Notes on White Complexions and the Tribal Name
In a video Clip about Sweden
Sweden: History, Geography, Economy & Culture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj3A-IUl78E
it opens with the words:
"A land of liberty, innovation, and art, it influences the world like no other small-popyulation country does. And what is this country? It could only be Sweden."
In Sweden like the rest of the Scandinavian nations they never really had the social status of serfdom. Serfdom severely limited the freedom of the serfs. In England the subjects of serfdom were called Villeins. They had more rights and social status than those in slavery, but were under a number of legal restrictions which differentiated them from the freeman. In England, Serfdom existed until the Black Death (1347) after which it more or less withered away. In France and West German states it continued until about the time of the French Revolution. In Eastern Europe it did not lessen but actually increased in its severity until the later 1700s.
In the Austrian Empire, serfdom was abolished by 1781 but the corvee (enforced work) continued until 1848. In Russia serfdom was in force until 1861. Prussia (east Germany) abolished it in 1792-1897.
In Finland, Norway, and Sweden, feudalism was never fully established, and serfdom did not exist; in Denmark, serfdom-like institutions did exist up to ca.1788 and in Iceland (the vassal of Denmark) until 1894.
By comparison slavery still existed in the USA until after the American Civil war in 1866.
At all events we see from the above that compared to other countries the common man had relatively more rights in Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
Even today these countries (along with Denmark) grant more social privileges to the ordinary citizen than other nations do. From that point of view they serve as models for all others.
We saw that one of the tasks of the Ten Tribes in Exile was to do Justice and judgement and upgrade all nations of the earth.
See:
https://hebraictribes.com/InternetEPHRAIMpdf/E1CH1Criteria.pdf
Genesis 12:
2 And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
3 And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.
Genesis 18:
18 since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?
19 For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.
These blessing became UNCONDITIONAL:
"By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD" (Genesis 22:15).
Abraham would become a great and mighty nation.
All the nations of the earth would be blessed in him.
The descendants of Abraham will "keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice."
Both Following this and as a Prerequisite to do this they would receive the blessings.
In other words he shall
"become a great and might nation"
in order that
"All the nations of the earth will be blessed in him."
After which he will be further rewarded.
The Lost Ten Tribes through the peoples of Britain, France, and the Netherlands carried this out through their personal example and cultural influence as well as by colonization and their Empires. The USA was even more effective in the same direction through the use of Soft Power.
Scandinavian nations in recent centuries were never big on building Empires but through their own achievements and example they too had a civilizing influence.
See:
Blessings to Abraham. Multitudes of people, Universal Power, the Promised Land
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/biblical-proof/blessings/abraham.html
Master Plan. An Outline
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/masterplan.html
Getting back to the Tribe of Gad. We identify Sweden with Gad. Sweden has characteristics of Gad. Clans of Gad were to be found in Sweden (Shuon - Suione, Areli - Aruli, Harod -Harudi, etc.). So too the Goths who helped create Sweden had a name that could be interchanged with Gad and pronounced the same as it. The Goths were identified with Gad. Sweden came into existence when the Goths of Sweden and the Svea (Suiones) of Sweden united. The Goths were identified as fromt he Tribe of Gad by Ortellius (1527-1598) and by John Mandeville (ca. 1357) and by others. Indications are that at least some of them also considered themselves descendants of Israel.
An interesting book that has just come to our notice also INDIRECTLY and UNINTENTIONALLY MAY BE OF INTEREST IN THIS MATTER.
The work under consideration is:
"God versus gods, Judaism in the Age of Idolatry" by Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, Jerusalem, 2018.
In this work, among many other points of interest, he discussed the name GAD.
Gad was one of the Tribes of Israel. Gad was the son of Zilpah the maidservant of Leah wife of Jacob aka Israel.
Genesis (NIV) 30:
11 Then Leah said, 'What good fortune!' [Gad is coming] So she named him Gad.
The name Gad is also that of some type of seed usually identified as coriander seed, but not everyone agrees with this equation.
Exodus (NIV) 16:
31 The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed [Seed of Gad] and tasted like wafers made with honey.
Numbers (KJV) 11:
7 And the manna was as coriander seed [Seed of Gad], and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium ["bedolach"].
