King David’s Everlasting Dynasty! | by Raymond F. McNair

In approximately 1661 BC, the clan of Israel (or Jacob) journeyed to Egypt, where they remained for about 215 years (cf. Gen. 15:13-15; Exod. 12:1-42; Gal. 3:17). Just before his death, circa 1634 BC, the elderly Patriarch Jacob, under divine inspiration, blessed his twelve sons. To his son Judah, he said, “JUDAH is a lion’s whelp.... And as a lion, who shall rouse him? The Scepter shall not depart from JUDAH nor a lawgiver [‘ruler’s staff’] from between his feet, until SHILOH comes” (Gen. 49:10). That intriguing prophetic statement raises two important questions:

1) What is a “scepter”? A “scepter [is] a staff or baton borne by a sovereign as an emblem of authority” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed.).

2) WHO or what is “SHILOH”? Unger’s Bible Dictionary states, “Shiloh, the name, apparently of a person. A title of the Messiah (Gen. 49:10).... The entire Jewish synagogue and the whole Christian Church agree as to the fact that the patriarch is here proclaiming the coming of the Messiah” (3rd ed., art.). Shiloh”). The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible says, “Shiloh is traditionally understood as the name of the Messiah.... Most exegetes agree that a JUDEAN leader is referred to in this verse.... Christian interpreters since the sixteenth century have frequently identified Shiloh with the Messiah” (1962 ed., vol. 4).

Finally, The Imperial Bible Dictionary comments: “The proper fulfillment began in David’s time, and ‘the scepter and the lawgiver’ are to be sought for in his line, to which the promises were made of an UNENDING DOMINION. The old and simple interpretation is, that the sovereignty in Israel belongs to JUDAH, and that this prerogative, shall not be exhausted till the promised Saviour comes...” (Vol. II, 1966 ed.).

What does Genesis 49:10 reveal? 1) A scepter (ruler’s staff) would later be put in the hands of the people of Judah. 2) Once that scepter was put in the hands of Judah’s descendants, it would remain until the coming of Shiloh (the Messiah) to rule all nations sitting on the “Throne of David” (Isa. 9:6-7; Luke 1:32; Zech. 14:9).

But when was the scepter to appear in Judah? The Israelites were led out of Egypt in about 1446 BC, and 40 years later Joshua led them into the “Promised Land.” From then until about 1050 BC, Israel was ruled by a theocracy. God Himself ruled them, but they rejected Him (1 Sam. 8:7).

When the Israelites clamored for a human king, the Prophet Samuel reminded them that “the LORD your God was your king” (1 Sam. 12:13). Saul was anointed as Israel’s first king, but quickly rebelled against the LORD and was rejected by Him (15:22-23, 26). “...He gave them judges for about 450 years [then] God gave them Saul a son of Kish...of the tribe of Benjamin, for about 40 years. And when He had removed him, He raised up for them DAVID as king [of the tribe of Judah] and said, ‘I have found David...a man after My own heart, who will do My will’” (Acts 13:20-22). David wisely ruled Israel for 40 years and six months (2 Sam. 4:4-5), from about 1010 BC to 970 BC.

Jesus Christ is a “son of David” (Mark 10:47-48; Rom. 1:3; 2 Tim. 3:8). Luke gives Christ’s true genealogy through his mother Mary—all the way back to Judah, through David’s son Nathan (3:30-33), whereas Matthew gives Jesus’ lineage through his legal father Joseph (1:16).

When Christ returns to this earth, will He then sit upon the very Throne of His ancestor, David, King of Israel? Speaking of David, the Apostle Peter says that “God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body...He would raise up the Christ [Gk. Christos, Heb. Messiah] to sit on his THRONE” (Acts 2:30).

Before Jesus was born, an angel told His mother Mary that she would bear a “Son, and shall call his name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the THRONE of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob [Israel] forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:31-33).

