Why are the Jews a hated people?
Genesis 12:1 – 3 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Why have the Jews always been hated, despised, rejected and persecuted down through the ages?
Is there a deeper core reason why the Jews are a hated people or nation?
Genesis 3: 14 The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."
The problem began in the Garden of Eden when there was enmity put between the seed of the woman (Eve) and Satan the adversary. The seed refers to the line that would eventually bring about the promised seed through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel), from which would come the promised Messiah (Jesus Christ).
So the evidence of the hatred was there from the beginning.
From the beginning of the creation of the nation of Israel, or should I say the first Jew (Abraham), there has been persecution.
Abraham had two sons, one Ishmael by his wife’s handmaid Hagar and then one Isaac by his wife Sarah.
Isaac was the one promised by God to both Abraham and Sarah and the moment Isaac was weaned and began to grow, the persecution began.
Genesis 21:8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.
9. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
Ishmael’s mocking was a serious thing because Isaac was God’s ordained seed and Ishmael was the counterfeit. The counterfeit always hates the ordained. As Paul says in Galatians 4:29, “But as then he that was born according to flesh persecuted him that was born according to Spirit, so also it is now.”
Ishmael was born of the flesh whilst Isaac was the seed of the promise.
The growth of Isaac stirred up that persecution.
We see this conflict continue with the birth of Esau and Jacob. They fought from the womb and Rebecca enquired of God,Genesis 25: 22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
History tells us that there has been conflict between the sons of Abraham ever since. This is not to say that other peoples or nations have not been persecuted as well but it is historically accurate to say that the Jews or the Israelites have been a people that have been subject to constant persecution wherever they have been found. Not only from the Arab nations (Ishmaelites) but from many nations.
However, in spite of all the persecution and the fact that down through the ages, leaders of nations have attempted to eradicate the Jew from the face of the earth, we find that still today there are Jews, there are Israelites and since 1948 a revived Jewish State of Israel.
When do we ever hear of Amalekites, Jebusites, Caananites, Amorites, Hittites, Girgashites, Perizzites and Hivites. All have disappeared over time but the Israelites are still around.
Nations and peoples rose up and in many cases dominated the world and in doing so, persecuted the Jews, scattering them throughout the other nations and in many cases killing them.
Nations such as Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Spain and Germany, all persecuted and ousted the Jews from their lands.
Yet where are these nations today? All of them fell into ruin and decay.
The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian Empires rose, became great
nations, filled the planet with sound and splendour, then faded and passed away like a flower of the field; the Greek and the Roman Empire followed.
Some were even aware of the fact that the Jews are indestructible, yet could not help themselves, as if compelled by a force greater than themselves.
In Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler wrote, “When … I scrutinized the activity of the Jewish people, suddenly there arose up in me the fearful question whether inscrutable destiny, perhaps for reasons unknown to us poor mortals, did not, with eternal and immutable resolve, desire the final victory of this little nation.”
Despite this premonition, Hitler tried, and almost succeeded in exterminating European Jewry but he, too, eventually failed and will go down in history as the epitome of evil.
Mark Twain wrote: “All things are mortal but the Jew, all other forces pass but he remains. What is the secret of this immortality”?
British Bishop, Thomas Newton wrote about Jews: “What but a supernatural power could have preserved them in such a manner as none other nation upon earth hath been preserved?”.
French Mathematician, Blaise Pascal, pondered the formula that has kept the Jews thus far: “This people are not eminent solely by their antiquity, but are also singular by their duration, which has always continued from their origin till now … in spite of the endeavours of many powerful kings who have a hundred times tried to destroy them.”
Illustrious Russian author, Leo Tolstoy, pondered the survival of the Jews, but also sensed that their existence had to do with a unique purpose: “What is the Jew?…What kind of unique creature is this whom all the rulers of all the nations of the world have disgraced and crushed and expelled and destroyed; persecuted, burned and drowned, and who, despite their anger and their fury, continues to live and to flourish? …The Jew is the symbol of eternity. … He is the one who for so long had guarded the prophetic message and transmitted it to all mankind. A people such as this can never disappear. The Jew is eternal. He is the embodiment of eternity.”
The world looks at the Jew and he is, revered, admired, and yet hated more than any other nation on the face of the Earth.
There are as many reasons for hating Jews as there are people. Everything that upsets, hurts, or displeases people they often attribute to the Jews.
