full name was Tea Tephi, and familiarly signified...'a Tender Twig'. It was particularly appropriate to the little girl, which, by the way, is the literal signification of Taphath (see Cruden's Concordance), while the addition of the diminutive TEA intensified the subtle reference of the entire name to that particular daughter of David referred to by Ezekiel 17:22. It is not, however, to be understood that Zedekiah and the Queen had any knowledge of what, at the birth of Tephi, was transpiring, as a vision only, upon the far off banks of the river Chedar. Their selection of the name was merely one of those strange and over-ruling providences which men in ordinary parlance called 'coincidence', but without which every romance would be soulless. Indeed our interest in the histrionic art itself would fade, did we not recognize that the essential element in every human life is the zest begotten out of what we designate as 'chance', while at the same time with an inconsistency of what we designate as a glaring condemnation of our plain perversity. We never fail to seek it and expect it, with all the earnestness of novelists and play writes. The root-taph, of the name Tephi, or Taphath, 'an ornament', signifies 'an infant', and is the Hebrew word employed for 'little ones', in numerous places in the Scriptures. (see Young's concordance) The diminutive Tea is derived from 'little' as employed by Jeremiah in similar cases. And finally it should be noted even though we anticipate our tale by so doing, (for our purpose is not merely as a story teller to develop the Romance within the Romance of our Origin and Destiny, but to argue out its Philosophy as we proceed) that in so far as history is concerned, the discovery of the name of this particular Princess is a modern and a Western one.
A MIRAGE EN ROUTE.
We now find ourselves at this moment in the position of voyagers who are helmed towards some distant haven, and are suddenly encouraged by the looming up of ports we long to see. In the mirage now before us, the hills of Tara rise in shadowy outlines; and her famous Halls, impatient to respond to melodies as yet in a dream, lift up their battlements. At the present stage of our story, it was in visions only, which were lost when Erin waked, but the aspirations still paint their forms upon our sympathetic sky, and lure us into pardonable forecasts.
It is only with in the present generation that a few interested scholars, struck with the wealth of Hebrew circumstance that clusters about Tea Tephi's entrance into Irish Chronicles, and impressed with the significant legends which connect here with Spain, and Egypt of Nebuchadnezzar's era, have dreamed of identifying her with the maiden whose history we are writing. Of course these efforts have been ridiculed and belittled; but at last their very treatment has resulted, as usual in such cases, in so intensifying the convictions of a continually growing college of investigators, that few, except a hide bound group of 'higher critics', conservatists, and extremists of the 'Spiritualizing school' have continued to treat them with contempt.
It is therefore, with the utmost pleasure that we offer to these earnest searchers after truth, a consecutive outline of this lovely story, and are not only enabled to show that its Chronology and Genealogy are impregnable, but to let additional light in upon some of the hitherto unsolved Hebrew features of its western chapters.
Many of the best students have deigned to search the matter of the name... TEA TEPHI..and have been convinced that the designation is the Phonetic spirit of a Hebrew name, but this controversy, and this interest, is by no means merely modern, in that we must date it from the current generation; far from it. In the year of our LORD 513, the Irish Kings and Grandees, assembled, with great circumstance, to inquire into all that Bards and seneschal could declare concerning the ancient foundation and the ancient times. 'They devoted themselves to the pious labor, with fasting and prayer, for 3 days continuously, but , alas! such had been the destruction of records in the confusion of the times, and the struggle of the Baalistic Priests to recover the ascendancy which they had lost during the time of the Hebraizing of their chief stronghold.. this very Tara.. that nothing could be ascertained further on the matter in hand, than that it was a subject shrouded in deep mystery, and connected in some way with the existence of a woman from over the great plain..the sea..with a Royal Prosperous Smile, and who, such had been the intensity of respect of their ancestors for this illustrious Scion of Royalty, concerning whom, also, there was some 'mystery' to deep to be uttered...and was buried in a tomb sixty feet long and wide, a tomb which unbroken tradition asserts to be still 'Inviolated!'
