The Stone of Destiny

Extract taken from False Beliefs: The Serpent Seed Doctrine & Kenite Myth by C.L. Shaffer

Available at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DFNXWCV

With no historical or biblical evidence to go on, Anglo-Israelists turn to mythology and to what is known
as the Stone of Destiny.1 Anglo-Israelists defend this relic and the myths that surround it with so much
zeal and surety that it nearly borders on idolatry. From their perspective, however, there is a biblical
purpose in defending the stone so fervently. To them, the stone is a marker, a symbol that God’s
supposed promise of the kingship line of David continues through the British monarch.

Anglo-Israelists contend that the stone is the one on which Jacob rests his head in Genesis 28:18. Jacob
then uses the stone to build a pillar after having a dream of God’s assurances to him. According to
Anglo-Israelists, following his abduction to Egypt, the prophet Jeremiah returns to Judah and removes
the stone from its hiding place where he had hidden it before his abduction. Later, the prophet
Jeremiah, along with his scribe Baruch, and Zedekiah’s daughters,2 one of which would allegedly
continue David’s throne, are said to have carried the stone with them when they supposedly journeyed
to Ireland.

The problem with this history is that the only evidence for it can only be found within the mind of
Reverend F.R.A. Glover. For some time, there was a myth circulating that the coronation stone was
actually from Israel. A rather well-known quote from John Toland (1670–1722) suggests this: “I had
almoft forgot to tell you, that ‘tis now by the vulgar call’d Jacob-ftone, as if this had been Jacob’s pillow
at Bethel.”3 No doubt, this rumor was stoked by those who desired to find a familial connection to that
of the Israelites, a motivation that was becoming very popular at that time. However, it is not until
Glover, who in the 1800s published a book entitled England, the Remnant of Judah, and the Israel of
Ephraim, that this rumor is applied to a completely fabricated history.

1
In England, the Stone of Destiny is also known as the Coronation Stone or the Stone of Scone. It is a
block of sandstone used in coronations. Some believe that the Lia Fáil, a pillar set in Ireland is the Stone of Destiny.
2
In order to have a man rather than a woman sit on the thrown, some Anglo-Israelists assert that one of
Zedekiah’s daughters would marry a descendant of David from the line of Zarah. (See “British Israel,”
www.cai.org).
3
J. Peele, ed., A Collection of Several Pieces of Mr. John Toland, vol. 1 (London: 1726), p. 105,
https://books.google.com.
To show “proof of the Descent of the Queen of England from the Kings of Judah”4 Glover rearranges and
misrepresents the Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters. This work is a collection of Irish
histories brought together in the early 1600s by a Franciscan friar named Brother Michael O’Clery and
three others hence the name “the Four Masters.”

The Annals contain the genealogies of those who ruled in Ireland as well as those of distinguished
families. Sprinkled with myths such as a story about a mermaid washing ashore,5 a tale concerning
Noah’s granddaughter reaching Ireland’s shores forty days before the flood,6 as well as genealogical
errors, the information found within the Annals is not exactly what one would call accurate. That said,
even amongst all its storytelling and genealogical difficulties, there is no indication that the prophet
Jeremiah ever came to Ireland with the stone from Bethel.

Glover uses generalized statements about a man referred to as Ollamh Fodhla, whose first name was
Eochaidh, within the Annals and tries to argue that the descriptions concerning Eochaidh (Ollamh
Fodhla) are, in fact, about the prophet Jeremiah. The actual text of the Annals, on the other hand,
provides a very different picture of Ollamh Fodhla than the one developed by Glover. This is what the
Annals tell us of Eochaidh (Ollamh Fodhla):

● “The Age of the World, 3882. After Faildeargdoid had been ten years in the sovereignty, he fell
by Ollamh Fodhla, son of Fiacha Finscothach, in the battle of Teamhair.

● The Age of the World, 3883. The first year of the reign of Ollamh Fodhla, son of Fiacha
Finscothach.

4
Glover, England, The Remnant of Judah and The Israel of Ephraim, Preface, vii.
5
John O’Donovan, trans., Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, vol. 1 (Dublin, 1849), p.
541 https://archive.org.
6
Ibid., p. B1 footnote b and p. B2 – According to the Annals, Ceasair is Noah’s supposed granddaughter
who came to Ireland with fifty girls and three men, one of which was called Fintain who is said to have survived the
flood (p. 4 footnote i). However, another tale records that Ceasair is the daughter of someone named Grecian (p.
B1 footnote b). The Bible makes no mention of Noah having grandchildren before or during the flood since only his
sons and their wives enter the ark. Of course, this fable has grave theological implications since it would imply that
God did not allow Noah’s supposed grandchildren to board the ark. The people who spread these tales, which
became intertwined with Irish history, cared little for theological consequences. Their goal was to entertain.
 ● The Age of the World, 3922. Ollamh Fodhla, after having been forty years in the sovereignty of
Ireland, died at his own mur [house] at Teamhair. He was the first king by whom the Feis-
Teamhrach was established; and it was by him Mur-Ollamhan was erected at Teamhair. It was
he also that appointed a chieftain over every cantred, and a Brughaidh over every townland,
who were all to serve the King of Ireland. Eochaidh was the first name of Ollamh Fodhla; and he
was called Ollamh [Fodhla] because he had been first a learned Ollamh, and afterwards king of
[Fodhla, i.e., of] Ireland.

● The Age of the World, 3923. This was the first year of the reign of Finnachta, son of Ollamh
Fodhla, over Ireland.” 7

Notice that Ollamh Fodhla is not a foreigner who journeyed from some faraway land but was, in fact, a
native of the land of Ireland, whose father was Fiacha Finscothach. In addition, it is Ollamh who
becomes king, not one of Zedekiah’s daughters. We might also add that Ollamh, according to the
Annals, was not even living during Jeremiah’s lifetime. Therefore, according to the text that Glover
himself uses, Ollamh could not have been the prophet, Jeremiah.

Further analyst of Glover’s work can be found in the book by C.L. Shaffer called False Beliefs: The Serpent
Seed Doctrine & Kenite Myth available at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DFNXWCV.

7
Ibid., pp. 53–55.