The Iraq Connection

"Iraq" has a number of possible original meanings. Some believe that it was named after the city of Uruk, known in the Bible as Erech, which was one of the cities of Nimrod's kingdom i.e. "^10:10 And the beginning of his kingdom [see When Nimrod Ruled The World] was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar" (Genesis 10:10 KJV). Other linguists and etymologists variously believe the word means river bank (in referring to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers), lowland or fertile. One or more of the possibilities may be correct.

One fact is certain however. Humanity was created in what is known today as Iraq. The Garden of Eden was there.

"^2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

^2:11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; ^2:12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. ^2:13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. ^2:14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

^2:15 And the LORD God [see Christ The Creator] took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." (Genesis 2:10-15 KJV)

"Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee"

While all humans can ultimately trace their ancestry back to what is known today as Iraq (whether through Adam and Eve, or through Noah and His family who also were born and lived in Iraq), the key ancestor of all Israelites was also a native of Iraq. Abraham the Iraqi was sent by the LORD to found a new nation that would be named after Abraham's grandson Jacob, who the LORD renamed as "Israel."

"^12:1 Now the LORD [see 'Before Abraham Was, I AM'] had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee:

^12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: ^12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

^12:4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. ^12:5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls [see also Where Is Your Soul?] that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

^12:6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. ^12:7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

^12:8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD. ^12:9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south." (Genesis 12:1-9 KJV)

Centuries later, after Israel divided into two kingdoms (see The Division Of Israel), the LORD had both of the corrupt kingdoms conquered and taken into exile in what is known today as Iraq (see Ancient Empires - Assyria and Ancient Empires - Babylon).

The people of The Northern Kingdom of Israel, the so-called "lost ten tribes of Israel" never returned (yet - see The Gathering of Israel and Judah), but the people of The Southern Kingdom of Judah, known today as "Jews" (which is an abbreviation of Judah, one of the sons of Israel) did return after the prescribed seventy years exile there (see Jeremiah's Field). The generation that was taken away didn't return, but their children and grandchildren, who were born in Iraq during those seventy years, did return to become the Jews of today.

Fact Finder: Who were the leaders of Judah at the time of their return from Iraq?
See Ezra and Nehemiah; see also The Origin Of The Essenes, Sadducees And Pharisees

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This Day In History, July 3

1608: Samuel de Champlain established a settlement at Quebec City, the first in "New France." A few days later, Champlain learned of and thwarted a plot within his own people to end the French fur trading monopoly - to shoot Champlain and hand Quebec to the Basques or Spain.

1814: During the War of 1812 (1812-14), Fort Erie, Ontario was briefly captured by a U.S. invasion force. It was the last time that foreign troops occupied Canadian territory.

1928: In London, John Logie Baird transmitted the world's first color television transmission.

1940: British forces attacked and severely damaged the French fleet at its moorings at Mers-El-Kebir after the French admirals refused to sail it out of Petain's Vichy government control (which was collaborating with their Nazi conquerors). Over 1,300 French sailors were killed in the action.

1962: President Charles de Gaulle of France declared Algeria independent.

1976: Israeli commandos, using 4 Hercules transports and a Boeing 707 command plane, conducted the "Raid on Entebbe" in Idi Amin's Uganda to rescue the hostages (83 of whom were Israelis threatened with death if the Israeli government did not release the 53 Palestinian terrorists it held) aboard an Air France airliner that had been hijacked shortly after takeoff from Athens airport on June 27. The terrorists and a number of Ugandan soldiers were killed; of the 104 captives rescued, 4 were killed. An Israeli officer, Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu (brother of then future Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) was the only Israeli military casualty.

1987: In France, Klaus Barbie, the Nazi "butcher of Lyon," was jailed for life for wartime crimes against humanity.

1988: The U.S. missile cruiser Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 civilian passengers and crew aboard. The captain of the warship mistook the airliner for a hostile military aircraft.

1996: British Prime Minister John Major announced that The Stone of Scone ("The Stone of Destiny" beneath the seat of the Coronation Chair) would be returned to Scotland; the announcement came on the 700th anniversary of the 400 pound slab of reddish-grey sandstone (of a variety not found in Britain, but which is quite common in the land of Israel) being taken from the Scottish by Edward I in 1296 during the Wars of Independence.