Jeremiah, Ireland, the Stone of Scone, and the English Kings ...

CHAPTER VI. IRELAND (Tara)

THE earliest mention of the British Isles in Western literature is to be found in Herodotus (450 B.C.), where this "falsely so-called" "Father of History" says: "I do not believe there is a large river, called the Eridanus [Rhine], flowing out of Helvetia towards the North; nor do I believe in the existence of the Cassiterides [British] Islands, whence they say tin comes to us."

The first definite statement concerning these Islands is in Aristotle's De Mundo, c. 3 (4th Century B.C.): "Beyond the Pillars of Hercules the ocean flows round the earth, and in it are two very large islands called British - (one of which is called Albion and the other Ierne) lying beyond the Keltoi."

The names "Ibernie," "Hibernia," "Ivernie," "Ierne," "Erin," are all derived from the same source as "Iberia," the ancient term employed to designate the Spanish Peninsula, which, as explained in the last chapter, is of purely Hebraic origin.

It is a most humiliating thing to say, but it is nevertheless a fact, that, with us, having the largest and most widely-scattered empire this world has ever seen, Ancient and Modern History and Geography are the most neglected items in the educational systems obtaining in this country: defects made glaringly apparent during the progress of this terrible war [WW1]; the very Statesmen directing and controlling the British Forces, being shamefully ignorant of the regions involved in the struggle!

The old-time histories of "Mesopotamia," "Egypt," Palestine, Phoenicia, Persia, Spain, and Western Europe, have been cursorily viewed through Greek and Roman spectacles; and the result has been to give us distorted and misleading images of the pristine conditions of these countries and their earliest inhabitants. And the like remarks apply with equal force to the British Isles, and more especially to the ancient history of the Sister Isle, Ireland.

The following - taken from one of the "Best Histories of England for Middle Class Schools extant" - may be regarded as a specimen of the condensed or potted "history" of old-world peoples, now so much in vogue in a nation having possessions located in almost every part of the habitable globe; and whose "ships of bulrushes" (Isa. 18:2) plough the waves of every sea and ocean accessible to navigation.

"IRELAND B.C. 550 - A.D. 1169."

About 550 B.C. the Kelts, sons of Miledh (the soldier) and Eremon (the ploughman), first crossed into Erin (Iberian's land), and set up small kingdoms there by force of arms. Many legends of the struggle between the two races remain, and we know that the Iberian tribes early accepted the Keltic tongue, took Keltic chiefs to rule over them, and agreed to pay tribute to the Keltic Head-King; most of Leinster and Munster, and part of Ulster, remain to them, whilst the rest of the island was held by the Kelts.

Of the old Homeric heathen days of Ireland, with their gods, wizards, charioted heroes, and Amazonian ladies, we have the beautiful stories of Queen Mab and Cuculain of the North, and the Warriors of the Red Branch, and the hapless sons of Visnach, and the later tales of the Fenians, Finn Mac Coul and his hound Bran, Conn of the hundred fights, Diarmaid the courteous, Oscar the brave, and the aged bard Ossian, who survived them all, and sang their glory and their fate."

"The soil, climate, and shape of Ireland, which made it a paradise for a pastoral people, were all unfavourable to agriculture and trade, and it was not easy for the tribes, had they wished it, to join under one strong central Government, or for the farmers to improve their tillages, and take to settled village life as the English had done; so that the accounts given of the Britons before the Romans came may well serve for that of the Irish down to the beginning of the Ninth Century."

It would be almost impossible for any person, however ingenious or mischievously inclined, to pack more egregious errors into such a limited compass than are contained in these two short paragraphs, purporting to be the history of a great and interesting people during a period covering 1,350 years; and this period the most eventful in the whole of that nation's wonderful story!

We have shown, in the last chapter, and in the Note in the Appendix on "The Israelitish Settlements in Spain," that these enterprising Colonists, having gained the upper hand over the Phoenician and Philistinian people of the Western Coast of Palestine, entered into possession of these Canaanitish Territories; and this conquest naturally extended to and included the Settlements and Depots formed by these adventurous voyagers in the Iberian Peninsula and elsewhere. And amongst those over-sea possessions thus acquired by the "mingled peoples" of Western Palestine - the Dano-Philistines and Ashero-Phoenicians; the "Danaan" of the Mediterranean and Western Europe, and "Tuatha de Danaan" of Irish story we must certainly include the Emerald Isle.