A poem was presented to us in the notes of the Annals of the Four Masters and has much to say about Tara..and Tea Tephi. It appears that once Tara was called 'Hazelwood' and then three other names in succession, the last being Cathair Crofin. 'Until the coming of the Agreeable Tea The wife of Heremon of noble aspect.' Then the name changed:... 'A Rampart was raised around her house, For Tea, the daughter of Lughaidh'. God's House if BETHEL, and this Hebrew Princess accompanied Jacob's Pillar. Log is Celtic for God; and Aidh is a house...hence Lughaidh is God's House. The poem continues as follows: 'She was buried outside in her mound, And from her it was named Tea-mur.'
In these latter days there is much more of history being uncovered concerning the coming of Tea Tephi to Ireland, but for the present purposes of the story we are writing, such was the birth of Tea Tephi! It was a simple, family affair, and no one could have then divined, perhaps not even Jeremiah himself, with all his favored prescience, that the tender suckling born into the line of David was destined, in the councils of Yahweh to become in later years, the mother of the Western branch of Judah's line of Kings. In the immediate time...the Eastern branch had reached its fated crisis, and with every vice that dooms a political fabric to ruin, it took the final downward path.
JERUSALEM DESTROYED:
And thus the priceless years of Grace ran on, and OUT. Jerusalem was filled with false prophets, confusing advisors, iniquity, and utter unbelief;..her cup was full, and so Yahweh bade her drink it to the dregs. Zedekiah, vacillating in every direction, at last made the fatal error which caused his speedy overthrow. After Zedekiah had preserved his compact of mutual assistance with the Babylonians for 8 years, he deliberately broke it. This brought the army of Nebuchadnezzar once more about Jerusalem and this time they came intent upon its utter devastation. But Egypt hastened to the assistance of its newly recovered ally, and invaded Judea with the purpose of raising the sedge. Nebuchadnezzar was thus diverted from his undertaking for a while. Departing therefore from Jerusalem he met the Egyptians in battle at Gaza, and utterly defeated them, and then drove them out of Syria.
In this interim Jeremiah attempted to escape into Anathoth, whose title deeds he was later on directed to purchase, with such pointed ceremony, and to give to Baruch for concealment; (Jeremiah 32)..but he was captured by the opposing faction, exposed a while in the stocks, and then cast into prison. The victorious and determined Babylonian army now returned to attack Jerusalem under the experienced generalship of Nebuzar-adan.
The story of the sedge (as told by Josephus) is but a dreadful counterpart of others which have been visited upon the city of Jerusalem, and at last God shortened it. The city fell, and Zedekiah, true to the last of his uncertain character, leaving it to its fate, deserted from it, with his wives and children, a few of his captains, and his friends. We turn now to the story as told by Josephus as to what happened:.......'But as for those friends and captains of Zedekiah who had fled out of the city with him, when they saw their enemies nearby, they left him and dispersed themselves, some one way, some another way, and everyone resolved to save himself; so the enemy took Zedekiah alive, when he was deserted by all but a few, with his children and his wives, and brought him to the king at Riblah. And when he came before Nebuchadnezzar he began to call Zedekiah a wicked wretch, and a covenant breaker, and one that had forgotten his former words, as he had promised to keep the country for him. He also reproached him for his ingratitude, that when he had received the kingdom from him, who had taken it from Jehoiachim, and given it to him, he had made use of the power he gave him, to move against the one who gave it.' Then the king of Babylon said:...'God is great and hateth that conduct of thine, and hath brought thee under us.' As he used these words to Zedekiah he gave the command that Zedekiah's sons and friends be slain (II Kings 25:7) and (Jeremiah 39), and while Zedekiah and the rest of the captains looked on, this was done. Then Zedekiah's eyes were put out, and he was bound and taken to Babylon.' 'And these things happened to him, as Jeremiah and Ezekiel had foretold to him, that he should be caught and brought before the king of Babylon, and should speak to him face to face, and should see this with his own eyes; and thus far did Jeremiah prophecy; but he was also made blind and brought to Babylon as Ezekiel predicted, but he did not SEE Babylon, because by then he was blind.
