ONE DAY THE DESCENDANTS OF BENJAMIN LEFT THEIR LAND, SOME REMAINED; TWO-THOUSAND YEARS LATER, GODFREY VI BECAME KING OF JERUSALEM AND FOUNDED THE ORDER OF SION"." --- Henri Lobineau, DOSSIERS SECRETS, planche no. 1, 400-600; as quoted in Holy Blood, Holy Grail, paperback edition, pp. 274, 469-70.
GODFREY VI is Godfroi de Bouillon, who became King of Jerusalem circa 1099 c.e. This means that, at circa 901 BCE, some kind of wholesale departure took place in Palestine. We have already made note of the division of the Monarchy in circa 922 BCE. The resulting upheaval makes it clear to us that this period would be the best time for a group of Benjaminites to depart without raising much suspicion.
"2000 YEARS LATER" -- may actually refer, not to 901 BCE, but to 893 BCE. For, according to 2 Chronicles 15:10, "Asa, in the fifteenth year of his reign, instituted the first religious reform in the history of the Judaean Kingdom." -- see Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess, p. 45.
893 BCE is also important, because it is the first year of Sossu #9 of Ner 5 of Sar 3 of Mahayuga 28 of Manvantara 7 of Kalpa 3. In other words, it computes with the Calendar, in the Time System of the Code of the Eternal. It would be known as the Fire-Hare year.
For the entire period of Hebrew occupation of Canaan, even as early as Sinai, and before that, even, in Egypt and earlier, the so-called Monotheistic religion of the Jews was the exception and not the rule. The allegations brought against the Benjaminites by the Itinerant Levite show that they were practicing according to well-established cult behavior. The Levite, in fact, was to blame for causing the event in the first place. The Benjaminites are referred to as sons of Belial, a derogatory epithet. However, they were only remaining true to their Covenant. While Holy Blood, Holy Grail seems to think that they would have left as early as the period of the Civil War, we are convinced that the phrase "2,000 years ago" refers to a much later date of departure. In scanning the texts for an event that would precipitate such a wide scale departure, we find that Asa's reforms fit the model. Asa was the first reformer - King in Israel, even earlier than the reforms which took place in Samaria, at the hands of the fanatic prophets.
So, then, in 893 BCE, we have a major event, which would have sent Goddess worshippers packing. Two important cult objects, the Asherah, and the Brazen Serpent, were prominent religious totems until much later, in fact, when Hezekiah (727 to 698 BCE) 'brake them into pieces'. His son Manasseh reinstated the old practices, but excluded the Serpent. This means that the Cult of the Serpent had died out by then (698 to 642 BCE).
Perhaps it is because the Serpent Priests had left for Asia Minor, or joined their fellow exiles, the Benjaminites, wherever they went. Manasseh's reign also is when the Ark of the Covenant vacates the premises. Now the next step is to find traces of this introduction of exiles into Grecian culture. This date is too late for either the Solis Serpentis Priests, or for the Dionysian Artificers. Also, it is too late for a match with the Trojans. So, then, this branch of the tree probably did not meet up with the Trojans until Arcadia or Pannonia, or perhaps Carthage, even. Carthage, however, was later than the accounts given by Virgil or Geoffrey of Monmouth.
So, then, there are two distinct possibilities:
Arcadia to Pannonia to Merovingian Franks / Languedoc;
Phrygia to Pergamon to Assyrian Refugees and repopulated Jews under Antiochus to Ophites, thus meeting up with the descendants of both the Solis Serpentis and the Dionysians. As the Dionysians travelled throughout the entire Mediterranean, it is likely that the Jewish Community in Southern France could have been populated by immigrants settling there from this group. Perhaps even Rhedae was settled by some of these Benjaminites, later moving northwest of Rhedae.
We have two directions of travel, at the least when we are dealing with the Merovingians. One up through the Danube route, to Switzerland, to the Rhineland, to Flanders. The other, across the Mediterranean, to Southern France.
At a later date, in Visigothic times, these two segments met and intermarried, thereby producing the correct conditions for a manifestation of the Living One. These things, at one time, took centuries to effect.
In this case, about eighteen centuries. That is why the near fanatical zeal, when we see the lengths the Order has gone to protect the Grail Family, a family whose roots antedate Abraham even. The meeting up of the Ophite tradition with the Family is harder to track. Maybe in the Crusades, maybe later. Probably not earlier, unless we include Dositheos, which would be proper.
SEE ALSO: The Legend of Maitre Jacques, in I GOULD 217ff.
Before we start with this, though, let us share something about our own Scottish clan, that of the Robertsons, from which we derive our lineage in the Wolf Tribe. First, the crest of the clan:
alongside
that of the Badge of the Tribe of Benjamin: 
NOTICE the Ravening Wolf in the Badge. This badge is from Oliver's Historical Landmarks of Freemasonry.
So, then, in this place we shall examine these Benjaminites more closely, and see if there might be some Connections with the legends of Freemasonry as well as other popular legends.
The first legend to discuss is that which we quoted above. The entire piece, given in French in the endnotes to Holy Blood, Holy Grail, is rather cryptic. It does not openly speak of the Merovingians. Instead, it speaks of the descendants of Benjamin, and implies the region of the Peloponnese known as Arcadia, and Poussin the painter, in some way bringing all these together. Following the long heading quoted on the previous page, "ONE DAY...OF SION", we take up the remainder of the passage from the "Dossiers Secrets"...
"This marvellous legend which ornaments history like the finial of a temple, is lost in the immensity of the space of the times. It is required of Poussin to express the mystery. In these two paintings, the Shepherds of Arcadia, one finds without doubt the secret of treasure, before which, the descendants of peasants and shepherds of proud Sicambrians, contemplate upon "et in arcadia ego" D [HEXAGRAM in "Mortbats" Font] and the King, "Midas".
"1200 BCE -- an important fact is the arrival of the Hebrews in the Promised Land and their slow installation in Canaan.
"In the Bible, Deuteronomy 33, it is said about Benjamin:
'12. Of Benjamin, he said, "The beloved of the Lord, he dwells in safety by him; he encompasses him all the day long, and makes his dwelling between his shoulders."
"It is again written in Joshua 18 that the lot given to the Sons of Benjamin, amongst the fourteen cities and villages, included, JEBUS, now called Jerusalem, with its 3 points of a triangle, Golgotha, Sion, and Bethany."
"And finally, it is written in Judges 20 - 21: 21:1
"Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, 'No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin.' 2. And the People came to Bethel, and sat there till evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. 3. And they said, 'O LORD, The God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel?'"
"As to the great enigma of Arcadia, turn to Virgil's Eclogues, X:46-50, where he establishes the secret of the Gods:
"Thou far from home (let me not quite believe it!) alone, without me, ah cruel, lookest on Alpine snows and the frosts of the Rhine. Ah may the frosts not hurt thee! Ah may the rough ice not cut thy delicate feet!"
"Six doors, or the seal of the Star, here are the secrets of the parchments of the Abbé Sauniere, Curé of Rennes - le - Chateau and before him the great initiate Poussin was acquainted when he realized his work to the demand of the Pope, the inscription on the tomb is the same."
This is quite a strange series of images to group together, unless there is something which it conceals. First, the statement pertaining to the Descendants of Benjamin leaving their land, and 2,000 years later, Godfroi de Bouillon founds the Order of SION. Second, points to a little known but very important mystery which supplies the key to the understanding of the events of the past, and it pertains to the race of Sicambrians, and their descendants and/or ancestors. This is expressed in Poussin's paintings, two of which are key, one being the Shepherds of Arcadia, the other King Midas. We have not seen King Midas. Third, the Hebrew element. The Hebrews arrive in Palestine around 1200 BCE, and take forever getting established. Fourth, the Promise to the Descendants of Benjamin. This we will elaborate upon below. Fifth, the territory of Benjamin, including several important locations, the primary one being Jerusalem, Mission Control Center, after Nippur. Sixth, the Curse placed on the Benjaminites, which we shall elaborate upon, as it is a pivotal event in the History of the Jews, and provides precedent for many other like events (for which see our listing of some of these in Qadosh: The Johannite Tradition, Chapter 2.). Seventh, the reference to Virgil's Eclogues. It is in this part that we get the first real Key, connecting the Benjaminites with Greece. The setting for the Eclogues is in Arcadia, the poor soul has gone on to where the Rhineland meets the Alps. This would be Switzerland and Southern Germany. As to the Secret of the Gods, we can only conjecture. Eighth, there are six divisions in this message, which are gates or doors, or Keys. Poussin, the Benjaminites, the Virgil Quote, the Headline, the Hebrews in Canaan, the Curse of the Benjaminites:
1. The Headline
2. The Preamble, speaking of a special mystery, which relates to the descendants of the Sicambrians and to Poussin's two paintings, the Shepherds of Arcadia, and King Midas.
