Tea Tephi and a Royal Cup of Tea! (3 May 2017, 6 Iyar, 5777)
Contents:
1. Why is he Important? Tea Tephi and British Israel
2. What Does His Name Mean?
3. Who Was He? The Biblical Sources
4. What Happened to Baruch?
5. Rabbinical Sources Concerning Baruch
6. The LACK of Reliability of Some British Israelite Claims
7. Descent from David is traced through the Male Line!
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1. Why is he Important? Tea Tephi and British Israel
The subject of Baruch ben Neriah involves the British Israelite Movement and the story of Tea Tephi.
British Israel is a movement that was historically important. It identified the English-speaking peoples with the Lost Ten Tribes.
British Israelite writers also on occasion identified other peoples with the Lost Tribes but such identifications were not usually accepted.
Some said the Germans were also Israelite usually from the Tribe of Gad.
Others said the Germans were non-Israelites but rather Assyrians.
Others claimed the Japanese, Afghans, and/or others were also Israelites but, as we said, these ideas were not widely shared.
In the beginning it may be said that most British Israelite writers were pro-Jewish and pro-Zionist, some very much so.
Later this changed and Edomite elements began to take over and write wicked calumnies against the Jews of Judah.
In our time British Israel is largely identified with the BIWF (British Israel World Federation) which however seems not to believe very much in British Israel!
Old British Israelite writers adapted Irish legends to concoct the idea that a daughter of the Jewish King Zsedekiah was taken by Baruch ben Neriah to Ireland. She married an Irish prince and from their seed descend the monarchs of the British Commonwealth.
See:
Brit-Am Now no. 2054
#3. Query about Tea Tephi Records
http://hebrewnations.com/features/now3/2054.html#a2
Extracts:
Quote:
Tea Tephi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_legendary_kings_of_Britain#Tea_Tephi
Tea Tephi is a legendary princess found described in British Israelite literature from the 19th century....Revd F. R. A. Glover, M.A., of London in 1861 published England, the Remnant of Judah, and the Israel of Ephraim in which he claimed Tea Tephi was one of Zedekiah's daughters. Since King Zedekiah of Judah had all his sons killed during the Babylonian Captivity no male successors could continue the throne of King David, but as Glover noted Zedekiah had daughters who escaped death (Jeremiah 43: 6). Glover believed that Tea Tephi was a surviving Judahite princess who had escaped and traveled to Ireland, and who married a local High King of Ireland in the 6th century BC who subsequently became blood linked to the British Monarchy..... Charles Fox Parham also authored an article tracing Queen Victoria's linage back to King David (through Tea Tephi) entitled Queen Victoria: Heir to King David's Royal Throne..... A central tenet of British Israelism is that the British monarchy is from the Davidic line and the legend of Tea Tephi from the 19th century attempted to legitimise this claim. Tea Tephi however has never been traced to an extant Irish source before the 19th century and critics assert she was purely a British Israelite invention.... A collection of alleged bardic traditions and Irish manuscripts which detail Tea Tephi were published by J. A. Goodchild in 1897 as The Book of Tephi, the work is however considered pseudo-historical or a forgery.... In an earlier publication Covenant Publishing Co. [of the BIWF] in 1982 admitted that Tea Tephi could not be traced in Irish literature or myth and may have been fabricated by Revd F. R. A. Glover, however they clarified they still believed in the Milesian Royal House Davidic Line bloodline connection (popularised by Hoeh).[44] Herbert Armstrong (1986) also took up this legendary connection.[45] Nonetheless there are still proponents of the Tea-Tephi legend first tracable to Glover.
We agree with British Israel that the Lost Ten Tribes are among western peoples especially the English-speaking ones.
We also think the British Monarchs and other Royal lines in Europe may be related to King David.
This does not mean that we have to accept the Tea Tephi story.
Early British Israelite sources were on occasion of great value and relied on genuine research.
Not all such sources however were at the same level. Some we unreliable.
This includes in our opinion the story of Tea Tephi.
There are members of the BIWF with whom we have been, and in some cases still are, on good terms.
There are others however whom we consider to be Edomite enemies of Israel.
That however is a different subject.
Meanwhile let us get back to Tea Tephi and Baruch ben Neriah.
The influence of the story of Tea Tephi is extremely persistent and has a powerful popular appeal.
Baruch ben Neriah plays a major role in most versions of this story.
We were requested to comment as to what is known concerning him.