Will Jesus share that Throne with others? God’s Word promises that those who overcome Satan and his evil world will also share Christ’s Throne. Jesus promised, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My Throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His Throne” (Rev. 3:21), which is “in heaven” (Rev. 4: Matt. 6:6-9); but during the millennial rule of Christ on earth, His Throne—the very “throne of His father David”—will then be situated in Jerusalem (Jer. 3:17: Isa. 9:6-7; Ezek. 43:7). After King David’s death, “Solomon [David’s son] sat on the THRONE of the LORD as king instead of David his father, and prospered” (1 Chr. 29:23). Thus we see that David and his descendants actually sat on the “Throne of the LORD”!

Furthermore, when the Queen of Sheba visited the peaceful Kingdom of Israel and saw its beauty and wealth, she exclaimed to King Solomon, “You exceed the fame of which I heard. Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who...hear your wisdom! Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you, setting you on HIS THRONE to be king for the LORD your God” (2 Chr. 9:6-8). Since Solomon sat on the LORD’S THRONE, he ruled by “divine right.”

GOD’S EVERLASTING COVENANT WITH KING DAVID: God Almighty had promised that He would establish the “scepter” (kingship) in the tribe of Judah, and his descendants would continue to hold that “scepter” until the coming of “Shiloh”—the Messiah/Christ (Gen. 49:10). And the LORD first put the promised scepter in the hand of a young Jew named DAVID in about 1010 BC (1 Sam. 2:4).

The LORD solemnly promised King David that his Throne would continue forever: “I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: ‘Your seed I will establish FOREVER, and build up YOUR THRONE to all generations’” (Psa. 89:3-4). “His seed also I will make to endure forever, and his Throne as the days of heaven” (vv. 27-29). “Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, and his THRONE as the sun before Me; it shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky” (vv. 33-37; 2 Sam. 7:11-16). Some mistakenly think Psalm 89:38-51 negates God’s solemn promise to David. Not so! Verse 38 says that God abhorred His “anointed” (i.e. King Zedekiah), “cast off and abhorred” His servant’s crown (i.e. Zedekiah’s crown) “by casting it to the ground” (v. 39). That happened to King Zedekiah in about 586 BC—over four centuries after God’s irrevocable promise to King David.

When the Kingdom of Judah was destroyed by the Babylonians, Zedekiah’s crown was cast down to the ground. The authority vested in the scepter of Judah did cease to hold sway over those “Israelites” living in Palestine—that is, over the “Jews” living in the land of Judah—when Nebuchadnezzar “killed the sons of Zedekiah [and] all the nobles of Judah,” then “put out Zedekiah’s eyes” and sent him as a captive to Babylon (Jer. 39:6-7), where he later died (52:11).

But God faithfully kept His oath to David by transferring the crown from Zedekiah to one of his daughters, named Tamar Tephi (also called “Tea Tephi”). Later, we shall see how God kept His promise to King David and his descendants, by causing the “daughters of Zedekiah” to be taken from Palestine to Egypt (Jer. 43:5-7), a few years before they journeyed to the far-off British Isles, where one of them (Tamar Tephi) married a princely Israelite who then lived in Ireland.

King Solomon inherited the Throne of David about 970 BC, and in the 4th year of his reign he began to build a magnificent Temple (“House of God”) in Jerusalem. “And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD [c. 960 BC]...that the LORD appeared to Solomon.... And the LORD said to him: ‘I have heard your prayer and your supplication.... Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked...to do according to all that I have commanded you...then I will establish the THRONE of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘you shall not fail to have a man [Heb. ISH] on the THRONE of Israel’” (1 Kings 9:1-5; cf. 2 Chr. 7:17-18). This Hebrew word ish usually refers to males, but it is often used in a generic sense, in which case it includes females (Psa. 1:1; 112:1). Speaking of the manna which God fed the Israelites, God says, “Men [Heb. ish] ate angels’ food” (Psa. 78:25). This included both male and female Israelites.

Unlike the LORD’S unconditional promise to David, God’s promise to Solomon was given with the condition that Solomon must first obey Him. David had “many sons” (1 Sam. 28:5), so if his son Solomon disobeyed God, the LORD could then choose another of David’s sons to carry out His promise that David would never fail to have a descendant on his Throne throughout “all generations” (cf. Psa. 132:10-12). Shortly before David’s death, his “last words” included a reminder of God’s irrevocable promise to him: “Yet He [the LORD] has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure!” (2 Sam. 23:1, 5).

