단군

The ancestor of Korea who established 고조선 in the Korean Peninsula region approximately 3,000 years ago.

His original name was Dan (檀), but his descendants, out of respect, added the character Gun (君), meaning "king," which became a proper noun, making it Dangun (檀君).

Jacob's son Dan passed away during his life as a slave in Egypt, but because his descendants continued to use the name Dan, the ancestor who settled in the Korean Peninsula via Mongolia and established 고조선 was also Dan.

During the migration of the Dan tribe, there were brothers who wished to remain and brothers who moved south, but the main group moved east and settled on the Korean Peninsula. As the northern army of Israel, the Dan tribe migrated after long wars with the Philistines, they possessed the latest combat techniques and weapon systems made of bronze, which signified powerful military strength.

The Dan tribe, as Israel's high priests, had dignity, and used bronze vessels, bronze spoons, and bronze chopsticks made of bronze for sacrificial rites, and their skill in handling iron and metals was excellent. Furthermore, when they resided along the Mediterranean coast, their shipbuilding skills were outstanding, allowing them to exert influence across the Mediterranean and into parts of Europe.

'애비' and '애미' were honorific titles used by Israel's high priests to respectfully address their ancestors; no one could rudely utter titles like '애비' or '애미'. In contrast, "엄마" and "아빠" are general terms for parents.

What they brought when they left '소라' in present-day Israel and migrated east were 무궁화 seeds. There are records from the ancient Three Kingdoms period that also refer to the 무궁화 as 근화(槿花) and used it as a symbol of the nation, and to this day, the 무궁화 is the national flower of the 대한민국, and the origin of the 무궁화 (rose of sharon) is near Israel, in Lebanon.

The reason Koreans are particularly drawn to the Bible is that its content tells the stories of our ancestors, so the culture within the Bible resonates directly with them. For example, the Ten Commandments, enjoying wearing white clothes, wearing sackcloth and wailing, stoning those who commit adultery, a younger brother marrying his sister-in-law if his older brother dies, and stories of servitude to marry, and so on.

The most dramatic event is that Jacob, after being betrothed to Rachel, married her after seven years of servitude, but the part where, after the wedding and a night together, he woke up in the morning to find it was Leah, not Rachel, is a situation that would be completely incomprehensible to anyone who is not Korean.

In Korea, there was a culture where the bride and groom could not see each other's faces at the time of marriage. If the groom so much as tried to glance at the bride out of the corner of his eye, the people guarding nearby would hit his eyes with ash bundles and mercilessly beat the soles of his feet after hanging him up. Therefore, in ancient times, it was perfectly normal to marry without ever seeing each other's faces.

The reason Dangun's descendants were extremely conservative in relationships between men and women is because their lineage was that of Israel's high priestly family.