Were the Celtic Gauls and related "Celts" identifiable as Hebrews? (25 March, 2025).
The following discussion contains an element of cerebral speculation. Nevertheless it is worth the effort since we will bring up pertinent items of value and interest.
Contents:
1. Anecdote. Yair in the IDF. The Same Names Does not necessarily always mean the same thing!
2. Does the Hebrew Term "Gal" mean both Gaul and Hebrew?
3. Sennacherib King of Assyria Invades Judah.
4. The Cycle of Future Great Wars included that of Sennacherib.
5. Gal means Hebrew and Gaul!
6. Still to be clarified. Others said it before us?
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1. Anecdote. Yair in the IDF. The Same Names Does not necessarily always mean the same thing!
This is a true story.
When I was young I served I served in the IDF. I was doing a course in the middle of the Sinai Peninsula.
There were several hundred soldiers on our base, maybe a thousand.
One of them had exactly the same name as me.
He was from South Africa. I was from Australia.
He had blond hair, blue eyes, and wore spectacles. So did I.
He was bit shorter than me but not that different. I had a beard. He did not but he could have grown one and I could have cut mine off..
We were about the same age.
We were aware of the presence of each other but never spoke despite both of us being somewhat extroverted.
We were both doing a course in related fields.
When I was transferred I was given an envelope of personal documents. Some of them belonged to him and had been placed among my documents by mistake.
So I had a lot of similarities to him: Both New Immigrants, both native English-speakers, both named the same first-name and same surname, both blond in a place where blonds were not that common, both bespectacled and with a similar physical build, both training in the same field, both located in the same place. I had even ended up with documents that belonged to him!
Looking back I think now we may even have been related.
A later historian could come along and conclude we were actually the same person!
The evidence is there.
The statistical probability that we were one and the same at first glance would have been on the side of the historian.
Nevertheless, historian work with what they can get.
Similar names etc are not absolute proof of anything but it is something. It is a step in the right direction.
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2. Does the Hebrew Term "Gal" mean both Gaul and Hebrew?
The term "Gal" in Midrashik (after destruction of the 2nd Temple) Hebrew (and also in Roman Latin) means "a person form Gaul" and "Galiah" means Gaul.
It is similar to the word Galilee and the area (over the Jordan) to the east of the Galilee which was named "Gaulanitis."
The Talmud seems to consider "Gal" (plural "Galim") the equivalent of "Hebrew."
# THE GEMARA (Talmud, Sanhedrin 94) ANSWERS THAT IN THE VERSE: 'CRY WITH A SHRILL VOICE, DAUGHTER OF GALLIM,'
IT IS THE PROPHET WHO IS SAYING IT TO THE CONGREGATION OF ISRAEL:
'CRY WITH A SHRILL VOICE, DAUGHTER OF GALLIM,' {Who is the Daughter of Gallim"}
DAUGHTER OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB, WHO PERFORMED MITZVOT AS NUMEROUS AS THE WAVES OF THE SEA.
We therefore find in the Talmud the Hebrew being referred to as "Gallim." or "Daughter of Gallim."
"Gallim" is the plural of "Gal."
This the verse under consideration:
Isaiah (TCT) 10:
30 Raise your voice, Bath-Gallim; hearken, Laishah, Aniah Anathoth.
King James Bible
Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
English Standard Version
Cry aloud, O daughter of Gallim! Give attention, O Laishah! O poor Anathoth!
Talmud:
Sanhedrin 94:
https://www.chabad.org/torah-texts/5458601/The-Talmud/Sanhedrin/Chapter-11/94b
' Rav Huna says: That wicked Sennacherib traveled ten journeys on that day, as it is stated: 'He is come to Aiath, he is passed through Migron; at Michmas he deposited his baggage. They passed [averu] Mabara; they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah trembles; Gibeath Shaul has fled. Cry with a shrill voice, daughter of Gallim; hearken, Laish; poor Anathoth. Madmenah is in flight; the inhabitants of Gebim flee to cover. This very day shall he halt at Nov; he shall shake his hand against the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem (Isaiah 10:28-32). He traveled to all these places on the same day.
# The Gemara asks: Aren't these more than ten? The Gemara answers that in the verse: 'Cry with a shrill voice, daughter of Gallim,' it is the prophet who is saying it to the congregation of Israel: 'Cry with a shrill voice, daughter of Gallim,' daughter of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who performed mitzvot as numerous as the waves of the sea. #
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3. Sennacherib King of Assyria Invades Judah.