Nebuchadnezzar's army now completed the work of destruction 580 B.C., and burnt the HOUSE OF THE LORD, and the kings house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire. And the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about. The rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzar-adan carry away. But the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land to be vine dressers and husbandmen. (II Kings 25:9-12) And the gold, and the silver, and the brass without weight, the captain also took away. 'And the captain of the guard took Zeriah the Chief Priest, and Zephaniah the second Priest, and the three keepers of the threshold, and out of the city he took and officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the kings presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and three score men of the people of the land that were found in the city; and Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon in Riblah; and the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath.'...So Judah was carried away out of their land. (II Kings 25:18-21) This was the consummation of the captivity which had began earlier.
Thus the threatened end had come, 'Israel' had gone into obscurity, but Judah had failed to profit by the example. We are even told that 'Backsliding' Israel had justified herself (in captivity) more than treacherous Judah, so in due time 'Judah', was also rooted out of Palestine. After the death of his sons, the branches of the lofty cedar, the royal trunk itself was felled and left to wither and dry up. Zedekiah, taken blind and bound in brazen fetters unto Babylon, at length dies in its prisons, as with him as far as Bible records go, for according to all 26 adopted records Zedekiah was the last king of the Judah Kingdom. From that day to this there has never been a child of David, a scepter in hand, seated as king and ruling as such in Jerusalem, nor can believers in the promise outside the pale of those who accept the Anglo-Saxon identity with Israel, bridge this hiatus in the Scepter line of David and Judah even to the Saviour’s day.
Here we must press the assertion that Jesus The Christ did not come, at that time to rule, nor did he take the Scepter when at length did come. He positively refused it, although he admitted unto Pilate that it was his of right. There is a mystery here and its solution is the Anglo-Saxon Riddle! What became of David's Scepter?...Where was it during the 'Sixty-nine weeks', and while the Star of Bethlehem delayed?...Hath rest (Shiloh) come to Israel yet, or to Judah, and if not where is that Scepter now? The covenant of Salt was unconditional, the blessing of Judah was of Grace, hath YAHWEH nevertheless forgotten David and repudiated his own eternal oath? These are some of the questions we would ask to those doubting the solution of the Riddle???
As the days of Judah's doom drew on, there was a final prophecy by Jeremiah, and it is found in the 33rd., chapter and should be read in its entirety. Notice also the 14th., verse, and recognize that this is talking about a literal people, and both houses of Israel...The House of Israel, and the House of Judah. Then the 24th., verse...these two families..The House of Israel and the House of Judah, comprise all the House of God's 'Israel'.
It is noticeable that this prophecy was accompanied by a thrice repeated GUARANTEE as to the PERPETUITY of David's Throne and to the line of monarchs who maintain it, but it was transferred to a nation in the height of Israel, and thus it still remains unto this day.
You must reconcile the meanings of the two prophecies, as it was to harmonize the apparent discrepancies between the fates assigned to Zedekiah by these same Ollams and so fully explained by Josephus, as you consider the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel in the story of the transfer of the Scepter. You must refer to the 20th., thru the 23rd., chapters of Ezekiel as a broad survey of what God then designed as to 'Israel' then was. (Ezekiel 2:1) Here these Elders were come down from beyond the Caucasus where the rear guard of the Tribes was retiring westward so rapidly into the wilderness, that after the visit described in chapter 20, we hear no more of them. Nevertheless this prophet and all of the minor ones sent many prophecies after them although some of these messages, probably, failed to reach them ere they had themselves forgotten whence they sprang. They were soon utterly lost, both to themselves and all concerned, in that long sojourn wherein the bulk of them abode so long 'with out a king'. There is something extremely pathetic in this solicitude...God yearning for his wayward people, when its truth begins to dawn upon the mind, and something stirring, also, in the colors with which it emblazons the Philosophy of History!
But the city of Jerusalem now fell with Jeremiah still incarcerated in its dungeons. But he was soon liberated by the Babylonians as soon as his identity and situation were discovered, and although the Scepter of David was apparently shattered we shall see in time that Yahweh, himself, was still in charge, and Jeremiah was also charged with its peculiar guardianship.
