In Genesis 25 we learn that after the passing of Sarah Abraham took a new wife named Keturah. In verse 2 one of the sons by Keturah is named Jokshan. In verse 3 Jokshan has two sons named Sheba and Dedan, and then Dedan's descendants are referred to as the Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.
Asshurim is the plural form of Asshur the second born son to Shem in Genesis 10:22 but also the name of a region in northern Mesopotamia and south-western Turkey. Asshurim is the exact same spelling as what's translated "Assyrians".
The modern Assyrians who tend to be members of one of three East-Syriac Churches (The Assyrian Church of The East, The Ancient Church of The East, or The Chaldean Catholic Church) actually claim to descend from the Asshurim of Dedan. One could dismiss that as Christian Assyrians wanting to take an opportunity to strengthen their ties with Abraham. However the Assyrian Kings List does list a Didanu among the "kings who lived in tents" which is a memory of when they were a more nomadic people before settling in the area of Nineveh. The Assyrian people in Assyria don't securely enter recorded history till around 2000 BC, I currently date the death of Joseph to about 2036 BC, 430 years before my date for the Exodus [Update: I've since added 20 years to my Exodus date]. Dedan is the same generation from Abraham as Jacob, how much younger Jokshan was then Isaac is probably canceled out by how old Isaac was when Rebecca gave birth to Jacob.
Probably both Genesis Asshurs are relevant to the early history of the civilization that history would come to know as Assyria. Asshur son of Shem founded a settlement on the Tigris river roughly contemporary with Nimrod founding his three cities there and thus the region around it became named after him, later one of the nomadic tribal groups to come from Dedan migrated to that region and become called Asshurim because they were dwelling in Asshur. In time both of them along with other descendants of Arphaxad and Aram contributed to the population of Northern Mesopotamia but the Dedanites became numerically dominant, at least among those identifying as Assyrians, because YHWH did promise Abraham's Seed would be Numerous like the Stars of Heaven and Sands of the Sea.
In which context a later date for the time of Abraham-Joseph could also fit this theory just as well.
As far as the other two tribes of Dedan go, Leummin I think could be a form of the Lihyan the people who controlled the cities of Dedan and Hegra at the start of classical Antiquity. So it's only the Letushim who are a mystery, I'm personally hoping for a way to link them to the Lakhmids, that would result in them sharing the Assyrians' connection to the Church of The East..
I found this discussion on Reddit of the Y-Chromosomal Haplogroups of the Assyrians.
They are mostly either the same as or related to the Haplogroups prominent in Jewish and Arab populations (as well as those I believe descend from the Lost Tribes, Kurds, Lebanese Christians, Armenians and Anatolians), R1b, J1, J2,, E1b1b, and even T and G show up in a few Jewish populations.
Update April 2026: Upon further analysis I think the Leummin are perhaps more likely to have an etymological link to Lakhm.
Letushim likely refers to a community of blacksmiths or craftsmen, but it could work as referring to stone carvers and thus maybe fitting the people of Lihyan.
No comments:
Post a Comment