3. The Hebrews are installed in Canaan.
4. The Promise and Territory granted to the Benjaminites.
5. The Curse.
6. Virgil's Eclogues
Seven, if we include the last paragraph.
We have dealt with the story of the Installation of the Hebrews in Canaan somewhat, when we wrote of AHIMAN - ANAK - ARBA. And the Anakim may have been driven into Benjaminite territory.
That is where THIS story begins, proper. Then the part dealing with the Benjaminites comes next. The Curse follows, and then the Headline, Preamble, and Virgil Quote.
Taking in order the sequence of events we reported earlier in reference to AHIMAN - ANAK - ARBA, in re the Settlement in Canaan, we get the following list:
1. Numbers 13:22, 23, 28, 32-33. The Spies sent into Canaan report their encounters with the Anakim.
2. Deuteronomy 9:2. Referring to the Anakim.
3. Joshua 11:21-22. Assaying the locations of the Anakim, Joshua destroyed them... "only in Gaza, Gath, Ashdod did some remain."
4. Joshua 14:15. Hebron originally known as Kirjath-ARBA, after ARBA, ancestor of the Anakim.
5. Joshua 15:13-14. Hebron given to Caleb. Caleb drives out the 3 sons of Anak.
6. Judges 1:10. Judah goes against the Anakim in Hebron, defeating Sheshai, AHIMAN, and Talmai.
7. Judges 1:20. Hebron given to Caleb. The 3 sons of Anak DRIVEN OUT.
8. Judges 1:21. "But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites...so the Jebusites dwell there to this day..."
Perhaps we are guilty of privately interpreting scripture as everybody else does, but it seems apparent that the Anakim ended up :
a. in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod;
b. in Benjaminite territory.
As to the Promise given to Benjamin. This occurs after the original encounter with the Anakim in Numbers 13. Before Moses dies, he declares his blessing on the children of Israel. Of all the blessings given out, the most singular is that given to Benjamin's descendants:
"Of Benjamin he said 'The Beloved of the Lord, he dwells in safety by him; he encompasses him all the day long, and makes his dwelling between his shoulders."
The "Beloved of the Lord" is generally seen to refer to David, but we shall see that another name and person applies to this. Also, the "Beloved of the Lord" could refer to the Divine Dwelling of the Shekinah, though that is always translated as the Glory of the Lord, as in "THE GLORY OF THE LORD IS THE SECRET WORD" in Latin on page 861 of Morals and Dogma.
While "The Beloved of the Lord" would seem to refer to a Divine Consort of some kind, this verse is translated in such a way that makes it clear that the gender is masculine. Just what, then, is this "Beloved"?
This could refer, perhaps, as we said, to David, or to the Temple in Jerusalem. Yet the Temple itself is an empty shell. The concept of the DurAnKi, Bond-Heaven-Earth, requires elaboration, since the Institution of Kingship is so important an event in human history, and so much a part of our enquiry to require a discussion of it.
We are not bound to give much importance today to the concept of rule by divine right. We are led into thinking that we belong to a democracy. Rule by and for the "people". But who are the "people"? You or me? Guess again. Take a bit of advice from Noam Chomsky, and interpret the phrase used in speeches, "The American People," to mean the "People" who own the world, namely, the power elite.
Kingship, monarchy, peerage, and related concepts are things of the past. The world is governed by a council, and continents by sub-councils, and so on. Yet Divine Rule is how it was done for thousands of years, and ultimately led to the abuses that made its abolition necessary. Of course, we would be quite ignorant, if we assumed that we are without the same abuses today.
According to Zecharia Sitchin, in THE 12TH PLANET, pp. 95-6, the DUR-AN-KI was first established at Nippur, before humanity had come into being. The DUR-AN-KI was the "Mission Control" Centre.
"ENLIL, according to Sumerian beliefs, arrived on Earth well before Earth became settled and civilized. A 'Hymn to Enlil, the All-Beneficent,' recounts the many aspects of society and civilization that would not have existed had it not been for Enlil's instructions to ;'execute his orders, far and wide.'
"'No cities would be built, no settlements founded, No stalls would be built, no sheepfolds erected; No king would be raised, no high priest born.'
"The Sumerian texts also stated that Enlil arrived on Earth before the 'Black-Headed People' -- the Sumerian nickname for Mankind -- were created. During such pre-Mankind times, Enlil erected Nippur as his center, or 'command post,' at which Heaven and Earth were connected through some 'bond.' The Sumerian texts called this bond DUR.AN.KI. ('bond heaven-earth') and used poetic language to describe Enlil's first actions on Earth:
"'Enlil, When you marked off divine settlements on Earth, Nippur you set up as your very own city. The city of Earth, the lofty, Your pure place whose water is sweet. You founded the Dur-An-Ki, In the center of the four corners of the world.'"
Turning to the end of THE 12TH PLANET, Sitchin describes the events following the Deluge, circa 11,000 BCE (10,973 BCE according to The Code of the Eternal), which put an end to the last ice age. This was when agriculture and husbandry began on an organized scale. WIthout giving the narrative of the entire work, which is very fascinating, we point out the beginning of Kingship, elsewhere called the ENLIL-FUNCTION, or ENLIL-SHIP.
"The Nefilim, we are told, reached the conclusion that they needed an intermediary between themselves and the masses of humans. They were, they decided, to be gods -- ELU in Akkadian, meaning "lofty ones." As a bridge between themselves as lords and Mankind, they introduced "King-ship" on Earth: appointing a human ruler who would assure Mankind's service to the Gods and channel the teachings and laws of the Gods to the people.
"A text dealing with the subject describes the situation before either tiara or crown had been placed on a human head, or sceptre handed down; all these symbols of King-ship -- plus the shepherd's crook, the symbol of righteousness and justice -- lay deposited before ANU in Heaven. After the gods had reached their decision, however, 'King-ship descended from Heaven' to Earth.
"Both Sumerian and Akkadian texts state that the Nefilim retained the 'Lordship' over the lands, and had Mankind first rebuild the pre-diluvial cities exactly where they had originally been and as they had been planned: 'Let the bricks of all the cities be laid on the dedicated places, let all the [bricks] rest on holy places.' Eridu, then, was first to be rebuilt.
"The Nefilim then helped the people plan and build the first royal city, and they blessed it. 'May the city be the rest, the place when Mankind shall repose. May the King be a shepherd.'
"The first royal city of Man, the Sumerian texts tell us, was Kish. 'When Kingship was lowered again from Heaven, the Kingship was in Kish.' The Sumerian King-lists, unfortunately, are mutilated just where the name of the very first human kind was inscribed. We do know, however, that he started a long line of dynasties whose royal abode changed from Kish to URUK, UR, AWAN, HAMAZI, AKSAK, AKKAD, and then to ASHUR and BABYLON and more recent capitals."
We have quoted this much, since it details the beginnings of Kingship on this planet. Long before Egypt, long before China, long before Israel, and other ancient civilizations -- SUMER was the forerunner. It is worth mentioning too, at this point, that the one Organization today that acts according to the rules of King-ship, as given to us by the Nephilim, is Freemasonry. Perhaps not the typical parade-bound Shriner in the small car, but the rituals and symbols of the Craft degrees, and the function of the officers in a Lodge pertain to the ancient tradition of Kingship. To be Master of the Lodge is to be a King, if even for but a year.
The concept of King-ship is one of the real secrets of the ancients. It is an important factor in considering the Benjaminite story. It is an important factor in the story of Israel. It is an important factor in the Grail traditions. It is an important factor in the Merovingian and related bloodlines. And, we shall see, it is a very important factor with regard to Freemasonry in general, and the AASR in particular.
In passing we might note that Saul was the son of Kish.
Before going on to the next step in this Benjaminite story, we have one more passage from THE 12TH PLANET to quote. It has to do with the Nephilim. This time we quote pages 171-2.
"What, then, does the term NEFILIM mean? Stemming from the Semitic root NFL ('to be cast down'), it means exactly what it says: It means THOSE WHO WERE CAST DOWN UPON EARTH!
"Contemporary theologians and biblical scholars have tended to avoid the troublesome verses, either by explaining them away allegorically or simply by ignoring them altogether. But Jewish writings of the time of the Second Temple did recognize in these verses the echoes of ancient traditions of 'fallen angels'. Some of the early scholarly works even mentioned the names of those divine beings 'who fell from Heaven and were on Earth in those days.': SHAM-HAZZAI ('Shem's lookout'), UZZA ('Mighty') and UZI-EL ('God's Might').
