The Lie about Jewish Origins. The mischling people who call themselves Jews today often claim that the majority their ancestry which is not local to the area in which they fi nd themselves (e.g. the 30-50% Levantine ancestry of European Jews) can be historically traced back to the Judaeans displaced from the Roman province of Judaea in 70 AD (if a Western Jew, e.g. Ashkenazi, Sephardic, etc.) and 135 AD (if an Eastern Jew, e.g. Babylonian, Arabian, etc.) with a minority being historically traced to people displaced before 70 and 135 AD. This is usually true. However, the Jews, in typical fashion, misrepresent the truth to promote a false narrative. They do this by claiming that these Judaeans who were expelled from Judaea in 70 and 135 AD were genealogically/historically descended entirely, or at least primarily, from the ancient Israelites. This is an outright lie. That this claim about the historical origins of the Judaeans at this time is a lie will be demonstrated archaeologically and historically. These disciplines are the ones being primarily considered because they are the only disciplines that can actually provide useful information. Autosomal or Uniparental Genetics, for instance, can only show us that the majority of Jews today have a Levantine-Canaanite-like shift in their DNA, but they cannot shine a light on which historically de fi ned peoples are the actual source of this shift. Timeline: • Pre-744 BC: Israel and Judah ◦ Interpretations of the Archaeological and Biblical data indicate that that the Israelites were around 44-50% of the population of the two Kingdoms of Israel (North) and Judah (South), with the remainder of the population being primarily Canaanites or other foreigners. ✦ Citations: ✧ https://www.academia.edu/145245296/ ▪︎ “Thus, in Iron I Manasseh Hill Country...50.625%...of the population were Israelites... Thus, based on this interpretation of the Biblical data, approximately 56.1% of the population of both Judah and Israel combined may have been non-Israelite, with the proportion varying by region, as shall be seen, and generally matching the previous estimate.” ✧ https://www.tyndalebulletin.org/article/30680-large-numbers-in-the-old-testament ▪︎ “The original fi gure of...120,000 men of military age would mean a total population for Israel and Judah of nearly half a million. In the following reign Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel and found 153,600 who could be set to work (2 Oh. 2:17). This would mean that within the boundaries of the Promised Land as originally de fi ned, the non-Israelites would slightly outnumber the Israelites.” • 744-722 BC: Assyrian Deportations of the Northern Kingdom of Israel ◦ Assyrian and Biblical records describe the mass deportations of the Israelites from the Northern Kingdom of Israel across the Assyrian Empire during this period, as well as the resettlement of their lands by Southern Mesopotamians during the same period. Conservative estimates place the total number deported across all three deportations (744-734 BC (Tiglath- Pileser III), 725-723 BC (Shalamaneser V), 722-720 BC (Sargon II)) at at least 250,000 people. This is re fl ected in the archaeological data, which shows signi fi cant abandonment, destruction, etc. in most areas a ff ected, particularly the earliest a ff ected areas, and less abandonment in areas (Northern Samaria) said to be have been resettled with foreigners. Part of the remaining population, would also have included the 50-56% Canaanite majority, spared based on ethnicity (Assyrian deportations was ethnic speci fi c). These people would swiftly lose their identity and go on to become the Cimmero-Scythians. ✦ Citations: ✧ https://www.academia.edu/145245296/ ▪︎ “Persian period (circa 432 BC) Northern Samaria: 25% decline relative to late pre- Assyrian deportation period (circa 722 BC) Northern Samaria, i.e. 75% continuity 290 years later. (12) Persian period (circa 432 BC) Southern Samaria: 70-80% decline relative to late pre- Assyrian deportation period (circa 722 BC) Southern Samaria, i.e. 30-20% continuity 290 years later. (12) Markers of Assyrian administration, as well as the Biblical record, which noted both Edomite and Cuthean settlement in Samaria (Ezekiel 35, Malachi 1, Ezra 4, 2 Kings 17), indicate specifically that Northern Samaria was the area resettled (12), which may explain some of the continuity observed.” ✧ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CApoPDe98WE ▪︎ 12:40 “But