UNTIL SHILOH COME
This Diamond Jubilee year has focused attention on the Royal House of Windsor, and also called forth a great deal of criticism, which has highlighted how misinformed the general public is today about the role and origins of our monarchy. The popular view is that it is an anachronism, and the media attention has made it appear that its modern role is purely for the entertainment of the proletariat! How necessary it is in this age of iconoclasm to educate people about the true historical beginnings of our very special royal house and throne.
Few people today realise how truly ancient and important our monarchy is. The general view is that the royal house which we have ruling over the United Kingdom today is as mongrel a race as they believe the British people to be, but this is an erroneous idea. It is said that our royal family are Germans, since the Hanoverians came from Germany, and that all the various royal houses which have reigned over us are foreign, e.g., William the Conqueror and his Norman Knights were French. We will now examine why these are misconceptions.
It is necessary to go back to the Biblical records to discover the origins of our monarchy. This is explained to us in I Samuel 8. The whole chapter recounts how the Israelites, tired of a succession of corrupt Judges, enquired of Samuel why they should not have a monarchy as all the other nations around them had. Samuel asked the Lord for guidance, and was told (verse 7):
“Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. ”
Previously, Israel had been a theocracy, administered by Judges, and Samuel had been the peoples’ spokesman to God and God’s spokesman to the people, hence the Lord’s saying that the people had rejected Him. However, in His foreknowledge, God knew that the Servant People would be ruled by a monarchy, and He set His seal upon it and sanctified it.
The first King to serve Israel was Saul, of the Tribe of Benjamin, but he and his house proved unsatisfactory, and David was chosen to found the royal house which was to endure until the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth for the second time to take the throne. We read in Genesis of the blessings which Jacob/lsrael gave to his sons, the founders of the tribes of Israel, and he, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, prophesied that….
“The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. ” (Genesis 49:10)
Thus, Jacob knew that the royal house would be of the tribe of Judah, and David was of that tribe. Samuel anointed him whilst Saul was still alive, and David had to wage a campaign and a war before Saul died and he was able to take the throne.
God ratified His Covenant with David as we read in II Samuel 7:4 to 10;
“And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee; thy throne shall be established forever. ” (v. 10)
This summarises the message to David which God sent via his servant Nathan. This was an unconditional covenant, for the Lord did not say to David, “If you will be a good ruler and all your family after you, I will establish your throne forever”………….. He made the promise unconditional upon the good behaviour of the house of David or of the Israelites. In Jeremiah 33:19-21 we read:
“Thus saith the Lord: if you can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, that there should not be a day or a night in their season: Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites, the priests, my ministers. ”
God pledged His own ordinances of day and night to be the guarantee of the continuance of the royal line. In Psalm 89:20-37 God said;
“My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven.”
The throne was established about 400 years after Israel entered the Promised Land, in around 1040 BC. This seems extremely remote from our day and our present royal family, but God’s plan was worked out in an incredible way. In His foreknowledge He knew and made provision for the splitting of the nation into two after the death of Solomon. In fact, the Lord sanctioned the split (I Kings 12:24) saying “for this thing is from me.”
In the very early days of the kingdom, God had told David that He had appointed a place for Israel, which must have been puzzling for David, who had only recently settled on the throne. The Lord’s words were;
“Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more, neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them anymore, as beforetime.”
When the Northern House of Israel split from the Southern House after the death of Solomon, the Southern House retained the Kings of the House of David, but the Northern House chose their own kings, who were not of the royal line, and also began to worship pagan gods. The Southern House became the custodians of the royal line and the law and the ordinances, in preparation for the eventual coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Meanwhile, the Northern House was taken captive by the Assyrians and eventually dispersed among the European nations until they were led to “the place of safety,” as promised by the Lord, in the islands and coastlands to the North and West of Palestine. Isaiah 49 is addressed to the “Isles,” which were the “Appointed Place” of safety for the Northern House. A careful reading of the whole chapter will show that it is not addressed to Judah in Palestine, but to the “servant” who will be in the “Appointed Place” and move no more. Jewry has been a wandering people since the Lord’s crucifixion, and the present State of Israeli can hardly be said to be in a place of safety, because it is in the Middle East, one of the world’s trouble spots.
Since before the time of Moses various groups of Israelites had been travelling and colonising around the Mediterranean area, and branches of the race had reached the British Isles and Ireland in particular. In Genesis 38 we read the story of Judah and his daughter in law, Tamar. Tamar gave birth to twin sons, Pharez and Zarah. Zarah had put out his hand during the birth (which must have been a difficult one), and the midwife bound a scarlet thread around the wrist so that she would know which was the first born; however, Pharez was eventually born before Zarah, and became the heir. The descendants of Zarah set off on their travels in search of fresh pastures and settled eventually in Ireland, becoming the royal house of Zarah-Judah, ready to receive the representatives of the house of-Pharez-Judah when the time was ripe for them to join them. A heraldic symbol of Ulster is the “Red Hand” – reminiscent of the birth of the twins.
