The Scarlet Thread

The greatest, most inspiring vision in the Bible is the key of David vision. This stirring vision looks forward to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. He will return not as a human being but as the King of kings, ruling the entire world from His throne. Then He will open up the God Family to every person on the planet.

When Christ returns to Earth to sit on that throne, however, He will not establish a new throne. Rather He will take over a throne that already exists: the throne of King David (Luke 1:32).

The story of this special throne winds through world history like a scarlet thread leading people to where God is working today.

Israel’s son Judah received the scepter promise (Genesis 49:10), which includes this royal Davidic lineage culminating in Christ. Judah had twin sons, Pharez and Zarah, the second of whom was born with a scarlet thread around his wrist (read the story in Genesis 38:27-30; the significance of this incident is explained in Chapter 1).

During the days when Judah’s brother Joseph was grand vizier of Egypt, Pharez already had two sons, Hezron and Hamul. Zarah had five sons: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol and Dara (1 Chronicles 2:5-6).

The scepter promise passed to Hezron, though he could not rule while in Egypt. The sons of Zarah also became men of renown. Centuries after the Exodus, Jeremiah described King Solomon as even wiser than “Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda,” the sons of Zarah (1 Kings 4:31). (Zimri was not included among his brothers after his grandson Achan stole treasure from the city of Ai; see Joshua 7.)

With few exceptions, the Zarahites disappeared from the biblical record after the Exodus. Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in The United States and Britain in Prophecy, “History shows the descendants of Zarah became wanderers, journeying to the north within the confines of the Scythian nations, their descendants later migrating to Ireland in the days of King David.”

Ancient annals from Ireland and elsewhere match up with the Bible, giving us a strong indication of what happened to these sons of Zarah.

Apparently the Zarahites felt that, because Zarah’s hand had emerged from the womb before Pharez was born, they deserved scepters of their own. When Moses made a prince of the line of Pharez the leader of the tribe of Judah during the Exodus, a large group of Zarahites migrated north into Europe instead of following Moses. Names that match very closely to those recorded in the Bible begin popping up around the Mediterranean.

One of the earliest references to this history is in the “Song of the Irish,” written sometime before a.d. 887 by Chief Ollav Máel Muire Othain. This Middle Gaelic poem states that after the Israelites passed through the Red Sea under Moses, “Sru, son of Esru” led a separate expedition to Scythia. Esru is the Gaelic spelling of Azariah. This was probably Zarah’s grandson (1 Chronicles 2:8).

Later authors such as Geoffrey Keating say that Sru actually led his people to the island of Crete, and it was Sru’s son Eber Scot (or Heber Scot) who led the people to the north shore of the Black Sea.

Wandering Jews

Greek stories about the Trojan War and the Eastern Mediterranean could add more details. Once written off as entirely mythic, Homer’s Iliad is now generally believed to give valuable insight into Mycenaean Greece. The city of Troy is now thought to have been discovered in Wilusa, eastern Turkey. A destruction level dating to the late 13th century matches descriptions of the war. Hittite inscriptions from this time even match the names of the major characters in the Iliad.

These legends could also give us some useful insight into the migrations of Zarah’s descendants. They say that the ancient strongholds of Miletus and Troy were founded by immigrants from Mount Ida, the famed mountain on Crete. Combined with Keating’s statement that “Sru, son of Ersu” (Azariah) settled on Crete, it could mean Zarah’s descendants helped found these cities. Also, it is possible that the mythical “Dardanus of Troy” was the same as Zarah’s son Darda. Yet Heber Scot was not a Trojan—he was an Israelite of the line of Zarah.

The Greeks called the vast grasslands that lie north of the Black Sea by the name Scythia. This is where Keating said Heber Scot settled, making him Heber of Scythia. According to Keating, his descendants settled near Tanais, an ancient Greek city (in Russia, near Ukraine today), while their Israelite cousins settled in the Promised Land of Canaan.