with some simple math, if one district of 16 produced 13,000, all 16 would come out to be about a quarter of a million.” ✧ https://www.academia.edu/44844604/ ▪︎ “...most sites in the region of Samaria, Shechem, and Tell el-Far’ah (N), about 75 percent, continued to exist during Neo-Assyrian and Babylonian rule...in the eastern and southern parts there was a big decline...the center of the province under Assyrian control was...a region of continued settlement...Moving south, only 30 percent of Iron Age II sites show continuity to the Persian period...southernmost sites between Bethel and Shiloh su ff ered an even deeper decline...continuity after the Assyrian conquest is less than 20 percent.” ✧ https://www.academia.edu/143678436/ ▪︎ “This study re-examines prevailing paradigms regarding the origins of the Celto- Germanic peoples in light of ancient historical records, archaeology, and aDNA data, demonstrating that the Celto-Germanic peoples of Northern and Western Europe are, in their primary descent, of Cimmero-Scythian origin...The study also engages with philological, historical, archaeological, [Biblical] and toponymic arguments linking Cimmero-Scythians to deported Israelite groups, finding genetic plausibility...” ✧ 2 Kings 15 & 17 & 18 ▪︎ 2 Kings 15:29 “In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.” ▪︎ 2 Kings 17:6 “In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria; he placed them in Halah, Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.” ▪︎ 2 Kings 17:23 “So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria until this day.” ▪︎ 2 Kings 17:24-41, these verses describe how the Assyrians brought people from other conquered lands to settle in Samaria, and the religious syncretism that resulted. ▪︎ 2 Kings 18:9-11 “Now in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came and captured Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.” ✧ 1 Chronicles 5. ▪︎ 1 Chronicles 5:25-26 “So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and he carried them away—Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, the river of Gozan, and to the cities of the Medes.” • 715-701 BC: Assyrian Deportation of the Northern Half of the Southern Kingdom of Judah ◦ Assyrian and Biblical records describe the mass deportation of Israelites from the Northern half of the Southern Kingdom of Judah in the 14th year of King Hezekiah’s reign, leaving only Jerusalem and its people truly standing. Assyrian records claim over 200,000 people were deported. These joined their brethren in Northern Mesopotamia, becoming part of emerging Cimmero-Scythian polities in the region. ✦ Citations: ✧ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sennacherib's_Annals ▪︎ “Compared to this, the Taylor Prism proclaims that 46 walled cities and innumerable smaller settlements were conquered by the Assyrians, with 200,150 people, and livestock, being deported.” ✧ 2 Kings 18 & 19 ▪︎ 2 Kings 18:13-14 “In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the forti fi ed cities of Judah and captured them. Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, ‘I have done wrong; withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.’ And the king of Assyria imposed on Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.” ▪︎ 2 Kings 18:31-32 “Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fi g tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern: ▪︎ Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The Lord will deliver us.” ▪︎ 2 Kings 19:35 “And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and fi ve thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.” ✧ 2 Chronicles 32 ▪︎ 2 Chronicles 32:9-12 “After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem, (but he himself laid siege against Lachish, and all his power with him,) unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem? Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The Lord our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and burn incense upon it?” ▪︎ 2 Chronicles 32:21 “And the Lord sent an angel, which cut o ff all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.” • 605-586 BC: Babylonian Deportations of the Southern Kingdom of Judah ◦ Babylonian and Biblical records describe the mass deportations of the remaining Judahites from the Kingdom of Judah to Babylon. ✦ Citations: ✧ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_captivity ▪︎ “Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem, his capture of its king, his appointment of another in his place, and the plundering of the city in 597 BCE are corroborated by a passage in the Babylonian Chronicles: ‘In the seventh year, in the month of Kislev, the king of Akkad mustered his troops, marched to the Hatti-land, and encamped against the City of Judah and on the ninth day of the month of Adar he seized the city and captured the king. He appointed there a king of his own choice and taking heavy tribute brought it back to Babylon.’ Archaeologist Avraham Faust suggests that between the deportations and executions caused by the Babylonians, plus the famines and epidemics that occurred during the war, the population of Judah may have been reduced to as little as 10% of what it had been in the time before deportations.” ✧ 2 Kings 24 & 25 ▪︎ 2 Kings 24:10-16 “At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged...And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his o ffi cers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his o ffi cers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.” ▪︎ 2 Kings 25:1-21 “And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about...So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon. And in the fi fth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem...Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away. But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen... And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land. ✧ 2 Chronicles 36 ▪︎ 2 Chronicles 36:6-17 “Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon... And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the Lord, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem...Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.” • 593-571 BC: Ezekiel Prophecies Regarding Edom ◦ In Ezekiel 35 & 36, Ezekiel discussed how - after the deportations of the Israelites and the Judahites - the Edomites expanded North into the lands they formerly occupied, settling them. They settled most densely south of and including Hebron. Ezekiel then relayed a prophecy from Yahweh describing how he would punish the Edomites by making their original land, Mt. Seir, desolate, in the same way Israel and Judah had been made desolate. The migrations of the Edomites into the territories formerly occupied by the Israelites and Judahites is noted in archaeological and historical literature. ✦ Citations: ✧ https://www.academia.edu/26914216/ ▪︎ “Edomites migrated into southern Judah, in fl uencing regional identity and culture post- Judah's fall in 586 BCE.” ✧ Ezekiel 35 & 36 ▪︎ Ezekiel 35:8-10 “Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it...I will make you perpetually desolate, and your cities shall be uninhabited; then you shall know that I am the Lord. “Because you have said, ‘These two nations and these two countries shall be mine , and we will possess them,’” ▪︎ Ezekiel 36:5 “Surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave My land to themselves as a possession, with wholehearted joy and spiteful minds, in order to plunder its open country.” ✧ https://www.academia.edu/1259236/ ▪︎ “Edom betrayed Judah by initiating a clandestine treaty with Babylon during the Babylonian assault in 588 BCE...Edom's strategic control of the Judahite Negev was aimed at economic expansion during the Babylonian crisis.” ✧ https://www.academia.edu/43347713/ ▪︎ “Archaeological excavations in the northeastern Negev region of southern Judah identi fi ed signi fi cant amounts of "foreign" archaeological material culture in contexts dating to the late Iron Age (late eighth to early sixth century BCE). This iconic material culture consisted of highly identi fi able ceramics, evidence of non-Yahwistic cult featuring the deity Qws, and non-Judahite inscriptions. Identi fi ed as associated with the kingdom of Edom to the east...” ✧ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edom • 6th Century BC: Edom Destroyed by Arabs ◦ Exactly as prophesied by Ezekiel, the land of Edom was destroyed. This occurred due to an invasion by the Babylonian king Nabadonius, aided by Qedarites and Nabatean Arabs, who entirely occupied the former lands of Edom (What Malachi 1:3 calls “Jackals of the Wilderness”), pushing the remaining Edomites further North among their brethren in Idumea, with a minority of Arabs following along and gaining dominance and in fl uence in the region. ✦ Citations: ✧ Malachi 1:3 “But Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness.” ✧ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edom ✧ https://www.academia.edu/78346089/ ▪︎ “Pushed by the emerging Nabataeans and other Arabs, these tribes settled in the Negev.” ✧ https://www.academia.edu/50287792/ ▪︎ “This development forced the Idumeans to fl ee northward into Judah, encroaching on Judean territory.” ✧ https://www.academia.edu/38554916/ ▪︎ “the area that had been Iron-Age Edom [this is not Persian Period Idumea] was now a part of ‘Arabia'." ✧ https://www.academia.edu/6479181/ ▪︎ "The Qedarites, not Edomites, ruled the southern region of Judah by the mid-5th century BCE.” • 536 BC: A Remnant of the Babylonian Exiles Return. ◦ Occurring at the exact time Jeremiah had prophesied it would 70 years earlier, the Persians conquered Babylon and allowed a remnant of ~42,000 Judahites to return to Jerusalem and the Northern reaches of the former Kingdom of Judah. The southern half the former Kingdom of Judah had become Idumea. ✦ Citations: ✧ Jeremiah 29:10-14 ▪︎ “For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and fi nd Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.” ✧ Ezra ✧ https://www.academia.edu/38554916/ ▪︎ “Cyrus the Great, following his conquest of Babylon in 539 bce, issued his famous 'edict' allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem.” ✧ https://www.academia.edu/35321249/ ▪︎ “Archaeological evidence indicates no human activity in Jerusalem from 586 BCE until the Persian period.” • 458-450 BC: Expulsion of Foreigners Under The Regimes of Ezra and Nehemiah. ◦ The Priesthood began to become corrupted after the Babylonian exiled returned, due to mixing with foreigners. Under the regimes of Ezra and Nehemiah, men and women who married foreigners in the land were expelled, alongside their spouses and mixed children. Archaeological estimates suggest this reduced the population of the Persian province of Yehud from 42,000 to about 30,000 people. ✦ Citations: ✧ Ezra ✧ Nehemiah ✧ https://www.academia.edu/145245296/ ▪︎ “This doesn’t impact calculations, but the reason Yehud population estimates based on archaeological remains (e.g., 30,000) and Biblical figures di ff er is due to the expulsion of all foreigners, those with foreign mixture, and even those Judahites who married foreigners (e.g., Nehemiah 13:28), around 440 BC, which would have significantly reduced the size of the population.” • 550-330 BC: The Population of Persian Period Idumea. ◦ Ostraca from Persian Period Idumea show a very mixed population: Arab (31.73%), Idumean (27.19%), Western Semitic (25.65%), Judahite (9.35%), Phoenician (5.01%), Babylonian (0.58%), Iranian (0.29%), and Aramaean (0.19%). Most “Western Semites” were probably Idumeans as not all Idumeans would have had theophoric names. ✦ Citations: ✧ https://www.academia.edu/3557089/ • 167 BC: Hasmonean Revolt. ◦ Judaeans revolted against the Seleucid empire, establishing the Hasmonean kingdom. ✦ Citations: ✧ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maccabean_Revolt • 141-37 BC: The Hasmonean Kingdom. ◦ The Hasmonean Kingdom expanded rapidly during this time, expanding from the tiny province of Yehud to encompassing nearly the entirety of the former territory of the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel. ✦ Citations: ✧ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasmonean_dynasty • 129 BC onwards: Mass Conversion. ◦ Under the leadership of the high priest John Hyrcanus, the practice of violently expelling all conquered foreigners was done away with in favour of mass forced conversion of all foreigners, starting with the Idumeans in 129 BC, who thereafter became no other than Judaeans and were absorbed into the nation. After 107 BC, Alexander Jannaeus expanded the Hasmonean Kingdom further, forcibly converted the Syrians, Phoenicians, Moabites, further Idumeans, and those living near Samaria. These widespread conversions of non- Israelite groups led directly to the ethnic and religious admixture in Judaea noted by historians like Strabo, thereby laying the foundation for modern Jewry. ✦ Citations: ✧ Josephus, Antiquities Book 13 ▪︎ “Hyrcanus took also Dora and Marissa, cities of Idumea, and subdued all the Idumeans; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would submit to circumcision, and make use of the laws of the Judaeans...and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the right of circumcision, and of the rest of the Judaean ways of living; at which time, therefore, this