Taught by their own experience as merchants, and remembering the over-running of Lower Egypt by the Haqu-Shashu, or "Chiefs of the Nomads" (the Greek "Hyksos");- the mercenary raid of Kudar Lagamar ("Chedorlaomer") King of Elam, Hammurabi ("Amraphel, King of Shinar,") and their Confederates upon Southern Palestine (Gen. 14:); and the invasions of Syria by Thutmes I. of Egypt, as well as the conquest of Canaan by Joshua, the son of Nun - the Phoenicians before, and the Israelo-Phoenicians after their fusion, recognized two great dangers attending the setting up of Colonies on the shores of any Continental region.

First, that these Colonies were always liable to subjugation by powerful adjacent States; and second, that in the event of their expansion or attainment of a certain degree of wealth or power, such would desire to disavow and repudiate all dependence upon the parent State. Hence the preference always shown for Island Settlements by the Maritime Tribes of Israel.

At a very early period the islands of Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete, Malta, Gozo, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Elba, and the Balearic Islands were occupied by the Phoenicians, and these fell into the hands of Dan, Asher, Zebulun, and later on, Ephraim and Manassah, when amalgamation with these Hamitic peoples was complete (see Judges 1:30-35) But the ancient Phoenicians had also discovered the British Isles, and these were considered worth more than all the islands of the "Great Sea" put together, on account of their great mineral wealth, and especially as producing tin (Num. 31:22).

In that much-discussed compendium of Western Historical and Geographical knowledge, the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, the following contradictory passage will be found:

"BRITANNIA. - The history of Britain begins with the invasion of Julius Caesar, 55 B.C.. Caesar is the first writer who mentions Britain; before him we have only a few short notices by Greek writers, who appear to have known little about the country. The earliest notice of Britain is in Herodotus (450 B.C.), who mentions the Tin Islands, only to confess his ignorance about them."

[The passage in Aristotle (circa 360 B.C.), quoted in the opening paragraph of this chapter, in which the word "British" occurs, is then referred to]

"The application of the name Britannia to denote the large island is first found in Caesar." The italics are mine.

The Prophet Jeremiah knew of the Hii-i-Yum "the Isles which are beyond the Sea," i.e., the Mediterranean - Jer. 25:22), shortly after the Founding of Rome, and about 500 years before Caius Julius Caesar saw the light, and Aristotle, the tutor of Alexander the Great, speaks of the "Two Islands beyond the Pillars of Hercules called British."

How, then, can it be said that British history begins with Julius Caesar?

And if this Roman Writer was the fast to employ the term "Britannia," where did he get it from? For the word is neither of Latin, Greek, nor Keltic derivation.

It is Arabic - derived from Beret, a country, and Annas, "tin"; hence Britannia - and Caesar must have heard it and been informed of its significance either in Egypt, or, (more probably, in Spain. See Smith's "Cassiterides," a work in which this subject is lucidly and exhaustively dealt with.)

Now, although Tin must have been largely imported by the Egyptians and Phoenicians before 1500 B.C. (Numb. 31:22) - and this metal must have come from Britain - yet in Ezekiel's time (575 B.C.), Tarshish (Tartessa, or Spain) was the only country whence Tyre drew her supplies of this metal (Ezek. 27:12). It would appear, therefore, that the wide-awake Israelito-Phoenician merchants of Iberia had found a good thing and monopolized the traffic in it.

These flourishing Iberian Colonists sent out offshoots into the Scilly Isles, Cornwall, Devon, and to Ireland, centuries before the Keltic Invasion of Britain; and it can be conclusively shown from the records of the latter people that these "Iberians" constituted the great bulk of the Irish population long prior to 550 B.C., the date usually assigned to the establishment of the first Keltic kingdom on the Eastern shores of the Sister Isle. And of these Iberian Settlers, the Dana Philistines and Ashero-Phoenicians - the "Tuatha de Danaan" of the ancient Irish Annalists - were the first to set up monarchies in the land called after them "Ibernie," "Ivernie," " Hibernia," "Ierne," and "Erin."