"Malbim, a noted Jewish biblical commentator of the nineteenth century recognized these ancient roots and explained that 'in ancient times the rulers of countries were the sons of the deities who arrived upon the Earth from the Heavens, and ruled the Earth, and married wives from among the daughters of Man; and their offspring included heroes and mighty ones, princes and sovereigns.' These stories, Malbim said, were of the pagan gods, 'sons of the deities, who in earliest times fell down from the Heavens upon the Earth...that's why they called themselves 'Nefilim', i.e., Those Who Fell Down.'"
So, then, our thesis, and that of this Benjaminite story, and Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and even The Book of the Words, if not the hidden meanings presented in the Bible itself imply that Kingship was to be granted to the descendants of Benjamin. The story that the Sceptre belonged to Judah, could quite possibly be a later, post-exilic accretion, when Ezra compiled what we know to be the Hebrew Bible. For the real planetary rulership in those times was through semi-divine bloodlines, and not just in "heathen cultures". Only with the events of the past three and a half centuries have things changed.
The Story occupies Judges 19-21. However, the beginning of the story really takes place in Chapter 19. The Bible's testimony is lacking in details, but what we see is the case of false or at least unfair accusation.
(Chapter of Judges)
17. Micah the Ephraimite.
A. Restores silver to his mother.
B. She has 200 pieces melted into a 'molten image' and a shrine is built, with Ephod, Teraphim, and Micah installed one of his sons as priest.
C. v. 7. Levite from Bethlehem-Judah. Installed as Micah's priest.
18.
A. Migration of the Tribe of DAN.
B. On the way, the DANITES steal Micah's priest and images.
C. Shrine of DAN is Established, with Jonathan, son of Gershom, as Priest.
19.
A. Levite from Bethlehem-Judah sojourning in same country as Micah and the Levite in 17:7.
B. Arrives in Gibeah. No place to stay. Finds fellow Ephraimite.
C. The ACT. The Men of Gibeah want the Levite, but get the girl. The woman is raped. The man packs her up, goes home, and proceeds to chop her into 12 pieces so he can distribute a piece to each of the tribes. And Elizabeth Short was only cut into two pieces.
20.
A. The Crime is discovered and an oracle committed.
B. The Levite's testimony. It is evident that the woman was raped by the men of Gibeah, but not as to the murder. What comes out is the men wanted the Levite, and not the woman. The man probably killed his own concubine himself, since he did not care for her except as property.
C. The War. 600 men of the Tribe of Benjamin survive.
21. The Curse.
A. No one would give their daughters to Benjamin.
B. The Solution: destroy the Men and Women and Sons of Jabesh-Gilead. Save the 400 virgin daughters.
C. The Love-Feast at Shiloh.
What we have, then, is a critical situation. The last of the Judges, Samson, dies. There is no King in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes. Micah builds a shrine. A travelling Levite is set up in his house as a priest. Later he is taken away as a prize by the Danites for their priest. But in the end they chose Jonathan son of Gershom. So, the Levite is probably left to travel, with a chip on his shoulder as well. In Chapter 17 he turns up in Bethlehem-Judah to get his wife, and go back to the Hill country of Ephraim. Eventually they leave, passing through Benjaminite territory. No place to rest. They rest in the town square in Gibeah. A fellow Ephraimite who has a home there finds the man, and invites him in for the night. The men of the town are angry, for some undisclosed reason. Perhaps it is because they are in the territory where the Beloved of the Lord dwells in safety. This Priest-for-sale, ancestor of itinerant whisky-priests of the American West like Elmer Gantry, angers them, and they demand to see ("know") him. The man's wife is offered instead. In their anger, they rape her. They did not want her. They wanted the Levite.
She is returned alive but traumatized. The Levite gets his vengeance by killing her himself then chopping her up, having her parts distributed to the 12 Tribes. This is then the powder keg that ignites the Civil War.
The Nation is roused to war, against Benjamin. The Benjaminites, rightly angered, go against the Israelites, successful at first, but later, only 600 men are left.
The Men of the tribes see to it the Benjaminites are not allowed to marry their daughters.
They eventually repent of their oath, and seek a remedy. This is to go up against the people of Jabesh-Gilead and annihilate a whole city of Men, Wives, and Sons, and spare only the virgin daughters, 400 total.
These are taken up to Shiloh, where there is a sacred grove and pools. This is where the Mystery Love Feasts of the Fertility Cultus take place.
So, then, we have the beginnings of alienation for Benjamin, and in the next step, we shall analyze what came next.
But first, here is the extract from Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, Book V, Chapter 2, sections 8ff:
8. There was a Levite a man of a vulgar family, that belonged to the tribe of Ephraim, and dwelt therein: this man married a wife from Bethlehem, which is a place belonging to the tribe of Judah. Now he was very fond of his wife, and overcome with her beauty; but he was unhappy in this, that he did not meet with the like return of affection from her, for she was averse to him, which did more inflame his passion for her, so that they quarreled one with another perpetually; and at last the woman was so disgusted at these quarrels, that she left her husband, and went to her parents in the fourth month. The husband being very uneasy at this her departure, and that out of his fondness for her, came to his father and mother-in-law, and made up their quarrels, and was reconciled to her, and lived with them there four days, as being kindly treated by her parents. On the fifth day he resolved to go home, and went away in the evening; for his wife's parents were loath to part with their daughter, and delayed the time till the day was gone. Now they had one servant that followed them, and an ass on which the woman rode; and when they were near Jerusalem, having gone already thirty furlongs, the servant advised them to take up their lodgings some where, lest some misfortune should befall them if they traveled in the night, especially since they were not far off enemies, that season often giving reason for suspicion of dangers from even such as are friends; but the husband was not pleased with this advice, nor was he willing to take up his lodging among strangers, for the city belonged to the Canaanites, but desired rather to go twenty furlongs farther, and so to take their lodgings in some Israelite city. Accordingly, he obtained his purpose, and came to Gibeah, a city of the tribe of Benjamin, when it was just dark; and while no one that lived in the market-place invited him to lodge with him, there came an old man out of the field, one that was indeed of the tribe of Ephraim, but resided in Gibeah, and met him, and asked him who he was, and for what reason he came thither so late, and why he was looking out for provisions for supper when it was dark? To which he replied, that he was a Levite, and was bringing his wife from her parents, and was going home; but he told him his habitation was in the tribe of Ephraim: so the old man, as well because of their kindred as because they lived in the same tribe, and also because they had thus accidentally met together, took him in to lodge with him. Now certain young men of the inhabitants of Gibeah, having seen the woman in the market-place, and admiring her beauty, when they understood that she lodged with the old man, came to the doors, as contemning the weakness and fewness of the old man's family; and when the old man desired them to go away, and not to offer any violence or abuse there, they desired him to yield them up the strange woman, and then he should have no harm done to him: and when the old man alleged that the Levite was of his kindred, and that they would be guilty of horrid wickedness if they suffered themselves to be overcome by their pleasures, and so offend against their laws, they despised his righteous admonition, and laughed him to scorn. They also threatened to kill him if he became an obstacle to their inclinations; whereupon, when he found himself in great distress, and yet was not willing to overlook his guests, and see them abused, he produced his own daughter to them; and told them that it was a smaller breach of the law to satisfy their lust upon her, than to abuse his guests, supposing that he himself should by this means prevent any injury to be done to those guests. When they no way abated of their earnestness for the strange woman, but insisted absolutely on their desires to have her, he entreated them not to perpetrate any such act of injustice; but they proceeded to take her away by force, and indulging still more the violence of their inclinations, they took the woman away to their house, and when they had satisfied their lust upon her the whole night, they let her go about daybreak. So she came to the place where she had been entertained, under great affliction at what had happened; and was very sorrowful upon occasion of what she had suffered, and durst not look her husband in the face for shame, for she concluded that he would never forgive her for what she had done; so she fell down, and gave up the ghost: but her husband supposed that his wife was only fast asleep, and, thinking nothing of a more melancholy nature had happened, endeavored to raise her up, resolving to speak comfortably to her, since she did not voluntarily expose herself to these men's lust, but was forced away to their house; but as soon as he perceived she was dead, he acted as prudently as the greatness of his misfortunes would admit, and laid his dead wife upon the beast, and carried her home; and cutting her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, he sent them to every tribe, and gave it in charge to those that carried them, to inform the tribes of those that were the causes of his wife's death, and of the violence they had offered to her.
