Jews:

Why So Many Folks Hate the Jews

And

Who are the Jews in John?

Introduction

Why are the Jews hated? The Bible invests the entire plan of God in them, and the Bible holds them responsible for their being no peace on earth until they do right.

Yehovah has dispersed them among the races, warning that they will only be able to stay in any place for a short time, and then they must go elsewhere. Thus, the races see them as a scourge in their midst, as driven from other places, and transient, and as potential competition.

Common Ideas about the Jews

Many folks who hate the Jews don’t know why they hate them. They have been taught that the Jews are evil, and affect the world for self-centered interests that destroy countries and cultures. Those who have investment in Islam have a different for hating the Jews (if they hate them at all). There is no consensus regarding the Jews. There are always folks in all countries who don’t hate them, and would appreciate doing business with them.

A Quick History of the Jews

The Bible explains how the Jews came about. The God of the Bible produced this people specially using miracles and using non-Jewish groups to bring about the Jews. They came out of Egypt and from slavery with great wealth. They soon were embroiled with the Palestinians (Philistines). Their history is one of violence and of great peace. Their kingdom became very strong and very great, then very weak and finally gone. They were given a land in the most central and most important part of the planet: the Middle East, between three of the most active continents in the world. They were also given a Torah, a Teaching that was assigned specifically to them that had promises of good if they complied, and guarantees of the most terrible destructions to them if they didn’t comply. They were also given another guarantee: that they would continue to exist to the end of the planet, and that this land would be theirs once they did right according to the Torah (the first six books of the Bible).

This Torah was another reason for great jealousy, since there is no evidence that the God of the Bible gave a Covenant of this nature to any other group. The Jews were given the assignment and responsibility to carry, teach and live out the ‘oracles’ of God, those things that God gave to the world through prophets or directly.

Romans 3:1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? 2Much every way! Chiefly, because the oracles of God were committed unto them.

The Talmud

The Jews developed their own set of teachings from rabbis called the Talmud. This compendium of opinions of the rabbis was viewed by large groups of Jews as being equal with the Scriptures in previous centuries. Jews who studied these writings became very good at law and at memorization. Thus, they excelled in scholarship and in medicine, in law and in politics, as well as in the arts. Their numbers were small compared to the surrounding races, but their influence and discoveries were proportionately very large. This also made for jealousy.

The Jews under Islam

The Jews used to prosper under Islam, and they did far better under Islam when Spain was occupied by the Sultans than they did at any other time for centuries. Islam treated the Jews very well, and they achieved high positions. This also made the Europeans very angry at the Jews and very jealous. When Islamic rulers were driven from Spain, the Jews who stayed behind were hated and were mistreated.

Restrictions on Jewish Professions

During previous centuries, Jews were not allowed to be in certain professions held by religious groups among the Gentiles, but they could lend money. Kings borrowed. Kings owed. Kings wanted to cancel their debts to the Jews; they found the easiest way was to accuse them and kill them, and drive them out. This practice occurred many times.

Jewish Integration

Jewish folks have had to stick together because of history and anti-Semitism. Thus, even when they integrate into societies, that integration doesn’t usually last. They become ousted after so much time. Thus, Jewish integration is only temporary, and again the Jews stand out when they are forced out.

Any group that appears different from other groups will be targeted. This is one reason.

Jewish Monetary Success

Another reason is that the Jews appear to be very monetarily successful, and to control the means of production and exchange. This doesn’t have to be true to appear to be true. Jewish folks reside all over the world, and Jews do tend to trade with Jews—but not exclusively. Yet, this isn’t what others see; they think that the Jews have connections and can escape from trouble in the markets by using these connections. Gentiles who feel that they don’t have the same connections resent Jews for having them (even if they don’t).

This idea of the International Jew goes into the area of patriotism. Jews are views as not having any true allegiance to any country, and will leave a country if that country falters. Thus, others who are invested in the country see the Jews as quick traitors if everything goes down. This is not the case, but again, truth isn’t the issue; perception is.

All this doesn’t really explain why the Jews are hated. It goes beyond this, and it goes beyond literature that has been around for centuries accusing the Jews of an international plot to strip the Gentiles of wealth.

It goes to the Bible.

Why Some of Western Civilizations Hate the Jews

The Jews are a minority. Their presence in cultures is usually very obvious. Some Jews mix, while other Jews remain detached from cultures. They tend to group among themselves, and they have traditions that don’t match the surrounding cultures. This alone tends to present a problem among many who value conforming to a ‘norm’.

