Who Was Tea Tephi according to British Israel?
Contents:
1. King Zedekiah.
2. Glover and other British Israel Authors.
3. Bardic Links to the tale of Tea Tephi?
4. THE LADDER OF JACOB AND THE STONE OF SCONE
5. The Real Stone?
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1. King Zedekiah.
Saul
David
Solomon
Rehoboam
(Jeroboam)
Abijah/Abijam
Asa
Jehoshaphat
Jehoram/Joram
Ahaziah/Jehoahaz
Athaliah
Joash/Jehoash
Amaziah
Uzziah
Jotham
Ahaz
Hezekiah
Through the reigns of Uzziah (Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah the Ten Trbies were exiled by the Assyrians. The kings of Israel at that time were Pekachiah, Pekah, and Hosea.
Manasseh
Amon
642-640
Josiah
Jehoahaz
Jehoiakim/Eliakim
Jehoiachin
Zedekiah
Zedekiah ("Tsedekiah") was the last king of Judah before the destruction of the kingdom by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He had been associated with the Prophet Jeremiah.
Jerusalem was captured by the Babylonians. The city and Temple were destroyed. The sons of Zedekiah were murdered in front of him.. Then his eyes were put out and he was taken to Babylon (2-Kings 25:1-7; Jeremiah 32:4-5; 34:2-3; 39:1-7; 52:4-11; Ezekiel 12:13).
His daughters however remained. It is also important to remember that the Royal Lineage of David was to be traced on the male side from Solomon son of David. There must have already been 100s of male descendants of Solomon living in the time of Zedekiah. This is worth remembering since some writers seem to assume that no legitimate heirs to the throne of David remained. The Babylonians had nearly all the Jews of Judea sent to Babylon in exile. A small remnant remained under the supervision of Gedaliah, son of Pashhur. These included the prophet Jeremiah, Baruch the Scribe (amanuensis and disciple of Jeremiah), and daughters of King Zedekiah. A Jewish rebel, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, for some reason murdered Gedaliah and most of the Jews with him. The few survivors feared that the Babylonians might blame them for had happened and so fled to Egypt. Jeremiah and the daughters of Zedekiah were taken with them.
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2. Glover and other British Israel Authors.
The story of Tea Tephi has been attributed to Frederick Robert Augustus Glover (1800-1881). Glover had served as "Reverend, Chaplain of Her Britannic Majesty's Consulate at Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany." Before 1870 Germany was not a united country but divided into several States and principalities.
Glover was an adherent of British Israel teachings and became one of its better-known writers. Among other works he wrote, "England, the Remnant of Judah and the Israel of Ephraim," 1881. In this book he reconstructs the story of Tea Tephi. Glover believed that the Ark of the Covenant was buried at Tara Hill, in County Meath, near the coast, in east- central Ireland. In ancient times it had been a burial site for hundreds of people. Important nobles were buried within stone walled enclosures that were then covered with mounds of earth. Tara was also a holy place and a seat of royalty. A stone known as the Lia Fail ("Stone of Destiny") was brought to Ireland either by the Sons of Dan (Tuatha De Danann), or (as other sources say) by the Milesians who came somewhat later. The Stone was said to cry out under the foot of the true king. This Stone later became identified with the Holy Stone on which the Kings of Ireland were coronated. Later it moved to Scotland where it fulfilled the same purpose, then to England where it was referred to as the Stone of Scone. legedn associated it with the Stone upon which Jacob dreamt. Glover held that Tea Tephi had brought the stone with her from Israel to Ireland. He wrote to Queen Victoria about it. In the missive he mentioned his belief that the Royal Line of England was derived from that of Tea Tephi.
# The Queen's answer was a most gracious letter in which she acknowledged Mr. Glover's [work] and informed him that she was already in possession of the facts of which he had spoken concerning her ancestral line, and led him to believe that the facts were actually accepted as genuine by the royal family as true and authentic. #
https://www.thetrumpet.com/11045-finding-the-ark-of-the-covenant
See Also:
"England, the Remnant of Judah and the Israel of Ephraim,"
by
Frederick Robert Augustus Glover, 1881.
https://archive.org/details/englandremnantj01glovgoog/mode/1up
One of the daughters of King Zedekiah who fled to Egypt according to Glover was called "Tea Tephi." Glover deduced this by his reconstruction of Irish legends and re-interpretation of Irish Chronicles.
