A post I should have made sooner, but it's OK. A usual departure from my astronomical interests.
Important: I will update and expand this from time to time, so stay tuned for updates!
The Biblical Origins and Identities of the Nations
This is a topic I've been interested in for quite some time and have done some research on now, despite my main interests being astronomy and astrophysics. This is a map I drew documenting the Biblical origins of the nations in 2000 BC, before the spread of the Israelites and Keturites to Europe which is discussed later on below.
Now here is the approximate spread of Abraham's descendants through all eight sons (Isaac, Ishmael, and the six sons of Keturah) in today's time (2023 CE, hence taking European and Arab colonization and conquests into account):
Here is an exact list:
Scientific evidence: Y-chromosomal haplogroups
Y chromosomes are only found in men; each of them as an X and Y chromosome in their cells (women have X and X). A male passes his Y chromosome to his son, who passes that on to their son. Most of the time, the Y chromosome is unchanged in the process, but sometimes, a mutation can occur in that chromosome. A haplogroup is a set of mutations that define men in certain physical areas.
Here is a look at the tree:
Haplogroup A has the least mutations; R has the most.
A, B, and E are found predominantly in Africa. D is "twinned" to E yet is predominantly found in Asia. C and F are twinned, and from F we get G, H, I, and J. All these haplogroups are predominantly found in Europe and Northern Asia. K and all subclades (L to R) are found predominantly in Asia and among groups believed to have originated in Asia (L = south Asia, O = east Asia, Q = Native Americans), while R is dominant in Europe.
From the Bible:
- "The sons of Noah who went out of the boat were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These three sons of Noah were the ancestors of all the people on earth." (Genesis 9:18-19)
- "May God cause Japheth to increase!/May his descendants live with the people of Shem!" (Genesis 9:27)
- "The sons of Japheth—Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras—were the ancestors of the peoples who bear their names. The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah." (Genesis 10:2-3)
- "The sons of Ham—Cush, Egypt, Libya, and Canaan—were the ancestors of the peoples who bear their names." (Genesis 10:6)
- "Shem's sons—Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram—were the ancestors of the peoples who bear their names." (Genesis 10:22)
Noah had 3 sons who proceeded to populate the world: Shem (Asia), Ham (Africa), and Japheth (Europe).
- Ham is associated with the dark-skinned Africans. Therefore haplogroups A, B, and the twin set DE can be assigned to Ham.
- Japheth's sons are identifiable with numerous European and North Asian peoples (Gomer = northwest Europe, Magog = Scythians, Madai = Medes, Javan = Greeks, Tubal and Meshech = Khazars, Tiras = Thracians). Many of these people have haplogroups C, F, G, H, I, and J. Therefore these haplogroups likely stem from Japheth.
- Shem was the ancestor of Abraham, the latter of whom fathered the Israelites and Arabs. Shem was also the father of the East Asians (Genesis 10:30). Therefore, Shem can be identified with haplogroup K and its subclades.
Haplogroup R is believed to have originated in western or central Asia, but emigrated into Europe, replacing the original Haplogroups I and J, which were originally dominant in Europe. Haplogroup R has also been found in Jews and in graves in modern-day Israel dating back to Biblical times.
We know that the Lost Tribes of Israel were deported from modern-day Israel into Assyria (northern Iraq) at around 700 BC. The Lost Tribes subsequently moved north, around the Caspian Sea, before emigrating westward into Europe.
So, what I believe happened, is that Haplogroup R represents the descendants of Abraham, including the Israelites (descendants of his grandson Jacob), while Haplogroups I and J represent the descendants of Japheth. Haplogroup R expanding from western Asia into Europe represents the Lost Tribes of Israel finding their way into Europe and settling with the descendants of Japheth (Haplogroups I and J), fulfilling the prophecy of Shem and Japheth in Genesis 9:27 - "May [Japheth's] descendants live with the people of Shem".
Now that Haplogroup R1b is dominant in western Europe, having replaced the original Haplogroup I, this means that many Europeans are patrilineally descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel). However, Haplogroups I and J continue to remain dominant in numerous Germanic and Greek peoples respectively. The Germanic and Greek peoples descend from Ashkenaz son of Gomer and Javan son of Japheth respectively. Haplogroup R is also dominant today in countries that were formed from European colonization; it has subsequently become the most populous Y-chromosomal haplogroup in the world. This fulfills Biblical prophecy on Abraham becoming the father of many nations, and his offspring being as numerous as the sand on the seashore.
This also confirms an interpretation of the two sons of Joseph in Genesis 48: Manasseh would be "a great people" (the USA) while Ephraim would be "many nations" (the British Commonwealth). Identifying the Lost Tribe of Manasseh with the United States of America also fits with what Ezekiel 30:5 says: "That war will also kill the soldiers hired from Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, Arabia, Kub, and even from among my own people." my own people in the original Hebrew is "those from the land of the covenant", habarit eretz. In modern-day Hebrew, the term for the United States is artzoth haberit, the land of the covenant.
The Identity of the Sons of Keturah
On a side note, there is another group descended from Abraham which I believe also migrated from Asia into Europe.
In Genesis 25, after the death of his wife Sarah, Abraham marries a woman named Keturah and has 6 sons with her. He sends his sons to the east of Canaan (= Western and Central Asia). One of the sons of Keturah fathered the Midianites, who were enemies of the future Israelites.
Notice how the sons of Keturah went to the east. This would place them right where scientists believe Haplogroup R originated before its westward expansion into Europe. Could it be possible that the Keturites and Midianites also went westward to Europe, and still reside there?
Some Jewish scholars have also argued that, as Sarah (Abraham's sister) descends from Shem and Abraham's concubine Hagar, being Egyptian, came from Ham, Keturah must have come from the line of Japhet. Surely her descendants would have wanted to blend in with the other Japhethites!
As for the specific Haplogroup R lineage which I think represents the sons of Keturah, I think it is Haplogroup R1a. This is found predominantly among Indo-Aryans and Eastern Europeans. Ishmael can have had Haplogroup R2, which is found in a small number of Arabs.
What about Anglo-Israelism and "Christian Identity" beliefs?
Although the scientific data we have here appears to support Anglo and Nordic Israelism theory (the belief that such peoples are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel), I am aware that Nordic/Anglo-Israelism is a very controversial theory, particularly because it has been abused in the Christian Identity movement to justify white supremacy. Of course, as a Christian, I do not approve of racism and white supremacy. God created all men as descendants of Adam and Eve in His image, and thus, whether we are Israelite or not, we have human dignity that is to be respected.
This website makes the erroneous identification of IJ with Shem and R with Japhet, but I agree with everything it says about doctrinal matters. I, as a Christian, do NOT condone racism, ableism, discrimination, or hate speech.
Appendix
Languages:
- Hamitic languages (the Afro-Asiatic languages) - the descendants of Shem subsequently adopted these languages
Sources:
- Curious Land: Jesuit Accommodation and the Origins of Sinology (Mungello, David E., 1989)
- Shalev, Zur (2003). "Sacred Geography, Antiquarianism and Visual Erudition: Benito Arias Montano and the Maps in the Antwerp Polyglot Bible"
- The Creation, the Garden of Eden and the Origin of the Chinese (Tse Tsan Tai, 1914)
- An Universal History, from the Earliest Account of Time, Volume 1
All Glory to God!