We are told by Jeremiah himself, of his liberation, of how Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon had given 'special charge' concerning Jeremiah, to his captain of the guard and other. These instructions were:.. that Jeremiah was to be taken and that what Jeremiah asked..was to be done. Thus the captain of the guard and others took Jeremiah out of the court of the Prison where he had been confined. But by some misunderstanding these emissaries brought him to Ramah, still bound in chains, among the other captives. Here, however, the error was amply rectified, and the captain of the guard under Daniel's teaching said to Jeremiah:...'The LORD thy GOD hath pronounced this evil upon this place. The LORD hath brought it, and do according as he hath said, because ye have sinned against THE LORD, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore these things is come upon you.' But then he released Jeremiah from the chains and said:...'if it seem good unto thee to come with me unto Babylon, the come; but if it seem ill unto thee to come to Babylon, forbear; behold, all the land is before thee; whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, then thither go.'
From the double account given of this translation, Jeremiah's first act upon being released would be to go to his own home in Libnah, some 25 miles south of Mizpah, where his daughter Hamutal probably resided; for the prophet had no doubt already secured the release of the kings daughters, who figure so prominently in the subsequent portion of our story, and Jeremiah would certainly have been anxious to place them in the immediate hands of their own grandmother, who at this time could not have been more than 56 years old.
This journey was made under the immediate protection of Gedaliah himself, but upon Jeremiah's election to remain at Libanah the governor seems to have retired to Mizpah and reported the facts to the commander of the guard. Jeremiah's residence was probably in the suburbs of the town, for some of the ancestral estates of the house of Levi had come down to Hilkiah from generation to generation since the days of Joshua himself, and it is interesting to note that a little place of this very character, only a few miles to the southeast of Libnah, still lies warmly snug upon the southwestern slopes of the vine-clad foothills of the so called mountains of Judea. Its name upon the maps of Palestine is 'Beth Tapuah', and is a term that almost irresistibly suggests a corruption from the original 'House of Taphath', or Tephi, and which is with equal force to remind us of the well known stanza so often used to ridicule the Welsh, and beginning:....
'I went to Taffie's House
And Taffie wasn't home!'
Indeed this good natured pleasantry, from which the Welsh as a people became known as 'Taphs' or 'Taffies' is actually reputed to have owed its origin to their great veneration for the Irish Queen Tephi herself! For she was also theirs as well!
But in the earlier days with which our story is at present most concerned, there did arrive, in grave reality, a time when 'Taffie wasn't home', a time too, when both the 'Beef' and the very 'Marrow bone', or last hope of Judah's monarchy had vanished with her. The soubriquet 'Taffie' is usually derived from Hebrew..Beloved, and one of the most common Welsh names and even from this western standpoint is equally significant, particularly if we bear in mind the fact that our own little Tephi, or 'Tephi the Beloved' was herself the daughter of David, and in her own generation was the very 'marrow bone' or last hope, of 'The Kingdom', or the 'Beef' of Ephraim himself of the Lost Ten Tribes. The Welch alone of all the Tribes preserve the ancient name of Khumree, once common to the whole Kingdom and even tho we have the vicissitudes of so called theft, that have loaded the pages of our history...still 'the Scepter' is David's, and it remains today in England, where Ephraim or 'John Bull', in his perpetual, or collective capacity, has written on the very arms of England his title to double honor. 'God and my right'. What right?...The Birthright as part of the House of Joseph, and the right to all the blessings which flow in with David's rule.
There is a Hebrew fitness to the Folk lore of our Western Isles that has often caused a warranted surprise; but perhaps when we come to read more clearly our title to an Eastern origin, so lofty as the one now urged, we shall perceive far more of truth and history in such tales as the ones we have told our children all these years. For instance:...The story of 'Jack and Jill' exactly illustrates the successive fates which befell the 'crowns' of 'Israel' and 'Judah'. In 'Little boy blue', we still see... 'Israel' fast asleep, blind tot he Rock whence he is hewn, his flocks astray. How pointed then this call from out the Saxon past:..'come blow your horn!' For surely it is time to awake! And 'Hickery dickery dock!'.. Has not the mouse been long enough in 'Israel's' clock? Yes: verily, for it is 'one o'clock', and high time, at last, for all the rodents to be driven out.