Under the protection and tutelage of Jeremiah (other versions say of Baruch son of Neriah, the disciple of Jeremiah) Tea Tephi came to Spain, and from there to Ireland where she married Heremon King of Ireland.
Their descendants later moved to Scotland where they gave rise to the Royal House of Stuart and through them of the later monarchs of England. In this way the British Royal family could claim descent from King David.
This theoretical reconstruction of Glover was later expanded upon by Rev. A.B. Grimaldi, who published in 1877 a successfully popular chart entitled "Pedigree of Queen Victoria from the Bible Kings." So too, W.M.H. Milner in his booklet "The Royal House of Britain an Enduring Dynasty" (1902, revised 1909). Charles Fox Parham also authored an article tracing Queen Victoria's lineage back to King David (through Tea Tephi) entitled "Queen Victoria: Heir to King David's Royal Throne."
Wikipedia tells us:
# The Tea Tephi-British monarchy link is also found in J. H. Allen's "Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright" (1902, p. 251).... 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. There is though a queen called Tea in Irish mythology who appears in the Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland. She is described as the wife of Erimon a Mil Espaine (Milesian).... Herman Hoeh ("Compendium of World History," 1970), claimed that the Milesian Royal House (including Tea) was from an earlier blood descendant of the Davidic Line who entered Britain around 1000 BC (citing Ruaidhri O Flaithbheartaigh's reduced chronology). #
Herman Hoeh is an invaluable source for national mythologies and how different peoples once depicted their ancestral procreators.
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3. Bardic Links to the tale of Tea Tephi?
"Tubalcain (Eric)" points out that there are other Irish sources that may help strengthen the Tea Tephi tale.
One of these is:
Crowe, John O'Beirne [ed. and tr.], 'The dind-senchus of Eriu', The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, 4th series, 2:1. 1872 (1874): 139 -190.
https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Crowe_1872b
The nature of the Dind-senchus will be understood from the following remarks of the late Dr. O'Donovan (Ordnance Survey of Ireland, County of Londonderry, Vol. I., p. 223).
"This work treats of the origin of the names of the most historically distinguished places in Ireland, as forts, cairns, mountains, rivers, lakes, &c. ; and though its legends, like those of the saints, are almost wholly of a fabulous character, its evidences in regard to historic and geographic facts are no less entitled to respect..... So, in the Dmd-senchus, the places mentioned must have had a real, and the persons connected with them at least a tradi- tional existence, or its legends could have had no interest at the period of their compilation."
This is an Irish document. It purports to be quoting an extract that was been composed by someone who lived 4 or 5 generations after Niall. Assuming the Niall spoken of is Niall Norgiallach (Old Irish "Having Nine Hostages"), would place the narrator as probably in the 300s CE. Niall of the Nine Hostages, was a legendary, semi-historical Irish king who was the ancestor of the Ui Neill dynasties that dominated Ireland from the 500s CE to the 900s CE. Irish annalistic and chronicle sources place his reign in the late 300s CE and early 400s CE. Modern scholars, through critical study of the annals, date him about 50 years later.
The document seems to be referring to
Tephis (also called "Tephi"), daughter of Bachter, King of Spain. This evidently means Brigantia on the northwest coast of Spain. This area had close ties with Ireland. Irish legends frequently say that from here emigrants to Ireland set sail.
Tephi married Canthon, son of Caithmend, king of the Britons. He took her back to Britain with him. It had been agreed between them that she should return to Spain whether in life or indeath. Therefore when she died her body was returned and buried in a "wall" meaning a megalithic type monument covered with a mound (cairn) of stones or earth.
Later another heroine with a similar name, "Tephi Tea," wife of Erem, saw the "wall" of Tephi. This lady then went to Eriu (Ireland) with her husband where she constructed a similar "wall" (edifice) to be buried in. She appears also to be referred to as the "Daughter of Forand." Tubalcain understand "Forand" to mean Pharoah the King of Egypt.
