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[fortheheavenssake]

Geological Evidence for the British Throne of David?

by John P. Pratt

Reprinted from Meridian Magazine (2 June 2003)

©2003 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.

1. King David's Throne

2. Jeremiah and the Scottish Royalty

2.1 Ollam Fodhla

2.2 The Stone of Destiny

2.3 Were Davidic Kings Coronated on the Stone?

3. The Rock of Israel

3.1 The Stone of Jacob

3.2 The Stone of Israel Symbolized Christ

3.3 Rejected by the Builders

4. Geological Evidence

5. Conclusion

Notes

Could the tradition that the British monarchy is the kingly line of David, crowned on the Stone of Jacob, be subjected to scientific scrutiny?

Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom on June 2, 1953.[1] Surely her half-century reign would be the envy of many ancient kings, who considered one measure of their greatness to be the length of their reign. Great Britain has been a world power for centuries, and heads the Commonwealth of Nations which spans the globe with nearly fifty member countries. How could a few small islands have come to have such widespread influence? Just who are the British anyway?

When one traces the roots of the Britons, Scots, Irish, Welsh, English (Anglos and Saxons), Picts, Normans, and Celts, there is substantial evidence that all of those peoples are of Israelite descent. The tribe of Joseph seems to be best represented, but there is evidence for the presence of several of the tribes. Volumes have been written on that subject,[2] but in this article, it will be taken as a starting point that the inhabitants of the British Isles have a lot of the blood of Israel. Because of this anniversary date of the monarchy, let us focus on the succession of British royalty.

1. King David's Throne

There is a strong tradition that the British royal line is the continuation of the throne of King David of the ancient "United Kingdom" of Israel and Judah. An examination of the genealogies of those kings clearly shows their descent from that royal line. The Lord made a covenant with King David, which was not conditional on David's continued righteousness. The Lord stated:

I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,

Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. . . .

I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:

With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.

Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.

My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;

If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;

Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.

My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. (Psalms 89:3-4, 20-37)

Thus, the Lord covenanted that, notwithstanding their potential wickedness, the descendants of David would rule as kings over Israel forever. If they became wicked, then they could bring calamity on themselves and their subjects, but their kingly line would continue. That's an amazing prophecy. All it would take to break it that the monarchy be overthrown, or to have no royal descendant who could inherit the throne.

So has the royal line continued unbroken? It clearly was continuous for some four centuries until the time of king Zedekiah, last King of Judah in Jerusalem. In 587 B.C., at the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon, King Zedekiah, of the royal line of David, saw his sons slain before his eyes (Jer. 39:6). It was apparently Nebuchadnezzar's attempt to end the succession of Jewish kings, but there was a detail of the Hebrew law with which he was apparently unfamiliar. A princess could also inherit the throne if she married someone from the tribe of Judah (Num. 27:8; 36:3). So what about the daughters of Zedekiah?[3]

We are explicitly told that the daughters of Zedekiah were taken to Egypt along with the prophet Jeremiah and others (Jer. 43:6). There Jeremiah prophesied that all those who fled to Egypt would also be killed, except a few who should escape (Jer. 44:1-14).

That is where the Biblical story of Jeremiah ends, except for the hint that Jeremiah's mission was not only to tear down, but also to plant (Jer. 1:10). No planting is described in his mission in Jerusalem. Where did Jeremiah do his planting? And where was the new kingdom described in the parable given to Ezekiel, where a "tender twig," cut from the highest branch of the high cedar, would be planted and grow into a great kingdom, and that the lower tree would be exalted above the upper? (Ezek. 17:22-24) That tender twig may well have been the daughter of Zedekiah.[4]

For the "rest of the story" we must turn to the history of ancient Ireland. The following account is summarized from authenticated histories rather than mere legends or speculation.

2. Jeremiah and the Scottish Royalty

The earliest known colonizers of Ireland were the Danai, who almost certainly were from the tribe of Dan. They had separated from the other tribes shortly after the Exodus, and founded some cities in Greece, including Athens.[5] About 1200 B.C. a colony of Danai from Greece journeyed to Ireland. Centuries later a group of Israelites called the Milesians arrived and subjugated the Danai. The Milesians were either the same as, or joined with, the Scots, who had migrated to Ireland from Scythia (Scotia = Scythia), near the Black Sea.[6]

The Flag of Northern Ireland combines the Star of David (Pharez) with the Red Hand (Zerah).

The kings of both of these nations came from Judah, from the line of Zerah.[7] Who was Zerah? Judah was given the promise that his children would reign until Shiloh comes (Gen. 49:10, most likely referring to the second coming of Christ).[8] His descendants all come through his twin sons Pharez and Zerah. David came through the line of Pharez, and a similar promise was made to him concerning his descendants, as noted above. But the line of Zerah also produced many kingly lines, including the kings of ancient Ireland. For the purposes of this article, we need only understand that the ancient Irish were of Israel, and their kings were from Zerah, whose symbol was a red hand, or a hand with red thread tied around it (Gen. 38:28).