befell them, that they were hereafter considered to be Judaeans...Pella; which last they utterly destroyed, because its inhabitants would not bear to change their religious rites for those peculiar to the Judaeans.” ✧ Strabo, Geography Book 16 ▪︎ “As for Judaea, its western extremities towards Casius are occupied by the Idumaeans and by the lake. The Idumaeans...joined the Judaeans, and shared in the same customs with them.” ✧ Ammonius, On the Di ff erences of Synonymous Terms ▪︎ “...the Judahites are such by nature, and from the beginning, whilst the Idumeans are not Judaeans from the beginning ... but being afterwards subdued by the Judaeans and compelled to be circumcised, and to unite into one nation, and be subject to the same laws, they were called Judaeans.” ✧ Dio Cassius, Romans History Book 37 ▪︎ “They have also another name that they have acquired: the country has been named Judaea, and the people themselves Jews. I do not know how this title came to be given them, but it applies also to all the rest of mankind, although of alien race, who a ff ect their customs.” ✧ 1 Maccabees 2:46 ▪︎ “And what children soever they found within the coast of Israel uncircumcised, those they circumcised valiantly” • 37 BC: Edomite Usurping of Power. ◦ Herod the Edomite (an Idumean) was made king of Judaea by the Romans. He took political control, killing the Hasmonean nobility and installing his own Edomite countrymen into positions of power, especially the temple priesthood (Sadducees). ✦ Citations: ✧ Josephus Antiquities 14 & 15 & 17 & 19 ▪︎ “but Antigonus, by way of reply to what Herod had caused to be proclaimed, and this before the Romans, and before Silo also, said that they would not do justly if they gave the kingdom to Herod, who was no more than a private man, and an Idumean, that is. a half Judaean, whereas they ought to bestow it on one of the royal family, as their custom was.” ▪︎ “For being cautious how he made any illustrious person the High Priest of God, he sent for an obscure priest out of Babylon, whose name was Ananelus, and bestowed the High Priesthood upon him.” ▪︎ “Costobarus was an Idumean by birth, and one of principal dignity among them, and one whose ancestors had been priests to the Koze... but after Hyrcanus had made a change in their political government, and made them receive the Jewish customs and law, Herod made Costobarus governour of Idumea, and Gaza, and gave him his sister Salome to wife.” ▪︎ “he deprived Matthias of the high priesthood, as in part an occasion of this action; and made Joazar, who was Matthias’s wife’s brother, High Priest in his stead.” ▪︎ “...he removed Theophilus, the son of Ananus, from the high priesthood, and bestowed that honor of his on Simon the son of Boethus, whose name was also Cantheras, whose daughter king Herod married, as I have related above.” ▪︎ “That king Alexander and his wife made him [Herod’s father, Antipater] general of all Idumea, and that he made a league of friendship with those Arabians, and Gazites, and Ascalonites, that were of his own party and had, by many and large presents, made them his fast friends...And since Herod had now the government of all Judea put into his hands, he promoted such of the private men in the city as had been of his party [Arabians, and Gazites, Idumaeans and Ascalonites], but never left o ff avenging and punishing every day those that had chosen to be of the party of his enemies. But Pollio the Pharisee, and Sameas, a disciple of his, were honored by him above all the rest ✧ Josephus Wars 2 ▪︎ “They cried out, that a punishment ought to be in fl icted for these men upon those that were honoured by Herod; and that, in the fi rst place, the man whom he had made high- priest should be deprived, and that it was fi t to choose a person of greater piety and purity than he was.” ▪︎ “For there are three philosophical sects among the Judaeans. The followers of the fi rst of which are the Pharisees; of the second, the Sadducees; and the third sect, which pretends to a severer discipline, are called Essenes. [Only] These last are Judaeans by birth, and seem to have a greater a ff ection for one another than the other sects have.” • 1st Century AD: The Ethnic Makeup of Judaea. ◦ Archaeological estimates suggest that the proportion of the population who were at least partly Israelite in the roman province of Judaea (Judea proper + Idumea) and Samaria at this time was around 6-21% with those who were likely entirely