This account is written in the Irish original with a literal translation on each accompanying page.
https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Crowe_1872b
It begins:
# This is the Dind-seanchus of Eriu [Eriu, i.e. Ireland], which was made by Amargein, son of Amalgaid, son of MaelRuain of the Deisi of Temair. He was the poet of Diarmaid, son of Cear- ball. It is he who imposed a request on Findtan, son of Ijamiach in Temair, when there was an assembly of the men of Eriu, in Temair, around the King of Eriu, around Diarmaid, son of Cerball ; and around Fland Feblai, son of Scannlan, comarb of Patric ; and around the sage of the men of Eriu, around Ceand Faelad, son of Ailil, son of Eogan, son of Niall ; and around Finntan, son of Lamiach, chief-senior of Eriu....*...* Or, Temuir that is, Teph-mur, that is, the fort of Tephis, daughter of Bachter, King of Spain. It is she whom Canthon, son of Caithmend, king of the Britons, had until she died with him, and hEthirun the Idol of the Britons was pledged for her restoration, whether she was living or dead. She was brought afterwards, after her death, to Spain, so that a wall was built around her, that is, Tephi-mur. Tea, then, wife of Erem, saw that, namely, the wall of Tephi. This lady then went to Eriu with her husband, and every plateau she would choose in Eriu was given to her, so that it is by her afterwards was invented a wall like the wall of Tephi, so that it is in it she was buried : whence is said ' Temur.* Temair, and Druim Cain, and Liath-druim, and Cathair Cro-fhind, and Druimn Descen - these are five names of Temair.. #
# The daughter of Forand with an illustrious band, Tephi the loveliest that traversed plain.
Formed a dathair, strong the cirde, With her wand she described it and with her brooch.
tubalcain #
The Dind-Senchus of Eriu: 'The grave under which is the great MERGECH - The BURIAL PLACE which was not violated/' The first woman who went to cold grave, of the troop from the tower of white bregan, TEA BREGA, wife of the king. Then later: Mur Tephi, to which assembly came. ...The Mur over Tephi, I have heard, a protection this without merit of dishonour, the bed of a noble, great queen. The daughter of FORAND [PHAROAH of EGYPT] with an Illustrious band, Tephi... The piteous death of Tephi who went north [from Spain], was not a dead concealed for one hour. The brega of Tea... a grave on which is the great MERGECH. Tea and Tephi appear to be the same, both associated with Bachter, King of Brega or Breoghan of Spain, yet a daughter of Pharoah who married Heremon-Eochaidh (flourished ca. 580 bce). Tea appears to be an Egyptian name or a short form of Tephi or Teaphi? Tephi may be a Hebrew name. Seti-I had a daughter Tia;Tiya was the third wife of Seti-II; Tey was wife of Ay or Aya. Ramses-II "the Great" had a daughter Tia-Sitre, "Tia daughter of Re". Mergegh in Hebrew means "a place of rest, or repose," also cognate with mergemah "heap of stones" - a burial cairn? #
These references present a different picture from the one depicted by Glover but the names and cultural background are similar.
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4. THE LADDER OF JACOB AND THE STONE OF SCONE.
(Adapted from "Lost Israelite Identity. The Hebrew Ancestry of Celtic Races," by Yair Davidy,1996. This work has been recommended by Nelson Thall. It is no longer in print but much of the material has been reproduced in the work "Ancestry. The Hebrew Identity of Celtic Races," 2015).
The Milesians (or Tea Tephi, Heremon who married Tea Tephi was one of the early Milesians) are said to have brought with them to Ireland a sacred stone on which their kings were coronated (W. Stewart ca.1532). This manner of coronation over a stone is believed to have been an Israelite custom hinted at in the Bible. Later this same stone which the Milesians had brought was carried over to Scotland and there it was known as the Stone of Scone. It was afterwards taken from Scotland and placed under the Coronation Chair of the monarchs of Britain where it remains today. Legend states that the stone brought by the Milesians was that on which Jacob slept (Genesis ch.29). Jacob dreamt of angels ascending and descending a ladder reaching up into heaven.
Genesis [NASB] .28:
10 THEN JACOB DEPARTED FROM BEERSHEBA AND WENT TOWARD HARAN.
11 HE CAME TO A CERTAIN PLACE AND SPENT THE NIGHT THERE, BECAUSE THE SUN HAD SET; AND HE TOOK ONE OF THE STONES OF THE PLACE AND PUT IT UNDER HIS HEAD, AND LAY DOWN IN THAT PLACE.
12 HE HAD A DREAM, AND BEHOLD, A LADDER WAS SET ON THE EARTH WITH ITS TOP REACHING TO HEAVEN; AND BEHOLD, THE ANGELS OF GOD WERE ASCENDING AND DESCENDING ON IT.
