Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Are Jews Edomites?

That's another claim you commonly see among Anti-Semites who want to argue modern Jewish communities (chiefly the Ashkenazim) are not legit descendants of the Ancient Israelites.

I find it interesting actually how White Supremisicts and Afro-Centrists believe basically the same thing about Ashkenazim Jews.  The KKK and Neo-Nazis hate Blacks but don't give them enough credit to view them as the Evil Masterminds of their Conspiracy Theories, so to them the Ashkenazim Jews are the puppet masters.  While Black Power groups view the Ahskenazim Jews as the Whitest of all White People.  So both see them as the ultimate villains.  And both when presenting their views in a Biblical Context, will often argue some sort of Jews aren't real Israelites theory.

The common Kazzar myth will be made an aspect of that.  That myth is easy to debunk, one of my favorite videos on the subject is Chris White's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDWUZ6EqWHc
What's added to this here is claiming the Khazzars were Edomites.

Many Medieval texts seem to identify the Khazzars as being one of the tribes to come from Togarmah son of Gomer son of Japheth, like other tribes of that region. Some like Britam and Veilikovsky (in Beyond the Mountains of Darkness) have sought to claim Lost Tribes descent for the Khazars.  I last month on another blog discussed reasons to think they may have partially descended from Benjamin's son Rosh.

But another factor brought in to allow a far more ancient Edomite infiltration of Judaism, is to talk about how the Hasmoneans forcibly converted the Idumeans.  First of all I have cited Bill Cooper's After The Flood Appendix 1 to support my view that the Idumeans came from Ishmael's son Dumah not Edom.  Second, who was of Idumean ancestry was always well known, and it seems like after 70 AD many Idumeans reverted back to being gentiles and are in fact now a significant portion of the ancestry of the modern Palestinians.

But also, since NT era Idumea is essentially the land allotted to Simeon originally.  And Simeonites latter migrated to and conquered the Mt Seir region in the time of Hezekiah.  Maybe the Idumeans had some Simeonite stock intermingled into them?

But I also want to say that there is nothing inherently wrong with being descended from Esau.  The Torah allows Gentile converts to be incorporated into Israel.  And in the new Testament all who are Believers in Jesus are spiritually Abraham's Seed.  Deuteronomy 23:7-8 specifically tells the Israelites not to abhor Edomites or Mizraimites who dwell among them, and that children begotten of them are to be allowed into the congregation after the third generation.

The last thing I want to talk about is the Red Hair issue.

Because of how Esau is described, especially at his birth (Genesis 25:25), he is assumed to have had Red Hair.  And today Red Hair can be a bit more common then usual trait among Ashkenazim Jews.

Some question if Esau was a Red Head, and argue that this is a reference to how sometimes Babies skin color looks reddish at birth (people saying Blacks are the true Israelites will say this particularly happens with Black babies sometimes).  Esau's hair is definitely talked about however, he was a Hairy individual, but there is room to debate if it was ever the Hair being described as Red.

BTW, that's where the name Edom comes from, a variation on the Hebrew word for Red.  But some dispute that it always or even at all means Red but rather that it can also mean Brown.  But I think it probably means Red.  A form of the word is used to describe Ruby/Sardius gems.

Regardless, if Esau did have Red Hair, Jacob was Esau's twin brother, so it shouldn't be surprising if their descendants carry some common genetic traits.  And Red Hair has a particular tendency to be a recessive gene.  So Jacob could easily have still carried the Red Hair gene Esau inherited even if he didn't have Red Hair himself.

The same word used to describe Esau as Red is also used of David interestingly, in 1 Samuel 16:12 and 17:42.  The same above disputes arguably apply.  Plus how it's used with David makes it seem less likely to be a reference to specifically Hair rather then something else.  Regardless people have used those verses to say David was a Red Head.  Which if true would verify that the Red Hair gene existed among descendants of Jacob.

There are some studying the DNA of Jewish families that claim Pater-lineal descent from David to see if they can find a Y Chromosome Genetic marker similar to the Kohen Y Chromosome that's been found.
Davidic Dynasty DNA Research.
If they succeed, it would be interesting to then do a study to see if Genetically verified descendants of David are statistically more likely then other Jews to have Red Hair.

But Red Hair unlike the Y Chromosome or (most of the time) family names, can be passed on through the mother.  In fact you're more likely to actually have Red Hair if both parents carry the Gene.   Yet Tribal identity in Ancient Israel was usually determined by the Father's Tribe.  So let's look at how many confirmed times a daughter of the House of David could have passed David's DNA into another Clan or Tribe.

David had at least one Daughter, Tamar.  And unfortunately it can be considered unlikely she ever married after what happened to her, but not impossible.  I also feel like it's implied David had other Daughters, but we can't be certain.

Absalom we are told had children including at least one daughter.

Solomon had two daughters we know of.  Both were married to governors of Northern Kingdom locations.  So it's possible via them a Hypothetical Davidic Red Hair gene could have wound up among the Northern Kingdom's population, which can be interesting to note for Lost Tribes theories.

Rehoboam had 18 Wives and 60 Concubines who bore him 28 sons and 60 daughters.  His successor Abijah married 14 wives and had 22 sons and 16 daughters.  If most of those daughters were married into important families throughout the Kingdom, it's hypothetically possible that by the end of the Kingdom Period everyone in the Southern Kingdom could have been a descendant of Rehoboam.  The end of 1 Chronicles 11 does say Rehoboam dispersed his children throughout all the fenced cities of Judah and Benjamin.

Jehosbeba was a daughter of Jehoram of Judah.  She was married to Jehoiada, a Priest and thus a descendant of Aaron.  We know Jehoiada had at least one son, but no direct confirmation he was borne by Jehosheba.  Still, we have here a chance for a possible Davidic Red Hair gene to wind up in the Kohen gene pool.

Zedekiah we are told had daughters in The Book of Jeremiah.  British Israelism claims Irish and later Scottish and via the Stuarts British Royalty descends from one of those daughters.  If you believe that theory it's interesting to note that Red Hair is most common among the Irish.

Hillel The Elder who was a Benjamite by his father, claimed descent from David's son Shaphatiah by Avital via his mother.  Hillel's family were leaders of the Sanhedrin till it was disbanded.  Rashi was a descendant of Hillel and thus many modern Jewish families can claim descent from Hillel.

I believe Mary the mother of Jesus was a descendant of Nathan via Luke's Genealogy.  She may have had a sister who was the mother of Zebedee's children, James and John.  I also believe she had at least two Daughters.  And I even have a theory one of them could be ancestral to the Bagartid Dynasty.  And if my theory that Joseph of Arimathea was Joses the Brother of Jesus is true, that could add a twist to theories about Arthurian Legend and Grail Romance, but that is for another time on another Blog.

So maybe it's possible to develop a theory that every Red Head is descended from either Esau or David?

Some people have suggested the 19th Dynasty could have been of Hyksos stock because of their interest in Set who become unpopular after the Hyksos period.  Since Ramses II is proven to have had Red hair, that can be interesting in light of viewing the Hyksos as the Edomite Amalekites.