The histories say that in about 584 B.C. a Milesian chieftain named Gathelus became a hero in Egypt and married the Pharaoh's daughter, Scota. Gathelus must have given her that name in honor of Scotia, or Scythia, the former country of the Scots. The histories explicitly state that Gathelus was a descendant of Cecrops who founded Athens.[9] My conclusion after doing this research is that the Milesians were not the same as the Scots. The Milesians were most likely a second colony from Greece which came about 1000 B.C., and the Scots probably migrated from the Black Sea after the Assyrian captivity in Israel about 700 B.C. Thus, Gathelus giving his wife the name Scota might have been a way to help politically merge the two groups into one. They moved to the part of Spain now called Portugal and built the city of Brigance and called his subjects Scots. Gathelus and Scota had a son named Eochaidh whose wife Teah Tephi chose Ireland to be their residence. They founded Tara in Ireland, officially called their subjects "Scots" in honor of his mother, and Ireland later became known as Scotia.[10]

The histories also mention that Eochaidh was accompanied by a prophet named Ollam Fodhla and his scribe Berach. Gathelus (or perhaps Ollam Fodhla) prophesied that wherever his marble seat would be found, there would reign one of his descendants over the Scots.

1 Ollam Fodhla

The Harp is the Symbol of Ireland on the Royal Flag.

(Also in British Royal Coat of Arms, inserted by me)

What has all of this got to do with our story? Some versions identify Scota as the daughter of King Zedekiah, Ollam Fodhla as Jeremiah, and Berach as his scribe Baruch.[11] But wasn't Scota the daughter of Pharaoh? Remember that "pharaoh" is simply the Egyptian word for king, and Zedekiah's daughter certainly was a king's daughter who was in Egypt. The traditions also state that the small group who thus escaped from Egypt took with them to Ireland the harp of David, the ark of the covenant, and the stone of Jacob. It states that King Eochaidh was coronated by Jeremiah in Ireland while sitting on the stone of Jacob, and some versions add that his wife Teah was the sister of Scota and also a daughter of Zedekiah. The harp of David became a national emblem of Tara and of Ireland.

2.2 The Stone of Destiny

All the kings of the Scots in Tara were coronated on that stone for over a thousand years. Then about A.D. 500, Fergus of Ireland conquered the Picts who lived in Scotland. The Picts agreed to accept him as king, so he had the Stone of Destiny moved to Scotland, where he was crowned on it. It thereafter also became known as the Stone of Scone (pronounced "Scoon") because it resided at the castle there. True to the prophecy, that land where the stone resided was ruled by a Scottish king, and became known as Scotland. Later, King James VI of Scotland became James I of England, and today Queen Elizabeth is his descendant. Thus, even now that Scotland forms part of Great Britain, it is still true that the Scots are ruled by a monarch of Scottish royal descent.[12]

The Coronation Chair was built around the Stone of Scone (just below the seat).

The Stone of Destiny was moved to Westminster Abbey in London, England,[13] in 1296 A.D. by King Edward I. He had a special "coronation chair" built around that stone, and all of the British kings and queens have been crowned in that chair since, including the currently reigning Queen Elizabeth II. In 1996 the stone was returned to Scotland.[14]

2.3 Were Davidic Kings Coronated on the Stone?

The Coronation ceremony appears to have been taken as directly as possible from the description in the Bible of the coronation of David and Solomon. The monarch is anointed with sacred oil by the Archbishop of Canterbury, trumpets sound, and the people shout "God Save the King" (1 Samuel 10:24, 1 Kings 1:39). The royal crown contains twelve jewels made of the same twelve stones which were in the breastplate of the high priest (Ex. 28:17-21). These similarities alone do not prove that the kings really are the royal blood of Israel, but such would be expected if the British throne is the continuation of the throne of David. Of course, the royalty also have extensive genealogies to prove their lineage.

It is interesting to note, however, that although the stone is not explicitly mentioned as part of the Biblical coronation ceremony, there seem to be references to it which have been overlooked. Consider the following accounts of when King Joash of Judah was anointed by the high priest Jehoiada:

And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets (2 Kings 11:14)

Then they brought out the king's son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, God save the king.

Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of the LORD:

And she looked, and, behold, the king stood at his pillar at the entering in, and the princes and the trumpets by the king: and all the people of the land rejoiced, and sounded with trumpets, also the singers with instruments of musick, and such as taught to sing praise. (2 Chronicles 23:11-13)

He were are told that along with the usual parts of the coronation ceremony, that also the king stood at his pillar, as was the custom at coronation. What does that mean? Some Bible translations are more literal and render it, "The king stood on the pillar." [15] How can one stand on a pillar? It turns out the word translated pillar come from the root meaning "to stand" and can also refer to a "stand" or "platform." The meaning of pillar come from the idea that a pillar is standing up on its end. So the verses could also be saying that the king was coronated while standing on his stand, as was the custom. Was that stand or pillar the Stone of Destiny? If so, just what is it that makes this stone so special? It was called the Stone of Jacob. Just what was the stone of Jacob?

***

Current location( insertion by me):

The Stone Of Destiny

The Stone of Destiny is a powerful and ancient symbol of Scottish monarchy, witnessing the coronation of its kings for hundreds of years.

In legend it was used as a pillow by the Patriarch Jacob when he dreamed of Jacob’s Ladder. Seen as a sacred object it was believed to have been brought first to Ireland, then Scotland.

In 1296 Edward I of England took the stone from Scone, near Perth, and had it built into his own throne. Since then it has been used in the coronation ceremonies for the monarchs of England and then Great Britain.

On Christmas Day 1950, four Scottish students removed the stone from Westminster Abbey in London. Three months later it turned up 500 miles away – at the front door of Arbroath Abbey.

In 1996, the stone was returned to Scotland and is now in the Crown Room where it is seen by hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.

The stone will only leave Scotland again when there is a coronation in Westminster Abbey.

https://www.edinburghcastle.scot/discover/highlights/the-stone-of-destiny