Mother Hubbard may be modern, the soubriquet of last century's editor, perhaps, but the tales are not; they are as old as 'punch and Judy', and still the delight of Arabs, and others of that area, where the Modern sons of Isaac spent their youth.
However, in the inner sense which recognizes that there are no 'accidents' in human life, and on this basis do we pen these studies, these fables of our youth conceal the deepest wisdom of our ancestors, and this, perchance, is why they do not die; they certainly have historical applications of deep portent, and they have lessons to impart of the utmost beauty and solemnity.
As a final example consider the well known rhyme of 'Little Jack Horner':.. we have in this rhyme, condensed into a nutshell, the very gist and philosophy of 'Israel's' present favored circumstance among the nations of the earth. It clearly represents her as the 'Little Stone Kingdom' of the sons of Isaac, seated in the angle of the earth, eating in gladness her Christmas Pie.'...For to her alone of all nations, came that blessed Christmas present, that through her at length, and in God's time, all other nations might be also blessed.
We must crave our readers pardon for this long digression, and hasten back to Jeremiah and his visit to Beth Tappuah. For Jeremiah went straight to Tappuah from Libnah, and was greeted by his daughter Hamutal, whose retired dwelling place has thus far been secure from every molestation. But the captain of Nebuchadnezzar's guard was worried about leaving Jeremiah and his Wards in the land which was now full of robbers, as he made preparations to leave, so he urged Jeremiah to take his wife and daughter, and granddaughters to Mizpah where he intended to set a special guard for their protection and put Gedaliah at the head of this military guard. Therefore Jeremiah took his advice and did as the captain thought best, but he also asked of Nebuzaradan that he set at liberty his disciple Baruch, the son of Neriah, one of a very eminent family, and exceeding skillful in the language of his country and this was done.
And for the further purposes of our Romance, as we shall see all in good time, it is important here to note how opportune his arrival was at Gedeliah's headquarters. It seems that the Babylonian escort, which had preceded his, had learned of the distress of a foreign vessel in the harbor of Joppa, and had proceeded thither, and but just returned with the unoffending crew in chains.
Jeremiah seemed to be strangely excited as soon as he obtained the details of the matter, and having listened to all the Babylonians could impart he persuaded the officer in charge of the prisoners to delay his return to Ramah, assuring him that on the morrow Nebuzaradan himself would arrive at Mizpah to give his final instructions to Gedaliah previous to his approaching, who appeared to be Merchants of Tarshish on their homeward way from the ports of Egypt, and assured them of his good offices in their behalf. Among them was a young Tartesian of striking and commanding presence, and whom Jeremiah was particularly attracted. When Nebuzaradan arrived on the scene and the circumstance was reported to him with the emphasis of the interest of Jeremiah in this young man, then he sent for the Prophet, who explained how the ship had been mistakenly taken for an Egyptian cruiser, a very natural mistake in this instance. The strangers were then brought before Nebuzaradan and Jeremiah, and the prophet surprised the young Tartesian by addressing him in a dialect of is own language. The young man explained that the weather had driven his ship to Joppa, and then explained that the 'ships of farther Tarshish, rarely traded with nations east of Port Getalia; leaving the commerce of this inner sea to the Phoenicians, and preferred to guard instead...the secrets of the west.' At the urging of Jeremiah, the rest of the party was now led away, leaving in the captains tent only Jeremiah, the commander, and the young man from the distant land. What thereafter occurred, however, was not generally divulged, but upon the close of the interview, the orders for the immediate release of all prisoners, and even assistance for their preparations for departure was extended.
Jeremiah and his party settled down at Mizpah, even tho not as comfortable as they would have been in their own home, but there are plenty of intimations scattered in Hebrew literature which show that he and Baruch were deeply involved in affairs which concerned the future of God's people. What ever they accomplished was done so quietly that trace of anything unusual was left behind them when they disappeared from the stage of Palestine's affairs.
