THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE HEBREW TERM GALAH

THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE HEBREW TERM

GALAH [hlg]

There are many names and words—especially in northwestern Europe and Britain—that have the stem gal-, or gala-, or gael-, and occasionally gol-.

This evening I hope to show you that these root stems are a sign that indicates the House of Israel in its dispersal throughout the world, and has a lot to say about our condition.

*** The term hlg [GALAH], Strong’s #1540, is a root word meaning “to denude”. When applied to groups of people, it signifies “led away captive; exiled”; i.e., a foreigner force to live in strange lands, sometimes having to move from one place to another.

You may already be aware that in Hebrew—the original language that the Creator God gave to the human race—the letters are not only phonetic, but pictorial as well. The 22 letters each have a specific meaning, so that the reader can often get deeper insight into what the word is really about. For example, the first letter alef [a] originally pictured the head of a bull. Thus, it connotes strength and leadership. The second, bet [b] is a house or dwelling, representing the household or family therein. When you combine the two and get ab,, this gives the picture of “the strong one/leader of the household”, and the word means father, as in Abraham (“Father of Many Nations”. Or Abimelech (“Father of the King”).

Remembering that Hebrew reads right to left, galah is from the consonants gimel-lamed-hey.

· Gimel [g] is also the word for camel, and it pictures the camel’s head and neck, meaning full of pride, lifted up, snooty, etc.

· Lamed [l] is a shepherd’s rod or staff. As an action, it has to do with leading of being led.

· Hey [h] indicates Behold!—something is revealed. On the end of a word, it often means “that which comes from or results from” the preceding portion of the word.

*** The word picture I get is:

“As a result of rebellious pride, they were led off into captivity.”

Hebrew also uses its letters for mathematical values, so that the value of a word can be tallied up. This is called gematria. The gematria of galah enhances the meaning and word picture:

g = 3 l = 30 h = 5; 3 + 30 + 5 = 38

The number 38 apparently has no special meaning, but we can simplify it down to one that does by adding the digits together:

3 + 8 = 11

· 11 connotes disorder and judgment. Does this not fit a people whose haughtiness and rebellion causes them to carried captive to other lands?

*** The galah root can be found in names like Galilee, Galaad, and Golan. [The Golan Heights, of 6-Day War fame, were named that because any Israelites beyond that point were dwelling in foreign territory outside the boundaries of the Land.

But why is the term so important to us? It is used many times in the Old Testament, and is applied to captivities of both the House of Israel and the House of Judah. Let’s look at some:

1Ch 5:6 Beerah⁸⁸⁰ his son,¹¹²¹ whom⁸³⁴ Tiglath-pileser⁸⁴⁰⁷ king⁴⁴²⁸ of Assyria⁸⁰⁴ carried away¹⁵⁴⁰ captive: he¹⁹³¹ was prince⁵³⁸⁷ of the Reubenites.⁷²⁰⁶

*Note that the first mention of galah in the chronological timeline is in connection with the leader of the tribe of Reuben. Then it shows the whole tribe along with the two others with which it was associated:

1Ch 5:26 And the God⁴³⁰ of Israel³⁴⁷⁸ stirred up⁵⁷⁸² ⁽⁸⁵³⁾ the spirit⁷³⁰⁷ of Pul⁶³²² king⁴⁴²⁸ of Assyria,⁸⁰⁴ and the spirit⁷³⁰⁷ of Tiglath-pileser⁸⁴⁰⁷ king⁴⁴²⁸ of Assyria,⁸⁰⁴ and he carried them away,¹⁵⁴⁰ even the Reubenites,⁷²⁰⁶ and the Gadites,¹⁴²⁵ and the half²⁶⁷⁷ tribe⁷⁶²⁶ of Manasseh,⁴⁵¹⁹ and brought⁹³⁵ them unto Halah,²⁴⁷⁷ and Habor,²²⁴⁹ and Hara,²⁰²⁴ and to the river⁵¹⁰⁴ Gozan,¹⁴⁷⁰ unto⁵⁷⁰⁴ this²⁰⁸⁸ day.³¹¹⁷

*** These tribes were originally resettled in the area between the Black and Caspian Seas. Later, many others of the tribes of the House of Israel were put with them:

2Ki 18:11 And the king⁴⁴²⁸ of Assyria⁸⁰⁴ did carry away¹⁵⁴⁰ ⁽⁸⁵³⁾ Israel³⁴⁷⁸ unto Assyria,⁸⁰⁴ and put⁵¹⁴⁸ them in Halah²⁴⁷⁷ and in Habor²²⁴⁹ by the river⁵¹⁰⁴ of Gozan,¹⁴⁷⁰ and in the cities⁵⁸⁹² of the Medes:⁴⁰⁷⁴

*** Later on, the House of Judah (“Jews”) was galah into Babylon for 70 years:

1Ch 6:15 And Jehozadak³⁰⁸⁷ went¹⁹⁸⁰ into captivity, when the LORD³⁰⁶⁸ carried away¹⁵⁴⁰ ⁽⁸⁵³⁾ Judah³⁰⁶³ and Jerusalem³³⁸⁹ by the hand³⁰²⁷ of Nebuchadnezzar.⁵⁰¹⁹

*** When the Israelite captives known as Celts [properly pronounced “Kelts”] began to migrate, they mainly called themselves Gauls or Gaels, as found in the old language of Scotland and Ireland, Gaelic. They proliferated names with the galah root in them, like Galway (a city in NW Ireland); the province of Galicia in Spain; Gallipoli [Greek for “City of Gauls”], where the famous naval battle of WWI took place.