Every culture tends to hold certain values, and also tends to not value other things. Jews themselves are not a consistent culture. Yet, they appear to be to most onlookers. There are the very Orthodox Jews with strange clothing and patterns of behavior, and there are liberal Jews who do what the surrounding Gentiles do. Yet, even the liberal Jews tend to be different, and have different connections. This presents the problem of jealousy.

Why Many of Middle Eastern Groups Hate the Jews: Holy Sites

Modern Islam has its focus on the holy sites, not on Islamic history. Thus, the Jews must be driven into the sea in order to redeem Jerusalem from ‘the Crusaders.’ Many in the Middle East see the Crusades as continuing to this day.

As long as any other group outside of Islam dominates over any Islamic holy site, followers of Islam are taught that the deity of Islam is angry because of the liberalism found among followers of Islam. Thus, such domination is a sign from ‘God’ to turn to fundamental Islam; then the deity will give success to throw infidels out of the holy cities.

Modern Christian Churches

Modern Christian churches of every variety have the same difficulty when viewing the Jews. There is this recognition of the importance of Israel and the Jews, and there is the same jealousy. Some churches are for Israel; some will not discuss Israel. Some separate ‘Israel’ from ‘Jews’, stating that Israel is good, the Jews are accursed. Some hate the Jews and Israel, and desire Israel’s annihilation. All these groups claim to be fervent followers of Christianity.

Messianic Jews

There is another set of groups called Messianic Jews. They consist of mainly Jewish persons who claim to believe in Jesus or Yeshua as the Messiah. They do the same practices found among Christian groups by replacing Biblical Israel with themselves as if they are the focus of the promises of God in the Bible, and the apple of God’s eye. They usually are very fervent for Israel and for the Jews, yet they theologically distance themselves from the Jews by celebrating their own supposed salvations even while Israel is always in jeopardy. They also twist Scriptures to show themselves as important.

The Nazis

The Nazis viewed themselves as a continuance of Arians, and the Arians are supposedly from Atlantis. Arianism necessarily hates the Jews and must destroy them. All this has to do with the occult and the view that ‘God is with us’ (placed on the belts of the Nazi SS troupers). If ‘God is with us,’ God can’t be with them.

Jew-Hating Demons

Humans are not the only readers and hearers of the Bible, and they are not the only ones who misread it. The Bible speaks of demons, angels who rebelled. They, according to the Bible, also will be locked up and tormented once the Jews are righteous. If the Jews are expunged from the earth, the demons won’t be. Thus, a good portion of the hatred of Jews is supernatural. (The Jews can only be expunged from the earth if the Bible isn’t true.)

Centrality of the Jews in the Bible

Many groups in this world see the Bible as the central book of their faiths. They read about the Jews in the Bible if they read the Bible at all. (Few read the Bible.) The Bible speaks of the Jews in very negative terms in some texts. It also speaks of the Jews in very positive terms in other texts. Both present a problem to readers. If the Jews are as bad as the Bible portrays them, they are a scourge. Some therefore believe that they do God a favor by diminishing the Jews in society and even by getting rid of them. If the Jews are as important as the Bible portrays them, some readers are very jealous; they desire to be the center of God’s plan, and the Jews are in the way. Therefore, they cling to a theology that replaces the Jews with themselves (i.e., The Church). The problem is that the Jews are still around. Their being around tends to ruin the replacement theology. Thus, they speak out against the Jews to convince themselves and others that God is truly through with them, and has chosen the faithful and Godly Gentiles in their groups to replace the Jews.

The Bible Follows the Jews

Wherever the Jews go, regardless of how liberal the Jews are, the Bible goes with them—the very book that both accuses them and shows how important they are in the plan of the God of the Bible. While the Jews do not tend to carry the ‘New Testament’ with them, but only the ‘Old Testament’ (the Tenach), the ‘New Testament’ follows them wherever they go. This volume seems even more accusatory when read by those who have not known the ‘Old Testament’. Anti-Semitism is propagated more from the book of John in the ‘New Testament’ than from any other source because it refers to ‘the Jews’ as a violent and evil group and as killers of Christ. A reader who knows the ‘Old Testament’ and who reads the book of John carefully can see that Jesus was dealing with the Jews all of the time, and that the group called ‘the Jews’ in John (and in other books) must be a subgroup. Such careful readers are rare.

The ‘New Testament’

The ‘New Testament’ is the strongest in confirming the centrality of the Jews in the plan of God, in the resurrection of the dead, and in the return of Jesus (Yeshua) to reign. It states that He will return to the Jews and reign among them and over the world.