CONCEALED TREASURES:
We read in II Maccabees 1:2, that in view of what was coming upon Jerusalem, that Jeremiah had already hidden the Ark, the Tabernacle, and the Altar of Incense; and placed them probably where he concealed all the other evidences of regality essential to the mission he had yet to fulfill. It is found in the records that Jeremiah the Prophet took all these things and climbed up into the mountain where Moses climbed up, as he saw the heritage of God. And there Jeremiah found a hollow cave, wherein he laid the Tabernacle, and the Ark, and the Altar of Incense, and so stopped the door. Some that followed him came to mark the way, but they couldn't find it. As for the place it shall be unknown until the time that God gathers his people again together, and receives them unto Mercy. 'Then shall THE LORD shew them these things, and the GLORY OF THE LORD shall appear, and the cloud also, as it was shewed unto Moses'. We also know that Jeremiah had charged Baruch with the concealment of similar instruments:..such as the title deeds of Anathoth, sealed and authenticated with the proper ceremony, and that they were buried by Baruch in an earthen vessel for the purpose of remaining hid for many days, (Jeremiah 32) and of being brought out eventually in the latter times as evidences of God's integrity. Certain also of Jeremiah's writings have been similarly missing ever since his own day, fragments of which are referred to by Josephus, and in Maccabees, and by Christ himself, and complete copies of which are undoubtedly preserved among these valuable archives yet to be produced in the light of all the world.
We shall reserve for a special number in these studies, the detailed history of the stone..'wonderful'..the coronation Stone, which Jeremiah took such pains to conceal, against the day of his ultimate departure for the Western Isle named by himself..Eron, or Erin, for the Ark at that time took to it. (Josephus) These preparations which were necessary did Jeremiah and those who were with him..in secret make with all due care and diligence during the time they waited for the occasion which was to offer them an unhindered passage to 'the land of destiny'. Jeremiah was moving under inspiration as did faithful Abraham...behold the Throne, the Scepter, the Ark, and the Archives, but where is the 'seed of David' for a ruler. Yes! a gentle maiden, beautiful and fair, the loveliest and youngest of the daughters of Zedekiah, and only the daughters of Zedekiah had been spared by Babylon. For from this time onward they were frequently mentioned by Josephus, and the Bible, until all of a sudden the records come to an abrupt termination. But they are always coupled in connection with Jeremiah and Baruch, and indirectly, all of them with a chosen remnant; and they all disappeared together, together with all trace of the Royal Regalia, and the sacred things of Israel, as far as records afforded us any light.
Remember that a Queen in Israel was as eligible to rule as was a Saxon Queen. Like then, as Mary, in a later day, was reared of God in David's line to ratify the earlier promise unto Eve, so now, for David's sake, and in a kindred sense, this maiden was selected to save the Royal line, and rear a man to sit upon his earthly throne.
The events in Palestine at that time altho looking bad for the preserving of the Royal Scepter, also helped to conceal Jeremiah's ultimate movements, and has so blinded research ever since, by throwing it entirely off of the actual scent, but yet...it was for that very purpose as we see now. It had been arranged that with all their preparations, still Jeremiah, Baruch, or Ebed-Melech, would see that one of them always remained to be a sort of guardian of these children. As it came about only the aged Ebed-Melech was with them when this wicked man named Ishmael, who fled Jerusalem to the land of the Ammonites, and remained with them, now came..with the intention of slaying Gedeliah, and seizing the kingdom over Judah. This man was of the...so called...Royal seed, but simply because he was a direct descendent of Pharez, and of a wealthy and most influential family. He was not of David's line, but a descendent of Hezron, 8 ancestral generations before David, and even this only by a very distant and collateral offshoot. But Ishmael's intent was to seize and marry the eldest of these daughters and so secure his own assumed right to the Scepter of Judah by adding to it the Sceptre of David.
It is curious to note, in passing, how complete the genealogies of the Bible always are, down to those generations which such study as the present case suggests. And we find the complete genealogy of this 'Pretender' in I Chronicles 2:5 and 21 and 41, as well as in the book of Jeremiah.
