welcome to the unraveling the scriptures channel the ancient Israelites also known as Hebrews and today identified as Jews are the focus of this special video responding to requests from many of our subscribers today we will delve into the ethnicity and physical traits of the ancient Israelites exploring a topic that intrigues and fascinates many what did the members of the 12 tribes of Israel actually look like were they different from how we imagine them today this is a mystery that spans centuries and Sparks countless theories and debates don't forget to leave your like share your thoughts
in the comments after watching and get ready for another engaging video the ethnic and racial appearance of the 12 tribes of Israel the Holy scriptures the bible contain detailed accounts of the origin of nearly all the peoples of humanity with their lineages traced in the Book of Genesis chapter 10 in this chapter it is revealed that in ancient times three lineages derived from Noah gave rise to All Peoples the semites the hamites and the japhethites many other peoples emerged from the mixing of these three lineages the ancient Israelites like all other peoples descended from one
of these lineages specifically the lineage of Shem Abraham Isaac and Jacob were direct descendants of Shem belonging to the group of Semitic peoples but who were these Semitic peoples from from whom Abraham Isaac and Jacob descended these Patriarchs traced their ancestry primarily to the caldan and the arameans Have you heard of The caldan Who inhabited the region corresponding to modern day Iraq and the arameans who occupied the territory of present day Syria both the arameans and the caldan were from the Middle East and belonged to the Semitic ethnicity forming an integral part of this Rich
cultural and ethnic Heritage the caldan originated from the region that is now Iraq today Iraqi Arabs also descend from the caldan the acadians and other ancient peoples among these peoples was Abraham who according to the scriptures came from the lineage of Arad one of shem's descendants Abraham was the son of Tera the grandson of nahor and traced his ancestry to Arad a direct descendant of Shem the arameans who also contributed to the formation of the Israelites were descendants of Aram another itic people who played an important role in the origin of the Israelites thus both
the caldan and the arameans were fundamental in the ethnic composition of the ancient Israelites Aram was one of the sons of Shem and thus a Semitic people the holy scriptures inform us that Sarah Abraham's wife was also his half-sister we know that Sarah was caldan a descendant of Shem which demonstrates that it was common among the seites to marry close relatives such as cousins or even half siblings regarding the origins of Rebecca the wife of Isaac son of Abraham and Sarah her lineage is also Semitic Rebecca came from the land of Aram which suggests that
her mother and grandmother were arameans she was a descendant of nahor being the daughter of bethuel and the granddaughter of neor and milka for those unfamiliar milka was one of the daughters of Haron Abraham's brother Abraham also had a brother named Haron which means that Rebecca in addition to being an aramean woman also had caldian ancestry through her grandfather who was caldan and Abraham's brother the scriptures tell us that Jacob married two wives in the land of Aram two aramean women one of them was Leah also known as Leah daughter of laan granddaughter of bethu
and great granddaughter of nahor Rachel Leah's sister and also Jacob's wife was likewise of aramean origin descended from the aramean people like Leah Rachel also had caldian ancestry through nahor and Bethel making her a descendant of both the arameans a Semitic people and the caldan also of Semitic origin there are people on the internet particularly on YouTube who due to a lack of in-depth knowledge about the ethnicities of Middle Eastern peoples claim that the Israelites were a blonde blue-eyed people which has no relation to the people of Israel or the Semitic peoples others even say
that the ancient Israelites were redhaired arguing that some descendants of Esau because he is described as redhaired would also have this characteristic however this is a misunderstanding as the translation of the term describing Esau as redhead is inaccurate the correct term would be Ruddy or flushed referring to the complexion of the skin not the color of the hair the term used in Genesis 25:25 is the Hebrew word admony this term does not mean redhaired with red hair but rather Ruddy or flushed referring to the skin tone for example when Esa was born his skin was
reddish likely due to the stress of birth as happens with many babies who appear flushed when they are born therefore Esau was not red-haired with red hair this is a mistranslation of the original Hebrew text biblically red-haired people are not descendants of Esau nor of Shem and do not belong to the Semitic people peoples red-haired individuals are generally associated with the ashkanazi people descendants of jafeth therefore the Israelites in ancient times were not red-haired blond or blue-eyed in addition to the mistaken theory that the Israelites were red-haired and blonde with blue eyes there is also
a theory gaining popularity today that the ancient Israelites were a black people however this Theory also does not hold up if you ask any Jew or Israelite including Ethiopian Jews who are black they will tell you that they are descendants of kush black people are considered descendants of kush and any Rabbi would confirm this with the same words Kush is recognized as the ancestor of various African peoples and has always been biblically associated with the peoples of Ethiopia erria Nubia and Somalia the term Kush is commonly related to dark skin which gave rise to the