Bedolach is indeed a very white previous stone. Coriander seed can by off-white, creamy, or very light brown, or vaguely grey.
The verse may be read from the Hebrew as if there is a comma after the word "color thereof," saying that it was [in shape] like the Seed of Gad and the color of it [i.e. of the Seed of Gad], this being the color of bdellium [i.e. bright white].
That it is how it is traditionally read in the Synagogue and how the Commentator Gersonides (quoted below) understood it. "Seed of Gad" did not necessarily mean coriander seed but perhaps something like it.
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Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein quotes Gersonides (RALBAG 1288-1344) as saying that the Seed of Gad (whatever it was) had a white coloring and so did the baby so he was named accordingly:
RALBAG (Gersonides) Exodus (Shmot) 16:31: ("Beir haMilot - Explanation of the Words"): # Like the Seed of Gad. I would think that it is one of the white-colored edible seeds. He (the baby) was similar to it due to its coloring, as if to say that he was white like the Seed of Gad. According to this the explanation of the words of Leah, "Gad comes" (Genesis 30:11) meant that the boy was white. Therefore he was compared to the Seed of Gad, and therefore he was named Gad. The intention being that he was like the Seed of Gad in his appearance and white like it. #
It should be remembered that Laban the father-in-law of Jacob has a name meaning in Hebrew "White." Laban was the father of Rachel and Leah the two main wives of Jacob. Jacob also fathered children from the maidservants (Zilphah and Bilhah) of his wives, and Zilpah was the mother of Gad. According to tradition both Zilpah and Bilhah were also daughters of Laban but from concubines and therefore of lower status. The genetic potential of being very white was there.
Sweden and neighboring Finland have the highest percentage of blondes and very fair people in the world. This is partly due to their environment which also causes animals in that area to often sport white coats. They may however have always looked that way and their ancestors had searched for an area to settle in amenable to it. [In modern day Israel it has been noticed that Jews with darker skins than the average seem to prefer places like Beer Sheva in the south!]. We identify the Fins of Finland as primarily from the Tribe of Issachar though 10 to 20% of them are of Swedish descent.
Other points mentioned by Rabbi Klein and pertinent to us here inlcude:
In Danish, "ged" (which is similar to Gad) is the word for goat.
We had already associated the goat as the Tribal animal of Gad.
The name "Gad" in the pagan world was also the name given to an idol, "Some authorities write that Gad was goat-shaped."
# Rabbi Shmiel Pappenheim explain that the name Gad is related to the Hebrew word "agad"... binding.#
# Others explain that Gad was the constellation of Capricorn - a goat. #
Binding or unifying oneself with others as a preferred mode of self-expression was seen to be a characteristic trait of both the Tribe of Gad and of the Swedish People.
See:
Gad, Sweden, and Rabbis -2.
The Tribe of Gad in the Light of Rabbi Fishel Mael.
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/tribes/gad/gadrabbis2.html#a9
# The very name Gad is derived from the word "Gdud" translated as "troop" but also meaning group or collectivity. #
Genesis 49:
19 Gad, a troop [Hebrew: Gdud"] shall tramp upon him, But he shall triumph [Hebrew: "Yigadenu" i.e. form a group of his own] at last.
This could reflect an aspect of Gad himself, i.e. he needs to work through his group.
We saw this above on the note concerning Coriander ("gad" in Hebrew) seed.
The Swedes also have this attribute.
The very name Gad is derived from the word "Gdud" translated as "troop" but also meaning group or collectivity.
Genesis 49:
19 Gad, a troop [Hebrew: Gdud"] shall tramp upon him, But he shall triumph [Hebrew: "Yigadenu" i,e. form a group of his own] at last.
The Swedes today also unfortunately have a tendency to be free-thinkers, agnostics, or athiestic. According to a 2010 Eurobarometer report, just 18% of Swedes believe there is a God.
Rabbi Klein notes concerning the pagan form of idolatry also known as Gad:
# Gad represents the idolatrous notion of viewing the Mazalos [Astrological Constellations] as the end-all source, disconnected from the influence of a Higher Mover. #
On the other hand:
# Rabbi Moshe Shapiro explain that by naming his son Gad, Jacob empowered him with the ability to experience significant growth without resorting to the denial of Hashem as the source of that growth. #
Klein p. 322