But, in spite of these many clear statements in the Scriptures, some Bible “scholars” simply refuse to believe God’s solemn promise to David of an everlasting dynasty. They carelessly assume his dynasty ceased to exist, after having held sway over the Israelites for about 424 years—from about 1010 BC to about 586 BC! These apologists refuse to accept the fact that God solemnly promised King David that his dynasty—his Royal House—would continue to rule in perpetuity over at least some of the descendants of Israel in every single generation. The critics try to “explain away” the vast gap of over 582 years between: 1) the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah and the overthrow of the House of David in Jerusalem (c. 586 BC), and 2) the coming of Jesus Christ (c. 4 BC), the ultimate heir to David’s Throne! During that time no son of David ruled over Israelites in the Promised Land!

This lengthy 582-year gap between Zedekiah’s downfall in 586 BC and the First Coming of Jesus Christ is impossible to explain away—if you really believe the LORD’S solemn promise to David, and if you know that “it is impossible for God to lie!” (Heb. 6:18). One of King David’s descendants was to sit upon his Throne in “all generations” (Psa. 89:4)! But how long is a generation? A Bible generation is certainly not less than a few decades in length (Exod. 1:6; Matt. 1:17; Lev. 23:14-41). How would God keep His solemn promise to David that one of his descendants would sit on his Throne in every single generation—ruling over some of his fellow Israelites?

History reveals that there have only been three brief interruptions in David’s royal line of succession to his Throne. Since God gave His promise to David before his death (c. 970 BC), a descendant of his has sat on his Throne in every generation! However, there have been three temporary vacancies (called “interregnums”) in David’s royal line of succession. An “interregnum [is] the time during which a throne is vacant between two successive reigns or regimes” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed.). When and how did the three temporary interregnums to the Davidic royal line of succession occur?

1) The first short vacancy in David’s royal line occurred when wicked Queen Athaliah (having no royal Davidic blood) usurped the Throne and ruled over the Kingdom of Judah for six years (c. 841-835 BC). She was the daughter of wicked Queen Jezebel and King Ahab of Israel: “Jezebel [was] the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians” (1 Ki. 16:31), who married Jehoram, king of Judah, by whom she had several sons, one of whom later became King Ahaziah of Judah. When her son Ahaziah was murdered, after reigning only “one year” (2 Chr. 22:1-9), Athaliah “arose and destroyed all the royal heirs of the house of Judah” except Joash (vv. 10-11). For “six years” her authority was unchallenged; then the priest Jehoida installed the young Joash on the Throne. Hearing the jubilation attendant to Joash’s coronation, wicked Athalia came out to confront her enemies, and was put to death outside the Temple (vv. 10-12; 23:1-15). Thus ended the six-year interregnum of “that wicked woman” (2 Chr. 24:7)!

2) The second brief vacancy (interregnum) in David’s dynasty occurred between the fall of Jerusalem (c. 586 BC), and the marriage of Zedekiah’s daughter (only a decade or so later)—to an Irish prince who then ruled over dispersed Israelites who had lived for many years in the far-off island of Ireland. An ancient Irish royal family—descendants of Judah’s son Zerah—had previously ruled over a thriving colony of the peoples of “lost Israel,” some of whom had lived in Ireland for many centuries. (More of this later.)

3) The third temporary vacancy (interruption) in the Davidic Dynasty occurred during an interregnum, which lasted nearly 11 years—when KING CHARLES I of England (a descendant of David through the ancient Scottish and Irish kings) was beheaded in 1649; but his son Charles II, was restored to the British Throne in 1660—a little less than 11 years after his father had been beheaded.

Besides these three interregnums, there are no other vacancies in the Davidic royal line from the time of King David to the present time. These three brief interregnums were well within the limits of the scope of God’s solemn promise that David would have an heir reigning on his Throne in “all generations” (Psa. 89:4).