9. Upon this the people were greatly disturbed at what they saw, and at what they heard, as never having had the experience of such a thing before; so they gathered themselves to Shiloh, out of a prodigious and a just anger, and assembling in a great congregation before the tabernacle, they immediately resolved to take arms, and to treat the inhabitants of Gibeah as enemies; but the senate restrained them from doing so, and persuaded them, that they ought not so hastily to make war upon people of the same nation with them, before they discoursed them by words concerning the accusation laid against them; it being part of their law, that they should not bring an army against foreigners themselves, when they appear to have been injurious, without sending an ambassage first, and trying thereby whether they will repent or not: and accordingly they exhorted them to do what they ought to do in obedience to their laws, that is, to send to the inhabitants of Gibeah, to know whether they would deliver up the offenders to them, and if they deliver them up, to rest satisfied with the punishment of those offenders; but if they despised the message that was sent them, to punish them by taking, up arms against them. Accordingly they sent to the inhabitants of Gibeah, and accused the young men of the crimes committed in the affair of the Levite's wife, and required of them those that had done what was contrary to the law, that they might be punished, as having justly deserved to die for what they had done; but the inhabitants of Gibeah would not deliver up the young men, and thought it too reproachful to them, out of fear of war, to submit to other men's demands upon them; vaunting themselves to be no way inferior to any in war, neither in their number nor in courage. The rest of their tribe were also making great preparation for war, for they were so insolently mad as also to resolve to repel force by force.
10. When it was related to the Israelites what the inhabitants of Gibeah had resolved upon, they took their oath that no one of them would give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite, but make war with greater fury against them than we have learned our forefathers made war against the Canaanites; and sent out presently an army of four hundred thousand against them, while the Benjamites' army-was twenty-five thousand and six hundred; five hundred of whom were excellent at slinging stones with their left hands, insomuch that when the battle was joined at Gibeah the Benjamites beat the Israelites, and of them there fell two thousand men; and probably more had been destroyed had not the night came on and prevented it, and broken off the fight; so the Benjamites returned to the city with joy, and the Israelites returned to their camp in a great fright at what had happened. On the next day, when they fought again, the Benjamites beat them; and eighteen thousand of the Israelites were slain, and the rest deserted their camp out of fear of a greater slaughter. So they came to Bethel, a city that was near their camp, and fasted on the next day; and besought God, by Phineas the high priest, that his wrath against them might cease, and that he would be satisfied with these two defeats, and give them the victory and power over their enemies. Accordingly God promised them so to do, by the prophesying of Phineas.
11. When therefore they had divided the army into two parts, they laid the one half of them in ambush about the city Gibeah by night, while the other half attacked the Benjamites, who retiring upon the assault, the Benjamites pursued them, while the Hebrews retired by slow degrees, as very desirous to draw them entirely from the city; and the other followed them as they retired, till both the old men and the young men that were left in the city, as too weak to fight, came running out together with them, as willing to bring their enemies under. However, when they were a great way from the city the Hebrews ran away no longer, but turned back to fight them, and lifted up the signal they had agreed on to those that lay in ambush, who rose up, and with a great noise fell upon the enemy. Now, as soon as ever they perceived themselves to be deceived, they knew not what to do; and when they were driven into a certain hollow place which was in a valley, they were shot at by those that encompassed them, till they were all destroyed, excepting six hundred, which formed themselves into a close body of men, and forced their passage through the midst of their enemies, and fled to the neighboring mountains, and, seizing upon them, remained there; but the rest of them, being about twenty-five thousand, were slain. Then did the Israelites burn Gibeah, and slew the women, and the males that were under age; and did the same also to the other cities of the Benjamites; and, indeed, they were enraged to that degree, that they sent twelve thousand men out of the army, and gave them orders to destroy Jabesh Gilead, because it did not join with them in fighting against the Benjamites. Accordingly, those that were sent slew the men of war, with their children and wives, excepting four hundred virgins. To such a degree had they proceeded in their anger, because they not only had the suffering of the Levite's wife to avenge, but the slaughter of their own soldiers.
12. However, they afterward were sorry for the calamity they had brought upon the Benjamites, and appointed a fast on that account, although they supposed those men had suffered justly for their offense against the laws; so they recalled by their ambassadors those six hundred which had escaped. These had seated themselves on a certain rock called Rimmon, which was in the wilderness. So the ambassadors lamented not only the disaster that had befallen the Benjamites, but themselves also, by this destruction of their kindred; and persuaded them to take it patiently; and to come and unite with them, and not, so far as in them lay, to give their suffrage to the utter destruction of the tribe of Benjamin; and said to them, "We give you leave to take the whole land of Benjamin to yourselves, and as much prey as you are able to carry away with you." So these men with sorrow confessed, that what had been done was according to the decree of God, and had happened for their own wickedness; and assented to those that invited them, and came down to their own tribe. The Israelites also gave them the four hundred virgins of Jabesh Gilead for wives; but as to the remaining two hundred, they deliberated about it how they might compass wives enough for them, and that they might have children by them; and whereas they had, before the war began, taken an oath, that no one would give his daughter to wife to a Benjamite, some advised them to have no regard to what they had sworn, because the oath had not been taken advisedly and judiciously, but in a passion, and thought that they should do nothing against God, if they were able to save a whole tribe which was in danger of perishing; and that perjury was then a sad and dangerous thing, not when it is done out of necessity, but when it is done with a wicked intention. But when the senate were affrighted at the very name of perjury, a certain person told them that he could show them a way whereby they might procure the Benjamites wives enough, and yet keep their oath. They asked him what his proposal was. He said, "That three times in a year, when we meet in Shiloh, our wives and our daughters accompany us: let then the Benjamites be allowed to steal away, and marry such women as they can catch, while we will neither incite them nor forbid them; and when their parents take it ill, and desire us to inflict punishment upon them, we will tell them, that they were themselves the cause of what had happened, by neglecting to guard their daughters, and that they ought not to be over angry at the Benjamites, since that anger was permitted to rise too high already." So the Israelites were persuaded to follow this advice, and decreed, That the Benjamites should be allowed thus to steal themselves wives. So when the festival was coming on, these two hundred Benjamites lay in ambush before the city, by two and three together, and waited for the coming of the virgins, in the vineyards and other places where they could lie concealed. Accordingly the virgins came along playing, and suspected nothing of what was coming upon them, and walked after an unguarded manner, so those that laid scattered in the road, rose up, and caught hold of them: by this means these Benjamites got them wives, and fell to agriculture, and took good care to recover their former happy state. And thus was this tribe of the Benjamites, after they had been in danger of entirely perishing, saved in the manner forementioned, by the wisdom of the Israelites; and accordingly it presently flourished, and soon increased to be a multitude, and came to enjoy all other degrees of happiness. And such was the conclusion of this war.
If the whole of the Jewish religion, and that of the Christian religion, rests on the infallibility of Jehovah, their God, and upon the validity of the claim of Davidic Monarchy, then that entire edifice is proved invalid and its Supreme Father God fallible.
For, instead of being omnipresent, omniscient and all that, Jehovah listened to the wailing of the mob, and the word of an itinerant priest, who wasn't even loyal to "Him." The priest killed his own wife, to get back at the men of Gibeah, who wanted to deal with him, and passed the blame on to the Benjaminites. Later, after it was all over, the line of Benjamin succeeded briefly, by getting Saul elected King. But even that failed, because Samuel saw to it to put his own candidate forward. An early precursor to what took place with Dagobert II, and with the Stuart Monarchy.
Before we get to the Fourth Gate of the Star, we shall analyze the Benjaminites more. There is some interesting material in Werner Keller's THE BIBLE AS HISTORY.
The "Tribe of Benjamin" may actually be a misnomer. We might rather call them the "Race of Benjamin," and from this Race of Benjamin came the family of Abraham.
Brinsley le Poer Trench, in TEMPLE OF THE STARS, p. 164, speaks of the Benjaminites. He begins by speaking of King David's idea to build a Temple. He speaks of how the idea for a Temple came from the idea to take a census. This census is reported in two accounts. The first is 2 SAM 24:1, where the LORD incited David to number the people. The second, in 1 CHR 21:1, has SATAN ordering David to number the people. Both accounts are the same, describe the same persons, places, things and events, except God does the ordering in one account, and Satan does it in the other.