A reverse migration of some Celts took place when they sailed from the French Mediterranean coast and established a colony in Asia Minor; they called it “Galatia”. It was to the church among these that Paul wrote his epistle. They were Israelites who had become goyim [Gentiles, heathen], and they had to come out of their pagan ways [probably of the Druidic type].

· Most noteworthy of the galah place names was Gaul—what ancient France was called! In English we spell it Gaul, and the French (les franVais) back then were called les gallois. They’re known as the gallic race or people. Probably the best known opening sentence of any book ever written (except Genesis 1:1) is that of Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars. He stated:

Gallia omnia in partes tres divisa est.

[Gaul/ on the whole/ in parts three/ divided/ is.]

*** So, in Latin, France was called Gallia. How did the name get changed? A branch of the House of Troy—the royal seed of Judah through the Zerah line, later came in with a group known as Franks (les francs). They established the line of kings called Merovingian. Analyzing this name, in French, mer means sea; vin is the Latin verb stem for come or came. Thus, the terms signifies, “they came from the sea”. What sea? Well....they were specifically called the “Salty Franks”. The implication is that they originally lived near the Salt Sea, which we call the Dead Sea....another Israelite connection!

My ancestral homeland of Wales got its English name from a Germanic form [g]wallah. So local family names like Walsh, Welsh, Welch, and Gallion have the root. That the name Wales is a galah form is clearly shown by the fact that in both French and Spanish, it’s called “Country of the Gauls” [le Pays des Galles; el pais de Gales].

However....the Welsh themselves don’t call their land “Wales”: they call it Cymru, pronounced “Kimri”, which is the Assyrian form of Omri. [He was the most prominent of the latter kings of the House of Israel when it was getting seriously decadent. Really, it was already beginning to lose its identity because, when the Assyrians took them captive they didn’t call them “House of Israel”; their name was:

BIT KHUMRI [“The House of Omri”]

So, in both its names, this old kingdom is hearkens to the House of Israel.

The Welsh are the key group of the Brythonic Celts, and gave rise to the name “British”—the Covenant People, because in Hebrew, brit is covenant and ish is man. The other group, the Gaelic celts, settled in Scotland and Ireland. Gael in Gaelic has the same meaning as galah in Hebrew: an exile who has migrated from one place to another. One of the key names which displaced Israelites were known by in the area of captivity was—in English form—Scythians. The Greek form of the name was SkuqhV [Skuthes]. (It is found in the Greek text of Colossians 3:11.) However, there is no “th” sound in Latin, so the Romans spelled it Scotti, and there were some Scythians who wound up in a place the Romans called Scotia, which we call Scotland.

SO WHAT’S THE POINT???

*** I have been trying to drive home the point the we, here, are the descendants of these people who were led away captive. The tremendous birthright blessings God promised to Abraham for his latter-day descendants, especially Ephraim, were bestowed here on this continent of North America. Many scholars have claimed that the French are Reuben of these last days, as prophesied in Genesis 49. If so, couldn’t you say that Reuben was over here ahead of “Joseph-Israel” trying to grab the birthright? The French already had Canada and had laid claim to the whole mid-section to the continent down to the Gulf. They were relieved of it only by the French and Indian War of 1764, and by our government making the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (whereupon we instantly became a world power). That war in 1764 essentially did the trick in order for British elements to be in place for Abraham’s birthright. And where was it fought? In an area above Quebec City named the Plains of Abraham!

[There used to be a huge French province called Acadia that took in the eastern part of Canada and some of the present state of Maine. In 1765 the British government required the citizens there—Gallic/Celtic population—to swear allegiance to it. Six thousand refused and had to leave. Of these, many became our fellow southerners in Louisiana [originally la Louisiane]. In Acadia, they were called les acadiens, but wound up known as “Cajuns”. I’ve observed that they have so much in common with our local mountain-based scenario. Tune in to the Grand Ole Opry on WSM any Saturday night and at times during the evening you’ll hear Cajun music being performed on stage. They fit in about like home folks!]

The truth is that the majority of the European population of North America identifies as Celtic, not Anglo-Saxon. Yet we have come under the banner of Ephraim, whom YHWH called the “prince among his brethren”. Remember that Ephraim was to become a melo hagoyim, a “fullness of nations and peoples”; i.e., a meltingpot.

*** My main point is: We are all, whether Ephraimite or dispersed Jew, in the condition expressed by galah. We have periodically been migratory exiles shifting from one point on the globe to another, trying to find a permanent home. But have we??? Our forebears thought they had one here, but now it appears that everything is falling apart at the seams.

· We have had in-depth teachings, especially by Harrold, showing that we have become the latter-day Babylon the Great, and we will be brought down in one hour:

Rev 18:9 "And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning,

Rev 18:10 standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, 'Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.'

Rev 18:11 "And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more—

*** The time is soon coming when this nation will be an utter desolate wreck, no longer inhabitable, a “proverb and a byword” that others will view in open-mouthed horror. But then, it will be time for the House of Israel and the House of Judah to be regathered in their own land!

Eze 34:13 "I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land.

*** SO LET’S LIFT UP OUR HEADS! SOON WE’LL FINALLY—AFTER ALL THESE CENTURIES AND MILLENIA—BE GOING HOME TO OUR OWN LAND! THEN WE SHALL NO LONGER BE CALLED GALAH.