Thus we see that it is a big mistake to casually assume that the Throne of David ceased to exist after Judah’s last king, Zedekiah, was toppled from his Throne in 586 BC, at which time all the nobles, as well as all of Zedekiah’s sons—the royal “seed” of David’s Dynasty—were killed by the Babylonians (Jer. 39:6-7). This left no male heirs of King Zedekiah to sit on David’s Throne. But many fail to recognize the fact that “Zedekiah’s daughters” were spared (Jer. 41:10; 43:6-7). Since Zedekiah had no living sons, one of his daughters could—and in fact did—continue the royal line of Davidic succession—according to the biblical law of inheritance in ancient Israel (Num. 27:1-11; Josh. 17:6).

In like manner, the British law of royal succession allows a daughter to inherit her father’s throne—if he leaves no male heirs. This occurred four times in the line of British monarchs: Mary I, Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria and the present British Queen, Elizabeth II. The French “Salic law” of royal dynastic succession “exclude[d] females from the line of succession” to the French throne (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dict., 10th ed.).

Many are surprised to be told that the biblical Prophet Jeremiah did, according to ancient Irish history, accompany at least two of King Zedekiah’s daughters from the Holy Land to Ireland. The saga of how David’s Throne was transferred from Jerusalem, in the ancient land of Israel, to Ireland makes a most fascinating true story.

Jeremiah was one of the most remarkable of the O.T. prophets. His ministry in the “Holy Land” covered a span of about 40 years—from his call, during King Josiah’s 13th year (c. 626 BC) until the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. He prophesied under the last five kings of Judah: 1) Josiah, 2) Jehoahaz, 3) Jehoiakim, 4) JEHOICHIN (also called CONIAH or Jeconiah) and 5) Zedekiah.

In about 597 BC, Jehoiachin (i.e. Coniah) succeeded his father Jehoiakim to the Throne (2 Chr. 36:1-10). However, because of his great wickedness, Jeremiah predicted that his descendants would never prosper on the Throne of David, ruling “in Judah.” Notice God’s curse upon Jeconiah’s house: “‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘though the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off; and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life’” (Jer. 22:24-25).

“‘O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the LORD! ‘Write this man [Coniah] down as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for none of his descendants shall prosper, sitting on the THRONE OF DAVID, and ruling any more in JUDAH’” (vv. 29-30).

Although Coniah [Jehoiachin] was appointed king of Judah by the Babylonians, he only reigned three months and 10 days before Nebuchednezzar changed his mind and carried off the 18-year old king and his family to Babylon. Shealtiel, one of Coniah’s five sons, was the father of Zerubbabel, neither of whom ever became a king “in Judah.” However, Zerubbabel was appointed “governor of Judah” (Hag. 1:1)—after the Jews returned from Babylon in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. In fact, none of Coniah’s sons, or their descendants ever prospered on the Throne of David in Judah—just as God had prophesied through Jeremiah!

After King Jehoiachin was taken to Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Mattaniah (Jehoiachin’s uncle) to be the king of Judah, calling him ZEDEKIAH. (2 Ki. 24:10-18). “Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to ZEDEKIAH” (v. 17). God switched the royal line from wicked Jehoiachin’s [i.e. “Coniah’s”] family, to his nephew’s royal line of descent by appointing ZEDEKIAH as the vassal king over Judah.

Scotch-Irish Holy Land Connections Not long afterward, Almighty God commissioned Jeremiah to transplant the “king’s daughters” (i.e. Zedekiah’s daughters) from the land of Judah to the Emerald Isle (Ireland). Do ancient Irish histories, as well as present traditions, give us any clues showing that, in fact, Jeremiah did escort King Zedekiah’s “daughters” from the land of Judah to Ireland, via Egypt and Spain? To this very day, Irishmen believe the Hebrew Prophet Jeremiah brought one or more Jewish princesses to Ireland shortly after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

While touring Ireland in 1959, I visited the city of Enniskillen, North Ireland. The local inhabitants informed me that the Prophet Jeremiah was buried nearby. I then hired a guide to take me to “Jeremiah’s Tomb,” which according to Irish tradition, many Irish believe is located on Devenish Isle, in Lough Erne, in Northern Ireland.