Now, to quote Trench:
"It all started with a notion of David's to take a census! This proposed numbering of the people included the Benjamites. The Israelites in general, and particularly the Benjamites, were a very independent people, and they resented the idea of being counted. Almost a thousand years before the time of David, one of the governors of MARI wished to take just such a census of the desert tribes. One of his officers, Samsi-Addu, wrote to him in very strong terms, advising him to give up his plan. Dr, Werner Keller quotes this letter from the 18th Century BC."
We will temporarily leave Trench's account and go directly to Keller. Dr. Werner Keller is well known for his work THE BIBLE AS HISTORY. Chapter 5 is entitled ABRAHAM LIVED IN THE KINGDOM OF MARI. In it, Keller speaks of the discovery in the 1930s of the lost Kingdom of Mari, on the Euphrates River. After reporting the account of the initial discovery, we are told:
"In Paris, the Assyriologists were deciphering a clay tablet from the archives of Mari. They read with astonishment a report from Bannum, an officer of the desert police:
"'Say to my lord, this from Bannum, thy servant. Yesterday I left Mari and spent the night at Zuruban. All the Benjamites were sending fire signals. I am not yet certain what these signals meant. I am trying to find out. I shall write to my lord whether or not I succeed. The city guards should be strengthened and my lord should not leave the gate.'
"In this police report from the central reaches of the Euphrates in the 19th Century BC, there appears the name of one of the tribes known to us from the Bible. It literally calls them Benjamites.
"There is frequent mention of these Benjamites. They seem to have given the ruler of Mari so many headaches and caused so much trouble that periods of a King's reign were even called after them.
"An elaborate correspondence between governors, district commissioners, and administrators takes place. The single question: Dare we take a census of the Benjamites?
"In the Kingdom of Mari a census of the people was not uncommon. It provided a basis for taxation and for enlistment for military service. The population was summoned by districts and a nominal role was made of every man liable for call-up.
"The proceedings lasted several days, during which free beer and bread were distributed by government officials. The administration in the palace of Mari would fain have included the Benjamites in this but the district officers had their doubts. They advised against it since they understood only too well the temper of these roaming and rebellious tribes.
"Reference the proposal to take a census of the Benjamites, about which you have written me,' begins a letter from Samsi-Addu to Iasmah-Addu in Mari. 'The Benjamites are not well-disposed to the idea of a census. If you carry it out, their kinsmen the Ra-ab-ay-yi, who live on the other bank of the river, will hear of it. They will be annoyed with them and will not return to their country. On no account should this census be taken!'
"Thus the Benjamites lost their free beer and bread and also escaped taxes and military service."
Keller goes on to describe census taking and conscription from the time of Moses to David's Monarchy, to Roman times. And, then, this interesting yet puzzling reference:
"In Paris the mention of Benjamites gave rise to conjecture and anticipation along a particular line. Not without reason."
Not without reason. What reason? We will speculate later, but we can see the relationship between Paris and the Benjamites. For now, we shall continue with Trench:
"In the Tenth Century BC, David ran headlong into the same problem. Joab, whom he put in charge of the operation, considered it a trespass, and he refused to count either the Benjamites or the Levites. They were displeased and so was their God..."
In the Bible, I CHR 21, verse 6, speaking of Joab:
"But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, for the King's command was abhorrent to Joab."
An annotation to the name "Levi" refers to Numbers 1:47-49:
"47. But the Levites were not numbered by their ancestral tribe along with them. 48. For the LORD said to Moses: 49. 'Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel;"
So, then, David's commands were against important early precedents. Continuing with Trench:
"Gad, the Royal Seer, foresaw the punishment that would descend upon Israel for David's adoption of such an 'abominable' foreign practice. David was given a choice of three evils, and the story of how he subsequently bought and paid for a place upon which to build an altar to his God in Jerusalem is related in the Old Testament. '...the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the Wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon.'"
Consulting one of the experts in the field of archaeology, at least contemporary with the discoveries of the Mari letters referred to above, William Foxwell Albright, in Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan, pp 78 - 85:
"The Mari letters from the late 18th Century BC provide us with a mass of pertinent material which has only recently been clarified. In 1964, André Finet pointed out for the first time that the northernmost of two groups called 'Sons of the South' and 'Sons of the North' (literally 'Sons of the Right' and 'Sons of the Left') is clearly identical with the SA.GAZ or 'Apiru, in tablets which deal with the extreme north-west of Mesopotamia. [Note 64] It had already been noted by others that there are parallels between the BANU-YAMINA or 'Children of the South' and the biblical Hebrews of the Patriarchal Age. [Note 65] For example, the same name is given to a tribe of Israel known as BENJAMIN, which also means 'Son of the Right Hand', that is, Son of the South. The Benjaminites seem, therefore, to have inherited the name 'Southerners'. The 'Northerners' (Banu-Sim'al) do not appear to have left any specific imprint in Hebrew tradition, though this may be only because we do not yet know the names of their tribes. On the other hand, we know that the Banu-Yamina were divided into at least four or five tribes, two of which apparently bear the same names as two extinct clans of Judah mentioned in Genesis. ER and ONAN died without leaving any offspring and so may safely be identified with extinct clans of the tribe of Judah. The name 'ONAN (LXX: AUNAN) has already been compared by Kupper with the best-known tribe of the Banu-Yamina, the AWNANUM (Babylonian AMNANUM). [Note 66] The second most important tribe, the Yahrurum (or Yahurrum), [Note 67] is certainly to be identified with the Yauri (i.e., Ya'urru) of the inscriptions of Adad-nirari I, about 1290 BC; they are mentioned together with the Akhlamu and Sutu as a leading nomadic or semi-nomadic people of Mesopotamia. [Note 68] Since the two spellings show that the first consonant of the root would be 'AYIN, not HET, in Hebrew, it is probable that 'ER stands for older 'IRRU or 'URRU (hypocoristicon of an original *YA'RUR-EL / *YA'UR-EL). [Note 69] There is a striking additional case: the name of the third most important tribe of the Banu-Yamina, UBRAPI'Ű or UB RAPŰ, is derived from a personal name, UB-RAPI', [Note 70] the normal hypocoristicon of which would be RAFE' in Hebrew. But this is the actual name of an extinct clan of Benjamin (RAPHE in LXX). Such a triple coincidence seems to close to be accidental, especially since all three became extinct in pre-Israelite days.
In 1963 A. Falkenstein pointed out that the Kings of the AWNANUM tribe at Erech were related to the Hammurapi dynasty, which supported Sin-Kashid and sent troops of the AWNANUM and Yahrurum tribes (settled at Sippar north of Babylon) to aid him. [Note 71] In April, 1965, J. J. Finkelstein presented a paper at the Chicago meeting of the American Oriental Society, in which he discussed a tablet from the British Museum describing the funeral of 'AmmisAduqa. It contains a list of his ancestors, including the first nine kings of Babylon I and before them, a long list of their precursors, divided into two dynasties. [Note 72] The names of these ancestors are very mixed -- mostly Semitic but some non-Semitic; among them are the eponymous founders of the tribes of Awnanum and Yahrurum. Two other lists containing the same names in more fragmentary form celebrate the ancestry of Sam Su Iluna son of Hammurapi, as well as of the latter's older contemporary Shamshi-Adad I of Assyria. [Note 73]
These exciting new tablets cannot be discussed more fully in advance of publication, but they appear to prove that the ancestral Hebrews founded the first Dynasty of Babylon, and that they exercised some sort of hegemony in northern Mesopotamia after the end of the Quti (Guti) rule, i.e., in the 20th and 19th centuries BC. [Note 74] They were, in this case, most certainly of mixed blood, just as has often been deduced from names like ARPHAXAD and NAHOR, neither of which is Hurrian.
In Semitic tribal genealogies, there is nearly always much shifting of periods and relationships. A once important tribe might decrease drastically in number or might be divided into splinter groups. A group might develop from a small family into a large clan or tribe in the course of a few centuries. A tribe might be split into clans which joined different tribes, or it might retain its identity of name and tradition after being separated by considerable distances from its original habitat. Examples of such situations are found in vast numbers in Arab tribal history, and there are many illustrations in genealogies of tribes and clans in the Bible as well as in the OSTRACA of Samaria (8th century BC).
