Ancient Irish Mythology and the Hebrews.
Contents:
1. Letter from Elliott.
2. Irish-Hebrew Parallels in Mythology.
3. The Irish Hero Dagda and Samson.
4. Emain Macha. Macha the Irish war goddess.
5 The name Maacah in the Bible.
6. Comparison Maacah and Macha.
7. Tribal Associations.
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1. Letter from Elliott.
Subject: Morrigan.
Shalom, Yair, Elliott here,
In your book and elsewhere online, you draw parallels between Samson and (the) Dagda of the Tuatha de Danaan, as well as Elijah also; do you think there are other members of this "tribe"/pantheon/ whatever they actually were that were also inspired by biblical figures?
For my part, I would say (the) Morrigan possesses several "Deborah"-like qualities about her; they are both strong women associated with war and severity, for one, and for another, some think she may have been part of the tribe of Dan (her affiliation is unknown), and even if she was not, she was a "judge", so there is that connection.
I also just remembered that Morrigan was said to be something of a prophetess, like D'vorah. Also, in regards to her being the wife of Dagda (AKA Samson), perhaps she was conflated with Delilah, too? Morrigan was, after all, said to be antagonistic toward him, I think.
A hypothetical: D'vorah + Delilah + Moloch = Morrigan?
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Brit-Am Reply:
2. Irish-Hebrew Parallels in Mythology.
There is a similarity between Irish Mythology and Hebrew Lore. The correspondence is not really a one-on-one equation but rather in the sound of the names and the general atmosphere.
In your letter you mentioned Morrigan who is not only an indiviual but also a goup of deities 'the three Morrigna'.of whom the goddess Macha is considered part. This is discussed below.
First of all however here here are some previous articles of ours touching on Irish Mythology:
Dan and Danites (Eric)
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/tribes/dan/eric.html
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3. The Irish Hero Dagda and Samson.
https://britam.org/dagda.html
Extract:
Parallels Samson -Dagda
Samson was the hero from the Tribe of Dan: Dagda was the son of Dana mother of the Tribe of Dana.
Both had immense strength.
Samson used the jaw of a donkey as a club; Dagda used a club.
Both acted more or less independently as individuals protecting their people.
Both were known for their unusual sexual potency.
Samson sold his secrets for sexual favors; Dagda obtained information by bestowing sexual favor.
Both were known for their use of riddles and plays on words.
Samson was linked with the power of the sun; Ogmios (Ogma) brother of Dagda was nicknamed "Face of the Sun".
Samson may have been later identified with the Philistine deity Dagon (Apollo) and the name Dagda may be derived from Dagon.
The parallelism between Dagda and Samson needs to be considered in the light of additional evidence indicating that the Ancient Irish (and related peoples) to a significant degree were the physical descendants of Israelite Tribes who had lost their identity yet still retained vague traditions carried over from when they had been in the Land of Israel before their exile.
See Also:
"Truth of Legend?"
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/myth/irish/irate.html
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4. Emain Macha
Emain Macha in Northern Ireland was an important center.
It is also known as "Navan Fort." Macha was a goddess whose name is similar to that of the Hebrew Maacah.
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/myth/irish/irate/irish.html
The Irish place-name "Emain Macha" in Ancient Hebrew could possibly have meant the same as Abel beth-Maaca.
The name "Emain Macha" (an important ancient city in Northern Ireland) in Hebrew could also connote "The Plain of Maacah."
Abel Beth-Maaca in Hebrew also probably means "The Plain of the House of Maaca."
The name Maacha for a female occurs several times in the Bible.
Abel beth-Maacah was probably in the area of Naphtali bordering on Dan.
There may be a connection with the Irish war goddess "Macha."
cf.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel-beth-maachah
Abel Beth Maacah means "the meadow of the house of Maacah". The biblical name is spelled variously as Abel-beth-maacah, Abel Beth Maacah, Abel Beth-Maacah, Avel Bet Ma'akha etc. The city is also called Abel Maim ("meadow of water") in 2 Chronicles 16:4. The term Avel (Abel) could also be rendered as "Amain." See 2-Kings 5:12 (In the margin of the Hebrew text) were the river Abena is also rendered as "Amana."
