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"That very night Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed, and Darius the Mede received his kingdom …" (Daniel 5:30)
In the Bible the Kurds are known as the Medes. One finds numerous references in both the Old and New Testament.
For more than 4 000 years the Kurds have lived along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The cradle of civilization. This places their beginnings at the very source of the nations. It also places them in the immediate vicinity of history's most important events -
the creation of man,
the Garden of Eden, Noah's Ark on Mt. Ararat in northern Kurdistan, the Tower of Babel and many more.
Genesis is first book in the Bible, the book of Genesis was written 3500 years ago by Moses, the book of Genesis gives information about Gods creation of the earth and also relates historic information of His chosen people. Genesis 2:10 Speaks of the sons of Noah, and in turn, their sons after the flood: "The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras." Thus, Madai is said to be the father of the Medes.
The biblical Medes are spoken of in connection with the Persians at times, and the Assyrians and Chaldeans other times. During the eighth and ninth centuries BC, the kingdoms of Judah and Israel suffered under the rule of the Assyrian Empire. The Israelites were deported and resettled in Media ; beginning in 858.
2 Kings 17:6 and 18:11 - "Assyria and … settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor river and in the towns of Media."
The Medes had early contact with the Jews who influenced Kurdish life and participated in it. They freely shared their faith with their Kurdish neighbours. Jewish shrines such as Daniel's tomb in Kirkuk.
Daniel is a Chosen Prophet of God who lived around 600 BC, during the time that the third King Darius took power. Daniel was the right hand man of Darius the third, and was deeply involved in the decisions of the Kurdish empire To this day the story of Daniel and King Darius is still told amongst the Kurdish Davidians (Kakai).
Esther's tomb in Hamadan the capital city of the Medes Empire, still remains today. Other biblical personalities buried in Kurdistan are Nahum, Jonah, Habakkuk and Mordechai.
The Kurds are fearless warriors. Today the Kurdish commandos are known as 'Peshmergas' or freedom fighters. Around 1000 BC God used the Medes for the destruction of Babylon.
"See, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold." (Isaiah 13:17) & "The Lord has stirred up the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is to destroy Babylon."(Jeremiah 51:11; also v.28)
To this day the Peshmerga still hold no regard for Silver and gold, only for the strength and independence of their nation.
In the book of Daniel the laws of the "Medes and Persians which cannot be repealed" are mentioned. And later, Darius the Mede arises as the king of a defeated Babylon (Daniel 11:1).
"Parthians, Medes and Elamite; residents of Mesopotamia…we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" (Acts 2:9-11)
In the book of Matthew in the new testament, the Maggai who came from the east bearing gifts for the king of Israel, are also ancestors of the Kurdish nation, and today the followers of the Zoroastrianism religion are directly related to these Magi.
On that great and wonderful day of Pentecost, there were Medes and Parthians as well as residents of Cappadocia and Pontus! All of these came from the area which is now known as Kurdistan.
Direct references to MEDES in the Bible:
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