Query:
Yair what can you share in regards to how Baruch knew Jeremiah and how did he become his scribe. What tribe was he from? Also why did The Lord tell Baruch that where ever he went he would escape with his life? Thx mike
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2. What Does His Name Mean?
The name Baruch ben Neriah means "The Blessed One [Baruch] son of [ben] Neriah [Candle of God]."
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3. Who Was He? The Biblical Sources
Baruch was the assistant of Jeremiah the Prophet.
According to Josephus, he was the brother of Seriah ben Neriah who was the Chamberlain [i.e. Manager of the Household] of King Zedekiah of Judah.
The Talmud (Megilla 15a) numbers both Baruch and Seriah among the Prophets.
Jeremiah bought a plot of land (that actually belonged to his family) and entrusted the deed of ownership to
to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah (Jeremiah 32:12-13).
Baruch served as a Scribe for Jeremiah (Jeremiah 36:4-6).
Baruch also was a spokesman for Jeremiah and read out to an assembly of the People a message that Jeremiah had written down (Jeremiah 36:10).
Baruch was considered partly responsible for spreading the unwelcome message of Jeremiah and was advised to flee together with Jeremiah and hide from the wrath of the King (Jeremiah 36:19).
The Babylonians (i.e. "Chaldeans," in Hebrew "Casdim") conquered Judah and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.
Gedaliah has appointed governor over the small remnant of Judeans that remained.
Gedaliah was murdered. The people feared the Babylonians would take retribution from them for the death of Gedaliah.
They proposed fleeing to Egypt. Jeremiah spoke against it. He advised to surrendering to the Babylonians.
Jeremiah was accused of allowing himself to be misled by Baruch ben Neriah (Jermeiah 43:3).
The advise of Jeremiah was disregarded. The people went down to Egypt taking Jeremiah, Baruch ben Neriah, and the daughters of King Zedekiah with them.
Jeremiah 43:
1 But as soon as Jeremiah, whom the LORD their God had sent, had finished telling all the people all the words of the LORD their God, that is, all these words, 2 Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, 'You are telling a lie! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, 'You are not to enter Egypt to reside there'; 3 but Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to give us over into the hand of the Chaldeans, so they will put us to death or exile us to Babylon.' 4 So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces, and all the people, did not obey the voice of the LORD to stay in the land of Judah. 5 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took the entire remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations to which they had been driven away, in order to reside in the land of Judah, 6 the men, the women, the children, the king's daughters and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, together with Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah, 7 and they entered the land of Egypt (for they did not obey the voice of the LORD) and went in as far as Tahpanhes.
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4. What Happened to Baruch?
The Babylonians subsequently conquered Egypt taking captive the Jews that had fled there.
Jerome (on Isaiah 30:6, 7), the Christian translator of the Bible, reported a tradition that Baruch had died shortly after arriving in Egypt.
Rabbinical sources state that the Babylonians took both Jeremiah and Baruch back with them to Babylon (Rashi on Jeremiah 44:14 cf. Talmud, Megilla 16b).
A bulla (clay seal) has been found with the inscription "[belonging] to Berachyahu of Neriyahu the scribe." It even has a fingerprint on it! There is a dispute as to whether or not the seal is genuine or a clever forgery. Most seem to consider it genuine.
Some Christian legends (especially from Syria and Arabia) identify Baruch with Zarathustra the founder of the Zoroastrian Religion.
We do not agree with this but we acknowledge early Israelite influence on Zarathustra and his use of Biblical sources.
See:
" What Spake Zarathustra? " by Yair Davidiy
http://britam.org/zarathustra.html
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5. Rabbinical Sources Concerning Baruch
Baruch like Jeremiah was from a Priestly family [Cohen] meaning a descendant of Aharon brother of Moses and from the Tribe of Levi.
On the female side both Jeremiah and Baruch descended from Rahab the Canaanite lady of fortune who helped the Israelites conquer Jericho (Midrash Sifrei, Numbers, 78).
The Talmud (Megilla 14b) places Baruch among the Prophets.
Ezra the Scribe who later led the Jews back to the Land of Judah was a student of Baruch ben Neriah (Talmud, Megilla 16b).
When Cyrus the King of Persia conquered Babylon and announced that the Jews could return to their land and rebuild the Temple Baruch could not travel.
He was already too old and heavy at that time and needed to be carried around on stretcher (Midrash, Shir Ha-Shirim 5;8).
