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You Have Questions. The Bible Has Answers. |
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Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright |
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APPENDIX Lineage of British Monarchy back to Adam |
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We find a minister of the Gospel who, in his homily on Jer. 33:17-18, asks, "Do the prophets prophesy falsely?" He answers his question as follows:
"If the statements of these verses be taken literally it would seem as if they did. The house of Israel never, since its exile, has had a throne at all, nor has any descendant of David been acknowledged as its prince. Yet these verses say 'David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel (not the house of Judah), etc.' And literally, it never came to pass, for in the lapse and confusion of the ages their genealogical tables have been utterly lost, so that none can certainly say who is of the house of David or who is of the house of Levi. The Asmonean princes who occupied the throne of Judah were of the tribe of Levi, and Herod was no Jew at all (Herod belonged to the house of Esan).Now, the promise of these verses is one that is repeated (2Sam. 7:16; I Kings 2,4; Psa. 89, 4-29, 36; Num. 25, 12, etc). How, then, are they to be understood, since events have most surely falsified them if understood in any literal way? And so the prophet Hosea cheered the ten tribes of Israel -- those of whom we speak now as the lost ten tribes -- by promises of their restoration; and Jeremiah does the same . . . . But in spite of all these prophecies, the ten tribes never were restored and never, as a whole, received any favors from God after they went into captivity.
Our own belief is that, in regard to this world, these promises were illusions, but in regard to the world to come, they shall in substance and reality be fulfilled there. Meanwhile let us have faith in God, who, in ways better than we think, will fulfill that which now sometimes seems as if it will be never fulfilled at all." (Rev. S. B. Conway, B. A.).
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It is a marvel that this man has any faith at all, and yet he not only has faith in God, but can exhort others also to have faith; even though the case seems hopeless. This is as it should be, and it gives us joy; but we are sure, if this brother, and thousands like him, had these truths which we bring, they would be giants in faith. This entire work is intended as a guide to all such bewildered believers. For their further encouragement, and also to show that the genealogical tables have not been utterly lost we append a genealogical table which begins with Adam and passes down through the royal family of Israel to the present generation. The publisher of this table says: "The possible descent of Queen Victoria from King David was first entered upon in the present day by the Rev. F. R. A. Glover, M. A. He did not, however, attempt to give the genealogy link by link, nor enter into the proofs in detail. Since then the whole subject of her Majesty's Jewish ancestry has been further examined by various students and writers on our Israelitish origin. Mr. J. C. Stephens has compiled a 'Genealogical Chart,' showing the connection between the House of David and the royal Family of Britain." One of the workers in this cause, says: "The difficulty heretofore has been to supply the line from Queen Tephi to King Fergus of Scotland. This we now supply through the valuable researches of the Rev. A. B. GRIMALDI, M. A." Rev. A. B. Grimaldi says: "The descent of our Royal Family from the royal line of Judah is, however, no new discovery. The Saxon kings traced themselves back to Odin, who traced back his descent to David, as may be seen in a very ancient MS. in the Heralds' College, London, and in Sharon Turner. ('History of the Anglo-Saxons', Vol. I.) The full and complete genealogy of Victoria from David does not appear ever to have been printed; and it has, therefore, been thought that it would be useful, as well as interesting, to put it on record, both for reference and testimony. Another worker in this cause, says: "From the tables we are able to furnish a complete list of the royal line from David and Zedekiah to Queen Victoria. We believe the account here given is very nearly correct. If any error he detected we should be happy to be informed. Dates after private names refer to births and deaths; those after sovereigns' to their accession, and death: and "b" and "d" stand for born and died (vide, Talmud, London, 1887)." |
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