To justify Jew-hatred, some deny that the present-day Jews
are descendants from the Jews/Israelites of the Bible. They ignore the DNA
evidence that proves this connection. Therefore, I ask them to consider another
line of evidence: The experience of the Jewish people is exactly what the Bible
had prophesied.
They would be a sign-people. A sign of what? Both the
blessings and the curses of their God. It would be obvious to the world that
God had blessed the Jews if they had obeyed Him:
·
Deuteronomy 28:1–2 “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the
LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you
today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the
voice of the LORD your God.”
Hank Pellissier had detailed some of their many obvious blessings:
·
Nobel Prizes: Since 1950, 29% of the awards have
gone to [Jewish] Ashkenazim, even though they represent only 0.25% of humanity.
Ashkenazi achievement in this arena is 117 times greater than their population.
·
Hungary in the 1930s: Ashkenazim were 6% of the
population, but they comprised 55.7% of physicians, 49.2% of attorneys, 30.4%
of engineers, and 59.4% of bank officers; plus, they owned 49.4% of the
metallurgy industry, 41.6% of machine manufacturing, 72.8% of clothing
manufacturing, and, as housing owners, they received 45.1% of Budapest rental
income. Jews were similarly successful in nearby nations, like Poland and
Germany.
·
USA (today): Ashkenazi Jews comprise 2.2% of the
USA population, but they represent 30% of faculty at elite colleges, 21% of Ivy
League students, 25% of the Turing Award winners, 23% of the wealthiest
Americans, and 38% of the Oscar-winning film directors.
However, God’s chosen people would also serve as a sign of
the consequence of disobedience:
·
Deuteronomy 28:45-47: “All these curses shall
come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because
you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and
his statutes that he commanded you. 46 They shall be a sign and a wonder
against you and your offspring forever. 47 Because you did not serve the LORD
your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all
things,”
Israel had also been warned against taking credit for the
blessings of God:
·
Deut. 8:11-19 Be careful that you do not forget
the LORD your God…He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your
fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might
go well with you. You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of
my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the LORD your
God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms
his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. If you ever
forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to
them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.
The only way that we can understand the successes of this
persecuted people is in view of these divine promises. Because of them, Israel
had been warned against priding themselves and forgetting the lord:
·
Deut. 9:4-9 After the LORD your God has driven
them out before you, do not say to yourself, "The LORD has brought me here
to take possession of this land because of my righteousness." No, it is on
account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them
out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that
you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the
wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you,
to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Understand,
then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is
giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.
However, Israel would continue to reject their God despite
all His blessings. Therefore, God’s promised curses would fall upon them:
·
Deut. 28:58 If you do not carefully follow all
the words of this law…64-65 Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations…Among
those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your
foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing,
and a despairing heart…28:37 You will become a thing of horror and an object of
scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.
Unmistakable blessings
and curses have followed Israel wherever she has gone, even until now. We
observe the blessings God has poured out on the nation of Israel, but the
curses have not fallen asleep. Jew-hatred is escalating around the world.
Nevertheless, after the dispersions, God has always been faithful to restore
His people to their land. It has never happened to a people that they have been
dispersed from their land and then have returned to reclaim it. However, Israel
has been brought back to their land on three occasions, an historic anomaly:
1. Patriarchal
Departure (1850 BC) – Exodus and Conquest under Joshua (1410 BC)
2. Babylonian
Captivity (586 BD) – Return under Zerubbabel (532 BC)
3. Roman
Dispersion (70 and 136 AD) – State of Israel (1948)
How else can we explain these phenomena apart from the promises
of God!
Despite Israel’s almost continual rebellion against their
God, God has never abandoned Israel completely. He remains faithful to His chosen:
·
Isaiah 49:13-15: “Shout for joy, O heavens;
rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord comforts his
people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.” But Zion said,
"The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me." "Can a
mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she
has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”
·
Ezekiel 36:24-31: "For I will take you out
of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back
into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean;
I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will
give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart
of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and
move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in
the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your
God. I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and
make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you. I will increase the fruit
of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer
disgrace among the nations because of famine. Then you will remember your evil
ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and
detestable practices.”
·
Isaiah 44:21-22: "Remember these things, O
Jacob, for you are my servant, O Israel. I have made you, you are my servant; O
Israel, I will not forget you. I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you."
If God is willing to forgive Israel her transgressions, why should
not also the Jew-hater!
·
Jeremiah 33:6-8: "I will bring health and
healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and
security. I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild
them as they were before. I will cleanse them from all the sin they have
committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me.”
·
Hosea 3:5: “Afterward the Israelites will return
and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to
the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.”
·
Zech. 12:10: "And I will pour out on the
house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and
supplication.”
·
Hosea 14:4-5: "I will heal their
waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. I
will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of
Lebanon he will send down his roots;
·
Amos 9:14-15: “I will bring back my exiled
people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will
plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their
fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from
the land I have given them," says the Lord your God.
·
Micah 4:1-2: In the last days the mountain of
the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be
raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come
and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of
the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his
paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem.
·
Micah 7:18-20: You do not stay angry forever but
delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our
sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. You will
be true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our
fathers in days long ago.
Gentile believers in the Messiah must rejoice with Israel
and God’s faithfulness to her:
·
Deut. 32:43:
Rejoice, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his
servants; he will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land
and people.
God came to us as a Jew. This reaffirms the fact that of His
love for His chosen people. Therefore. To reject the Jew is to reject God who
still loves His people Israel:
·
Romans 11:26-29:
And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer
will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my
covenant with them when I take away their sins.
As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but
as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs,
for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.
Despite Israel’s rebellion, God will punish those who
continue to hate the Jews:
·
Isaiah 41:11: "All who rage against you
will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing
and perish.”
·
Isaiah 51:21-23 This is what your Sovereign Lord
says, your God, who defends his people: "See, I have taken out of your
hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you
will never drink again. I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said
to you, 'Fall prostrate that we may walk over you.' And you made your back like
the ground, like a street to be walked over."
·
Joel 3:19-21: “But Egypt will be desolate, Edom
a desert waste, because of violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land
they shed innocent blood. Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem through
all generations. Their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, I will
pardon."
·
Zeph. 3:15-20: “The Lord has taken away your
punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel, is
with you; never again will you fear any harm. At that time I will deal with all
who oppressed you…At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you
home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when
I restore your fortunes before your very eyes," says the Lord.”
Hating Jews makes absolutely no Biblical sense. I therefore pray
that our Lord will open the haters’ eyes and bring them to repentance before it
is too late. Once, I had wanted to kill Germans because of the Holocaust, but
now they are some of my dearest brethren. I also look forward to a time that I
might be able to embrace today’s Jew-haters, as I know that our Lord will also
do if they repent.
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