The line of Pharez continued to reign in the Southern House of Israel (which comprised only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin with part of the tribe of Levi) until the nation was taken into captivity to Babylon in 585 BC. The last king was Zedekiah, who was taken captive with his people. He was cruelly treated by Nebuchadnezzar (II Kings 25) and his sons were killed in front of him, and then his eyes were put out (v. 7.) Obviously, Nebuchadnezzar believed that he had wiped out the royal house of Judah, not being aware that Zedekiah had two daughters who were eligible to succeed. The Babylonian law would not have recognised the right of daughters to succeed to the throne, but the law of Israel allowed for a daughter to inherit in default of male heirs, as is told in the account of the daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 27:11.)
Zedekiah’s young daughters were under the protection of the prophet Jeremiah who was a near relative. In Jeremiah 43:5-7 we read of Jeremiah’s escaping to Egypt with the King’s daughters. If this is linked with Ezekiel’s cryptic prophecy in Ezekiel 17:24, it will be seen that the princesses are likened to “young twigs” from “the topmost branch of the cedar”. (The cedar was a symbol of royalty in Israel). In w. 22-24 we read that a “tender twig” would be transplanted “upon a high mountain and eminent”. In prophecy a mountain represents a nation. In Egypt, Jeremiah settled in Tahpanhes (or Defneh or Daphnae), having brought with him the historic stone which Jacob had consecrated, and on which the Kings of Israel were crowned. “Tahpanhes” means “flight”, and the site is recognisable today. Sir Flinders Petrie, in his book “The History of Egypt” mentions that it was known as the “Palace of the Jew’s Daughter.” The reigning Pharaoh adopted the princesses, which accounts for the fact that the Irish legends refer to “an Egyptian Princess.”
Jeremiah obviously knew of the prophecies about the Appointed Place and determined to take his sacred charges there, via Spain, following the route of earlier colonists of their race. Once settled in Ireland, one of the princesses married the reigning king, and thus united the houses of Zarah and Pharez in their descendants. The Bible leaves Jeremiah, his scribe Baruch and the two princesses in Egypt, so the story is continued in Irish legend. Legend has been proved to have a basis in historical fact, as was proved by the excavations of Troy.
The stories are told in the “Chronicles of Eri” in Trinity College Library in Dublin. They relate the coming of a party of important people who were shipwrecked on the shores of Ireland. They carried a sacred stone the “Lia Fail”, (or “Wonderful Stone”), which was afterwards greatly revered by the royal families of Ireland, the “Heremon” or monarch being crowned upon it. The persons mentioned were the Ollamh Fodhla (“Holy Seer” or “Prophet”), whom the Irish identify with Jeremiah, his scribe Brug or Baruch and a princess or princesses, who married members of the royal house.
How does our present royal family fit into this line? There are many threads which come together in the person of our sovereign. To summarise, for the space of this article is necessarily limited, Fergus, King of Scotland (AD 506-530) was a descendant of the “Tender Twig” princess, and his ultimate descendant was James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England. After his grandson, James II was dethroned, the sovereignty devolved upon his eldest daughter, Mary, who was married to William of Orange. They were crowned as joint sovereigns, William III and Mary II. Since they died childless, as did the next monarch, Mary’s sister Anne, the throne was once more disputed, for the direct male descendants of James II were Roman Catholics and the law of Great Britain precluded their accession. The search for a Protestant heir led back to James I whose daughter, Elizabeth, had married a German Prince, Frederick, Elector Palatine, and King of Bohemia, and her grandson was the Elector George, who became George I.
This was the route by which we obtained a “German” dynasty, but the family from which George came was Israelitish, tracing their origins to Odin and Frea, (who were real Scythian royalty, later deified.) They also descended from Cadwalladr, son of the British King Lucius, who was descended from Caradoc (Caractacus), the famous Celtic King who was taken captive to Rome, and whose stirring speech was recorded for posterity. As a result of the wonderful oration, he was freed by an impressed Roman Emperor.
The Celts were meticulous in recording their genealogies, and the ancient British Kings traced their lineage to Brutus, King of Troy, who was of Israelitish stock, being a descendant of Darda, son of Zarah. In George I and his posterity several Israelitish threads come together. These threads may be studied in detail on the chart prepared by Revd. W. M. H. Milner, first published early in the twentieth century. He researched all these lines in the British Museum Library. There are ancient genealogies preserved in the Royal Archives which confirm Revd. Milner’s researches.
The throne descended to a woman once again, when Queen Victoria succeeded after the death of her uncle, William IV. Her husband was Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, an ancient family also descended from Caradoc. Thus, once more, Israelitish stock was grafted into the House of David, and George I and Albert were only “German” by virtue of their places of residence. The original Israelitish tribes had migrated through these lands and left rulers of their stock; but the indigenous people were not Israelitish, because the tribes had migrated to the British Isles, leaving only a few remnants on the continent of Europe.
By so many different routes our present royal family can trace their origins back to the Royal House of David and the tribe of Judah, and their heraldic emblems have followed them.
It is not, therefore, valid for the public to question the fitness of Prince Charles, or of any member of the royal house, to rule over them. The office is divinely appointed and overruled, and God’s will determines who shall succeed. Since the members of the royal house, no matter how illustrious their origins, are mere humans, it is not to be expected that they will be perfect and completely sinless. The only perfect and sinless ruler of this line who will reign on the throne of David is Our Lord Jesus Christ himself, when He comes, as the representative of the House of David, to reign over all the Kingdoms of the earth.