13 AND BEHOLD, THE LORD STOOD ABOVE IT AND SAID, I AM THE LORD, THE GOD OF YOUR FATHER ABRAHAM AND THE GOD OF ISAAC; THE LAND ON WHICH YOU LIE, I WILL GIVE IT TO YOU AND TO YOUR DESCENDANTS.
14 YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL ALSO BE LIKE THE DUST OF THE EARTH, AND YOU WILL SPREAD OUT TO THE WEST AND TO THE EAST AND TO THE NORTH AND TO THE SOUTH; AND IN YOU AND IN YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED.
15 BEHOLD, I AM WITH YOU AND WILL KEEP YOU WHEREVER YOU GO, AND WILL BRING YOU BACK TO THIS LAND; FOR I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU UNTIL I HAVE DONE WHAT I HAVE PROMISED YOU.
16 THEN JACOB AWOKE FROM HIS SLEEP AND SAID, SURELY THE LORD IS IN THIS PLACE, AND I DID NOT KNOW IT.
17 HE WAS AFRAID AND SAID, HOW AWESOME IS THIS PLACE! THIS IS NONE OTHER THAN THE HOUSE OF GOD, AND THIS IS THE GATE OF HEAVEN.
18 SO JACOB ROSE EARLY IN THE MORNING, AND TOOK THE STONE THAT HE HAD PUT UNDER HIS HEAD AND SET IT UP AS A PILLAR AND POURED OIL ON ITS TOP.
19 HE CALLED THE NAME OF THAT PLACE BETHEL; HOWEVER, PREVIOUSLY THE NAME OF THE CITY HAD BEEN LUZ.
20 THEN JACOB MADE A VOW, SAYING, IF GOD WILL BE WITH ME AND WILL KEEP ME ON THIS JOURNEY THAT I TAKE, AND WILL GIVE ME FOOD TO EAT AND GARMENTS TO WEAR,
21 AND I RETURN TO MY FATHERS HOUSE IN SAFETY, THEN THE LORD WILL BE MY GOD.
22 THIS STONE, WHICH I HAVE SET UP AS A PILLAR, WILL BE GODS HOUSE, AND OF ALL THAT YOU GIVE ME I WILL SURELY GIVE A TENTH TO YOU.
According to the Midrash (Genesis, Tanchuma, VaYaetse) this dream concerned the potential future rule of the world and the saving of Jacob's seed from afar and from the land of their captivity (Jeremiah 30:10) meaning from Galia (i.e. Gaul) and from Espania (Spain) and from their neighbors.
A part of Christian doctrine is the idea that "true" believers or what not are in effect spiritually Israel. All of the British nations tended to take this notion a step further and physically associate themselves with the ancient Hebrews. On the Continent such an attitude was extremely rare and then only amongst English influenced groups in Holland whose people are related to the English anyway. The point is that people often tend to believe instinctively in something which they cannot prove but feel to be so. Many scientific and other research breakthroughs have their origins in such intuitive feeling.
From a moral point of view, to invent tales justifying even the most lofty ideas is forbidden,
"KEEP FAR AWAY FROM A FALSE MATTER" (Exodus 23:7). Even so even false beliefs or obviously invented legends etc., sometimes may express an instinctively realized reality at the subconscious level. The Stone of Scone may (and yet may not) be an ordinary piece of rock plucked out from a Scottish quarry, as some claim it is. Nevertheless, it was widely considered to be the stone upon which Jacob slept and that on which he received the promise concerning the future of his descendants and it has significance for them and for no other people.
A poem attributed to Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) concerning the Stone of Scone is said to actually be a free rendition of an ancient Gaelic couplet.
The poem goes:
"UNLESS THE FATES ARE FAITHLESS GROWN,
AND PROPHETS VOICE BE VAIN,
WHERE'ER IS FOUND THIS SACRED STONE,
THE WANDERER'S (SCOTHIC) RACE SHALL REIGN."
According to Hollingshed's Chronicles (1577, 1587):
"When our king (Edward-i) went forth to see the mountains [of Scotland], and understanding that all was at peace and quiet, he turned to the Abbey of Scone which was of chanons regular, where he took the stone, called the Regal of Scotland, upon which the kings of that nation were wont to sit at the time of their coronation for a throne, and sent it to the Abbey of Westminster. The Scots claim that this was the stone whereon Jacob slept when he fled to Mesopotamia."