African peoples therefore the Israelites were not kushites as they were neither black nor blonde with blue eyes the ancient Israelites like other Semitic peoples had their own skin color and distinctive traits such as the shape of the nose type of hair and eye color among other phenotypic aspects characteristic of the Semitic ethnicity the seites including Jews Arabs syrians Iraqis and others possess a light skinn tone that Tans easily in the sun acquiring a bronzed appearance they generally have wavy hair an arched or hooked nose with many Jews having a more prominent and arched nose intense
eyes and elongated faces these peoples are descendants of Shem the son of Noah from whom all these Semitic groups originated for example if You observe or speak with someone from the Middle East or even search for photos of people from that region on Google you'll notice that the semites share a common ethnic pattern if you have friends of Arab origin whether from Lebanon Syria or any other region you'll notice that the semites have similar characteristics such as the tan skin tone the arched nose and the elongated face these traits are so distinctive that it is
possible to identify a Semitic person just by appearance indeed during the regime that tragically exterminated many Jews these Semitic characteristics which also resemble those of Arabs were used to identify and persecute them now speaking about the ethnicity and phenotype of the ancient Israelites specifically the 12 tribes of Israel we can start with Reuben the firstborn of Jacob also called Israel it is likely that Reuben married a woman from the land of Aram or possibly a hikos woman from the land of Egypt there isn't much detailed information about whom Reuben married the Bible only informs us
that he had several children with this woman and it is likely that she was also Semitic this assumption is based on the fact that Reuben slept with one of his father Jacob's concubines and he could have been severely punished according to ancient Semitic laws if Reuben had married a Canaanite woman or one of Egyptian origin this would have greatly displeased Jacob who was already disappointed with him because of the incident with bilha therefore it is highly probable that Reuben married a woman of Semitic origin to please his father Jacob similarly Simeon likely married a woman
from the land of Aram or perhaps a woman from an ancient hixus tribe of Egypt now speaking about Levi who founded the tribe of Levi within the Israelite people ancient Jewish Traditions particularly in the talmud inform us that Levi married a woman from Mesopotamia it is uncertain whether this woman was from Aram Assyria or Cala but these Traditions assert that she was a descendant of Shem from Mesopotamia the only information mentioned about Levi's wife in these talmudic Jewish Traditions is that her name was Adena and she was from the land of Mesopotamia belonging to the
lineage of Shem on the other hand regarding Judah who founded the most important tribe of the people of Israel the Jews it is said that he initially married a Canaanite woman not a Semitic one with this Canaanite woman Judah had three sons Er Onan and Shaya these Sons were born from his marriage to his Canaanite wife we know that God intervened because of the wickedness of judah's sons eliminating the first two leaving only Sheila it is mentioned that Judah married Tamar who became his second wife and the mother of his twin Sons Tamar's origin is
somewhat mysterious as the biblical text emphasizes that judah's first wife was a Canaanite but does not specify Tamar's origin it is unclear whether Tamar was araman Edomite or even ishmaelite some Scholars suggest that Tamar could have been ishmaelite considering that the Arabs like the Jews and other Semitic peoples were Nomads and roam throughout the Middle East therefore some believed that Tamar was an Arab woman as for the wives of Dan naftali Gad and Asher it is likely that these sons of Jacob married women from the land of Egypt possibly Egyptians or hixus as the hixus
were present in Egypt at that time although the Bible does not explicitly mention who these wives were it can be said that it is very likely that they were of heos origin or perhaps Syrian there is a Jewish tradition in the talmud that states that Levi's wife had a sister who married isachar suggesting that isachar married a woman from Mesopotamia it is also speculated that the wives of zebulun and Benjamin could have been of kenite origin meaning descendants of the kenites we know that Joseph's wife was named asenath an Egyptian woman and there is no
evidence that she was of hixus descent although this is a possibility due to the presence of the hixus in the region asenath's father in turn was a priest from the city of an some suggest that asenath's father was a priest of the god Seth as the heos who ruled Egypt venerated Seth while the native Egyptians worshiped Osiris and Rah the hios associated the Semitic God L and other Semitic deities with the Egyptian god Seth although this connection is more speculative the most concrete fact is that asenath was Egyptian and had two sons with Joseph Manasseh
and Ephraim these Sons represented a combination of Egyptians and seites resulting in a brown skin tone rather than black or entirely Semitic in ancient times the Israelites were predominantly Semitic with a skin tone that could be described as yellowish referring here to their Semitic appearance thus the Israelite tribes had a yellowish skin tone while tribes like Manassa and Ephraim born from the mixture between Egyptians and semites displayed a brown skin tone I hope you enjoyed this video may God bless you and see you soon