There is a very interesting analogy between the tribal situation in Palestine after the Hebrew tribes had settled down and the similar situation in Palestine after the Crusades. The hill-country of central western Palestine (Ephraim, Benjamin, and northern Judah), left largely depopulated by the Muslim reconquest, was repeopled by tribes from Arabia, whose occupation areas were still well defined in the 3rd Quarter of the 19th century AD. When the survey of Western Palestine was being made, as well as forty years ago when I was collecting historical traditions among the Arabs. The most important of these tribes in Palestine were the Beni 'Amir, Beni Hasan, Bene Harith, Beni Malik, Beni Murrah, Beni Salim, Beni Zeid. [Note 75] The same tribes are still found in different parts of Arabia: in Yemen, 'Asir, Hejâz, Nejd, 'Omân, El-Hasa, etc., as well as occasionally in more remote parts of the Arab world. There can be no doubt that the separation of the Arab tribes into segments which remained in their original home or migrated into new lands, goes back a millennium or more in some cases. In other words, the period of a few centuries involved in early Hebrew displacements is short by comparison.
From the Mari documents we learn that the Banu-Yamina were semi-nomadic, living in villages (Kapratum), as well as in pastoral camps (Nawum). They were sheep-herders, building sheep-folds (Hashiratum) and raiding the sheep of others. They also sowed wheat and barley, spending their time at the threshing floors during harvest. The women usually travelled with their men, but were left with settled friends when the men went on raids. Again, just as in the SHULGI letter cited above, we note that the women specialized in manufacture of woollen cloth; in a Mari letter we read that 300 garments were to be made for the court by the Banu-Yamina, apparently at very short notice. [Note 76]
We may be surprised that the 'Apiru of the Mari letters are seldom specifically connected with donkey caravans, but we must remember the changing conditions at the time. It was precisely in the Mari period, about 1700 BC, that the Hyksos first occupied Egypt, and completely disrupted land and sea trade between Egypt and Syria. Shortly before, the Assyrian trading settlements in Cappadocia had been abandoned for good. Thus we have no direct references to trade with Egypt [Note 77] and scarcely any to commerce with Asia Minor, no objects of a clear Egyptian origin have been reported from Zimri-Lim's palace at Mari. On the other hand, there was active overseas trade with Cyprus and Crete. That the 'Apiru were engaged in caravaneering wherever the opportunity offered, is made probable by references to them as SUTU or as men of Yamudbal: as pointed out by most scholars today, they were members of a class, not properly of an ethnic group. We also have clear references to their concealing raids on caravans by pretending to go out with their own caravans.
Two of the chief caravan citiesof north-western Mesopotamia, Harran and Nahor, [Note 78] both mentioned in the Patriarchal narratives, appear also in connexion with the Banu-Yamina. The latter are reported to have 'killed a young donkey', i.e., to have made a treaty with the kings of Zalmaqum in the temple of the moon-god Sin at Harran. [Note 79] Frequent references in Old Babylonian texts to the two suburbs of Sippar, Sippar-Awnanum and Sippar-Yahrurum (see above, on the tribes of the Banu-Yamina), remind one of the suburb of Aleppo called Hlb-Prm in the Ugaritic lists as well as of the Karum Kanes, a settlement outside the walled city of Kanesh in Cappadocia, where Assyrian merchants and caravaneers had been installed during the preceding two centuries. We may safely suppose that in the heyday of donkey caravaneering in the early 2nd Millennium BC, the 'Apiru were usually employed, but as they increased in numbers and as opportunities for caravan trade became fewer with the breakdown of international commerce in the late 18th Century, and subsequently, they had to resort to other activities. Banditry was only one of a number of possible alternatives, and probably not the most remunerative.
Their usual course was to become either mercenaries or slave troops, as in Syria and Anatolia (see below), or to sell themselves into slavery as at Nuzi and elsewhere.
NOTES TO THIS MATERIAL:
65. Cf. G. Dossin in the Melanges Dussaud, II, 981-96, and NMTRM, 47-81. The Banu-Yamina tribe of Yarihu has recently been identified with Jericho, but this is impossible (except that both names include the same element, Yarih, 'Moon'). The reading Maru-Yamina is incredible.
66. NMTRM, 50, N.1.
67. NMTRM, 49ff, 75ff.
68. In Adad-Nirari's historical introduction to his inscriptions (AOB I, xxii ff, 62f., lines 22f) he calls his father Arik-Den-Ili (c. 1307-1296) 'Conqueror of the land of Kutmuh and all of its helpers, the "whole" of the Ahlamu, Sutu, Ia'Ur(r)u and their lands'. The supposed Ya'uri mountains of Luckenbill, AR II, Sections 164, 171, do not exist; we must read in the inscriptions of Tukulti-Ninurta I (Weidner, TN xxvi, No. 16, line 30 and xxx, line 45) Ana Libbi Matiya Lura, 'I brought (the Hittite Captives) into the midst of my land!' The word GANNU does not mean 'elite troops' (Cad), but simply 'Whole', 'lot', etc.; it is derived from Sumerian gu(n), 'totality' (with AHW).
69. Such highly reduced abbreviations of personal names are common in Hebrew and should not cause any difficulty. 270, addendum "p" -- I have long since pointed out that such words as Amorite Nahraru> Accad. Niraru, Amarna Annirir, Amorite Sunuhra are derived from the same stem 'rr as Heb. 'atar and he'tir 'pray for help', ne'tarm 'come to (somebody's) help'; Arab. i'tarra 'beg for help'. See JPOS XIV (1934), 122, n. 105, and BASOR 78 (1940), 24, n. 5. Note that the clan name 'ER also appears in 1 CHR 4:21 as the name of a son of SHELA, younger brother of ER and ONAN -- a typical case of the confusions in clan genealogies which are so common in early Hebrew and Arab tradition. The same clan name may also appear in the eleventh century patronymic Ya'Or (Ketiu in 1 Chr 20:5), which corresponds phonetically to the Mari variant Yahurru and early Assyrian Ya'uri (See above n. 68). There is no way of telling whether the name in the Berlin Execration Texts which I tentatively identified with Biblical 'ER (JPOS VIII, 1928, 238) is really the same name or not, since it may be transcribed as Semitic 'LM or 'RM.
70. See BASOR 163 (1961) 45, n. 44 for the divinity 'UB / 'EB; See also ch. 3, sec. C. The name of the god appears both as 'Eb or 'Ub (Heb. 'OB, Spirit of the Dead') and as 'El 'Eb, like WER and ILUWER. It refers to the ancestral divinities (Manes), either in the plural or in the person of a single great deity, perhaps later Graeco-Syrian OP, the 'very great god'; see R. Mouterde, MELANGES DUSSAUD, I (1939), 391ff.
71. See BAGHORDER MITTEILUNGEN, II, 23ff, as well as F. R. Kraus in B. OR XXII (1965), 292.
72. I wish to thank Prof. Finkelstein for writing me on 30 Apr 1965, and enclosing a transcription of the text. [See now JCS XX (1966), 95-118.]
73. I wish to thank Prof. Benno Landsberger for this information, which he kindly gave me in Nov. 1965. Meanwhile the valuable pertinent study by F. R. Kraus, KÖNIGE, DIE IN SELTEN WOHNTEN (Amsterdam, Netherlands Academy, 1965) has reached me.
74. There is a badly broken reference to the SA.GAZ in the hymn of Ishme-Dagan of Isin, predecessor of Lipit-Ishtar, in the early 19th Century, which has been recently discussed in great detail by W. H. Ph. Röhmer in DMOA XIII (1965), 50f., and n. 384 on p. 72. In lines 224ff, we read: "I have verily broklen the SA.GAZ .... with the pick-axe; on his neck (?) I have verily imposed the yoke (?)". This attempt to suppress the restless energy of the 'Apiru does not seem to have been very successful; within have a century they had occupied extensive tracts of Babylonia proper.
75. On the distribution of these tribes and clans in Arabia, see especially the index to the Admiralty Handbook of Arabia I (1920); see also M. V. Oppenham, DIE BEDUINEN STÜMME (1939-52), passim.
76. Cf. the paintings representing the group of donkey-nomads headed by 'Absha' from Beni Hasan (early 19th Century BC), showing the gaily woven (or embroidered) garments worn by men and women who brought Stibium to the Nomarch Khnum-hotpe.
77. Egypt was called Makan, i.e., Makkan, at Mari (the simpler spelling is characteristic of old Accadian and Old and Middle Assyrian). I have been promising a paper on this subject for years and hope to find time to publish it before long. The same spelling is found regularly in the inscriptions of Tukulti-Ninurta I in the late 13th Cent. BC, to designate Egypt and its Asiatic empire.
78. Mentioned by name, Gen. 24:10, where it is explicitly called 'ir, 'city'.
79. See n. 65 above.
This is the story of the events which led to David making plans to build a Temple in Jerusalem. Gibeon, we can recall, is where the Levite sojourned in Judges 19. We shall analyze this word, as we proceed, in another place. It comes up often in THE BOOK OF THE WORDS.
