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68 The House of Israel

crowned Lion holding a Sword. Both of these are a Ship, the emblem of the tribe of Zebulun, and that the
Israelitish emblems, for as we saw in our consideration of Captain of the Ship is the uncrowned Lion of the bri-
the emblems of ancient Israel, a rampant and crowned gade of Judah, of which the tribe of Zebulun was a part.
Lion comprised the emblem of the two-tribed Kingdom of
Judah and a Sword was the emblem of the tribe of Simeon. The Netherlands is composed of eleven provinces, and
of these eight have as supporters two tawny uncrowned
Then, as supporters, one on each side of the shield, we see Lions, the emblem of the tribe and of the brigade of Ju-
two uncrowned rampant Lions facing inwards. Here again dah. It is when we consider the number of times that
we have a true Israel emblem, for this uncrowned Lion was the Lion appears in the provincial and municipal em-
the emblem of the tribe of Judah and also of the blems that its real importance as evidence of the
three-tribed brigade headed by Judah. The fact that these Israelitish origin of the people of the Netherlands is
two Lions face inwards is also a rather interesting point. In seen.
Jewish synagogues the symbol of the Judaic religion and
of their claimed descent from the tribe of Judah, is com- According to our count there are 1,132 provinces and
posed of the two Tables of the Law surmounted by the municipalities in the Netherlands, each of which has its
Mitre of the Aaronic High Priest and supported by two un- own heraldic Arms, and in these 1,132 Arms there are
crowned Lions, one on each side facing inwards, just as 521 Lions. It is certain, therefore, that the Lion is as
they are in the Arms of the Netherlands. much the emblem of the people of the Netherlands as it
is of the people of Britain and as it was of the people of
Referring again to the fact that the uncrowned tawny or the Kingdom of Judah. Perhaps, then, we need not be
golden Lion was the emblem of both the tribe of Judah and too surprised to learn that for many hundreds of years
of the three-tribed brigade or Camp composed of the tribes the Lion of the Netherlands was commonly known and
of Judah, Issachar and Zebulun, we now come to another called the “Lion of Judah.”
significant fact. In ancient Israel, the emblem of the tribe
of Zebulun was a Ship. Yet as we have seen, Zebulun, as Further evidence of this common ancestry, and that
one of the three tribes forming the brigade or Camp of Ju- this ancestry is Israelitish, is to be seen in their com-
dah, would also come under Judah’s emblem, a Lion. So mon use of both the Lion and the Unicorn as heraldic
members of the tribe of Zebulun could and did use both a emblems. The use of the Lion in both countries, and its
Ship and an uncrowned Lion as emblems. evidence of our common Israelitish identity, has al-
ready been noted, as has also Britain’s use of the Uni-
A close study of the Arms of the Netherlands will reveal corn. So, remembering that the Unicorn was the
still other evidence of an Israelitish origin. In its right paw, emblem of the ten-tribed House and Kingdom of Is-
the Lion on the Shield is holding a Sword, the emblem of rael, let us now turn to a consideration of the use of the
the tribe of Simeon and in his left a bundle of Arrows, one Unicorn as a heraldic emblem in the Netherlands.
of the emblems of the tribe of Manasseh. These Arrows
also appear on the sail of the Ship of State emblem and in It is true, of course, that the Unicorn does not appear in
the municipal Arms of Bergen and Eysden. the official Arms of the Netherlands as used today. Yet
its use in the past is evidenced by its appearance in the
We see, therefore, that the national emblem of the Nether- Arms of several parts of the country including Hoorn
lands is composed of five separate Israel emblems: the and Menaldumadeel. That the Unicorn was a tradi-
crowned rampant Lion of the Kingdom of Judah, the un- tional emblem of the Netherlands, or at least of part of
crowned Lion of the tribe and of the brigade of Judah, the it, is also evidenced by its use as an identification and
Sword of the tribe of Simeon and the Arrows of the tribe of as a decorative feature on the bowsprit of the Dutch
Simeon and the Arrows of the tribe of Manasseh. To this “Jaght Schips” (yachts) of the 17th century. Further
must be added the fact that the old emblem of Holland was evidence of a former use of the Unicorn as an emblem

The Berean Voice March-April 2003