Irish annals show that the descendants of Zarah remained wanderers in Scythia for many generations. They say that after the Trojan War, a prince of Zarah named Bratha took four well-rigged ships and sailed by way of Crete and Sicily to Spain. Bratha’s son Breoghan conquered a sizable portion of the Iberian Peninsula. The “Song of the Irish” says these Zarahites stayed there for 200 years before they conquered Ireland.

This description matches perfectly with Mr. Armstrong’s statement that the Milesians arrived in Ireland in the days of King David. Historians generally agree that a destruction layer in Troy dating roughly to the late 13th century corresponds to Homer’s Trojan War. Two centuries on from this brings us to David’s reign.

The kings of Tyre also established a Phoenician trading post in the city of Cádiz in southern Spain around 1100 b.c. This would have enabled the Zarahite rulers to sell silver, iron, lead and especially tin to their cousins in the Promised Land.

The next major character in the Irish annals is Galamh, Breoghan’s grandson. Geoffrey Keating called him “a mighty son of renowned deeds.” He said Galamh sailed back to visit his relatives in Scythia before journeying to Egypt to help the reigning pharaoh fight a war against Ethiopia. While in Egypt, Galamh killed three lions and thereafter used three rampant lions as his family symbol. He married a daughter of the pharaoh, called Scota, who bore him six famous sons: Heber, Amergin, Ir, Colpa, Arannan and Gede.

Galamh became known as Milidh of Spain—or Míl Espáine (Latin for the Spanish soldier). Thus, Galamh’s sons became known as the Milesians, and they play a key role in this story.

It was Galamh’s Uncle Ith, according to the annals, who brought these Milesians in touch with Ireland. They say that he traveled to visit the Danites, who had been there for 200 years. The three Danite brothers who ruled Ireland (Cuill, Cecht and Gréine) feared that Ith would return with an army, so they killed him.

When Galamh’s sons found out, they were furious. These Zarahite princes made preparations to invade Ireland and establish Jewish kingdoms. Gede and his half-brother Heber Donn took command of the expedition and invaded Ireland with 30 ships. At the Battle of Tailtiu, although Heber Donn died, the Milesians defeated the Danites.

The victors divided Ireland into three parts. Gede’s brother Heber Finn adopted a golden lion as his banner and ruled in the region of Munster; Gede’s nephew Heber mac Ír chose a blue lion and ruled in Ulster; and Gede took a red lion and ruled throughout Leinster and Connacht.

Gede took the title Herremon after he was crowned high king of Ireland. His wife, Tea, a granddaughter of Gede’s Great-uncle Ith, became Queen Tea of Ireland.

According to the annals, Tea loved the Boyne River Valley. She wanted to be buried near the Danite fortress of Crofin, located in a beautiful green field in this valley. Gede approved and made the fortress the capital of Ireland, renaming it Teamhair, or Tea’s Wall.

The medieval histories say Gede built a subterranean vault at Tara called the Great Mergech. Mergech is a Hebrew word meaning burial place or repository. Why would a burial site in Ireland have a Hebrew name unless it was for a Jewish princess? This resting place was built as a grave for Queen Tea and her descendants, along with other treasures of the tribe of Zarah. The annals indicate that Tea was indeed buried there.

Tea’s burial mound still exists today. The medieval annals speak of “three wonders of Tara”: the Royal Seat, the House of Cormac and Tea’s Mur, which exists between the Mound of Inauguration and the House of Cormac. Conor Newman’s book Tara: An Archaeological Survey notes that there is indeed a late Bronze Age bowl barrow between the Royal Seat and Cormac’s House. Yet unlike the more famous Mound of the Hostages, Tea’s Mur has never been excavated due to the great reverence the Irish have for their first high queen.

Jewish Revolution

Irish annals record that King Gede, ruling from Teamhair under the red lion banner, led a musical renaissance akin to that of his cousin King David. The 16th-century Fitness of Names says, “Eremon son of Míl, ’tis he was called Gede Ollgothach, ‘Gede of the Mighty Voice.’ … ‘Tis he whose utterance was greatest in Erin, and the sweetness and sound of his voice resembled the strings of lutes. For in his reign in Erin there was peace and rest and pleasant converse and friendship between one person and another. And they say that in his reign everyone in Erin had a mighty voice.”

