Does the book of Daniel’s prophecies fit with the rest of the Bible, secular history, and the world yet to be?
The people of Canaan were evil, but their origin is based on the time of Ham through Ishmael and Esau. The Canaanites are identified in Genesis as descendants of Ham, the son of Noah. Be mindful that Ishmael and Esau Arabs and Israelis are cousins. Other than the offspring of Joktan (Genesis 10:25), Arabs not in Joktan’s DNA lineage are a mixture of Abrahamic DNA and either Esau or Ishmael. They are known as “dirty” (mixed) Arabs. The original “pure” Arabs were through Joktan, son of Eber. The later mixed or dirty Arabs came through Ishmael and Esau. Eber was a great-grandson of Noah‘s son Shem.
Moving forward several hundred years, the ISRAELIS (history) eventually made the God of Israel just another one of their many gods. They began to sacrifice their own children to a god named Molech in the Valley of *Hinnon, sometimes called *Gehenna. This gruesome act is one of the same reasons God initially brought judgment upon the people of Canaan by using the wandering Israelites as their punishment.
The tribes of Israelis began to conquer Canaan around 1406 BC but never completed their God-given mission…to be a light on the hillside and onto other nations.
They were told to completely remove the Canaanites from the land. This is one of the primary reasons Israel today has such internal strife within their own borders and next-door neighbors. God commanded Israel to “Completely destroy them …Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.” Deuteronomy 20:17-18. In 2023, the vast majority (93%) of the DNA of the Lebanese is that of the displaced Canaanites. Live Science and other research groups have verified this DNA connection.
AHA NOTE: For those who identify Ham as the first Black person, pay close attention. With our knowledge that the original Canaanites descended from Ham, and that Lebanon today is predominantly of Canaanite DNA, where does one find a dominance of Black peoples in Lebanon today? It isn’t there! We forget that all DNA types originated in Adam and Eve. Noah carried the same genetic genes. We do not know anything about the wives of Ham, Shem, or Japheth. Diversity exploded after the Tower of Babel.
AHA NOTE: “The Tower of Babel” incident occurred around 3,200 B.C.—possibly 100 years after the Flood but long before Abraham was born. This was before ancient Egypt, Greece, and other early civilizations existed. These places couldn’t have existed until after people left Babel to establish these other civilizations”. (credit)
Mizraim, Noah’s grandson, through Ham, is credited with founding the lands called by his name. One would translate Mizraim to be Egypt. Here we begin to find the darker people of color. Nimrod, the son of Cush, had an impact on ancient Israel unmatched by any other of Ham’s descendants. Canaan fell under the Noahic curse [Genesis 9:25].
There were about 380 years of Israeli rule by the Judges. The books of Judges, Ruth, and part of 1 Samuel cover this time in history. Judge rule over Israel lasted until 1040ish BC.
Around 1040 BC Saul becomes the first king of Israel. He came from the Tribe of Benjamin. Twelve independent Tribes of Israel became a United tribal Nation. Their kings were Saul, David, and Solomon. Upon the death of Solomon in 931 BC, the United Nation of Israel divided into the Northern Kingdom of Israel (10 Tribes), often identified as Samaria, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah (Tribes of Judah and Benjamin).
During this time in history, multiple kings ruled over the divided nation of Israel. Some in the Kingdom of Judah were evil; some were God-fearing. The kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel were all evil in the eyes of God. The books of 1st & 2nd Samuel and 1st & 2nd Kings cover these historic periods. 1 and 2 Chronicles are often called the histories of the times of the Kings.
Warned by God through the prophet Isaiah, the Northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria in 732 and 722/20 BC. The first to fall was the Tribes of Manasseh, Gad, and Reuben, east of the Jordan River. The fall and total dispersion of the Northern Kingdom of Israelis is due to their falling away from behaving like God’s chosen people; the light that was never seen on the hillside (Matthew 5:14). There is no Bible record of these ten Tribes other than The beginning geographies of their Assyrian dispersions. However, under different names, we can trace their footprints. Here is an almost foolproof way to see these footprints. When a given population disappears and is relocated, then shortly after in another location a NEW population begins, there is a great probability they are one and the same populations. Today in investigative practices, one would say, “follow the money.”
The Southern Kingdom of Judah lasted until 607, 597, and 586 BC. It took three stages of Babylonian conquests to exile almost all of Judah. The land became barren. Only a few of the very poor farmers were left on their land. The 70-year exile of Judeans begins its countdown from 607 BC. It ends with the decree of Cyrus in 537 BC [Ezra 1]. The first phase of the Babylonian exile began about 607 BC when Daniel, his three friends, including 10,000 of the nobility in Judah were exiled to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. In 586 BC when Nebuchadnezzar attacked a third time, he destroyed the 2nd temple and Jerusalem itself. This ended any recognition of an independent kingdom of Ju-deans and associated stragglers living within their borders from the other 11 tribes.
NOTE: When reading scripture, be mindful that Jeremiah and Isaiah were contemporaries.
The conquering of the Kingdom of Judah is written about in the books of 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and some of the prophetical books. Jeremiah warned of the immediacy of Judah’s fate. Daniel upon his study of Jeremiah’s writings is the prophet who 70 years later got the captives of Babylon released. Sadly, very few exiled Ju-deans returned to their native land. The rest dispersed to surrounding lands. Some were forced to settle the uninhabited lands to the south and east, mixing with some of their previously dispersed cousins from the scattered ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Of course, some remained within Babylon. They are mostly unknown today because they have lost their identities. DNA testing will eventually make their identifications known.
JIV NOTE – Ever since the Northern Kingdom of Israel, 732/720 BC were scattered, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, 607 to 586 BC, were exiled, descendants of the 12 Tribes of Israel remain dispersed throughout the world. A few of the very poor and some farmers were left by Nebuchadnezzar within the territories of Judah, their Israeli homeland. Many of their descendants never left the Promised Land. Historical dispersions and migrations are why we can find members of the 12 Tribes of Israelites in various countries around the world (Matthew 24:31, Isaiah 11:12, Revelation 7). This is called the Diaspora. Only recently have many DNA Israelites begun to return to Israel; those who are scattered around the world. Up to recently, there were more Jews (mixed Tribes of Israel) living in the United States than in Israel, particularly in New York City.
It should also be noted that we are not exactly sure what happened to many of the people from the Northern Kingdom of Israel; There are theories and some evidence about different people groups claiming to be related to the “ten lost tribes of Israel” such as the Kurds, Ethiopians, Finland, Scandinavia, etc. The term Jew comes from the name Ju-dah. In general, they are descendants of the Southern kingdom and Tribe of Judah. One is either from the Tribe of Ju-dah or identified as from residing in the Kingdom of Judah. Today the identity “Jew” seems to be assigned to anyone whose DNA goes back to any of the 12 Tribes of Israel. We studied the migrations and exiles of the Israeli Tribes in a previous ahabiblemoments.com study…Which Way Did They Go?
Rev. Dr. Jstark
2023
Next week – Part 3
AHA Bible Moments 