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6. The LACK of Reliability of Some British Israelite Claims
The mother of Yair Davidiy is Jewish. His father was from Wales and before that probably from Ireland and a descendant of Nial the Milesian King of Ireland and progenitor of many Irishmen. This would make Yair also a descendants of Tea Tephi if she ever existed. I have nothing personal against the idea.
Many Irishmen are descended from the Milesian monarchs. All of them would also be considered descendants of Tea Tephi if she ever existed. The BIWF people are often fanatically prejudiced against the Irish.
Nevertheless they accord sanctity to the British monarchy based on a tenuous link to Tea Tephi. This link, if link it was, would be shared by many Irishmen.
It is surprising that the BIWF have not realized the anomaly in their position.
Apart from that,
the whole story of Tea Tephi just does not resonate with historical evidence, or any other evidence for that matter!
We were asked,
# why did The LORD tell Baruch that where ever he went he would escape with his life? #
We found on a certain web-site the statement:
# God had promised Jeremiah and his fellow travelers. God told Jeremiah that he'd be treated kindly by the Babylonians and die a natural death. Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe and Ebed-Melech, the Ethiopian, are also told they'd be spared. #
http://asis.com/users/stag/jerrytea.html
This statement is given WITHOUT A SOURCE!
Neither did we see a source anywhere else for it.
Jeremiah 1:
10 See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To pluck up and to break down,
To destroy and to overthrow,
To build and to plant.
This verse is explained by British Writers to be a prophecy that Jeremiah (or his disciple, Baruch) would be instrumental in re-plating the House of David elsewhere.
For proof than that however is needed to justify such a far-fetched claim.
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7. Descent from David is Traced Through the Male Line!
Throughout the Bible Tribal Affiliation and paternal lineage is through the male line.
This is repeated over and over again and related to as self-evident.
cf. Genesis 48:16, Exodus 6:14, 6:25, Numbers 1:2, etc., in literally hundreds of instances.
In the End Times the seed of both Levi and David will be extremely numerous:
Jeremiah 33 [ESV]:
14 Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: The LORD is our righteousness.
17 For thus says the LORD: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.
19 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 20 Thus says the LORD: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, 21 then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers. 22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.
23 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 24 Have you not observed that these people are saying, The LORD has rejected the two clans that he chose? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight.25 Thus says the LORD: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth,26 then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.
According to the simple meaning of the above verses, the Almighty is saying that the seed of David will always exist. It shall be very numerous.
When the time comes for the Monarchy of the House of David to be established again over all of Israel, candidates shall not be lacking!
It could be that an additional intonation of the passage may be a hint that EVEN NOW many of the rulers of Israel (both monarchs and others heads of state) may be descended from David. This may always have been the case.
Nevertheless, the Bible does not give this express message. We therefore cannot be sure.
See the Brit-Am Biblical Commentary to Jeremiah 33:15-17.
http://www.britam.org/Jeremiah33to36.html
Extract:
Most of the kings of the House of David had several children each of whom also would have raised a family of his own. It follows that numerous offspring on the male side must have belonged to the House of David. Descent through the male is what Scripture, strictly speaking, requires in order for the descendants to call themselves by the House of their (male) ancestor even though, in Jewish Law, anyone borne of a Jewish mother is considered Jewish. The House of David reigned in Judah and quite a few families amongst the present day Jews trace themselves back to David. The Jewish Biblical Commentators Rashi (1040 1105) and Abarbanel (1435-1508), the family of Dayan in Spain and Syria as well as the Maharal (1512-1609) and many other famous Rabbinical scholars were descended from King David. A good number of Jews should be able today to trace themselves back to King David. Apart from descendants of David who are to be found amongst the modern Jews there are others. Numerous people from the Tribe of Judah were also exiled together with the Lost Ten Tribes. The Sons of David had once been appointed as administrators over all Israel (2-Samuel 8;18). Later members of the House of David had intermarried with leaders of the Northern Kingdom and passed over to live in those areas. In this and other ways descendants of David must have penetrated the ranks of the exiled Israelites. ...
Another fount of the Davidic line may have penetrated West European nobility via France! There was once a semi-autonomous Principality in Narbonne (southern France) described by Arthur J. Zuckerman (A Jewish Princedom in Feudal France, 768-900, New York, 1972). It was ruled by a Jewish Prince of the House of David whose offspring intermarried with the aristocracy and Royal Line of France and these with that of Normandy, Scotland, and England. Amongst the Welsh, Scottish, English, and other groups in Europe there were families who believed they descended from King David of Judah.
It therefore follows, that (theoretically at least) present-day descendants of David may be extremely numerous.