Gede and Tea may have even personally known King David. The Bible does not record a lot of detail about the last nine years of David’s 40-year-reign, but it does specify that he gathered “brass in abundance without weight” for Solomon to use in the construction of God’s temple (1 Chronicles 22:3). Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; but when the King James Version says brass, it usually means bronze (an alloy of copper and tin). The British Isles were Israel’s primary source of tin, which they shipped through Gibraltar.

Since Gede and Eber Donn reigned jointly as kings in Spain before they invaded Ireland in the days of Solomon, King David likely purchased the tin used in the temple directly from them. In fact, one psalm that King David wrote for his son Solomon says, “The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts” (Psalm 72:10). There is some dualism in this psalm—it is about both David’s son Solomon and his descendant Jesus Christ—but the reference to Tarshish is clear. Most commentaries believe Tarshish is a reference to Spanish Tartessos. This suggests that David had made arrangements with Gede and Tea to send tin for Solomon’s use in the temple. It is possible Psalm 72 was one of the psalms Gede played on his lute.

In the days of David, King Gede and Queen Tea had a son named Irial the Prophet, who became the progenitor of the Herremonian dynasty of ancient Ireland. He fought alongside his father in the Milesian Invasion, and he no doubt helped his father establish “peace and rest and pleasant converse and friendship between one person and another” during Gede’s prosperous 14-year reign.

Apostasy

One fascinating thing about the family of Gede and Tea is their Hebrew names. Gede is the Gaelic form of Gid’on, meaning great warrior, while Tea is the Gaelic form of Ta’ah, which means wanderer. The name of Gede and Tea’s son Irial comes from the Hebrew Jeriel, which means “taught by God.” And the name of Irial’s son, Ethriel, means “God is with me.” Ethriel’s son was named Follach. W. M. H. Milner, author of The Royal House of Britain: An Enduring Dynasty, believed that this was a Hebrew name derived from the word pala, meaning extraordinary, wonderful or miraculous.

These names suggest that Gede and Tea’s descendants were faithful to God for three generations; they also likely suggest Ireland’s connection with the kingdom of David and Solomon.

Yet the pagan religion of the Danites soon revived. The 12th-century Book of the Taking of Ireland relates that an influential Druid named Mug Ruith lived in Munster during the reign of Gede’s nephew Conmáel. He had a red-haired daughter named Tlachtga who selected a hill about 12 miles west of Tea’s Mur and named it after herself. She established this hill as a center of pagan worship where a great bonfire was lit every Samhain, November 1.

Some annalists relate that Tlachtga was a concubine of the Samaritan sorcerer Simon Magus. This is chronologically impossible, yet the tradition indicates that she led a Simon Magus-style apostasy in Ireland. (Request a free copy of Gerald Flurry’s book The True History of God’s True Church for more information on the historical Simon Magus.)

Under Tlachtga’s influence, the Hill of Tlachtga became the religious center of Ireland. Every Samhain, as the nights lengthened and winter began, the Irish would extinguish every fire in the country and sit in darkness until the Druids lit a great bonfire at Tlachtga. Then every hearth in Ireland would be relit from the Tlachtga fire.

Even Gede’s great-great-grandson seems to have supported this apostasy. Around the time that King Jeroboam i reigned in Israel, Follach’s son took the Gaelic name Tigernmas, meaning “lord of death.” Roderick O’Flaherty wrote, “King Tigernmas first introduced the worship of idols into Ireland in the 100th year after the arrival of the Milesians.” This statement is not completely true, as the Danites were heavily involved in idolatry before the Milesians came to Ireland. Yet Tigernmas was likely the first Jewish king of Ireland to worship the pagan gods of the Danites and to officially sponsor the pagan feast of Samhain. 1 Kings 12:32 relates that King Jeroboam i of Israel moved the date of the Feast of Tabernacles from the seventh to the eighth month of the Hebrew calendar around this time.