The Middle Eastern Groups are predominantly Moslem in faith or in perspective. Islam has several holy places, the second most holy place being Jerusalem. In Islamic teaching, any holy place like that must be controlled by Islamic followers. If it isn’t, it is because the deity of Islam is angry with the Islamic peoples for being too liberal. Thus, they must do everything in life or death to reclaim those holy sites. Since the Jews are occupying Jerusalem, the Jews must be hated and expunged in order to bring the faithful back to Islam, and all Islamic countries must turn from liberalism and westernism.

Peace on Earth

Since the Bible places peace of earth with the Jews such that there will be no lasting peace until the Jews are entirely righteous, this also makes for jealousy. The Jews appear so important in the Bible, that it is as if God views them much higher than the other races. (While this isn’t the case, misreading the Bible easily derives this conclusion.)

A Misunderstanding about the Jews in the Book of John

Many readers misunderstand the term Jews in the New Testament. They think that the term always refers to all the Jewish folks when it does not. Consider the following texts with me. I will explain things about each text:

John 2:13 And the Jews’ Passover was at hand.

This sounds general. Yet, who else had a Passover? If it were for all the Israelis, why mention it since the entire scene is about the Israelis/Jews?

John 2:18 Then the Jews answered and said unto Him, “What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?”

Did all the Jews answer Him, or did a group answer Him?

John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

Was he a ruler over all the Jews (like Herod), or was he a ruler of a group of Jews?

John 3:25 Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying.

Weren’t John’s disciples Jewish? Were they Latvian or Chinese? Were they Hungarian or Australian?

John 5:16 And therefore the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.

Did all the Jews want to kill Him? Most appreciated what He did and said, even if they didn’t understand what He said.

John 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

I learned from these texts that ‘the Jews’ were a sect, a small group of the entire Jewish population. Thus, I began calling them by their Hebrew name: the Yehudeem to distinguish them from the rest of the Israelis/Jews in these texts.

The following are what I discerned by carefully reading Matthew through John, and other places in the ‘New Testament.’ You may certainly challenge them, but at least consider them.

The Yehudeem:

• Were a sect of the general Jewish population
• Were very strict, hoping that the God of Israel would give Israel freedom from occupying pagans (like the Romans) if the Israelis would strictly adhere to the Torah (the first five books of the Bible)
• Made rules to help keep the Israelis within the Torah, but by doing so violated the Torah (by adding to it)
• Felt their rules to be from God
• Consisted of two types of persons: one type that greatly desired to do right according to the Tenach (the entire Old Testament), and another type that desired to have power in the Jewish communities, not caring about personally doing right, but being the ‘morality police’ over others
• Had the power to excommunicate other Israelis from the synagogues, thus making it impossible for them to do business with other persons under the influence of the Yehudeem within Israel; this power could be used for benefit to Israel or for personal vengeance
• Had little or no sway over the Israelis who were not part of the Yehudeem (and who didn’t care about excommunication)
• Were of two types: one type was very protective of their own positions, and didn’t like outsiders who didn’t come up through the ranks having influences over their followers; the other type wasn’t protective of anything but the Truth, and was glad to hear of anyone who worked to bring righteousness to Israel
• Were from any of the twelve tribes (or were proselytes of the Gentiles who turned to Judaism), and therefore were not strictly of the tribe of Judah
• Could also be Pharisees, another group that consisted of some who most definitely believed in real righteousness in Israel and in personal righteousness, and worked for that, and of some who sought power over others, wanting to ‘boss folks around’ and to be viewed well by those in high positions in the religious community
•  Consisted of a very few who definitely wanted to kill Yeshua and of others who very much delighted in His teachings, recognizing Him to be one truly sent directly from God and who had the words of life. The Yehudeem also consisted of some in lower-ranking positions who didn’t know what to believe regarding Yeshua, and who were torn.

The above descriptions of the Yehudeem may seem very ‘black and white’ in the descriptions, but there were folks who were in between, also, as I mentioned in the last bullet.

Modern Christianity does not teach that the Yehudeem (‘the Jews’) formed a small sect of the Israelis. Instead, many are taught to read the book of John as the first book of the Bible they will ever read. They will see many bad things regarding ‘the Jews,’ and will either reaffirm their feelings against the Jews or will form new feelings of them being enemies as if it refers to all Jews.

If they were to start with Genesis, they would probably figure some things out (if they cared for Truth). They would learn that the Jews are very central to Yehovah’s plan for all the ages, etc. Starting in John, however, will give ignorant readers a terrible impression of the Jews. Even if they figure out that ‘the Jews’ are a sect, they may still think that this sect was all bad. That was not the case. There were a few powerful ‘bad apples.’ There were some powerful good guys. There were followers of both types who were very loyal to their leaders, right or wrong. This is the same with groups today.