The Ancestry

            of  Eochaidh and Tamar Tephi

       From Judah  

Both Eochaidh’s and Tamar Tephi’s ancestors can be traced back to Judah  through his twin sons Zarah and Pharez.

      It was from the line of Pharez that the kings of the Southern House of Judah were destined to come when Judah became a kingdom, after the division of the Northern and Southern Houses of Israel into two kingdoms, which then became known as Israel (with ten tribes) and Judah (two tribes).

     The chart reproduced here shows the lineage down from Pharez through to King David and on to the last of the kings, Zedekiah from whom came both Tamar Tephi and her sister Scota. Eochaidh, who was to marry Tamar Tephi, himself descending from Zarah.

      Scripture tells us of the unique circumstances of the birth of these two sons (Genesis chapter 38), in which the midwife tied a scarlet thread on the

hand of Zarah who although he put his

hand out first withdrew it, before his

brother Pharez was then born.

      It is therefore significant that the emblem of Northern Ireland, or Ulster, is the Red Hand.