Years later, in July 1995, my wife and I were having breakfast with friends in a hotel restaurant in Belfast, N. Ireland, where we were discussing Irish history. During the discussion, I was surprised when another diner (who had obviously overheard some of our conversation) walked up to our table and informed us that present-day Irish people believe Jeremiah is buried in Northern Ireland. He told us that some of the Irish believe the venerable Prophet Jeremiah undertook an important mission to Ireland just a few years after the downfall of Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

For thousands of years, Northern Ireland and Scotland have been closely linked in kinship, culture, and in their cherished beliefs in liberty and free enterprise. In 1879, Scottish historian John MacLaren published an interesting history of Scotland titled, The History of Ancient Caledonia. In that history, he reveals that the early Christians of Scotland believed that—according to the Scottish Declaration of Arbroath—they had been taught by the Apostle Peter’s brother ANDREW, the “patron saint” of Scotland.

Also, according to MacLaren’s history, they had worshipped the “God of Bethel,” and knew that they were descendants of the “twelve tribes of Israel,” and say they brought “Jacob’s Pillow stone” into Britain. According to MacLaren, some of the Scots kept the “seventh day” Sabbath, observed the annual Sabbaths (mentioned in Leviticus 23) and kept the “Sabbath of the land” every seventh year, according to the laws God gave Moses to give to Israel; they also refused to eat any “unclean food” and paid “tythes” (The History of Ancient Caledonia, pp. 1-61). These comments reveal the close racial connection between the Scotch-Irish and the people of ancient Israel.

This same historian also says, “The original writings from which this history is translated are believed to have been carried away by Edward I, along with...Jacob’s Pillow [the British coronation stone, the Stone of Scone] upon which the Caledonians crowned their kings at Scone Palace” (p. 2). [Julius Caesar’s army landed in England in 54 BC, but soon returned to Gaul. In 43 AD, Rome again invaded Britain and occupied it for the next 400 years.]

What was “Jeremy’s Land”? MacLaren’s History of Ancient Caledonia repeatedly refers to Ireland as “Jeremy’s Land”—that is, “Jeremiah’s Land” (pp. 56-57). “The Lord permitted the Romans to persecute the Jews [66-73 AD] but He afflicted the Romans with famine and pestilence. As the orders were that no [Jewish] slaves were to be allowed to land there [at Rome], but were permitted either in BRITAIN or GAUL [France-Belgium], or JEREMY’S LAND [Ireland], or any other port beyond the great god GIB’S ROCK [Gibraltar] (the God of the Storm), they set sail from Rome bound for JEREMY’S LAND” (p. 56). Clearly, “Jeremy’s land” refers to Ireland!

But how did Ireland come to be called, at least by some, “JEREMY’S LAND”? In order to understand these things more fully, we need to see what God’s Word says concerning what happened to the Prophet Jeremiah and the “daughters” of King Zedekiah. Even before the Prophet Jeremiah was born, the LORD planned that he was destined to carry out a very important mission during his lifetime. God told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; And I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:4-5). Jeremiah tried to resist God’s call, “Ah, LORD God! Behold, I cannot speak [well], for I am a youth” (v. 8). God then told Jeremiah, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak...” (v. 7).

But, exactly what did the Great God have in mind for Jeremiah to do? “‘See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, [then] to BUILD and to PLANT’” (v. 10). Most Bible scholars understand that Jeremiah spent many years prophesying the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah. During that time he warned their leaders (including their kings) that the Babylonians would destroy both the Kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem (21:1-14; 32:26-34). For prophesying calamity, “he was...shut up in the court of the prison” in Jerusalem for many days (33:1). Nonetheless, he continued prophesying against the Kingdom of Judah, saying it would be pulled down (chapters 34-37; 38:1-4).

Later, Jeremiah was accused of high treason: “So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon.... And there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire” (v. 6). Finally, one of the king’s servants, an Ethiopian, interceded on his behalf: “so they pulled Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the dungeon...” (v. 13). “Now Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken [by the Babylonians]” (v. 28), who captured King Zedekiah and passed judgment upon him (39:1-5). “Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes [and] also killed all of the nobles of Judah” (v. 6).

