Ulster and Judah

by Yair Davidiy with an important note by Stephen Phillips (15 August, 2014, 19 Av, 5774)

Ulster (Northern Ireland) is part of the United Kingdom together with England and Scotland. Originally Ulster (Uladah) was ruled by the Gaelic O'Neills and O'Donnells. It was taken over by the English and re-settled in the 1600s and 1700s by mainly Protestant colonists from Scotland and England. These became known as the Scots-Irish. Some of the natives remained. These were mainly Catholics. In the 1800s and 1900s many more Catholics from the south of Ireland migrated to Ulster. From a historical point of view it is difficult to say who was first and who came afterwards. Many of the settlers from Scotland could claim to be descended from the Scotti who had migrated from Ireland to Scotland and were now returning.

We identify ALL of these groups as basically of Israelite descent from the Ten Lost Tribes. Certain traditions indicate that among the Lost Ten Tribes who came to Ireland were elements from Judah.
These may have been especially important in Ulster and still somehow have influenced the present inhabitants.
There is a tradition that elements from Judah came to Ireland at an early stage. These are sometimes associated with the Clan of Zerah.

Duration: 21.57 minutes. To Read Article Please Scroll Down.

Contents:
1. Zerah in Ulster and the British Israelite Interest
2. Early beliefs in an Israelite Connection to Ireland
3. The Red Hand of Zerah and Ulster
4. An Early Movement of Israelites to the West?
5. Ireland and Ulster and the Biblical Codes
6. The Hero Known as CuChulian.
7. Other Names Relating to Calcol of Judah.
8. Names relating to both Calcol and Zerah
9. Stephen Phillips: Was Calcol the same as Cuchulainn of Ireland?
10. Other Alternatives: Judah amongst the Ten Tribes
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1. Zerah in Ulster and the British Israelite Interest

In the Bible we are told how Judah had five sons. Two of these, Onan and Er, were killed for wasting their seed as a means of unwarranted birth control (Genesis 38:5-10). That left three: Shelah, along with Zerah, and Peretz (often transliterated as Perez) who were twins. Shelah and Zerah disappear quote early from Biblical Genealogies. For some reasons no-one seems to concern themselves with Shelah. Zerah however is another story. British Israel Literature for a good while has been promoting the notion that descendants of Zerah moved to Ulster in Ireland. They were therefore different from the rest of the Irish even before the waves of migration from Scotland and England that later came there.

We should clarify our use of the term "British Israel". Nowadays this term has been conflated with the British Israel World Federation (BIWF) founded in 1919. The BIWF tried to bring together various groups and individuals who for some time had been advocating belief in Israelite Ancestry. The BIWF never represented all British Israelite believers and within BIWF itself there were, and are, different shades of opinion.
Anyway we see that the idea that offspring of Zerah had come to Ulster had an ideological-political aspect to it. This does not mean that it is incorrect. It does however indicate that a too enthusiastic approach to this subject may not be the correct one.
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2. Early Beliefs in an Israelite Connection to Ireland

A descendant of Zerah was Calcol.
The English historian, William Camden (1551-1623), is quoted as stating that Calcol of Judah sailed from Egypt to Spain (where the city of Zaragossa was named after Zerah), and then on to Ireland where he founded Ulladh. This name, "Ulladh" (i.e. Ulster) has actually a name similar (in some types of Hebrew pronunciation) to that of ELADAH of Ephraim (1-Chronicles 7:20).] Similarly he said that the Tribe of Asher settled in Ireland.

The father of the astronomer Galileo wrote a book in 1581 in which he explained that the Irish attachment to the harp was traced by the Irish to their descent from King David.

These sources show that Israelites and members of the Tribe of Judah were believed from an early time to have moved to Ireland.

Parts of Irish Mythology also say the same or at least indicate as much.

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3. The Red Hand of Zerah and Ulster
See:
The JUDAH TOUCH and the RED HAND of ULSTER.
http://www.britam.org/traditions11.html

Zerah and Pharez were brothers born to Judah (son of Israel) from Tamar.
In Southwest Britain Ptolemy recorded the Tamarus River. There was also a Tamarus River in northwest Spain where the Gaels had sojourned before moving to Ireland.