The first map on which the British Isles are depicted is one embodying the geographical knowledge current in the time of Eratosthenes and Strabo (circa 200 B.C.), in which "Ierne" is shown lying due north of "Britannia," with the "Cassiterides Islands" well to the westward of the latter; but no towns are marked on this map. On Ptolemy's map (circa 160 A.D.) "Albion" is seen with the cities of Eboracum (York), Londinum (London), Deva (Chester), Lindum (Lincoln), and Isca (Exeter), with an elongated "Caledonia" running due east from the Lothians, whilst "Iverna" (Ireland) is pretty well defined with only one city shown, "Eblana" (Dublin), which is placed near Carlingford Lough. This name of the oldest and chief city of Erin ("Eblana") is simply a corruption of "Abilene," the region immediately to the south of the two Lebanon Ranges, for many years occupied by the Northern Danites (Judges 18:1, 2, 7, 11, 27-29); and this fact, amongst others, goes to prove that this daring and turbulent tribe of Dan (some of whose high-handed ways are recorded in the Chapter just quoted), dominated Ireland for centuries before the Keltic incursions into that country took place!

This intrepid and adventuresome people have inscribed their name of Dan, Tuatha de Danaan, Dar-dan and Don on the scroll of history, not as "tracings on the sands of time," but as "graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever" (Job 19:24): and this, not merely in the region extending "from Dan to Beersheba," but from Dan on the southern spurs of the Lebanon, through Asia Minor and Central Europe, to the Emerald Isle, and from Danmark to the Straits of Gades; centuries long before Greece had obtained her alphabet from Phoenicia or her mythology from Egypt.

Further proof that the population of Ireland was almost, if not, indeed, altogether composed of these Israelitish emigrants from Iberia (Spain) is to be found in the ancient characters of the very old Erse - not "Keltic" - language of the country. Some of these characters closely resemble the lettering on the Moabite Stone (circa 890 B.C.), and those on the Siloam Inscriptions (725 B.C.); and are almost "identical with the Anglo-Saxon of the Earle MSS., which race, as we shall see presently, also originally came from "The Stock of Abraham."

This affinity is also shown in the `names "Hibernia," "Erin," "Ibernia," etc., all Israelitish in origin (see Chapter V.); in the Round Towers to be met with in many parts of Ireland, which are facsimiles of similar structures in Spain and Syro-Palestine; in the title of the Head-Kings of Ireland, "Ardagh" (Hebrew Ard, "Commander," and Dath or Doth, "the laws" or "customs"); in the marked differences in physique, temperament, and general character, which, like "a great gulf fixed," separate the Irish folk from the Highlanders of Scotland, the Galwegians bordering on the Solway, the Welsh, Cornish and French Bretons - all of whom are undoubtedly of Keltic or Pictish origin; and in the wonderful sympathy that has always existed between the Irish peoples and those of the Iberian Peninsula; so often noticed by historians without any attempt at elucidation of this phenomenon.

Even in 1588 (upwards of 2,500 years after these Israelitish-Phoenician Settlements first began their migrations into Ireland), the Irish of the West Coast demanded a license from the Pope (Sextus V.) as a sanction or warrant before they would consent to "kill the holy Spaniards" - the men cast ashore from wrecks of the "Invincible Armada" of Philip II. - "but," it is stated, "Shaun O'Neil marched up, and in his wonted manner, slew them."

The remains of these Dano-Phoenician Communities are to be found in every part of Ireland, from Malin Head to Cape Clear, and from Carlingford Lough to Achill Head; and the ancient folk-lore of the country, enshrined in the Irish Annals, most certainly point to the fact that the great bulk of the population, at the time of the Keltic Invasion, was decidedly of Iberian (Israelitish) race and language.

In Moore's History of Ireland (quoted by Mr. Henry Sulley, in his Britain in Prophecy), that careful and painstaking Antiquary says: "Numbers of swords, made of brass, have been found in different parts of the country. ..... It has been thought not improbable that all these weapons, the Irish as well as the others, were of the same Punic or Phoenician origin, and may be traced to those colonies on the coast of Spain which traded anciently with the British Isles."

The italics in the above and following quotations are mine.

A report on the Mines of Leinster, laid before the Dublin Society in 1828, Contained the following passage "If we may judge from the number of ancient mine excavations which are still visible in almost every part of Ireland, it would appear that an ardent spirit for mining adventure must have pervaded this country at some very remote period. ..... Many of our mining excavations exhibit appearances of the most ancient mines of Cornwall, which are generally attributed to the Phoenicians."