The British believed that their rulers were coronated (i.e. received the right to rule) on the Stone of Jacob: They therefore, it is inferred, thought that the right of their rulers to Empire came from the Promise to Jacob. When seen in this light the real origin of the stone becomes less historically significant than the beliefs surrounding it.
John Toland (1670-1772) reported:
"The Fatal Stone (Liag Fail) so called, was the stone on which the supreme kings of Ireland used to be inaugurated, in the time of heathenism on the hill of Tara; it was superstitiously sent to confirm the Irish colony in the north of Great Britain, where it was continued as the coronation seat of the Scottish kings ever since Christianity; till in the year 1300 [i.e. 1296 CE according to the present Calendar]. Edward -i, of England brought it from Scone, placing it under the coronation chair at Westminster and there it still continues. I had almost forgotten to tell you that it is now called by the vulgar, Jacob's Stone... as if this had been Jacob's Pillar at Bethel."
A. W. Whatmore ("Insulae Brittanicae", 1913) conducted a study concerning the earlier (mainly Classical) history and historical notions regarding the British Isles. His conclusions are that Britain was originally known as "Kimmeria", that later the British Isles were ascribed to Togarmah the son of Gomer, and that in the poems of Ossian (an early Scottish poet) the Sea of Togarmah meant somewhere to the west of Scotland. Whatmore remarks concerning the Cimmerians:
~`The truth probably is that Kimmerii was a name strictly belonging to the Britons, as inhabiting the colomnar basaltic islands towards the pole the "ceum", or step region (the dark road), which probably in one aspect suggested the ancient notion of the ladder reaching to heaven (Gen.xxviii;12)'~. WHATMORE, ARTHUR WILLIAM. "Insulae Britannicae", 1913, U.K., 1971 U.S.A./U.K.
i.e. according to Whatmore the Kimmerii (Cimmerians) equaled the Britons and that their location was somehow conceptually that of a place associated with the Ladder of Jacob! It was shown how too in both Talmudic Jewish sources and in British tradition the Celtic area of Western Europe and Britain are related to the Ladder of Jacob.
The point of the above relates to the fact that "GOMER" in the Biblical Book of Hosea (chapter one) is seen to have been joined somehow for a time with the exiles of northern Israel. Wherever Gomer is considered to be, so at some stage, must the Ten Tribes also have been or be. "The ladder reaching to heaven", concerns a dream which the Patriarch Jacob (who was renamed "Israel") had and which culminated in a promise from God that his seed would be numerous as the dust of the earth, that they would spread to the west, east, north, and south, and that all the families of the earth would be blessed in him and in his seed; that God would keep him and bring him back; and in the promise that "I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken to you of" (Genesis 28:15).
The association of the "ladder reaching to heaven" with the Isles of Britain may be based on little more than coincidental imagination. Nevertheless, this "ladder" is also pertinent to the irrevocable promises given to Israel even after exile. Other reasons connect the exiled of northern Israel with the British Isles. It follows that the "ladder" recollection, for whatever reasons it was made, when considered in the light of supportive factors acquires significance in its own right!
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There are claims that there once really was a sacred stone used for the coronation of the Kings of Ireland, and/or after that maybe also, for those of Scotland. According to this, the stone brought from Scotland to England by Edward-1, in 1290 CE, was a copy of the original, or an alternate to it used for something else. Who knows? The Stone of Scone is important more because of what it symbolizes. It shows an attachment and association of the British Public with the Patriarch Jacob, who was renamed Israel (Genesis 33:28. 35:10), and the British People. It also shows a wish to see the Monarchy of Britain as a Biblical entity.
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See Also:
Brit-Am Vrs British Israel-1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5rGAPk8GYo&t=41s
British Israelism-1.
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/polemics/bitruth1.html
Baruch ben Neriah.
Tea Tephi and a Royal Cup of Tea! (by Yair Davidiy).
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/jeremiah/baruch.html
Tea Tephi Defended (Phillips).
by Steve Phillips
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/guest/tea.html
Tea Tephi Defended by Eric (TubalCain)
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/guest/eric1/teatoo.html
No Princess?
Another Cup of Tea Tephi?
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/jeremiah/tea3.html