This passage In Isaiah 10 concerns Sennacherib. The Assyrians had exiled all of the Ten Tribes in three major movements. They then turned their attention to Judah in the south. Judah was invaded and all of its unfenced townships taken. The Assyrians then reached Jerusalem and camped around it intending to attack it the next day. Than night an angel came down and smote the Assyrians slaying 185,000 soldiers. Sennacherib retreated to Assyria. While he was offering sacrifice to his idol two of his sons assassinated him and then fled to Ararat (Armenia).
2-KINGS (TCT) 19:
35 AND IT CAME TO PASS ON THAT NIGHT THAT AN ANGEL OF THE LORD WENT OUT AND SLEW ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-FIVE THOUSAND OF THE CAMP OF ASSYRIA. AND THEY AROSE IN THE MORNING, AND BEHOLD THEY WERE ALL DEAD CORPSES.
36 AND SENNACHERIB, THE KING OF ASSYRIA, LEFT AND WENT AWAY, AND HE RETURNED AND DWELT IN NINEVEH.
37 AND HE WAS PROSTRATING HIMSELF IN THE TEMPLE OF NISROCH HIS GOD, AND ADRAMELECH AND SHAREZER, HIS SONS, SLEW HIM WITH A SWORD, AND THEY FLED TO THE LAND OF ARARAT, AND HIS SON ESARHADDON REIGNED IN HIS STEAD.
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4. The Cycle of Future Great Wars included that of Sennacherib.
In our recent article,
"End Time Conflicts. Edom and Ishmael, Gog and Magog in Prophecy."
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/gogm/gog.html
# 2. History Repeats Itself.
# 3. An Example of Cyclical Evolution. The Wars of Germany and France in Modern Times.
We spoke of the Cyclical aspects of historical events and repeated variations on the same themes reaching up to the climactic finale.
The Sages seem to have had this understanding before us speaking of the events concerning Sennacherib as Foreshadowing the Wars of God and Magog.
cf.
Talmud, Sannhedrin 94.a translation Rabbi Adin Steinzaltz.
https://www.chabad.org/torah-texts/5458598/The-Talmud/Sanhedrin/Chapter-11/94a
# THIS IS BECAUSE THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, SOUGHT TO DESIGNATE KING HEZEKIAH AS THE MESSIAH AND TO DESIGNATE SENNACHERIB AND ASSYRIA, RESPECTIVELY, AS GOG AND MAGOG, ALL FROM THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL WITH REGARD TO THE END OF DAYS (EZEKIEL, CHAPTER 38), AND THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN THEM WOULD CULMINATE IN THE FINAL REDEMPTION. #
Concerning Sennacherib, Isaiah the Prophet lived through those events.
Isaiah (ch.10) predicts the coming defeat of Assyria,
See Also:
Assyrian siege of Jerusalem
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_siege_of_Jerusalem
Isaiah in chapter 11 then veers away from the seige of Assyria and in ch.11 speaks of the Future Messiah son of David.
He describes the ingathering of the Exiles of Judah and the Ten Tribes.
Ephraim and Judah will unite to defeat their enemies.
Isaiah (TCT) 11:
13 AND THE ENVY OF EPHRAIM SHALL CEASE, AND THE ADVERSARIES OF JUDAH SHALL BE CUT OFF; EPHRAIM SHALL NOT ENVY JUDAH, NOR SHALL JUDAH VEX EPHRAIM.
14 AND THEY SHALL FLY OF ONE ACCORD AGAINST THE PHILISTINES IN THE WEST, TOGETHER THEY SHALL PLUNDER THE CHILDREN OF THE EAST; UPON EDOM AND MOAB SHALL THEY STRETCH FORTH THEIR HAND, AND THE CHILDREN OF AMMON SHALL OBEY THEM.
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5. Gal means Hebrew and Gaul!
Isaiah also describes the approach of the Assyrian Armies approaching Jerusalem and conquering townships of Judah on the way. The peoples of Judah and Israel in Jerusalem are called upon to pray aloud.
"CRY ALOUD, O DAUGHTER OF GALLIM!" (Isaiah 10: 30). "Gallim" is plural of Gal and appears to be synonymous with the forefathers of the Hebrews or with the Hebrews in general.
Gal in Hebrew means "heap" thus it is also used to connote "wave" which is like a heap of water; or hillock which is like a heap of earth. So too, it can mean "hill" and thus we have "Galil" (Gailee) for the region in the north of Israel which was a highland area.
The name "Golan" may also come from a similar source. The Golan in Latin was called "Gaulanitis."