In their Account of Cornwall, the Authors (Messrs. Lysons), remark: "Fragments of ancient weapons are frequently discovered in Cornwall, in streams and buried in the ground. .... They are instruments of mixed metal commonly called Celts, apparently cast in imitation of the stone hatchets and chisels of the early inhabitants. They are found in greater abundance in Cornwall than in any other part of the kingdom, .... In the parish of Helant (Lelant?), four miles north of St. Michael's Mount, in the year 1802, a farmer discovered, about two feet below the surface of the earth, a quantity of Celts, weighing about fourteen to fifteen pounds, with pieces of copper swords, and heavy lumps of fine copper. ... Another large quantity of Celts, with spearheads and broken pieces of copper swords, with several lumps of metal weighing altogether about eighty pounds was discovered in the parish of St. Hilary, about the year 1800 ..... Several (Celts) were found on the side of Karnbir Hill in the year 1844. Other similar discoveries have been made, and a comparison of these ancient relics with the armor described by Homer in the Iliad, as worn by the Greeks (who were supplied from Tyre) shows that they are identical in metal and manufacture!"

In these three quotations, it will be observed that these relics of remote antiquity are referred to as being of "Phoenician" origin, the authors apparently viewing everything through Greek and Roman media - the inevitable "Port" or "Sherry" - whereas had they said "Israelitish," they would have been nearer the mark; for the Phoenicians were reduced to servitude shortly after the Conquest of Palestine by Joshua, as shown in Notes 5 and 6.

In the Account of Cornwall, the assertion that the "Celts" (!) were cast in metal "in imitation of the stone hatchets and chisels of the early inhabitants," is about as credible as a statement to the effect that the first European Settlers in America and Australia, discarding all their Old World notions, had fashioned their weapons on the models of the tomahawk of the Western savage, and boomerang of the Island-Continent "blacks."

The reference to the similarity of these "Celts," in metal and manufacture, to "the armor" described by Homer in the Iliad, is more to the point, and full of meaning. For the builders and defenders of Ilion (Troy) were, unquestionably, the Northern Danites (Judges 18:1, 7-11, 27 and 28), the "Dar-Danians" of Greek story. This section of the turbulent Tribe came westward after the Fall of Troy, and, after many wanderings, settled in Danmark, whilst their brethren, the Southern Danites (the "Danaan" and "Tuatha de Danaan" of the Western Mediterranean and the Iberian Peninsula) formed Settlements in Cornwall, Devon, and Ireland; and hence the close resemblance between the so-called "Celts" found in these regions to the armor described by

....... Yon master of the lyre,
Who sang beleaguered Ilion's fallen star."

THE KELTIC KINGDOMS OF IRELAND.

The Keltic or Pictish Kingdoms set up in Ireland (550-450 B.C.) were very small: and, with the exception of that of Galway, on the Atlantic side of the island, were confined to strips on the Eastern and Southern Coasts. To assert that these became the dominant powers in the Sister Isle is to fly in the face of all history and tradition, and entertain a delusion as strong as that which credits the Keltic or Pictish race with being the originators of the bagpipes - a musical (?) instrument referred to in the directions given for the musical accompaniment to some of the Psalms, and which has been used by the Afghans and Malabar Israelites, the so-called Black "Jews" (among whom I have lived) - from time immemorial. In fact, these Keltic or Pictish Principalities, as well as those of the "Oestmen" (Norse and Danish), soon fell into decay and finally became entirely subordinated to the authority of the Dano-Asherian or "Iberian" Ardath, or Head King of all Ireland.

On the arrival of the Milesians or Scotii on the East coast of that country (in about 238-220 B.C.); - when these latter refused to submit to the Carthaginian yoke sought to be imposed upon them by Hamilcar Barka, Hasdrubal, and Hannibal - the entire people of one of these Pictish kingdoms (Galway) were ousted out of the South-West of Ireland by the Milesian Scotii and given safe-conduct to the North-Eastern side of the island; from whence they emigrated en masse to the South-Western part of Caledonia (the present-day counties of Wigtown, Kirkcudbright, and Dumfries), which bears the Irish name of "Galloway" to this day!