Zerah and Pharez were twins. The manner of their birth is described in the Bible:

Genesis 38:
27 When the time of her delivery came, there were twins in her womb.
28 While she was in labour, one put out a hand; and the midwife took and bound on his hand a crimson thread, saying, 'This one came out first.'
29 But just then he drew back his hand, and out came his brother; and she said, 'What a breach you have made for yourself!' Therefore he was named Perez.
30 Afterwards his brother came out with the crimson thread on his hand; and he was named Zerah.
[Zerah is pronounced in Hebrew with a guttural "h" i.e. something like zerach.]

The present day unofficial but popular symbol of Northern Ireland (Ulster) is a scarlet hand superimposed upon the Star of David which universally is taken as representing the Tribe of Judah. The Magen David [i.e. Shield of David] as the symbol is more correctly known as appears upon the flag of the modern State of Israel. The Star of David has twelve junction-points and shows how the Tribes of Israel were encamped around the Tabernacle when they came out of Egypt.
This has been explained in our work "The Tribes".

The red hand has been interpreted to represent Zarah of Judah father of Calcol who according to the legend quoted above sailed to Ireland and founded Uladh (i.e. Ulster).

W. H. Bennett states that,
"the ancient and traditional emblem of Ulster was and still is a Red Hand circled by a Scarlet Cord".

"Three of Ulster's six counties, as well as the towns of Bangor and Dungannon, have the Red Hand as part of their official emblems" .

It also appears on the emblem of Louth just south of the border in the Republic of Ireland.

From Ireland, the Scots migrated to Scotland, and the Red Hand, says Bennett: "appears in the Arms of several of the old families and in those of at least fourteen of the Clan Chiefs: Davidson, MacBain, MacNeil, MacNaughton, MacPherson, MacGillivray, MacDonald of Sleat, Clanranald, and Shaw of Rothiemurchus".

Red Hand of Ulster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hand_of_Ulster
Extracts:
The Red Hand of Ulster ...is a symbol used in heraldry to denote the Irish province of Ulster. It is less commonly known as the Red Hand of O'Neill and the Red Hand of Ireland. Its origins are said to be attributed to the mythical Irish figure ...Labraid of the Red Hand... The symbol is strongly rooted in Irish Gaelic culture and is particularly associated with the Ui Neill clan of Ulster.

The Red Hand symbol is believed to have been used by the Ui Neill clan during its Nine Years' War (1594-1603) against the spread of English control. The war cry ... "Red Hand to victory!".. was also associated with the Ui Neill.

After Walter de Burgh became Earl of Ulster in 1243 the de Burgh cross was combined with the Red Hand to create the modern Flag of Ulster.

The Red Hand was later included in the Northern Ireland flag and on the shields of counties Cavan, Tyrone, Londonderry, Antrim and Monaghan. It is also used by many other official and non-official organisations throughout the province of Ulster.

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4. An Early Movement of Israelites to the West?

There are some Rabbinical Legends and Traditions saying that apart from the massive complete enforced evacuation of Israel by the Ten Tribes there had been earlier movements of Israelite groups.
A segment of Benjamin for instance is said to have gone either (depending on which source one refers to) to Rome, Romania, or Germany. So too, Dan left the land of Israel in the time of the split of the Ten Tribes under King Jeroboam from Judah. A Rabbinical authority, the Natziv, opines that many such events had already taken place in the time of the Judges.

This is also the belief of some Israelite Identity writers concerning Zerah of Judah.

The Modern Descendants of Zara-Judah
W.H. Bennet
John D. Keyser
http://www.hope-of-israel.org/zara.htm
# ... when we examine the tribal genealogies as recorded in the Old Testament. These record the main lines of descent from Pharez-Judah for a very long period of time -- but the record of the descendants of Zara-Judah apparently ends with the third generation.

Since these genealogies -- and especially those of the chief families in each tribe -- were kept with great care, any omission would indicate that those omitted were NO LONGER in the land when the record was made. As the genealogy of Zara-Judah apparently ceases with the third generation, it naturally follows that most (if not all) of Zara's descendants must have left the main body during the time of Israel's captivity in Egypt -- and therefore BEFORE the Exodus. With this mind WHERE, then, did they go?