Navan Fort
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navan_Fort
Extracts:
Navan Fort (Old Irish: Emain Macha ]; Modern Irish: Eamhain Mhacha Irish... is an ancient ceremonial monument near Armagh, Northern Ireland. According to tradition it was one of the great royal sites of pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland and the capital of the Ulaidh. It is a large circular hilltop enclosure, marked by a bank and ditch, inside which is a circular mound and the remains of a ring barrow. Archeological investigations show that there were once buildings on the site, including a huge roundhouse-like structure that has been likened to a temple. In a ritual act, this timber structure was filled with stones, deliberately burnt down and then covered with earth to create the mound which stands today. It is believed that Navan was a pagan ceremonial site and was regarded as a sacred space. It features prominently in Irish mythology, especially in the tales of the Ulster Cycle. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, "the [Eamhain Mhacha] of myth and legend is a far grander and mysterious place than archeological excavation supports"
Macha the Irish war goddess.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macha
Extracts:
Macha was a sovereignty goddess of ancient Ireland associated with the province of Ulster, particularly the sites of Navan Fort (Eamhain Mhacha) and Armagh (Ard Mhacha), which are named after her. Several figures called Macha appear in Irish mythology and folklore, all believed to derive from the same goddess. She is said to be one of three sisters known as 'the three Morrigna'. Like other sovereignty goddesses, Macha is associated with the land, fertility, kingship, war and horses.
A poem in the Lebor Gabala Erenn mentions Macha as one of the daughters of Partholon, leader of the first settlement of Ireland after the flood, although it records nothing about her..
Various sources record a second Macha as the wife of Nemed, leader of the second settlement of Ireland after the flood. .... It is said that the hilltop where she was buried was named after her: Ard Mhacha, "Macha's high place". The surrounding woodland was cleared by Nemed's folk and named Magh Mhacha, "Macha's plain". She is described as the daughter of red-weaponed Aed, as the raven of the raids and diffuser of all excellences.[
Macha Mong Ruad ("red hair"), daughter of Aed Road ("red fire" or "fire lord" - a name of the Dagda), was, according to medieval legend and historical tradition, the only queen in the List of High Kings of Ireland. Her father Aed rotated the kingship with his cousins.. ..Macha claimed the kingship.
Macha is named as the wife of Nemed, son of Agnoman, or alternately as the wife of Crund, son of Agnoman, which may indicate an identity of Nemed with Crund. Macha is also named as the daughter of Midir and Aed the Red.
In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, Emain Macha is the royal capital of the Ulaidh, the people who gave their name to the province of Ulster. It is the residence of Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster. He is said to have had a warrior training school at Emain. Conchobar's great hall at Emain was called by medieval writers Chraebruad (the red-branched or red-poled edifice), and his royal warriors are named the Red Branch Knights in English translations.
Emain Macha is said to have been named after Macha, who is believed to have been a sovereignty goddess of the Ulaidh.One tale says that Macha, queen of the Ulaidh, forced her enemy's sons to dig the great bank-and-ditch after marking it out with her neck-brooch (eomuin), hence the name.[18] In another tale, Macha is the fairy wife of Crunnchu. Despite promising not to speak of her, Crunnchu boasts that his wife can outrun the king's horses. The king forces the pregnant Macha to race the horses. She wins, but then gives birth to twins on the finish line. Before dying in childbirth, she curses the Ulstermen to be overcome with the exhaustion of childbirth at the time of their greatest need.
The Annals of the Four Masters says that the Three Collas conquered the area in 331 AD, burning Emain Macha and driving the Ulaidh eastwards over the River Bann. Another tradition is that Emain Macha was destroyed by Niall of the Nine Hostages, or his sons, in the following century.[19]
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5 The name Maacah in the Bible:
A Canaanite (?) Princess.
2-Samuel 3:
3 his second, Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite; the third, Absalom the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur.