When Richard Strongbow, of Clare (Suffolk), the Earl of Pembroke, and his henchmen, Fitz-Gerald, and Fitz-Stephen, invaded Leinster in 1169 A.D., they found the Pictish lordships shrunken to the condition of mere baronies; and when these petty lords of Munster, Kinsale, Oriel, and Ulster paid homage to Henry II. at Dublin in 1170, Roderic O'Connor, the Ardath, refused to bend the knee to the Plantagenet. But on this occasion a truce was made, which was ultimately transformed into a treaty of peace as between two monarchs, at Windsor in 1175, "by the efforts of Lawrence O'Toole, the holy Archbishop of Dublin."

THE ARRIVAL OF THE "SCEPTRE OF JUDAH" IN IRELAND.

We left the Prophet Jeremiah, with his great-granddaughter, the Princess Royal (or, rather, Queen of Judah) Tamar Tephi, his secretary Baruch, and their following, at the Port of Baal-Boaz (now Bilboa), near to the Yum Birska, or "evil sea" (Bay of Biscay), waiting for a passage to the "Isles which are beyond the Sea" (Jer. 25:22); whither, according to "the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23), he was destined to convey the Heiress of Israel's Royal Line, with the "Sceptre of Judah" (Gen. 49:20).

And looking back to that far-off time when The Great Disposer of Events had prepared an asylum for the "Weeping Prophet" and his royal charge (where they could join their fellow-countrymen in a land secure from all assaults of their enemies), we are lost in wonder at the marvelous provision of The Almighty, Who "doeth all things well"; and cannot avoid the conviction that Jeremiah was acting throughout under the special guidance and protection of Him Whose "judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out" (Mark 7:37; Rom. 11:33). Truly, "The thing proceeded from the Lord!" (Gen. 24:50).

Here we leave the mists of Tradition for the more sure ground of established History; and the facts I am now about to relate can be readily verified by reference to the ancient Irish, Scottish, and English Chronicles, from which I have gathered the following items of interest.

In or about the year 583-582 B.C. (some four years after the Destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar), there arrived at the Port in the North-East of Ireland, now known as Carrickfergus (in a ship belonging to the Iberian Danaan), an aged man named Ollam Fodhla, accompanied by an "Egyptian" Princess of surpassing beauty, dignity, and charm, bearing the name of Tamar or Tea Tephi, and the former's secretary, one Simon Brug. They brought with them a massive, strongly-secured and mysterious Chest or Case, which they regarded with the utmost reverence and guarded with jealous care, a Golden-colored Flag or Banner, having blazoned upon it the device of a Red Lion, and a large rough Stone.

Furnished with letters of recommendation to Eochaidh II, the Danite Ardagh ("Heremon," or Head King of Ireland), the strangers made their way to Clothair (afterwards "Torah" or "Tara," - "the Hill of the Law"), the royal residence at this period. Here their credentials obtained for the wanderers an honorable and deferential reception at the Court of the Irish Monarch, to which no doubt the stately beauty of the "Egyptian" Princess in no small degree contributed.

This King Eochaidh must have been a good and well-disposed man, for, under the influence of Ollam Fodhla, he purified his Court, if not, indeed, his entire kingdom, from many abuses; abolished the idols and asherahs or carved wooden objects of veneration, and set up a pure monotheistic forth of worship in the place of the Baalism of his fathers.

He also instituted a more regular form of government, promulgated just laws and statutes fixed and regulated the feasts according to Ollam Fodhla's instructions, and founded schools; thus laying the foundations of that collegiate and advanced educational system known to have existed in Ireland in times long anterior to the Christian Era. There can be no doubt but that a state of high civilization obtained in Ireland at the period of which I write; and this was materially improved and strengthened during the reigns of Eochaidh and his immediate successors.

A reference to Moore's beautiful sonnet -

"The harp that once through Tara's halls" -

will serve to confirm and illustrate this point.

We may naturally and reasonably suppose that the Ardagh Eochidh's ready acquiescence in Ollam Fodhla's sweeping changes in the religion and government of his country, and the personal reformation of himself and his subjects, were not uninfluenced by thoughts of the beautiful Jewish Princess, who is described in very ancient ballads as

"The Daughter of the Pharoahs,
With a royal prosperous smile."

However this may be, the Danite King wooed - "spake kindly to the damsel" (Gen. 34:3) - and won her heart; and finally proposed matrimony. Ollam Fodhla readily gave his consent to the marriage of his young Charge with Eochaidh, the Ardagh or Head King, and Tamar or Tea Tephi became in due course the Queen Consort of Ireland.