As we have already seen, the descendants of Zara-Judah, or most of them, decided to leave their brethren and flee out of Egypt to some new land (or lands) where they could establish independent kingdoms of their own. History and tradition records that they divided into two or more groups which then fled across the Mediterranean Sea from Egypt in different directions.

One of these groups was led by Calcol -- also known as Cecrops -- a great-grandson of Zara. Calcol and his group fled to Greece and founded the city of Athens. Another group, led by Darda or Dardanus, ended up in the Troad and became the ancestors of the Trojans. Not long prior to the Exodus, Gathelus (Miledh), a son of Cecrops or Calcol, returned to Egypt after killing a man. After assisting one of the pharaohs in his fight against the Ethiopians, Gathelus was given the hand of the pharaoh's daughter SCOTA in marriage. After living seven years in Egypt, Gathelus fled the land at the outset of the plagues and traveled westward to a land known today as Spain, where he settled for a number of years. During their time in Spain, Gathelus and his people founded a city which still bears the name of their ancestor Zara -- Zaragossa.

From there they moved to Ulster, or so the story goes.
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5. Ireland and Ulster and the Biblical Codes
See:
http://www.britam.org/codesarticles/CodesIreland.html

The Bible Codes
In a Biblical passage concerning the Jubilee Year at intervals of 7 or multiples of 7 (e.g. 49=7*7) one frequently comes across the word "Shabat" which is connected with the Jubilee whereas in other passages the word "Shabat" appears far less frequently. We may conclude that this occurence is deliberate.

Such phenomenon exist throughout the Hebrew Text and some of them have been known of for centuries.
In recent times Computer Programs have been developed enabling the Biblical Hebrew Text to be checked more thoroughly for any desired word. The results are controversial and need to be treated with caution but in many cases it is impossible to deny their significance.

Some while ago we checked Ireland and names for Ireland in the Biblical Codes.
We did find possible links to the Israelite Tribe of Asher, to the Tribe of Judah, to King David, and to Tarshish.
For Donegal (in northwest Ireland in the area of Classical Ulster) we found interesting links to Exiles from Assyria and the Tribe of Dan.
For Ulster we found links to Judah; to Joseph, Tartan, and the Land of Canaan; to Ephraim, and America.
For Belfast, the capital of Ulster we found THE CHILDREN OF SIMEON, JOSEPH, THEY WERE WHO EXILED BY TIGLATHPILESER, IN THE LAND OF GILEAD.
http://www.britam.org/codesarticles/CodesUlster.html
It needs to be remembered that the Biblical Codes (as well as our own interpreptation of them) are open to question.

We can only ascribe significance to the above in the light of additional findings from other sources.

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6. The Hero Known as CuChulian

There is quite a bit of evidence and numerous indications that Israelites were indeed in both Ulster and Ireland.
Regarding the Clan of Zerah however we have not got much to on, or at least we did not have until now.

Researcher Stephen Philips points out that major names in the Lore of Ulster, such as CuChulian and Airgail in effect relate to Calcol and Zerah.

CuChulian was a legendary hero who together with his companions in Ulster participated in numerous adventures.

Cuchulain
http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Cr-Dr/Cuchulain.html
Cuchulain, one of the greatest heroes of Irish mythology and legend, was a warrior in the service of Conchobhar, king of Ulster. Best known for his single-handed defense of Ulster, Cuchulain is said to have lived in the first century B . C ., and tales about him and other heroes began to be written down in the A . D . 700S. Cuchulain's adventures were recorded in a series of tales known as the Ulster Cycle.

http://www.bartleby.com/182/302.html
Cuchulain was the nephew of King Conor of Ulster, son of his sister Dechtire, and it is said that his father was no mortal man, but the great god Lugh of the Long Hand. Cuchulain was brought up by King Conor himself, and even while he was still a boy his fame spread all over Ireland. His warlike deeds were those of a proved warrior, not of a child of nursery age; and by the time Cuchulain was seventeen he was without peer among the champions of Ulster.
Upon Cuchulain's marriage to Emer, daughter of Forgall the Wily, a Druid of great power, the couple took up their residence at Armagh, the capital of Ulster, under the protection of King Conor....