None of the male heirs to the Throne were left alive! But the Babylonian “captain of the guard” told Jeremiah, ‘“And now look, I free you this day from the chains that were on your hand”’ (40:4), and said to him, “‘Go wherever it seems convenient for you to go.’ So the captian of the guard gave him rations and a gift [expense money] and let him go” (v. 5). At first, Jeremiah remained with the few Jews whom the Babylonians left in the land of Judah. But did Jeremiah remain there? No. Then, where did he go? Did Jeremiah then accompany “Zedekiah’s daughters” to join “lost Israelites” in Ireland?

When the leaders of the Jewish remnant decided to flee to Egypt, they asked Jeremiah to seek God’s will in the matter. Jeremiah took it to God, then told them God’s directive: “Do not go to Egypt!” (42:1-19). However, their self-willed leaders flatly refused to obey God’s Word by Jeremiah: “But Johanan the son of Kareah and all of the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to dwell in the land of Judah, from all nations where they had been driven—men, women, children, the KING’S DAUGHTERS...and JEREMIAH the prophet and BARUCH [Jeremiah’s scribe].... So they went as far as TAHPANHES [Gk. Daphne]” in N. E. Egypt (43:5-7).

Ancient Irish histories indicate there were two prominent eastern ladies—both of whom appear to have been daughters of Zedekiah—who were later connected with the people of Ireland: SCOTA and TAMAR TEPHI.

1) SCOTA was apparently the older of the two celebrated women, and some biblical scholars believe Scota was one of Zedekiah’s daughters. Scotch-Irish records explain that this eastern lady, Scota, had previously married Niul—one of Pharaoh Hophra’s mercenary soldiers—while she was living as a royal refugee (a “daughter”) under the adoptive protection of the Pharaoh Hophra, who had a royal “house” or palace at Tahpanhes, Egypt (see Jer. 33:9; 44:30). It was this Scota whose name the people of Ireland later adopted—as Ireland was subsequently called “Scotia” until the 10th century AD (Moore’s History of Ireland, vol. 1). Later that name, Scota, was applied to North Britain (i.e. Scotland) and still later Scota was applied to a province in Southeastern Canada called NOVA SCOTIA.

Notice the following account of what happened to “JACOB’S PILLOW STONE” in connection with King Zedekiah’s daughters: TEA TEPHI and SCOTA— “It [this “Pillow Stone” or “Stone of Destiny”] was saved from destruction with the Temple, was cherished as a palladium by the Jews; and, after the death of Zedekiah, was carried by a migrating colony, with ‘SCOTA the King’s daughter’ under the leadership of the Prophet Jeremiah.... It was taken to ‘The Isles of the Sea,’ and preserved as a Stone of Destiny, by the ‘People of Scota’.... Finally, it was ‘stolen’ by Edward, King of England, and placed in the Coronation Chair at Westminster Abbey where it still is” (THE STONE OF DESTINY, by F. Wallace Connon, p. 15).

Note In December 1996, this Stone of Destiny was returned to the Scots. This “chunk of sandstone [called the “Stone of Scone”] was returned to Edinburgh, Scotland from London, England—amidst the playing of bagpipes, and the jubilation of the Scots”: “Friday [Nov. 15, 1996—700 years after 1296] the pale yellow stone—on which every great king of Scotland was crowned until 1296—was returned home to the skirl of pipes, toasts of whiskey and a school holiday.... The STONE came home because the British government of Prime Minister John Major decided it should, and it will go to Edinburgh Castle for display...” (The Los Angeles Times, Nov. 16, 1996).

2) TAMAR TEPHI was apparently the second of King Zedekiah’s “daughters.”
Tamar means Palm. When Tamar is combined with Tephi (Heb. “beautiful”) it means palm beautiful—that is, “Beautiful Palm.” In Irish history, Tamar Tephi was also known by the name Tea Tephi. When “Tea” (Heb. wanderer) is combined with “Tephi” (Heb. “beautiful”), we get Tea Tephi (Beautiful Wanderer). We shall soon see why this beautiful princess was called a “Beautiful Wanderer.”