Jews have been blamed for manipulating the media to their needs, usury, blood libels of various forms, well poisoning, dominating slave trade, disloyalty to their host countries, organ harvesting and AIDS spreading.
Moreover, Jews are often accused of conflicting “crimes.” Communists accused them of creating Capitalism; Capitalists accused them of inventing Communism and acclaimed French historian and philosopher, François Voltaire, accused them of inventing Christianity.
Jews have been labelled warmongers and cowards, racists and cosmopolitans, spineless and unbending, and the list could go on forever.
Christians accused Jews of killing Jesus and that although these Reformers believed that the Jews were God’s chosen people, the reformers, such as Martin Luther and John Calvin believed and taught what is known as (Replacement Theology or Supercessionism), that God has abandoned the Jews and that they are now cut off from all the promises that God made to them and that they have now been replaced by the Christian church and that all the promises made to Israel have now been passed on to the Christian church (Spiritual Israel). (Even though these promises were unconditional promises).
It is certainly true from the Biblical perspective that the Jews were chosen by God to be “a light to the Gentiles” or “a light to the nations”, Isaiah 49: 6 He says, "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth." and they certainly fell down on that score.
It is true and is verified throughout the Old Testament that the nation of Israel constantly wandered after false gods and very often suffered chastisement by God for their adulterous behaviour. We read about the Jews being taken into captivity by other nations and suffering at the hands of those nations.
We also see how God restored them and blessed them when they repented and turned back to Him.
It is also true that as a whole, the nation of Israel rejected the Messiah, Jesus when He came, even though Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Jewish Messiah and His coming. It is true that according to the Apostle Paul, the Jews have been blinded in part for a time because of that unbelief.
Romans 11: 24 – 26 For if you were cut from a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into one that is cultivated, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited:
A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove godlessness from Jacob.…
For all of this, the question remains, are the Jews responsible for all the problems of the world?
When you read some of the statements that have been made over the years, you would certainly think so.
Malaysia’s former Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, when he spoke at the Conference for the Support of Al-Quds on January 21, 2010. “Even after their massacre by the Nazis of Germany, they [Jews] survived to continue to be a source of even greater problems for the world.”
Henry Ford was another individual that had anti semetic views accusing the Jews of conspiring to enslave Christianity and destroy the "Anglo-Saxon" way of life. The articles were later gathered into book form and published under the title: The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem. This book was translated into 16 languages, and was to have a profound influence upon the growing Nazi movement in Germany. Eventually, Ford publicly apologized for the articles in light of a legal suit. However; he continued to express his anti-Semitic beliefs in his private circles.
“...the personification of the devil as the symbol of all evil assumes the living shape of the Jew.”
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf.
“. . . the discovery of the Jewish virus is one of the greatest revolutions that has taken place in the world. The battle in which we are engaged today is of the same sort as the battle waged, during the last century, by Pasteur and Koch. How many diseases have their origin in the Jewish virus! ... We shall regain our health only be eliminating the Jew.”
- Adolf Hitler (quoted in Burleigh and Wippermann, Racial State, p. 107)
CICERO (Marcus Tullius Cicero). First century B.C. Roman stateman, writer.
"The Jews belong to a dark and repulsive force. One knows how numerous this clique is, how they stick together and what power they exercise through their unions. They are a nation of rascals and deceivers."
DIO CASSIUS. Second century Roman historian.
"The Jews were destroying both Greeks and Romans. They ate the flesh of their victims, made belts for themselves out of their entrails, and daubed themselves with their blood... In all, 220,000 men perished in Cyrene and 240,000 in Cyprus, and for this reason no Jew may set foot in Cyprus today." (Roman History)
DIODORUS SICULUS. First century Greek historian. Observed that Jews treated other people as enemies and inferiors.
"Usury" is the practice of lending money at excessive interest rates. This has for centuries caused great misery and poverty for Gentiles. It has brought strong condemnation of the Jews!
AQUINAS, THOMAS, Saint. 13th century scholastic philosopher. In his "On the Governance of the Jews," he wrote:
"The Jews should not be allowed to keep what they have obtained from others by usury; it were best that they were compelled to worked so that they could earn their living instead of doing nothing but becoming avaricious."