Israelite being around 3-13%, but in spite of these low Israelite numbers, 95% of the population would have been culturally Judaean, and over 50% Idumean. The remainder of the population was made up of other Canaanites, most of the Samaritans among them, and a very small amount of Graeco-Roman settlers. ✦ Citations: https://www.academia.edu/145245296/ • 70 and 135 AD Revolts. ◦ In 66 AD, the Judaeans revolted, and the Romans besieged Jerusalem in 70 AD, between 500,000-1,100,000 people died in the war, and about 100,000 were enslaved and sent across the empire, with many more being displaced. By the time of the fi rst Jewish-Roman war, the Idumeans were the primary people who unsuccessfully defended the temple against Rome, (Wars 4:4:4). As a result of the later Bar Kokhba revolt, 580K were said to have died, with an unspeci fi ed (but presumably high number) having been expelled. ✦ Citations: ✦ Josephus Wars 4 & 5 & 6 ✧ “Now the number of those that were carried captive during this whole war was collected to be ninety-seven thousand; as was the number of those that perished during the whole siege eleven hundred thousand, the greater part of whom were indeed of the same nation [with the citizens of Jerusalem], but not belonging to the city itself; for they were come up from all the country to the feast of unleavened bread, and were on a sudden shut up by an army, which, at the very fi rst, occasioned so great a straitness among them that there came a pestilential destruction upon them, and soon afterward such a famine, as destroyed them more suddenly.” ✧ “...we that are Idumeans will preserve this house of God; and will fi ght for our common country; and will oppose by war as well those that attack them from abroad, as those that betray them from within.” ✧ “But, together with those whom they had orders to slay, they slew the aged and the in fi rm; but for those that were in their fl ourishing age, and who might be useful to them, they drove them together into the temple, and shut them up within the walls of the court of the women; ... So this Fronto slew all those that had been seditious and robbers, who were impeached one by another; but of the young men he chose out the tallest and most beautiful, and reserved them for the triumph; and as for the rest of the multitude that were above seventeen years old, he put them into bonds, and sent them to the Egyptian mines Titus also sent a great number into the provinces, as a present to them, that they might be destroyed upon their theatres, by the sword and by the wild beasts; but those that were under seventeen years of age were sold for slaves.” ✧ “So they got together, and slew many of the zealots, and drove the rest before them into that royal palace that was built by Grapte, who was a relation of Izates, the king of Adiabene: the Idumeans fell in with them, and drove the zealots out thence into the temple, and betook themselves to plunder John’s e ff ects.” ✧ “Simon also made an assault upon the temple, with the assistance of the people; while the others stood upon the cloisters, and the battlements, and defended themselves from their assaults. However, a considerable number of Simon’s party fell; and many were carried o ff wounded. For the zealots threw their darts easily from a superior place; and seldom failed of hitting their enemies.” ✦ Tacitus History 5 ✧ “We have heard that the total number of the besieged of every age and both sexes was six hundred thousand; there were arms for all who could use them, and the number ready to fi ght was larger than could have been anticipated from the total population. Both men and women showed the same determination; and if they were to be forced to change their home, they feared life more than death.” ✦ Cassius DIo Roman History 69 ✧ “Fifty of their most important outposts and nine hundred and eighty- fi ve of their most famous villages were razed to the ground. Five hundred and eighty thousand men were slain in the various raids and battles, and the number of those that perished by famine, disease and fi re was past fi nding out.” ✦ Jerome Commentary on Daniel. ✧ “And the [other] three years and six months are accounted for in Hadrian's reign, when Jerusalem was completely destroyed and the Jewish nation was massacred in large groups at a time, with the result that they were even expelled from the borders of Judaea.” • 2nd Century AD Onwards. ◦ The primarily Edomite Judaeans expelled to Spain and North Africa would mix