At the fall of Jerusalem in about 586 BC, these two princesses were quite young, as proven by the fact that their father, King Zedekiah, who was only 32 years old when he was taken to Babylon at the time when Jerusalem was captured by the Babylonians: “Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years [until taken to Babylon in 586 BC]” (2 Chr. 36:22).

Since the two royal Jewish princesses, Tamar and Scota, spent several years in Tahpanhes (Daphne), Egypt—during the reign of Pharaoh Hophra—they, in a sense, became Pharaoh’s “adoptive daughters” by being under his protective custody. Irish annals reveal that, while yet in Egypt, Princess Scota married a man named Niul, a Milesian mercenary (i.e. a Gael of Israelite ancestry) in the employ of Pharaoh Hophra. Later, after going to Ireland, Princess Tea Tephi married an Irish prince of the Zerah branch of Judah bearing the princely title of Eochaidh (“Erimionn,” or “Heremon”).

After Jerusalem’s fall, the leaders of a Jewish remnant stubbornly insisted on going to Egypt—regardless of God’s instruction to the contrary. The LORD then told them that if they disobeyed, most of them would be “consumed by the sword and by famine.... Yet a small number who escaped the sword would return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah...” (Jer. 44:27-28).

God also told Jeremiah and the Jews, “Behold, I will give PHARAOH HOPHRA king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies...as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life” (v. 30). Ancient Irish history mentions that—not long after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC—a gray-haired sage (or prophet) came to Ireland, bringing an Eastern Princess (Tea-Tephi). He was accompanied by his scribe, “Simon Brach” (sometimes spelled Breck or Berech), whom the Bible reveals to be Jeremiah’s secretary, BARUCH (Jer. 31:32). “The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch...when he had written these words in a book at the instruction of Jeremiah.... Thus says the LORD...to you, O Baruch.... ‘Behold, I have built, I will break down, and what I have planted I will pluck up, that is, this whole land.... And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh.... But I will give your life to you as a prize, wherever you go’” (45:1-5).

But Jeremiah and his secretary, Baruch, were to be under God’s protection “in all places” wherever they went (Jer. 1:5). But where were Jeremiah and Baruch to go? Remember, Jeremiah had been commissioned “to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down” the Kingdom of Judah, and the “THRONE of DAVID.” He was also told that, afterward, he was to “BUILD and to PLANT” in another place (v. 10).

What was Jeremiah to build and plant? Obviously, the same Throne, which he had helped to pull down in Judah! Another scripture which is sometimes used to show that a daughter of Zedekiah would continue to rule on David’s Throne is found in Isaiah 37:31-32: “And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upwards. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”

The Bible reveals that after the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC, a “remnant”—including the “king’s daughters,” Jeremiah, his scribe, Baruch (Jer. 43:6-7), did escape Babylonian captivity and fled to Tahpanhes, Egypt for refuge. It was out of this “remnant” from Mount Zion (the ROYAL RESIDENCE of the kings of JUDAH) that King Zedekiah’s daughters came. And according to Jeremiah’s divine commission (Jer. 1:9-10), one of those “daughters” was to be “planted” and “built” into a viable dynasty in the “height of Israel”—among the Israelite peoples of the “Lost Ten Tribes” of Israel, many of whom then lived in Ireland and other N.W European countries (Ezek. 17:2-24).

How did Zedekiah’s daughters get from Israel to Ireland? At the time when Jeremiah, Baruch and the “king’s daughters” went to Tahpanhes, Egypt [Jer. 43:6-7], “Pharaoh-HOPHRA [was then] king of Egypt” (44:30). Hophra, like the Jews, was at odds with the Babylonians. Furthermore, “Pharaoh’s house” (his Royal Palace) was in Tahpanhes (v. 9) which was a very important Egyptian fortress city during his reign.

The Encyclopedia Britannica says, “Daphne (Tahpanhes, modern Defneh), an ancient fortress near the Syrian frontier of Egypt, on the Pelusian arm of the Nile. Here King Psammetichus established a garrison of foreign mercenaries, mostly Carians and Ionian Greeks. After the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 588 BC [more accurately, in 586 BC] the Jewish fugitives, of whom Jeremiah was one, came to Tahpanhes.... The site was discovered by Sir Flinders Petrie in 1886; the name ‘Castle of the JEW’S DAUGHTER’ seems to preserve the tradition of the Jewish refugees’” (14th ed., vol. vii, p. 48).