So too, in Irish,
# The Irish word gall did originally mean "a Gaul", i.e. an inhabitant of Gaul, but its meaning was later widened to "foreigner", to describe the Vikings, and later still the Normans. #
# The dichotomic words gael and gall are sometimes used together for contrast.
In the 1100s CE" Gaedel (Irishman) was juxtaposed to Gallaib (foreigner).# As adjectives, English has the two variants: Gaulish and Gallic. The two adjectives are used synonymously, as "pertaining to Gaul or the Gauls", although the Celtic language group once spoken in Gaul is predominantly known as Gaulish. #
See: Gaul
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaul
![[]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Map_Gallia_Tribes_Towns-la.svg/300px-Map_Gallia_Tribes_Towns-la.svg.png)
Extracts from Wikipedia.
# Gaul c. 58 BC, on the eve of the Gallic Wars. The Romans divided Gaul into five parts: Gallia Celtica (largely corresponding to the later province Gallia Lugdunensis), Gallia Belgica, Gallia Cisalpina, Gallia Narbonensis, and Gallia Aquitania.
# Gaul (Latin: Gallia)[1] was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of 494,000 km2 (191,000 sq mi).[2] According to Julius Caesar, who took control of the region on behalf of the Roman Republic, Gaul was divided into three parts: Gallia Celtica, Belgica, and Aquitania.
The Wikipedia and Modern Historians tends to emphasize a disticntion between the British and the Gauls and other Celts in general.
Nevertheless, the distinction is not that obvious.
Julius Caesar tells us:
# The inland part of Britain is inhabited by tribes declared in their own tradition to be indigenous to the island, the maritime part by tribes that migrated at an earlier time from Belgium to seek booty by invasion. Nearly all of these latter are called after the names of the states from which they sprang when they went to Britain; and after the invasion they abode there and began to till the fields. The population is innumerable; the farm-buildings are found very close together, being very like those of the Gauls. Of all the Britons the inhabitants of Kent, an entirely maritime district, are by far the most civilised, differing but little from the Gallic manner of life.#
Tacitus, writing after the conquest of Britain, tells us:
# They who are nearest Gaul resemble the inhabitants of that country; whether from the duration of hereditary influence, or whether it be that when lands jut forward in opposite directions, climate gives the same condition of body to the inhabitants of both. On a general survey, however, it appears probable that the Gauls originally took possession of the neighbouring coast. The sacred rites and superstitions of these people are discernible among the Britons. The languages of the two nations do not greatly differ. The same audacity in provoking danger, and irresolution in facing it when present, is observable in both. #
A number of British tribes appear to have shared their names with Gallic tribes. The Catuvellauni may be linked to the Belgic Catalauni, and the Parisi of the East Riding (North England) are hypothesised to have had links with the Parissi of Paris. The British tribal name 'Belgae' is found in both England and Ireland and in northern Gaul and present-day Belgium which is named after them. The British Atrebates were found among the Belgae in Gaul and may at times have been ruled by the same monarch.
Caesar tells us that Diviciacus, a powerful king of the Suessiones, held territory in Britain as well as Gaul.
Caesar writes of the Druids:
IT IS BELIEVED THAT THEIR RULE OF LIFE WAS DISCOVERED IN BRITAIN AND TRANSFERRED THENCE TO GAUL; AND TODAY THOSE WHO WOULD STUDY THE SUBJECT MORE ACCURATELY JOURNEY, AS A RULE, TO BRITAIN TO LEARN IT.
The Irish and Scottish were known as "Gaels" which is virtually the same as "Gal" though scholars trace the Irish-name to "Goidel."
The Byzantian Gothic historian Jordanes (ca. 526-575 CE) wrote:
# The Silures (of southwest Wales) have swarthy features and are usually born with curly black hair, but the inhabitants of Caledonia (northern Scotland) have reddish hair and large loose-jointed bodies. They are like the Gauls or the Spaniards. #
The Celtic People did not call themselves Celts. "Iberi" or "Hiberi" is the nearest thing we have to a general ethnonym, - "name used to refer to an ethnic group, tribe, or people. " "Gal" may also be synonymous.
In Modern Hebrew I have seen the term "Galiah" applied to Wales in a Hebrew-language atlas.
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6. Still to be clarified. Others said it before us?
The notion that "Gal" (Gaul) is synonymous with Hebrew may have been broached by others.
More than 40 years ago I noticed something along those lines in an old French-language academic work (in the National Library in Jerusalem) tracing Hebrew and Semitic influences into western Europe.
For some reason I did not relate seriously to the idea but now realize there may have been something to it.
See Also: Hebrew-Celtic Namesakes.