with locals and later minor mixture with Arabs and black slaves to form Sephardic Jews. Those expelled into Italy and other parts of Europe would mix with locals to form the Ashkenazi Jews. Those in Central and Eastern Europe also incorporated minor Turkic ancestry from the Khazars who converted and mixed with them. Those who spread eastward or staid put would gradually mix with Arabs and various local populations. These people and their proselytes are known today as Jews. ——————————————————————————————————————————— Addressing Some Confusion and False Teachings: 1. The true Edomites were replaced by/mixed out of existence by the Qedarites/Nabatean Arabs, who then went on to lose their own identity, and adopt their identity as “Idumeans”. • This false teaching originates among the Restored Puritan sect of Compromise Identity. This primarily comes from a false preterist misreading of Obadiah 1:18, a misrepresentation of Ian Stern’s 2007 Ostraca data, and a misapplication of Strabo. The view is de fi ned by its own adherents as follows: “...Jews were neither Edomites nor Judahites, but racially mixed Qedarite Arabs who controlled Levantine trade routes out of Gaza, larped as Edomites in Idumea for prominence, then larped as Judahites in Judaea for prominence, then larped as Whites in Western nations for prominence.” ◦ Obadiah 1:18: ✦ It is claimed that Obadiah prophesies the immediate destruction of Edom by Arabs around 552 BC. This is obviously false because it is explicitly stated that the house of Jacob (including Joseph, representing the Northern Israelites) will be the fi re that consumes Esau, not the house of Kedar. The Israelites did not partake in this destruction of Edom by Arabs because there were practically none in the region until a few decades later. This destruction of Edom by Arabs also did not lead to their total ethnic annihilation, as many had already moved north and resettled Judah and Israel by this time (Yigal Levin 2020 notes that Settlement begun there as early as 700 BC). See Obadiah 1:18 below (BSB): “Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fi re , and the house of Joseph a burning fl ame ; but the house of Esau will be stubble — Jacob will set it ablaze and consume it. Therefore no survivor will remain from the house of Esau.” This prophecy has clearly not been ful fi lled because the Israelites, who are the Celtic and Germanic peoples of Europe (https://www.academia.edu/143678436/) have yet to kill every single Edomite-Jew, but, by the Word of Yahweh, we will. ◦ Ian Stern’s 2007 Ostraca Data: ✦ Though Restored Puritans usually cite Yigal Levin’s 2020 paper “The Religion of Idumea and Its Relationship to Early Judaism” ( https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/10/487 ), its primary data of importance comes from Ian Stern’s 2007 paper “THE POPULATION OF PERSIAN- PERIOD IDUMEA ACCORDING TO THE OSTRACA” ( https://www.academia.edu/3557089/ ), which was also cited here. The primary argument is that, because Edomites were a minority of the population of Persian Period Idumea, around 27% (they are probably underestimated, as not every Edomite would have had their deity in their name. Most “Western Semitic” names observed are plausibly Edomites), they must have mixed themselves out of existence with the Arab portion (around 32%) of the population. This is a fair assumption, however, the actual data from Ian Stern’s paper falsi fi es this assumption. On page 225 (Table 2.7) Stern records that only 10% of the individuals in the Ostraca with Idumean names had any intergenerational familial ties to Arab clans, and only 11.43% of individuals in the Ostraca with Arab names had any intergenerational familial ties to Idumean clans. In other words, AT LEAST 90% of the Edomites had not mixed with Arabs during the Persian period, probably even more, as merely having familial ties to Arabs does not imply that one is mixed with them (e.g., one’s extended family member could have mixed with an Arab, creating what would appear as a familial tie in the Ostraca, in spite of your purity). This should come as a surprise to no-one considering the Edomites and the Arabs had recently warred one another and thus were certainly not what we would consider the bestest of friends. Edomites were more likely to have mixed with other Canaanite descended groups like Phoenicians (23%) with whom they had no ethnic quarrels. To claim that the Idumeans had been ethnically replaced or mixed out of