Here in Palestine, then Johanan and others reported all matters to Gedaliah, and entreated him to have Ishmael slain at once. This Gedaliah would not do, being deceived by this 'pretender'. As you know...Gedaliah and may others were slain and Ishmaiel took captives these little 'princesses' and moved to take them to the land of the Ammorites. But this was not to be, and they were rescued by Johanan and others, and it was decided to go to Egypt for protection. Jeremiah returned and listened to a full account of what happened, but was confident that no harm would come to them from Babylonians, and when it was explained to Nebuchadnezzar, then Ishmael would be punished. But Jeremiah agreed to make direct supplication to God for them, and to keep nothing from them of His reply. They in turn took upon themselves a solemn oath, to obey in all respects the answer, be it what it might. (Jeremiah 42) The answer came in ten days, and it told them not to go to Egypt, coupled with a positive doom pronounced upon any and all who should set their hearts to disobey. But men decided they knew better than God, and they took by force all those who were opposed, saying to Jeremiah; 'thou speaketh falsely'. and 'Baruch setteth thee against us'. Then they seized Jeremiah, and Baruch, and Ebed-Melech, and the King's daughters, and together with all the men and women and children, and every person that Nebuzar-adan had left with Gedaliah, and they set out for Egypt. Thus behind them Judea was as desolate of inhabitants, and Ramah of the children of Rachel, as Samaria had been a century before.
Thus they came into the land of Egypt; and they obeyed not the voice of THE LORD; thus they came even to Tahpanhes.' This double wickedness which added wilful perjury to bold defiance, was the final act that filled their measure of persistent disobedience, and for it, long foreseen of God, the breach descended upon Pharez's house. As they crossed the river of Egypt, the prophecies of Ezekiel began to be fulfilled. But not all were guilty of disobedience; for God had preserved and reserve a Royal Remnant for his servant David's sake.
It was by God's command that Joseph, in a latter day, arose with Mary and her young child and fled from this same Bethlehem...to Egypt, nor was it without his protection that Jeremiah and his friends and special wards were taken there despite themselves.
In Study no. 4, we will continue the story of Tea Tephi, and offer our solution of the Secret of History. It will deal particularly with the flight of David's line, and explain the manner in which Empire took its Westward way.
Our aim is to place a working library of Reference in the hands of fellow students, to afford them a convenient means of spreading the truth to others, and particularly to provide a permanent repository for the more important facts and arguments which will be incident to the thorough discussion of a pedigree so lofty as the one we are prepared to maintain.
We feel that the time is verily at hand, for there is another Great Passover just ahead of us, the most momentous one OUR RACE has ever seen. In reality the book of the law has been found; it is the Bible...pure and simple, the unadulterated WORD stripped of all human commentary and studied in the light it sheds upon itself. It has already been shown to 'Huldah, the Prophetess, and her final warning has gone forth! Let, therefore, those who heed it hasten to renew their vows, for LO! HE cometh in the clouds!
The Truth of the Anglo-Israelite identity is the one hopeful theme in days otherwise dark for religion. Many have written that it has awakened hopes that hardly dare to entertain. Of course it does, but....why not dare to welcome sunlight, after we have groped so hopelessly into the miasmatic gloom of higher criticism? The Anglo-Israel truths are suited to our wants, and when duly co-ordinated, explain what is taking place about us in a philosophical and satisfactory manner, not to be counter-parted by any fictions of human theory; they reach out and absorb everything.
(...If I acquire no other of these old books for a book report, still Series II, no. 5 which I did first will give you the final story of the transplanting of the Davidic Scepter. We as a RACE have forgotten to read of our history, blindly looking ahead, but not back to the ROCK that begat us. (Deuteronomy 32) We seem to think there are not books available with the story of our Race, but that is because you have never looked for them, because there are many available, they are just not advertized on T.V. or in our controlled press.)
A PROPHETIC RIDDLE......
'As for me, I spake in the day, and I held not my tongue by night. In forty days they wrote ninety-four books. And it came to pass, when the forty days were fulfilled, that the Highest spake, saying:...the first that thou hast written publish openly, that the worthy and unworthy may read it; but keep the seventy last that thou mayest deliver them only to such as be wise among the people; for in them is the spirit of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the stream of knowledge.' And I did so. (II Esdras 14:37-48)
II Esdras...where and who...? Esdras is Ezra of your Bible and you have one of his books there.
ELLA ROSE MAST
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