ST. JUSTIN, martyr stated in 116 A. D. "The Jews were behind all the persecutions of the Christians. They wandered through the country everywhere hating and undermining the Christian faith."
IRENAEUS (c. 180), wrote: “The Jews have rejected the Son of God and cast Him out of the vineyard when they slew Him. Therefore, God has justly rejected them and has given to the Gentiles outside the vineyard the fruits of its cultivtion” (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, [1885-1887], Volume 1, p. 493).
MARTIN LUTHER (“The Jews and their Lies”) said: “The Jews are miserable and accursed people. He warned of such poisonous activities of the Jews. That the blind Jews are truly stupid fools.
He called them, these miserable, blind, and senseless people and warned to be on your guard against the Jews
“They are nothing but thieves and robbers who daily eat no morsel and wear no thread of clothing which they have not stolen and pilfered from us by means of their accursed usury.
One should toss out these lazy rogues by the seat of their pants then eject them forever from this country.
Do not grant them protection, safe conduct, or communion with us.
Nor dare we make ourselves partners in their devilish ranting and raving by shielding and protecting them, by giving them food, drink, and shelter, or by other neighborly acts.
He referred to the Jews as:” this rejected and condemned people, the Jews, we dare not tolerate their conduct”.
What did he advocate?
"First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn
This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom
Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. For they pursue in them the same aims as in their synagogues. Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies
Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them.
Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb
Fifth, I advise that safe conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews
Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them and put aside for safekeeping.
Seventh, I commend putting a flail, an ax, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow, as was imposed on the children of Adam But what will happen even if we do burn down the Jews' synagogues and forbid them publicly to praise God, to pray, to teach, to utter God's name? They will still keep doing it in secret.
First, that their synagogues be burned down, and that all who are able toss in sulphur and pitch; it would be good if someone could also throw in some hellfire.
They must act like a good physician who, when gangrene has set in, proceeds without mercy to cut, saw, and burn flesh, veins, bone, and marrow"
These are just a few of the many accusations against the Jews.
Whether these or some of the accusations made are true or not, it is not logical to believe that all Jews, religious or secular are responsible for all the problems in the world.
From all of this evidence, it seems that there is a deeper root as to why the Jews are a hated people and it does not appear to have much to do with their practices but more to do with who they are.
So, who are the Jews?
“Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you: When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye” (Deuteronomy 32:7-10).
Deuteronomy 7:6-8
"For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. "The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Isaiah 41:8: "But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, Descendant of Abraham My friend,
Jeremiah 46:27-28: "But as for you, O Jacob My servant, do not fear, Nor be dismayed, O Israel! For, see, I am going to save you from afar, And your descendants from the land of their captivity; And Jacob will return and be undisturbed And secure, with no one making him tremble. "O Jacob My servant, do not fear," declares the LORD, "For I am with you For I will make a full end of all the nations Where I have driven you, Yet I will not make a full end of you; But I will correct you properly And by no means leave you unpunished."
Joel 3:1-2: "For behold, in those days and at that time, When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land.
Romans 11:1-12 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Rom 11:2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,
Rom 11:3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
Rom 11:4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Rom 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Rom 11:6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
Rom 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
Rom 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
Rom 11:9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
Rom 11:10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
Rom 11:11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
Rom 11:12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
History has shown what happens to those that are against Israel and those who have persecuted Israel.
Zec 2:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
9 For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me.
What happened in the past will happen in the future.( historical recapitulation).
(“Midrash” interprets prophecy as a cyclical pattern of historical recapitulation (prophecies having multiple fulfillment), with an ultimate fulfillment associated with the eschaton, (ɛskətɒn: the final event in the divine plan; the end of the world.) which is the final focal point of the redemptive process.)
Zechariah 12 1.The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God.
6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.
7 The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.
8 In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Genesis 12: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:
The Apple of God’s eye.
Psalm 17:8
Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings.
Zechariah 2:8
For thus says the LORD of hosts, "After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.
Deuteronomy 32:10
"He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.
Psalm 105: 15
"Touch not Mine anointed."
Psalm 105 verse 8.
"He hath remembered His covenant forever the word which He commanded to a thousand generations, which covenant He made with Abraham and His oath unto Isaac and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law and to Israel for an everlasting covenant."
Psalm 94:14
For the LORD will not abandon His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance.
Romans 11:2
"God hath not cast away His people whom He foreknew."