The rough, square Stone, brought with the Princess, playing an important part in the marriage ceremony, for the royal couple were united before this "Stone of Destiny" as a silent witness of their solemn union (Gen. 49:24; Josh. 24:27; I Sam. 7:12); and they were subsequently crowned upon it, with the newly-made Queen's Golden Banner waving over them.

For an account of this famous Lia Fail, or "Stone of Destiny," and Golden Banner, see Note 9 in Appendix.

This constitutes the first Transference of the Sceptre of Judah into another family but still of the "Stock of Abraham" (Acts 13:26).

Deeply and irradicably imbedded in the poetry and historic folk-lore of the Sister Isle is a tradition quite 2,500 years old, to the effect that the little company of strangers, consisting of Ollam Fodhla, Tamar Tephi, and Simon Brug, were none other than the Prophet Jeremiah, King Zedekiah's Eldest Daughter, now the Queen of Judah, and Baruch, the former's amanuensis or secretary.

And what more natural, even from the merely human point of view (leaving out of consideration for the moment the designs, promises, and guidance of The God of Israel), than that when they fled out of Egypt in order to escape the impending fury of Nebuchadnezzar, - they should seek an asylum among their compatriots of Dan and Asher who had been established in Iberia and Ierne (Ireland) for upwards of 1,000 years, and with whom there was constant communion with their old home?

"Ollam Fodhla" is the Hibernianized form of the ancient Hebrew words signifying "learned prophet" or "seer," and what more appropriate appellation could have been found for the venerable Jeremiah, now upwards of 70 years old? And how natural and imperative it would be for him, a prophet and priest of The Holy One of Israel (Jer. 1:1-4), to undertake a reformation in the government, religion, education, and everyday life of the people in the land whither God had sent him? (Jer. 1:10; ibid. 15:11, 14, 19-21); a land where the worship of the God of Israel had long since died out and been replaced by the adoration of Baal and the other impure gods and goddesses of Zidon, Tyre, and Philistia.

Besides being the son of Hilkiah, the High Priest of Josiah's day (2 Kings 22:4; Jer. 1:2), Jeremiah was closely connected with the Royal Family of Judah through Josiah's marriage with the Prophet's daughter, Hamutal (2 Kings 23:31; 2 Chron. 35:25; 2 Kings 24:18); and according to Rabbinical tradition, he was descended from Rahab, and thus was remotely connected with the Royal House of David. Thus the Princess Tamar Tephi (the "Palm Beautiful" of Judah), and Jeremiah the prophet-priest, representing the Royalty and Priesthood of the House of Israel (both uprooted in Palestine), were now planted, and about "to take root downward" in the Hii-i-yum ("Islands beyond the sea"), the refuge promised long ago to David (2 Sam. 7:10, 11 and 16; Jer. 33:17-26); - where Israel and Judah were to settle down and move no more until Shiloh come" (Gen. 49:10); - where "David's throne was to be established for ever"; - where the "Ark of God," the "Sceptre of Judah," and the "State of Israel" now rests (the first in the hill of Tara, the second in the Castle of Edinburgh, and the third at Westminster [now, 2002, also in Edinburgh]): - and where the throne of the "Sweet Psalmist of Israel" still flourishes; which is now [1924] occupied by their Majesties George V, and His Gracious Consort, Queen Mary [grandparents of Queen Elizabeth II], who are both of "the House and Lineage of David" (1 Chron. 15:1; Luke 2:4). But I must not anticipate.

Tamar Tephi - the eldest daughter of Zedekiah, and, after her father's deposition and the slaughter of all her brethren (2 Kings 25:6 and 7), the de facto Queen of Judah - was named after her remote ancestress, Tamar, the daughter-in-law of Judah (Gen. 38:6), and this name ("a palm"), a favorite cognomen for ladies of the Royal Family of Judah (1 Chron. 3:9; 2 Sam. 14:27), was indicative of her high parentage, while the qualifying affix, Tephi ("beautiful" or "endearing"), also formed an appropriate designation for the lovely Jewish Princess.