1-Chronicles 3:2
the third, Absalom the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith;
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A Pagan Syrian Kingdom.
2-Samuel 10:6
When the people of Ammon saw that they had made themselves repulsive to David, the people of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth Rehob and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand foot soldiers; and from the king of Maacah one thousand men, and from Ish-Tob twelve thousand men.
2-Samuel 10:8
Then the people of Ammon came out and put themselves in battle array at the entrance of the gate. And the Syrians of Zoba, Beth Rehob, Ish-Tob, and Maacah were by themselves in the field.
1-Chronicles 19:6
When the people of Ammon saw that they had made themselves repulsive to David, Hanun and the people of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia, from Syrian Maacah, and from Zobah.
1- Chronicles 19:7
So they hired for themselves thirty-two thousand chariots, with the king of Maacah and his people, who came and encamped before Medeba. Also the people of Ammon gathered together from their cities, and came to battle.
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A woman from Benjamin in the Family of King Saul/
1-Chronicles 8:29
Now the father of Gibeon, whose wife's name was Maacah, dwelt at Gibeon.
1 Chronicles 9:
35 Jeiel the father of Gibeon, whose wife's name was Maacah, dwelt at Gibeon.
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Note :In the Hebrew the names "Maacah" and "Maachah" are the same.
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A descendant of Nahor brother of Abraham.
Genesis 22:24
His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah.
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Place-Name - Abel - Beth Maachah
2-Samuel 20:14
And he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel and Beth Maachah and all the Berites. So they were gathered together and also went after Sheba.
2-Samuel 20:15
Then they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth Maachah; and they cast up a siege mound against the city, and it stood by the rampart. And all the people who were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down.
1-Kings 15:
20 So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maachah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.
2-Kings 15:
29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria.
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A Philistine King.
1-Kings 2:39
Now it happened at the end of three years, that two slaves of Shimei ran away to Achish the son of Maachah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, 'Look, your slaves are in Gath!'
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The Daughter of Abshalom son of David.
1-Kings 15:
2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom.
1- Kings 15:
10 And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother's name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom.
1-Kings 15:
13 Also he removed Maachah his grandmother from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. And Asa cut down her obscene image and burned it by the Brook Kidron.
2-Chronicles 11:
20 After her he took Maachah the granddaughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.
2-Chronicles 11:
21 Now Rehoboam loved Maachah the granddaughter of Absalom more than all his wives and his concubines; for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
2-Chronicles 11:
22 And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maachah as chief, to be leader among his brothers; for he intended to make him king.
2-Chronicles 15:
16 Also he removed Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah; and Asa cut down her obscene image, then crushed and burned it by the Brook Kidron.
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Wife of Caleb of Judah.
1-Chronicles 2:
48 Maachah, Caleb's concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhanah.
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A Woman of Manasseh, wife of Machir.
1-Chronicles 7:
15 Machir took as his wife the sister of Huppim and Shuppim, whose name was Maachah. The name of Gilead's grandson was Zelophehad, but Zelophehad begot only daughters.
1-Chronicles 7:
16 Maachah the wife of Machir bore a son, and she called his name Peresh. The name of his brother was Sheresh, and his sons were Ulam and Rakem.
1-Chronicles 11:43
Hanan the son of Maachah, Joshaphat the Mithnite,
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Leaders of Tribes. Simeon.
1-Chronicles 27:16
Furthermore, over the tribes of Israel: the officer over the Reubenites was Eliezer the son of Zichri; over the Simeonites, Shephatiah the son of Maachah;
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6. Comparison Maacah and Macha.
We see in the Bible the name "Maacah" applied to an ancestral personages, to queens and the consorts of kings, to a small kingdom, to an important center, associated with a plain named after her whose name was also used for the adjoining township, etc.
All of these attributes are also found in Macha of the Irish.
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7. Tribal Associations.
In Ireland Macha is linked with the area of Ulster,
In the Bible the name Maacah is found with the Tribies of Benjamin, Judah, Dan, and Naphtali, and also among Philistines and Syrian non-Israelites.