Posted by
Mike on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 8:37:30 PM
My educated guess would be that if we checked out the Y-chromosome DNA of a representative sample of the people of present day Palestine, that many of the results would be traceable to a first millennium BC male ancestor which would confirm the Biblical account of King Solomon's many wives and offspring, thereby also being lineal descendants of King David in the male line. Such DNA testing has been done with regard to the probable male lineal descendants of Genghis Khan in Asia, Charlemagne in Europe, and King Niall of Ireland.
Palestine was given that name by the Romans, probably first used in a derogatory sense to denote the land of the Philistines along the Mediterranean coast of Gaza.
David was a shepherd who used his sling to kill wild animals, and also the Philistine giant Goliath in battle. It is somewhat ironic that the first to adore Christ were shepherds in Bethlehem, also probable ancestors of the present day Palestinians. The practice of using slings by Palestinians against Israeli armored vehicles could thus go back a long way in time, passed down from one generaion to the next.
Of course the Jewish people are those who belong to the sacred covenant between God and Abraham, whatever their lineal descent may actually be. It is my understanding as a gentile that belonging to the Jewish community derives from descent from the mother, or by conversion to Judaism.