Ancient Irish poetry (in which she is called Tea Tephi) is full of her praises; of her lofty birth, her stormy life in Jerusalem and at Tahpanhes in Egypt (Jer. 43:5-7); her voyage to Spain and thence to Ireland, and of her splendid destiny as the Consort of the Irish Ardagh. And truly she must have been a beautiful character this Irish Queen! Helping forward the reforms suggested to her Consort, the Ardagh or Head King, by her great-grandfather Jeremiah, and assisting to ameliorate the lot of her adopted country; thus endearing herself to the people, and establishing such a hold upon their affection and gratitude, that this is reflected in the history and flowing poetry of ancient Ireland. Truly, "her children rose up and called her blessed; her husband also, he praised her" (Prov. 31:28).

In process of time, the good and beautiful Queen Tamar, or Tea Tephi, died, loved and venerated by all Ireland. She was buried in the Hill of Tara, in a large tomb or repository 60 feet square, now covered with a huge mound; and with her was buried the large mysterious chest or case and its equally mystical contents, which was brought to Ireland on her arrival in that country, and which she directed should be interred with her.

On this point the talented Authoress, "Theta," in her pamphlet,

"The Eagles and the Carcass" (pp. 37 and 38) remarks: "Meanwhile the Ark of the Covenant rests in its hiding place in Ireland until the time comes for its restoration, which will be when 'The Times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.' Some years ago, when Balfour was Prime minister, he was asked in the House of Commons to grant permission for search to be made for the Ark in the Hill of Tara, in which, tradition said, it was concealed. For some reason not given, this request was refused. The time had not arrived" [The words italicized are thus emphasized in the original].

Perhaps "Theta" is not aware that Earl Balfour is one of those who question all revealed religion, and that, in 1879, he published "A Defence of Philosophic Doubt," and in 1895 "The Foundations of Belief" and, probably, his attitude towards the Christian Faith, had much to do in influencing him to refuse the application for disturbing the Mound upon the Hill of Tara.

But this Mound on Tara's Hill will yet be opened, and this by a Royal Order which no Prime Minister will "be able to gainsay or resist" (Luke 21:15).

The following letter was published in the London Daily Telegraph around 1930: Sir,- Lord Rothermere's article on Ulster awakened happy memories.   But I am concerned for Jeremiah! He appears to have been buried in at least two, if not three places! Lord Rothermere mentions St. Mary's Abbey in County Fermanagh. That means on the island in Lough Erne, and this is vouched for by an Irish colonel friend of mine - and who should know better, for he traces is descent from the Milesian kings? Others prefer Tara. Professor Macalister will have none of these things: and he is a Professor of Celtic History and a very learned gentleman indeed,   Lord Rothermere credits the story to the British Israelites, but I remember that in 1873, when I was twelve, our jaunting-car driver said to my parents and to me: "You know whin [sic] Jeremiah the Prophet was in Ireland ..." What more he said I cannot remember, but those words, which appeared so absurd at the time, have remained in my mind ever since, and I would wager that he wasn't a British Israelite.   Harrison Hill, Adelphi-Terrace, London W.C.

Meanwhile Ollam Fodhla (the venerable Prophet Jeremiah) died, and was buried on Devenish Island, the "Holy Isle" in the Lower Lough Erne, two miles from Enniskillen. No dwelling-house has ever been erected on this Sacred Isle, which is held in reverential awe by the people of the surrounding districts. A row of two miles from the town of Enniskillen, down Lower Lough Erne, will land the visitor on this holy island of Devenish; and here, besides the ruins of an ancient Priory and a still older Abbey - in the latter of which the sarcophagus containing the dust of Jeremiah the Prophet may still be seen (though an illustration in my possession displays this venerable relic as without the lid), - stands what may be pronounced to be the most perfect Round Tower in the whole of Ireland.

Here on this lone Isle of Devenish in the Lower Lough Erne - the beautiful and widening expanse of water (twenty-two miles in length and nine in breadth), which has been aptly styled the "Windermere" and the "Lomond" of Ireland - and encircled by the grand panorama of the Blue Stack, Cuilgach, and Benbulben mountains in the distance, the dust of the Weeping Prophet of old Jewry rests; in sure and certain hope of "the redemption of he body" (Rom. 8:23) in that "better resurrection" (Heb. 11:35) when "He Who is our life shall appear" (Col. 3:4), and all who have departed this life in His faith and fear "shall be like Him," (1 John 3:2), and "fashioned like unto His Glorious Body," (Phil. 3:21) - "at His Appearing and His Kingdom!" (2 Tim. 4:1) (Rom. 8:23; Heb. 11:35; 1 John 3:2; Phil. 3:10, 11, and 21; 2 Tim. 4:1; 1 Cor. 15:21-23).