Furthermore, we are told that “Pharaoh Apries (HOPHRA; 588-569 BC)...fomented rebellion against the Babylonian suzerainty in Judah, but accomplished little there. Colonies of Jewish refugees [including Jeremiah and the “king’s daughters”] were given shelter in Egypt. Herodotus describes Apris’ reign as exceedingly prosperous” (Encyc. Brit., 15th ed., vol. 8).

Note Famous British archaeologist and Egyptologist, Sir Flinders Petrie (1853-1942), says this of the Egyptian city of “Tahpanhes”: “TAHPANHES was an important garrison, and as the Jews fled there it must have been close to the frontier. It is thus clear that it was the Greek Daphanae, the modern Tell Defneh, which is on the road to Palestine.... Of this an echo comes across the long ages; the fortress mound is known as QASR BINT el YEHUDI, the palace of the Jew’s daughter. It is named Qasr, as a palace, not Qala, a fortress. It is not named Tell Bint El Yehudi as it would be if it were called so after it were a ruinous heap. Qasr is a name, which shows its descent from the time of...HABITATION FOR NOBILITY and not merely for troops. So through the long ages of Greek and Roman and Arab there has come down the memory of the royal residence for the king’s daughters from the wreck of Jerusalem” (Egypt and Israel, pp. 85-86).

We are told that during this 26th Dynasty, the Egyptians regularly imported foreign mercenaries to guard their N. E. frontier, including the fortress city of Tahpanhes (Daphne). As an example, “[PHARAOH] PSAMTIK guarded the frontiers of Egypt with three strong garrisons, placing the Ionian and Carian mercenaries especially at the Pelusian Daphnae...in the northeast, from which quarter the most formidable enemies were likely to appear” (p. 40).

The Apostles Peter and James mention these “dispersed” Israelites who, in N.T. times, were living in Asia Minor and in certain parts of S. E. Greece, in the vicinity of the Black Sea, the Bosphoros and Dardanelles, and in Asia Minor, etc. The Apostle Peter, in mentioning some of these dispersed Israelites (Gk. diaspora), said: “Peter...to the pilgrims of the Dispersion [dispersed Israelites] in Pontus, Galatia, Cappodocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect...of God the Father” (1 Peter 1:1-2). The Apostle James addresses his epistle to “the TWELVE TRIBES which are scattered abroad [dispersed]” (James 1:1-2).

Jesus Christ and His APOSTLES were all well aware of the whereabouts of those “lost tribes” in the first century of the Christian era. They were aware that at that time many Israelites still lingered in the areas of Southwestern Asia Minor, around the Black and Caspian Seas, and on both sides of the all-important waterway, the Dardanelles and Bosporus, leading from the Agean Sea into the Black Sea. Later, those Israelite peoples moved on into N. W. Europe and from there into many places which they colonized in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, etc.

The core peoples of those English-speaking nations (who trace their ancestry back to the peoples of Great Britain) are, in fact, the modern-day descendants of the so-called “Lost Ten Tribes” of Israel! Many of God’s people are ignorant of Christ’s own words, when He sent out His Twelve Disciples to preach and teach His Gospel: “These TWELVE Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: ‘Do not go into the way of the GENTILES, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans [who falsely professed to be “Israelites”]. But go rather to the LOST SHEEP of the HOUSE OF ISRAEL’” (Matt. 10:56). Further, He told them, “For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the CITIES OF ISRAEL [a prophecy yet to be fulfilled in our time] before the Son of Man COMES [at His Second Coming]” (v. 23). We are not told how long it took Christ’s “TWELVE APOSTLES” to complete their commission to go to the “LOST SHEEP of the HOUSE OF ISRAEL.” Apparently, that commission would only be completed by the Twelve Apostles after Christ was resurrected and sent the Holy Spirit to empower them in their preaching!