It would seem that before the schism that existed between the Stuart or "Antient" Masons and the Hanover or "Modern" Masons; or before the wars between the Ghibellines and the Guelphs; or the Merovingians and Carolingian Mayors of the Palace, the Benjaminites were there, and they came into conflict with Judah. In essence, the line of Benjamin could be seen as analogous with that of the Stuarts, while the Davidic line would be analogous to the Hanover Dynasty, and as legitimate in either case, as the case may be.
"ONE DAY THE DESCENDANTS OF BENJAMIN LEFT THEIR COUNTRY; CERTAIN REMAINED, TWO-THOUSAND YEARS LATER, GODFROI VI (DE BOUILLON) BECAME KING OF JERUSALEM AND FOUNDED THE ORDRE DE SION."
From the outset, this seems like two unrelated events. But, we recommend the reader consult THE BIRTH OF FRANCE: Warriors, Bishops, and Long-haired Kings by Katherine Scherman. Her description of the Merovingians is not nearly as flattering as that given them in HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL. In fact, they are as hideous and brutal as the Spartans before them, and the Crusaders that came after them. Indeed, we can see a connection between the three epochs, and if we include the Benjaminites and the Anakim, that goes a long, long way back to the time when the Nefilim and the Gods dwelt upon the Earth.
Godfroi was descended from survivals of the Merovingian line, we are told. Judging the events of the Crusades, it is not difficult to see the relationship to the Merovingians. Godfroi was brother to Baudoin (or Godfrey and Baldwin) and part of a family that intermarried and produced some of the most famous offspring in European history. On the one hand, Godfroi's brother Eustache married Malcolm III's daughter Marie, of Scotland, connecting with the lineal descendants of the Celtic Royal House. His sister Gertrude, married Hugh of Rethel, and produced the succession of Kings of Jerusalem, and the continuation of the direct line of Merovingian descent, down to Rene d'Anjou. The elusive "Alex" on the chart in Holy Blood, Holy Grail, who we have yet to find in any other royal genealogy, is shown to have married Emperor Henry IV. There was only one man in all of Europe at the time with that Name: Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire, and an early head of the Royal Dynasty known as Hohenstaufen, which would include at least two famous Frederics, and perhaps the Stoffler lineage, much later in the game. This dynasty would meet the direct line again, when Frederic II married Iolande de Brienne, who came from the Royal House of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, descended from Baudoin II, son of Gertrude, sister of Godfroi de Bouillon, and Hugh of Rethel.
What do we make of the statement, "2000 years later...?" In 1099 Godfroi de Bouillon was made King of Jerusalem (a title he refused to fulfill, by the way, passing the Kingship to his brother Baudoin). 1099 CE minus 2000 years would be circa 901 BCE. If we get liberal in counting, this would be 70-100 years after King David ordered the census to be taken. And, too, it would be after the completion of Solomon's Temple. We have given some interesting facts at the beginning of this chapter pertaining to this date.
We suggest there could have been several migrations of the descendants of Benjamin. The first would have been after the Civil War, or during it; at approximately 1200-1100 BCE. This could explain for the fact that the Franks, especially the Merovingian Franks, claim descent from the House of Troy. If we stick with the date of the census, or the date 901 BCE, we get closer to the period when history began to be written more indelibly. This would be the time when the Dionysian Artificers come into existence. This would be the time when Greece begins to develop its literature. THis would be a time when the great Kingdoms of Babylon, Assyria and Egypt were still in existence. This would also have been just prior to the existence of Homer.
Excluding the account we have of the Benjaminites in Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and some allusions in the works of Robert Graves, we have two interesting accounts, plus the essay on the Dionysian Artificers, by Dacosta. The first account is in French, a quote in Higgins' ANACALYPSIS, by an Abbé, either a Mons. Bonnaud or a Guerin de Rocher. This purports to show that the civil war in Israel was the same as the sacking of Troy. True, there are similar elements to the story, but the identification is with the Benjaminites being tricked into a war of extermination. The other is a Masonic play, THE DAUGHTER OF HIRAM ABIF. This delightful play is an allegory pertaining to one of Hiram's men, marrying a Shulammite woman (the 'daughter' of Hiram), and travelling to Tyre to celebrate the Feast of Melcarth on the winter solstice, then sailing to Arcadia in order to be married during the Rites (and Orgies) of PAN. It is interesting to see these allegories and the writing between the lines pertaining to this secret story. Without any conclusive documentation it is impossible to say exactly what happened. We shall see, too, that in the AASR, there are several auspicious allusions to Benjamin in THE BOOK OF THE WORDS, The 15° in particular.
If, for example, there is a connection between the Merovingians and the various families involved in the Trojan War, say Priam and Antenor, and if, too, there is a connection between these and the Benjaminites, there is also a connection with the founders of Rome, the earliest British Kings, and others, including the man whose name is synonymous with the alphabet, CADMUS, and including the man whose nature and deeds was the stimulus for many a legend -- that would be DIONYSOS. He we call one of the earliest "JOHNS" in history.
The FIFTH "Gate" is the introduction, which states that this story is a marvellous legend, which highlights history like the finial on a cathedral. Poussin is a Key with his painting of the Shepherds of Arcadia, and King Midas. We know about the former, and we know the tomb was not in Arcadia, but in Arques, France, until the 1980s. We know about the geometry in the painting. It is worth noting that the recent exposure "THE TOMB OF GOD" is seriously flawed. See our essay "IS THIS THE HOLY MOUNTAIN?v2.0 for details. We are not merely blind disciples of the writings and films of Henry Lincoln. For all we know, he could be a spook as well. In the beginning, we sought to prove or disprove his thesis, with the evidence we could acquire on our own, without necessarily having to travel to Europe to do so. We have found more things which render the theory possible, than we can find things that debunk it. The art historian from Oxford, which states that there is no way any of these painters could engage in sacred geometry or geometrical symbolism shows his complete ignorance of the subject which he claims to be an expert at, and which he undoubtedly derives a high ticket livelihood from. Also, the other fellow who states that works like HBHG aren't real history and cause more harm than good, is only saying that to protect the status quo in order to keep the false edifice in place is the most important thing.
For, Poussin has used Pech Cardou several times in his paintings, not just in the Shepherds. The Painting of Saint John on the Island of Patmos, and an untitled landscape painting also have this mountain, which has a distinctive shape. This is an important feature, in paintings, by a man who painted them, not in France, but in Italy. We have not seen King Midas, but we have read of his legend in Robert Graves, (The Greek Myths), and see the connections with Dionysos. The statement, 'descendants, peasants, and shepherds, of proud Sicambrians' -- The Sicambrians or Salian Franks were originally in Arcadia. This would be before they end up in Pannonia.
We append here some TESTIMONIA, from a few sources:
1. From THE BIRTH OF FRANCE, by Katherine Scherman.
2. From ANACALYPSIS, by Godfrey Higgins.
3. From the ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA (14th Edition).
1. THE BIRTH OF FRANCE, by Katherine Sherman (New York: Random House, 1987.)
"There [Pannonia/Sicambria] the Romans employed them to drive the 'perverse and rotten' Alans out of Pannonia, and 'because of the hardness and daring of their hearts the Emperor Valentinian called the Trojans Franks. In the Attic tongue Frank means fierce.' The 'Franks' now rose against their allies and killed the Roman Tax collectors, arousing the anger of the emperor, who sent a large force against them. The battle was a draw, but the Franks left the insecurity of Pannonia and traveled northwest. 'To the farthest reaches of the Rhine River where the Germans' strongholds are located. [After many years] they chose FARAMUND, and raised him up (a reference to the raising on the shield of an elected chieftain by his warriors.) This was the first time the Franks had had a single king, and the unauthenticated Faramund (whose name does not appear in written histories before the seventh century), was the direct ancestor of the dynasty of the Merovingians -- the tentative date of his election was AD 418, 'After King Faramund died, they raised up into his father's Kingdom CLODION, his long-haired son. At this time they began to have long-haired kings.' The date was about 428.
"...CLODION, the first Frankish leader to occupy territory in Roman Gaul taking CAMBRAI and pushing down to the Somme. The next recorded king after CLODION was MEROVECH, who may or may not have been his son."