Concerning the death of Jeremiah, a certain Preterist Commentary remarks:- " According to Christian tradition" - a comprehensive and vague ,assertion (Mark 7:7-9, and 13; Col. 2:8; Isa. 8:20; 29:13-16) - he met a martyr's death at Tahpanhes, being stoned to death by the Jews, who resented his faithful reproofs. He also makes a dying protest (!) against the idolatrous worship practiced by his countrymen. We have no notice of his death in the Bible." [The One Volume Bible Commentary, pp. 454 and 456].

Of Simon Brug (Baruch), the confidential Secretary and faithful friend of Jeremiah, who shared in all the Prophet's wanderings (being promised special protection by The Almighty, Jer. 45:2-5), and his place of sepulture, I cannot speak with so much certainty; but the Dean of St. David's can point out his resting place.

Thus, by the momentous and epoch-making marriage of Tamar Tephi, the eldest daughter and heiress of Zedekiah (the last King of Judah), to Eochaidh the Second, Ardagh ("Heremon" or Head-King of Ireland), in 580 B.C., the "Sceptre of Judah" and "Shepherd Stone of Israel" were conveyed into the royal Dano-Asherian (Israelitish) House then reigning in the Sister Isle. We shall see, as we proceed with our story, how six more transfers have occurred before our day; and the "Signs of the times" clearly indicate that the time is rapidly approaching when these emblems of Israel's Sovereignty will be surrendered into the Hands of Him "Whose rights they are," and in the "City of the Great King!" (Gen. 49:10 R.V. and Marg.; Ezek. 21:25-27; Matt. 5:35; Psalm 47:2; Micah 4:6-8).

From this auspicious union of the Princess Royal (de jure) and Queen (de facto) of Judah to the Head of the Iberian (Israelitish) House then reigning in Ireland there sprang a long Line of Ardaghs or Overlords, who, for 1,000 years, sat on the Stone of Israel and wielded the Sceptre of Judah over the entire Island: until in process of time, and through default of heirs-male, these ensigns of authority passed into another reigning House, also of Iberian (Israelitish) origin. A list of these Dano-Asherian Head-Kings of Ireland, together with their Successors on the thrones of Argyll, Scotland, and England, will be found in Note 2 in the Appendix.

The last of the Ardaghs of Ireland of the illustrious House of the Nials - Murtough, grandson of the celebrated "Nial of the Nine Hostages" - dying without surviving male issue, his interests in the Sceptre of Judah and all authority attaching to the possession of this royal emblem of the "House and Lineage of David," devolved upon his daughter, Princess Earca, who has frequently been erroneously described as a Keltic or Pictish princess! This Royal Lady was married to the Milesian or Scottish Prince or Sub-King, Muireadhach, whose kingdom lay on the Eastern Coast of the island, having for its capital Abilene or Eblana (Dublin). This marriage of Princess Earca constitutes the Second Transfer of the Sceptre of Judah.

The Overlordship of Ireland then passed into a collateral Branch of the Royal House; but the office and status of Head-King of Ireland was perpetuated down to the time of the English invasions (1169-1171), when these were held by Roderic O'Connor whose lineal descendant, The O'Connor Don, is with us to this day.

In like manner, although Zeargus, or Feargus, the son of Muireadhach and Earca, invaded Caledonia at the head of his Scottish retainers about the year 485 or 486 A.D., yet the old Zarahite Scottish Kingdom in Ireland continued for some time after his departure. We read in Bede's Ecclesiastical History:- 'In the 604th year of our Lord's Incarnation, the King of the Scots did gather unto himself a large army in his city of Dublin, thinking therewith to come to the assistance of Cadwalla of Wales: but King Ethelfrith beat the Welsh near Chester before he could cross the sea." The translator adds a footnote:" Wherever Scotland is referred to in this book, Ireland is indicated: the Scots not having left this latter country for Caledonia." (Bohn's Edit. of Bede's Ecclesiastical History): and an old map depicts the N.E. of Ireland (roughly, the Eastern half of Ulster), as "Scot's Land."

Jeremiah, Ireland, the Stone of Scone, and the English Kings ... Tamar Tephi: or The Maid of Destiny, by John Dunham-Massey, 1918, and J. J. Pearson, 1924. London.