I have been reading Tracing Our Ancestors by Fredrick Haberman. The last half of the book has been very interesting.
I knew about the tradition that the prophet Jeremiah took the daughters of King Zedekiah with him when he left Egypt and that one of the daughters, Tea or Tamar Tephi married the king in Ireland. The ancient name of Ireland was Ibernia, meaning new land of the Hebrews. That marriage reunited the lines of Judah’s sons Pharez and Zarah thus continuing the several promises that David would never lack a man on the throne. See Ezekiel 17 and note the twigs, the daughters, being carried away.
Here is what I didn’t know. At that time in Ulster, about 580 BC, Zarah’s descendants had a religion based on Bel and serpents. Jeremiah demanded a renunciation of that religion and an acceptance of the Mosaic law and Yahweh as their God. Once this was done he gave his charge, Tamar Tephi to King Eochaidh the Heremon for wife thus continuing the lineage of King David.
This line eventually moved to Scotland and thus from there to the throne in England. Now when ever a man is crowned as king in England he must recite his lineage back to King David of the tribe of Judah. The harp has been a symbol in Irish history and the stone of Scone has been a part of the lineage of the kings. It is said that Jeremiah brought David’s harp and the stone with him.
Quoting now from the book, “From this eradication of the serpent worship appears to have grown the legend that the Patriarch, St Patrick, drove the snakes out of Ireland.” Later the Catholic church changed this tradition to their favor.
Tim