Cuchulain was originally named Setanta. As a boy he killed the hound (cu) of Culan so he was subsequently named Cuchulain, i.e. Hound of Culan.

Stephen Phillips says that the name Cuchulain is a form of the name Calcol. Given names of heroes of foreign origin are often re-interpreted in mythology to have meaning according to the spoken language.
Cuchulain according to students of mythology originally probably represented a solar deity. His image did have great importance so he may well have represented an ancestral forefather of the Ulster people.
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7. Other Names Relating to Calcol of Judah

Other names that Stephen Phillips traces (see below) to the Hebrew name Calcol include:

Conn, Cuinn, or Cu. cf.

Conn of the Hundred Battles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conn_of_the_Hundred_Battles
Conn Cetchathach ("of the Hundred Battles"..), son of Fedlimid Rechtmar, was, according to medieval Irish legendary and annalistic sources, a High King of Ireland, and the ancestor of the Connachta, and, through his descendant Niall Noigiallach, the Ui Neill dynasties, which dominated Ireland in the early Middle Ages, and their descendants.

Cuin (from which we have well known Irish family name Quin) was the name of several Irish heros including the father of Art mac Cuinn, a High King of Ireland.

Cu was the smith whose hound CuChulian killed.

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8. Names relating to both Calcol and Zerah

There is also the term Colla of unknown etymology but meaning High King.
This name may also derive from Calcol which in Hebrew could be written as "col-col". Calcol probably means Provider, Administrator. It derives from the word root "CoL" connoting "all, entire, enable". It is easy to see how Calcol could dialectically become Colla.
In Irish tradition, the Three Collas were brothers.
In the 300s CE, together with an army from Connacht in West Ireland they conquered an area of Ulster which became known as Airgialla.
This name is said to mean "golden hostage" though others dispute this.
Interestingly Airgialla in English Transliteration is often given as Oriel. This is a Hebrew name meaning "Light of God".

Airgialla
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airg%C3%ADalla
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Extracts:

Airgialla (Modern Irish: Oirialla, Anglicizations: Oriel, Uriel, Orgiall, Orgialla,) was the name of an ancient Irish federation/kingdom.

The name of Airgialla was thought to derive from the circumstance of the Collas having stipulated with the king of Ireland, for themselves and their posterity, that if any chiefs of the clan Colla should be at any time demanded as hostages, and if shackled, their fetters should be of gold: thus, from the Irish, or, gold, and giall, a hostage, came the name orgialla.

The name 'Airgialla' may be cognate with the Scottish Argyll, archaically Argyle (Earra-Ghaidheal in modern Gaelic), the name for a region of western Scotland corresponding with the ancient Dal Riata kingdom. The early thirteenth century author of De Situ Albanie explains that "the name Arregathel means margin of the Scots or Irish, because all Scots and Irish are generally called Gattheli [=Gaels], from their ancient warleader known as Gaithelglas." However, it is often understood to derive from Earra-Ghaidheal, "East Gaels". The term Airgialla was believed to be derived from the Irish orgialla meaning "hostage of gold", but recent research suggests that it is derived from *Airgiallne, meaning "additional clientship."

Stephen Phillips tells us:

... the name Zerach means 'bright' or 'shining' , hence the association with the 'Sun' god [i.e. CuChulian]. Believe it or not, the Gaelic word Airgtech (or Airgdech, or Airgtheach or a number of variations thereof), which is translated by O'Rahilly as 'bright' (Early Irish History and Mythology p.6), is a metathesis of the Hebrew name Zerach where the zayin has been transliterated as aiort or aird (as usual, the 'g' is silent.)

The remarks of Stephen Phillips are given in full below.

We cannot say that anything is really proven from these linguistic observations. It does however indicate that the possibility of a link between Zerah, Calcol, and Ulster does exist.
Additional evidence may well help to substantiate this.
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9. Stephen Phillips: Was Calcol the same as Cuchulainn of Ireland?

Hi Yair

Did you know?

The letters 'l' and 'n' in ancient languages were often interchangeable. Nebuchadnezzar and his son Nabonidus, for example, were both called Labynetus by Herodotus (e.g. i.188). Nemare€‘Amenemhat III of the Egyptian 12th Dynasty was likewise variously called Lamares, Labares, Moeris (Egypt of the Pharaohs p.4, Alan H. Gardiner), Lampares, Lachares and Mares (Manetho).