existence by Arabs in the Persian Period is simply untenable given this data. ◦ The Historical Data: ✦ The Primary “proof” that the people who called themselves Idumeans were Arabs comes from Strabo’s Geography 16.2.34, in which he claims the following quite bluntly: “As for Judaea, its western extremities towards Casius are occupied by the Idumeans and by the lake. The Idumeans are Nabataeans, but owing to a sedition they were banished from there, joined the Judaeans, and shared in the same customs with them.” The primary issue with using Strabo as a source here is that “Strabo had never seen Palestine; he spoke only after reports [hearsay], which may be as inaccurate” ( https:// ccel.org/ccel/gibbon/decline/decline.iii.iii.html ), making this considerably less reliable than his other writings. For instance, he also claimed, in the very same section, that the ancestors of the Judaeans were Egyptians. Are we to believe him? Certainly not. He, or rather, his sources, are clearly anachronistically and errantly con fl ating geographic origin with ethnic origin. The Idumeans did indeed come from the area then controlled by Nabatean Arabs in his (Strabo’s) time, which Strabo notes they were expelled from in their earlier history, but he errs in con fl ating this geographic origin with their ethnic origin. Strabo likely heard from his sources that A. The Idumeans originally come from Seir and B. The Nabateans lived in Seir, and then inaccuratley concluded that they were Nabateans. Moreover, Strabo was not the only ancient author to discuss the Edomites. Ptolemy of Ascalon, who was born in an actually lived in the Levant, had this to say of the Idumeans (On the Life and Reign of Herod the Great Book I, fragment no. 1053): “Judeans by origin and nature are one thing; the Idumeans were not Judeans by origin but Phoenicians and Syrians, and being subdued by them and forced to undergo circumcision and to share in their national customs, they were afterwards called Judeans.” He con fi rms the forced conversion narrative and their mixing with Judaeans, but crucially, he correctly notes that they were “Phoenicians and Syrians”, term which at this time were essentially used to describe all Levantine/Canaanite peoples, i.e., they were broadly Canaanites, which is correct. This also shows that Idumeans had still preserved their identity up until this point. Furthermore, of all the peoples in Idumea, the only ones to resist conversion were the Arabs, who fl ed the country to preserve their religion! This means that after 129 BC, the Arab presence in Idumea was essentially 0. The Arabs in Idumea are recorded as having: 1. Preserved their liberty, opting to live in the wilderness rather than stop their pagan practices. Cf. Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica XIX.94.1-3 2. Preserved their sun worship cult (Strabo a ffi rms Diodorus). Cf. Strabo, Geography, XVI.4.26 Another witness against the idea the the Qedarites had been absorbed into the Idumean polity and adopted their name is the fact that during the entirety of the Persian and Hellenistic period, the Qedarites in Maresha (an Idumean city!) are called QDRYN (Qedarites) in the Aramaic Ostraca, not Edomites. This is not what we’d expect if the narrative “they replaced them and larped as them” were true. This data indicates that Arab groups within Idumea retained their own identity rather than assuming an Edomite one. 2. Herod was half Arab through his mother. • The primary source for this comes from two speci fi c textual variants of Josephus’ Antiquities 14.7.3 and Wars 1.8.9. These textual variants ( https://www.attalus.org/translate/aj_14a.html , https://www.attalus.org/translate/bj_1b.html#181 ) states, respectively: “...this he did at the instigation of Antipater, who at that time had great in fl uence with him, and was then held in the greatest esteem by the Idumeans also, from among whom he took a wife of a distinguished Arab family, named Cypros; and by her he had four sons, Phasel, Herod, who later became king...” “...Antipater had married a lady named Cypros, of an illustrious Arabian family, by whom he had four sons - Phasael, Herod afterwards king...” However, an alternate textual variant (as preserved in William Whiston’s translation, see here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ fi les/2850/2850-h/2850-h.htm , https://www.gutenberg.org/ fi les/ 2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm ) claimed otherwise (respectivel