Tigernmas’s god was Crom Cruach, a fertility deity worshiped with human sacrifice. Tigernmas died a century after the Milesian Invasion at a Samhain celebration, where he sacrificed hundreds of men to Crom Cruach in an occult ritual held at Magh Slécht. The people of Ireland were so horrified that they accepted no high king for seven years after his death. When they did finally anoint a king, he was of the line of Ith, not Herremon.

Things began to turn around, however, two centuries after Tigernmas died.

Revival

Archaeology shows that Ireland experienced a transformation around 700 b.c. More bronze objects with new designs from this time have been found in great numbers. These designs mirror those found across the British Isles and as far as Eastern Europe and Greece. Golden ornaments become much more common, varied and ornate. Several finds indicate that ironworking may have started at that time. This lines up well with The United States and Britain in Prophecy, which says, “When Assyria captured Israel, these Danites struck out in their ships and sailed west through the Mediterranean and north to Ireland.”

These new iron-working immigrants would have arrived around the reign of King Eochaid mac Fíacha Fínscothach. It is recorded that Eochaid was crowned as high king around 714 b.c. Eochaid was from the subkingdom of Ulster, whose symbol was the blue lion. He is considered one of Ireland’s wisest and most virtuous kings.

This king contributed greatly to the prosperity of his kingdom. Later annalists called King Eochaid by the name “Ollav Fola” and noted that “it was difficult for the stalk to bear its corn in his reign.” Yet there is no evidence that this king nor the thousands of Danite immigrants fleeing Assyria strictly followed God’s law as it is outlined in the Bible. The real “Ollav Fola” was a wonderful prophet who came to Ireland with a smaller group of Israelites about a century later.

It is easy to see how Irish annalists might mix up details concerning all the dramatic changes that occurred in Ireland between 700 and 500 b.c. Yet the Bible reveals that God set the Prophet Jeremiah “over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:10; niv). King Eochaid of Ulster fought many battles against the kingdoms of Munster and Tara, yet it was Jeremiah who established the famed Feis of Tara and School of the Prophets to serve as a central government over all the subkingdoms of Ireland.

Jeremiah arrived in Ireland in 569 b.c. alongside a daughter of King Zedekiah of Judah. The descendants of King Eochaid had left Tea’s Mur and returned to the Irish subkingdom of Ulster by this time. Tea’s Mur was now ruled by the family of Sirna the Long-Lived—a descendant of King Gede i and Queen Tea. For the first time in a century, the red lion of Herremon replaced the blue lion of Ir on Tea’s Wall.

King Sirna was a descendant of Judah through Zarah. But he was not a descendant of David. The only way for God to heal the breach between Pharez and Zarah and keep His promise to David was for the heir to Pharez and the heir to Zarah to marry and have a royal child. This is exactly what happened.

King Zedekiah’s daughter Tephi traveled to Ireland to unite the long-sundered thrones of Pharez and Zarah. She married Prince Ailill the Herremon, and together they had a child, Gíallchad. This name technically means “house of the hostage” in Gaelic, but it is also reminiscent of the Hebrew name Gilead, which means “heap of testimony” or “stones of testimony.”

This was a fitting name for a king who was descended from both Pharez and Zarah. Tephi had been like a hostage in the house of the pharaoh for years. But now, just as God had merged together the pile of stones Jacob used as a “heap of testimony” into a single pillar stone, He merged the royal dynasties of Pharez and Zarah in a single person.

Years later, the Irish returned to paganism. In The United States and Britain in Prophecy, Mr. Armstrong wrote, “The British Isles heard Christ’s gospel! But they accepted, instead, the idolatry of the Druids, pagan worship and the counterfeit ‘Christianity’ of the Roman Babylonian mystery religion ….”

This rejection of the truth that Jeremiah had brought some generations before was a great tragedy, but it did not nullify the promise God made to King David. The house of David and the house of the scarlet thread continued on through history—and will continue until Jesus Christ’s return!

Continue Reading: Appendix C: Overturned, Overturned