2. II ANACALYPSIS, Book IV, Sec. 7 (pp 266-7). (FRANK-AL-MOIGN)
"The next tenure I shall notice is that of Frank-al-Moign. When two classes of priests arose, namely, the Seculars and Regulars, the lands in Frank-al-Moign were the lands held of the latter -- held of the monks -- les moines, or AL-MANNI, both still being lands of FRANK or LIBER. The Seculars had that name from the Socer Sac, both of which had the meaning of AIONOS[IN GREEK]. All priests were originally Seculars: the word Frank - al - Moign arose in time to distinguish the tenure of the MOnks, the Regulars, from the tenure of the Seculars. The whole land was originally the property of the priests, as vicegerents of the Divine Power, Vicars of God, as the Pope claims to be the possessor of all the lands, and claims the tithes of them as his tribute.
"...From the priests the Soc-manni just named held their lands; and to them only were they amenable or liable in any way to account for their conduct; and they had their own tribunals. When in later times the light of the Pontiff was lost sight of and great conquerors gave away extensive districts to their followers or feodal Barons, in the interior of which lands occupied by the priests were of course included, the Barons claimed from the priest a service tribute or acknowledgement of superiority; but whenever this was granted, it was done through fear, and a mental or verbal reservation of the rights of the church was always annexed to it; and as the extent of these rights was unknown, the claim, which in no case was ever given up, was a source of the most violent animosity. In consequence of this, in later times, an unceasing strife for power always existed between the Barons and the Priests; the priests by the terrors of purgatory generally at last prevailing. The Franks were first heard of on the Rhine as ALE-MANNI. The word Frank means FREE, and is probably a corruption of the word [PHRH in Greek] or Free -- Liberi Sacae. It was the religious name of the tribe, and in fact Saxons, as all the tribes probably were. [PHRH in Greek] and Freyas were arithmetical names of the same cycle, in its different stages of improvement, 666 and 608. From the word [PhRA'a in Hebrew] PRO, Parkhurst derives the words Frank and Franchise, and the Franks, (who had a king or dynasty called Pharamond,) which tends to confirm what I have said. From this root may come our word Freehold, that is, land held of the God [PHRH in Greek]. Our Freeholds are all held of a Superior; in theory they all have suit and service to perform to the liege lord, priest or king, whichever it may be; that is, Khan or Pri-est, or [PHRH in Greek]-est, meaning the real priest. The word EST is here a mere intensitive -- the very [PHRH in Greek]. La Loubiere says, in the Siam language, SION, that is, SUN, means FREE. On this account the Natives maintain that they have the ame name as the Franks..."
3. ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA (EB), Vol 16:668c, s.v., OBERON.
"OBERON, King of the elves. In the legendary history of the dynasty of Merovingians, he is a magician and the brother of Merowech (Mérovée). In the German heroic epic, NIBELUNGENLIED, he guards the treasure of the NIBELUNGEN but is overcome by Siegfried. With the name ALBERICH in the German medieval poem ORTNIT, he is King of the dwarfs and aids his son in his wooing. In the French romance, HUON DE BORDEAUX, OBERON is King of the Fairies and fills a role similar to that of Alberich in ORTNIT, but some elements from Celtic tradition are added, such as the Magic Cup which remains full for the virtuous and Oberon's parentage. (He is the son of Morgan le Fay and Julius Caesar).... In Richard Wagner's music dramas, DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN, Alberich is the Nibelung who steals the Magic Gold from the Rhine Maidens. He is there the father of Hagen and has throughout the RING a darker character than the Alberich of the earlier NIBELUNGENLIED."
We see here a definite connection with the Grail Stories, of the Magic Cup, and with SION and the Merovingian Franks. Before the Merovingians, there were the Sicambrians or Salian Franks. And, before this group split off from the main body they were a part of the Alamanni, and kin to the Suabians. The Alamanni once served the same purpose, played the same role, as the Merovingians. And these were the Trojan Arcadians who migrated to Pannonia. Notice also the legendary parentage of Oberon. "M" and "JC" may be a secret allusion, especially since Julius Caesar was not alive at the time.
LIBER HISTORIAE FRANCORUM gives us the origins of the Franks, as we copy from Katherine Scherman's THE BIRTH OF FRANCE:
"Let us set out the beginnings of the Kings of the Franks and their origin and also the origins of the people and its deeds. [After the fall of Troy] Priam and Antenor, two Trojan princes, embarked on ships with twelve thousand of the men remaining from the Trojan army. They came to the banks of the Tanis (DON) River. They sailed into the Maeotian swamps, penetrated the frontiers of the Pannonias and began to build a city as their memorial. They called it Sicambria and lived there many years, growing into a great people."
Now, if Brutus, 1st King of Britain, existed circa 1100 BCE, then Priam and Antenor existed four generations prior, which would be approximately 100 years. We are looking at circa 1200 BCE. This would be concurrent with the conquest of Palestine by the Hebrews.
The importance of all this is that we have the survivals of the line of Kingship granted, when "Kingship was lowered from Heaven." This Kingship passed along many lines, many nations and families, and ended up in the trust of a secret society whose existence today may even be questionable at best.
This, then, is the Grail Dynasty. Not limited to a family of Jesus who escaped Palestine 2000 years ago, or even the Benjaminites who escaped 3000 years ago, but encompassing all of Western Society, and Middle-Eastern Society as well. Descendants not only of "Proud Sicambrians" but descendants of the survivors of the desolation of SUMER, 4000 years ago; descendants of the ashes of the Assyrian Kingdom. Descendants of the Egyptian priests who chose to perpetuate their Secret Traditions away from the menacing control of the Slave State of the Persians, even though Egyptian society left a lot to be desired. Descendants of the survivors of Troy, who went on to found several kingdoms, including the Sicambrian Franks, the Romans, and the real Britons. Descendants of the earliest of genetic engineering experiments between the Nephilim and hominids. Where did the Nephilim come from? ANU, ENLIL, ENKI, NINHARSAG are among the eldest of the Gods, and even they are as great as the greatest of humans. So, then, who does God worship?
The "sixth gate," referring to Virgil's Eclogues, where the allusion is to someone leaving Arcadia, and going north, to Switzerland, where the Rhine starts at Zurichsee. This is Thur Canton, where Notker the Stammerer came from. He wrote one of the histories of Charlemagne, in the late 9th Century c.e. What is of note here, is what he says:
"The noble Charlemagne was often angry because he was obliged to go out and fight against barbarous peoples when one of his leaders seemed well suited to the task. This I can prove from the action of a man who came from my own neighborhood. He was a man called Eishere, from the Thurgau, who, as his name implies, formed 'a large part of a terrifying army'. He was so tall that you would have thought that he was descended from the race of ANAK, if these last had not lived so far away and so long ago." -- Notker the Stammerer, CHARLEMAGNE, in TWO LIVES OF CHARLEMAGNE., trans., Lewis Thorpe. (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1977.) Page 156.
Could this be Virgil's "secret of the Gods"? Had we not known of this story, we would have simply dismissed Notker's phrase about ANAK as a figure of speech, like saying, "he's as big as a house," but this statement seems like a bit of suspicious gossip on the part of Notker. It is kind of like the disdain felt for the Hippies by the Establishment Media in the 1960s. Could it be that the Alamanni and Swabians, and not just the Merovingians, were of the same ancestry? History does not give us the evidence, but there are clues. The Swabians were for a long time allied to the various French duchies like Alsace and Lorraine.
Emperor Henry IV enlisted the aid of Godfroi de Bouillon during the Investiture Contest. He restored Godfroi's mother's lands as a reward. The ancestral hunting lodge of the Hohenstaufens was at Haguenau, which is not in Swabia, but in Alsace, just north of Strasbourg. Our postulate is this: The Sicambrians who settled in Pannonia, perhaps other people from Arcadia, eventually, at some time near Virgil's time, made it to the Alps, and settled there. Josephus himself records stories of certain prominent Jews being banished to Vienna. Over time, the Franks became a race to be reckoned with, and these settlers would have intermarried with them to survive. Their giant's qualities guaranteed their survival, as a selling feature -- warriors need to be big and strong, after all. Then, some intermarried with the Alamanni, and became Swabians. And, nearly a millennium later, the Hohenstaufens came to power. A meteoric flash, perhaps, but their legacy, too, like that of the Merovingians, is filled with tales of Mystery, Magick, betrayal, assassination, heresy, conspiracy, secret alliances, and hidden bloodlines that would ensure its survival to the present day.
THIS, THEN, amounts to a Secret. A Royal Secret. No doubt why many occultists have occupied themselves with genealogy and similar antiquarian interests. We, too, find that the study of the Holy Doctrine involves the study of Genealogy. The history of the Authentic Tradition involves bloodlines, just like families possess. Perhaps this is why allegories pertaining to weaving persist in some traditions, like various Sufic and Tantrik traditions. Weaving is allegory, since the whole cloth consists of thousands of fine threads, and is long, and very, very old.