Galliah, Hebrews, and Tserafat (4 July 2025, 8 Tammuz, 5785).
Note:
This article was written up in its present form at the suggestion of our friend, Mark McGee.
In the verse below and other verses the Prophet Isaiah is calling out to a list of places who have to take care -- To be warned that the king of Assyria is liable to come and conquer them. This is in Isaiah 10:30. And he's calling out to these places.
The Talmud says that though the names being called out are actual locations the significance of the names also has something to tell us.
Isaiah (NKJV) 10:
30 LIFT UP YOUR VOICE [ 'CRY WITH A SHRILL VOICE],
O DAUGHTER OF GALLIM!
CAUSE IT TO BE HEARD AS FAR AS LAISH
O POOR ANATHOTH!
Talmud, Sanhedrin 94:
# '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 (commandments, good deeds) AS NUMEROUS AS THE WAVES OF THE SEA.
"Gallim" was the name of a place, cf.
1-Samuel (TCT) 25:
44 AND SAUL HAD GIVEN HIS DAUGHTER, MICHAL, WIFE OF DAVID, TO PALTI THE SON OF LAISH, WHO WAS FROM GALLIM.
Isaiah 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 the 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.
"Gal" could be related to the Hebrew word "Goleh" meaning "Exile," and thus related to a usage of the term "Hebrew" connoting "wanderer."
The name "Golan" may also come from a similar source. The Golan in Latin was called "Gaulanitis."
"Gaulanitis" and "Gaul" are in effect the same name.
For more on this matter, see:
Hebrew (Gauls) in the West.
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/16/westhebrews.html
The term "GAL" may have been synonymous with the word "Hebrew."
We see above that the Talmud equated the plural "Gallim" (from "Gal") with the offspring of Abraham the Hebrew.
Gaul in Roman Latin and in Midrashic Hebrew was known as 'Galliah."
The Celts in the West in Gaul and Britain were know as "Iberi" or 'Hiberi" meaning Hebrew.
People of Celtic culture in Gaul were known as "Galli" or in Hebrew "Gallim."
They were related to the British.
DNA studies indicate that before the Romans came large numbers of people passed over from Gaul (France and Belgium) to Britain.
Some of the same Tribes were found both in Gaul and Britain. The language was the same and they both kept the Druid Religion.
This region in Hebrew was also known as "Tserafat."
See:
French Ruby!
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/tribes/reuben2/ottenfrance.html
"Tserafat" is mentioned in the Bible:
Obadiah 1:
20 AND THE CAPTIVITY OF THIS HOST OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SHALL POSSES THAT OF THE CANAANITES, EVEN UNTO ZAREPHATH; AND THE CAPTIVITY OF JERUSALEM, WHICH IS IN SEPHARAD, SHALL POSSESS THE CITIES OF THE SOUTH.
The words translated above as "AND THE CAPTIVITY OF THIS HOST" in Hebrew are "Galut ha-Chail" or literally "This first Exile." And so it was understood by Rabbinical Commentators The First Exile was that of the Ten Trbies who were exiled by Assyria.
The above translation is from the King James (KJ) version. The Hebrew original of the first part of Obadiah 1:20 according to the Commentators may be translated as:
"THIS FIRST EXILE [OF THE LOST TEN TRIBES] WHO REACH FROM THE LAND OF CANAANITES [i.e. Germany and the Netherlands] TO ZERAPHATH [FRANCE AND BRITAIN].."
Rashi (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, 1040-1105, Champagne, France) was the foremost Rabbinical Commentator.
Commenting on this verse of Obadiah (1:20) he says:
# "THE FIRST EXILE OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WHO WERE EXILED FROM THE TEN TRIBES TO THE LAND OF CANAANITES UNTO ZAREPHATH... THE EXEGETES SAY THAT ZAREPHATH MEANS THE KINGDOM CALLED `FRANCE' IN COMMON LANGUAGE.."
i.e. Rashi says that the Lost Ten Tribes are in France!
Iben Ezra, Abraham (1092-1167, Spain):
" `..FROM THE CANAANITES': WE HAVE HEARD FROM GREAT MEN THAT THE LAND OF ALLEMAGNE [i.e. Germany] ARE THE CANAANITES WHO FLED FROM BEFORE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WHEN THEY CAME INTO THE LAND. SO TOO, ZERAPHATH MEANS FRANCE...",
Ramban (Nachmanides, Rabbi Mosheh ben Nachman, 1194-1270, Spain; from "The Book of Redemption", chapter 1.):
"THE VISION OF OBADIAH ..THE HOUSE OF JOSEPH REFERS TO THE TEN TRIBES ...WHO WERE EXILED AND STILL ARE IN THEIR PLACE OF EXILE, THE EXILE OF ZAREPHATH AND CANAAN WHICH ARE IN THE FARTHEST NORTH..."
Don Isaac ben Yehudah Abarbanel, (1437-1508, Spain) has a somewhat different explanation than the others. On some points his commentary is worthy of consideration in the light of the above:
"ZERAPHATH IS FRANCE AND SO TOO THE EXILE OF SEPHARAD IS SPAIN.. AND LET YOU NOT ERR JUST BECAUSE ZERAPHATH [i.e. France] IS SPOKEN OF AND ANGLETERRE [i.e. England] IS NOT RECALLED, FOR THERE TOO DID THE EXILES GO, FOR LO AND BEHOLD, THAT ISLAND IS CONSIDERED A PART OF ZAREPHATH AND IN THE BEGINNING BELONGED TO IT AND IN THEIR ANCIENT BOOKS THEY CALL IT THE ISLE OF ZAREPHATH [i.e. of France] EVEN THOUGH IT LATER SEPARATED ITSELF FROM ZAREPHATH [France] AND BECAME A KINGDOM IN ITS OWN RIGHT.
So we have sources indicating that the Lost Ten Tribes were to be found in the Isles of Britain and in Gaul.
Additional evidence shows them to have also been present thourghout much of Western Europe and therefore in the offshoots of Western Europe in North America, Australia, New Zealand, etc.