The name Calchol when transliterated into Gaelic becomes the name which is variously written Congcullion, Conchulainn, Cuchullin, CÃºchulainn, Conn, Cuinn, or Cu. (And no, I haven't made a mistake with the last three names!)

"Rhys in his Hibbert Lectures regards both Lug and Cuchulainn as 'the Sun-god or Solar Hero', and herein he has been followed by others. Thus Eleanor Hull speaks of Lug as 'essentially the sub-god' (Folk-Lore xviii, 131), and of Cuchulainn as 'an impersonation of the sun, or, in the technical terms of mythology, a Sun Hero' (The Cuchullin Saga p. lxviii)." Early Irish History and Mythology pp.513-4, Thomas F. O'Rahilly.

As we know, the name Zerach means 'bright' or 'shining' €“ hence the association with the 'Sun€‘god'. Believe it or not, the Gaelic word Airgtech (or Airgdech, or Airgtheach or a number of variations thereof), which is translated by O'Rahilly as 'bright' (Early Irish History and Mythology p.6), is a metathesis of the Hebrew name Zerach where the zayin has been transliterated as a 't', 'th' or 'd'. (As usual, the 'g' is silent.)

A metathesis is the transposition of sounds or syllables in a word and is far more common than people realise. Consider for example:-

a) the words form and morph. Both mean exactly the same thing, but one is the metathesis of the other.

b) It is possible that the word brush (in the sense of a thick growth of shrubs) is a metathesis of shrub.

c) The people of Glasgow are called Glaswegians rather than Glasgowians.

d) The French call mosquitoes moustiques.

Etc... etc...

In the Tanakh, we have:-

a) Chushim (AV Hushim) son of Dan (Gen. 46:23) who is also called Shucham (AV Shuham Num. 26:42).

b) Ard [grand]son of Benjamin (Num. 26:40) who is also called Addar (1 Chron. 8:3).

c) Maon (AV Maonites) in Judg. 10:12 is a metathesis of Amon, so that the Tsidonians, Amalekites and Maonites who oppressed Israel are called Tsidonians, Ammonites and Philishtim in Judg. 10:6, Philistia at that time being occupied in part by Amalekites. (See for example 1 Sam. 15:7. Havilah was located on the coast between Philistia and Pelusium.)

d) Eliam the father of Bath-Sheba (2 Sam. 11:3) is also called Ammiel (1 Chron. 3:5).

Cuchulainn was also "distinguished for his wisdom". (Early Irish History and Mythology p.326.) We know from the Tanakh that the tribe of Calchol were renowned for their wisdom:-

"For he [Solomon] was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol [i.e. 'sons of the dance']: and his fame was in all nations round about." 1 Kings 4:31.

Cuchulainn was therefore NOT a god, nor was he a person. 'He' was a tribe. If anyone is interested, these tribes of Calchol arrived in Ireland in the fourth century of the Common Era.

Regards,
Steve

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10. Other Alternatives: Judah amongst the Ten Tribes.

[2-Kings 18:13] And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.

In an inscription Sennacherib speaks of capturing forty-six fenced cities and of carrying away to Assyria 200,150 people from the region of Judah. There are verses that suggest only a remnant escaped the Assyrian Captivity (2-Kings 19:30). Jewish tradition relates that due to Sennacherib capturing "all the fenced cities" a large portion of the Kingdom of "Judah" including most of Simeon also went into the Assyrian exile. These were lost together with the northern Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.

Jerusalem escaped the visitation of Exile by the Assyrians but the outlying cities did not. It may be these areas included many from the descendants of Zerah and Calcol?

In addition to the above, there was also an enclave of settlers from Judah in the Kingdom of Yadi in the area of Cilicia (southeast Turkey - northern Syria). Yadi (also known as Que) adjoined the Dananu (from Dan) in the Kingdom of Smal (Zincirli by Carcamish). They too were taken into captivity by the Assyrians. These may be the ones who went to Ireland? This in fact would explain the Tribe of Dana (Tuatha de Danaan) having also been in Ireland from Ancient Times.